WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 41

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The Logic of the Strong (4)

“From this point on, we will continue the retrial of defendant Giorgio Kirico.”

The trial resumed after recess.

The prosecutor looked like he had no intention of rebuttal, and the defense attorney rose first.

“I request that Valerius Listman, current head of House Listman and chairman of Listman Company, be called as a witness.”

All eyes turned to where the attorney pointed. The courtroom doors opened, and Valerius Listman entered.

He looked haggard. In just a few weeks, the glitter nobles usually carried had vanished, and despair sat heavily on his face.

He took the witness stand.

“Before witness questioning begins, I will show the submitted materials.”

The attorney presented, one by one, the evidence proving Lorenzo’s innocence.

“Witness, what do you think of this evidence?”

“......”

Valerius closed his eyes. He said nothing.

“Say it! You were the one behind all of it!”

Jerome suddenly shot to his feet and pointed at Valerius.

“Say it! Say it!”

He shouted for a long time before he was dragged out of the courtroom.

Money laundering was this dangerous. A lot more heads would roll from here on out.

You had to pay taxes, no matter what.

“Order. Please keep order.”

After settling the disturbance, the judge looked at Lorenzo in the defendant’s seat.

For now, Listman was a witness, but if this retrial overturned the old ruling, his status would change to criminal.

“Defendant Giorgio Kirico, do you have anything to say to the witness?”

At the judge’s question, Lorenzo nodded politely. Leaning on his cane, he rose slowly.

“Your Honor.”

Looking at Valerius in the witness stand, he continued in a low voice.

“Giorgio Kirico already died long ago. He died the day he was betrayed not only by his disciple, but by the Magic Tower and colleagues he had devoted his entire life to.”

Those present as witnesses lowered their heads. Lorenzo looked over each of them.

“......Only now do you tell me the truth. Of course, I do not know whether that sincerity is real, but even so, thank you.”

Lorenzo wore a bitter smile.

“Maybe the Giorgio Kirico of the past was arrogant. Maybe he was conceited about his talent. Maybe he said words that hurt his disciple. But never, not once, did he envy his disciple, resent him, or try to steal his achievements.”

Valerius’s shoulders suddenly trembled.

“......Valen.”

Lorenzo called his former disciple by his old name.

In the Magic Tower, where status was not spoken aloud even formally, everyone was called by name or nickname.

“I thought maybe my harsh words had hurt you. But.”

From one side of the courtroom, I watched the two of them.

“Not once did I ever think your talent was lacking.”

This was the story of two scholars, and I did not know all its details.

“I only wished you would spend more time in a dark laboratory than in dazzling party halls. I wished you would wear your research robe more than expensive suits.”

“......”

Valerius’s gaze dropped.

“I truly believed you could become a better scholar than me. That was why I took you as my disciple, and why I entrusted my theory to you.”

His face sank. The head of a noble house bowed his head.

“......That is all I wanted to say to the witness.”

Now it was Valerius’s turn.

“Witness, do you have any final statement?”

I looked at Valerius.

“......I.”

His voice sounded like his vocal cords had been scraped raw. His cracked lips trembled.

“I.”

As if coughing up blood, as if vomiting up his guts.

“I stole your theory.”

He said only that one line.

Silence swallowed the entire courtroom.

Valerius lowered his head like a sinner, and Lorenzo closed his eyes.

I quietly stood up and left the court.

There was still more of the trial to go, but with that confession, the retrial was effectively decided.

“Where are you going?”

I was about to return to the Order when someone grabbed me.

It was Ezel.

Sharp as ever. I had disguised myself sloppily on purpose, but still.

“We keep running into each other lately.”

“Seriously. Here.”

Ezel tore a page from her notebook and handed it to me.

[......The logic of the strong is, in the end, the logic of power. The strong suppress the weak.

Because they are strong, they can oppress the weak.

But that logic cannot be applied selectively. If someone, as the strong, has swallowed the weak, then they must also accept that a stronger one can crush them too.

If they cannot, then that is not logic, only sophistry......]

“What’s this?”

“Hehe. I’m a reporter for the Tower paper, remember? I’m putting this case in it.”

Ezel took off her glasses. The dark circles under her eyes were still deep. I almost wondered if her dream was to become a panda, but she really did have too much to do.

“You knew about Giorgio too?”

“The Giorgio Kirico and mana coil story was pretty famous in its own way. Max, you did a good thing.”

For some reason, the words good thing felt pointlessly heavy.

“I just did my job.”

“Still, surprising. You forgave him.”

“You never know. Maybe it was like, ‘Haha, got you. This was all a sympathy trick to bait your confession~’”

“......”

Ezel narrowed her eyes. I cleared my throat.

“Can’t even joke?”

In this bleak world, humor was mandatory.

Anyway, Lorenzo would drop the civil suit over the mana coil and open that patent for free. The technology was already past its prime, and its royalty term did not have much time left anyway, but it was still a decision close to sainthood.

“And Max, I found evidence.”

At Ezel’s words, my eyes sharpened.

“Pexy?”

“Yeah. At least evidence she’s connected... Look.”

She handed me a document.

“Magic leaves a unique trace, like a fingerprint. We call that residue. To really understand residue, you need to start with what magic is, but skipping that, see this mark here?”

At the first murder scene, in the alley, there was a mark like a tire track.

“Why would there be a tire mark in an alley?”

“Magic residue?”

“Right. Once this appears, it’s hard to erase. Looks like the killer had no time during the first murder. That confirms the culprit is a mage. And I once saw Mage Pexy-nim’s magic from a distance.”

“The residue looked similar?”

“Yeah. Not certain, though. But more than that, why did this Head-Eater specifically cut off people’s heads? Did they really eat them?”

“Who knows......”

Looking back, I had never thought much about the Head-Eater’s motive. I just assumed, it was Izenheim, so of course they killed.

But Izenheim were the kind who focused on hiding what they were.

The type who would sacrifice individuals if it served their kind and their purpose.

So why commit something as obvious as serial murder?

“......Ezel.”

Then a hypothesis hit me.

“Is there any magic that can only be maintained by eating people?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I mean, like conditions needed to keep a spell active, cannibalism or something like that.”

“Come on, what are you...”

Ezel’s expression suddenly froze. Her eyes spun as if she were searching through her own mind, then clap.

She gave one small clap.

“......I’ve seen one. Chaos magic. The condition is insanely hard, like one in tens of thousands, but.”

“What is it?”

“Wait, I need to go first!”

“No, what is it?”

“I’ll call you when I find out!”

“Tell me before you find out, before I beat you up.”

“Max, you’ve got instinct! You’ve got talent! Keep digging!”

Chattering away, Ezel ran off. I watched her swift figure disappear and gave a bitter smile.

“......Unbelievable.”

* * *

Deputy Chief of Staff Jens stood in his office, lost in thought as he looked at the golden apple by the window.

Sparkle, sparkle. It reflected the sunlight and looked delicious.

But fruit like this would upset your stomach if you ate it the moment you wanted it. You had to let it ripen as much as possible, then eat it at its best, when it was healthiest.

Knock knock.

The secretary opened the door.

“Oh ho, you’re here.”

His guest, Major Kai Han, snapped a salute with rigid posture.

“Sit.”

“Yes, sir.”

He sat across from Jens.

“Heard the news?”

Lieutenant Lorenz Tillman, whom Major Han had requested, was promoted to captain in this personnel round and became commander of From Company in the Mage Corps. It was a solid post in a good unit.

“Of course. And this is... a small token of our sincerity.”

Major Han handed over a small box. Jens opened the lid right in front of him, as if to show he had nothing to hide. From the outside it looked like a luxury fountain pen, but in truth the entire thing was carved from top-grade mana stone.

Mana stone was even easier to liquidate than gold. Any Magic Tower in the world, and any mage, would buy it almost without limit, and once used, it vanished.

“Haha. Well now. That’s considerate of you. Ah, and also.”

Smiling with satisfaction, Jens took something out of a drawer. A thick notebook running several hundred pages, almost like a specialist reference book.

“Take it. This is my return gift.”

“......Pardon?”

Major Han looked confused.

“Take it.”

In Jens’s assessment, Kai Han was a talented commoner. But commoners could not rise high. It was not only a status problem. They did not know the complexity and subtle nuances of noble society, and because they did not know, they were blind to relationships.

“This is my notebook. I organized the names and relationships among military officers.”

Still, that was exactly why Kai Han had caught Maximilian’s eye.

An honest, diligent, upright commoner who would never betray him. If properly taught, he was useful enough to serve as hands and feet inside the Imperial Guard, yet if things went wrong, he could be discarded at any time with no real loss, just an ordinary soldier.

“Major Han. The Empire’s military is broadly divided into three. Do you know them?”

“Yes, sir. The regular army, the Imperial Guard, and the Royal Guard.”

The regular army was the Empire’s orthodoxy and tradition. The Imperial Guard was a newer group directly empowered and cultivated by the current Emperor. The Royal Guard was the shadow that had protected the imperial family for generations.

“And the Order is an independent institution that watches all of them.”

“You know well. But war is coming soon. Big or small, internal or external. And right now, you do not even know what train you have boarded. You are only groping around vaguely. I understand. You were not taught, that’s all.”

Jens tapped his notebook. Major Han stared at it silently.

“Start learning now. But you cannot stay foolish any longer. To survive, you have to bow. To climb higher, you stand up and grab a line. But the real part starts the moment you grab it.”

The illustrious Ebenholtz name. A chance far too great for a commoner to hold.

“Commoners do not get second chances. It is always a tightrope. The better the line, the higher it is, and the higher you are, the deadlier the fall. And the line lowered to you...”

Jens’s gaze settled coldly.

“In this Empire, no, on this continent, it may be the line closest to the sky.”

Major Han nodded with a stiff face.

“Memorize the notebook, all of it. Not one word missing. There will be names of people already discharged or dead, and you will memorize all those relationships too.

Classes can begin only after you memorize everything.”

“Yes, sir. Understood.”

He tucked the dictionary-thick notebook under his arm. He stood to leave, then paused, turned back, and saluted Jens again.

“Loyalty. I apologize.”

“......I understand. I steered it that way myself.”

Jens smiled without realizing it. Of course, Han must have thought he was a stupid old man, or a greedy one. He did not need to apologize even for thoughts like that.

“Go on.”

“Yes, sir.”

After Major Han left, the office was empty.

“Maximilian......”

Jens thought about Maximilian Ebenholtz.

The man had already figured him out.

If Jens took Han’s gift and showed no reaction, he was just another mediocre general, not worth watching. He would be treated as a mere scarecrow.

If he reacted, then he was someone worth talking with, worth continuing the deal.

But none of that was told to Major Han.

Major Han had understood Maximilian’s intent as a simple favor request until he actually gave the gift, but in reality it had been a high-level probe by Maximilian to test Jens’s own intentions.

A commander passes orders down while leaving out the most important part.

That way, subordinates walk into hell without any doubt.

“......So he’s showing his claws.”

What did the military say about Maximilian?

Very strict, cold, and ruthless.

During the Kailus purge, he had personally beheaded an imperial soldier.

The official reason was breach of discipline, but people around him testified that in the end it was because the soldier spilled wine on his knight uniform.

But even that was probably not true.

Maximilian hid his real intent while also shaping fear of himself into an image.

“He can kill a single soldier like a dog or a pig and still...”

The Maximilian Jens saw with his own eyes was sharp. Jens had shown up without warning, yet Maximilian was not flustered. He treated him like he had expected it.

He even seemed a little pleased. Jens had come to him in person, which meant he could observe the military more closely.

And that same Maximilian had been judged weak back in his cadet days.

“That must have been deception all along.”

If you acted naive, it was easier to read what others truly held inside. Even nobles who would never show themselves before a great house like Ebenholtz would easily reveal their true thoughts to a child who looked soft.

“......Ha.”

A dry laugh slipped out.

“The center is already bursting with just one monster.”

Now the grown cub of a monster had started aiming for the empty seat.

He felt a very strong urge to retire, but his nose was already halfway ringed.

Thankfully, this was not all bad.

Kai Han was smart. He was a soldier wasted by being a commoner. So if Jens raised him well and set him on track, maybe he could retire with more old-age funds than everything he had made so far.

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