Chapter 725: Keep Going.

Ross didn’t react for some time, but then he looked up, eyes wide open.

"Don’t worry, it will be a clean job." Dante shrugged. "Well, though I said all of that, I will probably have Glenn handle it. He’s a pretty good lawyer, you know?"

"Right..."

Ross turned to face forward once more. The silence was so oppressive that one could hear him gritting his teeth.

"Why... are you doing this?"

"Because I can." Dante said.

"I didn’t ask for help."

"Don’t care."

"... of cource you don’t..." The bitterness in that whisper spoke of the prickling sensation in his throat. "You’re a big gang boss now, right? You think you can just do whatever you want and screw what everyone else thinks?"

"That’s right."

Dante’s reply was blunt, lacking the slightest bit of emotion. That seemed to push the wrong buttons in Ross, but as his anger flared, it suddenly died out entirely the next moment. Noticing that, Dante heaved a mental sigh.

"I... can’t do anything right, can I?"

"Your luck just sucks, that’s all." Dante said.

"Yeah, right." Ross scoffed. "I can’t hold a job. I can’t save. I keep drinking all the time and now I’m making my girlfriend babysit while paying for everything."

"Fiance."

"... What?"

"You already proposed, remember?"

"Right..." Hanging his head, Ross let out another sigh. "That was a bad idea. She should have dumped me when she had the chance."

"But she didn’t." Pushing himself up, Dante stretched his arm. "That’s why you have to get out of here and prove that she didn’t make the wrong choice." Pausing, he looked at the blonde man. "You also have Ellie to take care of."

"Right..."

Ross was a strange man. Talk to him enough and you realize that he had the makings of a thug, but apparently he had never been on the wrong side of the law, not even when he was very young. He worked his ass off, got married, and is now raising a kid. Even at his lowest, he still managed to pull himself back up. Someone like that didn’t deserve to go through all of this, but the world didn’t share that thought.

"I’ll talk to the old man and get you a home arrest or something." Dante said. "This should be over soon enough."

As he made his way to the door, he sensed the blonde man look up, opening his mouth to say something but struggling to let the words out. It took him a couple of attempts, but he finally managed to say it.

"Dante... thank you..."

"Don’t worry about it."

~[ ]~

[

Dante: I assume you already heard.

About Ross.

Glenn: Jonah reached out to me when that happened.

Dante: I want you to hanle it.

Settle things out of court.

Make sure his record remains clean.

Glenn: Got it.

This matter concerns the city, though.

Not sure if they’ll let it go just like that.

Dante: Just send me the bill once it’s done.

You can use my name if you have to.

Glenn: Understood.

]

Dante was sure that just mentioning Inferno would be enough to shut down any politician inside the city. Those still alive, at least. Some of them had been among the pests he had eradicated following the war against Black Skull, so those who are now in power owe it to him for getting rid of their rivals.

Of course, the real problem isn’t this case alone. Things have been getting worse in Neo-Vatra for some time now, and he couldn’t say he had nothing to do with it. The number of EI incidents had drastically increased since the government decided to go after one of the richest men in the world, and during his wedding night no less. That scared off most of the 1%, and as the big dogs pulled away from the corpse, the crows came down to feast.

The world was full of opportunists waiting for their chance to break through, and people like that were willing to take risk those above them refuse to touch. That also meant they were willing to be much more ruthless in their approach, doing everything they can to ensure that their investments pay off, and that’s exactly what was happening to Hollowgrid.

"Say, Dante,"

Just as he stepped out of the station, Jonah called out to him. The old man seemed to be under quite a bit of stress as well, and this incident only made things worse.

"You... aren’t going to do anything..."

"Illegal?" Dante raised an eyebrow.

"I just don’t want things to get worse for him." Jonah sighed.

"Don’t worry. It’s not something so complicated that I have to get my hands dirty to solve it."

"Right..."

Waiting to see if the old officer had anything else to say, Dante then turned to leave.

"Well then-"

"One more thing." Though he cut him off, Jonah still took a few more seconds to speak. "You... haven’t been showing up at the noodle shop."

"Yeah... I’m kinda busy right now."

"Nobara has been complaining more and more lately. Little Marie misses you, too. Why don’t you drop by and-"

"I told you," This time, it was Dante’s turn to cut him off. "I’m busy."

Not waiting for a reply, Dante moved his feet, disappearing from the area using Instant Acceleration. Checking on Ross alone took quite a bit of effort, and he didn’t think he would have done it had Lissa not come to him for help. Though he did want to help them, a part of him couldn’t help but think-

-It’s a big damn waste of time.-

’I know...’

It wasn’t like he had much to do for the time being, but as things kept going the way they do, his sense of urgency kept mounting. Somehow, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was wasting a lot of time, and the longer that went on...

-It’s almost five whole years.-

The voice spoke in his mind, its tone full of mockery.

-Are you sure you want to keep going like this?-