Witch Redemption

Li Lan examined the brown square snakeskin bag in her hand. It was about the same size as the schoolbag she used to carry when she was in school. A black "rope" was tied to the top of the bag. After checking, Li Lan realized that the "rope" was very likely the tendon of some kind of demon.

Furthermore, just as Lana said, the thing in her hand did indeed smell of decay, like a rat that had been dead for many days.

I feel a bit nauseous!

Li Lan quickly tossed the thing into the storage space of the magic book and quietly went to the water source next to her to wash her hands.

"By the way, I'd like to go see Lolina."

Li Lan suddenly said.

"Hmm?" Lana thought for a moment, "I haven't encountered them in the monster area recently, they probably have their own missions."

Those witches directly under the Witch Cult were indeed different from the laissez-faire Li Lan and Lana. Ever since the last conflict with those witches, Li Lan and Lana had already anticipated that the Witch Cult was probably behind it all.

“I guess I rarely see them, so I haven’t had a chance to chat and get to know them better,” Li Lan casually made up a few things before getting to the point, “We’ve made quite a few recovery potions now, and since Lolina is our collaborator, I’d like to give her some.”

"I see. Starting tomorrow, we'll be operating as a group for a long time, so resuming the handover of the medicine isn't really suitable."

Lana nodded, casually picked up the Libra Cross Greatsword leaning against the wall, and prepared to leave.

The fact that Li Lan could make recovery potions was an open secret among them. Although Li Lan initially had the idea of ​​making some money through the "pharmacist" side job, he later gave up the idea after careful consideration.

In this empire that is extremely harsh on witches, the pharmaceutical industry is monopolized. If Li Lan wants to make money from it, she will inevitably challenge the empire's rules, and the consequences are predictable.

"Let's go to the witch's residence now. Let's find a hotel for tonight. We'll be with those people tomorrow, so we can't be so casual."

………………

As usual, Ryan sold the two pseudo-chaos magic cores to the magic core exchange before embarking on his journey home.

As he walked, he thought to himself that his younger brother, Reiner, had become complacent after making a fortune recently, spending every few days in bars, and was probably drunk right now.

Unlike in the past when he would casually inquire about Lennart's entire family, today Ryan was unusually worried, for two reasons.

One is that Betty recently hinted that her father has begun planning her marriage to a minor nobleman in the inner city, so Ryan, the down-on-his-luck adventurer, has no chance.

Another is Reiner's life. In any case, adventurers never know when they will die, and if possible, Reiner really doesn't want his younger brother to follow in his footsteps.

"If only this guy could work a little harder and stop wasting money, wouldn't that be great?"

With a sigh, the familiar little house appeared before him, and he reluctantly put aside the complicated thoughts in his mind.

"crunch-"

Night had fallen, and when I opened the door, it was pitch black inside.

Ryan habitually closed the door, instinctively found the location of the magic crystal lamp, and turned the switch on with a click.

The dim yellow light instantly illuminated the room, but the moment Ryan saw the room clearly, he suddenly took a step back in shock and bumped into the wooden door behind him.

"Is this Mr. Ryan Little? I've been waiting for you for a long time."

Behind the grime-covered wooden round table in the living room, a man in a black trench coat sat in a chair. He rose, removed his black top hat, and bowed slightly, revealing a handsome face typical of upper-class aristocrats.

Short, golden hair, a hooked nose, and sapphire-like eyes—these are clearly the most distinctive features of an imperial nobleman.

"You are……"

If it were an ordinary person, Ryan would probably have already thrown a punch at them and taught them a lesson for daring to break into a house.

But now Ryan didn't dare utter a sound, because he recognized the fiery red trim on the trench coat. He had encountered two other similar guys before and knew that these guys were the legendary "Heretics Inquisitors," who could crush him as easily as stepping on an ant.

A complex mix of emotions overwhelmed Ryan at that moment, pushing his panic to its peak.

Therefore, he couldn't help but wonder why this heretic judge had suddenly come knocking on his door. Was it because he had offended those two guys that night by going to tip them off? Or was it because his attitude towards the witches had been unusual lately? Or perhaps, the black market had betrayed him?

The black market is a black market because it is illegal to some extent. However, it has powerful backers and huge profits to be made, so the empire turns a blind eye. But that doesn't mean the empire won't settle scores later.

The blond man couldn't discern what kind of chaotic thoughts Ryan was harboring. He simply raised his right hand and snapped his fingers, the magical tremor at his fingertips transforming into a fleeting spark.

Ryan thought the man wanted to kill him and was about to run away when the blond man simply gestured for him to sit down.

"Let me introduce myself first. I am Eric Dick, an Inquisitor of the Holy See. You can call me Major General Eric."

"Don't be nervous. I just want to find out some things and give you a chance to make money."

The blond man named "Eric" pulled a black and white photograph from the inside pocket of his trench coat. The person in the photograph was none other than Gabby Dick, the young man who had already been killed by the four men numbered 47!

Chapter 45 You think this is beer?

They discreetly arrived at the innermost dilapidated building of the witch's residence and knocked on the door.

"crunch-"

When Lolina saw the two witches with half their faces buried in their hoods, she was momentarily stunned, but soon a surge of joy welled up in her heart.

Since transmigrating to this world, the coldness and indifference of human relationships had once made Lolina feel helpless. She never expected that on this day when she was ostracized and almost alone, two people would actually come to her door in person.

"Come in first..."

"No, please come out for a moment."

Through the crack in the door, Li Lan could see the small figure, Ann Gnath, sitting in the down chair in the living room reading a book.

Now that they were certain they had no real connection with this guy, Li Lan and Lana naturally wouldn't reveal their biggest secret to him, even though he seemed uninterested in anything about them.

So the three of them slowly walked toward the ruins surrounding the witch's dwelling, until they reached a secluded corner.

Li Lan calmly took out two full beer bottles and handed them to Luo Lina.

"This……"

Seeing the two men's gloomy faces, and how they had tossed her two bottles of beer without a word after calling her out, Lorina suddenly had a bad feeling.

Generally speaking, when men encounter unbearable pain, they are more likely to think about drowning their sorrows in alcohol.

Lolina recalled a scene she had read in some novels and immediately felt a deep sense of sympathy for the two people.

She couldn't help but comfort them, "Karen, and Lana, it wasn't easy for anyone to come into this world. Although I know that alcohol is a good thing to make people forget their pain, you should understand that drowning your sorrows in alcohol only makes them worse, right? If you have any difficulties, you can bring them up. Maybe I can help in some way. Even if I don't have money, I can still contribute my time and effort."

Ever since it was confirmed that the three of them were transmigrators from the same world, Luo Lina had developed a strong liking for Li Lan and the other person, and had gradually come to regard them as one of her own.

"Uh," Li Lan couldn't figure out what Luo Lina was thinking, "You thought this was beer? This is a recovery potion!"

"Forehead?"

Whose recovery potion looks like this?

Lana couldn't figure out what Lolina was imagining, but he replied seriously, "Don't worry, we're all just fat otaku. The biggest advantage of fat otaku is that they're afraid of death. With so many wives waiting for us, how could we possibly be so foolish?"

In other words, Lana and Li Lan both believe that even if someone were to transmigrate to a godforsaken world and choose to die at the drop of a hat because they couldn't handle the pressure, they would be utterly despicable.

"Recovery...Restoration potion?"

Lolina already knew that Li Lan's secondary profession was "pharmacist" before, but she never expected that this guy would be able to pull out so much money all at once.

You should know that the rewards for each mission and the recovery potions purchased from the pharmacy are all in tiny bottles the size of a thumb.

“Help us cover for ourselves. You should know what to do,” Li Lan reminded her. “After all, we witches will be staying together starting tomorrow. I don’t want you to have too many eyes and ears around.

In fact, Li Lan also guessed that the old women living there might be able to hear their conversation right now, so he didn't go into too much detail about it.

"Alright, see you tomorrow. We can't stay here too long."

………………

After explaining the relevant matters, Li Lan and Lana left quickly. However, just half an hour after they left, Luo Lina, who had just returned to her residence, was summoned by her direct supervisor...

This woman in her sixties was similar to Monica, except that she seemed unable to hide her feelings and would directly express any emotion on her face.

"Chairwoman Cagalli..."

Luo Lina was very surprised. She had just parted ways with Li Lan when she was suddenly summoned over, and the chairman of the board seemed to be quite angry.

Do you know why I asked you to come here?

Cagalli's face was contorted with rage, making her look exceptionally ferocious.

"sorry, I……"

Before Lorina could finish speaking, Cagalli angrily slammed her fist on the old boardroom table in front of her, startling Lorina.

Not only Lorina, but also the other witches who were reading books in the room immediately turned their attention to watch the show. After all, it was common knowledge that Lorina had been transferred to the innermost building due to being ostracized.

"How many times have I told you? Under no circumstances should you get too close to those two traitorous witches! Why are you ignoring my orders?"

Indeed, Cagalli heard the entire conversation between Li Lan and the other two, as well as Lorina. Not only her, but all eight other chairpersons knew about it, since the witch's residence was within their surveillance range.

Sending Lolina here was merely a ploy to make an example of her, a warning to others.

Upon hearing this, Lolina was initially taken aback. She thought they had been discreet enough, so why did these chairpersons find out? Did these guys know everything about their conversation?

"Those two bribed you with recovery potions, didn't they? Hand them over, and I might let bygones be bygones!"

Cagalli said this again, her face clouded with worry.

Lolina hesitated for a moment, then took out a thumb-sized bottle of recovery medicine that she always carried with her.

"That's not it! You're still trying to lie to me?"

Cagalli's voice was stern, and she clearly heard that the recovery potion was shaped like a beer bottle. As far as she knew, beer bottles came in three sizes: small, medium, and large. So, the two witches had probably given her a small beer bottle.

In other words, the volume of a small beer bottle is equivalent to that of thirty ordinary recovery potions.

Lorina could easily understand Cagalli's thoughts. In an instant, she thought of many things, and finally came to the conclusion that the recovery potions in those two beer bottles were their shared secret, currently stored in the grimoire. They might even be their greatest guarantee for survival in this world in the future, and they absolutely could not let the Witch Cult get their hands on them.

Unlike other witches, Lolina was skeptical of the witch cult's various salvation doctrines from the very beginning, and this view was further solidified after her contact with Li Lan.

The more Lorina thought about it, the more determined she became. She thought to herself, "If I take those two bottles of recovery potions here, it won't just expose Karen's secret 'pharmacist' profession, but also the storage function of the magic book..."

She turned her head and her gaze met that of the witches who were watching the show. They seemed to be saying, "Serves you right for not listening to us."

"What? You still want to ignore orders?"

Cagalli's complexion grew increasingly worse, turning a frighteningly dark color.

Lorina ignored his expression, her anger rising within her. "There are no other recovery potions. This is all they gave us. Chairwoman Cagalli, take it or leave it!"

"What are you saying? The order has rules that subordinates are not allowed to kiss their superiors!"

Cagalli slammed her fist on the boardroom again in anger. "I told you to hand it over, so hand it over! Otherwise, you'll face the consequences!"

"No! That's all!"

Lolina's tone was surprisingly firm, showing a complete lack of responsiveness to the old woman's words.

Cagalli never expected that her usual tough tactics would backfire so badly today, and she was quite surprised.