Free Web NovelChapter 41: Chapter 41 Prohibited Items_1
"Why was that female prisoner only hiding a bottle of medicine sentenced to five days in solitary confinement?" After leaving the core area, Veronica, carrying a tray full of prohibited items, asked Aiden beside her.
The recent surprise search turned up quite a few things. Most of the people caught were only hiding one or two prohibited items. Only Fille was responsible for nearly one-third of the "goods" on the list, but even so, Aiden only put her in solitary confinement for one day.
However, prisoner 3340, who had only hidden a bottle of medicine, was sentenced by Aiden to five days in solitary confinement, which seemed a bit like favoritism. freewebnovel.cσ๓
"The fact that you are asking this question suggests you have the initiative to understand the situation, which is good," Aiden first praised Veronica and then turned around, "I only showed you the list, but haven’t had the chance to tell you that different prohibited items have different levels of danger. Correspondingly, the punishments vary in severity."
"Levels of danger... Is the danger level of medicine higher than that of a blade?" Veronica was somewhat surprised.
During this inspection, a prisoner was found hiding a carving knife, but even she was only put into solitary confinement for two days by Aiden.
"The rules in the core area are slightly different from the normal prison zones. That level of knife can’t really serve as a weapon in the core area. Think about when you were in prison; if someone threatened you with a carving knife, would you be scared?"
Veronica thought for a moment: "I would probably break the person’s nose first..."
With the overwhelming physical strength of a Pureblood Werewolf, ordinary people would stand no chance, not even if they had a real cleaver.
"That’s right, the core area is filled with dangerous individuals. A knife won’t cause much of a stir there, but having said that, dangerous items definitely need to be strictly controlled. However, with medicine, no matter which prison zone it’s in, it’s very dangerous. Its issues are much more complex than other contraband."
"How so?"
"First off, medicine can be used to poison someone or to feign illness — harder to detect than using tools. Moreover, some Magic Potions can provide magic power, allowing prisoners in the core area with sealed magic power to regain some of their strength temporarily. Finally, this prison houses many drug-addicted prisoners. For these individuals, certain medicines are not just valuable goods but can also become a means to control them. The fact that prisoner 3340 had addictive drugs cannot easily be dismissed as a coincidence," Aiden spoke slowly. "Do you know what crime prisoner 3340 was arrested for?"
"What was it?"
"Illegal trading. She was selling the drugs she made outside."
"Selling counterfeit drugs?"
Aiden shook his head. "No, real drugs. The medicine she made was genuine, including some Magic Potions with special effects, some with a purity even higher than those produced by pharmaceutical factories. But she was selling controlled medicines without a single permit, so she got caught and sentenced to six months — three months for illegal trading and another three for possessing unlicensed black magic."
"Is she... a witch?"
"She confessed to being a wandering alchemist, but she is likely a witch, one who is adept at Magic Potions."
In this world, although magic is not something rare, it’s not accessible to everyone, particularly black magic, which is under the control of international conventions and can usually only be taught and used by the military and armed organizations such as the heretical inquisition, under strict supervision.
The astrology and blessings studied by witches are not prohibited, but their involvement in black magic and Magic Potions could result in them being targeted by the heretical inquisition. The prison housed iconic figures like Daili, who excelled at summoning demons, and Asenna, who studied necromancy and the art of the undead.
This was also why prisoner 3340 was thrown into the core zone.
"So you mean, she’s dangerous?" Veronica was still somewhat confused.
"Did you notice that when I questioned prisoner 3340, a lot of prisoners looked over here?" Aiden suddenly remarked.
"Indeed..." Veronica recalled the moment, then had an epiphany, "They were paying attention to the person who could bring drugs into the prison!"
"Exactly, the management level of drugs is very high, but that woman still managed to bring them in. This means she has some channel or method. Mixing the drug powder into food or items, and then re-purposing it with professional techniques. It’s very difficult to detect that way, and we can’t completely prohibit the circulation of items in and out of the prison. This means she has the capability to become the ’drug head’ here. Within these walls, that’s a terrifying resource," Aiden explained while making a gesture of counting money, "a resource more useful than money, with which she can cultivate her own power in the prison."
"But her sentence is only half a year..." Veronica muttered softly.
She couldn’t quite understand why someone who only needed to stay in prison for half a year would need to do something as elaborate as Aiden was suggesting.
"Even if it’s just for a month, we cannot let our guard down," Aiden asserted earnestly, "especially with the inmates in the core zone."
Having dealt with so many prisoners, Aiden had also accumulated a considerable degree of professional instinct.
Though it was just intuition, he felt that the woman who had been overly polite on the surface was not simple at all.
The woman’s compliance and politeness hid an elusive slickness, and Aiden didn’t really care about the prisoners’ attitudes towards him; he had met too many from Zaun who would curse his eighteen generations of ancestors.
Whether they were polite or foul-mouthed, what he really cared about was whether they adhered to his rules.
And prisoner 3340, having just arrived, had already begun testing the boundaries, which instinctively put him on alert. The raid was originally aimed at the habitual offender Fille, but catching prisoner 3340 turned out to be an unexpected gain.
So he threw her a warning first, followed by five days of solitary confinement. It was a show of intimidation as well as a test.
"I understand," Veronica nodded, her face the picture of enlightenment, but then she suddenly threw out another question, "But, Chief, why is this a contraband item?"
Aiden turned his head, then stopped in his tracks—Veronica was holding the vibrating crystal found on Fille.
"I found out it vibrates on its own." Veronica tapped it against the tray’s edge, and the crystal immediately started to tremble rhythmically. Then Veronica grasped the crystal firmly and the vibration ceased. freewēbnoveℓ.com
"Uh, you..." Aiden put on an awkward but polite smile, "Really don’t know?"
"I really don’t know. It’s my first time seeing this kind of toy. Is it dangerous?" Veronica asked innocently.
"You might want to ask Flandre about it when you have the time; she’s more familiar with these things," Aiden said, scratching his forehead and casually passing the buck to his subordinate.
