Chapter 121: Chapter 121 Tracking_1
That night, Aiden set out from the Rose Iron Prison, heading towards the Heretic Inquisition Bureau.
Having confirmed that the "Rebecca" he had been in contact with was actually Presia, he realized a lot of things.
The "token of the Great Witch" was probably swallowed forcibly by Rebecca before her memory got sealed, in order to pass the critical evidence to the Heretic Inquisition Bureau.
This act, to a certain degree, also saved Rebecca’s life. After swapping bodies with Rebecca and locking away her memories, Presia could have simply killed the Rebecca trapped in her own body and be done with it.
But after Rebecca swallowed the token, Presia’s options became limited. At that time, an entire squad was hunting down Presia—killing Rebecca and letting her body fall into the hands of the Heretic Inquisition Bureau would mean that, once an autopsy was performed, the token would end up with them.
Afterwards, Presia could only hope that her original body would, due to a gastrointestinal obstruction, be taken to the hospital, where she then could use Mental Spells to snatch the token back—whatever the case, it would be impossible to do so under the strict guard of the Heretic Inquisition Bureau.
However, yesterday the Heretic Inquisition Bureau dashed her hopes by sending this hot potato straight to the Rose Iron Prison as soon as symptoms appeared in her body.
After learning of this, Presia then could only hope that the Rose Iron Prison would send her to the hospital. It’s even possible that she monitored the Rose Iron Prison for this reason—Daili’s familiar surveillance spell, also a type of Mental Magic, would certainly be within Presia’s grasp if Daili could use it, especially since Presia was more adept at Mental Magic.
But in the end, the Rose Iron Prison also disappointed her, showing no intention of sending her body to the hospital. Unable to hold back any longer, she had to come to the Rose Iron Prison herself to inquire.
She likely never imagined that the Rose Iron Prison could come up with a treatment plan more professional than a surgical hospital’s, directly removing the token; she might have even suspected that the prison intended to let the troublesome prisoner die slowly.
No wonder she was so agitated last night, unable to maintain her act... Moreover, it was the night of the full moon, the day Abigail was to summon the other Great Witches; she probably also wanted to use that opportunity to contact other witches for help.
Then, her reason for wanting to transfer to the Rose Iron Prison can be fully explained, and Aiden could think of at least two.
The first was to escape from the Heretic Inquisition Bureau, who were her natural enemies; she couldn’t perfectly impersonate Rebecca, and what was worse, Rebecca was a left-hander, a body type that she found difficult to adapt to. She must have chosen to swap bodies with Rebecca out of necessity—the fact that she couldn’t prevent Rebecca from swallowing the token indicated this, so she had to use the excuse of amnesia as a cover for herself, yet Harold still grew suspicious of her.
The second was the opportunity to rescue Daili, who had been captured years ago. Daili did indeed have a certain camaraderie with her, and she had always advocated for the witches of the witch assembly to unite against the Heretic Inquisition authorities. Furthermore, the rescued Daili could also become a force to help her extricate herself from the current situation.
Once Aiden was certain about the body swap between Presia and Rebecca, he immediately decided to go and notify the Heretic Inquisition Bureau and discuss the plan to capture Presia... who was now the "Rebecca."
Although he could send other prison guards to relay the message, he didn’t have any conclusive evidence to hand over.
Swapping bodies with Mental Magic was a form of dark magic not recorded in the Heretic Inquisition Bureau’s archives; it must be an original spell developed by Presia. Moreover, it was so late that Superintendent Harold might not even be at the bureau, so whether to immediately inform Harold on stand-by duty or to persuade Harold to believe his deductions and act, he probably had to present the case in person.
At that moment, he felt again just how inconvenient it was to live in a world without cellphones—otherwise, he wouldn’t have to make a special trip in the middle of the night... No, to talk about cellphones might be a bit too much to ask for; even telephones hadn’t been widely adopted, and long-distance communication primarily relied on letters and telegrams.
Capturing a Great Witch listed as an S-rank fugitive was a dangerous task, and naturally, the safest approach was to leave it to the professional team of the Heretic Inquisition Bureau.
Although the current Presia, limited by various conditions, likely couldn’t reach the level of danger associated with an S-rank.
Unlike Daili’s spells, Mental Magic wasn’t a type particularly suited for direct combat; in the past, Presia was treated as an S-rank fugitive mainly because she could use Mental Magic to control some dangerous magical beasts to guard her residence as her pets.
And now she was sealed inside Rebecca’s body, forced to play the role of Rebecca, and located within Silvertown, her integrated strength was probably greatly reduced compared to when she was surrounded and hunted down by Rebecca’s team.
If they could capture Presia and seal her magic power, there would be a chance to use hypnosis, or even the dream infiltration abilities of a succubus, to confirm that she had swapped bodies with Rebecca.
Of course, if she hadn’t yet realized that the fact of their body swap had been exposed, perhaps she could be lured directly to a place like Rose Iron Prison or the Heretic Inquisition Bureau, both of which had magical sealing barriers... Or else, the one still posing as Rebecca might also head to the Heretic Inquisition Bureau on her own, and by then they could catch her like a turtle in a jar.
If only things could be resolved so easily...
Just as he thought of this, Aiden, who was en route, suddenly felt a chill down his spine.
He turned his head slightly, and the dimly lit street, illuminated by streetlights, was empty.
But just now, there indeed had been a shadow that flickered under a streetlight about thirty meters away, someone was likely following him.
No, not one, but two shadows, with the other about fifty meters away.
What was going on?
Mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind?
But he quickly figured out what was happening.
The one tracking him was probably Presia.
And the other person should be the one Harold had assigned to surveil Rebecca.
From Rose Iron Prison to the Heretic Inquisition Bureau, the distance wasn’t far at all, a two-quarter hour walk, just two blocks away.
They must have started watching him from the moment he left the Rose Iron Prison, or they were waiting somewhere on the road for him to pass so they could appear here.
In other words, Presia had set her sights on him.
Was it because she realized he had witnessed the truth? No, even if that were not the case, Presia had reasons to keep an eye on him.
Presia, fixated on transferring to Rose Iron Prison to no avail, might think of directly targeting him as the warden.
Such as... taking over his body this time, then directly saving Daili.
Thinking of this possibility, Aiden steadied his spirit.
Fortunately... he had made secret preparations.
