Chapter 261: Building a Good Relationship with Lamia

“How, you want to help me? Like selling me a few criminals from your side?” Leon asked tentatively.

If he could capture a witch from Moiland, it would count as a considerable achievement, but Moiland most likely would not be willing to let someone who might cause an intelligence leak fall into the Church’s hands, while capturing insignificant people would not count as much of an achievement either.

“Can we talk privately?” Dorothy suddenly suggested, taking the lead in having her own attendants withdraw into the distance.

Leon nodded upon hearing this and gestured for his subordinates to stand by in the distance.

“Colonel Jonathan?” Dorothy glanced at Johnny, who stood there motionlessly with his arms folded, and reminded him aloud.

Only then did Johnny wave his own subordinates away, but he himself still did not move a single step: “I’m staying right here. If there’s something you need to hide from me, then nine times out of ten, you’re up to no good.”

“Whatever, if you want to listen, then listen.” Dorothy had no objection, then looked toward Leon, “I reported my cooperation with you to Her Majesty the Queen, and she has a relatively positive attitude toward our cooperation. The problem lies with Arachne. Her reaction was just as expected, she’s quite unwilling to accept it. Her Majesty the Queen is still sending her to operate within the Empire. From what I know of her, she’ll probably stir up some trouble sooner or later.”

“Don’t tell me you’re encouraging me to capture her?” Leon frowned when he heard this, “Since your Queen agreed to our transaction, would she still allow her to act recklessly?”

He had gone to so much trouble to establish trade relations with the Witches’ Assembly precisely to properly restrain whatever retaliatory actions Arachne might take.

If he still had to deal with Arachne’s retaliation and come into conflict with this dangerous Great Witch, resolving the threat by dealing with her, then trading with the Witches’ Assembly seemed rather unnecessary.

“But keeping her around will ultimately be a source of trouble, won’t it? In this Empire so far away from Moiland, even if Arachne makes a few small moves, Her Majesty the Queen might not necessarily see them.” Dorothy said.

“But you’re also in the Empire. Keeping an eye on her and preventing her from ruining our transaction should be something for you to handle. More importantly, why is she still staying in the Empire? Normally, shouldn’t she have been recalled? If the Queen was the one who told her to remain here, wouldn’t making a move against her without permission cause problems?” Leon asked somewhat warily.

To deal with the problems left behind after the Earl’s death and reestablish their smuggling channels, the Witches’ Assembly had sent both Great Witches of the Nemesis Agency to the Empire. Now that the Queen had accepted Dorothy’s proposal to trade with him, the problem with the smuggling channels could be considered resolved.

Logically speaking, this was the point when Arachne should have been recalled. Arachne was inevitably dissatisfied over the Earl’s murder, and as Dorothy had said, she might very well take advantage of being beyond the Queen’s supervision to make a few small moves.

Yet Queen Alice had actually still left Arachne here, which meant she must have assigned her a mission.

It seemed that the Witches’ Assembly, or rather Queen Alice, was not completely at ease with the transaction Dorothy had established with him.

If anything happened, the Witches’ Assembly still would not completely rule out the possibility of having Arachne take action against him.

After killing the Earl, being able to maintain the current balance between the Church and the Witches’ Assembly had not been easy.

If he suddenly made a move against Arachne at a time like this, setting aside Arachne’s own level of danger, if he provoked Queen Alice, the problem would become serious.

“Basically, you’re thinking that as long as Arachne can be dealt with, no matter who we trade with in the future, you’ll still be the one establishing the trade network, right? If something goes wrong, you’ll just dump the blame on us, hmph, cunning goat woman!” Johnny cut in at this point.

Faced with Johnny’s accusation, the smile on Dorothy’s face did not waver in the slightest: “I only wanted to say that you shouldn’t underestimate Arachne’s desire for revenge. Even if she only makes a few small moves, they’ll still be very dangerous for you.

If she does anything to you, I’ll still stand on your side. Don’t trample all over someone else’s goodwill like that.”

“Then I’m truly grateful for your goodwill, but right now we still need to focus on developing, so let’s not consider creating unnecessary complications for the time being.” Leon replied calmly.

“That’s true. For you right now, it would be better to accumulate some strength. For example, your Blessing power. You killed the Earl on Temple Island, so I imagine you should have a chance of reaching the Third Rank.” Dorothy said with a beaming smile, “But judging by the current situation, you still have some distance to go before advancing in rank. After all, even with long-term exposure to a Labyrinth to absorb magical power, this process still takes decades.”

Within the range of a Labyrinth, sacrificing a Transcendent with a Blessing from the Four Gods of the same rank as oneself would unlock the upper limit for the next rank of Moirai Blessing. Dorothy was a Third-Rank Great Witch, so naturally she understood that Leon had most likely already completed this step.

“From the sound of it, you have a way to shorten this process?” Leon asked tentatively.

His current policy was to develop his combat strength as quickly as possible during the time he had managed to secure, but whether equipment or personnel, they were ultimately only external forces. What could give him the greatest security was still his own strength.

Weiss had told him that the ancient Fertility Worship ritual of the Earth Mother Goddess Church actually had no effect on accelerating the process of magical power absorption, so it was very likely due to something special about Leon himself.

Dorothy might not necessarily be able to guess that. Perhaps she had some other method in her possession that could accelerate the advancement of Blessings.

“Of course I have tricks, as well as some resources, and I’m very willing to share them with cooperative partners with whom I have a close relationship!” The smile on Dorothy’s face grew even broader.

“A close relationship……” Leon repeated the description thoughtfully, “That doesn’t sound like it’s free.”

Given that their trading relationship had only just begun, there was no way they could be considered “cooperative partners with whom I have a close relationship”.

“Mr. Fenrir, you previously said that because you possess a Witch’s Blessing, you’re destined to be unable to stand completely on the Church’s side, and you wouldn’t want to see the Church completely eliminate us. May I take that to mean that, between the Church and us, you’d be more willing to lean toward us?” Dorothy asked.

“That puts quite a lot of pressure on me. Why don’t you just tell me clearly what you want?” Leon had already begun to sense what Dorothy wanted to say.

After all, not long ago, Holy Son Edward had just said something similar to him.

“Then I’ll be direct. I work in intelligence. If you have suitable intelligence, you can talk to me anytime. As for any valuable intelligence, I guarantee that I’ll give you a commensurate reward.” Dorothy said with a smile.

Just as Leon had expected, the Witches’ Assembly also wanted him to use his identity within the Church to disclose Church intelligence to them, while the Church likewise hoped Leon could use this trading relationship to obtain intelligence on the Witches’ Assembly.

And judging by what he had learned from Johnny and Bishop Beckett, the Earl had constantly sold intelligence to both sides in his early days, like a double agent, while still holding certain things back, maintaining a delicate balance and carving out room for himself.

But after he had built up his own power within his territory, he rarely did such risky things anymore, because neither the Church nor the Witches’ Assembly could easily touch him.

If Leon wanted to imitate this approach, then for now, he could not completely side with either party.

“Sure, if there’s an opportunity.” Leon nodded toward Dorothy.

“Also, I heard that you’ve been transferred to a position connected to Saint Rosalia Prison?” Dorothy continued asking.

Has this woman’s intelligence network already infiltrated directly into the Church? Leon thought.

“Your ears seem a little too sharp. I hope you haven’t planted spies in my organization.” Leon replied.

“Was it so that you could get in contact with Lamia? After all, for you, she’s the best source of intelligence for understanding the internal affairs of the Witches’ Assembly.” Dorothy pressed.

“What, is that not allowed?” Leon asked in return.

He guessed that the Witches’ Assembly should be opposed to him making contact with Lamia. After all, Lamia possessed far too much internal intelligence about the Witches’ Assembly. But even if they forbade it, Leon had no intention of listening to them.

“No, of course there’s no problem. Rather, I hope you’ll have more contact with her.” Dorothy replied.

“What?” Leon was somewhat surprised.

“To tell the truth, I was very surprised that you were able to learn the location of my Labyrinth from Lamia. She once owed me a favor. I originally thought she wouldn’t choose to reveal this matter to anyone, yet she revealed it to you.” Dorothy said as she scrutinized Leon.

“It’s not like I was planning to capture you. There was no problem with her telling me, was there?” Leon replied.

“But you couldn’t have explained the truth to her, so exactly what excuse did you use?” Dorothy asked.

“Is that important? As long as she believed it.” Leon said.

“Lamia judges people heavily based on whether she takes a liking to them. If she believed what you told her, that means she at least doesn’t dislike you. I think you should have a chance to build a good relationship with her.” Dorothy said.

“You want me to deceive her into trusting me and then do something to her?” Leon could not help suspecting that the Witches’ Assembly wanted him to find some way to assassinate Lamia in prison in the future.

“Don’t be nervous. I only hope you’ll get close to her. There’s no need for you to do anything. Rather, I hope you absolutely won’t do anything harmful to her. She absolutely cannot die in the Church’s prison.” Dorothy said.

“Why?” Leon could not help feeling somewhat confused.

To the Witches’ Assembly, wasn’t Lamia simply a traitor?

“You only need to remember that getting close to her and gaining her trust is equally valuable to us, and I’m also willing to provide compensation for it.” Dorothy said with a smile, “The next time we meet, I hope I can hear some good news from you.”

Afterward, Dorothy left Leon a location where he could send letters to contact her proactively, agreed upon a code, then departed with the gold bars on the carriage covered beneath black cloth.

Standing beside Leon, Johnny reminded him in a low voice: “I don’t think I need to remind you a second time. Don’t trust that goat woman. That woman may not be as high-profile as Arachne, but she’s just as sinister. There was once a Cardinal who was imprisoned after a scandal erupted, damaging the Church’s reputation. It’s said that was her handiwork.”

“Oh? So she also possesses intelligence about scandals involving the Church’s upper ranks?” Leon raised an eyebrow when he heard this.

“What the fuck are you planning?” Johnny frowned.

“Nothing. It’s just that after hearing you say that, it sounds like trading with her really is quite valuable.” Leon said.

Methods to improve his Witch’s Blessing, intelligence that could be used to restrain the Church’s upper ranks…… Dorothy possessed quite a few things that were valuable to him.

Johnny rolled his eyes and shook his head: “That’s assuming you don’t fall into her hands first.”