ALL NOVEL Chapter 35 – Family Prison
At first, I planned to have that child's memories of that event blurred but the mage shook her head and said it was impossible. I felt a headache coming whilst walking through the hidden trail leading to the prison, I thought back to her warning, "Magic is powerful and in a sense omnipotent since mana is the most elementary form of power in the world; its limit is decided purely by its user."
She then followed with the cons, "But that also means that the limit is clear; for things like memories, the soul or personality, it is a domain that none but the best amongst mortals can touch. Remember mistress, deities are deities for a reason."
In all honesty, those words were a huge wake-up call for me. I had this subconscious thought that magic was some kind of absolute convenience. As someone from a world with much broader thinking and philosophies, how could I forget that nothing comes for free and I can't go around with a protagonist's mindset? Even if plot armour exists, if I'm going around 'courting death' like a dumbass then even the author would want to kill me off.
Luckily, I wasn't doing anything stupid so far, I just needed to remember that no matter how wonderful this world might seem, it's not a world that exists purely for my convenience.
Earlier when I gave my speech, my vocabulary suddenly improved explosively. In a situation where an outside influence clearly helped me, I should have first felt vigilant and then thankful but instead felt complacent like I was somehow amazing when I obviously did nothing.
I awoke from my brooding to the sound of childish laughter. I saw some of the kids playing hide-and-seek on the way here, it helped bring up my depressed mood to see them lively.
"This is impressive." When we reached our destination, I was standing in front of an iron gate with two guards on each side. This hideout was underground in a way that reminded me of a hobbit's burrow. The vibration-like feeling of magic in the air was the strongest I have ever felt after the giant spire in the town's square.
The entrance was on the side of a small hill, the magic was more concentrated at the top of the hill. But I couldn't see what was at the top because there were layers of wooden barriers.
"This is the private prison of the Apicius family. Any crimes done against our family that are within the kingdom's laws can be judged by us. There are close to a dozen family enemies in here as well as some powerful criminals." The female mage, who I finally noted was called Haley, explained.
As she spoke to me, she was casting a magic that produced a floating bubble with the family crest. It must have been used as some kind of identification.
The guards inspected the image in her hand, they then stood at attention and tapped their sword butts against two depressions in the metal door. The door and the swords lit up after being infused with magic, the door then unwound and opened like a Jenga pile. It was pleasing to look at the door unravelling like a puzzle which was made that way to avoid a situation where it was easy to escape when the magic was cut off.
Inside was mostly made of earth walls and stone floors. There were small rooms side by side that went on for about a couple hundred meters. These prison cells had bars made of a rough-looking rock and were a meter long and a meter and a half wide. It was so small that just staying here for a long time could drive you insane.
With the lack of sunlight and fresh air, I could only imagine that the only kindness shown is the ability to talk to others since the cells are so close to one another.
We stepped in and the tiled floor flashed with a dull yellow glow before going to normal again; another security measure I was told. There was a mix of all sorts of people in here, one was what looked like a merman and there was a small fairy woman too. Despite the glares of hatred, nobody made any sound which showed the tight control and discipline that the jailers had over the prisoners.
"The cells are close to one another in case of someone spilling some secrets unintendedly, there are professionals who take shifts at all times to make sure that we can record every important and unimportant detail spoken." Haley leaned down and swept her short hair behind her ear, he smooth voice was like a big sister's doting that almost made me focus on the wrong thing and miss what she whispered in my ear.
While her face was pretty, it was her huge chest and slim waist that truly stood out. When she bent down to my ear I couldn't stop my eyes from following the sway of her chest as gravity did its work, 'She might only be a 7 for her face but those boobs are a nine! Just short of ten because you don't work out.'
Haley was all too familiar with my line of sight, I didn't notice because I was already hypnotised but a small blush appeared on her cheeks as a smirk followed soon after.
"Mlady, as I am the mage assigned to you at all times... you call me for any duty at any time. You don't have to stop at just looking♥." She only stood straight after nibbling slightly on my ear, which in turn made things difficult for me... how was I supposed to be all solemn and serious with a boner under my dress?!
I shot Haley a look of resentment which she returned with an amused smile, I then remembered that the poor nun was here and our lack of seriousness might have upset her. I was just about to start feeling guilty when I heard her giggle behind me, "You might want to calm down before we go in or it will be hard to interrogate anyone, let alone a former Holy Knight."
Sister Thea was evidently someone with an open personality, she was able to make sexual jokes even after what happened to her and that eased my worries slightly... 'Hmm? Why am I so worried about her? It's definitely not a crush and I'm not a saint either.' My attempts to distract myself from the bothersome situation failed when the mage's smooth voice interrupted my thoughts.
"Hmm, hard indeed." The two burst out laughing while I braved all storms and hoped my new skin colour could hide my embarrassment.
'I swear I'll make that magical bitch find out just how hard I can be!'