WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 61

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Enemy of the Empire

Dieter Schmidt had come to the Kanillan Republic on business. He was there to secretly import cutting-edge equipment for the arms factories in Southern Hermes.

Most of the job was already done. They had set up shell corporations across several western countries, split the equipment into separate orders under different names, then wove the deals into a tangled triangle-trade structure through third countries.

No intelligence agency could easily track a flow of money and goods this congested.

"...Hah."

KNSE's VVIP reception room.

Russell, one of the many vice presidents of the Kanin Stock Exchange (KNSE), let out a dry laugh as he faced Dieter.

The chart on the table showed investment results from the past few months rising in an almost vertical line.

"This has to be a record. A new record."

Russell clapped in amazement.

The tech stocks Maximilian had invested in had posted enormous short-term returns. Each position had earned at least tens of millions and as much as hundreds of millions.

"Still, personally, I strongly recommend reinvestment. These days, Kanillan's market is in the biggest boom in its history. People call it the era where securities never lose. Kanillan technology has no ceiling, and its potential has no limit. This is a country built for corporations."

Brimming with confidence, Russell slid over a brochure for a new investment product.

"So, I recommend this product called corporate asset-backed securities, CDO. Think of it as a premium gift set bundling bonds from multiple blue-chip companies handpicked by our firm. It spreads individual company risk while maximizing returns."

Dieter did not even glance at the document wrapped in flashy language.

"Even with huge principal, a minimum 30% return is guaranteed. Not buying now is just throwing money away. Your money practically duplicates itself."

Kanillan was in its golden age. Money flooded the streets, and those stories drew in capital from countries across the continent. Everyone in Kanillan believed tomorrow would make them richer than today.

"We do not sell this product to just anyone. Only major players like our Mr. DiMatteo..."

But Maximilian had already pointed out the shadow behind that glamour, a bubble that would melt away in an instant, and now Dieter could see the darkness behind the numbers too.

"No. I am looking for something that prepares for the case where corporate asset-backed securities start to fail."

A reverse bet. A derivative that allowed betting on falling prices, what Kanillan people called a short position.

A puzzled look crossed Russell's face.

"CDOs failing?"

"You do not have anything?"

"No, we do. We have it. CDO risk insurance..."

Russell pulled out another file.

"Several Kanillan insurers sell products that cover default risk on corporate asset-backed securities, CDO."

Put simply, it was fire insurance on an ultra-luxury mansion everyone believed could never burn down. If you bought the rights to that policy, and the mansion burned to the ground, the payout would go to the rights holder, Maximilian.

Those risk insurance contracts could even be written at several times the securities' face value.

"You would probably need to go through insurance firms. Want me to connect you?"

If no fire broke out, it was a cost. The moment a fire did break out, it paid out massive cash.

Same logic here. If the securities never defaulted, they would just burn insurance fees every year. But if Kanillan's economy collapsed and those securities became waste paper,

Maximilian would receive astronomical payouts from multiple insurance companies.

"Yes. Please do."

Kanillan's insurance industry was the foundation of the state. In Kanillan, where corporations effectively ruled the country, even public systems like policing and medical care were tiered by insurance grade, and at the top of all of it sat Kanillan National Insurance.

In other words, once you held the leash on insurance, you could control a large part of Kanillan itself.

"I mean, I can do it if you want, but why? Kanillan is already on track."

Russell looked like he truly could not understand it.

Dieter answered shortly.

"It is my boss's order."

"Ah, that person who came before? Personally, I really do not recommend this. I get what you are thinking, but a lot of people who had the same suspicions are gone now. A lot, a lot, a lot."

It was not as if no one had thought this way before. There were probably truckloads of them.

Doomsayers who overestimated CDO risk.

"They really all went under. One guy even jumped in front of a train."

If you missed the single most important thing, timing, then your own life hit the end instead.

"It is fine."

Maximilian expected Kanillan's crisis to come next spring, and from Dieter's perspective as the one managing finances, this was an investment made from surplus profit anyway.

Even if it failed, they would only lose the gains and the principal. The scale was very large, but it was still a risk worth taking.

"Hm. What size are you looking for?"

"All the cash we have, as much as possible."

Russell let out a disbelieving laugh.

"Yes. Insurance firms will love that. Anyway, you must honor the contract term, and if no default happens, fees will wipe out your entire fortune within three years. Are you sure?"

Dieter nodded. Russell immediately switched back into his broker face and made a call.

Almost every insurer called back within five seconds, shouting over each other that they would come first.

"Haha. They said they will be here in three minutes. They even said they will create products that do not exist yet."

From Russell's point of view, this guy was just a fool who thought he was smart. A moron who made hundreds of millions in under a year and now thought he was a genius, and that the whole world would move according to his ideas.

In plain terms, it was one more sucker on his way to hell. Still, people like this were why the market kept running.

"As for this brokerage commission, well, I will only take half."

He had made a nice sum in fees thanks to him, so he planned to show at least that much courtesy to a former client.

* * *

One calm afternoon. Sentinel Order office.

“It looks like we can gather quite a lot of contracts by next spring.”

Dieter brought good news from Kanillan.

"Good work."

“Also, the insurers asked whether we would buy more if they designed additional related products.”

"Ah, of course. Tell them yes."

Insurers were trying to create even nonexistent insurance products just to sell them to us. Their eyes had gone blind with greed over immediate results.

“Are you sure this is okay?”

"Of course. Trust me. I have been reading a lot of journals lately."

Academic journals were neatly arranged on my office desk. I was following Freya's lesson to always keep my body and mindset clean, and I was reading almost everything, based on what I had learned before regression, that reading was the best hobby.

Not just economics either. I was studying Professor Arnold's magic scholarship, Professor Emilen's history scholarship, even several languages from the Eastern Alliance.

"Kanillan will collapse by next spring at the latest."

If the core corporation, Keystone, suffered a technological failure,

then the moment corporate progress failed in a corporate state, trust and investment would collapse like dominoes, and the whole country of Kanillan would end up begging us.

"Return safely."

“Yes.”

Knock knock.

Right then, a staff officer stepped inside.

"Sir Knight."

He held out a letter with a serious expression.

"A letter from an agency directly under the imperial palace intelligence bureau."

I took it in silence.

......

What people usually called the Agency was an intelligence body in the palace basement. Field investigations, operations, and minor interrogations happened outside, but interrogations of key witnesses or nobles were always conducted at this headquarters. The entrance itself was separate from the palace, but they made full use of the psychological pressure of the imperial palace.

They had requested my attendance.

"Sir Maximilian, this way."

Was it to interrogate me, or for something else?

Still, as an Ebenholtz, I had no reason to shrink. I absolutely could not.

The Agency had a hyena-like habit of tearing into anyone who looked weak.

"It will not take long."

An imperial butler bowed and opened the door for me. A plaque read [Reception Room].

I stepped inside.

The room was a clean office. Two investigators sat across from each other at a desk. Their appearances were ordinary, but if they were receiving me, an Ebenholtz, their rank had to be fairly high.

In military terms, at least around colonel level.

"Ah, welcome, Sir Knight Maximilian."

One of the investigators pointed at an empty chair.

"Please, sit."

I sat down quietly.

"It concerns the Head-Eater case. Both the intelligence bureau and the imperial household were deeply impressed by you, Sir Knight Maximilian."

As always, it started with words of respect.

"So, as a department head in the Agency, I have a request for you."

"If it is a request, you should have come to the Order."

"...Ah, my apologies. We wanted to, but there were concerns that information might leak."

"Information leaks from Sentinel?"

At my answer, the department head gave a bitter smile.

"Almost everything is reported to the Order. Sentinel knights, in particular, have authority to view almost all records. We cannot help but be suspicious."

"So you think there is a snitch among knights. Is that it?"

"I did not go that far."

"No. That is exactly what you are saying."

You could not fall for the Agency's habit of blurring points and mixing up the subject.

At least with these people, you could never hand over initiative.

"The Agency suspects the Order. Interesting."

The department head's eyebrow twitched at my blunt statement.

"If I had to put it plainly, yes, and that is exactly why we asked you to come here, Sir Maximilian."

He handed over a file. It contained the profile of a man named Arnold von Essenbach.

"Mage Arnold will appear before the military this time. The military has detained one of his disciples."

Arnold.

I knew his name. Anyone in the Empire with even moderate learning would know it.

"We ask that you attend as an observer."

I looked at the department head. He met my gaze and said,

"His ideology is dangerous."

"Dangerous?"

"Yes. He is clearly someone who will become an enemy. Please read the documents."

I turned the page.

It was an unpublished submission from Arnold, and letters that looked like they had been obtained from somewhere.

The unpublished writing pointed out the falsehood of Aran blood purity, which the Empire treated as sacred, and argued that biological distinctions between races were effectively meaningless.

The letters contained sharp criticism of how rigid systems obstructed progress.

"Sir Knight. What do you think?"

Before regression, Arnold had been one of the sages the Empire destroyed.

A genius who tried to open a new horizon of human intellect by breaking boundaries between science, magic, and mana engineering. He studied mana engineering that reconstructed mana particles, and that work was recognized as a philosophy probing the roots of the world itself, beyond simple academics.

But an intellect too far ahead of its time was not understood inside an old framework, and was instead treated as a danger...

"From my perspective, it is truly lamentable."

And so he was being judged as "lamentable" by nothing more than an Agency investigator.

I gathered the papers and answered.

"...It really is."

The imperial palace had many listening ears. That meant this whole conversation could be delivered to the Emperor.

"As you know, this man has immense authority in academia and broad public support, so there is not much we can do."

The department head smiled and leaned toward me.

Even the Agency could not freely touch Arnold, an orthodox noble with deep ties in the academic world.

Even revolutionaries had learned scholarship from Arnold, and there were likely many Revolutionary Faction members who had already studied magic under him.

"Far loftier than some mere mage..."

I looked straight at the investigator asking me for help.

"We need Ebenholtz's will."

It seemed a full internal crackdown was about to begin.

* * *

"...What did you say?!"

Anton snapped his head up and asked again. Senior Knight Adria bit her lip and answered.

"Maximilian appeared at the military."

Maximilian had appeared at the military to interrogate Arnold.

That was all they had confirmed so far, but Anton, unusually rushed, left his office at once. He ran down the hallway and ran into Kairon, who was drinking coffee.

"Hm? Deputy Commander Anton, where are you in such a-"

"Sorry!"

He rushed past, went down to the parking lot, and got in the car.

Arnold had been Anton's academic friend since youth, someone he shared intellect with, and at the same time his greatest worry.

He had a very progressive mind. He carried insight that pierced the age. He had the boldness to speak it freely, and the solid backing of a powerful house.

Anton had once admired him, but now the times had changed.

Every word Arnold spoke could return as a blade at his own neck, under the crime called ideology.

"I will drive."

Adria, who had followed close behind, took the driver's seat. Anton threw himself into the passenger seat and raked a hand harshly through his hair.

Arnold was a strong man, but this time his opponent was all wrong.

Maximilian, direct heir of Ebenholtz.

Only in his first year, yet he was a purer imperialist than anyone else. Because they challenged him, he annihilated an Imperial Guard major and that major's faction, and he was an authoritarian noble who pressured a judge and had two innocent immigrants shot under the law.

If Arnold made even one verbal slip in front of him...

That single line could lead to total ruin.

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