Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 761

After solidifying his decision to leave for the military city of Yorta, Lenok began to quickly handle the remaining tasks in Balkan.

Aside from entrusting the management of the Magic Tower, there were still a few things that Lenok himself had to take care of.

-Ban, I found her. Is this the woman you were talking about?

“What’s her location?”

-It’s exactly where you told me. Should I drag her over, or are you coming?

“…I’ll go myself. Wait there.”

Lenok hung up the call and immediately got on his bike.

After leaving the 49th district and riding out to the outskirts of Balkan, a small lake nestled between the mountain ridges came into view.

A quiet lakeside where no surrounding noise could be heard.

Near the lake, someone was waving at Lenok.

A sturdy man with a head made of a tin can. Freelancer Mad Manson, who joined Lenok’s company under the condition of being hired.

“Why are you standing there?”

[Kuhuhu… I got kicked out. They told me to get lost if I didn’t bring anything.]

Manson shrugged comically.

[She’s got quite the temper, more than I expected. Shouldn’t we take her and talk?]

“It’s meaningless if it’s not her will. You should know that.”

[Hmm. I brought a strong body on purpose because I thought I’d have to carry her.]

“……”

Manson muttered as if he didn’t care and stepped back.

[Well, anyway, you coming here means you’ll handle it yourself, right? I’m leaving now.]

“Wait outside the mountain. It won’t take long either way.”

He didn’t think it would take long to get an answer, but just in case, he needed someone to help.

Leaving the grumbling Manson behind, Lenok immediately got on a rowboat near the lake.

Creak…!!

Slowly rowing the old oars, he headed towards a small island in the middle of the lake.

Even though he could jump across in one step if he wanted to, following the procedure was a minimum courtesy to the person he was about to meet.

It was respect for her outstanding and excellent skills, which greatly alleviated one of Lenok’s penalties.

Arriving at a small thatched house made of old trees, Lenok headed to the back of the yard with familiar steps.

An elderly woman was sitting with her back turned, casting a fishing rod into the lake.

The moment Lenok took another step closer, someone’s voice echoed in his head.

[Judging by your gait, you’re someone who has visited this place before.]

“……”

A familiar way of conveying her intentions through telepathy rather than speaking aloud. It was just as Lenok remembered.

The legendary apothecary, Yakseon Yanushika Greenway. [Apothecary: A person who prepares and sells medicines.]

A person who committed the taboo of binding her own memories with a geas [Geas: A magical compulsion or prohibition.] to drastically increase her rank.

Even though she had treated Lenok once through Jenny’s introduction, she no longer remembers that fact.

She is an apothecary who even forgot her own family in such a way and remains alone in this remote mountain village.

She spoke without turning to look at Lenok.

[We’re not strangers, are we?]

“…Yes.”

Lenok nodded.

The apothecary, as if she expected it, immediately said,

[So, someone who knows about me sent an outsider to ask about my well-being? How rude.]

“……”

[And they even sent people regularly to try to meet me. All of that was your doing, wasn’t it?]

“I knew you wouldn’t meet me without the charm you made.”

Lenok said without batting an eye.

“However, since a lot of time has passed since then, I needed to confirm if you were still here.”

[…Nonsense. Who is trying to worry about whom?]

“I don’t want to bother with this either, but I think it’s a necessary procedure.”

Lenok answered, sitting on a nearby stump.

“I believe that someone who has lost their attachment to life could give up on themselves at any time.”

[……]

“Especially if their only remaining attachment was revenge.”

Only then did the apothecary realize the meaning of his words and turned around with a surprised expression.

[Could it be…?]

Dominic Cabaro, the drug lord who had her family treated, and even stole her memories.

Lenok’s words were a secret that only she herself could know, something she had told him directly.

With that one sentence, she realized that the person who killed the drug lord was standing before her.

“It’s been a while, Doctor.”

Lenok smiled and took out an old wooden box from his chest.

“It’s been quite a long time.”

The case that used to hold the elixir that the apothecary had made to treat Lenok’s mana poisoning.

Although the elixir she had made was consumed a long time ago, its effects were still vividly alive within Lenok.

It was a great achievement just to have alleviated the mana poisoning that had been tormenting Lenok every time he fought.

[…Alright. I understand that you are someone who received treatment from me.]

The apothecary also recognized that the wooden box was something she had given, though she couldn’t remember, and her expression calmed down.

[But if your business with this old woman is over, why have you come back? Are you now going to take credit for killing Dominic Cabaro?]

“I was just doing a simple check for minimal trust.”

Lenok smiled and shook his head.

“The story I’m about to tell is not something I could say to someone I consider a stranger.”

[If you’re going to talk nonsense, even if you were a patient I treated-]

“There is a way to adjust the geas that you have put on yourself.”

The apothecary’s words stopped abruptly.

Seeing her wide eyes filled with disbelief, Lenok asked.

“In exchange for attempting that adjustment, I would like to invite you to my Magic Tower. Would you be interested?”

* * *

A huge green palace built in the middle of a crimson wasteland.

Bang!!

The door, which had been blocked by a thick barricade, burst open as if exploding, revealing the interior.

Someone slowly walked into the palace, stepping on the shattered metal fragments.

“Wow~ Look at this mess.”

A man with a gaunt figure, roughly cut hair dyed yellow.

The man, wearing a leather jacket, whistled as he shook off the dirt from his shoes.

“It’s not for me, a member of the Order, to say, but this is a really perverted hobby. Are all the sorcerers of the Magic Union like this?”

On every wall his gaze landed on, there were hundreds of corpses skewered and displayed.

From corpses that were so badly damaged that their original form was unrecognizable, to corpses that were preserved as cleanly as if they had just fallen asleep.

The man, who had been silently looking at the corpses, recognized one of their faces and his eyes lit up.

“Oh? Isn’t this the guy who was selling drugs in the Republic? I heard he went into the Demon’s Lair, when did he get mummified here?”

“They are not corpses.”

At the end of the palace, someone was engrossed in their work with their back to the man.

A figure was lying on the operating table, and the person was repeating incisions and sutures with a scalpel in their hand.

A doctor, covered in a green surgical gown, turned to look at the man with cold eyes.

“They are all my guests. You, a savage apostle of the Order, wouldn’t understand.”

“Oh, is that how it’s going to be?”

The apostle, who had been tilting his head with his arms crossed, chuckled.

“But now that I think about it, it doesn’t really matter whether they’re dead or not. I’m going to turn them all into corpses here anyway.”

“……”

The doctor lightly swung the scalpel in his hand as if annoyed by those words.

At the same time as he drew a line in the air like a conductor’s baton, a huge chimera sprang out from one side of the palace.

“Kieeeak!!”

Its eyes were grotesquely turned inside out, and it charged forward, dragging a body sewn together with needles.

Far from having a decent appearance, it couldn’t even keep its balance properly, yet it moved at a speed close to subsonic.

Whoosh!!

The deformed chimera became a streak of light and slammed directly into the apostle.

However, the apostle didn’t even look at the chimera and raised one arm.

Kwaaaang!!

The chimera, which had been flung away at an invisible speed, fell apart before it could even collide with the palace wall.

The apostle chuckled as he looked at the chimera’s form.

“Is this how you make the guys who died during surgery? You have a weird taste. It’s so disgusting!!”

“Is it any worse than the humans who are sacrificed to your god?”

The doctor retorted without batting an eye.

“The surgeries I perform are ultimately for the better lives of humans. It’s not comparable to the madmen who entrust their future and hope to the outer gods.”

“Huh? But the special trait-based sorcery you use. You joined the Union because they wouldn’t let you use it anywhere else, right? Am I wrong?”

“……”

The apostle said mockingly as he looked at the doctor who had closed his mouth.

“Troublesome conditions and a gloomy disposition. Magic power that’s more than just unique, it’s cursed. If there’s anyone who’s rejected even within the teachings of the gods, it’s guys like you.”

“I have nothing more to say to a feeble incarnation.”

At the doctor’s cold retort, the apostle shook his head as if he couldn’t help it.

“Well, I’m the same. From the start, this whole thing feels like a waste of time.”

“……”

“But I can’t help it since it’s the work of the precious priestess. So, before we start, should we confirm one last thing?”

The apostle, who had said that, slowly crouched down and drew up his magic power.

At that moment, his body swelled explosively, transforming into the form of a huge beast.

Thud!!

A muscular body covered in thick brown fur. Four thick horns on its head, and a grotesquely distorted bull’s snout licking out.

Four arms and two legs supporting its massive body. The shape of hooves studded with thorns and a blazing tail.

If a minotaur were to be reborn by merging with a demon, would it look like this?

[Avesta Chapman, the Special Trait-based Sorcerer of the Magic Union.]

The apostle, looking down at the doctor with the eyes of a blazing monster, asked.

[I’m planning to cut off your head to commemorate the rematch with the Union, is that you?]

“What if I say no?”

[Don’t worry about that.]

The monster with the bull’s head grinned and reached out into the air.

The apostle, who had grabbed a burning axe from the air, slowly pointed it at the doctor and said.

[That’s what I came here to confirm.]

“…Fine.”

The doctor, who had muttered that, put down the scalpel he was holding on the operating table.

Turning around with an annoyed look, he slowly took off the surgical cap he was wearing and walked forward.

“It will be 1 hour and 35 minutes until the spinal anesthesia wears off.”

Avesta, who had taken off the thin gloves he was wearing on both hands, muttered.

“I’ll prioritize dissecting and dissecting the apostle’s body before that.”

* * *

Lavatenon Magic University. Department of Elemental Studies, Research Building No. 1.

Professor Aris Richelon’s personal research lab.

Lenok, who was lying on the busy research desk as usual, woke up from his sleep, bathed in the pouring sunlight.

“……”

He blinked blankly, then slowly leaned back in his chair and raised his head.

The coffee cup on the desk was cold.

Lenok smiled bitterly as he belatedly realized that he had spent the night in this research lab.

“I was planning not to stay up all night in the lab as much as possible…”

[Master fell asleep exactly at 6:32:03 AM.]

Davi, who was curled up on Lenok’s lap, said as if he had been waiting.

[I’ve analyzed Master’s recent sleep patterns and created an algorithm. Can I install it as an app on your phone?]

“…Why would you?”

As he listened to the explanation that he was compiling statistics by comparing before and after taking sleeping pills, Lenok organized his desk.

Negotiations with the apothecary, recruiting talents needed for the Magic Tower. Disposing of and adjusting the artifacts he had accumulated.

Delegating the decision-making authority required for operation, and checking and filtering the flood of contracts.

He thought he could leave quickly, but as many things as he had started, there were many things to deal with.

And the biggest problem among them was the alibi for Evan and Ban.

At this point, where the agreement with the Magic Tower has greatly increased the attention on Evan, if Lenok suddenly disappears, it will only raise more suspicion.

Furthermore, since he recently appeared in public, it would be easy to be caught if he didn’t handle the things he had put off in Evan’s identity.

Considering the contact with the Technical Advisory Committee and the checks from other academic circles and the Magic Tower, it would be dangerous to leave his position without a plan.

Lenok was aware of this, and before heading to the military city, he was creating a justification for Evan’s identity to be absent.

“That’s enough, just output the review of the results I completed yesterday. The calculations are all done, right?”

[Of course. I ran the simulation over 3,000 times while Master was asleep.]

Davi raised his tail straight up and lifted his head.

[There are some slight errors, but it’s perfect. There are no problems!]

“……”

At those words, Lenok grabbed both of Davi’s cheeks and gently pulled them.

[Eueueueu.]

“How can it be perfect if there are errors?”

[I took into account that it’s affected by the situation and location, so the results will inevitably vary slightly each time.]

“……”

[I think it’s already a success at the point where I’ve reduced the error rate to this extent.]

“Hmm…”

Lenok shook his head as he looked at the blueprint on the research lab computer screen.

“No, it’s not quite there yet. If I had to say, it’s only half a success.”

[Should we make a few prototypes and decide?]

“Contact the school and ask them to clear out the entire 3D modeling workshop. Oh, and let the dean’s office know as well.”

Lenok left the minor administrative tasks to Davi, and soon after, a reaction came immediately.

“E, Evan!!”

Bang!!

The research lab door opened, and someone rushed in with disheveled hair.

Saiolus Garteanon, the dean of Lavatenon Magic University, was staring at Lenok with wide eyes.

He had rushed so quickly that his coat and shirt were disheveled, and the tie he was wearing was also loosely undone.

The furry spirit that was barely hanging on his shoulder was crying pitifully.

[Boo, booboo~]

Lenok smiled lightly as he looked at the dean.

“You didn’t have to rush here so quickly.”

“The message you just sent! Is it true!!”

The dean said in a trembling voice.

“You’ve finally started preparing…!!”

If he had received the message Davi sent, he would have immediately realized what Lenok was preparing.

So, he must have rushed here so quickly to get confirmation from Lenok again.

It wasn’t a bad thing. Considering what he had to do from now on, it would be much more convenient to get the dean’s help.

Lenok thought so and readily answered.

“I’ve finished the theoretical proof. It’s under review, but there shouldn’t be any major problems.”

“Then…!!”

“Yes.”

Lenok nodded as he looked at the dean whose face had brightened.

He needed a perfect alibi.

A perfect excuse so that even after Lenok left for Yorta, no one would suspect the absence of Evan and Ban.

“I will begin preparing for my third paper. I will submit the outline within three days.”

The last achievement needed to complete the integrated master’s and doctoral program.

The third paper needed to officially obtain a professorship.

Lenok was planning to use the preparation process as a very strong excuse for this trip.