Chapter 57 – Fanning the Flames, Part I
An hour. One hour had passed, according to the timers for the other hourglasses Dante was registered to. It wasn't out of the ordinary. He's fought in five waves before this one. Some were longer, some were shorter, but they averaged out to around this amount of time. Faubrey's wave had four heroes with most of the power up methods, and that one took around an hour.
At first glance, one might think this wave wouldn't take so long. That was because the combined quality and quantity of the monsters was less than the last four waves. Dante figured it had something to do with the number of holy heroes present, since the other waves only had one and a varying number of vassal heroes. He did recall that the waves would be harder if a holy hero died, so maybe the number of participants in any given wave also affected it. The difference wasn't huge, but it was noticeable.
The route to the boss was the issue. The other heroes had to first figure out the ship's pattern and then board it from one of the plateaus it flew around. Well, two of the heroes did. Dante saw skills and magic being shot up at the hull of the ship way earlier.
"Dad, we're back!" JoJo came jogging into the village with Keel and Rifana on his back.
"Hey, you three." Dante greeted them. "Any issues?"
"Nope!" JoJo happily chirped.
"Not one!" Keel similarly responded.
"You two…" Rifana sighed. "A few of the knights tried causing problems."
Those three went to the same village as the knights from Itsuki's group, after all. Dante looked over the group. There HP barely went down at all, and they didn't look any worse for wear.
"What did they do?" Dante asked.
"Some tried to attack us when they thought our backs were turned." Rifana answered.
"I kicked them really hard!" JoJo announced.
"Did any die?" It would probably cause Dante problems later if they did, no matter how much it would have been deserved.
"No, but they'll be walking funny for a while." Keel snickered.
Dante didn't need any more information to know where they were kicked.
"Good job." Dante gave JoJo a quick scratch. If they were back, that meant evacuations in that village were done and the knights could handle the rest, plus any adventurers that were already there. "Evacuations are done here and we're just handling any stray monsters. Once we regroup, we'll see about dealing with the boss."
Eclair, Dio, and Rishia were still at the other village with the young knights Motoyasu brought. He'd received no alerts, so he assumed they were doing fine, especially with how high their HP was. That was also the village Elrasla lived, so they probably met up with her.
"Okay!" JoJo saluted with his wing.
During his time fighting, Dante was better able to understand his newest curse and its effects on his mind. He didn't need to be in danger personally, nor one of his party members. There were moments in this village where no monsters were in sight and he was fine. That led him to believe that being in an area of threat of some sort was enough, like the wave.
He'd test it more when he went to the castle.
"Hey, Dante?" Keel spoke with a bit more seriousness than before.
"Yeah?"
"In the capital, with Ann…that was our fault, right? When we fought the Bow Hero?"
Dante thought for a moment. "Either that or, more likely, when we killed that noble woman." If she was killing demi-humans for fun—an idea that seemed incredibly likely due to that death pit she had—she was likely favored by the church. That aside, Aultcray didn't need many reasons to persecute Dante or anyone around him.
"How are we going to fix this?" Keel asked hopefully.
"Saving Ann is the first step. Beyond that, I'm not too sure."
Dante did grow a bit of a reputation selling medicine before they left Melromarc. It wasn't as much as Naofumi, but a few villagers here did refer to him as "Holy Saint." He hoped Elrasla viewed him in the same light.
I really didn't think they'd start calling me that. All I did was sell medicine, and not as long as Naofumi. Sure, it was pretty good quality, and I sold it cheaper than any competitors, but…huh. I guess that was enough. The common person doesn't care too much about politics when they need something important, like food or medicine.
Before he could elaborate much more, Dante got an alert in his status. It wasn't from anyone in his party, but the Sadeena familiar he sent with Motoyasu. At the same time, he heard a quick succession of booms. He'd heard explosions in the distance before, but not like these.
He looked at the source and saw the floating ship in the distance. It looked to be falling apart a bit more than it was the last time it came into view. It was a little lower in the sky, too.
"Ooooh shit…" Dante took a couple steps toward the ship. It was coming their way and it was losing altitude. Dante looked around, noting the mostly intact buildings around them. "Get off, quick! JoJo, to the edge of the village!"
Keel and Rifana followed his directions, letting Dante climb onto JoJo. The pair raced off toward the village limits, Dante casting All Drifa Aura IX on the two of them.
That ship is going to crash in the center of the village!
There wasn't a lot of time to act. Once outside the village, Dante hopped off of JoJo.
"Cast wind magic." He told his son. "Try to slow it down as much as you can."
"Got it, Dad!" JoJo quickly chanted out a spell. "Drifa Wind!"
"Zweite Wind!" Dante cast a spell of his own. He didn't want his curse to affect him too much, but he also didn't want that ship to destroy the village. He also didn't know who all was still on the ship.
As the spells met the falling ship, it did begin to slow down. They kept going, reducing the speed and altering its destination with every casting. As it got closer, Dante switched out his shield.
"JoJo, get back!" Dante yelled. As JoJo ran off, Dante activated his shield's effect. "Tower Shield V!"
His shield grew out, increasing his defense considerably. The shield grew three times larger than normal, matching his own increased size. With his Titanic Ogre Shield equipped, he enlarged himself, gaining a hefty amount of strength and defense. Even with the wind to slow it down, he still needed to stop the ship himself and keep it from crashing.
Once it was close enough, Dante brought up his shield. With a loud crash, the bow of the ship slammed into him. His bare feet dug into the ground as he was pushed back by the momentum. He kept his shield pushing up against the bow to prevent the ship from getting destroyed from impacting the ground.
The ship slowed, but kept pushing him back. It had nearly stopped by the time Dante was forced into one of the buildings. Thankfully, it was already emptied of people. As the ship finally stopped, it fell to the ground with a loud thud, the hull of it still mostly intact.
Dante dismissed his Tower Shield, but kept himself the same height. With part of the ship's bottom broken in and the overall height lowered, Dante would barely be able to peer over the edge of the ship. He pulled himself up slightly to get a view.
The deck of the ship was littered with bodies, though they didn't appear to be dead. All three heroes and their parties were there. Dozens of large slash marks covered the deck. He spotted the enemies the others had mention, that being the skeleton captain and the remains of the kraken. What's more, he saw the body of the dead Soul Eater.
"Impressive." Dante murmured. Right in front of him, a pair of scared, green eyes popped up and met his own. Malty was propping herself up on her hands, a trail of blood going down her head. Motoyasu and the rest of his party wasn't far from her, prone on the ship's deck.
I could take care of her right now if I wanted to, but…
He knew killing her would cause more problems for him right now. Plus, he was sure Eclair would have an issue with it. He still needed to clear his name, and he was conscious enough of his state of mind that he knew it was mostly his curse telling him to kill her.
"What happened?" He asked the scared princess in a deep voice. With a shaky hand, Malty pointed up and behind him.
Dante turned around and saw a woman with black hair and wearing a kimono. She descended from the sky, surveying the ground and destroyed building. Her gaze finally settled on him, floating just above eye level to him.
"Were there any people in that building?" She asked, her voice fairly neutral.
Dante let go of the ship and stepped away from it. "No. We finished evacuating some time ago."
The woman let out a calm breath. "Good. It was not my intention to crash the ship here and involve any other people. I was merely testing the power of the heroes."
"If you say so." Dante switched out his shield, reducing himself in size.
"That weapon on your arm." The woman pointed to Dante with a metal fan in her hand. "Am I to assume you are a hero?"
"I am." Dante said. He could see most of his party beginning to approach. "You are too."
"Indeed. Allow me to introduce myself." The woman opened up her fans and presented them at Dante. "I am Glass, Vassal Hero of the Fan. I would have your name as well."
Dante stepped closer to the floating woman. "Dante MacRory, Holy Hero of the Shield."
"I see." Glass cast her gaze at the ship. "The three over there had some power, but they were far too weak. They must be Vassal Heroes of this world, and weak ones at that."
Dante opted not to correct her for obvious reasons.
Glass turned back to him. "I would ask about your appearance before anything else, Dante."
"My appearance?" Dante cocked an eyebrow at that.
"Your equipment does not match what I would expect from someone of your strength. It looks as if you do not intend to fight anyone. And yet, your eyes look as if you are ready to kill everything around you."
Dante half-heartedly scoffed. "I have a couple curses to thank for that."
"Curses?" Glass held a fan over her mouth. "From your weapon?"
"Yeah." Dante gave his shield a tap.
Glass shook her head, looking disappointed. "A hero should not give up such information so easily."
"Oh? And why's that?"
Again, Glass shook her head. "It won't matter soon." She held her fans out to her sides. "Now then, you should consider me to be your enemy. Prepare yourself."
"Wait." Dante held up his hand. "Before that, I have something to talk to you about."
"There is nothing to discuss." Glass said pointedly. "Or, are you perhaps trying to buy time to formulate a plan. I assure you, even seven against one, I will emerge victorious."
"That's not…seven?" Dante looked around. He had Raphtalia and Sadeena in the village with him, plus JoJo, Rifana, and Keel. "You see someone here I don't?"
At that, Glass pointed her fan to the bow of the ship. Dante looked up and saw Malty peeking over, though she quickly hid herself.
Dante pointed in Malty's direction. "First of all, don't include that one. If it wasn't inconvenient for me, I'd kill her myself. Second—"
"You would kill her? A companion of a Vassal Hero?" The tone in Glass's voice irked Dante. Being associated with Malty didn't help.
"Second," Dante continued, "we do have something important to talk about. Something you want."
Glass brought her fans close to her. "And what is it you think I want from you?"
"Kizuna."
The name alone was enough to get a strong reaction out of her. Dante could see a mix of emotions on her face. Surprise, confusion…then anger.
"How do you know about her?" She asked darkly.
"I know some things." Dante smirked. "So, do you think I have something you want now?"
Glass glowered at him, but there was no denying she wanted to know what he did. She dropped down from the air, standing on the ground. There was a dozen-some feet between them.
"Tell me what you know." She ordered.
"That's not how this works." Dante told her. "I have something you want. In exchange for it, you'll give me something I want."
Glass grit her teeth. "And that is?"
Dante started walking around her. "A truce."
"A truce?" Glass kept her eyes on him as he walked. "You want to trade your knowledge for me sparing your life?"
"I want you to not attack this world. And not just you, but your friends L'arc and Therese, too. They're in this world now, right? Or, maybe that's later?"
Glass narrowed her eyes. "How do you know about them?"
"You don't need to know that." Dante finished his movement, ending about the opposite side of her. He now stood in front of his party.
"Then how am I supposed to trust what you'll tell me is true?" She asked, fixing her glare on him.
"By verifying it, of course." Dante said. "You agree to the truce, I tell you where Kizuna is, you go rescue her, and you don't attack here again. There's another problem in your world I want you to take care of, but I'm sure you'll agree to it."
From what he recalled, Dante was confident Glass had a sense of honor. If she gave her word, she would likely keep it. If not, Dante hoped he'd have the other heroes up to speed on the power up methods by the time she came around again.
Glass lowered her fans slightly. "This…what I'm doing here is more important…"
"I'm not asking you to forsake your world. I'm asking you to not go through with your idiotic plan."
"Little Dante." Sadeena warned.
It was hard not to be agitated. Dante was sure Glass would jump at the opportunity to save Kizuna. Hadn't she been missing for over a year or something? He would have taken the deal if he were in her position. Then again, not everyone is crazy like him.
Glass kept her head lowered, searching the ground for an answer. When she came upon it, she met Dante's gaze.
"No." She firmly said.
Dante raised an eyebrow at that. He really wasn't expecting that response. "You sure about that?"
"I will not allow you time to mount a stronger defense." Glass brought up her fans again.
This went completely against his plans. It pissed him off. He wanted her and the others to deal with Kyo, provided he was still there. It was a low cost deal for him to handle a problem that might not even exist, but would cause issues later. Her stubbornness would cost him.
And yet, he couldn't hide a certain amount of joy forming inside of him.
Dante looked over his shoulder. "You all stay back. I'll fight her alone."
"Are you sure, Dad?" JoJo looked between the two of them.
"Yeah." Dante turned back, a smile on his face. "I need this."
He killed plenty of monsters from this wave, but they didn't satisfy him. Raphtalia wanted to protect people from the waves, and he knew others in his party felt the same. Dante recalled her resolve when she let him devour the corpses at Reiko's cave with his Savage Shield. The people and keeping the other heroes from getting killed were his main reason for coming. Seeing Elrasla again was a bonus.
"Little Dante, should you really be doing this?" Sadeena asked, stepping forward. "Don't we have other things we need to do~?"
Dante glanced back at her. He knew she wasn't wrong. Thanks to Erhard, they knew Ann was being held prisoner. It wasn't as if she'd be going anywhere.
And that thought alone was more than enough to make Dante reconsider.
"Fine." Dante walked back on the same path he took around Glass, stopping halfway to have the ship be on her opposite side. "Hit me."
"Come again?" Glass asked, keeping her stance up.
"Hit me." Dante repeated. "Use the same skill you used on the ship. I want to see your power. One free hit."
Glass narrowed her eyes. "It seems you're looking down on me. Very well. I'll show you why you shouldn't." She held her fans up, slashing them through the air. As she did, bands of energy began to leave them. "Circle Dance Zero! Reverse Snow Moon Flower!"
Waves of energy flew out of her fans. They crashed into Dante's raised shield, knocking him back with each impact and lowering his HP. The building behind him had what remained of its side wall torn apart by the attack.
When the skill ended, Dante lowered his shield to look at her. She held her fans to her sides, waiting. He cast a glance at the building behind him before looking back.
"Was that it?"
His words earned a confused look from Glass. From his status, Dante could see the damage that was done to him. It was…hardly worth mentioning. Each hit did more damage than Itsuki's Bunker Shot. Used repeatedly, it would wear him down, but he had skills to block hers.
"You came to kill heroes, and this is all you have?" Dante stepped forward, prompting Glass to raise up her fans again. "I'm incredibly disappointed."
"Circle Dance Rupture, Tortoise Shell Cracker!"
"Titanic Charge V!"
Dante slammed Glass into the bottom of the ship. He had a smile on his face as blood leaked from his mouth. "Do you see how pointless it is? That last skill is all you really have to use against me, and I have skills to block it if I want to." He pressed into her harder, making the ship creak and groan. The Shock effect went off, though Glass didn't seem bothered. "I've had four other heroes try to kill me already. Two of them were from this world, and three wanted to kill me specifically. And guess what? I'm. Still. Here."
He didn't deny that she had power. It wasn't a shock that the other three fell to her. Glass was strong, but Iaoth was much stronger, even without the horn's bonuses. That didn't mean he alone could kill her easily. His skill and attack seemed to do little to her, so it would take a long fight to win. Still, he was confident Zweite Aura would have been enough.
That, of course, assumed he would fight alone.
Though her body was pinned to the ship, one of her arms were free. She used it to swipe at his face, causing him to stagger back. Before she could move away, Dante grabbed her wrist.
"That was the same damn eye!" Dante pulled her over his shoulder and slammed her into the ground. He glared at her with one functioning eye, digging into her back with his foot.
"Ahh!" Glass cried out, having her grasped arm twisted around.
Even with Glass's likely impressive stats, Dante's strength and defense were able to keep her pinned. He pulled and pried, the hand holder the fan loosening its grip, but the bounded weapon didn't fall. Even if he had a hard time damaging her HP, making an arm inoperable was more doable.
Bones creaked and cracked as he continued to pull. If Glass wanted a fight so badly, she would have it. Dante was fine letting another plan fall apart. This thing squirming beneath him was a threat, and he would take care of—
"-ter Dante!" He snapped up, hearing Rifana's call through the haze in his mind.
She had transformed and wrapped her arms around his chest. Her face was buried in his back, obscured from his view.
"Please, Mister Dante, that's enough now." She said softly. "You don't want to kill her, right?"
Dante clicked his tongue as he released Glass, removing his foot from her back. "Yeah…" Dante murmured.
Rifana let go and stepped back, but she kept her head lowered. "Thank you." She quietly said, transforming into her therianthrope form again.
Glass had already taken a knee and was ready to jump up, but Sadeena stood in front of her. She held out a hand to the lower woman, who stared at it. After a brief hesitation, Glass took the offered hand and stood.
"This changes nothing." Glass said, taking a step back. "You still must die for the survival of—"
"What would Kizuna say about you doing this?" Dante asked.
Glass's face twisted into one of rage. "What do you know about how she'd feel!?"
Dante approached her, keeping his shield to his side despite the woman's readiness for a fight. "I know she would never agree to something like this. I know she wouldn't agree with murdering an entire world just to save yours. And when she finds out what you did? With so much innocent blood on your hands, I don't think she'd ever want to see you again."
Glass was livid. She grit her teeth as she stared daggers at Dante. "I don't know how you know so much, but to use that against me…"
"Yeah, well, I am in a bad mood." Dante countered. "People keep coming from the waves to kill me, I have to keep touching someone outside of combat or I'll have a panic attack, and someone took a hit for me when I explicitly told them to never do that!"
Dante shifted his focus to Sadeena for that last statement. She simply smiled and waved at him. There was a good chance he would have died from that attack in the village, so he really couldn't say much more on the matter.
"Regardless, when you set out to murder an entire world, you don't get to complain. Now, do you want be the first hero to stop and talk things out with me, or do we have to kill you?"
Glass's help wasn't necessary, but it would be helpful. Killing her was a last resort, but it was feeling more and more like a good alternative.
"…Fine. You win." Glass lowered her fans. "You can have your truce. Just tell me how to save Kizuna."
"Good." Dante reached into his shield's drops. "Now, I have a few things I want you to do, starting with rescuing your girlfriend."
"!" Glass made a rather indignant noise. "Kizuna isn't my girlfriend!"
"Then rescue her and make her your girlfriend." Dante approached with far less hostility than before. He brought up his open hand, holding what he pulled from his drops. "These are bioplant seeds. They're needed to break out Kizuna."
Glass tentatively picked up one of the offered seeds. "Break her out of where?"
"I don't remember where it is or what it's called." It was from one of the books he didn't remember quite as well. "I know it's some sort of place that's impossible to escape from, and I think it's in a country hostile to the one you're in."
Glass thought for a moment before her eyes widened. "The Infinite Labyrinth!"
"That sounds right." Dante pressed the remaining seeds into her. "I don't know exactly how it was done, but you need to have one of these seeds grow until it breaks apart the area it's in. It'll break the room and allow her to escape, something like a game bug. Kizuna should be able to figure it out."
If Dante walked that path himself, he would probably be able to explain it better. Game bugs weren't a foreign concept to him. He'd seen people exploit them, mostly when Mary saw it played out and asked Dante to do it too.
"And you expect me to believe such a story?" Glass asked.
"Feel free to ignore my advice." Dante shrugged. "It's your world. If I recall, your Holy Heroes are…less than ideal?"
That comment made Glass grimace. It was clear he was right on the mark.
"Anyway, aside from the truce, I'll need you to look into a few people. I don't know most of their names, but I know what weapons they either have or will try to get."
Dante explained what he could to the spirit woman. Naofumi's tendency to not learn people's names didn't help. Kyo was the only name he remembered, and his plan to hijack the Spirit Tortoise of this world.
"Oh, and tell L'arc and Therese not to come over, unless they plan to help out." Dante added.
"They are already here." Glass informed him.
"Oh." Dante held his chin. Perhaps her battle here was to merely test how strong the heroes were and see if those two were needed. That, or they had a way to return automatically if the Holy Heroes of this world died. "Well, then come get them during the next wave. I don't really remember when it is. A few weeks? Wait, I think time moves differently in your world…"
"If what you've told me is true, then…I will take them back with me next time." Glass said.
"Good."
As if signaling the end of their talk, a timer appeared in Dante's vision.
"Time for you to go." Dante told her.
"It is." Glass began floating in the air, rising toward the wave crack. "I hope you have not lied to me, Dante."
"I get more out of you by telling the truth." Dante informed her.
Once she was through the wave crack, the sky reverted back to normal. The late afternoon sky illuminated the landscape.
"Well, that was fun." Dante said, having quickly grasped Sadeena's hand.
"Oh my~. I thought you were going to kill her for a moment there~." Sadeena said, leading him back toward the others.
"I might have." Dante admitted. "I wasn't in the best of moods."
"Well now, I'll just have to do something about that~." Sadeena teased.
As fun as what she was implying would be, he knew what she really meant. After casting those wind spells, his curse was agitated. He'd need her to perform a cleansing spell to relieve the symptoms. He already healed his eye with Stat Allocation, since the damage wasn't as severe as Dio's before. The wound from Glass's defense ignoring attack was also closed.
"Sir Shield Hero!" The voice he heard was not a pleasant one. As the pair passed the ship, they saw Malty on the ground, having already climbed down.
"What do you want?" Dante asked the annoying woman.
In her arms, he saw Onee-chan casually moving her flippers. He glared at Malty, taking a step toward her. Malty extended her arms, letting the familiar freely float toward him with a soft "Ara~". She landed in Dante's hand, changing back into an amulet that he stored behind his shield.
"Yeah, thanks." He said dismissively. It was better to leave before he did something he'd regret.
"Wait, Sir Shield Hero." Malty held up her hand, but instantly shrank back under Dante's gaze. "T-The others…do you have healing potions?"
Dante scoffed. "I'm not about to help them just so they can bring me back to the castle. Not that it matters, since I'm going there anyway."
"Why would…" Whatever Malty was about to say next died on her lips. Her eyes darted between Sadeena and Dante.
"Oh my~! I think I'm scaring her~." Sadeena transformed back.
"Doesn't matter." Malty was lucky he didn't consider her a threat and needed to stay touching someone.
"S-Sir Shield Hero." Malty spoke again. "Sir Motoyasu used one of the potions you gave him."
"Did he?" Dante's eyes turned up toward the ship before settling back on Malty.
"He wasn't able to use an antidote before getting knocked out, and I don't have one. Would you…"
"Give him one?" Dante narrowed his gaze at her.
"H-He was also the one to convince Sir Ren's mage to use light magic, like you suggested."
Dante wanted to do the opposite of whatever she wanted, but he considered her words. Ignoring the source of the request, Motoyasu was the only one that at least acted friendly with him. Sure, he was just a puppet in whatever game Malty was playing, but he did agree to keep things civil with Dante, despite his beliefs. Dante also knew it wouldn't be wise to let Motoyasu get addicted to something he gave him.
"JoJo!" Dante called his son over. "Take up to the ship."
"Okay, Dad!" JoJo gave a salute and Dante climbed on.
With a short running start, JoJo leapt up and landed on the ship's deck. Dante found Motoyasu right where he was before. With a wing on his back, Dante pulled an antitoxin from his shield and fed it to the downed Spear Hero. A soft glow showed the potion took effect. Since he was already there, Dante helped himself to the remains of the Soul Eater, as well as the kraken and skeleton captain. The latter two just gave stat or resistance bonuses, as well as most of the other monsters he absorbed during the wave, but the Soul Eater caught his attention.
Soul Eater Shield
(abilities locked) equip bonus: spirit resistance (medium), SP bonus (medium), Life Sense
equip effect: Soul Eat, SP recovery
Interesting. Since I got Second Shield from the Titanic Ogre Shield, it got replaced on this one with Life Sense.
Dante switched to his newest shield to test it out. When he activated the ability, he could almost see a glow coming from everyone else onboard. Not only that, but he could feel the people below him. When he closed his eyes, it was as if little flames in his mind indicated where everyone was.
Very interesting. I needed a new way to sense others, since my Alert Shield ability isn't working as well anymore. Probably because less things are a threat to me now. Too bad this shield's stats aren't so great, though they aren't terrible. Just not what I expected from a wave boss. Maybe it'll power up better.
JoJo brought them down again and Dante dismounted. He kept one hand on JoJo's back.
"I don't know what you're playing at, but it won't work." He told Malty.
"I'm only trying to get the heroes to cooperate." She said.
"And framing me for rape helps?" Dante asked sarcastically. Malty kept her mouth shut. "Just because I don't understand all the politics involved doesn't mean I'm going to lose. Oh, and I'm not sure if your sister passed along my message to you, but watch out for the church. They want you dead, or more specifically they want me to kill you."
Malty's eyes widened. "What more do you know?"
"You're clever. Figure it out yourself." At the very least, she seemed to have some idea about the church's intentions. So long as his enemies were also enemies of each other, Dante was content. "Anyway, I'm not here to chat. I'm just waiting for the rest of my party to come back, and then—"
"Sir MacRory!" He heard Eclair call out, seeing them approach from their village.
"And there we are." Dante turned his back to Malty and regrouped with his party.
"What happened here?" Eclair asked as she dismounted Dio.
"A lot, but it looks like we're on track with things." The talk with Glass went a little pear shaped for a bit, but it evened out.
"I see." Eclair nodded. "We met with Miss Elrasla in the village. She was…enthusiastic about training Lady Rishia."
"Fehhh!" Rishia called out. "She touched me all over!"
"Sounds about right." Dante commented. "Everyone ready to go?"
Eclair looked around. "I'd hate to leave the villagers like this, but I know we can't stay."
"We've helped plenty." Aside from protecting them from the waves, Dante gave a crate of medicine to both groups. They were to give those to the villagers when they took shelter, as did Dante at this village. Dante had made plenty over the past couple of nights, since the ingredients were common drops in addition to being plentiful in the wild. It wasn't as if he could really do anything else with his time.
Dante looked through his saved portal locations.
"Wait!" Malty called out to them. "That voice. Are you Lady Eclair—"
"Portal Shield!" The whole party disappeared from sight.
~The Wrong Hero~
They reappeared just outside Beloukas's slave tent. It didn't look any different, so at least he didn't seem as affected by Dante's activities.
"Sir MacRory." Eclair looked to Dante. "Princess Malty…she recognized me."
"Yeah, that's probably not good." Dante said.
"Hm. If the situation was different, it may have been good to speak with her more. We could have gotten information about what's going on." Eclair reasoned.
"Maybe. I wouldn't believe anything she said, personally." Dante led Sadeena forward. "We'll be right back, and then we'll go to the castle."
The pair walked into the slave tent. They quickly found Beloukas, who did not smile upon seeing them.
"I don't like that look, slave trader." Dante said as they stopped before him. "You haven't found anyone in all this time?"
"About that, Sir Shield Hero." Beloukas held up a hand. "I can no longer continue my search, yes sir."
"Are you serious?" Dante clenched his fist. "Even you are being targeted by the knights?"
Beloukas shook his head. "You misunderstand. I have exhausted every lead and contact I have, as has my uncle. The villagers you seek are nowhere to be found."
"That can't be…" Sure, it was months later, but he must have been able to find something. "Damn it! We should have hunted down every member of that slaver group! Maybe one of them had some idea where the villagers were sold." The one that knew for certain was found dead at Reiko's cave before.
"I know who they were sold to." Beloukas said.
"You do? Then what's the problem?"
"The slave trader in question is dead."
Beloukas explained the situation. It happened less than a week after Dante first asked Beloukas to start searching for the villagers. They weren't sold to someone in the capital, but one of the nearby towns. It seemed there was a fire caused by one of his monsters. The whole place went up in flames, along with the slave trader. The records he kept were likewise destroyed. After the first few weeks of searching, Beloukas suspected this slave trader was the one he was looking for. After completing his extensive search, he was certain.
"Even without his death, we should have been able to find at least one villager by now." Beloukas added. "At this point, I'm afraid Sir Shield Hero should accept that they are dead."
"No." Dante's tone was heavy. "That is not something I'm entertaining. If you can't find them, I'll get someone who can. I'll just have to go back to Zeltoble and hire more shadows. I don't know who killed the last one, but—"
"Little Dante." Sadeena slid over, draping her arms over his shoulders. "It's okay."
"No, it's not." Dante said. "I'm not giving up yet."
Sadeena held him closer. "It's been almost three months now. If we haven't found them by now—"
"We'll keep looking!"
"No." Sadeena shook her head. "The others and I talked about it."
"What do you mean?" Dante looked back at her.
"Little Dante, it's been so long. We decided, if no one was found by the next time we checked, we would accept they were no longer alive."
Dante let his mouth hang open upon hearing this. "Why…Why didn't you tell me?"
"We didn't want you to worry about it." Sadeena said, crossing her arms over his chest and grabbing his shoulders. "We know you care, and we know you tried. This wasn't something we needed to add on top of everything else that's happened."
Dante shook his head. "No, it's not over yet. We'll find them, and then we'll rebuild your village. I'm not letting them win."
"Little Dante…" Sadeena rested her head against the back of his. "Be honest. After everything you've seen from the nobles here, can you honestly say you think they're still alive?"
Dante wanted to refute that, but she had a point. Idol Rabier had been forcing demi-human slaves to eat one another and then eating them himself. That baroness was throwing them into a pit for her monster to kill them. Reichnott and Seaetto cared, but they were in the minority, and now they were both dead. Even the Ivyreds, who clearly owned no slaves, were dead.
He slowly placed his hands on her arms. "I'm sorry. I failed you all."
Sadeena turned him around to look him in the eyes. "This kingdom failed us. You kept us safe and made us strong."
"I should have done more."
"You worked with a slave trader whose family operates in at least three countries. If they couldn't find them, what more could you have done?"
There were things he could have done differently, he was sure of it. Maybe he could have hired more shadows, or had Siltvelt dispatch a few. Maybe if he made it public he was looking for the villagers, someone would have tried coercing him into working for them for the villagers' safety. It would have been dangerous, but he'd find a way to free them.
"I'm not satisfied with this." Dante told her.
"And that's why I love you." Sadeena said back. "Come on, let's get going."
Sadeena pulled him to leave, but Dante stayed. He would not accept this outcome. If the villagers were really dead, then all that time he spent selling medicine here…it still improved his image, but he didn't care about that right now. Instead, he focused on what he could do. Something he wanted to do since the first time he set foot inside this tent.
"Raphtalia! Get in here!" He yelled toward the entrance of the slave market.
"Little Dante? What are—"
"Beloukas." Dante ignored Sadeena's confusion and turned to the slave trader. "How many children do you have here?"
"Sir Shield Hero?" Beloukas cocked his head to the side. "Well, I have five at the moment, though two are in quite poor condition."
"Bring them to me." Dante sent the short man off with a wave.
"What are you doing, little Dante?" Sadeena asked.
"I'm going to buy every child here." He told her.
"You are? Why…" Before she finished asking, she shook her head, a smile on her face. "No, I know why."
Every time he saw a child slave, either here or in Zeltoble, he had to turn a blind eye to it. He had to save his money for when the villagers were found, and for any equipment upgrades they needed outside of Siltvelt's donations or his item drops. If the villagers were no longer an issue, he was free to do as he pleased.
"I don't want to dissuade you, but you know you can't save them all, right?" Sadeena asked softly.
"I know, but I'll do what I can. Besides, it'll make me feel better."
Raphtalia came inside and was told of the situation with the villagers. Just like Sadeena said, she wasn't happy about the presumably dead villagers, but she had accepted the outcome. Beloukas returned with a couple of his men and five demi-human children. Two of them seemed to be fine, if a little skinny. One was definitely malnourished and two had a disease. Thankfully, Dante's appraisal still worked on such things and he had medicine to help treat it.
Beloukas brought some paper and a quill that he was asked to and Dante began writing. "When you arrive at the village, give this paper to the rabbit woman, one of the tiger women, or one of the knights. Some of them speak Melromarc's language, but I'm writing this in Siltvelt's."
When he finished, he handed the note to the oldest looking one, who had a confused look on his face.
"Beloukas, get some slave ink prepared." Dante said, dropping some medicine from his shield and administering it to the two sick slaves with Sadeena's help.
"Of course, Sir Shield Hero." Beloukas started the procedure. "Now, as for the price of these five…I believe that—"
Dante stopped him, pulling five gold coins from his pocket and presenting them to the slave trader.
"You're overpaying, Sir Shield Hero." Beloukas said, inspecting the coins.
"That's for your work in searching for the villagers." Dante said, having Sadeena prick his finger for him. "It's also an advance on your next task."
"Well, I'm not one to turn down gold, yes sir." Beloukas pocked the coins and got started repainting the kids' slave seals. "What service were you looking to hire me for?"
"You will go around and start buying children from the other slave traders." Dante said.
"Dante…" Raphtalia had a pleased look on her face.
"An easy enough job." Beloukas nodded. "Though I don't imagine there will be a huge amount."
"That's good to hear." Dante watched as the children started getting added to his status. He got the names from all of them as they appeared.
"E-Excuse me, Master…" The oldest child looked up at him.
"Dante. Just Dante, please." Dante told him, trying to soften his look.
"D-Dante…" The boy clutched the note close to him. "Are you really the Shield Hero?"
"I am." Dante held up his shield. "I'm not buying you to make you my slaves. It's simply cheaper than freeing you outright. I'm bringing you to a village I set up. After that, we'll see what you want to do, okay?"
The boy gave him a shallow nod, as did the two that weren't sick.
"Make sure you give that note to the people I mentioned. Got it?"
The boy nodded again. "The rabbit woman, the tiger women, or a knight."
"Good." Dante fiddled in his status, adjusting the slave settings to the same as his party. He also allowed for other people to teleport them. "Raphtalia, send them off."
Raphtalia smiled. "Right away. Portal Hammer!"
The five children disappeared from sight.
"That was nice of you, little Dante." Sadeena gave him a quick peck. "But will the village be able to handle it?"
"There are a few builders there, so we'll be able to get started on housing right away." Dante said. "I think I'll also use my shield to make a large building with a lot of rooms, like an orphanage. We have a good amount of food from hunting and the bioplants, and I know a few fishermen have started going to the coast."
There were more details to work out, but at least it wouldn't be as huge an influx as when Eclair started accepting freed slaves. At least not all at once. He was confident Fiadia would be able to organize this well.
"We'll be back regularly." Dante told the slave trader as they left.
The only thing left to do here was visit the castle.
Author's Notes:
I came up with this chapter's title a week ago, before I came up with that chapter's title. I'm enjoying making pun/double-meaning titles too much.
I was debating where to end this chapter, whether to have it as a two-parter, and how to start the next chapter (or the chapter after that, as the case may be). The title felt so fitting that I didn't want to miss out on its extended double use. I also wasn't sure how much I wanted to gloss over/speed through what is now the next chapter, but I think the "less is more" approach wouldn't do it justice.
Not really a spoiler, but given this chapter's title is part 1, you can easily guess Dante is going to do something stupid in part 2.