WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 46

──────

A Knight Descending from the Sky

It was around that time. As my year zero as a knight moved into its middle stretch, I was assigned my first joint knight mission.

“Good to see you all.”

Yulian was in charge. The participants were Tiana, Leon, and me.

“The objective of this mission is assassination.”

Yulian continued in an even tone.

“The Imperial Intelligence Agency has identified plans and senior personnel from an armed group called Gentra.”

Gentra. A splinter faction of the Revolutionary Faction, but far more radical, focused only on crimes like looting, robbery, and raids.

“As you know, they have assassinated countless Imperial nobles, and three years ago they even attempted to kidnap a member of the imperial family.”

Their record said enough. They were so extreme that even the Revolutionary Faction kept its distance. They were closer to heretics than revolutionaries.

“The target is an officer named Emulen.”

The target was a mid-level Gentra officer. Four of us should have been enough, more than enough, really.

But we had failed back then. We had not grasped the enemy’s strength accurately.

There was one more bastard there.

That one extra man was the problem.

Even four of us could not handle him, and we barely survived thanks to Yulian.

“His current location has been identified as the Kanillan Independent State.”

The Kanillan Independent State was a union of island nations in the Kanillan archipelago. Its territory was small, and its population was a fraction of the Empire’s, but its technology could not be ignored.

“According to local intelligence, they plan to seize weapons in Kanillan. If those weapons fall into Gentra’s hands, the entire Empire will be within terrorist strike range. We must stop it.”

Back then, I had run away.

To be honest, even now, part of me still wanted to run.

I was still Maximilian. Regression did not erase fear. I just lived with the knowledge of an even greater fear called destruction.

“We will infiltrate first, disguised as mercenaries. The advance team is...”

Yulian looked at me.

“Max. Can you do it?”

This was a chance to change my past and temper myself. If I ran again, there would be no future. I would die a weak, pathetic coward.

“Yes.”

I had plenty of money-making work to do in Kanillan anyway. If I used this trip as cover, I could save time and kill two birds with one stone.

“Good.”

Yulian held out a document envelope.

“Finish your preparations and depart within the week. Once you arrive in Kanillan, secure a safehouse and meet the informant.”

“Yes, understood.”

I stood. Leon and Tiana looked puzzled that I had volunteered for the advance team without complaint.

“I’ll head out first.”

As I stepped outside, I called Dieter.

“Dieter. We need to prepare a few things. An ID to use in Kanillan and...”

I passed along the business details,

then went straight home and met Freya.

This time, it was an emergency lesson.

“...Triple fee.”

She looked like she had just woken up. Her hair was a complete mess.

“Yes. I’ll pay whatever it takes.”

She lifted an eyebrow and slowly looked me up and down.

“Maximilian, you have already fully mastered the First Form of Ebenholtz. Link is Ebenholtz’s base, foundation, and core, and at the same time one of the hardest sword forms in the world. What you need now is not a new form, but embodiment. You need to make it part of your body.”

She meant I should stop rushing and wait.

“I know. But I want to learn how to deal with fists.”

“...How to deal with fists?”

“Yes.”

Freya suddenly spread her hand wide like paper.

Her expression turned sour in an instant.

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...What?”

“Ah, damn.”

Freya failed to hold back her laughter.

“Pfft. Ah, I’m joking. But not completely. The truth is, scissors beats rock.”

“...”

I sighed and brushed my hair back.

“There is someone I absolutely want to kill.”

“If that is your reason, then I definitely can’t teach you.”

“...There is someone I want to overcome.”

I changed my wording. Freya leaned her back against a tree in the training yard and straightened up.

“What kind of fighting style was it? Show me.”

“It was like this... bang, bang!”

I thrust my arms out. Whoosh, whoosh. Whump, whump.

“...Roughly like that.”

“...”

“...”

“...Are you talking about brawling with neighborhood kids when you were thirteen?”

“No. It...”

I searched my memory. I had never seen fists like that before. True fist martial arts. His entire body was so hard that blades would not sink in.

“Dark red mana rose from his fists. His body hardened too.”

Freya snapped her fingers.

“Ah, Ironheart Style. Nasty. Very nasty. But if it is up against Ebenholtz...”

“Do I have the advantage in compatibility?”

“No. Ironheart Style gains a temporary advantage against almost every kind of swordsman. It forces a close-range fight, where swordsmen are uncomfortable. The moment you allow close contact, you lose. Fists are much faster than swords. But Ebenholtz is swordsmanship that does not let the opponent close in from the start.”

A noble’s sword. Link, blooming from a fixed stance, was elegant and arrogant, drawing an uncrossable line between me and the enemy.

“But if all you do is stop the approach, you still cannot decide the fight.”

“...Do I block and wait until his stamina drops?”

“No. Ebenholtz is not a style that drags a fight out. It decides things with a single draw. In that sense, you already have enough speed.”

Freya looked at my legs.

“That is why... what matters most for you now is tracking movement, so you can spot the opening where your speed can unfold.”

She pulled a small sword from inside her robe.

“And moving sword and body at the same time.”

She took one step forward, and just as the scabbard clicked.

Fwoooooosh!

She vanished like wind.

“Quick-Draw Sword Art.”

Her voice came from behind me. I turned. Freya stood wrapped in moonlight. A faint smile spread across her lips. For a moment, her bluish figure looked strangely mystical.

“But before class, a question. What did I just step on?”

“...What? The ground.”

“Wrong. No lesson until you get the answer right. Figure it out yourself.”

She yawned, sat against the base of the tree, and I sank into thought.

* * *

...Five days later.

After a long flight, I arrived at Kanillan Airport. I did not even have time to shake off the travel fatigue before grabbing a taxi.

“Take me to the Kanin Stock Exchange.”

I had somewhere to stop before meeting the informant.

“Yep.”

The driver glanced at me through the rearview mirror.

“Looks like you came from the Empire?”

The independent state used the Atin language, the Empire’s common tongue. Its culture and daily habits were also very similar to the Empire’s.

It made sense. The country had originally been founded by people who fled imperial oppression.

“Yes.”

“Haha. Thought so.”

Kanillan had no class system. It was easier to think of it as a corporate state, a place that pursued capitalism harder than any other nation. In fact, some islands in the Kanillan archipelago were run by giant corporations.

Even before regression, during the world war, they had insisted on strict neutrality. They did not join the war until the stupid Empire blockaded their waters over suspicions that Kanillan was supplying goods to the Western Alliance.

“You Imperial folks are tall and handsome, all right.”

Anyway, because of that, they did not hold much resentment toward Imperials. Compared to other eastern and western nations, they were almost welcoming.

Imperial tourists spent a lot of money, after all.

“We’re here.”

I paid three times the fare. It was absolutely because he said I was handsome.

People in Kanillan knew how to make money.

[ KANIN STOCK EXCHANGE KNSE ]

Kanin Stock Exchange. The exchange in the center of the capital. The more money, the better, and Kanillan was the easiest, fastest, and safest country for me to use the information I had.

“...This should do.”

I took out my notebook. On the plane, I had worked out concrete picks with virus.

· Solaris Energy: 300% growth in 1 year.

· Argentum Bio: 250% growth in 3 months.

· Ashton Dynamics: 300% growth within 3 months.

· Novatech: 400% growth within 2 months.

· ExonJake: 600% growth in 6 months.

Kanillan had been a good investment destination even before regression, and back then I often read financial papers. It was for survival. I had a feeling Sebestian would not leave me a single cent of inheritance.

I entered the exchange. Inside was chaos. Wall-sized price boards and terminal alarms blaring from every direction made my head spin.

“Hey! Hey! Don’t touch that!”

“Ah, this crap again. What the hell did these idiots do now?”

“Sir, please think one more time. If you just hold out today, definitely...”

“Here. I believe I have an appointment.”

I handed the front desk my prepared ID and documents. They politely guided me to the elevator.

“This way.”

The top floor of the exchange. A private reception room for their most important clients.

“Pleasure to meet you. I am Russell, Vice President of KNSE.”

A slick-looking man with his hair combed straight back greeted me. He offered tea first, but I handed him my notebook of company names and a check.

“This is the first amount I want invested.”

“...The first amount? That is a very large sum to start with. And your targets are already fully selected.”

“Then I’ll be going.”

I stood. The sudden pace clearly caught him off guard.

“Ah, you’re leaving already?”

“Yes. I have a busy schedule.”

Today was packed.

I headed straight to the rendezvous point.

Any seat at the assigned open-air cafe. Place a chicken sandwich, a glass of lemonade, and fries on the table. Fold the weekly paper three times so the ad on the very back is visible, then hold it and wait quietly.

Five minutes later.

“You are a little late.”

An informant in a newsboy cap sat across from me.

“I had another appointment.”

“Yes, understood.”

He set a map on the table.

“The location is here. A point on the southern side of Kallen Island.”

The spot was marked with a red circle.

“In one week, Escal Company’s weapons will be loaded in this sector.

Emulen and his lackeys will come to raid it, so that is when you should strike.”

The informant’s intel was critically wrong on one point. It was not just “Emulen and lackeys.” One of Gentra’s core agents was there, a monster named Dune Kan.

“Including Akarius, other mercenary groups hired by Escal Company will join as well. You knights will participate under the identity of the Embula Mercenary Corps.”

Dune Kan.

I quietly recalled him.

Ksssss.

Ironheart Style. A bastard who stained his fists and whole body dark red and gave off strange vapor. A monster no blade could pierce, not even scratch.

With nothing but his fists, he crushed every swordsman there.

Back then, I barely survived because of Yulian.

No, maybe I had already died then.

After him, I became afraid of battle, combat, and duels.

“Understood.”

I spoke to the informant.

“And one more thing. Arrange transport aircraft.”

As a knight, I would physically carry out the manual I planned to use in this operation.

This too was part of proving myself.

“...Transport aircraft?”

“Use this for expenses.”

I handed him a small pouch. Inside were high-purity mana stones.

“This is Kanillan. It should be easier to liquidate them.”

“Yes. I’ll arrange it. Next contact is in 36 hours, at the hamburger shop next door. Same method. I’ll take my leave.”

I watched the informant’s back as he walked away.

Could he be trusted?

He did not know about Dune Kan, but every piece of information besides that had been correct.

Stay suspicious, but do not let suspicion become blind distrust.

There were still many people in the Empire who could become my allies.

A few days later, my teammates entered the country one by one. I guided them to the safehouse I had secured in advance.

“This isn’t even a house... what is this, basically a high-end Imperial penthouse?”

The top floor of an extremely expensive residence in Kanillan. Tiana and Leon looked flustered, and Yulian questioned me with his eyes.

“I bought it under an alias a week ago. If anything, because it’s this expensive, security should be tighter.”

Everyone stared blankly.

“...True. No one would imagine someone would use a place like this for a few days and then toss it.”

Yulian muttered as if he could not believe it.

“I’ll begin the briefing.”

In the wide living room, I explained the operation.

“The informant proposed that we join the shipment escort as mercenaries, then counterattack when Gentra strikes first and take Emulen’s head, but.”

Gentra’s looting operation was intelligence that Imperial agents had dug out with difficulty. The company being targeted did not know about it, so port security manpower would be limited. It could not be too large anyway. In the end, our objective was not the weapons but the heads of Gentra agents.

“I propose a different method.”

Yulian tilted his head.

“Aerial insertion.”

“...Aerial insertion?”

“Yes. Air assault. In operations, we must always assume worst-case variables. So there is a chance that someone far stronger than Emulen appears.”

Which was why.

“We wait above and observe the situation, then when the incident begins, we use a high-altitude drop to strike the enemy’s core instantly.”

“What? Hey, are you insane?!”

“No, no, no. Max, wait. This trip here was literally my first time ever on a plane!”

Tiana and Leon immediately freaked out. I frowned.

“You call yourselves knights and you’re this weak?”

“Wow, look who’s talking. Doing something we have never done in our lives out of nowhere right now, you don’t think that’s the strange part?”

Tiana laughed in disbelief.

She had a point. Aerial insertion was definitely difficult. If you mishandled your body in the air, even a knight could die instantly.

Before regression, I had done it plenty of times, mostly to escape, and a week ago I had practiced twice on my own.

“Sir Knight Yulian.”

Yulian looked at me.

“I’ll do it alone if I have to.”

I needed a real field test for the manual. I had to produce results so Empire Point would trust it, and this method was also optimal for cutting down Dune Kan.

“Understood, Max.”

Yulian nodded and stood.

“Destination is the port on Kallen Island. On the ground, I’ll move with Tiana and Leon. In the air, Max, you monitor the situation.”

Yulian was an ideal superior. Even when a year-zero rookie proposed an operation he had never heard before, he judged its logic and trusted me like this.

“Yes.”

All I had to do was prove it.

“I’ll show you.”

Freya’s method for dealing with Ironheart Style was simple.

“A knight...”

Rock’s weakness was scissors.

A blade that could be faster than a fist, even for a single instant.

“...is strongest when descending from the sky.”

A downward Quick-Draw from midair.

With my sword, I would cut off his neck.

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