I Became the Dark Wizard Who Rules Over the Heroines

36 – Leaf-5

“Medicine?”

“You, you’re probably using it too. Otherwise, there’s no way you’d be strong enough to beat that Katharine-“

Only after listening to him, I was able to realize.

‘…I was complacent.’

A person who lies must not deceive himself, even if he deceives the whole world.

It is very dangerous to forget that you are deceiving others.

But I forgot that general principle.

‘There’s no way a warlock could be fooled by my lies…’

Unless you are an extremely romantic person or someone who is open to all possibilities, you would not have believed my excuse.

If so, the thoughts of the warlocks would be largely divided into three categories.

People who think it doesn’t matter how I got my power, or people who think I got my power in a dirty, disgusting way and lied to hide it.

And if not, special drugs. Or, there may be people who think that they have increased their power through secret tactics.

“Do you know what you said?”

First of all, time was needed. After saying something that could be interpreted ambiguously, I looked at his attitude.

“Oh, no… I’m sorry! I was just saying that. I thought it might be annoying! I can’t waste your time with someone like me.”

If he is this scared of me, he might be able to find out the truth simply by threatening me.

However, that was not enough. It was important to immediately carry out the princess’ orders, but it was not good to incur the displeasure of the warlocks.

I didn’t seem to have many friends, but it wouldn’t be good if it was revealed that I had taken the lead in causing harm to the ‘warlocks’.

The reason those people were treating me so kindly right now was because the tip of my sword was pointed at Katarin personally.

Of course, drug trafficking was a crime, but their thinking was not delicate enough to worry about such trivial matters.

If they think I pose a threat to their community, they will no doubt choose Katharine over me.

“To begin with… Such drugs are expensive. They are also dangerous.”

Drugs used for pleasure are cheaper. However, most of the drugs that strengthened the black magician’s ‘power’ were dangerous.

In the first place, the users are not those who care about reliability or safety.

“Wouldn’t it be better to become strong in another way?”

The boy’s expression darkened.

“Become strong in other ways? Here… I am accumulating evil?”

I became serious. I became calm.

It was not the expression of a timid and weak ‘academy cadet’, but the expression of a warlock.

“…I look weak just by looking at it, right? Even my family said that. Everyone bullied me.”

I nodded silently.

“When I was ten years old, I was taken to a slaughterhouse. For a mistake I didn’t make, I was told to kill a pig as punishment.”

In this world, the head of the family did not pay much attention to the bastard.

It could not be said that it was impossible for a child of that age to be treated like that.

“At that time, I already knew about black magic. Because no one was interested in me. No one knew what I was doing or what books I was looking for and reading in the library.”

There was venom in his eyes.

“So, I killed it. I needed strength. I thought then… I wouldn’t be harassed.”

It’s a very common story. If you were to line up ten warlocks, at least two or three would likely have a story like this.

“It’s not that killing animals in and of itself is disgusting… I also know that there are people who make it their job, and that I’m no different from them, just another person…”

I know. I can understand.

“It was a pig that was going to be slaughtered anyway, but I killed it for black magic!”

The boy vented his anger.

“Spreading that blood all over my body! Feeling that I am killing life! Slower, more painfully! To kill the struggling pig even a little more ‘viciously’!”

Perhaps because he had let out all his anger, the exhausted boy sat down.

“That’s something I never want to do again…”

Warlock is a job optimized for psychopaths.

The more insensitive you are to the pain of others and, on the contrary, the happier you feel about it, the easier and more conveniently you can gain strength.

“Even now, even now, I can hear the sound of pigs bleating… As if they blame me, as if they are going to eat me…”

However, not everyone can become a psychopath.

Those who need strength are overflowing. And they must perform unwanted evil deeds to become stronger.

“Medicines… Still, you can buy them with money. Even if it hurts your body a little, you can get stronger right away…”

Katharine is an exception. She had ‘sufficient’ power, which was rare for a warlock, and she had a strong family that would protect her no matter what she did.

Her personality was such that she did not care about the pain of others, and even her talent in using demonic energy and the hierarchy of the demons she contracted were not lacking in anything.

However, most warlocks are different.

It’s so desperate. It’s so dangerous.

“Well, I roughly understand the situation.”

And I have to use those people. I have no choice but to use it.

“Do you understand?”

His angry voice was no different from when I first met him.

The voice is weak, hesitant, and full of fear.

“But, you come first.”

“Huh?”

“Weren’t you looking for other medicine?”

He nodded his head right away, as if he had no intention of hiding anything.

Beyond trusting me, the awareness of having to hide the medicine itself is weak. At least, among the same warlocks.

“Yes. They said it would make me stronger… It wasn’t effective, but it wasn’t enough. I guess I was too weak.”

“Is that all?”

He bit his lip tightly. After a moment of silence, the boy spoke again.

“Originally… It wasn’t this bad, but… I’ve been having a lot of nightmares. I guess I’m under a lot of stress these days.”

He shook his head, as if embarrassed.

“I heard that the infirmary inside the academy has pretty good facilities?”

“I’ve already been there. That’s… They said they couldn’t give you medicine because the cause wasn’t clear. They said they couldn’t take responsibility…”

It is a deception.

If you take the teacher’s words one by one, they must have been true.

Drugs that interfere with the mind are not only expensive and difficult to obtain, but also difficult to dispense and obtain approval for administration.

However, you can give it. Any healer at the academy can use that level of authority.

If those who manipulate the power of light, or a nobleman with a slightly higher status, had visited the healer, the answer would have been a little different.

“I’m also a bit interested, could you take me with you next time you do business?”

“But, I don’t have any money…”

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll buy the medicine, so all you have to do is follow me.”

Even though I didn’t have deep pockets, I was able to invest this much.

The boy nodded slowly.

/////

“Thank you for coming.”

When I entered the student council room, the princess smiled and got up from her seat and immediately served her tea.

“It’s okay. I’m not staying for long.”

“Isn’t a cup of tea okay?”

I can feel the scent of Eunwol tea. It feels like my dizzy mind is being relieved.

But, it was a moment. Although I was able to temporarily escape the frustrating feeling, the feeling of despair continued to persist in my head as long as the cause remained.

“So, why did you come here?”

“We are here to determine the level of response.”

“Are we already there? I thought they would let down their guard once the warlock entered, but… It was more than I expected.”

The princess smiled kindly, but I couldn’t bear to smile.

“How far does this instruction lead?”

If imperial investigators or academy instructors are involved, we may not be able to control the incident as we wish.

If I can’t decide who to punish and who not to punish, I have to be more careful in digging into this case.

However, the princess’s answer was a little different from what I expected.

“It’s not connected anywhere. It’s all me.”

“Huh? Then, were we seriously doing this ‘without any official authority’?”

“I feel sorry for you. It’s all because of my greed.”

Even though there was no official connection, I thought that an investigator or a high-ranking noble would definitely be involved in this investigation.

I could not have imagined that it was truly an incident committed by the princess alone.

“There was just something I wanted to do as the student council president. To my shame, I didn’t have the ability to take on that task, so I just left it to a promising talent like you.”

“…”

“It is the Imperial Academy. If there are people in it whose bodies and souls are damaged by drugs, how could it not be sad?”

Was it all just a simple favor?

If it were anyone else, I might not have believed it, but if the person who said it was the princess, I had no choice but to believe it.

“It may be my greed, but it would be nice for you to feel the reward as well.”

The princess smiled softly.

“Even if it’s not someone who benefits you… Hearing the happy laughter of another person right next to you is valuable in itself.”

I looked at the teacup in silence. The sweet scent of Eunwol tea tickled the tip of my nose.