Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 224

“…….”

“The fact that you, who have been secluded, have stepped forward yourself means that someone has been chosen to handle this matter, right?”

Girard remained calm, not intimidated by Virgil’s gaze. He fully understood his situation and what was to come.

“This is quite something… Isn’t that mage too smart? I was just planning to leak information and stall for time, but he even recognized that there was a traitor within the organization and used it in the negotiation… If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have said anything from the start.”

“Stop with the pointless act. We know everything without you making such a fuss.”

Virgil chuckled.

His red eyes flashed behind his sunglasses.

“You realized you had chosen the wrong side after facing Ban, and immediately changed your course. You must have predicted that the damage would be much greater than your superior expected, and that the responsibility would spread to the lower ranks, right?”

“…….”

“Your prediction was correct. The subordinate unit led by Executive Director Avid Lowell was annihilated by a single person… That man isn’t just good at fighting. He understands better than anyone what it means for a mage to kill someone.”

“…Hahahaha!!”

Girard, who had been staring blankly at Virgil’s face, suddenly burst into laughter.

His blank expression instantly turned lively, and his eyes filled with joy.

Girard, who had regained his original madness, laughed heartily, showing his throat, a stark contrast to his previous demeanor.

Girard, looking up at Virgil with gleaming eyes, curled up the corners of his mouth.

“Everyone is so smart. Well, it’s easier for me since we can communicate well… I’m scared to go anywhere and talk carelessly.”

“…….”

“Well, if you know that much, there’s only one thing to say.”

Girard asked.

“Will you spare me?”

Strictly speaking, from the moment Girard was captured alive by Ban, his life was as good as nonexistent.

However, the fact that he was able to return to the Cartel alive amidst the rapidly changing situation was because Girard was keenly aware of his surroundings and acted quickly.

“You’re an interesting one. We need a madman like you…”

Virgil smiled.

“You pass my standards… but I need a definite answer before that.”

“What kind of answer?”

“That you will fully cooperate in catching the traitor who betrayed the Chairman.”

With those words, his red eyes turned cold, and a sharp killing intent relentlessly pressed down on Girard’s head.

“Your direct superior, First President McQueen, has betrayed the Cartel and colluded with Ten Counts [a rival organization]… You, who managed the cooperative businesses in the 40th district, must remember everything, right?”

Even if he didn’t want to believe it, all the circumstantial evidence pointed to a single person.

The founding member who had been with the Cartel since its inception, and the oldest of the four presidents.

The elder who held the position of vice-chairman, acting as the proxy for all authority in the absence of the chairman, and at the same time, held the authority to directly oversee the Cartel’s elite military force.

The man who had served the chairman and pledged his loyalty longer than anyone else had betrayed the organization and turned his back.

He deliberately provoked chaos by targeting the mage Ban.

He embezzled internal slush funds while attention was focused on the long-absent adversary.

He moved his subordinate directors, including Girard, to actively try to fix the situation.

And in the end, he was the only one who tried to erase all traces and cover up his mistakes.

“So, that’s what you meant by stepping in to fix things… McQueen, I won’t let you get away with this.”

Virgil’s eyes gleamed ominously behind his sunglasses.

Girard shrugged silently at the sight.

“It’s not a difficult task. Then, would you please release these restraints? I’ve been tied up here and there for over a week, and my joints feel like they’re rotting.”

“…….”

“…Mr. Virgil?”

“Well, that’s all for the acceptance conditions I’ve thought of.”

Virgil said, grabbing Girard’s handcuffs and starting to walk down the long corridor.

“We’ll have to hear what the Chairman thinks as well.”

As soon as he heard those words, Girard’s indifferent expression changed completely.

His steps, which had been obediently following Virgil, came to a sudden halt.

“Ch, Ch, Chairman, you mean?”

“Yes. The Chairman wants to see you in person.”

“W, wait a minute… There was no talk about that. Why suddenly me with the Chairman…”

“A traitor within the organization. And it’s about deciding the fate of the ringleader.”

Virgil replied, dragging Girard along without looking back.

“Moreover, if that ringleader is McQueen, it wouldn’t be strange for the Chairman to end her long sojourn and return, would it?”

“Later, let’s meet later… She probably doesn’t even remember my face, so why would she want to see me…”

Virgil scoffed at Girard’s appearance, who was filled with a faint fear, his courage to return alive at the risk of his life nowhere to be seen.

“Enough with the useless talk, let’s go inside and talk. The Chairman is waiting.”

Only then did Girard realize what was at the end of this wide and long corridor, and he struggled, but it was already too late.

A magnificent arch-shaped door, like a castle gate, appeared before the two of them.

The door, made of thick stone, was engraved with all sorts of metaphysical shapes.

The aesthetic sense that chose each of those carvings was already beyond the depth that an ordinary person could understand.

A monster who had lived for hundreds of years in his seat.

The old monster who had reigned over the shadows of the Balkans for decades in this vast city.

The office of the Cartel’s Chairman, Oliviera Ron Maze, was before Girard’s eyes.

There was no need to knock.

The moment she recognized their presence, Virgil and Girard were already within her inner sanctum.

A tomb of books, covered in dust, that had not been opened for decades, and a golden staircase that rose above it.

Girard, who made eye contact with the woman sitting on the ornate throne, immediately slammed his head to the ground.

Koo-oong!!

“Girard Ogette greets the Chairman!!!”

Oliviera ignored the words and turned her gaze to Virgil, who was standing next to her.

[What is his name?]

She didn’t even open her mouth. It was just the magic resonating with her will that represented her intention.

Virgil answered.

“Girard. Girard Ogette. He is one of the managing proxies of the cooperative businesses, and the personnel department is considering renewing his contract by incorporating him into the board of directors, considering his past achievements. His skills have already been verified, but his promotion has been delayed due to his personality, which doesn’t blend well with the organization.”

“…….”

What could be more heart-fluttering than hearing about one’s own performance evaluation directly from the president?

However, Girard was so paralyzed that he couldn’t even think about such things.

He, who had managed to twist his innate disposition, desperately struggled to change the nature of his magic and reach level 6, knew.

What he was facing now was not a mere human.

A superhuman who had already shed the shackles of life as a species and truly achieved harmony between his inner and outer self.

A giant of the era who had ascended to a completely different timeline and was looking out at a distant landscape was before his eyes.

Oliviera’s eyes slowly moved towards Girard.

The radiant rainbow-colored light flowed beautifully from within her two eyes.

Girard could do nothing but stare blankly, captivated by the light.

[…….]

She doesn’t ask anything. She doesn’t hear anything.

She simply ‘looks into’ everything Girard has experienced with her own eyes.

Virgil, who was watching the scene from the side, turned his head slightly.

‘The Seven-Colored Treasure Eye… It’s chilling no matter how many times I see it.’

The seven colors contained in her gaze. It was nothing less than the totality of the spells that Oliviera Ron Maze had built up throughout her life.

If those who did not have a similar level of spell resistance as her were to meet that gaze, it would not be strange for their heads to explode from the overwhelming amount of information.

Rather, the fact that Girard had not lost his mind even after making eye contact with her was proof of his level.

However, even Girard, whose inner self was twisted with murderous intent, could not look at her eyes for long.

“Aghhh…!!”

Koo-oong!!

Oliviera, seeing Girard foaming at the mouth and collapsing, finally smiled and slowly turned her gaze.

[I remember. That child, he’s one of the specimens I experimented on myself.]

“…….”

[I think I caught an interesting test subject a few decades ago and made similar adjustments to other children… It was a method of forcibly granting a geas [a magical compulsion] to awaken the change in nature.]

Virgil did not answer.

There was no need to make her recall another specimen, Iola, from her hazy memory.

[Well, it doesn’t matter. If I can’t remember it well, it must not have been that important… Get up.]

“Hu, uhh…!!”

Girard, grabbing his trembling legs, stood up, his face drenched in sweat.

He no longer even thought of looking up at her properly.

[Looking into your memories, I saw a rather unusual mage in that insect-like life of yours.]

Virgil was not surprised by the sudden declaration.

After all, it would be strange if a sorcerer of Oliviera’s caliber did not recognize that talent.

From the very beginning, the reason for bringing Girard here must have been because she wanted to hear something directly from his mouth.

[The mage in the 49th district. Tell me everything you have seen and felt about the man named Ban. Instead of looking into your memories, I want to hear it directly from your mouth.]

* * *

-I’ve secured the personal information of First President Parden McQueen that you requested.

Ivelyn’s indifferent voice declared over the phone.

-It’s too dangerous to hand over the personal information of all the executive-level officers. It would have been difficult to get even the First President’s information if it weren’t for Hina’s help.

Lenok, who was tilting his head slightly and holding the phone to his ear while playing with his hands, nodded.

“Thanks for your hard work. It will probably be a great help in resolving this matter.”

The City Central Library, located in the bustling area of the Balkans.

In the library corridor, which was now being used as a place for Lenok and Aris to handle university work, Lenok was quickly scanning through the answer sheets in his hand.

The midterm exam for the Elemental Department this semester. It was impossible for assistant professors like Lenok to be absent from a major event in which all university students participated without exception.

Thanks to that, Lenok was spending time grading hundreds of exam papers that Aris had brought, sharing the task with her.

It was an unintentional interruption of the discussion on the domain, but it wasn’t a bad thing for Lenok.

Regardless of what Lenok himself had achieved, Aris seemed to need time to think for herself, rather than just receiving advice.

In the end, no matter how much you help and guide someone, taking that crucial step is something you have to do alone.

As a fellow mage, and having passed through the same landscape, Lenok knew that even better.

He couldn’t thank Yakson enough.

The opportunity that Lenok had gained by using the side effects of the medicine had reshaped the very possibilities he could choose from.

-After today, it will probably be difficult to contact you for a while.

“It seems the agents are also very busy.”

-The scope of work assigned to this side has been rapidly expanding recently. I’m cutting off anything that goes too far on my end, but it’s also true that the trends outside the megacity are not looking good.

“…….”

-I don’t know if you’re interested in what’s happening outside the city, Ban, but it would be best to finish things with the Cartel as quickly as possible. If the Balkan City Council wants to turn its attention outward, they’ll want to clean up the internal problems first.

“Well… it’s not as easy as it sounds. The things I have to do are set, but…”

Lenok sighed and began to add annotations to the exam paper with the red pen in his hand.

The answer sheet that Aris had given him to look at together was now forgotten.

While adding more than five lines of grading rationale and explanations at the bottom of the exam paper, Ivelyn continued in a dumbfounded voice.

-Rumors have reached even here that you single-handedly wiped out the Cartel’s execution squad. It seems like you’re being strangely modest.

“I was lucky.”

-…Avid Yonsen, the head of the execution squad and executive director, is a well-known mage among the pleasure killers of the underworld. To not only summon such a sorcerer to the battlefield and engage him one-on-one, but also kill him on the spot, and all you have to say is that you were lucky… I wonder what kind of expressions the sorcerers I know would make if they heard that.

“…….”

-Well, fine. The fact that the fledgling mage I saved that day was actually the successor of a hidden magic is probably not that important. What’s important is that you finish things with the Cartel well, don’t forget that.

Don’t forget to properly receive the few boxes of vegetables I sent to the bar, Lenok looked down at the disconnected phone and let out a hollow laugh.

He thought he wouldn’t hear that tiresome vegetable story for once, but it seemed like she had saved it for the very end.

However, the meaning of the conversation he had just had with Ivelyn was worth remembering.

Ivelyn is one of the few people who remember both Lenok’s appearance when he was almost killed by Kroken at the factory and Lenok’s current status.

If she was a noble archer of her caliber, it would not be strange for her to have a rough idea of the level Lenok had reached.

Yet, instead of bringing up Lenok’s skills, the act of ending the call with a story about vegetables was…

‘I’ll need to have a separate conversation with Ivelyn someday.’

Even the trivial words that he had overlooked were not easily forgotten in Lenok’s mind.

He remembered a particularly memorable title among the few people Grisha had mentioned as examples when she decided to join the Beacon while discussing future plans in the Autonomous Territory.

The Emerald Archer.

If the helper Grisha had mentioned was referring to the person Lenok was thinking of…

In the worst case, he might have to share Evan and Ban’s identities with a single person.

Before that situation came at an unexpected moment, Lenok also had to prepare.