WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 95

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Documents with Purpose (2)

A quiet fishing spot on the outskirts of the Empire.

I arrived there alone, through thick mist rising off the water.

I considered sending Schatz, but I decided it would be better to come myself.

"Hmm..."

I waited with my rod set at an angle.

The float sat quietly on the surface.

"..."

Before long, it was time. Someone came over and sat in the next spot, a little distance away.

Not Izenheim.

Just an ordinary man in a bucket hat pulled low.

Plop.

He cast his line and said quietly,

"...Codename Tuna."

"Yes. Nice to meet you."

"As you know, the Revolutionary Faction operates in scattered cells. They could be somewhere in the Empire, or somewhere in another country."

His eyes stayed on his float, but he spoke to me.

"But there is a center that gathers those scattered points. A place called Veil."

The reason the Revolutionary Faction could stand against the giant called the Empire. One of the most creative grand spells in imperial history.

Veil.

That subspace, created by a mage, was preserved as a museum of immense academic value after the Empire fell.

"Right now, I am in contact with people who can enter that place."

I adjusted my grip on the rod and thought for a moment.

"So?"

"Some of them are exhausted. They are tired of an endless cause, fighting the Empire. The new thousand years the Revolutionary Faction promised never came, and the Empire is still standing."

In short, those willing to defect were slowly defecting.

"Sir Knight. Haven't there been suspicious incidents lately? Things that made you suspect information was leaking."

I rubbed my chin as if thinking, then answered,

"...There were."

For now, I played along.

Rustle.

He handed me an envelope.

"They say this is the profile of someone suspected of being your inside line."

"A profile?"

"Yes. In Veil, there are documents that record Revolutionary Faction personnel. They are called Documents with Purpose."

Documents with Purpose.

"To join the Revolutionary Faction, you must write one, using blood, sweat, and mana. Every page is perfect proof of the Revolutionary Faction."

"Then this is an original too?"

I shook the sealed envelope.

"Not sure. I have not opened it either. You should check for yourself."

The moment information is opened, its credibility drops fast. Like being handed a bottle on the street with the cap already broken. No one drinks that comfortably.

"It could be original, or not. I understand that. But..."

I set the envelope down.

"I need to meet the person who provided this from Veil in person."

I nudged the bag at my feet toward him. The heavy bag tipped over, opening slightly. Through the gap, bundles of Imperial dollars and high-purity mana stones glinted together.

"Operational funds. Spend what you want, keep the rest."

"...!"

The informant's eyes widened.

"Your mission is to bring that person in front of me."

He stared at me blankly. It was a high-risk job.

"If you succeed, your bonus will be much more than this."

"..."

He looked between the bag and me, hesitated, then gave a small nod as if he had made up his mind.

"...Understood."

The man left with the bag slung over his shoulder.

I watched him go. When it became quiet again, I opened the envelope.

Tzzzzzt...!

Mana leaked out, and on the top page of the document, a familiar name was written.

[Menci | Yukia]

* * *

A spring-lit afternoon, in the training yard of my estate.

"Hey, you little..."

Freya glared at me in disbelief.

"You're telling me to..."

Her gaze dropped slowly, and she pointed at someone with her finger.

"Teach this damn dog?"

Leo sat there.

Back straight, front paws neatly together.

A very aristocratic posture.

"Woof."

Leo had grown quite a bit. Even his bark sounded solemn now. He seemed to be going through a voice change, and the resonance was clearly different.

"He understands words. If you call him a mutt, it hurts him."

"...Hah. Are you insane?"

Freya let out a dry laugh.

"Do not underestimate him. I taught him mana breathing too. Leo, show her your skill."

I gestured to Leo.

As if he had been waiting, Leo gently closed his eyes and began his breathing.

Hoooo... brrrrrrrr...

The inhale was deep, and on the exhale the flesh around his mouth trembled.

Hooooo... brrrrrrrrr...

Honestly, it was cute.

"...Are you messing with me right now?"

"Shh."

"Do not shush me. Are you mocking me?"

"Look closely."

Hoooo... brrrrrrrr...

This was the Ebenholtz mana breathing method I had personally demonstrated and taught him.

"What... huh?"

Freya stopped mid-sentence. Her eyes narrowed.

Hooooo... brrrrrrrrr...

Leo's breathing was not ordinary. The air he drew in and out circulated through his body and cleanly pulled up the elixir energy settled in his lower core.

Ebenholtz does not focus on the outside. It focuses only on refining internal mana to be cleaner, purer, and denser.

Training that refines mana properly.

"...Hah."

Freya laughed in disbelief and glared at me.

"You fed him elixir?"

"Yes."

"You lunatic. Stuff meant for your descendants. You fed it to this dog?"

"He is Leo, the watchdog of Ebenholtz. He more than qualifies."

Unfortunately, I did not have time to wait for descendants. Humanity's survival was at stake.

"Tch. Fine. Dog, go over there for now."

Freya waved her hand. Leo trudged over and sat quietly in a corner of the training yard.

Freya's lips parted slightly.

"That thing... really understands?"

"I do not lie."

"...Fine. Show me your homework."

"Yes."

I gripped the longsword. I steadied my breathing and focused my mind on the blade.

Ssssh...

I thrust the sword. The physical blade stopped, but silver sword aura rose like heat haze.

Extension.

The 1.6-meter longsword advanced through empty air as a mana blade.

"...Mana like moonlight. The Ebenholtz color is right, at least."

Freya tapped the blade-shaped mana.

Mana was different from steel. It was pure sharpness. Just touching it could cause serious injury, but...

Sssst...

It was under my control.

A noble is not reckless. Harm enemies, allow friends.

"Not bad."

Freya nodded.

"It is Extension of Senses. A technique that carries your senses on mana."

Extension of Senses.

I had already done it once, clumsily, with the virus's help during the Gigantes infiltration.

"Like this."

Freya stepped on the ground. Shadow-like mana spread out from beneath her feet.

An invisible thin film flowed along the surface and reached me in an instant.

"Mana can travel surprisingly far through natural matter. Put your five senses into that flow. Touch with mana, smell with mana, see with mana."

I closed my eyes. I placed a hand on my collarbone.

Thump.

Silver mana flowed along the ground. Moving mana felt as familiar as moving my own hands and feet.

Probably thanks to the virus.

The virus understood mana in ways human language could not define.

Ssssh...

Like ripples spreading, my senses expanded.

The texture of soil, the vibration of insects, the direction of wind...

Then it happened.

Tung.

A small collision. My mana struck another mana.

One was Freya's mana in front of me.

Extremely precise, delicate, and pure.

She was far more advanced than I was.

But there was one more strand.

A raw shape approaching from the corner.

Rough, but pure movement.

"...?"

I quietly opened my eyes.

The first thing I saw was Freya's strange expression. Her mouth was hanging open as she stared somewhere.

"Why...?"

I turned to where she was looking.

The corner of the training yard.

Leo was sitting there. Eyes closed, front paws pressed to the ground.

"Hah."

A dry laugh slipped through my teeth.

Had he picked it up just by listening to the lesson? Mana ripples shimmered under his paws too. The same Extension of Senses.

"...What the hell is that little bastard?"

Freya said under her breath. At that moment, Leo opened his eyes.

Left eye gold, right eye blue. Every time I saw them, those odd eyes looked intelligent and mysterious.

"I told you."

I turned to her with a confident smile.

"If only humans in this world could handle mana, legends of spirit beasts like divine bears and great tigers would never have been passed down."

Mana was not a power granted only to humans. Beasts, even monsters, handled it by instinct.

But beasts that copied human techniques were extremely rare.

"Leo is one of the greatest prodigies among them."

Before regression, Leo taught himself mana on his own, even without this early education, and saved his master.

The dog of dogs.

Leo among hounds.

I looked back at Freya, full of pride.

"So, do you feel like teaching him now?"

Freya looked straight at me and answered,

"Would I, you little punk?"

Mid-April.

As spring ripened, Dieter Schmidt felt Kanillan's collapse with his whole body.

Ransom was only the beginning.

After the Community Land Protocol failure, trust in Kanillan companies crashed across the board, and foreign capital stopped flowing in.

With their funding lines choked, banks refused new loan approvals and extensions.

Companies facing maturity dates were cornered.

They pleaded desperately for rollovers, even announcing new technologies that did not exist, but the banks gave them nothing.

They could not.

Their vaults were dry.

Several securities firms and insurers still tried to hold out, but in the end, the weakest link snapped first.

[Urgent Breaking News: Sabrin Investment Bank Declares Insolvency]

The news that Sabrin, one of Kanillan's five major investment banks, had fallen spread fear like a plague.

Countless products guaranteed by Sabrin turned into scraps of paper, and the corporate asset-backed securities built by bundling company bonds were shaken to the brink.

On the other hand, the value of Maximilian's bankruptcy insurance shot straight up.

Heads of many financial firms, including Lekiano and Merilchi, begged Dieter for meetings, but he turned every one of them away.

"Good to see you, President."

Instead, he chose only one person.

Thomas Haven, president of Old Haven.

The only man who had taken the hand Maximilian offered in that past video conference.

"...Good to see you."

The president looked terrible. His beard was overgrown, and the skin under his eyes was dark and lifeless.

"Please, go ahead."

"Yes. Right now, Old Haven is..."

His dry lips moved, and he confessed with difficulty.

"We are effectively insolvent. We have enough assets, but money has dried up in the market, so we cannot cover bill of exchange obligations maturing right away."

Dieter nodded as if he had expected it.

From his investigation, Old Haven's books were relatively clean. They had not invested recklessly in derivatives, and with strict screening, they had approved loans only for healthy companies.

Because of that, they were sidelined during the boom and pushed into the lower ranks.

Even so, that honesty had still been swept into this economic crisis.

"President. Our boss values trust."

Dieter adjusted his glasses and spoke.

A world where banks blinded by greed grew larger by scattering loans, while banks that kept principles and incubated companies were weeded out instead.

That had been Kanillan until now, but the swollen bubble had finally burst.

"So please do not worry too much."

Dieter held out documents.

"We will acquire Old Haven's bond holdings at face value. In return, you transfer your bank shares."

In a market where every bank wanted to dump bonds and run, even at a quarter of a quarter of their value, this was an offer to pay full price.

"...Thank you."

The president let out a breath mixed with relief.

He would lose the bank his family had built for generations, but he could still protect his customers.

"Thank you, truly thank you. I will go first and tell my employees and customers the good news."

Dieter stopped him as he tried to stand.

"There is no need for that."

"...Pardon?"

"President Haven. Please continue working with us. We will guarantee your position and management authority."

In Dieter's view, he was too valuable to lose, and Maximilian agreed.

"A bank that keeps trust should not lose the person who kept trust..."

A reward for the man who had preserved that costly value, trust, in a Kanillan stained with madness.

"Our boss said that."

Moisture gathered in old gentleman Thomas Haven's eyes.

...

[Special Report] Ransom Corporation Fails to Secure Public Funds... Effectively Entering Bankruptcy Proceedings

A massive special bulletin rang through Kanillan.

Failure of the Community Land Protocol. Hundreds of victims during the artificial island evacuation. Massive environmental destruction, and class-action lawsuits from shareholders and fishery workers.

With compensation liabilities too large to bear, the Kanillan government refused Ransom's application for rescue financing.

The Kanillan myth had received its official death sentence...

"You're here."

Rooftop of Panimaro Tower, a skyscraper in Kanillan's financial district.

Dieter welcomed Maximilian, who had personally flown to Kanillan.

"...It is collapsing."

Maximilian looked down over the endless forest of buildings beyond the railing.

The alcohol, perfume, and nightlife haze that had once soaked this place in pleasure had all been drained away.

"Yes. Corporate bankruptcies have begun. The value of our insurance holdings is skyrocketing, but..."

Dieter reported in a worried voice.

"Counterparty risk is too high. If insurers and securities firms collapse in a chain, we may not be able to collect our profits."

Maximilian nodded.

If the house went under, chips on a gambling table were nothing but plastic scraps.

"It does not matter. We will not collect everything in cash. If they have no money, we make them pay with other things."

Maximilian's eyes flashed coldly.

"Dieter. We are going to subordinate Kanillan."

Sovereign bonds, port operating rights, territorial-water development rights, insurance operating rights, and more. Instead of cash, they would take the state's infrastructure and sovereignty as collateral, and buy up preselected technologies at giveaway prices.

"And who knows? Maybe there are mana stones hidden in Kanillan's seas too."

Maximilian said that with a smile.

"Yes. Understood."

Dieter opened his notebook. He carefully wrote down Maximilian's directives.

Turning that into concrete plans was Dieter's job, along with the think tank under him.

"It looks like we will be seeing very large numbers ahead."

"We will."

Tap. Maximilian placed a hand on Dieter's shoulder.

"We have far too much to do from here on."

"..."

For a moment, Dieter felt an unfamiliar swell in his chest as he looked at Maximilian's hand. Then he pushed up his glasses and returned to his usual dry expression.

"Yes. Understood."

Emotion had to be excluded from work.

Numbers could only be handled correctly when treated as nothing but numbers.

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