Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 66
The number of soldiers in Desas was surprising to say the least. Based on what he had seen after walking through the enormous front gate, and through the heavily guarded streets afterward, roughly nine out of every ten people in Desas had a combat Classification. It wasn’t hard to pick them out, all of them were armed and had similar armbands.
The streets weren’t too crowded, so he and Victoria were able to walk side by side. “What are the armbands for?”
Victoria pointed to a particular patrolling guard, who had a four-colored armband. From top to bottom it was red, purple, blue, and green. “The color on the bottom represents the mercenary group that the combatant is a direct member of. Every ascending color is the mercenary group that the lower is aligned to, and the highest armband is the warlord's mercenary group. A general rule of thumb is that the fewer colors an armband has, the more power or influence that combatant has.”
After looking around, he realized that all of the combatants in Desas had the red color on the top of their armbands, which meant that they were all mercenaries that were at least aligned with the same warlord. “Isn’t that problematic? If the mercenary group that represents the purple color were to turn traitor, they would take all the groups under them away. The warlord would lose a massive force.”
Victoria nodded. “That’s true, but it’s actually the opposite of what really happens. Because the position isn’t inherited, warlords gain power through direct subjugation. The purple mercenary group was likely headed by its own warlord until they were defeated and integrated into Auron’s fighting force with one his leaders at its head.”
That was a name he had never heard before. “Auron?”
“Auron is the warlord that controls Desas. He’s not necessarily one of the strongest warlords in the outer regions, but definitely the strongest in this area by far. His forces number close to half a million combatants in total.”
Dante stopped walking. Half a million combatants, and not even one of the strongest warlords in the outer regions… that was insane. Desas was massive, and definitely had a population in the tens of thousands, but a half million fighting force just seemed too large.
Victoria saw his astonishment and nodded. “Half a million isn’t really too large. As a warlord’s power grows, the number of people who are willing to oppose them decreases. Those who have a fighting force of several million are almost unstoppable, and are able to grow their forces through their influence alone. Usually, the only way to stop them is assassination. When that happens, the factions below them will fight each other for power, restarting the process.”
The wastelands seemed chaotic, yet orderly. The lack of hereditary positions and stabilized power would result in heavy casualties, but those who survived would be far stronger.
As they continued to move down the street, Victoria suddenly stopped, then turned to look at the surrounding building. Her eyes locked on to one of the inns. It was actually the nicest building he had seen since entering Desas. “We are here.”
He wasn’t sure how she knew, but didn’t doubt that she did.
Following Victoria into the inn, they were immediately greeted by a smiling, middle-aged combatant by the door. “Welcome to my inn young travelers. Could I interest the two of you in one of my finest rooms?”
The innkeeper seemed to be confused. After all, he and Victoria did look somewhat similar in age, and from their lack of armbands and close proximity, it was clear that they traveled together.
Victoria glared at the innkeeper. “No, we are meeting someone here.”
The innkeeper’s smile slipped, and he looked somewhat embarrassed. “My apologies, let me know if I may be of service.”
Victoria didn’t move another step, and didn’t seem like she would. It seemed like they were going to wait until Melisandre came down on her own. “I was wondering, where are all the non-combat Classifications?” Where he grew up in Alazel, and even in the surrounding cities, combat Classifications were somewhat rare compared to non-combat Classifications. But here, it seemed to be the complete opposite.
“Few non-combat Classifications are seen as useful in the wastelands. Those that aren’t, are not preserved. After a few generations, those useless Classifications are less likely to appear because there is no one to pass them down to their descendants. This is in harsh contrast to the nobles territory where you grew up. There, the non-combat Classifications are protected by nobles for a multitude of reasons, but any fights between nobles result in much higher casualties of combat Classifications than in the wastelands.”
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Based on that, Classifications were far more hereditary than he thought. He knew that there was some inheritance, Alexander and Layla had told him so, but didn’t think its influence was that large. “Why are casualties so much higher in the noble’s territory?” If anything, the constant fighting in the wastelands should result in far more deaths.
Victoria shrugged. “There is no loyalty in the wastelands. Combatants just follow the strong so that they may survive. From a warlords perspective, why kill your enemy when they will soon be a part of your fighting force? In contrast, when nobles fight, they will wipe out entire houses, and that includes combatants. If they didn’t, they would fear retaliation.”
Victoria had barely finished talking when he felt arms wrap around him from behind. Reacting without thinking, he pulled the dagger that was hidden in his sleeve, then stabbed at his attacker.
Before the dagger even moved an inch, Victoria seemed to appear by his side and hold his wrist in place. Her hand was like an iron clamp, and he couldn’t move it in the slightest. Then he heard a voice in his ear. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to keep playing hard to get.” Olivia’s voice was barely a whisper, and he could feel her hot breath on his ear, sending a shiver down his spine.
Olivia disentangled herself, then greeted Victoria with a charming smile. “Master sent me down to bring the two of you up, please follow me.”
Victoria followed Olivia to the staircase in the back of the main room, but he stood there for a brief moment, recollecting himself. Then, letting out a brief sigh, he followed the two of them.
The room that Olivia led them to was on the third floor and seemed to be the largest and most luxurious, something that didn’t surprise him at all. Inside, Melisandre was waiting for them, quickly running up to Victoria and embracing her. “Vicky! It’s so nice of you to stop by. I was wondering who was pestering me with the guilds signal.” She was most likely talking about the method that Victoria used to locate her.
Victoria didn’t look too thrilled to be embraced by Melisandre, but similarly to the last time, didn’t push Melisandre off.
Melisandre broke off the embrace, then looked Victoria up and down. “Olivia, go show Dante around, Victoria and I have some catching up to do.”
Hearing Melisandre’s words, Olivia lit up with a smile, but he gave Victoria a pleading glance. Victoria just nodded, indicating for him to do as Melisandre said.
With another sigh, he allowed Olivia to grab his hand and drag him out of the room.
As she pulled him out, Olivia looked back at him with a slightly mischievous smile, but had the eyes of a predator. “Want me to show you my room?”
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Victoria Nix
As soon as Olivia and Dante left the room Melisandre’s playful expression disappeared, giving way to a warm smile. “What has it been, twenty-five years?”
Victoria walked over to one of the couches in the room and sat. “Twenty-seven.”
Melisandre sat on the adjacent couch across from her. “Twenty-seven years in the outer regions… does Dustin know?”
She felt her face involuntarily tighten into a frown. Melisandre never wasted much time. “No, and he won’t.”
Melisandre let out a sigh. “I suppose he won’t… I’m guessing this is all Lucas’ doing?”
Victoria gave a curt nod in assent. Without Lucas’ help, she would have never gotten away.
It was strange that a conversation with Melisandre was awkward, but it was wishful thinking to assume that nothing would change between them after so many years. Especially when she was supposed to be dead. “So, Olivia?”
Melisandre had a pleased smile on her face. “I had Dax keep an eye out for new guild members with my Classification. You know how it changes one’s natural disposition.” Melisandre shrugged. “It is hard for anyone, especially someone in such a remote area, to go through such a harsh change in their personality. When Dax found someone, I immediately headed to the Outer region to accept her as my apprentice.” She let out a sigh. “I was going to wait for the dungeon boss in Dead Man’s Range to reform before returning, but it seems that someone else has claimed it.”
Victoria looked at Melisandre apologetically. “I’m sorry, but I’m currently far too restricted. This is the only dungeon of quality that Dante can use.”
Melisandre waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “It’s fine, I’ll just pull a few favors when I return to the guild.”
Victoria hesitated. “Speaking of favors, I need one. Well, actually two.”
In answer, one of Melisandre’s eyebrows raised.
“Please don’t mention anything about me or my apprentice to anyone.” Melisandre immediately nodded, and Victoria let out a sigh of relief. “I also need someone to teach Dante how to handle himself around people, which is something that you could teach him far better than I ever could.”
Melisandre didn’t answer immediately, she seemed to mull it over for a moment. “I would never mention to anyone that you are apprenticing an archaic, but the church isn’t as weak as it once was. I know you don’t have much to lose if you train him, but if they find out that I helped him…”
Victoria frowned. “The church doesn’t bother with the outer regions. If they did, I wouldn’t be alive. No one will know you helped him.”
“That may be the usual case, but his aura is too strong. An inquisitor would be able to hunt him from hundreds of miles away, and neither of us could teach him how to suppress it.”
Victoria gave a reluctant nod. “True, but it won’t be a problem until he tries to go into the inner regions though.”
Melisandre rubbed her eyes. “Fine, I’ll help him, if only for your sake.”