My Students Regret It After I Retired

57 – Explosion

Leos spent the whole day in the tent manipulating Spirel. Moving and moving, it reached its destination – the palace.

Of course, he had prepared multiple layers of anti-tracking magic and other devices to make detection impossible, wary of being tracked, but nothing blocked his way until he reached the palace.

‘This is strange. They clearly said there were floating artifacts around the palace.’

The imperial family held many weapons. Among them were countless superior artifacts, and there were so many artifacts with similar performance to Spirel that it would be hard to count them all. Despite this, the lax security around the area was not only bewildering, but it was enough to make one suspect a trap.

Leos continued to move Spirel, exploring the vicinity of the palace. Countless knights were densely packed around the perimeter, and behind them were many people treating the injured. The aftermath of the war with the monsters still lingered, with the majority not in a normal state, and what was incomprehensible was that they still hadn’t left the palace.

‘The Redgate isn’t completely sealed. But why the hell haven’t they left this place yet?’

Theoretically, even if all the monsters inside the Redgate were killed, monsters would respawn 24 hours later if the seal wasn’t set. Simply put, waiting as they were meant they would soon face a massive battle with monsters again.

Leos couldn’t understand it. What were these countless people hoping to gain by staying here instead of fleeing?

Therefore, he moved Spirel closer to the palace. He heard a sound, and Leos amplified the recording device installed in Spirel.

“Your Majesty, we have initially repelled the enemy’s attacks, but if we stay here, we may truly be in danger.”

“Is it that same old song again? I will not move a single step from this place. If we abandon this place, what will happen to the countless artifacts and treasures buried underground? Absolutely not! That much, absolutely not!”

“We can gather them and move. Don’t we have countless knights? We can have them transport it all…”

“You moronic b*stard!”

-CRASH!-

The loyal subject, struck by the bottle the Emperor had thrown, clutched his face in pain. The Emperor, completely unconcerned, shook his finger at the man’s head as he spoke.

“Drezar, Commander of the Imperial Knights. You’re so out of touch with reality that you suffer such humiliation at my hands. How can I be sure that those insects below won’t steal my precious gold, jewels, and artifacts when I make them transport things? If some of them make off with a few items and flee, how will I catch them in this situation?”

“Your Majesty… our knights would never do such a thing. Our desire and will are solely for your sake, our liege, not for mere gold, jewels, or artifacts.”

“Mere? Did you just say ‘mere’?”

The Emperor smacked Drezar’s cheeks, once on each side, and whispered.

“Drezar, wealth possesses a power that cannot be described as mere. Even a tiny fraction of the wealth in the imperial family would be enough for countless people to be willing to kill another, and there would be those who’d risk their lives for a mere pittance. There would undoubtedly be others who would gladly exchange their arms or organs for just a single high-grade artifact. Items of immeasurable value, incomparable to a few mere knights, and you dare call them ‘mere’?”

“…”

“Those bugs who work for money can’t comprehend how much value this has; they just accept whatever’s given to them and have no idea of the agony of the person who gives it away, or how precious wealth is. Remember this well, Drezar. For me, the wealth that exists here is more important than the lives of a few knights.”

“I will… remember that…”

Blood began to trickle from Drezar’s tightly clenched fist. He remained silent for a moment, then began walking towards the window.

“Your Majesty, I will investigate the surrounding area for a moment.”

Drezar then looked out the window. His eyes met the lens of Leo’s Spyrel camera precisely.

‘…?’

Leo found Drezar’s gaze through the camera odd. After all, the Spyrel was layered with multiple magic enchantments, making it completely undetectable to the human eye.

But it was more than a coincidence; Drezar kept staring at the camera. Finally, he quietly muttered.

“What you see and hear, is our Empire itself.”

Immediately after, Drezar turned his back without any further action. He knelt before the Emperor and cried out.

“Your Majesty, it seems as if I sense a presence nearby. An intruder might have arrived, so I will go out and search. May I have permission to use a hovering-type artifact?”

“Denied. They all must protect my chambers and the vault below.”

Dozens of levitating artifacts floated within the Emperor’s room. Each and every one was an A-Grade artifact. Even in the vault where treasures were amassed, an even greater number of levitating artifacts were constantly on standby. The reason the Emperor, despite being this anxious, refused to permit the use of these artifacts was solely for his own benefit.

Being the most powerful and convenient weapons, he had decided it was best to use them to immediately protect himself and his riches.

The Emperor thought, no matter from which direction an intruder approached, with this many levitating artifacts in his room, they would be unable to harm him. So, whether or not the knights found the intruder wandering outside was their responsibility.

“Understood.”

Drezar slowly walked out of the room.

*

The moment Drezar stepped outside, the injured came into view.

“Potion… I need a potion…”

“Potions won’t heal these wounds. An elixir, does anyone have an elixir?”

“There’s a vault in the basement that stores elixirs.”

“Are you crazy? His Majesty has strictly forbidden their use.”

“Pe…people are dying! What else are we supposed to do? There’s no other way but an elixir!”

“Even if we secretly take an elixir to use, this person and the rest of us would die. We need a realistic alternative.”

As the healer, Silie, stood there with a serious expression, Drezar pulled an elixir from his pocket and tossed it to her.

“Use it, Silie.”

“Sir Knight Commander Drezar…? Where did you get this…”

“His Majesty granted it to me. As the Knight Commander of the Imperial Guard, I deserve this much support.”

“An elixir issued to the Knight Commander…that’s something meant only for your use…If His Majesty finds out you used it for personal reasons, it’s death.”

“Personal reasons? To use an elixir to save the life of a knight who threw away their life for the empire, how could that be personal use?”

Silie nodded and took the elixir. Then, in a flash, she poured the whole vial onto the knight who was writhing in pain. The man slowly regained his strength, but once he was lucid, he was in agony.

It wasn’t because of the pain itself. It was because he knew what had been used on him.

“D…Drejarr-nim, why did you use this on me? This is not… this is not something that should be used on me!”

As a member of the knight order, well-versed in the system, he knew that the elixir Drejarr had just given him was a gift from the Emperor.

When the knight spoke in a voice laced with grief, almost a sob, Drejarr chuckled.

“Rest.”

“To waste an elixir on the likes of me…”

“A person’s worth cannot be measured in gold.”

As Drejarr turned to leave, Silie tugged on his sleeve and asked,

“What is it?”

“Thank… thank you…”

“It’s fine.”

Even as Drejarr moved away, Silie continued to heal the many knights. Drejarr watched, a sense of disillusionment beginning to settle in.

In less than 24 hours, this place would become a battlefield once more. The monsters would surge again, and these men would have to fight again.

Surely, many would die, and many more would need to be healed again.

“Ideals and reality are different.”

Drejarr, walking into the woods, spoke to the empty air. A man, wrapped head-to-toe in bandages, approached with a grin.

“Drejarr, why are you getting so invested instead of just keeping an eye on the Emperor? You’re just wasting elixirs for no reason.”

“Ferratone, how long have you been there?”

“Since you were putting on a show for the Emperor. Around the time you started spouting that ‘For the King!’ nonsense?”

Ferraton chuckled, raising his sword high into the air, mimicking Drezar’s actions. As Drezar’s expression began to harden, Ferraton kept chuckling, waving his hand dismissively.

“Hey, don’t get all worked up. Why so serious? You’re way too into this, aren’t you? You’re just supposed to act the part, keep an eye on that Emperor b*stard. Why’re you crossing the line?”

“Why did you come.”

Ferraton stopped laughing abruptly, his voice now devoid of any playfulness.

“He issued a recall order. Return to the Celestial Assembly headquarters, Drezar.”

“I have much to do. I must protect the Empire.”

“This fucking…are you serious? This is why weak, bug-like b*stards shouldn’t be let into the Celestial Assembly. I told them this countless times… You pathetic bug. You feel kinship with the weak because you’re weak yourself.”

“My senses are not inferior to yours. I can feel things you cannot.”

Ferraton walked closer, his hands contorting grotesquely as he spoke.

“He said, if you refuse to return, they would accept just your corpse. So, I’ll take you, dead if need be.”

Drezar lifted his head and spoke into the empty air.

“Leos. Help me. If you do, I will give you all the information I have about the Empire, and about the Celestial Assembly.”

“This crazy fucker, did he really lose his mind?”

Ferraton immediately lunged, reaching out to snap Drezar’s neck. But.

—KWAANG!

A massive explosion of mana ripped through the space between Drezar and Ferraton.

“Shit…what the…”

Ferraton shook his bloodied arm a few times. His broken arm began to heal, soon returning to its original state.

Looking up, he saw a spirel flying in the air. From it, a man’s voice could be heard.

[30 minutes]

[I’ll back you up, just hold out for 30 minutes. Then I’ll arrive.]

Drazar shook his head.

“I can’t hold out for 30 minutes against this b*stard. I’ll be dead before then.”

“You son of a b*tch! You were in cahoots with someone else?”

Ferraton lunged forward again, this time swinging his sword. But Spirell, who had descended from the sky to the ground, blocked Ferraton’s attack with an intense spark.

A voice came from Spirell again.

[Thirty minutes from now. I’ll support you, just hold out. Then I’ll kill that b*stard for you. But remember, you must give me all the information. If you lie to survive, you’ll die by my hand anyway.]

He paused for a moment, then answered.

“If you help me, I will tell you everything I know. About the Empire… and the Celestial Society.”