If You Ask About the Empire's Future (3)
Night had fallen. I was in an empty office in Empire Point, processing paperwork.
There was a mountain of documents that needed my approval. While I had entrusted all company business to Dieter, my official duties as a Knight still had to be reviewed by me.
[Grand Jury Notice]
[Appeal of Non-Prosecution Decision]
[Investigative Report File…]
All sorts of cases land on a Knight’s desk. Many of them are cases where the trial is already over, or where the police have closed the investigation. That's because a Knight of the Empire is an independent institution, each one a check against the prosecutors, judges, and police.
“…Haaah.”
Having finished most of the work, I swept my hair back and rose from my seat.
Just then, I had visitors.
“Max~ You planning to sleep here tonight too?”
It was Leon.
“No. I’m leaving soon.”
Tiana appeared beside him.
“At this hour? Just sleep here. Here, take this.”
She handed me a bag filled with some sort of food.
“It’s been a while, right? Perfect time for a late-night snack.”
Inside the bag were instant frozen soup and noodles. The kind you just add hot water to, a delicacy from our cadet days. I took it from her.
The two of them sat on the sofa.
“Whoa. Look at all this paperwork.”
Leon said in awe, looking at my desk. Tiana chuckled.
“Well, Knight Max has gotten himself into a lot of trouble. Handling one case usually generates dozens of documents.”
She was absolutely right. I ate the hot noodles with wooden chopsticks.
It was delicious.
A nostalgic taste.
“Brings back memories. Just over a year ago, this place felt like our home.”
Tiana chuckled at Leon’s words.
“Back then, I was always number one.”
I used to hate it when Tiana boasted like that. It was because of my own pathetic inferiority complex.
But now, I could acknowledge it.
Tiana was a true, natural-born talent. Before my return, she never got to fully blossom, but she was likely on par with, if not superior to, Edmon.
“But what about now?” Leon asked teasingly.
“Sigh. Exactly~ Now that I’m a Knight, the tension’s gone. Maybe it’s because no matter how hard I work, there’s a limit.”
As Tiana said this, she looked at me. I shrugged.
“If your ability is sufficient, there is no limit.”
“…I’m sure that’s true for you.”
I just smiled away her heartfelt jab. Tiana was fine. So was Leon.
They might dislike me or find me disagreeable, but I was glad to see them. Thanks to the people who still call me Max, I could, for a brief moment, sink into old memories.
This much indulgence…
“Huh? Hey, the Elite Division kids are here.”
Leon pointed out the window. I stood next to him. Tiana snickered at the sight of the cadets covered head to toe in mud.
“Ah~ looks like they’ve been rolling around in the mana mud. That stuff was intense.”
Mana-infused mud. While it can form naturally in certain regions, the military develops and uses it for traps. Properly prepared mana mud is far more lethal than most bombs or booby traps. One wrong step, and your whole body is sucked in, leading to suffocation.
“……”
Among the returning elite cadets, I spotted one person. Hannah Usar. Her small lips were muttering. Aish- aish- she grumbled as she meticulously picked the mud from her blonde hair, looking for all the world like she was hand-washing laundry.
“…Oh, right. Max, your name has been coming up a lot recently regarding Active Traces.”
Tiana’s sudden words made me tilt my head.
“My name comes up often?”
“Yeah. The police are amazed by your high analysis accuracy. Are you studying it somewhere separately?”
“No. My eyes have just been opening up to it lately.”
“…Ah. So they were closed until now.”
I gave a small laugh.
Ring, ring, ring—
Just then, a call came through on my terminal.
—Knight Maximilian, this is Detective Ygent. I was in charge of the Jeremy Kesun murder case.
“Go ahead.”
—Yessir. As you… as you said, there was an Imperial Guard vehicle that passed through the scene around the time of the incident. It belongs to a guardsman named Lorentz Tillman. What should we do?
“Tell him to come to my office tomorrow morning.”
An Imperial Guard from a mage background had killed a freelance mage, and the victim just had to be an Izenheim.
I was intensely curious about the circumstances.
—Ah, but sir. You know how the Imperial Guard are, so… stiff?
“You can use my name.”
—Yes sir! Thank you. For the Empire.
Click. I ended the call.
I spoke to my two friends, who were staring at me with wide eyes.
“I’m heading out now. Good work.”
“You’re really leaving.”
It was a welcome reunion, however brief, but I didn’t have much time to enjoy it.
“Thanks. I’ll eat this on my way.”
Clutching the bag of instant noodles, I walked straight out the door.
Many factions fester within the Imperial Guard. The largest factions currently belong to the high noble Jun Kandel and the Imperial Guard Captain Goebbels, but other minor powers are rampant. The Guard has a high proportion of commoners and soldiers, which leads to frequent conflicts with the nobility and those from Empire Point.
“…A summons has arrived from Knight Maximilian.”
Amidst all this, a small disturbance had recently occurred. The case of Major Rodriguez, who had been considered quite promising, getting his throat slit.
The cause: Rodriguez had accused Ebenholz’s Maximilian.
It was a foolish move. Something a commoner wouldn’t even dare to imagine, but sometimes country nobles have a bizarrely poor grasp of reality.
“Comply with the summons for now.”
Imperial Guard Major, Kai Han. He was a commoner. He had failed to get into Empire Point but had joined the Imperial Guard, where he gathered other guardsmen who, like him, had no connections or background, and formed a small faction.
His ambition wasn't anything so grand as to take over a seat in the Guard’s leadership. It was simply for mutual solidarity, to avoid a meaningless death in the gutter.
“Yes. I’m sorry, Major.”
Lorentz Tillman bowed his head. Once a mage of the Mage Tower, he had been expelled after taking the fall for a professor's crime. He was the perpetrator of this recent mage murder.
“No, I understand. It was something you couldn’t help.”
“…Thank you. Well then, I’ll be going.”
Lorentz saluted, as he always did, and got into the car.
Major Han watched him leave and let out a sigh.
The Maximilian of today was not an opponent they could handle. After the Rodriguez incident, the Imperial Guardsmen either feared or avoided Maximilian.
It would be a blessing if Lorentz even managed to keep his life, but…
A noble like Maximilian would despise most of the Imperial Guard. It might even be closer to hatred.
“Jensen. Prepare the car.”
“Sir? Major, why so suddenly—”
“He’s my man, one who trusted and followed me. I have to at least try.”
Major Han decided he would not let his subordinate be sent off to such a hollow end.
Tick—tock—
The Sentinel Knight’s interrogation room.
Tick—tock—
The sound of the clock is grating. The quieter the space, the louder it seems.
Tick—tock—
Is a clock really necessary in an interrogation room?
I stood on a chair to take it down, when—
Knock, knock.
“Ah.”
I hurried down and sat. The door opened and a young Imperial Guardsman walked in.
“Allegiance. First Lieutenant Lorentz Tillman.”
I gestured to the seat opposite me.
“Have a seat.”
“…Yes, sir.”
Name: Lorentz. Surname: Tillman. Commoner. Height: 181cm. Foot size: 290mm. Former Mage Tower mage. A man whose characteristics perfectly matched the suspect I saw through the traces.
“Knight. Why have you summoned me….”
He asked the reason for his summons, but his tense face had already given him away.
“You already know, don’t you.”
I pushed the file for the Jeremy Kesun murder case across the table. Lorentz’s expression wavered.
“……”
He remained silent. It seemed he was frantically trying to think of something.
Unfortunately for him, I had no time to wait for his excuses.
“Let me tell you up front. I hate lies.”
We both know what’s going on, so let’s not waste our time.
Understanding my meaning, Lorentz clenched his jaw. A muscle twitched in his cheek. Finally, as if he had made up his mind, he let out a sigh-like statement.
“…Yes. I killed him.”
“The reason?”
“I owed him money.”
My brow furrowed.
Killing someone because you don't want to pay back a debt. It was an all-too-familiar, tedious repertoire, a staple among the Imperial Guard.
“Why did you borrow the money?”
“For my mother’s hospital bills.”
“And you killed him because you didn't want to pay it back?”
“……”
Lorentz paused again. I fixed my gaze on him.
“I’m warning you. Don’t hesitate, just talk while I’m being this patient.”
The conversation kept breaking off, which was starting to annoy me.
“…I’m sorry. Jeremy Kesun was my senior when I was at the Novus Mage Tower. I borrowed the hospital money from him then.”
“How much was it?”
“300,000 dollars.”
That’s a lot.
“Anyway, I borrowed the money from the tower and was steadily paying it back, but the interest rate was too high. My Imperial Guard salary wasn’t enough. When I lamented my situation, he demanded internal information on the Imperial Guard instead.”
I watched Lorentz’s face closely as he spoke.
“At first, he asked for the roster of low-ranking guardsmen, but at some point, he started demanding more sensitive information…”
Is this man lying? It didn't seem like it.
Besides, this was a demand an Izenheim was very likely to make.
I wasn't trusting the guardsman; I was distrusting the Izenheim.
“When I said I would pay the interest with money, the threats began. He said he would report the information directly to the Imperial Guard. He always forced me to wear my Imperial Guard uniform when I met him.”
“To flaunt the fact that he had you in his grasp, to hold your weakness over you.”
“…Yes. And that night, Jeremy Kesun finally demanded I bring him classified Imperial Guard documents, threatening me. He brought up my mother. I… couldn't control my anger.”
And so, he killed the Izenheim.
“Excellent, Mr. Lorentz. I’ve received your confession. Now, write it down. I won’t handcuff you.”
I handed him a written confession form.
“…Understood.”
Scratch, scratch.
As he wrote down his confession with his own hand, I asked him.
“Mr. Lorentz. What line do you follow in the Imperial Guard?”
“Line…? I don’t have anything like that. I am just an ordinary guardsman.”
The deep power dynamics and factional rivalries within the Guard were beyond the reach of an Ebenholz. That was Ebenholz’s weakness, if you could call it that.
Zephestian was an aristocrat to the bone and disdained the Imperial Guard itself, paying even less attention to the politics and power struggles of the grunts at the very bottom.
“……”
I looked at Lorentz.
I needed people. And that wasn't limited to just the Knight Order.
The Imperial Guard, that problematic group, also needed my people.
Knock, knock.
Just then, an adjutant knocked. He entered and whispered quietly.
—Mr. Lorentz’s superior is here to see you. A Major Kai Han.
Kai Han. I mulled over the name for a moment, then nodded. Lorentz looked at me with an anxious expression.
“Your superior is here. Major Kai Han.”
It was a name I knew.
In fact, I knew more than just the name.
Before my return, I had once fought alongside him on the battlefield. He was a good soldier. He did his duty, never took interest in unnecessary massacres or looting, and focused purely on his responsibilities as a soldier—a rare member of the Imperial Guard.
“No! This has nothing to do with Major Han! It is my personal crime!”
A much more heated reaction than before. It seemed Major Han was held in as high regard as his character suggested.
Tap.
I snapped my fingers. The adjutant, on cue, brought in the autopsy report.
“First. Regarding this murder, what punishment do you expect to receive?”
Lorentz would probably get a formal trial. With no connections, and unless someone helped him, his guilt would be all but certain.
“I will offer my head. In exchange, please just acknowledge that this truly has nothing to do with Major Han.”
“…Your head?”
I frowned. Leaning back in my chair, I let out a dry laugh.
“Is my reputation that monstrous within the Imperial Guard? Well, I suppose that’s because of Rodriguez.”
Tap, tap. I tapped my fingers on the desk where Lorentz’s head was bowed.
“Lift your head.”
He raised his face. I looked deep into his eyes.
“Listen carefully. Major Rodriguez was a sewer rat who crawled up from the countryside. A so-called noble who extorted the citizens of the Empire and fabricated crimes to steal their property. You know this well, Lorentz. You’ve suffered from similar injustices, haven't you?”
It was a hardship commoners often faced. If you didn’t flatter and fawn with all your might, and even then, if luck wasn’t on your side, it was something that could happen at any time.
I pushed the autopsy report towards him.
“Let’s get to the point. The deceased was an Izenheim.”
Not a victim, a deceased.
I deliberately specified ‘Izenheim,’ solidifying the report's statement of ‘presumed subspecies.’
“One of the worst kinds of subspecies, at that. I’m thinking of writing a book about them later.”
I was serious. One day, I would make sure to clearly distinguish them from all other races.
“Mr. Lorentz, you were blackmailed and had information extorted by the deceased for a long time. Of course, if that fact comes out, it will be disadvantageous for you. After all, it's tantamount to selling internal secrets of the Imperial Guard.”
It would go beyond being bitten; he might actually have to offer up his neck. The Imperial Guard was that kind of organization.
“However.”
This is where it gets important.
“I can bury all of it. Without any disadvantage to you or, of course, your superior.”
Lorentz’s expression wavered. A trembling breath escaped through his clenched teeth.
The man who had been dragged along by me from the moment he entered the interrogation room, for the first time, asked a proactive question.
“…What is it you want?”
Exactly the words I wanted to hear.
I almost laughed.
“It’s simple. I need information and influence within the Imperial Guard. But not to sell it for personal gain like this subspecies did.”
Thump.
I pressed my finger down on the photo of the dead Izenheim’s face and continued.
“For the peace of the Empire alone…”
My purpose always comes back to that.
At the very least, it must be seen that way, and it will be shown that way.
“Will you become my people?”
Author's Note
To everyone who reads my 부족한 (lacking/humble) work, I am always filled with gratitude.