Chapter 177: Chapter 177 Welcome Party_1
Meanwhile, at the Rose Iron Prison.
Aiden sat surrounded by a grey fog in a projection space, expressionlessly staring ahead—where four Great Witches were intently watching him, their last guest to take a seat.
This time he was summoned, Abigail had arranged for him to sit at the opposite end of the long table, directly facing her, while the other Great Witches were still gathered to the left and right of Abigail.
The seating arrangement, with its sense of distance, seemed reasonable enough, after all, he hadn’t joined the witches’ meeting but was merely collaborating with them... or more precisely, using each other. If Abigail had arranged for him to sit with them "in harmony" like the last time he had impersonated Presia, he would have actually felt uncomfortable.
This was the so-called "welcome party" the Great Witches held for him as a collaborator.
"This is my first time formally inviting a man to a ’tea party,’" Abigail said with her eerie voice, starting the reception, "Welcome, Aiden Galahad."
"Hmm, I am honored," Aiden replied with a polite smile—although he didn’t know if she could see it, "I really appreciate the two ’little gifts’ you gave me."
He meant it; that utterance of divine order and the mercury sphere were indeed rare treasures for him.
"I’m glad you like them," Abigail responded indifferently, "Presia and Daili took care of you."
Vila, sitting to one side, huffed displeasedly but said nothing.
"My former missing ’apprentice’ is with you too, I’ve heard from Qiqimora. What a coincidence," Lamia added with her hoarse voice, her serpent’s tongue flickering between her lips, "When will she be released from prison? I miss her. I have yet to properly discipline her for stealing my name before she vanished without a trace."
"Sorry, but with her crimes, she’ll likely be in prison until she dies," Aiden shrugged.
Meiruki was essentially without a chance of a sentence reduction and even if there was a possibility, Aiden was not keen on arranging it for her, as she would eventually act on escaping sooner or later.
However, now it seemed that after sorting out Avansa’s situation, letting Meiruki out was not entirely out of the question—Lamia, who was eager to "reacquaint" with her apprentice, could take care of her.
Aiden looked around: "I always feel like you’re one short. Where did Miss Habanis go? Was she captured? Or... did she die?"
From his viewpoint, everyone’s figure in the distance was shrouded in mist, making it hard to see details clearly, but it was still possible to recognize them by their silhouettes alone. Abigail and Lamia’s non-human features were, of course, distinctive, and Habanis’s childlike, petite physique was highly recognisable too; her absence was easy to notice.
Habanis was also an S-level international fugitive registered with the Inquisition, said to be adept at enchanting brooms and carpets with rare flying magical beast materials, making them capable of carrying people through the air—a secret technique. Besides, she excelled at taming winged magical beasts like bipedal dragons and griffins, which, in Aiden’s eye, made her an exceptional talent—after all, no airplanes had yet appeared in this world, and man-made objects capable of flight were pretty much limited to hot air balloons and steam airships.
"The Inquisition is besieging the Cult stronghold tonight, and I’ve requested her to oversee the scene from above," Abigail replied calmly.
"Tonight?" Aiden was somewhat surprised, "You’re well-informed."
The Heretic Judge’s actions were much earlier than he had anticipated. When he relayed the location of the Harvest Mother Cult hideout provided by the witch gathering to Aiden, he had repeatedly warned Rebecca not to underestimate the cult’s combat strength and to make thorough preparations.
The Heretic Judge’s operations were confidential, and they would never reveal the details to him. But the witch gathering could grasp the movements of the Heretic Judge, was it Qiqimora collecting information, or...
"We found a way to give them a push from behind," Abigail responded, as if seeing through Aiden’s thoughts.
"Gave them a push?"
"I used those guys’ nun to replicate an artificial human and left it to die in that village," Lamia said with a smile.
Aiden realized that the witch gathering had deliberately created a "case" of an artificial human dying locally, and to prevent panic from spreading among the local people, the Heretic Judge would inevitably act swiftly.
"You really went to great lengths just to borrow a knife," Aiden remarked.
The Heretic Judge should at least be able to take down the hideout, but catching the main culprit was probably unlikely.
First, the main culprit might not be at this hideout, and second, that person was also a holder of god words.
Even if the god words’ effects did not possess the direct attack capability, the god words themselves could cause spiritual contamination to ordinary people, and were very effective as wide-range mental attack spells.
Judge teams that operated in units usually came equipped with items or personnel to counteract spiritual contamination, but from Aiden’s personal experience, the god words taught by a Saint-level word holder were such that normal countermeasures could only serve as temporary emergency management. To completely eliminate the influence of god words, one needed to use expression techniques or require quite complex mental treatment skills.
The witch gathering probably let the Heretic Judge take the lead because they were sure they couldn’t catch the main culprit; after all, the witches aside from Abigail were also after the divinity possessed by that priest. They wouldn’t want the target to fall into someone else’s hands, including the Heretic Judge, and even their collaborator himself.
"Before Habanis comes back to report the results, let’s talk about the details of our cooperation," Qiqimora, who had been silent up until now, suddenly said.
"Indeed, we might as well discuss the distribution issues after we’ve dealt with ’Black Goat’, so we don’t end up fighting over it later," Lamia added with a laugh in her voice.
"Talking about distribution when the deal is not yet sealed seems a bit too hasty, doesn’t it?" Aiden chuckled, then his tone shifted, "And really, is this discussion meaningful?"
He was very clear, with his and the witch gathering’s positions nearly antagonistic by nature, any agreement they made would hold no binding force once their common enemy was gone. They could break the agreement if they wished, or stab each other in the back. When it came to becoming the ruler, most people would find it hard to maintain any semblance of dignity.
"...You have a point, and I too prefer to speak plainly," Abigail surprisingly nodded in agreement, "How about we directly exchange the information we each have?"
