What witch? The Deadly Pharmacist!

The Viscount Arendt family had fallen so low that Potter could drive them to the brink of ruin. Apart from their nominal noble status, they had no power left. Now, with the support of the Earl, Leon, who was gradually inheriting Potter's position, actually had a way to deal with them. If it was necessary to break off relations, there was no need to reason with the Viscount family.

The priest could also use the debt to put further pressure on Viscount Arend, who would then cooperate by allowing "church people" to investigate the labyrinth and forbidding his daughter from taking any further action. Adele would be powerless to do anything about it, since Viscount Arend is now the legal owner of the land.

“Madam over there, could you escort Miss Lovelace back?” Seeing that Adele had no way to refute him, Leon turned to the maid and instructed her. Then, as if remembering something, he continued, “By the way, if you can share a horse on your way back, could you lend us one first? I will send someone to return the horse later.”

It would take a lot of effort to get the items from the maze, including the demon wolf, to the shore. He was actually regretting not bringing a horse when he came by boat.

The maid cautiously looked at Adele for her opinion, and Adele remained silent for a moment before finally nodding.

“Thank you for your generosity, Miss Lovelace. Please be careful on your way back.” Leon nodded in thanks.

Adele felt a pang of unease upon hearing this. What was supposed to be a simple farewell sounded like a deeply meaningful warning coming from Leon's mouth.

Regardless of whether the other party was a real inquisitor or not, she had already developed a psychological aversion to him.

This man is terrifying...

The maid helped the trembling Adele onto her horse, then mounted herself and rode away along the mountain path.

"Drag everything out of the maze, we're leaving." Leon ordered Simon and the others as Adele disappeared from sight.

“This young lady has finally met her match!” Father Auden was secretly pleased to see Adele, who had always been a nuisance, suffer a setback. “However, the only problem is if she reports our suspicious actions to the church… Although the possibility is not high, we still need to consider how to deal with it.”

“Just provide a proper investigation report; her report won’t change anything,” Leon replied casually.

This level of situation is manageable for Bishop Beckett, given his position. Geographically, all the Inquisitions in Southport County can request an investigation into the labyrinth on Arend Island, which is the source of his confidence to lie.

Father Auden glanced at Leon and realized that the support Leon was now receiving from the Earl might be greater than he had imagined.

“It’s a good thing you didn’t actually kill and bury this young lady. If you really intended to use this maze, you’d have to think long-term. She’ll come in handy sooner or later,” Father Auden suddenly said.

"What's it for?" Leon asked.

"We don't know how many years the excuse of the church investigation can last. The best way is to wait until you've made enough money and then take over this land. And the best way to take over this land is to buy a title. And the best way to buy a title is..." The priest looked at Leon meaningfully.

"Marry that woman?" Leon frowned.

“That way you can become the next Viscount Arend, and rightfully own this land.” Father Auden snapped his fingers.

"Save your breath, Father. Are you trying to dump your bad assets that are about to go bad on me so I can take care of them?" Leon was both annoyed and amused.

Father Auden's scheme was really backfiring on him.

“What might be a bad asset to others is an absolute gem to you!” the priest emphasized.

"Whether it's a high-quality asset or not, we'll have to wait until we successfully conquer this maze. Let's not be too ambitious and solve the immediate problems first!" Leon waved his hand, changing the subject.

Chapter 95 You still dare to breathe on me?

In the Hamel Town maze, Leon and Rena stood side by side in front of the breeding pool, carefully observing the monsters inside.

“About half of them are completely still,” Leon said.

“They’re still alive, just in hibernation. With a good food supply, they won’t die anytime soon. But when magic is scarce, the monsters gradually weaken and often go into hibernation. The magic in this labyrinth is indeed running out; the magic concentration can’t supply so many monsters,” Lena said.

"Would it make a difference if I collected plants from other mazes and fed them to them?" Leon asked.

"It's just a drop in the ocean." Lena shook her head. "If we kill about half of them now, we should at least be able to ensure that the remaining monsters return to normal."

“We need this scale. Let’s leave the monsters for now, or prioritize conquering the new dungeon as soon as possible,” Leon said, looking towards the wall on the other side of the studio.

Several chains were fixed to the wall, and the other end of each chain was firmly bound to a petrified demon wolf.

After capturing the wolf leader from the labyrinth on Arend Island and dragging it back, Leon transported it all the way to the labyrinth in Hamel Town.

He wanted to use this wolf for an experiment.

"Let me make this clear first, I've really never tried controlling such a large monster before..." Lena said, somewhat lacking confidence.

"It's alright, we should at least try first." Leon picked up a gun, carefully kept a distance from the demon wolf, and focused his attention on the demon wolf, trying to break the curse.

With a hissing sound, a little white mist began to emerge from the petrified wolf's body, and then the stiff wolf's body became soft again.

Anger returned to the body, and the wolf's chest began to rise and fall. With a spasm, it awoke from its coma.

Leon had tested his curse ability several times. As long as he controlled the intensity of the curse slightly, he could keep the cursed creature in a state for more than ten hours without it dying. If the curse was lifted within the time limit, the target would revive again, but it would be much weaker.

The awakened wolf sprang to its feet and roared, startling Lena so much that she instinctively took a step back.

The wolf's body is stronger than that of ordinary creatures; even after being petrified for several hours, it remains full of energy.

"It's alright," Leon said, patting Lena's shoulder reassuringly.

The wolf became frenzied as soon as it saw Leon and charged towards him, but was held back by the chains around its neck.

His mouth was also tightly bound by chains, so he couldn't open it at all.

The wolf, realizing it was bound, began to struggle, but the chains Leon had prepared for it were far too strong.

“Give it a try,” Leon said to Lena.

Rena calmed her nerves and tried to focus her attention on the demonic wolf, channeling her magic into it as she would with other demons, attempting to calm it down.

Leon once fed the wolf a attractant mixed with her blood, so that Lena could control the wolf through her "blood oath" blessing. This control would be much stronger than directly manipulating a monster with her mind.

The wolf suddenly felt a strong drowsiness, its eyes quickly changed, and it began to fall into a confused state of being half asleep and half awake.

An invisible hypnotic force slowly guided its consciousness to synchronize with Lena's will, making it completely obedient to Lena's control.

Suddenly the wolf awoke with a start, and the thought of resistance arose within it.

It began baring its teeth and roaring menacingly at Lena with all its might.

As a level three monster, its magical power makes it more difficult to hypnotize.

Moreover, as the leader of the wolf pack, how could it easily be subject to the control of other beings?

"It doesn't seem like that will work," Lena sighed softly.

"Not necessarily, let's try again." Leon fixed his gaze on the demon wolf and tried to activate the power of his cursed blood.

The curse, which had just been lifted, struck again, and the wolf's body convulsed as if it had been electrocuted. The wolf once again felt the instinctive threat of impending death and the intense discomfort of its body being eroded, and it couldn't help but let out a sharp howl.

Leon gave Lena another look, and Lena understood, once again trying to control the demon wolf with her abilities.

The wolf's body trembled violently, seemingly still struggling against the drowsiness brought on by Lena's hypnotic power. After a while, it forced itself to bare its teeth at Lena and growled again.

"You dare to breathe on me?" Leon, seeing this, didn't tolerate it and activated the power of the Cursed Blood once again.

The wolf howled again, nearly collapsing after a spasm. Leon deactivated his powers and looked at Lena.

Lena cooperated with him and tried again.

The wolf once again sensed Lena's domineering intent. This time, it dared not bare its teeth or growl, but a sliver of resistance remained. It raised its eyes to look at Lena, its eyes filled with obvious resentment.

Leon used the cursed blood on it again, and this time the wolf let out a miserable howl. This time, its last bit of will to resist finally collapsed. Realizing that it would be tormented every time it had the thought of resisting, its head drooped down and its tense body relaxed.

"Let's try again." Leon felt that things were about to turn around.

Lena continued to use the power of the Blood Oath, and this time she clearly felt that her magic could finally flow through her without any hindrance. All the emotions in the wolf's eyes were erased, leaving them empty.

"Sit down," Lena tried to give the order, while simultaneously conveying her own thoughts.

The wolf sat down as instructed, like a tamed hunting dog.

"It worked..." Lena breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good, now we have a way to deal with that pack of demon wolves." Leon was very satisfied with the result.

If the leader of the demon wolves can be tamed, then the remaining demon wolves should be able to be dealt with using the same method. They have already found a way to conquer this maze.

Furthermore, experiments have proven that his cursed blood and Rena's blood pact can be used in combination. It can deter curses at the level of biological instincts and hypnotize monsters to make them obey. With a whip in one hand and candy in the other, even level three monsters that could not be tamed before can be taken into their service.

"This would be amazing if it could be used on people," Leon suddenly thought and blurted out.

Lena glanced at him in surprise.

Then, as if remembering something, Leon turned to Reina and asked, "Does your ability work on people? Have you tried it?"

"How could I possibly have tried it!" Lena rolled her eyes at him.

"So it might not be ineffective?" Leon said thoughtfully.

Controlling monsters is a witch's basic ability, and in addition, they possess an extra blessing that varies from person to person.

His cursed blood is effective against all living beings. In this light, the Blood Oath ability is not necessarily only effective against monsters. In many legends, witches also possess the ability to bewitch humans.

“You seem to be thinking about something terrible…” Lena looked at Leon with some unease.

Leon shrugged, deciding to put that aside for now; the important thing right now was to get the new maze.

Now that it has been verified that he and Rena's blood can control the demonic wolf, all that's left is to gather enough people, make some preparations, and then we can start conquering the dungeon.

……

That night, Leon went to a tavern in the eastern part of Hamel.

This tavern used to be Potter's property. When Leon was supplying Potter, he met with Father Auden here once.

Father Auden had asked him to meet here today. When he arrived at the door, he saw a sign that read "Today's Private Session" hanging at the entrance of the tavern.

He pushed the door open and went in; there were more than twenty people sitting in the tavern's main hall.

As soon as Leon entered, the once bustling hall suddenly quieted down, and everyone's eyes were focused on him, including the bartender who was wiping glasses behind the counter.

Leon walked into the tavern, facing the gazes of the crowd, and scanned everyone present with an expressionless face. He spotted Father Oden and Simon among them.

Father Auden was the first to stand up and walk towards Leon. Then Simon and his men, who were sitting at the same table, also stood up and gave Leon a respectful look. Seeing this, the others also stood up and paid their respects to Leon.

“From today onward, all these men will serve you, Fenrir. This is the contract, the same one they had under Potter.” Father Auden handed two parchment scrolls to Leon.

Leon took the contract and glanced at it. Potter hired these thugs as bodyguards for the merchant corps. Their basic salary was not high, only around four thousand pfennigs. With twenty people here, the monthly salary expenditure would be about eighty thousand pfennigs.

For each additional security mission, he needed to provide a bonus. This time, the maze raid was based on the same standard as the previous carriage robbery: the three captains, including Simon, would receive 20,000, and the rest would receive 10,000, meaning he would have to spend 230,000 pfennigs to mobilize this private armed force for the maze raid.

Leon can afford this amount of money.

Besides the two million given by the Earl, after obtaining Potter's client list from the priest, he had actually begun producing and selling potions.

His contract with the count only included magic essence of sufficient purity. He tried to sell any magic essence and monster materials that did not meet the requirements to supplement his funds.

Leon glanced at the priest; this time, the priest hadn't specified the brokerage fee in the contract.

"No need for the brokerage fee. You're going to employ them long-term, and you can't keep using dirty money. You'll need me to do the accounting, so I'll just collect that part of the commission." The priest understood what Leon meant and explained it to him.

Leon smiled helplessly; Father Auden would never suffer a loss.

He continued to scrutinize the contract, then lowered his voice and asked the priest, "It seems like all I need to do is pay? I don't need to give them any further guarantees?"

“This line of work is all about risking your life; the payment you’ve made is more than enough,” the priest replied matter-of-factly.

Leon thought for a moment and said thoughtfully, "I want to add a clause to the contract."

Chapter 96 The Necessity of Work Injury Compensation

Upon hearing Leon's request, Father Auden remained calm: "You can add conditions, but don't go too far."

“I want to give them a basic workers’ compensation system,” Leon said.

"What guarantee?" Father Auden did not understand.

“They were injured while working for me, and I will cover all their medical and nursing care expenses. During the recovery period while their contracts are still in effect, they will continue to receive their wages. If they become disabled, I will pay them a disability allowance,” Leon said.

Father Auden looked at Leon with a puzzled expression after hearing this: "If you want to do charity, I recommend a better candidate."

In this era, there is virtually no sound workers' compensation system. Whether or not an injured employee should receive compensation depends entirely on the employer's conscience.

In farms and factories, all employees are required to sign contracts in which they assume all risks. Father Auden's contracts naturally included disclaimers for employers.

Even soldiers who die or are wounded for their country, although they should receive compensation according to law, are not so well compensated in practice.

For example, during the war ten years ago, due to financial constraints, soldier casualty compensation was quickly discontinued, and less than five percent of soldiers actually received it. Ironically, the greatest benefit wounded or killed soldiers received was a national medal, which granted them and their families privileges such as deferred tax payments and immunity from arrest for begging in urban areas.

In reality, lower-ranking agents like Leon, who work for the church without any official position, don't receive much extra compensation beyond free first aid when injured on duty, and their money is often embezzled.

However, it wasn't that no one could enjoy such subsidies. For example, noble ministers and military officers who served the country, knights and bishops with ranks in the church, and these prominent figures would receive generous compensation if they fell ill, were injured, or died in the line of duty.

Father Auden couldn't understand what these gangsters had done to deserve such treatment.

These mercenaries are in a dangerous business, and if Leon wanted to show some compassion, this town wouldn't be short of pitiful people like Hershey and her daughter.