Wealth Moves the Heart

“Speak. Why did you break into the Witch’s Society? We’ve already announced that we’re closed.”

Neither Su Ran nor Lecy had any intention of remembering the names of the intruders, who were tied up like rice dumplings.

Therefore, the process of asking for names was skipped entirely.

“We were lost and accidentally wandered in here.”

Relying on the fact that they were all unfamiliar faces, one of the intruders, a man with a full beard, spoke up first, reciting their prepared excuse.

“That’s right, who are you people! Why have you tied us up!”

“We just wandered in by mistake and were suddenly caught by those two people just now.”

Following the bearded man’s words, the others seemed to have found their backbone and began to incessantly mumble that they had only entered by mistake.

“Wandered in by mistake? Do you take us for fools? Your ‘wandering in’ involves climbing a wall instead of using the main gate?”

Hearing their clamor, Su Ran was amused.

She looked at them as if they were idiots.

Such a flimsy excuse, no matter who they were trying to fool, it was laughable.

“Lady Su Ran, there’s no need to waste words with them. I have a more convenient method.”

Just as Su Ran was about to ask more questions, Lecy stood up and said she had a more convenient way.

Since Lecy said so, Su Ran fell silent.

‘Come to think of it, the act of the twin girls escorting the intruders to the garden was clearly not a spur-of-the-moment decision. The only plausible reason is that Lecy was here.’

The black cat-like Nightmare, Momo, appeared from Lecy’s body and circled around the five intruders.

In less than a moment, the intruders’ eyelids began to droop.

Realizing something was wrong, they tried desperately to stay awake.

But in the end, only the bearded man, who was a Sequence Three, managed to hold on for about a minute longer.

“The Nightmare can stir up people’s inner fears and feed on their emotions. I can control Momo to go through their memories and find the mastermind behind this.”

After everyone had fallen asleep, the Nightmare, just as it had left, burrowed into the intruders’ shadows.

“However, this method is not without its drawbacks. Usually, it can only be used on people whose Sequence is not higher than the Nightmare’s.”

Seeing Su Ran’s curiosity about the Nightmare’s ability, Lecy continued to explain.

Su Ran had downed two cups of black tea.

At this moment, Lecy’s Nightmare reappeared before the two of them at the right time, slipping back into the book in Lecy’s hand.

Then, a few pages appeared in Lecy’s hand, sporadically recording the intruders’ memories.

“There’s one more problem. Because the Nightmare goes through memories through fear, sometimes if they can’t bear the fright, the memories it retrieves can become jumbled.”

Su Ran held up the papers Lecy had given her.

“But compared to painstakingly prying their mouths open, this method is much more time and effort-saving.”

Lecy gave a knowing smile and began to browse the information fed back by the Nightmare.

“Wasn’t the last lesson painful enough for them?”

After reading the memories of these few people, Lecy frowned, somewhat in disbelief.

“It’s actually a very simple principle. Wealth moves people’s hearts. In the end, it’s still about the crystal mine.”

Su Ran put down the documents in her hand and pointed out the crux of the problem.

“The amount of magic essence crystals you mine each month is too stable. It hasn’t decreased in so many years, and you can even occasionally satisfy their exorbitant demands. This first made their desire for the crystal mine swell, and then…”

Staring into Lecy’s eyes, Su Ran continued, “These people will think, ‘Why should the witches occupy this position? If we control the mine, not only will it be enough, we can even expand production.'”

The mission these intruders had received was to enter the Witch’s Society, find the specific location of the crystal mine, and if possible, steal the magic essence crystal that controlled the explosion.

But unfortunately for them, they were discovered by Su Ran’s spirit as soon as they entered the Witch’s Society, leaving them no chance to complete their mission.

Hearing this, Lecy said with a sense of helplessness, “When we first came to Tukulu, we wanted to settle down here. Although this city doesn’t reject witches, it’s not an easy thing to gain a firm foothold.”

“We discovered the crystal mine and told the mercenary groups here that if they wanted magic essence crystals, they had to let us settle here so we could mine and extract them.”

“At the beginning, these few mercenary groups were quite polite to us. Even when they knew we were opposing the Theocracy and rescuing witches, they didn’t say anything. Looking back at the change in the wind now, it probably started when the Roland Chamber of Commerce’s Sequence Six arrived.”

Lecy didn’t even glance at the five intruders lying on the ground.

She continued to pour Su Ran another cup of black tea.

Su Ran didn’t rush to speak, because what Lecy needed at this moment was a listener.

“In the past, our living supplies and meditation materials were all purchased with the help of the Roland Chamber of Commerce, and our cooperation was pleasant. But since a few weeks ago, the merchant we had been working with was transferred away, and they began to use various excuses to delay. Perhaps from that time on, the Roland Chamber of Commerce was already eyeing the crystal mine.”

One who is involved is blind, one who is a bystander is clear.

For Lecy, looking back at the whole incident now, it was easier to analyze where the problem lay.

But the problem the Witch’s Society was facing now was not just a single setback.

“How do you plan to deal with these people?”

After Lecy’s emotions had stabilized a little, Su Ran couldn’t help but ask how she planned to deal with these people.

“Lock them up. These people are all subordinates of the five major powers. They can serve as evidence of their intrusion into our territory later.”

Hearing Lecy’s solution, Su Ran, who had not intended to express an opinion, shook her head.

Lecy had underestimated the shamelessness of people.

“If the other party now says that five of their companions have gone missing, and then someone jumps out and says we kidnapped them, what do you think you will face next?”

Lecy thought about it carefully, and the back of her blue and white long dress was instantly soaked in a cold sweat.

Once the other party said that, they would inevitably have to come in and search for the five intruders.

Whether they were found or not, it would be the Witch’s Society that suffered.

If they were found, no matter what they said, they would be unable to defend themselves.

The mud had already been slung onto the Witch’s Society.

“The other party is slinging mud at us. Influenced by the reputation of witches, the ordinary mercenaries will believe them first. In the end, we will be at odds with the entire city of Tukulu.”

If things developed according to her own method, Lecy had reason to believe that what Su Ran described would be the future of the Witch’s Society.

Even if they weren’t found, with so many people breaking into the Witch’s Society, it would be easy for someone to fish in troubled waters, using the pretext of searching for people to look for the crystal mine.

Perhaps someone would discover that there was no crystal mine in the Witch’s Society at all.

Faced with this dilemma, Lecy quickly asked, “Lady Su Ran, what should we do then?”

“Leave no one alive. Throw their bodies to a conspicuous place outside the city and disguise it as death from a magical beast attack.”

Su Ran’s voice was devoid of any emotion, and at the same time, it decided the fate of the intruders.