WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 67

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Clocking In

As a knight, I had the authority to review intelligence from the Imperial Central Secret Police Bureau. Of course, I could not access truly sensitive matters, the kind that were never written down at all, but information on this report was relatively easy to obtain.

- They believed they had seen a wanted criminal at a shop run by the target, unexplained blasts were sometimes heard late at night, and above all, the target was Yaken, which made them even more suspicious -

"...The name is Yukia Tarik."

It was unfolding much the same way it had before my regression. The outcome of the Gigantes terror attack was so famous it had even been covered in special reports, so the names tied to it remained clear in my memory.

"Yaken."

Descendants of ancient beastfolk, the Yaken were a subspecies that faced severe discrimination across the continent. Their population was even smaller than Izenheim's, but they stood out the most in appearance.

Their sharply slanted eyes, high nose bridge, and predatory features looked alien compared to any imperial ethnicity.

And this Yaken, Yukia, had white hair and red eyes.

But before my regression, Bald Edmund had clearly said this:

'With help from the Yaken tribe, we held out fairly well in the beginning. They had power that could resist the Dimensional devourers......'

So the Yaken had to become my allies, and I transferred Yukia and her family, detained by the Imperial Central Secret Police Bureau, to the Gennen branch office under my jurisdiction.

"Do you know why you were brought here?"

I picked up the coded document found in her shop. It still carried a faint trace of Izenheim-specific mana waves.

Proof that Izenheim existed either among the terrorists behind Gigantes, or among those who had ordered them.

"..."

She gave no answer. The one line where she pronounced my name in her exotic accent had been the last thing she said.

I did not mind. I pushed a different stack of papers toward her.

"Yukia Tarik. I looked into you."

Her old academy report cards were there. Nearly every category was close to perfect.

"You had exceptional talent."

Even so, the reason Yukia Tarik was expelled from university was simple: her background and race.

"A Yaken immigrant in the Empire. Someone like you showing elite-level ability, of course it drew envy and jealousy."

The Empire had a recently popular idea called the Aran myth.

A class theory that placed the Aran, supposedly the noblest bloodline from the beginning, at the top, stacked westerners and easterners below them like a pyramid, and shoved subspecies into the mud at the bottom.

A pathetic, worthless delusion, yet the wavering Empire held itself up with that as faith.

"From now on, I will ask you a few questions. You may answer, or you may not."

I picked up the questionnaire. It was the manual used when questioning someone suspected of subversive activity.

"Do you hold grievances against the Empire?"

"..."

Looking at the silent Yaken, I thought about the Yaken as a race.

In the ruined future, they had been humanity's hope.

"Do you possess books banned by the Empire?"

"..."

I did not know exactly what made the Yaken hopeful, but I needed to think more deeply about what "necessary for humanity" really meant.

By the same logic, they were unnecessary to Izenheim. And Izenheim was the kind of lot that treated even the Revolutionary Faction as expendable tools if it served their cause.

"Have you ever joined a seditious group that threatens the Empire's security?"

"..."

So rather than believing that a Revolutionary Faction officer like her had prepared an operation so sloppily that neighbors noticed, the hypothesis that Izenheim had informed on her was far more convincing.

"About the Empire, you......"

She answered none of my questions, and I put the questionnaire down.

I marked everything as [No].

In the Empire, the right to remain silent was not truly a right. Only the interrogator decided what silence meant.

"Sir Knight."

An investigator came in right on cue. I stood and stepped outside. In the Gennen branch office cafeteria, orphanage children were eating.

I opened the counseling room next to it.

[Interview Room]

Inside sat the man introduced as Yukia's uncle.

"Mr. Entikkan."

I called out to the wolf-like middle-aged Yaken.

"Your niece inside is not saying anything."

"Her Imperial language is poor, that is probably why. She wandered all over the continent following my father."

Entikkan sounded tense as he explained. I looked at the materials spread across the counseling room table. They were full records of the money flow and spending history of the tiny orphanage he ran.

There was not even the first hint of revolution.

"It's spotless."

That was my honest impression.

"I have never seen someone run a humble orphanage as cleanly as you do."

People like this existed sometimes. People who kept nothing for themselves and only gave to others.

Entikkan was one of them.

"And still you were suspected just because you're Yaken."

After the Empire fell, I once read a book called 「The Art of Interrogation」.

The author criticized torture as inefficient and said the ultimate interrogation was to become the target's ally.

"Yes. They all look at us and say we have the faces of traitors and rebels."

"I do not think that way. Aran and Yaken can be friends in the Empire too."

"...Like dogs and humans?"

His question carried self-mockery. I looked him straight in the eye.

"Some humans risk even their own lives to protect dogs. It depends on what bond they build, and what they survive together."

If dogs lived as long as humans, they might have been treated as full family. No, perhaps even more trustworthy than family.

Dogs did not betray humans.

"Mr. Entikkan. I want to make you an offer."

"...An offer?"

"Yes. I need people. People who can become my eyes and ears, people with enough talent for that role. I always need people like that, and I am always short."

Yukia Tarik was a Revolutionary Faction member.

Still, I was willing to test how deep that conviction really was.

"You want me to persuade Yukia?"

"Yes."

Yukia Tarik would definitely accept. Maximilian von Ebenholtz was one of the Revolutionary Faction's key surveillance targets.

"I will give you one week."

If I wanted to turn enemies into allies, I had to accept this much risk.

"I will be waiting for a positive answer."

If I wanted to make someone mine, I first had to keep them by my side.

* * *

Leutern II stared at the mana stone cube in his study several times a day.

A master-grade cube. Inside a flawless cube-shaped crystal, blue light rippled as if alive. In the hand it felt cold yet smooth. Nothing like a stone. It was more like touching mana itself.

Its perfectly refined beauty looked like art, and merely looking at it filled his heart with satisfaction.

Leutern II also liked the letter from Maximilian that arrived with the cube.

「To the esteemed Duke Leutern,

First, I offer my apology for delaying delivery of the item I promised due to my own inadequacy. This may sound like a poor excuse, but in truth, I was waiting for this small gift meant for Your Grace.

This mana stone, which our workshop may produce only once a year if fortune allows, holds the purest and most brilliant light. Only this, I believed, befits Your Grace's dignity. Imagining this humble item in Your Grace's hand, I longed for its completion with all my heart......」

In truth, he read the letter once and threw it away, but still, he got the cube.

When Leutern walked around the palace, he always showed the cube off proudly like a necklace.

"What is that jewel, Duke Leutern?"

"I have never seen a mana stone shine like that. Where did you get it?"

"Mana stone? Not a jewel, that is a mana stone?"

"How much would it cost to buy one......"

At the palace nobles' admiration, Leutern II burst into hearty laughter.

"You cannot put a price on this. They say even one or two a year is the best you can hope for. I do not even know what Max was thinking when he gave this to me~"

He enjoyed those reactions.

And the 「Spherical Aura Guard」 manifested through this precious mana stone would be the perfect shield against any assassination attempt.

There was one problem, though......

"Duke Leutern. At this moment, Maximilian is unauthorizedly handling a Yaken arrested by the secret police bureau-"

"Ah, damn."

Lutz. Since the Arnold case, that department head from the direct agency had been fixated on Maximilian.

"Tell me later, later."

"I do not think a case happening now can be discussed later."

"Then do not tell me. It is nothing important anyway."

"...Yes. Understood."

Lutz worked his lips and left. Leutern narrowed his eyes and glared at his back.

"Look at that. No manners, huh?"

And......

[Lutz: Yes. Understood.]

[Leutern II: Look at that. No manners, huh?]

Every one of those words was wiretapped and sent to Maximilian.

In some ways, Leutern II was simple. No complex ideology, no grand cause. His mood, possessions, and pride were his whole world.

He had no interest at all in public crises like terror bombings that could shake the Empire or Revolutionary Faction activity. Personal irritation moved him far more.

He was that emotional, and that simple.

With just a tiny spark, like tossing an ember onto a dry leaf, he would explode. A man who saw commoners as pigs and dogs would not hesitate over killing one person anyway.

Quietly, Maximilian thought about the shape of the spark he would throw at Leutern II.

* * *

The day of Empire Point's descent training.

As an observing instructor, I looked over the cadets inside the transport aircraft. The atmosphere had clearly changed. Recent rule changes had tightened discipline hard. The air itself had grown heavier in return, but if I treated it as the tension right before deployment, it was not bad.

"Ready!"

At my signal, the rear ramp opened.

Kwoooooosh!

Air slammed in like a wave.

"Descent!"

The transport was at 3,000 meters. From above the clouds, cadets threw themselves into open sky. One, two, three, four, five...... dozens of elites shrank to dots in an instant.

Even under crushing gravity, they held posture, deployed mana as taught, and began descent in their own ways.

I watched them from above.

The more I thought about it, the clearer it became: knight descent had obvious talent gaps.

Some cadets fell normally, relying on parachutes or wingsuits and yielding to gravity. Others went beyond descent and nearly flew, adjusting the density of mana emitted from their bodies and maneuvering freely like aircraft.

That was not something you reached through training alone. It was entirely a domain of talent tied to mana nature and sensory instinct.

"Not bad."

The cadet showing knight-level descent quality right now was [Hanna Usar].

She had been a classmate of Jacob, the one I killed.

......

After descent training, Empire Point Cadet Commandant's Office.

"In my view, this descent ability will become a huge differentiator once they become knights."

Thunk. Commandant Dane set down his teacup. I continued.

"Descent is basically aerial mana control. Cadets who are clearly poor at descent will not become knights."

Dane glanced out the window at a transport ship that had just taken off.

These days at Empire Point, transport ships took off and landed six times a day.

"...In the past, I would have doubted what you just said."

Dane nodded.

"Now I agree. More than descent itself, the ability to handle mana in the air is becoming the standard that separates their real skill."

The sky had far more variables than the ground. If someone could handle mana precisely even in extreme conditions, with air resistance and gravity crushing the body, that proved outstanding control, density, and nerve.

Mana control that could be faked somehow on the ground was laid bare in the sky as true ability.

"It is a virtuous cycle. Skill built in the air applies on the ground too. One cadet even said five minutes in the air helped mana training more than five days on the ground."

It was probably exaggerated, but it still meant the effect was real.

"That is why we run transport ships every day, every hour, and still it is not enough."

As he said that, Dane watched my reaction. It looked like he wanted one more aircraft.

I nodded willingly.

"Ha ha, well. That is not what I expected at all...... ahem. Thank you. In a way, maybe the sky really is the stage that suits knights best."

Dane smiled. Next to his desk sat a sleeping bag and a tent.

"Looks like you are preparing for leave."

"Day after tomorrow is Day of the Subjects. I want to bury myself in the mountains with Rocky for a day."

Empire Subjects' Day. The day all labor and official duty stopped. For reference, Rocky was the dog the commandant raised.

A framed photo of him with the dog sat on the table too.

A thought crossed my mind.

"Commandant Dane, what does Rocky mean to you?"

Dane made an odd face, but while touching the frame, he answered.

"Well. My son and daughter are already independent...... so now this guy is basically like a child I am raising again."

"I see."

Yaken as a race did resemble dogs in appearance.

Aran's pet-species theory...... it sounded like sophistry, but someday I would need at least one reason to protect them.

"Then I will take my leave."

I left Empire Point and got in my car.

For the first time in a while, I took the wheel myself without an aide.

I drove alone and arrived there.

An industrial zone where chimneys blew gray smoke like a forest, and machine noise shook the air. A villa on a hill overlooking all of Gigantes.

I went inside and placed a book I had brought onto the table.

[Illusion Spell: Chromatic Conversion]

It was a spellbook. Illusion spells were considered one of the hardest branches, but not for my virus.

I looked in the mirror and placed a hand on my collarbone.

Thump.

The virus's intuition flowed into me. An instinctive sense that skipped complex spell theory, read only mana circuits, and produced results. That sense turned into a spell and wrapped my whole body.

Ink-like ripples spread through the golden eyes in the mirror, then slowly clouded over.

The result was pitch-black irises and hair.

"Haa......"

I stood by the window. Looking out over Gigantes, I sank into thought for a moment.

From here on, even I no longer knew the exact sequence that would unfold inside Gigantes.

Still, I had to respond even to what I did not know. I could not rely forever on memories from before regression.

The future had already changed, and variables had increased.

What mattered was my judgment and improvisation. I had to test myself.

"..."

I changed into the Gigantes security uniform I had prepared in advance. I pulled the security cap down low and hung a real security card around my neck.

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