Genius Wizard Takes Medicine Chapter 12

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The distance was roughly six hundred meters.

This confirmed Lenoch’s assumption. The sniper had not increased the distance to more than one kilometre. Instead, they were probably using a special method to evade detection.

The instant he confirmed their position, Lenoch drew up his mana and made it revolve around his right hand.

Wooong!

A strange sensation ran through him, as though the flow of mana had inverted. Then, the power leapt across space and shot into the sky.

He understood the spell in theory, but this was the first time he had ever cast it himself.

It was an applied spell that symbolized the lightning branch, and among common magic, it possessed one of the highest levels of destructive power.

[Thunder Calling]

The moment a blue glimmer of mana flashed in the air, lightning fell from the cloudless sky.

A direct strike.

Boom!

The ground trembled from the violent impact. A blue light burst forth, followed a moment later by the roar of thunder.

Lenoch watched the scene with quiet fascination.

Seeing other mages use this spell in the past had never stirred anything in him. But seeing lightning brought into reality before his very eyes filled him with a strange emotion.

It was far beyond what he had expected.

With this, he could certainly claim to be using lightning magic.

Did that kill them?

If they had noticed the attack and failed to escape in time, there was no way they could have survived it.

Lenoch immediately made his way toward the point where the lightning had fallen.

However, there was no corpse waiting for him there.

All that remained was a crater roughly two meters wide.

Did they run the moment they felt the mana spike?

For a moment, Lenoch thought about continuing the pursuit, but he soon abandoned the idea.

This much should be enough of a warning to anyone else watching from the shadows.

It was also more than enough to announce the existence of “Van,” the lightning mage.

He was not hoping for much.

As long as no one interfered with his work or caused unnecessary trouble, that was enough for him.

Of course, behaving this way might draw more people into investigating his past.

But wasn’t that exactly why he had put on a new face?

Lenoch trusted the magical talent he possessed.

It was an absurd gift, one bought at the cost of his own lifespan.

He did not know how skilled the mages of this world were.

Even so, he was certain that his own talent would not fall short.

Because without that belief, there was nothing he could do.

Lenoch forced down the faint unease rising inside him, relying on cold reason to steady himself.

Then he gathered Taylor’s body, shoved it into the sack he had prepared beforehand, and hoisted it over his shoulder.

Perhaps because he had smoked in preparation for a possible physical fight, he did not feel particularly lacking in strength.

Of course, once the cigarette’s effects faded, muscle pain would probably catch up with him. Even so, he had not reinforced his body with mana.

To Lenoch, mana was both his greatest weapon and his final safeguard. Unless he was facing an enemy, he needed to conserve it as much as possible.

He followed the path back toward District 49.

Blood continued to drip from the sack, but there was not a single passer-by nearby who was sharp enough to notice.

When he reached Jenny’s bar inside the district, he found the shutters pulled down.

After hesitating briefly, Lenoch raised his hand and knocked hard against the closed shutter.

A short while later, a rough, hoarse voice answered from within.

“Business starts at eight in the evening.”

“I caught Taylor Evans.”

Silence followed.

A moment later, the old man seemed to understand what those words meant. He let out a sigh and replied.

“…There’s a back entrance behind the building. Come in through there.”

Just as the old man had said, a small side door stood at the rear of the building.

Lenoch opened it and stepped inside.

The place resembled the bar from earlier, yet the atmosphere was subtly different.

Behind a counter separated by a glass partition, the old man stood watching him.

His eyes moved to the sack slung over Lenoch’s shoulder before he spoke.

“When discussing business from now on, use this entrance. Normally, we should have told you during your first visit, but Jenny and I both forgot.”

“Understood. Let’s verify that first.”

Lenoch answered and placed the sack he had been carrying onto the table.

Thud!

“This is Taylor Evans himself.”

“Please wait a moment.”

The old man exhaled deeply, then took a pair of gloves from beneath the counter and began inspecting the contents of the sack.

Even after pulling the body out in front of him, his expression remained unchanged. He clearly was not an ordinary bartender.

“Cause of death: gunshot wound. Time of death is within the past hour. There are signs of trauma to both ears before the head injury, and his nutritional state suggests he has not eaten properly for several days. There are no notable traces of mana interference, and the organs are all intact. This is him.”

Lenoch clicked his tongue at the old man’s ability to infer so much from a corpse crumpled inside a sack.

“Were you a coroner or something?”

“I did similar work. Will you be collecting the reward now?”

When Lenoch nodded, the old man immediately took out cash and set it on the counter.

“After deducting our ten percent fee, the total is 2.7 million Cel. Additional charges will apply if you want to receive it in another form.”

“What do you mean by another form?”

“There are several options. You may want it deposited into an account under a borrowed name, or in more complicated cases, you may request money laundering. Some people also prefer to receive payment in bonds or stocks.”

So Balkan’s financial system worked much like Earth’s.

As Lenoch committed the information the old man had given him to memory, someone stepped out from behind the blackout curtain.

“Oh? You’re back already?”

Jenny looked exhausted as she brushed back her tangled hair and yawned.

“Yawn… I was wondering what kind of customer would show up at this hour. Were you really that desperate for money?”

At Jenny’s sarcastic smile, Lenoch nodded without hesitation.

“I did it because I could.”

“Well, you’re certainly capable. As expected of a mage.”

Jenny pulled a chair over beside the old man, sat down, and rested her chin on her hand.

“Usually, with bounty hunting, finding the target takes far longer than killing them. So what trick did Mr. Van use to catch the rat so quickly?”

“I was lucky.”

Jenny chuckled at Lenoch’s predictable answer.

She did not seem to have expected a proper response in the first place, and soon changed the subject.

“If you can produce results within half a day, then it means you can at least take care of yourself. We’ll be able to keep working with you from now on.”

“I wouldn’t mind if you arranged another job right away.”

After all, he would have to come back to Zone 49 whenever he wanted work from this side.

He wanted to avoid making unnecessary trips, but Jenny immediately shook her head.

“That won’t be possible, so head back for now. We still need to report the results of this job to Achilles Corporation’s representative, confirm the scavengers’ movements, and close the matter properly.”

“One job isn’t enough?”

“You understand quickly. We need to observe Mr. Van’s work a little longer so we can always arrange deals appropriate to his level, don’t you think?”

“Hmm…”

‘I doubt that’s the only reason.’

Jenny spoke smoothly, but Lenoch did not take her words at face value.

The reasons she gave sounded convincing enough, but explanations that seemed reasonable on the surface were often meaningless.

Still, rather than picking apart her words, Lenoch simply accepted the cash the old man handed him.

“Then I’ll see you next time.”

“…Wait. I have something to ask.”

“What is it?”

He had been wondering where he could find similar items, and Jenny might know the right place.

Lenoch turned back, took a cigarette from his pocket, and placed it in front of her.

“I’m looking for somewhere that sells something similar to this. It doesn’t have to be a cigarette, but I’d like to see a variety of products.”

“……”

Jenny said nothing.

However, Lenoch did not miss the quick glance she exchanged with the old man.

She slowly raised her hand, picked up the cigarette, and began examining it with care.

The way she handled it made it seem as though Lenoch had handed her a bomb.

She inspected its exterior, then cautiously brought it close to her nose and smelled it.

For a moment, her head twitched slightly, but she soon returned to her usual calm expression.

Only after confirming something did Jenny place the cigarette back down and let out a sigh.

“Hah… I thought it was some new electronic drug or something.”

“Do you know what it is?”

Jenny nodded at Lenoch’s question.

“It’s just a common recreational product. I don’t know the brand name, but I can roughly tell what’s in it. Crushed Melodis and Alpinia leaves mixed with plant oil.”

She handed the cigarette back to him and continued.

“But for a mage, you seem far too fond of cheap stuff. Keep smoking this for too long, and it might mess with your head.”

“My head?”

“Yeah. The recipe is simple, and the finish is crude. You can tell at a glance that it’s trash. I understand why a mage might like something like this, but if you’re going to smoke, buy something expensive. That way, you can at least avoid the worst side effects.”

“……”

Indeed, the cigarette in his hand was something he had taken from a supervisor’s pocket back at the factory.

It would not be surprising if it was a cheap product with severe side effects, as long as it produced a strong effect.

“Anyway, if this is the kind of thing you like, go to Plumber’s Orchard. It’s a place for heavy smokers like Mr. Van. They have a wide selection and specialize in this sort of business. You’ll probably find something that suits you.”

She gave him a rough explanation of where the Orchard was located.

After listening to the general directions, Lenoch nodded.

“Thanks for the information. I’ll come back another time.”

“Sure. See you again.”

Lenoch turned to leave, giving Jenny a small wave, but then suddenly stopped.

“Wait. There’s one more thing I’d like to ask.”

“What is it?”

“Could I get a similar explanation if I asked about health supplements?”

After Lenoch left, the old man was left to deal with Taylor Evans’s body.

He took photographs, extracted genetic data, sealed the necessary evidence, and sent it separately to an intermediary from Achilles.

The process came with additional fees, but there was no avoiding it.

In this business, it was impossible to talk about payment without also talking about commissions and handling costs.

Jenny watched the old man work with her chin resting on her hand, then spoke.

“A customer who asks about narcotic cigarettes and health supplements at the same time… Isn’t that interesting?”

“You mean that mage from earlier?”

“Yes. If I were a merchant, I’d think he was insane. I can never understand what mages are thinking. Then again, I suppose that’s what geniuses are like.”

Jenny seemed to brush it off with a laugh, but the old man, Jordan, saw things differently.

He silently cleaned up the counter before speaking in a slow voice.

“I found something interesting after taking a detour through the Scavengers’ network.”

The moment Jenny heard that, she frowned.

“Grandpa, are you still keeping an eye on that cesspool? Paying the Mirror Diver just to peek into their network is a waste of money.”

Mirror Diver was one of the criminal organizations operating out of Balkan.

They were a group of hackers who controlled a portion of the city’s network and sold whatever useful information or by-products they obtained from it.

With numerous magic-engineering technicians and programmers under them, their technical capabilities were considerable. Because of that, using them made it relatively easy to access networks in the area.

Even when those networks belonged to another organization.

Jordan, however, remained perfectly calm as he answered her.

“It seems they obtained images from the moment Taylor Evans died. Would you like to see the magic he used? He may be a far more valuable customer than you think.”

“What?”

Jenny immediately turned on the computer beneath the counter and accessed the data Jordan had mentioned.

The criminal organization known as Scavenger was overwhelmingly large compared to most organizations or clans, but the quality of its members was much lower. As a result, its actual strength was not especially impressive.

Aside from its core leadership, most of its members were little more than street thugs.

However, there was one thing that made them useful to the organization.

“I found it. Here it is. These guys really are everywhere.”

Because they were scattered across the city like trash, they could report almost any incident that happened within their territory.

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