"Sophie Carter?" Aiden's gaze lingered on the newspaper.
He remembered the name well; it was the singer who held a solo concert at the Royal Opera House previously.
Aiden remembered so clearly partly because her concert report overshadowed his capture of the Empire's Pirate King Navia Drake, stealing the newspaper headline that day, and partly because various reports about her hadn't stopped appearing in the papers these past few days. Just yesterday, he overheard other guards discussing this singer during their break.
Aiden casually picked up the paper and scanned it, finding the report was about a very commonplace incident.
Sophie Carter, a singer originally from the Autonomous Prefecture, was currently on a concert tour through several cities within the prefecture. The Silver City Royal Opera House was the final stop of this tour.
After arriving in Silver City, the singer purchased a mansion in the Upper District, apparently planning to stay for some time. But during this period, something was stolen from her residence. A valuable piece of jewelry, not properly secured, went missing. All circumstances pointed towards internal staff.
The investigation process was also unremarkable. In fact, just as the police began questioning, the maid who stole the item couldn't handle the pressure and confessed truthfully, handing over the stolen jewelry which she hadn't yet managed to sell.
Despite voluntarily confessing and returning the stolen goods, because the jewelry was extremely valuable, the matter was ultimately referred to the courthouse—sentencing for theft in this world was somewhat harsher than in Aiden's previous life. Presumably, in due time, this maid would be spending some time eating prison food.
"Truly the celebrity effect," Aiden shook his head.
Theft cases were far from rare. His own prison housed numerous inmates incarcerated for theft, and the police department held even more detainees. Theft cases rarely made headlines like this, barely even squeezing into a corner report unless they involved particularly eye-catching methods or circumstances.
A trivial matter like a mansion owner having something stolen by a servant normally wouldn't be enough to make the Silver City Daily. But replace the mansion owner with a popular singer, and it instantly becomes front-page news.
Though, thinking carefully, it wasn't abnormal. Aiden's previous world was the same; newspapers pursued readership traffic, and celebrities were benchmarks for attracting traffic.
Even Aiden himself—if the name he recognized hadn't appeared in the headline, he wouldn't have thought to pick up the paper and scan it.
No wonder Qimora, forced into obscurity by the "Void" Authority, felt jealous of the singer in the newspaper.
Aiden put down the paper, returned to his office chair, and processed some documents sequentially. Then, he paused his work and calmed his mind to contemplate future matters.
He already knew enough about the events related to Mephilia; the things to consider had multiplied.
He could now confirm the targets he needed to deal with weren't just Mr. Blood Robe, but also Melissa, the Dominator of "Desire."
Melissa had been trying to feed him Authority power, enabling him to fight Mr. Blood Robe more spectacularly on more equal footing later. He could utilize this point, but likely only against Mr. Blood Robe.
As for the "hidden quest" of breaking free from the goddess's control, he could only rely on his own wits.
This wasn't an easy task. The "Goddess of Conspiracy" revealing most of the truth to him at this stage practically meant playing cards face-up against him, because neither of them cared.
Presumably, neither Mephilia nor Melissa minded him, the pet, resisting a bit; instead, they viewed it as amusement. This playful disregard was both his opportunity and a signal of the immense difficulty of the task.
Aiden quickly revisited his previous line of thought—introducing another Dominator or a helpful faction.
Dominators he knew were only Mephilia and Melissa, besides Death from the old Blood Moon Coven.
As for factions, the only ones he could think of were the Witch Coven and the Progenitor Faction Vampires to which Kyle belonged.
Firstly, the Progenitor Faction Vampires were likely difficult to consider. Although he had a reasonably good reputation and relationship with them due to Kyle, Melissa seemed to have had direct contact with the Progenitor, even directly using the Progenitor for tasks, indicating she had already established a good relationship.
Using the Progenitor against Melissa would likely be very difficult unless he could offer the Progenitor benefits exceeding what Melissa could provide, such as helping him reclaim the "Death" Authority from the reaper—an almost impossible feat. If he could achieve that, he wouldn't need to worry about Melissa.
In comparison, the Witch Coven was much more reliable. Almost all the Grand Witches in the Coven now possessed some Authority power, and the organizer, Abigail, was a Saint holding a Unique Authority.
Although strength-wise, Aiden felt even combined, they likely couldn't confront a Dominator head-on, as support, there wasn't much else to criticize. These Grand Witches were all ravenous for Authority power, and thanks to their joint business venture, Aiden's relationship with the Coven was in a honeymoon period.
Aiden estimated that if he proposed it at the right time, the Witch Coven would likely be willing to help him... At least, some individual Grand Witches willing to take risks might agree.
Moreover, in a sense, Abigail should also harbor a bit of a personal grudge against the Dominator of the "Desire" Authority.
Just then, a thought surfaced in Aiden's mind: if he could assist Abigail in becoming the Dominator of either the "Life" or "Fertility" Authority, and she was willing to act against Melissa, his chances of winning would increase significantly.
But he also knew clearly that Abigail wasn't a philanthropist, but a witch. Their fundamental positions still held a degree of divergence and opposition. He couldn't be entirely certain Abigail wouldn't turn against him after ascending to the divine throne.
After several minutes of thought, he decided to observe for a while first.
He could take a gamble on this matter, but he couldn't afford to lose. So even if it was a gamble, it had to be made after careful consideration.
After seizing the Unique Authority from the Red Shark Pirates, perceptive factions would notice him. If a Saint of the "Order" Authority existed in this world, they could also directly sense the Authority's presence here.
More factions related to Authorities would pay attention to him. The tracker who appeared earlier might have come from one of them.
Among these, perhaps some could help him... Of course, new enemies might also appear. Risks and opportunities coexist.
He just hoped the next "tracker" who appeared would be willing to talk properly with him.
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