What witch? The Deadly Pharmacist!

Thank goodness for that reaction... Leon thought to himself with relief.

This test suddenly made him feel much less burdened.

“Sir, she changed the lock, but I assure you the altar is inside. Actually, I only left it here to confirm it before reporting it to the church!” Hannah said firmly.

“This lock looks pretty sturdy,” Leon said.

“It’s okay, I brought tools, we can pry it open,” Hannah said.

"Are you sure it's inside? What if it's not? Without crucial evidence, after all this farce, this random forced entry and investigation, what if I get demoted when I get back? Who can guarantee you're not just messing with me?" Leon suddenly appeared.

"How could I possibly dare to do such a thing?" Hannah argued hastily.

“No need to rush. Anyway, she lives here. After catching her, we can take the key from her to open the door. It would be best to catch her red-handed. Do you know where she is now?” Leon asked.

"Well... I don't know either. She used to deal with those monsters in the cellar. But lately, it seems like she goes out a lot. Sometimes she goes into the city, and sometimes it seems like she goes into the mountains..." Hannah said.

"Have you seen her? Followed her?" Leon asked warily.

"No, I haven't seen her much lately. Whenever I do see her, she seems furtive and cautious... How can this old body keep up with young people!" Hannah added fuel to the fire.

"Does anyone else know about this witch's identity?" Leon asked in a deep voice.

“No one else but me, I only told you, sir!” Hannah answered with certainty.

Leon breathed a sigh of relief: "No matter what, he'll definitely be back tonight, right?"

“Yes, you can wait here.” Hannah nodded.

“There’s no need to wait around. Since you mentioned that she might have gone into the mountains, there’s a place I’m interested in. Why don’t we go check there first? Come with me. If we can find her there, we might be able to catch her red-handed.”

"What place are you talking about?" Hannah asked, puzzled.

“Come with me and let’s go take a look. You have to be the one to point out the evidence. You want the reward, right? If so, stop talking nonsense and gather your things for me.” Leon said, pointing to the tools on the ground.

"Alright, as you wish, my lord." Hannah could only obediently pack the things she had brought into her bundle and hand them to Leon.

Leon took the bundle, glanced at the tools inside, put it away, and said to Hannah, "Let's go."

After some time, the two ventured deeper into the mountains, and Hannah was panting heavily.

When Leon stopped on a hillside, she couldn't help but ask, "Sir, where exactly are we going to look?"

Leon glanced at Hannah.

It's much easier to let someone walk to their destination on their own than to drag a heavy, inanimate object along the way.

“We’re here. There’s a hidden heretical site up here. Let’s go check it out. You said she’s been into the mountains recently, so we need to confirm if she’s been in contact with this place,” Leon said expressionlessly. “You go up first.”

Chapter 26 Killing is easy, disposing of the body is difficult

Inside the labyrinth's workshop, Lena was engrossed in her work.

She was preparing food for the monsters, mixing the grass she picked from the maze with scraps of meat she bought from the butcher shop.

Headhunter rabbits are considered carnivorous by most people, but they can actually eat grass. Lena usually feeds them a mixture of grains, hay, and a small amount of meat. As for slimes, there is never any need to worry about feeding them. They will eat anything as long as it is digestible, whether it is grass, animal flesh, or even bones and fur. Given some time, they can digest everything completely.

Now that she is raised in the maze, she can gather wild grass and tender leaves from the maze. According to the notes left by her grandmother, the plants in the maze will also absorb a small amount of magic essence. When the monsters eat these magic essences, they will gradually accumulate in the monsters' bodies.

Feeding monsters with plants from the maze should also increase the production of magic energy to some extent.

Just as she was about to put the mixed feed into a bucket and pour it into the feeding tank, she heard footsteps.

"Hmm?" Lena subconsciously turned her face. As the footsteps got closer, she vaguely felt that something was wrong. The sound didn't seem to be the footsteps of just one person.

Then she saw Hannah and Leon walk in one after the other. Hannah looked around nervously, while Leon had a gloomy face.

Lena was struck as if by a heavy blow; the wooden bucket in her hand crashed to the ground, scattering feed all over the floor.

Hannah finally noticed Lena, and suddenly exclaimed "Ah!" pointing at Lena and shouting, "I found her, sir!"

Lena stood there, stunned, not reacting for a moment.

"Is it her?" Leon asked coldly. "You'll get the reward if you identify her correctly."

“Yes, she is the witch!” Hannah said without hesitation.

Lena suddenly understood something and looked at Hannah in disbelief: "Grandma Hannah, you..."

"Shut up, don't say anything!" Hannah shouted urgently in a trembling voice, drowning out Lena's words. "Confess, Lena, it's for your own good!!"

Lena then turned her gaze to Leon. As their eyes met, Leon winked at her and then raised his right hand behind Hannah's back.

He gripped the hammer he had taken from Hannah's bundle tightly in his hand.

Using a gun would consume bullets and there was a risk of ricochets, while using an axe or knife blade would leave a lot of blood that needed to be cleaned up. After considering all this, he finally chose a blunt weapon.

For a fleeting moment, Lena was about to scream, but a strange thought flashed through her mind and made her suppress the urge.

"Sir, please catch her quickly—" Hannah was still speaking.

At that moment, Leon steeled his heart and swung the hammer down heavily. With a dull thud, Hannah's consciousness was smashed into an abyss.

With a thud, she collapsed to the ground without even uttering a sound.

Leon watched as Hannah collapsed heavily to the ground, motionless. Suddenly, he felt a slight dizziness. He reached out and checked Hannah's breath; she had stopped breathing.

died……

Realizing this, Leon's breathing began to become heavy.

He finally did it; this was his first murder.

When he was an inquisitor, he fought against gangsters, was shot with crossbows, and wounded people with guns.

However, that kind of scene was basically just two sides firing wildly at each other; it was more of a chaotic brawl than a real battle.

The flintlock muskets of that era could only fire one shot at a time, and their accuracy and penetration were quite poor. He had never actually killed anyone with a gun.

This is the first time in my life that I have ever picked up a weapon with such a clear intent to murder, aiming it at a vital spot.

The tactile sensation from the recoil when he struck his head with a hammer was still clearly etched in his palm.

"Ah..." Lena, who had been frozen in place, finally snapped out of her daze and let out a frightened sound.

"Lena." Leon looked at Lena and sighed helplessly.

“You...you...you…” Lena glanced at the corpse on the ground and began to tremble uncontrollably.

She witnessed a murder, a shock she had never experienced before.

“She wanted to report you! You saw it yourself, what other choice did I have but to kill her?” Leon stared at Lena and asked.

Lena was stunned and stood there speechless for a moment.

At that moment, this thought flashed through her mind, and she subconsciously controlled her reaction, letting Leon kill Hannah.

However, no matter what reaction she makes, it won't change the outcome. Hannah, an old woman, has no chance of survival against Leon, who is determined to kill her.

“Listen up! I’ve already killed her. Nobody saw me contact her, at least not to my knowledge. So what we need to do now is dispose of the body, and since you haven’t seen her these past two days, neither have we! Got it?” After saying that, Leon grabbed the body and dragged it to the feeding pool that was covered by the fence gate. He put the body down and started rummaging for the keys on his body.

Lena finally snapped out of her daze and stared blankly at Leon, asking, "What are you going to do?"

“I told you, you need to dispose of the corpse properly!” Leon said, taking out the key to the iron gate of the breeding pool. “You keep the monster under control, and I’ll throw the corpse in.”

These monsters were fed Lena's blood and, under the influence of the blood pact, obeyed her. When Lena was present, they would behave unusually gently under the influence of her will and would not show any aggression. They would not resist even if they were captured and slaughtered.

As long as Lena gives a signal, they will take corresponding actions according to the instructions, such as following, eating, or even mating. Leon also knows that Lena can make these monsters go berserk instantly, launching a full-scale attack on a target without regard for their own safety.

As the saying goes, killing is easy, but disposing of the body is difficult. The corpse is the most important collection of clues in a murder case.

Once a body is discovered, the fact of death will be made public, and details such as the cause, time, and place of death may be revealed one by one. If not handled properly, even if it is disguised as falling into water or off a cliff, the problem may be discovered.

If there is no way to perfectly disguise the cause of death, the best way is to make the body disappear, to make the person vanish from the world, so that people cannot guess whether she fell into the water or off a cliff, was eaten by wild animals or murdered, or even determine whether she is alive or dead.

The simplest method is to bury the body in the mountains.

However, if buried too shallow, the body may be exposed due to rain or mudslides. Sometimes wild animals may smell the carcass and dig it up. Hunters and woodcutters may also be active in the mountains.

Fortunately, they have a better way to handle it.

"You want to let monsters eat corpses!?" Lena's eyes widened in disbelief.

"There's no better way to dispose of a body than this, leaving no trace!" Leon said, opening the gate, dragging the body over, and pushing it into the feeding pool.

A new generation of headhunting rabbits has now been bred in the breeding pond, and the slimes have multiplied twice, resulting in a considerable number.

The headhunting rabbit will eat the meat and internal organs, while the slime can decompose all body tissues and even some clothing. If this corpse is thrown into the breeding pool, it will soon disappear without a trace!

The corpse rolled down the pool wall, hitting the bottom with a dull thud. The headhunting rabbits scrambled to get out of the way, but two slimes were hit by the corpse, their slime splattering everywhere.

Just then, a faint groan rang out from the breeding pool. Leon and Lena both caught the sound and were immediately horrified.

Leon looked down in disbelief and saw that Hannah Wesland's "corpse" had actually moved again!

Chapter 27 Accomplices

At that moment, Leon really wanted to slap himself hard.

He was ultimately a novice at killing people. After knocking down Hannah Wesland, he was so busy with the aftermath that he made a mistake in the most important step of confirming whether she was alive or dead. He only checked her breathing and concluded that she was dead!

The chances of a person recovering after their breathing stops due to severe injury are very small, but not impossible!

"Ugh... Ugh... Help..." Hannah, who had rolled to the bottom of the pool, woke up with a splitting headache. Her face was covered and she couldn't see anything. She struggled to get up, but her limbs wouldn't obey her commands.

Lena walked forward tremblingly, glanced at the situation at the bottom of the pool, and retreated in fright.

She looked at Leon in horror and asked in a trembling voice, "What... what should we do now?"

"Help me... Lena, help me..." Hannah heard Lena's voice and called out in a daze.

"Tsk!" Leon frowned, closed and locked the gate again, stepped back from the poolside, and turned to Lena. "Make your move!"

"Huh?" Lena seemed completely unable to understand what Leon was saying.

"Make your move, let the monster finish her off!" Leon said in a deep voice.

In this situation, letting the monster deliver the fatal blow to Hannah is undoubtedly the simplest course of action.

But Lena just looked back at Leon blankly. Leon meant for her to control the monster to kill Hannah, but how could she make up her mind to kill him herself on the spot?

At this moment, Hannah finally used her trembling hands to tear off the clothes wrapped around her head. What came into her view were countless headhunting rabbits with glowing red eyes and slimes that kept wriggling. She collapsed in the breeding pool, and the monsters surrounded her in circles, ready to pounce.

All monsters are extremely aggressive towards humans, not to mention that these monsters also have hunting habits. The church's scriptures claim that the primordial witch Moirai hated humans, and one piece of evidence is the inexplicable hostility of the monsters she created towards humans.

They are not attacking Hannah now only because Lena's abilities are suppressing their nature.

"Ah! Ahhhhhh!!" Realizing her predicament, Hannah screamed in terror as she lay on the ground, "No! No! I was wrong, I was wrong! Please forgive me!"

"Don't hesitate, do it!" Leon urged Rena. The longer Hannah continued talking, the harder it would be to take action.

"I...I..." Lena was at a loss.

"Please spare me! I swear I won't tell anyone what happened today! Waaah... I did it all for my family... I don't want to die! I don't want to die!!" Hannah begged, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Shut up!" Leon roared irritably at the bottom of the breeding pool. "So that Lena could live a better life for you and your family, she should have died? You clearly knew what would happen to Lena if she were captured by the Church, yet you still betrayed her. People like you deserve to die!!"

Then Leon turned and shouted at Lena, "Lena!"

Lena's shoulders trembled with fright.

"It's either her or us!! She won't survive today, give her a quick death!!" Leon said resolutely, staring into Lena's eyes.

"It's either her death or ours..."

Lena subconsciously repeated it softly. After clearly realizing her current situation, the belated will to survive finally began to drive her body.

That's right, she didn't want to be caught by the church! She didn't want to die either!!

When she came to her senses, Lena found herself putting her right thumb and forefinger into her mouth, pressing them against her tongue as if she were whistling—this was the signal she habitually used to control monsters to launch attacks. Whenever she made this sharp sound with the intention of attacking, all the monsters she controlled would become berserk.

"Stop...no!"

"Attack, Lena!!"

Leon's roar drowned out Hannah's cries, and finally, Lena steeled herself, closed her eyes, and blew her finger whistle.

The headhunting rabbit in the breeding pool finally received its owner's permission and darted out like an arrow, its hind leg joints flashing with a cold light.

"No—" Hannah's last cry was cut short as the first headhunter rabbit to pounce grazed her neck, its hind leg blade slicing open her throat with a gentle slit.