Great Teacher in a Defense Game

#35 No Cooperation

Enoch regained his composure.

Clarena’s thieving hands are hardly the matter at hand.

Hadn’t he obtained what he desired, thanks to her?

No need to concern himself with other trifles.

“Thank you, Miss Clarena. I shall make good use of the drug.”

“Oh, you’re welcome. But, if you intend to consume it, first-“

“I have no intention of consuming it.”

Enoch drew a firm line.

Such a reaction already, just from taking a bit of the drug.

‘It seems keeping the acquisition of the drug a secret from others is in order.’

Rumors mustn’t start for no reason.

It wouldn’t be to my benefit.

Enoch vowed solemnly, tucking the Angel Dust into his pocket.

‘Dosage, you say. Come to think of it, there was one more thing to ask.’

Back in the game, Clarena sold not only healing, but all sorts of potions.

Among them, there was even a potion similar to a Stimpack.

An effect that increased mana efficiency for a certain amount of time.

‘I needed a buff anyway. If she can make it, it would be quite helpful.’

Enoch secretly hoped.

He wondered if she could make it now.

“Miss Clarena. Do you happen to know of any potions that improve mana efficiency?”

“Mana efficiency? Oh, do you mean a stimulant?”

“…So that’s what you call it, it seems.”

“No. The official name is an Awakening Elixir. But to be precise, Stimulant is closer to the tr-“

“Can you perhaps make an Awakening Elixir?”

A dizziness was creeping in.

Enoch asked quickly.

Clarena nodded readily.

“As long as I have the ingredients, I can make as much as you like. It’s not like ‘Stimulants’ need expensive ingredients in the first place.”

“…I see. So ‘Awakening Elixirs’ aren’t that difficult. Could I perhaps commission a custom order? I won’t be stingy with the reward.”

“A custom order? For Stimulants?”

“Awakening Elixirs.”

Enoch said, producing a check.

Two hundred billion Kro.

With the money left over, he could certainly make a few bottles of Awakening Elixir.

“Ah, come to think of it, we were supposed to meet because of the investment.”

“No need for detailed explanations. I’ve already heard everything from Doctor Felton.”

“Really? Are you sure that’s alright with you?”

“I trust in his character.”

Enoch handed over the check.

Clarena accepted the investment with a confident grace.

An attitude that held no deception, nothing to be ashamed of.

Precisely the reaction an investor most welcomed.

“Thank you for the investment. I’ll make sure you have no regrets.”

“That’s reassuring. And I’m counting on those stimulants.”

“The excitant won’t be long. I’ll make some samples and send them to your address. Taste them and leave a review. Five stars, of course.”

“Understood. But must we continue to call it ‘excitant’?”

Enoch couldn’t help but ask.

Clarena widened her eyes as if to say, *why ever not?*

“Huh? Well, of course. That’s the primary effect, after all.”

“I simply think ‘stimulant’ has a better ring to it.”

“I prefer ‘excitant’, myself.”

A delicate tug-of-war ensued.

Clarena was utterly uncompromising when it came to matters of pharmaceuticals.

Perhaps it was the pride of an alchemist.

Enoch felt a complicated mix of emotions.

Just as before, a figure reassuring in their expertise as an investment.

But, well…

The name was, to put it mildly, a bit much.

“Let’s compromise, shall we? How about inventing a new name?”

“A name, you say… Not bad. Either way, I suppose I’ll refine it eventually. It’s practically a new concoction.”

Clarena fell into thought, then grinned, a sharp, almost gleeful smile.

The prospect amused her.

She began to mutter words under her breath, counting on her fingers.

“The sap of the Loquat tree, the root of the Arakacho.”

“…”

“Concentrated Gracilia berry, the pistil of the Radisca flower.”

“……”

“That’s exactly what goes in. Let’s take the first letters: how about Viagra?”

“Let’s just stop this conversation here.”

Enoch drew a line.

@

A moment later.

The two moved again.

Soon, they reached Orban’s car.

Orban poked his head through the open window.

“Hey. Didn’t happen to see any… stuff, did you?”

“Didn’t see anything.”

“I don’t know anything, either.”

“…Right.”

Orban acquiesced.

A little strange, sure, but not exactly something to harp on.

He had more pressing matters at hand.

“So, have you given it some thought?”

“To what, exactly?”

“What else could it be? Do you agree to my plan, or what? Wasn’t that the whole reason I cleared out?”

Orban chuckled, as if he knew all.

Enoch and Klarena exchanged glances.

‘That’s not it.’

‘What on earth is this man talking about?’

Suddenly, talk of clouds and dreams.

A slight fluster.

‘Still, the answer is already decided.’

Enoch cleared his throat.

He opened his mouth with a pristine voice.

“I’ve pondered your proposal, weighed it carefully.”

“Oh? Well, aren’t I honored. And the answer?”

“For now… I’d like some time to consider.”

“…Time?”

“Yes. It’s not as if this is a matter to rush to conclusions.”

Enoch stated, with a studied calm.

It wasn’t an incorrect assessment, truly.

A single meeting, no more.

Far too flimsy a basis for so weighty a conclusion.

“I feel the same. I’d prefer to assess the coming tides of war before deciding.”

Clarena, at his side, concurred.

Her own motivations were akin to his.

But the two’s response was not what Orban had hoped to hear.

“A conclusion… a *conclusion*.”

Orban propped his chin upon his hand.

His fingers tapped, tap, tapped against the table.

A clear display of discontent.

“A remarkably comfortable answer, indeed.”

-Tap, tap.

“So, like bats, you’ll simply wait for a crack in the sky? Is that not so?”

“If that’s how it sounded, I am… saddened.”

“Spare me the false humility. It sickens me.”

Orban’s manner grew sharp as broken glass.

He then exhaled, a deep, deliberate breath.

With the heavy sigh, a hidden hostility seeped out.

“…You little shits. I spoil you and you think I’m some dog turd to be stepped on?”

“……”

“Why do you think I’ve endured your impudence until now? Because I assumed, of course, that you would throw in your lot with me.”

Orban downed the remaining liquor.

Soon, the glass was empty.

He hurled it towards the two.

-Clang!

“…And yet, after all I’ve indulged, you wish to be bats, watching from the shadows? You thought I would simply nod and let it pass?”

Orban spoke with the threat woven into each syllable.

He had discarded the mask of patience, forever.

She didn’t even bother with the charade of politeness anymore.

Clarena shuddered belatedly.

The golden mage, she belatedly realised, had been cutting her an awful lot of slack.

“…Even so, my answer remains the same.”

“What?”

“It’s true, isn’t it? Your plan ultimately involves antagonizing the Empire. We need time.”

Though consumed by fear, her mouth remained functional.

Clarena spoke the words she had to say.

Orban chuckled, as if disbelieving.

“Hah… is that so?”

“…”

“You need time. Is that what you’re saying.”

The finger that had been tapping the table stilled.

Orban’s index finger.

The ring that adorned it melted away.

Transformed into something akin to a rope, it shot towards Clarena.

-Whirr

-Thud!

“…?! Ghhk!!”

A golden noose tightened around Clarena’s neck.

She lost her balance and stumbled towards the car door.

In the blink of an eye, Orban held the golden snare in his hand.

“Now I’m starting to get curious.”

“Ghk!”

Orban tugged on the noose.

As if dragging a slave, he pulled Clarena towards him.

“Now, say it again. Do you still need time?”

“…”

“Which will be faster, my patience running out? Or your decision? I’ll grant you the time you requested. So tell me the right answer. As a point of reference, I loathe waiting.”

Orban asked again.

Clarena gasped, sprawled on the floor, struggling for breath.

Enoch, who had been watching, spoke belatedly.

“Orban.”

“What.”

“Your jest seems a touch excessive.”

Enoch rotated a finger.

Chain Harmony.

The golden noose constricting her neck vanished.

Transformed, it became a small serpent, flying back towards Orban.

– *Sha-a-a-ck!*

“!”

Orban swiftly cancelled the spell.

The serpent reverted into a ring, falling to the floor.

Enoch’s shoe pressed firmly upon the ring.

“Orban. You knew, didn’t you? That I travel alongside the Archmages.”

“…”

“The implication…surely you comprehend it?”

Enoch’s threat was thinly veiled.

Orban met his gaze for a moment, before clicking his tongue and withdrawing his hand.

“…Tch.”

– *Cough! Cough cough cough!*

Clarena coughed weakly from the floor.

Orban paid her no further mind.

There was another he needed to speak with.

“…So, is your conclusion the same? Ultimately, it simply requires time?”

“Hm. I suspect time is not the solution here.”

“What?”

Orban’s eyes narrowed once more.

Enoch ignored him and posed a question.

“I have but one question to ask.”

“What is it, then?”

“Besides us, have you made similar offers to others?”

“…? So what if I have?”

“Then, what became of them? Did they accept your proposal?”

“…”

Orban fell silent for a moment.

Then, he grinned, a smirk twisting his lips.

“Of course, they did.”

“…”

“They had no choice, see. Once I set my sights on something, I don’t let go easily.”

“…I see. Then one more thing. All those copyrights you’ve purchased. What happened to the original creators?”

“…What? How am I supposed to know that? They were paid their due, the accounts are settled. Is there anything more I need to know?”

Orban tilted his head, a puzzled expression on his face.

A face that genuinely seemed ignorant.

As if asking why one would even ask such a thing.

But Enoch wasn’t fooled.

He already knew the original works’ content.

The original owners of the copyrights Orban had purchased.

Most of them had ended their lives through suicide.

All because the technology they had spent their lives perfecting had been, in effect, stolen.

‘Even Orban himself alludes to this fact. Which means, even at this moment, he already knows.’

“……”

“…? What are you staring at?”

Orban still feigned ignorance.

Enoch was newly impressed.

All the actions he had witnessed since their first encounter.

The somewhat simple and foolish attitude.

None of it was his true self.

It was all just an act, played out as needed.

‘If things go south, his true nature will come out immediately. Just like when he strangled Clarene a moment ago. If I had been weaker, I would have suffered the same fate.’

Orban Varkas.

Whether in good or ill, a veritable avatar of magic, that one.

If a comparison must be drawn, perhaps to Cao Cao?

Cao Cao, who cast aside Yu Jin, a man who’d devoted his life, for a single misstep.

Orban is similar in that regard.

To truly collaborate with him… an impossibility.

‘Should I simply kill him here?’

Enoch considered it with grave sincerity.

Not as easy as a mere court wizard, no.

But neither is it beyond the realm of possibility.

The problem lay not with his strength, but with his influence.

‘Ambiguous. Orban is, ultimately, the King of Disruption. Yet, he does, in his own way, fight for humanity.’

Furthermore, he holds fifteen percent of the continent’s financial power.

Dimaira, and countless other companies connected to him, would be thrown into turmoil.

What magnitude of aftershocks would truly follow?

Was Enoch himself prepared to face that tempest?

‘Ultimately… a gamble then.’

Enoch steeled his mind.

A gamble was the very thing to avoid.

To act swayed by emotion would render him no different than Orban himself.

Finally, he let out a heavy sigh.

He folded the burgeoning thoughts within him.

-Haa…

“…Orban.”

“…? Why?”

“It seems we are destined to cross paths… quite often.”

“……”

Orban tilted his head, puzzled.

Then, a grin blossomed on his face.

“A coincidence, perhaps? I was just thinking something along those lines myself.”

@

A moment passed.

Enoch and Klarena emerged from the car.

Though, Klarena’s condition was far from ideal.

Inevitably, Enoch had to support her.

As the two figures receded, Orban added a final word.

“I won’t make you wait long. Contact me if you change your mind.”

Orban offered his card, then closed the window.

Soon after, he departed.

Leaving the two of them abandoned on the street.

With nowhere specific to go, Enoch first took her to Doctor Felton.

“Thank you, Enoch. Did you have a good conversation with her?”

“For the most part. First, she seems to have some injury around her neck, so treatment comes first–”

-Blee-dee-leet

At that moment, Enoch’s communicator beeped.

Enoch excused himself and checked the caller.

It was Lacrina.

-Click

“Hello?”

-…Teacher.

“Lacrina. What is it? At this late hour.”

Enoch asked, a hint of bewilderment in his voice.

Something felt rather off.

Lacrina answered weakly.

-…Teacher. I’m on my way back to Magnuslar right now.

“…What?”

-Something a little difficult happened… Could I see you for a moment?

Enoch didn’t reply.

He was already heading towards the airport.