Dante quickly ran out of the forest after he left the inner-world.
While running he paid attention to his surroundings, who knows, there could be some fortress's guards patrolling the forest.
But luckily he didn't encounter any mishaps.
Dante chose Winterlake city because he heard from one of his close friends in the Dungeon that there was an Assassin's Guild in the city.
If he worked for them and chose the right missions, Dante would be able to obtain a sizable amount of merit points which he could use to power-up himself.
Yes, what he needed now was power. A Soldier level demon like him could die too easily in this dangerous world.
He could settle himself and marry a good wife as he had said before, but that wasn't an option anymore.
Just before leaving the inner world his Master said something which almost made him curse the Death Mark.
"One last thing my disciple, you have to remember that the Mark will sometimes give you missions to test your growth.
Failure means death or major penalities.
I know that you will never fail my expectations so don't care too much about it!"
In that moment Dante understood that he wouldn't be able to live an easy life.
...
...
After running for almost fifty km, Dante finally saw other people four kilometres ahead of him.
It was a caravan of merchants and they were going towards Winterlake City for trade.
Dante decided to near them and ask the leader of the caravan if he could follow them.
However as he approached them, a feeling of unease began to well up inside him.
...
In the middle of the caravan, an elf with a scar on his face opened his blue eyes. After a brief moment of hesitation he got down from his horse.
On the elf's back there was a silver bow which released a cold aura.
Running to the front of the caravan he came to a stop near a refined young man.
After whispering in his ears for a moment, the elf silently turned his head in a certain direction, holding his bow, waiting.
The howling wind made his white hair dance wildly.
In that moment a sliver of dense killing intent could be felt from the elf.
The young man's face was grim, he didn't expect something like this to happen.
Quickly he went to his father side to tell him the news.
"Father, the leader of the mercenaries told me that there is a Dungeon's soldier nearing us at high speed. What do we do?"
The man didn't reply immediatly but continued to smoke his pipe.
After a moment of silence, he said.
"Let him be, if he wants anything we will try to meet his needs."
The young man was clearly displeased by the word's of his father as he replied.
"But father we can't take any risks this time! He could be just pretending to be a Dungeon's soldier and you know better than me..."
"SILENCE, we all know what's the fate of those who pretend to be Dungeon's soldiers, not even the most foolish of fools would dare to do that!"
The young man was shocked, his father rarely lost his composure like this.
"Father..."
The old man knew that he had probably gone too far, so his tone contained some kindness this time.
"I know son, but it will be much more suspicious if we refuse him and displeasing a Dungeon's soldier is never a good idea unless you are prepared to kill him... And if you think carefully, wouldn't it be easier to enter the city with the company of a Dungeon's soldier?"
The young man clearly hadn't though about this, so his tone had some flattery in it when he said.
"Your merchant abilities have clearly been polished by the sands of time, Father. Your son has still many things to learn from you."
The old man was clearly pleased with himself as he said.
"Hahahaha, enough with the flattery son quickly go and stop that elf of ours from shooting down the Dungeon's soldier."
The young man didn't waste any time as he returned to the elf's side and after whispering some words to him, the elf put the bow on his back and returned to the middle of the caravan.
...
In the same moment that the elf put away his bow, Dante unknowingly heaved a sigh of relief.
"That's strange."
He didn't know it but his Soldier level senses coupled with his high alertness had warned him of a deadly danger. It was like a sharp sword pointed at his neck, ready to behead him at any time.
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After stopping for a moment he continued to approach the caravan, he didn't feel that sense of foreboding anymore.
...
"Hi I'm Dante a Dungeon's soldier, can I board one of your carriages and follow you on your journey? I'm not going to abuse your hospitality and will repay you for it."
After some deliberation Dante chose to approach a refined young man who seemed to be calling the shots here.
He could see it from the mount and his demeanor.
"Sure, we are going to Torab, the capital of the Sordan Kingdom, but will make a stop at Winterlake city to resupply. Depending from your choice the price will change accordingly, are you going to follow us to Sordan Kingdom's Capital or will you stop at Winterlake city?"
Dante had never been wealthy, what he earned in the Dungeon in the last two years were 1000 gold coins. Coins he had earned with his own sweat and blood so he wasn't willing to part with them.
But he knew that he had to pay to arrive at his destination.
Without showing his troubled thoughts, Dante replied.
"I'm just going to accompany you until Winterlake city, I'm visiting one of my old friends living there. He's dying and his last wish was to see me one last time, to remember our childhood."
That was obviously a lie, Dante wanted to lower the price by playing the emotion card.
But could a merchant be so easily fooled?
"I'm so sorry about your dear friend's situation, to make your journey safe I will arrange you to a cart next to the leader of our mercenaries. Yeah that guy over there. You surely don't want any mishaps to happen to you right?
But you know, the price will be a little higher than the one I wanted to offer you.
It will be 60 gold coins"
A cunning smile could be seen on the young merchant.
Turning his head to look at this "all-powerful" leader, Dante was already prepared to bargain the price, but what happened after scared him shitless.
The elf which a moment ago had his eyes closed and seemed as calm as a windless sea, changed.
That change wouldn't have been big for anyone else but the elf's bearing changed completly because of it.
He opened his eyes.
An incredibly thick and ice-cold killing intent enveloped the area, a sea of blood seemed to form behind the elf.
This killing intent was only sensed by Dante, who was the target.
Dante could swear that he almost saw the Grim Reaper in that moment.
However just as it appeared it disappeared in a moment.
The message was clear, don't mess with us in any way possible.
Even if you're a Dungeon's soldier, you're too weak to even have the right to bargain with us.
Dante didn't speak for a long time, he had to recover from the shock.
"Fuck, I didn't expect to meet someone so close to the General level.
How many people did he kill to have a killing intent so thick?"
Dante didn't dare bargain anymore so he immediatly paid the 60 gold coins.
Seeing Dante's sudden change, the merchant gave a knowing smile to the elf before saying.
"It's a pleasure doing business with you, Dante.
We will arrive in Winterlake city in two days, three at most if the weather is bad.
We take two stops of an hour each everyday to rest and eat, our guards can protect you but only if you stay in a radius of five kilometres from the caravan, anymore than that and your safety will be up to you.
Have a safe journey.
Ah I almost forgot to introduce myself, my name is Theodore."
Dante could only force a smile and say some pleasantries before heading to his cart, he was still a little shaken from what happened before.
It was already sunset and Dante was preparing himself for the night when he heard a voice.
"Hahaha, I didn't imagine that I would encounter so soon someone who cultivates a slaughtering technique like me!"
It was Rayleigh's voice and he seemed pretty excited.
"Master what are you talking about?"
Dante didn't understand much of what Rayleigh had said, weren't cultivation techniques only limited to drawing and gathering the spiritual energy of the world?
"I'm clearly talking about that elf archer!"
Dante was taken aback, could killing aura be cultivated?