Chapter 1: The First Shipment

“Your grandmother was a Witch?” Leon was startled, then immediately realized that this was the most reasonable explanation.

“Yes. When she was young, she was. When the labyrinth appeared here back then, she moved to this place and built this altar. When the labyrinth was sealed, she was nearly discovered by the Knight Order. After that, she gave up her life as a Witch, married someone, and had children. After my grandfather passed away, she moved into the mountains to live. She never used Witch powers again, until she herself contracted Saltification Disease. Only then did she purchase Magical Beasts through old channels and begin making Magical Potions again. I was raised by my grandmother. Back then, I begged her to teach me, to let me become a Witch as well. She refused at first, but later her condition worsened, and she quickly became unable to work. She had no choice but to let me help. In the end, she couldn’t win against me, and still presided over the ritual that turned me into a Witch so I could continue researching the special medicine. Unfortunately… in the end, I still couldn’t save her. I think that at the very end, my grandmother probably regretted agreeing to let me become a Witch.” Rena said with a trace of melancholy.

Leon looked at Rena’s profile.

Ever since she had accompanied him to visit Melissa’s home to treat Sally, Rena’s attitude toward him had clearly softened compared to before, no longer carrying vigilance at every turn.

When Leon asked questions everywhere like a diligent student about the process of Mana extraction, Rena no longer coldly cut him off with “none of your business” as she used to.

Although she occasionally revealed impatience, she still basically answered him patiently in the end.

As the time they spent together in the labyrinth workshop grew longer, the two of them became somewhat more familiar than before.

By now, Rena was even willing to confide such past events to him.

Of course, this was also because the fact that her grandmother had been a Witch was no longer particularly important even if Leon knew about it.

After all, she was already deceased, and there was no need to worry about being accused or having leverage held against her.

“I don’t think so. You still have the chance to save other people now. To continue researching with the goal of eliminating Saltification Disease—if your grandmother could know of this in another world, she would definitely be proud of you,” Leon said softly.

This wasn’t just polite talk.

He truly held a degree of respect for Rena’s perseverance in continuing to research a special medicine for Saltification Disease despite the risks.

Rena turned her head to look at him with an expression of surprise, then turned her face back again.

“Did that really need to be said by you?”

About half an hour later, Rena repeated the process of placing the crystal on the altar and using this method of magical distillation to extract it three times.

Afterward, she dipped a glass rod into the crystal, then placed it into a test tube filled with black reagent and stirred.

As she stirred, the reagent gradually turned red, the color becoming lighter and lighter.

After the color stabilized, Rena observed it against the light for a while.

Finally, she took a scale and carefully poured out the finished product to weigh it.

“Six carats finished product. Purity is roughly seventy to seventy-three percent, about the same as last time,” she turned to explain to Leon.

“Then that makes twenty-four thousand Fenni,” Leon nodded.

“All you think about is money. In your eyes, this thing isn’t much different from a gemstone that can be exchanged for cash, is it?” Rena said.

“Gemstones can’t grow endlessly like crops in a field. At this rate, in three months we should be able to get at least ten carats, right?” Leon narrowed his eyes as he stared at the finished product on the scale.

This was the first batch of Mana he had produced since cooperating with Rena.

“That’s assuming there are no difficulties with Magical Beast reproduction,” Rena reminded him calmly.

Leon roughly calculated it in his mind.

If production expanded like this and they could reach an output of thirty carats in two batches per year, they would be able to net six hundred thousand Fenni.

Split evenly, that would be three hundred thousand Fenni each—barely meeting his expectations.

The key point was that as the scale of Magical Beast breeding expanded next year, Mana output would continue to increase, and there was still room for income to rise.

However, aside from production, he would also need to secure sales channels to achieve this goal.

“Do you need Mana when you prepare medicine?” Leon asked.

“Only a tiny amount as an activator. One carat of Mana is enough to formulate three full courses of medicine. The main ingredients in the medicine I prepare are Slime mucus and Head-Hunting Rabbit blood. The rest are just some herbs and minerals,” Rena replied.

“Then let’s keep one carat. That leaves exactly one carat left—I’ll take it to sell first,” Leon said after thinking for a moment.

“So urgent? Not going to stockpile it first?” Rena frowned.

Every transaction involving contraband carried the risk of exposure, so the number of transactions naturally had to be controlled.

In the past, she only shipped goods twice a year, handing them over to Hannah Weisland to sell.

“I need to test the goods through my own channel first. All those early investments have almost drained my savings. Let me recover some capital first,” Leon replied.

Since starting his cooperation with Rena, he hadn’t actually sold goods through that channel yet.

It was best to probe it as early as possible—if there were problems, they could be discovered sooner.

“Alright.” Seeing this, Rena no longer objected.

“Then when you head back, take the medicine for Mrs. Sally with you.”

That evening, on Bourbon Street in Hamel Town, within Snake Mouth Alley, Leon once again arrived in front of the recycling shop engraved with an owl.

He carefully observed it and faintly caught a trace of light leaking out through the door crack.

He stepped forward and pushed the door open.

As the bell behind the door rang, he stepped inside.

The shop was shrouded in darkness, with only the oil lamp on the counter illuminating a small patch of dim yellow light.

The gaunt shop owner was holding a pair of double-lens handheld spectacles at the counter, studying an old book.

Hearing the sound, he casually raised his head to glance over, then suddenly narrowed his eyes, his gaze fixing on Leon.

Clearly, he had some impression of Leon, even if they had only met once more than half a month ago.

“Roddy introduced me,” Leon once again reported the passphrase and shook the black bag in his hand at the shop owner.

Hearing this, the shop owner stood up, went to the door, and peeked outside through the small window.

He then locked the door and gestured for Leon to take the items out and place them on the small table.

After Leon set the items down, the shop owner opened the bag, put on gloves, and began counting.

Halfway through, he suddenly paused and began rummaging through the bag repeatedly.

Seeing this, Leon felt a sense of foreboding.

There were only three processed Head-Hunting Rabbit carcasses and one tube of Mana in his bag—everything was clear at a glance.

There was no need to rummage so carefully.

After turning things over back and forth, the shop owner raised his face again and sized Leon up suspiciously.

“You weren’t introduced by Roddy, were you?”

Leon’s heart skipped a beat.

What he feared had still happened.

It seemed that when the Director handed goods to the shop owner for fencing, in addition to verbal passphrases, there was some unknown mark or token hidden within the goods.

Only if it matched would the shop owner confirm that it was the Director’s merchandise.

Trying to muddle through directly was not that easy!

“If it’s not goods introduced by Roddy, you won’t take them?” Leon still maintained his composure.

This situation was within his expectations.

Even if it was seen through that the goods weren’t fenced by the Director, the transaction could still continue under certain conditions.

This shop owner made his living by purchasing Mana and Magical Beast materials—no one would refuse profit delivered to their doorstep.

“If you touched goods you shouldn’t have touched, I advise you to hurry and return them right now. Otherwise, your end will probably be even more miserable than the worst scenario you can imagine,” the old shop owner said meaningfully as he pushed the items back.

Clearly, he suspected that Leon had privately hidden, or possibly stolen, goods seized by the Inquisition and was now selling them behind the Director’s back.

That would be tantamount to stealing money from the Director’s pocket right under his nose—purely seeking death.

“Then I understand the consequences better than you do. But what if I say that, aside from me, no one knows the source of this batch of goods?” Leon stared into the shop owner’s eyes.

Hearing this, the shop owner remained unmoved and shook his head.

“Young man, if you think that killing the other party when these goods were seized means everything is settled, then I can only advise you to clean it up thoroughly. Otherwise, your trouble will only grow bigger.”

“As long as you keep your mouth shut and I keep mine shut, there won’t be any trouble at all,” Leon said firmly.

“You do business in this line—surely you don’t lack even this bit of courage? There is exactly one carat of Mana here. Are you buying it or not?”

The shop owner’s expression turned serious.

He met Leon’s gaze for a long time, and Leon never once avoided his eyes.

Then, the shop owner spoke.

“Eight thousand Fenni.”

“What?” Leon frowned slightly.

“One carat of Mana, including those three rabbits—eight thousand Fenni,” the shop owner repeated expressionlessly.

“Your goods have an unclear origin. Considering the risk of this transaction, that’s the only price I can offer. If you want to haggle, please leave.”