The kids had left, so had the two living armors.

"Here," I said, pouring a cup of cold cocoa for Weiss. The weather was hot as hell, and it would help her sleep I assumed. One cup was for me too.

"This is horrible," Weiss said. "I can’t believe my potion wouldn’t work."

"Miss Witch, I have been meaning to ask, but what exactly are you smelling in these beastkin?"

By all means. Her potion was the biggest fucking success in the whole world. In fact, both of us were still thinking about that. Weiss had immediately scanned Delka’s body with her mana and found some traces of the Corduil Corruption still there, it was slowly going away.

Her potion, which she had created as simply a way to get rid of something that she always smelt on them.

"Do you not smell it?"

"Never. Nobody I know does."

"For real...? Do you not smell that strong, strange fragrance? It is akin to a mixture of dahlias and lotuses alongside intense pourings of sandalwood."

So it wasn’t stinky, but just strong. That did sound like a real hassle.

"It’s unique. Nobody I know has ever told me they don’t smell it."

"You know somebody?"

My lady’s purple gaze cut through mine and I shuddered for a short second. She took another sip of the cocoa, then sank deeper into her chair, her legs propped up on the arm on one side and her back on the other as she held her forehead lightly.

"Butler, I am quite tired. This is a hasslesome matter."

"The cocoa is bad?"

"No, the potion, you dolt. Why did you bring a beastkin that was corrupted in the first place?"

"I didn’t know he would be..." To be fair, the CEF was there so one should have guessed, but it was also the CEF! The last thing anyone expected them to do was their job. It’s people were no surprise either. "That said, why is this an issue?"

The profit margins, at least from my perspective, were beautiful. We could sell the potion to a high-end market, starting with the aristocrats, extorting immense amounts of money for a single vial. And if a way existed to deliberately cause the Corruption? That would make everything even better. Unlimited money.

But for Miss Witch?

Her hand drifted toward me slightly. The mission outside had one last component required for delivery.

"There were CEF there," I said, placing a pipe of solid gold onto the table. Weiss reached into her drawer, countering with a tray. "Took this straight from their base."

Along with a hefty sum of coin, of course—a little cut had been safely tucked away for personal expenses.

We began crushing weed and filling the pipe, Weiss mostly watched. She took it first and lit it with a snap of her fingers. A long, deep drag. Then another, no coughing, I was so proud of this girl.

Alternating some good kush kush, we both got into a more smiley mood. The cannabis was running through my veins and into the back of my head directly, it was a great strain that I was growing right here.

"I am the Queen of Witches, Butler," began Weiss. I maintained silence and pressed my lips together, no laughing challenge, whatever she says I won’t laugh. "And the Queen of Witches always has a responsibility to leave a legacy. Something grand to be done, an impact on this world, one that would hopefully favor all the witches."

"Why is that?"

"It’s ritualistic. Queen Lilith established the strength of Witches and made this Palace, Elizabeth convinced fairies to create this forest. My teacher created Plant Magic entirely."

The pipe sizzled. Would a joint have been better?

"I have plans... but to correct corruption would also be a grand thing. Quite grand, in fact."

It seemed there was something else. Weiss purple eyes were looking extra glassy right now, it could have just been the weed, but it barely felt that way.

"I see..."

"That’s right. It is something to think about, Butler of mine."

"Miss Witch, thoughts are a dime a dozen, always a byproduct of us, not really what we want." Weiss raised her brow. I continued. "Decisions like these are to be made of conviction, not just thoughts. And conviction is built rationally. I suggest we sit on this for now, the world won’t end sooner or slower because we have found what we think is a cure for the Corruption."

"So it is, are you suggesting I finish what my original plan was?"

Voila, the thing she was worried about was her legacy! Of course, this potion was a coincidence. If being the Witch Queen meant leaving a legacy then she must have had plans for it, and this was upending those.

Was that really all?

There were many thoughts in my head, but we could figure it all out slowly. A skill that made me last longer as a thief was to be okay with uncertainty, this too, I would learn when the time came.

"I think you can do that. We don’t know if this potion works generally, or only on beastkin, or even on all beastkin. Too much is uncertain."

"Hah... that is there."

"We shall figure it all out with time, Miss Witch. There’s a long time left."

"Long time..." Weiss repeated my words. She looked like a small cat right now, adorable as she pouted her lips and looked down. Her eyes were reddening around the purple iris, even in that manner she looked beautiful.

"You’re right... haha... We have this, it’s already done. I can do whatever I want as I continue."

"By all means! I think it would be a good investment to find a way to cause corruption too."

"Hng?"

"We corrupt aristocrats, save them, corrupt them, save them, and take all their cash!"

"Hah..." Weiss’ eyes widened. She started laughing. "Hahahahaha!"

"Hahahaa..." Laughs left me too. For a few minutes, we only looked at each other and laughed, then laughed some more. We took deep breaths to control ourselves, and broke into laughs again.

"Phew... Butler, you’re an evil bastard."

"My, my, it’s purely business."

"I like that, we’ll do this. To damnation with these aristocrats anyway. Fill the pipe."

"On it!"

"Pfft."

"Baha! Hahah!"

And so we laughed some more.

It was a peaceful night.