Chapter 135: Chapter 135 A Bit Beyond the Syllabus_1
Evening, the warden’s office.
Next to the coffee table, four seats were arranged. Seated side by side on one side were the witches Presia and Daili, while facing them sat Veronica and Rebecca, side by side. Aiden was sitting in the large chair behind the desk, eyes fixed on Presia.
After having handed over the remains of the puppets to the Inquisition for investigation, Aiden also began gathering information in his own way.
First, he had to confirm whether the incident he had just encountered was indeed the handiwork of the Great Witch Vila.
The Great Witch Vila had risen to fame after he had left the Inquisition, so Aiden was not very clear on her specific information.
He brought in the two witches who knew Vila— in fact, Aiden had tried to question them after learning from Presia that he might have been targeted by Vila.
At that time, Presia had been tight-lipped about Vila, while Daili only told him that her forte was Alchemy—not the kind related to the study of Magic Potions, but the traditional craft aimed at the goal of transmutation. However, she did not mention anything about magic golems.
"Hmm, that was indeed Vila’s doing," Presia, seated by the coffee table, nodded in confirmation after hearing Aiden’s question, "She knows how to make magic golems."
"When I asked you for information about her today, you didn’t mention a word," Aiden said with a cold laugh, "Now you’re quite cooperative in divulging."
"Why would I have to tell you? Just by reminding you that someone has got their eye on you, I’ve done more than enough—" Presia stopped mid-sentence, suddenly aware of the displeasure on the faces of the two opposite her, and prudently shut her mouth.
After Aiden’s attack, Veronica and Rebecca had been wearing gloomy expressions throughout.
Especially Rebecca, who occasionally shot menacing glares that made it seem as if she could devour someone—at her meal with Aiden being interrupted, she had been in a highly irritable state ever since.
"What about you, Daili? You only told me she was skilled at Alchemy..." Aiden shifted his gaze to Daili, "You weren’t intentionally concealing it from me, were you?"
"How could that be?" Daili hurriedly smiled apologetically, "When I was imprisoned, I didn’t even know she had such a technique..."
"Vila indeed specializes in Alchemy, and creating magic golems is a technique developed by ancient alchemists. Vila restored this technique from the remnants of ancient literature two years ago and has improved it. It’s true that Daili didn’t know," Presia defended Daili.
Aiden finally understood why Presia had said that it would be unlikely for him to catch Vila—if she had sent autonomous golems like those to kill him, he might not even get a glimpse of Vila’s shadow.
"When the bureau came to take away that puppet, I took the liberty of asking someone from the identification department," Rebecca spoke up, "The puppet was actually rather crudely made, only the wax face had a bit more work put into it, it seemed to be hastily crafted."
Aiden nodded, indeed, compared to the golems made of steel or stone recorded in ancient books, the wooden puppets used by Vila were already quite simplified, with just a wax face applied to the head.
Admittedly, a steel-made golem would have stronger combat capabilities, but to manufacture such a delicate golem out of steel was no easy task, requiring sizable equipment.
By contrast, wooden puppets could be crafted by hand, and if one could manipulate a magic golem to make more puppets, that could even lead to mass production...
Thinking this, Aiden suddenly felt a chill run up his spine.
"What’s wrong, Chief?" Veronica noticed the subtle change in Aiden’s complexion.
"I was thinking, what if that guy sends more than one automaton to kill me?" Aiden said, furrowing his brow, "Will I always have to be on guard against these puppets trying to assassinate me in the future?"
"Ah, indeed," Rebecca nodded in agreement.
The ancient texts mentioned that once certain instructions are set, automatons will act on their own.
The Great Witch Vila might be hiding somewhere in this city right now, tirelessly creating automatons and having them roam around Aiden’s workplace and residence disguised as pedestrians. Whenever they spot their target Aiden, they would attempt to approach and attack him.
With Aiden’s skills, it should be difficult for these simplistic puppets to succeed, but the fear is that they are unpredictable.
"I say, can you make contact with Vila?" Aiden looked at Presia.
"You want me to convince her to back off?" Presia asked.
"This isn’t good for anyone," Aiden said, staring into Presia’s eyes, "Although you don’t like me, if I die, there won’t be anyone to help you reduce your sentence, right?"
Presia was already in prison with a rather long sentence. To reduce her sentence now, she had to do the same as Daili: use Aiden as an intermediary to trade the results of her dark magic research for a sentence reduction.
Unless Vila could break her out of prison directly, there would be no benefit for Presia and Daili, still imprisoned, if Vila killed Aiden.
"I wouldn’t mind speaking on your behalf, but now that Vila is sure I’ve been captured, she’s unlikely to keep in touch to gather news. Even if I could contact her, she might not believe that I’m voluntarily persuading her," Presia shrugged nonchalantly, "Besides, she now harbors hatred towards you, primarily because you’ve offended the whole witch assembly."
Aiden couldn’t help but feel a headache coming on. The overall level of technological development in this world was roughly comparable to the modern society of his previous life. But now, suddenly facing an opponent capable of mass-producing "intelligent robots" that couldn’t be made even in the modern society of his previous life, he felt overwhelmed.
Moreover, it seemed a terrible waste to use such powerful technology solely to plague him rather than to change the era...
"Senior, don’t worry. I’ll go to the station tonight and request to lead a patrol near where you live to check if there are any more of those things," Rebecca suggested.
"And I’ll... also contact the mounted police to strengthen patrols in the areas where you, Chief, are active. If those puppets are wandering around the city, it could be a security risk," Veronica volunteered.
"I feel a bit bad about this. You should all be off work by this time," Aiden said with an apologetic look.
"What are you talking about..." Rebecca smiled.
"I should be the one doing this. After all, you are my lifesaver, Chief," Veronica added.
"I guess I should just stay at the office for the time being and see how things go," Aiden decided on the spur of the moment, rising from his seat, "Though it’s a bit of a shame... Rebecca, why don’t you join me for dinner at my office today."
Rebecca paused for a moment at his words, then her eyes lit up immediately: "Sure!"
Aiden then turned to Veronica and asked, "Veronica, I’m sorry to keep you so late, would you like to join us for dinner before you leave, or..."
"Of course, I would be most honored to accept," Veronica replied without hesitation.
