What Witch? This Alchemist is Breaking Bad!

“So your wife’s grave is in that cemetery?” Leon casually asked.

“Mm. But let me make this clear first, even if you do something to that orphanage or dig up that woman’s grave, I honestly wouldn’t care. Having one less burden would actually make things easier for me, so you’d better not think you can use that to threaten me into doing things in the future.” Father Auden said with a completely indifferent expression.

“Are you imagining me as a little too deranged?” Leon frowned.

Father Auden shrugged.

“Still, your story is pretty good.” Leon commented.

“So in the end, you still don’t believe me.” Father Auden said.

“How many stories has an old swindler like you fabricated? There’s no way to verify any of this. That orphanage might even be an institution you use for Money Laundering, and it wouldn’t be strange for you to regularly inspect how they handle your money. Of all the projects you’ve used for Money Laundering until now, which one didn’t have some kind of backstory?” Leon said.

Using welfare projects as a front for Money Laundering was far too common. If that orphanage really had been established by Father Auden as a facility for Money Laundering, then naturally he could call it whatever he wanted.

Given the Priest’s style, using a Fake Marriage to handle assets would not be strange either.

Even if there truly had been such a deceased wife, the details of that story could not be verified at all. A story like this could even be used at the right time to slightly alter people’s impression of his notorious reputation, allowing him to deceive others more smoothly.

None of that was impossible.

“That’s true.” Father Auden did not deny it, “But whether you believe it or not doesn’t really matter to me. Even if the story was fabricated, it wasn’t made for you.”

“But if that story of yours is all true, wouldn’t that mean I can’t find anyone around me who’s more of a bastard than I am?” Leon suddenly remarked.

“What do you mean?” Father Auden did not understand.

“Funding an orphanage, taking care of the families of dead comrades, buying back one’s family, studying knowledge and developing technology, treating illnesses and saving lives, rescuing one’s family……all of you have noble goals. Only I, when all is said and done, am doing everything for myself.” Leon said somewhat ruefully.

“What’s wrong with living for yourself?” Father Auden asked in return.

Leon thought for a moment, then smiled: “True, what’s wrong with living for yourself.”

“We should just focus on doing our own jobs properly. So, with the Charitable Fund Miss Adele set up for you, that troublesome person you mentioned should be manageable now?” Father Auden confirmed with Leon.

“Hopefully.” Leon replied.

……

Three days later, at the Arend Island Docks, aboard an Armed Commercial Cargo Ship docked at the pier, the deck was nearly filled with fully armed personnel. These people were clearly divided into two groups, one consisting of sailors from the ship, all Johnny’s subordinates, while the other consisted of Mercenaries from the docks, Guards Leon had stationed there.

The two groups stood in formation facing each other on the deck, fully prepared, but there was no obvious atmosphere of imminent conflict.

They were merely waiting, waiting for the outcome of the negotiations inside the captain’s cabin.

At this moment, inside the captain’s cabin, Leon and Johnny sat across from each other with the nautical chart table between them. Beside Johnny was a gentlemanly man wearing a monocle, rapidly comparing the materials Leon had handed over with the donation accounts their side had recently collected.

The materials Leon had given them were organized by Adele, with the entries clearly arranged, so the comparison proceeded quite smoothly.

“There are no problems at all, Captain.” The man respectfully handed the materials to Johnny, “We also confirmed previously that the people on the first batch of the list have already successfully received the donations.”

Johnny silently took the materials and glanced at Leon. Leon’s expression remained calm as he waited for Johnny’s response.

Johnny pulled out a Letter of Authorization signed by Leon from the materials and handed it to the man beside him: “Then go finish the remaining procedures.”

“Yes, Captain.” The other man respectfully saluted, took the Letter of Authorization, and left.

Using that Letter of Authorization, Johnny’s subordinate would nominally manage the operation of this Charitable Fund on behalf of Viscount Arend.

From now on, Leon only needed to be responsible for raising money for this fund, while the entire operation would be handed over to Johnny’s people. They would be responsible for delivering the money into the hands of those who needed it.

After that man left with the Letter of Authorization, Leon asked: “Well, does this count as meeting your requirements?”

“The money in this Charitable Fund isn’t even enough to cover one year of expenses. Even when Mastan first hired me, he wasn’t as stingy as you.” Johnny was still nitpicking.

“I told you, if you want me to pay enough, then you need to help me take the other territories.” Leon said.

During this period, he had been focusing the Labyrinth on expanding the breeding scale of Magical Beasts. The number of slaughtered Magical Beasts had decreased, and Magic Essence output had also declined somewhat. Since he had cut off supply to the other territories after the Earl’s death, the pressure on Magic Essence production had actually not been that great.

Although he no longer needed to hand over a share to the Earl, his overall income had still decreased. Meanwhile, the initial investment spent on Johnny’s Charitable Fund and the territory’s Money Laundering projects had been enormous.

Even without those expenditures, Johnny’s previous total asking price would still have been difficult to fully afford even with the income from his two territories.

He had to obtain shares from the other territories.

“Don’t worry. Since my boss can’t even afford to pay me unless I work hard, what choice do I have besides working hard?” Even now, Johnny still did not forget to mock Leon, “From now on, I’ll help you handle threats outside your territory, and I’ll also arrange the transportation after your goods leave your territory. I’ll also help you take the Earl’s remaining territories.”

“Are we going to attack one territory first to make an example of it?” Leon asked.

With the combined strength of him and Johnny, taking any Cadre’s territory would be effortless. Rapidly suppressing one Cadre’s territory through force would be enough to intimidate the rest.

Johnny laughed disdainfully upon hearing this: “Why are you still thinking like some street punk who solves everything by gambling his life? You got addicted to fighting to the death just because you happened to kill the Earl through sheer luck?”

“You’re the one addicted to mocking me, aren’t you? If you have advice, just say it directly. Stop being sarcastic all the time.” Leon replied.

“Your first objective now is to sit in the Earl’s position, so you need to properly learn how the Earl handled things. When dealing with ordinary Cadres like these, would he personally step in?” Johnny said.

“He personally stepped in when dealing with me.” Leon spread his hands.

“That was because you bastard kidnapped his daughter, and think about what happened after he personally stepped in. You should understand this principle too. One of the Earl’s greatest mistakes was trying to personally execute you. His status and his forces were far stronger than yours.

But if he gambles his life against you, then both of you only have one life, and many of those advantages disappear completely. For someone in a high position to gamble his life against someone beneath him is a losing proposition no matter how you calculate it. If you want to sit in a high position, you need to learn how people in high positions think. There are many ways in this world to intimidate others. It doesn’t necessarily require bloodshed, and at the very least, it doesn’t necessarily require you personally stepping in to shed blood.” Johnny slowly said.

The Earl’s way of thinking……Leon silently mulled over those words.

Johnny’s point was not without reason. All along, from a Magic Essence dealer in Hamel Town to a Cadre under the Earl, Leon had fought and killed his way upward.

Ultimately, the fact that he had managed to kill the Earl was only because he had happened to seize the opportunity to drag the Earl into a field Leon excelled at. Leon was accustomed to fighting for his life, while the Earl had long since forgotten what that felt like.

The Earl had occupied a high position for many years. Although he had almost forgotten how to fight personally, when it came to that top-down style of management, the Earl had indeed been far more adept than Leon. If Leon wanted to climb to the Earl’s position in the future, or even higher, he would have to learn a different way of dealing with the world.

“Teach me what I should do.” Leon said.

“I’ll teach you. I’ll package the remaining territories and arrange them for you. Just behave yourself and wait for my notification.” Johnny seemed too lazy to explain further.

“How long do I need to wait?” Leon asked.

“Within a month, I’ll have it arranged for you.” Johnny replied.

“Good.” Leon nodded.

“Don’t forget, I’m only trading with you because circumstances forced me to. That doesn’t mean I’ve stopped caring about what happened before. At the end of the day, right now you’re only barely allowing me to maintain the situation I had before.” Johnny pointed at Leon as he warned him.

“I never planned on winning your goodwill either, Johnny. You think I’m valuable to you, so you trade with me. Do you think I’m any different?” Leon asked in return.

“Hmph. Then why are you still sitting here, waiting for me to have a drink with you to celebrate our cooperation?” Johnny spread his hands.

“Fine, I’ll wait for your news.” Leon stood up, preparing to say goodbye.

But at that moment, Johnny suddenly added: “Kid, you should understand that with the cards currently in your hand, forget surpassing the Earl, even becoming the Earl is impossible. I’ll tell you in advance, even if we don’t count the Foyle Region that the Earl handled personally, your current Labyrinth output is still insufficient to satisfy all the territories.”

“I’m already expanding production.” Leon said.

“The output of one Labyrinth still isn’t enough. In fact, the Magic Essence you supplied accounted for less than forty percent of the Earl’s total demand.” Johnny said.

“For the remaining portion, did the Earl still rely on imports from the Witches’ Assembly?” Leon asked.

“Yes. Even after obtaining supply from you, in order to meet the remaining demand and also maintain relations with the Witches’ Assembly, the Earl still chose to continue purchasing goods from them.” Johnny said.

“Then can’t we do the same? You managed the Earl’s Overseas Transportation, didn’t you?” Leon asked.

As for the Witches’ Assembly, after the Earl’s death, they should urgently need to support the next Earl.

“You’re serious? The problem is that you’re the culprit who got the Earl killed, and you’re also producing Magic Essence, making you their competitor. More importantly, your influence can’t compare to the Earl’s. Killing you wouldn’t carry much consequence. Tell me, once those Great Witches learn of your existence, do you think they’ll choose to eliminate you first and then support someone controllable, or let a lunatic like you who got the Earl killed replace the Earl?” Johnny pointed at Leon and asked in return.

“Fine, but……they’ll probably find out sooner or later that the Earl is dead, right?” Leon said.

And if the Witches’ Assembly maintained continuous contact with the Underground Market on this side, they could further learn that Fenrir, a Cadre under the Earl, had eliminated the Earl on Arend Island. This was already no secret in the Underworld.

“Moirland is far away, so it’ll take some time for news from here to reach them, but you should still be careful. The Great Witch who cooperated with the Earl, Arachne, is a complete lunatic. If possible, I truly don’t want to deal with her any more than necessary.” Johnny lightly shook his head, “For you, perhaps the threat from the Witches’ Assembly is actually even greater than the threat from the Church.”