The Sword Genius of the Magic Empire - Chapter 92



Only Noblemtl

Enoch narrowed his eyes slightly.

No matter what, this was a development that even he hadn’t expected. So much so that he asked Elena again to confirm.

“… …Is this a sponsorship offer?”

“That’s right. A personal sponsorship, to be exact, one of the next successors to SIG Industries.”

Enoch was momentarily skeptical of her words. But he could clearly understand the proposal itself.

“So you’re talking about a semi-independent, unofficial sponsor?”

“Yes, as long as the name is sponsor, we will not interfere with Enoch’s activities or missions. We cannot do that. We cannot influence the missions of the stock family.”

Elena’s words were certainly true.

Since Enoch is a direct descendant of the stock family, it is impossible for any dinosaur company to control him.

Besides, of course, if you become a sponsor, the priority for custom orders he wants will increase, so it’s not a bad offer.

Enoch asked Elena in a suggestive tone.

“Then, what’s your gain?”

“New product testing, stealth marketing, securing potential PR talent, etc. There are too many to list all at once. But… … .”

Elena declared in a confident tone.

“What matters is my investment in Enoch.”

“invest?”

“Of course! Investing in talent is important.”

Elena smiled seductively, placing her smooth hands on Enoch’s chest right next to him. Their bodies were snug against each other, and her chest was visible through the front of her blouse.

When he turned his gaze, his gaze met her moist eyes, and Enoch tilted his head expressionlessly for a moment. Elena looked up and said.

“Hahaha. Knowing who will become a big shot in the future is a very important virtue for a person leading a company, isn’t it?”

“… … Strangely, your evaluation of me is generous.”

“It’s just my intuition. But because of that, I’m confident that it’s never wrong.”

Elena declared with a confident expression, her hand proudly placed on her chest.

Judging from her attitude, she seemed to be full of real confidence. She asked in a whisper.

“So, Enoch, what do you think? Will you accept the offer I made?”

“Sponsor.”

Without even thinking about it for too long, I thought the proposal was quite appealing.

They were reluctant to sign an official sponsorship contract because it would risk exposing them to the public eye by filming a full-scale CF using the fact that they are a direct descendant of the stock family.

But this isn’t a condition that attracts such attention, and Enoch is taking advantage of it, and Elena is also clearly gaining something in her own way.

Since it was a clear deal with no need to worry about the details, the one accepting it benefited in many ways.

“But, Enoch.”

Then Elena added with a calm expression.

“For this sponsorship proposal, there is one thing Enoch must do.”

“What is it?”

“Even if it is unofficial, in order to be eligible for product distribution, you must demonstrate performance in a field test imposed by a company notary.”

Enoch’s eyes narrowed at the word test.

It was a time of tedious proof. However, I also fully understood that there was no other way to convince me rationally.

“Is that so?”

“Unfortunately, this is the company’s basic policy, so I can’t do anything about it. However, as the next successor, I can decide on the method.”

Elena sighed, as if she was fed up with corporate policy, and glanced over here.

“If Enoch accepts my offer, I will tell you the rest directly.”

Enoch nodded slightly at her words.

“Listen.”

“Wow. As expected, you’re the person I had my eye on.”

Elena smiled, lightly covering her mouth with her finger, then turned on the tablet on her table, leaned over to Enoch, and brought up the screen.

The curve from the exposed nape to the slender shoulders. The breasts that were softly puffed out from under the blouse came closer without protection.

Enoch looked down at Elena expressionlessly for a moment, as her strangely detached appearance was quite unexpected for a businessman’s daughter.

But, conscious of the gaze from this side, she narrowed her eyes and smiled faintly, then pushed the tablet she was using onto the desk.

“Then would you please look at this first?”

“What is this?”

“It’s the method I just mentioned.”

As Elena manipulated the display with her slender fingers, a three-dimensional map with the destination marked on it began to play with an animation effect.

“I will soon be secretly transporting important cargo under my jurisdiction. I need to do this successfully in order to raise my standing within the company. Enoch, would you be able to handle the transport of this cargo?”

“If it’s cargo transport, what’s the contents?”

“This is it.”

Elena opened a case in a corner of the living room and held out a rolled-up sheet of blueprints.

“floor plan?”

Above the blueprints were drawings of the stables, with numbers and technical terms written neatly in white letters above them.

Above that, the full name of the producer, [Elena Sig], was written as a signature, which caught my eye.

“This is the blueprint for the tactical version of a new rifle artifact that I personally designed and designed. It is a supplement to the existing automatic weapon type.”

At that moment, Sirocco, who happened to be sitting across from Enoch and watching, opened his eyes wide and asked.

“Huh, you made this yourself… … . Did you do all of this?”

“Yes, of course! I am quite satisfied with these works. If my expectations are correct, the performance test will be quite good. What do you think?”

As she said, the drawings showed slim, mechanical designs for firearms.

Enoch, who was watching, nodded without pretense.

Just by looking at them, you could tell at a glance that the designs drawn in the drawings were quite cool.

“Sure, it looks okay.”

“Uh-huh, right?”

She looked at the drawing she had spread out with a slightly ecstatic expression.

“After all, just looking at those cool weapons or the word tactical makes you excited, right?”

Then, next to Enoch, Sirocco began to look at her curiously as if she was looking at a strange person.

But Elena didn’t care and shouted.

“Actually, from the standard staff-type mounts of the Empire to rifle-type mounts, all tactical products are to my taste!”

Before he knew it, Elena was excited, her eyes sparkling. Enoch looked at her, who had suddenly become very excited, and shook his head without saying anything.

Elena was a high-ranking official at Sig Industries, but her most notable trait was something else.

The fact that she is the one who ‘directly’ designs and even personally designs magic weapons and artifacts that are no different from magicians’ weapons.

In that sense, Elena was a tactical fanatic who didn’t even hide her “tactical” tastes.

Enoch returned the conversation to the main topic.

“What time and place?”

“The date of transport for the cargo in question is this evening. And the transport route will pass through some of the outskirts of the outer district.”

“Outsourcing?” Enoch asked with a puzzled expression.

“With such important cargo, why did you have to go there?”

“Because it’s the shortest route. It’s a corporate policy to meet deadlines, but it’s also to maintain confidentiality regarding transportation. The reason for doing this is… … .”

Enoch, who had been listening to Elena, replied briefly.

“… … The company’s internal information is being leaked.”

She looked at Enoch, who had immediately grasped the gist of the story, and her eyes widened for a moment in surprise. Then she nodded slightly.

“Yes, that’s right. It’s still speculation, but I think there’s a high possibility that industrial spies are currently operating within our company.”

“Spy.”

In fact, it wasn’t anything special. It was common for companies to plant spies to steal technology.

“Usually, drawing the blueprints of a horse race is done with a graphic design device, but uploading the data online poses the problem of spies within the company.”

Meanwhile, Elena looked at the drawing on the desk with a slightly troubled expression.

“There was also a previous incident where someone was caught tampering with one of Sig’s online confidential data.”

Elena put her hand to her cheek and sighed.

“The problem is that the spy’s identity has not yet been identified, so until he is caught, we have decided to handle the matter as a corporate secret in order to secure it by using an analog method. The same goes for the design of this new product.”

She tapped the blueprint with her finger.

“Of course, I sometimes draw analog drawings like this as a hobby, so I don’t really care about making them, but… … This transportation route is the problem.”

Elena ran her finger along the map displayed on the tablet. Then, a red dotted line was drawn with her fingertips, and the words [Route] were written on it.

The line ran along part of the outer perimeter of the perimeter, where red diagonal lines marked the danger zone.

Since the route was limited to the outer sphere, Enoch also guessed what the problem was.

“Scavenger?”

Gang Scavengers. That was the name of the gang in the outpost that Enoch had picked up on his way here earlier.

As expected, Elena looked at me with a slightly surprised expression and nodded her head slightly.

“That’s right. The [Scavenger] gang that dominates the 37th outpost. They are also the biggest threat to our distribution channels.”

She said, bringing up additional information on the screen.

“In fact, there have been attempts to steal corporate transport vehicles, including blueprints, for a long time. If they sell them to other companies, they can make a lot of money.”

“I heard the success rate isn’t very high.”

“Yes. Up until now, there have been very few cases of companies’ supplies being stolen even when there have been clashes with gangs… … .”

Elena opened up the company’s documents on her tablet.

It appeared to be a combat record of a PMC affiliated with a company.

“The problem is that there are recent reports that the Scavengers’ power, firepower, and combat capabilities have improved dramatically. To an extent that is incomparable to the past.”

Elena looked at Enoch with serious eyes.

“So, as I said, the gang has suddenly grown in strength and is considered a threat, so I would like to entrust this transport to you, Enoch.”

“Your job is to deliver the blueprints to their destination on time without the gang stealing anything.”

Elena nodded calmly.

“Yes. Therefore, we try to avoid combat as much as possible, and we do not use corporate vehicles or equipment to disguise our transport. We also have to reduce our personnel to a minimum to reduce exposure.”

Elena turned her head and looked at Enoch.

“Therefore, Enoch must go alone for this outsourcing route.”

“If you’re alone, what about a follower?”

“Personally, I don’t recommend it.”

Elena answered simply.

“Of course, as I said, there is a reason why you need to remain unnoticed, but in the event of a battle, there is a high possibility that Siroko, a water racer, will be identified by the magic she uses.”

“And I think Enoch wouldn’t want his identity to be revealed in such an outsourcing situation either,” Elena added seriously.

It is a thoughtful judgment that takes into account the nature of the reputation of the imperial clan and the special region called Outer District.

Enoch glanced at her, feeling a little surprised at the thought that she had already taken that much into account when planning the personnel arrangement.

Elena continued.

“It should be noted that the Scavengers are rumored to have recently been joined by a newly-minted Battlemage who has just reached the 10th rank.”

“He’s a 10th-grade gang member. Any information on him?”

“Unfortunately, there isn’t.”

Elena said with a slightly dark expression.

“I recently looked through the records of an encounter between five combatants belonging to our company’s PMC, but all I found was a record of them being annihilated.”

“annihilation…….”

Enoch narrowed his eyes for a moment at the thrill that came from a word consisting of only two letters.

The regular PMCs of Sig Industries are not weak. It is a place where even the Imperial Army and Elseid battle magicians retire from active duty and work.

Five of these people were affected at the same time.

But of course I had no intention of blowing this opportunity. Even considering the risks, the gains were quite attractive.

If you don’t take risks, you don’t gain anything.

And if the risk is manageable, avoiding it will be meaningless in the future.

Enoch opened his mouth slowly.

“It seems worth a try.”

“Ah, as expected! I’m sure Enoch can do it!”

Then Elena’s eyes sparkled and she leaned her head closer to me, almost uncomfortably.

As if she were a true ardent fan, Elena seemed to have no doubts about Enoch’s success.

And the same was true of Enoch himself.

Anyway, I had already thought about the possibility of how Enoch’s inherited [Countercurrent] could be used in actual combat.

It wouldn’t be such a bad thing to verify that possibility in this outsourcing project.

Enoch, having finished his judgment, opened his mouth concisely.

“What time and place?”

“The time is 6 PM today. A vehicle repair shop in the outskirts of the outer district. I will also send a detailed briefing to Enoch along with the terminal.”

But Enoch tilted his head slightly at Elena’s words. Then he asked in a calm voice.

“Actually, I need something more.”

“yes?”

Elena looked at me as if she hadn’t thought of such an answer.

Enoch glanced at the Sirocco next to him.

“First of all, I would like to receive support for communication equipment that can be used in this operation, including basic terminals, for me and my followers.”

Even after saying that, there was something that still stung a little.

But Enoch was determined to get what he could.

Because the sponsorship contract was signed for that purpose in the first place.

But even though Enoch himself thought it was a bit of a sudden request, Elena immediately exclaimed with her eyes shining as if she was glad.

“Of course! You will definitely be receiving my support in the future. I will provide you with the most tactical items possible, products I have personally designed!”

Enoch shook his head silently as he watched her take out the equipment catalogue, humming and quickly turning the pages with more enthusiasm than he had expected.

Elena was operating the tablet, smiling brightly as if she was really enjoying finding and choosing real products to support rather than weighing the pros and cons.

… … The combination of a rich girl and a nerd might surprisingly be quite a pure soul.

***

Outer ring number 37.

Even in the darkness of the underdeveloped city center, people lived. As night fell, lights came on here and there, proving this.

The scenery illuminated by the surrounding streetlights was completely different from what Enoch had seen in the commercial district just now.

The rusted and cracked exterior walls of the buildings are covered in graffiti, and a faint stench lingers in the night breeze.

While I was looking around like that for a moment.

Suddenly, I felt Sirocco’s voice flowing out from the communication earset worn on one ear.

[Hey, is this how you do it? Let me test if I can hear your voice. Can you hear me? Can’t you hear me?]

Enoch answered simply.

“I can hear you well.”

[Oh, I can hear you!]

Shiroko looked surprised for a moment, then added in a slightly sullen voice.

[Hey, you. If you can hear me, tell me.]

I didn’t notice it because I was looking around for a moment, but it seemed like Shiroko was still testing out communication.

Come to think of it, did you receive a terminal too?

After roughly touching it, it seemed like it was a communication terminal in the form of a smartphone, so it didn’t seem like it required any particularly complicated operations.

After skillfully completing fingerprint recognition and registration on the terminal, I put it in my robe and finished preparing.

At that moment, Sirocco’s slightly worried voice came out of my ear.

[Are you sure you’re okay without me?]

“maybe.”

[Well, I guess that’s what it is because it’s you.]

After saying that, Shiroko paused for a moment and then asked in a slightly lowered voice.

[… … You know, you and that brown-haired girl seemed to get along really well.]

“Elena?”

If it’s a brown-haired woman, it’s Elena. But I can’t quite guess why Shiroko is bringing it up now.

But the next moment, Shiroko hesitated for a moment and asked in a slightly wary tone.

[You, do you want to get along with him too?]

Enoch almost laughed a little at the unexpected remark. Why on earth was it being brought up now?

“It wouldn’t be a bad thing if we became closer. You too.”

[… … .]

There was silence for a moment.

Then Shiroko returned to her usual fresh voice and answered.

[Huh, yeah. I see.]

“As you probably know from Elseid’s help when you saved your tribe last time, there’s not much you can do alone in this world.”

[… … .]

Enoch said and checked the communication quality.

Although it is currently a solo operation, in the future there will be instances where Enoch, including Sirocco, will not be performing operations alone.

At that time, it would not have ended up being used only for small talk. It was a very useful piece of equipment.

Then the voice changed.

[Excuse me, can I have a moment to talk?]

It was Elena’s voice.

She asked Enoch.

[Enoch, how do you like the clothes you received?]

Enoch slowly pulled his hood down at those words. Then he glanced at his reflection in the window of the building next door.

What he was wearing was a long, stylish black robe that had an urban techwear feel.

I moved my arm roughly and it seemed to be as good as the robe I had first received as a ‘gift’ in the underworld.

There was a brim at the end of the hood, and a mask that completely covered the lower part of the face, leaving only the eyes exposed in a V shape when wearing the hood. At first glance, it looked like the shape of the knight’s helmet seen in the inner world.

At least this way, there’s no need to worry about your face being seen.

“It’s more satisfying than I expected.”

[Wow, actually, I collaborated on the design of that tactical robe! Since it’s for men, I haven’t tried it on a model yet, but when I saw Enoch wearing it in person earlier, it looked great!]

Enoch smiled a little bitterly at Elena’s voice, which seemed to be filled with pure joy.

Anyway, Rob can hide his face and hide his identity.

Unless it was an official mission for the family, if he kept his face hidden by his robe like this, no one would recognize Enoch even if he wielded his sword outside.

Then, the use of the sword becomes somewhat freer.

Enoch carried a black, oblong bag over his robes, which flapped in the cold night wind.

This is what Elena prepared for me when I asked for a case that was the right size for the two-handed sword I recently acquired.

Of course, I didn’t say anything about putting the sword in.

Fortunately, I needed a bag that was slim enough to hide the silhouette of my two-handed sword, which was much longer than the one-handed sword I was using.

Elena’s voice continued.

[I’ll say this again just to confirm, but if we attach a PMC under the company, there’s a chance that information about the transport of the blueprints will be leaked, so we temporarily attached freelance mercenaries that we hired.]

Listen to the communication while walking.

[The cargo is in the case I gave to Enoch. You just need to deliver it to its destination on time.]

At those words, Enoch glanced at the duralumin case in his hand. This was his goal this time.

Before he knew it, the assembly point was approaching. Enoch briefly touched his earset and spoke.

“This is the destination.”

[Okay, then let’s start now.]

She said cheerfully.

[Then I wish you success in your operation, Enoch! I will continue to wait for your communication. I will be cheering you on!]

Enoch disconnected the earphones.

Then, we move forward and enter the pre-designated place, the culvert.

The gray walls of the passage were lined with metal valves and outdoor units, and between them, square toad houses emitted red lights, illuminating the graffiti in a bright red light.

Inside, several people were standing around a vehicle, silently waiting.

One of them, leaning against the car door, asked.

“Are you the person with the cargo you mentioned in Sig?”

“okay.”

Enoch nodded.

“Then, since the four of you have gathered at the scene as planned, I will relay the information. Some PMCs in the company’s vehicles have already departed for transport ahead of us.”

The woman, wearing a baseball cap pulled down low, glanced at the duralumin case in Enoch’s hand and spoke.

“What? The cargo is here? Is that bait?”

“Yeah, as you can guess, the guys ahead are bait. We’re the ones carrying the real cargo.”

“I get the gist. Tell me your plan.”

The man responded dryly to the woman who shrugged her shoulders as if everything was bothersome.

“If a fight breaks out against the decoy team that is taking the lead in the outer perimeter, they will hold out for a while and then retreat. We will take advantage of this gap to quickly move out of the outer perimeter and make a detour.”

“It’s simple. Okay, let’s go then.”

The others nodded silently at the woman’s words, took their feet off the car, and opened the car door.

The man with the big head looked at Enoch and spoke quietly.

“Then, we will depart for the cargo transport as of now. We will go with you. What is your name?”

Somehow, as I listened, it sounded familiar.

And Enoch, seeing the man in the darkness, realized that he already knew him.