What Witch? This Alchemist is Breaking Bad!

“So fast?”

That was Leon’s first reaction.

He had long expected that the Inquisition would eventually discover the Mana he was selling on the market, but being exposed this quickly was still far beyond his expectations.

Ten days—just ten days—and the Church forces of South Harbor County had already noticed that higher-purity Mana products had appeared on the market.

They immediately began focusing their investigation and had even roughly grasped the flow of the Mana.

He had originally thought that it would take at least until his next batch of goods entered the market before it drew the Church’s attention.

Judging from Leon’s experience of working within the local Inquisition, this efficiency was extremely abnormal.

Although it was possible that the Inquisition in Caster Town was simply more diligent than usual, and Caron’s sudden change in attitude might have been because he cared about a new large-scale Mana transaction in his jurisdiction that he had not yet grasped and wanted to identify it quickly for profit, the fact that both sides were coordinating and tightening their efforts at the same time felt distinctly suspicious.

Caron had mentioned earlier that he was heading to the county for a meeting—could it be specifically for this matter?

It was only ten grams of Mana with seventy-eight percent purity, yet it had alarmed the Church’s law enforcement forces across the entire county? That was far too exaggerated.

The transaction value of this batch of Mana was only two to three hundred thousand at most, merely a small ripple among the black money circulating in the underground market of South Harbor County.

Mana with seventy-eight percent purity could at most be considered high-end goods and was indeed rare in Hamel Town.

But looking across the entire eastern part of the Empire, it was hardly that unusual.

In the major eastern cities, Mana trades of around eighty percent purity were often found—mostly goods belonging to the Earl…

At this thought, Leon’s heart jolted.

The Earl? Could this be related to the Earl’s forces expanding into South Harbor County?

“If the intelligence provided by the informants over there is accurate, then it’s very possible that a big fish has come into our territory.

“So, all of you, stay sharp. You’ve got work to do next. Go out and round up the petty thieves you know on your streets, and those ‘distributors’ we’ve arrested before.

Question them properly.

“Recently, we may also hold joint investigation meetings with people from other Inquisitions. Don’t let it come to that and have us be the only ones who can’t produce a single useful piece of intelligence.”

Caron continued issuing instructions to those below.

At that moment, the captain suddenly raised his hand to speak.

“Director, could it be that a local brought in goods from outside South Harbor County? For example, Helenburg to the north—that place has always circulated the Earl’s goods.”

Leon immediately focused all his attention.

He had just been considering this possibility, and the captain brought it up at exactly the right time.

Perhaps those above had also noticed that the Earl’s forces were expanding into South Harbor County, and were worried that this newly appeared batch of goods was the Earl quietly using his own supply to enter the market, which was why they were taking it so seriously.

This situation was relatively favorable for Leon.

If the South Harbor County Inquisition investigated toward the direction of external Earl forces, he would be much safer.

However, after hearing this, Caron immediately shook his finger.

“No.

It’s not coming in from outside—at least, it won’t be the Earl’s goods.”

Leon felt puzzled.

The fact that he had produced high-purity Mana was purely an accident.

For such Mana to be produced within Hamel Town was a low-probability event.

Normally, people would first suspect external inflow, yet Caron bit down firmly on the conclusion that this matter had nothing to do with the Earl.

“May I ask what basis there is for that?” the captain asked.

Caron did not answer immediately.

Instead, he clenched his pipe between his teeth and puffed out smoke, raising his eyebrows as he stared meaningfully at the captain, as if asking in return, Are you questioning what I said?

The captain’s expression immediately turned uneasy.

Just as he was about to defend himself, Caron removed the pipe and continued in a casual tone:

“It’s intelligence provided by the people in Caster Town.

Their information is quite reliable.

You lot should strive to be as capable as they are, so I can save some face the next time I go to a county meeting!”

“Yes, sir!” everyone responded in unison.

Leon echoed along while constantly thinking to himself.

Against the backdrop of the Earl’s forces initiating a territorial struggle with local powers, he had just begun supplying goods to the local factions, and the Church’s forces reacted with astonishing speed to trace the new source of goods and lock onto the local powers with unbelievable precision.

It was as if… they were deliberately helping the Earl’s forces expand.

At this thought, Leon suddenly felt a chill crawl up his spine.

Could it be that the Earl’s influence could directly affect the Inquisition, driving local Church forces to put pressure on local factions?

He had heard that “the Earl” was all-powerful, someone even the central Inquisition could not deal with.

But he had never imagined that the other party’s influence could go so far as to command the Inquisition itself—like a criminal syndicate ordering the police to eliminate its competitors!

After that, no one raised any further questions.

Caron gave a few brief additional instructions and then announced the meeting’s dismissal.

Everyone felt a sense of relief and prepared to leave the conference room.

Leon, burdened with worries, also prepared to follow them out.

At that moment, the captain lightly coughed and leaned close to Leon, whispering, “Stay for a moment. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

The director has something to say to you.”

Leon’s heart jolted.

He instinctively turned his head to look at Director Caron Eso, who was still seated at the far end of the table.

Caron continued to hold his pipe, casually sizing him up.

Cold sweat instantly broke out on Leon’s back.

The director had just announced in the meeting that they would investigate the batch of goods that had flowed into the black market, and now he was keeping Leon behind—could it be that suspicion had already fallen on him?

The old shop owner’s face immediately flashed through Leon’s mind.

Could that man have sold him out?

After the other team members left the conference room, the captain closed the door.

Leon stood in place, facing Director Caron Eso across the room, and spoke in as calm a tone as possible:

“Do you have any instructions, sir?”

“Leon Set, a low-ranking First-Rank Inquisitor who joined two years ago…” the director said as he removed his pipe and pointed at the captain beside him.

“I heard Martin say you ran an errand for him?”

Leon reacted quickly.

This was referring to the matter from over four months ago, when he had gone to the junk shop in place of the captain.

Leon glanced sideways at the captain standing at attention nearby.

The captain gave him a barely perceptible nod.

“Yes, sir,” Leon replied.

His emotions settled slightly.

Director Caron was mentioning that the captain had brought it up, not that shop owner.

At the very least, this meant the shop owner had not reported anything to Caron.

“There may be people from other Inquisitions coming soon, and perhaps even people from above for an inspection.

You should understand what can be said and what cannot be said, right?” Director Caron stared at Leon as he warned him.

Hearing this, the weight on Leon’s heart finally lifted.

He had handled goods that Caron had embezzled, and it was only because inspectors from above might be coming that Caron was specially warning him—four months later—to keep his mouth shut.

Otherwise, Caron would not even care about a small fry like him.

“I completely understand what you mean.

That day, I was on normal duty the entire time, with nothing out of the ordinary,” Leon answered seriously.

“Very good.

You may go.” Director Caron waved his hand.

“Yes, sir.” Leon felt as if he had been pardoned.

He saluted and left the conference room.

The captain then also prepared to take his leave.

“Then, Director, I’ll return to work as well.”

“Mm.

Martin, make sure you investigate that case I mentioned properly, understand? Treat it as the focus of your recent work.” Director Caron instructed the repeatedly nodding captain.

He then picked up the Mana potion bottle and examined it, snorting softly through his nose.

“My territory, and there’s a transaction I haven’t grasped?”