Free Web NovelChapter 291: Chapter 291 The Pig Is to Be Fattened Before Slaughter_1
The next morning, Aiden handed a document to a prison guard.
"Deliver this document to the Inquisition Bureau, tell them it’s urgent, and it must be immediately presented to Director Harold for his review." After giving his instructions, Aiden promptly sent the guard on his way.
Then he settled back into his office chair, having dealt with most of his work the previous day. Today, he had fetched the mail from the inbox early, and began sifting through the letters one by one.
Given the flamboyant style of the Red Shark pirate group, a response from them was to be expected after his pointed counter-reply.
However, after going through all the letters, he found none from the Red Shark pirate group.
"They really can keep their cool," Aiden thought to himself.
Or perhaps, after being provoked, Navi Drake was planning to take direct action?
The preparations were not yet fully complete, but the most crucial step was in place. If the other side did attack, they could just about manage.
At that moment, someone knocked on the office door. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
"Come in," Aiden responded.
The door opened, and Veronica entered with a grave expression: "Commander."
"You haven’t finished your shift?" Aiden glanced at the clock on the wall. Veronica had worked the night shift the day before, and by now, she was actually free to change and go home.
"I swapped half a day’s shift with Isabella and planned to return in the afternoon." Veronica paused before speaking earnestly, "Commander, just now at the reception, a strange person came, saying he wanted to visit prisoner 3677. He claims... to be the father of the prisoner."
"Navi Drake?" Aiden was a bit surprised.
"That’s what he claimed. I compared him to the image on the wanted poster. Even though he was in disguise, I could still tell it looked very much like him, and his disguise..."
"What about it?"
"It’s very similar to the sketch you drew yesterday," Veronica said seriously.
"Then it must be the real deal." Nodding at this information, Aiden asked, "Did he bring anyone else with him?"
"No," Veronica shook her head.
Aiden frowned slightly; the pirate king had finally come knocking, but judging from the situation... it seemed he wasn’t here to break out the prisoner but truly to visit.
But that can’t be right; with a history of prison breaks, as a wanted criminal, how could the prison possibly allow him to visit?
This was something that he, who had been wanted for years, must be clearly aware of.
Aiden quickly understood the man’s real motive—the visitor didn’t really want to see the prisoner; he wanted to meet with the highest person in charge of the prison.
"So he’s now..."
"Waiting at the reception," Veronica answered, "Since you had instructed, I only let someone else take my place to keep watch."
"Good job," Aiden nodded in approval.
Navi Drake coming alone could mean more than declaring war; it probably also served to intimidate them.
If the prison moved to capture him at once, they’d likely be taken down en masse by the power of the Wordless Code.
"Arrange a meeting room for him," Aiden instructed.
"Are you really planning to let them meet?" Veronica was somewhat taken aback.
"Of course not, the person who wants to meet him is me," Aiden said as he picked up his hat, put it on, and took his cane towards the office door.
Veronica was just about to follow when she suddenly noticed a pair of black silk-embroidered long gloves, the kind only a woman would wear, on the visitor’s chair in the office.
"Eh?" Veronica blinked in surprise.
These were not something a colleague on duty would wear in prison, and it was unlikely that an inmate would possess such an accessory.
Had there been another female guest here last night, or was the warden planning to give them away as a gift, or could it be... that the warden wore them privately?
Plausible and implausible guesses popped into Veronica’s mind one after another.
"What’s wrong?" Aiden, who had reached the door, noticed his subordinate had not moved and turned to ask.
After hesitating for a moment, Veronica looked at Aiden and asked cautiously, "Chief, the gloves on the sofa are..." freēwebnovel.com
Aiden glanced quickly in that direction; for some reason, Veronica felt that he seemed to wink at thin air.
Then, Aiden turned back with a puzzled face: "Gloves? What gloves?"
"Huh?" Veronica looked back at the sofa and was stunned.
The sofa was completely empty.
She had clearly seen a pair of long gloves lying there just a moment ago...
Veronica blinked, completely unable to grasp what had just happened.
"Could it be that working after a night shift is too tiring?" Aiden asked with a concerned face.
"I-I’m fine!" Veronica waved her hands repeatedly, "Sorry, I must have accidentally seen wrong just now."
"Then let’s go," Aiden gestured for her to follow.
"Alright..." Veronica followed out of the office, frowning with confusion.
...
Soon, the two arrived at the prepared meeting room; half a minute had passed when Aiden saw the man claiming to be Navi Drake walk into the room from the door opposite the glass curtain wall.
He was an unremarkable middle-aged man, dressed in ordinary formal attire, wearing a monocle and a top hat, with a mustache shaped like the numeral eight on his mouth, showing no hint of the notorious pirate king who ruled the silent seas of the Empire. However, he did indeed closely resemble the image Aiden had scribbled on the wanted poster.
"Eh? I’m here to visit my daughter, who are you?" the man sat down on the chair, pretending to be confused.
"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Drake; I am the warden here," Aiden said with a smile, leaning on his cane, but he did not tip his hat.
"Are you the Aiden Galahad who wrote me a reply?" Navi Drake also started to smile, "I didn’t expect to actually meet you..."
"Well, there’s no need for such trivial courtesies; you came specifically to see me, right?" Aiden’s smile quickly faded. "What rights do a wanted criminal like you have to a prison visit?"
Navi nodded at this, his own smile vanishing. He gazed at Aiden for a while, then said with interest, "Then facing a wanted criminal like me, you’re not going to arrange for a few people to capture me? I recall you mentioning being very interested in my bounty?"
"I won’t do that now, because to do so... would be too much of a loss," Aiden shrugged.
"Too much of a loss?" Navi looked puzzled, "What do you mean?"
"You’re wanted by the Empire, not by this jurisdiction. In the autonomous states, the excessive acts you’ve committed amount to nothing more than threats to the judicial authorities, and you haven’t taken action yet. I’m thinking of waiting until you take action before capturing you; you’ll then become a serious offender in the autonomous states as well. At that time, I can not only claim the Empire’s bounty but also get another bonus from here," Aiden replied calmly. "Pig raising, you always fatten them up before the slaughter."
