46 – 46. Addict
The meeting room attached to the Academy’s academic affairs office.
I was waiting here for Leon Loaderdale.
“Leon will be here soon. Please wait a little longer.”
The attitude from the Academy side was overly polite.
They willingly helped when I came out of the blue expressing the intention to sponsor Leon. Even a faculty professor came out to greet me, talking about how it was an honor to meet me. It wasn’t the treatment one would expect for a young knight like me.
‘Probably because Siena is behind me, and these people know it.’
With Anais leaving for a better place, Siena’s status had risen dramatically.
It might not compare to Victoria’s, but it wasn’t something to be taken lightly. Siena was already famous for her close relationship with the Empress. As a shareholder of Medov Pharmaceuticals, she was earning the envy of the nobles.
And I am Siena’s closest confidant and business partner.
It was only natural for the Academy to treat me cautiously. Thanks to that, I could sit quietly and call for Leon.
‘But seriously, why isn’t he here yet?’
I had been waiting for over an hour, but there was no sign of Leon.
Leon, who was supposed to come, was nowhere to be seen, and only a random student was loitering around. “Huh…? Could you be President Allen? What a coincidence,” he said.
The fact that he recognized me in the first place was suspicious. Not only did he leave after just stamping my face, but he also mumbled some strange words.
“Um, President Allen? I have a proposal that would be mutually beneficial for us.”
“A proposal?”
“Oh, you might be surprised. A mere undergraduate daring to utter the word ‘proposal’ might make you uncomfortable. However, just like President Allen, who combines being a bodyguard and a businessperson, I, too, am a student working on a business venture.”
“….”
“Please consider it seriously. If you permit, I will explain the plan.”
This third-year student from the Department of Magic was talking nonsense. He even knew my name was Ephedrine.
“Heard he was discussing threatening Chandelier Syrup investors on the exchange. Already got wind of that?.”
I knew that Health Syrup had infiltrated the academy, but I never expected a person to come and talk to me about a business venture. And that too, an undergraduate. Considering that it’s a place where talents of the empire gather, the speed at which they learn and adapt was quite impressive.
However, I had no intention of playing along, despite my admiration.
“President Allen, do you really think I’ll work like a dog…!”
“Not needed.”
“No, at least listen.”
“It’s fine. It’s obvious even without listening. You’re trying to get some goods if you explore the market, right? I can tell from your demeanor that you’ve already tasted money. But if the item you’re dealing with is ‘that syrup,’ it’s better to stop. It’s a substance explicitly prohibited.”
Seeing his eyes shake at my words, it seemed like he had actually sold the syrup. It was quite fast for someone to be actively dealing even within the campus.
“I haven’t done anything… Just an idea.”
“Then end it in the planning stage.”
Finally, the unnamed third-year student disappeared quietly.
I wasn’t astonished at the reality of a nineteen-year-old playing around like this.
In my previous life, my younger brother, during his second year of high school, engaged in the trafficking of ketamine by employing a Southeast Asian porter. It could be seen as a spirited endeavor at a young age. Anyway, even if he’s dealing in resale, it’s likely on a small scale.
However, it was difficult to just overlook that appearance.
Where there’s a seller, there’s also a buyer, isn’t that the meaning?
Naturally, suspicions about Leon also arose.
Of course, considering it as an unnecessary suspicion was rational. There are only a few academy students.
The Magic Department and the Swordsmanship Department, which selectively choose promising talents above a certain level, may be elite minorities, but other departments have a capacity of over a thousand students per grade. Among those numerous students, the possibility of Leon, connected to me by a relationship of understanding, being a dru*g dealer was not entirely impossible.
But it was rare. It had to be.
A healthy genius who grows just by breathing wouldn’t have taken syrup to see some growth effect, and it didn’t seem like he would have used medicine for the flu or rhinitis. Unless Anais distributed it for promotional purposes, but who knows.
“He can’t be a dru*g dealer. What’s there to be disappointed about?”
I could only hope that Leon would appear with his healthy face to alleviate my anxiety.
I would give Leon 50,000 talers in sponsorship and make some casual jokes. Once Leon’s pockets were full, he would quietly accept the request from the faculty to join as the escort of the saint, and the two of them would go to the Grand Forest and become the heralds of peace.
It was a path where we could all live happily.
“I can have confidence when I see him in person.”
But no matter how long I waited, Leon did not come.
It was a job that couldn’t wait forever, so I decided to move on my own. He might be an expert in swordsmanship and say, “I don’t need money,” and be stuck in the training ground. If that were the case, I was willing to forgive him.
Not just forgive him; I was even willing to double the sponsorship.
With these thoughts in mind, I stepped outside.
However.
In front of the reception room, there was a suspicious-looking guy sitting in a dignified posture.
“What’s this guy up to?”
Wearing a student uniform, so he’s not a wanderer. But my suspicion wasn’t unfounded.
Whether he had been lying down all day with messy hair, sweat constantly dripping down his forehead and neck, and breathing heavily as if he had just run a marathon. Not even close to the shape of a human.
No way. My expectations shattered as soon as I muttered.
“50,000 dollars?”
He asked with a bright smile.
I cursed silently in my mind.
It was an inevitable situation.
**
“Sorry! Did I have breakfast… or lunch. Oh! Both meals! I was a bit hungry because of some circumstances, so I had nine spoons earlier. Normally, I feel so energized when I do this, but today feels a bit strange! …Oh, sweat.”
A young man wearing an arrogant expression without shouting about something and claiming that sweat got into his eyes.
I didn’t want to admit it, but this person was Leon.
Seeing him constantly making excuses, it seemed like he was aware that his condition was off. He was trying hard to explain to me, “I’m never like this normally.”
But such explanations were unnecessary. Just by the way he had been acting so far, I could roughly estimate the situation.
The biggest clue was the familiar smell emanating from Leon’s body.
‘op*ium.’
Since I often dealt with op*ium while making morphine, it was not difficult to distinguish. It was quite different from the smell of tobacco.
Seeing him claim to have had two meals, it seemed like he had been smoking for at least more than six hours. Maybe even longer than that.
“How much op*ium did you smoke?”
“Huh?”
From Noble mtl dot com
The news of the sponsor’s visit must have made him want to quickly regain his strength. So, he probably accidentally chugged down some health syrup. About ten spoonfuls… Even if you don’t know what that means, it would at least be more than half a bottle, right?
“Way more than half!”
“…Right. Way more than half. But when he finally arrived at the interview location, he couldn’t move his body and ended up sitting down hesitantly.”
“You know that feeling, huh? Wow.”
In the end, he spent the whole day smoking op*ium and, right after that, consumed a lot, I mean, a lot of syrup.
Compared to the ‘real deal,’ whether it’s op*ium or syrup, it fell into the category of soft substances.
But even soft substances have their limits. It was quite impressive that he could indulge in such things and still maintain his sanity. If an ordinary person did this, they might not reach a coma, but it would be hard to avoid a state of unconsciousness.
‘Indeed, the protagonist is the protagonist.’
Looking closely, he was imitating the protagonist’s appearance.
Thick blonde hair, dilated pupils (due to the dru*g), gradually returning to normal green eyes, facial muscles jumping around on their own, giving him a decently handsome face. It matched the description of Leon’s appearance in the original work.
‘Yeah, the shell is similar.’
However, the content was already in a ruined state.
It hadn’t been that long. But in the early stages, it was genuinely enjoyable. It didn’t make sense to talk about it because many people take it in the beginning purely for pleasure, to get pure enjoyment.
It was even difficult to make him understand that dru*gs were self-harm. His body was still lively.
Leon was one of those entering the introductory phase.
If he quits cold turkey, he might go through withdrawal symptoms for a few weeks and then return to normal.
But if not, the situation will rapidly deteriorate.
Stronger dru*gs, a lot more dru*gs. And at some point, he’ll reach a point where he can’t feel pleasure with any ordinary dru*g, leading him to attempt extreme methods. He won’t hesitate to do anything to get the dru*gs he wants.
‘What do I do with this guy.’
In my heart, I wanted to just leave him be and let him figure out his own life.
However, knowing the future made it difficult to act accordingly.
Even if I were to personally jump into the conflict with the elves and resolve it (which is not an easy task in itself), what would happen afterward is uncertain.
Without a genius who becomes stronger in a cascading manner with each overcoming event, the damages would become too overwhelming to handle. It was inevitable that someday, harm would come my way too.
Perhaps he read my worries from my expression. Leon, who had been babbling incoherently, suddenly wore a serious expression and was staring at me.
A face so serious that it momentarily made me forget the fact that he was a troublemaker.
…But a few moments later, his words, coming from his mouth, erased any expectations.
“But when will you give me the 50,000 talers?”
“…What?”
“50,000 talers!!”
Was he telling me to quickly pay up and leave? Leon extended his hand flat towards me, tapping the table impatiently.
“Don’t want to give it?”
As I sat there in silence, he even glared at me. I couldn’t help but chuckle involuntarily.
“Leon Roderdale. Do you happen to remember my name? Your assistant must have told you.”
“I do. 50,000… What?”
Leon smirked and tilted his head. It was a gesture that hinted at what he would do with a considerable sum of money.
I don’t know the current price at which vitality is traded in the black market, but with 50,000 talers, one could enjoy it for a very long time. It might even be used not just for consumption but in the midst of op*ium smoke. A pipe in one hand, syrup in the other.
‘Already corrupted. It’s not the stage for persuasive words. There’s no time for that.’
Suddenly, a sense of disappointment didn’t seem to prevail.
“Thanks to confirming Leon’s condition, I was able to resolve the dilemma quickly.
If it’s impossible to quit dru*gs or completely abandon them, there is only one remaining option.