Semi-Coercive Imperialist - Chapter 199

What Emotion Is. (5)

House Askar, Yulian’s family, had long stood at the forefront of racial division and discrimination. It was the way of their house, passed down for generations.

Pure Aran.

House Askar’s hereditary traits were especially pronounced, so most of their bloodline had blond hair and golden eyes. Yulian did, and so did his younger brother Leon.

But Yulian, at least Yulian himself, may have harbored deep doubts about that blood-purity ideology.

When the attendant who had cared for him so tenderly as a child was beaten to death simply for having mixed subspecies blood.

When the nanny who had raised him like a mother was miserably thrown out of the estate for being of another race.

At those moments, Yulian may have sensed that the order of both the Empire and his house was wrong.

After entering Empire Point, he met a man named Ashton. Perhaps Ashton had approached him deliberately. The eldest son of House Askar was the ideal target for Izenheim to use.

Yulian stayed with Ashton as a friend, a comrade, and a brother-in-arms.

Then, at some point, Ashton’s identity as Izenheim was exposed to Yulian.

Or he leaked it on purpose.

Seeing Yulian waver, he misjudged that Yulian’s kindness would rise above racial discrimination and fully understand him.

Yet Yulian was a man who upheld his duty as a knight of the Empire.

A man who chose responsibility over personal feeling.

Still, Yulian made one mistake.

Instead of carrying out summary execution on Ashton, he showed mercy and expelled him from the Order.

In the end, Ashton survived and likely kept Laura informed of his situation through letters. Yulian also likely censored those letters in secret.

In that process, he must have naturally learned the ciphers and secret phrases they exchanged. At the same time, he must have sealed away his true heart forever.

……Even this is only my guess.

I still did not fully know the man called Yulian. I could not read his exterior, and I could not see his interior. Even the face he showed had been worn down, as if the heart beneath it had eroded too.

“……”

Still in the Sentinel office, Laura stared at me in silence. In her gaze, with death right before her, there was an unshakable resolve.

“Path of Dreams.”

She ground the words out.

“That operation Sentinel brags about so proudly everywhere.”

Twisted anger spread across her pale face.

“Ashton was sacrificed because of you. It was no different from you torturing him to death yourselves.”

The incident where Ashton, exposed by Yulian as a subspecies and cast out, died miserably at the cartel’s hands.

No, the incident where Yulian “sold” him to the cartel.

“His only dream was to become an imperial knight. To help people in hardship. But because of that illusion called Aran…… he lost his life. He was betrayed by the comrade he loved most.”

Laura poured out her resentment with bloodshot eyes.

“Do you know? The person who sold Ashton to the cartel was-”

“It was Yulian.”

At my reply, Laura’s face went blank, as if a taut thread had suddenly snapped.

“I know that very well.”

I answered indifferently.

“Because the operation called Path of Dreams itself was a joint operation between Yulian and me.”

A sudden chill gathered at the corners of Laura’s eyes. Her shoulders trembled. The tremor spread through her whole body.

“Ashton was a subspecies, and for that fact alone, he had to be sentenced to death.”

I gave a faint smile.

“It could not be helped. Emotions are unnecessary for knights.”

If anything, thanks to Yulian, he survived longer.

She laughed through tears. Drenched in helplessness, she pushed back.

“No. Emotions are precious.”

I listened to her words.

“They are the noblest and most beautiful thing only humans can have.”

Something only humans can possess.

That was exactly why Izenheim used emotion.

“Then, if it is that beautiful.”

I dragged my fountain pen across the document.

Charge: insurrection. Sentence: death.

“You can die while keeping it.”

* * *

……Leutern II, a palace noble, had been unbearably bored day after day lately.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have given that speech.”

He kept replaying that thrilling moment on the House of Nobles podium under everyone’s eyes, and everything since then felt painfully flat.

The Knight Order kept sending over noise about the Revolutionary Faction and whatever else, but inside the palace it was quiet~.

“Tsk.”

Anyway, those Balkania vermin. That prime minister bastard who dared insult imperial royalty and start a war as he pleased was apparently struggling even against some tribal state.

So plenty of nobles kept flattering him with things like, “Your Grace’s insight is truly profound,” and, “You are a diplomatic genius.” Sure, it made his shoulders rise a little, but honestly, Leutern himself felt like, so what?

“Haaawn……”

He stayed sleepy no matter how much he slept. Nothing exciting ever happened, and only annoying matters kept piling up. Palace nobles and random no-name officials kept dropping by, asking with grave faces what he thought of future continental affairs, how he viewed the Empire’s next moves, and so on.

How the hell would I know that.

He wanted to shout it, but in practice his daily routine was to put on a solemn face, toss out a few lofty vague lines, and send them away.

Still, watching them listen to every word with deadly serious expressions was kind of funny, kind of satisfying, kind of entertaining.

Knock knock.

He had just closed his eyes to nap when another knock sounded.

Leutern frowned.

“Ugh. Come in.”

“……Duke Leutern.”

A secretary entered carefully and held out a wooden box.

“What is this now?”

“A gift sent from Mekerel.”

“Mekerel? Who’s that?”

“Th-that…… the southern tribal state currently at war with Balkania.”

“Oh right.”

Leutern took the box with a bored look, but the moment he opened the lid, his eyes flew wide open.

“……Oh? Ooh?!”

A rough, crude necklace, yet filled with unusual mana. A very exotic, primal piece, finely woven from wild beast bones, rare southern gems, and mana stones.

“Whoa. Hey, hey. What is this? This is really something. Why’d they send it to me?”

“A letter of thanks personally written by the king of Mekerel is enclosed as well.”

The secretary handed him a parchment scroll. Leutern skimmed it in about three seconds.

“Ah, got the gist.”

So they were thanking him for trashing Balkania in the House of Nobles, was that it?

Enemy of my enemy is my friend, that kind of scheme.

“Well……”

Sorry, but that was a misunderstanding. He did not care whether primitive people like them got trampled to death by Balkania or not.

“Anyway.”

Leutern took the necklace out of the box. No reason to refuse something free.

“The item’s good. I like it a lot.”

He grinned while turning it around in front of a mirror.

“Send an official letter to Mekerel.”

“Yes. What should I write?”

“Nothing grand…… Tell them, ‘You didn’t need to thank me, but the gift is my style, so I’ll use it.’ Ah, and set up any schedule for today.”

Leutern II sprang up while toying with the necklace.

He needed to go out and show it off.

……

Laura Espin’s execution was finalized, and she was transferred to a western imperial high-security prison for major offenders.

“Sir Knight. A letter from Duke Leutern.”

I received Leutern’s letter in my office.

[Max! Got time around this evening~? I got something to show you. You might be super shocked~]

Just one line.

Turn it front and back, still just one line.

How little work did he have?

“……It is nothing important.”

I set it down and looked back across from me. I already had guests.

“If it is Duke Leutern…… is he not a highly exalted figure of the palace?”

“No. I mean, yes, but.”

I reassured the two anxious mages.

“First, there is no need to worry.”

They were Laura’s older brother and younger brother.

“I will get straight to the point.”

I signed the document. It was a statement declaring House Espin itself innocent.

“The anti-state terror and criminal acts Laura Espin committed as a member of the Revolutionary Faction have been confirmed as entirely her personal deviation.”

Before throwing herself into the Revolutionary Faction, Laura severed every tie with her main family. Probably so her own choice would not spread to them.

Of course, if I wanted achievements, I could label their whole house as backing treason and arrest all of them without much trouble. A Sentinel knight, and beyond that, “I,” had that level of power.

“Therefore, her crimes will not be allowed to affect House Espin.”

“Ah……”

The two let out deep breaths. Sad relief passed over their faces. No excuses, no objections.

“……Thank you, Sir Knight.”

They thanked me, the one who had sentenced their younger sister to death.

They understood that nothing could be helped.

“However, surveillance on your house will become stricter from now on. Please be careful not to say or do anything rash that could invite suspicion.”

“Yes. We will keep that in mind.”

The two brothers stood up. As if dazed, they staggered out of the Knight Order office.

“……”

A file recording the family background and past actions of a new knight, Hermann von Berg.

“Hmm.”

Hermann. He had definitely been a knight who outpaced me before my regression. But I had no memory of what became of him later. Whether he was executed as a war criminal, died during the war, or betrayed us instead.

While I was reading Hermann’s file.

Tring.

The terminal rang.

A transmission from Schatz, who was tailing Yulian.

* * *

A remote small city in the west of the Empire.

Yulian arrived in dead Ashton’s hometown.

[ Nostalgia Theater ]

The small theater tucked at the corner of an alley was a place of unforgettable memories for Yulian.

In the past, he came every vacation with Ashton and Laura, sat shoulder to shoulder, watched plays, laughed, and talked.

Creeeak.

Yulian stepped into the theater. He slowly looked over the empty seats and the dust-covered stage.

Many things were unchanged. The posters on the walls, the creaking floorboards. But the stage still held traces of someone’s hands.

Judging from the positions of the lights and props, a performance seemed to have been put on there recently.

Creak. Creak.

As Yulian stepped across the floor and looked around inside.

Clomp.

Quiet footsteps rose from behind the stage.

“Good to see you.”

Someone walked out from under the ceiling shadows.

“Sir Knight Yulian.”

Yulian looked at him with dry eyes. He recognized him instantly.

A man with round gold-rim glasses, hair combed straight back without a single strand out of place. A gaunt, pale first-class wanted criminal.

Dominik, a core member of the Revolutionary Faction.

Yulian spoke low.

“……So this is not an illusion.”

“Yes. As you can see, this is the real me.”

Dominik had once been a promising mage of Sentio Magic Tower. He had been Laura’s direct senior, and also the one who led her into the Revolutionary Faction.

Yulian stared at him in silence, posture ready to draw his sword at any moment.

“Cough, khk. Ahem.”

Dominik wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and gestured at Yulian.

“Sir Knight Yulian. What do you think of the Empire as it is now?”

At that sudden question, Yulian’s eyes narrowed.

“The reason Laura called you here is to show you the truth of the Empire.”

Dominik smiled tiredly.

“Truth.”

Yulian’s face twitched as he repeated the word.

“Yes. You likely sense it too, if only faintly. The great war the madmen of the imperial household, in the deepest part of the Empire, will soon start.”

War.

A rumor already circulating openly even inside the Order.

“That war has no cause, no meaning. It is only slaughter to satisfy the Emperor’s personal greed. Too many people across the continent will die, and too many families will be torn apart. And.”

Force entered Dominik’s final words.

“The Empire, the Emperor, is preparing racial extermination. The camps being built all across the Empire…… khk.”

Dominik coughed several times again. Yulian suddenly thought about what remained of his life.

“……Haa. Those camps are proof. The Empire is plotting acts that must never be done. The massacre of races-”

“What do you want from me?”

Yulian cut him off. Dominik gave a bitter smile.

“……Yes. Laura’s final request.”

He approached with effort and held out a small envelope.

“Please read it.”

Yulian opened the letter inside.

[Yulian. I am sorry. I will not ask you to forgive me, the one who betrayed you, the one who had no choice but to betray you. But if we are not together, then none of this means anything…… ]

Laura’s final words, written calmly after she had already sensed her own death.

[When I die, could you please bury me in a sunny place not far from where Ashton sleeps?]

Yulian took in the hidden sentences pressed hard across the page.

From deep in his chest came pain like a cold blade carving into his organs.

“Yulian Askar.”

Dominik called his name.

“Will you join our cause?”

A call to stand together.

A call to share the cause.

“……”

Yulian gave no answer at all, only sank into silence. Then.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Slow applause rang from somewhere, splitting the quiet of the theater.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

The entrance at the back of the seats.

A presence walked in from the darkness, carrying thick killing intent.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

“As expected, as expected of Sir Knight Yulian.”

New knight Hermann von Berg.

With a smile at his lips, he looked back and forth between Yulian and Dominik.

“To think you tracked down this rat-bastard traitor all by yourself.”

Hermann’s hand dropped and slowly gripped the sword hilt at his waist.

“As your junior, I cannot help but admire that outstanding investigative skill.”

His wide-open eyes landed on the “letter” held in Yulian’s arms.