Chapter 34: From the Tense Routine (2) | Semi-Coercive Imperialist
I swing the sword.
...No, the expression "swing" doesn't quite fit.
I draw a trajectory in the air. Like a painter brushing a canvas, I draw a line with all my nerves concentrated at the tip of this longsword.
Sssseuuuuk──
The noise remains. The tearing of air by the blade is inevitable.
However, Freya had instructed me to make no sound, and indeed, her sword had been unmistakably silent.
Fweeeeeee──
The wind brushes the tip of my cheek. The rustling of fallen leaves. Dirt and dust spreading beneath my feet.
I draw with the sword as I think.
I must become like the wind. Just as a stream flows, I must let the sword flow. I must clear and purify my inner self.
I deployed the Flow of Ebenholtz.
The first horizontal slash, followed by a pulling slash.
Shiiiiiiiik─!
Rather than cutting the movement with force, I connect the sword and my body to continue into the next. I link the flow of the sword in succession.
Sak─ Fwiik─
Like the flowing nature, the sword must not tear through the wind. It must advance while embracing the wind. A solitary sword dance. There is no opponent, no teacher, only the act of refining myself.
In the midst of it, I suddenly thought of myself. I looked at my own face reflected momentarily on the blade.
Before regression, I was powerless.
Now, I was anxious.
Where can I really go? How far can I reach?
The cries of destruction from a faraway world, and the whispers of a writhing monster inside me. Countless doubts bloom and vanish along the sword's trajectory.
"...."
I suddenly stopped training. I reflected the sword in the moon of the night sky. The surface of the blade, wrapped in bandages, reflected a clear light.
My sword was still different from Freya's. Her sword had shone without sound or form.
"...Freya."
Freya, not of Ebenholtz, understood the sword of Ebenholtz more deeply than Ebenholtz himself.
What is her true identity, and why is she teaching me.
"─You're working hard."
At that moment, a familiar voice drifted in. I quickly turned toward it. A smile naturally formed.
"Edmon."
Edmon Bruindol. The man who grew up with me like a brother in our childhood, but ultimately joined the Revolutionary forces.
Perhaps the person who brought me back to this place.
The red-haired man took off his hat and smiled.
"Long time no see, Max."
"Your business trip's over?"
"It is. Though I'll have to leave again soon."
Edmon had returned to his youthful appearance, and I still didn't resent him. I walked up to him and looked at his still-thick head of hair.
"...Edmon. Take care of your hair."
"My hair?"
He tilted his head.
"Yeah. You never know when it might suddenly fall out. Better manage it well even now."
He let out a small laugh, as if he thought I was joking.
"If anything, it's too thick. That's the problem."
"You'll regret it later."
"Enough of that."
With that, he pulled out a scroll. The seal of the Imperial Family was clearly stamped on it.
"Read it."
I opened the scroll. It was an imperial decree ordering me, a knight, to 'prepare', having detected signs of treason in a certain noble house.
"A decapitation operation will be carried out. Among the knights, I recommended you."
Edmon Bruindol, Lieutenant Colonel and adjutant to Supreme Commander of the Empire, Sebestian, had recommended me for this mission even before the regression.
Because this was, in itself, a massive achievement.
"Thanks."
"No need to thank me."
Edmon gave a short laugh, but soon his expression turned serious.
"However... lately, discussions about race have been intensifying within the Imperial Palace. His Majesty the Emperor is personally leading it."
The Emperor. The master of this vast nation. Even by the standards of Imperial history, a rare case of true legitimacy, an eldest legitimate son and eldest legitimate grandson.
I didn't know much about him in detail, but he was undoubtedly someone of boundless ambition. His actions proved it. He was determined to dominate the entire continent, harboring the delusion that he was a god.
A dangerous figure to that extent. Not even Ebenholtz dared to oppose him.
"Max. What do you think?"
Edmon asked.
"Well. In my opinion, between races..."
The Emperor hated the sub-races. Because he considered it his calling, he allowed no dissenting opinions.
"There's a hierarchy."
For now, all I could do was subtly twist the Emperor's will.
"Hierarchy?"
"The Arans of the Empire are the most superior. There's no doubt about that. Beneath the Arans are the subjects of the Western Kingdom and the Republic Union. They're somewhat tainted, but their blood is still relatively close to that of the Arans."
"...Tainted."
Edmon repeated my words with a slight smile.
"The Sled tribes of the East are inferior. Same goes for the Merin who follow the religion of Mer and the Edlem believers."
"They're all bastards who deserve to be slaughtered."
Edmon deliberately used a harsher term. I felt a pang of sorrow at his effort.
He continued.
"The bigger problem is the sub-races. Dromon, Elina, Yeken, and-"
"Ezenheim."
I emphasized the Ezenheim.
"But I believe there's definitely a hierarchy even among the sub-races. The Dromon are worth using. Most of them are good with their hands. The Elina and Yeken are the same. They can be used as dogs or pigs for the Arans. They could potentially be domesticated."
Edmon hesitated. But Edmon, you once said, "The lesser evil is better than the worst."
I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment. Compared to the outcome where an entire race is annihilated, becoming livestock of the Empire would be hundreds of times better.
"But the Ezenheim are beyond recycling."
Edmon pursed his lips. His expression was one of deliberate neutrality.
"Wastes. Creatures that don't deserve pity, ones who must not live on this continent."
"...Sheesh."
He gave a bitter smile and shook his head.
"Let's hope there's no Ezenheim mixed into my blood."
Edmon's biggest weakness was in a mere document. In the personnel file of this solid man, there was a single line that read:
'Mother: Sally Bruindol, born in the Western Republic of Prozen.'
"Edmon. You are an Aran."
I had already reached that conclusion.
"Max. Don't go saying that carelessly. The Agenthes are listening."
Agenthes. A special position said to be the closest of the Emperor's inner circle.
But no one in the world knew their true nature. In fact, before the regression, the Revolutionary forces had concluded that the Agenthes were fabricated intelligence.
"Agenthes taking down Ebenholtz? There's a higher chance I'm the Agenthes."
"...Pft. That's true."
Edmon chuckled lightly.
"I'm off. Ah, your gift from the trip, I left it with your butler."
Edmon was about to leave. I watched his back.
His thick hair and the sword tied at his waist. His broad shoulders and upright back.
The bald, hunched old Edmon who had once leaned on a cane instead of a sword no longer existed.
"Edmon."
He turned to me.
For the first time in a long while, a very long while, I asked him,
"...How's the outside?"
Edmon raised his eyebrows slightly and gave a short reply.
"Still hell."
He seemed to interpret "outside" as the battlefield. Against monsters, or against humans.
"So stay inside, Max, if you can help it."
It was ironic to hear him talk about 'inside'. It was thanks to you that I came out to this outside in the first place.
"Edmon. The Empire will definitely change."
Edmon nodded and turned away.
"...Of course it will."
He waved his hand behind him and walked off.
Left alone, I opened the decree again.
Reading the contents written in the handwriting of the Imperial Family, I let out a sigh.
***
The target of the decapitation operation was a house called 'Kailus'. They were a legitimate power faction in the West, now suspected of treason by the Imperial Family. To be exact, several of their cadet branches and the main line were all designated for elimination.
However, it was a small rebellion caused by one of the cadet members of the Kailus family─ that is, the younger brother of the head, who clung to the Imperial Family.
It was an operation I had participated in before the regression, so the memories remained vivid.
Looking at it closely, there were indeed grounds for suspicion. The Emperor coveted an ancient treasure passed down through the Kailus family, but the family head had politely refused to hand it over.
That alone marked the beginning of treason.
In this era, anything could become treason, and anyone could become a traitor.
─It can't be helped now.
Sebestian had said this about Kailus.
─The youngest son in that family looked like he could be useful, too.
Praise of that level from Sebestian was extremely rare.
In truth, it was praise so filled with envy that it had echoed in my ears for quite a while.
─...But why did you even go there?
At the same time, my father scorned me for not achieving a single merit in that place.
At any rate, the operation had already commenced. Using the excuse of a business trip, I boarded a transport aircraft on the Knights' exclusive runway.
"Loyalty."
I took a seat while receiving a salute from a nameless pilot.
Kwakwaaaa──
The transport aircraft, bathed in sunlight, soared through the skies and landed at a location along the western coast of the Empire, where the main stronghold of the House of Kailus could be seen faintly.
By then, night had already grown deep.
"...Sir Knight. You have no additional personnel?"
The pilot asked me.
A knight is the sword of the Empire and the final overseer. It meant that being alone was not a problem. Especially in an operation like this decapitation strike.
"It's sufficient."
"Yes, sir."
The pilot reboarded the transport and departed. Likely, he didn't even know what kind of operation was taking place here.
I sat on a rock hidden among dark overgrowth. In the distance, the main stronghold of the House of Kailus stood atop a sheer cliff.
"...."
I waited there quietly. I killed time, momentarily lost in idle thoughts.
And then, at some point.
KWAaaaaaa──!
A massive explosion erupted. The beginning of battle. The Imperial Army had launched a preemptive strike.
I slowly advanced toward the site.
A family's castle, or main stronghold, is fundamentally a sturdy fortress. Tall ramparts and mana artillery, not to mention overlapping layers of defensive magic circles.
Kailus, unaware of the exact identity of the attacker or the true cause, would naturally retaliate...
Tutututu──!
Mana shells burst into flame from atop the walls.
Having raised guns against the Imperial Army, the rebellion was now perfectly complete.
As I walked through the darkness, I retraced the past. At one point, during the merit review, I had read the related report.
Virus had reawakened those memories.
[The Kailus Family Rebellion Incident]
[...Including the ringleader Yusuf von Kailus, four direct blood relatives attempted to escape to the coast via the underground moat of the main stronghold, but were killed at sea. The remaining relatives, who tried to flee separately, were discovered near the Mekken mountain range along the western border...]
The direct bloodline of Kailus would soon realize that the enemy they faced was none other than the Imperial Family. In desperation to preserve their lives, they would seek an escape route, a secret passage connecting the underground moat of the main stronghold to the coastal shore.
However, that information had already been leaked. The sea was completely blockaded by the Imperial fleet.
Their future held only annihilation.
Before regression, I had merely watched from a distance. After all, once the Empire had decided to kill, the difference in strength was near infinite.
Not anymore.
I had to earn merit. As a knight, I needed to rise to the highest place, to be acknowledged by Sebestian, and ultimately, by the Emperor himself.
Of course, the bloodline of Kailus might not be Ezenheim...
"Hup!"
I ran toward them. I concentrated Mana in my legs. At each stride, at the moment of kicking off the ground, I exploded Mana. My form split through the undergrowth at a speed faster than a warhorse.
Tadadada──!
Before I knew it, I reached the fortress wall. Gunfire rained from above. The fortress' magical defense system was holding off the Imperial bombardment. Without slowing, I unraveled the bandages from my longsword. For a moment, the moonlight reflected off the blade.
Ebenholtz First Movement, Flow.
SAGAGAGAGAK─
The silver sword aura unleashed by the longsword extended in a flash. A bright white arc engulfed the wall and the troops upon it. Cracks spread like spiderwebs, ripping apart stone, steel, flesh, and bone alike.
"...."
I retrieved my sword and straightened my stance. A portion of the wall crumbled like a sandcastle. I slipped past the momentarily stunned Imperial troops and entered the fortress.
Thump. Thump.
From somewhere, I felt the presence of an Ezenheim. Hidden among these Imperial forces, they lurked. But that could wait. They could be dealt with at any time.
My top priority right now, was solely the achievement that would serve the Empire.