Semi-Coercive Imperialist

Starting the next day, I began moving busily. It was for the first time in my life to become ‘independent.’

In the past, I always felt a suffocating pressure at the main house, but I never thought of leaving it. I believed that if I ran away from that place, I would forever escape my father’s eyes.

I was a moron.

First, I checked my personal account.

There was more money than I expected.

“How is there this much?”

18.7 million dollars. That’s about seven to eight years of salary for an average knight.

It was probably a legal gift. Most likely an inheritance left by my late mother and a formal deposit from the family to commemorate my coming of age. While my father had no interest in me, he wasn’t someone who would ignore the family’s dignity.

The more money, the better, and now it was even more so. To change the future, I needed much more money.

I currently lacked power, and money is a part of power. Even as an Ebenholtz, money wasn’t infinite. Compared to the other ‘pillars’, it was rather limited.

“The greatest advantage of Regression……”

My greatest weapon is information. So I would leave half of the account for investment purposes and use the remaining half to buy a house.

Decision made.

I drove straight to a real estate agency.

[Imperial Brokerage Office R]

“……Welcome~”

The manager, who had been eating lunch inside the office, hurriedly stood up. I looked around at the maps of the Capital that covered the walls.

“What brings you here?”

“I’m here to purchase a house.”

I wanted a mansion not far from the Sentinel Knight Order Headquarters. Among the options were apartments and mansions, but I needed a place of my own where I wouldn’t have to share space with anyone.

“Ah, I see.”

“Von Klein-Schmidt Street. That area looks best.”

I pointed to a part of the map with my finger.

[Imperial Capital Arcadia 3rd District, Von Klein-Schmidt Street, No.13]

It had a very good location overlooking the Ipsilon River of the Empire. Because of that, properties rarely came up for sale in the area, but due to recent policy changes in the Empire, there must be someone looking to sell.

“Uh…… Ah~ there are no properties in that area.”

But he said there weren’t any.

There was a suspicious stench in the way he said it.

“No properties?”

I intentionally spoke less. I glared at the manager and asked again.

“Could you check again?”

The manager scanned me once more.

Though I was in casual clothes, my fashion was at the forefront of the Empire. Even if he didn’t recognize the face of someone named Maximilian, he would recognize the luxury brand Jeronimo.

“Ah…… hm. There is a property that recently came up for urgent sale.”

“Show it to me.”

“Yes. It’s a mansion right in that area, but… here’s a photo taken recently.”

The agent trailed off as he pulled out a photo of a mansion. The windows were broken, and part of the wall was damaged, it showed signs of considerable violence.

Aha.

I immediately understood.

The owner of this house likely wasn’t a pure Imperial. And they must have committed a ‘very minor offense’.

Recently, the Empire’s racial policies had been growing increasingly severe. The blade was now even aimed at descendants of foreign origins who had been naturalized and loyal to the Empire for generations.

In particular, the Merin, a bloodline of wealthy merchants, became the main targets. The newly emerging power group, the Imperial Guard, especially coveted their assets.

“……As you can see, there’s a lot that needs fixing.”

“That’s fine. I’ll buy it.”

“…….”

The agent brushed his hair back, looking flustered.

“Where is the homeowner?”

“Ah…… well…… um…….”

The agent glanced at my face and let out a deep sigh.

“Technically, I’m not supposed to tell you this, but this mansion is in a bit of a complicated situation.”

“A complicated situation?”

“There’s someone who claims they already have seizure rights over the property……”

As expected. I gave a faint smile.

“Who is it?”

“Ah, that…… someone called Viscount Rodriguez? He’s with the Imperial Guard.”

At that moment, my temple throbbed.

It was a name I knew.

─This is Rodriguez. Nice to meet you, Knight Maximilian.

A high-ranking officer of the Imperial Guard I had met once before Regression. He was a bastard who had clawed his way up by looting property through all kinds of means.

“I see.”

“Yes. If you can, I’d suggest avoiding-”

The agent still hadn’t recognized my face. He hadn’t even asked for my name. He probably assumed I was some wealthy noble’s child because of the expensive clothes.

“Perhaps you should come back another da-”

“Listen carefully. My name is Maximilian Ebenholtz.”

“……What? Max, Eben… Eh?”

The manager’s eyes, nose, and mouth opened wide like a full moon.

In the Imperial Capital Arcadia, the name Ebenholtz was nearly untouchable. At the very least, despicable lowborn nobles who covet other people’s property wouldn’t even dare look.

“I’m also a new knight of the Sentinel Knight Order.”

Rodriguez was a filthy scum. Most of the Imperial Guard were. Maggots obsessed with the Emperor who only hastened the Empire’s downfall.

He had to be cut down while the root was still small.

“Knights uphold public order in the Empire. But the phrase ‘has seizure rights’ doesn’t make sense no matter how I look at it. I’ll have to find out what happened.”

One of a knight’s duties is to maintain public order in the Empire.

That bastard is the one disturbing the Empire’s order, so let’s see if I can turn this into a merit of mine.

“But, you must never reveal my name.”

This is a kind of undercover. Cockroaches hide when people come near.

Yes, Rodriguez was exactly like a cockroach.

***

Viscount Rodriguez was a noble who had recently been drawing considerable attention in the Empire. Originally from a frontier family, he had captured a high-ranking officer of the rebel force ‘Revolutionary forces’ a few years ago. For that merit, he was selected into the Emperor’s Imperial Guard and entered the central political scene, where he began to fully demonstrate his specialty. He tracked the financial flows of foreign-born capitalists, those who were not pure Aran, within the Empire and uncovered tax evasion and illegal activities. He turned non-issues into issues. The Imperial Guard wanted that, and Rodriguez advanced along the fast track to success.

“The mansion?”

Rodriguez asked without really reading the report handed to him by his butler. His office was filled with expensive works of art he had either seized or bought at throwaway prices.

“Yes, someone has expressed interest in purchasing the mansion on Von Klein-Schmidt Street.”

“Who?”

“According to what I heard from the broker, just some noble offspring……”

It was a mansion in a prime location. Rodriguez had already set things in motion because it caught his eye. The original owner, a Merin merchant, had been falsely accused of funding rebels and was now practically a living corpse. All that remained was to swallow it legally.

“Any detailed information on the buyer?”

“Hmm…… it seems they didn’t ask that far, but judging by the fact that they’re looking for a house near the knight order, they appear to be a new knight from the provinces. Haven’t there been initiation ceremonies at various knight orders recently? Sentinel, Lotus-”

“Hmph, ridiculous.”

Rodriguez snorted.

Of course, knight orders still had prestige in the Empire. But that was just outward honor. Before long, actual power would shift to the Imperial Guard. That was the Emperor’s intent from the start.

If the knight orders were the sword of the Empire, then the Imperial Guard was the one who wielded that sword…

“That Merlin or Molain fellow, is he still hanging in there?”

“Yes. He hasn’t confessed.”

The owner of the mansion, the Merin entrepreneur Merlin. His listing of the mansion with the agency was nothing more than a procedural formality forced by Rodriguez’s pressure.

No one would try to buy this house. The price would naturally collapse. Then it would be passed to a prearranged auction and bought at a bargain.

“This week’s schedule is packed. I’ll deal with it next week.”

“……Do you plan to go yourself?”

The butler asked, sounding puzzled. It was rare for the viscount to personally involve himself in such minor matters.

“I should. He’s a knight, isn’t he? No harm in establishing a face-to-face relationship. And if the conflict escalates too much, it could become troublesome. I’ll go in person and persuade him, reasonably.”

“Yes. Understood. Then please rest well.”

The butler left. Rodriguez poured a glass full of red wine. His eyes, staring at the swirling liquid, turned crimson.

Suddenly, a smile spread across his lips.

It seemed this would be quite an enjoyable matter.

***

The meeting was set for next week. There was no need to rush.

Rodriguez owed me time, and on that day, I would make sure to collect.

Anyway.

“……Are all these people my instructors?”

Today was a day for receiving a gift. In the grand training hall of Ebenholtz, ten swordsmen were lined up. These were the ‘new swordsmanship instructors’ I had asked Sebestian for.

“Not all of them. You just need to choose one among them.”

Enzi smiled brightly. I swept my gaze across their faces. Each one radiated the aura of a powerful fighter.

“They are carefully selected candidates who passed through an examination process. They’ve cleared both the document screening and live evaluation.”

Nine out of the ten were people I recognized.

Seven of the nine were former knights who had once shown excessive loyalty to the Empire, and the other two were faces I had seen far too often in the social section of the newspapers before Regression.

Enemies of the Empire – Revolutionary forces officers.

Those two were dangerous individuals I should avoid getting close to right now.

The remaining seven were the kind of people I had no desire to get close to either.

Naturally, my eyes turned to the one person left.

A face I was seeing for the first time. My memory wasn’t particularly good, but I had an unusually sharp recollection for faces.

It had to be that way. I had spent quite a long time on the run, forced to remember and distinguish countless faces.

“Hmm…….”

She wore a simple training uniform and stood empty-handed, without even a sword. She seemed far removed from the flashy careers or intimidating presence of the other candidates. Her gender was female, but she wore a robe over her head. Her appearance beneath the hood was unremarkable. In fact, deep wrinkles were etched across her face.

“What is your name?”

An old man or a child encountered on the battlefield is dangerous.

Similarly, in a gathering of strong people, the one no one knows is often the strongest.

“Freya.”

I decided to choose her.