The Reluctant Imperialist - Chapter 81

WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 81

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Before Spring Comes (4)

[Threats using batons are permitted, but strikes to vital points that could endanger life and direct fire at civilians are prohibited. Tank shelling is also limited to the most visible surrounding structures, not people.]

The logic was simple.

The Imperial Army was an elite force under perfect control. So it could not swing force around indiscriminately. If the response became too brutal, it would only tarnish the Empire's dignity.

But punishment for protest ringleaders remained severe.

The more urgent things became, the more the "subversive elements" had no choice but to risk contacting each other. Those communications were caught in the dense wiretap and surveillance net laid by the Gennen branch office. The moment coordinates were identified, investigators rushed in like wolves.

How each detainee would be treated would be decided later based on identity, background, and severity of reactionary activity.

Rrrrrrrumble...! Rrrrrrrumble...!

Tanks patrolled Gennen's streets by day and by night. The earth-shaking grind of their treads became the only sound left in the city.

Shops and businesses shut down. Factories stopped. Every part of Gennen's economy froze. The city was sealed completely, cut off from the outside, left isolated with no help coming.

Like a throat being squeezed, like sinking underwater, they were being suppressed little by little...

* * *

In the interrogation room, pale lights flickered weakly.

I looked across at Elias.

"Elias."

His grandfather was a fallen imperial noble, his grandmother was Gennen. Born in Gennen, he had lived there his whole life with his parents. A primary surveillance target for Zendo, student council president of Gennen Central University, and a talent with elite-level insight despite still being a student.

He was in the candidate pool for ideological-crime monitoring, but he was not Izenheim.

"Do you know why you were brought here?"

Elias slowly raised his eyes. I placed the note found on him onto the table.

[ There is something urgent to deliver. Come to rendezvous point 3. ]

"Someone betrayed you. Most likely someone close to you."

He bit down on his lip, and his eyes trembled slightly.

"It was probably done by someone who wants this crisis to grow larger. If you get killed one way or another, you become a martyr of Gennen, and an even wider wildfire starts here."

"...What are you trying to say?"

I looked straight into his eyes.

"Let me ask you. Do you want Gennen's independence?"

"Hah. Imperials always say that."

Elias snorted.

"Most Gennen people are not interested in grand talk like independence. Everyone knows it's impossible as long as the Empire exists. A lot of people even look at independence protests with contempt. But..."

He took a breath.

Then he poured out words he had carried in his chest for a long time, words he had prepared for years.

"Those so-called imperial nobles buy senior posts in the governor-general's office like they're bidding at an auction. After buying their seats with money, they spend their term clawing back their investment and filling their own pockets by looting Gennen's industries and commercial districts. That means Gennen people are constantly paying taxes with no clear origin."

I listened quietly.

"Gennen used to be a republic, but from long ago we used the Imperial language as an official language. Our cultural roots were connected too. So when the Empire proposed annexation, the Imperial household clearly promised to treat Gennen people not as subjects to be ruled, but as 'friends of Aran.'"

Heat rose in Elias's voice.

"At the time, the Empire needed rear stability because of the western war. Gennen joined the Empire and provided rear garrison forces, and in return we were promised autonomous-territory status and citizenship. That is the historical basis of annexation, and the contract. That is why Gennen protests always carry the slogan, 'Keep your promise.'"

I had heard he handled almost every academic field at scholar level. It was true. He knew a great deal.

His history was accurate.

"But no one treats a friend like this."

Elias glared at me. There was spirit in his eyes. Corrupt nobles hated that look most of all.

I gave a small smile and asked back.

"Then do I look like an enemy to you?"

"Friends don't bring hundreds of tanks."

"No. Wrong."

I leaned in and met his golden eyes.

"Your real enemy is the one trying to provoke meaningless resistance and pull outside forces into Gennen."

Elias's expression stiffened at once.

"The one who still wants to turn Gennen into a bloodbath after seeing this whole column of tanks."

Clearly, someone's face had flashed through his mind.

"That is your enemy."

"..."

He shook his head, as if forcing himself to deny it.

"The idea that we can only sit at the negotiation table after getting bloodied is not entirely wrong. Because our counterpart is you, you."

Elias's voice shook.

He was afraid as he faced me. He was forcing his wavering heart to hold as he dealt with me.

I let out a short laugh.

"You already brought me in. Your resistance has already succeeded. Thanks to that, I saw how incompetent those governor-general's office trash are. This incident will become useful justification."

"...Justification?"

"Yes. Outcomes change depending on who interprets that justification, and how."

Justification. The most important value in this Empire, and the most arbitrary.

I watched Elias with a noble's composure.

"One person can use this riot as an excuse to strengthen the governor-general's office and tighten Gennen further. Another can use the same incident in reverse, highlight their incompetence, and tear the whole office apart."

In the end, everything followed the will of the strong.

"What kind of person do you think I am?"

My reflection sat in Elias's golden eyes.

"Do I look like someone who would merely make things convenient for those governor-general's office bastards?"

Ebenholtz was far greater and far more exalted than any Gennen governor-general's office.

I spoke calmly, like I was listing ordinary parts of my day.

"I will cut their heads off. No need to explain every crime one by one. In an era where incompetence itself is a crime, their incompetence caused this situation."

Elias swallowed silently.

"And I will deeply involve myself in filling the vacuum left in the governor-general's office once they are gone. As the commander who suppressed this riot."

To corrupt imperial nobles, Gennen was basically a honey pot. Everything Elias had said was true.

"So who would dare try to bribe Ebenholtz? What bribe could possibly work on Ebenholtz?"

It was laughable. No one could even propose a bribe to Ebenholtz.

When the Gennen Governor-General's Office was rebuilt, I would set only my own standards.

"Elias."

I looked at him and gave a faint smile.

"I am Maximilian of Ebenholtz."

A real noble, fundamentally different from every fake you have seen.

"If you trust me, Gennen will be filled with better people."

But Elias still could not let go of his suspicion. Of course he couldn't. Too many pieces of trash had done too much.

"Now go back to where you came from."

Still, I could wait.

I had more than enough patience for that.

"By now, the people who betrayed you are probably claiming you were kidnapped, or tortured to death, while demanding a final stand. While praying harder than anyone that your corpse is found in the most horrific condition."

Thud.

I took out an artifact box and placed it on the table.

"If you return alive, they will panic. They will get very desperate. If you speak about me over there, they may even try to turn you into a real corpse after all. I guarantee it."

Inside were a silver necklace and a terminal.

"The necklace is an artifact containing Protective Aura, and the terminal has a signal device installed. Press the button, and my people will come to you."

"..."

I was sure of it. The Izenheim on the other side would try to kill Elias no matter what.

"The choice is yours. If the people around you truly are righteous comrades you want to believe in, you won't need to use this."

I stood up. Then I reached out and helped Elias to his feet too.

"But listen carefully. Elias Walter, son of Ernst Walter."

Walter was an Imperial surname.

So I put a hand on his shoulder and looked at him up close.

"You carry imperial noble blood."

His line had fallen, but he still carried traces of the Empire.

"The Empire's enemy can never be Gennen's friend."

With my own hands, I straightened his disordered clothes and adjusted his collar, then whispered low.

"If you truly seek to protect Gennen, I think you know what path that is."

* * *

Elias got out of the car.

Step.

As he touched down, Zendo spoke to him.

"We'll be around nearby. Signal us if anything dangerous happens, anytime. Don't forget."

"..."

As Elias staggered forward, his eyes suddenly caught the tank formation blocking the university's main gate. He stared blankly, then lowered his gaze.

Instead of using the front gate, he entered the university grounds through the hole they had prepared in advance, then approached the entrance of the central building.

"Who goes there!"

Students on guard raised swords and guns and pointed them at him. Their eyes were murderous, but the moment they recognized his face, they recoiled in shock.

"P-President?!"

"You're alive!"

They reacted like they had seen a ghost. Probably because rumors had spread that he had been abducted and killed.

"Where are the other officers?"

"They're in the main building conference room right now. We, we thought you were taken and dead..."

Elias entered the main building and climbed the stairs.

Outside the conference room door, agitated voices spilled out.

“It was definitely the Secret Police Bureau, those imperial bastards!”

“If the president doesn't come back...”

“...We still can't confirm his location, fuck!”

Elias gently pushed the door open.

Creeeak.

In that instant, every voice stopped. Dozens of eyes locked onto Elias at once.

Shock, joy, or discomfort.

From the people standing there with mouths hanging open, Elias picked out the ones whose reactions felt especially out of place.

Bender, Loren... and Kasim.

"President!"

"P-President! You were alive!"

Everyone rushed to him. What happened, why did you disappear, questions poured in, and Elias patted their shoulders.

At his ear, Maximilian's voice echoed coldly.

"The one who still wants to turn Gennen into a bloodbath after seeing this whole column of tanks. That is your enemy."

Elias shook his head, trying to clear the thought.

"...Everyone."

He took a deep breath and spoke clearly.

"Start preparing to disband now."

A heavy silence sank over the conference room.

"What?"

"We cannot spill any more blood. Stop the assembly and empty the campus."

Elias looked at the student council officers. They all looked like they had plenty to say, but he gave them no room.

"By the authority of the student council president."

This was not because I trusted Maximilian.

It was because I trusted you, the people beside me.

To keep you alive.

"Please proceed with disbanding the assembly. If we stay, more people will die tonight."

We had stood together. For Gennen's solidarity, for a better tomorrow.

So I hoped. I hoped your intentions were still pure, and that we could stay together longer and plan for a distant future...

"Trust me and follow me."

...

Night deepened.

While students prepared to leave, Elias sat in the student council office under flickering candlelight, face buried in his hands.

"Haa..."

Knock knock.

A knock overlapped his sigh. Elias stood at once, as if he had been waiting, and opened the door. Kasim stood on the other side.

"Elias."

Kasim stepped inside and closed the door.

"No, seriously. Who the hell did you meet?"

Elias stared at him quietly.

There was a strange urgency in that tone. His eyes shook with unease.

"I met no one."

"What? Then you just disappeared and came back out of nowhere?"

"Yeah."

Elias gave a bitter smile.

"I hid for a bit to see what you all would think without me."

Kasim blinked, then let out a hollow laugh.

"Hah. Are you joking right now? Tell me honestly."

In him, Elias saw a memory from long ago, the boy Kasim used to be.

"Kasim. How many years have we known each other?"

"...About thirteen years."

"That's a long time."

Thirteen years. A long time. Now the years I had known Kasim were longer than the years before I knew him. Maybe we were almost brothers to each other.

"I'll tell only you."

Hoping with all his heart that Kasim felt the same way,

Elias lowered his voice.

"I got a promise. They said they would hold the current governor-general's office responsible for the protests and tear all of it down."

Kasim froze stiff.

"From who?"

"...Sir Knight Maximilian."

"..."

Kasim's eyes turned cold. They trembled, and then his lips twisted.

"So you met Maximilian."

"Yeah."

"...I see."