Leonard casually flipped through the ledger, glancing over the various materials the potions lab had withdrawn.
The ledger had been arranged by Marcus. The records in the potions lab tracked the time and quantity of materials taken from the warehouse.
There had been noticeable fluctuations in the data, especially beginning two months ago when the numbers increased sharply. It looked as though Damocles had begun withdrawing materials for research on the Wolfsbane Potion.
On the surface, everything seemed perfectly normal.
Leonard silently read through the ledger without saying a word. When he finished, he handed it back to Robert.
After a moment of silence, Leonard asked, "Has the workload been heavier than usual lately?"
"Seems like it. Otherwise we wouldn't be this tired," Robert said with a grin. "Is something wrong, Mr. William?"
"Oh, nothing like that. Do you know what Mr. Belby has been working on recently?" Leonard asked.
"We're not sure about that. We only know that Mr. Belby has been researching a new Wolfsbane Potion. He never lets us observe or help with that part," Robert replied.
Leonard nodded.
"Alright, I understand. Go back to work."
"Yes, Mr. William."
Robert lowered his head and resumed his work. Leonard walked around the room, correcting a few mistakes the other apprentices were making in their brewing techniques. After that, he returned to Midgard's side.
"…Please take good care of the research, Mr. Belby. The Wolfsbane Potion is very important to us. I promise that once your research achieves a breakthrough, we will reward you generously."
Midgard spoke to Damocles with complete sincerity.
"Don't worry, Madam Greyback. Just give me a little more time. I will not fail your expectations," Damocles replied, sounding equally heartfelt.
At that moment, Midgard noticed Leonard returning.
"Well? Did you see what you needed to see?"
"More or less," Leonard said in his hoarse voice before turning to Damocles. "Mr. Belby, could I take a look at that notebook behind you?"
"W… what?" Damocles froze. "Th… that's just my notebook for recording experiments and potion properties. There's nothing worth looking at."
"I'm just curious," Leonard said calmly. "Or is there something in it that I'm not allowed to see?"
Midgard looked directly at Damocles, her gaze carrying both inquiry and a silent warning.
"Nothing like that," Damocles said with an awkward laugh. "If you want to see it, go ahead."
He took out the notebook and handed it over. Midgard grabbed it first before passing it to Leonard.
Leonard flipped through the notebook and nodded.
"It seems Mr. Belby has been working quite diligently lately."
"Y… yes," Damocles said. "So it's probably best not to disturb me. I'll let you know once there's any progress."
"In that case, we'll be going," Leonard said.
He and Midgard turned and left.
Watching their backs as they departed, Damocles finally let out a long breath. His eyes flickered as if deep in thought.
...
Outside the potions lab, Midgard drank the healing potion in one gulp. She stretched her limbs and lazily stretched her back.
"Looks like everything's fine. Want to head out for a walk? Maybe find somewhere to eat?"
"Food can wait," Leonard said. "What exactly did Damocles say?"
"Oh, you didn't hear? He said there hasn't been any progress lately. He'll tell us when there is," Midgard replied casually. "He works a bit slowly, but that's not really a problem, right?"
"No. He's the problem," Leonard said firmly.
"Huh?" Midgard blinked in confusion. "What's wrong with him?"
"There's no way he could have made zero progress after all this time," Leonard said coldly. "The newest Aconite Fruit is simply stronger in medicinal properties and less toxic than the previous ones. Compared to the aconite used in the earliest version of the Wolfsbane Potion, the difference is actually quite small."
"With Damocles's skill, there's no way he wouldn't have noticed that. Besides, his notebook already contains research on the properties of Aconite Fruit. The data is extremely detailed. It doesn't look like the work of someone who started unprepared."
"Then why did he say there's no progress?" Midgard asked, puzzled.
"Because there really hasn't been any progress," Leonard said as he recalled the ledger. "The amount of materials withdrawn from the potions lab has increased, which matches the needs of experimentation. But from what I observed at the workbench, none of the auxiliary ingredients used for the Wolfsbane Potion have been touched."
"He doesn't seem to be researching the Wolfsbane Potion at all. Judging by the situation, it looks more like he's been brewing the Draught of Living Death."
The Draught of Living Death, also known as the Living Death Potion, sounded terrifying but was actually a powerful sleeping potion capable of quietly knocking out an entire room of people.
Leonard had never brewed it himself, but he had read about it in potions books in the library.
Although the main ingredients for the Draught of Living Death weren't among the materials withdrawn from the potions lab, Damocles had not lost his freedom among the Werewolves. He simply wasn't allowed to take anything from the lab.
He could still go out empty-handed, walk around town, and buy whatever he wanted.
Leonard had also carefully observed the workbench.
To avoid accidentally knocking over ingredients, apprentices never moved the auxiliary materials when cleaning the workbench.
So even a thoroughly cleaned bench would still leave traces, such as the mark left by a bottle that had not been moved for three months.
No matter how Damocles intended to improve the Wolfsbane Potion, adjusting auxiliary ingredients required gradual experimentation. It was impossible to remove them all at once.
But none of those materials had been touched.
That clearly meant Damocles had never conducted any experiments at all.
Meanwhile, the notebook contained only research on the properties of Aconite Fruit, and the level of detail was almost absurd.
That wasn't something a potion master would normally care about.
It was closer to the kind of research a Herbology expert would conduct.
"So the only thing he's actually used the workbench for lately is brewing the Draught of Living Death. Other than that, he hasn't touched it," Leonard said with a mocking smile. "And… he's apparently developed an interest in gardening."
"Gardening? That seems unlikely. He said he's been working late every night, and the little wolf cubs have been staying up with him," Midgard said.
"Well, Robert told me they've been extremely tired lately and keep getting sleepy," Leonard replied with a smile. "They probably didn't want me to know they were slacking off. So when they say they're sleepy, it probably means they've been falling asleep."
Leonard chuckled softly.
"Midgard, this is a major discovery. I think we may have found Raven… or at least someone connected to Raven."