What Witch? This Alchemist is Breaking Bad!

The next day, in the Director’s Office of the Inquisition.

“The labyrinth was exhausted? Oh, as expected.” After listening to Leon’s explanation, Bishop Becket, who was seated behind the desk, showed no surprise at all.

“Not bad. You discovered this problem earlier than I had anticipated.”

“You already knew?” Leon could not help but frown.

“I have experience sealing labyrinths. A labyrinth that had been sealed for thirty years, then had magical beasts bred inside it by you for a year, and afterward underwent another sealing—being close to exhaustion now is perfectly normal. The number of magical beasts you raised inside was so large that it further accelerated the depletion of mana.

But no matter what, the total amount of mana you could extract from it was always limited.” Bishop Becket spread his hands.

“This is such critical information. I think it should have been shared in advance,” Leon said, staring at Bishop Becket.

“The exhaustion of the labyrinth was only our estimate, not something completely certain. It required someone to verify it, and now you have completed that verification. Moreover, even if the labyrinth had not yet been exhausted, it would have been sooner or later. What you possessed was a mine that would eventually be dug dry.

“In this state, it cannot provide the Earl with long-term, stable supply. You must solve this problem before you are qualified to take over South Harbor County’s territory and become the Earl’s most stable supplier.” Bishop Becket spoke earnestly.

“So this was the real difficulty of this mission?” Leon finally understood.

The exhaustion of the Hamel Town labyrinth meant that he had to find a new breeding site—that is, a labyrinth.

This was the most fundamental and important resource for producing mana.

“That’s right. This problem is for you to solve yourself,” Bishop Becket said.

“If I’m to find another sealed labyrinth, I’d have to retrieve records from other Inquisitions, and I’d also have to worry about being investigated at any time—” Leon pondered.

There should be other sealed labyrinths within South Harbor County, but those would be under the responsibility of the Inquisitions of other towns.

Even the secret entrances used for inspections were known only to those Inquisitions.

And the biggest problem was that once he left Hamel Town, he would no longer have Bishop Becket’s protection.

Leon was not sure whether the Earl’s influence was sufficient for other Inquisitions to also turn a blind eye to this sort of matter.

If that happened, the scene of the workshop inside the labyrinth being raided might very well be reenacted.

But if he looked for an unsealed, active labyrinth, wild magical beasts would be rampant inside, making it impossible to carry out breeding at all.

Relying purely on hunting magical beasts was far less efficient for obtaining mana than breeding, and casualties would be very likely.

Most critically, if it was an active labyrinth registered with the Church, once the Church was prepared, it would dispatch a knight order to seal it.

At that point, they would all be wiped out in one sweep.

Seeing Leon’s troubled expression, Bishop Becket smiled and finally offered advice: “Leon, I think you can look for a labyrinth that the Church considers to have no sealing value. Then completely purge it once, station personnel there, and deal with any wild magical beasts as soon as they spawn. After you have fully controlled this active labyrinth, you can begin breeding inside it. That way, you can produce mana continuously.”

Hearing this, Leon began to think.

Was this asking him to imitate the knight orders—purging a labyrinth and then claiming it as his own asset? It actually sounded feasible.

No matter how numerous the magical beasts in a labyrinth were, even if they surged out, they could not stray far from the labyrinth’s area.

If there were no nearby settlements and no important natural resources, the Church generally would not deliberately sacrifice a knight order to carry out a sealing, and such labyrinths would be left behind.

“Thank you for your advice. I’ll go ask around right away. Farewell, sir.” Leon quickly made up his mind and left the Director’s Office.

Leon first searched through relevant records in the Inquisition’s archives, then left the Inquisition and headed for the East District Church.

“So you want a living labyrinth that won’t draw the Church’s attention?” Father Auden confirmed after hearing Leon’s request.

“Yes. Those magical beast hunters you know—they should have labyrinths they frequent, right?” Leon asked.

“They do have some that meet your requirements, but they’re very far away, basically all outside South Harbor County. You have to understand, labyrinths that the Church can’t be bothered to seal are extremely remote.” The priest shook his head, then suddenly thought of something.

“Wait a moment!”

The priest stood up and began rummaging through his study.

In the end, he took out a file folder clipped with several contracts, placed it on the desk, and flipped through it.

As he read, Father Auden suddenly chuckled.

“What did you find?” Leon leaned over to look and read aloud the place name marked in the file.

“Arend Island?”

“I really didn’t expect this bad asset that’s been rotting in my hands to finally be useful!” Father Auden looked delighted.

“Fenrir, this island has the labyrinth you want!”

“I saw it in the Inquisition’s records. Isn’t Arend Island a fief of a noble? The lord is a Viscount. Would a place like that really be left unattended?” Leon felt uneasy.

“Don’t worry, Fenrir. Viscount Arend is so deep in debt that he’s fallen to the point where he can’t even sell his title or his daughter. This island stopped being his long ago—he can’t manage his own territory anymore.” Father Auden laughed.

“Debt? Who does he owe?” Leon asked.

“It used to be Potter. Now the creditor is a merchant consortium related to Potter, which I handle.” Father Auden explained.

“You even took down nobles with territories?” Leon was a little surprised.

“That’s because this generation’s Viscount Arend is trash among trash, scum among scum. The previous Viscount Arend was a capable man. He made his fortune through trade, bought this island, and used certain connections to obtain the viscount title.

“There was iron ore on the island at first. He planned to operate the iron mine and build a harbor to revitalize the family business. But the mine suddenly underwent labyrinthization and became impossible to extract. Not long after, he fell ill and died.

“Then his son, the second-generation Viscount, turned out to be a useless gambling addict, a lump of mud that couldn’t be molded. He was set up by Potter’s casino and lost tens of millions of assets, even mortgaging all the industries of the territory. After losing everything, he still refused to stop.

“Now there’s no hope at all of him repaying that debt. What Potter used to value was the harbor on Arend Island, but last year a tornado tore it completely apart.

“The island’s mine was labyrinthized, and the harbor was gone. It became a bad asset under Potter’s control. The only things with any remaining value were Viscount Arend’s title—and his daughter. It’s said his daughter is extremely beautiful, a famous beauty far and wide. But first, their title is already useless, and second, no matter how beautiful his daughter is, she’s not worth thirty million.” Father Auden explained.

“This labyrinth—the Church won’t intervene?” Leon confirmed.

“The Church won’t. It’s an island. Even if there’s a labyrinth on it, it won’t affect areas outside the island. Now there are barely any residents left on the island anyway, and Viscount Arend can’t afford the Church’s donations. The Church gave up on this place long ago.” Father Auden spread his hands.

“To ordinary people, this is a completely worthless bad asset. But to you, it’s different.”To others, a labyrinth meant danger and loss. But to Leon, it was like a gold mine.

“However, I’m not sure what kind of magical beasts are inside. No one has conducted a dedicated investigation yet,” Father Auden emphasized.

“Let’s depart now. Take me to have a look.” Leon made his decision immediately.