WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 58

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Scarcity (2)

[Magi Studies Journal: New Release - 「Spherical Aura Guard」, Presenting a New Paradigm for Knight Spellcraft]

「Spherical Aura Guard」 was officially published. Magi scholars praised it as "a new way to use Protective Aura," but the Empire's knights were lukewarm. They had always been a conservative group when it came to change.

Still, a few people showed interest when they heard the author was Maximilian.

Some assumed he was just a highborn brat pretending to be important and wanted to tear him down, others were simply curious, and Sentinel knight Kairon wanted to find common ground with Maximilian...

"40,000 dollars."

The price was far higher than expected. Even the identity verification process was unnecessarily strict.

"...40,000?"

"Yes."

Kairon held back a sigh.

Maybe this was where a person's character showed. The delusion that every formula you design is lofty, special, and extraordinary.

Still, it could not be helped. Ebenholtz had the standing to do this, and maybe no choice but to.

Kairon decided to exploit that opening instead.

Even if this so-called Spherical Aura Guard failed, mastering it and praising it, even with empty words, would still be politics. It could strengthen his ties with Ebenholtz.

"No knight discount?"

"With the 20% discount, it is 40,000."

"Tch."

Kairon bought the formula book and returned to his mansion.

He sat in his study and opened it, only to find that it was even protected by mana security.

"What the..."

It was absurd, but he injected mana and unlocked it first.

[To fully use this formula, a mana stone with purity above 96% is required.]

Page one was already demanding a high-purity mana stone. A 96% stone usually cost around 200,000 to 300,000, which meant this was already a 240,000-dollar formula at minimum.

Kairon let out a dry laugh and turned the page.

---

1. Introduction

Mana is both a powerful force granted to humanity and a difficult tool to handle...

Imperial knights use Aura Guard wrapped around their bodies through long training and study, and this has made them masters of the battlefield. However, on the battlefields we will inevitably face in the future, current Aura Guard alone will not be enough to block the overwhelming firepower to come.

(omitted)

---

Kairon was a knight obsessed with self-improvement. He always poured his spare time into bettering himself, whether in politics, training, reading, or anything else.

Among those things, he was especially gifted at handling mana, in other words, the formulaic side.

In fact, this was a common trait of newly rich houses. Their swordsmanship lacked the depth built over generations, so they had no choice but to compensate with "mana," where knowledge was widely available.

That type was called a "spell-type knight."

In any case, even among knights, Kairon was a true specialist who took formulas very seriously.

"...?"

At first, he read casually, but at some point, he found himself fully focused.

Kairon devoured the mana formulas in 「Spherical Aura Guard」. Its excellence did not rise to the level of piercing mana's deepest principles and shaking the roots of natural law... but that was beside the point. At a glance, it looked like an impossibly dense pile of complex circuits, yet it was actually a formula built on elegant principles.

Countless mana formulas were combined cleanly and beautifully. It felt like art, as though someone had carved circuits with a chisel.

Thunk.

Kairon suddenly closed the formula book. He was still far from finishing it, but he immediately went out.

He got in the car, drove through streets that had already fallen into evening, and arrived at a mana formula shop.

"What? Sold out?"

"Yes."

It was already gone.

"Who bought them?"

"...Pardon? Knights bought them all."

"When is the restock?"

"Uh... I heard it is undecided for now."

"What kind of answer is that?!"

Kairon shouted before he realized it.

"Th-the quantity is directly controlled by the original author, Sir Knight..."

"..."

If it was Maximilian's decision, there was nothing to argue about.

"When stock comes in, contact me here immediately."

"Ah, yes."

Kairon left his terminal number and returned to his mansion.

He sat in his chair and stared at the formula book.

"Spherical Aura Guard..."

He could clearly feel the practical value of the theory inside. It would be powerful not only on the battlefield but also in one-on-one combat, where it could secure a major advantage.

Kairon sensed a new trend.

Spherical Aura Guard would definitely catch on. Not just among knights, but among mages too, who were always anxious about their own safety.

Kairon arrived outside Maximilian's office. He leaned against the wall for a moment and thought through what to say.

Max.

No. Calling him Max out of nowhere would probably put him off.

Maximilian... no, would it be all right if I called you Max?

Soften it like that.

I heard a theory book called 「Spherical Aura Guard」 was released. I've been reading and learning from it as well. It is excellent.

Would Maximilian appreciate praise?

But there is one problem.

If he asked, What problem?

It has already sold out. The other knights in the Order will surely want to learn it too. If possible... could I buy a few more copies?

Kairon was not alone. He led a faction. He knew his background lacked pedigree, so he had to take even better care of his subordinates.

"Good."

He nodded and finally opened Maximilian's office door.

"Max...?"

It was empty.

"Oh, right."

Maximilian's office had been moved to the third floor.

A kind of promotion.

"...Ha."

Kairon let out a hollow laugh.

Look at me. No reason to be nervous, and I still got nervous.

No matter that he was Ebenholtz, Maximilian was still a twenty-one-year-old knight. There was no need to treat him like a superior. Their gap in seniority as knights was thirteen years.

"Hahahaha."

He forced out a relaxed laugh and climbed the stairs again.

* * *

After the Head-Eater incident, my office was upgraded.

At the entrance was a workspace where two staff officers handled practical work, and further in, down an inner hallway, was my private office. It was smaller than the senior knights' offices, but still exactly what came to mind when you heard "knight office."

I liked it quite a bit.

"Hm. About Spherical Aura Guard?"

Kairon was the first guest in my new office. He came because of 「Spherical Aura Guard」, which had been released this week.

"I heard only ten copies even reached the bookstores."

"Yes. I released only that many on purpose."

The plan was to build buzz first, then adjust supply based on demand.

"Right. It was a formula worth that."

"Thank you."

"So, about that... there is a problem."

I gave a small smile. Kairon was quick to understand things in many ways.

"Do you need a few more formula books, by any chance?"

"...Is that possible?"

"Tell me how many first."

Kairon seemed to mentally count his subordinates for a moment.

He probably had many mouths to feed. Even fifteen people would mean 600,000 dollars. My sense of money was a little broken now, but 600,000 dollars was still about Kairon's annual salary.

Of course, if you included bonuses and everything else, it would be more.

"For now, ten copies should be enough."

"Yes. I can provide about ten. Come back in about two weeks."

Kairon's leg bounced lightly under the chair.

"Thank you. Ahem. If you ever need anything later, anytime-"

"By the way, did you buy high-purity mana stones?"

"No. Not yet. Is there a specific mana stone brand?"

"No. As long as purity is above 96%, any brand is fine."

I took out my personal mana stone from inside my coat.

A palm-sized cube of top-purity mana stone with Mana Carving engraved by Lorenzo himself. At 99% purity, it emitted blue light on its own.

"This is the personal mana stone I use."

"..."

Kairon's face went blank as he stared at it.

"Th-this is a mana stone?"

"Yes. It has Mana Carving engraved to amplify 「Spherical Aura Guard」. Top purity, truly high-end."

"Beautiful. How much would it cost?"

"For something at this level, probably around 4 to 5 million."

"4 million...?"

"Yes. It is rare enough that you might only see two or three in a year. Even the premium grade just below this would be 2 million dollars."

He stared at my mana stone cube with shining eyes. His pupils seemed tinged blue, and his cheeks were flushed.

"Then I'll have a staff officer deliver the ten books in two weeks."

I put the cube away. Kairon looked disappointed.

"As for mana stones, ask me later. I run a workshop."

If the usefulness of 「Spherical Aura Guard」 was proven, even premium mana stones at 1 to 2 million each would sell easily. Noble knights had money.

Sell to just one hundred people, and that was 100 to 200 million dollars. Not a bad business.

"No. Rather than asking later, I want to reserve one right now."

Kairon pulled a checkbook from his inner pocket and quickly wrote out 2 million dollars.

"Premium."

As expected, he was a big spender.

* * *

Just as I expected, reactions to 「Spherical Aura Guard」 started coming in before even two weeks had passed. The theory book itself had been in shortage for a while now, and these days word was spreading that knights across the Empire were actively searching for copies.

"Max. Escort mission."

Yulian came by and brought a new assignment.

Escort work was not exactly my specialty, but still.

"It's already that season."

"Right."

There was one event in the Empire that was both the most famous and the most pointless among nobles.

Its name was Crossing the Forest.

It was an imperial event where participants crossed Ertion Forest, which the royal founder was said to have crossed barehanded at the Empire's founding. In practice, it was a loyalty test for nobles. In the old days, emperors had nobles they disliked assassinated in that forest.

Now things were much more relaxed, so that no longer happened, and it had long since devolved into a marathon-like social event for imperial nobles.

"You'll probably learn your escort target in the forest."

"Yes. Understood."

To me, it was frustrating. Even while the Empire was declining, they still could not give up events like this.

That was why they would fall.

"Then I'll see you there."

"...Ah, Sir Yulian."

I took a copy of the theory book 「Spherical Aura Guard」 from the drawer.

"A gift."

I had prepared it in advance for Yulian. His eyes widened.

"Spherical Aura Guard... I heard people saying it's hard to get these days?"

"I thought you weren't interested."

"People around me keep talking about it."

Yulian smiled and accepted it.

"I'll read it."

"Yes. I'd appreciate a good review."

"I will."

Yulian left the office. I thought about this event for a moment.

Crossing the Forest.

From my memories before regression, nothing happened at this year's event.

But the future had already been warped beyond recognition by me. I might already have become a target for assassination by the Revolutionary Faction.

"Hm..."

From here on, people stronger than Dune Kan would keep challenging the Empire. The strong hated being controlled from the start, and they despised the Empire on principle.

I had made my own preparations too.

I took out a special syringe from the inner pocket of my knight uniform.

An acute elixir that explosively activates the body's mana in an instant, amplifying overall physical abilities beyond their limits: mana, strength, reflexes, everything. People usually called it a stim pack, but this was a special injectable drug refined at much higher concentration to suit me.

Lorenzo recommended a minimum reuse interval of six months. It was custom-made with top-purity raw materials, so it would not leave permanent side effects after use. But the rebound was unavoidable, so at least two months of high-intensity rehabilitation were mandatory.

A single syringe cost a full 1 million dollars.

As the price of my life, it was cheap.

......

Ertion Forest. A vast primeval forest dividing the Empire's center and coast. The mana there was so dense and deep that, besides forest monsters, all kinds of chaotic incidents occurred frequently. The amount of public power poured into this event alone was enormous.

In other words, pure waste.

"Sir Knight Maximilian?"

Before the event, someone called out to me. The moment I saw his face, I froze.

Jun Kandel.

No way.

"...Could it be?"

At my wary question, Jun gave a crooked smile.

"Congratulations on becoming House Kandel's escort knight?"

That fucking bastard.

For a second, I almost grabbed him by the collar, but I held back.

Jun Kandel would never run a marathon like this himself. He would probably show up for form's sake, get bored, and go home.

He shrugged.

"Well, I'm not going personally. We both don't want to stay in a place like this for long anyway, right?"

Someone else stepped out from behind him. It was Sonnet Kandel.

"Good to see you, Sir Maximilian."

"...Yes. Good to see you as well."

I glanced around. The Sentinel knights were watching me and trying not to laugh.

I understood. Kandel was a great house. Hard for an ordinary knight to handle.

As a rookie knight, I had basically been handed cleanup duty disguised as an assignment.

“Greetings to the noble aristocrats of the Empire gathered here today.”

In just a moment, the Empire's ancient tradition will begin. The glorious feat of our imperial founder crossing Ertion Forest...

The nobles chatted with their escort knights and laughed gracefully.

Sonnet Kandel stayed quiet, while Jun yawned.

“This year's winner will receive a special prize bestowed personally by His Majesty the Emperor, so please give it your all!”

The Imperial Guard fired a signal flare into the sky. Multicolored fireworks bloomed across the heavens like magic.

Soon, nobles started running into the forest from their respective starting points.

"We'll go together to the midpoint. If we head off immediately, it'll look bad."

"Yes."

Jun and Sonnet ran into the forest, and I followed behind them for now.

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