Free Web NovelChapter 172: Chapter 172 You Can Graduate Now_1
"...So, the cult wants to know the secrets you used to hold, and that’s why they sent someone to the prison?" After listening to Aiden’s general description, Veronica tried to summarize.
"Yes, they have a technique that surpasses the known Alchemy of today, capable of mass-producing artificial humans with comparatively high performance, and these artificial humans have no will of their own, fully obeying the cult’s instructions," Aiden chose his words cautiously, "Just like the prisoner who died today, I’m afraid he was a pawn of the cult."
"I see..." Veronica accepted this quickly.
In Aiden’s personal view, matters of the divine word and divinity, even if revealed a little to Veronica, wouldn’t be too problematic, considering that he himself learned of them through contact with the Witch Gathering accidentally.
But this involved the existence of Melifilia, who was imprisoned under the office; this was a secret he could not reveal, both professionally and personally.
The file on Melifilia was the highest secret he was privy to; even the mere act of disclosing a bit of it voluntarily would result in the Inquisition arresting him without mercy and putting him on trial, despite any merits or contributions he might have made to the Inquisition before. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
Moreover, this information concerned his safety. Even those utterly trustworthy could not be told, for sometimes even those in the know could succumb to threats and coercion or be tricked into revealing information. In any case, the more people who knew, the greater the objective risk of a leak.
Thus, Aiden substituted with the phrase "transcendent dark magic, Magic Potions, and Alchemy" as much as possible. In fact, this wasn’t entirely inaccurate, since the technology of mortals in this regard originally stemmed from divine power. Moreover, when mortals used divine words, the effect was only slightly better than dark magic.
If one mastered dark magic to its extreme, they could barely touch the edge of the effects of divine words. For instance, the secret technique developed by Presia, although it lacked a bit compared to the power of the authority of wisdom, could already achieve the effect of ’soul transference’."
If the listener were an expert with considerable accomplishments in the field of dark magic, fully aware of its limits, they would definitely have suspicions upon hearing Aiden’s explanation.
Luckily, Veronica was a complete novice in the area of dark magic, and she accepted everything Aiden said without doubt; Aiden’s explanation went smoothly.
"Then you mentioned earlier that the cult has gone to war with the Witch Gathering, what’s that about?" Veronica asked further.
"The organizers of the Witch Gathering have something they want, and a few Great Witches from the Witch Gathering also intend to take their technology," Aiden explained succinctly, "The cult has been using artificial humans as cannon fodder to besiege Banquet Forest, while the Witch Gathering has been tracking the cult’s movements. During Presia’s case before, I had contact with the Witch Gathering, and now those witches have proposed an alliance with me."
"With you? But aren’t you..." Veronica hesitated.
"Right, they want to use me, a former Judge. It’s actually due to them stirring things up in secret that the Harvest Mother Cult has turned its attention this way." freēwēbnovel.com
Veronica remained silent for a while, quickly organizing the information she received in her mind, then asked Aiden, "So... Chief, what are your plans now?"
"With things having reached this point, a conflict with the Harvest Mother Cult seems inevitable, so I’ve decided to accept the Witch Gathering’s proposal for an alliance," Aiden replied truthfully.
"I see..." Veronica mused.
"You think it’s not quite right?" Aiden asked.
"No, I think it’s a viable plan, it’s just... the risk is a bit high," Veronica said.
Veronica was not unfamiliar with such situations; the mounted police would sometimes use one gang to deal with another, orchestrating criminal groups to turn on each other in a dog-eat-dog manner before taking the opportunity to take down one of them.
And sometimes, gangs would gather incriminating evidence against their rivals and find a way to pass it on to the police, using the mounted police to crush opposing factions.
But if not handled properly, this approach could also lead to a lot of trouble, like in the past with "Tyrannosaur" Camilla’s case, where the mounted police almost became accomplices in turning Slyne into a corpse fiend, their stance became extremely awkward.
When the mounted police used gangs, they at least maintained a relatively strong position, but the witches’ council was an organization that even national-level heretical tribunals had to handle with caution; collaborating with them could easily result in being completely devoured by them if not careful.
Besides, every member of the witches’ council was a witch from The Black Magic Management Convention, and some Great Witches were even S-class wanted criminals. Getting involved with these people could lead to incursion into criminal fields, and even Aiden himself could be targeted by the heretical tribunal.
The motive of the witches’ council was also clear: they were eager to leverage the power of the autonomous state’s heretical tribunal to deal with the Harvest Mother Cult, but they themselves were not in a position to contact the heretical tribunal directly, which is why they wanted to use Aiden as an intermediary.
"But this risk must be taken, the heretical tribunal will only strike hard at the cult after obtaining deeper criminal evidence. Right now, relying just on ourselves, we’re basically unable to take the initiative against the cult," Aiden said calmly.
"Then, should we... use prisoners?" Veronica thought for a moment, then suddenly made a suggestion.
"Things outside the prison, occasionally using prisoners might still be okay... but to really have them fight to the death against external forces, that might be a bit difficult," Aiden shook his head.
"But look, sir, the two prisoners in room twelve are also members of the witches’ council, they might be willing to participate," Veronica cautiously proposed, "Actually, the mounted police have precedents of picking criminals from prison to act as informants, it’s just not known if the heretical tribunal has something similar..."
Aiden paused for a moment, then began to think.
The mounted police’s approach, as long as similar procedures were used, was theoretically not impossible for the heretical tribunal.
However, because of the extreme vigilance within the heretical tribunal towards these dangerous criminals, it’s very rare for the tribunal to consider utilizing the power of prisoners. With no precedent in memory, even Aiden himself hadn’t thought of it for a while.
If he were to go through the procedures and collaborate with the heretical tribunal, then the prisoners might be brought out for use.
This time’s incident was related to the witches’ council; as long as the reward was sufficient, Daili and Presia should be willing to participate... They could become powerful pawns he could use against the Harvest Mother Cult.
"That’s possible," Aiden couldn’t help but cast an admiring glance at Veronica, "Feels like you’ve learned enough here to graduate."
