What Witch? This Alchemist is Breaking Bad!

“No! That’s not right!” Garcia suddenly denied it sharply, keeping the gun trained on Leon’s head as he pressed aggressively, “A single ring proves Caron Eso is dead? You think you could kill him?”

“Then you prove he isn’t dead,” Leon sneered back.

“If you can still find anyone named Caron in Hamel Town, that is.”

“Who can guarantee this whole thing isn’t a setup by the Inquisition?” Garcia said as he turned to the boss and tried hard to persuade him.

“Boss! Don’t listen to his nonsense—kill him now! The Inquisition has gone to such lengths already; they’re clearly preparing for war. We can’t afford to be soft!”

He had a premonition that things had developed to this point—if this man did not die here today, he himself would immediately be in trouble.

But he needed the boss’s order to kill someone.

Overstepping authority within the organization carried severe consequences.

At this moment, Father Auden, holding the ring, interjected, “No. Nobles do not give their family crest rings to others, let alone Caron. If he had reached this stage, he would have had no need to resort to such a scheme. I believe he really is dead. Old Roddy’s expression is also telling us that he knows this.”

Only he had noticed that when Leon said he had killed Caron, the expression that surfaced on Old Roddy’s face was clearly off.

Leon observed Father Auden.

This old priest was very perceptive and did not seem to be a simple character.

The boss and Garcia both looked toward the old shopkeeper.

The old shopkeeper was drenched in cold sweat, but still nodded helplessly, indicating that he knew the truth of the matter.

The boss once again examined Leon—or rather, Fenrir—with surprise, while Garcia’s expression visibly collapsed.

But then Father Auden suddenly changed his tone and continued to address the boss, “However, I still suggest that you kill him.”

These words astonished everyone present.

Even Garcia had not expected Father Auden to suddenly support him.

Leon also cast a wary glance at the priest, then took the tube of mana from his pocket.

“Kill me, and you’ll never get this kind of goods again.”

Inside the test tube, the transparent crystals emitted a faint bluish luster.

The higher the purity of mana, the more transparent it became, approaching colorless.

The purity of this mana was obviously extremely high.

The boss’s gaze was immediately fixed, staring straight at the test tube.

“This batch’s purity is eighty-five percent,” Leon declared calmly.

At that moment, the entire room was shaken.

Leon was not lying.

This mana had been extracted from a batch of new slimes.

The greatest difference between these slimes and previous magical beasts was that they had eaten Caron’s corpse.

Caron’s body had been petrified by Cockatrice Venom.

For Head-Hunting Rabbits, it was not only difficult to gnaw but also poisonous.

But slimes could still consume his corpse.

Their physiological structure was not afraid of most poisons, and they could also slowly decompose and digest hard substances with digestive fluids.

Considering the previous case where magical beasts had eaten Hannah Weisland’s corpse and the mana purity increased, Leon began to speculate whether magical beasts that consumed the corpses of those blessed by the Four Gods of Origin could produce even higher-purity mana.

Thus, he first fed several adult slimes with a few fingers from Caron’s corpse.

The next day, he slaughtered the slimes and handed them over to Rena for refinement.

In the end, he obtained mana of such high purity, fully verifying his hypothesis.

The boss was clearly wavering.

Even the Earl’s goods he had collected through ordinary channels during his investigations did not reach a purity as high as eighty-five percent.

With mana of such high purity, he could firmly control the high-end market—the most influential core group of clients.

Once that customer base was secured, combined with certain sales strategies, it could also drive the sales of lower-purity mana.

As long as there was enough supply, not only could he firmly hold South Harbor County, he might even have the chance to seize business from the Earl’s territory!

Father Auden noticed the desire revealed in the boss’s eyes and calmly advised him:

“My old friend, you should calm down. This unknown young man has killed Caron Eso. Things here will soon change completely—the balance of the past has already collapsed. Let me tell you what will happen next. The Church will soon send an investigation team down from the center.

“A more troublesome figure will take over Caron’s position. This person may even be connected to the Earl. He will spare no cost to investigate the reason behind Caron’s disappearance and strike at local industries. You will become the Church’s primary target. So your best choice now is to kill this man and withdraw from this business to avoid bringing disaster upon yourself.”

“When the Earl gets involved, you tell me to back off. Is that really what you want—to see me surrender?” the boss said unhappily at Father Auden’s advice.

“You still have many safe industries. If you take a single wrong step here, you’ll lose everything. I only hope you can minimize your losses,” Father Auden replied calmly.

Leon grew increasingly wary of this priest.

It seemed this old man played a role similar to a strategist or adviser beside the boss, wielding considerable influence.

Unlike Garcia, Father Auden held no direct hostility toward him.

He was simply viewing Leon, who had appeared here, as an unstable factor from the boss’s standpoint.

But in terms of threat level, the current Father Auden far surpassed Garcia!

The drooping corners of Garcia’s mouth lifted slightly again.

He knew Father Auden was deeply trusted by the boss, and his advice carried significant weight.

More importantly, Father Auden was effectively standing on his side now!

“Heh. So killing Caron Eso is my fault now?” Leon suddenly stared at the boss and sneered.

“Get this straight—if your people hadn’t sold me out to Caron, would I have gone this far?”

Hearing this, the old shopkeeper instantly turned deathly pale.

Leon had ultimately exposed his affair!

The boss thought for a moment, then reacted, raging as he glared at the old shopkeeper, crushing the cigar in his hand out of shape.

“Roddy, was it you?”

The old shopkeeper staggered backward, face ashen, and turned to Leon in disbelief.

“Didn’t you promise?”

“You also promised to keep your mouth shut,” Leon replied coldly.

Then he shifted his gaze to the others.

“Oh, right—aren’t you all curious how I killed Caron?”

Just as everyone was puzzled by his words, Leon raised his hand and bit his finger.

Purplish-Red Blood immediately seeped out from his fingertip and dripped down, then transformed into Purple Smoke.

The instant they saw the Cursed Blood, an instinctive intimidation was projected directly into everyone’s consciousness.

Even the always-calm Father Auden revealed a trace of fear in his eyes and subconsciously stepped back.

“You bastard!” Garcia and the remaining two bodyguards immediately tensed up, looking ready to fire at any moment.

“Don’t move,” Leon said with a smile, stopping them.

“Kill me, and everyone here will die. Before coming, I drank a Magical Potion—a very powerful one. If I die here, my corpse will immediately explode, and poisonous gas will fill the entire estate…”

Passing a witch’s blessing off as his own ability would likely not convince anyone and would reveal unnecessary information.

Calling it a potion was far more persuasive.

“I’ve never heard of such a thing. Wouldn’t you poison yourself first?” Father Auden was clearly skeptical.

“Seems your understanding of Magical Potions isn’t deep enough. Now you can broaden your horizons!”

After speaking, Leon suddenly pointed at the old shopkeeper beside him.

The blood droplets on his finger splashed out.

The old shopkeeper screamed and dodged aside.

The droplets he avoided evaporated into poisonous mist beside him.

The old shopkeeper’s expression suddenly changed.

An intense numbing sensation spread from his abdomen, as if something had blocked his windpipe, leaving him completely unable to breathe.

He clutched his throat in suffocation and then froze in that posture.

His joints hardened within seconds, and the stiffness quickly spread throughout his body.

Everyone except Leon watched in terror as his body turned plaster-gray and then gradually seeped out transparent crystals.

In just a few seconds, he became a stone statue.

The few drops of Cursed Blood Leon had scattered were, even with direct contact, insufficient to be so rapidly lethal.

This was entirely the effect of Leon having the old shopkeeper drink the Cursed Blood beforehand, then activating it with his ability.

But in the eyes of the others, the old shopkeeper had merely gotten close to Leon’s blood and seemingly come into contact with a bit of poisonous mist, ending up like this.

The claim that the corpse would explode into poisonous gas was something Leon had made up on the spot—he had never died before.

But after such a visual performance, it should be more than enough to make them believe it.

Even if they merely suspected it, they would not dare gamble on it.

Thus, he seized the initiative!

“I’ve taken care of the traitor for you. Now, what are you going to do next?”

Leon calmly looked at the completely stunned boss and the others, stepping forward.

The people on the other side of the table retreated one after another.

“What? Still pointing guns at me? Aren’t you afraid of an accidental discharge?” Leon grinned at Garcia, spreading his hands.

“Then shoot. Let’s all die together! Come on—shoot!!”

Garcia’s hand trembled uncontrollably.

The fear he had felt that night in the tavern resurfaced, swelling several times over.

The madness he had sensed from this Inquisitor back then had been only the tip of the iceberg!

“Put the guns down, all of you!!” the boss suddenly snapped awake and barked the order at his men.