Chapter 92

“For now, the wounds aren’t deep, but there is a risk of infection. Take everyone to the castle. Tell the doctor to find out exactly what they’re intoxicated with.”

The people, loaded into a hurriedly summoned carriage, departed for the castle.

“So, what was the message? The writing on their backs.”

Upon closer inspection, Jors wasn’t the only one with words carved into his skin. The guards had quickly brought paper to transcribe the messages, and the Captain of the Guard gathered them to show me.

I read along slowly.

“‘Come to the manor three days from now, at closing time. Don’t even dream of closing the gates again…’ That’s what it says.”

“It’s obvious from the tone who wrote it. You know, that cranky old guy with the monocle.”

Adele poked me as she spoke.

“You mean Malik?”

“Yeah.”

“I agree.”

There wasn’t anyone else likely to pull a stunt like this. I folded the transcriptions and tucked them into my inner pocket.

“For now, we need to investigate this incident itself rather than Malik or his demands. We need to find out what happened to these people and what’s going on in the lower district. First, let’s head back to the castle.”

“I apologize for the delay.”

Avenger was the last to enter the meeting room. He bowed his head as he closed the door. I noticed the blood on his hands; it seemed he had been helping treat the citizens in the infirmary.

“Ahem.”

The Captain of the Guard cleared his throat to get our attention.

“Since everyone is here, I’ll summarize the current situation. A total of 17 upper district residents have returned, including the man named Jors. We confirmed 2 residents crossed through the second gate, and since a total of 25 residents never returned from the lower district…”

“That means 6 people are still unaccounted for,” Avenger said, finishing the Captain’s thought. “It’s currently impossible to go out and search for them. We can’t go poking around the lower district after dark.”

Avenger turned his gaze toward me.

“Therefore, I believe our priority is to find out exactly where the returned residents were subjected to such treatment.”

“You’re right.”

I nodded and asked Avenger, “How is it that those citizens are in a state where communication is completely impossible?”

Avenger replied grimly, “Unfortunately… that is the case for the time being.”

“It didn’t look like they were just simple drunks. Does the doctor still not know what they took?”

“They are attempting several tests. We should have results by tomorrow.”

Right. That was relatively good news. But we couldn’t just sit on our hands until the results came out. I had to consider the medical level of this world; there was a chance they might not find out anything at all.

I turned to the Captain of the Guard.

“Let’s do this. Captain, contact the guards at the second gate immediately and find out if anything related to this occurred in the lower district. There’s no way that many people were taken somewhere, treated like that, and returned in a group without leaving a single trace.”

“I will see it done.”

The Captain stood, saluted, and left the room. Left behind, I bowed my head over the table and let out a long sigh.

—Phew.

“Avenger.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“Seventeen people from the upper district disappeared in the lower district, only to return with their backs mutilated and intoxicated by something unknown.”

“…Yes.”

“And we knew absolutely nothing about this until now. Do you think that makes any sense?”

“It is my fault for not being more vigilant.”

Hmm, I wasn’t trying to blame him… now I feel bad.

“I didn’t mean it that way. Now isn’t the time to play the blame game. Speaking of which…”

Something came to mind. I traced back through my memories.

“A while ago, when I returned from the lower district, I asked the HR manager about Jors.”

“You mean the man who went missing and returned, only to be involved in this incident as well?”

I nodded.

“They said he was drinking even during work hours. I passed it off as nothing back then, but now that things have turned out like this, I have questions. Why did he do it…?”

Adele, who had been quiet until then, spoke up.

“It was withdrawal.”

“Withdrawal?”

“He kept thinking about the drug, so he tried to forget it by drinking.”

“Drug…?”

I pressed her for more.

“Adele, do you know the identity of what those people are intoxicated with right now?!”

“I don’t know exactly what drug it is. I’m not a pharmacist or an alchemist. But those kinds of idiots, wobbling around high on drugs, are a dime a dozen in the back alleys of the Imperial City.”

“Ah…”

The scene Adele described overlapped with a certain image in my memory. A memory that suddenly surfaced from a news report I’d seen back in my old world about a distant land. A certain place in a major American city—people slumped over on the streets or sleeping while standing up, completely out of it.

“It was drug addiction…”

As the realization hit, I felt like a total fool.

“Dammit, why didn’t I realize that?”

I clutched my head. I had thought of narcotics as something somewhat modern. Because of that, I never even tried to associate them with this world.

‘But you idiot! Just because it’s the Middle Ages doesn’t mean there are no coca plants or poppies…?!’

Naturally, plants with narcotic properties would grow in this world too. After all, pipes and tobacco already existed here. Yet I had completely excluded the possibility of drugs.

I spoke almost to myself.

“Now it all makes sense. Why they had no memory of the two days they were missing, yet seemed healthy and full of energy when they reappeared…”

It was a conclusion I couldn’t help but reach: those were the effects of a narcotic.

I ground my teeth.

“Selling drugs to my own people…?”

I was furious. But simultaneously, I felt a sense of disillusionment at my own hypocritical rage.

‘Look at this guy talking, when he’s perfectly fine selling alcohol to his people.’

No. That’s not it. Now isn’t the time to be drowning in moral skepticism. Regardless of anything else, the harm caused by drugs cannot be compared to alcohol.

That was when Avenger spoke.

“If that’s the case, then everything has been planned since the very first disappearance. Selling drugs to upper district residents… getting them addicted…”

“…….”

A horrific possibility—no, a horrific certainty.

Jors had already been addicted to the drug from the moment of that first disappearance. That was weeks ago. If the distribution of drugs has been ongoing since then, there’s no telling how many people, in both the upper and lower districts, have come into contact with the substance.

‘So that’s why he told me to come to the manor. Because he knows I can’t refuse.’

“In the end, I’ll have to meet that man, Malik, again.”

“You can’t! It’s far too dangerous for you to go back to the lower district, Young Master. It’s obviously a trap!” Avenger stood up abruptly as he protested.

“But we know nothing about this drug. What the side effects are, how it’s being moved, how widely it’s been distributed… and how much more they can spread it. Nothing.”

“There’s no guarantee you’ll get any information just because you go there!”

“Even so, if we can’t stop the distribution, total ruin is certain.”

I had never encountered drugs once in my entire life. However, I likely knew far more about the devastation caused by substances than the people of this world. Even without personal experience, drug issues were something I had encountered countless times through wikis, news, and videos.

‘If the drug Malik is distributing is something with strong addictive properties and irreversible side effects, like cocaine or fentanyl…’

I had to eradicate it from the start, no matter what it took.

As if setting down a heavy block of lead, I spoke to the people in the meeting room.

“…In that case, we have two options.”

“Anita.”

My voice bounced off the white marble, echoing through the room.

“Adele told me your name. Said it just came to her.”

“…….”

I pulled a stool from the corner of the hallway, placed it in front of the bars, and sat down.

“Anita. Have you prepared an answer to my proposal?”

“You cannot fulfill the condition.”

“The condition? Ah, the one about killing your former employer to eliminate any future trouble. You mean that.”

Anita affirmed with silence. I lowered my head.

“I’ll admit this: I don’t particularly like that method. But…”

—Phew.

I exhaled a long sigh. What I was about to say was something I never wanted to let cross my lips.

“The situation has changed.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that if necessary, I can eliminate every influential figure in the lower district.”

The words I uttered in that moment were the sincere truth, without a hint of a lie.

“I don’t expect you to believe my sincerity. But the situation is truly urgent.”

I spoke after much deliberation.

“Malik has started spreading drugs.”

“…Drugs?”

“I don’t know exactly what effects that drug has. I need to know. Even the smallest bit of information is fine. You can even sell out another informant.”

“I know nothing.”

‘There’s no way you don’t know…!’

I felt a surge of irritation.

“I told you that if you don’t know about the drug, you can sell out an informant. Malik, who spread this drug, or the underground power players pulling his strings. Either one is fine. Give me information.”

“There is no such thing.”

“…….”

I clenched my teeth so hard it felt like they might shatter. It’s okay. There’s still room for persuasion. The fact that she’s engaging in conversation is proof of that.

I attempted to persuade her one last time.

“…Anita. I’ll say it again: I know nothing about that drug. I don’t know if it’s a mild substance with slight addictive and hypnotic effects, or a lethal poison that turns people into shells of themselves. Therefore, I have no choice but to move assuming the worst. Do you not understand what that means?”

I stepped closer to the bars and spoke in a whisper.

“It means I will do anything to prevent my fief from being defiled by such a lethal poison, even if it’s just a one-in-a-million chance.”

“You seem desperate, Young Master.”

“…?”

“But not a single thing you say can be verified. If you want to persuade me, you’d better change the terms of the negotiation. Get me out of here. If you do, something useful might come out of my mouth.”

“Fine,” I said.

Adele placed a hand on my shoulder. “…That isn’t a very good choice.”

I looked up at her and asked, “What kind of choice do you think I’m going to make?”

Meeting my eyes, Adele froze on the spot. I turned back toward Anita. I stared at her face for a moment.

Perhaps there was a scenario where I could have made her one of my people. But I don’t have the time, nor do I have the ability to walk such a path.

The easy way was beckoning to me.

Torture and violence.

The very path I had vowed never to walk.

I squeezed my eyes shut.