Dante's Immortality: Beginnings

by Antonio Terzini

  Dante quickly turned away before they noticed him, and Mia didn’t react to the voices at all. She just ignored them without checking to see who it was.

  As soon as the person who was ahead of them in line saw who had just entered the shop, he immediately left the line and walked out. There was no hesitation, and he didn’t look back.

  That can’t be a good sign…

  Determined to not catch their attention, Dante just stood still in line. He didn’t say a word to Mia, and he didn’t move, not even an inch.

  By the time the seamstress finally came back, the three nobles behind them were talking about how enjoyable killing in the arena was, and he was in the middle of praying to the Goddess that the seamstress would hurry up.

  He had never been so relieved to see anyone in his life.

  The girl who had just finished getting her measurements taken, took one look at the room, then rushed out of the shop as quickly as she could.

  “Next.” Dante stepped up to the seamstress. “Undress to your undergarments.” He couldn’t understand the seamstress’s personality, she seemed so perky, yet so uncaring.

  He began to take off his clothes, not touching his glove, which seemed to grab the woman’s attention. “Will you be keeping your glove on?”

  The question took him slightly off-guard, but he nodded. He had no intention of ever removing the glove. “Is that a problem?”

  The seamstress shook her head. “No. But House Calman doesn’t allow students to use decorative combatant’s gloves during the academy’s semester. You can where your glove, but I’ll need to cover over the decoration on it.” She motioned to the dragon symbol on it. “Now strip.”

  Dante stripped as she told him to, and was preparing to have his measurement taken when booming laughter filled the room. That ‘perfect’ boy from earlier was now pointing at him and laughing. “Look at that skeleton, I’ve seen chickens with more meat on them.” Dante looked down at his protruding ribs, he had actually put on quite a bit of weight since he left Alazel. Still, he was far skinnier than what could be considered average.

  The other two picked up the laughter and started to throw out insults of their own like it was a competition. The seamstress didn’t seem to mind, just began taking his measurements at her quick pace.

  The pudgy one was the quickest to speak up. “He looks like some beggar that was picked up off the streets.”

  The taller one shook his head. “Even the beggars eat far better than this rotting carcass.”

  It didn’t matter how fast seamstress was going, it felt like an eternity. Even if he was used to being insulted, the nobles before him seemed to carry more weight with their words than the random shopkeepers or priest in Alazel. Even Greggory’s words never carried much meaning to them. Still, he endured silently, allowing the seamstress to do her work.

  The three of them were relentless, never stopping and only becoming more vicious as time went on. They didn’t stay on his frame, they touched a variety of issues, mostly just his appearance though. From the scars left by the wolf that raked down his ribs, to his silver hair and red eyes. At some point they finally began to make fun of who his parents were, giving him some reprieve. The whore mother and bastard father jokes didn’t bother him in the slightest, he had never met his mother or father.

  “I bet the only way to make someone as fucked looking as you, was if your whore of a mother fucked some foul creature.” The pudgy was barely able to get the words out around his laughter.

  They are really reaching now…

  He was just starting to feel better about the entire situation when he saw movement in the periphery of his vision and glanced over.

  Mia was shaking, obviously trying to hold in her laughter.

  For some reason, Mia’s reaction cut deeper emotionally than any of the insults the other three had thrown at him. Far deeper. He knew that she didn’t like him, but…

  He sighed.

  It doesn’t matter anyways.

  He could feel his face flaring crimson in his embarrassment. Instead of looking up, at the four people who were laughing at him, Dante looked down at his feet until the seamstress was finished.

  “Next.” The seamstress shooed him away. As the ‘perfect’ noble stepped forward. Dante grabbed his rugged clothing and got dressed as quickly as he could, wanting to get out of the shop as quickly as possible.

  Dante quickly picked up his clothing and quickly left. As he headed for the door, Mia in tow, he could hear the boy’s shouting from behind.

  “Ouch! You just stuck me with that damn needle you stupid bitch! If it happens again, I’ll have you sold to the brothels.” After a brief pause, there was another curse and more shouting. Dante couldn’t help but give a slight smile, at least one person hadn’t thought the insults were funny.

  They took the short walk across the street to Housing District 1 in silence. Mia dealt with the guards as they walked through the gate. She seemed to be considerate of his somber mood at the very least, not troubling him with meaningless conversation.

  He actually appreciated Mia’s effort. It didn’t take a genius to see that she disliked him, but she did her best not to show it.

  As they walked through the door she looked at him with a sympathetic expression. “You should probably take a bath, your training tomorrow is at first light. There are spare clothes to sleeping inside of your wardrobe, and the academy’s seamstresses should have your uniforms done by the morning.”

  Dante just nodded back to her and turned to his room.

  Not in the mood to waste time, he went straight to the bathroom. What he saw baffled him, there were tubes everywhere connecting to everything. The bathroom seemed to have everything; a bathtub, a small bowl in front of the mirror, and even a chamber pot in the shape of a chair. The entire bathroom was amazing and each tube was covered in enchantments that activated various functions.

  Dante focused on the bathtub. He wasn’t in the mood to play with the enchantments, and was determined to bathe and get to sleep. He walked up to it, inspecting it. There were only two enchantments, and one he recognized. It was almost the exact same as the fire stone he had taken from Isaac, but slightly altered.

  Not sure what the other did, he began to slowly channel world essence into it to test it. Water began to trickle out of a tube that emptied into the bathtub. Curious, he channeled world essence into the fire enchantment, the water that trickled out instantly became warmer.

  Pleased with the enchantments’ usefulness, he determined the heat he wanted the water to be, then began filling the tub.

  It was only a few minutes later that Dante was relaxing in the warm, steamy water of the bathtub. He planned on actually washing himself, but for the moment was content to relax. The feeling that the warm water gave him almost rivaled the pleasure he had experienced when he had slept in the bed earlier.

  Thinking about the bed he would soon be sleeping in, Dante gave a pleased sigh.

  At that moment, he was interrupted by a soft knock at the door.

  What could Mia possibly need?

  “Yes?”

  The door opened and Dante jumped to cover himself as best he could in the clear water.

  What in the hell…

  Mia came in with a towel, only a towel. She had the slight tinge of a blush on her face and she was looking down at the floor to the side of the room as if embarrassed that she was there. “Would you like some help getting washed?”

  Dante stared at her blankly, there was definitely double meaning in her tone. He didn’t understand what was happening, she clearly looked uncomfortable and he couldn’t understand why she would come to him of her own initiative.

  Is this what is expected of a noble’s servant?

  The thought disgusted him. “No Mia, but thank you for your consideration.”

  He saw a hint of relief flash across her eyes, but it was instantly gone. “As you wish.” Mia bowed slightly while tightly gripping the towel that was draped around he
r, then turned to leave the bathroom.

  Dante watched as she turned to exit the room, he had some mixed feelings regarding Mia. Even if it was just her job, he was thankful for how hard she was trying. It must be hard to go from dealing with proper nobles to someone who looked and acted like him.

  “Mia.” She looked back, slightly startled, as if almost scared that he was going to reconsider her offer. “Thank you.” After hesitating for a moment, Mia nodded and walked out of the bathroom.

  Dante relaxed back into the warm water of the bathtub. Even if she didn’t want to, having someone help take care of him felt… nice.

  * * *

  Mia

  Mia walked back into her servant’s room, the hidden limp no longer in her step after getting herself healed earlier.

  Her heart was racing. She had in no way expected Dante’s reaction. It was almost funny, it seemed like the only man in her entire life that she had met with a shred of decency was the one she was supposed to be seducing.

  The entire thing was stupid, she had thought that she could make him feel better by doing… that. For some reason that was the only way she could think of to console him.

  Mia clenched her fist.

  The way that Dante had reacted to those three shit headnobles was heart wrenching. And all she could do while it was happening was sit in a corner and shake in rage. It had been years since she had an urge to go against her orders, but after what happened earlier, she truly wanted to kill them…

  Chapter 18

  Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 18

  He awoke to someone nudging him on his side. “Hurry up, you’re going to be late.”

  Dante released a groan, leaving the soft bed was the last thing on his mind… but he couldn’t be late for training.

  Filling himself with determination, Dante slumped himself off the side of the bed to roll onto the floor, the hardwood floor would make waking up far more manageable. He was having a hard time seeing how a bed was even useful, he only felt more tired after sleeping in it.

  That said, he didn’t consider giving it up.

  Opening his eyes, he saw Mia standing over him with an impatient expression. “I already picked up your uniform.” She shoved the clothing into his arms. “This one is your combat uniform. Get dressed. You have less than an hour until the sun will start to rise.”

  Still laying on the floor and half asleep, Dante nodded back to her.

  Even after getting up, it took him ten full minutes to get dressed. Even while utilizing the help of the mirror in the bathroom and calling in Mia to aid him occasionally. The combat uniform had too many straps that he had no idea what to do with. After some thorough testing, and making several adjustments, he felt like he had it right.

  Looking at himself in the mirror, he thought the combat uniform looked rather good. It consisted of a mostly-leather vest with a shoulder guard covering his left shoulder, and a loose covering on his right shoulder that would allow high mobility of his arm. Several different armguard pieces covered the entirety of his left arm, and when equipped looked like a type of bracer. The pants were somewhat standard, yet highly functional and also seemed to focus on mobility. The clothing itself was almost entirely black, and the black deer sigil of House Calman could barely be seen engraved on the center of the chest piece.

  There was also a thin belt-like piece of leather that Mia wrapped around his glove to cover the red dragon ‘decoration’. It strapped on comfortably, and didn’t move or slide when he waved his arm around to test it.

  He had never worn anything that was made for him before, and found the way that the clothing fit him to be amazing. It was incredibly comfortable and took away hardly any of his mobility.

  If there was one thing he wanted to change in his reflection, it would have been himself. The uniform only seemed to emphasize his thin frame.

  In Alazel his lack of weight never really bothered him, he was just happy to not starve. Things had changed since arriving at the academy though, he already didn’t fit due to his hair and eyes in, he didn’t need another reason to stand out. Not to mention his experience from the night before…

  Remembering Alexander saying that food was provided free by the academy, he made a mental note to eat more.

  Before heading out, he decided to open his Classification tab in his Status. He should have gotten some world essence from taking out the archers in the ambush, but hadn’t had an opportunity to use it while traveling with Alexander and Layla.

  World Essence waiting to be assigned: 825

  Chronomancer lvl 3/10 (0/300 world essence)

  Blademancer lvl 4/10 (0/400 world essence)

  Blader lvl 4/10 (0/400 world essence)

  Revenant lvl 4/10 (0/400 world essence)

  Recent World Essence gain:

  84 World Essence for killing: Warrior

  623 World Essence for killing: Ranger x 6

  Both the Warrior and Rangers gave him a larger amount of world essence than Roderick and Isaac, despite being of the same Classifications. It made sense, if the wolves gave him different amounts of world essence depending on strength, combatants must as well. Looking over his options, it didn’t take him long to decide which Classifications he would spend his world essence on. If he wasn’t going to be using his Chronomancer or Blademancer Classifications in the near future, there was no need to level them for the time being.

  Blader has reached level 5

  Attributes have been added:

  +1 Dexterity

  +1 Agility

  Revenant has reached level 5

  Attributes have been added:

  +1 Strength

  +1 Constitution

  Leveling the two Classifications left him with 25 world essence. Leveling done, he checked his Attributes tab to see what his stats were at.

  Name: Dante

  HP: 150/150

  Mana: 170/170 (+1.9/sec)

  Strength: 14

  Constitution: 15

  Dexterity: 20 (+2.4)

  Agility: 14 (+1.68)

  Intelligence: 17

  Wisdom: 19

  Charisma: 6

  Dante did a doubletake when he looked at his attributes. Two changes left him thoroughly confused. Both his Strength and Charisma were higher than they should have been. Strength went up by 1 point from where it should be, which might be understandable, he had been eating better recently, and it was possible that his Strength increased from that. The Charisma increase made no sense though. To increase Charisma, one would need to improve the way they interact with others or make themselves look more appealing.

  One thing he knew, was that he couldn’t possibly have improved his Charisma through his recent interactions with others. If anything, he would have thought that his Charisma would have dropped, not been raised by 2 points.

  It was possible that the long bath he took the night before had some influence, but he thought it unlikely. He would often bathe in one of the small rivers that cut through Alazel before he got his Status, so the act of bathing shouldn’t have too large of an impact.

  Since he was at the academy, he put learning more about Charisma on his to-do list. He had a basic understanding of it, that it helped with interpersonal relations, but that was all. Finished with his Status, he headed out of the bathroom intent on getting to his Swordsmanship training in time.

  Mia saw Dante come out of his bedroom and move toward the front door.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re not going anywhere until you eat your breakfast.” She pointed towards the table in the middle of the room.

  The table itself was entirely covered in different fruit, meat, pastries, and egg dishes. Dante just stared at it. He had never, in his life, seen so much prepared food in one place. “Did you make all of this?” His tone was full of amazement.

  Mia blushed slightly. “No. Food is sent to all of the servants of Housing District 1 daily, we only have to prepare a few of the dishes.”

  Dante wasted no t
ime, running to the table and digging into the food. If he could eat like this daily putting on weight wouldn’t be a problem.

  Shortly after he started to eat, he noticed that Mia was just standing next to the table in silence. “Aren’t you going to eat too?”

  She shook her head. “No, I’ll eat with the other servants while you are doing your Swordsmanship training.”

  Dante’s head slightly tilted to the side in confusion. “That doesn’t make any sense, there is no way I can eat all of this.” He pointed at the other dishes with the fork in his hand.

  “It wouldn’t be proper for me to eat with you.”

  One of Dante’s eyebrows quirked up. “Yes, I wouldn’t want you acting improperly.” He pointed to a chair. “Just sit down, based on the treatment I’ve gotten so far I’m sure this food is better than what they give the servants.”

  She heaved a sigh and sat down across from him on the circle table. They both ate in silence, but he had a slight smile on his face the entire time. Even though he did want Mia to eat the food because it would be better than what the servants got, the real reason he wanted Mia to eat with him was a far more selfish one.

  He had never eaten at a table with another person before, and wanted to know what it would be like. Of course, traveling on the road with both Edward and Sam, as well as Alexander and Layla, he had eaten road rations with others. But for his first time eating at a table, he would much rather do it with someone else, and so far, he was enjoying it.

  After breakfast, Mia escorted him to yard one. It was also relatively close to Housing District 1, only a few minutes’ walk, and he was starting to get the feeling that the academy was divided by status far more than he had initially thought. Since he had arrived at the academy, not only had he not interacted with any commoner students, but all of his immediate needs were also close to Housing District 1. The only exception to the rule so far was the hospital. He was more than happy with its location though, he would need it far more by the arena.