Chapter 179: Chapter 179: A Private Chat_1
"Watching a pack of Judges and ’Black Goats’ biting each other all night, quite the comfortable scene!" As soon as she took her seat, Habanis slapped her thigh and laughed heartily, evidently in high spirits.
"Habanis, saying that in front of a former Heretic Inquisitor... It’s quite rude, isn’t it?" Qiqimora remarked from the side.
Upon hearing this, Habanis looked toward Aiden at the other end of the long table and huffed, "Huh, this stinking man actually dared to show up..."
"With such an impressive build, you must be Miss Habanis, delighted to meet you. Want some sweets?" Aiden greeted her with a smile in his voice, having honed his verbal sparring skills through years of dealing with a host of irritable prisoners.
"I’ll fucking kill you, you little shit!" Habanis was instantly enraged.
Vila sighed and turned to Abigail, "Take care of her, Abigail, or we won’t be able to proceed with this meeting."
"Habanis, don’t be too rude to our guests," Abigail said indifferently, "Go ahead and report now."
Still miffed, Habanis returned her gaze from Aiden and began to recount the night’s battle between the Heretic Inquisition and the Harvest Mother Cult, including the result of the Father transforming into a monster to forcefully break out.
"This is a synthetic beast," Lamia, who was adept at life alchemy, immediately realized upon hearing Habanis’ description, her voice tinged with excitement.
"I only understand material alchemy and don’t have much study in life alchemy," Vila turned to Lamia, "Doesn’t this description sound a lot like your Beasts’ Transforming Potion?"
Meiruki also knew how to make Lamia’s Beasts’ Transforming Potion; in the past, she seemed to have borrowed Lamia’s name to sell Magic Potions everywhere. In fact, other witches were doing the same, which led to Magic Potions purportedly crafted by the "Magic Potion Queen" still circulating in the black market.
"No, if it were beast transformation through Magic Potion, it must strictly adhere to the dose and recipe. If the transformation exceeds fifty percent, the person is either directly poisoned to death or loses all rationality. If Habanis is right, that Father’s level of beast transformation definitely exceeded this ratio," Lamia explained, gesturing at her own waist, her own form being half-human, half-snake, "Of course, one can also directly merge with a magical beast using life alchemy, but even if I did that, the success rate would probably only be around ten percent. However, it becomes much easier with the power of the ’life’ authority."
"No, this should also involve the power of ’fertility,’" Aiden interjected.
He still remembered Melissa mentioning to him the "evolution" power of the fertility authority, which could let different species produce offspring.
"Take the biological materials of magical beasts or demons and make oneself pregnant using the ’reproduction’ power, bearing offspring with monstrous traits, then use the ’inheritance’ power on the progeny," Abigail joined the analysis, "The ideal scenario would be to find the materials of dragons or dragonkin, so the offspring would become dragonkin... but dragons are almost extinct, and dragonkin are very rare."
The other witches looked back and forth between Abigail and Aiden, realizing that Aiden’s knowledge of the Divine Decrees seemed to be above their own, just like Abigail’s.
"The mother of all those nuns, that black-robed nun, should be the Father’s directly begotten daughter. Doesn’t she inherit the monster’s bloodline?" Lamia spoke, "Those mass-produced nuns don’t seem to have the ability to transform into monsters."
After a moment of contemplation, Abigail said, "The powers of the fertility authority can control the evolution of the offspring. They probably washed away the synthetic beast’s genetic info on the progeny anew."
Aiden thought it over and found the approach somewhat understandable. If the progeny inherit all of one’s traits, the enemy could deduce the abilities possessed by the original body through them. The operation of the Heretic Inquisition this time was hampered not just by the Divine Decrees but also by the unexpected revelation that the Father could become a synthetic beast. Besides, those nuns, aside from serving combat duties, also undertook the so-called "preaching" for fund-raising purposes.
"Heh, breeding with monsters to produce offspring, this guy really plays dirty," Lamia said, sticking out her forked tongue.
Aiden glanced at the serpent tail of Lamia’s lower body twice but made no comment.
"The convenience of the male body should be the ability to father multiple offspring at once," Abigail said, looking towards Qiqimora.
Aiden understood her meaning; if Father Bales had other naturally born children, the heir he designated might not necessarily be Sister Neve.
"Based on the current investigation, besides Sister Neve, he doesn’t seem to have any other children," Qiqimora answered. "In the Cult, only those nuns call the priest ’father’."
"It’s most likely her. When the Heretic Inquisitor’s Office besieged us, that priest went out of his way to protect his daughter’s true form," Habanis chimed in.
"Have you tracked down where they moved to?" Abigail asked.
"No, I couldn’t fly anymore halfway through," Habanis replied, looking somewhat irritated as she scratched her head. "But I did catch a glimpse of that guy descending near a mountain to the east. I guess their backup base must be in the village at the foot of that mountain."
"Can’t you be a bit more diligent in your surveillance?" Vila complained, dissatisfied.
"Why don’t you do it then! I was already tailing in the sky for two hours before that guy took off! Do you think my magic power is infinite?" Habanis retorted.
"Knowing the general area is enough. I can have my familiar search a bit," Abigail said calmly. "You’ll have to bother with the surveillance task again then, Qiqimora."
"No problem," Qiqimora replied with a smile.
"If the location is right, let’s corner them and take them all out at once," Habanis said, eager to try.
"When the time comes, we’ll need Judge, your grace, to put in some effort as well," Lamia said, looking at Aiden.
Aiden, with his arms crossed, didn’t answer; he was determined not to exert himself unless there was an absolute chance of victory when it came to collaborating with the witches to hunt down the Cult.
"We should not delay. I’ll start with the preparations," Abigail said, lifting her hand and snapping her fingers. "Let’s adjourn the meeting for today."
At the same time, the other witches in attendance were enveloped in a grey fog, their voices bidding farewell indistinctly through the mist.
Only Aiden remained seated at the end of the long table.
Aiden looked around and suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable—Abigail had actually left him out.
"Now, with no one to disturb us." Abigail suddenly spoke up, "There are some matters I’d like to discuss with you alone."
