48 – 48. Utilization
Was it because the Empire’s greatest prodigy had come all the way to the palace and made an impressive appearance? Even Siena, the owner of the Thames Palace, personally made an appearance.
“It’s strange. Why… do I want to kill you?”
Siena muttered in a small voice as if it would be heard as soon as she saw Leon.
‘You usually enjoy tormenting or killing people. It’s not surprising.’
Come to think of it, it wasn’t strange that Siena found it puzzling.
It was true that she enjoyed tormenting people, but there was usually a reason for it. Stealing a bottle of wine as a servant would result in execution, causing a disturbance in her own business place would result in permanent disability, and if there was any suspicion, it would simply be a serious injury. She would often impose excessive punishment like that.
It was strange for Siena to harbor such deep feelings for Leon, whom she was seeing for the first time.
However, this was the role that the creator had originally given to Siena.
In the original work, Sienna had intended to depict them with genuine hatred after the op*ium business collapsed due to the main couple and sub-couple. It could be that some compulsion made her feel a sense of animosity the moment she saw Leon.
‘Or else…’
He didn’t even know if it was just a repulsive feeling towards the guy named Leon.
“Huh!”
Right now, Leon was bouncing his shoulders after seeking forgiveness for lies, and taking the medicine he received from me (15mg morphine, 40mg ephedrine).
In a trance, he quickly mumbled, “Certainly, the muddled and the chubby must go together, and they should never be separated.”
Sienna, who had been watching Leon as if he were something fascinating, turned to me.
“An academy student? Wasn’t it your principle not to take medicine in private?”
“I am not an ordinary student, Your Excellency.”
“Indeed, you’re not ordinary.”
“If you only see me now, it might be hard to believe, but except for the masters, there is no inspector in the Empire who can rival that friend.”
“Oh, is this Leon Roderdale by any chance?”
“Yes.”
She seemed to know. Only then did Sienna smile as if she had softened her guard and thought of something interesting.
“Anais is friends with him.”
“How do you know?”
“Well, Anais said the last person she talked to before leaving the institute was him. She mentioned using the title ‘Senior Leon’ and described him as a blond with green eyes, so he must be the one.”
“…”
“By the way, didn’t she suddenly cry after talking to him for a few words? She said she wasn’t feeling well even at the monastery. I don’t know what conversation they had, but if they weren’t close, tears wouldn’t have been visible.”
I didn’t want to ask where and how she obtained this information. It might have been surveillance out of curiosity about her younger brother.
What surprised me was the continuation of Siena’s words.
“Leo, that guy, originally took health syrup, right? And it’s not unrelated to why Anais was feeling uncomfortable, right?”
“It seems so.”
“To be honest, I don’t understand why you gave him the medicine. I mean, knowing your personality, Alan, you wouldn’t sell dru*gs to students just to make some money. But I get it. Once you take the medicine you gave, you lose interest in things like syrup.”
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“……”
“So, you knew that and still provided him with the medicine?”
This kid can see through the characteristics of dru*gs even without being taught.
Originally, a dru*g addict would gradually seek stronger dru*gs. Starting with marijuana, it often wouldn’t end there. Because once you reach marijuana, you start to think that you can enjoy dru*gs moderately (although it’s a different story with liquid forms). That’s why you end up looking for something stronger.
It was pointless to argue with someone who had realized it themselves, so I just nodded.
“You can use dru*gs in that way, too.”
Siena seemed to have learned something new today as well.
There was no bitterness. But before Siena came up with any more strange ideas, there was one thing I wanted to teach them.
“Your Highness, just in case, I’m telling you, people who are tamed by dru*gs are honestly useless. If you can get dru*gs, you’ll do anything, but there’s not much you can actually order them to do. What would you have a cripple do?”
“That’s a little disappointing.”
“……”
“But why did you even give him medicine if you weren’t going to use him for anything? Maybe to send him to Anais? Then I’m all for it.”
No, there were quite a few different uses for him. At the very least, I could have sent him to the border to do some stabbing.
If I give him one morphine pill and one ephedrine pill each time he brings back an elf’s skin, he might be able to show remarkable performance.
And even if he’s not a warrior, there are still other uses.
For the role of presenting to the First Princess Victoria, it served as an ‘incident case.’ As soon as it came to mind, she opened her mouth without hesitation.
“Siena, Her Highness the First Princess must still have interest and reluctance regarding the Potion of Courage, don’t you think?”
“How would I know that?”
“Considering that she even observes the Third Princess who has already fallen into disgrace, there’s nothing for the First Princess to say. Just speak your mind.”
In response to this request, Siena willingly spoke up. It felt like exchanging information willingly in return for sharing something interesting.
“Victoria unni instructed me to investigate the current status of the Navy’s disciplinary unit.”
“Humans serving as rank-and-file soldiers instead of facing punishment, is that it?”
“Yes. In my view, perhaps…”
“She might be planning to experiment with efficacy against them. I believe the promise to proceed with caution will be kept.”
Victoria seems to be contemplating a forced clinical trial.
She’ll probably propose to me, “Let’s experiment with efficacy against these guys.” Her interest in the potion still seemed unchanged.
‘I need to change Victoria’s mindset first. There’s no need to feed awakening agents to soldiers.’
Having made up my mind like this, I turned to Leon. He, who was dancing just a moment ago, now looked at me awkwardly.
For this messed-up guy, there was value in showing him to Victoria.
**
The next day. I requested a meeting with Victoria.
The answer was naturally affirmative.
As soon as we met, she began explaining concrete plans as if she had been waiting.
“Alan Kye. I heard Siena’s suggestion before and thought about various things. I admit that it’s wrong to widely distribute it until I’m convinced that the benefits outweigh the risks. So, I have a proposal.”
That proposal would likely be an experiment targeting the disciplinary unit soldiers.
‘How did they come up with such an idea?’
Just by looking at their expression, you could sense a considerable enthusiasm. That much, they trust me, or rather, the potion I created.
I’m sorry, but I was about to disappoint Victoria’s expectations.
“Your Highness, before you hear more details, there’s something I want to show you.”
“Show…? Ah, did you bring the ephedrine? Come to think of it, during the morphine experiment, Kyeong also brought a sample to try. If it’s something like that, it aligns with my idea. Show it.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s not it.”
“Then.”
“…What I want to show is a person. Someone who has already taken the ephedrine with the effects you desire. I’ve also taken morphine a few times, but exposure to morphine is the same for the Imperial Army.”
“……”
“If Your Highness still wants the medicine even after seeing this person, I am willing to cooperate.”
As soon as Victoria nodded, she called out to Leon, who had been waiting outside.
Enter Leon Roderdale immediately.
He wasn’t in a dru*gged state now. His dumb expression was because of that, but he showed proper courtesy to Victoria and didn’t roll his eyes.
“Your Highness. Do you know who this friend is?”
“…I saw him when I went to observe the Academy. He’s the student who won the unarmed competition held as part of the event. …But, Alan Kyeong. Did you give ephedrine to this friend? To one person? I don’t understand the significance of that.”
“It’s not that I gave it; it was a situation where I had no choice but to give it. The syrup was already contaminated, and the situation was irreversible. And Your Highness, in my view, one case is enough.”
“What…?”
Rather than explaining one by one, it’s better to just show. Looking at the awkwardly standing Leon, I asked.
“Leon. I understand that you are the most outstanding student in the swordsmanship department, including up to the third year.”
“Professor too.”
“…Yes. I’ll be stronger than the professors. If I graduate like this, success is guaranteed. Perhaps breaking through the wall and becoming a master could even leave a mark in history.”
“Yes… that’s true.”
Leon’s expression showed no excitement at all.
Soon, cracks appeared in that expression.
“What if, in exchange for giving you two Ephedrine pills every day, I ask you to quit swordsmanship?”
“…”
No response. Perhaps he preferred a mix of calming dru*gs rather than awakening pills. But in the first place, it was absurd to contemplate one’s future with such insignificant pills.
“What about three?”
“Well, that’s…”
“Four.”
“…”
The changing proposals made his eyes roll busily.
“What if it’s five a day?”
“Oh!”
Leon Loaderdale paused, about to answer confidently, but hesitated. He raised his clenched fist, as if contemplating that if he continued to hold out, he might receive offers of six or seven. Unaware that he was being used as a prototype in front of the First Princess.
“Alan Kyeong… What is this?”
As expected, Victoria showed a bewildered expression.
She alternately looked at Leon and me with wide eyes, and I pretended to ponder with a bitter smile.
“Your Highness, I only recently learned about this, but the damage is more serious than I thought. Even the most promising inspector in the Empire looks like this. What about the others?”
“……”
“I would rather sacrifice myself in battle and leave behind honor, but this is not it. Giving medicine to elite soldiers who knowingly suffer no pain or side effects…? It’s something I can’t bring myself to do as a human being.”
At that moment, Leon interjected urgently, as if the princess was of no concern.
“I’ll give up if it’s six!”
By this point, Victoria’s mouth uttered the words, “No, this won’t do.” Her elegant face contorted, but that was just a bonus.
If it didn’t work, she was prepared to show an even worse state, but fortunately, that wasn’t necessary.
“Leon Loaderdale. Go back to the academy now.”
“Or maybe five.”
“Just go.”
After sending Leon away, who was making a scene, Victoria stared at her intently.
It wasn’t to calm down the surprised Victoria, but because she had something to propose to her.
The delivery of ephedrine had already gone awry, but she didn’t know if it was a similar proposal in terms of using dru*gs for military purposes.
“Your Highness, I have something else to say.”
I only wanted to change the type of medicine and the recipient.
There was no rule that said dru*gs had to be given only to allies.