Drug-Eating Genius Mage
Chapter 23

“Are you gone?”

“is it so.”

Unlike before, Panoa looked down through the glass window as Lennok walked out of the 10th Division on foot.

From the outside, it looks like he hasn’t hit a single person, but deep web records and countless testimonies don’t lie.

The amount of information Panoa collected to prepare a card that was more certain than anyone else was enormous.

Half of the Lightning Wizard. The quests he’s done so far are less than 10 newbies, but his skills are unmistakably genuine.

Judgment felt on paper. And the confidence that I felt face-to-face.

Sometimes one or the other misses, but never both.

He was a talent to catch.

“But does it have to be that guy? It’s not like we don’t have wizards on our side either.”

As Kilian said, it’s not that there aren’t any useful mages on the Dyke side.

In the past, talented wizards who used to live in seclusion in the Mage Tower are now moving to satisfy their own desires by joining various organizations one by one.

Dyke is one of several companies that have benefited from the trend.

But if you ask if Panoa has the skills you want, that’s absolutely not the case.

“You, Kylian. Can you hold out against the Croken Asilus even for a moment?”

“……It’s not easy.”

Ignoring the unreasonable bravado, Panoa continued.

“That wizard did it in the first request he took on. Even with just one useful avant-garde.”

“…….”

“In the first place, it makes no sense that a wizard has been working alone until now. It’s strange that other companies haven’t touched it until now. It’ll be the most cost-effective card among the freelancers we can control. I’m sure.”

Panoa took out a cigarette from her arms and said.

Originally, no matter how much Dyke wanted to expand his business, he would not have touched the 40th district.

It is a place where the power structure is more complex than imagined and those who cannot easily deal with such a profit relationship.

There are numerous people who fearlessly dug into the market but failed to even break even.

But even so, the reason why Panoa decided to set up a new plan for the 40th division this time… was because of the agreement with the Philenom Dominion just two days ago.

After all, someday Balkan will definitely prepare for war. In line with this, the arms industry will enter its heyday.

In preparation for that time, production must be increased in advance, but a new customer is needed to digest the increased weapon production.

In addition, the timing is almost perfect as the pressure on the city government, which is focused outside of the agreement with the local government, will be relatively less.

“If you move well, you can monopolize the flow of military supplies at once. It’s not impossible to go further ‘inside’.”

The world is changing.

You have to deal with it carefully while weighing the flow around you and your own abilities.

But someone who dares to move might get more than his fair share.

Panoa laughed sharply.

“It’s not enough for small talk. Bring it in slowly.”

“who?”

“…I would have told you to bring the next candidate.”

“Ah, did you mean to secure your resume? I just pulled out the one that came in the mail and brought it.”

“…….”

A sigh came out of Panoa’s mouth when he saw Killian scratching his head with a bewildered expression.

Was it a mistake to ask for cooperation on this project after hearing rumors that your senses are good?

Werewolf was certainly not the right partner for office work.

Lennok briefly summarized the conversations from the meeting with Panoa and told them to Jenny.

It was difficult to avoid cooperation in this work, as I had exchanged requests through her anyway.

“It’s big.”

After hearing all the stories, Jenny came to a simple conclusion.

“The risks and benefits are equally great.”

“……..”

“I know roughly how much Enakpil’s five fingers are worth. They say it’s one of the consumable artifacts that high-ranking political figures can’t live without. And if you offered something like that in return, of course the risk of asking half of you would be considerable.”

Jordan, who was quietly listening to the story, spoke.

“I can guess why the Dyke Company took half away and talked to them.”

“What?”

“Isn’t it the will to minimize the resentment that will be created with this request? If you know that this side is directly related, it will complicate things. I really want to make only the minimum number of variables and lay the plate. At least Dyke seems to be serious.”

“I offered a deal through the deep web, but would you have hit Gara? I never had any doubts about that from the start. What matters is this.”

Jenny said that and looked at Lennok with a serious expression.

“If you accept this request, it will be difficult to shake your hands off the floor here.”

“……..”

“Until now, if you have been working with an organization or a certain plan, what Dyke wants is to create a game where you can profit by killing someone. It is unavoidable that resentment arises.”

“…I guess so.”

It was different from the previous requests.

Jenny was euphemistically retelling the fact.

Lennok understood.

Most of the quests he’s been carrying out so far have been simple in purpose, regardless of whether they’re good or bad, or the aftermath of the quest isn’t great.

Even if they were caught up in a major incident, the wildfire had never spread so much that it would cause damage even to Lennok.

But this time it’s different.

The one Dyke wants to touch is the drug dealer in the 40th district, and this must be a significant part of the complex profit structure of the outer district.

If anyone touches his money line, he can only be angry.

The possibility of additional retaliation coming in or getting caught up in a deeper power struggle seemed high.

“Are you ready to take risks to get what you want?”

“……preparation?”

Maybe she’s worried about him. Lennox knows.

The person Jenny thinks of as Ban is just a trained wizard who lived in a remote area.

But Lennok couldn’t stop a laugh from leaking out at her words.

Where was the time to prepare for him in this place?

The environment around him has always been harsh and Lennok has always made his own choices to move forward.

At that time, I was determined not to stop from the moment I pulled the trigger towards the supervisor’s forehead.

Even if you have to bear the contradiction of risking death in order to live—

“Once you start running, you have to see the end.”

“…..half?”

“Tell me that you will accept the request.”

The meeting with the Ascendant changed Lennok’s thoughts, voluntarily or involuntarily.

It is far from getting what Lennok wants by simply putting safety first and reducing risks.

A precious artifact, a rare elixir. They aren’t things that come into your hands simply because you have a lot of money.

Eventually, someday, he had to go higher, and Lennok just needed that opportunity.

I want higher prestige and qualifications.

Growing resentment, shrinking time, approaching danger.

The time given to him was too short to give meaning to all of them and to be afraid.

Let’s not think hard. If the stakes are greater than the risks, jump in.

That was the only reason to be concerned at this distance.

Did he read something from Lennok’s expression?

The two said nothing more. As soon as

Port

Lennok expressed his consent to the job, the work moved quickly.

Panoa sent information about the first target to Lennok as if he had been waiting.

Entering the office, Jenny gave a briefing, and Lennok quietly bit the tobacco.

“The first target the Dykes set was Paul Ackerman, a drug dealer based around the 48th district.”

The picture immediately comes to mind on the screen prepared in advance.

A middle-aged man with thick red hair, freckles and a beard.

“I started my activities two years ago, and I broke through the sales route in an instant and the business was rapidly called. In the meantime, there has been a lot of talk about the source of the capital, but there are rumors that it is one of the Juice Master’s limbs. If that’s true, you’ll have to be careful.”

Drug lord Dominic Cavaro. Commonly known as ‘Juice Master’.

He is the head of a super-large cartel that directly leads the drug trade between cities and sells drugs to the National Guard.

Recently, he put his name on the pandemonium, and there were many speculations whether he went into Pandaemonium with the cartel he was running himself.

“Maybe that’s why the personal escort Paul Ackerman has is quite good. It seemed that he was using a war mercenary who was doing a little bit on the other side of the floor as an escort. My name is Jude Russell. He is a well-known and skilled person among mercenaries.”

The face of a very young black man comes to mind next to the screen. Sharp yet rough impression. He had a fairly decent appearance and had a large sword strapped to his back.

“According to information provided by Dyke, Paul Ackerman is scheduled to hold a meeting on the port side of District 48 with distributors in three days.”

“Is this information reliable?”

“As a result of cross-checking on this side, I heard that access to a certain port is blocked, so it is not wrong.”

“Hmm…”

Lennok opened his mouth while reviewing the request summary sent by Dyke without saying anything.

“I wonder why you kill drug dealers while you want the arms industry.”

“It looks like they are constantly investing money in the illegal arms trade with the money they earned from selling drugs. I heard you’re one of the pretty big investors there. It must be said that he will start by cutting a corner where money can come out first. Not a bad plan.”

“What about the others?”

“A total of five people are participating in this event. Probably half of them chose people who received similar evaluations as you and plotted their work. He told me the time and place of the appointment. It will be then that we all come together.”

understood. When working on a project like this, you won’t be able to make it work with just Lennok alone.

Perhaps they will try to change the situation at once by hiring additional people who are in a similar situation or treatment as Lennok.

“The first and foremost target is Paul Ackerman himself. I’ve been notified that if you kill Jude Russell, you’ll get extra pay. 20 million advance payment and 20 million success fee. They said they would pay an extra 10 million cells to the team member who killed Jude Russell.”

“Why do you want to kill Russell?”

In order to kill Paul Ackerman, he would have to collide with him anyway, but what was his intention to point out and ask for removal?

Jenny also just shrugged her shoulders, as if she didn’t know that far.

“Anyway, that’s all the information Dyke handed over. To be honest, the quality of the information itself is not very good, perhaps because it is a company that grew up selling industrial equipment. This is definitely different from Balitz.”

Considering that Balitz presented a detailed scenario and ordered the work even for a request that did not specify the client, this is certainly true.

But Lennok nodded as if he was done with this and stood up.

Due to the nature of Lennok, who lacks mobility anyway, the tactics that can be put forward are fixed.

It would be much better if Lennok himself decided on the detailed strategy and started the operation.

“Are you going?”

“If it’s three days, you have to prepare a little bit from now. Especially if the opponent is a war mercenary, you won’t be able to see it easily.”

Of course, there won’t be a ridiculous monster popping out like the Croken, but even Dylan’s level is threatening enough for Lennok.

Up until now, I had been careful not to put strain on my body while thoroughly calculating the expected risks, but it seemed that I needed to pack a little more equipment than usual.

“Yes. If it were you, you would do well on your own.”

Jenny grinned as she picked up a long candle and lit it.

“I’ll see you alive, wizard.”

“Sounds natural.”

Lennok left the bar immediately.

I had to hurry to buy the things I had thought of in advance.