WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 222

──────

"Yes. Please keep pushing forward. If you do, you'll surely make it happen. I look forward to the day we meet as comrades in the Order......"

The words of the beautiful knight, Hanna Usar.
As if reenacting the thrill of that day all over again, Yaken Erka made a fuss and her eyes sparkled.

"I look forward to the day we meet as comrades in the Order...... she really said that, word for word!"

Entikkan, Yukia's cousin, had no idea how many times he'd heard this by now.

"I get it already."
"No, but she really said it to me, exactly like that!"

The orphanage in Imperial District 42. Thanks to Maximilian's sponsorship, it had gone through round after round of expansion and repair, and now it had finally taken shape as a proper welfare facility.
Entikkan had made this orphanage his base and turned himself into a businessman running various welfare programs for his people.

"......Maybe I shouldn't have sent her to university after all."
"Excuse me?!"

Erka. That tiny kid who used to wander the streets had somehow grown up into a college student.

Honestly, just a few years ago, the idea of a Yaken enrolling in an imperial university, let alone the Central University, would have been unthinkable. Absurd.
But things had changed fast lately.
Treatment of the Yaken kept improving by the day, and as their racial traits, sharp senses, tough bodies, deep loyalty, got more attention, fields like security, police work, and guard duty had started treating a "Yaken premium" as an actual advantage.

Tak.

Entikkan took off his rimless glasses and set them on the desk. He closed the household ledger and asked, putting on a stern face.

"So, how's your studying going?"
"Oh, come on, obviously great! I'm basically top of my class."
"Basically top of your class, is that even a real phrase...... How's your mana control?"
"That's perfect too!"

Heh heh. Erka laughed, wrinkling her nose. Even so, Entikkan lowered his voice, serious.

"Show them what a Yaken can be. I always say this-"
"Don't betray their trust, right? I know."
"......Right. And, be proud."

Proud of the fact that you're a Yaken of the Empire.

"I know, I know~"

Entikkan had been mulling over a new venture lately.
A massive rescue project to bring persecuted Yaken scattered across the continent into the Empire.
The Empire was trying to embrace the Yaken now, and actually doing it. But the east and west weren't.
They condemned the Empire in the name of morality and equality, while discriminating against and oppressing the Yaken even more viciously themselves.
"Devil's spawn." "Goats that turned into people."
There were still people out there spouting that kind of garbage......
The Empire was different.
One noble's personal goodwill and experience, Maximilian Ebenholtz's. That butterfly effect had completely reshaped the standing of the Yaken within the Empire.
Moonlight Below had even portrayed Yaken loyalty, and public perception had already shifted for the better.

"Come with me then. Let's go do the shopping."
"Well~ since I'm in such a great mood today~ I'll be your porter, uncle~"

The two of them left the orphanage.
The renovation work had wrapped up at some point, leaving sturdy outer walls, a playground where the children could run around safely, and all kinds of colorful furniture.
Compared to how run-down the place had been three years ago, it was practically a different world.

"Director Entikkan! Where are you headed?"

A neighbor they passed on the street greeted them with a bright smile. Entikkan returned it with a smile of his own.

"Going to do some shopping. Let me know when the fabric shipment comes in."

Imperial District 42 was a lower-tier district. Most of the people who lived here were from the lower classes.

"Yes sir~ I'll show you first thing!"

But their attitudes had changed a lot too. Jobs had opened up thanks to highway construction and various other civil engineering projects, and life had grown more comfortable because of it.
A little breathing room had crept into what used to be a grinding daily existence, and naturally, the hostile stares aimed at the Yaken had softened.
......All their discrimination and hatred had funneled into just one race instead.

Sniff, sniff.

Erka's nose flared suddenly, and her brow furrowed.

"Huh. What's that smell......"

A rotten, watery stench that only some among the Yaken could pick up. The reek that sometimes leaked out of certain humans, or something else entirely.

"Is there an Izenheim nearby."

Entikkan had barely muttered the words when it happened.

"......!"
"Huh?!"

Both their bodies went rigid at the same instant.

Fsssss......

A strange, ominous sensation crept up from underfoot.

Flap flap!

A flock of birds perched in a nearby tree burst into the air, and the stray cats and dogs curled up at the mouth of the alley barked and bolted out into the road.

Rumble, boom!

The ground shook, late.
An earthquake.

Craaack!

A short tremor swept across the earth in an instant. Windows rattled in their frames, and people screamed and ducked low.

Woof! Woof woof! Screech!

The quake itself died down in barely ten-odd seconds, but the people who'd rushed out in a panic still looked around uneasily.

"What was that, all of a sudden......"

Luckily there didn't seem to be much damage. People let out relieved sighs and drifted back to their business one by one.

"......Strange. How did they know beforehand?"

Erka murmured, watching the dogs still whimpering.
Sometimes an animal's instincts pick up on the signs of disaster before humans do.

"Let's go."

Entikkan shook off a nagging unease he couldn't quite name and moved on.
The two of them headed toward the market.

* * *

Kairon's inauguration ceremony was held with full solemnity at Sentinel Order headquarters.

"Now I, this sword of mine, carried for so long."

Aging Commander Eberich lifted his sword.
Once Sebastian's mentor, a comrade who'd fought through countless battles at his side.

"I entrust it to my successor."

With arms grown far thinner than in his prime, he held out the commander's sword to Kairon.

"Thank you."

Kairon knelt on one knee and received the blade.
The knights gathered in the great hall watched the ceremony of succession in solemn silence......

Clink!

The celebratory banquet that followed was held on a grand scale, with the Empire's finest restaurant, Lilac Vita, rented out entirely for the occasion.

"Hahahaha!"

Under the dazzling chandeliers, Kairon laughed, savoring the moment.
The finest wines and a lavish spread kept filling the tables, and the banquet hall's mood climbed higher and higher.

"Commander. Apparently they've already started installing air conditioning on the top floor."
"Ha. Is that so? A few days of heat wouldn't have hurt anything......"

At some point, Kairon's gaze met Maximilian's, who was quietly savoring a glass of wine. His golden eyes settled, calm.
A chill ran down Kairon's spine for a moment. He nodded and rose from his seat.
On this important day, there was something he needed to demonstrate himself. A promise he'd made with Maximilian.

"Well then."

Kairon rose with a wine bottle in hand. He walked slowly over to senior knight Jerome.
As the de facto representative of the commoner-born knights, he poured him a glass first, then moved right beside him.
He poured a glass for Cliff too, the man who'd once grabbed Maximilian by the collar.
In other words, he served the knights who had once belonged to Anton's faction first.
After that, commoner and noble alike, he was about to pour for everyone in turn, and paused for a moment.
Hanna's face had gone thoroughly flushed from downing shot after shot all night.
Hanna held out her glass first.

"Pour me some! Commannder! Kairon-commannder!"
"......Right. Just don't make a scene toasting."

Soon, Kairon raised his glass and began to speak.

"You all already know this, but I have, and we have, always said it. That the Sentinel is, in the end, the Sentinel."

His low voice rang out calmly through Lilac Vita.

"There is no rank of birth here. No discrimination by origin, no factional strife dividing us."

Kairon's gaze moved across the faces of the knights gathered in the hall, one by one.

"We are nothing but pure Aran......"

Without tarnishing Anton Jefren's legacy, but rather carrying part of his intent forward.

"Nothing more than Sentinel knights who protect the Empire."

This was Maximilian's wish.
And now, even Kairon himself acknowledged it as the Order's true face.

"Carry yourselves with pride and dignity as knights, and uphold your own authority. Become watchmen who defend the Empire's order without wavering."

The knights listened closely to their new commander's words.
Commoner and noble both felt the swell of pride that came with being a knight.

"For the Sentinel."

Kairon's low cry, and the clear ring of crystal glasses meeting.
Everyone raised their glasses together and swallowed the Empire's new future deep into their throats.

......

"Well now......"

One day, commoner knight Cliff sat quietly looking down at the official document on his desk.

[ Notice of Knight Promotions, Budget Ceiling Adjustments, and Expanded Funding ]
[ The annual budget allocated to your department has been capped as follows...... ]
[ Base operational funding: 3,309,530 imperial dollars ]

After Kairon took office as Commander, the Order announced "promotions."
Honestly, the promotion itself hadn't much interested Cliff.
He'd fallen out of favor with the previous commander, caused a major incident, grabbed Maximilian by the collar......
That was the kind of knight he'd been.

"......"

And yet this time, he'd been promoted to senior knight.
It felt strange.
He set the document down, walked out of his office, and cleared his throat at his staff.

"......Ahem. Everyone, gather round for a moment. I have something to tell you."

The clerks and staff officers eyed him warily.
Back when Cliff had clashed with Maximilian and stood on the edge of dismissal, they'd lost sleep over it night after night.
Even now, they were basically a kite with a cut string, and that unease clearly hadn't left them.

"Our budget's been increased this time. And I've been promoted to senior knight as well."

Cliff held up the document. It came to fully three times the previous budget.

"Because of that, starting next month, all of your salaries will......"

Cliff read off the newly set salary figures. Same story, more than three times what they'd made before.

"......"
"......"

Silence fell over the office for a moment,

"Whoa!"
"Really, is this really true, sir?!"

Then the cheers burst out at once.
Clap clap clap!
Applause and cheering. Faces that looked like all the resentment and worry of the past had been washed away in an instant. Cliff watched them and felt something strange, genuinely strange, stir in him.

"Post a new hiring notice too. We're going to need... a lot more people going forward."

He gave the order gruffly, on purpose, then went back into his office.
He left the door cracked just slightly and sank deep into his chair.
Through the gap drifted the joy in his staff's voices, and a faint smile crept onto Cliff's normally gruff mouth.

......

"Halt!"

A checkpoint on the outskirts of the Empire. Armed soldiers blocked the vehicle's path.

"Caught again."

Schatz clicked her tongue lightly at the driver's remark. Checkpoints like this had gotten noticeably more frequent lately, every time they moved through various imperial cities.
It was an unavoidable hassle whenever she ran night operations with a group of agents.

"Group travel is prohibited! Everyone! Present your ID and family register certificate!"

A soldier shouted. Schatz checked Yukia's reaction first, seated beside her. Yukia drew a deep breath, then nodded quietly. That meant none of them were Izenheim.
Schatz rolled down the window and handed over a neatly bound identity booklet.
Decorating IDs was something of a hobby of hers, in its own way.

"Let's see......"

The soldier shone his flashlight and scrutinized the documents closely.
Father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, great-grandfather, great-grandfather and ancestors beyond, all born and raised in Imperial Central with an unblemished, pure Aran bloodline. Even among pure Aran, it was a fairly special "five-generation register."
Plenty of the soldiers' own subordinates envied that flawless bloodline.

"......!"

At some point the soldier's eyes went wide. Probably because of the single name inscribed in the guarantor's field of the document.

[ ......Requesting that no obstruction be made to the performance of duties: Maximilian Albrecht von Ebenholtz ]

"Y-, yes sir!"

The soldier snapped to attention, startled, and threw up a salute. The other soldiers beside him did the same.
Schatz's face twitched. A little laugh nearly slipped out, but she reined it in. Instead, she pressed a finger to her lips.

"Shh. I'm not your superior officer."
"Ah, yes! Yes! Please, go on safely!"

They scrambled to clear the way. The vehicle pulled out of the checkpoint and sped back into the darkness.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

As they neared a city in the west, the receiver in the passenger seat crackled with an electromagnetic signal. Schatz's eyes glinted cold.

"......This is the place."

They'd found a Revolutionary Faction stronghold.

* * *

Sentinel Order headquarters, Maximilian's office.

"......"

I stared at the large corkboard panel covering one wall. Pinned across it were photographs and composite sketches of the Revolutionary Faction's core officers, their tangled cell-structure connections linked together in red string.

──────
[ 1. Oracle ]
Called "the Prophet" among their own, a core figure of the Revolutionary Faction. Identity unknown. Highest priority for identification.
[ 2. Master ]
Chief of financial operations. Face never disclosed, but believed to be a key figure involved with the Revolutionary Faction's heart, the "Veil."
[ 3. Ares ]
......
──────

A list of key wanted figures, people who had to be killed without exception, before the war, during it, or after, threats to the Empire's survival and to the future of humanity itself.
I ran back over my memories from before the regression and murmured.

"Which one of these is Izenheim, I wonder."

Parasites wearing human masks up front, preaching some grand cause, while turning the gears of extinction behind everyone's back.

Ding.

The terminal chimed briefly. A message from Schatz.
Results from tracking the mana receivers she'd planted on the auction items that had gone out through the Lucen auction house earlier.

"......Hm."

At last, they'd grabbed hold of part of the revolution's tail.
Time to go strike them.
But I couldn't handle this operation alone. Crushing heresy and treason was, at the same time, a ritual that shared ideology with the Empire's knights and bound their loyalty together.
Which meant I needed comrades to come along.

I pressed the intercom on my desk and called for a staff officer.

"Yes, sir."
"We're launching a joint operation. Request cooperation from a few knights. First......"

I ran quickly through the Order's available strength in my head, and one name came to mind.

"Cliff."

If you were talking about pure combat strength within the Sentinel Order, he was easily one of the top few knights.
Not a match for Sebastian, but strong enough to cross blades with him for even a moment.

Honestly, the last time he'd grabbed me by the collar, I'd felt a flicker of real fear.
If he'd meant it, he could have torn my collarbone out with his bare hands.
Because he was that kind of knight, I wanted him by my side.

"Send word to Knight Cliff."
"Yes, sir."

The staff officer left, but a thought crossed my mind.
Was that really the only reason I wanted to forgive Cliff and bring him into my fold?
Who else, besides the Revolutionary Faction, could actually stand against Cliff.

......Sebastian.

The name rose in my mind, unbidden, so achingly familiar.

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