WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 8

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A Blade Lurks Beneath the Throat

Yulian left the summary execution scene untouched. The beheaded child’s body lay alone in the park, and the virus in my body secretly absorbed a small piece of him.

I did not know the mechanism, but my Mana core had grown slightly.

“......”

I looked at Yulian. With that calm expression, he had probably tried to let the child go. Then as now, he was always a man who agonized over what was “right.”

Click. Click.

Before I knew it, several reporters came running in and started taking photos of the scene. Yulian did not try to stop them.

“Good work. The forensic team will release the detailed findings. Loyalty.”

The police pushed the reporters back and recovered the body, leaving only Yulian and me behind. It felt like we were sizing each other up, but there was no real way to avoid this.

A cold wind blew through the night. A back alley untouched by the capital’s lights.

We walked side by side down a road where gas lamps flickered faintly.

“You did well for your first day.”

Yulian broke the awkward silence.

“Yes. Thanks to you.”

Yulian was an Imperial through and through. Shining blond hair, sharp golden eyes. Every movement of his was noble to the bone.

That was why he became my mentor, and honestly, he had also been my mentor in spirit.

In the face of his strength, I saw my own weakness. That was why I had felt petty envy.

Yulian was a man who had everything I lacked.

“How do you feel? For a first mission, that must have felt pretty flat.”

“I’m fine. It was manageable.”

Still, Yulian was wasted on this rotten Empire.

And the Empire had no need for Yulian either.

One day, I watched him after he was sentenced to death. He had lost everything, yet he wore a full smile as he said this to me.

......Max. I would rather die by your hand.

“Good work.”

Yulian’s voice broke my recollection.

“You’ll need to attend the committee tomorrow. Summary judgments go through post-review, you knew that, right?”

I would probably go through an internal investigation. Annoying, but it would be over in a day or two.

“...Yes. I don’t mind.”

* * *

By the time I arrived at the Order headquarters, it was already dawn. I went back to the office and wrote my report. Drawing on memories from before regression, I recorded the full sequence of events in proper format.

‘--The suspect was clearly identified as the murderer of a noble, and was therefore subjected to summary judgment at the scene under Imperial law.’

A knight was a prosecutor, a judge, and an executioner all at once. It meant we held enough power to brush off accidentally killing a few commoners as self-defense.

Of course, the Empire was a strict bureaucracy, so at minimum, even summary judgment required post-review.

That same morning, after I submitted the report to upper command, I received notice to appear before the review committee.

The room was cold and still.

Across the table sat two senior knights. One was a sharp-looking woman, the other a man with a stiff expression.

“You wrote a clean report.”

The woman dropped the file with a thud as she spoke.

“According to the forensic report, the victim’s blood and mana residue were clearly detected on the child you executed. With evidence that strong, there’s no need to infer other circumstances.”

She closed the file. Then she rested her chin on her hand and stared at me. Her gaze was probing.

“But you’ve killed two people already. You didn’t seem like this type back at Empire Point. I was a professor there then, didn’t I see you a few times?”

“...Yes. I remember.”

Her name was Adria von Hardenberg.

There was no way I would not know her. Right now she sat before me as a senior knight, but underneath that, she was a traitor to the Empire.

Her codename was Blue Owl. A noble-line mole who had served as a core revolutionary operative for decades.

To me, she was more dangerous than the Empire itself.

She likely felt the same.

One day, I would cut off your head.

“You might be referred to a grand jury. There was a complaint.”

“A complaint?”

“Yeah. You killed one fifteen-year-old and one eleven-year-old.”

Adria smiled faintly.

“A perfect story for reporters to bite. ‘Cold-blooded Ebenholtz and excessive suppression.’ They always shout that the pen is mightier than the sword, but they don’t give a damn about the weight their pen carries.”

She pointed at me.

“Of course, if you want, I can bury it. A grand jury is formal anyway-”

“No.”

I refused.

“If I did what was right, why would I bury it? Please proceed through official procedure.”

Adria’s eyes widened slightly.

“...All right. I’ll tell you when the schedule is set.”

The male knight who had stayed silent until then gave a short laugh.

“Not curious? About who filed the complaint against you?”

In principle, the accuser’s identity should have been confidential. In the Empire, no such principle was ever kept.

“This one.”

He slid a photo and a document in front of me.

The name was Alphonse von Stauffen. Born to a respectable house, but willing to step down with nothing but his pen. A journalist who exposed the Empire’s absurdities.

“I see.”

“Know him?”

I hid my expression.

I knew him.

Even in dark times, people like that appeared now and then.

Some held a pen, others held a sword.

Their righteousness was still not right. The righteousness they insisted on led the world to ruin.

“No. First time I’ve heard the name.”

I rose from my seat.

Then a voice reached me.

“I’m curious.”

Adria looked at me with her chin resting on her hand. Her voice sounded lazy, but there was something sharp beneath it. At least, that was how it felt to me.

“What will Ebenholtz do to him?”

It sounded like a test. Before I answered, my father came to mind.

Sebestian.

The revolutionaries respected my father. They displayed his severed head and hung it over the central road, yet even that was a form of reverence. They feared him, and that was how they tried to forget their fear.

Sebestian risked his life to keep his convictions. Conviction was that precious.

“Suppressing a person’s conviction by force is not the Ebenholtz way.”

A petty man who chased only personal gain would end up smeared in disgrace and filth, then disappear.

Yet someone who upheld conviction for a lifetime deserved respect, even as an enemy.

“Hm.”

Adria’s eyes wavered just a little.

If I sent one message to Engi, Alphonse would be found dead tomorrow morning. Alphonse himself might already be prepared for that end.

That was how troublesome people called martyrs were made.

“I’m curious. What is the Ebenholtz way?”

“You make them understand naturally.”

If I killed Alphonse, it would only worsen my image. It would only make Adria more wary of me. No gain in any direction.

For my sake, I needed a thorough cost-benefit calculation. At minimum, I had to look like a “rational” noble.

“To begin with, a reporter scribbling a few lines changes nothing. Imperial society is not soft enough to be dyed by ink.”

I looked at Adria.

“I executed a criminal who murdered a noble on the spot. No matter how much they wave a pen, that fact doesn’t change.”

I stood up. I had no more business here.

“Then I’ll be going.”

* * *

As soon as I left the Order, I got into a car. My destination was a nearby autopsy room.

[Imperial Eaton Forensic Institute]

The space reeked of disinfectant. I opened the door to one of the autopsy rooms. A small shape covered with a white sheet lay on a steel table.

The medical examiner removed his gloves and turned to me.

“What were the autopsy results?”

“Ah, yes. As you expected, it is definitely an Ain species.”

“Is it Izenheim?”

“Izenheim...... not sure. Could be Edellem, could be Elina mixed blood. It’s too young for a clear distinction.”

The gray-haired examiner took off his mask. Deep fatigue was etched into his face.

“It’s definitely not Aran blood. The unusual mana reaction detected in the body supports that......”

Strictly speaking, “Aran” was not a race. It was a word Imperials used for themselves to claim superiority.

“So you can’t distinguish it?”

“Yes. These very young ones are usually before their traits fully manifest. Still, the structure of the mana circuit is definitely that of an Ain species.”

Ain species. At some point, the Empire stopped calling them “races.” It was a brand that marked them as inferior to humans.

A mechanism to justify the Empire’s discriminatory policies socially and academically.

“You’ve accomplished a major feat on your first mission. Congratulations, Knight Maximilian.”

The examiner offered routine praise.

I raised my head and looked at him. At the word congratulations, I clenched my teeth without realizing it. The examiner flinched and took a step back.

“...I only carried out my duty as a knight. There is no reason to praise me.”

“Ah, yes.”

The examiner cleared his throat awkwardly. I turned and left the autopsy room.

......

“That kid is terrifying.”

After the knight left, the medical examiner was honestly rattled.

Maximilian von Ebenholtz. A young knight who had only just turned twenty. Public opinion mostly called him weak and incompetent, and some even said he was the “wrong bloodline” that stained House Ebenholtz, but blood was blood after all.

He looked more like a young Sebestian. Sharp as a blade, far from those rumors.

“Well. No soft man would kill a kid like this.”

The examiner turned his gaze to the dead child. The severed neck had been crudely stitched with thick wire.

“......”

He stared blankly at the child, then let out a sigh without realizing it.

The child had killed a noble, yes. But that same child’s body was covered in unspeakable wounds likely inflicted by that noble.

“Sometimes...... I wonder if this is really the right path.”

Forty years had passed as a medical examiner loyal to the Empire. He had carried out his duty in his own way, but maybe he had grown old now.

Sympathy and pity welled up from deep inside him.

“Rest peacefully. The next life will be better for you.”

He quietly brushed the child’s eyes closed with his hand.

Then he put the body into the freezer and turned off the light.

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