Here is the chapter translated into English:


The Half-Forced Imperialist

The Utility of Law (3)
2025.10.01 Views 15,969 Likes 918


While the proprietor, Lorenzo, went down to the basement to place an order, I looked back at Arman. The boy’s big, dewy eyes were still glaring at me.

“……”

He said nothing, though. He merely wore his complaint on his face, his lips sealed.
I spoke to the lad.

“It was something that shouldn’t have been sold in the first place. It was a defective product, long before it was a legal issue.”

I conveyed only the facts, devoid of emotion. Tears welled up in Arman’s eyes. It was more frustration than sadness.
I looked at the shattered pieces of the waterwheel. In that moment, I could see the principle of magic that Arman had created.
It was a power I never had before my regression, a talent likely gifted to me by the virus.

“……You don’t even know.”
“Drill a magic circuit into the frame of the waterwheel.”
“Hmph. What nonsense….”

Arman’s words trailed off. His face went blank, as if suddenly lost in thought.

“Drill a circuit inside the waterwheel to imbue it with magic, then fix it in place with a magic stone.”

The principle was similar to embedding steel bars in concrete. It was difficult to explain in detail, but I could just ‘feel’ it.
It felt like I was having knowledge that wasn't mine forcibly transmitted to me.

“……!”

Arman seemed to grasp the principle in an instant.

“If you embed a magic circuit inside the waterwheel, its properties will cause the magic to naturally coat the exterior! Then it won’t wear down so easily from the mana in the atmosphere. Its durability will be much, much higher!”

His face, now beaming, turned to look up at me, but it just as suddenly fell.
Does this kid have bipolar disorder at his age?

“……But you said it’s against the law anyway.”

I shook my head.

“I said there was ‘room’ for it to be illegal.”

Words are one thing, the law is another.
If the claim that this waterwheel accepts natural magic to generate a ‘natural magic stone’ is accepted, it will be legal.
If the claim that it artificially transforms natural magic to ‘synthesize’ a magic stone is accepted, it will be illegal.

In truth, who makes the argument is more important than the validity of the argument itself.
What if the one making the claim was Ebenholz?
The magic waterwheel might even be recorded in history as a noteworthy invention.

“But why is it wrong to make synthetic magic stones? Even if their efficiency is a bit lower than natural ones, you can make way more of them to use, can’t you?”
“Because magic stones are a product of the establishment.”
“The establishment?”

The manufacturing of synthetic magic stones is treated as a felony worse than narcotics in the Empire.
The ownership of magic stone mines is monopolized by a few noble families. For that reason, they define the technology of synthetic magic stones itself as a ‘blasphemous act that goes against the providence of nature’ and thoroughly suppress it.

“……For now, the cost of making a synthetic magic stone is far higher than mining one.”
“That’s just for now. If the technology develops, it’ll get better, and if magic stones get cheaper, wouldn’t that be better for everyone?”
“It can’t become a world that’s better for everyone. The world will be destroyed before that happens.”

Arman blinked his eyes. His buzz cut was oddly endearing.

“You said you were the proprietor’s apprentice.”
“No. I’m just Arman. The boss just works me to the bone.”
“……”

Unlikely. He was a difficult man, not the type to keep someone around he wasn’t genuinely fond of.
Lorenzo must have already recognized Arman’s talent.

“School?”
“I don’t go. I tried it, but there was nothing to learn.”
“Family?”
“Don’t have one.”

Arman’s appearance was subtly different from that of a pure-blooded Imperial. There was a high chance he was a demi-human.
But one’s background could easily be forged. Since he was still a young lad, it would be possible if the work started now.

“Arman!”

Just then, the proprietor emerged from the basement.

“Get downstairs. Now!”
“……Yes, sir.”

Arman scurried down to the basement. Lorenzo faced me again, his expression softening.

“If you come back next week, the items you ordered should be ready.”

I nodded.

“I’ll send someone then.”
“Yes.”
“How about sending that boy to school?”

I gestured with my eyes toward the basement Arman had disappeared into. Lorenzo gave a bitter smile.

“That child doesn’t need to attend a place like school–”
“I suppose you could teach him the theories yourself, Giorgio.”
“……”

Lorenzo—no.
Giorgio’s face stiffened.

Giorgio Chirico. Why would a man who was once hailed as a genius scholar turn his back on the world to hide in a shabby place like this?
His story was quite famous before my regression. It was one of the prime examples illustrating the corruption of the Imperial nobility.
Giorgio had produced an innovative theory that became the foundation of the Empire’s magic engineering technology, but it was stolen in its entirety by one of his students, a noble. He fought a prolonged legal battle but was, of course, defeated.
Because Giorgio was a commoner.

“The Theory of Induced Magic Fields, the theory that led to the invention of the modern magic coil, was your achievement, I hear. Though now, the Listman family holds an exclusive patent on it.”

Talent is a curse. A talent bestowed upon a commoner, even more so.

“If you ever require my assistance, do not hesitate to ask.”

At that, Lorenzo gave a bitter smile. He fiddled with his ruined knee and spoke softly.

“……May I be frank with you?”

I nodded.

“I doubt that day will ever come, my lord noble.”

It was not stubbornness, but rather the disposition of a man who could no longer trust the nobility.

“Then I shall also be frank.”

I took a Sentinel business card from my wallet and placed it on the table.

“You are welcome to change your mind at any time.”

I said, pushing my newsboy cap back down.

“Mr. Giorgio. You know the reason you were defeated, don’t you?”

In a twisted world, the essence of the matter is not what is right.
Giorgio argued for what was right, and for that very reason, he was defeated.

“You didn’t lose because you weren’t right. You lost because you had no power.”

And Ebenholz possesses the power to correct that distortion, however belatedly.

“Well then, I’ll be on my way.”

I turned and left the shop.


…The lights were out in the magic shop— 「Lorenzo Carione」.
Lorenzo sat in a worn-out chair, deep in thought. The flickering candlelight on the table cast his wrinkles in red. The numerous tools hanging on the wall shimmered in the shadows.
Just then.

Cling–

The locked shop door opened. A man walked in through the darkness. It was an old friend of Lorenzo’s. He leaned against the counter and looked at Lorenzo.
Lorenzo asked.

“What is it, again?”
“……Listman is looking for you.”

Lorenzo’s expression hardened. Karl, the eldest son of the Listman family. Once Lorenzo’s most promising student, and the traitor who stole his theory and ran.
The bastard must be a middle-aged man in his 40s by now.

“……Me? After all this time?”
“Yes. His performance has been stuck in a rut for quite a while now.”

Lorenzo clenched his teeth.

“It won’t take long. You know how powerful the Listman family is these days.”
“……Thank you for letting me know.”
“Are you going to run again?”

His friend glanced around the interior.

“You’ve decorated this shop quite nicely. You should just join our cause–”
“Shh.”

Lorenzo put a hand to his lips.

“Don’t say such things to me. I have no desire to report you.”
“……Right. Thanks. Take care of yourself.”

His friend left with a bitter smile.

Clang.

“……”

Left in the darkened interior, Lorenzo sank into deep contemplation.
He had once dedicated his entire life to his studies.
But what had he accomplished? What was left?
Only a stolen honor and a body that would never fully heal.

“Boss! Boss! Look at this!”

A sweet-sounding clamor broke the silence. It was Arman, excitedly coming up from the basement. In his hands, he held a new waterwheel.

“Just like that knight said, I redid the framework, and it’s so much sturdier! The magic efficiency is better, too!”
“……”

Lorenzo looked into the child’s shining eyes and asked, his voice drained of energy.

“……Must you truly make that?”
“Huh?”

Arman wore a look of utter confusion.

“Hey, you always said so yourself, boss! If you make just one really good thing, you can live comfortably for the rest of your life! Of course, this has the potential to break the law, so I’ll keep it hidden away for the time being!”

Lorenzo gave a bitter smile. Arman, thrilled, went back down to his workshop.
Such a pure boy, who rejoiced in the simple act of invention, whether the item could be sold or not, whether it could be revealed to the world or not.
He was just like his own younger self.

But if Listman found him, if he had to run away again.
He couldn't take the boy with him.

Lorenzo suddenly looked at the old mirror in the corner of the shop. The face of an old, weary man who had wasted too many years stared back.

“……”

Arman.
You must never end up like me.

Lorenzo slowly picked up the knight’s business card from the table.


The weekend arrived.
Knights also rest on the weekend. Since I was resting, I decided to do some sightseeing at the Magic Tower.
The Imperial Sentio Magic Tower.

As the name ‘Sentio’ suggests, it is a place that cultivates the Empire’s highest-caliber mages and researches magic.
I walked through the grounds of the Magic Tower.

The tower is adjacent to the Imperial Central University, so it’s basically a campus. Indeed, you can often see university students sitting on the lawns, reading or chatting.
For me, having gone through the strict rules and training of the military academy, it was a rather enviable sight.
Ah, of course, knights can attend university too. Same as me.
A few of my peers are probably already frequenting this place to take advanced curriculum related to the ‘Active Residue’.

“Ehh? Max?”

Just then, someone called my name. It was a familiar face.
Ethel.

“Max, what are you doing here… Ahh.”

She thought it over herself and came to her own conclusion.
I was dumbfounded.

“What ‘Ahh’?”
“You’re here for the advanced course on Active Residue too, right? You really struggled with that.”
“No.”
“Then?”
“Came to look around the Magic Tower. I was curious.”
“……Don’t tell me, you came to see me?”
“Are you insane?”

Ethel narrowed her eyes suspiciously. I raised my middle finger.

“Before I beat you.”
“……Pfft. I’ll break your finger.”
“Since I’m here, give me a tour of the tower.”
“A tour of what… Fine, follow me.”

We went inside the Magic Tower. The first-floor lobby was decorated like a massive library.
To enter, we had to pass through an identity verification gate.
Beep.
Ethel tagged a card-like object.

“Come on in. This is the Magic Tower hall. It’s usually called the first-floor main lobby. It looks like a library, but it doesn’t matter if you talk. Everyone here is good at concentrating…….”

I watched Ethel as she explained. Her gestures and voice felt so familiar.
Was I eight, or nine? She was just like that little kid who excitedly showed me the garden she had tended to herself.

“That person passing by is a professor. They retired this time and transitioned to an honorary position. Professor Dexlane.”

At the place Ethel pointed, there was a white-haired old man.

“And……”

Thump-thump.

Suddenly, my heart began to pound. Without showing it, I glanced around. One person caught my eye.
Pexy von Argen.

The woman I saw at the Kerios Mansion, strongly presumed to be Jun Kandel’s lover and simultaneously the one I was certain was the ‘Head-eater’.
The perfectly beautiful woman was capturing the gazes of all the first-floor mages as she walked…

“Oh, Ms. Mage?”

Ethel waved at her. Pexy also gave Ethel a bright smile and a wave.
Looking back and forth between the two of them, what should my expression be? What kind of face should I make?
The answer is simple.
As if nothing is wrong, as if nothing at all has happened.
Just smile.

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Pub: 02 Oct 2025 04:47 UTC

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