What Witch? This Alchemist is Breaking Bad!

Holy Spirit Festival Day, Southeastern Major Diocese, Cathedral.

Three hundred years ago, the Empire launched a war against the Islander Nation. When the overall situation was already beyond saving, the Islander royal family chose to flee before the royal capital fell.

The remaining priests of the Earth Mother Goddess Church of the Islander Nation fell into madness. In the temple of the Earth Mother Goddess, they relied on the evil relic of Moilai to conduct a grand sacrifice, attempting to summon a portion of the sealed flesh buried beneath the earth.

This ritual caused the entire royal capital of the Islander Nation to undergo Labyrinthization. The ground collapsed everywhere, revealing bottomless tunnels, and countless high-level Magical Beasts surged out from them. There were even multiple Fifth-Level Magical Beasts.

On that day, hell descended upon the human world. The overwhelming tide of Magical Beasts first slaughtered the remaining Islanders in the city, and then the Imperial army that had just reached the city walls became the next victims.

As the ritual progressed, the range of the Labyrinth continued expanding. Mana spread like a tsunami, and the ever-increasing Magical Beasts began spreading into surrounding regions. No one could predict how far this Abyssal disaster would extend.

At the critical moment, Saint Astarte stepped forward. Resolutely, he led the Church’s elite forces into the tide of Magical Beasts and charged into the Islander royal capital that had fallen into a Labyrinth.

In the end, the Labyrinth was successfully sealed, but none of the heroes survived.

After the Labyrinth’s Mana calmed, the Imperial army cleared out the remaining Magical Beasts and liberated this land.

To commemorate the heroic sacrifice of Saint Astarte, the Empire built Saint Astarte Cathedral on the site of the former Islander royal capital and established the Church’s seventh major diocese around it—the present-day Southeastern Major Diocese.

—The above was the story Leon heard while attending the Church’s memorial ceremony during the Holy Spirit Festival, a story that was preached once every year on this commemorative day.

On the day of the Holy Spirit Festival, the Southeastern Major Diocese held a grand memorial ceremony. The Knight Order’s parade, Church exhibitions, and public sermons attracted tens of thousands of local residents as well as pilgrims who had traveled great distances.

On this day, all fully appointed Church personnel serving in the prefectures under the Southeastern Diocese gathered at the diocese, along with representatives from other dioceses, to attend the memorial event held at Saint Astarte Cathedral.

Leon, as the Director of the Hamel Inquisition in Hamel Town, was naturally no exception. On this day, he wore formal attire and arrived at the Grand Lecture Hall of the cathedral. Together with hundreds of Fully Appointed Knights, Bishops, and Fully Appointed Acting Agents, he sat in the same hall listening to the Cardinal serving as diocesan leader deliver a long and tedious speech. Afterwards, everyone stood together and observed a moment of silence for the departed Saint while the choir sang hymns.

After the lengthy memorial ceremony ended, all attendees moved to the reception hall for a banquet, which also served as a social gathering within the Church.

The magnificent long hall glittered with candlelight. Leon walked along the abundant food tables with a glass of mixed wine in hand. Most of the guests gathered in small groups, chatting cheerfully.

Leon had obtained a rank within the Church, and in the Hamel Town Inquisition he was everyone’s superior—everyone there had to greet him respectfully.

But here, everyone present was fully appointed Church personnel. Everyone had rank, and even Leon now could only be considered a minor figure at the bottom.

Even Bishops and Fully Appointed Knights of the same rank held slightly higher implicit status than him within the Church, not to mention the Archbishops, Knight Commanders, and high-ranking Acting Agents present.

For newcomers who had just joined the Church, gatherings like this were opportunities to become acquainted with those in higher positions. Many young people would, through introductions from relatives or seniors within the Church, approach the powerful figures holding important posts.

However, Leon, who came from a commoner background, had no such connections. In fact, the number of people he knew in the Church was still quite limited.

Fortunately, he himself had little interest in such socializing. After entering the hall, he focused on the food and drink instead, eating quite happily.

However, after more than ten minutes passed, someone still came to speak with him.

“Isn’t this Mr. Set?”

Leon turned his head and saw a young man and woman walking toward him. After quickly reviewing his memories, he precisely recalled who they were.

“Mr. Davison, Miss Vick,” he replied with a smile.

The ones greeting him were Enrique Davison and Bena Vick, whom he had met during the Fully Appointed Assessment. The former wore the Bishop’s robe of the Secret God Church, while the latter was dressed in the formal uniform of a Knight of the Creator Church.

Since they had all taken the assessment in the same year, they could at least be considered acquaintances.

After that assessment, all participants had obtained rank and received their respective positions.

“It’s reassuring to see familiar faces here,” Leon replied with a smile after exchanging greetings.

“I feel the same,” Enrique agreed. “It’s my first time attending a gathering like this. With so many important figures around, it’s really nerve-wracking. Luckily we ran into Miss Bena—she has some experience and can guide us.”

“Don’t tease me. I’ve only attended a colleague gathering my uncle hosted at his own residence,” Bena said with a smile.

“By the way, we’re planning to go greet Miss Bena’s uncle. Mr. Set, why don’t you come along?” Enrique invited.

This was essentially their way of showing concern for Leon. As someone from a commoner background, it was nearly impossible for him to have connections at such an event. Bringing him along to greet someone of higher standing counted as a small favor among acquaintances.

Leon had not yet responded when a voice suddenly called from the side.

“Inquisitor Set.”

Leon and the two from the same examination year turned their heads simultaneously and saw Archbishop Miller—who had once supervised their examination—approaching with a smile.

“Archbishop Miller, it’s been a while,” Leon said, quickly lowering his head in greeting.

“I finally found you. Has your work been going smoothly since taking office?” Archbishop Miller asked cheerfully.

“Everything has been going quite smoothly,” Leon replied. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Enrique and Bena staring at him in surprise as he conversed with the Archbishop, so he promptly introduced them. “Your Excellency, these two participated in the assessment with me—Mr. Davison and Miss Vick. You must still remember them.”

“Of course.” Archbishop Miller looked kindly at the two of them. “You’ve all become pillars supporting the Church.”

“You flatter us, Archbishop. We still have a long way to go!” Enrique quickly responded.

Archbishop Miller was part of the Church’s clerical and research community. Although he did not hold an especially powerful office, he came from a distinguished family and had been granted the rank of Archbishop due to his academic achievements, so his status and connections were still considerable.

Being able to speak with him at such a gathering was an opportunity people could only dream of.

After exchanging greetings with everyone, Archbishop Miller continued chatting with Leon.

“Inquisitor Set, the concept of the single-sided curved ring you mentioned in your letter earlier was extremely interesting. When you make that structure using a strip of paper, you can draw across what used to be both sides of the strip in a single stroke—a surface with only one side, a non-orientable surface! My students and I are very interested. We’ve held several seminars about it.”

“Haha, that was just something I thought of accidentally while fiddling with paper strips—” Leon replied modestly.

Even after taking office, Leon occasionally exchanged letters with Archbishop Miller. Miller would send him academic textbooks he had compiled, hoping Leon might study them when he had time.

Archbishop Miller clearly believed Leon possessed talent in mathematics and hoped he would not waste it. To cope with Miller’s enthusiasm for pulling him into mathematical studies, Leon had no choice but to come up with something they could discuss.

Moreover, considering his attempts to change the course of history, Leon felt that perhaps he could also try pursuing academics.

However, in his previous life he had not been any kind of mathematical genius—just an ordinary student. Even if he could replay memories using Blessings, he still could not produce any particularly complex theories.

After careful consideration, one day he sent Archbishop Miller a concept that had not yet appeared in this world: the Möbius strip. He included a simple explanation in the letter.

The Möbius strip—this seemingly simple idea—had only been independently proposed by Möbius and Listing in the mid-nineteenth century in Leon’s original world. Naturally, Möbius did not exist in this world, so Leon, who introduced the concept instead, simply named it according to its definition: the single-sided curved ring.

Judging from the current situation, Archbishop Miller seemed to like it very much. He enthusiastically discussed the discoveries from their seminars with Leon, and finally patted Leon on the shoulder with concern.

“So then, how is the paper on this discovery coming along?”

Leon froze for a moment, only then realizing that Archbishop Miller had naturally assumed he was already writing an academic paper about this “earth-shaking discovery.”

“I’ve been busy with work recently, so I haven’t yet—” Leon replied somewhat awkwardly.

“Write one as soon as possible and send it to me. I’ll help you publish it. After your paper is published, our follow-up research can cite it properly. I’ve already sent your discovery to academies in other dioceses as well. The academic world will definitely name it after you!” Archbishop Miller said with unusual seriousness.

“That makes me feel a bit overwhelmed,” Leon replied awkwardly.

He truly did feel somewhat embarrassed, as though he owed the real Möbius an apology—even though that person did not exist in this world.

He suddenly realized that his name might now be recorded in history. Whether this would count as a change in history recognized by the Blessing, however, was difficult to say.

Afterward, Archbishop Miller gave Leon a long series of instructions about submitting academic papers. Eventually he noticed other acquaintances and excused himself, saying “Pardon me,” before walking away.

Leon breathed a sigh of relief after escaping the Archbishop’s enthusiasm. When he turned his head, he saw Enrique and Bena staring at him somewhat blankly.

“Mr. Set… are you very familiar with Archbishop Miller?” Enrique asked cautiously.

“We’ve had a bit of academic exchange,” Leon replied with a smile.

“I didn’t know you had such deep research in mathematics—” Enrique’s tone suddenly became noticeably more respectful.

At that moment, Bena noticed two figures approaching from behind Leon and suddenly held her breath.

“The Saintess! Archbishop Kurik!” she whispered urgently to Enrique and Leon.

As a knight who had just joined the Creator Church, she recognized these two important figures from her own Church.

Bishop Weiss, the daughter of Archbishop Rogers and the Saintess chosen by the Creator Church—a future Archbishop almost guaranteed.

Archbishop Kurik, a renowned scholar of the Creator Church and the Deputy Director of the Saint Rosalia Research Institute.

At that moment, the two were walking straight toward them, seemingly coming for someone among them—no, after what they had just witnessed, it was basically certain who they were here to see.

Hearing this, Leon turned around.

“It’s been a long time, Inquisitor Set,” Weiss greeted Leon as soon as their eyes met.

“My respects, Bishop Weiss,” Leon said, bowing his head.

They had contacted each other many times privately and were already quite familiar with one another. But in a setting like this, they still needed to maintain a certain level of public formality.

“This is Archbishop Kurik, Deputy Director of the Saint Rosalia Research Institute,” Weiss introduced.

“So you are the Inquisitor Set who proposed the Nuclear Model of the Atom? I’ve long heard of your name!” Archbishop Kurik stepped forward and shook Leon’s hand before Leon could even finish his greeting.