Semi-Coercive Imperialist

It was around this time. When my knight year 0 had already reached its midpoint, a joint knight mission was assigned for the first time.

“Nice to meet you all.”

The person in charge was Julian. The participants were Tiana, Leon, and me.

“The goal of this mission is assassination.”

Julian continued speaking nonchalantly.

“The Empire’s Intelligence Bureau has detected a high-ranking member of the armed group ‘Zentra’ and uncovered their plans.”

Zentra. A faction derived from the Revolutionary forces, but far more radical, focusing solely on crimes such as looting, robbery, and raids.

“As you know, they have assassinated numerous nobles of the Empire, and three years ago, even attempted to kidnap a member of the royal family.”

As their record shows, even the Revolutionary forces try to keep a distance from Zentra due to their extremism. They are closer to heretics than revolution.

“The target is a cadre named ‘Emulen’.”

The target was a mid-level executive of Zentra. Four knights were more than sufficient, in fact, it was an overwhelming force.

But we had failed. Because we failed to accurately grasp the enemy’s strength.

There was one more person there.

Just that one was the problem.

He couldn’t be handled even by four knights, and we barely survived thanks to Julian.

“Their current location has been identified as the Canilan Independent State.”

The Canilan Independent State is a union of island nations established on the Canilan Archipelago. Though its area and population are just a handful compared to the Empire, its level of technology cannot be ignored.

“According to local intelligence, they are planning to seize weapons in Canilan. If those fall into Zentra’s hands, the entire Empire will fall within the reach of terrorism. We must stop it.”

Back then, I had run away.

To be honest, even now, I still feel the urge to run away.

I am still Maximilian. Even with regression, fear does not disappear. I simply know a greater fear now, the fear of ‘destruction’.

“We will first infiltrate disguised as mercenaries. The advance team will be……”

Julian looked at me.

“Max. Can you do it?”

This is a chance to change my past and temper myself. If I run again, there is no future. I will die a weak, cowardly moron.

“Yes.”

Anyway, there’s a lot of business I need to handle in Canilan. If I use this mission as an excuse for travel, I can save time and kill two birds with one stone.

“Then.”

Julian handed me a document envelope.

“After you finish preparing, depart next week. Once you arrive in Canilan, arrange a hideout and make contact with our informant.”

“Yes, understood.”

I stood up from my seat. Leon and Tiana looked puzzled that I volunteered for the advance team without protest.

“I’ll head out first.”

As I stepped outside, I called Dieter.

“Dieter. I need you to prepare something. An ID to use in Canilan, and……”

I relayed the business details to Dieter,

Then went straight home to face Freya.

This time it’s an ‘emergency tutoring session’.

“……It’s three times the extra fee.”

Freya had clearly just woken up; her hair was a complete mess.

“Yes. I’ll pay whatever you ask.”

She raised her eyebrows and scanned me up and down.

“However, Maximilian. You’ve already fully mastered the Ebenholtz First Movement. The Flow is the foundation, the base, and the core of Ebenholtz, and at the same time, one of the most difficult sword techniques in the entire world. What you need now is not to learn something new, but internalization. In other words, a process of making it second nature.”

She meant: Don’t rush and be patient.

“I understand. But, I want to learn how to counter punches.”

“……How to counter punches?”

“Yes.”

Freya suddenly opened her palm wide to form a cloth sheet. My face immediately twisted.

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

“……Why?”

“Ah, fuck.”

Freya couldn’t hold back her laughter.

“Pfft. Ah, just kidding. But it’s not entirely a joke. Actually, scissors beat rock.”

“…….”

I sighed and ran my hand through my hair.

“There’s someone I must kill, no matter what.”

“With such murderous intent, I absolutely cannot teach you.”

“……There’s someone I want to overcome.”

I changed my words. Then Freya straightened her posture, leaning her back against a training ground tree.

“What kind of martial art was it? Show me.”

“Like this… bam! Bam!”

I stretched my arms out. Whoosh whoosh. Wham wham.

“…It was something like this.”

“…….”

“…….”

“…Are you, by any chance, talking about when you fought with the neighborhood kids when you were like 13?”

“No. It’s just that……”

I searched my memory. It was the first punch I had ever seen in my life. A literal martial art of the fist. His entire body was so solid that even a sword strike wouldn’t pierce it.

“Crimson-black mana emanated from his fist. And his body got tougher too.”

Freya snapped her fingers.

“Ah~ You mean ‘Iron Fist Style’. That’s a tricky one. Very tricky. But if the opponent is someone from Ebenholtz…”

“Do I have the advantage in compatibility?”

“No. Iron Fist Style momentarily gains the upper hand against almost every type of swordsman. They deliberately initiate close-range fights unfamiliar to swordfighters. The moment you allow close contact, you lose. Because fists are far faster than swords. However, Ebenholtz is a sword style that, from the start, doesn’t allow the enemy to approach.”

The noble’s sword. The Flow that blooms from a stationary position draws an undeniable line between me and the enemy, elegantly, arrogantly.

“But simply blocking an approach won’t decide the match.”

“…Should I just keep blocking until his stamina is drained?”

“No. Ebenholtz isn’t a sword that drags out fights. On the contrary, it ends the situation with a single draw of the sword. In that respect, you already have sufficient speed.”

Freya looked down at my legs.

“That’s why… what matters most to you right now is the dynamic vision to detect the ‘opening’ where you can unleash your speed.”

Freya took out a small sword from within her clothes.

“And the ability to move both your sword and body at the same time.”

With that, she took one step forward, and just as the scabbard gave a click.

Whoooooosh───!

She vanished like the wind.

“Sword drawing technique.”

Her voice came from behind me. I turned toward it. Freya was bathed in moonlight. A faint smile lingered at the corner of her lips. Her bluish figure suddenly seemed mystical.

“But before class starts, here’s a question. Just now, what did I step on?”

“…What? The ground, I guess.”

“Wrong. No lesson until you get the right answer. Figure it out yourself.”

She yawned and sat leaning against the base of the tree, while I fell into deep thought.

***

……Five days later.

After a long flight, I arrived at Canilan Airport. Without even a moment to rest from the travel fatigue, I immediately hailed a taxi.

“To the Kanin Stock Exchange, please.”

There was somewhere I needed to stop before meeting the informant.

“Sure thing.”

The taxi driver glanced at me through the rearview mirror and asked,

“You must be from the Empire?”

The Canilan Independent State uses Atin, the Empire’s common language. Most of its culture and lifestyle habits are also very similar to those of the Empire.

After all, the country had originally been founded by people who fled from the Empire’s oppression.

“Yes.”

“Haha. I figured.”

Canilan has no class system. Instead, it’s easier to understand it as a kind of ‘corporate nation’. A place that follows capitalism more strictly than any other country. In fact, several islands in the Canilan Archipelago are operated by giant corporations.

Even during the pre-regression world war, they firmly maintained neutrality and only participated after the foolish Empire blockaded their territorial waters out of suspicion that Canilan was supplying materials to the Western Alliance.

“You look handsome, just like someone from the Empire.”

In any case, because of that, anti-Empire sentiment here isn’t that strong. If anything, compared to other countries in the West or East, they’re more welcoming.

At the very least, imperial citizens traveling here spend a lot of money.

“We’ve arrived.”

I gave the driver three times the fare. Definitely not because of the compliment about my looks.

People in Canilan know how to make money.

[ Kanin Stock Exchange KNSE ]

Kanin Stock Exchange. It was located at the center of the capital. The more money, the better, and Canilan was the country where I could use the information I had in the easiest, fastest, and safest way.

“…This should be enough.”

I picked up the notebook. It was a list I wrote while recalling memories in detail together with the virus on the plane.

. Solaris Energy: 300% growth in one year.

. Argentum Bio: 250% growth in three months.

. Eshton Dynamics: 300% growth within three months.

. Novatech: 400% growth within two months.

. ExonJake: 600% growth in six months.

Even before the regression, Canilan was a good investment destination, and I used to read financial newspapers quite often back then. It was for survival. Because I knew Sebestian wouldn’t leave me a single coin of inheritance.

I entered the stock exchange. It was crowded inside. The price boards covering the walls and the constant beeping of terminals from all directions made it overwhelming.

─ Hey! Hey! I told you not to touch that!

─ Ah~ here we go again with this bullshit. What the hell did these bastards even do?

─ Sir, please think about it one more time. If you can just hold out for today…

“Here. I should have an appointment.”

I handed the pre-prepared ID and documents to the front desk. They guided me very politely to the elevator.

“This way, please.”

The top floor of the stock exchange. A VVIP reception room.

“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Russell, the vice president of KNSE.”

A man with slicked-back hair and a rather greasy-looking face greeted me. He offered me tea first, but I handed him the notebook with company names and a check instead.

“This is the first investment.”

“…The first? That’s quite a large amount for a first round. And you’ve already selected all the investment targets.”

“Then I’ll take my leave.”

I stood up from my seat. He looked quite surprised by how quickly things were moving.

“Huh, you’re leaving right away?”

“My agent will come from next time.”

“Ah, yes. Understood.”

I had a packed schedule today.

I headed straight to the rendezvous point.

Any seat at the agreed outdoor café. I placed a chicken sandwich, a glass of lemonade, and some fries on the table, folded the weekly newspaper three times so that the back page advertisement showed, then quietly waited with it gripped in my hand.

After about five minutes passed.

“You’re a bit late.”

The informant, wearing a flat cap, sat across from me.

“There was another appointment.”

“Yes. I understand.”

He laid a map on the table.

“This is the location. A point on the southern side of Calen Island.”

The location was marked with a red circle.

“Next week, Escal Company’s weapons will be shipped to this area. Emulen and his lackeys will raid it to seize them. That’s when you strike.”

There was one critical mistake in the informant’s intelligence. It wasn’t just ‘Emulen and his lackeys’. Among them was a monster, one of Zentra’s core agents, named ‘Dun Caan.’

“Along with Akarius, other mercenary groups hired by Escal will also be present. You knights will participate in the operation under the identity of the ‘Embula Mercenary Group.’”

Dun Caan.

I quietly recalled him.

──Kssssksssk…

Iron Fist Style. A freak who emitted strange steam with his fists and body dyed in crimson-black mana. A monster whose skin couldn’t be pierced by a sword blade, not even scratched.

With just his fists, he crushed all the swordsmen at that place.

Back then, I barely survived thanks to Julian.

No, honestly, maybe I had already died at that point.

As a knight, my life had practically ended in year 0.

Because ever since that guy, I became afraid of battlefields, fights, and duels.

“Acknowledged.”

I spoke to the informant.

“And one more thing. I’d like to request transport aircraft operation.”

As a knight, in this mission, I will personally enact the textbook I’ve written for myself through my body.

This is also a process of proving myself.

“…A transport aircraft?”

“The cost is covered with this.”

I handed him a small pouch. Inside were high-purity mana stones.

“Since it’s Canilan, it should be easier to convert them to cash.”

“Yes. I’ll try to secure it. The next meeting will be in 36 hours, at the hamburger joint next door. Same method. Until then.”

I quietly watched the back of the informant as he walked away.

Is he someone I can trust?

He didn’t know about the existence of Dun Caan, but every other piece of information aside from that was correct.

One must doubt, but not to the point of excessive distrust.

There were still many people in the Empire who could become my allies.

***

A few days later, my companions arrived one by one. I guided them to the hideout I had secured in advance.

“This isn’t even a house… What is this, like an imperial luxury mansion?”

The top floor of a very expensive residential building in Canilan. Tiana and Leon looked confused, and Julian asked with his eyes.

“I purchased it a week ago under a borrowed name. Precisely because it’s this expensive, the security should be thorough.”

Everyone looked a bit dazed.

“…Right. No one would expect someone to use a place like this for just a few days and abandon it.”

Julian muttered as if dumbfounded.

“I’ll begin the briefing.”

I explained the operation in the spacious living room.

“The informant suggested that we act as mercenaries escorting the shipment. When Zentra initiates the raid, we counterattack and take Emulen.”

Zentra’s planned heist was intel the Imperial informant had extracted with difficulty. The company being raided is unaware of it, and so the port’s security personnel are minimal. They shouldn’t be too many either. In the end, our objective is not the weapons, but to capture Zentra’s agents.

“I propose a different method.”

Julian tilted his head.

“An airdrop.”

“…Airdrop?”

“Yes. An airborne assault. In any operation, you must assume the worst-case scenario. Which means, there’s a possibility that someone far stronger than Emulen may appear.”

That’s why.

“We’ll observe the situation from above. If something happens, we perform a high-altitude drop and strike the enemy’s core in an instant─”

“What? Hey, are you insane?!”

“No, no, no. Max, hold on. This is literally the first time in my life I’ve even been on a plane!”

Tiana and Leon suddenly started freaking out. I frowned.

“What kind of knights are you, so weak?”

“Ha, says the guy… I mean, don’t you think it’s weirder to suddenly do something you’ve never done before in your life?”

Tiana gave a dry laugh.

She wasn’t wrong, airdrops were certainly difficult. If you mishandle your body in midair, even a knight could die instantly.

Before the regression, though mostly to escape, I’d done it quite a few times, and I practiced separately twice about a week ago.

“Sir Julian.”

Julian looked at me.

“I’ll do it alone if I must.”

I needed a direct application of my textbook. I needed results so that Empire Point would trust my teachings, and this method was also optimal to cut down ‘Dun Caan’.

“Understood, Max.”

Julian nodded and stood up.

“Our destination is the port on Calen Island. On the ground, I’ll be with Tiana and Leon. From the sky, Max, you’ll monitor the situation.”

Julian was an ideal superior. Even when hearing a rookie knight’s unprecedented operation, he judged it on its logic and gave his trust like this.

“Yes.”

I just had to prove it to him.

“I’ll show you.”

What Freya told me about countering the Iron Fist Style was simple.

“A knight is-“

The weakness of rock is scissors.

A blade that, for even a single moment, can be faster than a fist.

“Is strongest when descending from the sky.”

A draw of the sword that strikes from above.

With my sword, I will sever that bastard’s head.