Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted-Chapter 23: The Jealous Witch

If it were before, Loren would probably have said, "If you keep this up, I'll encase you in concrete and throw you into the sea," and then Mirrorheart would reply, "Abandonment play? Interesting."
In the end, Loren could only punch her on the head and pull her out of the birdcage. This was the result of Loren's careful consideration - if he hit any other part of her body, Mirrorheart would take it as a sexual implication.
"Master Mentor, is it really okay that you haven't brewed any medicine for the King at all?"
On the way back, Naclis asked this question.
"Scarcity increases value. The less I brew, the higher the cost, and the more he needs me. Let me stall for a few weeks first."
However, he couldn't delay forever. At the very least, Loren needed to brew a simplified version to let the King taste some benefits.
Dinner didn't require Mirrorheart's concern either. The residence the King prepared for Loren came with servants - chefs, butlers, and maids were all available.
Loren had no objections to this. After all, he had his Shielding Spell, so privacy wasn't an issue.
For dinner, Loren just had a quick bite before holing up in his room. He still had things to do.
Only Loren and Nightingale were in the room, with Nightingale appearing extremely small within the enormous birdcage.
In his previous life when playing games, Loren was a hardcore grinder. Such high-intensity grinding didn't tire him out - it only brought satisfaction.
Loren's preparations weren't complete yet. The previously screened materials were piled up in his bedroom. Merely knowing the Outer Gods' names wouldn't cause much impact, still within the Church's control range. What Loren needed to do was expand the Outer Gods' influence, expand it until the entire kingdom had no time to pay attention to his side.
The most direct method was to find someone to spread the faith, but Loren couldn't find a suitable candidate, so he had to do it himself. But he didn't need to do everything personally.
"Bloodspirit Wood, Resonance Gem, Void Crystal..."
Most of these materials were obtained by tricking the King, but some came from the spoils of previously destroying the Outer God worshippers' stronghold, like that Void Crystal - the entire stronghold only had two pieces.
Loren planned to use these materials to create puppets. This world did have the profession of puppet masters, but this wasn't the technology of this region, or even this continent, so the Bountiful Church would never think of this possibility.
The already drawn blueprint was unfolded by Loren. On the blueprint was a cute young girl. Since he was making a puppet anyway, just like how Loren preferred pulling for female characters in games, for no particular reason other than they were pleasing to the eye, and he could usually display them at home like figurines.
A puppet created with the Resonance Gem as its core could eliminate the need for puppet strings. Although mages could use magic to condense puppet strings, there were still too many limitations and the risk of being snatched away.
With the Resonance Gem, there were no such worries. It could be directly controlled by will and could even share some of the user's abilities.
However, in the game, Resonance Gems were very rare, basically only obtainable in the late game. Loren obtaining this thing was purely accidental. Probably the noble who collected the Resonance Gem back then didn't know what it was for, only knowing it was a rare gem that could be offered to Pluto.
Bloodspirit Wood was a strange magical creature. Its wood was extremely similar to flesh and blood, having high strength while being able to imitate human appearance. Things made from it could retain these characteristics and appear more human-like.
The Void Crystal needed no explanation - not only could it communicate with Outer Gods, but it also made it easier for others to be corrupted by Outer Gods, could amplify human will, and could even be detonated like a nuclear bomb in the end, directly using it to summon Outer Gods.
Not just these key materials, Loren used the best quality for all materials. Once again, Loren felt the benefits of having money and power.
Loren's requirements were very high, so the workload was enormous. Loren worked until midnight, with Nightingale beside him having closed its eyes.
"Forget it, time to sleep."
Although Loren had tasks at hand, it didn't affect his sleeping in.
The night passed without incident. Loren only woke up at noon the next day. The Attendant didn't dare disturb him. When Loren left his room, Anna had already started eating lunch. Her schedule was very regular - she wouldn't miss a single meal.
"In the afternoon, we'll go check out the market. The Royal Capital has a market for supernaturals."
Loren indeed still lacked a few things, but these things weren't very convenient for the King to know about, so he couldn't directly ask for them.
As he said this, Loren also noticed the Attendants' hesitant expressions. Loren knew they were all sent by the King to watch them, so he had to explain:
"A workman must first sharpen his tools if he is to do his work well. Perhaps we might encounter something there that can improve my potion brewing success rate."
Loren specifically emphasized the success rate. If these Attendants really conveyed his exact words, the King should remember the Tear of Condensed Wishes.
The effect of the Tear of Condensed Wishes was too powerful - one could say it was the foundation of the Gedlan Kingdom. Even if the King wanted to use it, he would need approval from many high-ranking officials, such as the Headmaster of the Gedlan Royal Magic Academy who was a sixth-tier mage, and the Pope of the Gedlan Kingdom's Bountiful Church.
But as long as they were still human and still coveted power, they would need longevity. Loren believed they would agree - it was just a matter of arguing about who would get the first bottle of medicine Loren brewed.
No time like the present. After finishing his meal, Loren directly left the academy. The Christmas holiday hadn't ended yet, so there were no students in the academy.
Unfortunately, the Gedlan Royal Magic Academy was more like Hogwarts than traditional fantasy novel academies - there weren't competitions every other day, not much entertainment to watch.
After leaving the academy, Mirrorheart separated from Loren and the others. She was going clothes shopping. Loren asked her to help get him two more black robes, though this time Loren was preparing them for his puppet.
As for the others, Loren brought them along to the market. Loren still remembered the location of the Royal Capital's market. Unfortunately, in the game, the Gedlan Kingdom was destroyed soon after the start, so he could only visit it a few times.
Many people here wore black robes, so Loren's attire was quite ordinary and didn't attract attention.
Anna was curious about everything - this was her first time coming to such a place.
Loren came to a place selling magic scrolls and declared with a grand gesture:
"I'll take all magic scrolls of third-tier and above."
Magic released through scrolls required no incantation and had no requirements for the user's strength, only consuming Mana, so magic scrolls weren't cheap, and making them was quite troublesome.
Seeing Loren's generous spending, the magic scroll seller knew Loren was no ordinary person and immediately packaged everything up for Loren, completely without any intention of probing into Loren's identity.
"Sorry."
Just as Loren finished paying and was about to leave, he was bumped into by another person wearing a black robe. Loren's intuition gave him a premonition. He touched the place where he kept his money pouch - it was already empty, and yet through a layer of clothing, it shouldn't have been possible to steal it.
Before that person could leave, Loren successfully grabbed her arm. When she turned around, Loren saw her face. Combined with what just happened, Loren recognized her identity.
Scarlett, the Jealousy Witch of the Seven Sins. Loren never expected to encounter her in such a place. Was this fate's arrangement?