Chapter 269: An Expert in Biological Weapons

In a private room at the Gray Wolf Tavern, Leon and Johnny sat side by side across a square low table, with Dorothy seated opposite them after coming to meet them.

After Leon and Dorothy worked together to bring the incident to a temporary conclusion, Johnny also rushed back from the other territories to learn about the situation, so Leon arranged for the two of them to come here so he could explain the progress.

“This tavern of yours is decorated quite distinctively.” Dorothy sat down and immediately looked around, then took out her smoking pipe on her own.

“No smoking.” Johnny immediately frowned and stopped her. What Dorothy usually smoked was not normal tobacco, but incense blended from plant-based Magical Beast materials. Heaven knew what effects the Magic Potions mixed into it might have.

Leon also nodded at Dorothy, indicating that he did not want her smoking here either.

“Shouldn’t a tavern be a place where people relax?” Dorothy put away her smoking pipe with a regretful expression, then provocatively flicked a finger toward Leon and said with a smile, “Then, give me a glass of gin, the stronger the better.”

“You want to drink something I prepared?” Leon looked at Dorothy in surprise.

“Coming to your establishment and not drinking your liquor…… should I bring my own like him?” Dorothy teased, her gaze sweeping toward Johnny, who was just about to raise the tin flask he carried with him to his mouth.

Johnny snorted upon hearing this and continued pouring liquor into his mouth as if nothing had happened.

“Very few people dare drink something I prepare. Aren’t you afraid I’ll poison you?” Leon looked at Dorothy and asked.

“The curse effect of Cursed Blood depends on both your own rank and the target’s rank. She’s a Third-Rank Witch. Unless you pour an entire bottle of poisoned blood down her throat, she won’t die. As for other poisons, these Witches all have ways to deal with them. She can even avoid fatal injuries by replacing organs, so stop worrying about her.” Johnny interjected from the side.

Dorothy smiled faintly at Leon, seemingly agreeing with Johnny’s statement.

Leon turned his head and called someone over, had the best bottle of gin in the establishment brought over, and poured Dorothy a glass.

Dorothy lifted it and took a sip before finally getting to the main topic: “So, how did your plan go?”

“Very successfully. Director Randall of Morin Town has already submitted his own report to the Church Tribunal. The Church Tribunal has now ordered Church organizations in River Valley County to search for the escaped Ghouls, and the families of the deceased have also received replies from the Church Tribunal.” Leon said.

Based on Leon’s understanding of Director Randall from dealing with him, after arranging such a pile of “evidence” that practically delivered itself to his doorstep, Randall would definitely be delighted to close the case like this.

At this stage, neither investigating the case nor taking revenge on the true culprit was the most important thing. Eliminating the incident’s impact on the business as quickly as possible was the highest priority.

“It probably won’t eliminate all of the impact, will it?” Johnny’s brows remained furrowed.

Even if Leon forced the case to reach such a conclusion, it would not necessarily completely dispel the doubts of people who had seen those kinds of deaths regarding the quality of the Magic Potions. The news would probably still spread to some extent.

As long as doubts existed, many people would choose not to use these Magic Potions that might carry unknown risks, simply to be safe.

“The blow to the business will definitely still exist, but we’ve already avoided the worst possible outcome as much as we can and minimized the impact.” Leon said.

If this case had ended with the Church Tribunal also concluding that there was something wrong with the Magic Potions, then the news would have spread far and wide. But Leon had changed the form in which the case was closed, so at least what people elsewhere would hear about was a “Magical Beast attack case”, rather than a “Magic Potion poisoning case”.

Suspicion would remain among some cautious people, but the influence of this kind of personally judged opinion passed from mouth to mouth was limited.

The business in River Valley County and the surrounding territories would still inevitably suffer some impact, but at least it would not cause the entire business to suffer a devastating blow.

“The problem now is, what if Arachne keeps killing people? If people keep dying in the short term, we can still blame it on Magical Beasts that haven’t been captured, but if it continues for too long, new suspicions will definitely arise again.” Leon stared at Dorothy and asked.

“I’ll report this matter to Her Majesty the Queen. Once Her Majesty begins suspecting Arachne, then Arachne will also hope that this matter ends as a ‘Magical Beast attack case’. After that, I think Her Majesty will most likely choose to summon her back?” Dorothy said.

Queen Alice understood Arachne well enough that she would inevitably consider the possibility that Arachne had done it.

It was just that without sufficient evidence, even Her Majesty the Queen could not easily pass judgment on a Great Witch belonging to the Assembly.

After all, the possibility that it had not been Arachne could not be completely ruled out either. Arachne had precisely counted on this when carrying out the plan. Even if the Queen might suspect her, her crime ultimately would not be confirmed, while Leon’s business would be destroyed, and Dorothy would also suffer an enormous failure.

Even if it meant injuring herself by eight hundred to harm the enemy by a thousand, much less harming two enemies at once, Arachne was the kind of person who would make that choice.

The plan to establish a Magic Potion smuggling channel would also be postponed until much later. Once the impact faded, she would still have a chance to arrange things again in the Empire——of course, she might not necessarily have thought that far ahead.

“Fuck, if this method weren’t so damn outrageous, I really would’ve suspected you staged the whole thing yourself.” Johnny looked at Dorothy and said.

“Then I really should thank you for not lowering me to Arachne’s level.” Dorothy replied.

The possibility that Dorothy had staged something against Leon’s business herself and then framed Arachne was not nonexistent, but at the very least, she would not have used such an uncontrollable method.

Dorothy could not have predicted that Leon would have a way to control the impact. If the impact could not be controlled, Leon’s business would be completely ruined, Dorothy would also completely lose the merit of establishing the smuggling channel, and the smuggling channel would remain difficult to rebuild for a long time.

Whether in terms of motive or method, this was basically something only Arachne could have done.

“Arachne acts so impulsively and recklessly, so why does your Queen still keep her around and continue sending her to work in the Empire?” Leon raised the question.

If he had someone so uncontrollable under him, he would have long since found a way to shoot her dead, so she would not cause some disaster in the future.

Yet Queen Alice not only kept Arachne around, but continued sending Arachne into the Empire on missions again and again. It seemed that she…… actually placed quite a lot of importance on her.

“Sorry, but that involves some secrets on our side……” Dorothy replied.

“If you don’t want to exchange intelligence, then you can get lost.” Johnny said without the slightest politeness, “And with you acting like this, you still want to use us to deal with Arachne?”

“What I mean is, from this point on, I’ll only disclose this intelligence to companions who are going to deal with Arachne together.” Dorothy smiled meaningfully, then restrained her smile slightly, “Disclosing this intelligence carries risks for me as well. I hope neither of you reveals it to anyone in the Church.”

Leon and Johnny both looked at Dorothy, and then Dorothy lowered her voice: “The biggest reason Arachne is valued so highly is not because she dares to do those radical things, but because she possesses value no other Great Witch can replace. She is an expert in plague warfare.”

“Plague warfare? You mean the rumors about Moiland spreading plagues in the Empire?” Leon asked.

“That’s right. It has always been a strategic project retained by Moiland, developing pathogens with high transmissibility and high fatality rates, then spreading them in enemy nations to strike at the enemy’s effective manpower.

And at present, the leading figure of these projects is Arachne. She is an expert in this field. She doesn’t only research pathogens, she also researches methods of dissemination, and she has conducted quite a few experiments before.” Dorothy explained.

Dorothy’s explanation actually still held something back. In truth, the ultimate goal of Moiland’s plague research was not a weapon for killing people, but something that, with the support of a Labyrinth’s magical power, could cause large-scale Magical Beast transformation among the infected.

“Biological weapons?” Leon felt disgust the moment he heard this. Memories from his previous life made him somewhat sensitive to this subject.

“Sounds like Arachne dying would also be a major strategic loss for your country. You’re still determined to kill her even if it harms your country? Compared with her, you seem more like a traitor.” Johnny mocked Dorothy.

“Actually, I oppose this.” Dorothy suddenly revealed an unprecedentedly serious expression, “Plague weapons can’t even be called a double-edged sword. They’re a completely uncontrollable bomb.

Plagues evolve on their own. There is no absolutely reliable antidote. Everyone is human. If it can spread to the enemy, naturally it can also harm your own people. If Arachne’s death can make the Queen abandon this research, then that would truly be acting for the sake of this country.”

“I completely agree. Something like this shouldn’t exist in this world!” Leon agreed.

Dorothy showed a surprised expression. She could tell from Leon’s tone and eyes that he was serious.

She immediately laughed: “I didn’t expect us to find common ground here, Mr. Fenrir.”

“The two of you suddenly having such high moral standards is making me a little uncomfortable.” Johnny poured himself a mouthful of liquor. As a soldier of this era, he did not have such an obvious reaction, “So, what next? We just wait for Arachne to be summoned back now, right?”

“……” Leon fell silent.

If Arachne were summoned back to Moiland and could no longer directly sabotage his business in the Empire, that would naturally be the best outcome.

But to be honest, simply letting Arachne off like this still left him unwilling, and it was also difficult to say whether Arachne, after returning, might have another chance in the future to come back to the Empire and take revenge again.

What had happened this time had already proven that Arachne’s threat to them had grown so great that they had no choice but to consider the possibility of eliminating her.

“Kid, don’t act on impulse.” Johnny noticed the change in Leon’s eyes and spoke up to remind him.

“This isn’t acting on impulse.” Dorothy spoke, “If Arachne is summoned back, then for us, there probably won’t be a better opportunity than this to kill her. If we miss it, there won’t be another.”