Chapter 218: A Friend
"Do you think she knows?"
"I’m certain she knows."
"So she knows."
"Knows what?"
"Oh, ignore that. Just feed me already." Dante squinted his eyes, scanning Anastasia’s figure as she closed the distance with him.
Her steps were slow, her eyes moved slowly, and her smile looked a bit carefree.
When she started feeding him the bread, she used only two fingers to hold it, as though using her whole hand wasn’t worth it.
"I think her laziness is becoming natural to her." Dante whispered to Aza, ignoring the fact that Anastasia was hearing him.
Around two weeks — or 14 meals, to be precise — had passed since he had given her the advice to care more about herself and stop feeding him.
And did she listen?
No!
Well, not completely. She really stopped caring too much about strangers, but she didn’t consider him just a stranger.
According to her, she was here because he was more than a stranger to her now. His advice helped her to focus on herself and that was enough for her to care about him.
And that was bullshit!
There was definitely another reason, and he had a theory about it.
’She knows that I absorb her misfortune! Yes, I’m sure now. The parasite she has could sense it!’
That was the only explanation he could think of. If she knew that he was taking the misfortune from her, then she was certain that he didn’t harm her.
In fact, she was helping him to repay his "kindness" for always taking the misfortune away from her and helping her kingdom.
Unfortunately, she didn’t know that Dante would have filled her Wheel of Luck with all the misfortune he could gather if his coins showed that it’d harm Greed. And she didn’t know that he was helping her kingdom only because Elizabeth was there.
"We are done. What do you want to talk about this time?" Anastasia asked, sitting on the floor and resting her head on her hand lazily.
"I don’t know. I’m out of ide—! I-ideas." Dante gritted his teeth as the barrier chopped off his skin.
Anastasia’s eyes softened for a moment upon hearing his shaky voice.
"I don’t know who made this artifact... but I’ll kill them someday." Dante whispered through gritted teeth, imagining many different ways to torture the artificer who had made this cursed device.
Two weeks of continuous torture.
He couldn’t sleep for a single second, causing him to always feel dizzy and exhausted. If he didn’t have the regeneration ability, he’d have had not dark circles under his eyes, but a whole equation!
His pain never stopped and only increased. His nerves didn’t regenerate enough to go numb to the pain.
He had to admit it... but that torture was truly effective. Those might have been the worst two weeks in his entire life!
Only the soul pain could be considered more painful than what he was enduring currently. If not for his strong mind, he’d have lost himself long ago.
He was barely resisting the idea of using the silver Ether to break the collar and try to run.
’Sadly, it’s not the right time to do that. I need some chaos to help me escape without being caught by all those masters outside—hmm?’
Suddenly, Anastasia placed her shaky hand gently on the top of Dante’s head, rubbing it as if patting him.
And for some reason, her touch was colder than an ice brick!
"I’m so sorry that I can’t help you... but as you told me, the future is uncertain. We might leave this place sooner than we expect." Anastasia’s lips curled upward softly as she pulled her hand back: "Hope can help you in facing pain, so never lose it!"
Dante rolled his eyes: "Do you really think some pain is enough to make me depressed? If I could move my body, I’d have raised my middle finger to that snake woman for her injustice!"
He glared sharply at a random spot on the wall, very sure that the woman was watching him, then he shifted his attention to Anastasia, saying in an annoyed tone: "And you seem to be recovering properly, though I’d like more if you warn me before touching my head... and why are you so cold!"
"Oh, sorry. It’s an old habit." Anastasia smiled awkwardly: "And yes, I think I’m recovering gradually. Braham is really a great therapist. You should talk to him one day. He might help you regarding a few... potential problems."
’Yeah just say I’m crazy. I can see that in your eyes!’ Dante glared at her and kept that thought in his mind.
Explaining why he was talking to himself would require telling her about Aza and the parasite that could talk in his mind using his voice. She wouldn’t understand anyway.
Unless her own parasite had a similar problem, of course, which was unlikely, judging by the fact that she always seemed to be talking with her parasite inwardly.
"As for the second question..." Anastasia stared at her pale hand: "It’s a trait. Let’s say that I’m technically made of ice now."
"So you are literally a walking ice brick?" Dante asked with a puzzled look.
Anastasia nodded: "Yes, technically. It’s not accurate... but yes."
"I see..."
What followed that was just Anastasia and Dante staring at each other in silence.
"..."
They were out of conversation.
Dante’s whole day was just him staring at the walls. He didn’t do anything to talk about. And revealing his past was a bit dangerous when he was observed.
As for Anastasia, she was just lazing around without a purpose. She had told him several times about her day and he didn’t seem interested.
They weren’t close enough to share their secrets or have a deep conversation. They didn’t even trust each other in the slightest. Anastasia was just another random person for Dante, and Dante was just slightly above a stranger for Anastasia. They couldn’t do anything to break the wall between them.
Thus, they could only stare at each other’s faces, one with no skin, and the other filled with ugly scars, feeling a kind of empathy toward each other.
"You know... I have known a person who loved to be kind to people and loyal to her kingdom, just like you." Dante suddenly spoke, making Anastasia look at him with confusion.
"I had only two people whom I considered as close friends. One of them is basically immortal, and the second was a kind girl. She was a saintess candidate."
Anastasia’s eyes widened slightly, only enough to show that she reacted.
She felt like she just grasped a crucial piece of information.
’Is that why he was in the Holy Kingdom?’ She guessed, remembering that he had mentioned that "friend" before.
Dante continued indifferently: "She had two holy knights. She seemed to love them so much. One day, she found a village that was under the threat of a demon. Asking for external help would have caused the death of the villagers at the hands of that demon. Do you know what she and her holy knights decided to do?"
"Helping the village themselves." Anastasia answered naturally. She knew enough about the saintess candidates to predict their decisions.
"Correct!" Dante smiled: "And do you know what the result was?"
Anastasia shook her head, causing Dante’s smile to grow wider.
"They were basically useless. The ones who contributed the most in saving the village were some adventurers. One of the holy knights used his own body as a shield for the other knight that he loved, dying in the process."
"The other knight was injured and was a liability until she died. She actually died while being unaware of her friend’s sacrifice."
"Then the saintess candidate was left with two corpses. The people who swore to protect her died in a random village without accomplishing anything great, leaving their saintess alone without anyone to protect her. They failed her, but for the villagers, they were heroes."
"..."
Anastasia analyzed his story, trying to figure out why he was telling it to her.
’Oh, I understand.’
Anastasia sighed as Dante continued: "I hope you don’t follow in her footsteps. It’s not a bad thing to help people... but you should know your limits. If you care about the messenger so much, then you should be ready to sacrifice a chance to help random people for him."
"There are countless spells, classes, relics, and traits. You can never know what you’re going to face. Don’t try to be a hero blindly, and never underestimate your opponents."
Anastasia smiled wryly: "Do you still not want me to visit you?"
Ring!
Suddenly, Anastasia’s collar rang, notifying her that she had to leave.
"See you tomorrow?"
Dante smiled: "It’d be better if you just stopped coming."