What witch? The Deadly Pharmacist!

Forget about bidding a higher price than Mrs. Wesland, he could just take her magic essence for free, and she probably wouldn't dare to resist. She would only beg him to let her go as soon as possible, since he had leverage over her!

He scrutinized Lena, who looked back at him anxiously.

After a long period of thought, Leon let out a long breath and solemnly said to Lena:

"Your magic essence can sell for 20,000 pfennigs per gram if you follow my channels. You supply me, I'll help you sell it, and we'll split the profits 50/50, how about it?"

Chapter 8 Cooperation Established

In the end, Leon gave the other party the real price and proposed to split it in half.

He had his own considerations. Since he was going to take such a big risk, he had to earn enough money to cover the cost of the medicine in the future, and ideally, ensure that he would have enough to eat and wear. He had to earn at least two million... no, three million pfennigs!

With such a large target, he had to be prepared for a long-term partnership with this little witch. Since it was a long-term partnership, it would be best to make her willing to cooperate. Treating her like Mrs. Wesland did, or even squeezing her dry, would greatly increase the chances of her betraying him.

Leon himself is a case in point. If Director Caron hadn't been so greedy, at least he would have shared some of his earnings with his men so that he could also benefit, and he might not have thought of finding sources of goods to sell on his own.

In this line of work, being betrayed is a fatal mistake.

Mrs. Wesland seems to have some connection with Lena, so we must offer an overwhelmingly favorable deal that not only wins the bid but also makes Lena understand how much Mrs. Wesland has taken advantage of her, thus completely siding with us.

"Twenty-two thousand?" Lena's eyes widened in surprise, just as he had expected.

"The price of magic essence circulating within the empire is no less than 10,000 per gram. You've been fooled by that old woman all along, you know that?"

Leon stared at Rena seriously and said, "If you cooperate with me, you'll get 10,000 pfennigs for every gram you ship, which is five times the original profit. I should also be able to get you better prices for other monster materials. That's a pretty good deal, isn't it? Since you're selling these things, you must need money, right?"

"..." Lena didn't respond for a moment, looking a little lost.

“What’s there to hesitate about? Mrs. Wesland has already been arrested once and is on the list of those in the Inquisition. If you rely on her to sell your goods again, she could be arrested again at any time, and you will be at risk as well. I can find out about you through her, and so can anyone else. If I were you, I wouldn’t get involved with her again.”

"If you cooperate with me, I will not only give you better profit-sharing terms, but as an Inquisitor for Heretics, I can also provide you with a certain degree of protection!" Leon continued to persuade him.

"Protect?" Lena looked at Leon in disbelief.

This heretic inquisitor suddenly barged into her backyard and pointed a gun at her, and now he's talking about protecting her?

“You entrust an outsider like Mrs. Wesland to sell your goods, and you still get scammed by that old lady. It’s only a matter of time before you get caught, you know that? But if you have me as your inside man in the Inquisition, you’ll be much safer. As long as you provide me with benefits, I will always be your protector. You should understand that, right?” Leon said.

Lena glanced at the flintlock pistol that Leon had been aiming at her, still somewhat skeptical of his claim that he would protect her. She cautiously asked, "What if I can't bring you any benefit... like, if I say I don't want to do it anymore, what will you do?"

Having been caught like this once, she has personally experienced the enormous risks of this line of work.

The man in front of you, who exudes a dangerous aura, claims he will provide protection, but he himself may be the greatest danger.

Lena vaguely sensed that perhaps stopping here was the right choice for her.

“I advise you to reconsider. Discovering a witch and not arresting her is a serious dereliction of duty. If you are of no value to me, what choice do I have but to send you to the Inquisition?” Leon replied coldly.

"Then...in that case..." Lena mustered her courage and looked Leon straight in the eyes, "your plan to cooperate with the witch will also be exposed!"

Upon hearing this, Leon's eyes suddenly sharpened, causing Lena to gasp in fear. However, she managed to hold her breath and did not look away from Leon.

Leon realized he might have underestimated the girl. Lena remained quite calm and wasn't blinded by his offer. On the surface, she seemed timid and honest, but deep down, she still retained a bit of rebellious courage.

"It's useless. Do you think there aren't many witches who want to turn around and bite the Inquisitor after being captured? No one will believe you if you accuse me! Of course, if you really want to do that, I won't give you the chance. A dead witch is a great achievement, isn't it?" Leon sneered.

That was somewhat of a bluff; he wasn't really going to kill the little witch right now.

He just had to hold onto Lena, his cash cow, and make her understand that she had no choice but to cooperate with him.

Lena shuddered and fell into a long silence. Leon waited a while, then finally couldn't help but urge her, "So, the answer?"

“…I understand, I’ll cooperate with you.” Lena lowered her eyes as if giving up, and answered helplessly.

"Very good." Leon finally breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

Thus, their cooperative relationship was at least verbally established.

“But I don’t have what you need right now. The very first batch that came out has already been taken from Grandma Hannah by you all,” Lena said softly.

“I know, I’m planning a long-term partnership with you, no rush.” Leon said, glancing towards the cellar entrance. “Are you raising monsters in the cellar?”

“Yes, the mixing room for extracting magic essence is also downstairs,” Lena answered honestly.

"Could you show me around?" Leon felt that as the seller, it was necessary to confirm the production environment of the goods.

"Okay..." Lena had no choice but to agree.

Just as she was about to go inside to get her keys, she suddenly noticed her still-wet skirt and her thin nightgown, and a blush crept onto her face.

"Could I... go change my clothes first?" she asked in a pleading tone.

“Alright, let’s go inside.” Leon nodded, pointed his gun at the back door, and gestured for Lena to go first.

When Lena saw that he was about to follow her into the house, her expression changed, and she stammered, "You...you're not going to watch me change, are you?"

Leon was taken aback, realizing that this was indeed inappropriate.

After thinking for a moment, he pointed to the open oiled paper window and said, "Go in through the window, turn on the light, close the window, and then change your clothes by the window so that I can see your shadow. Once you're done, open the window and come out so that I can see you."

In this era, most residential buildings in the empire still used translucent oiled paper windows; glass windows were only affordable for city halls, churches, and the mansions of the wealthy.

"You won't secretly poke a hole in the oil paper to peek, will you?" Lena was still a little worried.

"If I really wanted to peek, I would have done it already. Hurry up!" Leon urged impatiently.

Chapter 9 Expanding Production

The candlelight dispelled the darkness in the cellar, and Lena carefully carried the candlestick down the steps.

She changed into a simple dress, tied a leather apron over it, and put on her red hooded shawl. After coming down, she lit an oil lamp and then turned around.

Leon followed her down, still holding the flintlock pistol, the muzzle always pointed at her.

“Hey, we’ve already started cooperating, are you going to keep pointing a gun at me?” Lena tried to protest to Leon.

Now that a cooperative relationship has been established, she's not so worried that Leon will shoot her for no reason; what she fears is an accidental discharge of the weapon.

"Stop talking nonsense." Leon ignored her protest, didn't put the gun away, and even looked up warily to observe the ceiling.

He needs to be especially vigilant in places where monsters are kept. Low-level witches have little combat power, but they are said to be able to control monsters to fight for them.

Both slimes and headhunting rabbits are low-level monsters that ordinary people can easily kill. However, headhunting rabbits can sever a person's artery with a single blow, causing them to bleed to death, while slimes can ambush from the ceiling and suddenly fall, completely covering a person's face and entering their mouth and nose to block their trachea, causing them to suffocate to death. Neither of them is completely without danger.

This cellar, where monsters are kept, is the witch's home turf. If she was only feigning compliance earlier, she might try to find an opportunity to turn the tables here. Of course, he has to be more vigilant.

However, upon entering the cellar, he did not see any monsters directly. There were various odds and ends on the ground, and a workbench on each side.

One side of the workbench was piled with tools for preparing medicine, such as mortars, balances, test tubes, measuring cups, etc., and many small tin bottles were neatly stacked next to it, all of which were sealed, seemingly filled with medicine. The air was filled with a strong herbal smell, the most prominent of which was a minty aroma.

The other side looked like both an operating table and an altar, with several candles and neatly arranged tools such as scalpels, clamps, and scissors. You could vaguely see a bit of dried blood left on the edge. This should be a surgical experimental table used for slaughtering and processing monsters.

"Where are the monsters kept?" Leon asked.

“Here, and down here is the breeding pool. All the monsters are kept in here.” Lena said, pushing the operating room table on the right with some difficulty, revealing a vertical shaft underneath that was locked by an iron fence cover.

Leon peered into the well from a distance. The candlelight couldn't reach the bottom of the shaft, but he could vaguely see tiny red lights flickering in the darkness, which looked rather eerie.

“What is that red light?” Leon asked.

"It's the reflection of the headhunter rabbit's eyes in the dark," Lena explained to him.

How many heads are there here?

“There are six big ones and six small ones,” Lena replied.

"Where are the slimes kept?"

"They're in here too; there are eight of them, big and small."

"Keeping two kinds of monsters together in such a small space? Won't they start fighting each other?" Leon was somewhat surprised.

“If you add a little bit of my blood to their feed, they will become very obedient. They won’t attack each other or me. Also, it’s more convenient to keep the two kinds of monsters together. The headhunter rabbits’ scraps and droppings will be cleaned up by the slimes, keeping the breeding tank clean,” Lena replied.

"The witch's 'blood pact'?" Leon asked Lena for confirmation.

It is said that some witches can control a large number of monsters at once by having low-level monsters consume their blood. This is an ability called "blood oath," and not all blessed witches possess this ability.

"Mm," Lena replied simply.

Leon was pleased to hear this. Witches with the "Blood Oath" talent had a unique advantage in raising monsters, and he could say that he had struck gold this time.

"Are there only these two types of monsters?" Leon continued to confirm.

“Yes.” Lena nodded.

"So, how often can you ship out a batch of goods like the one you gave to Mrs. Wesland last time?" Leon continued to confirm with Lena.

“As for headhunting rabbits, I will produce about ten adult ones every three months. The slime will be made into gel and shipped out every two months. When it’s cold in winter, the headhunting rabbits will hibernate, and the slime’s activity will also decrease, so they will not reproduce for about four months,” Lena replied.

“That’s not important. I’m asking about magic essence,” Leon emphasized.

Magic essence is the main source of profit in this business; in comparison, other materials are merely supplementary.

“This time, Grandma Hannah took the amount she had accumulated over four months,” Lena answered truthfully.

"Four months' worth? Does that mean you only ship three times a year, each time only about five grams?" Leon confirmed.

“No, as I said before, monsters stop growing and reproducing in winter, so there are actually only two such periods a year,” Lena corrected, shaking her head.

Upon hearing this, Leon immediately frowned. He already felt that three batches a year were a bit too few, and this kind of goods could only be shipped twice a year?

Based on the quantity estimated this time, it's less than ten grams, which isn't even enough to sell for 200,000 pfennigs. Even if you add other monster materials, the total sales would only amount to about 20,000 pfennigs a month. With a 50/50 split, you wouldn't even be able to earn over 10,000 pfennigs a month!

This is far from what Leon expected. The income isn't exactly small, but considering the huge risks involved, it's a huge loss. He's working like a drug dealer, risking his life. Even if it's not as low as selling cabbages, the revenue shouldn't be like that of an office worker.

“Not enough!” he suddenly said.

"What's not enough?" Lena asked, puzzled.

“This amount of magic energy is far from enough! You must expand production.” Leon shook his head repeatedly.

"Expand production?" Lena blinked in surprise, muttering under her breath, "You make that sound so easy..."

"Listen, Miss Witch, I'm not here to risk going to the stake with you to sell junk! What we're selling is high-end stuff that sells for 20,000 per gram, something the rich would scramble for! How can you possibly be so reluctant to only ship less than ten grams of this stuff a year?"

Leon pointed to the vertical shaft where the monsters were being raised and said seriously, "The output must at least double! Let the monsters reproduce more and extract more magic essence. If needed, I can help you open up some more places nearby."

Lena looked blankly at him, and then shook her head like Leon: "That's no use!"

"What's wrong? You can't raise that many monsters?" Leon asked.

"No, I mean, it's useless no matter how many monsters you raise, the production of magic essence won't increase." Lena shook her head repeatedly.

"What do you mean?" Leon asked, puzzled.

"Magic essence is not generated within the bodies of demons, but rather absorbed from the outside. Magic essence is produced in the maze. There used to be a maze in this mountain, and there just happened to be a crack at the bottom of this cellar, right in this breeding pool. It may have happened to lead to the maze, so a small amount of residual magic essence leaked out, which made it possible to raise demons here."

The amount of magic essence the monsters raised here can have is entirely determined by the amount leaking from this crack. As the number of monsters increases, the amount of magic essence in each individual decreases, but the total amount won't change much. Raising too many might even cause them to weaken and die from insufficient magic essence; I actually have to consciously control their numbers,” Lena explained earnestly.

"..." Leon suddenly fell silent, his gaze unconsciously shifting downwards as he fell into thought.

“Your Honor, there’s nothing we can do about it…” Lena thought Leon had been too devastated and tried to comfort him.

In fact, the problem is not just that the production of magic essence will not increase with the expansion of production. After the maze is sealed, the content of magic essence will decrease year by year, and the production of magic essence will also gradually decrease.

But then Leon suddenly looked over again, his eyes shining even brighter instead of dimming: "So, to put it another way, if we move to a place with a higher concentration of magic energy, like inside a maze, the production can be greatly increased, right?"

“This…” Lena was caught off guard by the intense gaze on him. “Theoretically, that’s true, but… if you’re an Inquisitor, you must know that the labyrinth in these mountains was purified by the Knights more than 30 years ago, and all the entrances were blown up and blocked, so there’s no way to get in.”

“Who says there’s no way forward?” Leon’s lips curled into a smile beneath his mask.

Chapter 10 You are the most pathetic witch I've ever seen

About an hour later, Leon, carrying a bag of tools, walked side by side with Lena to a spot halfway up the mountain.

Lena glanced uneasily at the shovel and axe peeking out of Leon's slings. These were taken from her house, and the whole thing looked like they were going to take someone into the mountains, kill them, and bury them.

"Is there really a way into the maze?" Lena asked softly.

"Quiet down."

With a lantern in hand, Leon climbed a short distance up a gentle slope along the carved-out mountain path, constantly parting the grass to examine the area. Finally, he discovered a small pit full of pebbles behind a clump of weeds.

He put down his backpack, picked up a shovel and started digging. After digging for about six or seven minutes, the sound of the shovel hitting the ground produced a hollow echo. He kicked it, and the remaining rubble fell down with a clatter, revealing a dark hole.