Genius Wizard Takes Medicine Chapter 31

Sage swallowed hard at the sharpness in Lenoch’s voice.

“What exactly do you mean…?”

Lenoch did not answer right away.

Instead, he lifted the request summary in his hand and gave it a small shake.

“You already wrote enough here for me to figure it out. Recovering the samples and delivering them to the patent office isn’t where this job ends, is it?”

Before accepting any request, Lenoch preferred to clear up anything that felt off.

He did not think Sage had lied about the information he provided.

The problem was that he had deliberately left something out.

Sage’s eyes wandered uneasily.

But in the end, he could not come up with an answer.

He knew exactly what Lenoch was referring to.

Jenny, standing beside them, finished the thought for him.

“The gang.”

“……”

“That’s the part you conveniently avoided mentioning. The moment word gets out that Amnac hired a freelancer, the councilor will hear about it too. And when he does, what makes you think the gang behind him will just sit still?”

The councilor himself probably would not get personally involved.

But the gang connected to him was another matter.

If they learned Amnac had hired Lenoch to retrieve the samples, they would almost certainly interfere.

Lenoch looked directly at Sage.

“Or were you expecting me to slip in unnoticed, grab the samples, and hand them over before anyone realized what happened?”

Sage stayed silent.

That silence was answer enough.

Amnac had not simply been looking for a courier.

What they really wanted was someone capable of handling the councilor’s gang if things turned violent.

They had dressed up the request nicely, but beneath it all, they wanted Lenoch to retrieve the samples and conveniently take care of anyone sent to stop him.

The fact that they had deliberately avoided saying it outright irritated him.

‘…This really is nothing like Baritz.’

The difference was almost ridiculous.

Baritz Corporation had clearly laid out every objective, offered separate compensation for each one, and even paid extra when unexpected circumstances arose.

Amnac, meanwhile, was already trying to slip additional work into the deal before the contract had even begun.

Lenoch understood that a small venture company could not operate with the same professionalism as a giant corporation.

But trying to quietly push extra risk onto a freelancer was another matter.

If this was how they intended to conduct business, perhaps handing the samples over to the councilor would have been simpler.

Sage’s shoulders gradually sank.

Sweat gathered across his face as the atmosphere in the room grew heavier.

Lenoch resisted the urge to pull out a cigarette and instead glanced toward Jenny.

There was no point in venting his irritation on Sage.

Before deciding whether to walk away completely, it made more sense to hear Jenny’s opinion.

She caught his gaze immediately and smiled.

“Mr. Sage.”

“Yes!”

His answer came out almost too quickly.

Jenny lazily gestured with her cigarette.

“If you still want Van to take this job, then we need to renegotiate the payment.”

Sage stiffened.

“You were trying to pay him for a simple delivery. From our side, this now means possibly fighting an entire gang. Those are two completely different levels of risk. You understand that, right?”

Sage quickly nodded.

Only then did Jenny look satisfied.

She pointed the tip of her cigarette toward the phone lying on the table.

“Good. Then call your boss.”

“……”

“Ask them how much they’re actually willing to spend to get those samples delivered.”

She paused, then smiled.

“And while you’re at it, ask how much they’re willing to pay Van to make fighting that gang worth the trouble.”

Sage stared at her in silence.

Jenny stood up.

“We’ll give you some privacy. Take your time.”

With that, she naturally pulled Lenoch out of the room.

The moment the door shut behind them, Jenny turned to him.

“So? What do you want to do?”

Lenoch glanced at her.

“What do you mean?”

“They definitely tried to sneak something past us, but I don’t think it was malicious.”

Lenoch said nothing.

Jenny continued.

“If they really wanted to deceive us, they wouldn’t have mentioned the councilor or the gang anywhere in the request summary.”

“……”

She had a point.

The only reason Lenoch had noticed that Sage was withholding part of the job was because Amnac itself had included enough information for him to connect the dots.

“Obviously, I cross-check every request anyway, so some half-baked lie wouldn’t get far.”

Jenny paused for a moment.

“But this doesn’t feel like they were trying to stab us in the back.”

Lenoch raised an eyebrow.

“Then what were they trying to do?”

Jenny glanced at his expression before answering.

“…Save money.”

Lenoch stared at her.

“They probably figured that if trouble broke out naturally while you were transporting the samples, they could get the gang dealt with without having to officially pay for it.”

Jenny shrugged.

“Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be annoyed. Nobody likes finding out the client quietly added extra work to the job.”

Her tone softened slightly.

“And whether you still take it is entirely up to you. If you want, we send him home right now.”

She jerked her chin toward the door.

“You’re not exactly desperate for work anymore. I can bring you another request tomorrow.”

Lenoch let out a quiet chuckle.

Jenny clearly understood his personality better than before.

Despite his calm nature, Lenoch remained extremely cautious when it came to trusting people.

And she knew enough to approach that carefully.

After thinking for a moment, Lenoch asked,

“How dangerous is the job actually? Is there any chance the councilor himself gets involved?”

“Almost none.”

Jenny answered immediately.

“I checked that part separately.”

She leaned against the wall.

“The gang tied to Councilor Meyer has around a hundred members. They’re violent, but even by the standards of the Zones in the fifties, they’re not particularly big.”

“A hundred people…”

“The only one you really need to watch is their leader. Rumor says he’s some unusual hybrid. Everyone else is basically Scavenger-level muscle.”

Jenny spoke as though a hundred gang members were hardly worth worrying about.

Apparently, she no longer considered Lenoch someone who could be overwhelmed by numbers alone.

And honestly, Lenoch felt the same way.

The battle against the Scavengers alongside the Grimgald Mercenary Office had already shown him the possibilities.

Spells like [Chain Lightning] gave a single mage the ability to deal with groups that ordinary fighters could never handle alone.

Maybe this job would be a good opportunity to turn that possibility into something more certain.

After weighing the risks, Lenoch nodded.

“…Fine. I’ll take it.”

Then he added,

“But I want more money.”

If they expected him to risk a fight with an entire gang, asking for additional danger pay was only reasonable.

Jenny immediately grinned.

“Now you’re talking.”

She tapped her temple with one finger.

“Leave the negotiating to me. You saw how I handled him in there, right? I should be able to squeeze at least another ten million Cel out of them.”

Almost the moment she finished speaking, the office door opened.

Sage stood there clutching his phone as though it were something precious.

He silently nodded toward the two of them.

Jenny’s grin widened.

Lenoch could only shake his head.

Once the pharmaceutical company gave in, everything moved quickly.

 

The original advance of ten million cells was doubled to twenty million, while the ten-million-cell completion bonus remained unchanged.

 

That brought the total payment upon successful completion to thirty million cells.

 

After signing the temporary employment contract, Lenoch immediately got into the car Sage had brought and headed toward the warehouse.

 

He had already brought everything he needed with him, so there was no reason to prepare further.

 

“It’s gotten a little late.”

 

Sage kept his eyes on the road.

 

“The others should already be there.”

 

“Others?”

 

“The people we hired to guard the warehouse.”

 

He hesitated.

 

“There aren’t nearly enough of them compared to the size of the gang, but they should still be useful.”

 

“……”

 

If he had to deal with them without outside help, how many could he realistically handle?

 

Against ordinary people who could not use mana, even a hundred did not seem particularly threatening.

 

With five layers of shields around himself, bullets and blades would struggle to even reach his body.

 

As long as his mana lasted, Lenoch could keep attacking them one-sidedly with magic.

 

The problem was anyone capable of using mana or possessing unusual abilities.

 

If several people like that were mixed into the gang, the situation could become far more complicated.

 

Lenoch was confident he could keep himself alive.

 

Protecting the drug samples at the same time was another matter.

 

He needed more information.

 

‘Maybe I should put some pressure on him.’

 

Lenoch turned toward Sage.

 

“Jenny told me you already knew what I was worth, yet you still tried to hire me for less than the job was worth.”

 

“W-what?”

 

Sage’s face visibly stiffened.

 

Lenoch gave him a faint smile.

 

“The moment I complained, you doubled the payment without even bothering with the usual rates. That says quite a lot, doesn’t it?”

 

“No, that’s… you’ve misunderstood.”

 

Sweat immediately appeared on Sage’s forehead.

 

Even the hands gripping the steering wheel began to tremble.

 

It did not look like guilt.

 

He seemed far more frightened that he might have angered the mage sitting beside him.

 

The possibility of being electrocuted inside his own car was apparently enough to make him nervous.

 

Lenoch silently watched him for several seconds.

 

Then he abruptly changed the subject.

 

“What else is stored in the warehouse?”

 

Sage eagerly seized the opportunity.

 

“N-nothing particularly important. The CEO used the place for personal storage before this, so there are some samples of drugs we already sell.”

 

“Any ordinary medicine? Sleeping pills, for example?”

 

“We don’t manufacture those ourselves, but… there might be some stored there.”

 

“Good.”

 

“Sorry?”

 

“Nothing.”

 

The cheap sleeping pills Lenoch had been buying in District 49 were becoming increasingly ineffective.

 

Getting his hands on a few different samples might be useful.

 

He had repeatedly thought about buying another kind, but the thought usually came to him while he was already trying to sleep, so he had kept putting it off.

 

This could be a convenient opportunity.

 

Before long, Sage slowed the car.

 

“We’re here.”

 

He looked ahead and hesitated.

 

“It seems everyone else has already gathered.”

 

Around ten people were standing outside the warehouse Lenoch had seen in the photograph.

 

There were too many of them to look like ordinary warehouse guards.

 

Yet nowhere near enough to fight a gang.

 

It was obvious Amnac had struggled to choose a number that would provide some protection without openly appearing to challenge the councilor.

 

Lenoch studied them through the window.

 

“…They don’t look very happy.”

 

Several of the men were glaring at the car with veins bulging on their foreheads.

 

They wore shabby clothing and carried an assortment of firearms and blades.

 

The largest among them, a rough-looking muscular man, marched over and slammed his fist against the side of the car.

 

Bang!

 

“Hey! Open the damn door! Get out here!”

 

Sage flinched.

 

“W-what happened?”

 

“What happened? This isn’t what we agreed to!”

 

The man struck the car again.

 

“What are we supposed to do with this few people?”

 

Ten guards might have sounded excessive for protecting a warehouse.

 

Against an approaching gang, however, it was laughable.

 

Lenoch only needed a quick look at their equipment and demeanor to understand what had happened.

 

“They hired whoever they could find to fill the numbers.”

 

Sage stiffened.

 

“That’s not—”

 

“I don’t particularly care.”

 

Lenoch glanced toward the angry men outside.

 

“But do you really think they haven’t figured it out?”

 

Sage’s face immediately lost color again.

 

To be fair, this situation was not entirely his doing.

 

The decision to defend the samples with such a small force had probably come from Amnac’s executives and board members.

 

They were the ones who had decided that this handful of people would somehow be enough to protect the samples from a gang.

 

It was irritating.

 

But Lenoch couldn’t expect every client he worked with to be competent.

 

He sighed.

 

“…Let’s get out.”

 

“What? But if we go out now—”

 

“I’ll do what I’m being paid for.”

 

Without waiting for Sage’s answer, Lenoch pushed the door open.