Antagonist Protection Service-Chapter 219 Turned In

219: Turned In

219: Turned In

According to the plan, I turned myself in.

Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out the way I expected.

‘How’d they make the bars so strong?

And the walls are quite hard too…’

A situation reminding me of the setting of my third ever Contract, I was imprisoned.

‘I mean, it is better than that damp cave.

Still dark though, but that’s not a problem.’

Tugging on the thick metal bars, they didn’t seem to budge the slightest, even with the passive enhancement of my body through magic.

The same was true for the stone walls on every side, but that was no wonder, considering the fact I was deep underground.

Drifting through my mind was a wonder of if either of the Indestructible swords would be able to cut through them, but there was no need for me to test that out, so I quickly dismissed it.

“Hm…

I’m not gonna be here for long, right…?”

Despite the abruptness of the situation, I didn’t panic.

This was also part of the plan, after all.

Just, Joádin seemed to have forgotten to tell me some details about it, is all.

Mhm.

Like I already agreed to, once the week of hiding with the help of his magic concealment was up, I went and turned myself into the Imperial Knights.

I didn’t wear the Villain’s Vizard of course because I didn’t really see a need to when they already knew my identity, and I also was under the impression that I would be brought straight to Lucretia after that.

However, instead, I was simply brought to this cell and left here without a word.

‘I’m sure it was just a miscommunication.

She’ll probably be here soon to let me out.’

There was nothing to worry about, because even if no one else was, at least those guys were on my side.

“Haa.

Might as well get some more practice in, I guess…”

Leaving the bars alone, I took a seat on the crude bed at the end of the cell and closed my eyes.

Having had quite literally nothing else to do over the past week while stuck in that room with just the familiar Cael to watch over me, I spent almost the entire time continuing the training I was put on by Joádin.

Well, I say “training”.

It’s more like hardcore memorisation and mental imagery exercise.

By studying all the countless different paths that my blood takes to travel around my body, and by extension my magic energy, I wasn’t really accomplishing anything just by having that visualisation itself ingrained into me, but rather, it was something that should allow me to take the next step in magic body enhancement.

At least, that’s what I was told.

Although you cannot control the blood that flows through you, the same was not true for magic energy.

However, despite my magic energy flowing alongside and within my blood, Joádin claimed it should still be possible to control it to an extent.

Albeit self-proclaimed, he was still a “genius magician” of the Mage’s Tower, so even though what he said did sound dubious, I was inclined to believe him.

Especially because, well, there was no reason for him to lie.

Of course, I did think it was a bizarre idea, the primary reason being that, if I were to control the magic energy being transported through my blood, wouldn’t that in turn mean I was controlling my blood?

Frankly speaking, that sounded dangerous.

I wasn’t a medical expert by any means, but even I knew that being able to manipulate someone’s blood or change its circulation was one hell of a risky move, even if it was just my own.

No, more so if it only affected me.

Because I would only use it on enemies otherwise anyway.

I’m pretty sure it meant I would need to cut off or disrupt my own blood circulation in some way if I wanted to enhance a specific area of my body with magic energy, and although it was true I wanted to get stronger, I wasn’t so confident that this method was wise.

Of course, I was going to learn and try it anyway, but it was just a consideration I had.

‘I mean, I guess it probably doesn’t matter too much.

I already got a passive enhancement, so even if the special enhancement only works for a second or two, that’s all the time you need in a fight for things to end.’

Assuming I could use that time effectively, anyway.

In any case, I felt like I made pretty good progress so far.

It’s not like I was in a rush, and bearing in mind how new to it I was, it could be going a lot worse.

The only issue was…

“Ahh, gh, ow…

Hold on, I need a break…”

Since it all revolved around me using my head to visualise in great detail and do a lot of work, the training was very quick to result in a stabbing headache and a reluctance to push my brain any further.

That limit of mine had been the main limiting factor for me this past week, but…

Well, so long as I was making slow but steady progress, I would eventually succeed.

‘Still, it’s frustrating…’

Sighing, I leaned back against the wall beside the cell bed.

Glancing around, I wasn’t sure how to waste time, and it probably would have ordinarily been quite hard to tell how much time had passed in this quiet underground dungeon with no light and no windows.

Fortunately, I had Heightened Senses to help me out in that regard.

‘About a couple of hours…?’

I first turned myself in around morning, so it should be nearing noon soon enough.

‘Hopefully Lucretia will pull me out for lunch.’

Of course, I still had a bit of leftover food in Storage that wouldn’t spoil, but I would prefer to save it if possible.

I already had to use a lot of it when I was recovering in the backstreets, so in case I ended up in a situation like that again, I needed to make sure I didn’t run out.

Spending some time thinking to myself like that, eventually, I heard a noise.

“…!”

‘Someone’s here.

Finally.’

The lock of a door echoed throughout the dungeon, followed by some heavy footsteps, causing a slight frown to form on my face.

‘It doesn’t sound like Lucretia…

Oh, maybe she just sent a knight to go fetch me.

That’s probably it.’

Nodding to myself, I erased the frown and replaced it with a smile.

At that moment, a flickering light appeared dancing on the walls of the corridor on the other side of the metal bars.

A few seconds later, a single Imperial Knight in the same white-gold armour as the rest arrived, seeming to carry something with the frantic orange light emanating from a lantern hanging on his waist.

“Hey.

Why’d you guys leave me down here so long?”

Putting on a friendly voice, I asked the knight, to which he remained firmly silent.

Not minding it, I watched with a raised brow as he crouched and pushed something through a small slit at the bottom of the cell door.

A wooden tray with mulch-like slop in a small bowl.

“?

What’s that for?”

Again, there was no reply.

Silently, the knight pushed that tray through the slit into my cell before standing back up and turning the way he came.

“Huh?

Hey, where are you going?

Aren’t you gonna let me out?

Hey…!”

Jumping from the cell bed, I rushed over to the bars just to watch the back of the knight slowly disappear down the corridor, the soft orange light gradually flickering into nonexistence behind him.

Before long, both had vanished, followed shortly by the echoing ‘ka-chunk’ of a heavy iron door being locked tight resounding once again throughout the darkness.

“…”

Standing there with my mouth hanging open, I didn’t even know what to say.