WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 52

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Head-Eater (2)

Jun Kandel used the media. He did not frame this as one person against another. He tied it to the pride of the Magic Tower as an institution. Because of that, the case grew large enough that even ordinary people were talking about it in taverns.

I did not sit idle either. Through Jemion Daily, I delivered my official position in writing.

[...This decision was an absolutely necessary procedure to root out a vicious criminal threatening the safety of the Empire. If my judgment was wrong, I will stake a knight's honor and bear full responsibility...]

Even after I made that statement, high-ranking knights from the top of the Order, including Adria, came to pressure me, but

"If I am wrong, I will step down from the Order."

I drove them all back with that one line.

Then I returned to my own work. I handled the activated residue paperwork that had piled up, and I nearly finished the Empire Point textbook explaining knight aerial descent.

Knock knock.

Then came a knock from a staff officer.

"Sir Knight. You have a visitor."

I nodded. The person he led inside was Ezel.

"Sit."

She took a chair and looked around the room.

"I think this office will get a sofa next year."

"Oh, really? I thought all knights worked in grand offices."

I gave a short laugh and set down my pen.

"Anyway, good timing. I wanted to ask you something too. She really cannot commit suicide, right?"

Izenheim were the kind who would gladly abandon individuals for the sake of the species.

If Pexy somehow killed herself in prison,

"Yeah. In theory, the moment she tries to harm herself, a brain-energy defense mechanism activates and forced mutation begins. Pexy's brain is basically a mini-chimera. Even if she wants to die, she cannot die however she wants. The real problem is poisoning."

"Poisoning?"

"There is a poison that coagulates blood and mana at the same time. The side effects of 「Chimera Brain」 happen when mana in the body surges out of control, but if poison is used, mana itself stagnates and... she might just die quietly. Prepare for that. Just in case."

"Right. I will remember that. Just in case."

Ezel watched me for a moment, then asked,

"Max, are you okay? Your name's all over the papers."

"...I should be asking whether you're okay."

Right now, she was effectively an informant inside the Magic Tower.

The most important witness who reported a fellow mage, and the only basis for all my judgments.

"If anything, this worked out great. At this rate, I might become a star mage right away."

"You become a star just because your name goes around in the press?"

"Figuring out the truth behind forbidden Chaos magic, analyzing that spellbook, identifying a suspect, and playing a decisive role in exposing a hidden threat inside the Tower? That is worth way more than a few boring papers. I might jump straight to sixth-rank~"

I looked at Ezel. Her faint gray-tinted hair swayed softly. At a glance it looked like ash, fragile enough to crumble at a touch.

"What are you planning to do after raising your standing like that?"

"...I have ambitions too. There are a lot of things I want to do."

House Runselot was a great house. A famous magical line as well.

But the path Ezel wanted to walk was revolution in the end. She was always thinking about it.

"Max, what about you?"

Ezel asked me. To me, it sounded like a question about the Empire.

The Empire was rotten to the core in the way its system sustained itself, but I still had to become its sharpest sword. I had already decided to do that to prevent destruction.

You and I were bound to walk different roads.

"I have ambitions too."

Revolution sought to defy heaven. Even that was only possible if the world itself survived.

"Mine are probably far bigger than yours, Ezel."

So I wanted the world to endure.

Ezel stared at me, then slowly stood up. As she turned to leave, she tossed out one line.

"Cool. You've changed a lot from before..."

It was very nice to hear.

* * *

In Kairon's secret office in the capital, Kairon was running an analysis session with his young subordinate knights as part of their training. He wanted to discuss major social issues and build political instincts in those young brats.

Seated at the head of the room, Kairon set down a stack of newspaper articles and said,

"Question. Why did Maximilian detain a Sentio mage using knight authority?"

A knight had detained a fifth-rank mage. Given the delicate relationship between the Magic Tower and the Order, it was an act with excessive risk.

"Say whatever comes to mind. Even if it sounds stupid, say it out loud."

"Hm... He probably knew she was Jun Kandel's lover. Or... did he really not know?"

A subordinate knight, Rawin, blurted out obvious nonsense. Kairon's brow creased.

"Too shallow. Think deeper."

"...To keep Jun Kandel in check?"

"One step deeper. No, two."

At this point, Maximilian had no reason to check Jun. Rival houses having bad blood was natural, but their fields and spheres were different.

"Then... maybe he already has hard evidence, a smoking gun, that the mage is the Head-Eater?"

"If that were true, handing it to trial would be easier. Detention authority is a card most knights might use once in ten years, or never in their whole career."

Even Kairon had used it only once in thirteen years. That was how massive the political burden was.

"Hmm..."

"Hm..."

"Khmm..."

The knights fell silent, and Kairon swallowed a sigh.

These were the Empire's elites. Weapons beyond ordinary humans, swords of the Empire, yet still spinning in circles in matters like this.

"Think deeper. From Maximilian's perspective."

It could not be helped. They were chicks in their early twenties, raised with pampering. On a battlefield, they could do their part well enough, and even now they showed above-average efficiency in routine work, but politics clearly demanded a different talent.

"Did Maximilian even think that deeply...?"

Some of them looked down on Maximilian just because they were a few years older. Kairon found it absurd.

Still, this incident made one thing certain to Kairon. Maximilian was a highly political man.

"Politics is nothing special. You read the other side's true intent, hide your own hand, and take what you can gain. Look at the case on a bigger scale."

No one reacted, so Kairon finally gave them a hint.

"Look."

He put a photo of Deputy Commander Anton on the desk. With the commander's term nearing its end, Anton was currently the strongest candidate for next commander.

The young knights sank back into thought. You could almost hear their gears turning.

Then one of them finally raised his hand.

"It is because of Deputy Commander Anton."

Raynel McQueen. One year senior to Maximilian at Empire Point.

"For exactly what?"

"To... inflict political damage on Deputy Commander Anton?"

Kairon grinned. He nodded in satisfaction and clapped once.

Clap!

"Right. You only get it after a hint."

This was what Kairon himself had settled on, after long deliberation with his strategists, as Maximilian's true intent.

"I will explain in detail. Listen carefully..."

Maximilian detained a mage from the Magic Tower. The reason did not matter. Even if the rumors were true and she really was the Head-Eater, the Tower's pride was already badly wounded.

But that anger would not focus only on Maximilian as an individual. The Magic Tower was not that kind of institution. They could not just grab Ebenholtz and vent. So the spark would inevitably jump to key posts in the Order.

The appointment of the Order commander was not decided only inside the Order.

It was solely the imperial family's authority, so the Magic Tower could still present its opinion to the imperial court. Because of that, the Tower would definitely move to check Anton.

"Heh..."

"That makes sense. If a knight pulled something like this, they would blame the higher-ups who failed to stop it!"

"S-so the intent really goes that far?"

The young knights looked genuinely impressed.

One side of Kairon's mouth twisted.

"Do you know how many times Anton's faction visited Maximilian by last night?"

Those Anton bastards were probably suffering right now. Because of Maximilian, their relationship with the Magic Tower was on the verge of breaking.

"But no one can crush Maximilian's use of this authority. Because he is Ebenholtz."

This was politics only possible because he was Ebenholtz. Maximilian was using his house's power very efficiently.

"What if relations with House Kandel break down?"

This idiotic question came from Zionne, who was one year senior to Maximilian.

"It is one woman either way. Do you think heirs of great houses are emotional like you? How many times do I have to tell you to respect your opponent?"

"Ah... yes."

"Every move Maximilian makes has grounding and deep implication. That is the Ebenholtz training method. This is why I always talk about birth. Politics is an inborn talent."

Kairon, at least in his own view, understood Max's real intention faster than anyone, and had already arranged a meeting with the Master of the Magic Tower.

He pointed at the conference room chalkboard. There was a list of next-generation commander candidates prepared in case Anton fell: Adria, Kairon, Yusef.

"Shouldn't we also consider Knight Yulian?"

Raynel asked a dumb question, but it was understandable. Yulian had just received huge praise from the imperial family for the Dune Kan Beheading Operation.

"Yulian is fine."

Kairon had not worried about Yulian for a long time. Yulian had squandered every bit of the massive reward the imperial family granted this time.

He had spent all of it on orphanages in the lower district.

But the use of imperial rewards was tracked, and they did not like knights who embraced the bottom too much. At minimum, they did not place those men in key posts.

"Yulian is the only friend a man from the bottom with ambition can have."

Someone trustworthy, someone worthy of respect. A man so much like a knight that he would fail to rise higher because of it.

That was why Kairon liked Yulian.

* * *

Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

Time passed. The media frenzy that had burned so fiercely slowly cooled, and I looked at the one locked in the Sentinel underground prison.

"......"

Pexy sat on the cold stone floor in mana restraints and stared at me. She looked worn down, yet somehow still pure. It was exactly the kind of face Jun Kandel had fallen for.

In other words, once that outer skin came off, Jun would discard her too.

"Why... are you doing this to me?"

Pexy asked in a frail voice.

"Because you are not an Imperial."

"...Do you think I am a subspecies?"

I turned a page of my book and answered indifferently.

"Anyone who is not a subspecies would not even dare think of using that magic."

Pexy smiled weakly.

"I did not use that Chaos magic."

"Then wait quietly."

I checked the date on my terminal.

"Only 23 days left."

"...I have a chronic condition. At this rate, I will die here."

Pexy coughed. Blood dripped from between her teeth.

"That is why I imprisoned you."

"Why?"

"Because you are an enemy of the Empire."

Pexy leaned against the bars and looked at me.

"Your certainty is strange. Is it that intuition knights are raised to have?"

"......"

Her question was vague.

This woman was trying to draw information out of me.

So I had to hide my own ability too.

"Pitiful man..."

Pexy stared at me with sorrowful eyes and gave a faint smile.

In the end, Izenheim always had to appeal to pity like this. Their greatest weapon was not the dimensional devourers they summoned before my regression. It was this, the exact same form as us.

"You must think you are part of this Empire's special ruling class. Because you are the heir of Ebenholtz. A special being with free will..."

Pexy kept up her nonsense.

"No. In this vast Empire, even you are only a slave of the Emperor in the end. A part that can be swapped out at any time, replaced at any time... nothing but a replaceable piece."

I closed my book.

"Yes. I willingly choose to be that piece. A knight is, by nature, the sword of the Empire."

I leaned forward and looked at Pexy through the bars. In my wide-open eyes, I held the Izenheim I would tear apart and kill.

"So listen carefully. I will find and kill subspecies like you. Not only you, but all your kin. I will hunt every one of them down, and by any means necessary, I will exterminate them from this continent."

Pexy's complexion wavered.

"...For what?"

Her wet eyes glistened. It was truly disgusting emotional manipulation. The problem was that people in the Revolutionary Faction often fell for this sort of act.

"For what... exactly..."

Pexy repeated breathlessly.

I laughed softly. I was always ready for that question.

"Only for the Empire."

* * *

......A knight is the sword of the Empire. Authority rightfully granted by the Emperor. So knights watch over the Empire. Yet they too are under the invisible supervision, surveillance, and checks of the imperial family, and much of every conversation and decision inside the Order is recorded and archived.

Even calling it recording was laughable. The entire Empire belonged to the Emperor by nature.

"Your Majesty. The underground prison records."

Deep at night, in the Most Holy Sanctum where the Emperor resided, where only a noble silhouette shimmered faintly beyond the curtains, a shadow-like retainer offered the conversation record to the Emperor.

The Emperor opened it. The sentences and voices from the record played at the same time.

[Maximilian: That is why I imprisoned you.]

[Pexy: Why?]

[Maximilian: Because you are an enemy of the Empire.]

Maximilian insisted she was an enemy of the Empire.

The Emperor traced the lines with a finger.

[Pexy: You must think you are part of this Empire's special ruling class. Because you are the heir of Ebenholtz. A special being with free will... But in this vast Empire, even you are only a slave of the Emperor.]

Words that were obvious, yet irreverent and insolent.

[Pexy: A part that can be swapped out at any time, replaced at any time, nothing but a replaceable piece.]

[Maximilian: Yes. I willingly choose to be that piece. A knight is, by nature, the sword of the Empire.]

The Emperor's time was precious. Yet he was spending that precious time on this very transcript.

[Maximilian: So listen carefully. I will find and kill subspecies like you. Not only you, but all your kin. I will hunt every one of them down, and by any means necessary, I will exterminate them from the continent.]

[Pexy: ......For what?]

For what.

To that question about the root of a knight, Maximilian answered like this.

[Maximilian: Only for the Empire.]

The Emperor's silhouette nodded quietly, as if it had been fully worth it.

...As expected, Sebestian's son.

From his youth, the Emperor had stood with Sebestian. In the blood-soaked war of succession, Sebestian, as the sword at his side, had cut down countless enemies, and after he took the throne, he became his most loyal shield.

...You have grown into a fine Imperial.

As befitted that man's son, he had grown this well.

The Emperor set the transcript down in satisfaction, and the retainer withdrew with his body prostrated.

Brain Chimera is the original forbidden spell. Chimera Brain is the bait wording Ezel used for the trap and its follow-up discussion.

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