Chapter 132: Chapter 132 The World Outside is Really Dangerous_1
As evening approached, Aiden changed out of his uniform in his dressing room, preparing to leave the prison after his shift.
Just as he was hanging the uniform neatly in the locker, his thoughts drifted back to the conversation he’d had with Presia that morning—
"I remember that day, my credential was damaged by you. You must have infiltrated Abigail’s gathering and then got kicked out, right?" Presia had confirmed with him at the time.
"That did happen," Aiden admitted candidly. After all, it was an obvious fact with nothing to deny.
"In that case, Vila might already know something has happened to me. I came to the autonomous province to track down the Blood Moon Cult’s movements. Before I moved here, I had made prior contact with Vila. Given her temperament, once she knew my credential had fallen into someone else’s hands, she’d probably come here to check on my current situation."
"Is that so? But at most, she could only confirm that you were caught by the Heretical Inquisition at your base, right? I might as well be frank with you, I did indeed infiltrate Abigail’s gathering that day, but I was in disguise. I doubt anyone recognized my identity at that time." Aiden was still quite calm then.
When infiltrating Abigail’s gathering, he had transformed his body into that of a woman using body modification.
Therefore, even though he had provoked the witches’ meeting, Aiden wasn’t too panicky inside. After all, it was unlikely that the coven was aware that the woman who had infiltrated their gathering was none other than the former Judge, Aiden Galahad.
"Then let me be frank with you. I had set up a secret emergency contact point with Vila in advance. Before I was about to make a move on you that day, I had controlled a bat to circumvent surveillance and carry out a coded message to the contact point. Although I can’t send letters across the continent like Abigail, sending one from within the city to the outskirts is still doable. If Vila went to the contact point and got the slip of paper, she would immediately know the whole situation."
Upon hearing the candid truth from Presia, Aiden’s composure vanished in an instant, "Where is that contact point?"
"It’s an abandoned forest ranger’s treehouse in the suburbs. I doubt you could find it, and even if you did, it wouldn’t be of any use. Vila has been active around the autonomous province. She can reach Silvertown within a day by train. She’s impulsive. Knowing I’m in trouble, she would act immediately. Several days have passed, and by now, she most likely knows everything. This is just my guess, but knowing everything, she might seek revenge on you."
"You’ve been in prison for several days now, and you’re just now being honest with me about this?"
"You should be grateful I told you at all. I could have kept silent. Besides, what are you afraid of? Even though I expect you’re unlikely to catch Vila, with your skills, she probably can’t do much to you," Presia replied with an indifferent face.
...
Thinking of this matter, Aiden felt a strong resistance to leaving the prison.
It was only recently that he had learned from Melifilia that his life was still being watched constantly. Now, Presia’s sudden revelation made him think that the witches’ meeting might also know his true identity.
This was actually a very serious matter.
With a bit of sorting out, the key information mentioned in the coded message that Presia sent out on the day she had planned to move against him could be broadly summarized as follows:
First, my Great Witch’s Credential ended up in the hands of Aiden Galahad that evening. If you encountered any suspicious individuals at the gathering that day, it had to be him, no doubt about it.
Second, this guy is now the warden of Rose Iron Prison, and I plan to take over his body tonight to rescue Daili.
After sending out that encrypted letter, there was no follow-up from Presia.
If the Great Witch Vila had already received this letter and realized that she had not heard from Presia again, she would also likely deduce that Presia had failed in her attempt against him.
Vila might also reveal this information to other Great Witches through some communication channels.
From the impression of that gathering, the witch assembly did not seem like a united organization, but it certainly wasn’t completely disorganized either.
First off, as the organizer, Abigail herself had a considerable level of influence over the other witches.
Secondly, there were definitely smaller groups within the witch assembly that were conscious of camaraderie, like Presia, Vila, and Daili, who appeared to be such a trio. Especially Presia and Vila, who seemed to have always advocated for the assembly to become a unified force.
According to Presia, setting aside others for the moment, Vila was very likely to take retaliatory actions.
At this moment, Aiden suddenly felt that the world outside the prison had become a bit terrifying, with forces everywhere lying in wait to take his life.
Living in the prison was not really an issue; in fact, due to the nature of his job, he did occasionally end up staying in the prison for several consecutive days.
But whether for official business or personal life, completely bonding oneself to one’s workplace was always impractical, and he certainly wasn’t ready to give up on a normal life out of concern for something that might not even happen.
He had a dinner engagement tonight—Rebecca mentioned wanting to treat him to a meal after she was rescued. At first, Aiden thought she was just being polite, but later, when she came to the Heretical Inquisition to coordinate work, she directly made an appointment with him for the time and place.
With no reason to refuse, he naturally couldn’t just stand someone up.
After changing into casual clothes, Aiden left the changing room, only to bump into Veronica, who was also dressed in casual wear and ready to leave work, in the corridor.
"Ah, Chief!" Veronica reflexively saluted.
"There’s no need to be so formal after work, relax," Aiden waved his hand, "I’m not that serious of a person."
"Ah, it’s a habit," Veronica said with an embarrassed smile.
"You’re on the day shift today, I rarely bump into you at this time when getting off work," Aiden walked briskly along the corridor toward the exit.
"Yes, because, Chief, your work hours are always so long..." Veronica followed behind him, watching his back for a while, when suddenly she realized something, "Um, Chief, have you had dinner yet?"
"Not yet, I’m about to go out to eat."
They continued talking as they walked out of the prison’s side door, which was reserved for prison guards.
"Well..." Veronica hesitated, as if she wanted to say something.
At that moment, a figure suddenly approached from outside: "You finally came out, I’ve been waiting for you for so long!"
"Hm?" Aiden looked toward the figure in surprise, "Rebecca?"
