A Coerced Imperialist
To Be Different
September 25, 2025 | Views 13,378 | Recommended 760
An old underground warehouse in the Genen Dominion.
Investigator Gendo came down here alone, summoned by someone.
“……”
Silence filled the space. Gendo’s heart pounded heavily. He felt as if he had willingly placed his own neck on the guillotine.
The person who called him was a powerful figure, beyond comprehension. Someone who could cut him down at any moment if they were displeased.
“You’ve arrived.”
A figure emerged from the deep shadows of the warehouse. Gendo looked toward them.
A man with an expression devoid of any emotion was standing there.
“Yes. What business do you have with me….”
“I have something to deliver to you. You should open it.”
The man gestured toward some boxes stacked in a corner of the warehouse. Gendo hesitantly approached and lifted one of the lids.
“...W-what is all this?”
It was packed with state-of-the-art investigation equipment that Dominion investigators could only dream of: the latest model of magic trackers, miniature listening devices, long-range eavesdropping equipment. There was even a new model of a magic rifle.
“They are supplies provided by the Knight.”
“Pardon?”
“Please use them to aid your investigation.”
“……”
As Gendo stood there, bewildered, the man, Dieter, handed him a check.
“This is for operational expenses. We will not inquire how you use it, but please use it wisely. Misconduct is always discovered.”
Gendo looked at the check. There were a lot of zeros. Ebenholz’s signature was unmistakable. His mind went blank, wondering what on earth was happening.
“The Knight’s message is written on it. Well then, I shall take my leave.”
“...Ah, goodbye.”
Watching the man, Dieter, walk away, Gendo turned the check over. A sentence was written there in an elegant, flowing script.
[Keep this in mind. If you get caught up in results and try to pin this on just anyone, you won’t even reach the feet of the Revolutionary Front. You and I may have the same goal.]
Gendo’s eyes widened. He hastily looked back at the exit, but Dieter was already gone, as if he had never been there.
A knight’s duties are many and varied, but among them, the most important is dealing with ‘special criminals.’
Regular criminals can be handled well enough by the police. Even those who can crudely wield magic can be easily turned into swiss cheese thanks to the development of firearms.
But a knight deals with existences beyond that.
Those who have been professionally trained in magic, or those who have surpassed human limits through some catalyst.
Therefore, a knight must be an expert more proficient in magic than anyone else, and it is also a knight’s role to analyze evidence related to magic.
“……”
I pressed my temples as I looked at the documents piled up on my desk. My head was throbbing, but I picked up a sheet anyway.
[Case File 1038077-C0-23: Request for Analysis of Magic Residue from the Capital Outskirts Noble Homicide Case]
A photograph was enclosed with the case file. It was a picture taken after revealing the traces of magic.
“Residue…”
When magic is used, it inevitably leaves behind what is called ‘residue,’ and a special solution used in investigations activates this residue, making it visible to the naked eye.
This phenomenon is called ‘activated residue,’ and it serves as crucial evidence in tracking magic criminals. The nature, characteristics, properties, and patterns of magic differ from person to person.
This world is filled with all sorts of people. Not just the Izenheim. There are those who abuse the magic they diligently learned, criminal organizations, and even those from the dregs of society who wield magic as a weapon to survive.
Since one of a knight’s main duties is to apprehend such individuals, activated residue analysis is a core part of the Order of Knights’ curriculum.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it one of the most important subjects.
“...This is driving me crazy.”
I had failed in that field. I never had the talent for it, but this complex activated residue was particularly bewildering.
A technique for reconstructing the scene by gathering fragments of magic, scattered even more chaotically than bloodstains.
A human lacking in patience and full of insecurity is bound to despise this kind of analysis and memorization to an extreme degree.
“Hoo…”
I had to escape that past.
I stared intently at the crime scene photograph.
How did I analyze residue again? It was a required subject since my student days, so I remember doing it a few times long ago, but I couldn’t even grasp the basics.
Thump.
Just then, the virus inside me reacted. My vision suddenly turned blue. Simultaneously, the distorted residue near the fatal wound on the corpse in the photo began to move. Time seemed to rewind as the form of the magic came to life above the photograph. Its flow and aspect unfolded three-dimensionally.
The situation was reconstructed on my retina.
“...A hand.”
The culprit condensed magic into their palm and fired it in a single burst. The moment the clump of magic touched the victim’s body, it exploded, leaving an irregular scatter.
The nature of the magic was ‘Emission.’
Furthermore, its density was extremely high.
In other words, the suspect is a skilled practitioner who has honed their magic for a long time and uses their hand as a medium. Additionally, the method of manifesting the magic seems familiar, like something I’ve seen before. A group of people who train themselves and profess asceticism.
A Monk.
I typed up the report on my computer.
[Case File 1038077-C0-23: Analysis Report]
[Analyst: Maximilian Ebenholz]
[The suspect uses a method of condensing magic into their palm and firing it. The magic’s nature is ‘Emissive,’ and judging by the control and density, they are presumed to be a considerably skilled practitioner. Recommend investigating the monastery not far from the scene...]
“...You’re good at this.”
I complimented the virus. I didn’t know what it was, but it seemed to have a deep knowledge of magic, at the very least.
There was still a lot of paperwork left.
[Case File 1038179-C0-19: District 23 Back Alley Serial Mercenary Murder Case]
The virus reassembled the activated residue with ease and projected it onto my retina, and I analyzed the scene based on that information.
[Case File 1038179-C0-19 Analysis Report]
[Analyst: Maximilian Ebenholz]
[The suspect projects magic in a precise shape...]
Tick.
[Case File 1038352-C1-25: Analysis Report]
[Analyst: Maximilian Ebenholz]
[The suspect is...]
Tock.
[Case File 1038995-C1-59: Analysis Report]
[Case File 1038995-C1-93: Analysis Report]
[Case File 1038995-C1-99: Analysis Report]
Tick.
I looked at the clock. I had come to work at 8 AM, and it was now noon. I had finished a week’s worth of office work in just four hours.
Knock, knock.
Someone knocked on my office door.
“Come in.”
The door opened and Julian entered.
“What is it, Sir Julian.”
Julian glanced around my office.
“You don’t decorate.”
He seemed surprised. Well, before my regression, I had done all sorts of crazy things to this office. I’d decorate it in the style of the northern snowfields, and when I got tired of that, I’d change it to resemble a southern resort…
“How is the ‘Head-Eater’ case coming along?”
“Yes. The culprit has been identified.”
“Impressive.”
Julian showed no particular reaction. It seemed he either thought I was bluffing or was genuinely taking it at face value.
I could never read his inner thoughts.
Julian spoke.
“There’s a place we need to deploy to. Change into civilian clothes and follow me.”
“Yes.”
We met in the parking lot in our plain clothes. Coincidentally, the color palettes of our outfits were similar. Julian wore a black leather jacket, and I was in a black coat. We both covered our equally conspicuous blond hair with hats.
“We’ll go by car.”
“Yes.”
The knights had their own dispatch vehicles. I could have ridden a horse if I wanted, but it would attract too much attention in this day and age.
I habitually got into the passenger seat. At that natural motion, Julian paused just as he was about to get into the driver’s seat.
“……”
Then he stared at me.
“?”
Blinking, I belatedly realized my mistake.
“Ah.”
I moved to the driver’s seat.
“It’s in moments like these that it shows, I see.”
Julian got into the passenger seat.
“To District 43.”
“Yes.”
I gave a bitter smile and stepped on the accelerator. Vroooooom—! The output of the Order’s custom vehicle was excellent.
“Is it just the two of us?”
“Yes.”
A knight is an elite force, with each individual being at least equivalent to a company of soldiers. Two knights meant we were comparable to several hundred soldiers and police.
We arrived at the slums of District 43, on the central outskirts of the imperial capital.
“Let’s get out.”
“Yes.”
We got out of the car and walked down the street. It wasn’t long before a foul stench hit us. Filth was stuck to every corner of the road like living creatures, and things that could have been people or corpses were strewn about.
“There’s a drug cartel that operates out of this place.”
“Your area of expertise, Sir Knight.”
“It seems to have turned out that way.”
Julian’s voice was as placid as ever. He always maintained a steady tone, but underneath it lay a deep exhaustion.
My lord… my lord…
A penny… please, just a penny…
I’m hungry…
The sounds of begging could be heard from the street. There were children. There were elderly. All had lost their vitality to starvation, or their faces were zoned out on drugs.
District 43 had always been like this. It was the empire’s worst slum, adjacent to the undercity.
“Sometimes, when I come here, I have this thought.”
Julian suddenly spoke.
“Just what, and where, did it all go wrong for them…”
He looked straight ahead. His gaze did not waver at the sight of the vagrants.
“...to end up in a life like this?”
I knew why Julian had brought me here. He wanted to show me something. Perhaps, the reality of people so disconnected from the world of nobles.
“They could have been one of us, and we could have been one of them.”
Julian was a man of firm conviction. He was just that solid of a person. I knew I could never persuade him, but I would respect even that part of him.
Julian stopped near a derelict building.
“Maximilian. What do you think?”
I answered him.
“I don’t think anything at all.”
Julian silently asked for the meaning behind my words.
“I don’t have time to worry about the bottom. In the first place, no world can ever be free of starvation and evil. Trying to care for each and every one of them is a futile act, like trying to count the grains of sand while walking on a beach.”
The consciousness I held as a noble…
Things like that had already shattered before my regression. I was not a chosen human, and the Ebenholz was not a noble family.
“We have a purpose. We must press on toward it.”
But now, I had a purpose.
It was the grand ambition to survive, the great cause of not being destroyed.
“The world will end if we get bogged down by trivialities, Sir Julian.”
A faint smile spread across Julian’s lips. Was he pleased with my answer?
Probably not.
I had spoken the very opposite of his beliefs.
But Julian doesn’t judge others carelessly. Nor does he try to force them to change. He simply accepts them as they are.
“Indeed. That could be true.”
Julian gestured with his eyes somewhere.
“Prepare yourself, Maximilian.”
“Yes, Sir Julian.”
I called out to Julian. He turned back to me, one hand on his hip.
“You can call me Max, if it’s more comfortable.”
Julian was a true noble. A man born into one of the highest-ranking families among the aristocracy, who had walked an elite path his entire life.
And yet, he looked down from his high perch and agonized endlessly. He established beliefs different from his own life and, at the most decisive moment, threw himself into the ‘righteousness’ he believed in.
His unwavering goodness was the decisive reason I was able to break free from the empire’s brainwashing.
—And so, the world was destroyed.
“...Max.”
Julian said my name and drew his weapon. It was a broadsword whose blade had become quite thin from cutting down so many.
“Now, draw your sword.”
I nodded and drew my own. Julian pointed to a wall far from the building’s entrance.
A knight is a force more formidable than a tank. There was no need to go through the door with civility.
“Go.”
“Yes.”
At Julian’s command, I swung my longsword.
Shwick—!
As I sliced through the building’s wall, I had a thought.
I wonder… if I will one day be able to cut Julian down.
Comments (40)
Laghi 2025.09.25 19:22
Is there a typo in the first line?
Hachajwa 2025.09.25 19:22
I think you need to delete the "spelling and spacing correction" text!
Concerto 2025.09.25 19:22
Spelling and spacing correction
Maser 2025.09.25 19:25
p6 Yulil-an -> Julian typo!
Sinsiu 2025.09.25 19:28
Hahahahaha
Sinsiu 2025.09.25 19:29
It seems like the formatting got messed up!
Wonlya 2025.09.25 19:34
Truly a devilish talent... sigh, this will be amazing as long as it doesn't have a weak start and a strong finish...
va** 2025.09.25 19:44
I wonder how strong Julian is.
Ilium 2025.09.25 19:46
Later, when they say, "That damn Maximilian is a eugenicist! A racist! He's the great evil!" and then all the other races that Max saved come pouring out and say, "Our Sir Max isn't like that!" Max's political enemies will be totally mind-blown... So... was he just a genuinely crazy imperialist who hated the Izenheim for no reason???
Cheonghojeop 2025.09.25 19:51
Today's chapter was fun too.