Semi-Coercive Imperialist

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

“…….”

But he said nothing. He showed his dissatisfaction on his face but didn’t open his mouth.

I spoke to him.

“That was something that shouldn’t have been sold in the first place. Even before the issue of legality, it was a defective product by itself.”

I conveyed only the facts without any emotion, and tears welled up in Arman’s eyes. It was not sadness but resentment.

I looked at the broken pieces of the waterwheel. Just now, I could see the principle of mana that Arman had created.

A power I never had before the regression, probably a Talent the virus gave me.

“……You don’t even know anything.”

“Try drilling a mana circuit into the framework of the waterwheel.”

“Hmph. What nonsense…….”

Arman’s words stopped halfway. His face suddenly went blank as if he had fallen into thought.

“Drill a circuit inside the waterwheel to embed mana, and fix it in place with a mana stone.”

It’s similar in principle to embedding rebar in concrete. It’s hard to explain in detail, but somehow it just “feels” that way.

It felt like forcibly receiving knowledge that wasn’t mine.

“……!”

Arman seemed to grasp the principle immediately.

“If I embed a mana circuit inside the waterwheel, then because of the property of mana spreading through materials, it’ll naturally coat the outside as well! That way, it won’t wear down easily even in atmospheric mana. Its durability will become much stronger!”

At some point, he looked up at me with a face that was now sparkling, but then he suddenly looked sullen again.

Is this kid already bipolar at this age?

“……But it’s illegal anyway, right?”

I shook my head.

“I said there’s a ‘possibility’ that it could be illegal.”

The law is all about how you phrase things.

If the claim that this waterwheel absorbs natural mana and produces “natural mana stones” is accepted, it will be legal.

But if the claim that it artificially transforms natural mana to “synthesize” mana stones is accepted, then it will be illegal.

In truth, what matters more than the justification of the argument itself is who makes the argument and how.

What if the one making the claim is Ebenholtz?

Then the mana waterwheel might be recorded in history as a decent invention.

“But. Why is it bad to make synthetic mana stones? Even if they’re a little less efficient than natural ones, you can make way more of them and use them, right?”

“Because mana stones are the product of vested interests.”

“Vested interests?”

The manufacture of synthetic mana stones is treated as a felony greater than drug crimes in the Empire.

The ownership of mana stone mines is monopolized by noble families. Therefore, they define the very technology of synthetic mana stones as a “blasphemous act that defies the providence of nature” and suppress it thoroughly.

“……For now, it still costs much more to make synthetic mana stones than to mine natural ones.”

“That’s just for now. But if the technology improves, things will get better. And if mana stones get cheaper, everyone will benefit, right?”

“There can never be a world where everyone benefits. The world will collapse before that ever happens.”

Arman blinked. He was a kid with a cute buzz cut haircut.

“You said you’re the owner’s apprentice?”

“No. I’m just Arman. Boss just works me to the bone.”

“…….”

That can’t be true. He’s a picky person, if he didn’t genuinely like the boy, he wouldn’t keep him around.

Lorenzo must have already recognized Arman’s Talent.

“What about school?”

“I don’t go. I tried once, but there was nothing to learn.”

“Family?”

“None.”

Arman’s appearance deviated subtly from that of a pureblood Imperial. Most likely, he was a Subspecies.

But lineage can be sufficiently forged. Since he’s still young, if we start the work now, it’s possible.

“Arman!”

Just then, the owner came up from the basement.

“Go back down. Now!”

“……Yes.”

Arman quickly went down to the basement. Lorenzo greeted me again with a gentle expression.

“If you come by next week, the item you ordered should be ready.”

I nodded.

“I’ll send someone then.”

“Yes.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to send that boy to school?”

I gestured toward the basement Arman had gone down to. Lorenzo gave a wry smile.

“That child doesn’t need to go to school-”

“Well, theory can be taught directly by Mr. Giorgio, I suppose.”

“…….”

Lorenzo, no.

Giorgio’s expression stiffened.

Giorgio Chirico. Once hailed as a genius scholar, why would someone like him renounce the world and hide away in such a shabby place?

His story was quite well-known before the regression. It was one of the examples used to reveal the corruption of the Empire’s nobility.

Giorgio had presented a groundbreaking theory that formed the foundation of the Empire’s mana engineering technology, but it was stolen entirely by one of his noble disciples. He fought a grueling legal battle but naturally lost. Because Giorgio was a commoner.

“The Induced Mana Field Formation Theory. I heard that the theory that led to the invention of modern mana coils was your achievement. Now, of course, the Listmann Family holds an exclusive patent on it.”

Talent is a curse. Especially when that talent is granted to a commoner.

“If you ever need my help, just let me know.”

Then Lorenzo gave a bitter smile. He touched his damaged knee and spoke in a low voice.

“……May I speak honestly?”

I nodded.

“That probably won’t happen, noble sir.”

It wasn’t so much stubbornness as it was that he had simply become someone who could no longer trust nobles.

“Then allow me to speak honestly as well.”

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

“You’re always free to change your mind.”

I pressed down my newsboy cap again as I spoke.

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

In a twisted world, being right is not the essence.

Giorgio insisted on his righteousness, but precisely because of that, he lost.

“You didn’t lose because you were wrong, but because you lacked power.”

Ebenholtz still possesses the power to correct that distortion, even if belatedly.

“Well then, goodbye.”

I turned around and left the shop.

***

……The lights were off at the mana shop – 「Lorenzo Carione」.

Lorenzo sat in an old chair, lost in deep thought. The candle on the table flickered, casting a red glow on the wrinkles of his face. The numerous tools hanging on the wall wavered in the shadows.

Then, in that moment.

Jingle─

The locked shop door opened. A man stepped into the darkness. It was an old friend of Lorenzo’s. He leaned on the counter and looked at him.

Lorenzo asked,

“What is it, again?”

“……Listmann is looking for you.”

Lorenzo’s face stiffened. Karl, the eldest son of the Listmann family. Once Lorenzo’s most promising disciple, now the traitor who stole his theory and fled.

That bastard must be in his forties by now.

“……Me? After all this time?”

“Yes. Seems he’s hit a wall with his recent progress.”

Lorenzo clenched his teeth.

“It won’t take long. You know how powerful Listmann is these days.”

“……Thanks for the warning.”

“Going to run again?”

The old friend looked around the inside.

“This shop’s well put together. You might as well join our cause-”

“Shh.”

Lorenzo brought his finger to his lips.

“Don’t say such things to me and leave. I don’t want to report you.”

“……Right. Thanks. Take care of yourself.”

The friend left with a bitter smile.

Jingle.

“…….”

In the shadow-filled interior, Lorenzo fell into deep contemplation.

Once, he had devoted his entire life to scholarship.

But what had he achieved? What remained?

Nothing but stolen honor and a permanently crippled body.

“Boss! Boss! Look at this!”

A cute commotion rose up. Arman was coming up from the basement, excited. In his hands was a new waterwheel.

“I rebuilt the frame like that knight said, and it’s way sturdier now! The mana efficiency got even better too!”

“…….”

Lorenzo looked into the child’s shining eyes and asked weakly,

“……Must you make that?”

“Huh?”

Arman looked confused, as if he didn’t understand what he meant.

“Come on~ Boss, you always say this, don’t you? That if you make just one really good item, you can live well for the rest of your life! Of course, since this one might be legally problematic, I’ll keep it hidden for now!”

Lorenzo gave a bitter smile. Arman, excited again, went back down to his workshop.

Even if it was an item that couldn’t be sold, even if it was something that could never be revealed to the world, he was just a pure kid who rejoiced in the act of invention itself.

He reminded Lorenzo exactly of his younger self.

But if Listmann has found me, and if I must run away once again in the end.

Then I can’t take that boy with me.

Lorenzo suddenly looked toward the old mirror in the corner of the shop. The face of an old, worn-out man who had wasted far too many years remained reflected there.

“…….”

Arman.

You must never become like me.

Lorenzo slowly picked up the knight’s business card that lay on the table.

***

The weekend arrived.

Even knights get weekends off. Taking advantage of the break, I came for a little sightseeing at the Magic Tower.

The Imperial Sentio Magic Tower.

As the name “Sentio” suggests, it is a place where the Empire’s top-level wizards are trained and where magic is researched.

I walked through the tower’s courtyard.

The tower is connected to the Imperial Central University, so it practically shares the same campus. In fact, you can often see university students sitting on the lawn reading books or chatting.

For someone like me who had come through the Military Academy, filled with strict rules and training, it was an enviable sight.

Ah, of course, knights can attend university too. Same goes for me.

Some of my fellow cadets are probably already coming here to take advanced courses on “active mana traces”.

“Ehh? Max?”

Then someone called my name. It was a familiar face.

Ezell.

“What are you doing here, Max…? Ah~”

She thought it through and reached her own conclusion.

I was speechless.

“What do you mean, ‘Ah~’?”

“You came to take the advanced course on active traces too, right? You used to struggle so much with that.”

“Nope.”

“Then?”

“I just came to see the Magic Tower. I was curious.”

“……Don’t tell me, you came to see me?”

“Are you crazy?”

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

“Before I beat the hell out of you.”

“……Pfft. I’ll snap that finger.”

“Since I’m here, show me around the tower.”

“Show you around… Fine, just follow me.”

We entered the Magic Tower. The first-floor lobby was arranged like a giant library.

To enter, we had to pass through an identity verification gate.

Beep.

Ezell tagged a card-like object.

“Okay, come in. This is the Tower Hall. Usually called the main lobby. It looks like a library, but you can talk in here. Everyone’s really good at staying focused, so…….”

I looked at Ezell as she explained the tower. Her gestures and voice were so familiar.

When was it, eight years old? Nine? She was like that little girl who had excitedly shown me the garden she had grown herself.

“That person passing by over there is a professor. He’s recently retired and now holds an honorary position. That’s Professor Deslaine.”

Ezell pointed to an elderly man with white hair.

“And then……”

Thump─

Suddenly, my heart raced. I turned and looked somewhere else without showing it on my face. One person caught my eye.

Pexi von Arzen.

The Ezenheim woman I had seen at the Kerios Mansion, strongly suspected to be Jun Kandel’s lover, and someone I was certain was a Brain-Eater.

She walked down the hall, capturing the gazes of the first-floor mages with her perfectly beautiful presence……

“Oh, Wizard-nim?”

Ezell waved at her. Pexi smiled brightly and waved back at Ezell.

What kind of expression am I making as I look back and forth between those two?

What kind of expression should I make?

The answer is simple.

As if nothing is happening, as if nothing happened at all.

I should just smile.