Semi-Coercive Imperialist

The Sentinel Knights had changed tremendously from what they once were.

That past was only six or seven years ago, but the transformation had been drastic enough to call it a whole new world.

The buildings senior knights had unanimously complained needed repairs. The lakeside park and walking paths they grumbled were crawling with bugs. The inconvenience of having to walk thirty minutes just to reach a dining hall.

Those were the days when they fought day after day over conference room use by seniority because there was not enough space, when they lamented the lack of funding. Knights who had eventually lost their passion and settled into a comfortable life collecting a paycheck, like self-employed businessmen.

All the chronic problems and deep-rooted corruption that had piled up over decades had been resolved.

The old building had been completely rebuilt, and a new one stood beside it in harmony. High-end cafes and restaurants had opened on the land directly in front of the Order, along with a daycare center for both knights and staff.

There was now so much space that every administrative officer had an individual office, and funding was reliably approved as long as they could prove their results.

Commander Kairon, unexpectedly, made no distinction between commoners and nobles. He even showed signs of trying to carry on part of Anton's intentions.

Generosity came from a full storehouse, and that was plainly true. Authority made that storehouse even more secure.

The staff officers, administrative officers, and agents now took boundless pride in the simple fact that they worked for the Sentinel.

Before Maximilian joined, though, the Sentinel had been in decline.

Almost every official in the Imperial Palace had disliked the knightly orders as a group.

A knight was both prosecutor and defense attorney, police officer and soldier, legislator and enforcer.

Under the justification of being "watchers," they held extralegal authority that allowed them to intervene in nearly every administrative system within the Empire.

Naturally, knights like Julian could not simply wield that authority whenever they pleased. Commoners like Hanna had even less room to do so. There was the need to read the room, and possessing authority was very different from using it.

The key was "qualification."

The greater one's authority, the heavier one's responsibilities.

Yet Maximilian Ebenholtz alone could bear such a heavy position.

No, he had chosen to take it on.

"That's the kind of man your son provoked."

Julian looked at the dean of Zestpol University seated across from him. Joshua's father spoke, his face pale.

"I'll step down from every position I hold. So please......"

Julian met his plea and asked dryly, "Have you read what the pamphlet says?"

A Blue Rose Society pamphlet lay on the table. Its wording was especially sharp.

[The Empire that usurps the value created by ethnic minorities must wake up.]

[If the Aran are truly superior, why must they steal from others to prove that superiority?]

The dean lowered his head.

"This pamphlet contains fierce resentment toward not only the 「Imperial Citizens Act」, but every form of discrimination in the Empire."

The Imperial Citizens Act was a solemn decree sanctioned by the Emperor, and the name most deeply carved into that law's fine print was Maximilian Ebenholtz.

"Julian. For old times' sake, please......"

The dean's voice trembled.

Old times.

Julian quietly turned his attention to those words.

Once, he had met a woman in Zestpol.

Was it love? Or something a little different?

Either way, he had met Joshua's sister.

"Sir Julian."

A staff officer entered at that moment. Speaking clearly enough for the dean to hear, he said, "Sir Maximilian has requested a meeting with you."

The dean's expression faltered.

"......Tell him I'll go shortly."

"Yes, sir."

Once the staff officer withdrew, silence settled over the office again.

Despair colored the dean's face.

"If...... Maximilian intervenes in this matter personally, it won't end with Joshua alone."

His entire family would be beheaded. Or everyone involved would receive the death sentence.

Julian did not avoid the dean's fearful gaze.

* * *

I looked at Joshua, confined behind bars.

Ah, they were not even bars anymore. It was special magic glass. Those inside could not see out, while those outside could see everything within.

Even the Sentinel's damp, gloomy underground prison had improved so much.

"Capital and technology really do make a difference."

I did not know the exact process, but apparently the glass had been made by applying a thin coating of mana stone powder. Either way, it was the latest invention from Lorenzo Academy.

I asked Julian, who stood beside me, "Have you read the pamphlet, Sir Knight?"

"I have."

"What do you think? They claim to be the conscience of the Empire."

Julian answered calmly.

"Conscience and mockery are entirely different things."

I considered his words.

Julian always spoke in broad terms. It felt as though he skipped over things, as though he hid implications in the gaps between his sentences.

Perhaps the Empire's tense circumstances had made him such an ambiguous person.

"Sir Knight. May I formally take over this case?"

"......Here are the case files."

Julian handed me a folder. It contained documents recording the investigation so far.

"Read them. But I refuse to transfer the case."

"......"

I looked at Julian.

Then a question came to me.

Was Julian truly someone the Empire needed?

When I thought it over carefully, he was neither necessary nor unnecessary.

He was simply someone who was there.

A person who always wavered.

He looked dangerously fragile, but he did not collapse. Precisely because of that, he was someone who did not change. He wore the face of someone most likely to change, yet in the end, he never did.

A battered signpost.

Looking at him made one wonder whether it was safe to follow.

Yet he was a knight who, in the end, always pointed toward the right road.

The Empire, though, had never accepted the side of him that seemed ready to change.

"Carry on."

Julian turned and disappeared up the stairs from the underground prison.

Left alone, I opened the documents.

Blue Rose Society pamphlets that had been steadily distributed throughout the capital. Witness testimony. A composite sketch created from that testimony.

That was the decisive evidence in this case.

I spoke to the staff officer beside me.

"Bring in the witness first."

......

"......"

I silently looked at the witness the staff officer had brought in. The witness sat in the interrogation room beyond the special magic glass.

Thump.

A familiar pulse rose from the bottom of my heart.

I sensed the witness's essence.

"......"

I checked the documents again.

Julian's report was perfect. Nearly every relevant circumstance had been recorded in flawless sentences.

Time of sighting: Between 1:00 and 1:30 a.m.

Availability of light: Condition of the streetlights. Phase of the moon.

Witness's status: Cleaner. Age forty-three.

Given those conditions, the composite sketch was far too detailed. Yet composite sketches were drawn from witness testimony.

If the witness had been a night guard, they might have shone a flashlight on the face, so clear testimony would not have been difficult.

But a cleaner working before dawn......

There was no need to pursue the thought any further.

The witness was Izenheim.

For some reason, they were trying to cut down the Blue Rose, the group called the conscience within the Empire.

What could they possibly gain by cutting down that flower?

I could not say yet, but I had an idea what bait they had thrown.

Rustle.

When I turned the page, Joshua's statement appeared.

[There was no intention to ridicule or harass Sir Maximilian. I did not draw that vulgar print......]

Julian had no way to sense Izenheim as I did, yet he had spotted the frame-up in that instant.

That was why he was protecting them, even using his detention authority.

"Sir Knight."

The staff officer called to me carefully.

"......What will you do?"

I looked at the Izenheim beyond the glass, fervently repeating their testimony.

"It doesn't matter."

I had no intention whatsoever of playing along as they wished.

"The World Expo, with less than two weeks left, is far more important."

I knew the witness was Izenheim, but I could not know their goal.

Still, someone far better at this than I am was already pursuing them.

"I'll leave the rest to Sir Julian. He refused to transfer the case anyway."

"Ah......"

"We won't involve ourselves in this matter."

Thud.

I closed the file.

* * *

"Have these people lost their minds?!"

Knight Hanna's office.

Bang!

An administrative officer threw down a stack of documents in fury. The other staff officers staring at the pamphlets wore much the same expressions.

"These crazy bastards."

"Just looking at it pisses me off."

"......"

Hanna remained silent amid their condemnation. Her mind, however, had already gone cold.

The other knights likely felt the same way.

Dare Tan had brought the material himself, which meant the pamphlets had spread throughout the entire Order.

"......Haa."

Hanna forced down the anger boiling within her with a sigh.

Caricatures mocking Maximilian were scattered across the table.

"They must be begging to die."

It was a low murmur filled with killing intent.

"There's already a lot of talk among the knights. This Blue Rose Society or whatever it is......"

A staff officer added.

It was not only because their target was Maximilian. Daring to insult a Sentinel knight and mock the order established by the Empire was a challenge against the entire Sentinel.

"Mobilize every informant. The distribution was too organized. They couldn't have acted alone."

Hanna gave the order.

"Yes!"

The staff officers answered loudly. Their voices were filled with zeal. The entire ideological framework they had studied to join the Sentinel was rooted in Under the Moonlight.

"......Vermin."

Still, it was strange.

Though the crude drawings had only taken a swipe at Maximilian, Hanna felt as though her own flesh had been cut.

She was a commoner with no connections or background. It was the order Maximilian had created that had raised her, someone without even a name to speak of, to knighthood.

So mocking him was no different from insulting everyone who lived under that order, including Hanna herself.

Rrrrip!

Hanna tore the pamphlet to pieces and let out a hot breath.

* * *

Preparations for the World Expo were nearing their end. Artworks by Imperial painters arrived one after another, and the interior of the exhibition hall began to fill with Aran aesthetics.

I was overseeing the work inside when someone outside the construction fence started hopping in place and calling my name.

"Max! Max!"

What was he, a frog?

"Max! Max! Maaaaax!"

Ah, that fucking bastard.

"Wax! Max!"

"......Bring him in."

Leutern II came bolting over and latched onto my side.

"Max! Long time no see!"

"Yes, Lord Leutern."

"Can I take a look inside?! I'm dying of curiosity!"

Even if I told him a hundred times that it was absolutely secret, he would broadcast it to the whole world the next day.

I shook my head.

"No. You can't."

"Come on, that's stingy."

"You may look at the exterior. For security reasons."

Leutern pursed his lips and looked up. His gaze swept over the upper section of the Imperial Pavilion, which was still only a bare frame, before he complained, "But it's not as tall as I expected? You were bragging that you were building the tallest one on the continent."

"Wait until opening day. We're concealing our strength for now."

It was a national pavilion hiding its strength.

A nation hiding its strength.

"What's with that boring answer?"

Leutern shrugged, as though he had already lost interest.

"But listen, I brought a whole bunch of Imperial Palace nobles this time. There are dozens of them. We're going to hang around here until opening day!"

Every word out of his mouth was unpleasant noise.

"And, Max. I saw how you decorated your house last time? It looked really cool. The color photographs those Imperial Guard guys took. The Imperial Palace was in an uproar over them!"

Leutern's eyes sparkled like a child's.

"Is that so."

"I want to decorate my villa like that too......"

His voice trailed off as he gave me a sidelong glance.

"I'll send you the architect who handled construction on my estate later."

"Thank you! As expected of you, Max! Then I'm off to look around Prozen now!"

As though he had never cared about the Expo in the first place, Leutern scampered off into Prozen's glittering city center.

Click, click.

In the space he left behind, the sound of approaching heels somehow drew my attention.

It was Sonnet Kandel.

She held an extravagant bouquet with roses of many colors. Oddly enough, a blue rose had been placed on the side facing me.

"Good to see you abroad, Sir Maximilian."

I looked at the flower and let out a dry laugh.

"It seems quite a few people are coming from the Empire."

"Yes. The number will continue growing until opening day. Every relevant minister will attend."

Sonnet added with an indifferent gaze, "Bertem, Grossmann, and Runcelot are all preparing to come as well."

It meant every prominent Imperial family would gather here.

It would be a disaster if a terrorist attack occurred.

"Her Highness Princess Justine will attend as well. And...... His Majesty too."

"......"

My gaze wavered briefly.

"His Majesty himself?"

"Yes. He will not appear publicly, but he will certainly watch this stage. And if His Majesty is coming, that means Sebastian will come as well."

Sebastian.

It had been a long time. I would see my father again.

Sonnet handed me the bouquet and asked, "Are you confident?"

I raised my head and looked up at the sky.

"Yes. I am."

An edifice of light.

From my memories before regression, I knew the faces of those who stood beneath that temple.

Everyone wore the same expression beneath the pillars of light.

Their ideology stripped away, their class erased, they were defenseless people with their heads tilted back toward the sky.

Before such beauty, people did not know how to resist.

Hearts beat in the same place, even when the age changed. Art that had worked before regression would surely work now as well.

Now, when no one has yet seen it, it will strike even deeper.

"For His Majesty the Emperor, and everyone gathered there."

And for my father.

For you, who know nothing of architecture, literature, art, music, love, sorrow, or joy.

"I should give you all a day you'll never forget for the rest of your lives."

A smile spread across my lips before I realized it.

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