“Did you hear? They say Naelda was caught by the police during an identification check at the train station and killed.”
“Lately, they really seem determined. The inspections have gotten much stricter than before.”
“They must be thinking they will repay us with even worse after we laid hands on them.”
There was already a rumor going around that a secret police officer was living in Galatia.
They still had not grasped the exact number, but since they did not know when or where one might approach, it seemed they would have to stay alert from now on.
“What do you think the chances are that there is a traitor among us?”
“What are you talking about? If there had been someone who could use magic, that person would have noticed long ago.”
The three men were sitting on abandoned boxes and talking when a woman with dark hair tied in a ponytail entered the alley.
She was a customer.
This was one of their regular trading spots.
The townspeople knew it well too, so unless they were customers who had come to buy drugs, they would never try to set foot here.
The woman looked around. She was clearly looking for them.
“Hey, over h……!”
The voice of the man in the middle cut off unnaturally.
A white-haired man had suddenly appeared behind the woman and secretly handed her something.
It seemed like a transaction.
They were fairly far away, so the item was not visible in detail, but none of that mattered to them.
“What is that bastard?”
“I know he has some nerve, at least.”
The three men approached the white-haired man with their displeasure plain on their faces and shouted.
“Hey!”
The white-haired man looked over in surprise.
His face was quite young. At a rough guess, he did not even look twenty.
“Do you even know what kind of place this is before pulling this nonsense?”
“We do not go easy on people just because they are young.”
“What did you hand that woman?”
The white-haired man quickly checked the pistol at the man’s waist and answered.
“Now, now, please do not be so wary. I was merely handing out a newly made product to people for free.”
“A new product?”
The man standing in the middle spoke while keeping the white-haired man under sharp watch.
“Would you like some as well? Try it once and tell me what you think.”
A white pill was now sitting in the white-haired man’s hand, though there had been nothing in it before.
The men exchanged glances.
They had instinctively realized that this new product the white-haired man had made was a drug similar to the ones they were selling.
CLICK.
The men drew the pistols at their waists and threatened him.
“You bastard, how dare you do business on our turf?!”
“Do you want your whole body riddled with holes?”
“What are you? Secret police?”
Even though pistols loaded with live rounds were aimed at his forehead, the white-haired man did not seem concerned at all.
“This is Setron-71. Among dark magic spells, there is one called Maktamin, which dramatically increases a person’s physical abilities. This drug was created by turning that magic into a kind of pharmaceutical. On top of that, it has narcotic properties, so if you take just one pill, you can feel a pleasure unlike anything you have ever experienced.”
“Are you a dark mage?”
“If I were not, why would I be going around making something like this?”
The men knew little about dark magic. Most matters concerning drugs were left to Fran Rekdorf.
“There are no particular side effects either. It does not shorten your lifespan. Of course, once the effects end, a certain amount of pain will spread through your body, but that is part of the fun as well. Would you like to try it?”
At the white-haired man’s suggestion, the three men exchanged glances again.
It seemed he was simply doing this to test the drug, but they were not foolish enough to fall for such a suggestion.
“Do you think we are going to believe that nonsense?”
“Test it on someone else.”
The three men tightened the fingers they had on their triggers.
Then the white-haired man raised both hands into the air.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, please do not do that. I am only doing this because I thought it would make money if I sold it. I am proposing that we work together.”
“You are talking nonsense.”
“Still, at least have a conversation with me. If you accept the deal, I will share the profits with you. Do you not want to make a great deal of money?”
“If I take this drug, will I really become stronger?”
The woman joined the conversation in a curious tone. The white-haired man answered confidently.
“Of course. You may test it on me.”
His opponent was a woman.
No matter how strong she was, she would have no way to defeat a dark mage.
Perhaps the woman thought so as well, because after hesitating for a moment, she swallowed the pill that had been placed in her palm.
GULP!
The three men stared at the woman as if they were looking at a madwoman. They had not thought she would truly eat it.
“How do you feel?”
The white-haired man asked with the eyes of someone watching an experimental subject.
The woman did not answer. She merely stood still.
BOOOOM!!!!
A tremendous roar echoed through the entire alley.
The woman had launched a kick at a speed invisible to the eye and destroyed the wall in its path as if she had thrown an explosive at it.
The faces of the three bewildered men hardened to ashen gray.
The white-haired man had shown miraculous reflexes and barely avoided the attack, but he seemed badly frightened by the woman’s destructive power, which had overturned his expectations.
“What, what are you doing……!!”
The white-haired man’s question reached no one.
Realizing that her kick had cut through empty air, the woman now brought down her tightly clenched fist without hesitation.
If he were hit by something like that, he would surely die on the spot.
The white-haired man, whose survival instincts were flashing red, hurriedly threw himself to the side.
BOOOOM!!!
When the fist that had lost its target drove into the ground, another tremendous roar echoed through the whole alley.
“Why is that woman suddenly acting like that?!”
“Did she take the drug and go berserk? Why is she suddenly like this?”
“No, I am perfectly fine.”
The woman spoke as she casually brushed the fragments from her fist.
“Wow, this is good. I have more strength than usual. So much that I feel like going completely wild.”
THUD!
The woman stamped the ground hard with her foot, as if telling him to get up.
The white-haired man, who had been sitting on the ground, reflexively rose.
“Um, please calm down. I have no intention of fighting you.”
“How long does this last?”
“What? Five minutes…… Five minutes.”
“That is enough.”
Rud sensed something ominous.
This was different from what they had discussed beforehand.
What Shedia had taken was ordinary cold medicine with no narcotic components whatsoever.
And yet she was acting as if she had truly been placed under Maktamin.
Rud blinked as if he could not understand what was happening.
Shedia, on the other hand, took a ready stance as if she wanted to use this opportunity to confirm his skills, then closed the distance to just in front of Rud’s face in a single breath.
His entire body was exposed.
There was no way Shedia would fail to notice that.
With killing intent packed into it, Shedia thrust out her fist in earnest.
Feeling a chill run down his spine, Rud hurriedly cast Maktamin on his own body and caught her fist with one hand, blocking it.
THWACK!
“Oh……?”
Shedia let out a small exclamation, sounding intrigued.
Regardless, Rud reached out toward Shedia before his eyes.
KRAKAKAKAKABOOM!!!
Shedia’s body flew through the air as if blown away by a gale, and large holes opened one after another in the walls of the buildings behind her.
It had happened in an instant.
The three men could not tear their eyes away from the thick cloud of dust rising in the air.
“What is that dark mage?”
“He blocked monstrous strength that could destroy a wall with one hand and sent her flying…….”
“And his palm did not even touch her forehead.”
He was an extraordinary master.
If they had pulled the triggers of their pistols without knowing any better, they would have been sent flying like that too.
“Ow, that hurt.”
Shedia slowly got to her feet while rubbing her head.
She had faced many dark mages while doing this work until now, but this was the first time she had felt a shockwave send her flying so far.
‘He is not called a genius of dark magic for nothing.’
Maktamin, which exponentially increased physical ability by cutting away one’s own lifespan.
And Zid, which likewise cut away one’s lifespan to launch a shockwave.
They were two spells that did not suit each other at all.
If he made even the slightest mistake, the two spells would have collided inside his body and destroyed it horribly. But Rud had skillfully controlled them and, on the contrary, maximized their synergy.
Shedia brushed the dust from her clothes and walked in the direction from which she had been blown.
A family who had been eating together inside the building stared at Shedia in a daze, frozen in place.
“Ah, I am sorry for interrupting your meal. I will fix this later, so please do not worry and continue eating.”
After asking the family for their understanding, Shedia leisurely left the house.
There was still plenty of time.
If she could have had her way, she would have liked to play with Rud a little more, but doing so might arouse suspicion, so she decided to stop there.
“Wow, this effect is incredible.”
Shedia returned to her original position completely fine, without a single wound, and spoke in a cheerful voice.
“I was hit by such a huge attack, and my body is still perfectly fine. This is something else, is it not?”
To think those were the words she said after shamelessly returning.
Rud wanted to protest harshly at once, but he held himself back with his entire body.
“The, the effect is good, right? It is a drug I have been researching for three years, so if you keep it with you, I am sure it will be a great help later.”
“How much is it? I have to buy it right now.”
“It is free for now. I am not taking money.”
“Then may I have a few more?”
“I am sorry, but I do not have much extra right now. I only have three left.”
Shedia acted as though she were disappointed.
Rud adjusted his expression to match hers, then turned his gaze to the three men who were staring at them as if they were lunatics.
“What do you think? Would you like some?”
In the end, the men did not accept them.
They had not yet earned their trust.
But that was fine.
Even their refusal to take the drugs was part of the plan they had drawn up.
“No, more importantly, we need to talk for a moment. What exactly was that earlier?”
As soon as they returned to the hideout, Rud poured out his complaint as if he had been waiting for this very moment.
Shedia changed her clothes with magic and answered slyly.
“For something like that, you have to show its performance clearly if you want to tempt people. Have you never done business before? In this world, what people can see is everything. It does not matter what is inside. If it looks delicious, that is enough.”
“Even so, was it right to throw a punch at me as if you meant to kill me?!”
“I did it because I thought you would be able to dodge it. You know how I feel, right?”
Rage boiled up inside him.
But Rud could not easily calm his excitement.
He had to steel his heart.
Shedia was his senior in the secret police.
No matter how unfairly he had been treated, he had no idea what kind of penalty he would receive if he attacked his senior.
If he could have had his way, he would have liked to hit her once.
Just as Rud inhaled and took a deep breath, he felt the presence of a dark mage with an enormous lifespan outside.
“Is it Fran……?!”