Chapter 55

She indulged again.

This time, she smoked it through a pipe.

As soon as she took a deep inhale, ecstasy washed over her. Tears streamed down her face, but she didn’t even think to wipe them away.

It was just… too good.

‘Heroin really is the best.’

Marcela looked at the pipe with satisfaction.

She and her subordinates had only been out of the human city for five hours when they first experimented with heroin.

Was it someone’s suggestion to try it?

No, it wasn’t anything like that. It was simply a moment when her and her subordinates’ gazes happened to meet while walking.

Marcela’s most trusted confidant and friend, Lurde, grinned widely, winking at her. The other subordinates, noticing the cue, nodded in agreement.

Is there a reason not to do it?

No.

Should we smoke it?

Yes.

An unspoken communication through gazes.

They swiftly opened the gift box afterward and used a small, cute-sized measuring spoon to load the heroin into the pipe, setting it alight with magic.

The sense of euphoria began even before she took the first puff, and the actual high was beyond what she had imagined.

Drinking it in tea had been fantastic already, but this exceeded even that!

She sprawled out on the bushes without a care in the world, her senses dulled, but it didn’t bother her at all.

On the contrary, she felt one with the forest, doubling her joy. Elves were a race that naturally lived in the forests, after all.

‘I love the forest. I love heroin.’

While lying lazily sprawled out, Marcela was called by her close confidant, Lurde.

“Milady… uh, but…”

Milady? Marcela almost pointed out something but decided to let it slide, thanks to the comfort heroin provided.

“What is it?”

“We have it, don’t we?”

“Heroin?”

“Yes. Instead of giving this to the elders, shouldn’t we keep it and smoke it ourselves? After all, we were the ones who fought the hardest, and it’s our reward. In a sense, it’s a war trophy. If we monopolize it, we can enjoy it longer, too.”

It was an extremely fair and reasonable suggestion.

Marcela’s face lit up with a smile. Her subordinates, sprawled across the bushes or dirt floor, all looked at her in unison.

‘That’s correct. If we keep it just for ourselves, it will last quite a while.’

Eleven of them with thirty grams of heroin.

According to the enclosed manual, each person could use or consume it over two hundred times.

Maybe we could enjoy it for two or three months? During that time, wrapped in the embrace of heroin, they could spend their days in bliss.

“Do you approve?”

Marcela was about to reflexively agree when she suddenly stopped herself mid-sentence.

Despite heroin’s undeniable excellence, the reality of its limited quantity finally dawned on her.

Thirty grams was a lot, but it wasn’t enough.

‘What will we do when this runs out?’

The thought of a future without heroin filled her with dread.

As much as she cherished heroin, sometimes the most excellent and beautiful things could become problems.

It was an unfortunate truth, but heroin was made not by elves but by humans — the very hostile Alan Medoff who concocted the drug.

‘There’s no way humans would provide us with more heroin. They hate us.’

After thirty minutes of contemplation, Marcela finally spoke.

“I’m afraid we can’t use the heroin. I need to think about this further, but we can’t share it with the elders either.”

“Pardon? What nonsense is this?”

“Of course, heroin is wonderful. But it’s so wonderful that it has become a problem. Once we’ve used what we were given, we will be in a very precarious situation. We can’t simply acquire more whenever we wish, after all.”

“But why worry about that now…? Let’s just smoke it and see!”

“We must think ahead now. If we get too accustomed to the pleasures of heroin, breaking away from it will be much harder later. So, painful as it is, we must.”

The faces of the elves looking at Marcela started to harden. Some even glared in disbelief.

‘This must be hard for them. It’s hard for me, too.’

But she had no choice.

Once addicted, things were bound to get more difficult down the road. Two sessions of experiencing heroin’s pleasure had already left emotional scars.

It was better to make the tough call now.

“We’d be better off stopping the use of heroin.”

Marcela grimaced as she closed the lid of the porcelain bottle.

One of her subordinates started to sob despairingly, looking as if they’d lost the World Tree. Honestly, Marcela felt like her own heart was breaking.

But she resolved to endure.

She had a premonition that if she didn’t hold back now, something worse would happen.

***

The next day, after halting heroin use.

‘As I expected, I was right.’

Marcela, still wandering aimlessly on the outskirts of the Great Forest, looked at her arms, covered in goosebumps.

Elves usually moved quickly like the wind in the forest, but today she was dragging her feet, barely forcing herself forward.

It was the symptoms that started soon after quitting heroin the previous day. They were almost indescribable, so they were simply called “symptoms.”

They began with cold sweats.

Then followed by sneezing and muscle aches.

Even in the sweltering Great Forest, she felt a constant chill. This was the most troubling part.

At least Marcela, thanks to her exceptionally robust elven physique, endured it fairly well, but her subordinates were struggling badly.

When she looked behind, there were ten undead-like figures following her haltingly.

“Heroinheroinheroinheroinheroinheroinheroinheroinheroinheroinheroin!”

“Lady Marcela, please? Can’t we just smoke it? If we run out, we can ask the humans for more… or we can demand it in exchange for peace with them. Humans are all cowards, after all!”

“You selfish bastard, hogging it all because you fight well…”

Watching them like this gave Marcela even greater conviction.

Heroin should neither be smoked nor consumed.

While it provided immense joy during use, it exacted a toll on the body afterward.

Now that she thought about it, maybe heroin wasn’t entirely perfect after all? While she didn’t intend to negate its positive aspects, a truly flawless drug wouldn’t leave people this miserable. It was wise not to use it, no matter how much one might desire it.

‘I still want to use it, though.’

Even while holding it in her hand, the temptation to not use it was unbearable. How frustrating could it get?

She wanted to throw the bottle away into the forest, but she couldn’t. If she did, her subordinates would probably go insane.

Besides, their behaviors were already deteriorating. Some were even speaking disrespectfully or hurling profanities at her. It wasn’t something that ever happened, even when they fought the Britannia Empire’s army.

‘Still, we just need to endure for a little longer.’

She was planning to arrive at a teleportation magic circle soon.

Marcela intended to, upon reaching the area of the World Tree, explain the problematic nature of heroin to the elders and dispose of it somehow.

It wouldn’t be an easy decision, but she continually felt it was the right thing to do, regardless of how hard it was.

“Let’s rest a little.”

“Lady Marcela, please, just let us have one puff while resting. Just one!”

“I’m sorry. Bear with it.”

“Why are you doing this to us? Seriously!”

Marcela deliberately distanced herself from her agitated subordinates when taking her rest.

She could leave by herself and hurry ahead — being in relatively better condition than her weakened subordinates. But she didn’t want to abandon her fellow elves, no matter how much it delayed her.

It would be better to take them with her, even if slower.

Marcela tightly held the porcelain bottle and deliberately ignored her subordinates’ complaints.

Though they grumble now, she believed they would understand eventually.

At the same time, an overwhelming wave of sleepiness hit her.

She decided not to fight it and would briefly rest. At least while asleep, she could forget her desire for heroin. While the “symptoms” had kept her awake last night, she was at least thankful to fall asleep now.

‘I want to smoke it. I want to ingest it. But I must resist.’

Marcela suppressed the swirling craving and managed to close her eyes.

…

After Marcela had fallen asleep…

Her most elite subordinates began whispering among themselves, their gazes filled with ferocity.

“She intends to keep it all for herself. That’s obvious.”

“Look at how she’s holding it tightly, even while asleep. Come on.”

Ten pairs of eyes then turned toward the sleeping Marcela. More precisely, toward the porcelain bottle she still clutched tightly in her hand.

What consumed their minds was nothing but their craving for heroin.

And also the suspicion that, if things continued this way, Marcela would monopolize the heroin all by herself.

It made logical sense. If she claimed all thirty grams alone, she could smoke them for an entire year. It was inevitable that she would leave her subordinates, who fought together against the Britannia Empire, behind and enjoy all the pleasures herself.

We all know it.

Still, they hesitated to actively protest due to Marcela’s position as the greatest warrior of the Great Forest and her formidable strength. Even if they somehow managed to steal it, what would happen afterward remained a concern.

Still, when faced with a problem, solutions usually present themselves.

Lurde, second-in-command, glared at Marcela like she was already dead and then suddenly proposed.

“How about we steal it and offer it to the elders? That way, we could at least catch a whiff of the smoke nearby.”

“Just us.”

“No, involving the elders is safer. Besides, that human, Alan Medoff, also said not to tamper with the heroin and to hand it over directly to the elders. If we involve the elders, we might find a way to get more heroin later. Definitely.”

“That… could work.”

The discussions grew more and more detailed.

It didn’t take long for the elves to formulate their plans to defy the authority of their superior.

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