The Warden of The Witches

Chapter 143:

Hair

The next morning, Aiden sat idle in his office.

Living directly within the workplace did make things considerably easier in some ways. There was no time wasted commuting, and work could be attended to at any given moment.

This had led him to wrap up most of his daily tasks quite early today, prompting him to make additional rounds to inspect the conditions of several prison blocks.

He poured himself a cup of tea and delved into organizing the new intelligence provided by Mephilia.

Mephilia had given him a passphrase, mentioning that if he uttered it to the fortune teller, the individual would assist him.

Therefore, this fortune teller was likely acting under mephilia's direction.

Setting aside whether she was working for Mephilia, it was evident that she was one of the pawns Mephilia could leverage, or else Mephilia would not have brought her up.

It was apparent that despite Mephilia being confined within the prison walls, she still had operatives or influences at play outside.

Involvement of occult practices in underground fortune-telling establishments wasn't uncommon, but could it be... remnants of the Blood Moon Cult?

No, that seemed highly improbable.

Within the Blood Moon Cult, the only individual possessing divinity and the power of divine words is the founder who's hidden behind the scenes operating the cult.

If there were a fortune teller within the Blood Moon Cult capable of predicting divine words and divinity, producing several controllers of divine words should not be an issue.

But, does a person who can predict such powerful elements truly exist? In a world where many strong individuals seek the ingredients to ascend to godhood without success, if such a fortune teller were to emerge now, the powerful would likely fight fiercely for her.

Furthermore, her own status remains a mystery.

Although the notion of obtaining results through divination is solely mephilia's claim, Aiden believes that the fortune teller likely possesses clues to ascension to divinity.

Therefore, the fortune teller herself could be a controller of divine words, perhaps even approaching the rank of a saint with authority.

Mephilia having "pawns" in the outside world is undoubtedly significant, but Aiden firmly believes in mephilia's assertion that "investigating her would be futile." If not, Mephilia would be unlikely to disclose this information. Her confidence in stating this suggests that reporting this to the Inquisition would likely yield little information.

Perhaps by the time agents from the Inquisition arrive, the individual may have already vanished.

In comparison, it might be more beneficial for him to be the first to contact this fortune teller, potentially gaining more intelligence.

However, he still felt uneasy about this situation, stemming from his realization that he remained in mephilia's grasp. The relationship of mutual exploitation between him and Mephilia was tacit, with the issue lying in Mephilia knowing his motives while he remained unaware of mephilia's true intentions.

He could only see the information Mephilia was willing to reveal to him, with the rest shrouded in secrecy by Mephilia. Moreover, Mephilia displayed an almost brazen attitude towards this secrecy, almost as if saying, "I won't tell you, what can you do about it?"

Aiden truly had no means to counter her...

However, regardless of this, he still found himself in a state of being confined within the prison, so postponing matters that required him to leave the prison was not a significant issue for now.

Just then, there was a knock on the office door.

"Come in," Aiden promptly responded.

The door opened, and Rebecca walked directly into the office, waving at him with a smile. "Good afternoon."

"You're here. Any progress?" Aiden cut to the chase.

Aiden had informed the reception desk in advance that agents from the Inquisition might come looking for him today. Upon seeing the documents presented by Rebecca, the receptionist had allowed her through and escorted her to Aiden's office.

Yesterday, the Inquisition officially took over the heretical incident involving the humanoid golem attempting to assassinate Aiden. The damaged golem was taken by the Inquisition for analysis, and Rebecca mentioned leading a team to investigate near Aiden's residence. Her current visit likely indicated some initial progress in the case.

"As we suspected, we found two golem similar to the previous ones near your residence," Rebecca sat directly at the side table, "They have been disposed of and sent to the headquarters for examination. Additionally, partial analysis has been completed on the runic inscription found on the first doll."

"Do we have any leads?" Aiden inquired.

"We've unraveled the mechanism by which the dolls target their victims," Rebecca replied, "We discovered that inside these dolls, a strand of hair was taped to the interior."

"Hair?" Aiden paused, "Mine?"

"Yes, the control runes on these dolls contain a curse that can use hair or blood from the target for identification. So, we now suspect there might be some undisclosed secret between you and the witch...," Rebecca said with a 'serious' expression, "Please come to the headquarters with me to assist in the investigation."

"Don't be ridiculous," Aiden chuckled.

Rebecca chuckled along and then spoke seriously, "But seriously, I came here this time specifically to confirm with you. Even if the witch Vera had prior information about you through Priscilla's confidential reports, or even if she was monitoring you continuously, it's highly unlikely she could have obtained your hair, let alone multiple strands, for no reason. Do you have any leads? If not, perhaps she managed to infiltrate your residence at some point."

"I do have a slight lead on that," Aiden recalled, "The day before yesterday, in the late afternoon when I returned, I happened to have my hair trimmed along the way. I went south on this road to the corner near Wutong Street where there's a shop I occasionally visit; that might have been the moment..."

"When They get it?" Rebecca nodded, "That's quite possible."

Sometimes, hair salons collect and organize sufficiently long hair to sell to wig makers or craftsmen. Occasionally, individuals dabbling in black magic may buy hair for potion ingredients or cursed objects. Hence, in general, most major cities prohibit hair salons from selling hair to individuals without proper certification, but prohibitions don't eliminate illicit activities. Some cases related to dark magic within the Inquisition sometimes involve illegal hair sales.

If Vera acquired Aiden's hair through high-priced purchases from a salon, then by investigating and pressuring the salon, it might be possible to catch Vera's tail.

Rebecca clearly had the same idea, clapping her hands and standing up, "Great! I'll go check it out now! It won't be long before that witch is caught, so just sit back and relax!"

"I'll await your good news," Aiden nodded, seeing Rebecca out of the office.

Her enthusiasm was palpable, especially regarding capturing Vera. She was indeed much more proactive than him.