Semi-Coercive Imperialist - Chapter 95: Documents Containing Intent (2)
In a quiet and secluded fishing spot on the outskirts of the Empire.
I arrived there alone, where the water mist rose densly. I thought about sending Schatz, but in the end, I felt it would be better for me to move personally.
“Hm…….”
I waited, with the fishing rod propped at an angle.
The float rose quietly to the surface of the water.
“…….”
Before long, the appointed time came, and someone approached and sat down in the spot a bit farther away.
He wasn’t Ezenheim.
Just an ordinary man wearing a bucket hat pulled low over his head.
Plop.
As he cast his fishing rod, he muttered.
“……Codename Tuna.”
“Yes. Nice to meet you.”
“As you know, the Revolutionary forces operate as a cell organization. They could be somewhere within the Empire, or somewhere in a foreign country.”
His gaze was fixed on the float, but his voice was directed at me.
“But there is a space that serves as the centripetal point that gathers those scattered dots together, a space called Veil.”
The reason the Revolutionary forces were able to stand against the giant called the Empire. One of the most creative grand magics in the Empire’s history.
Veil.
That subspace, manifested by a wizard, was preserved as a museum of immense academic value after the fall of the Empire.
“Right now, I’m in contact with people who have access to that place.”
I adjusted my grip on the fishing rod and fell into thought.
“So?”
“Some among them are very exhausted. They’re growing weary of this unending cause of opposing the Empire. The new millennium the Revolutionary forces had promised has not come, and the Empire remains as strong as ever.”
In other words, some who are about to betray have already begun to do so.
“Sir Knight. Haven’t you had some suspicious incidents recently? Events that would make you suspect information leaks?”
I stroked my chin, pretending to consider it, then answered.
“……There were.”
I decided to play along for now.
─Rustle.
He handed me an envelope.
“This is said to be the dossier of a person suspected of being your informant.”
“Dossier?”
“Yes. In Veil, there are documents where members of the Revolutionary forces are recorded. They are called ‘documents containing intent’.”
Documents containing intent.
“Documents that must be filled out to join the Revolutionary forces, written with blood, sweat, and mana as their foundation. Each page is irrefutable proof of membership in the Revolutionary forces.”
“Then is this one an original?”
I shook the sealed envelope.
“I’m not sure. I haven’t opened it either. You should check it yourself.”
Information rapidly loses its credibility the moment it’s opened. Just like how no one would drink a beverage with an already-opened cap handed to them on the street.
“It may or may not be the original. I understand that point. However…….”
I placed the envelope down.
“I think I’ll need to meet directly with the person who provided this information from Veil.”
I pushed the bag at my feet toward him. The heavy bag toppled over, and the opening slightly parted. Through the gap, bundles of Empire dollars and high-purity mana stones glittered, mixed together.
“This is for operational expenses. Use as much as you want, and the rest is yours.”
“……!”
The informant’s eyes widened.
“Your next mission is to bring that person in front of me.”
He stared at me blankly. Of course, it must have been a high-risk job.
“If you succeed, the bonus will be far greater than this.”
“…….”
The informant looked back and forth between the bag and me, hesitating, but soon nodded slightly, as if he had made up his mind.
“……Understood.”
The man shouldered the bag and left.
I watched his back as he walked away, then, once it became quiet, I opened the envelope.
Tssszzzzt──!
As Mana leaked out, on the very top page of the revealed document.
「Menshi │ Yukia」
A familiar name was written.
***
An afternoon bathed in spring sunlight, in the training yard of my mansion.
“Hey, you…….”
Freya glared at me as if she couldn’t believe it.
“You’re telling me.”
Her gaze slowly dropped, and she pointed at someone with her finger.
“To teach this son of a bitch?”
Leo was sitting there.
His back straight, front paws neatly together.
It was a very aristocratic posture.
“Woof.”
Leo, now considerably grown, even answered with dignity. It seemed he was entering puberty, his voice had a distinct resonance.
“He understands speech. He gets hurt if you call him an son of a bitch.”
“……Ha. Are you insane?”
Freya let out a disbelieving laugh.
“Don’t underestimate him too much. I’ve already taught him mana breathing. Leo? Show her. Your skill.”
I gestured to Leo.
As if he had been waiting for the cue, Leo slowly closed his eyes and began a deep breathing routine.
Fwooooo─ Prururururur─
His inhale was deep, and during exhale, the skin around his mouth trembled.
Fwooooooo─ Prurururururur─
Honestly, it was cute.
“……Are you messing with me right now?”
“Shh.”
“Shh, my ass. Are you mocking me?”
“Please look more closely.”
Fwooooo─ Prururururur─
This was the Ebenholtz’s unique mana breathing method that I had personally demonstrated and taught him.
“What… huh?”
Suddenly, Freya stopped mid-sentence. Her eyes narrowed.
Fwooooooo─ Prurururururur─
Leo’s breathing wasn’t ordinary. The air taken in through inhalation and exhalation circulated through his body, gently drawing up the elixir’s energy that had settled in his lower abdomen.
Ebenholtz pays no attention to the external. It focuses solely on refining the internal mana more purely, more cleanly, and with higher density.
It is the ‘training’ of refining mana correctly.
“……Ha.”
Freya let out a hollow laugh. She glared at me with an incredulous look.
“You fed him elixir, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“You crazy bastard. You fed that dog something meant for your future descendants?”
“He’s Leo, the guard dog of Ebenholtz. That’s more than enough qualification.”
Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to wait for descendants. The fate of humanity is at stake.
“Tch. Whatever. Dog, go over there for now.”
Freya waved her hand. Leo trudged off and quietly sat in a corner of the training yard.
Freya’s lips parted slightly.
“That… does he really understand?”
“I don’t lie.”
“……Fine. Show me your homework.”
“Yes.”
I gripped the long sword. Steadying my breath, I focused my awareness on the blade.
Ssssh──
I extended the sword. Though the physical blade remained still, a silver blade of mana rose from its tip like a shimmering haze.
Extension of the sword.
The long sword, which is 1.6 meters in length, extends through the air with a blade of mana.
“……Mana that resembles moonlight. The coloring is indeed Ebenholtz, but.”
Freya flicked at the mana shaped like a blade.
Mana is different from a sword. It is purely sharp. That’s why even touching it can cause serious wounds, but─
Ssssst──
The mana that touched her fingertips merely rippled and dispersed like a wave.
It was under my control.
A noble does not act recklessly. They harm their enemies, but allow their allies.
“Not bad.”
Freya nodded.
“Next is the extension and expansion of your senses. A technique to imbue your mana with your senses.”
Extension of senses.
I had already, albeit clumsily and with Virus’s help, performed it during the Gigantes infiltration.
“Like this.”
Freya stepped on the ground. From beneath her feet, shadow-like mana slithered out smoothly.
An invisible thin membrane flowed along the ground and instantly reached my toes.
“Mana can travel quite far using natural mediums. Embed your five senses into that flow. Touch with mana, smell, and see.”
I closed my eyes. Placed my hand over my collarbone.
──Thump.
The silver mana flowed along the ground. Moving mana felt as natural as moving my hands and feet.
It was probably thanks to Virus.
Virus understands mana, in ways that cannot be defined by human language.
Sssssssst──
Like waves spreading, my senses extended.
The texture of the soil, the vibration of insects, the direction of the wind…
It was then.
Thump─
A small collision occurred. My mana had clashed with another source of mana.
One was the mana of Freya, sitting across from me.
It was extremely refined, delicate, and pure.
She was, without a doubt, far more advanced than I was.
But then, there was a third stream.
Something raw and unknown approaching from a corner.
Rough, but pure movement.
“……?”
I quietly opened my eyes.
The first thing I saw was Freya’s strange expression. Her mouth was agape as she stared at something.
“Why……?”
I turned my gaze to the same direction.
The corner of the training yard.
Leo was sitting there. Eyes gently closed, front paws planted firmly on the ground.
“Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped through my teeth.
Had he eavesdropped on the lesson just now? Mana ripples shimmered beneath his paws. It was, unmistakably, an extension of the senses.
“……What the hell is that mutt?” (TL: Good Boy ( ´･･)ﾉ(._.`))
Freya murmured. At that moment, Leo opened his eyes.
Left eye gold, right eye blue. His odd-eyes always looked intelligent and mysterious every time I saw them.
“I told you already.”
I smiled confidently.
“If only humans could wield mana in this world, the legends of spirit beasts like divine bears and great tigers wouldn’t have been passed down.”
Mana is not a power granted solely to humans. Beasts and even monsters wield it instinctively.
However, it’s incredibly rare for a beast to imitate human technique.
“Leo is a genius among them.”
Before my regression, Leo had self-taught himself mana without any early education, and saved his master.
A dog among dogs.
The one and only, Leo.
With pride, I turned to Freya.
“So, do you feel like teaching him now?”
Freya responded, facing me.
“Would you, if you were me?”
***
──Mid-April.
In the season where spring had ripened, Dieter Schmidt was experiencing the collapse of Canilan with his whole body.
Ransom was just the beginning.
Due to the failure of the Land Community, trust in Canilan companies as a whole plummeted, and at the same time, foreign capital investments were suspended.
Banks, their funding lines cut off, refused to approve or extend loans for businesses.
Companies with approaching due dates found themselves in a dire situation.
They desperately appealed, making forced announcements of undeveloped new technologies to win loan extensions, but the banks didn’t recognize their efforts.
They couldn’t afford to.
Because their vaults had dried up.
Though various securities firms and insurance companies tried to hold out, in the end, the weakest link snapped first.
[Breaking News: Sabrin Investment Bank Declares Insolvency]
With the collapse of Sabrin, one of the five major investment banks of Canilan, fear spread like a plague.
Countless products guaranteed by Sabrin became worthless scraps of paper, and corporate-backed securities composed of company bonds were shaken to their core.
On the other hand, the value of the bankruptcy insurance held by Maximilian soared vertically.
The heads of numerous financial companies, including Rekiano and Merilch, begged Dieter for meetings, but Dieter rejected them all.
“Pleasure to meet you, Bank President.”
Instead, he chose only one person.
Thomas Haven, bank president of Old Haven.
He was the only one who had grasped the “hand” Maximilian extended through the video conference in the past.
“……Pleasure to meet you.”
The bank president looked a mess. His beard was unkempt, and the skin beneath his eyes was sunken and dark.
“Please, go ahead.”
“Yes. Currently, Old Haven is…….”
He opened his dry lips and confessed with difficulty.
“Effectively in an insolvent state. We have enough assets, but money has dried up in the market, and we cannot cover the bills whose maturity dates are coming up.”
Dieter nodded as if he had expected this.
From what he had investigated, Old Haven’s books were relatively clean. They hadn’t invested in reckless derivatives and had only lent to sound companies after thorough evaluations.
Because of that, they were left behind during the boom years and pushed down to the lower tier of banks.
But even that honesty had been swept away by the current financial crisis.
“President, our boss values trust above all else.”
Dieter adjusted his glasses as he spoke.
A world where banks blinded by greed grew fat by handing out loans indiscriminately, while those that nurtured businesses with principles were left behind.
That had been Canilan until now, but the overinflated bubble had finally burst.
“So, please don’t be too concerned.”
Dieter handed over a document.
“We will purchase the bonds held by Old Haven at face value. In return, you will transfer your shares in the bank.”
An offer to pay full price, when all other banks were trying to dump their bonds at a quarter of their value and flee.
“……Thank you.”
The bank president let out a sigh mixed with relief.
Though he had lost the bank that had been built by his family for generations, at least he could still protect the customers.
“Thank you. Truly, thank you. I’ll go and share this good news with the employees and clients first.”
As the bank president tried to rise from his seat, Dieter stopped him.
“There’s no need for that.”
“……Pardon?”
“President Haven. Please continue working with us. We will guarantee your position and management rights.”
To Dieter, he was a man too valuable to lose, and Maximilian felt the same.
“A bank that keeps its trust should not lose a person who has kept his trust—”
A reward for someone who had upheld the costly value of integrity in the madness that had engulfed Canilan.
“That’s what our boss said.”
Tears welled up in the eyes of the old gentleman Thomas Haven.
…….
──[Breaking News] Ransom Corporation’s Public Fund Injection Falls Through… Effectively Enters ‘Bankruptcy Proceedings’──
A massive breaking news report echoed throughout Canilan.
The failure of the Community Land Protocol. The hundreds of casualties during the artificial island evacuation process. Enormous environmental destruction, and class-action lawsuits by shareholders and fisheries workers.
Faced with an unmanageable level of liability, the Canilan government rejected Ransom’s request for a bailout.
The Canilan myth had received its official death sentence…….
“You’ve arrived.”
At the rooftop of the Panimaro Tower, a skyscraper in Canilan’s financial district.
Dieter welcomed Maximilian, who had flown to Canilan in person.
“……It’s collapsing.”
Maximilian looked down over the vast forest of buildings beyond the railing. The atmosphere, the very air itself, was completely different from before.
The air, once soaked in alcohol, perfume, and the indulgence of the night, had now dried up like a shriveled squid.
“Yes. Corporate bankruptcies have begun. The value of the insurance we hold is skyrocketing beyond measure, but……”
Dieter reported in a voice tinged with concern.
“The risk to our counterparties is too high. If the insurance and securities firms go bankrupt in succession, we may not be able to collect any of the payouts.”
Maximilian nodded.
If the house goes bankrupt, the chips at the gambling table are just plastic pieces.
“It doesn’t matter. We’re not going to take it all in cash anyway. If they have no money, they’ll pay with other things.”
Maximilian’s eyes gleamed coldly.
“Dieter. We’re going to subjugate Canilan.”
National bonds, port operation rights, maritime development rights, insurance management rights, and so on. They would secure the country’s infrastructure and sovereignty as collateral in place of cash and acquire the technologies he had already been eyeing, at dirt-cheap prices.
“And who knows? There might even be mana stones hidden in Canilan’s seas.”
Maximilian said this with a smile.
“Yes. Understood.”
Dieter opened his notebook and made sure to record Maximilian’s orders.
The task of concretizing this would fall to Dieter and his think tank under him.
“It seems we’ll be seeing a lot of numbers going forward.”
“That’s right.”
Tap. Maximilian placed a hand on Dieter’s shoulder.
“Because there’s far too much work ahead of us.”
“…….”
Dieter, feeling an inexplicable surge of emotion for a moment, looked at Maximilian’s hand, but soon adjusted his glasses with his usual emotionless expression.
“Yes. Understood.”
Emotion must be excluded from his work.
Only by treating numbers as just numbers can they be handled in the most proper way.
~~~
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