You’re Still Too Young

"Thank you for taking the time to come here, Officer Bruce Kane." Sitting in the reception room of the police station, Aiden greeted the young man in front of him across the tea table. He glanced at the badge on Bruce's shoulder. "Oh, by the way, congratulations on your promotion."

He reviewed the information about the other party in his mind. Bruce Kane, nineteen years old, a member of the Mounted Police Force, confirmed in position six months ago, and promoted to a first-level officer last week. He was on duty in the storage facility the day Veronica's case occurred.

"Th-thank you." The young man named Bruce placed his interlocked hands on the table, and nervously rubbed his thumbs. "You're Mr. Aiden from the Inquisition Bureau, right? I've heard about you for a long time."

"Ah-ha-ha, I no longer work at the Inquisition Bureau. Now I serve as the warden at Rose Prison." Aiden smiled politely.

Compared to his current title as warden of Rose Prison, the former Aiden's position as a senior investigator at the Inquisition Bureau clearly carried more prestige in the Mounted Police Force.

His smooth transition to the Mounted Police Force and meeting with Bruce was undoubtedly due to the former Aiden's connections within the organization.

The Inquisition Bureau is a law enforcement agency specifically dealing with cases and disasters caused by anomalous creatures.

The majority of the monsters in the core area of Rose Prison were apprehended and brought to justice by the Inquisition Bureau.

To deal with these dangerous creatures, investigators from the Inquisition Bureau are not only allowed to use military equipment but are also granted exceptions to study forbidden black magic.

Within the internal hierarchy of this world's system, investigators from the Inquisition Bureau better fit most people's image of elites, while prison guards are more akin to positions taken by those who are content with a sedentary life and just want to retire comfortably.

However, Aiden didn't dwell on this issue. Including his past life's work experience, he had been working in the prison for over ten years. Mentally, he had long become indifferent to how others perceived his profession.

"So, Warden, did you specifically seek me out… for something?" Bruce asked nervously.

Aidan saw his reaction and figured that the other party probably already sensed the purpose of his visit. After all, there was only one prison that could detain Veronica, and that was the Rose Prison.

"Well, you see, our prison recently received a death row inmate, Veronica Wolfe. She used to be part of your department, so you should know her." Aiden nonchalantly opened the conversation.

"Uh, yeah…" Bruce's expression tightened noticeably when he heard the name.

"After she arrived at our prison, she's been causing a commotion every day, insisting she's been wronged," Aiden feigned a somewhat troubled expression and sighed. "It's been giving me a headache."

"Well, her case… hasn't it already been judged?" Bruce lifted his face and managed to force out a smile.

"Exactly. I told her the same thing. Without new evidence or a defense argument, she shouldn't even think about a retrial." Aiden smoothly replied.

"But she insists that you can testify she's not the murderer because she personally handed over the firearm to you that day.

I also think she's just being unreasonable, but I couldn't really put her off, so I had to come here and confirm with you, to put her mind at rest. It's just part of the job, you know. I really had no choice, just following the procedure."

"Yeah, yeah." Bruce tried to force a smile.

it's so easy to handle the Young people, Aiden thought.

With his authority, he actually didn't have the right to question Bruce. If Bruce outright refused to talk to him, there wasn't much he could do.

He deliberately spoke vaguely, making it sound as if prison guards had a duty to help confirm inmates status.

Anyway, the other party probably had no understanding the scope of authority of a prison guard. That's how he managed to coax Bruce into cooperating with his questioning.

"In that case, I'll just ask a few simple questions." Aidan smiled and nodded. "During the trial, you mentioned that on the day of the incident, Veronica urgently returned her firearm at around twelve-thirty, and you didn't inspect the bullets on the spot. Is that true?"

Bruce hesitated for a moment, then nodded abruptly. "…Yes, it was raining that day, and she said she needed to go home to get her clothes. So… I let her go first."

Aidan noticed his stuttering and kindly said, "No need to be so nervous, I'm not here to arrest you."

"Yes, yes." Bruce forced a chuckle.

"Do you have a good relationship?" Aidan continued to inquire.

"It's… alright. When I was an intern, Miss Veronica was in charge of guiding me."

"By the way, she often mention that she once owed you a favor? Is there any truth to that?" Aidan brought up the topic as if it were the most natural thing.

"Uh, well…" Bruce was momentarily caught off guard. "Is this related to the case?"

"The case file mentions it, so I'm just asking." Aiden calmly retorted, "Is there a problem with that?"

"Well, actually…," Bruce answered, trying to appear nonchalant, but his gaze involuntarily lowered.

"When I was interning, there was one time I made a mistake and let a captured suspect escape. The suspect took a hostage in the street. In the end, Miss Veronica re-captured the suspect and rescued the hostage… and then, she… she vouched for me in the report."

"Oh, I see. If she hadn't resolved the situation, you might have lost your job," Aiden smiled knowingly and continued to question, "When did the investigation team retrieve her firearm?"

"It was… close to noon that day…"

"By then, there's a was missing bullets in her gun, right?" Aiden confirmed.

"Yeah, that was the result of the investigation team." Bruce vaguely answered

"You were on duty in the vault during that time, right?"

"Yes."

"Nothing unusual or strange happened during your shift?"

"No, everything was the same as usual."

"Well, it's completely consistent with what's in the case file." Aiden nodded thoughtfully.

"But… to kill someone and casually return a gun with missing bullets to the police station, what was that woman thinking?"

"Well… who knows?" Bruce said, moving his gaze away, and uncomfortably raised his hand to scratch his brow.

"It's probably just foolishness. I read in the case file that it was your testimony and evidence that sent her to prison, and yet she didn't realize it at all.

She even thinks you'll help her get a retrial. Is she trying to use emotional leverage on you?" Aidan sarcastically chuckled, then nodded approvingly at Bruce. "Not bad, so young and able to be so impartial, quite impressive."

"Thank you…"

After Aidan's somewhat sarcastic remarks, Bruce could no longer meet his gaze, his forehead covered in sweat.