What witch? The Deadly Pharmacist!

Leon stared at the two hundred and fifty pfennigs in the other man's hand and remained silent. If he didn't know that this number didn't have any special meaning in this world, he would really wonder what he had done to offend this captain.

"Can you please stop looking at me like that?" The captain said in a low voice, exasperated by Leon's stare. "I know you think it's too little, but do you know how much I actually got? No! Not a single penny! I swear on my parents' names that the director never overpaid me a single cent in this matter. The money I'm giving you now is from my own pocket!"

Leon looked at the captain in shock. The captain shook his head with a wry smile: "You've been working here for three years and you still don't understand the director? Have we ever received any overtime pay? He's also embezzled bonuses for solving major cases, and even the compensation for our brothers! Do you think he'd take a cut of this? If he doesn't give it to us, what can we do about it?"

Leon snapped out of his daze. There was no concrete evidence that the captain hadn't received any money, but he was already inclined to believe it.

The logic is actually quite simple: if the director doesn't share any of their money, and they can't do anything about it, then based on their understanding of the director, they'd definitely not give him any money—that son of a bitch.

Leon still remembered the major case they handled back then, where they arrested six criminals and reportedly seized over 800,000 pfennigs in illicit funds, as well as some monster materials that hadn't been sold yet. A colleague who handled the evidence had secretly told Leon that this was the result after the director had pocketed at least 10 percent of it before reporting it.

That case made that bastard quite rich, while Leon only gained a paltry sum of money from the operation, after Taylor's bonus was likely withheld, and the injuries that have plagued him to this day.

But they were helpless. Although Director Caron Esso was also an Inquisitor, his position in the church had a rank and title, on par with the lowest-ranking knight. He came from a noble family and was the youngest son of a baron. Although he had no chance to inherit the title, his family background was enough to allow him to obtain a rank in the church.

In terms of background and status, the director and they are from completely different worlds. In this town of Hamel, the director can easily control them with his power. If they want to report them, they will probably only get themselves into trouble.

"I had no choice today, I won't bother you again. Take the money, I'll treat you to a drink later, just have the boss put it on my tab," the captain said apologetically.

Leon took the money, thought for a moment, and then asked, "Captain, can you really accept this?"

They work themselves to the bone in this job, but their superiors cut their hard-earned wages. Even when they're dealing in stolen goods, it's the superiors who are getting rich while they bear the risks.

"What else can I do? I can't refuse the director because of my position. If he makes things difficult for me, I won't be able to stay here. I have a whole family to support..." the captain said with a troubled look, patting Leon on the shoulder. "Don't think too much about it. It's almost time to change shifts. Let's go have a drink!"

Leon sized up the captain before him. The guy was only in his early thirties, but his face was already showing signs of aging, and his hair was thinning. In Leon's opinion, the captain was a good person and worked very hard, perhaps out of necessity.

It was only then that Leon realized that this was the kind of middle-aged person he often saw in his previous life, burdened by family responsibilities and controlled by the workplace.

And this is probably his future in this workplace.

No, considering his own lingering injuries, even if he didn't start a family, his future would still be much bleaker than the captain's. He didn't even have the right to sympathize with the other.

With a heavy heart, he silently followed the team leader downstairs to the duty room to change shifts.

As he passed near the gate, he saw an old woman in shackles being led out by a colleague.

The inquisitor removed her shackles and waved her away, saying, "Alright, you can go now."

Leon looked at the old woman. He recognized her because he had personally escorted her to the police station early that morning when he was on a field mission.

Mrs. Hannah Wesland, a local, lives in River Mouth Village on the outskirts of Hamel Town. She usually pushes her cart into town to sell vegetables, but secretly she is also selling monster materials through some unknown channel. This time, she accidentally collided with the guards' carriages while in town, and her cart was overturned, thus exposing her and leading to her arrest.

The goods worth over 100,000 yuan that were found today were taken from her stall.

Compared to other smugglers, this person's background is very simple. It shouldn't take too much effort to find out her upstream and downstream sources of goods and sales channels.

However, she was eventually released simply because the stolen goods had already disappeared.

It's likely that the director, having chosen to embezzle the stolen goods, had already arranged for someone to use the interrogation as an opportunity to reach a secret agreement with her, something she herself was more than happy to accept.

If it weren't for the information that witches blessed by Moirai can maintain their youth and beauty, the mere fact that she possesses magic essence would be enough to make her a suspected witch.

"Where did this person get his supplies from?" Leon wondered.

If her stall hadn't been accidentally overturned, this seemingly ordinary old woman selling vegetables could have easily made around 100,000 yuan by selling her batch of goods.

Leon himself took risks today and successfully delivered the goods to the acquisition site, but only received 250 yuan.

At this thought, a crazy idea flashed through Leon's mind:

Since I'm willing to take such risks, why don't I just... do it myself?

"Captain, I think I'll pass up the drinking..." He blurted out as he watched Mrs. Wesland walk toward the door.

"Huh?" The captain turned his head in surprise.

"I just remembered I have some things to take care of at home, so I need to go back and deal with them as soon as possible," he continued without changing his expression.

Chapter 5 Little Red Riding Hood

Three days later, in the early morning, at a small restaurant in Hekou Village, Hamel Town.

"One loaf of bread, two fried eggs, and tomato soup." After Leon sat down, he ordered a simple breakfast, glancing to the side.

Three tables away, the elderly Hannah Wesland was enjoying her breakfast alone at a table, unaware of Leon's gaze.

This was the fourth day that Leon had been keeping an eye on Mrs. Wesland on his own. Every morning, Mrs. Wesland would have breakfast at this small restaurant at the entrance of the village.

Hannah Wesland's background is not complicated. She is a native of River Mouth Village. Her husband died fifteen years ago. She has two sons. Ten years ago, both of them were drafted into the Imperial Conquest of the Sea. The elder son died in battle, and the younger son was wounded and lost a leg.

According to what Leon inquired about in the village, his eldest son had already married and had a son, while his wife, at Mrs. Wesland's request, remarried to his younger son, taking the child with her.

Now, Mrs. Wesland's youngest son has a disability that limits his ability to work, so he makes a living as a leatherworker in the village. His income is meager, and the family has always relied on Mrs. Wesland for support.

Leon flipped through the notes. If Mrs. Weslan wanted to ensure her son and grandson had a comfortable life in the future, she must be in a situation where she needed money. It was far from enough for an old woman like her to farm and sell vegetables. She had the motive to get involved in the monster trade for profit.

Low-level monster materials are not uncommon in the black market. Even today, many hunters still venture into dungeons to hunt and secretly sell the monsters. Some underworld gangs also raise monsters for profit. Mrs. Weslan has the opportunity to handle these items if she happens to know the relevant people.

The problem lies in the magic essence extracted from that test tube. Smuggling magic essence from overseas is not something just anyone can do. In fact, less than 20% of people who sell monster materials have the opportunity to handle magic essence.

Among those involved in the smuggling of magic essence, Mrs. Wesland's simple background is rare, which makes Leon feel that this is a rare opportunity. If he can follow the clues to find her source of the goods, he can start making money from this now that he has a way to sell stolen goods.

According to his experience, criminals who were once caught but escaped trial can be basically divided into two types. One type is more cautious. They become extremely vigilant after being caught and try their best to avoid contact with any people or things related to the crime in a short period of time, or even disappear completely until the heat dies down.

Another type is the more carefree type, who will feel extremely fortunate to have escaped trial. As soon as they escape danger, they will contact their upstream and downstream partners or accomplices and directly handle the aftermath of their arrest. The even more carefree type may even boast to everyone they meet about how they successfully deceived law enforcement officers.

If Mrs. Wesland belongs to the latter category, then by keeping a close watch on her for a period of time after she leaves, it would be very likely to uncover her channels for procuring and disposing of stolen goods.

In fact, many prisoners in the Inquisition can be deliberately arrested and released in this way, and then their accomplices and those upstream and downstream can be caught up in one fell swoop.

However, Director Caron rarely issues such instructions, and even if someone specifically requests such an instruction, it will be rejected.

The reason is not hard to imagine: by keeping these people who know the inside story around, he can continue to make money from the criminal transactions in Hamel Town. Some people even pay him protection money or provide him with services to sell stolen goods, like the skinny old man at the recycling shop.

If all these criminal gangs were wiped out one by one, it would be like killing the goose that lays the golden eggs for Director Kalon. Only by maintaining a certain level of harboring criminals can "sustainable development" be achieved.

Leon was actually quite anxious. In order to keep an eye on Mrs. Wesland, he took leave from the Inquisition on the grounds of having a fever. Naturally, a heartless organization that barely paid overtime would not provide any compensation for his sick leave. If he didn't work, he would not get paid, and he would also have his pay deducted for not working enough days.

If there are still no leads by tomorrow, he'll have to consider giving up.

If Mrs. Wesland were to act cautiously, it would be difficult to know when she would gain anything from this surveillance.

He was all alone, with no one to take turns replacing him. He couldn't afford to waste either his energy or money. He only slept four hours a day for the past three days, and he even had to squeeze in a trip to the Holy Healing Retreat to buy medicine. During this time, he might have missed something.

Moreover, Mrs. Wesland hadn't gone to town to sell vegetables these past few days; she'd been busy with farm work in her own fields and had been staying in the village, so Leon was a new face there.

If he lingers around Mrs. Wesland for too long, even if the old lady herself doesn't notice, sooner or later someone in the village will become suspicious of him, not to mention that he has inquired about Mrs. Wesland's affairs, and it will probably alert her before long.

To match Mrs. Wesland's eating pace, Leon also ate very slowly. For a full twenty minutes, apart from the proprietress, two other villagers came into contact with Mrs. Wesland, but it was limited to a few words of greeting and small talk. There was no physical contact, no exchange of items, and the conversation was very simple, with no coded messages.

Just as he was finishing his breakfast, Leon caught a glimpse of a faint red color out of the corner of his eye, and at the same time, he smelled a faint minty scent.

He glanced to the side instinctively and saw a petite girl wearing a red hooded vest carrying a food basket walk quickly past his table and head straight to Mrs. Wesland's table, where she sat down opposite her.

Leon's attention immediately focused. Although the red hood partially obscured his view, he had still managed to make out from the fleeting glimpse that the person walking past was a young woman with long chestnut hair. Based on his observations and inquiries, Mrs. Wesland did not have such a person in her social circle.

The girl glanced around as soon as she sat down, but Leon immediately looked away nonchalantly, focusing on his meal. Only after a moment did he tentatively glance in that direction.

After the girl sat down, Mrs. Wesland began to speak to her earnestly, her voice so low that it was impossible to hear a word.

Although he hadn't heard anything, Leon's heart was already in his throat. Mrs. Wesland always spoke loudly in the village, so it was quite unusual for her to be whispering like this.

Intuition told Leon that he might have finally met the person he was waiting for.

A moment later, he saw the girl in the red hat nod, take a small purse from her person, place it on the table, and push it toward Mrs. Wesland. Mrs. Wesland nodded repeatedly in gratitude and accepted the purse.

Leon was puzzled. The bag on the table made a slight metallic clinking sound, and it should contain money. He wondered if this woman was actually someone from Mrs. Wesland's downstream buyer.

But Mrs. Wesland's goods were all seized by the Inquisition this time, and even her stall and the vegetables on it were confiscated. What reason did her customers have to pay her?

According to his investigation, Mrs. Wesland did not rent out any houses.

While he was still thinking, the two whispered a few more words, and then the girl in the red hat got up, picked up her basket, and quickly left again, without ordering anything.

As the girl passed by his table again, Leon glanced at Mrs. Wesland, who was still sitting there, then looked back at the girl in the red hat who was walking out of the restaurant. He immediately got up, put down his breakfast money on the table, and followed the red-hatted girl out.

……

Late that night, on the hill behind Hekou Village, Leon sat in a thicket of bushes, staring intently at a small cabin in the woods by the moonlight.

He had been staring at the girl in the red hat for almost a whole day, but he only saw her for less than an hour and a half. The rest of the time, he just stared at the house.

After meeting Mrs. Wesland at the small restaurant, the girl in the red hat followed the village path into the woods behind the mountain. Leon followed carefully behind her and finally saw her arrive at the cabin in the woods. After going down into the cellar behind the cabin, she did not reappear for a full thirteen hours.

Leon picked up the water pouch, took a careful sip, and slowly swallowed the water, quenching his thirst. Driven by hunger, his stomach began to rumble again, protesting against him.

Leon was somewhat helpless. He hadn't expected that he would suddenly need to change his target that morning, and that he would have to go deep into the mountains outside the village and stay there for most of the day. He only had a small bag of broken oat cakes with him as dry food.

Besides hunger, the fatigue from lack of sleep was even more unbearable, and the mosquitoes in the forest had left him covered in bites.

However, from another perspective, it is quite suspicious that the girl lived alone in a small house far from the village and went down into the cellar for more than ten hours without coming out.

This location is also quite remarkable; a maze once existed on this mountain outside Hamel.

The labyrinth, also known as the abyss or dungeon, is the birthplace of monsters. According to the church's records, the primordial witch Moirai was sealed underground by the four primordial gods because of her hatred for humans. Her vengeful rage never ceases, constantly urging her to reach out her claws to the ground again.

When the power of Moirai leaks through the weak points of the seal, it will turn various underground spaces, such as natural caves or underground ruins into labyrinths, where various creatures created by Moirai will naturally emerge, which are commonly known as monsters.

Monsters only move within or around the labyrinth affected by Moirai's magic. Once they leave the labyrinth, they gradually lose their vitality. If they are not fed plants and animals collected from the labyrinth regularly, they will slowly weaken and die.

Thirty years ago, the natural cave in this mountain on the outskirts of Hamel had become a labyrinth, but it was discovered early on. Subsequently, the Church sent a knightly order to clear and purify the labyrinth, strengthen the seal at the bottom, and seal the cave. Since then, no monsters have appeared here.

Even if the labyrinth is purified, the remaining magic will not completely disappear. Depending on the size of the labyrinth, it can last for several years or even decades before gradually dissipating.

Therefore, theoretically, this mountain has the conditions to raise monsters.

However suspicious it may be, the fact that the girl had been in the cellar for more than ten hours was not enough to confirm that she was related to the magic essence that Mrs. Wesland was selling. Without sufficient certainty, Leon did not dare to make contact with her rashly.

Leon hoped to have a chance to investigate the cellar, but for now he could only wait patiently.

The cabin was completely dark from sunset onwards, and there was no sound from it, so there should be no one else there. It's unlikely that this girl would choose to sleep in the cellar instead of staying in her perfectly good house.

At that moment, the cellar door finally made a sound.

Leon's spirits lifted as he watched the girl emerge from the cellar with a lantern, lock the cellar entrance, and then enter the house through the back door.

Leon watched as a light was lit in what appeared to be the bedroom. The girl's blurry figure swayed behind the oil paper covering the window. Judging from her movements and sounds, she seemed to have taken off her clothes, fetched a basin of water, washed herself briefly, and then turned off the light.

After a long while, and confirming that the cabin was completely silent, Leon carefully emerged from the bushes, tiptoed over the walnut fence in the backyard of the cabin, and, by the moonlight, made his way to the vicinity of the cellar entrance.

He observed for a short while. The cellar door was made of thick wooden planks, with a thick bolt and a large lock. It would be difficult to break the lock or split the door open, and it would definitely make a loud noise.

He decided to investigate first, but he didn't dare to light a fire outside. So he carefully observed the area around the cellar by moonlight and tried to feel around the cellar door and edges.

As he reached the bottom edge of the door frame, his fingertips unexpectedly felt a cold, slippery sensation, causing him to instinctively pull his fingers back.

That was... moss? Something doesn't seem right!

He squatted down to observe carefully, and tried to scrape it with his fingernail, scraping off a small clump of gel-like substance.

If he had found such a small amount of gel-like substance in the wild, he would probably have suspected it to be tree sap or slime mold, but in this situation, a possibility immediately flashed through his mind.

He compared the sample from different angles under the moonlight, then quietly retreated back into the woods. Under the cover of the bushes, he lit a lantern to observe it, and vaguely saw a blue sheen on the gel, which was less than the size of a fingertip.

Slime Gel!

That woman really was raising monsters in the cellar!

If the monsters were created by her, then the magic essence that Mrs. Wesland handled was probably also provided by her.

Although he had this expectation from the beginning, Leon still felt a sense of unreality when he realized that he had actually found a witch in Hamel Town.

This witch might have a way to cure his illness. Even if she doesn't, she has the ability to produce magic essence. If he can reach an agreement with her to replace Mrs. Weslan, who has now been arrested by the Inquisition, in reselling magic essence for her, he can earn enough money to support himself!

No, calm down first!

Leon reminded himself.

A witch might not be so easy to talk to, especially not trust an inquisitor. If she discovers that her identity has been exposed, her first reaction might be to find a way to kill him!

The witch blessed by Moirai, like the church's chosen knights, is a person with extraordinary power.

However, according to the case files left by the Inquisition, the vast majority of witches only possessed the ability to control low-level monsters and extract magic essence. A few may be skilled in using poison, but their combat abilities were still no different from those of ordinary people.

These witches are usually easily captured by lower-ranking judges who are armed but lack any real power, although it cannot be guaranteed that all the witches in the case files are real witches.

Only a very few great witches recorded in the church possess the powerful ability to transform into monsters, so special attention is needed.

This village witch, who raises low-level monsters and relies on unprofessional ordinary people like Mrs. Weslan to resell contraband, doesn't seem like a great witch at all.

Leon quickly made a decision in his mind: he had to take the initiative from the very first encounter with this witch!

After a brief moment of thought, he approached the cabin again under the cover of night and began his operation.