WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 70

──────

Clocking In (4)

The Captain of Ten moved like he was leaving afterimages behind. He was too fast to follow with the naked eye. The gap in sheer force was overwhelming.

With a single gesture, Rabbit Mask's hoverboard split cleanly in two, and Tiger Mask lasted only a few exchanges before he was hurled into the wall.

"Tsk, tsk. That must've rattled your bones."

Eagle smiled thinly as he checked on his former comrades.

"...You filthy traitor bastard."

Rabbit Mask, Sensi, spat at him. In an instant, the Captain of Ten turned toward her, but Eagle raised a hand to stop him.

"I get why you'd think that, but no, Sensi. This isn't treason. It's betrayal out of necessity. A choice made by inevitability."

"Fuck off!"

"I'm serious."

Eagle looked up at Gigantes's humming mana ore vein behind them. Red light cast strange shadows over his mask.

"In the end, our goal is the same. You seem to think Gigantes has to be destroyed for your cause to succeed, but that's not true. It's the wrong idea."

He started walking slowly toward the fallen Tagan.

"We've been preparing this cause far longer than you."

Tagan pushed his upper body up with a trembling arm, breathing hard.

"...We?"

"Yeah. From somewhere much deeper and much damper than where you came from. So don't worry. What you want will happen. One way or another."

Eagle rested a hand on the Captain of Ten's shoulder. The armor was hot from the constant flow of high-density mana, but he did not care.

"This one will become the Empire's hero who stopped a terror attack. And the Empire will have its lifeblood drained by the cancer called Gigantes. Perfect scenario."

Tagan raised his sword and let out a hollow laugh.

"...So this was your plan from the start."

"Yeah. Tagan, too bad for you, but you chose this yourself. You rejected my way."

Tagan shook his head.

"A revolution needs the people's support. And a revolution has to embrace the people. We had to give them the strength to rise. We had to make this cause known. And Gigantes, as the symbol of Imperial exploitation, had to be destroyed."

“You talk too much.”

The Captain of Ten's emotionless voice echoed from inside his helmet.

“I'm just going to kill you.”

"Yeah. Let's kill them. Talking's useless."

Eagle nodded. Just as the Captain of Ten began gathering mana into his armored gauntlet.

For one suspended instant, nothing moved.

A silent flash descended from above.

* * *

Tap.

I left the railing. In that instant when gravity seized my body, I found complete freedom.

A 400-meter vertical shaft.

I dropped into that mix of darkness and heat. Wind screamed hard enough to rip my eardrums apart, but my mind sank into calm, like I was inside a vacuum.

I focused myself on a single point... and released mana.

The world went silent.

The world slowed in silence. Silver-white mana particles gathered around my body, then formed a transparent membrane beneath my feet.

I gripped my sword and stepped on it. There was no blast. Even that moment remained still. Ebenholtz was quiet as moonlight.

A soft burst followed.

I added one more burst of mana thrust in midair. My speed had already gone past physical limits.

Tick.

In frozen time, I found the targets.

At the bottom of Gigantes. Two bastards, relaxed and certain of success.

The Captain of Ten seemed to sense danger and jerked his head up, but he was too late.

Flash!

A silver flash speared straight down. My blade arrived with cold precision and cut through the Captain of Ten's helmet and neck in one stroke. His mana armor split apart cleanly.

That chilling presence made Eagle Mask turn his head. My sword did not stop. I carried the flow, raised the longsword, and cut Eagle's neck from his body too.

Thud, thud.

Two heads hit the floor almost at the same time.

A heavy silence crushed the underground cavern.

"..."

The Revolutionary Faction members stared at me in a daze. I checked them one by one. A few were still alive, but most were beyond saving.

No need for a finishing blow. Sending them off with Gigantes would be enough.

"Who... are you."

Just as the relatively unhurt Rabbit Mask asked who I was.

Thump-

My heart reacted.

I spun around.

Creak. Pop. Crack.

The Captain of Ten's corpse twisted at grotesque angles and staggered back to its feet. Black steam leaked from the severed neck, and the headless body groped at the air as if trying to find its bearings.

This was Izenheim's true nature.

I readjusted my grip on the longsword.

It charged like a beast.

BOOM!

It was only a punch, but the impact was stronger than most shells. I blocked with my sword, yet my whole body was shoved far back.

It pursued me and unleashed a barrage.

Clang! Clang!

I could barely defend. The gap in brute strength was severe, and the headless corpse charged without a care for defense.

Crash! Crunch! Boom!

Dangerous. If I kept getting pushed back and hit the wall, I would die. One mistimed breath and my whole body would be crushed.

That warning seared through my mind.

Whip!

Rabbit Mask fired a wire. The thing's body wavered, even if only slightly. Right after, Tiger Mask rushed low and cut behind its knee.

It was a clean hit that would have taken a leg off any living being, but the thing casually swung an arm and knocked both of them away.

In that brief opening, I caught my breath.

And I understood how to fight it.

It was not alive. Not a living organism. The black steam pouring from its cut surfaces proved it. It was only a machine, forcing a body to move with stored mana as fuel. In other words, once the mana ran dry, it would stop.

Then there was no reason to clash head-on.

I changed my stance. I filled my lungs with clear breath. I let my whole body settle into calm.

"Hoo..."

Ebenholtz mana breathing.

Without moving from my spot, I drew an invisible line across the ground.

I remembered Freya's words.

The Ebenholtz sword was, at its core, a noble's sword.

It did not grapple crudely and roll in the dirt. It simply swept aside the lowly who trespassed into its domain, with elegance.

ROAR!

The headless monster charged again. Its black gauntlet drove toward my solar plexus, but I did not retreat. I only moved my sword in a smooth, flowing arc.

Slice.

This was not force against force. I received its strength on the flat of my blade, twisted its path just enough to redirect it, then swept wide and shoved it back. It tried to force its way in again, but my single sword line

split into two. Then those two became four.

Silver arcs bloomed like flower buds.

There was no way through.

Slice.

My blade brushed over its body, slicing here and there.

Slice.

It did not need to be deep. I only needed openings for mana to leak out.

Slice.

It still lunged like a monster, but it could not step a single stride into my line.

Like moonlight on a lake, my sword quietly reflected its violence.

Hiss. Cut. Snap.

Each cut made mana hiss out of the wounds. Thigh, flank, wrist. As small cuts piled up, its movements slowed visibly.

Creak.

Soon, a grotesque grinding sound leaked from that torso without vocal cords. Like a doll with a snapped spring, its fist stalled in midair.

I lowered my sword. No more cuts were needed.

Creak. Creak.

The armor dropped to its knees and pitched forward. I stared at the thing, now no more than scrap metal, then recovered my sword.

Suppression complete.

Silence settled over us.

"...Are you Revolutionary Faction too?"

Tiger Mask forced his head up and asked. Rabbit Mask beside him was already unconscious, and all their other comrades were cold corpses.

Tiger Mask spoke.

"Sorry. We failed."

I checked his condition. Worse than the crushed wounds from Izenheim, he had severe mana toxin exposure. His veins were swollen blue, and blood foam burst out with every breath.

He was as good as dead already.

"You don't need to apologize."

"Then let me do one thing worth apologizing for. Sensi, the one in the rabbit mask, is still alive. Here, I have a map marked with the underground tunnel location..."

The bold Tiger Mask tossed me the map. I caught it.

"Take Sensi and leave with her. Please."

"..."

I watched him for a moment, then pointed my chin toward the mana ore vein.

"Do you want to destroy it?"

Gigantes's heart pulsed like a living thing, spitting red and blue light.

"...I do."

Tiger Mask's eyes flared for a moment.

"Why?"

"...My father died here."

Tiger Mask coughed up blood.

"Because he complied. Because he accepted everything that was destroying him."

He gasped as if pulling up distant memories.

"Even in front of his own child... he couldn't resist even once... and he was beaten to death."

Anger settled into Tiger Mask's voice.

Tick.

My soul sensed absolute time.

I still had a little time to speak with him.

"My father died because he accepted his shackles."

I looked at him.

As if fading out, Tiger Mask kept reciting his will without pause.

"We have to fight. We have to fight. We must not accept it. We have to rage, and rage again."

Even the great cause of revolution had, in the end, begun from one very small personal wish.

Maybe that was exactly why it mattered more.

"Even if we fail... we have to burn until the very end. If we can't, we'll just rot slowly."

I looked down at him.

Suddenly, an ash-dry ache rose in me.

"...Sorry, but all of us are bound by shackles. We can never break them, and we can't refuse them either."

I answered like a sigh and tossed the bomb slung over my shoulder to Tiger Mask.

"Because those shackles are called life."

Tiger Mask caught it on reflex. Its heavy weight settled in his arms.

An unreadable look spread across the face behind his half-broken mask.

"Like the men who betrayed you said, complete destruction of Gigantes might actually benefit the Empire. It could be a chance to throw out the old and fill it with something new."

I hoisted the unconscious Rabbit Mask onto my shoulder.

"But even so, if you still want to rage."

I turned back to Tiger Mask. Pointing at the bomb in his arms, I said,

"Then fulfill what you want."

I left that choice to his wish.

I turned and started to leave this scorched underground place.

Then he called out to me again.

"Tell me your name."

At some point, Tiger Mask had removed and thrown away his mask. His face was that of an ordinary young man, smeared with blood and oil, but his eyes were clear beyond compare.

"I am Thomas Wagner. An employee at Zepheltron Printing House."

Even his name and his job were ordinary, just a commoner. Yet his talent and spirit were exceptional. If this world had functioned as it should, he would surely have become a successful man.

"..."

I stared at him for a while, then brushed back the hair disguised as black. It fell into blonde again.

"Maximilian."

I gave him my real name.

"Maximilian Ebenholtz."

Thomas's eyes widened for a moment, then a broad, bright smile spread across his face.

I quietly turned my back on him.

* * *

I escaped through the Revolutionary Faction's underground tunnel and emerged at their hideout. It was a cave cleverly hidden in a crack between rocks, not far from Gigantes.

Thud. I lowered Rabbit Mask from my shoulder.

"..."

At some point her mask had already come off. When I saw her face, I let out a dry laugh.

Celine Dubois.

Editor-in-chief of Jemion Daily.

I thought she was only good with a pen. She was something else.

I laid her on a bed in the hideout. She too had mana toxin poisoning, and her breathing was ragged.

"...I made a promise."

I took out a super stim pack from inside my coat. A full dose could kill by shock, so I injected exactly one-fifth.

The sharply accelerated mana circulation would help expel the toxin.

Her survival chance was probably around 60%.

I climbed up to the surface from their hideout.

From a distant hill, I looked at Gigantes.

Smog thick enough to hide even starlight covered it like a shroud.

Flash!

At some point, the flash came first.

The sound came later.

RUMBLE!

Cracks split the ground. Energy erupted as Gigantes's heart, the mana ore vein, collapsed, shaking the bedrock. Massive factories crumpled like paper and were sucked inward beyond the rupture.

Total collapse.

Thomas Wagner went down with Gigantes.

"..."

I tried to imagine what he thought in his final moments.

He smiled when he heard my name. Maybe he mistook me for a comrade in the Revolutionary Faction, or for one hidden even deeper than that. Maybe he held onto swelling hope that his death was not in vain, and that the great cause would surely be fulfilled.

Either way.

Thomas Wagner was a man of conviction. A man who deserved respect.

So I hoped he died in the way best for him.

Life is pain, so I hoped he escaped those hellish shackles and, there, dreamed a better dream.

"Let's go..."

This time, as a knight of the Empire.

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried