What Witch? This Alchemist is Breaking Bad!

Deep within the Labyrinth, inside the Temple’s Laboratory, Leon found Rena, Weiss, and Sally working together in the Laboratory.

After greeting everyone upon finally returning after so long, he said to Sally: “Mrs. Hesh, go rest for a while first. I have some things I need to discuss with the two of them.”

“All right.” Sally immediately understood that they had important matters to discuss next. She removed her apron and mask, quickly left the Laboratory, and prepared to go to the lounge for some water.

Leon closed the Laboratory door, and Weiss tried asking: “Did you meet Lamia?”

“I successfully met her, and she also gave me some key intelligence……” Leon said.

He then explained to Rena and Weiss his plan to next attempt to find Great Witch Dorothy.

“Great Witch Dorothy…… that name is indeed on the Church’s list of Great Witches, but there isn’t much specific information about her.” Weiss murmured after listening.

“Can this person really help us resolve the problem with those Great Witches?” Rena asked uneasily.

As one of the few Witches in the Empire with a folk inheritance, although she knew very little about the situation in Moiland, she had heard legends about those Great Witches from her grandmother. In the legends, Great Witches could transform into Magical Beasts, freely summon Magical Beasts, transform people into Magical Beasts, create terrifying plagues, and bring dreadful disasters.

In the Empire, Great Witches were often depicted as evil old hags and were also commonly used by adults to frighten children.

Now that she had also learned part of the intelligence concerning the Witches’ Assembly from Leon and found out that they might face retaliation from Great Witch Arachne, who might have attempted to murder Weiss, her wariness toward these Great Witches had only increased rather than diminished.

“For now, there’s still no way to be certain. We’ll only know the answer once we find her. So, I’m preparing to go to the Augran Region and search for the location of that Labyrinth. I’ve already sent a letter to Johnny through a contact point.” Leon explained.

“You’re planning to go with Johnny Wellman?” Rena confirmed with Leon.

“Lamia mentioned that Labyrinth is very dangerous. Dorothy is an espionage leader operating within the Empire, so she certainly isn’t someone easy to deal with. Considering that I intend to negotiate with her, naturally it would be best to guarantee my own safety.” Leon said.

Johnny and his forces were, at the very least, highly trustworthy in terms of combat strength. Moreover, whether dealing with Magical Beasts or Witches, Johnny had extensive combat experience. If Johnny agreed to escort him there, then exploring that Labyrinth would undoubtedly be much safer.

“But is that person really trustworthy?” Rena sounded somewhat uneasy.

“I’m valuable to him. At least for now, he doesn’t want anything to happen to me, and he also hopes we can resolve the problem with Arachne.” Leon said.

“That’s true, but that doesn’t mean he’ll protect you with all his strength. If the situation becomes truly dangerous, he might not necessarily risk himself to rescue you.” Rena analyzed.

After spending so much time with Leon, and also acting on Leon’s behalf to manage this Labyrinth Stronghold whenever he was absent, she had gradually learned to think in a way similar to Leon without even realizing it. When the two discussed matters, they could often quickly follow one another’s train of thought.

“Of course I won’t place all my hopes on him protecting me. I’ll bring a team of my own people too.” Leon answered.

“It’s hard to say how much combat effectiveness those mercenaries under us can actually exert inside a Labyrinth. Didn’t a single Drake leave us completely helpless back then?” Rena reminded him.

At present, with Leon’s abilities, he might barely be able to deal with a Fourth-Level Magical Beast, but the underworld fighters under them were all ordinary people with only average equipment. It seemed difficult to expect them to be of much help. When they had encountered the Drake back then, she and Leon had even needed to find a way to save some of their own people.

“What do you mean?” Leon had already realized what Rena wanted to say.

“How about I go with you?” Rena naturally suggested, “We can bring a few Demonic Wolves as well. If we’re going to explore a Labyrinth, Demonic Wolves will be useful for scouting the path, and my ability can also be used against most Magical Beasts.”

Rena’s Second-Tier Allure Effect could greatly increase her control over Magical Beasts. When it came to exploring a Labyrinth, her ability could indeed be of considerable use.

“That sounds good, but if both you and I leave, who will manage this base?” Leon said.

The Augran Region was north of Earl Foyle’s territory and could not be considered particularly close to them. Even ordinary travel there and back would take nearly five days, not to mention that they would still need to remain in the central part of the Augran Region for some time.

During this period, even if both of them left, this production base would still need to continue operating.

“Simon should be able to handle matters outside. As for this Temple, Weiss can make the decisions.” Rena said.

Weiss glanced at Rena in surprise. Rena glanced back at her and continued: “The technology currently used in this Laboratory basically all comes from Weiss, and she’s also the one guiding me and Mrs. Sally. She actually understands how this place operates better than anyone else. Leaving it to her won’t be a problem.”

Weiss blinked, and in the end did not raise any objection.

She was indeed the one leading the technical work here. She had also led similar scientific research projects in the Church before, so temporarily taking over this production base could hardly be considered a challenge for her.

For Rena to make this suggestion now, in a certain sense, also meant that over the past few months together, she had gradually accumulated some trust in Weiss.

“Weiss, do you think there’ll be any problem?” Leon confirmed with Weiss.

“If you need me to, I’ll do the work properly.” Weiss nodded.

“All right, then it’s settled.” Leon quickly made the decision.

He had entrusted the territory to Adele, while the financial and legal matters outside the territory had been entrusted to Father Auden. For the businesses on his own territory and the other territories, he now had his own subordinates and the cadres left behind by the Earl. What he himself mainly needed to deal with now was command work and external threats.

In this regard, because he trusted Rena, he basically shared intelligence with her. If the base could now be left to Weiss, then Rena would be freed up to share some of this burden with him, which Leon also thought was quite good.

Rena could also learn a little about handling external threats. That way, even if something happened to him, Rena would possess a certain ability to deal with danger, mobilize resources to protect herself, and perhaps even have an opportunity to rescue him.

“However, if the intelligence about Great Witch Dorothy is true, then Lamia really did reveal quite a lot of information this time. Even people from the Tribunal might not necessarily be able to extract that much intelligence from her.” Weiss said.

She still understood Lamia to some extent. Faced with a stranger like Leon, the amount of intelligence Lamia had revealed this time was surprisingly large, even taking into account that Leon had offered her a bribe.

“That was still thanks to you, Weiss.” Leon smiled slightly.

“Me?” Weiss was somewhat surprised.

“There’s a rumor circulating within the Church that Arachne murdered you. Lamia seems to still hold somewhat of a grudge over that matter. When I mentioned that I wanted to deal with Arachne and avenge you, she quickly gave me the most crucial intelligence.” Leon explained.

“I see. But I think that was mainly because she hates Arachne. I heard her complain about her before.” Weiss said. In truth, she herself was not sure just how much of a friendship she actually had with Lamia.

“The thing you told me to find also came in very useful. Without that, at the beginning she was too lazy even to talk to me.” Leon said.

At the time, she had literally been too lazy to talk. Without that book, Lamia had nearly fallen asleep on the spot during their private meeting.

When the conversation turned to the book Weiss had recommended as a gift for Lamia, Leon showed no awkwardness whatsoever. To him, that sort of book did not even qualify as pornography. It was merely a literary work containing some erotic descriptions.

But upon hearing the topic, Weiss realized that Rena was also present and awkwardly blushed, quietly reminding Leon: “All right, all right, I know. We should stop talking about this……”

But Rena immediately noticed her unnatural reaction and interjected: “What are you talking about?”

“When I was trying to get Lamia to talk, I brought her a book based on Weiss’s recommendation. It was called 《Forbidden Relations》.” Leon said bluntly.

Weiss widened her eyes and glanced at Leon.

“What kind of book is it?” Rena casually asked.

“It’s just a novel, with some erotic descriptions used as a selling point. It also contains some criticism of contemporary issues. I thought it was pretty well written. Do you want to read it?” Leon asked.

“This…… might be a little too early for Rena, don’t you think?” Weiss hurriedly interrupted Leon.

Back when she had seen how young Rena looked, she had actually gathered her courage and asked about it. She still remembered Rena telling her at the time that she was only seventeen years old, a full five years younger than her, which had shocked her greatly.

Hearing this, Rena and Leon stared at each other for a moment. Leon looked at Weiss, not knowing where to begin explaining, while Rena thought for a moment and carefully chose her words before saying to Weiss: “Well, this actually isn’t really an issue for me, Weiss.”

At first Weiss did not react. She blinked and awkwardly stared at Rena for a moment before suddenly realizing.

Rena had long since become Leon’s lover, so naturally…… she had already experienced such things. Weiss had actually forgotten about that!

In this regard, her concern seemed somewhat unnecessary, and she might even have been better off worrying about herself instead.

“Ah, sorry.” She could only apologize awkwardly, while at the same time, a strong and inexplicable sense of loss struck her.

“I should be the one apologizing……” Vaguely noticing Weiss’s reaction, Rena also said somewhat apologetically.