WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 25

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The Utility of Law

Revolutionary Faction. I had been thinking about how to deal with them. I had been thinking about where their "origin" lay.

For a long time, the Imperial Family had tolerated the Revolutionary Faction. A swelling balloon bursts sooner or later. In the same way, no society can exist without forces of discontent, and the system stays stable only when those forces can be managed.

Right.

They had to remain manageable.

And the state had to remain capable of managing them.

But when the Empire's corruption crossed the critical point, the Empire completely lost its ability to control the Revolutionary Faction. Izenheim exploited that gap and swelled the faction to a monstrous size.

If the Empire had stayed sharp, if it had ruled as an eternal watcher, no revolution would have succeeded.

So my enemy was Izenheim, and at the same time, the Empire's own interior.

...By the time I finished thinking, I had reached my destination.

Imperial District 17, the industrial city of Denshtein. The heart of Imperial mana engineering.

I recalled the name of one Revolutionary Faction member from my old memories and ordered Schatz to track him down.

"You're here."

The moment I stepped out of the car, Schatz appeared like a shadow.

"The staff officers will arrive soon. I'll go in first. When I send the signal, come in with them."

"Yes."

[Alpren Paper Mill]

It was an ordinary paper mill. On the surface, at least.

"..."

I hid my face as much as possible. A flat cap pulled low and a wool coat.

Inside the factory, machine noise and heat hung thick in the air. Workers moved nonstop, absorbed in their labor.

I walked through them, and most did not even look at me.

"Um... who are you?"

Just before I reached the owner's office, a man who looked to be in his mid-thirties blocked my path.

He had an ordinary face. A kind face. But at that moment, memories from the past rose vividly.

"These filthy bastards should have their heads cut off and hung in the square!"

I always ended up thinking of the ones I personally hated first.

"Why are we keeping this vermin alive?!"

A man with especially radical ideas, even among the Revolutionary Faction. The day he slapped my cheek through iron bars and spat out his hatred was still vivid.

"Spit. You're worse than dogs and pigs."

This man was Revolutionary Faction. A zealot who had already carried out dozens of large and small terror attacks and murdered civilians.

But he was not Izenheim.

No reason to be disappointed.

Thump.

The virus inside me reacted.

Thump.

There was an Izenheim somewhere in this place.

"You are Mr. Daniel, correct?"

"Yes."

"Can we talk for a moment?"

I showed him my Sentinel identification. His eyes wavered.

"Don't react. It could cause a disturbance, so the workers first."

I nodded toward the work floor.

Daniel rang a bell and announced dismissal.

"...Everyone! End your shift for today and go home!"

Daniel Matteo.

He had inherited his father's paper mill, received a solid education, belonged to the middle class, spent years as a committed Revolutionary Faction member, and was a pure Imperial.

Yet Izenheim was at his side.

* * *

In the owner's office, Daniel faced the uninvited guest seated across the desk.

"What brings a knight to a shabby place like this...?"

The knight removed his cap. Blonde hair appeared. Daniel, a Revolutionary Faction Link, recognized him at once.

Maximilian of Ebenholtz.

At Empire Point, he had been judged weak, but after joining the Sentinel Order, he had kept taking increasingly extreme steps, driven by inferiority and resentment.

"Would you like a cup of coffee?"

Trickle. Daniel poured coffee into a cup to hide his tension. The knight did not even glance at it. He only stared at Daniel.

"..."

A suffocating silence. Sweat soaked his body. He tried to stay calm.

No matter how young and incompetent he was, Ebenholtz was still Ebenholtz. The pressure of nobility could not be denied.

"You have been running this factory for quite a long time."

He finally spoke.

"Yes. That's right."

He turned his gaze to one wall of the office. Daniel followed it without thinking.

"Intelligence came in."

"Yes?"

"That subversive activities were being carried out here... that kind of intelligence. What do you think, Mr. Daniel?"

The knight asked as he looked at him. The tone was ordinary, the gestures calm.

"That is not true. Since my father's generation, we have made paper here for years..."

Daniel's words stopped. Suddenly, he tracked the knight's pupils.

The direction of his gaze was strange.

He was not looking at Daniel.

It was fixed on the wall.

Slide.

Maximilian quietly stood. Then he walked there slowly.

Tap. Tap.

He knocked on the wall with his fingers. A dull, heavy sound rang out.

The countermeasures had been prepared thoroughly.

"S-Sir knight...?"

"Well made."

He drew the longsword from his lower back.

Swaaaaash!

The long blade split the wall. Concrete tore like paper, revealing the space behind it. A long passage. Daniel's heart dropped.

"..."

Maximilian stepped inside slowly. Before long, he reached a completely different room. It looked like a small classroom, with desks and chairs.

"Hmm..."

The knight let out a faint breath and scanned the room. Daniel could not say a word. He only stared blankly at the knight's back.

Books without covers filled the shelves. He pulled one out and read it slowly.

"Democracy... republic..."

Maximilian laughed softly. They were clearly banned books.

"...Eugenics Does Not Exist?"

The knight tossed the book aside carelessly. Then he reached out and stroked the shelf, or rather, he seemed to feel for something beyond it.

Daniel breathed hard and placed a hand on his back pocket.

Thump. Thump.

His heart pounded like it would burst.

Swaaaaash!

The knight's sword swung. The shelf was cut away, and a hidden doorknob appeared.

At that instant, Daniel drew a pistol and fired a surprise shot.

Bang!

The bullet touched Maximilian's cheek, then bounced off as if it had struck steel.

It was a mana barrier, a mana technique called Protective Aura.

A knight was like a tank. With mana prepared, ordinary bullets could not pierce the film wrapped around the skin.

Creak.

Maximilian yanked the doorknob and threw the door wide open.

"So this is where you were."

His lips twisted. Two women were crouching inside a room set up like a bedroom, holding their breath.

Thump.

My heart beat. It meant Izenheim.

Maximilian readjusted his grip on the sword.

I had to kill them.

They were the ones who had to die.

"..."

That thought came, then I let it go.

I had to hold back.

They were not "certain" summary judgment targets, and public opinion, and the media, were a problem.

Ebenholtz was not invincible. If the heir was a murderous maniac, it would stain the house, and political enemies would seize the opening. The Imperial Family would also gain a reason to rein me in.

As of now, I was the only one who knew Izenheim were monsters.

Today's result would have to be enough.

Maximilian sheathed his sword at his waist. Instead, he sent a signal to Schatz and the staff officers waiting outside.

They rushed in at once, subdued Daniel, and searched for evidence.

"Found it! Coded documents!"

"There are explosives here too!"

As expected, the former prison guard staff officers were excellent at tearing a place apart.

* * *

Maximilian raided a small Revolutionary Faction nest. All subversive books were seized as evidence, and three subversives were brought in by the Order.

Yulian watched the two people in the interrogation room through the glass.

The interrogator was Knight Adria. The target was Revolutionary member Daniel.

"Oh, Yulian. You were here."

Kairon came in then.

"What happened here? The rookie already caught Revolutionary Faction members."

He chuckled and put a hand on Yulian's shoulder.

"You're his senior, so Maximilian seems to be improving fast. At this rate, he'll wear a second-class medal soon."

Kairon had been Yulian's classmate since Empire Point. Yulian was not obsessed with achievements, and Kairon had fanatical ambition, so in a strange way, they got along.

"How is the situation?"

"Daniel. That man confessed he's a Revolutionary Faction Link. But he says the other two are not."

"Then what are they?"

"Illegal immigrants from abroad."

"Heh."

Kairon sneered.

"So he's a Link... if he talks, he'll live."

The Empire did not cut off heads simply because someone was Revolutionary Faction. The Imperial Guard might, but the Order did not.

Of course, because the Empire treated treason as the greatest crime, Revolutionary Faction cases went through a special court. A knight personally acted as prosecutor at trial.

"This is the funny part. Even for Revolutionary scum, noble-style hierarchy still applies."

Yulian listened to Kairon with half an ear.

"If they're executives, they don't kill them even when they beg for death. They say there is too much to extract. Even the ones trying to commit suicide get dragged back alive."

Unless they were major figures, Revolutionary executives were rarely executed. The ruling was death, but fierce under-the-table deals and persuasion followed.

Yulian nodded.

"If he's a Link, they'll make a deal."

"The assigned knight will be Maximilian, right?"

"Max caught him."

"...Ah."

Kairon suddenly turned to Yulian with a stern look.

"Yulian. Even if he's your junior, don't call him by name so casually in an official setting."

"I won't."

Creak.

Right then the door opened and Maximilian came in. Kairon's expression brightened.

"Knight Maximilian, congratulations."

Max gave a light nod.

"Thank you."

"Looks like you planted some intelligence leads?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Good. Very good... but be careful."

Kairon gestured with his eyes toward Adria inside the interrogation room.

"Don't let her steal your achievement. She's a scary woman."

Maximilian looked steadily at Adria inside the room.

Kairon swallowed a laugh.

"Anyway, I heard that one is a Link. Have you set a trial strategy yet?"

"I haven't."

"You haven't? Ah, right. It's your first time. It'll be very different from the mock trials at Empire Point. You probably need help-"

"No, that's not it."

Maximilian shook his head with a faint smile.

"What I want is."

Yulian scratched his brow as if he had already guessed the rest.

"Death for all of them."

His voice sank. The weight of those words pulled the air tight.

Kairon asked quietly.

"...Death for all of them?"

"Yes."

He answered as calmly as if greeting a next-door neighbor.

"All three, I will kill."

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