Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 36

Lenok calmly organized the books piled on the desk, placed them in the return bin, and left the library.

The sun, which had been high in the sky, was now setting, casting a reddish-orange glow across the horizon.

He stared blankly at the sky, lost in thought.

‘…’

The kindness Aris Richelieu had shown Lenok wasn’t entirely incomprehensible.

She seemed to have a particular fondness for those who, despite lacking talent, couldn’t let go of their passion for magic. Lenok, who was always holed up in the library, poring over books, certainly fit the image of such an aspiring mage.

It wasn’t unusual for a young mage who had risen to a professorship at the university to have overcome significant obstacles, not just talent.

However, for Lenok to accommodate her stubbornness was a completely different matter.

‘…Once every two weeks. If it’s just about listening to her, then…’

The minimum risk Lenok could psychologically tolerate.

And the advantage of being able to establish a connection with a tenured professor at the magic university.

Weighing these two things was quite difficult, but Lenok had no choice but to consider it.

If he could build a rapport with her, finding a job in the ‘light’ [referring to the legitimate, non-criminal world] might not be so difficult.

Learning about the work of mages in the light and their society would also be very helpful to Lenok right now.

If it’s just that much. If it’s only that.

In this city where he had no one to rely on, wouldn’t it be okay to make one scheduled appointment?

Lenok chuckled at the thought.

He laughed at his own situation, where he had to worry and be so cautious about making an appointment with just one person.

And he felt a pang of sadness.

Another day ends with the fading light of his cigarette.

It was time to make up for the cost of the cigarette he had just blown into the air.

He needed to start looking for the next request.

#

“Your name will be registered on the Deep Web.”

“What?”

Lenok, who was about to take a sip of his whiskey, paused at Jenny’s sudden words.

“What are you talking about?”

“Thanks to Ban doing such a good job, the tedious procedures are starting to get processed faster. Sometimes this happens when client satisfaction is high.”

Jenny said, skillfully mixing a cocktail.

He had only ever seen Jordan mixing drinks, so he hadn’t realized it, but she also seemed quite skilled as a bartender.

“Come to think of it, where did Jordan go?”

“He’s usually away once every two weeks. He has some work he used to do, and it seems like he goes to help out from time to time.”

Work he used to do… Lenok recalled the time he first caught a wanted criminal and handed him over to Jordan.

Considering how Jordan could extract all sorts of information even after just briefly examining a corpse, the work he did probably wasn’t easy either.

“It’s a pretty regular schedule, so Jordan and I knew about it since we opened the bar. Because of that, sometimes I have to… do the work.”

She sighed deeply, quickly finished her work, and slammed the cocktail down in front of a customer sitting next to Lenok.

“Here, drink it and drop dead, you moron.”

“Ooh, it looks delicious. Hehehe.”

Dylan, a large man wearing a mask, chuckled ominously as he gulped down the cocktail in one go.

Deep Web.

Jenny, who was staring at him like he was a disgusting bug, couldn’t contain her anger and slammed the shaker she was holding onto Dylan’s head.

Thud!

“Ugh!”

Jenny yelled in fury as she watched Dylan bury his face in the cocktail he was holding.

“How can you drink after failing the request so stupidly, you idiot!!”

“I couldn’t help it!! How could I do anything when those client bastards set such impossible conditions in the first place!”

Lenok sighed inwardly at the sudden commotion that had turned the quiet bar noisy.

It seemed that Dylan had messed up a request that Jenny had arranged, and both of them seemed to have a lot to say about it.

From what he could gather, Jenny seemed to have been tempted by the high commission, and Dylan seemed to have been lured by some equipment called… ‘Guido’ that was given as a reward for the successful request. Neither of them seemed to have done well.

Lenok watched them bicker for a while, and when Jenny seemed exhausted, he spoke again.

“So, what happens when you register your identity on that Deep Web?”

“There aren’t any particular risks. It’s just that you can pick out a lot more… legitimate requests that you had to handle verbally until now.”

“For example?”

Jenny paused for a moment to gather her thoughts and continued her explanation.

“First, your career as Ban will be recorded on the network, and you can specify the desired reward or goods when accepting a request. Also, if there’s a theme you want for a request, it can be actively reflected through the client.”

“Oh, I heard that from our boss too.”

Dylan interjected, wiping the cocktail off his face with his leather jacket.

“About a year after I joined the office? They told me to tell the connector separately if I had any requests. I knew my name was registered on the Deep Web, but I didn’t know that’s what it meant.”

“Right. Originally, it takes at least 10 months for your name to be listed on that network, no matter how fast it is. It’s structured so that only freelancers who have been thoroughly verified for their skills and credibility can be viewed by clients, so there’s no way around the procedure.”

“But I got registered unusually fast?”

“Yeah. I heard that other clients had put in requests to the Deep Web first. Since there’s no way for customers who don’t have a direct connection with me to request you, they were getting impatient.”

“So, it wasn’t their intention after all.”

“Of course, we can’t ignore someone who brought in only the requests that our mage wanted.”

Jenny subtly protested at Lenok’s sharp remark.

“It must not be thanks to a greedy woman trying to monopolize a great mage.”

Lenok couldn’t help but chuckle at Dylan’s cynical mutter.

Lenok ducked his head slightly to avoid Jenny, who had picked up the shaker again and was swinging it at Dylan, and asked again.

“The very idea of registering my identity doesn’t sound good. Are there no other risks?”

According to Jenny, it didn’t seem like it was her intention to have his name on the Deep Web in the first place, but he still needed to address the risks.

“If you’re worried about information leaks, you can rest assured. It uses a backdoor in the main integrated network used by the city government, so the security level is absurd. It’s practically being protected in the same place as the city government’s confidential documents.”

“That doesn’t make sense… Ah.”

Lenok stopped talking, realizing something, as he was about to say that the premise of creating a backdoor in the main network didn’t make sense.

In fact, it was a very simple story if you thought about it.

Jenny smiled knowingly, as if she understood Lenok’s feelings, and replied.

“Right. It’s something that wouldn’t even be possible without the cooperation of the city government.”

“……”

It wasn’t surprising.

The reason why the lawless areas of the 40s district could be maintained so well.

The reason why this street, where gunshots and blood were rampant every day, could escape the eyes of the city government’s agents and police.

It would be more surprising if the higher-ups of Vulcan weren’t involved in all of those causes.

As expected, and more than imagined—

It was a rotten city.

“So, are there any specific requirements you want to include when accepting requests? You can specify specific items, or just a simple category. Now that your name is registered, it’s better to use it properly, right?”

“Hmm…”

Lenok fell into deep thought at Jenny’s words.

Since escaping the factory, Lenok had rarely faced his goals directly, even though he had clearly set them for himself.

He always knew what he wanted, but he lived hiding his true intentions while being constantly threatened by danger and vigilance.

He thought that revealing his goals to others would be both beneficial and a way of exposing his weaknesses.

But, was it time to move forward now?

It had already been almost half a year since he started walking a tightrope between the light and the dark, establishing himself in the megacity.

He had always told himself not to rush, but he couldn’t just cling to the present forever.

He wanted more than just taking care of his health and taking his medicine.

Unless he reached out his hand beyond wanting and hoping, his wishes would never be fulfilled.

Having thought that far, words spilled out of Lenok’s mouth without him realizing it.

“…Unique magic.”

“What?”

“I want a very rare type of unique magic… or a precious relic or elixir equivalent to it.”

He could feel Jenny and Dylan staring at him.

Lenok thought that he was afraid of such gazes for the first time since he had opened his eyes in this world.

That was how scary and difficult it was to reveal what he wanted, but…

It was something he had to do someday.

Even if someone noticed that this was Lenok’s weak point.

Lenok had to keep moving forward.

The moment that had to come eventually was just now.

“Are you sure? Requests that offer such items as rewards are… even if you’re famous now, Ban, it won’t be easy.”

“That’s none of your business, Jenny.”

Dylan said in a low voice.

“…What?”

“You told him to say what he wanted, and he just said it honestly. Do you think Ban wouldn’t have thought of that?”

“I was going to say that to get those kinds of requests… no, I was definitely overstepping. Sorry, Ban.”

Jenny, who had been about to snap at Dylan, hesitated, sighed, and shook her head.

It seemed more like she had remembered something while looking at Dylan than that she was being considerate of Lenok.

Lenok understood them.

It was a cliché, but everyone had their own circumstances.

“It’s not like I’m only going to accept those kinds of requests. It’s just that I’m setting my preferred rewards or related themes that way. That’s all.”

“Okay. I understand. I’ll put in a request to change your registration information on the Deep Web… Can you tell me roughly what kind of magic you want?”

“…Time or space. Or a very powerful regeneration type.”

“Whoa, that’s not easy.”

Lenok knew it well. He had already looked up the related knowledge to the point of being sick of it.

Even Dylan whistled, as the magic of those types was so rare that it was almost impossible to even come into contact with it.

Such rare types didn’t even have separate magic towers, and there were few who were even sure of their existence.

But Lenok couldn’t stop even knowing that.

Jenny, who had tapped a few times on the keyboard placed on the bar, said.

“I’ve put in the change request. The requests that go through this way are usually processed a bit late, so it’ll probably take about a week. I recommend not taking any requests during that time.”

“What? Why?”

“The difference in the price offered to you after you’re properly registered will be quite large. Even if you estimate it conservatively, you’ll lose at least ten million cell [currency unit].”

“That’s…”

Even Lenok thought that it wasn’t wrong.

According to Jenny and Dylan, having his name on the Deep Web meant that he had reached a stage where he was somewhat recognized as a freelancer.

However, the problem was that Lenok, who needed money urgently, couldn’t just wait for his price to go up.

Dylan, who had been looking at him from the side, asked indifferently.

“Do you need money right now?”

“…I have my reasons.”

Lenok nodded silently at Dylan’s words, and Jenny’s face also turned serious.

If Lenok, who rarely talked about himself, was expressing his intentions first, it probably wasn’t a light matter.

Jenny, who quickly glanced at Lenok, immediately opened her mouth.

“No, well… it’s not like you absolutely shouldn’t take requests. If you need money urgently, you have to take requests, regardless of the price. However, if the clients find out that the market price is different after you’re registered on the Deep Web, they might file a claim….”

Dylan, who had been sneering at Jenny’s rambling excuses, suddenly said as if he had remembered something.

“Ah, how about this?”

“What?”

“There’s something that mercenaries sometimes do for extra cash these days. How about it?”

“…A little extra cash won’t be enough. I need at least 20 million cell.”

“It’s not like the amount is fixed, so it’s okay. If you’re capable, you can make over ten million cell in a day. Are you interested?”

“……”

At this point, it was hard for Lenok to ignore Dylan’s words.

He wouldn’t lie about something like this, would he?

As Lenok looked at him and adjusted his posture, he could feel Dylan smiling behind his mask.

“You know there are undeveloped areas outside the 50s district, right?”