Chapter 31: If You Ask About the Empire's Future (2) Inside the office of Commandant Dane, head of the Cadet Corps.
"Knight Maximilian. Were you acquainted with Cadet Lucas?"
Dane asked me. As the man in charge of the cadet corps at Empire Point, he was naturally familiar with me.
"Yes. I have a bit of a history with Lucas's father."
I set down my teacup and picked up the cadet registry he handed me. Meanwhile, Leon and Tiana were busy assisting with the cadets' training.
"His grades are certainly impressive."
*
[2] Lucas Limperk
Age: 17 (Born in November) Swordsmanship: A+ Physical Ability: A Mana Aptitude: A Mental Fortitude: B+ Operational Capability: A ······.
Overall Evaluation: B+ *
"He's right on the cusp of the elite tier. His grades are solid, but the instructor evaluations are a bit touch-and-go."
"Then he's definitely in now."
He gave a wry smile, seemingly understanding the implication of my words.
"...However, that's not the reason I called you here."
Only a year ago, I was a cadet, but now he addressed me as an equal. He was a man who understood the reality of the situation perfectly. He had become that worn down. The spirit of the North had long since rusted away under the corruption of the Empire.
"Do you remember Jacob Mack?"
"Yes. The sub-species I dealt with."
"And Hannah, who was in his year."
"······."
I silently flipped through the registry. I found her name almost immediately.
*
[3] Hannah Usar
Age: 18 (Born in January) Swordsmanship: A+ Physical Ability: A+ Mana Aptitude: A+ Mental Fortitude: A+ Operational Capability: A+ ···.
Overall Evaluation: A+ *
A straight sweep of A+ grades. She was on the same level Tiana had been in the past.
For a commoner to become an elite knight, they needed this level of skill.
Yet, before my regression, a talent like this never made it to the Sentinels. This was the first time I had even heard her name in this life.
"Remarkable. To have this kind of competitiveness at the elite level."
"Indeed. But..."
"Is there something else?"
The Commandant pulled a leather notebook from his drawer.
"This is a diary found among Jacob's belongings. Read it."
I picked up the diary. The first few pages were mundane—entries about working harder, plans for the future, and so on.
Then, from a certain page:
[...It was the last night of leave. While everyone else was excited, I saw Hannah slipping out of the dormitory alone. I followed her cautiously. Honestly, I just intended to sneak up and tease her. Hannah headed toward an old pier by the river, quite a distance from the school. A figure draped in a black robe was waiting for her there. I watched them from cover. I couldn't see the stranger's face, but the items they exchanged didn't look ordinary. Faint words like 'avoid surveillance,' 'before dawn,' and 'comrades' drifted to me on the wind...]
There were many other sentences pointing out Hannah's 'suspicious behavior.'
"Hmm..."
The Izent are thorough and will use any means necessary. This diary was likely a trap Jacob had designed to bring Hannah down eventually—a way to build his own record by selling out an ally, ensuring his safety, and penetrating deeper into the system.
Perhaps this was the reason Hannah had disappeared before my regression.
"······."
Dane watched me in silence. I closed the diary.
"Why are you giving this to me only now?"
"I had my doubts. But in the end, I decided to leave the choice to you. Hannah has already earned the Ebenholtz family's displeasure, and the Jacob case was yours to begin with."
He was gauging my reaction.
Back when I was a cadet, I thought Dane was an unreachable superior. But in just one year, we had moved beyond equality; I now held the upper hand. Such was the weight of the Ebenholtz name.
"Who says she earned the displeasure of the Ebenholtz family?"
"Among cadets, rumors are as good as truth."
It meant they were talking out of turn.
"If you wish, I can have Hannah expelled from Empire Point."
Jacob's diary was enough to destroy a commoner like Hannah, yet Dane pointedly limited the consequence to expulsion.
Dane wanted to save her too.
I asked him, "Your voice sounds very weary. Are you looking to retire?"
"...It wouldn't be so bad."
Dane was old and tired. The wrinkles of worldly weariness had deepened.
"There are just too many people eyeing my seat."
The position of Commandant, overseeing all cadets at Empire Point, was a coveted one. Requests for favors were endless.
If Dane were to retire and be replaced by someone who prioritized money over skill and lineage, it wouldn't just be simple corruption—security would be compromised. It meant the academy could fall into the hands of the Izent or the Revolutionary Group.
That could not be allowed to happen.
As the famous maxim goes, the future of the Empire exists right here.
"In that case..."
I looked at Dane. Through him, I realized why the Empire had rotted. The corrupt fought desperately to survive and cling to their connections, while the upright were worn down until they faded away. Bad money had driven out the good.
I picked up Jacob's diary.
*
Phillips, an instructor at Empire Point, was a man in his mid-thirties loyal to the Empire. Though born a commoner, he had become an Imperial Knight through endless effort. Inspired by Dane, his former superior, he had become an instructor with the goal of discovering other talented commoners like himself.
Jacob had been one of the cadets Phillips kept an eye on. But Jacob was a sub-species. Since he wasn't an Aranian of the Empire, he had met a 'fitting' end at the hands of Maximilian.
However, after Jacob's death, Phillips had found the problematic diary hidden under a floor tile while cleaning out the room.
He had agonized over it.
Was Hannah really that kind of person?
No, it couldn't be. But whether it was the Imperial Guard or the Knights, anyone who saw this diary would be eager to implicate her. They would never pass up such a juicy achievement.
Should he destroy it? If he did, would Hannah survive?
Hannah's talent was too precious to waste. Setting aside the kinship of their commoner roots, he had a daughter around Hannah's age.
His internal conflict dragged on and on, but in the end, Phillips had shirked the responsibility. He had passed the heavy burden to his superior, Dane.
By now, Dane was likely with Maximilian von Ebenholtz...
······This was the field training ground of Empire Point.
Phillips watched Hannah as she rolled through mana-infused mud. Since the day Jacob died, she had immersed herself in training like a madwoman. All her grades had risen beyond the top tier. She should have been the target of jealousy from noble cadets—the 'how dare a commoner' sort—but most just scoffed. There wasn't even the usual sabotage.
The rumor that she was already on the Ebenholtz blacklist was rampant.
"Training ends!"
With the instructor's shout, the nine-hour physical conditioning session concluded. Next was the cadet interview period.
Phillips called Hannah to his tent first.
"······."
He watched her quietly. Covered in mud, she sat upright without a hint of exhaustion.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"...Hmm?"
"It's alright. I know. I'm just doing my best regardless."
"...You've answered everything before I could even ask."
Hannah gave a faint smile. She was mature beyond her years.
"Are you feeling any better?"
"I won't lie. I still think about that day. The day Jacob died."
Normally, Jacob should have been a cadet in the elite division as well.
...No.
Jacob should never have been here in the first place.
"Hannah. He wasn't our friend."
"Yes, I know. But I keep thinking there might have been a better way—"
"Then stop thinking that."
Hannah lowered her head. She bit her lip in silence.
Phillips asked her, "Cadet Hannah Usar. You said your dream was to become a knight."
"Yes."
"And the reason?"
"I wanted to become a Sword of the Empire. I didn't think being a commoner was a reason I couldn't be one."
It was the exact same reason Phillips once had.
"...Right. Yes. I know. I'm a commoner too."
The corners of Hannah's mouth twitched slightly. A small smile escaped.
But Phillips's heart only grew darker. The world was different now compared to when he had become a knight.
He could feel it—the discrimination based on status and racial division had intensified significantly.
"But even if you don't become a knight, it's not the end of the world."
"I know. I'll just be losing one dream."
Despite everything, Hannah remained resolute.
"Right now, my only dream is to be a knight, but I'll find another one someday. I'll help the Empire in a different way..."
She trailed off. There was a presence outside the field tent.
"Who is it?" Phillips asked.
The tent flap opened, and Commandant Dane stepped inside. Dane glanced between Hannah and Phillips, giving a nod.
"Could you give us a moment?"
"Of course. Cadet Hannah, you're dismissed."
"Yes! Loyalty!"
She gave a salute so sharp her fingertips trembled, then hurried out.
Dane sat across from Phillips.
"...Phillips."
"Yes, Brigadier General."
"I delivered the diary to Maximilian."
Phillips's heart sank instantly.
"What happened?"
"Are you curious?"
"Yes."
Dane pulled a cigarette from his inner pocket and put it to his lips. Phillips quickly provided a light.
"When I handed him the diary, Maximilian..."
He exhaled a long plume of smoke and smiled faintly.
His gaze drifted into the air, rewinding time to that moment.
'...Commandant. I believe this is a matter of trust.'
A matter of trust.
Maximilian, once a cadet of Empire Point himself, had opened with those words.
'Trust?'
'Yes. In a world this chaotic, one must consider who to trust, and how.'
Maximilian had looked out the window of the office.
'The people who can be trusted and those who cannot are clearly distinguished. And those who cannot be trusted are not to be trusted at all. One must not fall for their lies by cherry-picking parts of what they say to believe.'
His voice was calm, yet his words were as sharp as a blade.
'Jacob Mack was a sub-species. A piece of vermin who dared to infiltrate Empire Point and deserved to be struck down. There is no credibility whatsoever in the diary of such a creature.'
Dane had suddenly tried to overlap the image of Knight Maximilian with Cadet Maximilian.
They wouldn't overlap at all.
He didn't seem like the cadet from those days.
'On the contrary, it is nothing more than a cunning trick intended to sow internal discord.'
Maximilian had chuckled softly, letting the diary flutter in the air.
'Meanwhile, Cadet Hannah's lineage has been clearly verified by us, the Ebenholtz family. She is indeed an Aranian born and raised in the heart of the Empire.'
Even as he said this, he didn't breach a single point of etiquette toward Dane. He showed no insolence. He kept his back straight and never crossed his legs.
'Therefore... with talent like hers, she is more than qualified to join the Sentinels.'
At that moment, Dane had swallowed a dry laugh.
If they were Imperial citizens, even commoners were treated fairly if they had talent. But if they were sub-species, their heads were lopped off without mercy.
Maximilian was authoritative because he was an Ebenholtz, and he was profoundly aristocratic.
But being a noble didn't make one aristocratic. To be aristocratic, in the end, meant possessing the 'qualities of a noble.'
"Then..."
Instructor Phillips's face went blank.
"The—the diary. What happened to it?"
"He suddenly asked to borrow my lighter. I thought he had picked up smoking. But."
Whoosh!
Maximilian had flicked the lighter and set the diary ablaze without a moment's hesitation.
"He burned it."
He had cleanly incinerated evidence that could have been his own achievement.
"And then, he said this."
—Commandant Dane. This is how I trust people.
Facing Maximilian then, Dane had felt a sharp pang of emotion. It was a passion similar to what he had felt in his youth, a fire that hadn't cooled even in the blizzards of the North—something he had somehow lost in this desolate capital.
"Then, Cadet Hannah is...?"
"If she maintains her current grades, she'll become a knight without issue. If she does even better, she might even make it into the Sentinels. Since the Ebenholtz family has acknowledged her."
"Hah."
Phillips let out an involuntary chuckle.
"Ha... haha."
It soon turned into a hearty laugh filled with relief. After laughing for a good while, Phillips quickly snapped back to his senses.
"Ah, I'm sorry."
"It's fine."
"But was that all? Did he say anything else to you, Commandant?"
"...Well. I'm still not sure if I did something to get on the Ebenholtz family's bad side or their good side."
Maximilian had left Dane with one final request.
"He told me to ensure I serve out my full term before retiring."
"Ah, that—that is truly a relief."
"What's a relief? It means I'm stuck suffering for five more years."
"Haha..."
Dane thought of Maximilian for a moment. Even as the heir to the Ebenholtz family, he was just a green knight of twenty-one. Yet the presence he exuded reminded Dane of Zebestian, whom he had met once long ago.
The man who had instantly brought the confident young Dane, fresh from the North, to his knees—the man who first made him realize what an insurmountable 'wall' truly was.
The monster of the capital and the masterpiece of the Ebenholtz family.
Indeed, a tiger could only sire a tiger.
Until now, the young cub simply hadn't realized he was a beast of prey.
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