—–
“More… More…”
“Uuggh… It hurts…”
“Give me more…”
The voices of people in seemingly agony resonated across the dark streets of the Duchy of Affnaria, as the people were already inside their homes at night, their groans of pain and insanity could only be heard by the rats wandering in the streets, or by the small children, who would have nightmares about them.
These people used to be mercenaries, or even adventurers, normal citizens, farmers, or other things, normal people that were stressed by the harsh daily lives of this ruined Duchy after the death of the Duke, even with the new young duchess working hard to lift up the economy and combat crime, people’s moods were down the ground..
Due to this, many of them were tempted to “feel good for a small price” some would just go to brothels and have fun with prostitutes, others would try to eat tasty food, but others would go even more extreme, when sex nor food could satisfy them and they felt like dying by how miserably they felt… they would then take another option.
People began to appear in the streets of Affnaria some months ago, people wearing black robes with eerie voices. Some of their eyes sometimes shone red, and they only showed up in the night. They were often pale skinned, and smiled rather devilishly, but to those people already drowned in alcohol, it didn’t mattered.
“Hye, do you want something to feel better, this is a drug that only the nobles are taking, they say it helps them feel good… Want a taste? Free of charge.”
They began offering strange, black-colored pills or even small little flasks with a black substance inside. The people doubted them at first, but those that were already lost began to take them. They were bitter but with some alcohol, anything went down… After a few seconds, unexplainable ectasis hit them, they saw hallucinations of things they wanted, sometimes they were good things, and others were bad things, but this addictive feeling continued lingering within their minds, and after they healed the next morning, they would feel the undying crave for more.
Over time, as they consumed more of them, they began to ask for money, the providers were then given all what their clients had and smiled maliciously as they saw them happy. Of course, the more they consumed this strange drug, the more they wanted it. It was an undying desire for more, it could even be said to be quite greedy… and they developed malicious desires, they stole from people to get more money, and assaulted people at night when they lost their reason.
The guards of the duchy were capturing these people every night, and it was becoming problematic as the cells of he dungeon were getting filled with people drugged, the Duchess was being overwhelmed by all the work, and didn’t knew what to do. These people were being drugged and made addict over a magical drug that made these people go insane… She had yet to even catch the people selling these products, but she was slowly figuring things out.
However, the pressure of more people showing up every night was still there, and she was forced to free those that were showing signs to be at least healthy, as they were citizens and not really guilty of anything. She had interrogated some of them, but had barely gotten any responses from them, they seemed to be showing schizophrenia and even losing memories in fragments.
But from what she gathered, people said they were pale, had red eyes, and seemed to only show up at night… Some were described to have seductive voices and long, black nails… Julia didn’t knew what sort of people these could be, as she had no idea about the differences between races as a young girl that had barely studied the most basic information about the races of Midgard. But she was slowly tying things together on her own… Her soldiers were strong and they were dedicated to her and the duchy, but would that be enough to protect her and also the people of the duchy?
“More…!”
“Ahhh…”
“Unngh…”
—–
After eating in the tavern and filling our bellies, we decided to walk to an Inn, where we decided to stay the night in there. In our way there, we saw some drunk people on the streets, it was surprising to see that there were also women and not only ugly men, but these girls looked like… Well, they looked like prostitutes, their clothes, the way they were dressed, and the way they were addressing the other drunks… Wow, this duchy had gone to the worst. I really wouldn’t care for it if it wasn’t for Julia though. I am partially in fault for how things ended here now… However, I didn’t really cared before coming here again and then meeting Julia when I was just trying to save some slaves.
She enlightened me and gave me hopes for a brighter future for this rotten society, this girl was really sweet and brilliant, and I really wanted to see how far she could go as a Duchess… And because of the good things she did for me, I feel indebted for her, and I began to once more care for this duchy…
“Look, there’s a lot of homeless people…” Sighed Emeraldine. “Can’t they afford an Inn?”
“They spent all their money into alcohol, most likely.” Said Lucifer. “These people are lost.”
“Ugh, so stinky…” Sighed Partner.
“More…! Give me more!”
Suddenly, as we passed near a alleyway, an old man with a bald head and eyes that were completely white jumped towards Emeraldine, grabbing her from the stomach.
“Give me more! G-Give me your money!” He roared, taking out a knife and pointing it at her.
“Eeeh?! G-Get off me!” Roared Emeraldine. Before I could smack the old man into the ground, Emeraldine gave him a kick in the chin and knocked him out in an instant.
BOOM!
“G-Gahh…”
—–