WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 6

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From Day One

The Sentinel Order was considered the most prestigious workplace in the Empire.

It was the position every young person in the Empire longed for, and joining alone brought glory to your family. They were the Emperor’s sword and the Empire’s shield, and also the institution that symbolized the Empire’s ideals and purity.

......Today was the induction ceremony for that glorious Sentinel Order.

I looked at myself in the mirror. The Sentinel Order uniform, dark navy with gold-thread embroidery. I had once wanted these clothes like a madman. I used to fool myself into thinking that if I wore this, I would become someone noble, and my father would finally acknowledge me.

It was only an outer shell.

No, not even a shell. Just a scrap of cloth.

Instead of that damn Sentinel Order, I thought about the supernatural ability that had manifested when I killed Jacob.

“Tick.”

I flicked my tongue, imitating the sound of a second hand.

Nothing changed. Time did not stop, and it did not slow down.

Twitch.

Instead, a familiar sensation rose from below my left collarbone, near my heart. The black fragment lodged in my body.

I could feel a faint but distinct pulse of mana.

Not only now. Before sleep, during exercise, while eating, this thing throbbed like a heart.

So this thought came naturally--

Maybe I could use this thing as my pseudo mana core.

Mana cores had once been one of many ways to handle mana, but in modern times they were nearly obsolete. As related fields like mana studies, human-body studies, and life sciences developed, the inefficient core [core] was replaced by a far more precise circuit system as the standard.

The core principle of modern mana operation was clear.

: Circulate and amplify mana through “mana circuits” formed in the human body through innate or acquired awakening.

Of course, depending on how one trained those circuits and used mana, people split into knights and mages, then into countless schools and lineages within those. Still, either way, the foundation was mana circuits.

But this black virus inside me was something extra.

When you got down to it, it was free mana income.

“......Hey.”

I put my hand on my chest and spoke quietly.

“Be my mana core.”

There was no answer. Well, words probably would not work.

If this thing could perform functions similar to a mana core, generating, storing, and releasing mana, there was no reason we could not be friends.

Knock knock.

Engi’s voice came with the knock.

“Young master. You have to go now.”

“Yeah. Got it. I’ll be right out.”

I put wax in my messy hair. Back in my early twenties, I dressed like absolute trash, but now I had plenty of experience in social circles.

“Nice.”

A few quick touches turned it into a clean swept-up style.

* * *

As always, the induction ceremony was held with great fanfare.

The central plaza of the capital was so packed there was barely room to stand, and every window in the surrounding buildings was filled with citizens’ faces. High officials of the Empire and prestigious nobles sat on the platform, and at the center where flower petals rained down, the newcomers who had just become members of the Sentinel Order stood in line.

Even there, I stood in the most watched spot. The halo of House Ebenholtz and my classically imperial looks shoved me into the center of everyone’s gaze.

“We will now conduct the Sentinel induction ceremony.”

Grand Duke Alberich von Stein, commander of the order, began the speech announcing the knighting. His voice echoed through the entire plaza through a mana amplification device. The glory of the Empire, the honor of a knight, loyalty to the Emperor... the same lines I had heard enough times to go numb.

I slowly swept my eyes across the faces of my peers on the platform.

Forty Sentinel knights had been selected in this class.

I already remembered all of their names and faces. Each of them would leave their mark on Imperial history in a different way.

At least thirty percent of them either held intentions different from the Empire’s, or would eventually turn their backs on it.

You might ask if thirty percent was too many.

Could not be helped.

This was the Empire in its final years.

"--As shields of the Empire and swords of His Majesty, do you swear to offer your souls for the glory of the Empire!”

Grand Duke Stein’s shout shook the plaza.

"--The Empire will remember your loyalty, and it will repay your devotion with glory! For His Imperial Majesty!”

Following the commander’s lead, we pledged our loyalty.

Someone signaled me. I closed my eyes for a moment, then opened them. I stepped forward and raised the sword at my waist high. My peers followed me. Forty blades caught the sunlight and flashed brilliantly. The cheers of the Imperial citizens rolled in like waves.

......A very long time ago.

Back before I regressed, I had felt indescribable ecstasy in this very moment.

It had felt like the whole world existed for me, and I had fallen into the illusion that the Empire’s future hung on my shoulders.

Now it felt dry and empty.

The commander before me who had once felt as immovable as a mountain, the nobles clapping with smarmy smiles, the peers beside me, every single person in this plaza, all of them would die.

I had seen that future.

“Now, get down there. Show your proud selves to the people.”

Following the commander’s order, we stepped down from the platform. Countless nobles and officials crowded in to offer congratulations and flattery.

I accepted it in moderation and tried to slip away.

“So it was you.”

Then a voice called me, familiar yet strange. A man stood there with his arms crossed, looking me over.

A man who had been my mentor long ago.

“The one who cut down a cadet.”

His name was Yulian Askar. His dark blond hair and sharp jawline stood out, and his golden eyes looked like they were piercing straight through me.

It was a familiar face.

As I looked at him, so painfully familiar, a strange instinct rose in me.

“Yes. I’m Maximilian.”

In the not-so-distant future, I would kill him.

* * *

Before the noise of the ceremony had even faded, we moved straight to Sentinel Order headquarters. Inside, the building was laid out like a complicated maze, and knights and administrators moved around in constant rush.

“This is your space.”

My mentor Yulian opened the corridor office door. The office itself was not large. Just a few desks and cabinets for storing documents.

Before regression, I had been pretty disappointed.

I was arrogant.

Now I knew better. This seat itself had been stolen from someone else from the start. Someone more capable than me, someone who failed to get this chance only because their social class and status were lower.

“Yes.”

I set my luggage bag on the desk.

“You can freely hire personal staff within a 500,000-dollar limit. You’ll need admin support and intel-gathering assistants, so if you’re not sure, request a recommended roster from HR.”

Yulian dropped a file binder on the desk with a thud.

“And you know what that is, right?”

He tilted his chin toward a box-shaped machine. It looked like a television, but handled far higher-level functions.

A latest-model desktop linked to the Empire’s communication network, capable of all kinds of information access, report writing, mission intake, internal messaging, and video conference.

“Yes, I know. A computer.”

“Right. Definitely young.”

Bzzzt. His wrist vibrated. A watch. Probably a latest-model artifact-equipped terminal.

“......Sort your things and come down to the first floor. A mission’s been assigned. Sounds like a noble murder case.”

A murder case.

Before regression, I probably would have asked, “Already?” I had a ton of stuff to unpack then.

“I’ll give you ten minutes.”

“Yes.”

Yulian left first.

Quick pause here: what exactly was a knight’s job?

Looking cool?

Of course not.

Roughly speaking, maintaining Imperial public order, suppressing special criminals or rebel forces that regular troops could not handle, subjugating monsters, and protecting nobles, among many other things.

So on top of base pay, knights could make serious money through additional allowances.

Rare materials gained by hunting monster corpses, plus bounties on criminals, paid well. It was a fairly strict meritocracy where the better your skill, the more wealth you grabbed.

That was why someone like me, with weak ability, had been pushed aside so quickly.

I left the office. Two peers stood side by side in the corridor.

One was Tiana. The other was Leon.

Both only gave me a slight nod.

That was the fate of a parachute appointee.

I used to hate looks like that, so I threw fits and overreacted like crazy.

No need for that now.

I......

“Fuck, I don’t know.”

I did not even understand myself.

I could not even begin to grasp how to survive in this world where a dogshit future was already set in stone.

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