Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 86

Lennox was determined to go to any lengths to investigate the theory Aris had dismissed as a completely useless hypothesis.

“Hoo….”

Meyer sighed, as if he couldn’t help himself, and whispered, his voice low. “It’ll be a waste of time looking for them in the 40s district. You should go further out.”

“…Thank you.”

“You know why I’m telling you this, right?” He grinned, revealing his yellowed teeth. “Let’s have a drink together soon.”

“………”

Lennox watched Meyer’s retreating figure as he led the officials he had brought, and lightly shrugged. Unlike their meeting in front of the Patent Office, he seemed much more vibrant, moving with a dozen or so aides. Lennox didn’t know why Meyer had decided to seize power so late in life, but what mattered was that he was getting results. Because of that, Lennox couldn’t simply ignore him. Right now, Meyer was unilaterally courting Lennox, but the future was uncertain.

Lennox thought this, buttoning up his coat and turning away. ‘The outer districts…’ Jorden’s data also mentioned black mages living in the outer districts. Before going, it would be good to stop by Jenny’s bar and let her know his destination.

Mist Area

“Oh…..”

“Wow…..”

“…..What are you two doing?”

It had been almost a month since his last visit to Jenny’s bar. Feeling a strange sense of longing, he entered to find Sebastian sitting at the bar, talking. Almost simultaneously, Jenny turned her gaze to Lennox. As if they had made a pact, the two of them let out strange exclamations. When Lennox frowned and asked, Jenny replied with a slightly awkward expression. “Van, what the hell have you been doing all this time?”

“What?”

“Your magic is… a bit different.”

“………”

He glanced at Sebastian, whose expression was also slightly stiff. Both of them had some understanding of magic, so they could sense Lennox’s growth, even if only a little. Lennox, at a loss for words, twitched his lips and immediately sat next to Sebastian. He was about to take a drink from the glass he was handed when Sebastian slipped a business card next to him. He thought it was a new business card, but when he realized there was a piece of paper hidden behind it, he chuckled.

“Hey, mister.” Jenny, who had caught on to Sebastian’s trick like a ghost, glared at him with cold eyes. “Are you out of your mind?”

“Ahem, I’m only human, so I can’t control my desires.”

“I can overlook you trying to hit on someone else’s customer, but doing it in front of my eyes is crossing the line.”

“Van seems to be getting ready to move up to a higher level. Wouldn’t he need a partner to match that?”

“You’re not saying my abilities are lacking, are you?” For a moment, their gazes turned sharp, but soon they clinked their glasses as if nothing had happened and started talking again. The topic was once again about the city government’s movements.

“The inspections are lasting longer than expected. It’s getting harder and harder to read the city council’s intentions.”

“The stance they’re taking publicly after the agreement is completely different from their internal policies. We might need to recruit more insiders.”

“How much money have we spent so far? If it doesn’t work with this, then it won’t work at all. Aren’t they the kind of guys who value their own lives the most?”

“What else is new?”

“The mages connected to my network are all in an uproar right now. At least, it’s become much more difficult for mages who aren’t affiliated with an organization and move alone to get equipment or supplies….”

“Well, this side…” Jenny said, glancing at Lennox with a nonchalant expression. What was the point of talking about equipment or anything else when there was a monster here who had started with nothing and succeeded in all sorts of requests, even taking down gangs? Rather, it was surprising that Lennox’s appearance was gradually changing since he had come here.

“….Except for one, they’re generally in a difficult situation.”

“I think I know who you’re talking about without you saying it.”

“Always playing tricks…” At that moment, the sound of someone coming down from the back of the bar was heard. Rather short and clumsy footsteps. A shadow shorter than the average adult. A boy with a sullen expression and black hair poked his face into the smoky bar.

“Jenny, the wanted criminal I told you about…” The boy, who had opened his mouth with a youthful voice, made a subtle frown when he met Lennox’s eyes. Lennox also checked the boy’s face and smiled. “It’s been almost a month. How have you been?”

“…Thanks to you.” The blood mage boy, Ryan Eiter, replied stiffly and placed the thick file he was holding on the bar. Thud!

“I tracked the bloodstains in the order of the names on the list and organized their movements. Out of 48 people, 24 died. Three are unconscious. Eight are alive.”

“There are three missing?”

“They’re not human, so it’s hard to track them. I wrote down what kind of demi-humans they are, so check it out.” Ryan’s face looked quite tired as he said that, but Jenny mercilessly began to evaluate his work on the spot. She flipped through the file and stopped at one point, opening her mouth. “Hey, kid.”

“…Why, again. What. I did my best.”

“The movements of the dead aren’t properly organized. Are you messing with me right now?”

“You just need to find the bodies. Why does it matter where they died?”

“Is that what you call an excuse? I clearly told you separately when I gave you this task.”

“……..” Ryan closed his mouth quietly, as if she was right, and Jenny’s words continued mercilessly. “Besides, I warned you several times, but you’ve already exceeded the deadline by two days? You should know that you won’t get much of the promised payment.”

“No, that’s really…” Lennox shook his head, watching the two of them bickering like children. It was a scene he was seeing for the first time in a month, but for Lennox, who had been in constant contact with Jenny, it was as familiar as if he had seen it every day. Ryan, who had lost his job during the city government’s inspections, had safely taken refuge according to Lennox’s advice, and then came to Jenny to do freelance work as well. It seemed that he had heard her name by chance, or rather, he had followed the rumors of Lennox, who had recently become famous in this area, to the bar, but in any case, Jenny had the ability to give the boy a decent job. The blood mage had become a client of the broker.

As a capable broker, she didn’t give any special treatment to the boy just because he was a client. Rather, she was focused on taking away the boy’s money every day, as he was stubborn in unnecessary ways. From her point of view, who had nothing to lose, it was understandable that she had taken on another complete newbie freelancer. He wasn’t particularly good at physical abilities, and blood magic was too inefficient to be used for combat, so it was burdensome to entrust him with even a light request. He was so young that he was even unskilled in using firearms, so it would be difficult for him to complete a proper request without relying on spells. At best, he was assisting with bounty hunting by using the special nature of blood magic to track the movements of those with bounties on their heads, but even that seemed to require a process of adaptation for the boy.

“It doesn’t matter to me whether you’re a blood mage or not. As long as you do your job well. Mage or whatever, the best person for me is someone who does their job well. Got it?”

“Ugh…” Lennox got up from his seat, watching the boy scratch his cheek with a troubled face. Sebastian, who was stirring his whiskey next to him, looked up at him. “Are you already thinking of leaving?”

“Yeah. Tell Jenny I’m going to the outer districts.” There wasn’t much to do even if he sat here for a long time. He had only come to stop by after a long time to mention where he was going. Besides, the gazes of other customers who were starting to recognize Lennox were also annoying. It was also a hassle that people who didn’t even care when he used to come and go from the bar were now watching his every move.

Sebastian called out to Lennox, who was about to leave the bar. “Do you remember what you got for solving Otterble’s request?”

“What?”

“He told you to contact him anytime if you needed anything. You might need a reliable steed when you’re wandering around places like the outer districts.”

“……..” Listening to Sebastian’s words, he quickly remembered. Was it the story of the bike blueprints he had obtained from the madam? Lennox chuckled at the words and immediately turned his head. It would be a lie if he said he wasn’t attracted to the means of transportation, but it wasn’t an urgent or necessary issue right now. Besides, considering Lennox’s disastrous athletic ability, he might have to develop additional riding assistance magic to ride a bike. It was a different problem than just sitting in the driver’s seat and stepping on the accelerator.

Lennox, who had left the bar, headed straight for the undeveloped district. The data he had received from Jorden included various maps, so there was no major difficulty in finding his way. District 50. A lawless zone that the city government’s inspections did not reach. He had received a request in the arid plains to subdue the contaminants before, but the direction he was going now was very different from that. The mist area where the scenery in front of him was starting to look hazy. A moist meadow where moss was trampled underfoot, full of humidity. A ruin where only the remains of a civilization that had not been developed and had been abandoned, different from what Lennox had already experienced. A bizarre sight where a four-lane road that had been half-built and abandoned coexisted with a green field unfolded before Lennox’s eyes. The humidity that wet the tip of his nose added to the unpleasantness, but Lennox calmly watched his surroundings with an indifferent face. ‘According to the data, it should be somewhere around here.’ If the data that Jorden had given him was accurate, there was a small laboratory created by black mages somewhere in this area. It was an unofficial facility that was built with the sponsorship of Palmers Corporation, which mainly deals with artificial intelligence, and research was being conducted to gradually develop the intelligence of artificial life forms by studying chimeras and homunculi [creatures created through genetic manipulation]. However, due to issues of bioethics and rumors that actual humans were being used as test subjects, the official closure process was said to have been taken. Yes, officially. ‘Of course, they wouldn’t have closed their doors just by listening to the city government’s recommendations.’ Lennox thought as he pulled up his magic power. The flow of magic was infinitely smooth and rapid compared to before. The pulsation of magic, which echoed like a heartbeat, spread slowly but surely in all directions, absorbing information from all sides in an instant. Lennox, who was accepting the sensation that was spreading out into the empty plains and returning like an echo, stopped walking at some point and his eyes shone. It was hard to see because it was obscured by the stuffy humidity and fog, but it was certain. A strangely distorted haze. It looked empty, but there was a strange amount of heat felt beyond it. This was the place. When he stretched out his five fingers and grabbed the air, a strange sound echoed with a subtle vibration, as if something invisible was caught. Squeak… A noise like a rusty hinge turning. Black fog flowed out from beyond the empty landscape as if trying to resist Lennox’s magic, but Lennox snorted and twisted his fingers as they were. Crack!! The magic that stretched out from between his fingers grabbed and broke the air as it was, and something that could not withstand that powerful will was shattered with a crash, revealing a hidden space. Ka-a-a-ang!! With the sharp sound of a glass window breaking, something rushed towards Lennox from inside as if it had been waiting. “Kahaaaak!!” A grotesque creature with loose flesh as if its whole body had been patched up. It had three arms and one leg. It had something like a prosthetic leg on its buttocks and a wolf’s head dangling from its shoulder. A chimera? A homunculus? Either way, it was clear that it was not a normal living creature. He slightly bent his left arm and immediately pulled up his magic power.