43 – Leaf-12

Inside the game, the effects of mental drugs could not be seen to be divided in detail.

It was a way to clear the mind, increase the wisdom stat, or lower the stress level.

Depending on the situation, there were hallucinogenic drugs that restored a large amount of stress instead of clouding the mind, and conversely, there were drugs that greatly increased stats instead of increasing the stress index, but that was all.

“Are you talking about Eunyeongcha…?”

“Ha, do you know? Have you ever drank it?”

Victor shouted as if he was aggrieved.”

“They’re selling it with sh*tty labels, but it wasn’t originally an imperial item. Until Silverfall fell into the empire’s hands 15 years ago!”

There was not much knowledge about history. I never thought there would be such a story.

“Growing the same seeds, they are products with similar efficacy! Why would you ban the products we sell and only allow the products they sell?”

His eyes showed no hesitation. He had the eyes of a man who did not think he was committing a sin.

“They’re just trying to screw us over. If you’re a warlock, don’t you know how hypocritical the Empire is?”

“Well.”

“And, you are a buyer after all, right? To be honest, I don’t want to threaten customers, but if you act like this, I have no choice but to consider that option.”

It is a common occurrence for drug sellers to threaten buyers. However, I had a strong backing.

“Do you think I came to catch you on my own and out of a sense of justice?”

“What?”

“It’s the student council. There were quite a few rumors that drugs were spreading among the warlock cadets.”

“Hah, princess? That’s absurd. Come to think of it… you were also a member of the student council.”

I nodded slowly. Victor’s expression distorted.

“I thought there was no need for teachers or investigators to worry… But yes, there was one more pile of trash left.”

“Did you betray me? Even though you were a warlock?”

“It’s not betrayal. It’s just asking the criminal to pay.”

“Okay…”

Victor seemed to have given up, roughly rolling up the white powder with a piece of paper he took out of his pocket and lighting it on fire.

A scent reminiscent of roughly torn and burned Eunwol tea rose.

“…You’re stronger than me, so I don’t care what you do. Still, don’t be hypocritical. Tell me honestly. You’re just doing this because you’re blinded by power, aren’t you? Princess, that prick. “I really like watching the same girl’s back-“

“After hearing this, the rudeness is sky-high!”

Olivia shouted harshly. She drew her sword and was ready to kill Victor at any moment.

“I tried to hold back, but I just couldn’t do it. With such a dangerous drug, you say, ‘Anyway, the raw materials are the same, so it’s the same as Eunwolcha.'”

“Wrong?”

“The addictiveness and stability are different! I’ve tried that tea sometimes too, but it wasn’t painful enough to drive people crazy!”

“You’re right. The drugs I sell are much more dangerous than the cars those thieves sell.”

Surprisingly, Victor readily admitted the truth.

“But, why is it our fault?”

“What?”

“Just as you guys make and sell it as expensive tea, it is the raw material of Eunwol Tea. The tea leaves of the Moonlight Tree are safe. When grown in the right soil and by people with the right knowledge.”

He lightly lifted the paper stick in his mouth, exhaling white smoke.

“But, it’s true. The stuff I sell is dangerous. Well, I don’t think the risk is that big, but… anyway, I can’t say it’s not there.”

“Then why!”

“Because everything was taken away! By the Empire! Our land, our village, even our knowledge! Everything!”

Victor’s voice was full of resentment.

“You were the ones who took Silverfall away from us! Now are you going to make and sell ‘safe’ drugs? Why are we doing this? You were the ones who took away our right to do so!”

It is not the right action. Even if we assume that everything Victor said is true, the person dying from dangerous drugs will not be the ‘upper class of the empire’ but a powerless warlock.

But sometimes, those who have had too much taken from the world perceive the rest of the ‘whole world’ as the same perpetrators.

“Don’t try to distort the truth!”

Although Victor’s protest was strong, Olivia did not lose either.

“It was protection. His Majesty, the precious Emperor, embraced with his arms the residents of Silverfall who had tried to bring themselves into the Emperor’s arms! There was no war or fighting! By the will of the citizens of Silverfall-“

“Hah, what kind of citizen? You mean an immigrant who suddenly came here, ignored our traditions and rules, ran wild, and showed his true colors within a few months?”

“That’s…”

“I lived there. I saw clearly how my hometown was ruined.”

I listened to Victor’s story with my lips tightly bitten.

“Don’t pretend to be righteous or that I’m doing anything right! They’re the same trash, right? They’re just a little stronger and a little more despicable than me.”

“I heard that most of those expelled were warlocks?”

“That was our tradition! In the first place, Silverfall was ‘a village in a remote place that sells expensive goods.’ We shouldn’t have even used black magic? Should we just give all our goods to the bandits?”

“So, the empire protected that village!”

“They filled the village with parasites and colluded with traitors! To turn those people into the empire’s dogs, to ensure that the empire, not another country, takes over the ‘village that makes a lot of money’!”

The paper stick in Victor’s hand had burned up before he knew it, and only the pod remained.

“They are not traitors, but wise people! People who are not deceived by black magic and want to choose a safer and nobler path!”

“Oh, is that so? As far as I know, Olivia, didn’t you come under Katharine too? You think I don’t know? That’s Magi.”

Olivia bit her lip tightly. She, too, was not the type of person who could confidently scold someone.

“Well, it’s all meaningless. But still… thank you for listening, Wade.”

As if he had given up, he raised his hands.

“In the first place, if you were a warlock like you… There was no need to listen to this, right?”

Between warlocks with different skills, ‘fighting’ does not occur. Just because it was ‘resistance’, nothing changed.

No matter how much legitimacy he had or how many stories he had, there was a limit to Victor’s power.

Even if any of the people standing with me run away, I will be able to take out all of the cadets here by myself.

“Kill me. Lift my head and tell the princess.”

“There must be someone behind it.”

“You can never say that. Are you selling out my colleagues? If you really want to, dominate me and then give me orders.”

In court battles, the warlock’s testimony is mostly considered meaningless.

It is very easy for a warlock to dominate another warlock and make them spit out the truth, but no one knows that it is the truth except the warlock who dominated him and the warlock who is being controlled.

Getting people to give false testimony was much easier than getting them to confess the truth.

“You said you were a colleague…”

I feel sick to my stomach. No matter what excuse he gave, Victor was nothing more than a criminal.

Nevertheless, killing him here was an act that accelerated destruction.

“In the first place, I can’t hide the incident itself. No matter what I do, you know that, right?”

“…Investigators will officially move in.”

“You had friends who helped you, right? People who made it possible for your items to come into the academy.”

“…What?”

Victor’s expression distorted.

“People are very angry. I don’t think their anger will cool down until a few people are hung and burned at the stake.”

From noble mtl dot com

The situation has been assessed.

These people are clearly perpetrators, but they fall short of being clearly evil.

“You and your friends can’t stand on the stake, can you?”

He knows it too. Even if he dies now, the case does not end with that death.

“Me too, you’re not enough.”

They are not special, just a group of warlocks moving inside the school.

It is easy to close the case by killing Victor. But others also know that this is easy.

They will not be satisfied and will try to exclude all other warlocks who could be potential criminals.

“Because we need more big names.”

I already know of an organization in the Academy that wants people dead.

Those who think that it doesn’t matter who dies or who kills. These people just need a huge anger explosion and students to fall into internal strife.

‘In the first place, it was strange that someone who was ready to die would go in and put pressure on Fabian, who was well hidden.’

“Give me all the information you have. Who you are in contact with and when you plan to contact them.”

“…They will die. They are not people that a student can touch.”

“Really?”

I smiled and released rough demonic energy. Victor’s expression changed in an instant.

“…Okay.”

“Leave the academy as quickly as possible. You can do that, right?”

“I wasn’t going to do that! If I hadn’t promised to meet you here today, I would have been packing my bags right now…”

Olivia stamped her feet and screamed, as if she couldn’t admit it.

“Now, are you saying you’re going to send these kids away like this?”

“Of course. Do you think I called you here to catch a guy like that in the first place?”

I just needed to confirm what position Victor holds in this case. But he was just an outcast from Silverfall.

After hearing the information from Victor, I slowly nodded.

“Come on, there’s no time to rest. Let’s get moving.”

“Where…”

The Academy needed a better quality sacrificial lamb.

“Conrad.”

A being that is more cleanly evil and possesses strong power.

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