WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 99

──────

Your Faith (2)

An empty office.

Lieutenant Colonel Kai Han set down his cap and quietly studied the terrain etched into the map. His eyes moved slowly along the contour lines.

Berton was on the western frontier. The towering Alberon Mountains stood between it and the Zerpa Kingdom.

If they wanted to support the royalists from Berton, they had only two options.

One was to detour around the mountains or climb through them. Brutal and slow, but a stable route.

The other was the canyon that cut through the range. It had the advantage of being the shortest path, but tactically it was the worst choice. Everyone knew that. For any normal commander, the canyon route did not even exist.

Had General Richter left the canyon open precisely because he knew that too?

The opportunity cost of an ambush in the canyon was obvious. You had to commit major forces there, and if your troops were split between the canyon and the border, the imperial army with knight support could crush you in an instant.

"Rock-paper-scissors."

But Maximilian kept his thinking open and cut through that endless loop of doubt in one stroke.

Was it because he was young. Or because he was born that way.

...No.

Neither.

Maximilian knew his opponent. The more he knew, the more meticulous he became.

Many people called the Gennen Suppression a disaster caused by Maximilian's impulsiveness.

But the Maximilian Kai Han knew was the opposite.

He had no impulse.

Every action had a reason.

So Maximilian had known everything and still tested him. He had steered him into digging up General Richter's past campaign record.

Maybe this man called Maximilian was far, far more than this continent knew...

Knock knock.

His adjutant.

Kai Han raised his head.

"Come in."

The adjutant entered and saluted.

"Sir. When should we move out?"

"..."

Without answering, Kai Han looked out the window. Gray clouds hung low.

"A snowstorm will hit soon."

The imperial center was in late spring, but Berton was still winter.

When a snowstorm came, visibility vanished. Footprints were buried. Sound dulled. Perfect weather to blunt enemy reconnaissance.

"When it starts snowing, prepare to send all military trucks on the mountain detour route. But move with only a small force. We need the enemy to misread us."

"...Misread us, sir?"

The adjutant asked again.

"Yes. Vehicles cannot enter the canyon interior anyway because of the terrain. Have the main force prepare with minimal loadout."

In other words, the main force would pass through the canyon.

The adjutant's face turned serious.

"Yes, sir. Understood."

He ran out.

"Haa..."

Lieutenant Colonel Han steadied his breathing, then suddenly remembered the bag Maximilian had given him. The bonus at his feet. He unzipped it.

Ziiip.

"...Huh?"

Kai Han had always thought he was hard to surprise, a blunt man. Calm was the most important quality for a commander.

But that one bag shattered his composure. His eyes nearly popped out.

"This is... too..."

Much.

He had not even spent all of the last operations budget yet, and this was several times that amount.

* * *

Break room, Berton garrison base. Year 0 knights Royce and Dare Tan wandered around for no reason with their hands behind their backs.

"Loyalty!"

"Yeah, good work."

"Loyalty!"

"Right, good work."

Being saluted felt better than expected. There was something satisfying about a soldier's crisp salute. Maybe this was exactly why he had become a knight.

"Loyalty!"

"Yeah, good work."

"Hey. Look over there."

Dare Tan jerked his chin.

In the corner of the break room, Hanna was hurrying over with her arms full of books.

"What is that?"

Royce stepped in front of her. Hanna flinched and looked up at them.

"...Study materials."

"You brought all that here on purpose? Hah."

Dare Tan snorted.

She could not hide she was a commoner.

Honestly, he still did not know why she was here.

"I did not bring them. There is a library here. I borrowed them there."

"...There is a library? In this backwater?"

Royce frowned.

"Yep, there is."

A friendly voice came from behind them. It was Leon.

The three of them straightened up on reflex.

Among Year 0s, Leon was famous as Maximilian's closest aide. Very few people called Maximilian "Max" in the first place.

"There was not one before, but they just set one up for soldier welfare. They even have a computer now."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. But I think only officers and above can use it. The enlisted soldiers cannot even go near it."

A computer, an information processing device packed with state of the art magi-circuit systems, was extremely expensive even in the Empire.

And something like that was here at a remote frontier base.

"Come with me. Max called for you."

Leon beckoned. The three faces tightened with tension.

Leon was easy to deal with.

Maximilian was not.

To be honest, he was scary.

「Supply Room」

Following Leon, they arrived at the supply room. Maximilian was already seated.

He tossed a backpack.

"Catch."

It looked ordinary from the outside, but inside it was so deep you could not see the bottom.

"An expansion backpack."

Royce and Dare Tan gave awkward smiles.

"Ah, Sir Knight. We brought personal gear, so military issue..."

"It is not military issue."

"...What?"

The two tilted their heads and checked the gear.

"Oh, oh?"

"Oh!"

The artifact handed to the Year 0s was made by Lorenzo Academy, probably the finest backpack currently in existence.

People who did not know magic often mistook expansion backpacks for bottomless pouches, but they were only devices that used mana to widen the space between particles.

In other words, volume increased by only two to three times, while mass stayed the same.

Even so, they were so expensive ordinary soldiers could not dream of owning one.

"Fill it and bring it back."

"Yes, sir!"

What you chose to fill that backpack with was also part of your capability.

...

Supply room, Berton base.

Leon fiddled with a backpack and asked, "Max. You do not like them?"

"Like what."

"Those kids. The Year 0s. We saw them a few times at Empire Point."

Royce. Dare Tan. Hanna.

Kairon had deliberately arranged this dispatch roster.

"No."

I looked out the window. It seemed the snowstorm would hit soon.

"No? So you do like them?"

"Yeah."

Royce and Dare Tan, sure, weak noble brats. Their necks were too stiff, soaked in entitlement.

But they had high potential. In the fallen Empire, they resisted foreign enemies and were executed. Men who would never betray the Empire.

And Hanna, though a commoner, had talent that far surpassed the other two.

"I like them."

"...Unexpected."

"They remind me of the old me."

I smiled faintly.

The old me, immature and arrogant, taking the world lightly. No wonder I felt a strange kinship.

Right then the Year 0s returned with the backpacks. They were packed full.

"We are ready!"

Their voices were full of energy.

I gestured to them.

"Open all of them."

"Uh... yes?"

"Loadout inspection."

They looked startled.

Fair enough. Knights were not normally inspected for personal belongings.

"Open them."

"Ah... yes."

Royce opened his bag first. He started taking things out one by one, but that was annoying. I grabbed it myself and dumped everything out.

Clatter.

"......"

A bottle of fine wine, cigars, spare silk pajamas, premium chocolate, emergency rations, a mana-stone flashlight... it looked like they were going on a picnic.

"Keep the chocolate and emergency rations. Throw out everything else."

"Y-yes? Ah, this one..."

"Throw it out."

"...Yes."

Royce lowered his head.

This one was the same. More spare silk pajamas.

Why were they both so obsessed with pajamas.

"Burn all the pajamas."

"Ah, Sir Knight. If I do not have them, I cannot sleep..."

Dare Tan bit his lip, looking close to tears.

"You think you are still nineteen?"

"Yes? Ah, yes. I am nineteen..."

"What?"

I glanced at Leon. Leon gave a bitter smile.

"By birthday count. Looks like he is still not twenty."

"Hah."

That was why noble society had collapsed.

"...Burn these first."

I handed the damned silk pajamas to Leon.

"Yep."

Last, I turned over Hanna's bag. Mostly rations, plus a fair amount of medicine and emergency gear.

Roll.

Then something large and blue and ball-like rolled out.

A vegetable.

Cabbage.

"......"

Roll. I looked down at three cabbages rolling around.

Roll. Now it was four.

Very fresh.

"Why do you have this much cabbage?"

"...I am sorry."

Hanna lowered her head.

"I asked why."

"...I like cabbage..."

My brow furrowed instantly.

"Do you know a knight's biggest weakness? Tanks? Artillery? Magic? No."

Crunch!

I crushed a cabbage in one hand. Leaves burst and flew everywhere.

"My cabbage..."

Despair flashed across Hanna's face.

"Hunger."

I brushed off bits of crushed cabbage and went on.

"Knights consume mana and stamina at the same time. That means they need fuel as much as tanks do."

Training and real combat were very different. No matter how hard training was, it did not consume you like the battlefield did. On the battlefield, mana was sharpened to a dangerous edge.

So the longer an operation lasted, the more constantly a knight had to refill calories.

"I will give you thirty minutes."

I told them.

"Refill and come back."

...

Dining hall, Berton garrison base.

The three knights were making rations. To their credit, they put thought into it.

First they melted a heavy amount of butter in a pot for fat, then mixed in sugar, chopped meat into tiny pieces, and reduced it into a concentrate. A massive nutrition-bomb preserved ration from a food book in the library.

"Hey, this really works, right? We are not gonna die from eating this, right?"

Royce and Dare Tan asked. Hanna tossed chopped cabbage into only her own pot and snapped back.

"Damn it, how many times are you gonna ask. It works."

"If it does not, you eat it first."

Scrape scrape.

They cooled the thick paste, portioned it into containers, then stacked them neatly into their backpacks.

Hanna touched her backpack and muttered.

"...Still, this expansion backpack is really nice."

It looked like leather, but it was as tough as metal and surprisingly light. Maybe a mana-treated functional fabric.

"Ah, Hanna, first time seeing one of these?"

"First time. So what."

At Hanna's curt reply, Royce shrugged.

"Honestly, first time for me too. Better than mine."

"...What."

Click. Click. Hanna fastened the backpack buckle.

"Come on, idiot. You thinking of keeping it? Looks over 300,000 each."

"T-three hundred thousand?"

Hanna's eyes widened. Dare Tan chuckled and shook his head.

"Different class, really. You grew up with nothing, so you want to keep something like this. Keep going and you will land in prison. Is that why commoners embezzle so much?"

"Ah, damn it. Shut up."

"Wow. In the capital, telling a noble to shut up gets you fined on the spot. I am letting it slide."

Then Leon smacked a steel tray and called out.

"Knights, time is almost up."

"Ah, yes!"

They brought the rations and stood before Maximilian in the 「Supply Room」.

Maximilian unpacked the bags all over again and checked the contents.

"...Now we are ready."

He nodded with satisfaction and stood up.

"We move separately from the main force."

Whoooooosh!

Above the Berton canyon, a flesh-cutting blizzard tore across the land.

The world was washed white, and the wind pounded their ears numb.

"Can everyone hear me?"

I asked, one hand to my ear.

“Leon. Loud and clear.”

“Yes. Royce. I hear you clearly.”

“Dare Tan. Same here.”

“Hanna. I hear you.”

This was also a Lorenzo Academy device, an in-ear communicator. Built with top-purity mana stone, it kept mana waves intact even in this blizzard. Each one cost around 300,000.

We climbed to the highest ridge above the canyon cliffs. Below us, the winding canyon stretched like a snake. Before long, Kai Han's Imperial Guard unit would enter it.

"Haa..."

I closed my eyes for a moment, then opened them.

Ebenholtz Second Form, mana assimilation.

I focused mana into my optic nerves. My pupils turned silver, and the world beyond the blizzard came into sharp focus like black-and-white thermal vision. On the canyon heights, tiny heat signatures hid in rock cracks and snow. Enemy reconnaissance units.

“This is Kai Han. Main force entering the canyon now.”

Kai Han's voice came through my earpiece.

"Main force entry confirmed. We advance while matching their pace."

“Yes. Confirmed.”

“Yes!”

“Confirmed.”

I drew my sword.

The key to this mission was simple. Eliminate the recon units stationed in the canyon so they could not return to the enemy main force.

"From now on, I will brief enemy positions."

Tracking their locations, I moved through the blizzard.

Shing!

Each time the longsword flashed, red blood sprayed and was buried again by white storm. The whole process was eerily quiet.

Sound erased. No crude screams rang out.

...

Fifty-six hours passed.

The Imperial Guard unit led by Lieutenant Colonel Kai Han forced its way through the canyon.

"I see it! Civilian homes!"

At the shout from the front, the soldiers lifted their heads.

Beyond the storm, the outline of a village appeared faintly. A border village of the Zerpa Kingdom. Old wooden houses scattered apart, smoke rising from chimneys, cattle grazing lazily in pastures. A peaceful rural scene, but the soldiers were already at their limit. Their breathing was rough and their legs trembled.

"Haa..."

Kai Han let out a breath of relief.

Maximilian's strategy had been right. There was no enemy ambush, and the snowstorm had hidden the main force's march.

"Now we need rest."

Dragging exhausted soldiers straight to the capital would be suicide. They desperately needed a place to eat and warm up.

"All units, set camp on the village outskirts and hold position. Do not lower your guard."

Kai Han approached the largest house with his adjutant. It had a fairly large cattle ranch attached.

Knock knock.

"Is anyone there?"

The door opened slightly, and irritated eyes scanned them.

After confirming imperial uniforms, the person slammed the door shut.

Clack. They heard the bar drop from inside.

"I guess... our uniforms are not exactly welcome."

The adjutant gave a bitter smile, and then.

Crunch. Crunch.

Someone approached through the snow.

"What is going on."

It was Maximilian.

He had just rejoined them after finishing his mission above the canyon.

"...Sir Knight. The villagers are not cooperating..."

Knock knock.

Instead of answering, Maximilian knocked. No response.

He let out a soft sigh and spoke.

"This is a warning."

Lieutenant Colonel Han's eyes widened. Maximilian had just spoken in Zerpan, not Imperial.

"If you do not open this door now, you will die."

Han could not parse every word, but the tone made it clear.

A threat.

Knock knock.

"Three."

He counted as he knocked.

"Two."

Before he could count one, the door cracked open with a creak.

Maximilian thrust out his arm and forced the gap wide.

Bam!

The door panel ripped off violently, screws and hinges clattering down. The family inside let out terrified cries.

"Pleasure to meet you."

Maximilian smiled and strode in. Seven family members were gathered in the room. Three were small children.

Han's heart pounded. They had minimized loadout to cross the canyon quickly, so local requisition for supplies was only natural, but...

"We are a relief force from the Empire. Our soldiers are very hungry after the march."

Maximilian said, his gaze sweeping over them.

"Sell us the ranch cattle."

Silence fell.

Gulp. The head of household gathered his courage and shook his head.

"...No. Those cattle are everything to our family. We can never sell..."

"Family. Even a household this small is called a family."

"..."

Rustle. Maximilian slipped a hand into his coat. The family flinched and stepped back.

A checkbook came out in his hand.

"There is no such thing as impossible."

With a fountain pen, Maximilian wrote a number and tore out the check.

"If there are a few you are especially attached to, keep those. I will buy all the rest."

He laid the check on the dining table. The man picked it up with trembling hands. The instant he saw the amount, his eyes nearly bulged out.

For Lieutenant Colonel Han, this scene was familiar.

"Th-this is..."

"If exchange rates are difficult."

Maximilian added kindly.

"Converted into Zerpa cents, it should be about 1.3 billion zents."

One million imperial dollars was 1.3 billion Zerpa zents.

In a rural place like this, it was an unimaginable sum.

"This is the Empire's gratitude to the village that welcomed the imperial army."

"Ah..."

"It should be enough money to build your family into something proper from now on."

The check fluttered in the head of household's hand. A small smile spread across his mouth.

Maximilian watched him, then signaled Han with his eyes.

"Feed the soldiers first."

Kai Han hid his smile and nodded.

"...Yes. Understood."

Maximilian did not exploit civilians. If something was truly necessary, he always paid more than fair value. He kept his grace and never lost his dignity.

Maybe because looting itself was never noble at all...

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