After seeing off Colin and Sage.

I didn’t go home but wandered the streets.

There was no contact from Cromwell.

It had only been a day since I returned from the ruin exploration.

Although I had arranged the request myself rather than receiving it, it was unreasonable to immediately deploy someone on a mission unless the intention was to grind them down like a part.

There would be no contact for at least a week.

If I were just any contractor, the broker would call me at will without caring about my condition.

‘Now, I’m a resource that Cromwell will carefully manage.’

It meant there was nothing to be gained by getting on my bad side.

In the first place, even if he had contacted me, I would have ignored it.

I had gained quite a lot, so I needed time to sort it out.

Thud! Thud!

Although I had a destination, I didn’t pay it much mind and walked aimlessly.

It was a walk to clear my complicated mind, as the things to worry about had increased in proportion to what I had gained.

‘It reminds me of the old days.’

It was a flow of time that made an event from just a few months ago feel like a distant past.

In the past, when stress piled up, I often went for walks.

Walking on a path where the trees cast a cool shade in the warm midday sun used to lift my spirits.

Compared to then, it was an incomparably shabby walking path.

The hazy smog spread through the air like clouds, the path was lit by murky neon signs instead of sunlight, and the roadside was decorated only with greasy pipes and densely packed buildings like chicken coops instead of proper trees.

‘Is it better than not doing it at all?’

That was about the extent of my impression.

「The World Tree has smelled a strange fragrance.」

It was when I thought I had wandered around enough that a suspicious smoke caught my eye.

‘Was the direct market around here?’

Looking at the sign, it was District 3, 11th Street, a deep place even for a general commercial area.

I moved my steps into the billowing smoke.

It was different from the smog that filled the city.

A smell that was sweet yet so foul it made me want to plug my nose, a smell that could only be described as strange, wafted through the air.

The spirits, which had been floating in the smoke as if swimming, suddenly staggered as if imitating a drunkard’s walk.

Then, they fell onto someone’s head and stopped moving.

“Phew.”

There were people.

Their unfocused eyes were hazily relaxed in the smoke.

Cheekbones so sunken they were visible, and lackluster hair.

Even compared to the beggars overflowing in this city, their appearance was even more shabby.

“Phew.”

If it weren’t for the deep, periodic exhales, I would have thought they were corpses.

It wasn’t something to be surprised about.

This vulgar city, by its very existence, gave a plausibility that it wouldn’t be strange no matter what state a person was in.

“……”

But even so, it was a rather strange scene.

This was because the alley was littered with countless living people who looked like corpses.

To dismiss it as a coincidence, they all had something in common.

Above all, this thick smoke.

It was impossible to just let it go, considering the smoke that had attracted the World Tree’s attention and made the spirits drunk.

Of course, I had a rough idea of its identity.

I spoke to one of the guys nearby.

“Hey.”

“Phew.”

Were they even listening to me?

There was no particular reaction, but I didn’t mind and asked.

“Where is the direct market?”

“Phew.”

Instead of answering, the guy rolled his eyes to show me the way.

Was his body not listening to him?

‘At this rate, they’re no different from living corpses.’

I clicked my tongue and moved on.

After asking a few more people, I arrived at a dead-end alley.

Ssssk!

The smoke had now become so thick that it was difficult to even recognize the face of a passerby.

The white color was mixed with purple and red without any order, so it felt like I was experiencing some kind of avant-garde, experiential art piece.

‘Is that it?’

At the end of the alley, there was a small building.

There was a fence around it, but it was only shin-high, as if to keep out animals.

I lightly jumped over it and grabbed the handle of the half-open door.

Chrrk!

The chain that was loosely hung on the doorknob came undone, and a sound rang out.

It was a kind of alarm.

Although the taste was a bit peculiar, it served the same role as the bell usually hung on a shop door to announce a customer’s visit.

On the first floor, there was another inner door.

It was a small building on the outside, but it had a short width and a long length.

Knock! Knock!

This time, instead of opening the door, I knocked.

That was the rule here.

Creak!

Soon, the door swung wide open.

As I entered beyond the inner door, my stuffy vision cleared up, and it even felt refreshing.

As if the inner door were a boundary line, the thick smoke from outside could not invade.

It was probably a magical barrier.

A barrier that divided and separated space was not a particularly rare magic.

“A new customer, I see.”

What I saw directly in front of me in the room was an old man.

He was the owner of a peculiar hairstyle, with the top of his head shaved in a circle around the crown.

It was the same as a medieval monk’s hairstyle.

The old man greeted the customer with a kind smile.

“I am Bordon. By whose introduction have you come?”

“The trash outside.”

“Aha, then you are not a brother who has lost his way. That is a relief. The smoke is thick here, so it is difficult to get out.”

Bordon welcomed me with open arms, as if greeting a friend from his hometown.

At that, the sleeves of his wide, cloth robe were pushed up to his elbows.

The material was so cheap that the skin touching the lining was red and chafed.

“Strange.”

I crossed the center of the wide room and approached Bordon.

Glass display cases lined both walls.

Inside, pipes and syringes were individually packaged, and a piece of paper with the price written on it was placed in front of them.

Behind Bordon, there were so many drawers that it was hard to count them.

The drawers were distinguished by writing that was so scrawled it was impossible to read, a word more fitting for deciphering than interpreting.

“I thought these direct markets usually have a verified broker introduce the shop to the customer.”

“I have heard that other brothers usually do so.”

“Is it okay to do business like this? I don’t know how you plan to handle the city government’s inspections.”

I stopped at a distance where I could shake hands with Bordon.

It was pure curiosity.

“A drug broker, of all things.”

***

Direct market.

In the city’s slang, it meant a drug store where a broker was stationed.

Direct markets used all sorts of methods to avoid the city government’s inspections.

Being introduced by a verified broker and selectively receiving customers was a representative method.

To have drug addicts sprawled on the street like this and guide anyone in as if to say, ‘Come on in,’ was an act of putting one’s life on the line.

‘Thanks to that, I found the information quickly, though.’

Even without going through a broker, there were various ways to obtain drugs.

And most of the goods obtained that way were cheap.

Because the addiction was strong and the harm was deep, they could not escape from the drugs and became desperate to obtain better and more goods.

What I had asked Beta to track on the network was the activity history of these desperate people.

Since it was a closed community, I thought they might have carelessly leaked the location of a direct market somewhere.

The place where I found a clue that way was here.

‘I didn’t expect them to be doing business so openly like this, though.’

If I had known this situation, I wouldn’t have needed Beta’s help.

Bordon asked back without erasing his smile.

“Are you perhaps a city government official?”

“Not really. It’s pure curiosity.”

“I thought so. A city government official wouldn’t have asked like that.”

Bordon’s answer was significant.

“You asked why I do business like this. It’s because there’s no need to fear the city government’s inspections.”

“Why is that?”

“There’s no reason to fear inspections while doing legal business. Unlike other brothers, I am doing business legally.”

“Drug addicts are littered on the street like trash, and you call it legal business?”

I let out a scoff, but Bordon insisted with a persuasive voice.

“That’s because they only smoked the dregs left over after I sold my products.”

“Dregs?”

Bordon took out a stick-shaped machine from his pocket.

When he inserted a cartridge he had taken out from a drawer, smoke billowed out.

“You see, this is the product I handle. It clears the head, increases concentration, and circulates mana. There are side effects such as addiction symptoms, tremors, and chronic fatigue, but aren’t they minor compared to the effects?”

Bordon introduced the product with a beaming smile.

Just listening to his calm tone, it certainly had enough charm to be tempting.

However, recalling the state of the drug addicts outside, they were by no means minor side effects.

“It just sounds like you’re packaging it luxuriously and saying the purity is high.”

“It’s licensed as a medicine, so it’s not dangerous.”

Poison and medicine are originally separated by a fine line.

Opium and poppies were used as a panacea in the distant past, but are treated as illegal drugs in modern times.

At the same time, painkillers using the same ingredients are legally distributed.

It seemed he had exploited a loophole in the law in a similar fashion.

“I just sold the defective products with poor quality among the goods supplied that way at a low price, so what grounds would the city government have to crack down on me?”

“Your skills are amazing. You’re a sly old fox.”

To think there was a guy who did business so boldly like this.

Even for me, who had experienced all sorts of human characters in the game, this was a type I was encountering for the first time.

“Now that you’ve satisfied your curiosity, you should take a look at the products.”

The old man’s narrowed eyes shone sharply.

It meant that since he had answered my annoying questions, I shouldn’t think of just leaving.

He had even set up a barrier on the door, so he must be confident in his security measures.

I had no intention of becoming a difficult customer.

Since I had asked out of pure curiosity, I decided to look at the goods as was my original purpose.

“Show me a few representative products first.”

“It would be easier to narrow it down if you could tell me in more detail what kind of product you want. For example, the effect, ingredients, or if you have a preference for the form, like a pill or a cigarette.”

“I’d like something made from plants, in any form, that gives a doping effect.”

If I hadn’t been able to draw in the Ulfirin tribe in the battle against the Thorson Expedition, I would have been in big trouble.

It was irresponsible to expect that such a trick would work forever.

‘Even excluding the firepower to subdue a large number at once, I need the capacity to drag out a long-term battle against a large number.’

Doping with the help of drugs, or medicines according to the broker before me, could be a solution.

Although the side effects were a problem, it was a fairly popular method.

It was better to suffer from side effects than to lose one’s life.

“A product made from plants… I should tell you first not to expect much in terms of quality.”

In this world where plant growth was sluggish, even drugs made from chemical compounds were more developed than those made from plants.

Not only was the stability excellent, but the effect was also outstanding, and there were even fewer side effects.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“If that’s the case.”

It was within my expectations.

When I urged him, Bordon took out items from several drawers.

“First, these are all the products that are classified as medicines made from plants. The rest are dregs that I sell to the customers outside… they’re just roughly mixed with impurities and dried, so it would be difficult to offer them to you.”

It seemed that since he was nominally a medicine seller, he didn’t stock cheap goods made from plants.

“I’ll explain them one by one. This one is made from matcha or leaves and has a slight awakening and analgesic effect…”

The items he presented to me were three.

They were in the form of a cartridge filled with liquid, to be injected or inhaled.

They had the effects of physical ability doping, mana doping, and recovery enhancement, respectively.

“The common side effects are vomiting, mild physical paralysis, convulsions, and organ damage.”

“If there are common side effects, it means each one has its own side effects as well.”

“Since we use unripe and immature ingredients, it’s technically difficult to control the toxicity. On top of that, the price is high because of labor costs, so they’re items that only enthusiasts look for.”

Bordon’s tone was as if to say, ‘Are you still going to buy it?’

I deliberately pretended to think for a while and then suggested.

“If it’s such a flawed product, I should be able to try one as a sample, right?”

Could I handle these flawed products with strong side effects as I thought?

I also needed to confirm.

“Of course.”

Bordon readily handed over the item.

His business sense was clear: once I got a taste, I would get addicted, and then I would become a long-term customer, so it was a gain for him.

It was what I had hoped for.

I gripped the cartridge firmly and jabbed it into my thigh.

Puk!

Under the pressure, a thin needle popped out, and the concentrated liquid in the cartridge began to be absorbed into my body.

The drug’s effect quickly spread through my body.

But at the same time, the strong toxicity characteristic of crude, cheap medicines slowly built up in my body.

「Due to the body that has deeply accepted the World Tree, the toxicity of the plant is neutralized!」

The drug’s toxicity was soon neutralized and disappeared.

‘As expected, it works.’

I smiled happily.

The side effects of the drug made from plant raw materials did not apply to me.

It was as I had expected.

(End of Chapter)