What witch? The Deadly Pharmacist!

The people Leon had placed around her followed his orders and maintained a delicate balance in their attitudes.

On the one hand, they maintained constant surveillance of Adele. When Adele was at home, they guarded the house; when Adele went out, they accompanied her. They even reviewed the letters Adele sent out to ensure that there was no suspicious information or leaks.

On the other hand, aside from their duty to monitor her, they were relatively polite to Adele. At least they wouldn't invade Adele's privacy when she was working or resting. When she was alone in her room, they were willing to leave only one person outside the door.

And as Leon said, many times they were like Adele's hired hands. If Adele said she needed them to run errands or find something, they would accept her assignments in a businesslike manner, but the premise of these tasks was that they could not interfere with surveillance.

It has its pros and cons. She's not as free, but the entourage around her is much better than before when she could only afford a rookie bodyguard like Hailey, which reminds her a little of the time when her grandfather was still alive.

"For the sake of 500,000, let's just let that little problem slide! The most important thing now is to revitalize the family that my grandfather built up through hard work!" Adele clenched her fists secretly, exuding a spirited and burning momentum.

The 500,000 lent to her by Leon gave her a glimmer of hope for revitalizing the territory.

Of course, she didn't think she could compare to her grandfather's abilities and opportunities back then. It was unrealistic to think that an investment of 500,000 could be multiplied sixtyfold to pay off the gambling debts of 30 million, or even to further revitalize the territory of the Viscount Arendt family. But it was much better than the desperate situation where she couldn't attract any investment at all before.

Relying on her grandfather's connections and the remaining usable industries in this territory, the 500,000 could still yield a steady and considerable return if spent properly. As long as she could prove her business model was sound, she would have the opportunity to attract more investment.

Although she didn't particularly enjoy greeting Leon, the best outcome for her would undoubtedly be if her achievements could attract more investment from him.

However, at that moment, she vaguely heard a bell ringing, seemingly coming from a very far place.

However, judging from the surrounding area of ​​the island, the sound, in terms of its loudness and direction, should be coming from the west side of the island, towards the pier.

Moreover, this bell frequency was generally used to request help from outside when pirates attacked.

"Pirates?" Adele was baffled. This coastal area had practically never been plagued by pirates. The last time there was a suspected pirate presence was with the gang of thugs that Leon had mentioned coming to hunt him down...

Thinking of this, Adele's expression changed, and she stood up abruptly.

She rushed out of the room and saw Petra whispering solemnly with another guard in the corridor as soon as she opened the door.

“Young Miss…” Petra immediately looked at Adele.

"What happened?" Adele asked earnestly.

“We’re not sure either. We need to check first. Please wait in your room. We will ensure your safety,” Petra replied in a businesslike tone.

Adele was not at all relieved by these words. She turned around, took the binoculars from the study, and walked down the corridor towards the stairs, lifting her skirt.

“Young Miss.” Pete reached out to stop Adele.

"I'm not going out, can't I even go to the roof to check myself? Don't you want to know what's going on outside?" Adele asked, picking up her binoculars.

Petra blinked, then finally lowered her hand: "Alright, allow me to accompany you."

After having another person stand guard downstairs, Petra accompanied Adele to the rooftop terrace.

Then Adele picked up her binoculars and scanned the sea, quickly spotting sails on the northern horizon.

This time, several large armed merchant ships appeared, clearly the kind capable of sailing to the Eastern Continent. Adele could vaguely see the black muzzles of the cannons on the sides of the ships. These armed ships approached Arend Island in a straight line and seemed to be in a state of combat readiness.

Here we go again!

Feeling the same shock she had experienced a month ago again, Adele put down her binoculars in a daze.

After a moment, she turned to Petra beside her, her face contorted with grief, and asked, "Just how many people has he... provoked? So many people want to kill him?"

Forget about investments; if this island wants to be safe, we need to keep that man away from here first!

……

On the west side of Arendt Island, Leon himself stood in the reinforced lighthouse, peering out through a telescope set up through the cracks in the temporarily sealed window.

A total of six large armed merchant ships were maintaining a delicate distance from the Arend Island docks, neither attempting to land nor preparing to leave, seemingly just blocking the perimeter to prevent other ships from entering or leaving.

Leon knew very well that these ships were Johnny's fleet. After Johnny's ships set sail again from the port of the Earl's territory, his spies along the coast had been sending back the news in advance—Johnny's fleet was heading straight for Arend Island.

Johnny's return to the Empire and his contact with the Earl's forces will inevitably lead him to learn from the remaining Earl's forces that the Earl died at his hands.

So it was almost inevitable that they would go to such lengths to come and find him.

“I have absolutely no intention of coming.” Leon sighed.

As he had expected, Johnny arrived, but unlike the Earl, he did not head directly to the island for his stronghold, which was his advantageous position.

Johnny remained at sea because the sea was his advantageous terrain. Under these circumstances, for Leon to try to use his ship to break out and fight Johnny, a former naval commander, would be tantamount to suicide.

That being said, Johnny's blockade of the docks couldn't last too long. He ordered his men to sound the alarm, and ships from the port of Caster City were expected to come to check the situation. If he was mistaken for a pirate, Johnny would only attract the real navy.

Regardless, Johnny's refusal to go to the island clearly indicates that he is already wary of him, given the Earl's example.

Leon knew very well that Johnny was probably in even greater danger than the Earl had been!

His successful assassination of the Count was the result of a confluence of factors: his and Lena's hidden second-tier witch powers, the shapeshifters and level-three monsters in the labyrinth—all of which were outside the Count's informational range. He also successfully exploited the Count's weakness by kidnapping Ophelia, giving the Count only one day to prepare and gather his limited forces. In addition, there was a great deal of luck—Johnny was not there. If Johnny had been with the Count, Leon probably wouldn't have carried out the plan even if he had considered killing the Count, because the success rate would have been almost zero!

Most importantly, both the Earl and Bishop Beckett still remembered him from the time they easily subdued him in Hamel and cornered him. To the Earl, compared to the Great Witch and the Western nobility he faced, he was hardly a true adversary.

The Count's actions of having Bishop Beckett poison Selene before issuing him an ultimatum were essentially the same as when he had Bishop Beckett force him to exchange Selene for Lena, and then expose him in the Inquisition.

Leon compromised then, and they thought he would do the same thing this time. But they didn't expect that he was no longer the same Leon he used to be.

He wasn't just confident because he had accumulated some strength, so he was unwilling to compromise with them anymore.

Weiss and Sally's reasons were merely a catalyst; ultimately, it was for his own sake. All that had accumulated revived the original desire within him—the desire born from his arrival in this world, which had been nearly extinguished by reality: as a transmigrator, he should pursue an extraordinary life!

However, he still had to be more cautious when facing Johnny, because Johnny had probably obtained too much information from the Earl's death. Johnny probably already knew most of his trump cards, and Johnny would not underestimate the person who killed the Earl.

Unlike the Earl, who had been living a peaceful life for a long time and hadn't personally engaged in a life-or-death duel, Johnny was someone who had always fought on the front lines. In terms of individual combat ability, he was probably even more difficult to kill directly.

Suddenly, a mysterious divine seal appeared in mid-air, directly facing the lighthouse.

Leon immediately hid by the window. The talisman was a secret divine talisman of teleportation magic, which, like Bishop Beckett's, could transmit sound, but at the second level, it could also be used for teleportation sniping.

After waiting a while, he tentatively called out, "Hello, Mr. Johnny."

Then, from the other end of the talisman came Johnny's voice, filled with gritted teeth: "You motherfucker! You motherfucker! You son of a bitch...you actually fucking killed the Earl!?"

Postscript to Volume Two

The main purpose of this afterword is to answer many questions raised by readers in the comments section. The later part of the second volume's plot has sparked a lot of discussion, and I will briefly select some of the most frequently asked questions to give an overall response.

Q: Has the plot suddenly sped up? Is it because the book isn't doing well and they're planning to quit?

A: No, the Count character was written when the outline was being drafted. He died in the second volume. According to the Count's character design, as the godfather of the Eastern underworld, he adhered to a balance-of-power approach and did not allow his subordinates to rise too high. Before the protagonist became a member of the organization, he allowed the members to check and balance each other and did not allow them to rise higher. He provided a protective umbrella for the members, including the protagonist, but at the same time, he also provided constraints for the protagonist. It can be said that the protagonist's career only truly began to set sail independently after his death.

Just as assassinating the emperor doesn't mean one can surpass him and ascend the throne, killing the count doesn't immediately make the protagonist the godfather of the underworld; this is just the beginning.

However, many readers felt that the protagonist's decision to stay under investigation while supporting Vice and develop his character before engaging in battle made a lot of sense in retrospect. Perhaps this approach would have been more effective. It seems that the protagonist's earlier period of steady development was rather uneventful, which made me feel that I should have created some dramatic moments to accelerate the story. However, I didn't execute this well. I will learn from this experience and make adjustments in later episodes.

Regarding the book's performance, it was indeed slow to get off to a good start because it didn't receive any new book recommendations at the beginning, but it has been steadily growing, at least much better than the previous book. Thanks to everyone's support, the homepage recommendation last month was also quite effective, and it successfully advanced to the editor's recommendation this month. I finished writing the previous book even though it had less than a thousand average subscriptions, and this book's performance is already more than double that of the previous one, which is more than enough for me to support my family. Moreover, with excellent works like "Breaking Bad" and "Raging Wind" as precedents, I don't have to do anything like running away with my bag.

I admit that when I was working on my lowest-grossing book, I was pressured to speed up the plot and end it early, which disappointed the few readers I had. I regret it and have learned from that experience, so I will never make that mistake again.

Q: Was the Count's death too hasty? Was the protagonist's betrayal too sudden?

A: Anyone who's seen *Breaking Bad* will recognize that the Earl's character is similar to Uncle Fried Chicken. Walter White, penniless, achieves his true awakening after defeating Uncle Fried Chicken, the mob boss. Of course, I must admit my clumsy work is nowhere near comparable to a masterpiece, and I'm truly sorry that it won't satisfy some readers.

The Count's death was caused by many factors, including the hidden trump cards of the protagonist's camp (in addition to Lena's succubus ability to extract information, there is also the protagonist's witch power and the Labyrinth Lord's cheat), the Count's contempt for the protagonist (he once easily defeated and manipulated people, but now he is his own dog and not even a worthy opponent), and his own daughter being kidnapped (which is why he chose to take action himself and accept the location and time restrictions provided by the protagonist).

However, in the protagonist and the count's deductions, I anticipated various scenarios where the protagonist would die without any chance of recovery if he made even one wrong step. So, I let the protagonist's plan proceed smoothly. As a result, there were no obvious twists and turns, and the sense of danger of dying if he made a mistake was not truly felt, which led to a poor viewing experience. This was my fault, and I will reflect on it.

As for the protagonist's motive for betrayal, I wanted to write about a gradual awakening, like in "Breaking Bad," or someone like Walter White who thought he was acting for his family but was actually acting for himself. However, I probably didn't consider the differences between the novel's and the TV series' storytelling methods, which made it feel a bit abrupt.

Some readers may think the protagonist doesn't have any ambition, but he actually always has. As a transmigrator, he definitely wants money, power, women, superpowers... and an extraordinary life to match them. Just like his inner voice in the first two chapters, "What's the point of transmigrating if you don't have cheat codes?" But this idea of ​​his has been gradually worn down by reality. However, it's not that there's no chance for it to revive. As long as the choices are presented to him and the conditions are met, that desire will resurface, and he will dare to take risks. In fact, he was never at peace with himself even in the first volume.

When he killed the count in the second volume, besides his unwillingness to back down after the conflict arose, the most fundamental reason was that deep down he could only get the life he wanted by killing the count.

The protagonist of this book has two contradictory attributes in this regard: "selfishness" and "altruism." He can risk his life for those he cares about, but he may also drag those around him into a vortex at any time. The root of the problem is that he is pursuing an "extraordinary" time-traveling life that he has regained after losing it.

Q: The controversy surrounding the killing of Ophelia.

A: This question is actually quite easy to clarify. The book has multiple female protagonists, and Ophelia's appearance may have led many readers to mistakenly believe that she is one of the female protagonists, but she is not.

First of all, the Count is destined to die in the synopsis, and it's the protagonist who kills him, exploiting the Count's daughter's weakness. This means the protagonist must have a blood feud with Ophelia for killing her father, and this father cared for his daughter. Personally, I can't write a story where the female protagonist can accept being the enemy who killed her father. It's not that no one can write it well, but my self-awareness tells me I absolutely cannot write it well; it would only make readers more disgusted and disappointed.

So in the end, the protagonist completely eliminated the remaining forces loyal to the Earl, including the heir and the Earl's loyal subjects. After all, he has a mafia background, and the protagonist's killings cannot be influenced by gender. The first person he killed was a woman.

However, after looking at the readers' opinions, I also feel that this part could probably be written better. I had many ideas for Ophelia's character design and ending, but I abandoned them because I didn't dare to take too many risks. As a result, it was a bit stuck and not quite finished. Actually, it could have been more perfect, which is a bit of a pity.

……

Let me start by addressing these main issues. Feel free to share your opinions and suggestions in the book or in the comments section. I read both the good and the bad, and your honest feedback is very important to me. I firmly believe that the success of this book depends on your opinions and suggestions. I also frequently revise the work or add patches based on feedback to improve it, but ultimately only within my capabilities and without affecting the basic outline.

However, there's something many people might not know: Qidian has a paragraph comment system. To prevent discrepancies between comments and content after authors modify paragraphs, if an author modifies a paragraph more than a certain percentage, all paragraph comments will be automatically deleted and cannot be repaired (for short paragraphs, even correcting a single typo might trigger this). I didn't receive any such notification when I made changes, so occasionally paragraph comments would disappear. Some readers have mistakenly thought I deleted their comments because of this. Of course, I do handle some comments that I find particularly bizarre. Qidian also has a mechanism to automatically delete comments deemed problematic or to set them as transparent posts, which I'll explain here.

Regardless, I still want to thank everyone for their support, whether you've stayed all the way or left along the way. I'm truly grateful.

Finally, a heads-up: the next volume will be the protagonist's starting period, with the main heroine being Adele, and the main scenario being the Witches' Gathering (though not the whole group, but individual members).

Chapter 195 Johnny's Conditions

Johnny's display of anger was largely within Leon's expectations.

He also learned some indirect information about the relationship between the Earl and Johnny from Ophelia and Beckett.

Johnny's loyalty to the Earl was less about serving him and more about accepting his employment through some kind of transaction or contractual relationship.

In general, Johnny trained elite soldiers for the Earl and led his men to serve the Earl. In exchange, the Earl not only paid commissions but also established a charitable association at Johnny's request.

The association was funded by the Earl through revenue from his own territory and by other powerful figures he had lobbied, all under the guise of charity. According to Bishop Beckett, the Earl was ostensibly running the association, but in reality, it was Johnny's people who were in charge. The Earl only provided the money and did not interfere in its management.

Through further investigation, Leon discovered that the charity was primarily providing relief to the families of fallen soldiers in some eastern regions under the guise of honoring military service.

Based on Johnny's background, Leon guessed that Johnny's operation of this charitable foundation was mostly related to the men who died in the battle he participated in.

Now that the Earl is dead, Johnny has lost his employer, and the charity he runs has lost its nominal sponsor and source of funding, and will soon be unable to continue. Johnny himself is an unidentified dead man and cannot run such an organization on his own. He also cannot allow the organization to continue to exist, otherwise someone investigating the Earl's death may also find him, the church knight commander who should have been sacrificed, through this organization.

This was undoubtedly a huge problem for Johnny. Considering the relationship between the Count and Johnny, it was only natural that he would come to Leon to settle scores.

"So, Mr. Johnny, are you here to avenge the Earl?" Leon asked Johnny.

"When I first heard it, I couldn't believe my ears. Mustang actually died at the hands of this greenhorn. Don't tell me you didn't think about the consequences of doing this!" Johnny said viciously.

"Mr. Johnny, have you considered the consequences? Are you going to send your brother to his death for a dead man who can't be brought back to life?" Leon retorted.

If, as Leon suspected, the charitable association Johnny established through his deal with the Earl was for the brothers who had died alongside him in battle, then he must have valued his subordinates highly.

Simply avenging the Count wouldn't actually benefit Johnny. Even if he killed Leon, the Count wouldn't be able to return to life and continue his deal with Johnny.

Johnny is a tough opponent for Leon, but conversely, Johnny understands this even better if he knows Leon's trump cards.

Having considered the possibility of a showdown with Johnny early on, Leon made many preparations. He commissioned a batch of insulating armor made of oil-soaked leather and canvas. The combat monsters in the labyrinth continued to multiply in large numbers, and the construction of fortifications and the expansion of personnel never stopped...

Moreover, even if Johnny learns about the Earl's trump cards that the Earl doesn't know, those trump cards won't disappear.

He can still use two blessing abilities simultaneously, and he also has the support of two second-tier transcendents, Rena and Weiss.

If Johnny were to charge in and fight him to the death, even if he didn't repeat the Earl's mistake, it was still foreseeable that both sides would suffer heavy casualties. It wasn't impossible for Johnny's side to be completely wiped out, so it wasn't a rational choice.

Leon could only pray that Johnny would take this into consideration. If Johnny was so angry about the Earl's death that he couldn't think rationally, then he would probably be in for a tough fight today.

Johnny stood on the deck, observing the layout of the island's dock.

Just as his fleet approached, the pirate warning bells rang on the island. Johnny concluded that Leon had already obtained intelligence about his arrival and was prepared. The Earl had died at the hands of the well-prepared Leon, so he certainly dared not underestimate such an opponent.

Now is definitely not the best time for him to land on the island and launch an attack.

"...You think you can intimidate me with this? You've given me so much trouble, do you think I'll let it go? Don't underestimate me, kid! Be glad you still have a few days left to live, we'll have plenty of time in the future!" Johnny said in an icy tone.

“Wait a minute, Mr. Johnny, I don’t think we have to fight to the death. Since you’ve come all this way, why don’t we talk first?” Leon suddenly spoke up, trying to persuade Johnny.

It seems Johnny realized that now was not the best time and was not in a hurry to attack Arend Island, but this was not a good thing for Leon.

For example, if the count hadn't been in such a hurry to attack, he would certainly have had time to prepare, but a well-prepared count would be someone he couldn't defeat no matter how much effort he put into preparing.

Although Johnny wasn't quite at that level, Leon knew that once the other side got ready, things would definitely become even more troublesome than they were now.

Although Johnny is considered dead within the church and it's inconvenient for him to guide the church's power and lead Leon to self-destruct, if Johnny were to rally the Earl's officers to fight him now, those officers, who are all insecure and worried about not having a leader to support them, would surely be able to get a large following with Johnny's strength and prestige.

Moreover, Johnny is a military leader who has actually fought in battles. He is undoubtedly adept at tactics such as infiltration and surprise attacks. If he sets his sights on business on the territory or the base on Arend Island, they will probably be in real trouble.

After repeated deliberation and deduction, Leon came to a conclusion.

For him, the best course of action was not to become enemies with Johnny and then win against him at a great cost, but to find a way to get Johnny to give up his hostility and, ideally, to cooperate with him.

If he is to replace the Earl's niche in the future, he should also find a way to replace the contract between the Earl and Johnny. The Earl's success today is inseparable from Johnny's support.

Johnny's deal with the Count shows that he had something to ask of the Count. Now that the Count is dead, if Leon can find a way to meet Johnny's needs in terms of the deal, there may be a chance to establish a new cooperative relationship!

"Talk? What else do you have to say? You inexplicably killed the Earl, causing me so much trouble, without even considering the consequences for yourself. What's there for me to talk to about a madman who jumped into a fire pit like this?!" Johnny was furious when he heard this.