Witch Redemption

"Uh, you're even more casual than I thought."

Lana was still a little surprised when she saw Li Lan like this. The two had been together for quite a long time, and in her memory, Li Lan rarely took care of her long hair. It was usually messy, but it was hidden under her hood and not noticeable.

"There's nothing I can do. My true form isn't some cute girl, so it would be strange if I could take care of myself," Li Lan sighed bitterly. It wasn't that he wanted to be sloppy, but he lacked experience. "Lana, on the other hand, you got used to it really quickly. Your hair is always neatly combed. If we didn't know each other well, I would definitely mistake you for a girl."

"Of course, I'm a genius, I can perfectly blend into any persona at any time!"

Lana responded with a touch of vanity, then added, "Our clothes are all ruined. If we want to go out today, we'd better dress up a bit. Fine, I'll fix you up, you can learn from me."

"Oh right, what about the recovery potion..."

Li Lan quickly explained the "drug synthesis" from last night in detail, and then excitedly said, "I'll make one more preparation today. If we get it done, we can continue to venture deeper into the monster zone tomorrow without having to live in fear like before."

Upon hearing Li Lan mention the recovery potion, Lana's expression became somewhat subtle. After a whole night of effort, she'd only managed to produce half a bowl of recovery potion—it was definitely unique in the world. "Then you should at least buy the necessary utensils, like the one you're using to hold it in a bowl..."

"There's nothing I can do. I know it's a waste, but I really can't find any containers to hold it in. There aren't any bottles or anything here."

………………

When Li Lan and Lana, both with their hair in single ponytails, came downstairs, they attracted the attention of the hotel owner. The two witches who had come to stay earlier had covered half of their faces and looked quite gloomy. Why were they walking out so openly today?

"Boss, we need to extend for three more nights. How much do you need?"

Since she still had plenty of money left, Li Lan didn't want to continue wandering the streets with Lana. She decided to enjoy herself for a few days first.

"Fifteen browns in total."

Because of the "witch reforms," ​​most merchants have received word and won't try to rip off the witches, so they've offered a fairly reasonable price.

Okay, thank you.

With a slight pang of regret, Li Lan took out fifteen browns from her bag and carefully calculated her remaining funds. "I only have two hundred browns left. I need to be careful with my money. I'll go get something to eat first, and then go ask the Ryan Brothers."

Li Lan suddenly remembered that when the Ryan brothers had set up a stall outside, they had displayed some containers that seemed to be able to hold the blood of the simulated chaos, so she decided to go there to investigate.

After all, he and Lana both have another secondary profession, "Life Creator," that they need to try out, which might add a lot of combat power to them.

The streets were still bustling, but unlike usual, Li Lan and Lana's inhuman features attracted a lot of attention, making them feel very uncomfortable. In the end, they couldn't help but choose to walk in a secluded alley.

The border area of ​​Mori has a sense of historical vicissitude, with gray and white spire-like buildings everywhere. In the eyes of the two, it looks like a tourist resort, but the people here are not as lovely as they imagined.

The two admired the strange scenery around them while keeping an eye out for shops on either side.

Soon, they noticed a clothing store not far away. Through the glass window, they could clearly see a lot of the most popular clothes of the season, mostly mid- to low-end items.

In a backward border region, nobles wouldn't wander around aimlessly, and naturally they would look down on small shops on the street.

Just as they were about to enter the small shop, a middle-aged woman who was minding the shop quickly stopped them.

"Witch?"

The middle-aged woman was actually the shop manager's maid. As soon as she saw that the two women who wanted to come in had obvious inhuman characteristics, she hurriedly stopped them.

One of them had black, forked horns on his head and blue beast eyes, while the other looked like an elf, but had rare silver-white hair and violet beast eyes.

This kind of characteristic is only found in those witches who have been making headlines these past few days.

"Yes."

Li Lan suddenly had a bad feeling.

"I'm sorry, but according to the law, our shop cannot be open to witches."

"..."

Is there really such a rule?

Li Lan and Lana, looking dejected, quickly grabbed the magic book beside them and consulted the relevant imperial laws. They actually found this clause, which stipulated that not only clothing stores could not be opened to them, but also adventurers' guilds, casinos, and brothels.

"What should we do?" Lana was in a dilemma. They didn't have any change of clothes. Were they supposed to go outside naked and fight those monsters? What a joke!

"We'll go to the witch's residence later; we might need to contact that old woman."

After much thought, Li Lan realized this was the only solution. Fortunately, they could still freely enter places like hotels, restaurants, magic core exchanges, weapon shops, and pharmacies; otherwise, the two of them had no idea how they would survive.

"This is something that our predecessor, number 47, never mentioned before."

"Perhaps it's because it's common sense."

Li Lan said that, just like eating and drinking, under normal circumstances, no one would constantly talk about it. Senior No. 47 taught them how to survive in this border city, but some of his ideas were already ingrained in his daily habits, so it's normal that he didn't mention them.

………………

An hour later, in front of a somewhat dilapidated residential building, Li Lan stepped forward and gently knocked on the door.

"Who?"

A woman's sweet voice came from inside the house, followed by a series of hurried footsteps, and the somewhat unreliable wooden door creaked open.

A twenty-year-old woman with a very ordinary appearance and long brown braid peeked out. When she saw that the two newcomers had non-human features, her pupils instantly contracted in fear.

However, she quickly managed to calm herself down. "Excuse me... may I ask which witch the ladies are looking for?"

"Mr. Ryan lives here, right?"

After the deaths of the four witch predecessors, Li Lan and Lana were in dire straits for a period of time. They were severely extorted in the trade of magic cores. Later, with the help of Ryan, they were invited here to conduct the trade of magic cores in secret.

After all, the sale of a witch's magic core is a gray area of ​​the law. Even Ryan himself was initially worried and could only find a safe place to make the transaction discreetly in order to avoid trouble.

Li Lan and his companion were also shrewd; to avoid causing trouble for the citizens of the empire, they only came to bother them twice.

Come to think of it, the two remembered Ryan as a single guy from the previous two encounters. How come there's suddenly a woman involved? Is she a relative, or is Ryan keeping a mistress?

Upon hearing that the two witches were looking for Ryan, the woman's eyes lit up. "You're those two gloomy witches? Hey, Ryan! They're not dead, come out and check!"

It turns out that this woman's name is Betty Anfer, and she was Ryan's fiancée when his family was still quite wealthy. At the time, they were considered a good match, but unfortunately, due to the decline of his family, the engagement was unilaterally canceled by Betty's parents.

However, this woman never gave up on Ryan, so she would secretly visit him to help him and others.

Today, she just happened to be visiting Ryan, who was feeling down for some reason. However, to her surprise, Ryan's gloomy expression vanished the moment he saw the two witches outside, which made Betty feel a pang of sadness.

“Mr. Ryan, we would like to purchase a container that can hold the blood of the simulated chaos, or even better, a container that can hold the complete simulated chaos.” Li Lan didn’t want to linger and got straight to the point right at the door.

Chapter 43 A New Escort Mission

"Storing a complete simulated chaotic corpse? I can certainly get my hands on such a prop, but it's quite expensive."

Ryan never expected that the two witches would actually come back alive. Surprised, he didn't ask any more questions, and the faint sense of self-reproach in his heart quietly dissipated at that moment.

In fact, this was the first time he had seen these two witches, whom he was somewhat familiar with, reveal their true appearances. Just as rumored, they were indeed non-human in appearance.

"What kind of props are they, and how much do they cost?"

"There are two types. One is the space bottle produced by the Imperial Alchemy Association, which is extremely expensive to make. I personally recommend the other one."

"Oh?"

"Subspace cargo bags made from the skin of a low-level monster devouring a giant python are priced according to their quality, with the lowest grade costing at least fifty browns each. The internal space can easily hold the corpses of three simulated Chaos monsters. The downside is that only the corpses of the same type of monster can be placed inside at the same time, and the weight of the stored items will be accurately displayed."

In other words, if the weight of a simulated chaotic corpse is fifty kilograms, then the weight of such a subspace cargo bag would be an exaggerated one hundred and fifty kilograms.

Yes, this thing sounds really good, but the price is still a bit too high for Li Lan and Lana.

Li Lan and Lana exchanged a glance, and the latter whispered a reminder, "One for each of us, we'll need them in the future anyway."

"Okay, then we need two. How much deposit do we need to pay in advance?"

Li Lan and her companion really made the right choice in coming here. Although they both knew that Ryan was a tough guy, based on their past collaborations, he was actually quite trustworthy.

"This item can only be obtained on the black market right now. Even with my connections, it will take at least a week. Come back to me in a week. The price is one hundred browns, which you can pay then."

"No problem. Also, we need a container to hold recovery potions. Does Mr. Ryan know where we can get one?"

Li Lan and Lana had already looked at similar items at the general store, but couldn't find anything suitable.

"Medical equipment? This is strictly controlled by the Chamber of Commerce. Only those with a pharmacist's license can purchase it. It would probably be very troublesome to buy such items."

In the Empire, medicine is a state-owned industry with a monopolistic nature. Ryan thought that what Li Lan was referring to was probably the thumb-sized glass bottle that holds recovery potions, which are indeed very difficult to obtain.

"Then, are there any reusable glass bottles or the like? Ceramic bottles are fine too."

To put it another way, Li Lan would never use a bowl to hold the recovery potion; that would not only look low-class, but would also make her seem like a beggar.

How about a beer bottle?

"Forehead."

"That bastard Reiner is probably still in the bar. He's left me with a mess to clean up."

Ryan suddenly realized that his rascal brother liked to drink, and there were still a lot of undisposeed beer bottles left at home, which might still be of some use.

………………

Li Lan and Lana quickly left with a sack full of beer bottles, having spent a full ten browns.

During the conversation, Ryan asked about the situation on the plain yesterday. Li Lan simply explained that she was lucky to escape the encirclement without revealing any further details. Ryan apologized for the decision to retreat first, and both he and Lana said that was the right thing to do, as leaving any unnecessary burdens there would only be a hindrance.

Perhaps noticing the sorrow in Betty's eyes, Li Lan and her companion didn't dare linger and hurriedly left after explaining the relevant matters.

Before this, they never imagined that such a rugged fellow would have an old flame; appearances can be deceiving.

An hour later, Li Lan and Lana returned to their hotel. As soon as they entered, the hotel owner called out to them, saying that there was a letter from the Witch Cult to give them.

"Yes, thank you."

Li Lan casually took it, then carried the sack up to the top floor.

"We'll work on the recovery potion this afternoon. We probably need to go to the witch's residence now."

After tossing the beer bottles into the storage space of the magic book, Li Lan opened the letter in her hand as she spoke.

"Forehead……"

The letter was signed by the old woman, Chairwoman Monica, and the reason given was that they had not yet submitted the personal identification of the deceased witch, codename 073. It seems that it was this Libra Cross Greatsword leaning to the side.

Furthermore, the old woman informed them that there was a new mission for them to take on, and that they must go to the witch's residence to accept the mission before this evening.

"Karen, what did it say inside?"

Upon hearing this, Li Lan handed the letter in her hand to Lana.

"How about we go over there now? We can't put off dealing with the clothes issue; let's see if we can resolve it today."

In fact, Li Lan guessed that the reason why the empire prohibited clothing stores and the like from opening to witches was probably to stereotype the image of witches, so that if a witch intended to defect, the search team could track her down based on her initial appearance.

"Okay, let's go there now."

After reading the letter, Lana had similar thoughts.