Chapter 272: Little Fists Pounding You

Several minutes earlier, after inspecting the various Magic Potion laboratories throughout the territory, Rena, Weiss, and Sally took a boat back to Arend Island.

When getting off the boat, Rena casually asked the person on duty: “Has he come back?”

The person on duty immediately understood whom Rena meant and pointed toward the lighthouse cottage in the distance: “Mr. Fenrir is in that cottage right now.”

When Rena saw Petra nearby, she had found it a little strange, but as soon as she opened the door, she discovered that Leon and Adele were both inside.

“Why are you here?” Rena looked at Adele in confusion.

Adele had seen Rena wearing a veil before and had also heard her voice, so she immediately recognized that Witch.

At the same time, she suddenly remembered that the priest had once told her that the bottle of Poisonous Blood she had impulsively drunk in the past belonged to this Witch.

She had also heard from Leon's subordinates around her, such as Petra, about the terrifying reputation of their mistress. It was said that she was skilled at controlling Magical Beasts, skilled at killing people with poison, and could even use Magic Potions to turn people into Magical Beasts. She could instantly leave a battlefield covered in corpses and rivers of blood, earning her the title of the Blood-Red Witch. She fought side by side with Leon, and her hands had long since been stained with countless blood debts.

Now, seeing Rena sizing her up, all the terrifying impressions Adele had accumulated suddenly erupted at once.

Almost without thinking, she fearfully hid behind Leon, leaving everyone else present with baffled expressions.

“What are you doing?” Leon asked Adele in complete confusion as she pressed herself behind him.

“I-I'm scared……” Adele trembled as she peered at Rena from behind Leon, her voice so quiet it was almost impossible to hear.

“You're afraid of her, yet you're doing something that builds up her anger?” Leon suddenly felt that Adele's logic of action was remarkably strange.

Only then did Adele abruptly realize what she had done. In a panic, she pushed Leon's back and retreated, waving her hands as she hurriedly explained to Rena: “W-we don't have anything going on, don't misunderstand!”

“Who asked you?” Rena frowned, then looked at Leon, “Did we interrupt you two?”

“I made a few jokes at her expense.” Leon casually explained. He could tell that Rena had not gotten angry over something this minor.

“I only wanted to hit him because of what he said!” Seeing this, Adele hurriedly chimed in as well.

“The kind where you pound him with your little fists?” Rena calmly nodded, “We do that all the time too.”

That phrasing made Adele feel somewhat embarrassed. She had just been about to deny it, but the word “no” reached her lips and somehow refused to come out.

If she absolutely had to categorize it, the interaction between her and Leon just now really did fall within the realm of playful roughhousing, and…… she had actually felt inexplicably happy about it.

Rena sighed. With Weiss as a precedent, even if Adele truly started liking Leon, she honestly would not be very surprised anymore.

Precisely because she herself liked Leon, she could understand that Leon really did possess a kind of attraction tinged with danger, one that could gradually stir curiosity in girls who did not understand the world he inhabited.

“So what exactly is she doing here?” Seeing that she had not gotten an answer from Adele, Rena turned to Leon and asked instead.

This was the western side of the island. Adele should have been responsible for the industries on the eastern side of the island, far away from the Labyrinth.

“She only just heard the rumors about the Magic Potion poisoning and came over because she was worried.” Leon explained.

“I heard the plan seems to have worked pretty well?” Rena had actually already heard the news from within the organization.

“Yes, the Tribunal has already closed the case under the conclusion that it was a Magical Beast attack. That should minimize the impact as much as possible.” Leon replied.

“We inspected the laboratories and standardized the procedures a little more. I made records for you to look over later. If there aren't any problems, the compounding bases can resume production tomorrow.” Weiss spoke up and explained to Leon.

“Even with the impact, orders will still pile up.” Rena said.

“Mm, resume production as soon as possible.” Leon nodded.

“Then, will the funding for this quarter be cut off?” Adele tentatively raised her hand and spoke.

Rena and Weiss both subconsciously glanced at Adele, who was trying to join the discussion.

Although there did not seem to be any particular meaning in their gazes, Adele still felt pressured. She withdrew her hand slightly before weakly replying: “I'm just asking so I can adjust the operational plan. If it's inconvenient, I'll ask Leon later……”

“It won't be cut off. The only place that was heavily affected was River Valley County. The profits from Southport County, along with the shares turned over by our other territories, should still be fine.” Leon answered.

“Okay.” Adele's voice remained very quiet.

“There are still some other matters. Let's discuss them properly after we return to the Labyrinth.”

Leon said this to Rena. He still needed to explain the plan Dorothy had mentioned for killing Arachne, as well as Johnny's suggestion.

“Mm.” Rena responded, then turned around and had someone prepare the carriage back to the Mining Fortress, while calling Sally, who was standing some distance away, to get into the carriage first.

“Have Petra escort you back.” Leon turned his head and instructed Adele before also walking out of the cottage.

But Weiss was still standing at the doorway looking at Adele. It took Adele a while before she noticed Weiss's gaze.

“W-what is it?” Adele felt that she had never seen this tall woman before. Weiss's face was covered by a veil, and her bangs concealed her left eye, so Adele also could not recognize this woman who had once been a household name among the followers of the Church of the Creator as the Saintess.

“Pardon me.” Seeing that Adele had noticed her gaze, Weiss did not look away. Instead, she stepped forward twice and began examining Adele even more carefully.

“Um……”

Adele felt somewhat uncomfortable under the stare. Although Weiss's gaze did not contain any obvious hostility, there was an intensely focused sense of scrutiny to it, as though she wanted to carefully study every inch of her face.

Who exactly was this girl?

Adele stared blankly at Weiss's beautiful right eye. The rest of her features were faintly visible beneath the veil, enough to roughly make out her delicate facial structure, while her snow-white skin and smooth black hair were more than enough for Adele to imagine that there must be a rare beauty beneath the veil.

She had just mentioned inspecting the laboratories where Magic Potions were compounded too, right? In other words, she was also a Witch?

Wait, could she be the…… “third wife” Leon had mentioned?

No, no, or rather, going by the order, was she herself actually the third one?

Adele suddenly realized that she was only his wife in name, but the first two wives…… might actually be real.

The thought that aside from that Witch, there was actually another person who was closer to Leon than she was and who shared those extraordinary experiences with him made Adele once again feel that sense of disparity.

“……” Meanwhile, Weiss continued silently examining Adele, while entirely different thoughts filled her mind.

Looking at Adele's face from close range was even more vivid than seeing it reflected in the Magic Mirror, like a master sculptor's work that had been granted life.

“I'm not inferior to her, am I?” Weiss muttered inwardly.

If she had not heard Leon claim that he preferred Adele's appearance, Weiss probably would never have seriously cared about her own looks in her entire life, much less cared about Adele's.

By her own assessment, she and Adele each had their own distinctive style of beauty. If many people were asked to judge them together, the number of supporters on each side would probably be about the same.

But to her, Leon's judgment outweighed everything else. Leon simply preferred this type more.

Very rarely, Weiss felt an extremely clear sense of jealousy toward another person.

At that instant, the two people staring at each other both happened to sigh inwardly at the same time.

“What are you two doing over there?” Leon turned around and noticed Weiss and Adele inexplicably staring each other down, “It's time to go.”

Only then did Weiss somewhat reluctantly withdraw her gaze and follow Leon and Rena toward the carriage prepared to head for the Mining Fortress.

Adele watched them leave and inexplicably felt an urge to go with them.

After becoming interested in Leon's experiences, she also more or less wanted to learn about Leon's business.

She had clearly been so afraid of it before, but now she wanted to understand him…… more!

The carriage slowly traveled toward the Mining Fortress. Leon sat beside Rena, while Weiss and Sally sat opposite them.

Taking advantage of the journey in the carriage, Leon explained both the opportunity Dorothy had mentioned to eliminate Arachne and Johnny's suggestion.

“So, you're telling us this because you want to hear our opinions?” Rena asked after listening.

“Of course. The more minds, the better.” Leon said.

But Rena sighed somewhat helplessly: “Leon, when it comes down to it, no matter how many suggestions we give you, none of them carry as much weight as your own decision.”

“I'm asking for everyone's opinions precisely so I can make a decision.” Leon said.

“You've already made your decision. You want to kill Arachne.” Rena said with complete certainty.

By now, she understood Leon's thinking in this regard far too well. With a powerful enemy before him and a reason to kill that enemy, as long as there was even a chance of victory, Leon would make his move.

Rather than calling it decisiveness, it would be more accurate to say that Leon had some kind of obsession with this sort of thing, something that could even be called an interest. He enjoyed the thrill of facing a powerful enemy and snatching victory from danger.

The reason Leon had replied to Dorothy that he would think about it was precisely because he already had the thought of taking the risk.

“I admit I'm more inclined to kill her, but Johnny was right about one thing. With the position I'm in now, a single decision can affect a lot of people. I need to be more prudent.” Leon said.

Sally, who had been listening from the side, glanced at Leon when she heard this.

“But I don't think wanting to kill Arachne can really be called imprudent either. After all, Arachne genuinely is a dangerous factor that can't be ignored.” Weiss voiced her own thoughts, “If necessary, let me help you.”

She had also once suffered at Arachne's hands. She knew very well how troublesome Arachne was and also had her own reason to take revenge on Arachne.

“I don't understand these things as well, but I'm already used to getting dragged into all kinds of things by you. I'll support whatever decision you make.” Rena also looked at Leon as she spoke.

“A life lived after careful deliberation may be safe, but it isn't necessarily happy.”

At that moment, Sally suddenly spoke.

“Mrs. Hesh?” Leon was suddenly a little surprised that Sally had spoken up. He had originally thought that Sally would not casually express her opinion on this matter.

“Ah, no……” Sally came back to herself and waved her hands somewhat embarrassedly, “It's just that hearing you talk like this suddenly reminded me of a line I memorized before. I don't really know how to put it. It just suddenly came to mind.”

“I see.” Leon blinked, then savored Sally's words again.

A life lived after careful deliberation really did sound rather unlike him.

If all he had pursued was stability and security, he certainly would never have made it this far.

Without realizing it, the scales in his heart had already begun to tilt.