The Reluctant Imperialist - Chapter 86

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Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 86

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At the End of Winter (2)

Sonnet Kandel.

She was piecing together the scattered fragments of a case spread across her desk.

They were records of the Gennen incident.

Control and the blockade had been so strict that very little remained that could survive as historical material.

Still, there were the photos reporter Alphonse had risked his life to smuggle out of Gennen, the words passed along by informants inside Gennen, and statements from people on the streets and university students.

Gathering those pieces, Sonnet sketched out the landscape of Gennen.

"......"

She closed her eyes.

As a student of history who loved records, she imagined the man called Maximilian through what had happened in Gennen.

Eyes closed in silence, she traced his image, his words and actions, his principles......

Knock knock.

A knock broke her concentration.

Pressing at her brow, Sonnet turned.

"Come in."

This was the law office she had opened, known as "Sol."

Creak.

The door opened and a man walked in. His suit had faded with age, but it was neatly pressed. He was a middle-aged man, carefully holding a rough gift box in his arms.

"Uh...... nice to meet you."

He lingered by the door, looking intimidated by the office's polished interior. Sonnet gave him a small gesture.

"Please. Come in."

"Um, I...... I was referred by Attorney Setian......"

"Yes. That's right."

The man's name was Ben Lot. Adeline's father.

Sonnet bowed to him politely.

"I will be your attorney."

She had partially disrupted Maximilian's plan. She had gone straight to the lawyer Maximilian recommended and asked for the case transfer herself.

"Don't worry. This trial will end very differently from the last one."

She would do everything she could to make sure the Adeline case received a proper ruling. Of course, she might pick up some information about Maximilian in the process, but for now, that was all she felt.

* * *

......Gennen had been broken in many places. Roads, infrastructure, shops, businesses, several weeks of blockade had frozen the autonomous territory's economy solid.

Gennen's losses were that severe.

"Reconstruction is moving smoothly."

But my companies took charge of that reconstruction. Civil engineering, construction, and materials firms I had acquired in advance were deployed all at once, and taxes that corrupt Governor-General's Office officials had embezzled were used transparently.

"Budget execution is within the margin of error, and there is no leakage."

The new Governor-General's Office appointees had no need to embezzle anything, and my companies kept only minimal profit. Not a single coin of Gennen taxpayers' money was wasted. Every bit of it went straight back into Gennen.

"The fact that tanks destroyed Gennen's city center has actually turned into a blessing in disguise."

Gennen's old downtown was infamous for its inefficient layout. Traffic was especially bad, and the heavy pedestrian flow wore people down, but the tanks trampled everything flat. Old buildings and walls were knocked down and forcibly widened.

"The demolition cost and time needed for city block reorganization have been drastically reduced."

Because of that, Gennen's city center would definitely change.

Into a military base that could house hundreds of tanks, and at the same time the core logistics artery linking the Empire and the Eastern Front.

"...Hah."

In the mansion office, I flipped through the report and let out a dry laugh.

"So those Governor-General bastards pulled all this and still got imperial fiscal support too?"

I had also learned just how much tax money the Governor-General's Office had abused up to now.

"Yes. It should continue smoothly. Most of it can be handled by our companies, so extra costs such as lobbying are unnecessary."

"Hm. But listen."

I pushed the stack of papers aside and tilted my head.

"...Why do I have so much money, Dieter?"

The number in my personal account would not go down. No, it was actually climbing.

Mana stone, sure. The mana stone mine in the Rommilton region was definitely deep.

And mining efficiency had improved dramatically with A-Kkaengi, the tool Armand invented.

But I had also spent an enormous amount.

"The profit structure has improved significantly. In particular, aggressively purchasing raw material mines and forests helped a great deal."

From metal minerals like steel and copper to specialty timber, rubber, and chemical feedstock. Dieter took my order, "Just buy basically everything related to raw materials," and turned it into concrete acquisitions.

In other words, I was printing money with an endless engine until war broke out.

"Hm...... Good. Nice work."

"Yes."

Dieter really was irreplaceable. That was why I had multiple layers of protection on him, including top-grade defensive artifacts.

"I have one more report."

Dieter adjusted his glasses.

"An investigation has begun into the bearer bonds."

"Faster than expected."

"It seems they are getting impatient as well."

Lutz Rozen, head of the direct agency's Special Affairs Inspection Department.

He had started tracing my fund flows.

"As expected, they suspect slush fund creation or embezzlement."

The charge was diverting money from military factories, an imperial national strategic project.

If that were true, even Ebenholtz would be in danger. Embezzlement itself might be overlooked to a degree, but the words I had thrown around publicly would come back as blades.

"Right. Good work."

But this was not embezzlement. I put my personal assets into Aternum as advances received, then sent them out again through lawful procedures under the name of overseas investment.

In short, the money only passed through a corporation.

From the outside, the flow looked extremely complex, but for insiders who knew the starting point, it was easy to prove.

I simply put my money in and took it out. It only looked like convincing slush fund laundering because the destination was bearer bonds that Leutern II would own.

"Then go rest."

"Yes."

I did not need to respond.

The moment Lutz became convinced of this charge and struck, he would face Leutern II, not me.

After that, Leutern would clean it up himself.

"...Leo?"

After Dieter left, I called out to Leo, who was yawning at the doorway.

"Bark!"

Leo ran over, tail wagging. He had grown a lot already, probably from digesting plenty of elixir. His muscles were hard as armor, and his fur shone.

"You've grown well. But yawning doesn't suit your dignity. Keep it to yourself."

"Bark!"

He really understood words. If he could talk too, that would be jackpot.

I rubbed his mane.

"...It's fine when it's just the two of us."

"Bark!"

Leo, my ten-million-dollar puppy, would become the strongest adult dog on earth.

"Let's eat."

I set out the special meal the chef had prepared. Top-grade beef and mana herbs blended together, a menu built for both flavor and health. I had hired a dedicated chef just for Leo.

-Chomp chomp.

Leo ate.

-Chomp chomp.

I watched him closely. He kept his poise, eating without getting even a speck on his fur, and then suddenly......

"...Hm."

In the car heading to work at the Order, I studied Yukia's face in the rearview mirror.

For some reason, that woman looked like Leo.

Or maybe Leo looked like her.

The Yaken tribe really did resemble beasts.

I rubbed my neck. The Yaken tribe wooden necklace. It bothered me, but I was wearing it for now. Not too theatrically. Someday it would definitely come in handy.

"We have arrived."

I got out and walked the Order's corridors. The way the knights looked at me had changed. A little more guarded, a little more tense.

Gennen really had been a huge incident.

"Max!"

From the far end of the hall, my classmate Leon waved and came over. Unlike the other knights, he was the same as always. A small smile slipped onto my lips too.

Leon was a nutcase. Eternal truth: those scrawny guys who always smile like fools are usually terrifyingly strong inside.

"Perfect timing. Want to come see our Flight Research Club?"

"...Flight Research Club?"

"Yeah. We just started it. A group that studies aerial maneuvers."

Tiana, who came up behind him with a helmet tucked under her arm, chimed in.

"Mana Wings. We're pretty good at it now. So we're holding a competition too. We'll score things like artistic points and practical points."

Tiana's brows twitched as she looked at me.

"Oh, right. Want to be a judge? If it's you, everyone will accept it."

So they were trying to acknowledge the authority of the first one.

"Oh, really? Then......"

I had no time to watch or judge.

"Put this up as the prize."

Premium mana stone purchase reservation tickets. Tickets that even palace nobles carried bags of money for and begged me to sell. Two of them.

"..."

Both their faces froze.

I pressed the tickets into their blank, blinking hands.

"..."

They stared at the tickets that had appeared out of nowhere, blinking over and over.

"I'm going."

I went into my office.

"...Tired, so tired."

There was too much work these days. Haa. I let out a light sigh and leaned by the window.

-Scritch, scritch.

Snow was falling from the sky. Morning still held that bluish dawn light.

The season when the world turned white. By the time this snow melted, I would be making even more money.

And in that winter, and the next winter, and the winter after that......

How many winters would I get to face.

How far would I get to go.

How long would we survive.

"......"

I sank into the mood for a moment, then sat in my office chair. I picked up a fairly thick file.

[Case File: Cross Killer]

This world had all kinds of lunatics from different genres. There were nutjobs obsessed with twisted religion, monsters who went berserk after their brains burned out on mana they could not handle, and armed groups like Gentra that organized and carried out terror attacks on the Empire.

But this mad bastard...... was especially unusual.

Bzzz.

At that moment, the terminal vibrated. It was Officer Yosef.

“Sir Knight. Another murder has happened. It's that same cross serial killer bastard.”

"Location?"

“A furniture workshop in District 23. We are preserving the scene now.”

"Yes. I'll be there soon."

I stood up. Putting on my coat, I headed out.

......

Breaking through the snowfall, I arrived at District 23.

Just off the main street, a control line had been set up in front of a fairly antique workshop.

"Loyalty. Glad you made it, sir."

Officer Yosef greeted me.

"Here, sir. We have not touched the scene."

"Good. Let's check."

With my aide Yukia, I went inside.

"......"

The interior was drenched in blood. Walls, floor, even the ceiling. Bloodstains had sprayed everywhere, scattered like an abstract painting.

The victim had been laid on a workshop table.

The rib cage had been pulled apart left and right, and the abdomen split up and down. A cross-shaped opening. Organs spilled out through the gap.

I asked my aide.

"Yukia. Do you smell anything? That usual smell of rotten water and fish."

"...Not rotten water and fish. I smell mana."

That clipped tone was casual speech.

I wanted to point it out, but held it in. This bastard was doing it on purpose. If I got angry, I lost.

"Right."

I looked steadily at the cross on the corpse. I did not even need to search for activated residue. Deep in the wound, where the heart should have been, a dark red clump of mana had coagulated.

A high-density magic circle.

-Tick.

My soul pulsed.

Time slowed.

Thoughts stretched out.

-Tick.

Word leaked that I had taken this case. Whether it was Izenheim or the Revolutionary Faction, they had found this scene first and planted some kind of magic bomb using the corpse as a medium.

-Tick.

I saw mana rising from the corpse. Sparks of activation flickered.

I tilted my gaze slightly.

Yukia.

You probably leaked my information. My enemies probably used what you gave them without your knowledge.

Still, I will allow it.

I decided to bear this. If I wanted to make someone mine, this level of risk had to be accepted.

You don't know it, but you resemble the most important part of me.

If I wanted more from someone, I had to step in deeper first.

Tick.

I turned and grabbed Yukia's arm. Pulling her in as if to embrace her, I raised the mana inside my body at the same time.

Wheeeeeing.

Centered on me, a translucent Protective Aura, "Spherical Aura Guard," unfolded and wrapped around both of us.

Kwooooom!

The magic inside the corpse detonated. The cramped workshop was instantly flooded with mana.

* * *

In a private dining room of the Imperial Palace. With stately music filling the room, Leutern II was cutting his steak in high spirits.

Hum hum, hum hum. He was even humming to himself. Today was payday.

Slice, slash.

The meat felt especially tender today. It cut cleanly in one stroke.

"Mmm~"

The moment he put top-grade meat dripping with juices into his mouth.

Bzzz.

The terminal on the table vibrated.

It was a call from the staff member in charge of collections.

"Yeah. What."

Swirling his wine glass, Leutern answered. This time he had planned to go to Kanillan himself, collect in person, and enjoy a vacation while he was there.

"...What?"

Tense words came through the terminal.

Leutern's hand stopped. The piece of meat on his fork trembled in midair.

"W-what did you say? Say it again."

Fragments of words in the voice: direct agency, Lutz.

"...Fine. First...... fine. Hang up for now."

He ended the call.

"......"

He stared blankly at the terminal. His brain seemed to stop for a moment. The collector's words echoed in his ears.

If things went wrong, his accounts could be frozen, and the Intelligence Bureau could open an investigation.

My money. My salary. My Kanillan vacation.

"No, that, that son of a bitch!"