Semi-Coercive Imperialist

Maiyah Mountain in the eastern region of the Empire.

Dane, the cadet commander of Empire Point, was camping with the hunting dog Loki. Without any thoughts. Without any stress. Simply focusing on this space, he placed thick slices of meat on a stone slab heated by the campfire.

Ssszzzz.

A greasy sound and savory smoke. He ground coarse salt and whole black pepper onto the sizzling meat and added asparagus and garlic on the side. Next to him, Loki perked up his ears and remained alert to his surroundings, as if preparing for any potential threat.

Dane picked up a well-cooked chunk of meat with the bone still attached and tossed it to Loki. The beast snatched it mid-air and began chewing voraciously, as if it had been waiting.

Szzzzzzz.

Static noise started mixing into the sound from the radio he had brought along, but Dane simply turned it off.

Crunch. He took a big bite of the meat. The juices burst in his mouth. He gulped down a cold beer that he had taken out in advance.

“Ahhh.”

The mountain wind was chilly, and the flavors of the greasy meat and beer were rich.

This was the daily life of a citizen of the Empire. A pure and tranquil vacation.

…….

Szzzzzzz.

The office of the Genen Branch. Yukia adjusted the radio frequency and tuned into the signal. As the static cleared, a dry voice came through.

[……Around 2 AM today, a massive explosion occurred in Gigantes, the Empire’s largest military industrial complex. The collapse of the central mana stone vein has destroyed the industrial facilities, and more than 90% of the surface equipment has also been lost. The Imperial Household has identified this as the act of a rebellious group opposed to the Empire…….]

Yukia leaned back in her chair. She blankly stared out the window. The sun had already risen, but the chilly autumn wind seemed to shroud its light.

“…….”

She quietly bowed her head. There was no sadness, no joy. Just a heavy weight pressed against her chest like a boulder.

This destruction had been achieved through the sacrifice of comrades. The success of the resolution was surely soaked in their crimson blood.

I merely survived by luck.

“Yukia Tariq.”

In that moment, Schatz approached.

“It’s the contract.”

Yukia quietly gazed at the contract handed to her by the Genen Branch Chief.

…….

Gigantes had been completely destroyed. The ground had caved in, creating a massive crater, and the twisted steel frames had turned into grotesque monstrosities.

The police and related personnel on-site looked at the mangled equipment and let out hollow laughter.

“……We’re fucked.”

“What about my money? What’s going to happen to my money now?”

Some noble knights, those who had personal connections to the Imperial Palace and had invested their private fortunes in Gigantes, were in a daze.

“Hey, I said don’t take pictures!”

“Do you want to end up in the Imperial Prison?!”

Reporters who had rushed to the scene were firing their camera flashes.

Alphonse of the Jemion Daily darted around, capturing images of the landscape of Gigantes with his camera.

“Phew…….”

Julian also gazed at the devastated industrial complex with a grim face. Though Gigantes had many problems, it was a place that had existed long before he, his mother and father, his grandmother and grandfather were born, and that fact stirred mixed emotions.

─Tap.

Someone lightly kicked a piece of steel frame debris. Julian turned to look. No, the person had already come to stand beside him.

Maximilian.

“I heard the underground mana stone vein has been completely destroyed.”

At Julian’s words, he nodded.

“Yes. I heard.”

“Uwaaaah! My money! My money!”

A sudden wail burst out nearby. It was a fat noble from the Imperial Palace, adorned with all sorts of jewels. Next to him, a haggard-looking official was dragged over and bowed his head. The noble swung his cane and screamed.

“This happened because of poor control! You left an opening for those rats to sneak in…… You should have monitored everything more tightly! It’s your fault!”

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re getting the death penalty! Death! I’ll make sure of it myself…….”

With his brow slightly furrowed, Julian turned to Maximilian.

“What do you think?”

Maximilian had an unreadable expression. He simply looked at the hysterical noble from the Imperial Palace and replied indifferently.

“It’ll be settled in court. Actually, I had invested in Gigantes as well.”

“I see. That’s unfortunate.”

“Yes. It’s a pity. I think I invested around twenty or thirty million?”

“……What?”

Julian’s eyes widened, but by then, Maximilian was already calmly walking off somewhere.

Step. Step.

He advanced through the gaps in the collapsed wreckage. The virus beneath his collarbone emitted faint mana waves and guided him.

Step. Step.

How far had he gone?

He discovered an entrance buried in the ashes.

A tunnel left behind by past workers. It had somehow been miraculously preserved.

“…….”

He picked up a half-charred wooden box. The exterior had been slightly burned, but the contents, records from the past, were intact.

“This one’s worth about ten million dollars.”

Maximilian smiled faintly and tucked it under his arm.

…….

The Empire, Sentio Magic Tower.

“Our family must have taken a hit too.”

Ezell stepped out of the lab, waving the morning paper in her hand. The Runsellot Family also held some shares in Gigantes. It wasn’t a huge stake, but still, it mattered.

Her gaze lingered on the lower section of the front page of the newspaper.

─[Gigantes Tragedy: Special Trial Imminent to Determine Responsibility]─

……This afternoon, the Imperial Central Court summoned multiple security managers and operational staff to determine accountability for the security failure in the Gigantes explosion terror incident. Investors from the Imperial Palace are demanding strong punishment, calling it a “man-made disaster caused by lax security”, and thus, heavy sentences for the operational staff appear inevitable……

──

“……It’s your fault, you bastards.”

Ezell pouted her lips.

Anyone in the know already understood how rotten Gigantes was. Budget embezzlement, inhumane treatment, upper management’s indifference. And now, they were cutting off the tails and shifting the blame. It was all so revolting.

Just disgusting.

“If I have time, I should drop by too.”

She crumpled the newspaper roughly and shoved it into her bag as she walked down the corridor of the Magic Tower.

“……Huh?”

Suddenly, she encountered someone a bit uncomfortable.

The other person was a neatly dressed woman in a suit. She gave a slight bow.

“Hello, 4th-tier Wizard Ezell.”

It was Sonnet Kandel.

“Ah, hello. Um… are you here to see Professor Jun?”

“Yes.”

Sonnet answered calmly.

“It’s regarding the Gigantes incident. Our family has some matters to discuss with my brother.”

“Ah…… I see…….”

Ezell awkwardly scratched her cheek. The recent ‘Brain-Eater’ incident made things feel unnecessarily uncomfortable.

“Also, I’m now 5th-tier. I recently passed the promotion review.”

“You rose thanks to us, didn’t you? Congratulations.”

Sonnet’s tone was polite, but somehow the words felt strange. Her uniquely flawless presence overwhelmed Ezell.

“Well then, I’ll be going.”

“Uh… yes. Take care.”

Click. Click. As she watched Sonnet walk away, Ezell tilted her head.

“……‘Thanks to us’?”

I mean, technically she’s not wrong, but the way she said it was weird.

***

Due to the Gigantes terror incident, security across all Imperial facilities had become tight, and the trial was convened with unusual speed. It was not so much about actual accountability for security failure, but rather about publicly hanging someone to calm the rage over financial losses.

Empire’s Central Courthouse.

Quite a number of investors had gathered here. Among them were knights, nobles, and corporate figures, but of course, the majority came from the Imperial Palace.

“Sir Knight Maximilian, you’re here as well.”

People from the Imperial Palace recognized me. I nodded and exchanged greetings with them.

Like this, I too attended as a victim. It was thanks to having made a sizable investment in Gigantes in advance, as a means to preemptively avoid any potential suspicion.

It was a very cheap price to pay for an alibi.

“Haah… Sir Knight. I honestly don’t know what to do. I was so infuriated I couldn’t sleep at all. Just what kind of security management allowed this disaster to happen?”

“It’s absurd. Security should never have been left in the hands of mere commoners… As expected, you can’t trust those lowborn.”

I brushed my hair back, pretending to be annoyed by their complaints.

“If you’d outsourced the security to the Knight Order, this wouldn’t have happened. Wasn’t it the Gigantes board that decided to handle security internally?”

At my sharp words, the people from the Imperial Palace flinched. After all, they were the ones with decision-making power on the board.

“Ha, haha… The Knight Order was too expensive… and even the Imperial Guards got taken down this time…”

“I heard most of the Imperial Guards were just young recruits, no?”

“Ahaha, well…… That, cost is always the problem. We also had to run the facilities first, so that’s why we did that-“

“Whether it’s cost or whatever. I also lost quite a lot of money in this incident. I can’t just let it go.”

To avoid suspicion, one must be more genuine than anyone else. You must even deceive yourself.

I am a victim. A victim of victims who invested just three months ago, and suffered massive losses right after.

“Ha, hahaha… Yes. I understand. Well then… Ah~ Uh~ over there. Lord Cade!”

The people from the Imperial Palace quietly backed away, intimidated by my murderous gaze.

“How do you feel?”

Just then, someone approached. It was the journalist Alphonse, a camera slung around his neck.

“Looks like you invested too, Sir Knight, in Gigantes, that hotbed of labor exploitation? Ha-ha-ha!”

“Pft.”

For a moment, laughter I didn’t expect flowed out. Alphonse’s triumphant appearance was somehow cute.

Alphonse furrowed his brow.

“What are you laughing at? I’m sure you’ll be rounding up innocent commoners again in this trial.”

“There’s no need to do that.”

I shook my head.

“They won’t yield a single coin even if squeezed anyway.”

Alphonse looked confused for a moment, then lifted his camera to snap a picture of my face. I struck a few fitting poses for him.

─The trial will begin shortly.

Right on time, the trial began. Several Gigantes affiliates were led in first.

“Ah, Sir Knight. This way, please.”

As the victim section was separate from the general audience, a court staff member guided me to a seat that felt like a VIP area.

“We will now convene the special trial of the Imperial Central Court.”

The judge continued in a stern voice.

“This case concerns negligence in security management and dereliction of duty at Gigantes. All defendants, please stand.”

After that, the prosecutors began dragging in the security officials one after another. Pale lips, trembling fingertips. Every one of them looked deathly pale.

One of the prosecutors read the indictment.

“This incident occurred due to the defendants’ negligence and failure to follow security protocols.”

But most of them likely weren’t actual security ‘managers’. Nor were they the ones who exploited Gigantes. More likely, they were the operational staff beneath them. The true culprits had already escaped, leaving behind these scraps, mere commoners of the Empire.

“There was insufficient inspection of controlled zones and lax monitoring of external personnel, allowing the terrorist group to infiltrate. This is a clear case of dereliction of duty…”

The prosecutor’s statement dragged on.

The judge looked down at those seated in the defendant’s box and asked,

“Do the defendants admit to the charges? If you have anything to say, speak now.”

Choked by injustice, they barely managed to open their mouths.

“The budget allocated to us was severely lacking, so we couldn’t increase staff. We reported it multiple times to higher-ups, but”

A noble sitting beside me suddenly stood and shouted.

“How long will you hide behind budget excuses! This terror attack wasn’t planned in a day or two! While those bastards dug tunnels and planted bombs over all that time, where the hell were your eyes?!”

“B-but we-”

“Silence! Even Sir Maximilian here is a victim! He lost a fortune just three months after investing! Try making your excuses in front of him!”

“Shh.”

I lightly tapped the man’s shoulder, who was making an unnecessary fuss. It was a gesture to quiet down.

Why act like this when we don’t even know each other’s names?

“……Yes. I’m sorry.”

The noble flinched and sat down. The defendants bowed their heads deeply, and even the judge glanced at them with clear disapproval.

Once again, the Imperial Palace was trying to cover up its responsibility by sacrificing meaningless lives.

“Then, Sir Knight Maximilian von Ebenholtz, one of the main victims and a witness in this case. Would you please take the stand as a witness?”

The prosecutor called my name. I gladly stood and sat in the witness seat.

“I heard you lost a considerable amount in this incident.”

“Probably somewhere between twenty and thirty million.”

The gallery, the prosecutors, the judge, even the nobles from the Imperial Palace all gasped.

……Perhaps I should’ve burned a little less.

It seemed my financial sense was more or less broken.

“Do you believe the root cause of this incident lies in the negligence of the defendants and their inadequate control systems?”

The prosecutor asked politely. I slowly looked around the courtroom. There were quite a few familiar faces. Alphonse was there, as well as other nobles and knights, Julian, Chiron, and even Sonnet with her expressionless face.

My gaze returned to the commoners sitting in the defendants’ box. Their bodies flinched. Their faces were drenched in despair.

“No.”

I softly smiled and rejected the prosecutor’s assertion.

“I actually believe the opposite is true.”

“……What?”

“This incident was caused by excessive control and the overburdening of the workers, in other words, the very operational principle of Gigantes itself was the problem.”

The courtroom stirred.

I continued calmly.

“According to the investigation, the terrorist group dug a web of underground tunnels inside Gigantes. It was an almost reckless act of boldness, yet they were never discovered.”

The decades-old worker tunnels I had found. If only there had been vents or breathing spaces like those, the Revolutionary forces’ tunnels would have been detected.

No, Thomas Wagner might not have even considered destroying Gigantes in the first place.

“Setting aside the documented and numerical issues with the budget, excessive control turns people into machines. Workers are made to follow only designated paths, supervisors and patrolling guards are also restricted to fixed routes written in the manuals. When sightlines are fixed, blind spots are bound to appear.”

This was the cost of treating human beings like components.

“If the control over workers had been even slightly loosened, if Gigantes had allowed for a certain degree of flexibility…”

The problem lay not with the people, but with the system.

“Then at least one among the many workers would have taken a break or gone to smoke in a quiet corner, and definitely would have discovered at least one of the dangers underground.”

This incident happened entirely because of how Gigantes was run.

“B-but-”

The flustered prosecutor tried to interrupt.

“I lost a very large amount of assets in this incident.”

I swept a cold gaze across the gallery where the Imperial nobles were seated.

“If the responsibility for that loss is to be pinned solely on these low-ranking staff, just to cut off the tail…”

I struck before the Imperial Palace bastards could.

“Then I can’t help but say, I’m very disappointed.”

Right now, I’m a man whose eyes have gone mad from losing money.

A victim who speaks from true conviction.

And from that standpoint, these were the words I could reasonably say.