Chapter 185: Chapter 185 Approval of the Heresy Tribunal_1
The next day, at the Heretic Inquisition Office, the Chief’s office.
"...Say that again," Chief Harold glared at Aiden, who sat in the guest seat.
His face darkened, and the forehead lined with wrinkles throbbed with a protruding vein, his expression looking quite frightening.
At the side of the two men, Senior Judges Victor and Rebecca, who had executed the mission yesterday, sat side by side on the long couch, both staring at Aiden with faces full of astonishment.
"I said, I propose the use of the prisoners in my custody to participate in the mission to eliminate the Harvest Mother Cult. Of course, I will lead the team, and the office will provide intelligence support," Aiden calmly smiled.
To use Daili and Presia as pawns against the Cult blatantly, the approval of the Heretic Inquisition Office was necessary, after all; the opposition was an armed group – this wasn’t something that could be passed off as prisoners "going out to work".
"And cooperate with the witch convent?" Harold’s eyes twitched.
"Yes," Aiden smiled, "In fact, the prisoners I’ve chosen are also—"
"Nonsense!" Harold slammed the table before Aiden could finish.
In an instant, the coffee table meant for guests cracked.
Not only the spectating Rebecca but even Aiden himself was taken aback.
This old man’s palm strength could well merit a cry of "Great Majestic Dragon" before crushing someone’s skull.
Only Victor, a Senior Judge who had been in the field for ten years, sighed and muttered, "Poor fifth-generation coffee table..."
"I turned a blind eye when you applied for the prisoners to research dark magic, and now you want them to get involved in our work? Why don’t I just arrange a few posts for them and have them draw a salary?!" Harold shouted at Aiden, with such ferocity that Aiden felt a moment’s urge to back down in his heart.
But outwardly, he remained impassive, looking straight into Harold’s eyes and saying, "Having the most vicious criminals voluntarily wade into this mess in exchange for a reduction in their sentence, thereby reducing casualties among the judges, I think it’s a win-win plan." He glanced at Victor and Rebecca sitting by, "What’s the casualty situation on our side for this operation?"
Rebecca exchanged a look with Harold, then Victor, and answered, "One sacrifice, one seriously injured, and in addition to that, seven people of varying degrees of minor injuries."
The previous night’s operation had seen two lower-ranking Judges being flung away by a priest turned synthetic beast, seriously injured and sent for emergency treatment; one of them died from his wounds, while the other was still bedridden. Although he had been saved, it would probably be quite some time before he could leave the bed.
As for the others who were injured, some had suffered during the gunfire, while others actually got hurt by crashing into walls or self-inflicting wounds under the weird mental attack from the priest and the state of spiritual contamination.
Thankfully, a few mid-level Judges skilled in dealing with spiritual contamination had been specially included in the team assembly, who quickly carried out emergency treatment on those affected.
Afterward, many Judges who were severely contaminated had no choice but to return and seek further mental therapy from the experts at headquarters.
"This was the result even though we had a bit of forewarning and had made ample preparation, going so far as to dispatch two senior Judges and a total of forty people to encircle and suppress, which is twice the standard force deployed to apprehend S-class criminals. And yet, we had one casualty without even capturing the ringleader. The Harvest Mother Cult is not an easy target to contend with..." Aiden said seriously as he looked into Harold’s eyes, then added with implication, "You’re well aware of that, aren’t you, Director?"
Divine Decrees, are top-secret intelligence that even senior Judges are not privy to, yet Harold was aware of them. It was clear from yesterday’s operation that Father Bales had control over the Divine Decrees.
Although the spiritual contamination caused by the Divine Decrees could be handled with specific Spirit Magic instead of the simplest expressions, encountering such an opponent in actual combat was still very restrictive, not to mention the effects of the Decrees’ inherent powers themselves.
Harold cooled down a bit after hearing this, but he still pointed out the issue, "Don’t you make light of it, kid. If convicts were so useful, we would’ve conscripted them long ago! You must understand, the convicts in your prison, the Witch Gathering, and that heretical church, they are all essentially criminals! Have you considered what you would do if the Witch Gathering stirred up some criminal incidents while dealing with the heretical church? What if they joined forces with the heresy? And what about if your convicts decided to betray us to escape? If that happens, you’ll be doing more than losing your job, you’ll rot in a cell!"
"I have considered these issues too. Firstly, even if we don’t get involved, a clash between the Witch Gathering and the Harvest Mother Cult was inevitable, and it was a foregone conclusion they would cause incidents. Additionally, based on my investigations these past days, the aim of the Harvest Mother Cult is to restore the Old Kingdom, and the leader of the Witch Gathering, Abigail, has admitted to being linked to the assassination of the old queen of the Old Lese Kingdom; the conflict between the Cult and the Gathering is irreconcilable," Aiden explained calmly. "Lastly, I have my ways of controlling my convicts; they won’t easily break out. If they showed any inclination to do so, I would take responsibility and execute them."
"You have rarely been this proactive since resigning," Harold frowned.
"After all, the cult has impacted the operations of my prison. If another batch of those short-lived artificial humans were to come, my prison probably wouldn’t withstand it," Aiden shrugged.
"If you want to get involved, I could send over more trustworthy personnel to help you. I could reassemble your old team," Harold said, his expression more serious. He was clearly supportive of his former capable assistant willing to personally get involved; he just wouldn’t accept convicts taking on the work of a Heretic Inquisitor.
As he spoke, he also made a subtle gesture to the two people beside him.
Judge Victor was taken aback—Was he passing the task of persuasion to me?
He sighed, but still offered his opinion, "I agree with the director, the risk is too great. Since the cult has been marked for eradication by the Empire and Gistas, why not submit a request for assistance to both, that way the safety of our personnel could be at least guaranteed."
Harold then turned his gaze to Rebecca.
But after pondering for a moment, Rebecca proposed a different opinion, "I still think... Aiden’s proposal is worth considering. Requesting cross-national assistance takes too much time and just gives the enemy time to breathe, and they are capable of mass-producing manpower through Alchemy. Since the Witch Gathering is certain to get involved, our proactive engagement might give us a better chance to control the situation."
Harold’s eyes widened suddenly, seemingly not expecting to encounter such "betrayal" from his subordinate in this decision-making process.
"Here, Director, give it serious thought," Aiden waited for Harold’s decision. "Using the power of convicts could reduce our own people’s casualties. I think taking on a bit of risk is still worth it."
After a while, Harold exhaled deeply through his nose as if he had given up, and glaring at him, retorted, "Fine, have it your way, but you’re on your own if things go south!"
