Chapter 265: Commercial Crisis in the Underworld Business

After finishing his report, the subordinate handed Leon an official bulletin. The marked section contained news of the Baron’s death. This was an Imperial regulation: when someone holding a noble title died, unless there was a need for confidentiality, the news had to be published in an official bulletin.

However, the report did not mention the specific details of the Baron’s death, much less the cause of death determined by the Inquisition. After all, as far as the family was concerned, dying from poisoning after drinking a Magic Potion was certainly not something glorious enough to announce widely.

Baron Lawrence really was dead…… But poisoning, how was that possible?

That was Leon’s first thought.

After someone drank a Magic Potion and then suffered Magical Beast poisoning, the first reaction of most people would naturally be that something had gone wrong with the Magic Potion.

But all the Magic Potion formulas currently being used here had been developed and inspected by Weiss. There was absolutely no possibility that such a major problem could have originated from the formulas themselves.

He would not casually guarantee the territories overseen by the other executives, but River Valley County was his territory. After Weiss arrived, the production process for Magic Potions had become extremely standardized. Even the external compounding rooms were the same. During training, those pharmacists had all been thoroughly drilled in the laboratory rules and regulations Weiss had established, and Leon had also required those rules to be implemented across every territory.

Nowadays, every Magic Potion compounded here had to undergo animal testing to confirm its safety. Every time a batch was bottled and shipped, its production batch would be recorded.

The containers were also washed and dried. After bottling, they would undergo random inspections as well. Only after every stage had been confirmed free of problems would the bottles and shipping crates be affixed with extremely adhesive seals. The seals had to be inspected before every opening, and if someone opened them midway, traces would almost certainly be left behind. Once any problem appeared, the batch would immediately be recalled for investigation.

As Magic Potions were contraband, from raw materials to finished products, there would always be someone guarding them during storage. Overall, outsiders basically had no opportunity to poison them.

“Only the lowest-level distributors responsible for sales were arrested?” Leon asked his subordinate.

“There’s no problem for now. Everyone has already heard the news.” the subordinate nodded at Leon.

Leon actually was not worried that the downstream distributors who had been arrested could reveal anything. In their sales hierarchy, the people at every stage could only contact their own immediate supplier. The lowest-level distributors who dealt directly with customers had no idea where the goods came from at all.

So even if they were arrested, they could not reveal any threatening information even if they wanted to. And now that the news had reached Leon’s ears, the others along that chain should already have heard about it and withdrawn.

But the problem now was that the poisoning incident itself would have an extremely severe impact. Once word spread through the customer circle, the blow to business in the territory would be enormous. Who would dare buy Magic Potions that could kill them?

It was like cutting off the roots of a tree. Even for an Underworld business, this was an enormous commercial crisis!

“Which customers had problems?” Leon hurriedly asked for the key details.

“Baron Lawrence died yesterday morning, then in the afternoon it was Mrs. Sutton from Morin Town. After their families reported it, the Morin Town Inquisition took action. At the same time we received the news, someone also reported that Mr. Lewis from the neighboring town had been sent to the Sacred Healing Order for emergency treatment.”

“They weren’t using Magic Potions from the same supply chain, were they?” Leon immediately noticed something was wrong.

“No, they were three different batches of Magic Potions. I’ve already compiled a list.” the subordinate handed Leon the itemized list.

Leon examined the traceability list. It showed that the Magic Potions most recently purchased by those poisoned customers were not even from the same batch.

Two of the batches had even come from the Labyrinth. The goods there had been compounded together by Weiss, Rena, and Mrs. Hsu. Given how meticulous Weiss and Rena were in their work, there was no way such an accident could have happened.

“Then what about the other customers who bought the same type of Magic Potion from the same batches? Did you investigate them?” Leon asked his subordinate.

“We made some inquiries, at least. No problems have been discovered so far.” the subordinate answered extremely cautiously.

Leon began to feel the sense of crisis of having a gun pointed at him. It sounded as though exactly one dose from each of three separate batches had happened to have a problem. This basically ruled out an issue with their production. Logically speaking, if there had been a production problem, then the same type of Magic Potion from the same batch should all have developed problems.

This basically confirmed that someone was deliberately sabotaging his business!

The question was whether there was an insider randomly poisoning certain bottles or specifically targeting a few, or whether someone had used some other method to target the customers themselves?

Two batches of these Magic Potions came from the Labyrinth, while one came from an externally established compounding room. The distribution chains and regions they served were different, and the personnel involved in compounding them did not overlap.

Perhaps a single insider could seize an opportunity to poison one bottle, but it would probably be very difficult for them to infiltrate another distribution chain and poison other medicine.

And if the purpose of the poisoning was to sabotage his business, then since they had already found a way to poison the medicine without being discovered, normally they should have poisoned several bottles and made the incident as large as possible. Only three customers having problems over two days was actually rather few.

But it could not be ruled out that there was only one insider.

If the Magic Potions themselves were not the problem, then it was possible an outsider had done something specifically to his customers.

If that was the case, they would first need to know his customer list.

“What type of Magical Beast poison did they suffer from, and what symptoms did they have?” Leon asked.

“I’m sorry, we weren’t able to investigate that any further. We only heard that all three affected customers turned iron-blue all over and their bodies became as stiff as corpses……” the subordinate lowered his head apologetically.

“You did well enough.” Leon nodded without blaming the subordinate. Being able to compile the intelligence to this degree by the time it was reported to him was already quite good.

Now that the matter had reached the local Inquisition, the examination of the Magical Beast poison would also be handed over to them. With his connections, he should be able to hear about the results.

“Have the Magic Potions from the same batches been recalled?” Leon continued asking.

“Some of them have already been seized by the Inquisition from the contact people.” the subordinate replied nervously.

“I mean the portion that can still be recalled. Recall all of it and send it back completely untouched! Also, notify River Valley County…… No, Southport County too. Notify every distribution point in the territories to temporarily stop sales. Strictly prohibit all sales!

All Magic Potions, along with raw materials that are only halfway through production, are to be sealed and stored. No one is allowed to touch them again, nor are they allowed to destroy them. Wait until I send people to inspect them.”

As Leon spoke, he took out something that looked like a necklace. The pendant resembled a hollow crystal whose opening had been sealed with metal, and inside was a deep purple liquid that inexplicably gave anyone who looked at it an eerie feeling.

Sealed inside was Leon’s own Cursed Blood. Weiss had made this for Leon.

The sealed Cursed Blood had been mixed with a Magic Potion compounded by Weiss and could be preserved for a long time. The dose was only a few drops, not enough to poison someone to death, but its deterrent effect on living creatures still remained.

When it was near Leon, its toxicity could be activated according to Leon’s will. Once it had been away from Leon for a certain distance, the toxicity would disappear, but the deterrent reaction it produced in living creatures would still persist for a full day.

This was Leon’s personal token. When he entrusted the token to someone, combined with the organization’s internal code phrase, that person’s transmitted order was equivalent to Leon’s direct command. Without Cursed Blood and Weiss’s technology, this token could not be forged.

“Yes.” the subordinate respectfully accepted the token and turned to carry out the order.

Leon walked down from the lighthouse and shouted to the attendant standing by: “Prepare a horse for me!”

He mounted the horse and swiftly left the port, galloping all the way toward the Labyrinth.

After arriving at the fortress, he immediately ordered production suspended for internal inspection and also dispatched personnel to recall Magic Potions batch by batch for testing.

Then he entered the Temple and summoned Weiss, Rena, and Mrs. Hsu together, explaining the sudden incident to them.

The moment they heard about it, everyone showed surprised expressions. After exchanging glances, their expressions all became grave.

“There are no highly toxic substances anywhere in the Magic Potion production process, and the medicine has to be tested before bottling. There’s no way the problem originated here.” Rena’s opinion was basically the same as Leon’s.

“What type of Magical Beast poison was it? What symptoms did the poisoned people show?” Weiss instead asked about the clues concerning the Magical Beast poison identified by the Inquisition.

“At present, all we know is that the poisoned victims turned iron-blue all over and their bodies became rigid. As for anything else, I’ll need to investigate further. I’ve already ordered all supplies halted and all Magical Beasts and raw materials sealed away.

I want all of you to stop production first and investigate which stage developed a problem. At present, we still can’t fully determine whether this was an insider or an outsider. You’ll be responsible for investigating internally.

Weiss, you’ll be responsible for examining the Magic Potions and raw materials. Have Mrs. Hsu assist you. Rena, Simon and the others will be placed under your command. Anyone suspicious will be handed over to you for interrogation.”

Leon looked back and forth between everyone as he assigned the tasks. All three nodded at him.

Weiss was naturally the most professional choice to inspect the Magic Potions, while Rena’s Blessing power was the most suitable for interrogation. If they traced the matter to an insider, she could verify it on the spot.

“I’ll handle the external investigation. I’ll go to Morin Town first and gather some intelligence.” After saying this, Leon prepared to leave.

“Wait a moment, Leon.” Rena suddenly called out to him.

Leon turned back around.

“If this has something to do with the customer list, do you think…… we should contact Mr. Johnny?” Rena asked tentatively.

“That’s true.” Leon nodded.

Quite a few people within the organization knew customer lists, but most basically only knew the small portion of customers in the region covered by their own distribution chain and had no way of knowing the whole list. Any information leaked from that portion of personnel would likewise be limited.

There were not many people who knew the customers across different distribution chains. Aside from Leon and the personnel who absolutely needed to know that information, Johnny actually counted as one of them.

River Valley County had originally been the Earl’s territory, managed by the Earl’s biological nephew.

And after that nephew died, Johnny had temporarily taken over the business in that territory.

Of course, Johnny had no reason to ruin Leon’s business, but Johnny might know who possessed the list.

“Alright, then let’s get moving immediately.” Leon said.

No matter what, business in the territories had to be put on hold for the time being. The most urgent priority now was dealing with the major crisis that had appeared in the business!