Abandoned by my Childhood Friend, I Became a War Hero

35 – Not a Problem Anymore

Area 5, headquarters of the Imperial Military Police.

I went to the headquarters to hear the results of the interrogation of the ringleaders arrested on the market street.

Although they are members of the same Imperial Army, they belong to different affiliations, so I do not have the authority to issue orders or request information from them. But the Imperial Army is the Imperial Army. They respected my rank and were happy to provide information to me who caught the ringleader.

Of course, it was also because the interrogation did not yield much information.

“You mean everyone is dead?”

“Yes. All died of sudden seizures during interrogation. I will give you the case data, so you can refer to this for details.”

“Thank you for your cooperation.”

“What, they are the same imperial soldiers. Yes, it is possible to read the case data, but it is impossible to take it out. You should read it here. Enough then.”

The military policeman, who even provided a resting room for the staff so that I could read the incident data calmly, gave a short salute and left.

I was left alone and calmly looked at the case data.

“… ….”

The scar man’s name was Hans. He initially committed crimes and was assigned to the penal unit, but his outstanding fighting ability accumulated a criminal record and was assigned to the 5th Corps, where his unit was annihilated and suffered extreme psychological damage.

I put the man’s past behind me anyway and focused on the contents of the interrogation.

He initially refused to give any testimony. However, he said that after a rather violent interrogation by the military police, he confessed everything.

An organization claiming to be the future of the empire secretly contacted him while he was addicted to alcohol after the war. Suddenly, an order came down to create a commotion in District 8 and capture the elves. And….

‘Tell me what you know about the other gang members.’

‘The future of the empire is a dotted organization, so most of them don’t know each other’s faces.’

‘Is there really no one? Even in a branch organization, there must be at least one member you contacted.’

‘Wait, now that I think about it, I know one person’s face. Blonde woman… Wow! Gurgling!’

Hans said that and suddenly collapsed foaming at his mouth. After Hans’ death, four other men suffered seizures one after another and all eventually died.

At first, it was thought that the seizures were caused by excessive interrogation, but it is said that some magical traces were found during further investigation.

A blonde woman.

How many blonde women are there in the island? I think it would be at least tens of thousands. There was a reason the military police judged this information to be of little value.

I put down the data and left the break room. On my way out, I ran into the military policeman who had guided me before.

“Did you check the data carefully?”

“Thanks. How will the investigation proceed?”

“Well, the instigators are all dead. I want to investigate, but I don’t have any information anymore… Usually, these esoteric cases are forwarded to the intelligence department, so there is nothing more the military police can do.”

“I see.”

The investigation won’t end right away, but I got information that the military police won’t move any more.

But if this matter goes to the intelligence department, it will quickly become clear that they are targeting Titania. Then, the case would inevitably become very large, and there was a very high possibility that Titania’s treatment would proceed regardless of her will.

It’s okay though. ‘Cause I know where to go

There was no hesitation in my steps as I left the headquarters of the Imperial Military Police.

***

Titania’s visit to that spot was not on a fixed schedule. It was decided suddenly at Marian’s suggestion, and knowing this fact is limited to a small number of people even in the Opal Black class.

Then how did ‘Future of the Empire’ know that Titania was going to District 8 that day and cause a commotion?

Did either Marian or Oznia hand over the information? It can’t be.

I can’t fool my senses with poor acting. If the two of them showed even the slightest hint of reluctance towards Titania, I would have noticed it. However, the two of them only showed genuine concern for Titania as friends.

Then what about outsiders? Could someone have been constantly monitoring Titania?

No. Filion Imperial Academy is not a place anyone can enter as it is the continent’s largest educational institution.

When I first entered the academy, I had to go through a fairly complicated checkpoint despite having a military ID and a letter of appointment. Other outsiders will largely go through similar procedures or worse than I did.

Even if you try to forcefully break in, dome-shaped barriers are installed throughout the academy to defend against intruders and block magic, making it impossible to use face-changing magic or fly into the sky.

Even if you break through the academy’s barrier, you have to cheat the Tram’s recognition pass or break through the forest of wandering to access the Opal Black Dormitory. It is difficult to think that it would have been possible with the capabilities of a single terrorist organization.

In the first place, if someone had been keeping an eye on Titania, whether inside or outside the academy, they would have noticed it starting with me.

Then there is only one conclusion. Information leaked from within the academy.

It became clear after thinking about where it leaked for a while. Isn’t there an insider who can monitor every student who leaves the academy without being suspected by anyone?

The main gate of Fillion Academy.

These are the guards guarding the place.

Every student must explain the purpose of the trip when leaving the academy. A guard would have known where we were going then.

As soon as I got out of the Imperial Military Police, I immediately returned to Fillion Academy.

It is morning when I first pass through the main gate with the students. Now that the sun was setting, of course all the security guards in the morning had been replaced.

Holding up my instructor’s ID, I asked the guard the number and names of the people who were working when I first left the academy.

The guards were puzzled, but they gave me the names of all the members, as if they couldn’t refuse the faculty member’s request.

From noble mtl dot com

“Can all guards check the access list?”

“No. Internal records are very sensitive, so I know that among us, only the captain of the guard can check it, and among the faculty members, only the manager level can see it.”

Then, the suspects are limited to those who were in charge of security at the time.

I asked if there were any security guards among them who had recently shown a penchant for racial discrimination or were struggling financially.

The guards answered my question as if they were thinking about each other.

“Is it racial discrimination? You mean the one that has been making a lot of noise in the system lately?”

“There would be none among us. In the first place, there are many immigrants or different races among students. Sometimes students say that they are struggling and give them small gifts.”

“If there was a guy like that, the captain of the guard would have beaten him. But, hmm….”

I watched as one of the guards hesitated and looked cautious. He seemed hesitant about whether he could say this or not.

I looked at the guard and asked.

“By the way, what is it?”

“That… Among the kids you mentioned, Leonard seems to have been having a hard time recently because he doesn’t have money, or maybe he wasn’t….”

He put on a cautious expression, fearing that his careless words might cause his colleagues to be suspicious. So he turned to other colleagues as if seeking their opinions before going into more detail.

The guards talked while recalling the memories they knew about Leonard.

“Leonard? Come to think of it, she said that suddenly her mother was seriously ill and she needed money urgently.”

“It seems like I spent the whole day cooking rice porridge and shutting myself in a bar after work….”

“What? Did something like that happen? Why didn’t I know?”

“But they said it was resolved right away? A few days later, he went to work as if nothing happened, saying that everything was fine.”

I felt some visceral intuition about their words.

“Where is he now?”

***

Academy Faculty Accommodation.

As Fillion Academy boasts a huge scale, of course, there was a separate living area for faculty members.

I used the tram to move to the faculty living area, and among them, I visited the dormitory where the guards stay.

Leonard’s room is on the second floor of the dormitory.

I wasted no time, went straight to the second floor and knocked on his door. Then the door opened slightly, and a man’s face could be seen through the gap.

“… Who are you?”

On the outside, Leonard looked like an ordinary Imperial man. But when I opened the door and checked my face, I noticed that his pupils widened momentarily and he took a deep breath.

He looked surprised when he recognized me.

With this, my suspicions have become more and more clear.

“Leonard Bain, is that right?”

“Yes, yes… But who are you….”

“This is Ion Graham, Instructor for Opal Black Class. I want to check the room for a moment, so please open the door.”

Leonard’s expression turned white. He quickly tried to close the door, and I quickly grabbed the door as it was about to close. No matter how hard he tried, the door wouldn’t budge.

“Why, why are you like this! Let go of this!”

“I want to check the room. What bothers you so much?”

“Hey, this is my room! Can even a teacher do this? If you want to check things out, why don’t you bring the military police!”

He hasn’t said anything yet, but Leonard seems to have been pricked up, and he starts by telling me to come with the military police.

As he screamed and scuffled, I could feel the eyes of the other employees wondering what the fuss was all about.

If you leave Leonard to close the door, no matter what’s in that room, Leonard will of course dispose of it right away.

I couldn’t let it go like that.

“No. I’m not an instructor, but a captain in the imperial army’s special enlistment unit. And the task force has the power to summarily dispose of traitors to the Empire in case of emergency, and you are now a suspect on a major terrorism charge.”

“What, what… ? What is that….”

“Sure.”

I tightened my grip on the door.

The door could not be opened wide, so it was completely ripped open, revealing the inside of the room.

“Get out of the way.”

Leonard looked at the torn door with a dazed look on his face.