Hello my few, but beloved reader! I have a new chapter for you today! I hope you enjoy it, and as usual, if you find any grammar errors or problems with this chapter, please point it out.

Enjoy~

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I gave her a bewildering stare that hid my true feelings, and then I grumbled out, “Don’t mention it…”

After my reply she clapped softly with a small smile, “Okay, but first, before we leave, use this.” She then rolled a medium sized vial of what looked to be strong health potion between the bars, it stopped rolling when it hit my side.

She then began giggling, “I doubt you would go far without that, and don’t worry, I didn’t even pay for it, so consider it a little gift.”

I frowned and looked at my bare chest, there was no question that I was in rough shape, I then cocked my head to the red potion resting next to my body. With a sigh I grabbed the potion and uncorked it.

After uncorking the bottle I lifted it up to my nose with some effort and began to sniff it. It smelled sweet with a bit of a tanginess to it.

“Don’t trust me?” The mysterious girl said with a smirk.

I pried my eyes off the bottle and onto her while shooting a baleful glare.

Her smirk grew wider while saying, “What happened to that boy who was so willing to help a lady in need?”

A frown grew on my face after she said that, “My lack of caution caused this mess, I also don’t know who you are. But I do know you are wanted by the city, and possibly the kingdom, otherwise I wouldn’t have been tortured this badly for information.” I grumbled back at her.

She shrugged and seemingly conceded to my point. I then turned my gaze back at the health potion, and after a deep sigh I placed the bottle up to my lips and tilted my head back. The red liquid began pouring into my mouth, it tasted like a type of berry that grew mostly in the fields mixed with some kind of sour rind, it didn’t taste horrible, but it also didn’t taste too good either.

After holding it for a few seconds to get the taste, I swallowed it. The red mixture rolled down my throat like a small stream in the forest, leaving a fresh feeling on every spot it made contact with, and when it finally reached my stomach the feeling began spreading throughout my body, mending muscle and bone alike

I then looked at the half empty bottle in my hand before putting it back to my lips greedily. I then closed my eyes to savor the feeling, the liquid flowed through my mouth and down my throat, soothing my internal wounds with each passing second, and the feeling of having my wounds healed at such a rapid pace was one of pure ecstasy.

“You enjoy your recovery and I’ll be right back.” The mysterious girl said with a playful tone.

I opened one of my eyes and looked at her walking away soundlessly.

‘I doubt she’s leaving me, she went through too much trouble to break in here and give me this high quality health potion. The question now is why is she going through this amount of trouble? I’m logically just a pawn in this mess, and I can’t see what use a gimped magic user could do. I’m going to have to choose my steps carefully from now on, it was my carelessness in the first place that caused this whole situation.’

After ten minutes of dwelling on my thoughts, and waiting for the mysterious girl, I heard a dull thud and a jingle, obvious sounds of the girl knocking out, or possibly killing, a guard and taking his keys. That’s when I decided to stand up to do a bit of stretching.

My body was still somewhat sore, but it was in way better condition than before. My broken rib was fully healed, my torn and burnt muscles were completely regenerated, and my skin was, for the most part, intact. I still had large burn scars along with some still healing cuts and gashes, but nothing time and some high grade potions couldn’t fix.

Another six minutes of stretching and examining went by before the girl returned with a keyring in her hand.

“I see you were too busy admiring yourself to miss me.” She said with fake disappointment while puffing her cheeks.

I turned my attention from my body before looking at her with a serious look and replied flatly, “How do you suppose we get out of here?”

Seemingly not bothered with dismissive question, she started twirling the key ring and began whistling a low catchy tune.

Looking at this display made me frown, but before I could say anything she rebutted, “It’s not that hard, since you are being held in a nearly empty jail.” She rolled her eyes and smiled playfully, “Those nobles aren’t so bright by imprisoning such ‘highly dangerous’ individuals within a smaller facility. My guess is they assumed having a jail within the crafting district would make it harder for people like me to find, and also the screams of their inmates would be drowned out by the smithies.”

A small frown appeared on my face and I began to wonder, ‘I guess that makes sense, but why would they put a jail here? Isn’t the alchemy factory on the far end of this district?’

After that quick thought, I decided to probe, “So I’m assuming your objective had something to do with the alchemy factory? I also guess that you knew I would be held here because of what I did to those agents?” I asked with a questioning tone.

‘But why?’ That was the only thing that popped into my mind, but I decided to not ask that for now.

After hearing my question, her smiled grew wider and she gave a small curtsy and replied with a playful tone, "Not quite~, but close enough.”

‘I suppose I’ll hold my tongue until we are out of this hellhole, this isn’t the place to have a conversation anyway…'

With that thought, I asked my final question, “Can we leave now? I don’t know the shift changes of the guards, but I can assume we don’t have much time before you get found out, and when that happens, this place will get swarmed with elite guards and magic users.”

“Sure thing~!”

I cringed at her carefree and upbeat disposition while observing her as she unlocked my cell door.

When the door creaked open all the way, she made a flamboyant beckoning gesture.

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‘I’ve not exchanged much words with this woman and she has already given me a slight headache…’ I thought while reaching for my non existent glasses to push up.

“Whatcha reachin’ for?” She asked while leaning in closer.

I walked past the strange girl before answering, “Nothing, but before we leave, could I go retrieve some personal belongings?” I stopped a few feet from her and started looking around. There was at least eight other cells going down the corridor, and at one end of the hallway was a door, on the other was a larger cell.

She turned to me with a finger on her chin and her eyes looking up as if in thought before replying, “What kind of stuff are you missing?” She asked with a giggle.

I turned back towards her and gestured my hand up and down my frame, “Don’t you think going outside in nothing but beige pants would draw too much attention?” I questioned rhetorically.

She then began to giggle even more, “No problem~ I happen to be a Novice-High mage in shadow magic, I can just place a shadow cloak spell over you!”

I sighed, “I guess that’s why you made it this far into the city?”

“Yep!~”

The mention of her Novice status got me thinking of my own studies, ‘I was at least a year away from gaining my Novice title before this mess. If I can get Mrs.Enhana to assist me then I should be able to get it in three years time. But I won’t be able to use magic, let alone master all the basics, if I dont rid myself of this poison. And that’s the biggest issue after finding Mrs.Enhana, so I can clear this mess up… I wonder if I can turn in this girl for some kind of appeal… No, my mana pool has been crippled to the level of an acolyte, and she has the mana pool of a high-mage, not to mention her Novice status. My only choice is to break out of here with her and find a safe way out of the city to find Mrs.Enhana.’

My thoughts were swirling within my head before the girl flicked my forehead.

“Ouch!” I began rubbing the spot where she flicked me, “What was that for?”

Ignoring my annoyed expression, she began walking towards the door while saying, “Unless you want to walk the cold streets naked, then we better hurry, we don’t have all night!~”

I grumbled under my breath and began following her out.

After a minute of walking over collapsed guards, and going up a small flight of stairs, we ended up in a room filled with various things. Most of the items in here had at least a few blotches of dried up blood on them, this led me to believe that this was the room where they put ‘confiscated’ possessions.

“How did you know where this was?” I asked as I started searching for my things.

She mentioned with a distracted tone, “I already searched the whole place.” After hearing the tone of her answer, I peered over my shoulder to see her attention being grabbed by the various trinkets lying about.

I rolled my eyes at her actions, chalking it up to be because of her strange personality, and after a few minutes of looking, I found where they put my stuff. It was all thrown in a wooden crate without a top, sitting on the floor near a shelf towards the back of the room.

I knelt down in front of it while sticking my hand in the crate, “It looks like my tome and coin purse are missing…” I mumbled while rummaging through the wooden container.

Since my wounds were for the most part healed, I began to notice the chilliness of the fall night, I then decided to check for my glasses after I put on some warm clothes. Thankfully, the lazy guards placed everything, including my clothes, in one container.

‘Heh, I bet if they knew I would be breaking out, they would have regretted putting my possessions in one place… or they would have put me in another jail.’

Putting my dead end thoughts aside, I took out my boots, overcoat, and white shirt, and after a few minutes I was dressed up. I then knelt back down again and pushed aside my azure vest that was still in the crate, and found my glasses.

“Ah, to see again.” I noted with glee as I place the round spectacles upon my face.

‘With my vision problem out of the way, I now need to find a way to replenish my mana. This poison isn’t allowing me to regain it the normal way, a potion should do the trick though.’

I looked down at my chest while patting the area that my coin purse use to be, ‘There is no way I could pay for one. My only option-’

My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden voice behind me. “You ready to get outta here?”

I jumped in startle before turning around, “Yeah, but one last thing, could we possibly look for a mana potion?”

She shifted her stance and let out a small sigh, “Really?” She then puffed her cheeks in a pouty manner. “Okay, one last stop. We don’t have much time though…”

I pushed my glasses up habitually with a satisfied look upon my face, “Thank you.”

I then gazed at her face more closely, she had soft and cute features that projected her ‘innocent’ nature, but I know she’s far from innocent just from our brief history.

“Hmm, all this time we have been talking and I still haven’t asked for your name. Allow me to start, I’m Theodor Willard.” I gave a small bow after I stated my name. When I got up from my bow, I looked at the girl with some anticipation.

She covered her mouth and tried to stifle a laugh, that made me frown slightly but I waited for her small fit to end. She went on for at least thirty more seconds before finally answering, “I already known your name Theodor, how else would I have found you in this prison?”

“Fair point.” I stated flatly.

She then placed her left index finger on her chin and her right hand on her hip, “Hmm, I’m a Novice shadow magic user, so just call me…. Shadow!~”

My face froze a bit, but it recovered just as fast. “Nice to meet you shadow.” I said in between grinding teeth.

Shadow’s response, as usual, was a giggle.

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Thank you for reading!