The Reluctant Imperialist - Chapter 27

WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 27

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The Utility of Law (3)

While shop owner Lorenzo went down to the basement to place an order, I looked back at Armand. The boy's small eyes were still glaring at me.

"......"

He said nothing. The displeasure was written all over his face, but he kept his mouth shut.

I told him,

"It was never something that should have been sold in the first place. Legally speaking, it was defective from the start."

I gave him facts only, without emotion, and tears welled at the corners of Armand's eyes. It looked more like frustration than sadness.

I looked at the shattered pieces of the waterwheel. A moment ago, I had seen the mana principle Armand used to make it.

An ability I never had before regression, probably a talent the virus gave me.

"......You don't even know what you're talking about."

"Try drilling a mana circuit into the frame of the waterwheel."

"Hmph. That's ridicu......"

Armand cut himself off mid-sentence. His face went blank, as if he had suddenly sunk into thought.

"Carve a circuit inside the wheel, let it hold mana, then anchor it with mana stone."

It was like embedding rebar in concrete. Hard to explain in detail, but I could feel that was the right way.

It felt like I was forcing knowledge that wasn't mine into words.

"......!"

Armand seemed to grasp it instantly.

"If you plant a mana circuit inside the waterwheel, mana's property of spreading through material will naturally coat even the outside! Then it won't wear down as easily from mana in the air. The durability should improve a lot too!"

He was suddenly looking up at me with sparkling eyes, then just as suddenly drooped again.

Was this kid already bipolar at his age.

"......But you said it'll break the law anyway."

I shook my head.

"I said there was room for it to break the law."

A small difference in wording changed everything.

If the claim that this waterwheel accepted natural mana and produced natural mana stone was recognized, it would be legal.

If the claim that it artificially converted natural mana and synthesized mana stone was recognized, it would be illegal.

In truth, the logic of the claim mattered less than who was making it.

What if the one making that claim was Ebenholtz.

Then this mana waterwheel might go down in history as a decent invention.

"But why can't people make synthetic mana stone? Even if it's less efficient than natural mana stone, we could make much more and use it, right?"

"Because mana stone is a product of vested interests."

"Vested interests?"

In the Empire, manufacturing synthetic mana stone was treated as a crime worse than narcotics.

Ownership of mana stone mines was monopolized by noble houses.

Because of that, they branded synthetic mana stone technology itself as a blasphemous act against the order of nature and suppressed it thoroughly.

"......At least for now, producing synthetic mana stone costs far more than mining mana stone."

"Only for now, right? If the technology improves, things will get better, and if mana stone gets cheaper, everyone benefits."

"A world where everyone benefits can't exist. The world will collapse before that."

Armand blinked. With that cropped head, he looked oddly cute.

"You said you're the shop owner's apprentice."

"No. I'm just Armand. The boss just works me to the bone."

"......"

No way. He was too particular to keep someone close if he didn't truly like them.

Lorenzo had probably already recognized Armand's talent.

"School?"

"I don't go. I tried, but there was nothing to learn."

"Family?"

"Don't have one."

Armand's features were subtly different from a pure Imperial's. There was a high chance he was mixed.

Still, background records could be forged well enough. He was still young, so if work started now, it was possible.

"Armand!"

Right then, the shop owner came up from the basement.

"Go downstairs. Hurry!"

"......Yes."

Armand quickly trotted down. Lorenzo turned back to me with a gentle expression.

I nodded.

"I'll send someone then."

"Yes."

"How about sending that kid to school?"

I gestured toward the basement Armand had gone down to. Lorenzo gave a bitter smile.

"Even without going to some school, that child-"

"True. For theory, Mr. Giorgio can teach him yourself."

"......"

Lorenzo, no.

Giorgio's expression hardened.

Giorgio Kirico. What made a man once praised as a genius scholar turn his back on the world and hide in a shabby place like this.

His story had been fairly famous before my regression. It was one of the cases people used to expose the rot of Imperial nobles.

Giorgio put forward a groundbreaking theory that became the foundation of Imperial mana engineering, but a certain noble, his own student, stole all of it. He fought a long legal battle and lost, of course. He was a commoner.

"The Theory of Induced Mana Field Formation. I heard that theory, the one that led to the modern mana coil, was your achievement. Now House Listman monopolizes the patent."

Talent was a curse. Talent given to a commoner was an even greater curse.

"If you ever need my help, say the word."

Lorenzo gave a bitter smile and rubbed his ruined knee as he spoke quietly.

"......May I speak honestly."

"I doubt that day will come, noble sir."

It was not stubbornness. He had simply become someone who could no longer trust nobles.

"Then I'll speak honestly too."

I took out a Sentinel business card from my wallet and set it on the table.

"You can change your mind anytime."

I pulled my newsboy cap down and said,

"Mr. Giorgio, you know why you lost."

In a twisted world, what matters is not what is right.

Giorgio stood by what was right, and because of that, he lost.

"You didn't lose because you were wrong. You lost because you had no power."

Ebenholtz had the power to correct that distortion, even if belatedly.

"Then, I'll take my leave."

I turned and left the shop.

* * *

......A mana shop with its lights out - 「Lorenzo Carione」.

Lorenzo sat in an old chair, deep in thought. The candleholder on the table flickered, painting his wrinkles red. Countless tools hanging on the wall wavered in the shadows.

Then, in that moment.

Jingle-

The locked shop door opened. A man walked in through the dark. An old friend of Lorenzo's. He leaned on the counter and looked at him.

Lorenzo asked,

"What is it this time?"

"......Listman is looking for you."

Lorenzo's expression hardened. Karl, eldest son of House Listman. Once Lorenzo's most promising student, then the traitor who stole his theory and ran.

That bastard must have been in his forties by now.

"......Me? After all this time?"

"Yeah. His results have been dry for a while now."

Lorenzo clenched his teeth.

"It won't take long. You know how strong Listman is these days."

"......Thanks for telling me."

"Are you going to run again?"

His friend swept his gaze around the interior.

"You set this shop up well. Better to join us and the cause-"

"Shh."

Lorenzo put a hand to his mouth.

"Don't say that to me, then go. I don't want to report you."

"......All right. Thanks. Stay safe."

The friend left with a bitter smile.

Jingle.

"......"

In the darkened shop, Lorenzo sank into deep thought.

Once, he had devoted his entire life to scholarship.

But what had he achieved? What had remained?

Only stolen honor and a crippled body that would never recover.

"Boss! Boss! Look at this!"

A bright little commotion broke out. Armand came rushing up from the basement, full of excitement. In his hand was a newly completed waterwheel.

"Just like that knight said, I rebuilt the frame and it's way sturdier! Mana efficiency got better too!"

"......"

Looking at the child's shining eyes, Lorenzo asked weakly,

"......Do you really have to make that?"

"Huh?"

Armand looked confused.

"Come on, you always say this, Boss. If you make just one really good thing, you can live well for life! Of course, this one might violate the law, so I'll hide it for a while!"

Lorenzo gave a bitter smile. Armand, excited again, ran back down to his workshop.

Even if it could never be sold, even if it could never be shown to the world, the pure kid was happy just to invent.

He looked exactly like Lorenzo as a child.

But if Listman found me, if I had to run again in the end.

I couldn't keep him with me.

Lorenzo suddenly looked at the old mirror in the corner of the shop. The face of an old, exhausted man who had wasted far too many years stared back.

Armand.

You must never end up like me.

Lorenzo slowly picked up the knight's business card from the table.

* * *

The weekend came.

Even knights rested on weekends. Since I had time off, I came to the Magic Tower to look around.

The Imperial Sentio Magic Tower.

As the name "Sentio" suggested, it was where the Empire trained top-level mages and researched magic.

I walked across the grounds.

The Magic Tower was attached to Imperial Central University, so it was essentially a campus. You often saw college students on the lawn, reading or chatting.

After going through a military academy packed with strict discipline and training, I had to admit I envied that scene.

Of course, knights could attend university too. Me included.

Some of my peers were probably already coming here to complete advanced curriculum on activated residue.

"Eeh? Max?"

Someone called my name then. It was a familiar face.

Ezel.

"What are you doing here, Max...... Ah~"

She thought it through on her own and reached a conclusion on her own.

I was dumbfounded.

"What do you mean, ah~."

"So you came to learn the advanced activated residue course too? You were really bad at that."

"No."

"Then?"

"I came to look around the Magic Tower. I was curious."

"......Don't tell me you came to see me?"

"Are you insane."

Ezel narrowed her eyes suspiciously. I raised my middle finger.

"Before I beat you up."

"......Pfft. I'll snap that finger."

"Since I'm here, show me around."

"Show you around what...... just follow me for now."

We went inside the Magic Tower. The first-floor lobby was laid out like a giant library.

To enter, you had to pass an identity verification gate.

Beep.

Ezel tagged something like a card.

"All right, come in. This is the Magic Tower Hall. Most people just call it the first-floor grand lobby. It looks like a library, but it's fine to talk. Everyone's good at concentrating......"

I looked at Ezel as she explained the Magic Tower. Her gestures and voice felt strangely familiar.

Was she eight, or was she nine? She looked like that little kid who got excited and showed me the garden she had tended herself.

"That person walking over there is a professor. He retired recently and moved to an honorary post, Professor Deslein."

There was a white-haired old man where Ezel pointed.

"And then......"

Thump-

My heart suddenly pounded. Without showing it, I turned to look. One person entered my view.

Pexy von Arzen.

The Izenheim I had strongly suspected was Jun Kandel's lover from Kerios Mansion, and the one I was certain was the Head-Eater.

Perfectly beautiful, she walked over, drawing the eyes of the mages on the first floor......

"Oh, Mage-nim?"

Ezel waved at her. Pexy smiled brightly and waved back.