Do Your Own Revolution

#057

“Father… Father!”

“No…!”

The battle at the Zicklinte territory had come to an end.

While they had captured most of the Revolutionary Army members who had invaded the territory, they had let Claude, the Revolutionary Army supreme leader, slip away. Meanwhile, Baron Zicklinte and his Knight Order had been completely annihilated.

A day after reporting this news to the higher-ups, the Baron’s children, who had taken refuge outside the territory, came and began wailing loudly.

However, that didn’t last long.

“You’re saying you’ll take all the land, brother?! What nonsense is that?!”

“As the heir, I should naturally inherit father’s legacy! Who was it that built up the Knight Order to this point?!”

“Haven’t you heard that the magic imprint disappeared?! Brother, you couldn’t inherit father’s imprint! That means we need to start the heir selection process from scratch!”

“How dare you, when you don’t even have magical power…!”

“Are you done talking?!”

Before Baron Zicklinte’s corpse—with its crushed skull—could even grow cold, his children were already raising their voices, fighting over the land and legacy he had left behind.

A inheritance dispute breaking out before the undertaker could even arrive.

Watching this scene from a distance, I was starting to feel sympathy for the dead Baron…

“Wait! As his mistress, I have rights to this family’s assets too! And so do these children!”

“Baroness Edreal?! You’re a married woman!”

“You can’t leave me out! As your brother’s third woman, I have rights too!”

“A-Aunt?!”

“Good heavens, Uncle is away at war, and you…”

“Wow, this is crazy.”

The sudden participation of the second wife (a married woman) and third wife (married cousin) in the dispute.

Ortega, who was watching this mess beside me, muttered a curse under his breath.

“Hey, Eugene. Do all nobles live like this?”

“Surprisingly and shockingly, most nobles do live like this.”

“Wow.”

“And these people. They’re the ones controlling the empire above our heads?”

“……”

Amazement, disgust, pure hostility.

Seeing the three different reactions, any guilt I felt about killing an innocent magic noble melted away completely.

Zicklinte, you crazy bastard, adultery, NTR, and incest—you hit a triple axel?

If such a bastard died quietly from a gunshot, that’s not a tragic death—it’s dying of old age. Yes, absolutely.

“Senior. How is the situation with the territory’s residents?”

“Generally calmed down. As you informed us, all Revolutionary Army hideouts have been cleared out.”

“That’s a relief.”

While the Zicklinte family’s inheritance war was descending into an endless maze, Feilun and I were busy handling the aftermath of this battle.

Reporting the defeat to our superiors, clearing away debris from the explosion, repairing houses damaged by shrapnel.

We even sneakily handled the tax issue that was one of the protesters’ demands, so as the Imperial Army, we’d done everything we needed to.

‘Is it really true that the tax rate has been reduced?!’

‘This has been officially approved by the Zicklinte family. With the Imperial Army’s additional certification, it should be valid for at least three years.’

‘Then, these relief supplies…’

‘You couldn’t live properly due to the battle’s aftermath. We’ll be leaving this territory soon, so we’re distributing the remaining supplies under commander’s authority.’

‘Thank you…! Thank you…!’

The orders we received from above were to manage public sentiment and stabilize security among the local residents.

As part of that work, after providing civilian support for about a week, the territory’s residents came to trust the Imperial Army more than the Zicklinte family members who would become their new rulers.

To think they trusted a week-long garrison more than the family that had ruled for decades.

Zicklinte, you bastard, just how did you manage this territory?

“Lieutenant Feilun!”

At that moment, a soldier came running breathlessly to Feilun with a letter in hand.

At a glance, what he held was an order document stamped with the Imperial Army seal.

New orders had come down from above.

“What does it say? Return to the frontline?”

“If only it were that.”

Saying that, Feilun shook his head and handed me the orders.

“Letting the Revolutionary Army supreme leader Claude escape, failing to recover Zicklinte’s magic imprint, and so on. It says there were many inadequacies in the Imperial Army’s response.”

“Inadequacies?”

Even though this was a fixed match with the Revolutionary Army, the Imperial Army’s role in this battle was significant.

We controlled a crowd of well over ten thousand with barely a thousand troops, so we did everything we could.

Moreover, it was Baron Zicklinte’s order to station the Imperial Army on the outskirts, so the Imperial Army had hardly done anything wrong.

Yet for such an evaluation to come out…

“There must be other motives.”

“Read the next page. That’s where their true intentions lie.”

At Feilun’s words, I turned the page to check the contents.

[-Based on the above reasons and at the request of the Imperial Joint Knight Order, Lieutenant Feilun lu Ross Nachtval and Second Lieutenant Eugene Lorentz, commanders of the support forces, are ordered to appear at Imperial Army Central Headquarters to report directly on the battle process.] (+)TLN: It seems like the previous name I translated which is: Feilun Rus Nachtval was a mistake from the author. The true name should be this one.

[Order Authority: Colonel Drumven Alaine]

“Direct report? Are they planning to do a post-battle review?”

“More like a hearing. A magic noble being killed by rebels… this is the first time it’s happened.”

Looking at how they specifically included the phrase ‘at the Knight Order’s request,’ it seemed even the Imperial Army issuing these orders wasn’t too pleased about it.

Unlike the Magic Corps, which was nominally under Imperial Army control, the Knight Order was a private military group operated by magic nobles.

Complying with their request must be quite pride-wounding for the Imperial Army.

‘The purpose of this hearing isn’t simply to pressure me and Feilun, but to create a scene where the Knight Order can push around the Imperial Army.’

Simply put, it was a pride battle.

They intended to use the situation of the Knight Order disciplining the Imperial Army as a show of force.

If that’s the case, there wasn’t much I could do as a mere Second Lieutenant.

However…

‘What if I borrowed the Emperor’s power.’

“We need to go to the capital.”

“Since the soldiers still have security duties, I guess this is goodbye soon. I’ve grown quite attached to them.”

Seeing Feilun say this while watching the soldiers on guard duty, I found it refreshing.

“How did someone who didn’t make a single friend at the military academy get so close to the soldiers?”

“I’ve been wondering about that myself. When I was with nobles, I felt sick to my stomach and couldn’t stand it, but during my time with the soldiers, I truly enjoyed myself. It felt like… coming back to where I belonged…”

He hates nobles but feels comfortable with common soldiers?

This guy, was the Revolutionary Army really his true calling?

“Eugene. Just now, you thought I might be better suited for the rebels, didn’t you?”

“Ah.”

First Julian who followed Kyle, and now why do people keep reading my thoughts?

While I was thinking this, Feilun smiled and said to me:

“Rebellion—they call it revolution. I admire their passion for overthrowing the country… but I don’t particularly want to join them.”

“Why?”

“Because their driving force for revolution is nothing but anger and vengeance.”

Saying that, Feilun alternately looked at the Zicklinte mansion and territory.

The nobles bickering inside the burned mansion, and the Imperial Army and territory residents cooperating to repair buildings.

Taking in these sights, Feilun slowly nodded.

“The rebels say they’ll destroy this corrupt empire, but they haven’t said a word about what kind of country they’ll build afterward.”

“……”

“Even if such people kill all the nobles and take control of the empire… will a new world really come? Just because they plant a flag of revolution on the ashes, it doesn’t mean a new world will suddenly open up.”

He was right.

Westraine was still eyeing the empire, and the monster territory was expanding moment by moment.

Just because they overthrow the magic nobles who are the immediate enemy, it doesn’t mean this hell of an empire will automatically change.

Because they didn’t realize this, the original protagonist met that kind of ending.

And the world after that as well.

‘And to think someone saying these things becomes like that in the original.’

I recalled the vision I saw last time.

A villain who took on the burden of civilian massacre and fell to villainy.

Yet now, he was discussing the empire’s future with clear eyes.

‘No, that’s not all.’

Keiren, the Emperor, Mari, and Irene.

Characters who were treated as bosses or background settings were awakening one by one, affecting the predetermined future’s course.

My choices and actions had created these numerous variables.

‘Can they change the ending of this game?’

I wondered.

Would the ending of this twisted story be a happy ending, or the predicted catastrophe?

I couldn’t know.

All I could do was try my best to avoid the terrible ending from the original.

And for that…

“I need even more powerful magic. Strong power will be necessary.”

***

Late at night.

When I opened the armored train’s door and entered the private room, the prisoner sitting in the corner hastily backed away.

“Y-You…!”

The one confined to the private room was Ren, the Revolutionary Army’s imprint user.

Among the prisoners captured this time, they were particularly valuable.

“What are you plotting? Just kill me quickly. I won’t say anything…!”

“No. You’ll have no choice but to talk.”

Looking at the disheveled hair and frightened eyes, exactly the same appearance as seen in the game, I slowly opened my mouth.

“Rennie Schreier. Magic noble ninth seat, illegitimate child of the Branvilde family. Right?”

“…!”

Startled by those words, Ren—no, Rennie—shouted at me.

“How, how did you…!”

“Is that important? What’s important is that you’re my prisoner, and I can return you to your family at any time.”

There was no time to explain the source of information, nor excuses to give.

Even if I said it was from game settings, wouldn’t I just sound crazy?

At the mention of family, Rennie’s face, which had been full of wariness, changed.

Fear.

The emotion she showed me was none other than fear.

“To think a missing noble family’s bloodline had joined the Revolutionary Army. I wonder if Count Branvilde will stay quiet about this?”

“Y-You!”

“If this fact were to be revealed…”

Saying that, I brought my face close to hers.

A moment of silence.

Just as Rennie, unable to bear it, was about to open her mouth, my voice blocked her words.

“What would happen to your mother working as a maid in the Branvilde family?”

“!!!”

At these words, her body began trembling like an aspen tree.

“Now, it’s time for you to choose.”

Now we’re finally ready to talk.

Thinking that, I spoke to Rennie with a bright smile.

“Will you help me kill magic nobles? Or would you rather be executed by magic nobles along with your mother?”