What witch? The Deadly Pharmacist!

Her eye was unusual; the iris was deep red, contrasting sharply with her other eye, which was naturally sapphire blue.

It is said that during an explosion during an experiment, her mask was blown apart, and the medicine splashed into this eye, causing it to become like this, where she can barely see anything.

Weiss nodded to the nun and then replied, "I've finished my business and am about to leave."

The nun then realized that Bishop Weiss had been working there all night.

This was nothing out of the ordinary for Weiss, so the nun wasn't very surprised and simply replied, "Thank you for your hard work."

Weiss was taking off her gloves and was about to remove her protective robe when she saw the nun placing one small glass vial after another on the table. She suddenly stopped and asked, "What are these?"

She noticed the labels on these bottles indicating they were being sent here; they were usually potions concocted by witches.

“Ah, these are pieces of evidence from that major case in Southport County. The court sent them for examination,” the nun explained.

"The case of the missing director of the Inquisition?" Weiss had some recollection of this.

She had seen Caron Esso when she accompanied him on his inspection tour, and she remembered that there were people secretly dealing in stolen goods there.

It's not surprising that something bad would happen in such a filthy place.

“Yes, these are potions made by the captured witch, supposedly to cure salt poisoning,” the nun explained.

"Saltification disease?" Weiss became concerned and bent down to examine a medicine bottle carefully.

Saltification disease is an extremely rare condition. Unless one deliberately ingests a large dose of the diseased crystalline tissue, it will only occur randomly in areas that have appeared in the maze with an extremely low probability. It was once known as the curse of Moirai.

The church has not specifically researched a cure for this disease, and it is not of much research value to witches, unless it is specifically for saving a particular patient.

However, quite coincidentally, Weiss had dabbled in halogenation in order to study other things.

After a moment's thought, she took off her protective robe, then went to the closet to take out a new one and put it on, along with new gloves and a mask.

“Bishop Weiss?” The nun was a little surprised by her actions.

“I’ll handle the inspection,” Bishop Weiss instructed.

……

Meanwhile, in the labyrinth of Hamel, Leon and Bishop Beckett stand side by side deep within the labyrinth.

It turns out that the breeding farms that Leon and Rena set up at the original Knights' headquarters had all been cleared out and then sealed off after repeated evidence collection.

After Aaron was transferred, the task of handling the labyrinth fell to Bishop Beckett, who became the new director.

In the past few days, Bishop Beckett used his authority to gather a group of people and rearrange a new workshop in the deepest part of the labyrinth.

Leon looked around. The space here was even larger than the Knights' headquarters. The people Bishop Beckett had sent had completed the most basic setup. The floor was polished smooth, and basic facilities such as water tanks, washbasins, and medicine cabinets were all available. Six experimental tables were neatly arranged, and new experimental equipment was also neatly stacked on them. On one of the experimental tables was a Moirai altar.

"This facility is much better than the one we used before."

Leon examined the equipment on the table; it looked much more professional than the old tools Lena used before.

“The Earl’s standards for quality are much higher than those of your previous buyers,” Bishop Beckett said, his hands behind his back.

"So the escape route has been filled in?" Leon confirmed with Bishop Beckett.

“You no longer need that kind of thing. This labyrinth is within the territory of Hamel Town and is now under my jurisdiction. Other inquisitions have no right to investigate this place. I will send my own people to patrol the area. At least for this year, you don’t need to worry about your safety in the labyrinth,” Bishop Beckett said confidently.

"And what about a year from now?" Leon asked.

“When I leave office, barring any unforeseen circumstances, you should be able to take over my position,” Bishop Beckett replied.

"A year?" Leon was somewhat surprised.

Although the count had mentioned that he should succeed Caron Esso, he anticipated that it would take some time.

He was promoted from team leader to director in just one year? That requires attaining a rank within the church.

"It's not difficult as long as you prepare the corresponding achievements, but the prerequisite is that you can meet the Earl's requirements. Focus on your own work first," said Bishop Beckett.

Leon nodded and asked about the most crucial part of the preparations: "What about the monsters we mentioned earlier?"

Bishop Beckett had given him a list of monsters to choose from.

The list contained fewer than ten kinds of monsters, including the headhunting rabbits and slimes that Leon and Rena had raised, as well as giant scorpions and spiders from the maze, small fungi, and plants such as mandrakes and living vines.

These labyrinth creatures are small in size and their danger is manageable, making them common breeding animals in some underworld businesses. However, most businesses simply utilize the monster materials within them, while the most valuable magical essence cannot be extracted without a witch.

Leon selected as many species as possible and demanded the maximum quantity, as his breeding scale would have to be several times larger than before to meet the Earl's needs.

"They're all in place now; the breeding farm is at the very back," Bishop Beckett said, pointing to the deepest part of the maze.

Leon walked over and saw two side by side breeding tanks that looked like swimming pools. One was covered with a sturdy iron fence and divided into several areas by partitions. The other was filled with fertile soil and was obviously used for growing plants.

Leon's brows suddenly furrowed. He noticed that the breeding pond contained only three species: headhunting rabbits, slimes, and giant scorpions, with no more than five of each, and they all looked quite weak. He glanced at the plants in the planting field and saw that only a few had been transplanted there, and they were already withered and yellow.

"Is this all the monsters you sent?" Leon asked Bishop Beckett.

Both the variety and the quantity are far from what he requested.

“There’s been a problem with the transport,” Bishop Beckett said, gesturing towards a black cloth covering a corner. “Many monsters died on the way.”

Leon walked over, lifted the cloth, and took a look. There were many monster corpses displayed underneath, twice as many as in the breeding pool.

“These monsters are being transported over long distances, and we have to avoid investigation. There will always be some accidents. You’d better take them all and use them to make magic essence as soon as possible,” Bishop Beckett said.

"An accident? Only a quarter of the monsters survived?" Leon thoughtfully picked up a headhunting rabbit, shook it, examined it, and then threw it on the ground. "Severely dehydrated. No one fed these monsters along the way, right?"

He had raised monsters with Lena before, and he immediately noticed that the monsters had died in a very abnormal way.

“Let me be frank, Leon. The Count does admire you, considering you a candidate for leadership, and has made many arrangements for you. But those who carry out these arrangements may not necessarily work diligently for you. The monsters you need require officials from other territories to prepare them for you, and the transportation will also pass through the territories of other officials… Not everyone wants you to succeed. There are always those who hope for your failure; if you fail, they will have the opportunity to take your place and seize the territory here,” Bishop Beckett said expressionlessly.

“Doesn’t the Earl want a stable supply? Why allow this pointless internal strife to exist?” Leon said.

“The Earl has a lot to deal with, not just these kinds of trivial matters. He needs a capable leader who can stand on his own. You need to be able to handle the problems between you and others on your own,” Bishop Beckett said.

Leon silently covered the black cloth again. It seemed that even if he tried to request another batch of monsters through the Earl's channels, the result would likely be similar. The Earl wouldn't arbitrate such a trivial matter, and even if he did, the troublemaker wouldn't necessarily be punished much; only his own time would be wasted.

"So, I can handle the problem through my own channels?" Leon asked.

“Of course, your familiarity with the local situation is one of the main reasons why the Earl chose you,” said Bishop Beckett.

“Very well, I’ll handle this myself.” Leon nodded, turned and left the studio.

Chapter 83 Do You Need an Advisor?

Hamel, East Quarter Church.

Father Auden returned to the church after finishing his work outside. He was about to walk directly along the corridor on the side of the main hall back to the monastery when a servant called out to him, "Father, someone has come to the church to see you."

Father Auden thought for a moment, clearly remembering that he didn't seem to have an appointment today, and asked, "Who?"

"It's... the person you were waiting for in the church last time, he's here again." The servant pointed towards the main hall.

Father Oden's expression turned slightly serious. He nodded and replied, "Okay, thank you for telling me."

He then strode into the main sanctuary of the church. It was dusk, and the main sanctuary was about to close; usually, there would be no one there at this time.

But this time, one visitor sat on a bench, silently admiring the towering statue of the prophet.

Father Auden sighed softly and asked, "What brings you here?"

Upon hearing this, Leon turned around and greeted him, "Hello, Father Auden."

"What are you doing here?" Father Auden asked again.

“Anyway, this isn’t something we should be discussing here,” Leon said.

"...Come with me." After a moment of silence, the priest gestured for Leon to follow him into the monastery.

They soon arrived at Father Auden's study. Leon found a seat, and the priest sat down as well, gesturing for him to explain their purpose.

“You don’t seem surprised to see me here,” Leon said.

The last time Leon asked the priest to settle the debts of the Hershey family and then left as if he had finished making his final arrangements, the priest thought Leon was going to turn himself in. At that time, Leon did not explain his plan to him.

“I have my own sources of information. I know you didn’t turn yourself in, and I also know how the case was closed. You used money to buy the life of a dying woman and saved the witch you wanted. Amazing! I didn’t expect that.” Father Auden spread his hands. “Now you can go find a place to enjoy life with your witch. Why are you coming to me again? Spending money on that kind of transaction, I don’t think you have much money left to launder.”

“You manage Potter’s business, so you must have quite a few connections, right?” Leon finally revealed his purpose. “Do you know where I can buy live monsters?”

In fact, Leon himself knew some local dealers, but it would take a lot of effort to find out who was secretly raising or hunting monsters by following the clues from them.

In comparison, it might be easier to find Father Auden, who used to manage Potter's business. Potter has channels for smuggling magic essence and monster materials from outside, and it's quite large-scale. If we can get access to Potter's channels, we should be able to obtain a certain number of live monsters.

"What do you want the monster for?" Father Auden frowned upon hearing this.

"What else can you do with it besides doing business?" Leon replied.

"You still want to do business?" Father Auden's eyes widened at first, then he couldn't help but laugh. "You almost died once, barely escaped with your life, and you still want to do business? The maze has been sealed off, Potter is dead, and the Earl's forces have already begun to set up their operations. You no longer have any acquisition channels. How are you going to do business if you buy monsters?"

“These are not your concerns, Father. You just need to tell me if you have any connections. If you do, take the money and get the job done,” Leon replied expressionlessly. “Also, I need to hire a group of thugs. Are there any reliable men among Potter’s surviving men? I hope you can introduce me to some.”

Father Auden's smile vanished quickly. He looked Leon over again, sensing something: "You've boarded the Earl's ship?"

"Don't worry, you won't have any trouble if I ask you for a favor." Leon did not directly answer the priest's question.

"How did you do that?" Father Auden looked at Leon in disbelief.

The Earl's power was very tight-knit. If you compare them to a regular army, then Potter's forces in Southport County were no different from bandits. You couldn't just join the Earl's forces if you wanted to.

Of course, officials in a particular territory can hire people according to their own preferences, but according to the information Father Auden had, the Earl's forces had not yet placed officials in Southport County.

The most suitable person to take over Southport County was the official in charge of River Valley County, nicknamed Jero. It was rumored that he was related to the Earl and was quite trusted.

However, Father Auden did not consider this cadre to be very capable.

This man had wanted to take over the territory of Southport County for a long time, but with Potter as his assistant, the other party had never gained an advantage in business, until the Earl increased his investment in the area in the past year.

Shortly after Potter's death, he suddenly disappeared from Riverdale County, vanishing without a trace.

In this situation, the Earl would likely personally take charge of rearranging the territories of Vale and Southport. The only people who can continue to operate in Southport now are those personally appointed by the Earl.

At this juncture, Fenrir, who once supplied Potter, is so openly trying to restart his business on the Earl's territory and recruit more people. If he is not foolish enough to want to fight the Earl head-on, then he has already boarded the Earl's big ship.

“Answer my question first,” Leon said.

Father Auden looked Leon up and down for a moment before replying, "I have everything you need, as long as you can afford it."

“Give me an offer,” Leon replied calmly.

The Count's two million deposit is already in his hands, and he now has ample start-up capital.

He can now try to use the priest as a connection to gather some of the resources Potter left behind in the underworld for his own use.

"What type of monster do you want?" Father Auden asked.

"Safe, small monsters that reproduce quickly enough to be suitable for extracting magic essence. Headhunter rabbits, slimes, insects, plants, anything goes. There should be at least twenty of each kind, and they all need to be live and capable of reproduction," Leon said.

“I’ll give you a list.” Father Auden got up, opened the locked cabinet, and rummaged through the files. “As for the thugs you need, how many do you want? What are the requirements? What are they good at?”

“Five to ten people, I want to rob one or two carriages with guards,” Leon said bluntly.

Oden, who had just taken out the documents and locked the cabinet, looked up at him and asked, "Are you sure you won't cause trouble?"

"Sometimes, you get bullied without even lifting a finger, and that's real trouble. Haven't any of the people you introduced ever tried to steal goods?"

Leon asked, as far as he knew, there had been cases of gang warfare in Southport County.

“When we were fighting with the River Valley, everyone was scrambling for resources. I could introduce you to a few efficient and capable people. Now that Potter is dead, the Earl’s forces have taken over, and the officials who were supposed to have fled have all fled. Many people have lost their jobs, and quite a few can’t find employers. If you’re willing to hire long-term, I can introduce you, and I can make them very happy to call you ‘Sir,’” Father Auden said.

“I will assign them a task and see how they perform,” Leon replied.

“When do you want the goods and the people?” Father Auden asked.

“The sooner the better,” Leon replied.

“It will take at least three days to prepare for the monsters. If you’re sure you need people, I can contact a few right now to discuss the terms with you. If I can get in touch with them immediately, they should be here in an hour or two,” the priest said.

“That would be best,” Leon nodded in reply.

Father Auden took several envelopes from his drawer and went out. He went from the monastery to the main hall, stopped the servant who was about to close the door, and instructed him to deliver the letters to the designated person at the designated location.

He then returned to his study, where Leon patiently waited.

"Would you like some tea?" Father Auden asked.

"No need," Leon shook his head.

“So, can you tell me now?” Father Auden asked.

“There’s not much to say, it’s pretty much what you think,” Leon replied.

"What does the Earl want from you?"