The Man Who Carried Out Evil Without Knowing

There was nothing more to find here. We left the abandoned church.

Finn led us to the next location: a spinning mill nearby.

Like the church, it had long since ceased serving its original purpose.

No one came here anymore, and the equipment should have been cleared out.

But as we drew closer, sounds filtered out from inside.

The grinding of a millstone. Hurried footsteps.

Someone was definitely in there.

"I'll go in and secure the place. Once it goes quiet, follow me."

Finn picked the lock without a sound and slipped into the mill.

It took only moments before silence fell.

"Let's go."

I told Azu, who was on point. She nodded and went in.

I followed with Elza and Alexia, and inside we found several men and women sprawled on the floor.

On the workbenches were half-processed poppy pods and fine white powder.

The tools had clearly been in use just moments ago. They'd been processing poppy pods into drugs right here, no question.

… I wanted to set the place on fire.

That was my first thought.

I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down.

"I left one of them conscious. He's the one running this operation."

Finn dragged a bound man out from the back.

"Move it. Quit dragging your feet."

"Wh-who the hell are you people?"

The man kept looking back and forth between Finn and the rest of us, clearly panicking.

He had no idea what was going on.

I pulled a nearby chair over and sat him down.

"I'm going to ask you some questions. Whether you answer is up to you, but I'd appreciate it if you considered your situation before deciding. It'll save us both a lot of trouble."

Finn had produced a saw and a hammer from somewhere and placed them on the table nearby.

She set them down with a deliberate clatter, and the man stared at them with wide eyes.

"Nobody told me about this…"

"Then let's get started. What were you making here?"

"I don't know… That's the truth! I'm not lying!"

He scrambled to answer when I reached for the hammer.

"You were working without knowing what you were making? Fine. Then what were you going to do with the finished product?"

"I-I used to make a living processing herbs and such. Then one day, out of the blue, someone asked me to make medicine… They come by every day to collect the finished stuff."

Medicine, huh.

I grabbed one of the dried poppy pods and held it in front of his face.

"You don't even know what this is?"

"Some kind of plant seed, right? I tried holding the flesh in my mouth and it didn't seem poisonous. Is there a problem with it?"

There was a folk method for testing wild plants. You'd hold the flesh between your lips or leave it in your mouth for a while. Of course, you'd spit it out without swallowing.

It looked dangerous, but it worked well enough.

And in this case, it wouldn't have caused any harm.

He didn't look like he was lying.

"And you don't know what it's being used for?"

"N-no. He said it was medicine, so I figured it was for treating some illness."

I dropped the poppy pod.

So he'd been working in complete ignorance.

Not knowing what his labor would produce, hired for pocket change to unwittingly serve as an accomplice.

The information on poppy pods was out there for anyone who cared to look.

And this man hadn't even bothered.

… I was speechless.

Whatever.

"You said they come to collect every day. When's the next pickup?"

"They haven't come today yet. Should be here soon to pick up today's batch… I think."

"Good. Your work here is done. Swear you'll never be involved in this again, and I'll let you walk out of here."

"I swear! I won't say a word about any of you! Just let me go. I've got a family to feed!"

Every word rang hollow. There was no point dealing with this man any further.

I'd use him for what I could and leave him be after that.

From what I could see, the processing here was limited to grinding dried poppy pods and separating out impurities.

They'd split the work across multiple sites to spread the risk.

This man wouldn't know the full recipe, and neither would anyone else at a single location.

"I'll let you go. Explain things to the others here, and… do one more job for me."

"What do I have to do?"

I explained what I needed from him.

The man cared about nothing but his own skin. He'd work hard for that, at least.

I untied his bindings. We gathered only the amount ready for delivery and destroyed everything else.

After a while, a knock came at the door.

"That's the right signal. The pickup's here."

"Good. Do exactly what we discussed. I keep my promises."

"I know."

Everyone except Finn hid out of sight.

In case anything went wrong, Finn was pressed against the ceiling, concealed overhead. Quite the trick.

The man took the delivery bag and opened the door.

Standing there was a hooded figure whose face was hidden.

"Is today's batch ready?"

"H-here."

His voice cracked. Miserable acting.

It was painfully obvious.

The hooded figure accepted the bag but seemed faintly suspicious.

"What's the matter? You seem a bit off."

"No, nothing's wrong…"

"If you say so. I'm counting on you tomorrow too. We can never have enough."

The hooded figure turned to leave.

It was somewhat unnatural, but they probably hadn't imagined the inside had been taken over.

I made eye contact with Finn. She dropped from the ceiling without a sound and slipped out after the hooded figure.

We'd be led to another processing site.

"You're going to let me go now, right?"

"Of course I am."

The man practically threw himself at me the moment I stepped out from my hiding spot.

I'd said I would release him, and I intended to honor that.

I looked at Alexia and gestured with my chin.

"Urk—"

Alexia delivered a swift chop to the back of his neck, knocking him out cold.

Excellent technique.

I had him tied up again and left on the floor.

I'd changed my mind.

Once Jacob was informed about this place, he'd deal with it promptly.

The man's crimes wouldn't be as severe as the ringleader's.

Until then, he could sit here quietly.