Taking Advantage of the Situation
Upon hearing the voice, Aiden couldn't help but shudder.
He had initially planned to remain silent and observe the situation, enduring as long as he could. But unexpectedly, someone initiated a conversation with him right from the start.
However, it was not surprising. He was currently wearing the warden's uniform, and his ability to alter his physical form could only change his body shape; he couldn't transform his clothes like a magical girl with a single button.
Although others couldn't see the details of his uniform, after transforming his body shape into female similar to Priscilla, it makes the clothes ill-fitting, loose, with sleeves that were too long. It looked awkward no matter how you looked at it.
Damn it... Shouldn't these guys be discussing more important topics? Is it necessary to nitpick about clothes? Why this person doesn't talk about the person on my left, she's not even wearing any clothes?
After thinking it through, Aiden chose to turn his head to the side, pretending that he didn't want to talk to her.
He would try to get through this, even if...
"Hey, what's wrong? Are you getting upset already?" The witch on his right seemed surprised, but she didn't seem to suspect anything.
"Alright, Enough with the nonsense. I still have medicine to brew in the pot! Abigail, hurry up discussing today's agenda and let's adjourn the meeting!" The small witch sitting next to Chimera on the opposite side impatiently interjected.
A child? Aiden felt skeptical upon hearing the slightly childish voice from the other party.
But then he thought, he could also use his ability to alter his physical form to become a child. Perhaps this witch had achieved a similar effect through some means.
The Great Witch sitting here, disregarding Lamia's completely alien appearance, sounded so young based on their voice and figure. Normally, a gathering of witches of this magnitude would include several older ones—perhaps they used black magic, demonic contracts, or magic potions to maintain their youthfulness.
When asked so directly, Abigail, sitting at the head of the long table, spoke slowly, "Well, it's nothing much. It's just a routine headcount on the night of the full moon. The situation has been getting increasingly dire lately, so I wanted to see if you all are still here."
"Huh? Just for that?" The petite witch seemed quite displeased. "That's so boring! Don't bother calling me if there's no progress in deciphering the divine language in the future!"
"If you're not interested, then get lost, Habinis. No one's stopping you," the witch sitting to the right of Aiden retorted directly across the table. "What progress? Don't act like you've collected some divine language or relics to share. You're just leeching off Abigail's teachings, aren't you?"
"What's it to you, Vera? So what if I do? Aren't you too?" came a threefold retort from the opposite side.
Clearly, the relationship between these Great Witches was far from harmonious; any disagreement would result in a heated exchange.
Aiden silently listened to these women arguing, trying to extract any useful information from their conversation.
Divine language... relics?
What are these things?
It sounds like these Great Witches don't hold ordinary academic discussions during their secret gatherings.
"You two causing such a commotion, do you want to be expelled?" Lamia spoke up, attempting to stop their quarrel.
"It's not my turn to be expelled, is it?" Habinis sneered. "Dailey has been absent for years now, right? By the way, Abigail, I'm serious about this. Let's have a serious discussion today and just expel that waste who was locked up in the cell."
"Wait a minute, she's not dead, and she hasn't done anything that violates the rules of our gathering. What reason do you have to expel her?" Vera, the witch sitting to Aiden's right, started speaking up for Dailey. "Our situation has become increasingly dire, and instead of unity, you want to create internal strife?"
After speaking, she turned to Priscilla and said, "Priscilla, say something too!"
Aiden, who had been listening quietly on the side, was caught off guard. This person was starting a conversation with him again.
And this time, it seemed difficult to pass by without speaking, as he did before.
This calm and quiet beauty was just too hard to act as.
"Priscilla?" Vera was puzzled by his silence.
Damn, they're starting to suspect something...
Unable to come up with a suitable solution, he reluctantly spoke with a deep voice, "I think..."
As expected, his words immediately froze the atmosphere in the room.
"Huh? What's going on?" Habinis, sitting across from him, turned her face towards him.
Not only Habinis, but the other witches also focused their gaze on him.
"Y-Your voice..." Vera said in surprise.
After undergoing physical transformation, Aiden's voice had also turned into a female voice, but it was quite different from Priscilla tone. Anyone who knew Priscilla would easily detect something was wrong upon hearing this unfamiliar voice.
Aiden began searching for excuses in his mind, but he couldn't come up with a suitable reason.
Recent cold? Throat problems?
No, such childish excuses would be too presumptuous to deceive these Great Witches.
His disguise had reached its limits...
Just as Aiden was starting to consider giving up, Vera suddenly exclaimed with realization, "Could it be... you've succeeded in developing that spell!?"
Aiden was a bit confused for a moment - what was this woman talking about?
Developed spells? Is Priscilla researching new spells?
A spell that can change voices? Or a spell with some sort of voice-changing side effects or cost?
Although he couldn't immediately figure out what Vera was imagining, he quickly realized he could take advantage of her words and go along with it. "Yes, indeed, I succeeded. As you can see, I've already tried it."
"Oh?" Lamia voice sounded intrigued. "You've actually developed such a difficult spell? That's like reaching the ceiling of the 'Spiritual Tome,' isn't it?"
"That's great! With this ability, we won't have to hide and be chased anymore!" Vera sounded very excited. "By the way, why don't we use this to rescue Dailey?"
Upon hearing this, Aiden became alert.
Rescue Dailey?
Does that mean Priscilla's developed spell can also be used for jailbreaks?
However, Hasbinis still sneered at this idea. "boring........ Do you guys actually want to play this kind of savior game?"
"Is there a problem?" Vera confronted her again.
"Of course there is! Come on, we all gathered here to mutually benefit from finding a way to quickly grasp the essence of the world," Hasbinis contemptuously replied. "Since when did the Witch Gathering turn into such a naive social gathering?"