The Warden of The Witches-Chapter 277:

One week later, Rose Iron Prison, Warden's Office.

"...The inmates of Cell Block Four collectively request that the library add subscriptions to the magazines Fashionista and Gal Pals." Franda stood in the office, reading the applications submitted by the Core Block inmates to Aiden, who was busy working.

"Denied. The library already subscribes to enough magazines of that type. Besides, what's a bunch of inmates stuck in prison uniforms doing reading so many fashion magazines?" Aiden replied without looking up.

"An inmate from Cell Block Five requests the installation of croquet facilities on the exercise yard..."

"Denied." Aiden frowned. "They want to swing mallets around in the yard? These dimwits need to attend disciplinary classes again."

"Catherine and Anna from Cell Block Six request permission to purchase dumbbells, stating it's solely for exercise..."

"Applying to buy potentially dangerous items while still under observation? They've got some nerve. Assign them weeding duty in the greenhouse tonight as punishment," Aiden retorted with a cold smirk.

"Carmilla from Cell Block Nine requests permission to buy a punching bag to hang in her cell. She claims it's been too long since she beat someone up and needs a proper outlet..."

"Tell her to suck it up," Aiden sighed.

"Cell Block Eleven, Evangeline requests permission to purchase the complete manga set of Navy King."

(TN: 《海军王》 - Navy King sounds like a plausible manga title, potentially a parody of One Piece.)

"How does she even know about that manga?" Aiden looked up, slightly surprised.

"Probably saw it in one of the new magazines the library subscribed to," Franda considered. "Didn't you approve a batch of manga magazines recently?"

"That kind of comic... I suppose it's acceptable. Approved," Aiden mused for a moment before finally nodding.

"Cell Block Thirteen, Succubus Fei states... uh..." Franda hesitated.

"What stunt is this girl pulling now?" Aiden frowned.

"She says she hopes Vibrating Crystals can be removed from the contraband list, and also hopes the prison will issue one to every cell, claiming it can effectively alleviate inmate stress..."

"Denied," Aiden replied simply.

"Should I issue her a warning?"

"Forget it. No point wasting energy on nonsense." Aiden shook his head. "Just assign her corridor cleaning duty."

...

Three minutes later, Franda finally finished reading the stack of inmate requests. By this time, Aiden had also finished reviewing the documents on his desk and leaned back in his chair, tilting his head up. ꭆἁ𐌽ộꞖЕs

"Feels like the number of inmate requests has actually gone up," Aiden remarked.

Now that the prison conditions had markedly improved, the requests submitted by the inmates had indeed increased instead of decreased.

"Indeed," Franda concurred. "It's not surprising. If these people truly understood the meaning of 'contentment,' they probably wouldn't have ended up in a place like this."

"A bunch of insatiable wretches. Seems we've really been spoiling them." Aiden shook his head, sighing ruefully. "Still, at least discipline has noticeably improved."

"Warden, surely now isn't the time to be concerned with such trivial matters," Franda said in a serious tone. "That new inmate being transferred from the Empire arrives tomorrow."

"Yes," Aiden nodded, his expression turning grave.

"Are you sure we don't need to reinforce the prison's security measures?" Franda asked. "After all, our budget is surprisingly ample right now."

Franda was well aware of the situation regarding Anne Drake; she had been the one to collect and organize much of the information Aiden had reviewed.

Having learned about the Red Shark Pirates' legendary feat of breaking someone out of the Empire's Capital Prison, she couldn't help but worry about the possibility of this new inmate being sprung from their own facility.

But Aiden shook his head. "No need. We've already renovated everything that required it. Besides, adding more measures would be futile. No matter how much we rush the work now, we could never upgrade this prison to the level of the Capital Prison."

"Simply adding conventional security measures is pointless. The power of an Authority operates on 'concepts'. Any measure, as long as it falls under a 'concept' affected by the Authority's power, can be easily bypassed by it."

"If the Red Shark Pirates directly inscribed a rule like 'Restriction of personal liberty is forbidden' onto the Codex Anomos, no matter how many security layers we add, they would ultimately become useless decorations."

(TN: 《无字法典》 (Wúzì Fǎdiǎn) - Translated as Codex Anomos, meaning 'Lawless Codex' or 'Wordless Codex'. Chosen for a more arcane feel.)

"Sigh, this is so worrying... What method did they even use for that jailbreak?" Franda's brow furrowed deeply in concern.

Aiden knew, but he chose not to say. There was no point.

Using a Unique Authority as a tool came with numerous restrictions, but in terms of the power's hierarchy, it seemed to rank higher than even Saints, second only to the Dominator of the corresponding Authority.

In other words, if Aiden were to use the effect of his divine word and it conflicted with a rule inscribed on the Codex Anomos, the Codex would directly override his divine word.

"Judging from the Capital Prison incident, at least their jailbreak operations don't seem to cause casualties," Aiden shrugged. "And with the Capital Prison case as precedent, even if the same thing happens here, the Prison Administration Bureau probably won't be too hard on us."

Melissa had told him that rules inscribed directly onto the Codex Anomos also restricted the inscriber. If the Red Shark Pirates used the Codex to decree that guards couldn't attack them, then within the effective domain of that rule, the pirates also couldn't harm the guards.

That was likely the fundamental reason why there were no casualties during such a large-scale jailbreak four years ago.

"Warden, you're already speaking as if her escape is a given," Franda looked at Aiden with a helpless expression. "If something goes wrong, there's no way we'll get off completely scot-free! Besides, I read that the pirates broke out many other inmates at the same time back then."

"It's certainly a problem," Aiden let out a long breath, leaning back against his chair. "But we're completely in the dark right now. Worrying about it here won't help. Let's just wait until the inmate arrives tomorrow before discussing it further."

"Very well. I'll return to my post then." Franda saluted and exited the office.

Aiden picked up his teacup and took a sip of black tea. His current tasks were finished for now. Usually, at times like this, he would relax by reading the newspaper for a bit, but right now, he wasn't in the mood.

A potential jailbreak by the Red Shark Pirates was indeed a major concern. As the highest authority in this prison, safeguarding the inmates was his foremost duty. If someone intended to take an inmate away, he naturally had to do everything in his power to stop them.

Moreover, he genuinely wanted to obtain the Codex Anomos.

Mr. Blood Robe wasn't just the Saint of the "Hatred" Authority; he also possessed the Unique Authority of "Hatred". Merely becoming the Saint of the "Order" Authority likely wouldn't be enough to confront him head-on.

His only option was to carefully devise a strategy before the deadline arrived.

However, before all that, he first needed to see exactly what kind of inmate Anne Drake was when she arrived tomorrow.