WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 60

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Dancing with the Revolution

A quiet hallway in the Sentinel Order.

Leon walked with something hidden inside his coat. His face was tight with nerves, and he had every reason to be nervous.

"...Leon!"

Tiana, who had come to support him, popped out from a corner.

"This way. Hurry."

Leon scanned the area and hurried over.

Tiana whispered, "Did anyone see you?"

"No. Not yet."

"Whew... let's go to your office first. Mine's by the window, someone might notice."

They both nodded and quickly moved away.

[Knight Office: Leon]

The moment they stepped inside and locked the door, each of them set down a book tightly wrapped in paper.

Tiana let out a long sigh.

"At times like this, Max really has no sense."

"I'm insanely grateful, though. Great Knight Max."

"Hey, damn it. Of course I'm grateful too, but..."

A few days ago, Tiana and Leon had asked Max for formula books. They had not expected much. They were from the same class year, but they were not especially close.

Max had said sure, and they assumed he was just being polite, but then...

The books were actually delivered to their office doors this morning.

"How did Max even write something like this? So random, out of nowhere."

Tiana muttered as she turned the formula book over in her hands.

"I heard he designed it alone through all of Empire Point."

"Oh, really? He did like being alone... anyway, let's study a bit and then-"

Knock knock.

At the sound, both of them jumped and shoved the theory books under the desk.

"Yes!"

Leon answered, and the door opened. It was Senior Knight Raynel. He looked from Tiana to Leon and frowned.

"...What are you two doing?"

"We were discussing work-"

"Ah, whatever. Court each other if you want, not my problem. Anyway, did you get that book?"

That book. The groundbreaking new frontier of Protective Aura that had taken the knights by storm.

「Spherical Aura Guard」.

Leon swallowed and answered, "No. I don't think we managed to get it yet."

"Ah, really?"

Raynel tilted his head, smug.

"Too bad. I got one."

"...Pardon?"

Tiana and Leon blinked. Raynel chuckled at them.

"Well... Knight Kairon got it for me."

"Ah, i-is that so?"

"Yeah. So you two should pick your connections better. Stop clinging to weird things. No matter how haaard you two try, stuff like this-"

Raynel pulled out his formula book from inside his coat. He had even put it in a separate locked case.

"Think you can get one?"

"Ah..."

"Uh..."

He had clearly come to show off, but it was awkward to respond.

"Anyway, keep working. Hahaha."

Tiana tilted her head.

"What was with him?"

"...Tiana. Want to just go home? Let the staff officers clock out too."

There was not much work today anyway. It was always quiet right before and after major events.

"Okay. First, inject mana. Just in case."

The two infused mana into the formula books. Then, as if nothing had happened, they left the office together and headed down to the parking lot.

* * *

"So you had that kind of talent, Sir Knight."

In my office, I got a call from Engi for the first time in a while.

"Come on. It's just a trend right now. It's not that amazing. You know how knights are. They hate change, but they hate falling behind even more."

"No. This doesn't feel like a temporary trend at all."

There was clear joy in Engi's voice. That was rare. He always kept his composure.

"I'll send one to Father too. He probably won't use it, though."

"Yes. Ahem, Young Master."

After clearing his throat, Engi gave me words that were very good to hear.

"I grow prouder of you by the day."

"...Thank you."

A natural smile spread across my face.

"Then please rest well."

"Yeah. Good work."

I hung up.

Knock knock.

Right then, a staff officer came in.

"Sir Knight. A letter."

He handed it to me. It bore the seal of the imperial palace. Not the imperial household seal, the palace seal. The sender was Leutern II.

It was basically a letter pushing me to hand over 「Spherical Aura Guard」 quickly.

"...Stupid bastard."

I crumpled it and threw it away.

"From now on, if letters come from this man, don't bother bringing them to me. Handle them yourselves."

"Yes, sir."

Leutern II.

Among those so-called palace nobles, most of them rotten to begin with, he was one of the worst.

A pile of trash who would later become part of the military command.

I never knew exactly what he wanted, but he learned nothing, so every move he made turned into a blunder. He ruined an entire legion by himself. Bluntly speaking, he helped the Revolution more than the Revolutionary Faction did. In the end, he was executed not as a war criminal, but as a common criminal.

I used the Order computer to pull up Leutern II's profile.

· Indictment: Sexual assault - Verdict: Not guilty

· Indictment: Revenge killing - Verdict: Not guilty

· Indictment: Illegal gambling den operation - Verdict: Not guilty...

Every case ended the same way: not guilty.

Still, now was not the time to waste attention on trash like him.

Protests were breaking out all across the Empire. Terror attacks were also gradually increasing.

In the imperial center, where the royal household and military had direct control, it happened less often. But the west and east had started to boil.

Soon, a major incident would come.

The Empire had a massive industrial zone called Gigantes. It was the center of military production, including weapons manufacturing. A place that had served as the Empire's engine for hundreds of years.

But I wanted to describe Gigantes this way.

A patchwork golem.

Much of the Empire's infrastructure had already become severely outdated. In other words, it had simply grown too old. That was unavoidable.

The Empire had endured for a full thousand years. No other state had lasted that long.

But in the face of a thousand years, no machine, no matter how well built, could avoid rust. Rivers dried up. Even towering mountains changed shape.

Gigantes was the same.

Built nearly five hundred years ago, it had forced facilities that once made swords and spears to produce guns and artillery. It twisted equipment that once produced cavalry armor into lines forging tank parts. Machines were patched and stitched together as needed.

Horribly inefficient, yet still a critical industrial zone with a huge share of imperial military supply simply because its scale was so vast.

Sabotage would strike there.

[Breaking News] Large-scale explosion terror attack believed to be the work of reactionaries at Gigantes, the Empire's largest military-industrial zone

And there was something I absolutely had to gain from that incident.

* * *

[ The time to take action had come. ]

Gigantes, the Empire's giant industrial zone. The place that had long served as the Empire's engine was already thick with darkness.

[ The Empire was now preparing to wage war. ]

Workers were exploited for pitiful wages, and all surplus profit squeezed from their souls was taken by palace nobles.

"Hey, you crazy bastard! Move faster!"

So-called supervisors forced quotas, cursed at them, beat them, and workers with dead faces repeated the same task over and over.

[ No, it was being pushed into a situation where it had no choice but to wage war. ]

Fifteen hours of labor and only one hour of rest. Their humanity had already worn away. There was no life in their eyes, no hope, and above all, no future.

[ The Empire was a terminal patient. At the same time, a cancer cell of the continent. ]

Equipment that once made spears and bows was crushed into producing bullets and shells. Furnaces that once cast armor were modified to stamp out armored plates.

The absolute peak of inefficiency, yet it filled that gap by mercilessly burning through a massive labor force. Truly an industrial zone worthy of the Empire.

[Gigantes was a chimera they created. We will destroy that monster, and even if it is destroyed.... ]

"The Empire would have no choice but to continue the war."

In a dark underground cavern lit by candlelight, comrades were deciphering an encrypted directive from upper command.

"Because otherwise it cannot solve its internal problems. Therefore, their war will clearly lead to ruin...."

A man in a tiger mask set down the decoded message.

"And this is a classified document from Moon Bear."

Moon Bear. Our comrade who had infiltrated the highest levels of the Empire. He delivered internal secrets to the Revolutionary Faction.

No one knew who he was. No one should want to know. No one was allowed to know.

"Read it."

A woman in a rabbit mask took it from him.

"..."

The Empire was collapsing. Extreme wealth inequality. Palace manipulation. Soldiers' resentment at being ignored by nobles. The rage of subjects pushed to the limit. The Emperor's unilateral will. Constantly shrinking tax revenue. Corruption everywhere.

If all that internal pressure was not turned outward, the Empire would explode from within.

"...Even from the numbers alone, war is certain."

"Right. That's exactly why this operation matters more than anything."

The comrade in the tiger mask pointed at the operations board in the dark.

Their core target was the single pivot point that moved all of Gigantes.

"We will strike what drives every industry in Gigantes...."

The power source that drove Gigantes was just one thing: a massive mana ore vein buried deep in the ground. An unrefined heart supplying enough mana to run countless machines.

The Gigantes industrial zone itself had been built around it.

"We destroy that core."

This plan had taken years. The Revolutionary Faction had already infiltrated Gigantes in large numbers, and comrades were also embedded among middle managers and supervisors.

"...We move."

The rabbit mask raised her fist. The eight core members in charge of the operation met their fists with hers.

"For the cause."

At the tiger mask's words, the other animal masks, including the rabbit, answered.

"For the cause."

Their low chant carried hard resolve.

* * *

On a hill not far from Gigantes.

I arrived at the villa Dieter had purchased for me. It was a temporary base where I would stay for two days around the exact day of action, with a full view of the bleak industrial city.

"..."

I sat in a rocking chair by the window and looked out at factory blocks spitting gray smoke.

I had to carry this out alone. It was that important.

"What a bleak city."

Gigantes was a hotbed of exploitation. Probably because this place belonged to those palace nobles.

No group was as rotten as the imperial palace. Honestly, Leutern II was almost cute compared to most of them.

A den of vermin where bloodlines from royal houses subjugated by the Empire, along with every other kind of bastard, played at rank and title while treating subjects like livestock.

They always gave off a stench no expensive perfume could hide.

The Imperial Guard could freely enter and leave the palace, so they naturally rolled around with those people and became one pack with them.

That mixed stench was

"the biggest reason the Empire fell."

I closed my eyes. With help from the virus, I traced my old memories. A newspaper article from before my regression unfolded clearly.

──────

[Breaking News] Large-scale explosion terror attack believed to be the work of reactionaries at Gigantes, the Empire's largest military-industrial zone

...Last night, a large-scale explosion terror attack believed to have been carried out by the Revolutionary Faction occurred in the Gigantes industrial zone, the heart of the Empire's military industry.

──────

Their revolution, boldly attempted.

──────

They appeared to have targeted the central mana ore vein that powered Gigantes, but were stopped by a successful on-site response....

...Some production facilities were destroyed and guards were killed, but an Imperial Army official stated that military supply production would not face major disruption.

──────

In that tragic ending, a few key members escaped, and all the rest died.

This fall.

My objective started again from that exact point.

"...It has to succeed."

I would help their grand act of destruction, their revolutionary resolve, bring down this patchwork golem.

At least this time, I would make sure their will succeeded.

"Haa...."

"So you're Max? Ebenholtz's son... pretty face for one."

"Hahahahaha. Ebenholtz this, Ebenholtz that. You're far below Sebestian."

"Why are you so scared? What, afraid your father will scold you? Kuhahahaha...."

The voices of those palace bastards mocking me in the past rang in my ears.

I was not the type to brood too deeply, but those palace bastards were still disgusting.

"There are plenty of men who deserve to die."

Anyway, in southern Hermes, military factories with facilities far more advanced than Gigantes were already being built in secret. I would pour more money there and import Kanillan's newest designs without holding anything back.

I could not fully recover Gigantes's absolute output in the short term, but I could replace it through efficiency and quality.

So this fall would be a stage I shared with them.

The revolution would greatly help me, and the Empire too. It would weaken the palace nobles' position, and I would take the military-industrial share left vacant.

"Not all terror is bad."

Of course, countless workers in Gigantes would lose their jobs, but they might see that as liberation instead.

"I'll be waiting... for that day."

Smiling, I rose from the chair.

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