Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 298

“I think you’re underestimating the scale of this matter.”

Donovan, having turned his gaze, quickly scanned her attire and nodded.

“…A person from Cybrid Echo. Do you think my words are wrong?”

“A passive response that only seeks to avoid risk is insufficient. We need to think beyond that.”

At her cold words, Donovan subtly rose from his seat.

The woman, unfazed by his reaction, continued.

“If this matter is successfully concluded, spoils such as military equipment and mobile fortress resources held by the defense forces will come as incentives.”

The woman, having spoken resolutely, finally turned her head to meet Lenok’s gaze.

“Do you intend to transfer all of those incentives to that one mage?”

“It’s premature to say such things when we haven’t even started the work.”

Donovan stated firmly.

“Wouldn’t it be enough to divide the pie fairly after the work is done? What’s important is to deal with the task at hand.”

“But it’s clear that it would be inefficient.”

The woman silently scanned the faces of the people in the conference room and spoke.

“Once all the rewards are transferred to Kyunroe, they will start worrying about whether he is doing his fair share, rather than focusing on their own work.”

“……”

“And what if it ends in failure?”

Only the woman’s voice echoed in the silent conference room.

“Regardless of Kyunroe’s skill and strength, concentrating all of the team’s capabilities and investments on one person is a very foolish choice. At least, we don’t work that way.”

“I agree.”

The young man chewing gum grinned and raised his hand.

“It’s good to have a few people sacrifice themselves to encourage the participation of strong individuals, but I don’t want that to be forced on all of us.”

He said that and then pointed his hand at the woman.

“At least, I’d rather bet on this logical woman than that mage guy who I don’t know what he’s thinking.”

As if the young man’s words had driven the point home, others began to offer different opinions from before.

The very fact that they were here meant they were willing to participate. There might be no reason to transfer all the rewards. How about discussing it again after the work is done?

Lenok didn’t say anything, just quietly observing the chaotic conference room.

“The situation is taking a strange turn.”

Panoa leaned slightly towards Lenok and whispered.

“Normally, you could have taken control of this matter without even lifting a finger.”

“It’s not just Mayor Mayer who’s interested in this matter.”

Lenok replied.

“It’s the result of other council members who don’t want to take responsibility but want to divide the defense force’s power.”

The military power currently held by the defense forces, and the existence of the mobile fortress itself, were undoubtedly resources worth coveting.

Even if they couldn’t get their hands on it right away, if they could create a suitable pretext to privatize it, it would be a very attractive asset.

It was only natural that other council members would try to win over those gathered here and make their moves.

“Is it going to be okay?”

“Well… I actually prefer their proposal to Donovan’s.”

“…Pardon?”

Mayer and Donovan seemed to be planning to concentrate all resources on Lenok and use him as the spearhead to overcome this difficulty.

But from the beginning, Lenok didn’t find that proposal appealing.

The important thing was to finish this situation as quickly as possible before the Blue Eye summons was issued. And to reduce unnecessary time investment in the process.

It seemed like there was much more he could do alone, rather than trying to lead these people who couldn’t even unite properly.

Frankly, Lenok no longer felt that working with most skilled individuals would be of great help.

Unless they had clear senses or specialties, it was fortunate if they didn’t become a hindrance.

Unless they were a special technician like Asui, or a veteran with the senses and experience of Manson, Dylan, or Mila, there weren’t many advantages that cooperation could bring to Lenok.

Of course, those gathered here were also veterans with a lot of experience in the underworld, but would the results they could achieve by working with them be much different from when Lenok worked alone?

Lenok had achieved results that overwhelmed everyone else so often that Mayer’s proposal seemed meaningless.

[Master.]

While Lenok was thinking that and observing the situation, Davi called out to Lenok quietly from inside his coat.

Lenok, glancing down at his phone following the transmission, naturally rose from his seat.

As he grabbed the doorknob of the conference room, the attendants who had been waiting respectfully blocked Lenok’s path.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“To the restroom.”

“…May we accompany you?”

“I don’t care.”

Lenok, receiving everyone’s attention, headed to the restroom.

“……”

Despite the dozens of guards standing guard, the hallway was filled with heavy silence.

Lenok, heading towards the restroom at the end, naturally turned towards the emergency exit stairs.

The attendants who were following Lenok didn’t stop him, but instead followed him very naturally.

11th floor of the building.

A small garden prepared on the rooftop. The attendants who had followed Lenok up to that point naturally stepped back.

“It’s here.”

Mayer, sitting between the shaded tree trunks, waved his hand towards Lenok.

Lenok, naturally sitting down next to him, chuckled and said.

“For secretly calling someone out, isn’t this too old-fashioned? The others must have noticed by now.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Mayer replied leisurely, resting his chin on his hand.

“I’d rather have them accept it that way.”

In Mayer’s ear, there was a small wireless earphone.

He was probably eavesdropping on all the conversations inside the conference room through this earphone.

And when things seemed to be going strangely, he immediately called Lenok to the rooftop.

“You seem to have chosen someone too honest as a decoy.”

“……”

“Instead of Donovan White, it would have been better to recruit the friend who was chewing gum.”

“Were you looking that far ahead? I had a hunch, but I guess I couldn’t hide it for long.”

Mayer said that and then slowly shook his head.

“No matter how much I prepared in advance, it would have ended up like this. There are more than one or two council members interested in this matter.”

“……”

“Rather, it’s better for them to reveal their influence little by little. What’s important to me is to make this matter a success, that’s all.”

His tone was quite anxious for someone who had called him out separately. Lenok stared at him for a moment and then asked.

“Did you gamble?”

Mayer, slightly furrowing his brow, nodded.

“Something like that. It’s a council seat I obtained in exchange for minimizing the city government’s losses and taking all the responsibility myself…”

“……”

Somehow, the speed at which he rose to become a council member seemed too fast.

Regardless of Mayer’s abilities, a council member’s position was a significant responsibility that could not be reached without the appropriate connections and ties.

To defeat other competitors and obtain the council seat, Mayer had attempted a somewhat extreme form of transaction.

“At this rate, it’s impossible to even approach the core factions within the city council. So I thought it would be better to take a gamble by using this crisis.”

“Don’t you think it’s reckless?”

“I can endure falling to the ground as many times as it takes.”

Mayer’s eyes shone sharply.

“Once I’ve touched it, I can try again and again. I won’t stop until I reach the top of this city.”

“That’s not a bad mindset.”

Lenok chuckled.

Lenok knew well that John Mayer was not a good person.

However, the intense greed burning in his aging body and the tremendous determination that even surprised Lenok were not something to be ignored.

If someone was so desperately aiming for the top of the city, without caring about pride or honor, they would at least reach the threshold.

It would be a lie to say that he wasn’t continuing to contact him because he was curious about the ending this man would face.

The way he was running towards his goal without even considering his own circumstances… it was something familiar to Lenok as well.

“By now, everyone else will probably know that I deliberately called you out.”

Mayer said.

“Let’s reorganize the board from there. If you want to move alone in this matter, it would be good to put Donovan in charge and form a team.”

“I don’t mind that… but we need to be more careful with the background check.”

Lenok, fiddling with a cigarette in his coat, replied.

“If we can’t stop other council members from interfering in this matter due to circumstances, there might be more moles mixed in. Perhaps even more extreme methods than now-”

The moment Lenok said that and turned his head, an unusual presence suddenly began to be felt from above.

“……”

It hadn’t entered the area, so he hadn’t paid attention, but the presence was gradually closing the distance.

It wasn’t a normal life sign. It was much heavier and more ponderous than that…

Lenok turned his head.

“Does the council use helicopters to guard council members?”

“Hmm? Yes, we do. We use hovering to reduce wind and noise and provide fire support nearby. But how did you know?”

“It’s descending from above.”

Mayer tilted his head, looking at Lenok who was looking up at the sky.

“That’s strange. In this urban area, the guidelines are set so that they don’t descend below a certain altitude in optical camouflage. Unless it’s a major emergency…”

“……”

Mayer’s voice rapidly decreased. The two, who had made eye contact, rose from their seats at the same time.

Whoooosh!!

Immediately after that, something that had rapidly descended right in front of the building’s rooftop instantly blocked the two of them.

What appeared after the optical camouflage was deactivated was a large aircraft painted in a gloomy black color.

Instead of having rotor blades on top of the fuselage, it had a streamlined body with wheel-like hovering engines on both sides.

The thick gun barrels below the engines gleamed ominously.

Mayer swallowed hard as he confirmed that the pilot’s eyes visible through the window were completely flipped, with only the whites showing.

The moment other attendants shouted and rushed forward, the aircraft’s gun barrels fired first.

Tu-tu-tu-tu!!!!

Lenok didn’t hesitate, putting one arm around Mayer’s shoulder and throwing himself backward.

Thud!

“Ugh, ugh!!”

Ignoring Mayer, who was screaming in terror, he activated his sensory range to the limit.

Lenok, immediately confirming that the aircraft that had jumped forward was heating up its gun barrels in succession, quickly deployed a shield behind his back.

Du-du-du-du!!

As if blocked by a solid wall in the air, hundreds of bullets stopped behind Lenok’s back.

Facing the wind blowing backward, Lenok tapped the inside of his coat.

“Are you ready?”

[Of course.]

Screech!!

He used levitation magic on his coat to stop the speed.

The coat, woven with shadow magic, quickly received magic power and spread out like black wings.

And as if on cue, a black monster bike jumped out from underneath and caught the two of them.

Thump!!

“Hah, hah…!!”

Mayer, who had landed on the back seat of the bike, kept looking back with a face that looked like his soul had left his body.

The moment Lenok pulled the throttle, a black bike shot forward in an instant.

Vroooom!!

The bike, which had sped off with a heavy rotating sound, began to leave the crowded center of the road.

Mayer, who had belatedly regained his senses, grabbed Lenok’s shoulder in surprise.

“W-where are you going?!”

“I’m running away to a place where there aren’t many people.”

Lenok replied leisurely.

“It’s not that difficult to blow up that aircraft… but then it would be difficult to figure out who planned this, wouldn’t it?”

“That’s…”

“If we run away as if we were waiting for it, they’ll call their other friends.”

If he wanted to, he could have caught all the hundreds of bullets fired by the aircraft on the spot and sent them back.

But instead of destroying the aircraft at once, Lenok chose to flee without hesitation in order to draw out the mastermind behind this.

“They’re the kind of people who are willing to cause a disturbance even by tampering with the security personnel of a council member. They wouldn’t have planned to end it with just this from the beginning.”

Lenok said, quickly leaving the 10th district by freely changing gears with the help of the boarding assistance magic.

Screech!!

The bike’s thick wheels slid ruthlessly between the road surfaces, leaving skid marks.

Lenok, slightly lowering his head, had a cold look in his eyes.

“And if they confirm that the target is fleeing without hesitation… they will definitely follow us to confirm their intentions.”