Chapter 624: Chapter 623 Official Employee_1
At noon, in the warden’s office.
"... As expected, no particularly useful information was disclosed; I’m fed up with these sacrifices." Returning to his office, Aiden immediately sank into his office chair, "That guy might as well start trafficking people."
"But at least we’ve confirmed that their cult is still active in Cedar City and we’ve identified a temporary stronghold." Veronica, who followed him in, said, "Most importantly, this cultist has had direct contact with Mr. Bloody Clothes."
"That’s true," Aiden nodded.
The intelligence that this female vampire spy was able to provide was sparse, yet it held some value.
The most crucial piece of information was the confirmation that Mr. Bloody Clothes was indeed cultivating followers in Cedar City.
"How should we deal with that prisoner?" Veronica asked earnestly, "Without evidence, we can’t resort to extrajudicial execution."
"Since she possesses no other special abilities, there’s not much to do. Just transfer her to another prison; a vampire of such a low level can be contained in the prison to the north of the city," Aiden quickly made his decision, "Once there, she’s no longer our concern, and the Blood Moon Cult won’t care about this pawn."
Unlike Qiqimora and the others, Aiden did not advocate for stifling Mr. Bloody Clothes’ "sacrifice" power by eliminating all of his followers. He knew all too well how adept Mr. Bloody Clothes was at propagating his cult, and it was likely that he already had a sizeable group of die-hard followers behind him.
It seemed more effective to seal his powers or to take him out before he could use his abilities than to weed out and kill each of his followers one by one.
"It feels like we should prepare for a long-term battle," Veronica assessed.
"The thought of having to scrutinize each batch of prisoners like this gives me a headache," Aiden said with a wry smile.
Identifying the Blood Moon Cult followers amongst the prisoners was easy this time, but Mr. Bloody Clothes probably wouldn’t give up so easily. What he had in abundance was sacrificial pawns.
"But, the cult leader’s goal is to kill you, Chief, right?" Veronica said doubtfully, "Is just sending in prisoners really of any use?"
"I’ve been thinking about that as well," Aiden concurred.
The true aim of Mr. Bloody Clothes was the death of Aiden Galahad.
For a regular prisoner to initiate physical contact with prison guards, it was practically only possible when being cuffed or subdued, while the likelihood of making direct contact with him, the warden, was almost null.
If the cultist sent by Mr. Bloody Clothes was tasked with assassinating Aiden, the best strategy would be to include reapers amongst those sent in.
To kill with their ability, reapers needed to be extremely close—remembering the last reaper could kill by touch alone, but without the power of vampires to split into bats, this ability was hardly stronger than carrying a poison-dipped dagger.
Furthermore, the weakened power of "Desolation" did not result in instant death. As long as Aiden got the chance to use his divine word, "Return," he could revive himself fully restored at the last checkpoint.
And given that the reaper, who remained in a constant state of slumber and bound to that territory, likely did not have enough energy to bestow upon hordes of disposable low-ranking followers.
As for conventional methods of assassination, they were even less likely to succeed if attempted by prisoners. By comparison, impersonating a passerby to approach Aiden would have a higher success rate.
Sending assassins to a prison disguised as prisoners is a predictable assassination scheme with efforts likely to outweigh the benefits, and Aiden did not think Mr. Bloody Clothes was oblivious to this.
"Knock, knock, knock!"
The office door was knocked, and Aiden casually responded, "Come in."
"Good day, Warden." It was Tony who entered the office this time. He nodded to Veronica, present in the office, before handing over a personnel application form to Aiden, "Personnel asked me to bring this to you for approval."
"Oh, you’ve passed your probation period, huh." Aiden looked at the form and chuckled, "Congratulations on becoming a full-time contractual employee here; you’ve done very well."
"Thank you," Tony said with a shy smile.
Aiden carefully reviewed the form, preparing to stamp it.
After improvements were made at Rose Iron Prison, more guards were recruited and additional contractual workers like Tony were hired for logistical positions after passing an assessment.
In the prison, most menial tasks were generally assigned to prisoners, but certain jobs required hiring staff, like those in the cafeteria and regular maintenance. These were mainly done by formal prison guards.
The turnover for external contractual workers was actually quite high. To the general populace, a prison was not a particularly comfortable workplace, and without the perks of civil servants, most people preferred working in conventional businesses or public institutions. They often quickly moved on to better opportunities once available.
Of all the contractual workers recruited with Tony, only eighty percent stayed on after the probation period. Tony was the standout amongst them, even capable of handling the educational responsibilities of juvenile offenders which usually fell to the guards...
Aiden took out his seal and stamped the form, suddenly feeling a chill down his spine.
"Warden?" Tony noticed Aiden’s sudden halt, "Is there something wrong with my form?"
"No, nothing’s wrong." Aiden handed the form back to Tony, "Take it back to personnel later."
"Alright." Tony took the form back but didn’t leave immediately, "Warden, about that man... Any news?"
"He’s still building his cult in Cedar City. Recently, he’s had some followers disguise themselves as prisoners to infiltrate here, and we’ve rooted them out today," Aiden knew Tony was referring to Mr. Bloody Clothes, "but that follower was merely a pawn; we couldn’t get much useful information out of him."
"I see," Tony’s eyes fell, and then he looked up again, "Is there really nothing I can do to help?"
Aiden could tell that Tony was anxious about not having the chance to be involved in the matter. Lacking experience in real combat, Tony was aware of this and it troubled him. He feared not just being unable to avenge his father’s death but possibly holding back his team as well.
Now might be the opportune time, Aiden thought, perhaps Tony could be assigned to investigate this matter.
"Veronica, can you please call the head of personnel for me?" Aiden said to Veronica.
"Of course," Veronica promptly left the office.
"Tony, I have a task for you," Aiden looked at Tony.
"Please, just command," Tony stood at attention.
Aiden then gave an instruction that made Tony freeze on the spot, "Although it’s a bit early, let’s go to the cafeteria together for a meal in a while."
