Half-Forced Imperialist
From a Tense Daily Life (2)

I swing my sword.
…No, the word ‘swing’ doesn’t quite fit.
I draw a trajectory in the empty air. Like a painter’s brushstroke, I focus all my senses on the tip of this longsword and trace a line.

Swoooosh—

The sound persists. There is nothing to be done about the noise the blade makes as it rends the air.
But Freya had told me to make no sound, and indeed, her sword was truly silent.

Whoooosh—

The wind grazes my cheek. The rustling of fallen leaves. The dirt and dust stirred up at my feet.
I think to myself as I draw the sword’s path.
I must become like the wind. I must unleash my sword like a flowing stream. I must purify my inner self.

I deployed Ebenholz’s Sequence (聯).
The first horizontal slash, and from its end, a pulling slash connects.

Shwiiiiik—!

It is not about cutting off the movement with force, but about connecting the sword and my body to link to the next. I continuously bind the sword’s Sequences together.

Shk— Fwish—

It is a solitary sword dance, flowing like nature. The sword must not cleave the wind, but embrace it and move forward. There is no opponent, no master; it is an act of honing myself, by myself.
And in the midst of it, I suddenly thought of myself. I gazed at my face, reflected for a fleeting moment on the surface of the blade.

Before my regression, I was powerless.
Now, I was anxious.

Where can I possibly go from here? How far can I reach?
The cry of ruin echoing from a distant world, the whisper of the monster writhing within me. Countless questions bloomed and faded, following the trajectory of my sword.

“……”

I abruptly stopped my training. I held my sword up to the moon in the night sky. The bandaged surface of the blade reflected a transparent light.
My sword was still different from Freya’s. Her sword had shone without sound or form.

“……Freya.”

Freya, who was not Ebenholz, understood the sword of Ebenholz more deeply than Ebenholz himself.
What was her true identity, and why was she teaching me—

“—Working hard, I see.”

Just then, a familiar voice drifted over. I turned quickly to see him, a natural smile forming on my face.

“Edmon.”

Edmon Bwindol. A man who had grown up with me like a brother since childhood, but who ultimately dedicated himself to the revolutionary army.
Perhaps the very person who sent me back in time.
The red-haired man smiled as he took off his hat.

“It’s been a while, Max.”
“Looks like your trip is finally over?”
“It is. Though I’ll have to leave again soon.”

Edmon had returned to his youthful face, and I still didn't resent him. I approached him and looked at his still-abundant hair.

“……Edmon, you’d better take care of that hair.”
“My hair?”

He tilted his head.

“Yeah. You never know when it'll all fly away. Better start managing it now.”

He chuckled, seeming to take my words as a joke.

“If anything, having too much is the problem.”
“You’ll regret it later.”
“Whatever.”

He then took out a scroll. The seal of the Imperial Household was stamped clearly upon it.

“Read it.”

I opened the scroll. It was an Imperial Edict, stating that signs of treason had been discovered within a certain noble house and ordering me, a knight, to ‘prepare.’

“A Decapitation Operation will be carried out. Among the knights, I recommended you.”

Even before my regression, Lieutenant Colonel Edmon Bwindol, adjutant to the Imperial Army’s Commander-in-Chief, Zephestian, had recommended me for this mission.
This itself was a chance for a great achievement.

“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”

Edmon gave a small smile, but his expression quickly hardened into a serious one.

“However… the discussions regarding race have been intensifying in the Imperial Palace lately. His Majesty the Emperor is personally leading them.”

The Emperor. The master of this great nation. The undisputed heir born of the direct, legitimate line, a rarity even in the Empire’s history.
I didn’t know much about him, but he was clearly a man of boundless ambition. His actions proved it. He held the conviction that he would rule this entire vast continent, and harbored the delusion that he was a god.
He was that dangerous of a figure. Someone not even Ebenholz would dare to oppose.

“Max, what are your thoughts?” Edmon asked.
“Well, as I see it, among the races…”

The Emperor detested the subspecies. He considered it his calling and tolerated no dissent.

“There is a hierarchy.”

All I could do for now was subtly twist the Emperor’s will.

“A hierarchy?”
“The Imperial Aran are the most superior. There’s no room for doubt there. Below the Aran are the subjects of the western kingdoms and the republic federation. They are moderately tainted, but their bloodline is relatively close to the Aran.”
“……Tainted.”

Edmon repeated my words with a small smile.

“The Sleds of the east are inferior. As are the Mer-believers and the followers of Edlem.”
“They’re all bastards who should be wiped out.”

Edmon purposely used harsh words. His effort pained me.
He said, “The bigger problem is the subspecies. The Dromon, the Elina, the Yeken, and—”
“—The Izenheim.”

I emphasized ‘Izenheim.’

“But I believe a clear hierarchy exists even among the subspecies. The Dromon are worth using; most of them are skilled craftsmen. Same goes for the Elina and the Yeken. We can use them as dogs and pigs for the Aran. It should be entirely possible to domesticate them.”

Edmon flinched. But Edmon, the you of the past had spoken of ‘the lesser of two evils.’
I agreed wholeheartedly with those words. It would be hundreds of times better for them to become the livestock of the Empire than for their entire race to face annihilation.

“However, the Izenheim are impossible to recycle.”

Edmon’s lips trembled. He wore a mask, trying not to show any expression.

“They are waste. Beings undeserving of pity, who should not be allowed to live on this continent.”
“……Is that so.”

He gave a bitter smile and shook his head slowly.

“I’d better hope my blood isn’t mixed with any Izenheim.”

Edmon’s greatest weakness lay in a document. A single line, recorded in this stoic man’s personal file.
‘Mother: Selly Bwindol, born in the Western Prozen Republic.’

“Edmon, you are an Aran.”

I had already reached that conclusion.

“Max, don’t say such things so carelessly. The Agentes might be listening.”

Agentes. A special position among the Emperor’s retinue, said to be closer than close.
But no one in the world knew their true identity. In fact, before my regression, the revolutionary army had concluded that the Agentes were merely false information.

“The Agentes will capture Ebenholz? I’d say the odds of me being an Agentes are higher.”
“……Pfft. I suppose you’re right.”

Edmon let out a faint laugh.

“I’m leaving. Oh, and I left your gift from my trip with your butler.”

Edmon turned to leave. I watched his retreating back.
His lush hair and the sword at his waist. His sturdy shoulders and straight back.
The old, bald Edmon, who leaned on a cane instead of a sword, whose back was bent, was gone.

“Edmon.”

He looked back at me.
For the first time in a long, long time, I asked him.

“……What’s it like out there?”

Edmon raised an eyebrow and answered curtly.

“Still like hell.”

He seemed to interpret ‘out there’ as the battlefield. Against monsters, or against other humans.

“So you’d better stay inside as much as you can, Max.”

There was an irony in him telling me to stay ‘inside.’ It was thanks to him that I had come to this ‘outside.’

“Edmon, the Empire will definitely get better.”

Edmon nodded and turned away.

“……Of course it will.”

He waved a hand behind him and departed.
Left alone, I unfolded the edict once more.
I let out a sigh as I read the contents, written in the Imperial script.


The target of the Decapitation Operation was the house named ‘Kailus.’ They were a traditional, powerful family of the west who had fallen under the suspicion of treason by the Imperial family. To be precise, several of their branch families and the direct line were all targets for extermination.
However, this was all a minor plot instigated by a branch of House Kailus—the younger brother of the house head—who had cozied up to the Imperial family.
Since I had participated in this operation before my regression, the memory was still vivid.
Examining it closely, there was an incident that could be used as a pretext. The Emperor had coveted an ancient treasure passed down through the Kailus family for generations, but the head of the house had politely refused him.
That alone was the beginning of the treason.
In this era, anything could be treason, and anyone could be a traitor.

—There’s no other choice.

That’s what Zephestian had said about Kailus.

—That youngest son of theirs seemed quite promising, too.

Such praise from Zephestian was exceptionally rare.
In fact, it was such high praise that I was jealous, and it echoed in my ears for a long time.

—…So why did you go there?

At the same time, my father had scorned me for failing to achieve any merit there.
In any case, the operation was already underway. Using my trip as an excuse, I boarded a transport at the knight order's private runway.

“Salute.”

Returning the salute of a nameless pilot, I took my seat.

Rumble-rumble-rumble—

The transport took flight under the sunlight, landing on the western coast of the Empire, at a location where the main castle of House Kailus appeared small in the distance.
By then, night had completely fallen.

“……Sir Knight. Do you have no other personnel?” the pilot asked me.
A knight is the Empire’s sword and its final overseer. It means that being alone is of no concern. Especially in a decapitation operation like this.

“This is sufficient.”
“Yes, sir.”

The pilot boarded the transport again and left. He likely had no idea what kind of operation was about to unfold here.
I sat on a rock in a dark grove. Far away, the main castle of House Kailus stood atop a sheer cliff.

“……”

I waited there quietly, killing time lost in thought.
Then, in an instant.

BOOOOM—!

A massive explosion erupted. The opening salvo of the battle. The Imperial army had launched a preemptive strike.
I started moving slowly toward it.
The castles of noble houses, their main strongholds, were fundamentally sturdy fortresses. They were surrounded by layers of high walls, mana cannons, and even defensive magic circles.
Unaware of who was attacking or why, House Kailus would naturally retaliate…

Rat-a-tat-tat—!

Mana shells spewed fire from atop the castle walls.
By aiming their cannons at the Imperial army, the charge of treason was complete.
I walked through the darkness, retracing the past. I remembered reading a related record once, at a hearing to review merits.
The Virus revived those memories.

[The Kailus House Treason Incident]
[………The ringleader, Yusef von Kailus, and four members of the direct bloodline attempted to escape to the coastline through the underground waterway of the main castle, but were killed at sea. The remaining members of the bloodline who attempted to flee separately were discovered near the McKen mountain range on the western border and……]

The direct bloodline of Kailus would soon realize their opponent was the Imperial family and would look for an escape route to save their own lives. A secret passage leading from the castle’s underground waterway to the coast.
But that information had already been leaked. The sea was already completely blockaded by the Imperial fleet.
Their future was nothing but annihilation.
Before my regression, I had merely watched from afar. Since the Empire had already decided to kill them, the difference in military power was near infinite.
But not this time.
I must build my merits. As a knight, I must ascend to the highest position, and I must earn the recognition of Zephestian, and beyond him, the Emperor.
Of course, the Kailus bloodline were not Izenheim, but…

“Hmph!”

I dashed towards them. Focusing mana in my legs. With every stride, with every push off the ground, I unleashed a burst of mana. My body cut through the undergrowth faster than a warhorse.

Thud-thud-thud-thud—!

I reached the castle wall in an instant, a hail of gunfire raining down from above. The Imperial army's bombardment was being blocked by the wall's magic system. I didn't slow down as I unwrapped the bandages from my longsword. The moon in the night sky was momentarily reflected on its surface.
Ebenholz's First Form, Sequence (聯).

Screeeeech—

A silver wave of sword energy shot out in a flash. A pure white arc swallowed the wall and the soldiers atop it. Cracks spread like a spiderweb, tearing apart stone, steel, flesh, and bone.

“……”

I retrieved my sword and corrected my posture. A section of the wall crumbled like a sandcastle. I slipped past the Imperial soldiers, who had stopped, momentarily stunned, and charged into the castle.
Thump. Thump.
Somewhere, I could feel the presence of an Izenheim. They were hiding among these Imperial forces. But that was a matter for later. It was something I could deal with at any time.
For now, my top priority was my own achievements for the sake of the Empire.

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Pub: 12 Oct 2025 07:50 UTC

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