The Reluctant Imperialist - Chapter 32

WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 32

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If You Ask About the Empire's Future (3)

Night had fallen. I borrowed an empty office at Empire Point and worked through my backlog.

There were quite a few documents waiting for approval. I had given Dieter full authority over company business, but my public duties as a knight still had to go through my review.

[Grand Jury Notice]

[Objection to Non-Referral Decision]

[Investigation Report Records......]

Every kind of case landed on a knight's desk. Many had already gone to trial, or had already been closed by the police. Each imperial knight was an independent authority that kept prosecutors, judges, and police in check.

"......Haa."

Once I had handled almost everything, I brushed my hair back and stood.

Right then, visitors came in.

"Max, are you sleeping here again tonight?"

It was Leon.

"No. I'm heading out soon."

Tiana appeared beside him.

"At this hour? Just stay the night. Here, take this."

She held out a bag of food.

"It's been a while, right? Perfect time for a late-night snack."

Inside were instant frozen soup and noodles. Just add hot water and stir, the old cadet-era favorite. I took it.

The two of them sat on the sofa.

"Wow. That's a lot of paperwork."

Leon stared at my desk in amazement. Tiana smirked.

"Knight Max causes way too many incidents. Handle one case and you get dozens of pages with it."

She was absolutely right. I ate the hot noodles with wooden chopsticks.

It was good.

A taste I had missed.

"This brings back memories. Just a year ago, this place felt like home."

At Leon's words, Tiana gave a short laugh.

"Back then, I was always number one."

I used to hate that smug side of her. It came from a pathetic inferiority complex.

Now I could admit it.

Tiana was genuinely gifted. Before my regression, she never got the chance to fully bloom, but she was probably on Edmund's level, maybe even above it.

"But what about now?"

Leon asked, teasing her.

"Ugh, exactly. Once I actually became a knight, I lost that edge. Maybe there's a limit no matter how hard I work."

Tiana said that and looked at me. I shrugged.

"If your ability is enough, there is no limit."

"......Maybe for you."

There was real bitterness in her sarcasm, and I just laughed it off. Tiana was fine. Leon too.

They might dislike me or find me unpleasant, but I was still glad to see them. People who still called me Max let me sink into old memories, if only for a moment.

That much indulgence-

"Huh? The elite division cadets are coming back."

Leon pointed out the window. I went over and stood beside him. Tiana smirked at the cadets covered in mud.

"Ah, looks like they rolled in mana mud. That one is brutal."

Mud infused with mana. It formed naturally in certain regions, but the military also developed it as a trap. Deliberately made mana mud was far deadlier than most bombs or booby traps.

One bad step and your whole body got sucked in, then you suffocated.

"......"

Among the returning elite cadets, I spotted one person.

Hanna Usar. Her small lips moved as she muttered, ack, ack, while she grabbed muddy clumps from her blond hair and yanked them out. It looked like she was hand-washing laundry.

"......Oh, right. Max, I keep hearing your name these days, about activated residue."

Tiana's sudden comment made me tilt my head.

"You keep hearing about me?"

"Yeah. The police keep saying your analysis accuracy is insane. Are you studying somewhere on the side?"

"No. It's just that my eyes opened lately."

"......Ah. So they were closed before."

I gave a small laugh.

Riiing-

A call came in on my terminal.

“Knight Maximilian, this is Detective Izent. I handled the Jeremy Keshun murder case.”

"Go ahead."

“Yes, well...... just like you said, an Imperial Guard vehicle went through the scene during the incident window. The guard was Lorenz Tillman. What should we do?”

"Tell him to come to my office tomorrow morning."

An Imperial Guard member who used to be a mage killed an unaffiliated mage, and the victim happened to be Izenheim.

I was very curious how that came about.

“Ah, and one more thing. The Imperial Guard are all very, well, rigid. You know?”

"Yes. You can use my name."

“Yes, thank you. Loyalty.”

Click. The call ended.

I spoke to my two classmates, both looking at me with shining eyes.

"I'm heading out now. Good work."

"You really are leaving."

I was glad to see them, even briefly, but I did not have much time to spare.

"Thanks. I'll eat this on the way."

I gripped the cup noodles and walked straight outside.

* * *

Many factions lurked inside the Imperial Guard. The biggest one right now was the line tied to Grand Noble Jun Kandel and Guard Commander Goebel, but smaller powers were scattered everywhere too. The Imperial Guard also had a high proportion of commoners and career soldiers, so conflict with nobles and Empire Point graduates was frequent.

"......A summons has come from Knight Maximilian."

Amid all that, there had also been a recent disturbance. Major Rodriguez, once considered promising, had his head cut off.

The cause was simple. Rodriguez filed a complaint against Maximilian of Ebenholtz.

It was idiotic. Someone born a commoner would not even dare imagine that, but rural nobles were sometimes shockingly detached from reality.

"Respond to it first."

Imperial Guard Major Kai Han was commoner-born. He had failed out of Empire Point, entered the Imperial Guard, then gathered members like himself with no connections or background and built a small faction.

It was not some grand ambition to seize a top seat in the Guard. They had simply banded together so none of them would die a pointless, unjust dog's death.

"Yes. Sorry, Major-nim."

Lorenz Tillman lowered his head. Once a mage affiliated with a Magic Tower, he was expelled after taking the blame for his professor's crime. He was now the culprit in this mage murder case.

"No. I understand. You had no choice either."

"......Thank you. Then I'll go."

As always, Lorenz saluted and got into the car.

Major Han watched him leave and sighed.

The current Maximilian was not someone they could handle. Since the Rodriguez incident, Imperial Guard members either feared Maximilian or avoided him.

If Lorenz could at least keep his life, that alone would be fortunate......

Most nobles like Maximilian hated the Imperial Guard. It was probably close to disgust.

"Jensen. Prepare the car."

"Sir? Why all of a sudden-"

"He followed me in trust. I should at least try."

Major Han decided he would not send his subordinate off this helplessly.

* * *

Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

Sentinel interrogation room.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

The sound of the clock was irritating. The quieter the room, the louder it felt.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

Did an interrogation room really need a clock?

I stepped onto the chair to take it down.

Knock, knock.

"Ah."

I quickly climbed down and sat back in place. The door opened, and a young Imperial Guard member walked in.

"Loyalty. Lieutenant Lorenz Tillman."

I motioned to the seat across from me.

"Please sit."

"......Yes."

Given name Lorenz. Surname Tillman. Commoner. Height 181 cm. Foot size 290 mm.

Former Magic Tower mage. Every trait matched the suspect I saw through residue.

"Sir Knight. Why did you summon me......"

He asked why he was called, but his tense face had already given him away.

"You already know, don't you."

I slid over the Jeremy Keshun murder case file. Lorenz's expression wavered.

"......"

He stayed silent. He looked like he was thinking hard.

Too bad. I did not have time to wait for excuses.

"I'll tell you now. I hate lies."

I already knew, so there was no reason to waste each other's time.

Lorenz understood and clenched his teeth. His jaw muscles twitched. Then, as if he had made up his mind, he let out words like a sigh.

"......Yes. I killed him."

"Why?"

"I borrowed money."

My brow furrowed.

Killing someone because you do not want to repay debt. Filthy and familiar, a favorite Imperial Guard script.

"Why did you borrow money?"

"It was for my mother's hospital bills."

"Did you kill him because you did not want to pay it back?"

"......"

Lorenz stopped again. I fixed my gaze on him.

"Consider this a warning. While I'm still going easy on you, do not sit there thinking. Speak."

This stop-and-go conversation was getting on my nerves.

"......Sorry. Jeremy Keshun was my senior when I was in Novus Magic Tower, and that's when I borrowed for hospital expenses-"

"How much?"

"Three hundred thousand dollars."

That was a lot.

"Anyway, I borrowed from the Magic Tower and kept paying, but the interest was too high. Even my Imperial Guard salary was not enough. When I complained, he demanded internal Imperial Guard information instead."

I watched Lorenz closely as he spoke.

"At first he wanted lists of low-ranking guards, then at some point he started demanding deeper information......"

Was this man lying? It did not seem that way.

More importantly, if it was Izenheim, this was exactly the kind of demand they would make.

I was not trusting an Imperial Guard member. I was distrusting Izenheim.

"When I said I would pay interest in money, he started threatening me. He said he would report that information to the Imperial Guard exactly as it was. He also forced me to wear my Imperial Guard uniform every time I came to meet him."

"So he could flaunt that you were in his grip and pin your weakness down."

"......Yes. And that night, Jeremy Keshun threatened me again, said I had to bring Imperial Guard classified documents. He even used my mother against me. I lost my temper."

And because of that, he killed an Izenheim.

"Good, Mr. Lorenz. Confession accepted. Now write it down. I will not cuff you."

I held out a statement form.

"......Understood."

Scratch. Scratch.

As I watched him write his confession by hand, I asked:

"Mr. Lorenz. Which line in the Imperial Guard are you tied to?"

"A line...... I have nothing you'd call that. I'm just an ordinary member."

Even Ebenholtz had no clear read on the Imperial Guard's internal power structure and factional conflicts. If Ebenholtz had a weakness, this was one of them.

Sebestian was a noble to the bone and dismissed the Imperial Guard itself. The lower instincts and undercurrents beneath it interested him even less.

"......"

I looked at Lorenz.

I needed people. Not just in the knight orders.

I needed my people inside that troublesome group too, the Imperial Guard.

Knock, knock.

Right then, a staff officer knocked. He stepped inside and whispered:

“Mr. Lorenz's superior is here. Major Kai Han.”

Kai Han. I rolled the name over in my mind, then nodded. Lorenz looked at me anxiously.

"Your superior has come. Major Kai Han."

It was a familiar name.

More than familiar, really.

Before my regression, I had once fought beside him on the battlefield.

He was a good soldier. He fulfilled his duties, had no interest in pointless slaughter or looting, and stayed focused on his military role instead of chasing side gains. One of the rare Imperial Guard members like that.

"No. Major Han has absolutely nothing to do with this. This was my personal crime!"

A much stronger reaction than before. Major Han seemed to command trust equal to his character.

Snap.

I flicked my fingers. At the signal, the staff officer brought in the autopsy report.

"First. For this murder, what punishment are you expecting?"

Lorenz would probably face a formal trial. He had no connections, so unless someone stepped in, he would almost certainly be convicted.

"I will offer my head. Just please understand that Major Han truly had nothing to do with it."

"......Your head?"

I frowned, leaned back in my chair, and let out a dry laugh.

"Is my image inside the Imperial Guard really that savage? Well, if it is, that would be because of Rodriguez."

Tap, tap. I drummed my fingers on Lorenz's desk as he sat with his head lowered.

"Raise your head."

He looked up. I stared into his eyes.

"Listen carefully. Major Rodriguez was a sewer rat from the countryside. He threatened subjects, fabricated crimes, and tried to strip them of their property, a noble unworthy of the name. You know it too, Mr. Lorenz. You must have suffered similar injustice."

For commoners, that kind of hardship was routine. If you did not flatter and fawn as hard as you could, and sometimes even if you did, one stroke of bad luck was enough for it to happen to you.

I handed him the autopsy report.

"To get to the point, the deceased was Izenheim."

Not victim. Deceased.

The report said "estimated subspecies," but I deliberately specified it as Izenheim.

"The worst species among the subspecies. I plan to write a book about them someday."

I meant it. One day, I would draw a clear line between them and every other race.

"Mr. Lorenz was blackmailed and extorted for information by the deceased for a long time. Of course, if that truth comes out, it will hurt you too. In the end, it is no different from selling Imperial Guard internal secrets."

Not just being torn apart. He might truly have to hand over his neck. The Imperial Guard was that kind of group.

"But."

This was the important part.

"I can bury all of it. No disadvantage will touch you or your superior."

Lorenz's expression shook. A trembling breath slipped through his teeth.

Since the moment he stepped into this room, he had been dragged along by me. For the first time, he asked a question on his own.

"......What do you want?"

Exactly what I wanted to hear.

I almost smiled.

"Simple. I need internal Imperial Guard information and power blocs. Not to sell them and satisfy private greed like that subspecies did."

I pressed my finger down on the desk.

"Only for the peace of the Empire......"