Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 27

“Other people?”

“They’re people we hired to guard the warehouse. It’s definitely not enough compared to the number of gang members, but they’ll still be helpful.”

“…….”

It seemed they weren’t planning to have a mage fight a gang all by himself, no matter what.

Instead of replying, Lenok turned his head to look out the window.

The number of gang members Jenny mentioned was at least 100.

When he wasn’t expecting much help from others, how many people could Lenok handle?

Frankly speaking, if the opponents weren’t magic users, Lenok could easily handle even more people than that.

If he deployed five layers of shields, most bullets or blades wouldn’t even scratch them, and if he bombarded the surroundings with magic from his seat, he could launch a one-sided offensive as long as his magic power allowed.

However, if there were any magic or ability users among the gang members, it would be a bit troublesome.

He wouldn’t die, of course, but he couldn’t guarantee that he could properly protect the new drug sample.

He needed more information.

‘Should I stir things up a bit?’

“According to Jenny, you guys knew about the gang but still lowballed my fee.”

“Y-yes…?”

Lenok smiled faintly, watching Sage’s face visibly fluster.

“You doubled the payment at once, completely ignoring the standard market rate.”

“Oh, that’s a misunderstanding.”

Sage replied, sweating profusely.

The hand gripping the steering wheel began to tremble.

It was more likely that he was afraid of angering the mage sitting in the passenger seat than actually feeling guilty about Lenok’s words.

The fear of potentially being turned into an electric roast on the spot was not something easily experienced.

Lenok stared at Sage silently for a while before continuing.

“Are there no other samples in the warehouse?”

Sage, who had been extremely nervous, eagerly took the bait when Lenok subtly changed the subject.

“W-well, there are. It was originally a place used by the president for personal purposes, so there are samples of other drugs that are already on the market.”

“I’m curious about what kind of samples there are. Are there any common drugs like sleeping pills?”

“We don’t handle them directly… but there probably are.”

“That’s good.”

“Yes?”

“It’s nothing.”

The sleeping pills sold at the shabby pharmacy in District 49 weren’t working anyway, so it wouldn’t be bad to secure other samples.

He always only thought about it when he was trying to sleep, so he had been putting off buying other sleeping pills. It would be good to grab some this time.

In the meantime, the car Sage was driving came to a stop.

“We’ve arrived. It seems like some of the others have gathered as well.”

In front of the warehouse, which he had already seen in a photo, about ten people were gathered.

It was too few to attract attention from the surroundings, but a lot of people to gather just to guard a warehouse.

The pharmaceutical company, which couldn’t openly show that they were going against the district council member, clearly put a lot of thought into the number of people.

“The people… look very dissatisfied.”

Lenok muttered, looking at the people outside the car window with veins popping out on their heads.

The sight of them approaching with shabby clothes and each holding a gun or blade was nothing short of terrifying.

The man at the very front, a muscular man with a grim expression, banged roughly on the car.

“Hey!! Open the door right now! Get out here!”

“W-what’s going on?”

“This is different from what we were promised! What can we possibly do with this number of people!!”

It seemed like a lot of people to guard a warehouse, but it was ridiculously small when you thought about preparing for a gang attack.

Lenok roughly looked around and saw that the individual levels and appearances were not very neat either.

It wasn’t hard to grasp the situation.

“They skimped on everyone except me.”

“That’s… no, it’s not.”

“I don’t care, but do you think those people don’t know that?”

Sage’s face turned pale again at Lenok’s indifferent words.

To be fair, this situation wasn’t entirely his fault.

The board of directors and a very small number of executives knew that the samples created by the pharmaceutical company were hidden here.

Their decision to protect the samples from the gang with only this many people was the biggest cause.

It was annoying, but you couldn’t always work with smart clients.

“Haa… let’s go out.”

“Yes? But if we go out now…”

“I’ll do as much as I was paid for.”

Lenok didn’t wait for an answer and abruptly opened the door.

Preemptive strike.

As he appeared from the passenger seat, people immediately glared at him and rushed towards him.

“Who the hell are you to come out with this guy?”

“If you’re late, get to the back! We have something to talk about with this guy.”

“These bastards didn’t even tell us that the opponent was a gang when they hired us!”

The shouts ringing in his ears made his head throb.

“Can’t you be quiet?”

“You bastard, you’re screwed too! What are you being so prim and proper about!!”

“If you get targeted by a gang, you can’t even run away!”

The voices of the men sounded like they were mixed with a faint sob.

Lenok understood their position.

They seemed like people who had been lured here by the high pay, but if they suddenly had to face a gang, they would be in despair.

However, he had no intention of coaxing or appeasing them with words.

“Can’t you hear me? Get out of the car…!!”

Lenok grabbed the shoulder of the man who was trying to push him away and open the car door.

He immediately pulled up his magic power.

[Bolt]

Zzzzzap!!

“Ugh, ugh, ugh!!”

Lenok took out a cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth, watching the man who had collapsed with his eyes rolled back and foaming at the mouth.

While he lit the cigarette with a flame between his fingers and exhaled smoke, no one dared to speak to him.

No one had missed the blue current he had created in that short moment.

“H-he was a mage…”

“The pharmaceutical company hired a mage?”

“That makes sense…”

“Be quiet.”

This time, everyone shut their mouths at once.

Lenok slowly looked around at the people and opened his mouth.

“Judging by the fact that you’re talking about the gang, it seems like you roughly know the situation.”

The people nodded silently.

“Good. It’s true that the company was wrong for not giving you a detailed explanation.”

Lenok tapped the tire with his heel, causing the car to shake slightly. He didn’t need to think about who was trembling inside.

“But this person is just an employee following the company’s orders. What’s the point of smashing the car and beating him up here? It’s just a waste of time.”

It wasn’t because he had any particular fondness for Sage that he was saying these things.

But there was nothing to be gained by venting his anger on him, who was just a messenger.

This whole situation was a waste of time for Lenok. It was better to send him away quickly and prepare to work.

But there weren’t many people who would listen if he tried to talk to them nicely.

No, they didn’t want to listen.

“Move aside when I’m talking nicely. Does being a mage make you all that great?”

Whoosh!!

A man pushed through the crowd, and red flames erupted from both of his arms.

The hot heat of the flames, which seemed to be burning themselves alive, made the people hastily step aside.

He glared at Lenok with burning eyes and sneered.

“It seems like the guys gathered here don’t know, but not all mages are great. If you’ve been reduced to coming here, you’re probably just a guy who was kicked out of the magic tower with only a tiny bit of magic power.”

“……”

Lenok exhaled smoke and silently scanned the man up and down.

Eyes bloodshot with tension and anger. A rough impression with a stubbly beard and a leather jacket.

In some ways, he had a similar vibe to the supervisors at the factory where he used to work, but the flames rising from his arms were not fake.

Lenok nodded inwardly, seeing the flames that had risen from thin air without any magic power.

‘I’m seeing two ability users in one day.’

A pyrokinesis user. The name and form are diverse, but it is well known for its intuitive and powerful ability.

However, since he was a person who was called here without hearing any circumstances, he probably wasn’t a very powerful ability user.

Lenok smiled and retorted.

“So what? Are you going to push me away and turn this car into ashes?”

“…No. In the first place, a low-level mage is just a burden. I’ll burn you too!!”

The man growled and stretched out his burning hands towards Lenok.

Lenok stared at it with a cigarette in his mouth.

As expected, nothing in this world could be solved with kind words.

One’s opinion is power, and power is the means of communication.

Lenok reached out his hand as well, remembering that simple yet cruel logic once again.

Thud!

Just before touching the flames, he put a shield on his skin and grabbed the man’s hand.

“…!!!!”

The pyrokinesis user, as well as those watching from behind, were stunned by Lenok’s unexpected action.

“W-what, what the hell are you!!”

Lenok didn’t answer. He didn’t need to say it, they would soon understand.

He silently pulled up his magic power and imagined a strong flame.

With that alone, his magic power surged, and a new magic that blended with the man’s flames was activated.

From Lenok’s hand, a red blaze erupted and engulfed the man in reverse.

Whoosh!!

“Hiiik!!”

“C-crazy… that’s impossible!!”

Ignoring the voices of the shocked people, two streams of flames intertwined and shot out in all directions.

The two flames, which had been writhing as if colliding fiercely, soon merged into one and shot out in one direction.

There was no need to determine whose flame had been defeated.

Whoosh!!

“Kkyaaaaaaak!!”

Not all pyrokinesis users are immune to flames.

Of course, since they create flames by burning themselves, they would naturally have some resistance to fire, but low-level ability users cannot be free from the pain of high-temperature flames.

Unless they had honed their abilities without being complacent about their own talents, they would be as helpless as others in the face of flames that exceeded their limits.

‘In a way, it’s the limit of an ability user.’

Since they rely solely on innate talent, their abilities are intuitive and require no special effort, but conversely, in order to handle their abilities beyond their own capabilities, they need more than ordinary effort.

For this reason, powerful ability users were treated similarly to high-level magic users, but their numbers were relatively very small.

The man writhed in pain, but Lenok didn’t let go of his hand.

Regardless of what his true intentions were, he was the one who made the first move to burn him.

Even if he didn’t kill him on the spot, he needed to thoroughly crush him without leaving any aftereffects.

“I-I was wrong!! Please, please spare me!!”

The man shed tears at the pain of being burned, which he had never experienced in his life, but even those tears evaporated instantly in the flames that engulfed his body.