What Witch? This Alchemist is Breaking Bad!

Adele slowly regained consciousness while lying in bed.

The moment she opened her eyes, she saw the familiar ceiling.

She was lying in her own room.

Was it already morning?

Strange...

What day was it today?

She blinked blankly, her mind still in disarray, unable to remember what had happened before she went to bed.

It felt as though she had had a nightmare.

She seemed to remember...

“You’re awake?”

A deep male voice came from beside the bed.

Adele’s eyes widened slightly.

Turning her head, she saw Leon sitting on a chair beside her bed with his arms folded and one leg crossed over the other, quietly watching her.

Adele sharply inhaled.

She instantly became fully awake.

“You!”

She immediately sat upright, clutched the blanket, and hurriedly scooted farther away from Leon.

“What are you doing in my room?”

“Is that how you treat your savior?”

Leon remained seated, calmly asking in return.

Her savior?

Adele froze.

The memories from earlier immediately flooded back into her mind.

Those...

Hadn’t been a nightmare.

They had happened only a short while ago!

“Did... did I faint from fright?”

She blinked as she sought confirmation.

“Yes.”

“You fainted the moment you saw the floor covered in blood.”

“So I carried you back to your room.”

“It’s been about half an hour.”

Leon answered.

“You carried me here?”

The image of Leon carrying her in his arms flashed through Adele’s mind, making her feel rather embarrassed.

Then she suddenly realized something.

She looked down at herself.

She had already changed into a light dress.

“M-My clothes... why were they changed?”

She looked at Leon in alarm.

“They were stained with blood.”

Leon replied calmly, pointing toward the bloodstained long dress spread out on a nearby table.

When Adele had collapsed, Leon had caught her.

As a result, the blood splattered on Leon’s body had stained Adele’s clothes.

“You changed them?”

Adele stared at Leon in horror.

In her mind, she had already imagined this man changing the clothes of her unconscious body.

“Relax.”

“Miss Hayley changed them.”

Leon answered.

“Hayley...”

“Wait... where is she?”

Adele suddenly realized.

Why wasn’t Hayley by her side?

Why would Hayley leave this man alone with her while she was unconscious?

“Miss Hayley resigned.”

“She asked me to give you this letter.”

Leon handed her a folded sheet of paper.

Adele accepted it with some confusion and unfolded it.

”Young Lady Adele,

Please forgive me for leaving without saying goodbye. My abilities are insufficient, and I truly cannot continue fulfilling this position. I sincerely hope that you can find someone more capable to serve as your bodyguard in the future.”

Hayley...

Had actually resigned.

And she had abandoned her at a time like this.

She had even left without collecting the wages for the past half month.

Adele suddenly felt somewhat dejected.

Although...

She couldn’t really blame Hayley.

Following Adele around always led her into situations that no ordinary bodyguard could possibly handle.

This time, she had almost died for no reason at all.

“When she asked me to pass you that letter, you still owed her half a month’s wages.”

“So I paid her on your behalf.”

“She was fairly conscientious right up until the end.”

Leon said.

“She could’ve at least waited until I woke up before leaving...”

Adele muttered with a miserable expression as she uneasily sized Leon up.

Seriously...

Hayley had left her unconscious and alone with this man.

Who knew what could have happened to her?

Could that really be considered responsible?

Leon immediately saw through Adele’s thoughts.

“Don’t be too hard on her.”

“Even if she’d stayed, she couldn’t have stopped me if I’d wanted to do something.”

“It seems she’s just as afraid of me as you are.”

“Besides, Miss Adele...”

“If I’d wanted to do something to you, I would’ve already done it while you were unconscious.”

“And even if I wanted to do something now...”

“You wouldn’t be able to stop me anyway, would you?”

“How am I supposed to feel reassured after hearing that?!”

Adele became even more uneasy.

“For the sake of the fact that I saved your life...”

“Could you at least show me a little trust and respect?”

Leon replied.

“I am grateful that you saved me.”

“But...”

After thinking for a moment, Adele suddenly realized something.

“Those people... what exactly were they?”

“With all due respect...”

“Were they... connected to you?”

Now that she had calmed down somewhat, she finally realized how suspicious the whole incident had been.

There had never been pirates along the coasts of River Valley County or Southport County.

Those people couldn’t possibly have come for her father.

Even if her father had somehow offended someone...

Considering his current situation, he had neither power nor money.

No one would go to such lengths to deal with him.

Why use a cannon to kill a mosquito?

Furthermore...

Those people had first sailed toward Arend Island in overwhelming numbers.

Yet they hadn’t landed on the eastern side of the island where the estate stood.

Instead, they had landed on the western side.

In the end, only around twenty of them had wandered over here.

And almost the moment they entered the estate...

Leon had appeared and killed them.

No matter how she looked at it...

Those people had come for Leon from the very beginning.

Her family had simply gotten caught in the crossfire.

Long ago, she had already begun suspecting Leon of secretly engaging in illegal activities after seeing him associating with Father Auden.

Now it seemed...

Whatever Leon was involved in had attracted such an enormous force to hunt him down.

It definitely wasn’t some petty crime.

“Perhaps.”

Leon merely shrugged.

“Lord Inquisitor...”

“I don’t know what you’re doing over there...”

“But please...”

“Could you spare our family?”

Adele pleaded pitifully.

If she had to experience something like this again...

She genuinely thought she would break down.

“Miss Adele.”

“I think you’ve misunderstood something.”

Leon replied calmly.

“A misunderstanding?”

Adele asked in confusion.

“Allow me to explain what I’ve been doing on the western side of your family’s territory.”

“Just as I explained to you before...”

“The Inquisition, where I serve, suspected that the Labyrinth within your territory posed a risk of expansion.”

“So we organized an investigation.”

“After investigating, we discovered that the depths of the Labyrinth contained a large number of Third-Level Magical Beasts—Demonic Wolves.”

“They presented a considerable threat.”

“At present, we don’t possess the ability to seal the Labyrinth.”

“And for the time being, the Church also cannot spare the necessary resources.”

“However...”

“I believed that if the Labyrinth were ever to erupt, the people living on the eastern side of this island would be endangered.”

“That naturally includes you and your family.”

“So, of my own accord, I built fortifications near the Labyrinth to blockade it.”

“I also hired several monster hunters to keep watch.”

“If the Labyrinth ever erupts one day, they’ll at least buy us some time.”

“I’ll also be able to learn of it immediately and report it to the Church.”

“That’s all.”

Leon explained slowly.

“And you’re still lying at a time like this?”

“You’re even associated with someone like Father Auden!”

“You... you even threatened me before!”

Adele widened her eyes.

She didn’t believe a single word Leon had said.

“Father Auden is also a priest of the Prophet Church.”

“He’s a member of the Church.”

“We’re simply acquainted.”

“He also knows Viscount Arend.”

“So it’s only natural that he introduced me to help resolve the Viscount’s troubles.”

“Of course...”

“If you prefer to say that Father Auden relied on my connections in hopes of restoring your family’s assets as much as possible to help repay the Viscount’s debts...”

“That interpretation works as well.”

Leon replied calmly.

“As for threatening you...”

“I was merely making a few harmless jokes.”

“I didn’t expect you to take them so seriously.”

Adele stared at Leon in disbelief.

His ability to lie with a perfectly straight face was truly extraordinary.

Still...

She also understood that if someone actually investigated the matter...

She had no way of disproving Leon’s explanation.

She possessed no evidence whatsoever that Leon had ever threatened her.

“Then how do you explain today’s incident?”

“So many people came!”

“When investigators arrive, are you seriously going to claim they came after our family?”

Adele couldn’t help asking.

“Those people probably were after me.”

“But I believe I know why.”

“About eight months ago...”

“I performed a major service for the Church.”

“I uncovered assets worth tens of millions belonging to an Underworld Cadre operating in River Valley County and turned everything over to the Church.”

“Perhaps that offended the organization backing that cadre.”

“For the past half year, I’ve also continued investigating that criminal organization and learned quite a bit about it.”

“So it’s entirely possible they targeted me.”

“They waited until today, when I came to Arend Island to inspect the Labyrinth.”

“They dispatched a large force intending to kill me here and dump my body into the sea.”

“In the end...”

“I drove them back.”

Leon slowly narrated the story he had prepared in advance.

“But there were so many of them.”

“How did you deal with them?”

Adele asked in disbelief.

“I deliberately opened the fortifications.”

“Then I lay in ambush nearby.”

“I forged traces that lured them into the Labyrinth.”

“When the Magical Beasts inside attacked them and threw their formation into chaos, they fled back out.”

“My people and I seized the opportunity to launch a surprise attack.”

“They fled.”

“I simply didn’t expect a group of them to panic and run all the way here.”

Leon answered calmly.

This was the story he had fabricated to deal with any future investigation.

The Earl had made such an enormous commotion.

Although he had certainly prepared countermeasures against any investigation by the Church...

Now that he was dead...

Those safeguards might very well collapse.

The cadres who knew Leon’s true identity were unlikely to report him voluntarily to the Church.

If Leon were arrested and forced to reveal the Earl’s organizational network...

They would all be implicated as well.

After all...

They no longer had the Earl’s protection.

On the contrary...

Leon could seize the initiative.

Using his position as an Inquisitor, he could place those very cadres on the Church’s investigation lists first.

When facing a Church investigation...

Leon held an overwhelming advantage over those cadres.

Even so...

Such a massive upheaval within the Underworld...

Combined with the disappearance of the Earl—a man with deep connections inside the Church...

Made it unrealistic to believe the Church would never notice something was wrong.

Leon couldn’t afford to be overly optimistic.

The Church might not know now...

But sooner or later, it would likely discover that the Earl’s disappearance was connected to the Labyrinth on Arend Island.

Even with his position as Director of the Inquisition...

Leon still had to prepare in advance for a Church investigation.

Not only did he need a convincing story and the elimination of every piece of evidence...

He also had to redesign the Labyrinth fortress to fit that story.

Of course...

It would be even better if the Viscount Arend family cooperated with his version of events.