52 – Deployment
The Emperor permitted two matters.
Firstly, it was acceptable to fake a peace treaty with the elves. Secondly, for one month, discretionary movements would be tolerated.
“Even though there’s a condition to show tangible results within that.”
He was confident in achieving results. The kind of results that were so grotesque that it would be difficult to face them sober.
Still, wasn’t it better to have skirmishes of drunks than heaps of corpses rolling in a bloody battlefield?
Better a skirmish than an all-out war.
“Lord Alan. You must understand how crucial this is.”
Suddenly, Victoria began to emphasize the weight of the situation.
She was the one who secured the deal, even getting a royal decree allowing me to freely sell dru*gs. If there was something she wanted to request, she was willing to listen.
“Yes, Your Grace. I understand.”
“With this decision, we must abandon three lumber camps on the outskirts of Daelim, as well as one natural stone cave and two mines. We can’t continue the business while neglecting the forces to protect the laborers, can we? Of course, it’s only temporary.”
“…”
“Let’s assume we don’t achieve results within the specified period. We won’t be able to easily reinforce our forces then. Someone will have to bear the cost of pursuing a peace agreement and then retracting it.”
Feel the weight of this matter.
Even if I witnessed the actual Leon, who is known for his weakness in physical combat, it’s hard to believe that he can bring down an elf with just one dru*g.
If I could explain the effects of heroin, Victoria might reconsider, but I couldn’t show a sample on the spot.
“If I promise to take responsibility if it fails, will that be enough?”
No, it won’t just be a promise; it will actually happen. If things go wrong, returning to the routine of selling dru*gs without a care is not an option.
This is a matter involving a massive profit that even morphine cannot match. I volunteered to break through this dilemma with dru*gs.
But before I could talk about taking responsibility, Victoria spoke first.
“I understand. If it’s about honor, he will certainly take responsibility on his own, naturally.”
Honor…?
Surprised, I turned around, and Victoria, as if knowing what I was thinking, smiled and nodded.
Just that smile was enough to understand what kind of misconception she had. The misunderstanding that started with morphine had reached its peak with ephedrine. Now, she regarded me not just as an ordinary villain but as an unparalleled loyalist of the Britannian Empire.
“Why bother explaining.”
I just smiled coolly, pretending to hide the burden.
“I understand your sincerity. …But, Lord Alan. I am the one who agreed with Father on a month’s deadline. There shouldn’t be a need for it, but if things go wrong, I am the one who must take responsibility. I won’t sit back and watch, so work with peace of mind.”
“Your Highness.”
“Of course, if possible, it would be better if you could bring those arrogant tribes to submission, and we could raise our glasses together. I believe you can do it, Lord. I’m just… urging you not to fear failure.”
Saying this, Victoria touched my shoulder.
Clear eyes resembling sapphire, evoking the color of topaz, stared straight at me.
Encouragement so earnest that it would be burdensome for a dru*g dealer… To feign humility at this point would be a self-damaging act for my image.
So, I just nodded my head with a expression as sincere as Victoria’s.
“Thank you, Your Highness the First Princess. I will definitely meet your expectations.”
“I believe you.”
With brief greetings, Victoria disappeared.
She didn’t just show trust with words.
The next day, a letter of appointment came down from the diplomatic office overseeing the Empire’s foreign relations.
I was granted a position to allow me to move confidently in Daesurim.
“Alan Maydoff of Maydoff Pharmaceuticals. You are appointed as a diplomatic envoy of the reconciliation mission formed to resolve conflicts in Daesurim. Utilize all your skills for peaceful exchanges between both sides.”
I, with the title of envoy, was going to Daesurim.
Looking closely, it wasn’t a strange thing. Daesurim received treatment as a quasi-nation.
In this world, there was a concept of a resident ambassador, but it was more common to appoint a trader as an envoy and use them diplomatically. I was a journalist and a businessman. The only difference was that the products I dealt with were morphine and heroin.
“Now the conditions are set.”
Title, dru*gs, and the business plan in my head.
There was nothing more needed.
“As soon as I finish preparations, I will depart for Daesurim.”
I replied to the high-ranking diplomat who brought the letter of appointment.
I didn’t explain that I wasn’t going for peace but to spread heroin. Anyway, if I achieved results, everyone would find out.
A few days later, the time for departure arrived.
The Empire’s forces stationed near the Great Forest had withdrawn to the rear. It was more of a hasty retreat than a strategic maneuver.
Perhaps it was thanks to the detestable humans finally disappearing.
The elves bid farewell in their own way, saying it was a warm send-off.
“As of today, all outposts have been dismantled. However… it seems that warriors presumed to be from the Woodland Clan suddenly appeared and shot arrows at the officer leading the retreat. They didn’t harm anyone, but they aimed for the helmets and weapons.”
“I suppose we can understand it as a warning not to come back.”
“In any case, as a price for the retreat, I requested the elves to accept the Empire’s diplomatic envoy. We barely managed to secure it with the help of the Darian Kingdom, which is relatively close to the Great Forest. We received a promise that they won’t be hostile even if the envoy arrives.”
Not only did we retreat from the enemy’s forces, but we also had to beg the elves for a diplomatic envoy, and we only barely managed to get permission.
There was no greater humiliation than this.
“From the elves’ perspective, they probably couldn’t respond with a smile.”
Still, if they had agreed to retreat without a major battle, they could have sent us off in a more gracious manner instead of shooting arrows.
It made me realize just how deep the elves’ resentment towards the Empire was. But it was impressive that they allowed the diplomatic envoy amidst all this.
In any case, now that the conditions were set, it was time to leave.
Just before departure,
I went to see Sienna, my lord and partner, to bid farewell.
“It’ll be difficult to see each other for a while, won’t it?”
“Yes, Your Highness. I believe so. Unless it’s an exceptional situation, I plan to stay near the border without entering the capital.”
It was Sienna who greeted me while having breakfast.
Today, her meal consisted of oatmeal again. Healthy steel-cut oatmeal.
Do I live a healthy life so that I can thoroughly enjoy watching others ruin themselves? It was hard to tell if it was because she didn’t smoke at all and barely drank.
“I wonder if Sienna will behave while I’m gone.”
Sienna’s biggest hobby these days was dru*gs. More precisely, she enjoyed studying and observing the dru*g business that I was involved in.
If she had been interested in personally using them, I would have been willing to provide them for free, but she was more interested in observing, making it difficult to manage.
It would be useless to ask her to behave herself. What can you do?
At that moment, it seemed like Sienna could read my emotions. This had happened several times before.
“Don’t worry, Alan. Nothing you worry about will happen.”
“I’m worried that you’ll get bored.”
“Well, thanks for that. Luckily, I have a new hobby that I find interesting besides you. Writing letters to Anais turned out to be more fun than I thought. I told her about the academy because I thought she might be bored at the convent. After all, she’s like a sister to me.”
“You’re writing letters?”
“Yeah. The academy is quite interesting these days. Anais should know too.”
I had a rough idea of what was interesting.
It was probably the fact that there were more and more dru*g dealers among the academy students. Due to the nature of living in dormitories, the trend spread even faster. Someone might be getting high right now.
From Noble mtl dot com
“It’s fortunate that Your Highness has found something to focus on.”
“It’s not enough to be fully focused yet… By the way, Alan, you don’t seem to care much, surprisingly. I assume you have a rough idea of how the situation at the academy is by now? What do you think?”
“I have nothing to say or do. The academy is not my responsibility.”
“While giving that trash dru*gs for free.”
“Are you talking about Leon Loderdale? There may come a time when I need to borrow that man’s incompetence. It’s a small price to pay if I can control him with a few doses of morphine.”
I wasn’t responding like this to please Sienna.
I had no time to devote to any other issues besides using the elves for dru*gs. It wasn’t an easy task to take care of the academy as well. After all, I couldn’t solve all the problems in this world.
“Alright, Alan. Do you have something to ask me before you go?”
“I would like to ask you to take care of the Silovine cultivation facility while I’m away. Just water the mushrooms enough so that the surface doesn’t dry out, once every two days.”
“I’ll take care of it myself as a way to keep busy. If I ask the maids to do it, they might steal some. Everyone knows how much our mother loves Silovine.”
“If you do that for me, it would be an honor.”
Helping with mushroom cultivation even as a princess. If she really observes the academy and waters the mushrooms with a sprayer, I can sell dru*gs without worry.
But even if that’s not the case, I wouldn’t mind. I believed that she wouldn’t cause me any trouble.
“I will inform you of the results as they come. Or I can show you directly.”
I promised Sienna this much as a repayment. Even if I promised to sell heroin and give her a large sum of money, she wouldn’t be particularly excited.
“Alright. I’ll look forward to it.”
Fortunately, Sienna seemed satisfied with the response.
…
A little while later, the diplomatic corps led by me as the envoy headed towards the border.
Bonno from Medoph Pharmaceuticals, Erica, one of Sienna’s escorts, and a few bureaucratic officials brought along to maintain appearances. If you include me, there were only three experts, but it was too weak of a force to invade Daesurim.
However, the number of people didn’t matter.
I had a powerful 50.9 kilograms of heroin, more powerful than most armies.