What Witch? This Alchemist is Breaking Bad!

“Leon? Leon!” Rena called out several times in front of Leon and even tried shaking him.

Leon remained completely still, putting on a vacant, hollow-eyed expression.

Just a moment ago, a mischievous thought had surged through his mind, making him want to see what Rena would do if he pretended to be hypnotized.

“Is he really hypnotized?”

Rena studied Leon in confusion.

Right after the kiss, she had felt something similar to the synchronization of Mana after using a Blood Pact.

But it had only lasted for a brief moment.

That sensation had already disappeared, yet Leon still looked as though he were under her hypnosis.

Could it be that the principle behind charm worked differently?

In that case, did she not need to deliberately stop circulating Mana, and could simply issue a command to dispel the hypnosis?

Rena was a little uncertain.

Legend had it that a Succubus could cast a short-lived charm on someone.

The charmed person would obey the Succubus completely, and all memories during the period of charm would be entirely forgotten.

In other words, at this moment, Leon would obey her every word?

“Leon, shake hands.” Rena tentatively extended her hand.

“Yes.” Leon responded in a flat, emotionless tone and took Rena’s hand.

Realizing that the command truly worked, Rena began sizing Leon up with growing interest and then gave another order, “Give me a princess carry.”

“Yes.” Leon reached out and lifted Rena horizontally into his arms.

For him in his current state, the motion was effortless.

Nestled in Leon’s embrace, Rena felt as though she were curled up in a warm cradle.

Curiously, she reached out to stroke the white fur around Leon’s neck.

The fur that had grown after his transformation was incredibly smooth and soft, wonderfully pleasant to the touch.

Being stroked gave Leon a faint tingling sensation.

It was unexpectedly comfortable.

He did not know whether his senses had changed after transforming, or whether it was influenced by the aura Rena was giving off.

“Let me sit on your shoulders,” Rena added.

“Yes.” Like lifting a child, Leon raised Rena high and let her sit astride his shoulders.

The height made Rena instinctively wrap her arms tightly around Leon’s head.

Then she laughed happily and began repeatedly stroking his head.

“Such a good boy!”

Watching the Werewolf Leon behave like a large doll under her control felt incredibly wondrous to her.

Gently stroking the top of Leon’s head, Rena suddenly asked in a soft voice, “Leon, answer me seriously. Do you truly like me, or are you just responding to my feelings because I like you?”

Leon was momentarily startled.

Thinking about it carefully, he realized that he had never truly expressed his own feelings to Rena.

No wonder she lacked a sense of security.

He gathered his thoughts and replied, “Before I met you, I lived in a muddled haze. Only after meeting you and going through so much this past year did I feel like I had truly lived once. When I was at my most helpless, you were always by my side. Of course I like you, Rena.”

Hypnotized or not, these were his true feelings.

He spoke without the slightest hesitation.

Rena was overjoyed upon hearing this.

She happily ruffled Leon’s head in a frenzy.

After quite a while, she said, “Put me down.”

Leon carefully lowered Rena.

Once on the ground, she still looked at him with a bright smile, then stepped forward and hugged him, rubbing her face against his chest.

Like a little child.

Leon smiled helplessly in his heart.

He had wanted to see whether Rena would do something strange, yet their interaction had turned out—unexpectedly pure.

Sure enough, even after taking on the appearance of a Succubus, Rena was still the innocent and romantic girl he knew.

That was not bad at all.

“Alright, you can wake up now.” Rena clapped her hands experimentally.

Leon put on a dazed expression, blinking repeatedly at Rena as though just waking from a dream.

He looked utterly confused.

“What just happened? Was I hypnotized? What did you do to me?”

Seeing his reaction, Rena revealed a mysterious smile.

“You guess.”

“Did you do something strange to me?” Leon patted himself down and even tugged at his trousers.

“You didn’t peek, did you?”

“How could I!” Rena lightly smacked Leon in annoyance.

After doing so, she stole a quick glance anyway.

“So what exactly did you do?” Leon asked, holding back a laugh.

“Nothing. I just touched the fur on your neck,” Rena replied, looking away.

“That’s really all?” Leon confirmed.

“That’s all this time. Next time might be different.” Rena grinned smugly.

It seemed Rena truly believed the ability had worked on him.

Perhaps if he acted a few more times in the future, he could guide her into doing something more unrestrained.

Leon mused to himself.

At that moment, both of them began to feel the Mana within their bodies gradually settling down.

“It seems this transformation has a time limit.”

Sensing it, Leon simply allowed the Mana to recede like an ebbing tide.

His body quickly returned to normal, and Rena also reverted to her original appearance.

“We’ll experiment with this ability more carefully later. Don’t let anyone else know. For now, let’s seal that Hidden Chamber and avoid approaching it again,” Leon said.

No matter what, it was a good thing that the power of the Blessing had been enhanced.

This ability might become one of their trump cards in the future.

“What about the Doppelganger inside?” Rena asked.

The Doppelganger had been struck by Leon’s curse and was still in a state of Petrification.

“After I lift the curse, see if you can control it and have it come out on its own.

I want to carve out a concealed area in the Labyrinth to keep it for observation,” Leon said after some consideration.

A Doppelganger capable of transforming into various people or Magical Beasts could prove useful in many situations if properly controlled.

After going through some twists and turns to finish exploring the Labyrinth, they now had to think about the work ahead.

“Leon, if we’re going to move those Magical Beasts here to raise them, does that mean we’ll have to live on this island?” Rena asked.

“There are some houses and a well outside the mine. After some renovation, living there shouldn’t be a problem. It just depends on whether you mind,” Leon replied.

“I don’t really mind. But can you handle everything, Leon?” Rena said.

The quota given by the Earl was several times the output they had previously produced from the Labyrinth in Hamel Town.

To meet that target, Rena would need to spend far more energy than before controlling Magical Beasts and refining Mana.

She would also have to prepare and sell Magical Potions, while setting aside time to research medicine for Saltification Disease.

The breeding and slaughtering of Magical Beasts in the Workshop, as well as processing their materials afterward, would be beyond her capacity.

Leon would have to handle those tasks.

In addition, they would need to consider the storage and transportation of Magical Beast materials and Magical Potions, shipping them from Arend Island through the docks to various places in South Harbor County.

This area would also require long-term supervision to prevent outsiders from entering the Labyrinth again.

At the same time, they would need to monitor the Labyrinth for the unexpected emergence of new Magical Beasts—

Clearly, Leon could not manage all of this alone.

On the surface, he was still serving in the Inquisition.

Traveling back and forth between Hamel Town and Arend Island would consume a great deal of time.

Now that they possessed an entire Labyrinth, the scale of production was no longer comparable to the days when they quietly ran a small Workshop hidden within the Labyrinth of Hamel Town.

They were now operating a factory, with many vacant positions requiring additional manpower.

Once more people were involved, logistical supply issues would also arise.

Moreover, those assisting inside the Labyrinth would be exposed to their core production operations, meaning they had to ensure these people were trustworthy.

At this level of consideration, Leon clearly realized that their enterprise was now entirely different from when they had quietly tucked themselves away in the Labyrinth of Hamel Town running that small Workshop.

There were still mountains of issues to handle, but fortunately they were mostly trivial matters.

Leon believed he could manage them.

“I’ll solve these issues. But before that—” Leon looked around the temple and nodded lightly.

His gaze then settled on Rena.

“We should find something decent to change into first.”

The two exchanged helpless smiles.

After their transformations reverted, both Leon’s and Rena’s clothes had been torn to shreds.