The Warden of the Witches Chapter 213

Chapter 213 - What are you doing?

"Money?!" Aiden was shocked.

"Yes, they gave us a sum of Imperial currency, along with some gold," Abigail recalled. "Since we didn’t incur any losses, we agreed."

"The Witch's Gathering... is short on money?" Aiden was somewhat surprised.

It was difficult for him to imagine the Witch's Gathering lacking funds. The seven Grand Witches, who formed the core of the Gathering, possessed rare and valuable skills. Just the potions made by Lamia alone could fetch astronomical prices on the black market.

Even if dark magic-related items couldn't be mass-produced, the derivative technologies that emerged from their dark magic research had great commercial potential. For instance, the metallurgy techniques mastered by Vera could produce high-end materials that even the world of his previous life couldn’t replicate...

"We're not exactly short on money, but money is crucial for us. The cost of researching dark magic individually is extremely high. Now that the 'Covenant' has spread across the entire southern continent, given our identities, the most we can do is make some items in workshops to sell for money, and even then, it's all underground activities and transactions," Abigail said while holding a teacup. "Sometimes, the funds we acquire through black market channels are difficult to spend."

Aiden now understood. The witches were capable of making money, but their expenditure on dark magic research was equally rapid.

Due to their illegal status, they couldn't engage in large-scale production like entrepreneurs or farm owners. Moreover, cooperation among witches was rare, so they could only use small workshop-style production methods to generate technological outputs, and the finished products could mostly only be traded on the black market. The money they obtained from the black market often needed laundering...

In short, even if they had monetizable technology, the efficiency of turning it into money was very low.

"I see..." After hearing this, Aiden suddenly had an idea. "How about this? If you have any technology that can be mass-produced for profit, perhaps you could share it with us. The prison could produce it for you, and we could split the profits."

The autonomous state's prison had a considerable amount of self-governance. The prison had the facilities, personnel, and production conditions, functioning as a medium-sized factory. If there were any products that met market demand and were easy to produce, they could quickly generate profits.

Abigail stared at Aiden for a moment, a faint smile appearing on her lips. "Working with witches? Just as Qimora said, you really are quite open-minded. Alright, I'll discuss this with them."

"What about the request I mentioned earlier? What do you think?" Aiden pressed.

"Since you've asked so sincerely, we'll certainly do our best to help. However... we don't have much information on our end, so we can't guarantee that we'll be of any assistance," Abigail responded cautiously.

"That's more than enough," Aiden nodded.

He hadn't placed too much hope in them anyway.

"Well, it's about time I take my leave," Abigail said as she stood up.

"Shall I walk you out?" Aiden also rose to his feet.

"No need to trouble yourself; you must still have work to do." Abigail made her way to the door but suddenly stopped, as if remembering something. She turned to face Aiden. "Oh, by the way, although it's a minor detail, I think it's better to inform you—'Mr. Bloodcloth' isn't actually the founder of the 'Blood Moon'."

Aiden was taken aback.

"The Blood Moon Sect is actually a secret organization that has existed for several centuries, founded by vampires and cultists who seek immortality and worship the god of death. It mysteriously declined and disappeared about two hundred years ago," Abigail said calmly. "I think that person either forged the sect's banner or usurped its power."

...

Meanwhile, outside the prison.

Vampire Prince Kyle Kaodo was squatting by the roadside, pondering how to meet his sister.

Upon reflection, even if he found the prison’s leadership, it might not necessarily open any doors for him—after all, he didn’t have any connections...

As he was lost in thought, someone walked past him, heading straight for the prison’s side entrance.

Kyle glanced over and saw a tall, beautiful woman. Entering the prison through that door, she was likely a prison guard on duty.

At that moment, Kyle noticed the female prison guard he had seen earlier at the reception desk, now in civilian clothes, coming out of the side door. She happened to cross paths with the woman.

"Veronica, you're on night duty again today," Isabella greeted her colleague as she was about to start her shift.

"Yeah, why didn’t you have dinner in the cafeteria today?" Veronica responded.

"I have plans tonight... Oh, by the way!" A meaningful smile appeared on Isabella's face. "The warden had a visitor this afternoon, a stunning beauty I’ve never seen before. Since you made some progress last week, you should stay on guard!"

"Stay, stay on guard against what?" A hint of panic flashed across Veronica's face.

"Come on, you know what I mean. Anyway, I'm off now." Isabella waved her hand and walked in another direction.

Having overheard the entire conversation, Kyle stood up, narrowing his eyes.

That prison guard named Veronica seemed to have a close relationship with the warden. Perhaps he could extract some information about the prison leadership from her.

With this in mind, Kyle strode forward and called out to her before she could enter the side door. "Miss, please wait a moment."

Veronica instinctively turned around and saw a stranger with a wide smile on his face. Her brow immediately furrowed with caution. "What is it?"

"Well, I'm here to visit a family member who’s serving time here..." Kyle began to explain.

"Oh, if you're here to visit, please go to the reception desk to submit an application form. It's over that way; enter through the main gate... However, it's too late for visits today, so you'll have to come back tomorrow," Veronica, thinking he was simply seeking information, relaxed her expression slightly and kindly provided directions.

"No, that's not it. My family member seems to have gotten into some trouble recently, so I can't visit them at the moment. But I really want to see them. You... you must know the leaders here, right? Could you possibly..." Kyle smiled meaningfully.

"You want me to put in a good word for you? That won’t work. If the regulations prohibit visits, even the warden can’t do anything about it." Veronica waved her hand dismissively.

"Oh, don’t say that. A beautiful lady like yourself surely wouldn’t turn a blind eye to someone in need, would you?" Kyle smiled, raising his hand towards Veronica's face.

At the same time, he began to unleash the innate charm of a high-ranking vampire, a faint red light flickering in the depths of his crimson eyes.

It's working—just as Kyle thought that, Veronica suddenly raised her hand, grabbed his extended wrist, and twisted it forcefully.

A sharp pain shot through Kyle, making him shudder.

"What are you doing?"