Chapter 269: One Step
Imperial Royal Central Hospital.
I was waiting to visit a patient in a place where even most nobles could never hope to be admitted.
──Tick. Tick.
That clock on the wall.
I wanted to rip it down.
──Tick. Tick.
Was it challenging me?
──Tick. Tick.
I narrowed my eyes and glared hard at it.
“Sir Maximilian?”
Just then, a nurse called my name.
“Yes.”
I got up and stood before the door.
“You may go in.”
I stepped through the door the nurse opened for me.
“You’re here.”
The doctor greeted me first, and I looked toward the bed.
A rather unusual patient lay there.
“…….”
Reutern I. A royal noble, and Reutern II’s father.
He was dying.
He had fathered a son late in life, and at least he could leave this world after seeing that son develop ambitions of his own and seemingly bring the royal nobles under his sway…… Perhaps that was something to be grateful for.
“How is his condition?”
I asked the doctor as I placed the flowers in a vase.
“Unchanged. The endocarditis…….”
I didn’t really know the details. Something about a bacterial infection of the heart valves?
Before the Regression, Reutern I had died from the same disease, and Reutern II had become an uncontrollable madman from that point onward.
Well, Reutern I had probably been the only brake keeping Reutern II in check.
The reason II wasn’t committing the kind of depraved crimes one would expect from him, at least for now, was almost entirely thanks to I.
His father was in the hospital, after all.
“His face is deathly pale.”
“Yes. It’s a symptom of the disease.”
Even a degenerate son couldn’t help but adore his own father.
If anything, I was curious.
Just how recklessly had his father showered him with love for Reutern II to grow into that kind of man?
It wasn’t envy. That was an emotion I had never possessed in the first place.
“If the new drug you mentioned truly works, Sir, then theoretically, he may be curable.”
The doctor already knew about Penicillin.
The antibiotic killed bacteria, and bacteria had built up in Reutern I’s heart. That meant he was an ideal test subject for the Penicillin prototype.
“……Sir Maximilian?”
A hoarse voice suddenly came from the bed. It was Reutern I.
“Yes, Duke Reutern.”
“What brings you here……?”
He looked up at me as he asked. With all the color drained from his face, he looked like a corpse.
“As I told you before, there is a new drug.”
“…….”
A hollow chuckle escaped his lips.
“I believe I’ve refused you several times already……”
“I came to ask you not to refuse.”
Did he mean that he couldn’t possibly allow some unproven new drug to be used on someone as important as himself? Whatever the reason, which he had never shared with anyone, he had continued refusing all this time.
“…….”
Reutern I seemed to ask me with his eyes. Why? Why was I trying to help him?
“I wish to see you recover, Duke Reutern.”
A faint smile appeared on Reutern I’s lips.
The doctor quickly read the room and excused himself.
“You know as well as I do…… people like us never give or receive anything without reason…….”
I knew.
Politics itself demanded a price and incurred debts. A single favor could become a lifelong obligation.
“I…… do not wish to leave that boy, with his whole future ahead of him, burdened by a debt…….”
“…….”
Only then did I understand what Reutern I meant.
He didn’t want his survival to become a burden on Reutern II.
A father’s pure concern for his son.
Even villains loved. So did the fathers of villains.
“……I see.”
Unfortunately, Reutern I was only half wrong.
After all, I was trying to keep you alive so I could use Reutern II.
“However, there is only one reason I am recommending that you undergo treatment.”
Because it wasn’t time for Reutern to die yet.
“You are Reutern II’s father, Duke.”
That wasn’t a lie.
As long as you were alive, II wouldn’t go around insisting that he should become a battlefield commander.
“……There was a time when he was simply my son.”
His voice was filled with pride.
By then, Reutern ‘II’ was far more famous under the name Reutern.
“I am content…… I once thought my life would end without even an heir…… yet it has become so beautiful…….”
“Duke. In my view, Reutern II is academically exceptional.”
It felt fucking awful just saying that, but he was still someone useful to Imperial propaganda.
For one thing, he wasn’t bad-looking. In fact, his looks were absurdly better than his behavior deserved.
Keeping Professor Ruben at his side like a trusted retainer and giving lectures was about the best possible path for him.
“……I know.”
What the hell did he know?
I continued calmly.
“But if you pass away like this, II will most likely throw himself onto the battlefield. Because he’ll want to devote his talents to war.”
I met his eyes and added.
“That would be a grave loss to the nation.”
“…….”
Reutern I’s expression changed. He seemed to understand what I meant. Surely, he also wanted II to stay away from somewhere as dangerous as a battlefield.
After all, it was Reutern I’s overprotectiveness that had turned II into such a degenerate in the first place.
“…….”
To the man wavering in silence, I made one final appeal.
“Please accept the new treatment.”
Reutern I remained still for some time.
Perhaps he believed himself deeply moved, because a tear rolled down from the corner of his eye.
It was a difficult sight to stomach.
“……If that is your wish.”
At last, he slowly nodded.
“Thank you.”
I opened the door to the hospital room. The doctor entered soon afterward and prepared the new Penicillin treatment.
“You will probably need regular doses. It will be a long course of treatment.”
At the moment, a single syringe of the stuff was worth as much as gold.
“Assuming I’m still alive, that is.”
Reutern I laughed, and after watching him receive the Penicillin injection, I left the hospital room.
***
One spring day, Volska’s Ambassador was summoned by the Imperial Foreign Minister, Steller.
Without so much as a preamble, the Ambassador was presented with a demand for the [Cession of Genson]. His hand froze around the document.
“I will report this to my government, but…….”
He answered with a troubled expression.
“Given public opinion, it will never be accepted.”
“Why not? That land was cultivated by Imperials in the first place.”
“But they renounced their Imperial citizenship-”
“Renounced their citizenship?”
Steller frowned. For a while, he said nothing, audibly grinding his teeth.
The atmosphere grew rather menacing, and cold sweat broke out on the Ambassador’s brow.
“……If they are Aran, they cannot renounce their Imperial nationality. And Aran live there.”
“…….”
The Volskan Ambassador closed his mouth. He had quickly realized there was no reasoning with the man.
“In any case. Convey the message with the utmost sincerity. Who knows? If Volska moves faster and demonstrates even greater loyalty.”
Steller gave a crooked smile.
“Perhaps some Volskans may even be granted Quasi-Bloodline status?”
Quasi-Bloodline. The Ambassador knew perfectly well how much weight that word carried. At some point, the Empire had become a society ordered by bloodline.
“……Yes. Then I suppose I must act quickly.”
The Ambassador forced a smile as he rose.
“Ah. This is a gift.”
Foreign Minister Steller slid a small box across the table.
“I hear you’ve served as Ambassador to the Empire for ten years. The Ebenholtz Family personally asked me to pass this on to you.”
A gift of Mana Stones from Ebenholtz. Even without opening the box, its weight alone gave away its value.
“No. I am merely an ambassador. I cannot accept something like-”
“A gift from an Imperial Knight is merely a gift.”
His voice dropped again.
The implication was clear. Refusing it would cause problems.
“……Yes.”
Faced with that menacing expression, the Ambassador had no choice but to accept it.
“Then, if you’ll excuse me.”
Steller waved him away, and the box swayed heavily inside the departing Ambassador’s inner pocket.
…….
The Empire demanded the cession of eastern ‘Aran-inhabited territories’, including those in Volska.
The issue immediately became Highland’s greatest political concern── and this was their parliament,「Common Hall」.
“The Empire is now trying to disregard even national borders!”
Arthur Winston stood at the podium and warned of the Empire’s ambitions.
“If we surrender Genson in Volska today, tomorrow their ambitions will spread across the entire continent─!”
Highland’s cabinet was already divided. There were appeasers watching Arthur with displeasure, and neutrals who remained silent with their arms folded, while only a minority of hardliners agreed with him.
“That is why we must take a hard line immediately-”
“Councilor Winston!”
Three-term Councilor Henry Ashby shouted at him.
“What exactly is the problem? If anything, isn’t this their rightful claim?”
“……Their rightful claim?”
Arthur frowned as though he had just witnessed something revolting.
“Yes. Isn’t the Genson region actually inhabited by Imperials?”
Aran lived there, and the Imperial language was designated as an official language.
The Empire had expelled countless subjects as ‘rebels’, and those exiles had gone on to cultivate undeveloped land in other countries with their own hands, founding cities like Genson all across the continent.
Councilor Ashby continued.
“It was useless land to begin with, and the Aran-”
“Imperials, Councilor Ashby.”
At Arthur’s correction, Councilor Ashby snorted.
“……Councilor Winston. Don’t you know?”
“Know what?”
“Ethnologically speaking, Highlanders are classified as part of the Centric lineage, which means that, strictly speaking, they’re Aran. Study a little.”
“…….”
Arthur Winston’s face went blank for a moment.
He was dumbfounded. He stared at Ashby in utter disbelief.
Apparently mistaking that expression for ignorance, Ashby added triumphantly.
“If a Highlander received a genealogy from the Empire, it would say ‘Aran’. And you call yourself informed when you don’t even know that.”
He was shamelessly parroting the racial theory preached by those damned Imperialists, all for the pathetic reason that it suited his argument.
“Then…….”
Arthur pressed his throbbing temple for a moment as if struck by sudden vertigo.
“Does that mean you’re no different from those Imperial pigs?”
“……What kind of insane bullshit is that? Someone drag this madman out of here!”
“You’re the madman! You fucking lunatic, trying to make friends with a crocodile!”
“According to their classification, Highlanders really are Aran! What the hell do you want me to do about it?! The Empire doesn’t treat everyone as inferior, you crippled bastard!”
「Common Hall」 erupted into chaos.
“Everyone? You don’t understand that treating even one group as inferior is wrong, you moronic bastard?”
“W-what?! Moron?!”
Some started fighting, some tried to stop them, but most did not want war.
Cowards who were reluctant even to utter the word war.
“Order. Order! Order, please!”
At last, Prime Minister Gary Beaufort stepped in.
“Let us not lean too far in one direction.”
He looked around the chamber and composed his voice.
“There is only one thing we know right now. If war can be avoided, then avoiding it is the right course. I believe we all agree-”
“─No!”
Arthur Winston hurried back onto the podium.
“I am saying there is no way to stop this war now! The Empire will start one no matter what! Whatever we do, whatever we try to do—”
「Common Hall」grew noisy once again. Gary let out a deep sigh, pointed at Arthur, and spoke as though he had no other choice.
“Get that man out of the chamber.”
***
[This is an Imperial broadcast. To our brethren in Genson, and to all citizens of the Empire.]
The radio broadcast a report across the Empire.
[Yesterday, two Aran schools on the outskirts of Genson were shut down by the Volskan authorities. The stated reason was an ‘unapproved curriculum’. Those schools had educated Aran in the Imperial language for ninety years.]
The real cause was a budget deficit. The schools had closed naturally as the population declined, but the story had been twisted into one of persecution.
[Last week, twenty-three Aran supervisors at the Genson mines were dismissed all at once. Their positions were filled by Volskans sent down from the capital.]
The real cause was a change in ownership. The mines had been sold, and the new owner brought in his own people, the sort of routine personnel shake-up that happened at mines all across the continent.
[Aran-owned shops were ordered to ‘display signs in the Volskan language’, and forty businesses that failed to replace their signs before the deadline were ordered to suspend operations……]
The real cause was a nationwide signage ordinance that had been in effect for years. It applied not only to Aran shops but to businesses throughout Volska, and most of those forty locations had already been vacant storefronts after going out of business.
[Brethren. The Empire has not forgotten you. The Empire remembers every last tear you shed…….]
Those voices echoed from radios, while reports reached Volska that tanks and other forces in Genen had been mobilized toward the border.
Before my Regression, they really had been mobilized.
This time, I left them sitting in Genen.
I spread only the rumors. The army itself never moved.
“……Volska has reportedly mobilized its forces.”
I nodded.
Fooled by the false propaganda, Volska had stationed real soldiers along the border to stop tanks that weren’t even there.
“Now Volska is the side that moved its forces first.”
Those were the words of Johann Georg, seated across from me. He looked satisfied as well.
“We have our justification. It will appear that they have added a show of force on top of their persecution of the Aran.”
Aran was ultimately just a frame. A fiction that did not truly exist. There was no fixed concept of Aran anywhere; it was merely a label defined and applied however one found convenient.
But now that it lay before me like a weapon, I had no reason not to use it.
“After this, even if they agree to cede Genson…….”
“……We demand something greater?”
“Yes. That was His Majesty’s command as well.”
‘Keep demanding things they cannot accept.’
Before long, Volska would be occupied by the Empire. But only after we had expanded the border step by step without wasting blood or resources.
Johann Georg truly was a cunning old snake.
Having gone from a devil to a serpent, was he now the very personification of slander and intrigue, even to my eyes?
“Well done, Johann.”
“It is an honor. If anything, every day I find myself grateful that I can be of use……”
Even so, the way a single word from me could still move him so deeply had not changed.
***
[Volska’s persecution of the Aran……]
[We must save the Aran, for the Empire! For Aran!]
Reutern II read the headlines of several newspapers and let out a deep sigh.
“……The battlefield calls to me.”
At that moment, in an annex of the Imperial Palace, he felt a pull that seemed almost like destiny.
“Lord Reutern!”
The door flew open and a retainer rushed inside. Barging in without knocking was terribly rude, but Reutern instead sprang to his feet.
“Reutern I has—!”
So it had finally come.
Reutern ran.
He didn’t even wait for the retainers to finish speaking. He simply jumped into a car and raced to the hospital.
“Daaad──!”
He burst into the hospital room with a shout.
“……?”
His father was sitting there with the doctor, smiling.
“What happened…… What? Dad, are you dead?”
“No.”
Reutern I shook his head and gestured to the space beside him.
“Come, sit here.”
Still bewildered, his son dropped onto the edge of the bed.
His father spoke.
“I was given a new drug.”
“There was a new drug?!”
His son asked again in surprise.
His father nodded gently.
“Knight Maximilian’s.”
“……Max?”
“Yes.”
His son blinked blankly for a moment before asking again.
“……How?”
His father quietly studied his son for a moment, as though gathering his thoughts.
“Sometimes. There are people who expect nothing and ask for nothing in return.”
The nurse beside him chimed in as well.
“That Knight came by often. He even changed the flowers in that vase for you.”
Reutern II turned his gaze. A bright vase of flowers sat by the window.
Reutern I spoke.
“My son. You’ve made a good friend.”
“Uh…… so, Max…….”
II could only open and close his mouth.
“This is what he told me.”
His father looked his son in the eyes and repeated the words.
“‘Reutern II is academically exceptional. He has the temperament of a scholar, a gift better suited to building something and leaving it behind than to destroying things.”
Maximilian had never said anything of the sort, but they were probably words that Reutern I’s mind, clouded while hovering near death, had embellished and rewritten.
“A battlefield consumes one man’s life, but a lectern plants that life in the minds of thousands.”
“……”
As his father continued, his son’s eyes slowly reddened.
“As long as he teaches the Empire from that place, the Empire will live on through him into the next generation…….”
Therefore, I believe that is the most worthwhile labor Reutern II can devote to the Empire.
“…….”
His tears welled up and up. A drop gathering beneath his curly hair fell with a soft plop.
“……My son.”
His father clasped his son’s hand.
“Make your mark at the lectern. Do what you can from there. Leave the battlefield to the Knights…….”
He took something from the drawer beside the bed.
It was a book written by Reutern II.
The cover was worn from countless readings. It was a book his father had returned to again and again.
……Of course, Professor Ruben had written most of it.
“…….”
Reutern II stared blankly down at the cover.
“So Max really said that.”
He accepted the book in both hands.
“That idiot…….”
He lowered his head deeply.
He didn’t want anyone to see the tears about to fall.
~~~
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