Free Web NovelChapter 451: Chapter 451 Visit to Thorn Iron Prison_1
The next day, Thorn Iron Prison, the visitors’ room.
"It’s been a while, Father Bales," Aiden greeted the prisoner opposite him.
"The Cult is gone, and I’m no longer a priest," Father Bales sitting opposite calmly stated. "Also, if possible, please don’t call me by my surname anymore, just call me Benedict, or Benny is fine."
"All right, Mr. Benedict," Aiden chuckled, sizing up the other man. "It’s been a while since we last met, how have you been holding up in here? You seem to have lost some weight."
Benedict Barres looked vastly different from his days in the Cult, with his hair shaved and donning a red prison uniform; he had clearly lost weight, but he still appeared to be in good spirits.
Aiden noticed a steel collar around his neck, inscribed with anti-magic runes and an anti-magic stone, seemingly made of the rare mithril, and likely a custom piece. This collar not only sealed away the blood magic and necromancy controlled by Bales but also, due to its exceptional strength, completely prevented him from transforming into a composite beast within the prison. Should Bales attempt to transform, his expanding girth would cause the collar to choke his throat.
In this world, although the number of wizards who studied dark magic in violation of The Covenant was predominantly female, when it came to all types of criminals, males still vastly outnumbered females. Thorn Iron Prison was an enormous facility that could hold ten thousand inmates, more than double the size of Rose Iron Prison, with a budget gap that was even more significant.
Being able to afford custom-made mithril collars for prisoners with exceptional physical abilities was a luxury budget that had once filled Aiden with envy, but fortunately, now Rose Iron Prison could afford it too.
"The prison food is a bit poor, and there’s a lot of physical labor, but overall I guess I’m getting by," Barres replied indifferently.
It looked like Father Bales had also gotten used to prison life. At the conclusion of the Harvest Mother Cult incident, he was the only survivor left within the whole Cult. Father Bales had been identified as the primary culprit behind the organization of the Cult, however, with Aiden’s testimony, the Heretic Inquisition submitted his "confession" report, and his crimes were eventually mitigated. The sentence was long, but at least his life was spared.
"Thanks to you for agreeing to meet, otherwise I would have had to pull some strings," Aiden said.
"I don’t have any family or friends, so I’m pleased to have visitors. Is there something you would like to ask me, my lord?" Bales inquired.
Seeing the other party bring it up, Aiden didn’t beat around the bush, "I’ve heard that about seven or eight years ago, your Cult caused some trouble in the Empire?"
"Yes," Bales admitted straightforwardly.
"You attacked several of the Empire’s military bases?"
"Correct."
Everything was as Heinz had said; Aiden was not surprised and continued with his systematic questioning, "You knew the locations of so many bases, was there someone leaking information to you?"
"Yes, about eight years ago, a former Imperial soldier proactively approached us," Bales continued to answer truthfully.
"He spoke with you face to face?" This time Aiden was slightly taken aback.
"Correct."
The mysterious person who leaked information to Gistas’ intelligence bureau had only sent anonymous letters, but when approaching the Harvest Mother Cult, he actually went to talk in person.
If his true identity was Professor Dodge, that would be rather unusual, because obviously, negotiating with Gistas face-to-face would be more valuable. As a former Empire officer who had access to military secrets, he had significant value if he chose to defect. Gistas would probably not mind offering him protection. As for the Harvest Mother Cult, for both countries, it’s akin to a terrorist organization; under normal circumstances, he shouldn’t have gone to negotiate with them in person.
"So a former Imperial soldier is negotiating with you all face-to-face, he must be quite brave," Aiden commented.
"The Mother doesn’t like Imperials, let alone soldiers. However, this man also seems to be a fugitive wanted by the Empire, and he has a vendetta against them," Father Bales tried to recall, "His name... I can’t quite remember."
"Harrison Dodge?" Aiden asked.
"Yes, yes, that’s the name." With this reminder, Father Bales suddenly remembered, "Are you inquiring about his matters?"
It really was him! This was an unexpected windfall—Aiden was pleasantly surprised.
The one who had leaked information and sabotaged the Empire’s demon research project was indeed Professor Dodge. Furthermore, he even revealed himself personally during the negotiations with the Harvest Mother Cult.
"A wanted man choosing to meet with you all in person, that must be for more than just leaking information to you, right?" Aiden inquired.
The actual controller of the Harvest Mother Cult was Sister Neve, but the proclaimed leader to the public was Father Bales. At the time, Professor Dodge must have been negotiating with Father Bales, while Sister Neve was likely standing aside, listening in, and only providing "advice" to Father Bales at critical moments.
"Indeed, he offered to sell us military intelligence from the Empire, and he also had a request," Father Bales answered, "He seems to know of certain proprietary information and is aware of the abilities we possess. He asked us to create an artificial human without self-awareness using the material he provided."
"What material did he provide?" Aiden asked.
"A few preserved strands of hair; he hoped that I could use those strands to recreate the original owner’s body," Father Bales replied. frёewebnoѵēl.com
"Did you agree to it?"
"We did. I told him to leave the material, and then the Mother utilized divine speech to make the hair multiply into a body. Following the man’s wishes, we kept the body’s growth at around the appearance of an eleven- or twelve-year-old, and then we handed it over to him the next day," Father Bales explained.
"Eleven or twelve years old..." Aiden immediately sensed something crucial.
About ten years ago, Professor Dodge’s son "passed away" from illness at the age of nine; the professor approached the Harvest Mother Cult eight years ago. By calculations, if his son were still alive, he would indeed be around eleven or twelve.
"The artificial human you created, does he bear a resemblance to him, I mean by any chance..." Aiden pressed further.
"They have a blood relation; they should be father and son." Before Aiden could finish, Father Bales gave a very certain response, "’Proliferation’ ability allows one to vaguely sense blood relations."
"What does he want with an empty shell?" Aiden pursued.
Offspring propagated solely through the ’Proliferation’ ability and rapidly grown to maturity generally lack a consciousness of their own, at most only obeying the will of the ability’s controller like a worker bee. What Professor Dodge requested the Cult to create could only be a flesh shell cloned from his son’s body.
"I don’t know; we just provided him with what he wanted according to the agreement and didn’t ask too many questions," Father Bales recounted, "However, when I told him that such a quickly produced offspring wouldn’t live longer than a year, he seemed very disappointed."
