“Something new, you say?”

Zone 49. Jenny’s Tavern.

Lenoch had frequented her workplace nearly a dozen times by now.

He was beginning to grow accustomed to the dimly lit lobby of this tavern.

As he sipped the whiskey Jordan had handed him, Lenoch pondered over Jenny’s words.

“Yes. Van, you’re not coming here just to chase bounties forever, are you? Honestly, if you want to be a bounty hunter, there are better places with better conditions.”

“Hmm…”

“I know you like this work a lot, but to be frank, unless you capture a high-risk criminal with a kill order, the rewards are limited. Or do you really want to chase after those lunatics?”

“Not really.”

While the Balkan government placed enormous bounties worth billions of cells on the worst criminals, Lenoch wasn’t aiming for that.

If someone could commit crimes without being caught despite a city-scale pursuit, they likely possessed formidable and unpredictable power that even Lenoch found hard to anticipate.

There was nothing to gain from confronting such monsters head-on at this point.

Noticing Lenoch’s slight interest, Jenny continued without missing a beat.

“Of course, I’m not so unreasonable as to force you into something you don’t want to do. But as you mentioned before, you’ll need a considerable amount of money to create a new identity, won’t you?”

“……..”

“With your magic, there are plenty of ways to earn big money more comfortably. Surely you’re not still holding onto my nonsense about testing your abilities?”

Lenoch chuckled at Jenny’s words.

Her tongue was quite skillful.

It was clear she was trying to nudge Lenoch into more lucrative work, but her mix of praise and provocation didn’t offend him.

From her perspective, she probably wanted to handle jobs with higher commissions.

After some contemplation, Lenoch nodded.

“Alright. What kind of work do you want to recommend?”

In truth, as she said, aside from the 20 million cells needed to create a new identity, he needed more money to expand into various fields.

He couldn’t stay in the cramped hotel forever, so he needed to secure a place to live, and maintaining his health would also incur costs.

Until now, he had been working in Zone 49 repeatedly to get a feel for the atmosphere and avoid drawing attention.

He had to be cautious.

If Lenoch let his guard down and made a mistake, his talent would soon stand out, attracting attention whether he liked it or not.

While being recognized for his abilities was good, it was something to consider only after Lenoch had enough strength and preparation to protect himself.

Lenoch still couldn’t guarantee his safety in this crime-ridden Zone 40.

Jenny smiled broadly at Lenoch’s words.

“You’ve thought it through. Do you know how many jobs in this field need a wizard? Van, you can just pick any.”

With that, she led Lenoch to the back of the tavern.

It wasn’t something to discuss in the open.

The large common area behind the tavern where they had brought Taylor Evans’ body.

After sitting at a table in the corner, Jenny immediately pulled out a file and handed it to Lenoch.

It was a report filled with small text, completely different from a bounty notice.

Lenoch picked it up and quickly scanned through it.

As his eyes swiftly moved across the document, Jenny spoke from the other side.

“The newly completed Charlotte Corporation’s cosmetics manufacturing plant in Zone 42. 80% of the construction cost was covered by city government subsidies, sparking controversy over collusion. There are also testimonies that the skin lotion to be manufactured there underwent extensive human experimentation.”

“Human experimentation?”

“Yes. If you look at page 8, it mentions that in the fourth review stage, they tried to create the perfect environment for regenerating dead skin by peeling off human facial skin.”

Lenoch frowned as he turned to the page Jenny mentioned.

The report contained not only text but also vivid photographic evidence.

“Isn’t the truth already revealed with this? What more needs to be done?”

“What are you talking about?”

Jenny frowned at Lenoch’s words.

“Truth or not, Charlotte Corporation won’t stop operations at the plant over some photos. It’s a government-funded project; do you think they’ll care about some shady rumors?”

“……..”

“This plan wasn’t initiated by the city government but by Baritz Corporation. They’ve recently started venturing into the cosmetics business and want to prevent Charlotte from expanding further.”

Baritz.

Even Lenoch, who hadn’t been in Balkan for long, had heard of the company.

Their products were everywhere, from supermarkets to markets, and their familiar winged logo adorned the front and back of cars on the streets.

It was probably one of the top conglomerates in this massive city.

“Baritz set two conditions for us: one, to destroy the manufacturing plant beyond recovery; two, to secure the production process algorithm data for the lotion they produce. They offered 50 million cells for the first condition and 300 million cells for the second.”

A total of 350 million cells for success. An enormous sum.

It was hard to imagine receiving such a reward for just one job.

However, Lenoch easily grasped the hidden meaning behind the words.

“Does that mean we can receive the reward even if we only succeed in one of the conditions?”

“That’s right.”

“……The second condition seems practically impossible to achieve.”

“Correct. As expected of a wizard, you think quickly.”

The reward gap between the two success conditions for a single request was excessively large.

Considering the client’s perspective on the disparity in compensation and the difficulty of the tasks, breaching Charlotte Corporation’s security would likely be dozens of times harder than destroying the plant.

Jenny shrugged as she returned the file to Lenoch.

“Stealing algorithm data is an unreasonable request. It involves infiltrating the plant’s system management server, bypassing Charlotte Corporation’s firewall, and extracting the data. Hiring a hacker or engineer with such skills would cost over 500 million cells. Baritz just wants to see if they can get a cheap hacker to do it.”

“Do hackers really earn that much?”

Even with exceptional skills, the idea of earning over 500 million cells for a single job in cyberspace was a fresh shock to Lenoch.

“The pay varies greatly depending on skill, but for a company like Charlotte, they must have top-notch engineers working on their firewall. A skilled hacker capable of breaching such a robust security system and extracting data without damage would naturally earn millions of cells.”

“I see….”

Lenoch nodded seriously.

Seeing that he seemed to understand the explanation, Jenny waited leisurely for his decision.

Lenoch didn’t realize that his questions were quite basic and close to common sense, but Jenny patiently explained everything.

She mistakenly thought Lenoch was a wizard who had been training in isolation, detached from the world.

Wizards who practiced traditional magic for a long time often secluded themselves in remote areas instead of relying on modern civilization, and Jenny and Jordan assumed Lenoch was one of them.

Especially elemental wizards often didn’t show up in schools until they reached a certain level, so it wasn’t unusual for Jenny and Jordan to have such misconceptions.

After some thought, Lenoch slowly nodded.

“Alright. I think I can manage destroying the plant.”

He had momentarily forgotten while catching fugitives, but his job wasn’t about being a righteous hero eradicating criminals against humanity.

He was merely securing his share in a world where profits and grudges flowed between corporations and criminals.

Whether he could maintain morality and values in between was entirely up to Lenoch’s choice.

Jenny smiled as she spoke to Lenoch.

“Then let me introduce you to the colleague you’ll be working with on this job.”

“What?”

“Come in!”

With those words, a side door at the back of the common area opened, and someone entered.

A man with a well-trained body, evident even beneath a thick leather jacket.

He wore a mask resembling a professional wrestler’s, with various metal pieces hanging from his back.

Jenny introduced the man to Lenoch with a nonchalant expression.

“Dylan O’Casey. A mercenary from Antares Office. A very cheap man who gets called here and there for work.”

“Jenny, what would he think of me if you talk like that to a partner you’re meeting for the first time?”

“Well, a lunatic in a pro wrestler mask?”

“Hahaha!!”

Despite Jenny’s cold words, Dylan burst into laughter and approached Lenoch for a handshake.

“Dylan O’Casey. Mercenary. I’m your partner for this job. So, you’re a wizard?”

Lenoch reluctantly shook his hand and replied.

“….Van. I specialize in electrical magic. But what do you mean by partner?”

“Just what it sounds like. It seemed like a tough job to handle alone, so I was looking for someone else.”

“This annoying woman said it couldn’t be done alone, so I was waiting, thinking I might catch someone today.”

“……..”

Dylan’s blunt words momentarily chilled the atmosphere, but Lenoch let it pass calmly.

“I’d appreciate it if you could inform me about any partners waiting for me next time.”

“…..I’ll keep that in mind.”

Although an unexpected partner had appeared, Lenoch wasn’t particularly displeased.

What he was doing now was essentially finding work through an employment agency.

It wasn’t surprising not to know what kind of work he could do each day or who he might work with on-site.

If someone seemed like they might hold him back, he could simply cut ties cleanly.

It wouldn’t be surprising if Dylan was thinking the same thing.

“So, are we splitting the 50 million cell reward evenly between us?”

At Lenoch’s words, Dylan scratched his mask.

“You’ll have to deduct Jenny’s commission.”

Jenny quickly responded to that.

“I won’t take a commission this time since I didn’t inform Mr. Van about having a partner. I was a bit hasty because there aren’t many direct orders from Baritz. I apologize.”

Dylan whistled silently.

Lenoch narrowed his eyes at her willingness to forgo the 10% commission, which was not a small percentage.

She made a mistake and quickly rectified it.

While it was a desirable response, Lenoch didn’t believe she had made the mistake by chance.

She was likely testing Lenoch’s reactions, gradually experimenting to see how far she could push the boundaries.

If Lenoch had reacted angrily and started gathering mana, she might never have mentioned the word “partner” in such matters again.

In a way, Lenoch had allowed Jenny to maintain her current attitude, but it wasn’t a bad thing.

Showing some goodwill and maintaining a suitable relationship wasn’t a disadvantage in the long run.

Especially since Lenoch planned to secure funds in this manner for the time being.

If she ever crossed the line, he could deal with it then. The initiative in this relationship was gradually shifting to Lenoch.

Whether Jenny knew Lenoch’s true intentions or not, she clapped her hands once and changed the subject.

“Now, let’s take a look at the factory blueprints in Zone 42.”