What witch? The Deadly Pharmacist!

Hannah frowned and tried turning the key.

It won't turn.

She tried a few more times and became certain that the key didn't match.

This little girl actually changed the lock!?

It seems she really is still secretly running this business on her own.

What should we do? We could pry the door open with some tools, but that would be too noisy. We have to wait until Lena isn't around before we can do it.

Let's come again tomorrow, when she's not around during the day. Anyway, she seems to be going out a lot during the day lately...

With that thought in mind, Hannah could only silently leave the backyard.

Meanwhile, inside the house.

Lena was in the dark room, staring at the crack in the window, covering her mouth and holding her breath.

She remembered something Leon had reminded her of before:

"Even if you tell Hannah Wesland you're no longer making magic essence, you still need to be careful of her. Avoid her as much as possible in the village. I'll change the locks on your house and cellar later, so be careful not to be followed when you go out."

If she tries to persuade you to cooperate with her again, be especially careful. After dealing with her, tell me as soon as possible, and don't do anything unnecessary in the meantime. You can hardly imagine how cunning these greedy old women in the village can be.

Considering that Hannah's mother-in-law might have lied to her, Lena remained cautious after Leon said that.

As a result, Hannah actually tried to open the cellar to steal things, even though there were no monsters or magic elements left in the cellar.

Seeing Hannah sneak out of the backyard again, Lena took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down.

She put her clothes back on and went to the door. She gently opened the door, looked outside, quietly walked out, locked the door, and then went onto the mountain path.

From afar, she could vaguely see Hannah's back and carefully followed her.

Hannah made her way back to her house in the village, where she lived alone, and went inside.

Even after confirming Hannah's return home from afar, Lena, hiding behind a pile of straw nearby, still couldn't put her mind at ease.

Now how to do?

Lena thought uneasily, only to find that she ultimately couldn't handle the situation on her own.

After much deliberation, she made her decision and strode towards the post station at the village entrance, where the lights were still on.

Chapter 24 Reporting the Witch

Late at night, in Hamel town.

"Is everything you said true?" Leon asked Lena to confirm.

Lena nodded vigorously.

Convinced that Granny Hannah had ulterior motives, she dared not delay. She immediately found a post station, pretended to be unwell and needed to go into town to get medicine, hired a carriage to get there, and then found Leon again.

Leon frowned, his heart sinking.

His ideal scenario was that Hannah would be hesitant to act after being caught once, and would completely quit after Lena mentioned she would no longer do this kind of work.

He kept a close eye on Hannah for a while, and during that period, she seemed to behave herself. However, he never expected that after such a long time, she would still have the idea of ​​returning to her old ways.

Now that it has happened, the problem must be solved, and perhaps even some things he had previously avoided considering.

“I understand. Find a hotel to rest for the night. Tomorrow, take the other mountain path to work, and don’t go through the village. Leave Hannah Wesland’s situation to me,” Leon said expressionlessly.

"What...are you planning to do?" Lena blinked at Leon.

“I’ll handle it,” Leon replied briefly.

The next morning.

"Grandma, Mom, I'm going to school."

In a house near the entrance of Hekou Village, a boy in his teens, dressed in a church school monastic robe, walked out of his house carrying a lunch basket in one hand and a stack of books in the other.

"Be careful on the road. Go straight home after school and don't wander around the town. Avoid those areas in the south of town, especially Bourbon Street. There are bad people everywhere there. I've heard a lot of young people getting scammed there lately..."

Hannah Wesland got up and saw her grandson to the door, giving him a long, rambling list of instructions.

"Okay, okay, Grandma, you've said that a hundred times already." The boy said and then turned and ran away along the path.

"Has Henry lost weight recently?" Hannah turned back into the house and looked at her daughter-in-law who was sitting inside sewing. "You need to keep an eye on him and make sure he eats properly. This child has always been a light eater."

“That was so long ago,” Hannah’s wife smiled. “He eats two big bowls of meat porridge every meal now, but he’s grown taller recently and looks thin.”

“Yes, yes, we should eat more.” Hannah smiled, reached into her apron pocket, took out a small bag of money and put it on the table. “Buy more meat for the family, the children are growing at this stage.”

“Thank you, Mom.” The daughter-in-law looked at Hannah gratefully. “Really, it’s all thanks to you that Henry was able to afford to go to school in town…”

"You're being so polite. These days, going to church schools is the way to go. Even if you can't go to church, you can at least get a job at the town hall. You don't need to worry about tuition; just leave it to this old man." Hannah waved her hand with a smile and then walked towards the door. "I'll go to the fields to get busy now."

"Take care," her daughter-in-law said goodbye from behind.

Hannah left her youngest son's house, exchanging pleasantries with acquaintances in the village along the way, and soon returned to her old house.

"It's about time." Hannah went into her family's woodshed, put the tools such as axes, hammers, and awls into her bundle, and hid them on her back.

The cellar lock was sturdy, but the door wasn't very secure. It wasn't impossible to pry the lock and the nails that held it in place; this old woman, who had done farm work, still had the strength.

She shouldered her belongings, stepped out of her bag, and headed towards Lena's house.

However, she did not notice that a young man was coldly glancing in her direction from a distant intersection, watching her walk step by step towards the direction of the mountain.

As she approached Lena's house, Hannah first hid her tools in the woods, then looked around the front door before knocking: "Lena, Lena, are you home? There's something important I forgot to tell you yesterday!"

Seeing no response, she went around to the back and checked the cellar door. Then she knocked on the back door, called out a few times, and listened intently for a while.

The house seemed completely deserted, and the cellar was locked from the outside, so Lena couldn't possibly be inside; she must have gone out.

Instead of working in the cellar, she went out on her own. This girl must have found a way to sell goods on her own, right?

I really need to break into the cellar and check it thoroughly, preferably to find something incriminating...

She retrieved her hidden bundle from the woods and had just taken out her tools to begin picking the lock when a sudden call came:

"Hello, Mrs. Wesland."

"Ah!" Hannah was startled, and the tools in her hand fell to the ground.

She turned around abruptly and saw a man standing outside the backyard fence, which startled her.

She had clearly looked ahead and didn't see anyone else around; this person seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

"What are you doing?" Leon asked, staring at Hannah as he appeared.

"Y-you are?" Hannah looked at Leon with surprise and doubt, but quickly realized that he was not from the village and wondered how he had recognized her.

“We met a few months ago, so you remember me now.” Leon took out his silver badge as an Inquisitor for Heretics without hesitation.

"Ah!" Terror immediately appeared on Hannah's face.

She finally remembered that almost three months ago, it was this young man in front of her who had taken her to the Inquisition for trial!

“So you still remember? Then you should know why I’m watching you, right? Did you think we’d just leave you alone after you came out of the Inquisition? Now I’m asking you, what are you doing here?” Leon asked again.

Why would an Inquisitor suddenly appear here? Has he been being watched ever since he was arrested?

At that moment, Hannah felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.

"My lord, I just... I just..." Hannah stammered.

"What? You can't sell magic essence, so you've turned to thievery?" Leon pressed.

"No, no. I was just... asked to help someone repair their cellar..." Hannah finally managed to come up with an excuse.

"Using an awl and hammer to fix a locked cellar door? Is that how you look down on the church's inquisitors?" Leon's face darkened instantly.

"I...I didn't..." Hannah waved her hands repeatedly, trying to explain.

"Not going to confess honestly? Looks like this is a serious problem." Leon stared at Hannah and interrogated her. "Do you want to be arrested a second time? Don't think you can always pay your way out of trouble. I heard your grandson is studying at a church school. Do you know how much impact this arrest by the church will have on your family?"

This was said to scare Hannah; in fact, after several reforms, the Church Act has abolished many of the collective punishment systems.

Let alone grandparents selling monster materials, even if the mother is a witch, the church will not punish the underage children. They will simply send them to a church-run reformatory for one or two years of intensive education to make them fully aware of the sins committed by their relatives. After that, their future will not be seriously affected.

In order to establish the church's appealing image, the church would even specially select outstanding students from the reformatory to serve in the church.

Of course, Leon knew that most people would not understand this kind of thing at all; it was just a common interrogation tactic.

"My lord, I was just momentarily blinded by greed. Your Honor, you have no idea how much my family needs money. My eldest son died for his country, my youngest son lost a leg, and my—" Hannah said with a bitter face, and began to ramble on to Leon, trying to gain his sympathy.

“Shut up and tell me what you’re doing!” Leon interrupted Hannah coldly.

Hannah's breathing quickened.

If the Inquisitors followed me here, then it's basically all over.

At this point, there is no other way to protect her and her family...

"My lord, I'm... " Hannah swallowed, trying to keep her voice calm, "I'm gathering evidence for the church!"

"What did you say?" Leon narrowed his eyes.

"I...I've been agonizing over this for months, but I've finally decided to do the right thing," Hannah said slowly, looking at Leon. "Your Honor, you've come at the perfect time. I need to report this to the Church!"

"..." Leon took a deep breath after hearing this.

On his way here, he knew exactly what he was supposed to do.

However, taking that step is not so easy.

Now, after pressing Hannah relentlessly, he finally heard the words that required him to make a decision.

“Okay.” Leon nodded slightly to Hannah. “Is there anything you want to tell me?”

Chapter 25 The Corpse Speaks

Hannah opened her mouth, then hesitated for a moment, but this hesitation vanished quickly under Leon's gaze.

"My lord, let me tell you something. Actually, there's a witch living in this village!" Hannah said in a serious tone.

"A witch lives here?" Leon turned and looked Lena's cabin up and down. "This place?"

“Yes! Absolutely true!” Hannah said with certainty.

"So the things you used to sell were supplied by this witch?" Leon asked.

"This..." Hannah hesitated for a moment.

“Don’t worry, we can’t investigate the money you got from selling things before without evidence. If you report it and it’s successful, we won’t bother.” Leon saw Hannah’s concerns and continued.

With this assurance, Hannah seemed somewhat relieved: "Yes, it's all from her. She raises monsters herself and then extracts the magic essence."

“Describe this witch to me,” Leon commanded.

“Her name is Lena, and she takes her grandmother’s surname, Lothark. She’s sixteen years old. She was abandoned by her parents when she was little and was raised by her grandmother. Her grandmother was from this village, Carol Lothark, and she was also a witch. This house was left by her. Carol died of salification three years ago, and Lena has lived here alone ever since.” Hannah explained the details on the spot.

"How do you know so much? Why would this witch named Lena let you resell her goods?" Leon asked.

"It's a long story. Carol is actually a distant cousin of mine. We knew each other in the village when we were kids, and we kept in touch. When she was dying, I accidentally discovered that she and her granddaughter were witches. Carol asked me to keep it a secret, and I agreed because I felt sorry for her and her child. Carol asked me to take care of her granddaughter, so I started helping her resell her..." Hannah explained in a rambling manner.

Leon sneered inwardly. He had heard about Hannah's situation from Lena.

It's true that they are relatives, but Hannah didn't stumble upon it by chance. She knew long ago that Carol was a witch, which is why she was entrusted with this task. The reason she said this was probably because she was afraid of being questioned about why she didn't report it to the church earlier.

Lena's maternal grandmother never imagined that Lena would continue researching medicine for the saltification disease. She was probably worried that Lena would think of using it to make money, so she never told Lena about the value of magic essence. As a result, Hannah took advantage of this. It's not uncommon for relatives to cheat each other in this world.

"So, now you're reporting her on the spot to protect yourself?" Leon bluntly exposed Hannah's lie.

"No, no..." Hannah replied awkwardly, "It's just that... I only realized my mistake after you all warned me. I can't keep making the same mistake. No matter how pitiful Lena is, she is still a witch. It's best for her to accept the church's punishment and cleanse her sins!"

"Oh, so you don't care how much the bounty is?" Leon asked deliberately.

"A bounty? There can be a bounty?" Hannah's eyes lit up.

"Of course, there's a reward for reporting witches. Depending on the severity of the crime committed by the witch, the size of the reward, and the level of assistance provided by the informant, the reward can vary, ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands," Leon casually probed.

Seeing Hannah's eyes light up at his words, he changed the subject: "But the prerequisite is that you make enough contributions in the process. Capturing a witch isn't just a matter of making an accusation; you have to provide evidence for me to count as a contribution! So, do you know where the altar she used to extract magic essence is?"

“I know, it’s in that cellar!” Hannah revealed without hesitation.