As soon as they heard about the triple pay, the witches immediately became restless.
It had to be said that their Clan Leader was truly reliable. She had found them such high-paying jobs in an instant—jobs where their wages wouldn't be skimmed off, openly or secretly, by the Supreme Council.
To be fair, they weren't even sure exactly how much they were being paid for the work they were currently doing.
But ever since the 101 witches returned from studying under Lan Qingyou, bringing back her alchemy theories along with their shared knowledge of magic circles, things had changed.
What?
What theory, you ask?
That would be the theory that 【alchemy is about equivalent exchange】!
Even though they didn't know the exact market rates, they always felt like they were getting the short end of the stick while working.
And if you feel like you're being cheated, don't doubt yourself—you definitely are.
So, upon hearing about the triple pay, these witches—who didn't even know their current wages—began plotting their career changes.
Some even dropped their work on the spot and rushed to the teleportation circles, picking any destination Lan Qingyou had mentioned in the group chat and teleporting away.
Since it was triple pay regardless, anywhere was better than where they were now.
And so.
A phenomenon occurred where large numbers of witches suddenly teleported away from Adventurers' Guild sites across the continent, leaving bustling construction zones at a complete standstill.
And so.
The various members of the Supreme Council began receiving one report after another about the witches 'absconding.'
Absconding?
That's impossible!
Every evolved being who had received evolution items had signed a contract or agreement with the Supreme Council.
It was clearly stated in writing that these evolved beings had to work every day to pay off their debts.
Otherwise, they would face punishments, such as being struck by lightning.
Yet, it was happening anyway.
The council members were utterly bewildered.
After some investigation, they discovered that someone was headhunting their workers with offers of triple pay!
Who?
The clan leaders of the new races!
There were plenty of places that wanted to build the Five Dragon Reincarnation Protection Magic Circle now.
Aside from the Adventurers' Guild, the autonomous territories of these new races naturally needed them as well. Some council members even had intelligence suggesting that certain organizations and teams were hoping for such a sheltered sanctuary.
While these organizations were much smaller than the new races and couldn't obtain legally recognized autonomous territories from the Supreme Council, they could still claim land.
They could simply claim territory, just as Lan Qingyou had done before.
After all, the Supreme Council's reach could not yet extend across the entire continent.
Not only were the races seizing land, but these organizations were doing so as well.
Some were small and could only hold a tiny patch of ground, while larger ones could dominate entire regions.
But without exception, they all wanted witches to help them build a zone where they could move freely even during mana turbulence and mana tides.
Naturally, the prices offered by these 'illegal organizations' were even higher.
It was only because they lacked a channel to contact the witches that they hadn't successfully lured them away sooner.
Well, wasn't this a bug in the contract?
Although the witches had left their designated sites for other locations, they were doing so to earn more money to pay back their debts.
From that perspective, they technically weren't in breach of contract.
If there was no breach, then naturally, there could be no punishment.
“So, what do we do?”
Someone asked in the Supreme Council's channel.
“If they raise their prices, we raise ours. That's the only way.”
“Raise our prices! What about our monthly budget? How much will we lose?”
“Whatever. We hold the technology to mint currency. If we're in the red, we'll just print more.”
“True. The currency hasn't reached saturation yet. Minting more gold coins won't hurt.”
“You might not care, but have you considered that doing this will only let the witches escape our control even faster? No, not just the witches—the other new races as well.”
“Actually, there is another way.”
“What way?”
“Invite all the clan leaders of the major races into the Supreme Council. That way, we'll all be part of a community of shared interests.”
“Are you joking? If we do that, how will we maintain order within the Supreme Council?”
“Maintain order? Maintain what? The power in your hands?”
“Hmph. My point is that they are already new races. Bringing them into the Supreme Council now won't do us any good.”
“What? Are you an originalist too?”
“Of course not. I mean the Supreme Council should take racial issues seriously and think about how to deal with this problem going forward.”
“Enough, enough. We all know how many people here have already evolved. That's not the issue. The issue is that if this continues, the new races outside the Supreme Council's system will slip from our control.”
“So it comes back to an invitation? That would mean many things have to be redistributed.”
“Sigh... what choice do we have? If that witch Lan Qingyou hadn't created those evolution potions, we wouldn't be in this passive position.”
“Saying that now just sounds like complaining. Do you even deserve to be a member of the Supreme Council?”
“Hehe, I've noticed you all seem very confident.”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing, just wondering... what makes you think those clan leaders will actually come just because we invited them?”
“...!”
One sharp-eyed member finally spotted a crucial point, bringing the entire discussion to a halt.
Exactly!
These clan leaders were all incredibly unruly. There was no guarantee they would join the Supreme Council's system at all.
Especially that troublesome Clan Leader of the Witch race.
She held far too many technologies in her hands.
Although some of the ten thousand witches were connected to the Supreme Council, the vast majority were merely hired employees.
If all these people ran off, it wouldn't necessarily make their investments go down the drain, but it was certainly unsettling.
After all, the inability to control a person or an event was what these people feared most.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have tried to test her at the Abandoned Land's Adventurers' Guild last time.
That attempt had been thwarted by the witch, resulting in them losing more than just a piece of land—they had truly suffered a double loss.
“Then what should we do?”
“How should I know?”
“Think of something. Let's think of how to respond.”
“Forget it. Those are long-term concerns we can figure out slowly. Our immediate worry is the matter with the witches.”
Someone proposed a plan to shelve the larger issues for now.
“What else can we do? We have to send Chu Yuan.”
“@Chu Yuan, go ask that witch what exactly is going on over there.”
“@Chu Yuan.”
“@Chu Yuan.”
Once someone started, others were bound to follow. Clearly, this thankless task had once again been pushed onto the 'youngster' of the group, Chu Yuan.
While being in one's forties isn't exactly young, he certainly seemed that way compared to these old-timers, who had an average age of fifty-three.
Rate on N.U.
