Free Web NovelChapter 143: Chapter 143 Hair_1
The next morning, Aiden sat idly in his office.
Living directly at the place of work did save a considerable amount of time, as it eliminated commuting and allowed for work to be handled at any hour.
As a result, he had quickly completed most of his routine tasks for the day and even took some extra time to inspect the conditions in several prison blocks.
He poured himself a cup of tea and began to focus on organizing the new intelligence provided by Melifilia. freeweɓnøvel.com
Melifilia had given him a secret code, mentioning that if he said it to the fortune teller, they would assist him.
So this fortune teller must have been instructed by Melifilia.
Putting aside whether she was working for Melifilia, it was clear she was likely one of the chess pieces Melifilia could utilize; otherwise, Melifilia wouldn’t have mentioned her.
It was evident that even though Melifilia’s incarnate was contained in prison, she still had contacts or powers that could operate on her behalf outside.
Fortune-telling shops in the black market being involved in cult activities aren’t uncommon, could it be... remnants of the Blood Moon Cult?
No, that seems unlikely.
Within the Blood Moon Cult, only the founder who operated from the shadows had divinity and the power of divine words.
If the Blood Moon Cult had a fortune teller who could divine clues about divinity and divine words, mass-producing several controllers of divine words wouldn’t be an issue.
After all, does a fortune teller capable of divining such profound secrets truly exist? There are so many strong individuals in this world who have sought elements of divinity and failed to find them. If such a fortune teller were to emerge now, the powerful would surely vie fiercely for her service.
Moreover, the level of her own existence is still unknown.
Although the claim of obtaining results through fortune-telling was solely Melifilia’s word, Aiden believed that the fortune teller having clues to elements of divinity was more likely to be true.
Then it’s possible the fortune teller herself is a controller of divine words, even a saint nearing authority is not out of the question.
Melifilia having "pawns" out in the world was undoubtedly significant, but Aiden was completely convinced about what Melifilia had said regarding "investigating her is useless." After all, if that were not the case, Melifilia would be unlikely to disclose this information to him. Melifilia’s disclosure indicated her confidence in this area, and it was very likely that reporting this matter to the Heresy Tribunal would yield no additional intelligence.
Perhaps if a faction from the Heresy Tribunal were dispatched, the person would already be long gone.
By comparison, if he were to make contact with the fortune teller first, he might acquire more information.
However, he still felt deeply uneasy about such matters, stemming from his realization that he was still within Melifilia’s grasp. The relationship of mutual use between him and Melifilia was unspoken between the two. The issue was that Melifilia knew his goals, yet he had no idea what Melifilia truly sought to do.
He could only see the information Melifilia was willing to show him; the rest was concealed by Melifilia, and she was exceptionally straightforward about this concealment. It was almost as if she had "I won’t tell you and what can you do about it?" written all over her face.
And Aiden really couldn’t do much about her...
But regardless, he was still stuck in his self-imposed lock-up at the prison, and it was no harm to put aside matters that required leaving the prison for now.
Just then, someone knocked on the door of the office.
"Come in," Aiden responded promptly.
As the door swung open, Rebecca walked straight into the office, smiling and waving at him: "Good afternoon."
"You’re here. Any progress?" Aiden got right to the point.
Aiden had previously notified the reception that someone from the Heretic Inquisition Bureau might come to see him today. Upon Rebecca’s presentation of her documents, the staff at reception let her through and led her to Aiden’s office.
Yesterday, the Heretic Inquisition Bureau had formally taken over the heretical incident involving an automaton’s attempt to assassinate Aiden. The damaged automaton had been collected by the Bureau for analysis, and Rebecca had said she would lead a team to investigate the vicinity of Aiden’s residence. Now with Rebecca’s arrival, there must have been some initial progress in the case.
"As we suspected, we found two more automatons similar to the previous ones near your residence," Rebecca said, sitting down beside the coffee table. "They’ve been dealt with and sent to the Bureau for inspection. Also, we’ve deciphered some of the runes inscribed on the first automaton."
"Do we know anything?"
"We’ve figured out the mechanism by which the automatons lock onto their targets," Rebecca answered. "We found that on the inside of these automatons, a strand of hair was stuck on with adhesive tape."
"Hair?" Aiden paused, "Mine?"
"Yes, the control runes on these automatons include a segment of a curse spell that can use hair or blood from the target for identification. So now we suspect you might have some unspeakable secrets with that witch..." Rebecca said with a "serious" expression, "I need you to come with me to the Bureau to assist our investigation!"
"Stop joking," Aiden laughed out loud.
Rebecca also chuckled, then said earnestly, "But seriously, I came here specifically to confirm with you. Even if Witch Vila had prior knowledge of your information through Presia’s secret report, and even had you under surveillance, she couldn’t just obtain your hair for no reason, especially in quantity. Do you have any clue? If not, perhaps she managed to infiltrate your residence at some point."
"I do have a slight clue about this," Aiden recalled, "The night before last when I was heading back, I made a detour to get a haircut. It’s just south from here, near the corner of Wutong Street, at a shop I sometimes go to. Perhaps it was then..."
"Bought off?" Rebecca nodded, "Very likely."
Hair salons sometimes collect and organize long hair to sell to wig makers or craft traders. Occasionally, practitioners of dark magic also buy hair to use as materials for Magic Potions or as props for casting curses. For this reason, most major cities ban hair salons from selling hair to uncertified individuals, but prohibition does not mean that no one does it. Sometimes, cases related to black magic in the Heretic Inquisition Bureau involve the unlawful sale of hair.
If Vila had obtained Aiden’s hair through the means of a high-priced purchase from the hair salon, then by investigating and cracking down on the salon, they might be able to catch a lead on Vila.
Rebecca seemed to have thought of this as well, slapping her thigh and getting up: "This is great, I’ll go and check it out now! It won’t take long, we’ll nab that witch soon enough, just wait for the good news!"
"I’ll await your success," Aiden nodded and stood up to see Rebecca out of the office. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
Her comings and goings were always in such a hustle. When it came to capturing Vila, this girl was indeed much more eager than he was.
