Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 164

“Did something interesting happen?”

Perhaps because they were fellow mages, they seemed to roughly grasp Ban’s power from that brief tremor alone. The faces of those who had turned pale quickly turned away, and they shifted their positions.

“…My apologies.”

“He’s known for being ruthless, so we need to be careful.”

“He’s a rising star among freelancers after a long time. We might work with him later, so let’s try to stay on his good side.”

People scattered, while others, conversely, approached him with eyes gleaming at his magical power.

“I’m Ahmad Langley. I run a small office. Contact me if you need someone.”

“I’m Warren Holland. I’m looking for a capable mage. I can pay well, so come to the address on my card when you have time.”

The people gathered on this street were diverse, and their thoughts varied. Some were cautious, thinking that if they didn’t offend Lenok, they might have another chance to work with him. Others, conversely, were bold, judging that they needed to approach him actively to catch Lenok’s eye. Each person reacted with their own judgment to one person’s choice, and they were divided.

Yes. It was precisely because it was a place like this that Lenok had plunged into this street without looking back. While receiving the business cards, Lenok was lost in thought. From afar, he could hear others clicking their tongues.

Let’s stop with the complicated thoughts. No matter what the lighthouse keeper said, Lenok would definitely return to this street. Remembering only that and leaving the city was enough. It was time to leave for the autonomous territory.

Train (1)

“Hoo…”

It was dawn, with a pure white moon in the sky. The breath that escaped his lips brushed his cheeks coldly in the chilly weather. Even though winter was supposedly ending, the dawn in Balkan was still cold. As he walked down the deserted street with a bag and his coat collar turned up, Lenok’s mood naturally changed in a strange way.

“Hehe…”

“Ptooey—what the hell are you doing?”

Of course, there were still thugs roaming the city, not yet asleep. They would glare at Lenok while smoking in dark corners, and if they thought he was an easy target, they would swagger out. After zapping a few with bolts and shutting their mouths, he moved on.

Generally, there were three ways to head out of a megacity. There were ships using the harbor, cars using the roads leading out of the city, and air routes using airships. However, there was one more mode of transportation that most citizens of Balkan didn’t know about, and that the city government tacitly ignored. It was the railway using old train tracks.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t that surprising. Lenok had used a similar train to leave Balkan when he followed Aris to the academy before. However, it was more convenient to think of it as a means that wasn’t official and was used secretly for the convenience of others. The same was true now. Officially, Balkan and the Philemon Autonomous Territory had signed a truce, but after the death of Cheon-gyeon, the relationship was so tense that war could break out at any time. It was unreasonable to use transportation that officially recorded entry and exit.

On the outskirts of the city. As he walked along the place Jenny had told him about, the already faint signs of people disappeared, and his breathing became shallow. Only the cold smell of concrete stung his nose. As he walked to the edge of the outer district, he saw a hunched man standing alone, silhouetted against the moonlight.

“You’ve arrived. I’ve been waiting for you.”

He led Lenok over the wire fence with a sinister smile. It was a crude path, like a dog hole, but Lenok didn’t complain. It was transportation that Jenny had prepared herself. There was no room for doubt. The man who had been walking ahead rubbed his thin hands together and said,

“I don’t know how grateful I am that the young lady contacted me directly. I’m glad I could be of help… It’s a job I’ve been holding onto to make a living, so it’s even more meaningful.”

“Thank you.”

“Oh, no. Please don’t mention it.”

The man waved his hand and chuckled.

“It won’t take too long to get to the autonomous territory… It’s old, but it’s not slow. It shouldn’t take more than a day.”

“Is it safe?”

“There are always patrols on standby on the roads between Balkan and the autonomous territory, preparing for war. But at this time of the month… they’ll be a reliable fence.”

He’s just saying he took a bribe in a roundabout way. However, the fact that the train only ran once a month bothered him. Did Jenny plan all her schedules to coincide with the time the train to the autonomous territory ran? It was too perfect to be a coincidence. Lenok thought so and changed the subject.

“If we leave now, we’ll arrive before sunset.”

“I had to choose a time when customs would turn a blind eye, so I ended up having to operate at this early hour.”

The night wind was cold. Even though he was maintaining his body temperature with heat magic, he could clearly feel it on his skin. After talking with the man and walking through the withered, barren wilderness, he could see a train station in the distance.

“This way.”

The man said that and headed not to the train station, but to a small guard post next to it. A shabby guard post with a flickering yellow light. It was a facility too shabby to believe it was guarding the outskirts of Balkan, but considering that this train station was officially completely closed, it wasn’t that surprising. Moreover, the other party was a corrupt city government official. And one from the outer district.

A middle-aged man, who had his feet up on the old desk in the guard post and was staring at the newspaper, glared at the two of them.

“You’ve brought another customer. You’re certainly diligent about reporting.”

The man mumbled, chewing on the cigarette in his mouth, with no motivation in his expression. No, the fact that he could maintain such a lax attitude at this hour was, in a way, proof of an incredibly bold heart. While Lenok was thinking this and that, the man took something out of his pocket and handed it to the official. There was no need to think about what it was that he took and put in his pocket as if it were natural. There was no reason for him to turn a blind eye to the customers coming and going in the middle of the night unless he was taking bribes like this. Leaving the official waving his hand behind, the two walked back to the train station.

“How many customers am I?”

“Let’s see… There aren’t many today. About ten.”

As they stepped onto the moss-covered train station, the train finally came into view. Unlike the one he had ridden with Aris, there was a five-car, rusty train standing on the old tracks. As he boarded the rattling train that was heading into the darkness along the tracks, the man bowed his head to Lenok.

“Have a pleasant trip.”

“………”

As the doors closed and he stepped onto the train, he could immediately feel the gazes on him. The faces of the customers who were already seated were also varied. A large man wearing a deep fedora, a boy dressed in rags, a cyborg who was so modified that it was hard to tell if he was a robot or a human… Lenok didn’t care and found an empty seat to sit in. Since he had changed his face and magic pattern a long time ago, there was no fear of being exposed as Ban. As things could go either way, it was necessary to thoroughly conceal the fact that Lenok and Ban had headed to the Philemon Autonomous Territory. Was he now concealing his identity in triple layers instead of double? It wasn’t a big deal anyway, but he couldn’t help but laugh at his own situation. As soon as he sat in the back seat of the dusty train, he opened the window wide. He took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and waited, and soon the train started to move with a jolt. The train began to move into the darkness along the rusty tracks. Through the window, the hazy moonlight revealed the faint outline of the empty plateau. The air inside the train was endlessly cold and silent. If people were leaving the megacity at this hour and heading to the autonomous territory, they wouldn’t have ordinary circumstances. Thinking that way, this empty atmosphere was understandable in its own way. As Lenok was thinking that and looking out with his arms crossed, someone suddenly sat next to him.

“It’s nice to see a fellow mage here. I’m glad to meet you.”

A woman wearing a mask that hid her face and concealing her presence. However, the voice that could be heard from behind the mask suggested that she was about the same age as Lenok. The unusual magical power and relaxed tone were proof that she herself was a mage of considerable skill. When he casually turned his gaze around, the woman raised her finger as if she had been waiting for it.

“You don’t have to worry about words leaking out. I’ve already spread a magic field around us.”

When Lenok didn’t answer, the woman continued.

“It’s a relief that I’m not the only one heading to the autonomous territory at this time.”

Rather than approaching him because she knew who he was, she seemed to feel a sense of camaraderie at the fact that she had met a fellow mage in such a place. Lenok narrowed his eyes and exhaled smoke as he replied.

“…Do you have something to say?”

“………”

Instead of answering, the woman glanced around and reached into the bag she had brought. Then, she turned the bag upside down and dumped it onto the makeshift table between Lenok and her. In an instant, the contents of the bag spilled onto the table.

“……?”

Lenok was dumbfounded by the sudden bizarre behavior, but soon he noticed something much more important and let out a hollow laugh. The dozen or so items that she had just spilled from her bag were all artifacts imbued with magic. The woman, who had openly revealed the items she had in her possession to Lenok, said,

“I heard that there needs to be a price to pay for a request.”

“And?”

“Pick one you want. I’d like to talk after that.”

“………”

Lenok stared at the woman with a bewildered expression. However, she seemed to have interpreted the meaning in Lenok’s gaze differently, and she calmly reached out her hand and said,

“I’m late for introductions. I’m Cassia.”

It was absurd to reveal only her name while hiding her face. Both her name and identity were probably fake, made up to get through this moment. She hadn’t completely erased her magic pattern, but judging from the faint feeling, she clearly possessed an artifact or skill equivalent to it that was necessary to conceal her identity. However, even so, she couldn’t block Lenok’s magic sensitivity. The magic that he had secretly released, so subtly that even the mage in front of him couldn’t notice, immediately pushed into her inner sanctum and tore open the veil. Lenok’s senses, which had pierced through the security that had clearly been thoroughly prepared, instantly saw through her essence. She herself might think that she was perfectly hiding her identity at this moment, but Lenok had already fully confirmed her magic pattern. Lenok, who had searched through his memory for the magic pattern he had obtained, narrowed his brow as he found someone’s pattern that matched.

‘This is… a magic I’ve seen before. Judging from my memory, it’s probably…’

He could tell because he never forgot a magic pattern he had seen once. During the academy, a brief conversation he had with Aris while heading to the demonstration site to demonstrate the battlefield control technique. A middle-aged woman who had questioned why Aris was working with Lenok while talking about talent. It was clearly the magic pattern of the young female mage who had been assisting her next to the director of the Vaila Research Institute. The memories related to the moment when time and place were connected to her magic came flooding back. The director of the Vaila Research Institute was in poor health due to a disruption in her internal magic retention, and that was why Lenok had given her advice on her condition. It was something that had passed by too quickly, so it was difficult to remember the specific details, but he had roughly gleaned the key information. If this woman, who had been assisting Vaila, was on a train to the autonomous territory at this time, her circumstances would not deviate greatly from her status. She stared at Lenok’s face, and when he didn’t say anything, she shrugged her shoulders.

“Well, if you don’t want to answer, I’ll get to my business first. I guess that’s okay.”

“…Is that so?”

She was a woman with a very bold attitude for someone who had approached so cautiously. With the sudden reveal of the reward, and the fact that she was saying so much, Lenok chuckled, thinking that there was no harm in hearing her out. However, the words that came out after a brief silence were completely different from what he had expected.