Antagonist Protection Service-Chapter 170 - Virtue Shall Be Rewarded

170: Virtue Shall Be Rewarded

170: Virtue Shall Be Rewarded

Having just watched half of an entire city turn into a smouldering hellscape as enormous magical flowers bloomed all across from various inconspicuous buildings like planted mines, turning the scenery beyond the window into one of utmost mysticism.

It was almost hypnotic, countless fragments of something blatantly magical and seemingly glistening dancing in every direction throughout the dark sky.

Naturally, my first reaction was one of pure awe.

Right after that settled down, however, my first thought was a surge of concern.

“Wait, what about Aella?

Is she safe?”

Of course, I wasn’t foolish enough to think that she had just evaporated her own daughter―if she did, the Librarian would have told me the Contract was over, after all―but still, that left the question of where she was being kept.

If she was gone, but wasn’t in the city, then I had no idea where she could be.

“Fret not.

Come.”

Turning away from the window as if everything was over, she started walking down the corridor.

Not wanting to be left behind and stuck again, I hurriedly tagged along.

While we walked, I soon spotted a door at the end of the corridor, instinctively causing me to break the silence with a mutter.

“Ah, is it because the magic was being interfered with…?

I wasn’t able to get out of here earlier…”

I didn’t expect her to, but Aradine then responded without even turning.

“Thy Carnation is absent.”

“Huh?

Oh…!”

Looking down at the Draconic Shadow that covered my body, I realised she was right.

‘That pin must have gone straight into the Storage when I equipped the armour set since the disguise it was attached to was removed…’

That must have also been why the corridor stretched on for so long when those witches were chasing me.

Perhaps, if I was still wearing the flower pin, I might’ve been able to outrun them or make it to Aradine without needing to fight.

Well, it was all over now, so there was no need to cry about it.

Interrupting my thoughts, we reached the door.

It opened itself before us as expected, and as we entered, I realised this was another room yet unfamiliar to me.

A chamber made out of something akin to concrete, seemingly deep underground somewhere like a hidden bunker.

On all sides was an array of equipment and mysterious paraphernalia which I couldn’t possibly understand the purposes of, but what stole my attention immediately, and what I couldn’t tear my eyes away from, was what stood in the very centre of it all.

From the floor to the ceiling, a large cylindrical structure of something between glass and crystal, filled with a purple liquid and connected at the bases to a number of thick tubes leading somewhere outside the room.

It was just like the kind of device you might see in science fiction, where people or aliens were put inside such a thing for any multitude of purposes that were either crazy, somehow useful, or plain bizarre.

And, representative of what those devices typically showed, there was a person inside this one, too.

The Protagonist, to be precise.

“…What is all this?”

Asking that, I slid a furtive glance to Aradine who stood beside me.

Evidently, she had already rescued her daughter while I was stuck in the endless corridor, but that didn’t explain what she was doing in that freaky thing.

“They erred in the midst of the extraction process.”

Raising an eyebrow at her words, I looked back at the Protagonist’s body floating in the tube and, after a second of examination, realised.

‘She’s injured…’

I couldn’t tell if it was due to the purple liquid inside the tube obfuscating vision, or if it was something else, but when I saw those wounds across her body, I couldn’t help but think there was something inexplicably peculiar about them.

“Her body’s mending is sluggish.

Without mastery of magic, she is but frail.”

Aradine’s words interrupted my thoughts, and immediately, I thought it made sense for that to be the case for witches.

After all, weren’t they magical beings?

Being young, and thus not having a great control over magic, must make it difficult.

‘…Although, it still feels quite out of place…’

Looking around, there didn’t appear to be much else in this room other than that.

I didn’t doubt there were other areas in this unsettling place I had yet to explore, but something about the atmosphere made me hesitant to do so.

“Enki.”

Before I had the chance to think too deeply about it, she called me.

“Yes?”

“I shall reward thee.”

‘Oh?’

“Really?”

“Indeed.”

Her voice rang like music to my ears.

I knew playing on the side of good would continue to benefit me, and fortunately, I already had the perfect answer to what she had yet to ask.

Without much hesitation, I summoned the Holy Sword.

“Then, could you awaken the dormant spirit in this sword?”

Holding the weapon out to her with two hands, she seemed to face it for a moment before gracefully accepting it, holding it before herself as if examining the object carefully.

“…”

“…”

For a short while, I nervously watched her “look” over the blade, wondering what exactly she could have possibly been looking at through that blindfold, until eventually, she turned back to me.

“I am more than capable of doing so, shouldst thou desire.”

“Yes please.”

This time, there was absolutely no hesitation, and as I quickly said that, she replied with just a nod, walking over to a workbench on the side of the room.

Letting her get on with it without wanting to disturb her, I looked back to the Protagonist.

Floating in that tube, surrounded in that purple liquid I couldn’t even imagine the identity of, her face was peaceful, as if she was sleeping…

Although, she was always expressionless anyway, so it wasn’t too different from normal.

Across her body, there were various patches and pads attached, each connected with thin wires that reached up and down to the tube’s bases.

I guessed they also had the purpose of restoring her body quicker, however it was that they accomplished that.

What piqued my curiosity the most, however, was one of said patches attached to one of the girl’s eyes, and specifically, the one I recalled being a kaleidoscopic blend of all kinds of vivid colours.

“…”

“Art thou curious?”

Before I knew it, Aradine returned to me.

Watching her hold out the Holy Sword to me as if she was done with it, I took it without thinking and put it straight into Storage.

Meanwhile, my eyebrows raised, I answered her, a bit flustered in my response.

“O-oh, I mean, a little…

Are you already finished?”

“Indeed.

For one such as myself, well-versed in souls and matters of the spirit, ’tis but a trivial task.

Regardless, ’tis no harm in asking, should thy curiosity stir.”

Realising she thought I was staring a bit too much at the Protagonist, my nervousness grew despite her saying it was okay.

“I heard you don’t like witches because they’re too curious…”

“Verily.

For it is true.”

“…”

“Thou art not a witch, correct?

Ask what thou wilt.”

Giving a moment of pause, I knew there was no getting out of this one.

Perhaps she was being so insistent because waking up the Holy Sword’s spirit was too easy, so she wanted to do something else for me in order to thank me for protecting her daughter…

In that case, I guess there really was no harm in asking, right?

Clearing my throat, I faced Aradine properly.

And, with a firm voice, I asked.

“Your daughter can’t die, can she?”

“…”

For a brief moment that surely felt longer than it truly lasted, there was silence.

Still, I didn’t take my eyes away from her face, waiting resolutely for an answer.

Eventually, it came.

“―Can one experience death who hath not been born?”

The truth was finally revealed.