Darker Place

-----Mai's POV

During the course of our ride on horseback, I've managed to understand how the magic in this bracelet works. It's quite similar to how rune magic works, by feeding one's mana into the rune, creating a more potent rune for more powerful magic. But instead of using my mana to charge runes, my mana essentially is the reason for it to work. If I suppress the entirety of my mana, then this bracelet would go hungry, becoming weaker. But one thing that our captors don't know is that I'm not human.

Humans are special creatures in this world, being the only ones to house a vessel, which I created. Meaning humans aren't in complete control of their mana as they constantly have to generate mana in order to keep their vessel alive, much like how my mana is keeping this bracelet alive.

I did experiment this theory of mine, and sure enough, the bracelet's engravings began to fade with no more mana to feast off of. I could now easily break it, but I choose to keep feeding it my mana to not arouse any suspicion. It does make me wonder how these kind of devices will work on Yui. Among humans, she's a unique case where her vessel feasts off of surrounding mana, and not her own. Kaede still has those shackles so it may prove to test it out when I return.

We suddenly come to a stop. We've been on these horses for quite some time now, but they did give us time to breathe fresh air by taking the bags off our heads. But when we look around, there's just more trees. Not once did they show us anything else, which leads me to believe they don't want us to know where we're going.

This time however, we're now being escorted on foot. I could hear some distant chatter, but I couldn't make out any words. From the sound of us walking, it feels like we're in a town, or even a city of some kind judging by how smooth the walk is.

The walk would prove to be quite long as we're now walking up some stairs. I almost tripped, but I managed to keep a foothold as I began walking up the stairs.

Lilith: "A-ah!"

?: "Come on, keep moving."

It didn't sound like they're talking to me as it felt a little distant. Most likely they're talking to Lilith. It's nice to know that we haven't been split up, but from the sounds of it, she also didn't expect to be climbing stairs.

We must've passed through an entrance of some kind as I could no longer feel the cool breeze of the wind. My instincts would be correct as I hear a door close behind me. It sounded quite heavy, not like any other doors I've heard before.

Captain: "Take them in the back. I'll be back."

Neri: "Yes sir."

I could hear another door be opened before we began to continue walking. Once the door closes behind us, the bags over our heads were taken off. And what I see in front of me are even more stairs, but this time going down into a dark corridor.

Neri: "Mind the stairs."

Lilith: "What is this place?"

Neri: "No more questions, now move."

I more or less figured out where we are. The atmosphere screams to me that it's some sort of prison. And my thoughts would prove to be correct as the moment we get to the bottom of the stairs, many hallways are seen, with many cells housing both men and women.

Lilith: "Y-you're imprisoning us?"

Neri: "Yes."

Lilith: "But we did nothing wrong!"

Neri: "It's just temporary until we figure out what to do with you."

Lilith: "And how long will that take?"

Neri: "Who knows."

With a nudge, Lilith and I get pushed into one of the cells before being locked inside. I do notice that there are guards inside this prison ward, wearing plate armor unlike the guard back in that town. But it seems like these guards also allow these masked individuals to do as they please. Just who are these guys?

Neri: "Keep an eye on these two."

Guard: "May I ask what they did?"

Neri: "That's doesn't concern you. Just make sure they don't hurt themselves."

Guard: "Yes!"

Neri, along with the other masked individuals leave back up the stairs as Lilith and I sit down on the bed that's inside our cell.

Mai: "You feeling alright?"

Lilith: "Yes, but I hurt my ankle back when we walked up those stairs outside."

Looking down, I do see that her ankle has a small gash, but it's nothing major. But it really should be treated in case an infection occurs.

Mai: "Hey!"

Guard: "What?"

Mai: "My friend's ankle is wounded. It needs to be treated."

Guard: "I would love to help, but I can't do anything in this situation. I'm sorry."

Well it was worth a shot.

Mai: "Lay down on the bed and try and use the bedding to stop the bleeding."

Lilith: "Won't that dirty it?"

Mai: "Huh?"

What is she saying? She's bleeding, who the fuck cares if some prison bed gets bloody.

Mai: "Just lay down."

Lilith: "It's hard to wash blood out of these white sheets. I know we've been locked in a cell, but they said it's temporary. I don't want to cause unnecessary trouble."

It pains me to see Lilith acting like this. She's so accustomed to living a life like this that she's throwing away her safety for others, even if those people are malicious.

Mai: "Fine. But at least sit down and rest a bit."

Lilith: "Mm."

At my words, she sits down, making sure her injured ankle doesn't go near the bedsheets that are hanging off the side. I don't feel exhausted in the slightest, but that's probably because of what I am. Actually, I wonder if I can still talk to Kaede with this bracelet around me. I attempt to contact Kaede through our thoughts.

Mai: "Kaede, you there? Testing testing~"

Kaede: "Mai? What's up? I haven't heard from you these past few days."

So it does work? Well I guess that makes sense since we're not using magic. It's something given to us through our bond when I bound myself to Kaede's soul.

Mai: "Sorry. Things have come up."

Kaede: "What do you mean?"

Mai: "Well... We're currently locked up."

Kaede: "What?! How? When? Why?"

Mai: "Just now. I don't know the reason, but my guess is it's just a precaution."

Kaede: "Wait, so you guys made it to Yarene?"

Mai: "I think so. We got caught when we came to a town which I thought would be in Yarene's territory. But I could be mistaken."

Kaede: "Can't you just teleport you and mom out?"

Mai: "Nope. They put a bracelet around me that hinders my ability to use magic."

Kaede: "Like the shackles and collar I have?"

Mai: "Yes. It has a similar engraving."

Kaede: "..."

Mai: "Anyway. What's been happening with you?"

Kaede: "Huh? Uhm, I'm just about to write a letter to the others. I'm walking to the guild at the moment."

Mai: "So Yui is still doing okay?"

Kaede: "Yes. I've learnt that if I feed her some of my blood, she can move on her own and not be limited to stay around me."

Oh? Now this is interesting. More and more things seems to be discovered when it comes to Yui. Such an interesting human.

Mai: "I don't know how long I'll be here, but could you try and put those shackles on Yui? And have her try and use magic."

Kaede: "Huh? What for? The shackles will just stop her mana."

Mai: "Hehe. But she doesn't have mana now does she?"

Kaede: "I guess? But wait! Something did happen with Yui! She did use mana of her own. It was very faint, but she does possess something."

Really? Then maybe this theory of mine won't work.

Mai: "Still. Have her try something with the shackles on her and let me know how it goes. I'm doing my own research here."

Kaede: "Okay. Keep my updated!"

Mai: "Will do."

We leave our chat there as I walk on over to the bars of our cell. The only light that's coming from inside this prison are the torches on the walls, creating quite a dreary atmosphere.

Guard: "Yes? What do you want now."

Mai: "Nothing. Just looking around."

Guard: "Hmm."

Well at least we're off of those horses. Days of travelling on horseback is quite uncomfortable, especially since I was on my stomach. I may not need rest, but I do miss laying down on a soft bed. I let out a sigh as I wait in this cell. Just hope we're not stuck in this place for too long.

Lilith: "Mai?"

Mai: "Yeah?"

Lilith: "You can sit down as well if you like. You must be tired."

I've been choosing to remain standing on the off chance that Lilith will finally budge and lay down properly, but it doesn't seem like she'll back down. I begrudgingly sit down besides her as she smiles at me. To think my first time in prison would be with the human that caught my interest. Funny world.