WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 66

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The Unknowable (2)

One day, Sonnet went down into the sewer on Floor 9 of the underground city.

It was originally the day she was supposed to meet Arshtel, and she found him there all the same.

No, she found what was left of him. Arshtel’s corpse had long since rotted away. His body, severed from the neck, had been torn apart by sewer rats until only white bones remained.

Maximilian had not claimed Arshtel’s head. Arshtel had been a wanted criminal worth two million dollars, and Maximilian had set the price at five times that, ten million. As promised, he still gave Sonnet ten million dollars in liquid cash out of his own pocket.

Arshtel’s head had clearly been the price of that deal.

Even so, Maximilian left it behind and walked away.

He had left it in a dark, foul, filthy place to rot with the sewage.

Sonnet thought for a moment. Had Arshtel been a double agent?

Maybe he had, maybe he had not.

Either way, she could have weighed him and drawn profit and information from him, but that chance was now gone forever. Maximilian had killed him.

Did Maximilian not believe Arshtel’s betrayal? Did he believe it? Or did he refuse to believe it? Had he decided that once someone embraced revolution, even once, they could never turn back?

His true intent was still impossible to read.

Sonnet thought about Maximilian.

Maximilian was a noble who served the Empire. He was already one of the Revolutionary Faction’s major enemies.

He treated “status,” one of the Empire’s absolute doctrines, as extremely important, and because of that he respected Arnold more than the Empire’s own direct agencies. The house name Arnold von Essenbach had saved Arnold.

Yet Maximilian’s respect was selective.

He used his power to save powerless commoners.

As a knight, he had saved a commoner boy and his family, people who had nearly been unjustly executed after being framed as murderers. He had also willingly dragged the true culprit, another corrupt noble, into court and sent him to the guillotine.

But on the other hand, he had hanged two innocent immigrants with no involvement in the revolution.

With his own hand, he had cut down a child who had been abused by one of the Empire’s most evil nobles, an old pedophile.

Sonnet closed her eyes for a moment.

Maximilian was an ambiguous man.

He was a purer imperialist than anyone, yet the principles inside him clashed with each other or branched off in whatever direction they pleased.

The more she tried to form a single image of Maximilian, the more that image dissolved into abstraction. It split into fragments like a reflection in a broken mirror.

That was why he was...

The unknowable.

Even for Sonnet, he was still the kind of person who was hard to grasp.

Sebestian was easier to understand. Every one of his principles converged on a single core, “house and emperor.”

In any case.

Because Maximilian did not publicize Arshtel’s severed head, because he left it to rot in this sewer, Sonnet’s business did not collapse.

She could continue her brokerage work, where trust mattered most.

For Sonnet, that was good news in its own way.

* * *

The military was still treated with contempt. Here, “the military” meant the regular army, excluding the Imperial Guard and Royal Guard.

Even Sebestian, commander in chief of the Imperial Army, was ultimately a former knight, a Royal Guard general serving the Emperor, and a man who pursued Iron Men ideals more than anyone.

So the nobles looked down on the regular army. They saw it as a tax-eating beast, a gathering place for uneducated brutes, and even their side glances stung.

This widespread contempt toward the military created many vicious cycles.

The worst was collapsing morale. A soldier who believed his death was not a sacrifice for the nation but merely a statistic in a report on some noble general’s desk by the fireplace would never give his all.

It was also built into the regular army’s very threshold. A despised group did not impose strict screening when taking in new blood.

No, they did not even have the room for it. Under the stigma that it was where “uneducated brutes” gathered, officers stopped caring about recruits’ backgrounds. They only scrambled to fill headcount.

Because of that, there were probably already spies active inside the Imperial Army, from the Revolutionary Faction, or from the Eastern Alliance and various western countries.

Still, the regular army and infantry mattered. No matter how many tanks appeared, no matter how many knights flew through the sky, no matter how much firepower mages projected on the battlefield, occupation and real control always fell to infantry in the end.

The share of people who could use mana was small compared to the general population.

And the number of people who could unleash force beyond bullets and shells through human strength alone was even smaller.

So I planned to draw the regular army in slowly.

I planned to take them in carefully.

Of course, corruption and illicit enrichment were still the real problem in the end. In a despised group, people who did things worthy of contempt sprang up everywhere. I did not know why. I did not even know what came first.

The regular army was full of corrupt bastards, from field officers to generals.

One day, my money would be spread through the military too, and before that happened, I needed to put those bastards down.

“Loyalty!”

While Dieter was tracing those corrupt flows,

I met Major Kai Han again after a long time. It was at a fishing spot in District 35 that I had people set up separately.

“This is our first face-to-face since then.”

“Yes. It is.”

Kai Han had received guidance from Jens Joachim.

But guidance was only guidance. Major Han needed service merit, and I could not simply place merit directly into his hands.

I handed him a map.

“This is where your next assignment will be.”

He picked it up.

The location was the 7th Imperial Guard Battalion stationed in the Berton Region on the western border.

His post was deputy battalion commander.

“......”

A question rose on his face.

“This place is......”

“If you are Imperial Guard, this is probably the place you would least want to be assigned.”

The Imperial Guard had not expanded rapidly yet. Even now, it was slowly increasing in size, but compared to the regular army, it was still absurdly small, and its influence was still centered in the capital.

That made the western border a dead-end post for Imperial Guard personnel.

“It even feels like being surrounded by regular army divisions.”

Regular army battalions under larger divisions were packed all around the 7th Imperial Guard Battalion.

“Let me ask you. Why do you think I am sending you there?”

I could not tell him everything. Kai Han was still being tested. He clearly had outstanding character, but his ability had to match it.

“The reason you are sending me there is......”

Kai Han thought for a moment, then nodded.

“Cooperation with the regular army?”

Exactly right. I smiled.

“What made you think that?”

“In this Berton Region, friction between the Imperial Guard and regular army is severe. The Imperial Guard forced its way into an area that had originally been held by the regular army.”

On top of that, the Imperial Guard personnel there openly looked down on the regular army. Men pushed into dead-end posts often carry stronger inferiority, but the real problem is the battalion commander, Makio.

“Right. Here is how I see it. A mere Imperial Guard lieutenant colonel has no right to look down on the regular army. The regular army can become our force too.”

The regular army and Imperial Guard shared the same rank structure. Only the structure. Command chains, uniforms, everything else was different.

That did not mean they could not work together.

“From the start, I do not even know what a troublemaker like that bastard thinks he is looking down on.”

I handed Kai Han documents on Battalion Commander Makio’s embezzlement, breach of trust, laundering, and many other scandals.

How to use this intelligently was now his part.

“It is about time you got promoted too, Major Han.”

If Kai Han brought Makio down through his own ability, then naturally Lieutenant Colonel Han would rise into that seat.

No Imperial Guard member wanted to go there anyway, so they would tie him to that post even if they had to promote him.

But there was another reason this region mattered.

Beyond the western border, a civil war was expected to break out soon in the Zerpa Kingdom. It was part of the flow of history.

Royalists fighting to keep the throne, and republicans trying to overturn it.

The Empire would obviously support the royalists, and Major Han needed to join that war and earn achievements.

“Yes. Understood.”

I held out a bag to him.

“Operational funds.”

Money. In the end, money was what mattered.

Most Imperial subjects worked for money alone, not for ideals.

“It is cold there, so you will have many uses for it.”

Berton was a freezing mountain region where the wind cut into your bones.

In a place like that, keeping soldiers’ morale high did not require much. Warm winter gear, rich meals, a strong drink, and occasional performance bonuses were enough, but the Empire’s contempt toward the regular army turned all of that into luxury.

So we only had to do the opposite.

Mending conflict was that easy when you had enough money.

“Yes. Loyalty!”

Major Kai Han understood the weight of it.

He gave me a crisp salute, then left with a soldier’s stride.

Boom. Boom.

Inside the workshops of Gigantes, dull clangs of metal being hammered rang out without pause.

One worker’s eyelids twitched, then he collapsed from exhaustion, and a military boot flew in with a curse.

Boom. Boom.

Even that violence was swallowed by the machine noise, while Revolutionary Faction members disguised as laborers moved in secret.

Homemade explosives and detonators hidden under toolboxes were passed from one to another.

Boom. Boom.

Small bombs began to be fixed onto the blast furnace controls, worn conveyor power units, and pressing machines that stamped out weapons.

One was a worker silently carrying steel,

Another was a supervisor pretending to monitor workers,

Another was a guard standing at the entrance.

All were comrades who had infiltrated this place with the same purpose.

Boom. Boom.

The operation was meticulous. The execution date was the Empire’s public holiday when workers got their only rest, [Day of the Subjects]. On that day, simultaneous explosions would collapse Gigantes’s outer structures.

But destroying only the facilities meant they could be rebuilt at any time. Using the collapsed outer shell as cover, they had to penetrate underground into Gigantes’s heart and plant main detonation material on the central mana ore vein, destroying it from the root.

Boom...... boom......

At the underground temporary command post, a comrade in a rabbit mask checked incoming signals from each zone in suffocating tension.

Slowly, installation across every point was nearing completion.

“Looks like we can finish before execution day. Security shift coverage for execution day is about this much.”

Security numbers were high. Because [Day of the Subjects] was the only day Gigantes fully stopped operations, security was tighter than usual.

Still, there were no knight-class forces, and if they wanted to avoid sweeping up workers, that day was the only possible execution day anyway.

“There will be guards and Royal Guards, but our force can handle them.”

Eight Revolutionary Faction officers. Besides them, dozens of laborers sympathetic to the revolution and comrades already embedded deep inside.

Execution was close.

“......For the cause.”

As they were about to raise both hands and press wrists together, a man in an eagle mask rushed in.

“Everyone, focus for a second. Menci got taken!”

“What?”

Menci was the overall lead who manufactured explosives. The Empire controlled explosives strictly, so they had no choice but to gather materials and make them by hand.

That made Menci a crucial comrade.

“Menci?”

“We still do not know how or why she got caught. But it is not just Menci now. Her shop got raided too, and they found some of our ciphertext there. Luckily it was not the code that explicitly named Gigantes, but...... they took Menci’s family and all the teachers from her uncle’s orphanage too.”

At that, Rabbit Mask let out a deep sigh.

Tiger Mask ground his teeth.

“......Execution is not affected. It will take them time to decode the ciphertext. The problem is explosive quantity.”

“Menci said what we had gathered so far was exactly 100%, without counting variables.”

In other words, it was the calculated amount that could blow up Gigantes’s mana ore vein.

But in real operations, they had planned to add at least 30% more for variables and error.

Tiger Mask nodded.

“We can somehow secure the remaining explosives. Menci is...... there is nothing we can do. Nothing.”

Execution meant carrying it out even if they died.

It meant willingly dedicating their own lives.

For a better world. For a better future.

“The cause.”

Even with one loss, all of them raised their hands and pressed their wrists together.

......

Boom!

In the Empire’s central secret police bureau, inside an unnamed underground torture room.

The dull sound of a club smashing flesh echoed out.

“Ah, fucker, you still won’t talk. Hey. What does this mean!”

An investigator shook undeciphered ciphertext in Menci’s face and grabbed her hair.

Menci’s whole body was already bruised. A metallic blood taste leaked from her split lips, and dizziness blurred her sight until she could barely see anything.

“This bitch is really stubborn. You only gonna talk after you watch your family die in front of you?”

No matter how much they beat and crushed her, she did not open her mouth.

“Investigator sir. But this thing.”

At that moment, another investigator appeared beside them with a stack of papers.

“I checked every supplier for this bitch’s shop, right? Among the items listed in those supplier ledgers, something stood out.”

“......What stood out?”

“It is kind of vague, but also suspicious. You can make explosives with this stuff too.”

Menci’s heart dropped in an instant.

“Explosives? Homemade bombs and that kind of thing?”

“Well, probably, yeah?”

“How do you know that?”

“Ah, I majored in chemistry. Mana chemistry. You know?”

Just as they looked over the ledgers and started pulling on the thread.

Crash!

The interrogation room door flew open with a loud bang.

“What the hell!”

Someone ran in from the other side.

“I, Investigator sir! I think you need to take this call right now!”

“You scared me. Why, what is it?”

“J, just hurry! Hurry!”

“Haah, damn it......”

The investigator took the phone irritably.

“Yes. This is Hans. I am very busy right...... Yes? Transfer? All of them? No, why? This is our arrest record......”

He was about to argue back, but the voice from the other end suddenly froze his face.

“......Ah, yes! Understood! We will transfer immediately! Yes! Yes! No, sir!”

He shouted, hung up, then pointed at Menci.

“Hey. Mask that bitch and all the others, prepare transfer now! Right now!”

Darkness covered the world again. Rough hands dragged her body.

Through her fading consciousness, she heard footsteps echoing through cold corridors.

The sound of heavy iron doors opening and closing.

The sound of the vehicle carrying her somewhere.

Through all of it, she could see nothing and hear nothing clearly.

How much time passed like that?

“Remove the hood.”

At some point, an unfamiliar voice rang out.

The hood came off, and faint light pierced her eyelids.

She slowly opened her eyes.

Across from her, in clean-smelling air, stood a man in uniform.

“......”

She struggled to steady her blurred vision. The first thing that came into focus was blond hair. Golden eyes, glinting like desert light, looked at her. She recognized each facial feature one by one. Even so, it was a handsome face, and when she finally grasped its complete shape, Menci swallowed hard.

There was no way she could fail to know him.

“Maxi......milian?”

A faint smile touched the corner of his lips.

“Nice to meet you. So you know my name.”

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