My Students Regret It After I Retired

29 – Belin Under Suspicion

After the Emperor left, the Imperial Shadow Unit gathered, their faces grave, remaining silent. Keltazar was radiating such killing intent that those around him barely dared to breathe.

After about ten minutes of silence, Keltazar slowly opened his mouth.

“There’s a traitor among us… Which b*stard… Just who the hell…”

Keltazar had also seen the data that had been spread on the Interliner. The Redgate Whirlpool Eradication Plan. A simple plan to use a large-scale mana bomb to obliterate the area every 24 hours. A groundbreaking method to deal with unmanageable mutant monsters in one go, but also the most inhumane. It was a method that would decapitate humans along with the monsters.

Keltazar sighed, not knowing where to even begin to salvage the situation.

“The leak’s from our actual agenda. If you got this document, you ain’t some low-ranking punk… but, who the hell…?”

Someone who’d dare rebel against the Empire. Keltazar suddenly recalled a conversation he had with Rakart, the Execution Squad’s commander.

– The higher-ups see everyone as tools, that’s why things are like this. If they treated us like people, this wouldn’t have happened.

Rakart said that while they were discussing Leos’s expulsion. His words were clearly laced with resentment against the Emperor’s tyranny.

‘That can’t be. Rakart’s worked like a loyal dog for the Imperial Family. And Paron, an Imperial spy, is always by his side as his right-hand man. I haven’t heard a single whisper about him acting strange.’

The Execution Squad had served the Imperial Family for a long time, obeying like livestock, and Rakart was an elite who led them all, always successfully completing missions. Paron, by his side, was also a spy with the Empire’s hooks in him, it was unthinkable they would betray.

‘Who is it… who the hell…’

The problem was, apart from Execution Squad commander Rakart, it was hard to find someone with both resentment towards the Imperial Family, and also high enough rank to receive the annihilation plan in advance.

‘No, I’m thinking about this the wrong way. What if the document was leaked to the team members?’

Though the document was given to the high-ranking commanders, the possibility that the information leaked to their subordinates as they kept the files in their distance or in the office could not be ruled out. If the possibility of a leak were considered, the first people to be suspected were the members of the Imperial Shadow Unit.

Keltazar looked at the Shadow Unit members with a chilling gaze and said.

“The Imperial Shadow Unit was the first to receive the annihilation plan. The reason His Majesty is so furious that he pointed the finger at us is probably because he suspects the information leaked from among our own. I’m saying this now, I don’t trust any of you.”

Keltazar drew his sword and raised it, then swung it at the chest of the man trembling in front of him.

– *Shwack!*

As the sword sliced through his chest, crimson blood splattered into the air. The man who was struck clutched at his torso in agony. But he didn’t scream. He knew that if he did anything that upset Keltazar’s mood now, the next attack would be aimed at his throat.

“Suspicious. Why are you trembling so much? What are you so afraid of?”

“I…I just thought…that Keltazar-nim was angry…”

“No, no, no, that’s not it. Perhaps you leaked the information? You’re afraid of getting caught, aren’t you?”

“T-that’s impossible! I…I am loyal enough to give my life for the Execution Squad, how could I leak such information…”

“We’ll see about that.”

Keltasar gestured, and the knights around him surged forward, quickly seizing the man and dragging him away. Even as he was pulled, the man screamed in protest.

“Ke…Keltasar-nim! I’m innocent! Don’t you know me?! Why…why would I steal information!”

Keltasar ignored him, and instead barked an order to the knight hauling him away.

“He was trembling unnaturally when he looked at me. He probably knows something. Torture him until he talks.”

“What if he doesn’t speak until the end?”

“Then torture him until he dies. As painfully as possible.”

“I understand.”

As the man was taken, the others barely held onto their own hands, which were shaking violently. Belin swallowed hard, watching the scene unfold.

‘This is insane… Why the hell…?’

Logically, if information were to leak, the Imperial Shadow Unit would be the first to take responsibility. So, for a member of the Imperial Shadow Unit to steal information, and then not even try to flee, but instead remain here? That’s impossible, unless it was a suicide attempt.

Looking at it coldly, it was more rational to suspect an external traitor, rather than one within. But Keltasar just muttered, like a man losing his mind.

“His Majesty has become disappointed in me. He looked at me with the same eyes he uses for other trash. This cannot be. I have served him my whole life, if he abandons me, I have nothing left…”

Keltasar began to shed bizarre tears. Perhaps because of his abnormally strong loyalty, or maybe the look the Emperor had given him was just that shocking.

Belin kept his mouth shut.

Keltasar turned to the other members of the Imperial Shadow Unit and spoke.

“You lot, don’t feel safe just because you aren’t being dragged away now. If you do anything suspicious, you will be tortured immediately. Over and over, until you answer. You’ll beg to die, but you won’t, instead you will writhe in agony. If you have betrayed me, then take your own life. If you run, I will follow you into the deepest hell and kill you without fail.”

Since the incident, Keltasar was suspicious even of his colleagues. Seeing him like this caused memories of the past to begin creeping into Belin’s mind.

– Leos-nim, the current settlement is off by a lot.

– How much?

– About 300 gold… it shouldn’t be that low… If we sold it at market price, it wouldn’t be short. If you look at the ledger here, they’ve falsified the market price. It says they sold 10 gold items for 8 gold, but if you check the market at that time, it was clearly 10 gold. Actually, the prices of byproducts have even gone up since then. There’s no denying they secretly took 2 gold. It seems they’ve been doing this quite a bit.

– Belin, why do you suspect Darek?

– Darek’s in charge of byproduct disposal, and I’m consistently checking market fluctuations. The only conclusion is that Darek skimmed some off the top.

– The market could have suddenly shifted.

– No… did you not understand what I just explained?

– Darek might have suddenly wanted to sell to a merchant for cheap. And if you’re trading a lot of byproducts at once, over a long period, it can be more profitable to sell for less than the set price.

– Leos… are you serious? You know that doesn’t make sense, right? To sell off a huge load of byproducts for 20 percent less than the market rate? Are you kidding me? I’d rather go check myself. See how much they were bought for.

– Don’t.

Leos looked at Belin, seemingly annoyed, but then his expression softened, and he spoke again.

– You shouldn’t suspect your comrades, no matter the situation. It’s the most important thing for us, those who walk the line of life and death.

– But… just letting this slide isn’t trusting our comrades, it’s being stupid.

– Sometimes in human relationships, you have to be stupid. There are times you have to pretend not to know, and times you have to accept a loss even when you know it’s one.

– I don’t understand. And that guy. He was always badmouthing you, Unit Leader Leos, saying things like his accomplishments were being stolen…

– If I were to accuse Darek of wrongdoing, what would happen to him?

– It would go to the higher-ups, and he’d probably be expelled.

– Right. And the others would start suspecting each other. They’d wonder if the others who sold goods in the past had also skimmed some money. Once you start suspecting, that’s it. You can’t go back once a relationship breaks down. I care more about our unit members than those measly 300 gold. Darek is my valued student too.

Belin just closed her mouth. She realized there was no reasoning with him. Without answering Leos, she turned and headed out. Leos spoke to her as she left.

– I’ll cover the money, so you just don’t say anything. Not to the others, and not to Darek.

– Yes, I will.

Back in her room, Belin thought to herself.

“It’s ridiculous. Isn’t it just stupid? Who is going to recognize that if you act like that? You have to use people properly, and if there’s something suspicious, you have to investigate it, and if there’s someone who needs to be punished, then you punish them to make sure the group functions properly. It’s annoying when people act all nice. Why do they make me look like the bad guy?”

With Leos’s one-sided faith, Bellin imagined for a moment. What if she revealed that she was part of the Imperial Shadow Unit herself, and asked Leos for help, maybe he would accept her? Such a foolish thought.

But she chuckled and buried her face in the blanket.

‘No way. He’d be the same.’

*

Watching Keltazar doubt his colleagues as soon as the incident broke out, Bellin felt deeply that Leos’s past actions hadn’t been so foolish after all.

Being suspected by a superior from the same organization felt dirty and sticky.

Unknowingly, Bellin glared at Keltazar with hostility. And, his gaze met hers.

Soon after, Keltazar quickly walked to Bellin and stood in front of her. Bellin flinched for a moment and looked away. But Keltazar didn’t miss that brief moment, leaning close to Bellin and whispering coldly.

“Bellin, what’s with your expression? Why are you making me suspect you?”

Bellin’s arms trembled, and she started to sweat. She had to respond properly. The moment she misspoke here, she too would be dragged away and tortured.

“Bellin, I’m talking to you. Why are you looking at me like that? Why are you shaking so much?”

Keltazar quietly began to draw the sword from his waist.