What Witch? This Alchemist is Breaking Bad!

Hamel Town’s Labyrinth.

Leon and Rena stood side by side before the breeding pool, carefully observing the magical beasts inside.

“About half of them aren’t moving anymore,” Leon said.

“They’re still alive, just in hibernation. With sufficient food supply, they won’t die for the time being. But when Mana is lacking, magical beasts gradually weaken and frequently enter hibernation. The Mana in this labyrinth really is about to be exhausted—the Mana concentration simply can’t sustain this many magical beasts,” Rena said.

“If I gather plants from other labyrinths and feed them, would that improve things?” Leon asked.

“It’d only be a drop in the bucket.” Rena shook her head.

“If we slaughter about half of them now, we should at least be able to ensure the remaining magical beasts return to a normal state.”

“We still need this scale. Let’s keep the magical beasts for now and prioritize clearing a new labyrinth as soon as possible,” Leon said, turning his gaze toward the wall on the other side of the workshop.

Several chains were fixed into the wall, their other ends tightly binding a petrified Demonic Wolf.

After capturing this Demonic Wolf Pack Leader from the labyrinth on Arend Island and dragging it back, Leon had transported it all the way into Hamel Town’s Labyrinth.

He intended to use this Demonic Wolf for an experiment.

“I’ll say this upfront—I really haven’t tried controlling a large magical beast like this before—” Rena said, sounding somewhat lacking in confidence.

“It’s fine. We won’t know unless we try,” Leon said as he picked up a gun, carefully keeping some distance from the Demonic Wolf.

He focused his attention on it and attempted to lift the curse.

Along with a faint sizzling sound, wisps of white mist began to rise from the petrified Demonic Wolf’s body.

Soon after, its rigid body softened once more.

Vitality returned to the body.

The Demonic Wolf’s chest began to rise and fall, and with a spasm, it jolted awake from unconsciousness.

Leon had already tested his curse ability several times.

As long as he slightly controlled the intensity, he could keep a cursed creature alive for over ten hours without killing it.

If he lifted the curse again within that time limit, the target would revive, albeit much weaker.

The awakened Demonic Wolf sprang up abruptly, letting out an angry roar from its throat, startling Rena into instinctively taking a step back.

The Demonic Wolf’s body was far tougher than that of ordinary creatures.

After several hours of petrification, it was still brimming with vigor.

“It’s fine.” Leon patted Rena on the shoulder to reassure her.

The moment the Demonic Wolf saw Leon, it became violently agitated and immediately charged toward him, only to be yanked back hard by the chain bound tightly around its neck.

Its mouth was also tightly wrapped in chains, leaving it unable to open at all.

Sensing the restraints, the Demonic Wolf began to struggle frantically, but the chains Leon had prepared were simply too sturdy.

“Give it a try,” Leon said to Rena.

Rena calmed her nerves, focused her attention on the Demonic Wolf, and began circulating her Mana.

Just as she did when controlling other magical beasts, she attempted to manipulate this Demonic Wolf and make it calm down.

Leon had previously fed this Demonic Wolf a bait agent mixed with her blood sample.

This allowed Rena to exert control over it through her “Blood Pact” blessing.

This kind of control was far stronger than directly manipulating a magical beast through will alone.

The Demonic Wolf suddenly felt an overwhelming drowsiness.

Its gaze quickly changed as it slipped into a hazy, half-awake state.

An invisible hypnotic force slowly guided its consciousness into synchrony with Rena’s will, rendering it completely obedient to her control.

Suddenly, the Demonic Wolf jolted awake, and thoughts of resistance surged forth.

It bared its fangs at Rena with all its might, letting out a threatening roar.

As a third-level magical beast, its Mana level made it far harder to hypnotize.

Moreover, it was the leader of a wolf pack—how could it willingly submit to the control of another existence?

“Seems like it’s not working,” Rena sighed softly.

“Not necessarily. Let’s try again,” Leon said, fixing his gaze on the Demonic Wolf as he attempted to activate the power of his Cursed Blood.

The curse that had just been lifted flared up once more.

The Demonic Wolf’s body convulsed violently, as if struck by lightning.

Once again, it felt that instinctive, near-death intimidation, along with the intense discomfort of its body being eroded.

It couldn’t help but let out a shrill howl.

Leon shot Rena another look.

She immediately understood and tried once again to assert control over the Demonic Wolf.

The Demonic Wolf’s body trembled incessantly, seemingly still struggling against the drowsiness brought on by Rena’s hypnotic power.

After a while, it forced itself to bare its fangs at Rena again, letting out another low growl.

Still daring to bare your fangs? Seeing this, Leon showed it no mercy and once again activated the power of his Cursed Blood.

The Demonic Wolf’s low growl turned into another sharp cry.

After another bout of convulsions, it nearly collapsed.

Leon deactivated his ability and looked at Rena.

Rena cooperated and tried once more.

The Demonic Wolf again sensed the intent of domination coming from Rena.

This time, it didn’t dare bare its fangs or growl, but a trace of resistance still lingered.

It raised its eyes to look at Rena, clear unwillingness visible within them.

Leon let it “experience” the Cursed Blood again.

This time, the Demonic Wolf let out a miserable howl.

The last remnants of its resistance finally crumbled.

Realizing that every emergence of defiant thought would bring torment, its head drooped, and its taut body relaxed.

“Try again,” Leon said, feeling that they were close.

Rena continued to use the power of the Blood Pact.

This time, she clearly felt her Mana finally flow through unobstructed.

All emotion vanished from the Demonic Wolf’s eyes, replaced by a hollow emptiness.

“Sit,” Rena tried issuing a command while transmitting her intent.

The Demonic Wolf sat down as ordered, like a tamed hunting dog.

“It worked—” Rena let out a sigh of relief.

“Good. Now we have a way to deal with that pack of Demonic Wolves,” Leon said, very satisfied with the result.

If even this Demonic Wolf Pack Leader could be tamed, then the remaining Demonic Wolves should be manageable with the same method.

They had already found a way to clear this labyrinth.

Moreover, the experiment had proven that his Cursed Blood and Rena’s Blood Pact could be used in tandem.

A curse that intimidated creatures on an instinctive level, combined with a hypnotic ability that compelled magical beasts to obey—one hand holding the whip, the other the sugar.

Even third-level magical beasts that were originally untamable could be brought under their control.

“If this could be used on humans, that’d be terrifying,” Leon suddenly blurted out as a whim crossed his mind.

Rena looked at him in surprise.

Then Leon thought of something else and turned to ask her, “Does your ability work on humans? Have you ever tried it?”

“How could I possibly have tried that!” Rena shot him an exasperated look.

“So that means it’s not necessarily ineffective?” Leon said thoughtfully.

Controlling magical beasts was a witch’s basic ability.

On top of that, each witch possessed an additional blessing that varied from person to person.

His Cursed Blood was effective on all living beings.

By that logic, an ability like Blood Pact might not be limited to magical beasts alone.

In many legends, witches were said to possess the power to bewitch humans as well.

“It feels like you’re thinking about something really scary—” Rena said, eyeing Leon uneasily.

Leon shrugged and set the thought aside for the time being.

What mattered now was acquiring a new labyrinth.

Since they had confirmed that his blood and Rena’s could control Demonic Wolves, all that remained was to gather manpower, make preparations, and begin clearing the labyrinth.

That night, Leon went to a tavern in the eastern district of Hamel Town.

This tavern had once been Potter’s property.

When Leon had previously supplied goods to Potter, he had met with Father Auden here once.

Father Auden had arranged to meet him here today.

When Leon arrived at the entrance, he saw a sign hanging on the door that read “Reserved Today.”

He pushed the door open and walked straight in.

Over twenty people were seated in the tavern hall.

The moment Leon entered, the previously noisy hall fell silent, all eyes focusing on him—including the bartender wiping glasses behind the counter.

Leon walked into the tavern under everyone’s gaze, his expressionless eyes sweeping across all those present.

He spotted Father Auden and Simon among them.

Father Auden was the first to stand and walk toward Leon.

Then Simon, along with the subordinates seated at his table, also stood up and cast respectful looks toward Leon.

Seeing this, the others rose as well, all turning their attention toward him.

“From today onward, all of these people will work for you, Fenrir. This is the contract—same as when they were under Potter,” Father Auden said, handing Leon two parchment scrolls.

Leon took the contracts and skimmed through them.

Potter had hired these thugs under the guise of employing them as merchant caravan guards.

Their base pay was actually not high—only around four thousand Fenni each.

With twenty people here, the monthly wage expense alone came to about eighty thousand Fenni.

For each additional security assignment, he would need to provide bonuses.

This labyrinth-clearing operation followed the same standards as the previous carriage robbery operation: three captains, including Simon, would each receive twenty thousand, while the rest would receive ten thousand.

That meant Leon would need to pay a total of two hundred and thirty thousand Fenni to deploy this private armed force for the labyrinth operation.

This was an amount Leon could still afford.

Aside from the two million provided by the Earl, after obtaining Potter’s client list from the priest, he had already begun producing and selling magical potions.

His contract with the Earl only covered Mana of sufficient purity.

Any Mana or magical beast materials that didn’t meet the requirements, he had found ways to sell off to supplement his funds.

Leon glanced at the priest.

This time, the priest hadn’t specified a brokerage fee in the contract.

“The brokerage fee won’t be necessary. If you’re hiring them long-term, you can’t keep using dirty money. You’ll need me to handle the accounts. I’ll just charge the processing fees for that,” the priest explained, understanding Leon’s meaning.

Leon smiled somewhat helplessly.

Father Auden truly never came out at a loss.

He continued reviewing the contract and lowered his voice to ask the priest, “So it looks like all I need to do is pay them? I don’t need to provide any additional guarantees?”

“Doing this kind of work means life and death are on them. The compensation you’re paying is already sufficient,” the priest replied matter-of-factly.

Leon thought for a moment, then said in a low voice, “I want to add a clause to the contract.”