"I've said it's enough, okay? It's already past six o'clock. Spare me, I still have to work today," Aiden glanced at his pocket watch and yawned mightily.
In fact, by around four o'clock, he had already begun to plead for mercy, but Melifilia had no intention of letting him go.
From Ludo to a homemade Monopoly, from drawing tortoises to Texas Hold'em and then to Blackjack, he had played games with Melifilia all night long, losing more than winning.
His eyelids had started to fight each other in the latter half of the night, and now he wasn't so sleepy anymore, but his head still felt groggy; it seemed impossible not to doze off at work today.
"Fine, you're in such bad shape, continuing wouldn't be enjoyable," Melifilia finally relented. "Make sure to visit me often. It gets rather boring just sleeping all the time."
"I'll do my best," Aiden gathered up the playing cards and game pieces into the toy box, put on his hat, and turned to leave.
"Live a little longer, 'Aiden'," Melifilia said, watching his retreating figure, "You're the one I went through great trouble to summon from another world. Don't be as short-lived as your predecessor."
"I want to live a bit longer myself, you know. Go say that to your followers," Aiden sighed.
He stepped out of the cell and shut the door behind him. Along with the sound of chains and gears, the mithril-made cell door quickly closed.
The door sealed shut, completely separating the two.
Aiden subconsciously touched his chest—underneath his uniform, there was a twisted scar.
The previous Aiden had died from this fatal wound that had pierced his heart; his killer was a zealot of the divinity sealed within Melifilia—a founder of that cult.
After the former Aiden died, it was this deity who summoned the current "Aiden" to this world, to reanimate a dead body; she had candidly admitted this during their first encounter.
To this day, he still hadn't figured out why exactly Melifilia had summoned him, but at least she hadn't shown any clear hostility towards him.
For now, he could only treat Melifilia as one of the prisoners under his management. Like any other inmates, he used her while dutifully ensuring she was securely guarded. This was the most suitable relationship he considered he could have with a prisoner in his mind.
After returning to his office, he first called the duty guard of the day to order him to bring the inmates from cell number eleven and cell number twelve in the core area to the office when it was time for work.
Two hours later, the guard brought Avansa from cell number eleven and the witch Daili from cell number twelve to the warden's office and knocked on the door: "Warden, I've brought them."
Aiden, who had been dozing off on his desk, woke up with a start and quickly wiped his face, shouting, "Let them in!"
The guard opened the door, let the two female prisoners into the office, and then closed the door.
Normally, high-risk inmates with a red security level require not only handcuffs and leg irons but also a full riot squad to accompany them during transport.
However, Avansa and Daili were exceptions; it was an open secret among the guards that, as specially selected model prisoners, they served the guards. Of course, even though this was the case, only Aiden, as the warden, would make use of them.
Other guards, like Flandre, who was in charge of the core area, didn't completely lack the authority to use these model prisoners to handle certain sudden emergencies, but unlike Aiden, they generally tried to avoid contact with these inmates as much as possible—they all were very aware that even though these prisoners were fitted with collars, they were still incredibly dangerous beasts at heart.
"Take a seat. Want something to drink?" Aiden gestured at the guest chairs beside him.
"Black coffee!" Daili smiled.
"Milk tea." Avansa said expressionlessly.
Aiden had someone prepare hot tea and coffee, and he also placed a small pitcher of fresh milk and a sugar jar on the table.
Daili took the black coffee without adding anything, while Avansa added fresh milk to her black tea and then directly grabbed the sugar jar, pouring sugar into her milk tea.
"Hey, aren't you afraid of choking yourself to death!" Daili was startled by Avansa's sugar-dumping prowess as if it cost nothing.
"Don't mind her, her taste buds are damaged. If the sweetness isn't strong enough, she can't taste anything," Aiden said from behind the table.
Daili turned to Aiden, "So, warden, do we have any special work assigned for us today?"
"For you, the task is the same as before: surveillance. Your target is still the same person, starting from the afternoon until evening. I'll arrange it later; stand by until then," Aiden didn't beat around the bush and directly briefed her on the task.
"Understood." Daili's smile was sweet as she winked meaningfully at Aiden, "Then, warden, 'that' should also be available, right?"
Aiden looked at Daili for a while and sighed, "Alright, what do you want?"
"This time, I want a different kind of reward," Daili said as she fiddled with her pitch-black, silky hair. "I'd like to request a hairdresser to help me take care of my hair; I've been getting some serious split ends lately."
After listening, Aiden nodded vigorously, "Alright, after getting your hair done, I'll arrange for you to soak in a luxury bathhouse, then have the best masseuse give you a one-hour massage. Lastly, I'll arrange a nice sleep for you in the White River Hotel's luxury suite."
"Really!?" Daili looked utterly astonished.
"What do you think?" Aiden said with a smile that was not quite a smile.
"Uh..." Daili's face froze for a moment, then she quickly recovered, "Sorry, sorry, I got carried away!"
"Keep yourself in check," Aiden said, his smile receding.
After all, a prisoner is a prisoner, and a prison is a place for executing punishment. Even if one were to use both the carrot and the stick in management, the stick must always come first. If these prisoners are indulged too much, they'll soon become insatiable.
"Then, a cream cake from Seventh Street will do." Daili looked at her fingers, pleadingly making another request.
Avansa had been quietly listening to their conversation the whole time, sipping her milk tea in small mouthfuls. Finally, she set down her cup and asked softly, "Then, what should I do?"
"Your task is at night, outside the prison. I'll go into detail with you later," Aiden replied.
"Got it," Avansa nodded.
"Ah, how nice, you get to go outside the prison for a bit of fresh air," Daili said enviously, holding her coffee as she looked at Avansa, "Seems like there's something that needs our 'top enforcer' to step in and handle."