Julian preserved the site of the summary execution. The headless body of a child lay alone in the park, and the virus within my body secretly absorbed a small part of it.
I don’t know the principle, but I felt my magic core slightly grow.
“……”
I looked at Julian. With his calm face, he must have intended to let the child go. He was a man who always pondered ‘righteousness,’ now and before.
Click. Click.
Before I knew it, some reporters had arrived and were taking pictures of the scene. Julian didn’t particularly stop them.
“Good work. The forensic team will release the detailed results. Loyalty.”
The police pushed the reporters aside, collected the body, and Julian and I remained. We seemed to be gauging each other, but there was no escaping the situation.
A cool night breeze blew. A back alley, untouched by the capital’s lights.
We walked side by side down a street dimly lit by gas lamps swaying in the wind.
“You’ve done a good deed from your first day.”
Julian broke the awkward silence.
“Yes. Thanks to you.”
Julian was a pure imperial citizen. With shining blond hair and sharp golden eyes, his every demeanor was that of a nobleman to his core.
He was the reason I became his subordinate, and honestly, he was my spiritual mentor.
Before his strength, I realized my own weakness. That’s why I felt petty jealousy.
Julian was a man who had everything I didn’t.
“How do you feel? It must have been quite anticlimactic for a first mission.”
“I’m fine. It was a manageable task.”
However, Julian was too good a person for this rotten empire.
The empire didn’t need Julian either.
One day, I watched him receive a death sentence. Having lost everything, he smiled with a full heart and said to me,
…Max. I wish I had died by your hand.
“Good job.”
Julian said, breaking me from my reverie.
“You’ll have to attend the committee tomorrow. Summary trials are subject to post-mortem review, you knew that, right?”
I would likely undergo an internal investigation. It might be a bit bothersome, but it would only last a day or two.
“……Yes. I don’t mind.”
* * *
It was already dawn when I arrived at the Knight’s headquarters. I returned to my office and wrote the report. I used my memories from before my regression to meticulously record the entire incident in a proper format.
The final paragraph of the report read:
‘──As the suspect clearly had grounds to murder a noble, summary judgment was carried out on the spot in accordance with imperial law.’
A knight is a prosecutor, a judge, and an executioner simultaneously. It meant a position that could excuse the accidental death of a few commoners under the guise of self-defense.
Of course, as the empire was a thorough bureaucracy, at least a post-mortem review process was necessary for summary judgments.
I was notified to attend the review committee on the morning of the day I submitted the report to my superiors.
It was a cold, static space.
Two senior knights sat across the table. One was a woman with a sharp impression, and the other was a man with a stoic expression.
“You wrote the report cleanly.”
The woman said, placing the file on the table.
“Forensic results confirmed the victim’s blood and residual magic in the body of the child you dealt with. With this much evidence, there’s no need to infer other circumstances.”
She closed the file. Then, resting her chin on her hand, she stared at me. Her gaze was probing.
“However, you’ve already killed two people. You weren’t this type of character in Empire Point. I was a professor there back then, so we must have crossed paths a few times?”
“……Yes. I remember.”
Her name was Adria von Hardenberg.
There was no way I wouldn’t know her. Although she sat before me as a senior knight, she was, in essence, a traitor to the empire.
Her codename was ‘Blue Owl.’ A spy from the noble faction who had been a core executive of the revolutionary army for decades.
To me, she was a more dangerous existence than the empire itself.
It was likely the same for her.
I would eventually cut off her head.
“You might even be referred to the Grand Jury. There was a complaint.”
“A complaint?”
“Yes. You killed a fifteen-year-old and then an eleven-year-old.”
Adria gave a faint smile.
“It’s a great story for reporters. ‘Overkill by the cold-blooded Ebenholz.’ They always brag that the pen is mightier than the sword, but they don’t give a damn about the weight carried by that pen.”
She pointed at me with her finger.
“Of course, if you wish, I can crush it. The Grand Jury is merely a formality-”
“No.”
I refused.
“If I did the right thing, why should it be crushed? Please proceed with the formal procedure.”
Adria’s eyes widened slightly.
“……Understood. I’ll let you know when the schedule is set.”
The male knight, who had been silent until then, chuckled.
“Aren’t you curious? Who filed the complaint against you.”
In principle, the identity of the complainant should be confidential. However, there was no way such a principle would be upheld in the empire.
“It’s this one.”
He pushed a photo and a document towards me.
His name was Alphonse von Staufen. Born into a decent noble family, but one who willingly descended to the lower classes with his pen. He was a journalist who exposed the empire’s corruption.
“I see.”
“Do you know him?”
I hid my expression.
I did know him.
Even in this bleak era, there were still righteous people like him. Some of them might wield a pen, and others a sword.
But their righteousness ultimately proved to be unrighteous. The righteousness they advocated led the world to ruin.
“No. It’s the first time I’ve heard the name.”
I stood up.
Suddenly, a voice echoed towards me.
“I’m curious.”
Adria said, looking at me with her chin in her hand. Her voice was languid, but it hid a sharp blade within. At least, that’s how it felt to me.
“What will Ebenholz do to him?”
It was a test. Before I could answer, my father came to mind.
Sebastian.
The revolutionary army respected my father. They displayed his head on Central Road, but even that was an expression of awe. It was an act of trying to forget their fear by being afraid.
Sebastian defended his beliefs with his life. Beliefs were that precious of a value.
“Suppressing individual beliefs with force is not the way of Ebenholz.”
A petty person who pursues only their own interests and wavers will eventually disappear, covered in disgrace and filth.
However, a person who has upheld their beliefs their entire life deserves respect, even if they are an enemy.
“Hmm.”
Adria’s gaze flickered slightly.
If I made one call to Enzi, Alphonse would be found dead tomorrow morning. Perhaps Alphonse himself was prepared for such an end.
Thus, troublesome martyrs are reborn.
“I’m curious. What is Ebenholz’s way?”
“To let them learn naturally.”
Killing Alphonse would only tarnish my image. It would only raise Adria’s suspicion. In many ways, it was an unprofitable calculation.
I needed to perform a thorough cost-benefit analysis for myself. At the very least, I had to appear as a ‘reasonable’ noble.
“In the first place, no matter how much a reporter might write, nothing changes. The empire’s society isn’t so soft that it can be stained with ink.”
I looked at Adria.
“I dealt with the murderer of a noble on the spot. No matter how much you wave your pen, that fact remains unchanged.”
I stood up. I had no further business here.
“Then, I’ll be going.”
* * *
As soon as I left the Knight’s headquarters, I got into the car. My destination was a nearby autopsy room.
[Empire Eiton Forensic Institute]
A space filled with the scent of disinfectant. I opened the door to one of the autopsy rooms. A small figure covered with a white cloth lay on a steel plate.
The medical examiner took off his gloves and turned to me.
“What are the autopsy results?”
“Ah, yes. As you expected, it is indeed a Subspecies.”
“Is it Ezenheim?”
“Ezenheim… I don’t know. It could be Edlem, or an Elina hybrid. It’s too young to make a clear distinction.”
The white-haired medical examiner removed his mask. His face was etched with deep fatigue.
“It’s definitely not of Aran lineage. Judging by the unusual magic reaction detected in its body…”
‘Aran,’ strictly speaking, is not a race. It is a word that Imperial citizens use to call themselves superior.
“You mean you can’t distinguish it?”
“Yes. Usually, young individuals like this haven’t fully developed their characteristics yet. However, the structure of the magic circuits is definitely that of a Subspecies.”
Subspecies. At some point, the empire stopped calling them ‘races.’ It was a label that branded them as inferior to humans. It was a mechanism to socially and academically legitimize the empire’s discriminatory policies.
“You’ve achieved great success from your first mission. Congratulations, Knight Maximillian.”
The medical examiner offered a perfunctory compliment.
I raised my head and looked at him. I unconsciously gritted my teeth at his words of congratulation. The medical examiner flinched and stepped back.
“……I merely performed the duty assigned to me as a knight. There is no reason to be praised.”
“Ah, yes.”
The medical examiner cleared his throat awkwardly. I turned and left the autopsy room.
……
“Why is that kid so fierce?”
After the knight left, the medical examiner was genuinely perplexed.
Maximillian Ebenholz. A young knight who had just turned twenty. The public generally perceived him as weak and incompetent, with some even calling him the ‘wrong bloodline’ that disgraced the Ebenholz family, but bloodline seemed to matter after all.
He actually resembled Sebastian in his youth. A sharp demeanor, quite unlike the rumors.
“Well, a softie wouldn’t kill a child like that.”
The medical examiner shifted his gaze to the dead child. The severed neck had been roughly sewn up with thick wire.
“……”
He stared blankly at the child, then let out an involuntary sigh.
This child had, of course, killed a noble. However, the child’s body was covered in ‘unspeakable wounds’ that it must have sustained from that noble.
“Sometimes… I wonder if this is truly the right path.”
Forty years had passed serving the empire as a loyal medical examiner. He had performed his duties with as much transparency as possible, but he was now getting old.
Sympathy and pity welled up from the depths of his heart.
“Rest in peace. Your next life will be better.”
He quietly closed the child’s eyes with his hand.
He put the body into the freezer and turned off the lights.
