"It's what, a year already? I don't know if it's in the exact Earth equivalent. They measure the year here by stages of the harvest. Who would have known agriculture played a huge part in the medieval world? Dawnbloom for January. Seedwake for February. Rainshower for March. For a baby like me, time shouldn't matter yet. But... what I do know? Spring, summer, autumn, and winter had passed. So that's a year. A year since, Trela's father... Captain Danka had been taken. And we still don't know if he's still alive, or what."

Trela, now 8 years old, opened the door of his room.

It was a small room the size of a closet.

But for a small infant like Dante, it was big enough.

He was already sleeping separately from his mother's bed.

Though, she always tucks him in.

Marvia had been pretty busy with lots of things. Though, Dante had no idea what it was Marvia was up to.

"Dante. Wake up already. We have to find that snitch. We lost 10 crates of our product because of him. You promised me you would deal with this," Trela said.

She dragged him off the bed and changed his clothes for him.

"Stop it," Dante said. "I can change my clothes. I'll deal with that fucking snitch. Okay?"

He looked Trela in the eyes, then side-eyed. "Can you reach that mask for me? It's in the basket. On top of the cabinet."

"As the years passed, I found myself firmly established in the Free City of Freelandia. It is the freest city in the world. Brimming with freedom, art, different religions, philosophies, races, and subgroups."

"Each weaves its unique thread into the fabric of this Nation founded by freed and escaped slaves. That's what everyone told me when we were headed here. Let me tell you... It's a garbage dump of a fucking country. Corruption, crime, discrimination, poverty... Everything you would imagine a society of uneducated ex-slaves could ever find."

Trela handed him a grey mask, with the embeddings of a smiling face.

The 1-year-old Dante's heavy clothing that made him look heavier and bulkier than he was, and added with a mask, gave the impression that he was much older.

"I hate pretending to be a dwarf, Trel. Do I need to go out there again? You can just let one of your crew handle it?" Dante pleaded.

She knocked him on the head.

"You know, we can't do that, Dante. Yeah. They are sometimes useful as a front for our business. But they're... you know... idiots. They can't do all that math, or negotiating. It has to be you. And me... I can't risk exposure."

"And I can? I'm still a baby. What if they find out about me? I'll be fucking exorcised within a day. If not, burned a stake. But I'll do it anyway. I'd rather it be me that's punished than you. I don't know what I'll do if anything happens to you."

Trela smiled and punched Dante in the stomach teasingly

"Ouch! You bitch!"

"Shit-lord!" Trela teased.

"Freelandia's capital city is called Liberty's Reach. The capital is a thousand years older than the nation itself. The most interesting part of Liberty's Reach was religious tolerance. There were all kinds of religious nuts, weirdo cults, and self-righteous pricks here."

"Temples adorned the city, their spires reaching toward the heavens. I saw a Philissian Beastman get beaten up for pissing on an Infernian temple's walls. Those fire-worshippers almost killed that dog-eared guy. That guy was a member of the Nullarians, anti-magic cunts who believes that people shouldn't mess with the universe."

"I guess, you could say that Nullarianism is like Atheism in this world. I wonder what the Greeks would have thought of that philosophy. And those Nullarians? They burned that fire-worshiping temple down. Ironic, right?"

Trela looked Dante up and down and laughed uncontrollably.

"Wow! You look like a dwarf, Danny. That mask even had a fake beard stuck on it, just in case. Who thought of that? It's genius. Oh. I did."

Dante turned to her and felt something inside. "Did you call me Danny again? I told you not to. You promised too."

"Sorry," Trela said. "It won't happen again. So? How are you going to find that snitch? What's the plan?"

Dante walked to the door and replied, "Easy... I'll tell you all about it later."

"Magic, too, was all around. And everyone relied on it like it's Oxygen here in Freelandia. Sorcerers and enchanters wove spells with elegance and precision, that's what I thought of them at first."

"But I realized that they were all praying to some sort of gods that gave them magic. At first, I thought the Holy System was the one true god in this world, but there were other gods too. And they also granted magic and abilities to their believers. I still don't get it though."

"Many of these religions claim they are the only true religion. But why can all of them grant magic to their believers? Shouldn't that be evidence that all of them are real?

"So either, all of them are lying, or all of them are telling the truth? It's like Buddha, Jesus, and Zarathustra were all saying the other was a fraud, but doing miracles and supernatural shit at the same time. What the heck is that all about? Doesn't make sense."

Stolen novel; please report.

Dante walked out of the house and headed to the bustling streets of Liberty's Reach.

There were elves, humans descending from every Diasphere, beast-man, and dwarves. Dante took up the name, Danivio the Merchant-Dwarf.

He hesitated to disguise himself at first, thinking it would be similar to blackface but for Dwarves.

He went with it anyway, because there was no Twitter that would cancel him in this universe for which he was thankful.

He walked to their small store on Freedom Avenue, one of the wealthiest parts of Liberty's Reach.

Dante didn't waste any time imitating every Isekai MC that he knew who went through the merchant route.

His store had lots of items that should only have been invented in the age of the Industrial Revolution.

Though, he was careful to keep the process and science to himself.

Dante knew that the Butterfly Effect could destroy the whole world, so he was careful not to sell things like Printing Press, or Birth Control Pills.

The last thing he wanted was a feminist affirmative action movement that would increase Trela's share of the company.

While in disguise and watching the new store that Trela was managing and had just opened under the name of one of the merchant ship's crew, his gaze caught sight of a familiar figure moving through the streets.

Disguised and covert, Dante's mother, Marvia was clandestinely walking with individuals that he didn't recognize.

"What the hell- is my mother doing here? Who are those guys? They are tall as hell. Mensorians? No... Those are... elves?"

Intrigue filled the air as he followed her, and observed her secretive interactions, raising questions of her true identity and the motives that propelled her.

"Ever since we got here in Freelandia, Marvia had been busy. Conrad has yet to return. She told me he would come back one day. Maybe Dad will. I never really got to bond with him. Though, I'm 24 already. I doubt I'll need a father figure at my mental age."

"The only reason that me and Trela were able to pull off our trade stores was because Mom was away all the time. She did leave me and Trela to Captain Danka's crew that stayed in the city."

"Probably, to wait for the Captain to return somehow. Anyway, surprisingly, our most popular product right now is Soap. I know... It's cliche. But, I know for a fact that this stinking, corrupt, shit-hole of a city needs some soap to wash its sins away."

Dante was suddenly crowded on the street and lost track of Marvia. "Damn it. Where is she?"

He then stopped by an alley and heard arguing further in.

Four men in ragged clothing, long hair, and beards were holding knives and blunt weapons.

And another group of five men in red hooded robes with fire insignia on their chests, holding books and confronting the four men.

And in between the two groups was an 8-year-old boy, with a striking figure.

Possessing an aura of both intensity and grace.

His piercing blue eyes, reminiscent of ice, revealed an unwavering determination, and his dark hair, touched with stands of silver, framed his face with a sense of glory.

Dante didn't want to get involved with the disgusting citizens of Freelandia.

However, his involvement was forced upon him because he vowed to himself to become stronger and to be able to access the Holy System.

And the Holy System did not come without responsibilities.

Troubles soon found Dante and his Soap-making venture with Trela, entangling him in a web spun by the authorities and being prosecuted by Freelandia's most infamous snitch.

"So here I am. Trying to find ways to be able to access the Holy System. This is where I am at so far."

[Scripture of the Classless]

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Name: Dante de Monfort

Descendancy: Jeddic Marialian of the Celestrian Imperial Dynasty

Class: -

Piety: Wanderer

Esteem: Middling

Tithing: Contributor

Thaumaturgy: Church of the Holy System

<>

[Charism: - ]

[Blessings: Divine Mindlink]

[Invocations: Holy Smite ]

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[Reliquary: - ]

[Authority: - ]

[Affiliations: Celestrian Empire of Jeddah ]

[Covenant: Covenant of Sacred Relic Transfer, Covenant of Birthright Transfer, Covenant of Charism Transfer ]

[Trials: - ]

"I guess... you could say. I'm blessed, because my father is supposedly Royalty, and my mother is... well... my mother. So I got lucky with the ritual they held for me, at my birth. For whatever purpose they had in store for me."

"But generally? My stats aren't looking so good. Right now, my [Piety] is just Wanderer. Which is the lowest it could be. Well, it's kinda true. I'm not a believer yet. I'm open to it. But do I have enough faith in the Holy System for me to be granted those magic spells and stuff? Not really. So my solution was to do [Tithing]."

"The amount of money you pay the church also affects your connection with the Holy System. This works the same way for other religions and whatever weird rock or spirit they are worshiping. The soap-making business was making me a lot of money. And lots of funds to contribute to the church. But... it wasn't exactly..."

"Legal?" one of the men in ragged clothes shouted. "There is nothing legal about you fire-worshipers beating up a man for taking a piss! You almost beat him to death, that poor Philispup."

One of the red-robed men then said, "Yes, it was legal. The law of Freelandia states that every religion is free to enact its religious laws, and mete just punishment according to their faith. Your Philissian friend is blessed that the Eternal Flame granted him mercy, and only dealt some flogging."

Another man in ragged clothes and a long red beard replied, "You fucking fire-puffs are going to pay! We are going to sue! You are only allowed to give punishment to members of your religion. He is a Nullarian. And he didn't deserve that flogging! And he wasn't pissing there. He was wet after taking a bath."

Dante walked closer to them.

"That's not what we were told," the old man in the red robes said. "An alchemist detected urine where he was taking a bath. And next to our Temple? That was a deliberate insult to our faith."

One of the Nullarians replied in anger, "You bastard! You know that he was just taking a bath near the well. It's the only well in our part of town! Where do you expect us to take baths? Carrying water from the well in the streets is illegal because you fucks banned it during that fire festival you were celebrating in the streets last week!"

Dante laughed at the dispute between the two groups that seemed to never end. But he noticed the little boy in between the two groups.

"Nonsense!" a woman in red robes replied.

"It was a necessary temporary ban. We could not risk the divine flames that were brought directly from the Sunfire Duchy of Solara being extinguished intentionally or by accident by your Nullarians who did it last year!"

"We will never allow it to happen again! And who told you that it was us who beat up your Philissian friend? We only doled up a small punishment of 3 floggings. A merciful punishment? Who knows, maybe your friend, got beat up by someone else after we granted him mercy."

"Mercy? Mercy! He arrived at our camp bloodied, and bruised. The man was just excited to use the new soap he had bought. He just wanted to make his wife happy and smell nice," the man said.

"Is it so hard for you to accept that the city doesn't need your Eternal Flame to cleanse itself of evil sickness anymore? And who even told you about the piss? It's normal to piss sometimes when you are taking a bath! Who the fuck is this Alchemist?"

Dante looked even closer and was interested in who the root cause of the conflict was.

After asking each other questions, both of the groups shouted, "It was him! That snitch!" and pointed their fingers toward the 8-year-old boy crossing his arms and listening fairly to the argument, with an unyielding self-righteous expression on his face.