What Witch? This Alchemist is Breaking Bad!

River Mouth Village, Rena’s wooden cabin.

“…That’s the current situation.” Leon stood in front of Rena and explained their present predicament in full detail, step by step.

Throughout the entire process, Rena’s reaction shifted from shock to bewilderment.

Only at the end did she finally calm down a little.

After listening to Leon’s explanation and thinking it over repeatedly, she spoke to confirm with him, “So we now have to supply two hundred grams of mana within one year?”

“I’m the one who has to do that.” Leon looked at Rena and reminded her, “Rena, you still have other choices.”

“They know I’m a Witch. Will they really let me go?” Rena frowned in confusion.

“The case closure report will be out soon. By then, your release pending investigation will end as well. Without formal suspicion, they can’t mobilize a Church manhunt against you. They can only rely on their own forces, and as long as you leave their territory, they won’t be able to find you, nor will they bother wasting the effort,” Leon said.

“Then wouldn’t the same apply to you?” Rena shot back.

The case was essentially settled.

The Church’s investigative procedures no longer posed a direct threat to the two of them.

The real danger came from the Earl’s forces.

The Earl would not easily allow them to withdraw, but as long as they escaped his sphere of influence, the likelihood of being caught would drop drastically.

“I have to stay. If I can meet their requirements, there’s a chance to save Mrs. Hesh. And if I run away too, if they decide to retaliate against me, Melissa could be in danger,” Leon replied.

He still wanted to find a way to save everyone.

And from Leon’s personal perspective, the conditions offered by the Earl were actually extremely generous—six million in total payment, plus control over the underground market of South Harbor County and the Church’s enforcement power in Hamel Town.

It was undeniably tempting.

“Without me, can you really produce mana of that purity?” Rena pressed on.

The mana Leon refined was generally about five percent lower in purity than Rena’s.

“They provided a batch of processed corpses, including Blessing recipients like Caron. After processing, they can be used to feed Magical Beasts long-term. I should be able to refine that batch to around eighty percent purity. I’ll think of a way to deal with the rest. As for the medicine Mrs. Hesh needs, as long as I have the raw materials, I can prepare it myself. I can also try to continue the research,” Leon answered.

“But what if you don’t meet their requirements? What will they do to you?” Rena revealed her worry.

“As long as I can guarantee a certain level of supply, even if I don’t meet their target, they won’t do anything to me. They’ll still purchase my goods—just that the promised conditions will be withdrawn,” Leon said.

“Then Ms. Sally can’t be saved, right?” Rena confirmed.

“If we both leave, then Mrs. Hesh will have to be sacrificed, and Melissa will also be in danger. So at the very least, I have to stay. In the worst-case scenario, it just means Mrs. Hesh can’t be saved,” Leon said.

“So you’re telling me to leave by myself now?” Rena narrowed her eyes at Leon.

“Rena, last time I forced you into cooperating with me. This time, you have the right to choose. Whatever you want to do, do it. You don’t need to worry about me,” Leon said softly.

“What I want to do?” Rena suddenly stared straight at Leon.

“Yes…” Leon looked at her and suddenly felt a little uneasy.

Rena clearly didn’t look happy.

Rena bit her lip, then suddenly said with a resentful expression, “Right now I just want to hit you!”

Leon was stunned on the spot and couldn’t say a word.

“What kind of feelings do you think I had when I said those things to you back then? And now you’re telling me I can just leave, telling me not to worry about you—how can you even say something like that? To you, do the things I said back then really mean nothing at all?” As Rena spoke, her eyes began to redden.

“That’s not what I meant…” Leon was completely flustered.

Only then did he realize just how much determination Rena had gathered back then to muster the courage to confess her feelings and propose running away with him.

And now he had suddenly changed his mind, even telling Rena she could leave without worrying about him, as if everything between them could be casually discarded.

To Rena, who had made that resolve and confession, this was undoubtedly hurtful.

“Then what do you mean? Say it!” Rena stared unblinkingly at Leon.

“Before asking me what I want, shouldn’t you first make your own thoughts clear?”

Leon stayed silent for a long while before letting out a sigh.

He then looked seriously into Rena’s eyes and finally spoke his true feelings:

“I want you to stay! I’m sorry—I was being stubborn. Without you, this is really difficult for me… I keep saying I’ll think of a way, but the truth is, I don’t know what to do at all. I want you by my side. I want us to save them together! Rena, can you help me?”

Hearing this, Rena sniffed and finally calmed down.

She muttered, “That’s more like it. You’re the one begging me, you know. I’ll reluctantly help you then.”

Hearing Rena’s answer, Leon couldn’t help but laugh.

When he asked for her opinion, he had actually been very nervous.

Even though he said he wanted Rena to choose for herself, he was really afraid she would actually choose to leave.

But Rena had already made up her mind long ago.

Having come this far together, they still chose to accompany each other in the end.

Seeing Leon’s cheeky grin, Rena snorted and turned her head away, “What are you laughing at? So annoying!”

Leon thought for a moment, then tentatively opened his arms toward Rena.

“W-What are you doing?” Rena looked at him nervously.

“Look, the mood has already reached this point…” Leon spread his hands and smiled awkwardly yet politely.

Rena lowered her head, her face flushed.

But in the end, she still carefully stepped closer to Leon.

Leon took the opportunity to pull her into his arms and held her tightly.

Rena wrapped her arms around him as well, pressing her face against his chest.

After a long while, she softly said,

“At this point, I don’t dare hope for any kind of stable life anymore. I accept it. But I’ve ended up like this all because of you, so you have to take responsibility.”

“Mm.” Leon gently stroked her hair.

The girl in his arms was petite and soft, stirring a sense of affection.

After quite some time, Rena finally pulled herself out of Leon’s embrace.

The two looked at each other and smiled shyly.

Then Leon looked at Rena’s face and tentatively leaned closer again.

“What are you trying to do now?” Rena was startled.

“Look, the mood has already reached this point…” Leon raised his eyebrows and reused the same trick.

“It has not! Don’t push your luck!” Rena said, both annoyed and amused, as she pushed Leon’s face away.

“This isn’t playing house. How can a hug alone be enough?” Leon caught Rena’s hand, wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and continued to lean closer.

“Don’t… I-I’m not mentally prepared yet…” Rena was so tense that her whole body stiffened, her face turning bright red.

But in the end, she still closed her eyes.

Leon was actually a little nervous himself.

Their lips met only for an instant—a fleeting kiss like a dragonfly skimming water.

After they parted, Leon lowered his head to look at Rena, while Rena kept her head down, not daring to look at him.

After a moment of silence, Rena shyly asked, “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“It was too fast just now. I didn’t get to feel it properly…” Leon smacked his lips thoughtfully.

“Let’s try again.”

“No way, get away from me!” Rena pushed Leon away in embarrassment this time.

Seeing her reaction, Leon couldn’t help but laugh again.

A moment later, he reined in his smile and said sincerely to Rena, “Thank you, Rena. Really.”

“Who told us to be accomplices…” Rena muttered softly in reply.

After thinking for a moment, she looked at Leon again and asked, “So what do we do next?”

“We wait for now. We have to wait until after the case is closed and Director Aaron is transferred away before we can start working. I also need to find a new place to live first…” Leon said as he thought through the next steps.

“You need to find somewhere to live?” Rena asked instinctively.

“The Hesh family’s house has already been sealed off, and it was mortgaged long ago anyway,” Leon replied.

“Then…” Rena hesitated, as if wanting to suggest something.

Leon sensed it and stared straight at Rena, waiting.

“Then do you want to… just move in with me…”

“Sure!!”

Before Rena could finish, Leon answered eagerly.

“I wasn’t done talking!” Rena was a bit dumbfounded.

“I already heard it. I’ll go back to the team quarters to pack right now!” Leon was already raring to go.

“I—I meant you’d sleep in the empty room my grandmother left behind!” Rena pointed emphatically toward the other room.

“…Of course, that’s exactly what I was thinking,” Leon replied after a brief pause.

Seeing the intense look in the man’s eyes, Rena suddenly felt a sense of crisis.

“Maybe we should forget it…”

Her mind had already conjured an image of this man sneaking into her room while spouting nonsense like “the mood has already reached this point.” Letting someone like this live in her house—wasn’t that inviting a wolf into the home?

“Not the empty room? Then which room would it be…” Leon instantly misinterpreted her meaning, his gaze already drifting toward Rena’s bedroom.

“You’re sleeping in the cellar!!” Rena snapped angrily.