That evening, Aiden had a recreation room arranged and brought the mercury sphere into the room.

The room was located within the core area, covered by a barrier that sealed magic power, but the mercury sphere was still very energetic here.

Afterward, Aiden ordered someone to bring Presia from her cell to this room and personally inquired about relevant intelligence.

As soon as Presia saw the writhing mercury in the center of the room, she sighed in her heart—it turned out just as she had expected.

She understood the operating principles of Vila’s mercury amalgam automaton; it was metal given life by the language of the gods, but the method of control remained based on Vila’s ancient automaton technology, or in other words, black magic. This effect would be steadily devoured by Aiden’s language of the gods.

"I’ll just ask directly, you recognize this thing, don’t you?" Aiden asked, pointing with his thumb at the mercury sphere busily gnawing on a pile of scrap metal.

"I know, this is Vila’s mercury amalgam automaton," Presia answered truthfully. At this point, there was no longer any need to hide such intelligence.

"You knew Vila had this kind of thing but didn’t tell me?" Aiden asked sharply.

"I never thought she’d actually resort to using it," Presia shrugged. "Besides, I figured even if she did, she wouldn’t be able to kill you—and look, here you are standing just fine."

Her first half of the statement wasn’t entirely false. Even though Qiqimora had told her about this yesterday, before that, Presia really hadn’t considered the possibility that Vila would be desperate enough to use such a precious trump card.

"We’ve come this far; there’s no need for us to keep hiding things from each other..." Aiden said, looking into Presia’s eyes.

Presia’s heart skipped a beat: could it be he already knew about Qiqimora sneaking into the cell yesterday?

There was no way... Qiqimora’s infiltration of the prison was made possible by the authority of "Void," and after she left the cell, the memories of other witnesses, including the succubus, should have been erased as well.

But what Aiden continued with was, "Just lay all your cards on the table. While I do find her inventions quite interesting, her creations keep coming to dismantle my prison, and I can’t tolerate that."

So he was just asking for information about Vila and the automaton—Presia finally relaxed inwardly and replied without changing her expression, "That’s all, really. This automaton is already Vila’s trump card—As far as I know, she only has one set of mercury amalgam automatons."

Aiden considered this for a moment.

Her words were mostly likely true; the automaton, made solely with Vila’s technology, was unlikely to have multiple copies in her possession.

"Then who helped Vila create this automaton?" Aiden persisted, "I know that this pile of mercury turned out this way because of the language of the gods."

"It was Abigail," Presia answered.

Abigail—now it was Aiden’s turn to feel a jolt in his heart.

If Abigail was the one who helped Vila create the mercury amalgam automaton, was she also behind the attack on the Rose Iron Prison using that automaton?

If the witch queen, that "near-deity," had really set her sights on him, then leaving aside whether he could even make it out of the prison, it was doubtful whether he could ensure his safety even if he continued to stay locked up in there.

But then Presia added, "It was a gift from Abigail to Vila for successfully restoring the automaton technology. The part that Vila did was the material for the automaton itself, and the method to control it."

Aiden breathed a little easier after hearing this; the golem had been a gift from Abigail to Vila, which meant that Vila had complete control over its use. The golem’s infiltration and attack of the prison seemed to be Vila’s individual action, and it wasn’t enough to prove that the entire witch congregation had started to make their move.

"Abigail, did she obtain the divine speech that controls life?" Aiden inquired.

"Yes, you really do understand divine speech," Presia glanced at the mercury sphere, then back at Aiden, "Tell me, are you planning on keeping it as a pet now?"

"Well, although I can’t make another core to control it, I’m thinking about trying to tame it. I’ve found that its behavior patterns are very much like a domesticated animal, and I believe it’s worth taming," Aiden admitted frankly.

"Normal people generally shun things created by witches, even if they are Judges who employ dark magic..." Presia teased Aiden, "You truly are an exception."

"I’m the type who tends to be curious about novel things," Aiden said with a smile.

Nevertheless, Aiden’s main reason for entertaining the idea of taming was that the mercury alloy golem felt incredibly technological—it reminded him of Terminators and liquid robots—"toys" that even the technology level of his previous world hadn’t been able to achieve.

Given enough time, these innovative techniques researched by the witches might even enable the creation of large-scale robots like Gundams.

"With such curiosity, you might as well become a witch and study dark magic. I can get you an introduction letter to join the witch congregation, and maybe a Magic Potion that can change your gender..." Presia’s mouth curved into a smirk.

"I’ll pass on that," Aiden waved it off.

"That’s truly a pity, the witch congregation is quite welcoming of you at the moment," a voice abruptly sounded in the room.

Aiden and Presia, the two present, were startled for a moment before they realized that a third person had appeared, strutting to stand at the center of the room.

Qiqimora.

She was dressed elegantly as always: a light purple dress with ruffled layers, a white lace collar with a red bow, and a silver hairband adorned with pearls on her head, while inexplicably holding an ornate parasol indoors.

Despite such eye-catching and elegant attire, Aiden didn’t find the woman before him particularly striking at that moment; oddly, she seemed plain enough that one might easily forget her upon looking away.

Qiqimora lifted her dress slightly, curtsying gracefully to Aiden, "Greetings, Aiden Galahad, it is our first meeting—although that may not be entirely accurate, we’ve actually met once at a gathering summoned by Abigail, I am Qiqimora..."

Aiden stared at the uninvited visitor, silently drew his gun, and aimed directly at her shoulder, firing a shot.

The bullet went straight through Qiqimora’s body as if passing through an incorporeal projection and hit the wall behind her.

Qiqimora looked, unfazed, at the bullet hole in the wall, then turned back to Aiden with a smile, "Is this a unique way of greeting around here?"

"Hmph, I figured it wouldn’t work," Aiden said, keeping a poker face as he put the gun away, though his heart was racing.

Why didn’t it work? What kind of creature is this witch?

In the end, none of the three Magic Power Devouring Bullets used today had hit their target and taken effect.