WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 168

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Agent Extraction (2)

Yelena's father, Kirov Yumanov, was a nationalist. He did not blindly worship pure Aran blood the way the Empire did, but he put the Sled tribe first and held deep hostility toward Izenheim and other subspecies.

In truth, that was not just Kirov. It was the common view among Eastern power brokers.

So from the perspective of an Izenheim General Secretary, they could not be left alive.

"They probably found evidence they couldn't ignore."

I handed Yelena a Lobrus soldier's uniform. She changed in an instant.

"Proof that the General Secretary is Izenheim?"

"Yes. At the very least, clear proof that he's a subspecies. That's why they had to silence everyone fast."

Of course, they would have carried out the Great Purge eventually to place Izenheim in key seats of power. But this sudden urgency had to come from that.

Yelena straightened her sleeve and said, "But I heard the Empire also classifies the Sled tribe as a heterogeneous bloodline that should be eradicated. Am I still acceptable to you?"

"Well, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. The concept of 'quasi-applicable bloodline' applies to individuals too."

That was exactly how the bill's exception clause had been designed.

"What a convenient law."

"Yes. Law is not the goal, only a tool."

Just then, the vehicle reached a checkpoint.

"Stop!"

Heavily armed Lobrus soldiers rushed over. Under the searchlights, more than ten gun barrels aimed at us. I calmly rolled down the window.

"Show your identi-"

"I am Lieutenant Colonel Leonit of the National Ministry of Internal Affairs."

I handed over the ID right away. The officer's eyes widened as soon as he took it.

He swept his flashlight over it repeatedly to check for forgery, then said, "Loyalty!"

He snapped his hand up in a rushed salute.

"Good work."

I took the ID back.

"Ah, sorry, Lieutenant Colonel. With the highest alert in effect across the capital, we need to check not just your ID but your travel pass too..."

"Radio it in and verify it yourselves, then move. I'm escorting classified documents. Every second counts."

"Th-that is..."

The officer looked back and forth between Yelena and me. I gave him no time. I stepped on the accelerator immediately.

"L-Lieutenant Colonel! Ah, damn it."

"Hey! Radio it in right now!"

Their shouting scattered behind us.

"...Did you plant a field-grade identity inside the Lobrus military?" Yelena asked, stunned.

I glanced at the checkpoint shrinking in the rearview mirror and answered flatly, "No. Just a fake ID. It'll probably take those bastards ten to twenty minutes to radio command and realize it's fake."

Vrooooom.

I pressed harder. The military vehicle roared and tore down the night road.

But the capital of Lobrus was vast. Another checkpoint would appear soon enough.

"Let's ditch the car here."

I stopped in an empty corner of an industrial zone. After we got out, I threw the mana firebombs I had prepared and burned the evidence.

Whoooosh!

While flames climbed the vehicle, I found a tiny coded mark in the dirt nearby and lifted a steel plate.

A round passage opened below.

Operation Codename: It's Darkest Beneath the Lamp.

Even the Adversaries would struggle to imagine we'd ditch the vehicle and hide in a nearby safehouse right away.

"Come down."

"What is this...?"

Yelena looked blank for a moment, then descended the stairs.

Thud.

After landing, I turned on a lamp. Yelena came down after me, let out a dry laugh, and looked around the lit interior.

"...What exactly is this place?"

"The first base."

The underground space was fairly comfortable. Food and water, medical supplies, and weapons were stocked throughout.

"For now, sit and stretch your leg this way."

My gaze went to her trembling calf. She had been bleeding a lot since the car.

"...Hm."

Yelena sat in a chair and rolled up her pant leg. The skin around the bullet wound on her pale calf was burning purple.

A poisoned bullet.

"So the stories about Lobrus using toxic rounds were true. Just like the stories about poisoning black tea."

"...Only when the target is important."

"It's probably mana poison. Stay still."

Luckily, there was an antidote.

I disinfected the wound, injected Komasol, and wrapped it with a mana stone bandage.

Yelena endured it, dripping cold sweat.

"Done. Eat now."

I held out high-calorie combat rations.

For knights and anyone else who handles mana, the most important thing is always food. Every action that consumes mana burns massive calories.

"...Thank you."

Yelena offered that thanks late. I smiled faintly.

"It's a transaction. No need to thank me."

"..."

She watched my expression and ate.

Crunch. Crunch.

I scooped up combat rations with a spoon and put some into my own mouth.

"Not bad."

Yelena's brows twitched.

"Yes."

It was a combat ration prototype developed by Lorenzo Academy, and it was pretty satisfying even to my taste.

I should give them a bonus.

We focused on eating in silence for a while.

-Burp.

Yelena belched suddenly. Her strength was spent, and only then did her tension finally leave her.

"Get some sleep now."

"...Can we really afford to relax like this?"

"Yes. There are no people on the streets at night, so our movement stands out much more. It's easier to move tomorrow during daytime with regular crowds. Besides, you can't run on that leg anyway."

She stared blankly at her bandaged leg.

"..."

She brushed back her hair and leaned against the safehouse wall.

"...It still feels like a dream."

Her dry voice carried both self-mockery and a trace of laughter.

"My house was wiped out, and now I'm hiding underground with a knight from an enemy nation. This is absurdly unreal."

I smiled faintly too.

"I always feel that way."

I understood that word, dreamlike.

I had definitely died.

No, I had been moments from death.

But humanity died before me, and I returned to the age of twenty like a miracle.

I saw that ruined future.

"But..."

To stop destruction, to fulfill the greater cause, I had to keep swinging a bloodstained sword without pause.

And so at the very end of the end, I would probably receive judgment in the name of history.

"We're still alive."

Ssssh...

The sound of many vehicles echoed from above, drifting faintly down through the vent. A vicious current of mana swept across the ground in this district.

But this underground base had a perfect mana-shielding setup built with Lorenzo Academy technology.

Their detection magic would not pierce this steel plate.

"The fact that we're alive and breathing."

I leaned back against the floor and closed my eyes.

"That's what matters most."

* * *

Day broke.

We stepped back into the crowded streets of Lobrus's capital.

We wore shabby clothes. We even smeared soot and grime on our faces on purpose. The perfect disguise was to walk mixed into the flow of office workers heading in, merchants opening shops, and crowds rushing by.

"This is it."

We reached the second base I had prepared in advance without incident. Above ground, it looked like an ordinary bakery, but beneath stacked flour sacks, a hidden underground shelter had been set up.

"There's a radio too."

Yelena raised her brows and switched it on.

[A massive sweep is now underway against traitorous forces, including remaining elements of House Yumanov...]

A dry voice mixed with machine noise spilled out.

"Zerof is probably running this."

She took off her coat and muttered bitterly. She rolled up her pant leg and replaced the blood-soaked bandage herself.

[Wanted leaflets have been distributed across Lobrus, and we ask for the people's cooperation...]

I turned the radio off.

Fwooo...

The wind settled over the wooden planks.

Yelena lay down on a straw bed and quietly closed her eyes. Soon I heard snoring. She had fallen asleep.

No surprise. She had walked for twelve hours on a ruined leg.

"..."

I leaned against the wall.

I caught a little sleep until dawn.

And like that, we kept moving for several more days.

In daytime, we walked disguised as ordinary citizens. At night, we stayed still and hidden in prearranged bases.

There were checkpoints, of course, but fake IDs, forged travel passes, and on top of that, Yelena's altered face did the work.

"...Pass!"

A soldier compared the wanted leaflet and Yelena's face with quick glances, then opened the way.

Yelena gave a small smile and murmured, "Strange. I only put in lenses and dentures."

"That's the most effective method."

Lenses changed the eyes, dentures changed the jaw shape. She had even cut her hair short like a man's, so recognizing her would have been the odd thing.

"...But if things turn bad, run alone. They're only hunting me."

Yelena glanced at me as she said it.

I nodded and answered, "Yes. Don't feel burdened. I'd obviously do the same."

"Oh. Glad to hear that."

And we kept walking forward.

Step. Step.

After hours, because we were heading toward Lobrus's northern border, the temperature suddenly plunged below zero.

Whooooooosh.

Before long, we were swallowed by a blizzard sharp enough to cut bone.

"We only need to climb this part now."

I pointed ahead.

The northern snow mountain of Lobrus's capital, high in elevation. A mountain range spread across the entire view like a curtain, Makete.

Yelena gave a bitter smile.

"...I didn't expect I'd climb this mountain again."

"It was a rough route."

"Rough is putting it lightly. It's a mandatory climbing course at military school."

"Sounds fun. Let's go."

We climbed from the mountain's base.

Crunch. Crunch.

We pushed up the slope that seemed to grab our ankles.

"Even in spring, Lobrus is like this."

That was my genuine admiration.

Whoooooooosh!

The blizzard felt harsher than winter itself.

"Isn't the Empire's north similar?" Yelena asked.

"No. Even in the north, spring blizzards aren't this bad."

"I see."

As we walked, conversation faded.

Wheeeeeeeesh.

The wind striking our skin was like blades.

"..."

"..."

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

No one spoke. Only footsteps pressing into snow echoed.

So we climbed and climbed and climbed.

"Oh."

I found a sign stuck into the mountain.

"We're at the midpoint."

I had prepared another base nearby.

"A shelter should appear soon."

"Good."

"How's your leg?"

"It's so shredded I want to cut it off."

"Yes. I'll do it for you. Follow me."

In the middle of that pointless back and forth, as we moved across the snowfield.

Wheeeeeeeeng.

Kiiiiing.

Through the savage wind, a cold signal no natural gust could make scraped across my skin.

I stopped.

Thump.

The virus in my heart convulsed.

"Enemy."

I told Yelena and pulled my robe hood down deep. But our promised border escape point was still far away.

How did they track us across this vast land? Thinking that was pointless.

Those otherworldly species that surpassed human senses, Izenheim, surely had special abilities I didn't know.

"Enemy?"

"Yes. Not far."

The moment I answered.

Ssssh.

Black shadows emerged from the pure white blizzard. The closest way to describe it was this, as if they had forced space apart and pushed out through the tear.

"..."

Lobrus's top assassination unit, the Adversaries.

There were exactly five of them. Three were Izenheim. Every one of them was strong.

In combat power, we were clearly inferior.

Could I defeat them as I was now?

Impossible.

It was not yet the promised time. Because Yelena injured her leg, we had fallen behind schedule, and my longsword still had not reached me.

"Show your face."

Their eyes were fixed only on Yelena, not me.

Whoooooo...

Inside the raging blizzard, Yelena exhaled.

"Haa."

She gave me a slight push, stepped forward first, and removed her hood.

"Yes. I am Yelena Yumanov."

The corners of the Adversaries' mouths twisted slightly. A sneer. Their gaze slid coldly to me too.

"This man is a woodcutter. He only guided me for a little money, without even knowing who I am."

At Yelena's words, the Adversaries scanned me from top to bottom. They would feel no mana presence from me.

"Sorry about that. This will be your pay."

She took a few bills from her pocket and tossed them at my feet.

As the wind tried to carry them off, I grabbed them with a clumsy, "Uh, uh-"

It must have looked like decent acting.

"...I'll walk on my own."

Yelena moved toward them. She held both hands out in front as if telling them to cuff her.

"Capturing me alive benefits you more too, doesn't it? You have a lot you want to hear from me."

The Adversaries said nothing. Too many words exposed weakness.

They shot me one more glance, then cuffed Yelena's wrists.

"Move."

I silently watched Yelena get dragged back down the path we had struggled to climb.

Crunch. Crunch.

I moved my legs.

Crunch. Crunch.

I walked farther up the mountain.

Because on the ground, I was at a disadvantage.

On the ground.

I did not need to go up into the sky.

I lifted my head and saw a cliff at the edge of my sight.

The higher I climbed, the lower they would have to descend.

Most of all...

I checked the time.

I did not need a watch's help. With my internal clock, I could identify the exact time with zero seconds of error.

Before long, my greatest combat strength would come to me.

It was time to borrow Schatz's power, the strength I had raised on nothing but the best.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Sentinel Order garden under warm spring sunlight.

"...Everything is chaos these days."

Tiana came over and sat carefully beside Jerome.

"..."

Jerome said nothing.

Lately, the commoner-born knights of Sentinel were trapped in deep grief and helplessness.

It was closer to guilt and self-reproach.

To them, Anton Jefren had been far more than just a deputy commander. He had guided them, willingly given them chances to become knights, and taught them honor.

He had left the Order telling them not to blame anyone, yet the knights grieved because they failed to protect a man like him.

"Don't put too much faith in palace rumors, Sir Knight."

Tiana tried to lighten the mood with a bright voice, but Jerome's face hardened instead.

"The news reaching us is hard to endure."

What enraged them more was the private-life exposé that brought Anton down.

Maximilian had used the sorrow of miscarriage as a weapon.

"He clearly disliked Anton."

Anton had deliberately excluded Maximilian from several missions that monitored imperial scholars and prominent figures. He had worried about Maximilian's rashness in judging ideology too quickly.

"Well..."

Tiana gave a bitter smile.

If you asked for the prime cause of Anton's fall, every sign leaking from inside the palace pointed to Maximilian.

Unexpectedly, Kairon had not even attended the closed hearing.

"Still, we're knights. Let's trust only what we can see."

Jerome's gaze turned rigid.

"By trusting only what we could see, Deputy Commander Anton ended up like that. We should have felt for what was unseen first."

Ding.

At that moment, both of their terminals sounded alerts at the same time.

[Emergency situation: Imperial Central District 14, large-scale mana explosion and mass civilian casualties.]

Their eyes met. Tiana and Jerome stood up at the same time.

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