Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 63
Dante looked over them carefully, and wasn’t surprised to see Carter hobbling forward with a smug grin on his face.
Other than Carter, the others all seemed to be well into their middle-ages. The only exception seemed to be either Hannah or Olivia, he couldn’t tell which, and another youth that seemed to be well into his twenties walking next to Carter.
The appearances of the ten middle-aged assassins walking toward them were far more varied then he would have thought. Several of them were plain, just like the other apprentices he had seen, they wore average looking clothing and had boring facial features. Two of them looked like what he would have thought to be an assassin before meeting Victoria, they were shrouded in a black cloak that completely covered their faces. And the one who was walking next to Hannah or Olivia was exceedingly beautiful, to a degree that didn’t seem realistic.
The one who stood out the most though, was the assassin who was walking next to Carter and the other youth. That assassin strutted forth like a noble, and was completely covered in extravagant clothing made out of exceedingly expensive fabric.
They seemed to be heavily outmatched. He had faith in Victoria when he thought she would be fighting one on one with another master, but he hadn’t thought that they would be besieged by almost a dozen at the same time.
Glancing back to Victoria, he was surprised to see that she still hadn’t moved, she was still sitting by the tree stump, picking at her nails with a dagger. She wasn’t even looking at the approaching danger. “Should we run?”
Victoria looked at him incredulously. “Why would we do that?”
He opened his mouth to state the obvious, then stopped himself. “Forget I said anything.” Victoria seemed rather confident, but in a foul mood. The combination of the two was slightly worrying.
Dante walked past her, then waited as the fox continued to claw him through the sack. If Victoria couldn’t stop them, things would go badly for him. It wasn’t as though he would be much help in a fight though, so he made a point to get out of her way and hope for the best.
It was unsurprising that the extravagant assassin spoke first. “Are you Guild Master Nix?”
Dante looked at Victoria, eyes wide.
She’s a guild master?
The realization was shocking, and made the assassin’s derisive tone even more surprising. He didn’t see how a guild master could be looked down upon.
Victoria looked up at him, and her eyes narrowed. “Are you the shit head who wasted my entire day?”
Several of the other masters looked taken aback by Victoria’s words, while others just watched the event’s impassively. The finely dressed assassin’s expression changed the most though, his face twisted into a mixture of anger and disgust, and his words came out like a low growl. “You dare?”
Victoria’s took a deep breath, as if restraining herself. “What do you want?”
“Your apprentice-” His eyes locked onto Dante. “snuck up on mine with the malicious intent to kill. If it weren’t for Carter’s superior talent, he wouldn’t even be alive. Hand him over to me immediately, and I might consider this issue to be resolved.”
Dante frowned, and was now hoping that Victoria would fight. Clearly this was the Master Daxez that Carter had referred to.
Victoria’s eyebrows rose, but if anything, she still looked bored. She glanced back at him. “Is that true?”
Before he could even answer, a very alluring laugh rang out, completely cutting through the tension between Victoria and Master Daxez. Somehow, the laugh was almost incapacitating.
Everyone looked to the source, and saw one of the girls, Olivia or Hannah, whispering into the exceedingly beautiful woman’s ear. A second laugh rang out, and this time it was incapacitating. “Master Daxez, it seems that your apprentice has been naughty.”
The woman’s sultry voice seemed to resonate inside of his mind, and he felt an overwhelming attraction toward her.
“Olivia says that Carter was following Master Nix’s apprentice, waiting until the new apprentice was outside of the detection enchantment so that he could ambush him. Apparently, your apprentice was defeated almost immediately.” The woman smiled at Dante, then winked.
He was having a hard time comprehending the woman’s words, but the fact that she was coming to his defense filled him with overwhelming satisfaction.
Master Daxez frowned, then looked back to see Carter’s ugly expression, and his frown deepened.
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Victoria’s expression, on the other hand, didn’t change at all. It seemed like the woman’s words didn’t surprise her in the least. “Now it is apparent why you were avoiding me Master Daxez, it seems that the Devoted branch can only raise inferior talent. Don’t worry, as a fellow member of the assassin’s guild, how could I not sympathize with your plight? Consider this issue resolved, I won’t allow my Dante to bully your inferior apprentices any longer.”
The clear provocation in Victoria’s words and the slight against the Devotion guild branch was enough to make Master Daxez’s face flare crimson with rage. “You think that this… child can truly compare to the Devotion branches top disciple?”
“Of course, don’t you? I can’t possibly think of another reason why you wouldn’t allow Dante to challenge him.”
Master Daxez sneered, and his tone was menacing. “I was simply busy and didn’t have time to deal with someone as insignificant as you. Jace will gladly accept… as long as something of equal value is wagered.”
Victoria nodded. “The usual terms should do.”
For the first time since the conversation began, Master Daxez looked truly pleased. “Master Flaril, please draw the contract.”
One of the cloaked masters pulled out a seemingly ordinary piece of parchment paper, then held it in front of him. The master imbued a finger on his free hand with mana, then used it to write on the parchment.
It took a few minutes, and everyone waited patiently for him to finish. When the master was done, he handed the paper to the youth that was next to Carter, and he did the same. Only scratching on the paper with his finger for a brief moment before handing it to Master Daxez.
Master Daxez flicked his wrist, and the paper was guided by world essence until it reached Dante and he caught it out of the air.
It was quite obvious that he was supposed to sign it, but as he read it, he couldn’t help but think that would be a poor choice.
There were a few different items that immediately drew his attention. The first was that they were fighting for access to a dungeon, and the fight would be one week prior to the dungeon boss’s reappearance. When that was, it didn’t say.
That sounded nice, but right under that, it stated that killing during the fight was not prohibited, meaning that it was a potential deathmatch. Under that was the ‘terms’ that Victoria had mentioned. Apparently, even if he survived the fight, a loss would result in literal slavery, but not for Jace, only him. That was made worse by the fact that if he didn’t show up to the fight, it would be an immediate loss.
Other than those major rules, there were also several restrictions on enchantments, alchemic pills, and even weapons. It was daggers only. He looked to Victoria in disbelief, the mana contract was clearly one-sided, but she just nodded, as if indicating that he should sign it.
Dante cleared his throat. “Could you sign it for me?” He hadn’t even revealed his oddly colored world essence and mana to Victoria, so he had no intention of doing it now.
Victoria frowned, and Master Daxez laughed. “And you were wondering why I thought that this would be a waste of my time?”
Victoria stood and took the paper, then quickly signed her name and flicked it back to Master Daxez. “I will stand as proxy.”
All of the masters had a physical reaction to Victoria’s words, visibly taken aback.
Master Daxez held the mana contract like it was a treasure, a smug look on his face. “I see that you are quite confident, or foolish. I’ll leave you to your training, Guild Master Nix.”
Master Daxez turned to leave, walking back to the forests with several masters trailing behind. Carter looked at him for a moment, a smug smile on his face, then turned to follow.
“It’s so great to see you again Vicky!” The beautiful woman’s incapacitating voice washed over him, and he watched in astonishment as she ran over and embraced Victoria.
Victoria took the embrace in stride, but didn’t return it. “Let go of me Melisandre. And don’t call me that.”
Melisandre broke off the hug, but still held Victoria at arm’s length as she inspected her. “Still so sulky, you haven’t changed a bit!” She glanced back at Dante. “So this is the new apprentice Olivia has told me about.”
Melisandre walked up to him, then embraced him in an intimate hug. “Hmm, so handsome. Maybe we should get a male apprentice, Olivia.”
Melisandre’s words were already alluring, but her touch was divine. As soon as she made contact with him, he felt euphoric, and everything else in the world seemed to disappear as his urges increased.
Victoria rubbed her eyes as though she had a headache. “Please stop charming my apprentice.”
Melisandre broke contact, and he immediately sobered. “You're always so serious Victoria.” Strangely, the words didn’t affect him like they had only moments ago, and even her beautiful appearance seemed to degrade to something that seemed feasible.
Finally able to hear something else besides Melisandre’s voice, he was immediately drawn to Olivia’s giggling. He looked over at her, then followed her gaze, then immediately turned around and adjusted his pants, face now beat red.
“Anyways, it’s so great, and unexpected, to see you again Vicky. I would love to stay and chat, but Olivia and I need to make it to Desas before nightfall. Sleeping outside would ruin my complexion, I’m sure you understand.”
Hearing the words, Dante sighed in relief. Melisandre was terrifying.
He was going to turn around when he felt soft arms wrap around his body and Olivia’s voice in his ear. “Want to come with us? I’m sure it would be far more… comfortable than sleeping out here.” Her breath seemed to caress his ear, and he was surprised to find that it wasn’t the least bit unpleasant.
Dante cleared his throat. “Thank you, but I’ll pass.”
He could here Olivia’s pout in his ear, and she disentangled her arms from his body. “There’s no need to play hard to get.”
Thankfully, as soon as she said those words she left, following Melisandre who was already far away.
Dante looked at Victoria. “Who was that?”
“An old acquaintance, we were apprenticing for the guild at the same time.” Victoria looked at him, and his still slightly reddened face. “I need to teach you how to resist mental attacks.”
He couldn’t help but wholeheartedly agree. “So, I shouldn’t have a problem fighting Jace, right?” Victoria must have had some faith in him. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have allowed him to throw away his life.
“No, in a fight you would be absolutely demolished in seconds, even with your Classifications.” Victoria walked to her stump and sat against it, pulling out a dagger and picking at her nails.
“So you just signed me away to slavery at best?” His tone was full of resentment. He had thought he and Victoria had been getting along fine, but now he felt completely betrayed.
Victoria continued to pick at her nails, full of nonchalance. “I stepped in as proxy, so worst case scenario, I will be the slave.”