Chapter 131: Chapter 131 You’ve Been Targeted_1
Over the weekend, Aiden brought Presia to the library, accompanied by Veronica.
"This is the library, complete with a reading room. The room for your research is in the archival room on the side of the library," Aiden explained to Presia, who wore shackles, "Of course, all research inventions and required materials must be reported for my approval beforehand. There will also be prison guards monitoring during the research, and any experiments needing spell permissions must be conducted in the control room with me and at least two anti-riot officers present." Aiden paused, then looked meaningfully at Presia, "No tricks during the research process, otherwise I’ll ensure your death is quite unpleasant. Though, I’m sure you wouldn’t be that foolish."
"The library..." Presia looked around, "Not bad at all, I’ve never heard of a prison with such a facility before."
"Setting this up was my personal decision after taking office, to provide inmates with facilities for learning and self-improvement." Aiden replied calmly, "This library is for the core area inmates. There’s a larger library on the east side of the prison for the inmates of the three general areas to share."
"You’re spending the prison’s budget on this?" Presia turned her head, looked at Aiden with confusion as though she didn’t quite understand, "And in the library, you still need to have people to watch over the inmates, right? Isn’t this an unappreciated effort?"
"Inmates, no matter where they are, are always under guard; there is no difference. As for the budget, setting up such facilities does indeed cost money, but from a long-term perspective, it can be very effective in improving inmates’ compliance and reducing disciplinary issues. You should know that the extra costs spent over the past decade for suppressing riots in the core area could have built three or four such facilities. If the inmates are a bit more compliant, it saves us effort too."
"Looks like you’ve really become quite the philanthropist," Presia said in a mocking tone, "Back when you were a Judge capturing us witches, you weren’t the least bit gentle."
"Different positions, different perspectives. The duty of a Judge is to capture you; you and the Judges are enemies, so of course, the Judges wouldn’t be lenient with you. But now that you’ve been thrown into prison, to us the prison guards, you are just subjects of our job," Aiden said placidly.
"Is there a difference? You hold shackles and weapons to guard inmates, inmates are always thinking of escaping your supervision. Ultimately, law enforcers and inmates still have an adversarial relationship," Presia glanced coldly at Aiden, her confrontational attitude towards law enforcers didn’t seem easy to reverse.
"Prison guards and inmates have to coexist for an extended period; being exclusively adversarial is beneficial to no one," Aiden said, glancing at her and shrugging his shoulders, "But if you insist on thinking that way, there’s nothing I can do about it."
"Warden, that sounds like one of the classic quotes from a playboy," came a faint voice.
"Asenna." Aiden looked in the direction of the voice, "You’ve been keeping your head down, I thought you were dozing off."
"I was just looking down at my book," Asenna answered indifferently, adjusting her glasses.
"Take care you don’t break your neck reading like that," Aiden cautioned, "Have you finished the library archival work?"
"Of course, I wouldn’t want to lose this good position," Asenna replied, shifting her gaze to Presia, "Got yourself a new favorite?"
"This is inmate 3397, Presia, Daili’s roommate. She might need to use the research room in the future, so I brought her here to take a look," Aiden introduced her.
"I know, I know. Presia, a bigwig of the Witch’s Gathering, right?" Asenna nodded indifferently, "Are you on a mission to thoroughly scoop out the Witch’s Gathering?"
"I can’t handle it if they cram all those troublesome witches here, and it’s the Inquisition who’s responsible for catching them, not me."
If any of those higher-ups from the witches’ assembly were to be caught, they would most likely be sent to Rose Iron Prison. But for someone like Abigail, who even the national authorities were reluctant to antagonize, it was virtually impossible for her to be apprehended.
Aiden turned his head towards Presia, "There’s someone conducting research in the room right now, go take a look."
They arrived at the research lab where the room was split in two by a fence; on the side near the door, a prison guard sat watching. On the other side of the fence, Meiruki Slave was working at a table, extracting essences from herbs using reagents.
"Ah, Warden. Do you have some free time today to come and observe my experiment?" Meiruki Slave greeted Aiden as soon as she saw him, then noticed Presia standing to the side, "Isn’t this my former ’patient’? Has she recovered her memory?"
"Keep busy with your work, don’t mind us," Aiden waved his hand dismissively.
"Don’t be so cold, I actually have something I’d like to discuss with you," Meiruki Slave said with a smile, "I still want to apply to do some Magic Potion research, I wonder if the Warden you..."
"Don’t even think about it," Aiden immediately rejected her proposal, "Don’t get any funny ideas. The ingredients for Magic Potion are too hard to obtain; there’s no prospect for large-scale application. If you want to apply for a reduced sentence, studying ordinary medicine that can cure diseases is enough. Are you looking to start another riot by messing with Magic Potion?"
"How could I dare?" hurriedly, Meiruki Slave showed submissiveness, "I just thought..."
"Don’t talk back, and don’t forget that you’re only on a delay from the death sentence. Do you want to live, or do you want to make trouble?" Aiden cut her off uncompromisingly.
"Alright, I understand," Meiruki Slave swallowed her words.
"She’s... a death row inmate?" Presia quietly asked Aiden.
"Yes, this one is a monster whose crimes are heinous, and whose death would be of no consequence," Aiden replied in a lowered voice, "But in this prison, there’s a juvenile offender who was turned into an assassin by her and can only survive with her skills. That’s why I managed to keep her alive. In addition, she’s a student of Lamia, skilled in pharmacology, and she has a lot of technology that surpasses our times, which can be used for healing and saving lives. So, I’ve allowed her to provide research here and apply for a reduced sentence."
"Even such a person you dare to utilize..." Presia turned her head to gaze at Aiden for a while before speaking, "It seems Daili was right; you really are someone worth making a deal with... although I still personally don’t like you."
"I don’t need that," shrugged Aiden.
"Regardless, since you didn’t lie to me, I suppose I should still warn you," Presia said, pausing, "You now... might already be on Vila’s radar."
"What did you say?" Aiden was taken aback.
