Semi-Coercive Imperialist - Chapter 115: The Meaning of Politics
Translator: KJ
Whooooo──.
The knights who had descended from the transport ship traversed Verkina’s airspace and touched down softly at their respective target points.
Tap.
The moment they touched the ground, they pressed a button to release their wingsuits. Whirrrr. The suit compressed like nonwoven fabric and folded behind their backs.
There was no time to marvel at the new technology. Following the prearranged path, they infiltrated the hideouts of the cartel capos.
Destination─ Target point reached.
There were many mercenaries on lookout in all directions, but the knights had no need for hand signals.
Slice! Slash!
They simply charged in nearly the same instant, beheading as they moved, silently.
Only pushing deeper……
──Thud!
Capo Costa opened his eyes at the dull sound that echoed from outside.
“……?”
Rubbing his face as he looked at the clock, it was 3 a.m.
“……What the hell.”
A wide room with heavy red velvet curtains. Costa sat up in bed.
He loosely wrapped his gown around himself and brushed back his messy curls. A chilling sensation ran down his spine for no apparent reason.
“Hmm……?”
The women beside him stirred groggily, but Costa pressed their faces away with an annoyed gesture.
“Just go the fuck back to sleep.”
Still naked, he drew up his mana. Iron Boar. Just like his nickname, lead-colored mana wrapped around his entire body, hardening it.
“…….”
With the edge of his hand raised sharply, he flung the door open!
The hallway was silent.
No one was there.
No guards, no subordinates in sight.
“What the……?”
Just as Costa tilted his head in confusion.
From the darkness, an indistinct figure shimmered.
Slaaash──!
A flash of light glinted.
“!”
Costa’s eyes froze wide open. His head dropped to the ground. Thud, thud, thud. The head, now ownerless, rolled down the stairs.
“Iron Boar slaughter complete.”
The knight turned away, leaving the fallen corpse behind. There was no need to collect the head, nor any reason to leave a mark.
Those who dare lay a hand on a knight of the Empire deserve nothing but death.
…….
A hidden dark chamber in the heart of Verkina’s city center.
On the table of the luxurious VVIP room in the lavish gambling den, chips and cash were stacked like mountains.
“Phew…….”
The cartel capo ‘Kunta’ narrowed his bloodshot eyes and peeked at his cards.
A good hand.
He buried his face like a mole, trying to hide his expression.
“……All in.”
He pushed all his chips in, but the opponent blandly folded his cards.
“Ugh. I give up. Just not getting any decent hands tonight.”
“…….”
A vein popped on Kunta’s forehead. Blood seeped from the lips he bit down on tightly.
“……Oh, and I’m sorry. I need to get going now.”
To top it off, the son of a bitch who just folded was even getting up from his seat.
The game wasn’t even over.
I had a full house!
“Have fun, everyone.”
“Where do you think you’re going? We’re just getting started.”
Kunta slapped down his cards with a growl.
“Oh come on… My son’s waiting. It’s his birthday today.”
“So what? Fuck that. Who gives a shit when he was born.”
“Ayy~ Come on~ I already lost all my money, I’ve got barely anything left. I’m cleaned out.”
Kunta glanced at him. The bag that had been filled with chips now held less than half.
“Cut me some slack.”
The man chuckled nervously and backed away. Kunta stared at him with bloodshot eyes.
“If you leave, you’re fucking dead. I’ll have your head hanging in the street like a shoe.”
“It really is my son’s birthday. If I go now, I’ll make it in time. I’ll stay longer next time, I promise. I’m really sorry!”
Spouting a pathetic excuse, he bowed 90 degrees repeatedly and walked out.
“…….”
Kunta stared in that direction for a while. He shoved a crumpled cigarette into his mouth.
Chew. Chew.
He ground it with his teeth and gave a small nod.
“Hey. Kill that bastard for real. Cut off that ‘son’s’ head too.”
“Yes.”
The mercenaries followed the man without hesitation.
“Fucking bastard.”
Kunta picked up the cards again.
“Alright then, let’s play. Deal ‘em.”
Just as the dealer was about to shuffle the cards.
Creeeak.
The door opened again.
“You’re killing the mood, sit d─”
Slaaaaash!
A blade surged out of Kunta’s mouth instead of a tongue. His face, split into two, dropped onto the table.
“Wha─”
Before the mercenaries could even grab their weapons, the knights stormed through the door. They ran along the walls, stepped on the ceiling, and lopped off the enemies’ heads.
Slash! Slice!
A refined slaughter that precisely distinguished and cut down only the targets, sparing civilians.
The enemies inside were wiped out in an instant.
“……Eagle. Operation complete.”
Chiron said as he flicked the blood from his sword.
…….
In the dawn tinted with navy blue,
The boss of all bosses, the ‘Capo Dei Capi’─Fellier─opened his eyes.
He was different from the other capos. He wasn’t indulgent like Costa, nor was he addicted to decadence like Kunta.
Fellier’s hideout was located at the highest point in the city, a building atop a cliff.
The interior was designed like a labyrinth. Mana alarm systems were installed throughout. Traps placed in every hallway.
A fortress that amply reflected his paranoid tendencies.
However, Fellier did not prefer the top floor of this fortress. Looking down from high above always felt good, but it left him too vulnerable to assassination.
“Hmph.”
Fellier stepped out onto the terrace on the fortress’s middle floor. The panoramic view of Verkina’s city center spread out beneath his feet. A city where crimson lights and sweltering darkness intermingled.
In the distance, the brilliant lights of a newly opened club shone through.
“I’ll have to take that.”
There was only one reason. Because he was Fellier. In Verkina, what he desired had to become his.
“Heh.”
Fellier smirked and turned around. He went out to the living room and opened the shelf.
Step.
He suddenly sensed a presence. It was his personal bodyguard. A loyalist and former knight of The Empire.
“……Still awake, sir?”
The man asked.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
Fellier raised his eyebrows and swirled a glass of whiskey. The ice clinked clearly.
“Care for a drink?”
“I’m alright, sir.”
Fellier puckered his lips.
“You could’ve, though. Well, take it easy.”
“Yes, sir.”
The mercenary smiled and withdrew. Fellier stepped back onto the terrace and raised his glass. Gazing out into the mood of Verkina, he murmured faintly.
……My world.
Mine.
Just as he took a sip of whiskey, lost in sentiment.
────.
A bright light approached from beyond the night sky.
Slicing across the horizon… a meteor?
A silver light advancing in silence, leaving a short trail behind.
“…….”
Fellier gazed absentmindedly at its path for a moment.
It almost felt like a revelation. Like a divine blessing watching over his future.
It truly felt that way to him.
Before long, he would kill Costa and Kunta and seize Verkina. He would become the king of Verkina, growing so powerful that not even those Imperial bastards would dare look down on him…….
───
The comet.
What seemed as though it would simply pass through the skies above suddenly halted in midair.
Even that was mystifying, but then its trajectory twisted unnaturally.
And the direction it was headed─
This way.
It was coming toward him.
“……?”
At some point, Fellier’s vision was filled with silver.
A pure white longsword descended from the sky.
It was the final scene of his life.
─────.
The moonlight silently cleaved the terrace. The elegant sword strike carved a scar into the hideout’s building.
KWA-GWAGWAK! The sound of shattering debris came a beat too late, and at the same time, Fellier’s head flew into the air.
Fsss…….
As moonlight scattered in full bloom, Maximilian landed atop Fellier’s corpse.
He let out a soft breath and muttered.
“Moving in.”
***
Within just six hours, all three capos of the Parmano Cartel, along with the mercenaries they hired, their second-in-commands, and the rest of their executives, hundreds in total, were completely beheaded. And before the day was over, the return operation was already underway.
“How was the harvest?”
In the east of the Empire, outside the airfield.
Chiron asked from beneath a tree as rain drizzled down.
“It’s confirmed.”
I held the Canilan-made crystal chip taken from Fellier’s safe. The payment for drug trafficking─where it flowed, which corporations it reached, and who ultimately received it─everything is present within this tiny chip.
“Well, I hear in some circles they call it a golden goblin.”
Unlike the others who handled things crudely, Fellier’s ledger was precise.
He truly lived up to the name ‘boss of bosses’. (TL: Capo Dei Capi)
“Can it be traced?”
“Yes. My secretary is quite capable. However, to properly decode this, we’ll need to go to Canilan. The properties of Mana differ there, so smooth restoration is difficult within The Empire.”
There are some advanced devices that only function properly in Canilan. Because the frequency and density of mana vary by region.
Especially in the north and Canilan, the mana environments are distinctly different.
“We’ll get all the useful information out of it.”
Chiron nodded with satisfaction.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
We entered the airfield together. Inside, more than a dozen knights were gathered. The remaining units would soon return safely as well.
In this operation, we had used information, purchased with a ridiculous amount of money, to identify the enemy’s positions and status in advance. All the knights had to do was swing their swords.
It wasn’t a battle we fought and won. We fought already having won.
“Um, I have a question.”
At the airfield, Royce, a zero-year knight, hesitantly raised his hand.
“These wingsuits…… are they really ours to keep? We don’t have to return them?”
Judging by the senior knight Raynel’s awkward cough beside him, it seemed to be a question asked on his instruction.
I nodded. Looking around at the other knights, I added,
“You may think of the wingsuits as a reward for all of you who participated in this operation.”
Raynel, a third-year knight, nudged the side of zero-year Royce again.
“Um, sir, sorry to ask, but… if we wanted to buy one separately─”
“It’d cost at least two million.”
Even the knights’ expressions flickered with mild surprise. That’s how advanced the equipment was. For someone skilled in aerial descent, it was strategic gear capable of amplifying their power several times over.
Tududududu──
Just then, the transport ship that had completed its mission rumbled in. Chiron and I went out to greet them.
“Julian will handle the rest now, right?”
“Yes.”
“Does Julian understand our intent?”
Chiron asked.
I fell silent for a moment.
Julian.
Even now, I still didn’t fully understand him. He always seemed one step ahead of me, as if he could see right through my moves.
But just as I don’t fully know him, he too doesn’t truly know who I am.
What future I’ve seen, what great cause I’ve embraced. And how firm my conviction is in achieving it…
“Yes. He probably does.”
I spoke while watching the transport ship descend.
“Now we just need to take what is rightfully ours.”
***
[The Hidden Hero of the Sentinel, Meets Tragic End]
[Imperial Knight Who Infiltrated Drug Cartel, Dies After Torture]
[The Atrocities of the Verkina Cartel……]
An exclusive originating from Jemion Daily struck The Empire like a thunderbolt. Partially mosaic-censored images of the knight’s remains, gruesomely mutilated by the cartel, were published.
Imperial society was furious, and Sentinel’s Knight Commander Alberich also issued an unprecedented statement of mourning, outrage, and regret.
Johann Goetz, too, played a supporting role while in his doctoral program.
── 「Editorial: The Sacrifice of Pure Blood, and the Wrath of Arans」 ──
……We all saw it. How one of the Empire’s noblest sons perished at the hands of vile beasts. The wounds carved into the body of one who devoted himself to us. The nail driven into the heart of the Empire, the desecration inflicted upon the soul of us all……
The blood shed by a single knight must never be in vain. What was it that he tried to protect? From the poison spread by drug cartels beyond our borders, he sought to shield our brothers and sisters of Aran, to safeguard our pure spirit…….
──────
Right on cue, news broke on a massive scale that all the core executives of the cartel had been beheaded overnight.
[Sentinel Devastates Verkina Cartel Stronghold on Behalf of Imperial Knights]
[Senior Sentinel Knight Chiron: “We already carried out a classified operation”]
[The Sword of The Empire Purifies the Den of Savagery!]
[The Path of Dreams, Unfulfilled in One Knight’s Lifetime…….]
Operation name: Path of Dreams. Everything beyond the name was classified, but a perfect act of retribution had been carried out.
Naturally, the Verkina government reacted with strong opposition. Not just them, the entire Eastern Alliance seethed with hostility toward the Empire.
However, since it was the cartel who first laid hands on an Imperial knight, and there were no civilian casualties, Verkina merely deployed troops along the border. The situation did not escalate into armed conflict.
Instead, the vacuum left by the elimination of Parmano and the smaller cartels was swiftly filled by the ‘Kalo Cartel’. They dispersed vast amounts of bribes among local officials to ease the growing anti-Empire sentiment.
And then── one morning.
On the desk of Imperial Guard Commander Goebel, who had gone to work as usual,
A document stamped with a red seal was delivered.
“……Hmm?”
Commander Goebel hadn’t been the least bit concerned about the recent incident.
The cartel had nothing to do with him─or at least, externally speaking.
The money laundering had been that thorough, and even if someone knew, he had been certain no one would have the guts to drag him into it. He had hundreds, thousands of tails that could be cut off in his place.
But on this day, the document Goebel read while seated in his chair read:
───「Summons」───
.Recipient: Goebel von Rosenberg
.Sender: Imperial Sentinel Knight Order
.This Knight Order, based on secret ledgers and various other records seized during the recent Verkina cartel suppression operation, has identified illegal financial flows…….
You are hereby summoned as a key person of interest on charges of “funding anti-state organizations and accepting bribes”. Please report to the Sentinel Knight Order Headquarters by 15:00 on October 30th.
Failure to comply may result in the issuance of a compulsory arrest warrant under the Knight Order’s inherent authority.
─────
Audacious sentences, daring to summon the Emperor’s own Commander of the Imperial Guard.
Goebel fiddled with his monocle, then removed his hat.
“…….”
Without a word, he read through the full text again, then pressed his fingers to his temples.
At the very bottom.
He looked at the signature of the writer.
[Maximilian Albrecht von Ebenholtz]
“Maximilian…….”
As he murmured that name softly,
“Heh.”
A scoff escaped him before he even realized it.
