What Witch? This Alchemist is Breaking Bad!

Half an hour later, Leon and Johnny, having regrouped, arrived at a highland near that woodland. Just as Johnny had said, his people had already been stationed here for several days.

After resting at the encampment until close to noon, they finally saw a carriage hurrying over from the direction of the woodland, covered in dust from the journey.

Johnny raised his telescope and looked twice before reminding him: “They're here.”

Leon stepped forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with Johnny and also raised a telescope to confirm it.

He saw a skinny horse, pulling an open flatbed cart reinforced with iron plates.

The driver was a tall woman with her face covered and a hunting rifle slung across her back, while Dorothy herself, wearing a dress and a headscarf, sat on the cart with a small suitcase placed by her feet.

It looked as though Dorothy had come to the transaction without much protection, but when Leon observed more carefully, he noticed a black shadow relentlessly chasing behind the carriage.

It was a dog, looking not much different from the kind of household dog that farm families liked to let run behind carts.

However, Leon still remembered that the dog's true form was the Manticore Dorothy had modified into a Chimera. That thing alone had enough combat power to wipe out a small squad of rigorously trained knights.

The carriage stopped about fifty paces away from them. The woman acting as the driver then got down and helped Dorothy off the carriage, before carrying down Dorothy's suitcase for her.

“I say, can that horse of yours really carry the gold back?” Leon shouted toward Dorothy.

The agreed transaction volume this time was roughly fifty thousand gold shields. Converted entirely into gold of a certain quality, that still weighed several hundred kilograms, so Leon had no choice but to use an entire convoy to haul it.

“Don't worry, Mr. Fenrir, my horse is still strong enough.” Dorothy smiled faintly, turned her head and whistled. That horse suddenly stamped its hoof, and with a loud bang, it smashed a pit into the hard rocky ground.

Leon could tell that this horse, just like the dog transformed from the Manticore, was probably also a monster disguised through the power of Chimera.

“Then, let's inspect each other's goods.” As Dorothy spoke, she had her attendant open the suitcase. Inside were several test tubes filled with mana. Judging from their clarity, the purity seemed fairly high.

After she finished speaking, the attendant carried the open suitcase toward them.

“Wait, put it on the ground.” Johnny suddenly interjected.

Dorothy shrugged when she heard that and had her attendant comply.

The attendant placed the goods on the ground. Johnny clapped his hands, and Leon saw one of his subordinates wearing a protective robe and a bird-beak mask step out of formation. The man went forward and carefully inspected the seals of the quartz test tubes, shook them and held them up to the light for a detailed examination, then took out a bottle of something that looked like distilled liquor and began rinsing the test tubes.

“You really are particular about hygiene.” Dorothy teased.

“With a witch's goods, it's naturally better to be careful, forgive me. I also disinfect the goods when I collect them from Arachne, there's no intention of targeting anyone in particular.” Johnny replied calmly.

Among witches' goods, there was always the possibility that something might be mixed in, miniature monsters, poison, even sources of plague. The Church often declared that plague outbreaks within the country were related to the witches of Moyland. That couldn't entirely be called shirking responsibility either. A Great Witch like Arachne really had once used her Blessing to cause plague disasters.

“No problem, I understand.” Dorothy spread her hands, “Then can I inspect my gold now?”

Leon clapped his hands, signaling his subordinates to unload all the gold and send it over to Dorothy's side.

Afterward, both sides began conducting their own inspections. Dorothy's attendants started examining the gold and weighing it, while Leon also took out some mana himself and began using the methods he had learned from Weiss and Rena to identify the mana's purity, then weighed it.

Both sides quickly finished their inspections. The gold and mana used for the transaction had no problems whatsoever, whether in quality or weight. Dorothy pointed toward the piled gold bars while looking at the dog transformed from the Manticore. The dog immediately began biting down on the heavy gold bars and carrying them onto the cart one by one.

“If you want any specific monster materials, you can contact me at any time, I'll give you a preferential price.” Dorothy said with a smile, “But, I think you'll already have to seriously consider how to deal with all this mana, have you considered expanding the market into the Empire's west?”

“I'll handle it, no need to trouble yourself over it.” Leon answered.

Expanding into the western market was still rather troublesome at present. According to Johnny, it wasn't that the Count had lacked the ability to sell mana into the west back then, but the western nobles didn't get along with him and might have specifically subjected his business to strict inspections. Considering that the risks and returns didn't really match, the Count had chosen stability and rooted his territory in the east.

According to Johnny, it seemed possible to sell magical potions to other countries on the continent outside the Empire. Influenced by the Empire, the countries surrounding the Empire basically also worshiped the Four Origin Gods and regarded Moylai as heretical, but the intensity of suppression depended entirely on how much power the local Church held.

No matter what, the market still existed. They could ship magical potions abroad and dispose of them cheaply, opening up the market while consuming the excess goods.

But if they wanted to transport these things out, it would be best to have import-export business as cover, otherwise, they could easily be discovered by Church troops at the border during the smuggling process.

The Count's territory had always possessed enormous import-export business. Not only did Johnny manage a fleet, the Count himself also had large numbers of merchant ships capable of carrying cargo. While earning money from cross-border business, they could also use it as cover for smuggling, raising the profits another level.

For this reason, Leon had to expand the scale of operations in his territory, so he could obtain the qualifications to engage in import-export business.

Adele was currently using his money to build a new harbor on the eastern side of Allende Island. This was an idea the Viscount of Allende from two generations ago had already had when he first bought Allende Island. Allende Island was actually in a very good location, directly facing the estuary between the River Valley and Southport Counties, and could serve as a hub for maritime transport.

“To ensure stable transactions, I'll remain in the Empire for a period of time, so you can avoid the trouble of transporting goods across the sea. During this period, you can buy as much as possible, otherwise, you'll have to bear the transportation costs for later transactions yourselves.” Dorothy said.

“Then this batch of mana was produced in your own dungeon?” Leon tried asking.

Since Dorothy controlled such a large dungeon, theoretically, she should also possess production conditions no worse than his own.

“Not all of it, I can't keep too many people stationed here. If someone informs on us, we'd all be wiped out in one sweep.” Dorothy raised an eyebrow.

“Wiped out in one sweep? No need to be so modest, Great Witch Dorothy, your ears are so sharp that when the Church wants to find you, you've probably already vanished with your people long before then. How many times has the Church organized capture operations against you over the years, and has even one succeeded?” Johnny said.

“I don't have that much confidence when facing Mr. Fenrir, after all……he has a very special intelligence source.” Dorothy smiled as she looked at Leon, “By the way, I suppose I should congratulate you on your promotion first, Lord Inquisitor.”

“Looks like Johnny was right, your information really is quite fast.” Leon commented.

“Want to keep climbing higher? But if you want to reach the level of Archbishop, I'm afraid you'll need some special achievement.” Dorothy suddenly said.

“For example, capturing you?” Leon casually joked.

“It could also be someone else.” Dorothy smiled faintly.