Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 98

Dante motioned to the door. “Alright, now get out. I still need to collect my winnings. We can go after.”

The old man nodded with satisfaction. “I’ll be waiting outside.” He turned and opened the door he had just walked through, which revealed the two men waiting outside. They were burdened with a small chest that was carried between them.

Seeing him and the old man in the room the two workers looked uncertain, so Dante waved them in. “Place it down over here.”

The two of them shuffled past the old man, who promptly walked out, and carefully placed it down in front of him. Seeing them struggle with the weight of the small chest made Dante’s mood visibly improve.

After watching them place the chest down, Dante’s eyes shifted between it and the two workers as he watched them walk back outside. When the door finally shut with an audible click, he eagerly stepped forward to open the small chest.

Inside were three separate compartments. The largest held gold coins, and the other two smaller compartments to the right side held copper and silver respectively. The silver and copper were relatively inconsequential, and he immediately stored them all, but the gold coins were definitely worth counting.

He picked through them one by one, making sure he hadn’t been cheated. Again.

There were a total of 472 gold coins. 432 were the winnings from the bet Leah placed, 22 were returned from the original bet, and apparently, 18 were from winning the fight itself. Overall, pretty good. Not even a fraction of what he should have made though.

After he finished storing everything, Dante closed the chest and stood. He now had other problems to deal with. He looked at the door. One problem in particular.

There weren’t really many options. He definitely considered killing the old man immediately, but that could lead to even larger problems. Not only would it make finishing the business he came to Sloria for impossible, but there was also the possibility of being caught while he tried to flee the city.

He also considered running as soon as he and the old man stepped outside of the Combatant’s Hall. It wouldn’t be difficult; a few Blinks and he could easily disappear. That would also make finishing his business impossible though. The first lady had too much influence in Sloria, especially in the different shops and halls.

Other than following along willingly, those were pretty much his only options. Which is why he decided to go. If the first lady’s only impression of him was the fight with Eric, she shouldn’t need him for anything too consequential. Hopefully.

Dante opened the door and stepped out of the private room. Waiting outside was that same old man from earlier. Clara and the other two workers were nowhere to be seen.

The old man looked him up and down, likely wondering where he had stored all the money he had just received. “By the way, my name is Henry Atkins, one of the first lady’s seneschals. How should I address you?”

Dante shrugged. “You may address me however you wish.” He watched the old man’s reaction carefully, but there was no visible change.

Henry turned and began walking at a brisk pace. “Very well. Let us make haste, I should have returned several minutes ago.”

Dante followed behind. Henry’s attitude toward his statement was somewhat revealing. If Henry had tried to force out an answer or caused a scene, it would have made him a bit more hesitant to follow. But since he was being treated with at least a modicum of respect, he probably wasn’t being lead into a terrible situation, despite basically being forced.

The two of them quickly made their way out of the Combatant’s Hall and through the second section of the city until they came to the third. As soon as the guards at the gate saw Henry they stepped to the side respectfully and allowed the two of them to pass without a word.

The third section of the city was interesting. It seemed to mostly be filled with residences and governmental buildings. And even though there were people milling around, they were far fewer in number than in the other two sections of Sloria. There were far more guards though.

There was even a church, which surprised him. It stood out because there was an enormous statue of the Goddess in the courtyard in front of it. The fact there was a church in Sloria wasn’t at all unusual, but the placement was. It was in the third section of the city, and judging by what he had seen so far, not very accessible for the public. He couldn’t imagine what kind of havoc it would cause during the holy day of bestowal.

Henry led him to the largest building in the third section of the city. A massive stone fortress that closely resembled a castle. Not only was the building heavily fortified in structure, but in personnel as well. Guards were everywhere. They were stationed on every rooftop, balcony, and doorway. And that didn’t include the ones that were patrolling throughout the building grounds and the interior of the building itself.

Henry walked past the guards as though they weren’t there and stepped inside the stone fortress. Dante was more than reluctant to follow after seeing how tight security was, but stepped behind Henry all the same.

The inside of the building bore a striking resemblance to the outside. Made of stone and tightly guarded. There were no lavish structures, art pieces, or fine carpets that would usually be found in such a large city’s headquarters. The entire fortress looked like it was built for function, and the ability to be defended.

Other than guards, the building was also flooded with scholars, officials, and servants. And all of them seemed to be incredibly busy.

Henry led him up a wide staircase which opened up into what could only be described as a throne room. Directly in front of him on the far side of the room was another set of steps, and on top of them was a large chair with a very small girl sitting in it. The throne made it seem like she was looking down on the person speaking to her. On the left and right side of the room were long tables. There were around twenty officials on each side, about forty in total, and most of them were preoccupied with the papers that they were shuffling through in front of them.

What surprised Dante the most upon stepping into the throne room was the girl that was sitting in the large chair in front of him. She was familiar. On the day he flew into Sloria he had seen her. She was the was the one on the raptor that had a red tinge to its feathers. The first time he saw her, he thought that she had an extraordinary demeanor. Now he realized why. The girl sitting in front of him, who couldn’t be more than two or three years older than him, was without a doubt the first lady.

Her age made everything about her even more shocking.

As the middle-aged man speaking to her continued to rattle off large numbers that Dante couldn’t comprehend the meaning of, he examined the first lady closely. Something about her was outstanding, but it definitely wasn’t her looks. Sure, she was beautiful, but not ridiculously so. Heads might turn when she walked through a crowd, but that would be the extent of things.

The first lady had straight black hair, which was common enough within some of the better off families in Aleria, but her blue eyes were striking. They were so light in color that they almost seemed glacial, and her brief glance at him when he entered the throne room made him feel like she was staring through his soul. Other than that, both her posture and facial expression were incredibly composed. Comparable to Melisandre even. Despite her age, he had a feeling that she shouldn’t be underestimated.

“… the new contract should supplement the three thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven new children that have recently arrived. But the four thousand eight hundred and twenty-three recently arrived adults will cause a deficit.”

The first lady looked to the left side of the room. “Minister Hahn, how many of the new arrivals have enlisted?”

The person that the first lady looked at, a man that looked to be in his forties with a militant air and sharp eyebrows, responded with a frown on his face. “Only one hundred and thirty-two. Several of the Combatants were recruited by the camps stationed in the valley on their way to the city.”

The first lady paused for a mere second. “Send Commander Glover south with half of the second legion and both of War Leader Hartman’s companies. Tell them to eliminate Warlord Stratos and recruit as many people with farming or hunting Classifications as possible.”

“My lady, I’m afraid that antagonizing War Leader Hartman would be unwise.” On the right side of the room, a man in his twenties with a pretentious and scholarly air spoke up. His warning was full of condescension, awarding him the glares of several of the officials that were sitting on the left side of the room. “In such strained circumstances, it would be wise to act with a bit of forethought.”

The first lady shifted her gaze to the scholarly man that spoke. “Indeed, Secretary Armond. In such circumstances, it would be foolish to act without forethought. A single mistake, or a single word spoken improperly could easily cost someone their life.” Despite saying the words casually, the atmosphere in the room quickly changed, especially on the right side of the room, and Secretary Armond looked far more uncertain than he had before.

The first lady looked away from Secretary Armond and her eyes briefly passed over Dante. “We will reconvene tomorrow. If there are important matters that cannot wait, they will be delegated by Chief Steward Roth.”

The first lady stood, and beside him Henry began to move forward. The two of them walked to the left side of the room until they were behind the long bench filled with officials, then made their way to the back of the room and followed after the first lady through the doorway located there.

They stepped into a hallway and then the three of them turned into the first room on the right. It was immediately apparent that they had stepped into an office, the large desk that had stacks of papers on it was all the evidence he needed. Other than the desk, the room was as bare as the rest of the stone fortress. There were a few chairs, but other than that it was completely empty.

The first lady sat behind the desk as she motioned to the chair next to him. “Please sit.” Her glacial eyes shifted to Henry. “Thank you for bringing him. You may go.”

This certainly wasn’t going like he thought it would.

Dante sat down as Henry left the office. He didn’t really know what to say, or what he was even doing there actually.

The first lady began to shuffle through the papers on her desk, eventually finding the ones she was looking for. The corners of her lips rose slightly as she looked up and made eye contact with him. “You are fighter 7332, correct?”

Dante nodded. “That is correct.”

“You’ve caused quite the scene.” She placed three of the papers on the desk facing him. “These are three deathmatch contracts that are pending approval. All of them have been issued to you in the past hour.”