Chapter 187: It feels like my time is coming
The real problem arises when you have too many women and only one man. I don't need to say the size of the headache that just one word generated...
"Daddy, are you okay?" Eldrax asked as he bent down to see Dante's body lying on the ground, his entire body was in a... deplorable state.
"Eldrax, don't talk to this traitor! Get out of there immediately!" Morgana, in the distance, sitting at a tea table with the other girls, called out to the teenager who was a little worried about her daddy...
"Yes, come eat cake, little Eldrax. Let this idiot think about the shit he did," Sara said, completing Morgana's words.
Dante, on the other hand, didn't even have time to worry about these things. He was just glad the girls were really getting along...
"Master, you'll die if you don't heal yourself." The voice came from his shadow, Aaralyn was connected to Dante in some way all the time. "Oh, it's true," Dante said, and his body began to regenerate as he got up, turning to the tea table.
"Did you just vent on me?" Dante questioned, and the women looked at him in a serious way, especially Nagasawa, who was... quite silent, which was very unusual in a state like this. Dante noticed and commented, "Naga?" She looked at him while holding the coffee mug, after all, she hated tea.
"Yes?" She questioned, her eyes seeming a bit monotone. "Are you okay?" He questioned, but before she could answer...
"I finally found you." Dante heard the voice coming, and a knight in slightly purple armor and an Egyptian woman appeared. "Hello, I'm pretty sure I gave you days off," Dante said looking at Nafiri. "And I'm pretty sure I declined," Nafiri replied.
"I've heard this somewhere before..." Aaralyn muttered coming out of Dante's shadow, and he blinked twice. "Oh, it's true, I'm getting old," Dante said, of course, this idiot was over forty.
"Tsk, idiot." Nafiri fired her rapier and threw a golden ring to Dante, "What's this?" He questioned, he really had no idea what that was about.
"Your part of the deal, idiot, this is the profit." Nafiri said and Dante stared at her for a few seconds, which made Nafiri uncomfortable, she asked, "What's with that look?" She spoke and Dante was confused, seeing that she really didn't understand.
"Our deal has already been fulfilled, why are you giving me money? Since when do I need money, I am the Demon King," Dante said and Nafiri made a face impossible to describe, after all... "I don't need money, you idiot woman, I'm already almost the Emperor of this kingdom, I have the witch princess as my wife, second in line of succession after the Tepes family.
Money is trivial," Dante said and again...
It seems that our little demihuman chakal was so focused on fulfilling the contract that she forgot about her own greed. Honestly, she didn't even have a reaction to it.
"The Agreement was for you to take part in the trade to destabilize the power shift when Velryna takes over, but I changed my mind, it won't make a difference. If anyone opposes, just kill them." He said leaving Nafiri speechless again...
"Master Dante, I think you broke my boss's mind." The voice of the Black Elf Misty said holding back laughter. "I can't do anything about this woman's rampant greed for money, she's scary," Dante said, "I have other matters to attend to now."
He turned to one of his dear wives. "Darling, where is your father?" Dante questioned and Velryna gave a bitter smile, clearly representing her discomfort, after all, Aldria asked her to leave Adam and her alone, she wanted... to spend the last moments with Adam.
"I understand, she's spending the old man's last moments, unfortunately, I have business with him." Dante said and disappeared completely in the flames.
"Isn't he abusing that too much? I mean, this guy started using teleportation as if it were nothing," Misty said, she had already noticed that. "Master Dante is a bit eccentric, apparently," Mercedes's voice echoed in the air, and all the women looked at her.
"I forgot you were here," Misty said, after all, the woman really seemed like a ghost and hardly said anything. "I'm always where my contractor asks me to be," she replied.
"Another one?" Sara asked Velryna, who had no answers... "Ah, as if all these strong women weren't enough, now even a knight." The sound of Sara's sigh permeated the entire place.
Dante was now inside the royal palace, which was beginning to be rebuilt after all the staff had been purified of demonic energy. It's worth noting that only twenty hours had passed since Dante's awakening, and the transmissions had stopped long ago, ever since Nagasawa began torturing Ethan.
"I'm starting to get annoyed with this atmosphere," Dante said as he walked through the corridors where several maids looked strangely at him.
As he walked, a maid was pushed in front of him, falling to the ground. "Let's see how he reacts," the older maids said.
"Agrht!" The maid who fell groaned in pain as she felt her ankle twist with the fall. Dante just looked at her and bent down. "D-D-Demon King!" She stuttered, seeing the man bend down in front of her. Dante didn't say anything, just took her hand and positioned it over her wound.
"Be careful, pretty girl, you can seriously hurt yourself. Try to be more attentive. Velryna wouldn't want her maids to get injured during hard work," Dante said and the wound was healed, something quite simple that he could do just with demonic energy.
After that, he stood up and reached out to the maid.
"T-Thank you!" She said hurriedly, bowing; Dante just smiled and continued on his way, however... "Did you see? He's very kind!" One of the maids murmured to the group. "Tsk."
Upon hearing this, he turned around, after all, these women bullied a young maid just to test him.
"Ladies." Dante said, appearing next to them. "I don't need to kill anyone because of bullying within the palace with the new maids, do I?" He asked with a macabre smile and the three trembled with fear. "N-No!" They replied in unison, and Dante walked away again.
"S-Scary!" They commented and returned to their duties. "Now yes," he smiled, heading towards the Emperor's quarters.
As Dante walked towards the room...
"You never change, do you?" Aldria asked a weakened Adam, who was in an almost terminal state. After using all his strength, he could no longer maintain his healthy form, his body was wasting away.
Aldria's laments really had merit. She didn't want to lose her husband; despite her vacillation, she still loved him in a way, and this was really complicated. Even she didn't know what to do anymore about him, and she didn't want to lose him, not only because of their love bond, but they had always been family since Zayah was alive; they already loved this man.
"Let me rest, Dante is coming here," Adam said bitterly, feeling his life slipping away every second, his energy was leaking, leaving his body.
After "God" removed the Hero's blessing, after accumulating "sins" throughout all the years of his life as Emperor, Adam now had nothing left to do, and the incurable poison continued to penetrate deeper and deeper into his body.
The sound of the door came, small knocks on the wood that made Aldria get up and go open the door, her eyes were... tearing up, and she felt a huge urge to cry. When she opened the door and faced the man in front of her, she couldn't help but look down like a defeated person.
Dante saw that scene and leaned against Aldria's head for a few moments, his hand made a small caress in her hair, and he said. "You did a good job, don't be so hard on yourself." These words were weak in motivation, but it was enough to take a weight off Aldria's shoulders, who carried not only the weight of losing her husband but of not protecting him as her sister asked.
From her eyes, tears yielded, smudging her makeup. Dante couldn't touch her, for one reason... Morally.
His morals didn't allow him to do something like that, knowing that behind her, her current husband was... dying.
He let go of her head and made a small comment. "I'll talk to him now." Dante said, after all... Adam's vitality was fading.
"We need to talk, Adam Smith." Dante said as he closed the door and saw the man completely upright, using his last strength to talk to Dante.
"It seems my time is coming," he commented with a smile. "Are you the one who will take me to hell, Demon King?" He asked.
Dante remained silent and headed to the chair next to the Emperor's bed. It was time to settle some matters before his departure.