Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 257

Interference (4)

The Witch of Firepower, Tatiana Chiglet.

From the newspapers, she seemed like the worst kind of mage, notorious for her cruelty and allegations of harming civilians. But seeing her in person, she wasn’t as callous or arrogant as I’d imagined.

Rather, she seemed particularly tired, likely because she’d been pulled from the front lines where she’d been managing things until recently.

Fortunately, the Magic Tower regained order almost instantly upon Tatiana’s arrival.

Perhaps because she was known for her violent temper, the other mages, and even the elders who belatedly regained consciousness, quietly began to follow her lead and clean up the mess.

She was adept at finding and gathering the shattered remains of the Biche stone tablets, recovering the grimoires and artifacts Gionis had tried to steal, and even overseeing the repairs of the damaged furnace. Her skill was considerable, even to Lenox.

“Hey! Hold on a sec. That’s different from what you were smoking earlier. What brand is that?”

And her conversational skills were such that she seemed to have no sense of personal space.

She was definitely a very unusual person in many ways.

“…It’s custom-made.”

“Huh… Well, I guess there’s no helping it. It’s too much trouble to go all the way to a megacity to get cigarettes made…”

She said with a sulky expression, then turned her head sharply towards Evelyn.

“Could you buy some for me?”

“Shut up.”

“…”

It was the first time Lenox had seen Evelyn, who usually had a slightly vacant look, speak so sharply.

Tatiana, unfazed by the curt reply, squatted down and focused on smoking her cigarette.

“Haa… Cleaning up Gionis’s mess is annoying, but this isn’t so bad. There are way more annoying things on the front lines.”

“Is the central front still in that state?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

Tatiana answered listlessly.

“The old geezers in the council here are at least somewhat reasonable since they’ve been demoted, but over there, they’re completely blinded by money.”

It wasn’t for nothing that the Magic Tower’s magical forces were concentrated on the central front.

Twenty years had passed since the central city of Ars Nova, which had occupied the fertile granary of the continent, had fallen into ruin due to war.

The conflict to seize the legacy and resources of the wealthiest city in the continent’s history was still ongoing.

Street battles and artillery bombardments alternated in that massive city where 20 million people had lived, turning it into hell. Now, it was only known as the central front.

As many people sought the wealth of the central front, there were countless others who sought the power of the Magic Tower.

It was impossible for large forces like the Magic Tower to ignore that vortex of desire.

She swept back her red hair and spoke, exhaling smoke.

“This is still under embargo, but one of the rosary beads died.”

“…”

“It wasn’t one of the teacher’s direct disciples, so it was quickly resolved… but will the other ordinary mages accept this?”

A dark smile hung on Tatiana’s lips.

“We’re all going crazy together… I thought it would end when someone died, but seeing this mess even after a rosary bead died, it won’t be long now.”

The dark emotions in her words were so palpable that even Lenox, who knew nothing, could sense the harm.

Someone of her reputation must have survived countless hardships, yet war could still exhaust and wear a person down like this.

Lenox looked down at the top of her head with interest, then knelt down in front of her to meet her gaze.

“If it’s that hard, why not just leave the Magic Tower?”

“Heh, you brat, it’s easy for you to say.”

Tatiana chuckled.

“Then what would I live on, you little punk?”

“I’ll hire you.”

“…?”

Lenox took out a cigarette and a business card from his pocket and handed them to her.

Evelyn looked at the scene with a dumbfounded expression and asked.

“Ban, what are you doing…?”

“I run a company. I always welcome talented people.”

After experiencing this incident at the Magic Tower, Lenox’s thoughts had become clear.

Whether it was the Azure Eye or the Pandemonium, they didn’t mean much to Lenox.

What mattered was having enough power to enforce his own will and a force to support that power.

If that was the case, it wouldn’t hurt to give a heads-up to talented people he had a connection with.

Tatiana stared at Lenox for a moment, then tilted her head and asked.

“You’ve got guts. Are all the mages who are a big deal in Balkan like this?”

“…”

When Lenox didn’t answer, Tatiana chuckled and accepted the business card and cigarette Lenox offered.

She lit the cigarette by snapping her fingers, just like Lenox, took a deep drag, and smiled.

“The smoke tastes good. No, it’s more than good…”

“I promise to provide them for free if you join the company.”

“Puhahahaha!!”

At his nonchalant reply, Tatiana burst out laughing and stood up.

“Evelyn, you’re working with a pretty interesting guy.”

A faint vitality was returning to her previously dark expression.

“Well, I’ll keep it in mind. I’ll look you up if I become unemployed later, so keep that in mind.”

She tapped Lenox’s chest and immediately turned away.

Lenox silently touched the spot on his chest where she had tapped him.

“…”

The location where the red book that Gionis had been holding was kept.

Although she had brushed it off playfully, Tatiana seemed to know roughly how valuable this item was.

Of course, she would.

Gionis, who had imprinted his mental image on the self-generating domain in exchange for imposing conditions and restrictions on himself, summoned this item directly to deploy his spells when he expanded his domain.

Lenox had been watching the item since then, and now that he had it in his hands, he could roughly understand what its abilities were.

It wasn’t just an item used to increase or assist the power of spells.

It was an item that greatly accelerated the deployment speed of fire-based spells.

Considering that Gionis used this artifact when he expanded his domain, the same ability must apply when expanding the self-generating domain.

There was no need to mention how valuable an artifact that was effective even for a Saint-level mage was.

Tatiana had decided to hand this item over to Lenox as compensation for this incident and to keep his mouth shut.

‘If I research the principles of the artifact, it might be possible to greatly reduce the time it takes to deploy the self-generating domain.’

If Lenox were to modify it into an artifact that affected the deployment speed of spells regardless of their attribute…

“Well, that’s it, I’m leaving. If you have anything left to do, come find me at the Magic Tower.”

She waved her hand and headed towards the Magic Tower first, and Lenox belatedly grabbed his legs and stood up.

“Hmm…”

A groan escaped his lips just from straightening his back.

Perhaps because of the intense battle, his joints felt particularly troublesome.

He had heard before that joints couldn’t be regenerated or trained… Lenox quickly pushed away the ominous thought and turned his gaze towards Evelyn.

The follow-up measures for this incident had already been agreed upon with Evelyn.

Evelyn and the agents would stay a little longer to help with the restoration of the Magic Tower, and Lenox had decided to return first due to the need to supply potions for his business.

“I should wrap things up and go back…”

“…”

Evelyn had her arms crossed and was slightly turning her head away.

Lenox sighed softly at her clear stance of refusing to talk.

Lenox rummaged through his pocket and placed a cigarette in her hand.

“If you wanted to smoke one, you should have just said so.”

“…”

Snap!

Evelyn, who had been looking at Lenox with a dumbfounded expression, silently broke the cigarette in half.

“That’s not it.”

“Then what is it?”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were going to offer Tatiana a scout proposal?”

Lenox was at a loss for words.

Belatedly, Evelyn added as if making an excuse.

“…It’s just that there’s an order to things. You didn’t even tell me separately that you had created a company, Ban. I haven’t even received a business card.”

“If you want to join our company, would a business card matter? Jenny would be very happy.”

“Of… of course, that’s not what I meant, but when recruiting a high-level mage as an external advisor and partner… no, never mind.”

Evelyn seemed to be getting confused, rambling, then shook her head and hardened her expression.

“Tatiana may have a bad reputation, but she’s at least much more capable and a better person than that. She’s at a time when her thoughts are complicated, so it wouldn’t be good to shake her up unnecessarily, would it?”

“…Okay. I was definitely hasty.”

Lenox finally sighed and nodded.

Only then did Evelyn turn her back with a relieved expression, and Lenox continued.

“But the reason I didn’t offer you a recruitment proposal isn’t just because of your work as an agent.”

“What do you mean?”

“If I took a member out of an organization that’s already short on manpower, wouldn’t I get an earful from Lapis?”

“Oh, come on, what was I expecting?”

Evelyn chuckled.

“Lapis is just naturally a nagging person…”

Belatedly, Evelyn, realizing the meaning of Lenox’s words, slowly turned her creaking head.

Lenox was silently staring at her with a calm expression.

After a long deliberation, Lenox had made a decision.

After this incident, he might not have a chance to meet Evelyn directly for a while.

So, he had to give her a heads-up before it was too late.

If it was her, who had once saved his life, she deserved to know what direction the freelancer named Ban, whom she had saved, was heading.

Even if it wasn’t fully revealing himself as Lenox.

Her green eyes shook violently.

As they faced the hot wind blowing from below, the two of them stared at each other for a while.

* * *

“That feels refreshing.”

[If you were going to worry so much, you should have just said it sooner.]

The day after finishing his not-so-short journey at the Magic Tower.

Lenox was lying down in his new home, lost in thought.

It was already the third time he had taken the medicine that the herbalist had prepared.

Now, he was completely unfazed by the sensation of his body’s senses being temporarily reversed.

He took out a cigarette from his pocket with the sensation of rotating his knee, moved his fingers, and raised his elbow.

He put the cigarette in his mouth, lit it, and took a deep drag, feeling the strength in his stomach.

Davy, who had not been able to show himself during this incident, was crouching in the toad house, looking down at Lenox.

Lenox muttered.

“Until now, I couldn’t be sure if Evelyn was really a member of the Azure Eye. Since she reacted to Lapis’s name, I had no choice but to give her a heads-up…”

No matter how well Lenox hid his three identities, there was a limit to creating alibis.

No matter how perfect his disguise magic and mana pattern were, it was impossible for Evan and Ban to be in the same place at the same time.

Even if he could create a clone, could he hide that fact from Evelyn’s eyes?

If there was a situation where he had to work with Evelyn as Evan in the Azure Eye, even the effort of keeping secrets from her would be a useless waste.

It was better to tell her in advance and preemptively resolve any troublesome issues that might arise between the megacity and the autonomous territory.

[Wouldn’t it be dangerous?]

“As long as my identity as Lenox isn’t revealed… I can always take risks. What’s needed is trust, not suspicion.”

Lenox looked up at the ceiling, exhaling smoke.

The presence he had felt from the upstairs apartment had disappeared somewhere.

Since Evelyn’s time at the Magic Tower had become longer than expected, she had simply hired a company to handle the move on her behalf.

It was possible because the moving preparations had been completed in advance, but it was only natural that Lenox felt a sense of futility at the worry he had been feeling about when Evelyn would find out.

He couldn’t deny that he sometimes felt a sense of doubt about how long he could live wearing a mask like this.

But it was clear that now was not the time to stop worrying about it.

“…Okay.”

As the effects of the medicine wore off and his body’s senses returned to normal, Lenox got up energetically.

Even if Evelyn had moved out, Lenox still had a lot of work to do.

Now that she had finally left, it seemed like he could finally set up a separate laboratory in his newly moved house.

He chose the largest room in the house, lined the walls with mana-blocking material, reinforced the walls, floor, and ceiling with solid iron plates, and then drew a barrier formula.

He thoroughly prevented the internal mana from leaking out by applying various security spells that belonged to common magic, as well as barrier formulas that he had improved his understanding of through liberation techniques and the main gate doctrine.

Finally, he organized his research materials by placing them in a bookcase, and after pushing the workbench and potion-making table into both corners of the room, he was mostly done.

Davy, who had been floating above Lenox’s head and watching all the work, said.

[There’s a lot to do.]

“It’s like a mountain.”

He had to organize and theorize the insights he had gained from observing and manipulating the fire-based self-generating domain.

He had to record his proficiency in ice-based magic and create a document, and he also had to collect additional papers on the changes in his magic eye.

In addition, he had to make the potions that had been delayed while he was away from Balkan and hand them over to Jenny.

He had to retrieve the revolver he had custom-ordered from Palmer and contact Aris to inquire about his assistant professor duties.

He also couldn’t forget to visit the cartel’s executive vault to search for necessary items.

His body was already exhausted from just training his acquired magic, but the external work was also running non-stop, making it impossible to ignore.

He thought he was focused on surviving alone, but somehow, the people and relationships that had gathered around Lenox had become so complex that he couldn’t count them.

There were mountains of things he wanted to do and worries he had to deal with, but he had no choice but to start with what he could do.

“Let’s start with this first.”

Thud!!

What fell onto the workbench with a heavy thud was an item that Mauser had left as a gift and a token of farewell on their way out.

Two charging shotguns with sleek navy blue barrels were glowing faintly.