Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 148

“Kkyaaaaak!!”

“A, a monster!!”

“A crazy bastard is here!!”

Before they were cornered here, at least dozens of scavengers were obliterated, not even leaving behind corpses.

A bright blue light filled their vision.

Pajijik!!

Those who confidently grabbed their tools to confront the attacker were instantly reduced to ashes by the lightning striking their heads.

The 43rd Scavenger Branch, numbering close to several hundred, was annihilated.

Against a mage who freely wielded lightning, the scavengers’ ant-like rush was utterly futile.

Dudududu!!

As soon as Yard saw the lightning split into dozens of strands and rain down, he abandoned everything and fled.

“L, leader…!!”

“You traitorous bastard!!”

Ignoring the desperate screams behind him, he ran like a madman.

He greedily inhaled, ignoring the acrid smell stinging his nose.

“Hweek, hweek, cough…!!”

Even while drooling, his feet didn’t stop.

He changed directions as he ran, desperately trying to get as far from the station as possible, fearing he might be tracked.

“Huk,”

Once he felt he had run far enough, his tense body suddenly relaxed, and fatigue washed over him.

Yard clutched his pounding chest and slowly sat down against a wall to catch his breath.

‘They’re all dead, right?’

They had said to attack all at once while he was chanting magic, that there would be a chance if they all approached together.

His subordinates had spouted such empty words, but it was all nonsense.

Yard knew very well who that skinny mage wielding lightning was.

The very person who had been rapidly gaining fame in the 40s district recently.

Not only was he being scouted by giant corporations like Dyke, but he was also a rising star receiving offers from elite organizations like agents.

The rumor that he had single-handedly killed the head of the 50th Scavenger District branch not long after he started working as a freelancer was well-known.

Except for his foolish subordinates who had just been roasted by lightning.

“Damn it, I was working with idiots who couldn’t even recognize that bastard’s face…”

Yard muttered a low curse as he got his trembling legs up.

He couldn’t even reach the tip of that crazy mage’s toes, but as the head of a scavenger branch, he was a skilled magic user in his own right.

Fighting head-on would be suicidal, but he was good at using his foolish colleagues as shields and running away.

“I just need to survive. I just need to survive…”

If he could just keep his body intact, there would be a way to survive somehow.

He had essentially lost most of the 43rd branch’s power, but there were plenty of trash to replace the scavengers in this city.

If he made up a suitable excuse and reported it to the higher-ups, and Yard himself filled the personnel gaps, the higher-ups wouldn’t make a big deal out of it.

Scavengers were an organization that operated that way from the start.

That was proof that Yard Manningson understood these hyena-like beggars well.

The moment Yard, who had slowly caught his breath, was about to get up.

Slow footsteps came from behind.

“………”

Has he already caught up? What about the other subordinates?

No, there’s no need to think about it. They’re all dead already.

The moment Yard realized that escape was impossible, his body moved instinctively.

Pajijik…!!

The moment he lowered his stance and turned his body, a flash of light grazed his cheek.

Before he could even realize that he had narrowly escaped death, he rushed towards the guy, pulling out a dagger from his chest.

It was an ominous object with a blade stained with blood, which he had received long ago in exchange for saving an old blood mage. Yard remembered what the old man had said while begging to be saved.

The result of human sacrifice, made by grinding human bones and flesh whole. It was only for one time, but it contained the essence of blood magic that could completely nullify the opponent’s magic.

If he could stab through the lightning he was emitting and get into his arms…!!

He glared with the greatest concentration and desperation of his life.

It’s coming.

A streak of blue light ravaging his retina.

Before he could even feel it coming, he reached out his hand.

Before he could even fully extend his arm, he was certain.

He would cut it.

Squeak!!

A faint path he found in the reverse flow of electricity that had shown no gap.

On Yard’s face, which was moving towards that gap narrower than a pinhole, there was no hatred or anger.

Only the raw ambition to survive.

Beyond the lightning he had cut through in a trance, his vision returned to normal.

Yard blinked as he faced the blunt muzzle of a shotgun.

“…..Huh?”

Kwaaang!!

What came out of the shotgun held by the skinny mage was not a bullet.

A shockwave like a cannonball.

All the choices Yard had made with his life on the line were rendered meaningless, and his body fell to the floor in vain.

It was the moment when the cold air of the train station began to pierce his intestines that he realized his lower body had been blown away.

The mage, Lenok, who was looking down at Yard’s convulsing face, said.

“That was good concentration.”

“Haha… damn it.”

Yard laughed in vain, realizing that there was no chance of winning from the start.

This was cheating.

How could a mage who scatters such powerful lightning also carry a shotgun with such ridiculous power?

There’s a limit to being meticulous. As always, the world favors those who have more.

Would things have been different if that weapon had been in Yard’s hands?

It didn’t matter anymore.

Yard muttered as he slowly closed his eyes.

“I cut the lightning…”

Yard Manningson. Head of the 43rd Scavenger Branch. Age 37.

In the last moment of his life, he fell asleep while reciting an achievement that no one had ever accomplished.

#

Koong!

“Here. This is what you were looking for.”

As Lenok put down the jar he was holding, Sebastian jumped up as if he had been waiting.

He immediately checked the contents of the jar and nodded in satisfaction.

“As expected, your work is clean and efficient. Very good. What did you do with the scavengers?”

“Well…”

Instead of answering, he just shrugged his shoulders, but Sebastian understood perfectly.

“It’s enough if you handled them properly. They were the ones who kept stealing the goods being traded in this area like rats, so I needed to deal with them sometime.”

“You can rest assured about that part.”

“Very good… By the way, you’re much faster than when I asked you to do a job last time. Did you improve your skills in the meantime?”

“I just got used to it.”

Lenok replied as he sat down across from Sebastian.

District 45. The luxurious building where Sebastian’s office was located.

It was the first time he had visited his workplace again since he had taken on the request related to the Otterble blueprint.

Before coming here to ask for his help with the exploration team’s work, he had just completed one of the requests he had asked for.

Sebastian seemed to think that the time it took for Lenok to complete the work was abnormally fast, but from Lenok’s point of view, it was not a big surprise.

Now that he was used to the form of freelance requests, Lenok also knew exactly how to handle work the fastest and most efficiently.

Moreover, the opponents in this request were scavengers. And they were just the dregs from an outer branch.

Considering that it wasn’t difficult to deal with the head of the 50th district branch even when he was still a fledgling, it was natural that Lenok had quickly achieved results by overpowering them.

In fact, he didn’t even use proper magic, he just pushed forward recklessly with a shotgun loaded with auxiliary magic.

“Anyway, I hope this is a good enough reward for the favor I’m about to ask.”

“Even without that, I was already pulling out the data for you. Take a look.”

Several sheets of paper, lifted by telekinesis from a printer in the corner of the office, were neatly folded and placed into a file folder.

“After hearing your story, I immediately started collecting information about those who sponsor the Arashark Exploration Team.”

Sebastian immediately opened the file folder and showed the contents to Lenok as he continued to speak.

“Vincent Mayblack. He runs a fairly large trading company in the inner area of Vulcan.”

Lenok raised his head at Sebastian’s words as he tapped his wine glass.

“He seems to be contributing to the distribution of vast amounts of goods produced in Vulcan to various parts of the continent. He also seems to be making a decent profit by including valuable relics. He’s quite old, but apart from that, he’s a very talented businessman.”

“………”

“There must have been some reason for him to continuously sponsor the exploration team. If he went so far as to stage that ridiculous farce at the Teina Auction House, it means he’s quite involved in this matter.”

Sebastian closed the file folder with a thud and smiled as he stroked his chin.

“Ban, you haven’t shown your face in a long time, but you’ve brought quite an interesting case. I knew I didn’t misjudge people.”

“Investigation (2)”

“If you were thinking of me in that sense, you’re completely wrong.”

Lenok replied with a frown.

“I haven’t had many cases like this while working. I don’t even move unless it’s a request in the first place.”

In the first place, he didn’t have a personality that would get him involved in such things.

This incident was just a series of coincidences that happened at the auction house.

It was no coincidence that he chose freelance work, where he could earn money in the form of requests that allowed him to thoroughly review the risks in advance.

Even during his time at Dyke and as an agent, the process was quite precarious, but the core of it was that he could plan the operation in advance, which was why he did it.

Solving such sudden incidents was not Lenok’s preference.

However, as soon as Sebastian heard Lenok’s answer, he shook his head.

“It’s the opposite. You’re going to face these kinds of things even more.”

“What?”

“Didn’t you jump into this game for your own reasons? You must have something you want, and it’s very unlikely that you’re the only one who wants it. Rather, you’ll be facing countless competitors like now.”

“………”

“Freelancers who don’t know anything just pick the requests they want and work as laborers. But you’re not just a simple freelancer anymore, are you?”

Sebastian smiled mischievously.

“You’re starting to work for what you want, not for money. You’ve become a client as well as a freelancer.”

His tone was light, as if he was telling him to let it go, but it was hard for Lenok to easily deny his words.

When you think about it, this situation was also a situation where Lenok was asking Sebastian for a job.

He had forgotten because it had become natural to borrow the abilities of a broker while working with Jenny, but from Sebastian’s point of view, it was not strange to take it differently.

“…You’re not wrong.”

“You seem to have complicated thoughts, shall we continue talking about work?”

Sebastian, who had subtly checked Lenok’s expression, cleverly changed the subject.

Jenny was the same, but brokers were really like ghosts when it came to reading the room.

“Anyway, to talk a little more about Vincent Mayblack, the trading business he runs is not a completely above-board business. In fact, he has almost no recognition among the citizens, and the atmosphere between the departments within the company is also very different. It’s not uncommon for guys to work like this in this city.”

He said that as he poured a new wine into his glass and leisurely swirled it.

His gaze didn’t miss the wine moving along the glass, but his eyes were sharply shining.

It was proof that he was still holding on to his thoughts.

“He’s maximizing his business profits by walking a fine line between the dark and the light. He probably thoroughly divided the work by department and made it so that they don’t even know what each other is doing.”

“Is the trading business a business that has so many shady aspects?”

“Of course. If you dig into it, there’s no end to it. Passing through customs, taxes and inspections on the goods being distributed, colluding with institutions that take commissions, and catching thieves who covet treasures… There are more than one or two things that need to run smoothly if you maintain a connection with the underworld.”

Especially in this world where superhumans run wild. Sebastian chuckled as he said that.

As expected, I thought so since the auction house, but Sebastian is one step ahead of Jenny in these matters.