Semi-Coercive Imperialist - Chapter 97: Desired Betrayal (2)
The mansion’s study.
“Your external appearance is perfect, Sir Knight. One could say you are the very embodiment of a ideal Aran.”
With my eyes, I read the manuscript that Johann had written.
“Even the tone of your voice is befitting of nobility.”
And with my ears, I listened to Johann’s advice.
“Therefore, there is no need to deliberately raise your voice. The public will be captivated by your appearance and cadence rather than your logic.”
Suddenly, I recalled the speeches of the Empire’s military leadership from before my regression. They always shouted, veins bulging, filled with madness.
“Do I need gestures or anything like that?”
I waved my clenched fist back and forth. Swish. Swish. Swish. Swish.
“No.”
Johann shook his head firmly.
“If someone’s appearance were somewhat lacking, or if they didn’t exude an aura, such artificial gestures might be necessary. But you are not such a person, Sir Knight.”
Appearance.
Perhaps it was the only talent that the human called Maximilian possessed.
Most of the individual ‘accomplishments’ I achieved in this life were thanks to the virus and regression, but that, at least, was entirely my own endowment.
“Especially since you stand in stark contrast to most of the military officials, who are…… not to be rude, but rather rugged in appearance.”
Since I was young, I had received quite a lot of compliments on my appearance.
Of course, I wasn’t the once-in-a-century peerless beauty, one of the most handsome across the continent, anything like that was out of the question. There are surely men like that out there somewhere.
However, the ‘beauty’ that Johann spoke of wasn’t mere physical attractiveness.
“Cheveux d’or. Yeux de lumière. Très fin. L’ombre.”
He described me borrowing the grammar of ancient Aran language.
I let out a hollow laugh.
“Golden hair, eyes of light, delicate features, a long and elegant shadow?”
That was roughly what it meant.
“Yes! Exactly. Have you studied the old language?”
“I’ve been reading a lot of books lately.”
Thanks to the virus, everything I read feels as if it’s stored in a personal library in my mind. It means I can retrieve and review its contents at any time.
Having such an ability, it would be dereliction of duty to avoid books.
“……Sir Knight, you are the ideal of Aran.”
A peculiar light appeared in Johann’s eyes.
“The ideal…….”
I thought about my father, Sebestian.
Sebestian also had distinct Aran features, but his height, easily exceeding 2 meters, was the issue. His chest and frame, reminiscent of a tiger, were more than enough to be called the strongest on the continent, yet they differed from the image of an Aran ideal described by the ancient Empire.
“Yes. Just by standing somewhere high, the eyes and ears of the Empire’s people would naturally gravitate toward you.”
I also thought about the Emperor.
The Empire’s Emperor’s greatest weakness was his appearance. He didn’t have blond hair, nor golden eyes, and he wasn’t tall.
“Sir Knight possesses both good and evil. At times, one feels a boyish innocence from you, while at others, a bottomless abyss that cannot be fathomed. Such contradictions create an air of mystery.”
What Johann was trying to convey, was a method to maximize my strengths.
“To captivate an audience, it would not be an exaggeration to say you possess a countenance bestowed by the gods of Aran…….”
According to him, I stand out significantly even among the other nobles. With not a single lacking element among lineage, appearance, authority, wealth, status, ability, or character, a more special ‘qualification’ is formed.
Therefore, all I need to do is reveal myself naturally, just as I am.
…….
“If you have any weaknesses, Sir Knight, it would be in your gaze and vocalization.”
I had prepared a small podium separately. In front of me, I placed mannequins to simulate an audience, and Johann stood beside me, observing my gestures and eye movements while explaining the proper ‘posture’.
“My gaze and vocalization?”
“Yes. You tend to focus your eyes on one spot, which makes your gaze appear quite awkward.”
Johann pointed to one side of the mannequin setup. The center. In the National Assembly, that was exactly where Sonnet had been seated.
“Then?”
“Before saying something important, pause for a moment. Briefly stop speaking to draw the audience’s focus, then slowly sweep your gaze across in a fan-like motion.”
The flow of the gaze and the use of silence.
He continued speaking.
“Even just your gaze brushing across them will make the people down below feel as though they’ve made eye contact with you. It will make them happy, or frightened.”
I nodded and asked the next question.
“And my voice?”
“Your vocal tone is excellent. It carries a noble weight, ranging between a deep black and a cold blue. However…….”
Johann paused briefly.
This must be the utilization of silence he had just spoken of. It definitely makes one focus on what’s going to be said.
“The clarity is a bit lacking. Your voice tends to swirl inside your mouth and dissipate. Do not tense your throat or constrict your vocal cords. The more you do, the thinner your voice becomes and the more your dignity diminishes.”
As he said this, he tapped his belly, near the lower abdomen.
“Draw your breath deep into your lower belly. While keeping your diaphragm taut, you must push the sound upward using that rebound. Let the sound resonate not as it comes up your throat, but as it shoots up from the lower abdomen, striking the roof of your mouth and your nasal cavity.”
The lower abdomen is a familiar area. It’s the most important part in all types of mana breathing.
“Also, move your lips and the tip of your tongue with a bit more firmness, enunciating the consonants precisely before releasing them. Only then will your will be conveyed accurately to even the farthest listener.”
Eyes and mouth.
Gaze and voice.
I looked at the mannequins, repeating Johann’s advice in my mind.
Suddenly, a sense of dissonance came over me.
“…….”
Come to think of it, these were wounds inflicted by Sebestian.
Every time I stood in front of him, my gaze faltered, and my throat tightened so that I couldn’t speak properly.
“Sir Knight, are you alright? Your expression seems dark.”
Johann called me carefully. He seemed to sense a strange chill in my silence.
I gave a bitter smile.
Thinking once more, I realized, I’m always blaming Sebestian.
While benefiting from him, I also feared him.
Am I still just a child trembling beneath the shadow of that giant?
“……It’s nothing.”
Or perhaps, I’m only now beginning the process of leaving my childhood behind.
***
The last Friday of April.
A deserted factory on the outskirts of District 39 of the Empire. A place where cold moonlight slanted in between rusted steel frames.
Drip── Drip──
The sound of falling water echoed like a ticking second hand, and Yukia stood alone in the darkness.
Step.
Footsteps broke the silence, spreading like fog. A man emerged from the shadows. The Revolutionary forces’ liaison, and an insider from Veil.
Sniff sniff.
Yukia caught his scent first. That familiar fishy smell stung her nose.
“Why did you refuse the directive?”
The masked man asked, his tone abrupt and interrogative.
“……I thought I could get closer.”
“To earn Maximilian’s trust?”
“…….”
Yukia only nodded. The man snorted.
“By just showing off your driving skills?”
“I judged it would be far more efficient than injuring him and fleeing on the spot.”
“It wasn’t just injury, it was a chance to behead him.”
“……There was someone trailing us secretly.”
That day, Yukia’s keen sense of smell had detected it.
A mana smell so acrid, like burning electricity, that it was hard to believe it was from a human.
“That’s a convenient excuse. But, Menshi.”
The man stepped closer.
“From the moment you entered the Veil, you entrusted your body to the revolution. All directives are for the cause, and you must not refuse them.”
To enter Veil, one must sign an oath in blood and mana. It is then recorded in the registry.
“I know that too.”
“……I see. Good, I’m glad you understand.”
The man nodded with a sinister smile.
“Such a fucking oath, though. I hated things like that.”
“……?”
Words suddenly blurted out, difficult to understand their meaning. Yukia suddenly turned her gaze toward the entrance of the factory.
There, she sensed another presence.
──Step.
Footsteps, with no attempt to be concealed.
Yukia’s eyes widened.
──Step.
Quietly, a man revealed himself.
Even her sharp senses had picked him up only at the last moment. His blond hair shone coldly under the moonlight.
“……Did you hear? This is the most definitive evidence.”
It was Maximilian.
“…….”
He silently looked at the man and took out a small card. The man accepted it.
“I hope we meet again.”
The man gave a short nod to Maximilian and disappeared.
The deal was over, and now only the two of them remained in the abandoned factory.
──.
Silence settled. The air in the factory became as heavy as lead.
Yukia stared at the longsword strapped to Maximilian’s back.
“…….”
He is a knight of the Empire. There’s no way he would let a suspicious revolutionary spy live.
Should she run?
No, could she run?
……It was impossible.
Yukia simply lowered her head and prepared herself.
──Step.
He approached her.
Each step tightened around her heart.
──Step.
Death was approaching.
──Step.
Suddenly, she thought of her father. He was a quiet man. He didn’t leave many words even to his children. But his back always radiated warmth, and his firm shoulders were something to be proud of more than anyone’s.
His face and voice were now gone from her memory, but was this what they called a life-flashing-before-your-eyes moment?
──Step.
Her dream had been to one day reunite with her father and live a cozy life in a small home.
But the moment her father died, that wish was shattered, and the purpose of her life changed.
Only revenge remained.
──Step.
His footsteps stopped right in front of her. Yukia didn’t resist. She simply closed her eyes.
“……Yukia.”
A cold voice dropped down from above her head.
“Open your eyes.”
She quietly opened them.
“Did you smell it on that man too? That fishy scent?”
The fishy scent. The smell of rotting odor that she had just detected from the man.
She looked up at Maximilian without a word.
“…….”
Maximilian said nothing more. He didn’t interrogate her, didn’t get angry, didn’t draw his sword. He simply stated it plainly.
“You shouldn’t have turned the wheel that day.”
That day when the truck came charging at them.
If she hadn’t turned the wheel, would he have died?
Would she have lived?
“The Revolutionary forces are this kind of organization. You should not have trusted them.”
Silence flowed.
A dust-laden wind wind entered through a broken window and fluttered the hems of their clothes. The knight’s hand moved into his coat. Yukia didn’t even dare take a deep breath.
So this is the end.
Just as she was about to tightly shut her eyes.
Tap.
Something touched her chest.
It wasn’t a sword.
It was a document envelope.
“Take it.”
Yukia accepted it. With trembling hands, she looked inside.
There was only a single document within. Her oath, bearing clear traces of red blood and mana.
──「Menshi│Yukia」──
“The one and only original.”
Maximilian spoke indifferently.
“So, if you burn it, that will be enough.”
Yukia stared blankly at Maximilian.
Maximilian took off some kind of accessory from his chest. A roughly carved wooden necklace.
“……Think of it as a request from your father.”
Yukia looked closely at the markings and traces carved into it.
The carving style was all too familiar, her father’s handiwork.
“Yukia Tariq.”
Maximilian called her name.
“Revenge can never become conviction. It will only be a poison that eats you alive. Eric would’ve simply wanted you to live on.”
Leaving those words behind, he simply turned away. Without slashing her neck, without throwing her into prison……
One step.
Two steps.
Three steps.
He walked away from her.
“…….”
Left alone, Yukia blankly watched his retreating figure.
The chill of dawn brushed her nose.
Standing there in the dark dust, she recalled his words.
‘Eric would’ve simply wanted you to live on.’
She raised her trembling hands. In her left hand was her life-bound oath, and in her right, the crudely carved wooden necklace.
─Srrrk.
She stroked the surface of the necklace with her fingers.
The grain of the wood, rough yet warm, carved by her father through countless sleepless nights.
The familiar warmth touched her fingertips. The unique texture of the Yaken race remained.
It was as if she were touching her father’s hand.
***
“Will you be alright?”
On the way back. Schatz, in the driver’s seat, asked.
“There’s no reason to give in to the Revolutionary forces’ intentions. No matter what mistakes someone’s made, if they’re someone I need, I should keep them by my side.”
“……No matter how I see it, it just looked like you let her go.”
“She’ll come back. Without fail.”
I’m certain. Yukia will return.
Not only had I used every “method of moving people” that Johann spoke of during our conversation, but her wiretapping device still remained in my office.
“Yes. But, will you let that man live?”
“…….”
The bastard was an Ezenheim. The Revolutionary forces hadn’t given Yukia a second chance. They simply tried to snuff her out by selling her out.
At the very least, it wasn’t the method of the Revolutionary forces that I knew. Naturally, it was the move of the Ezenheim hidden within the Revolutionary forces.
Which meant──
“The Ezenheim are aware that the Yaken are a threat to them.”
That was the hypothesis I could form.
“Huh?”
“No. Keep him alive for now and just observe. Let him live in comfort.”
Someday, I’ll kill him for sure.
But since I’ve identified him, I intended to watch a little longer and see how this Ezenheim, who’s become a traitor to the revolution, would act.
Woof!
A dog’s bark came from the back seat. It was Shaun, one of the shepherds that Schatz raised with unusual dedication.
“That dog barks too much.”
“……He doesn’t bark that much.”
Schatz’s lips pouted slightly.
“It’s not your fault, Schatz. Bring him to my mansion sometime. He’ll improve once he meets Leo.”
“Shaun is smart too.”
“I know. He looks smart.”
Shepherds are naturally intelligent, but that one was also from the premium auction. Probably two to three times more clever than the average shepherd.
“I’m saying that compared to Leo. Leo is smarter than most people.”
“I see.”
Schatz didn’t seem to believe me. Or maybe she was just overestimating her own dog.
It doesn’t matter. Once she meets him even once, she’ll understand right away.
“Leo is the king of the Aran Shepherds. That Shaun of yours will know once he sees him.”
Woof!
Shaun barked. There was a lack of intelligence in his bark. His fur was lacking, too. The fur sticking out in all directions, compared to Leo, was like a preschooler.
“Pfft.”
I chuckled quietly and leaned back in my seat.
“It will take about an hour. Please rest comfortably.”
Schatz said. I silently closed my eyes.
Beside Schatz, who was growing up as righteously as Leo, was probably one of the safest places for me.
“Alright.”
This kind of leisure isn’t bad either.
The world is on the brink of ruin, but no, it’s exactly because it’s on the brink of ruin…….
That I must delicately manage my mental state and stress.
~~~
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