Chapter 58: Fine you can come, but there are rules

"Fine you can come." He said."But " he held up one finger, "there are some rules."

Esabella’s eyes went wide. Her tail stopped swinging.

"Yes!" She bounced on her toes. "Anything, my King! Say them!"

"One. Maintain few steps distance from me all times."

" Few steps distance. Easy."

"Two. You don’t touch me, my clothes, or anything."

Her face fell a little. "Not even–"

"Not even."

"...Fine."

"Three. You don’t act without my order, unless someone is about to kill me."

"That’s allowed?"

"That’s the only thing allowed." He held up a third finger. "Four. You don’t threaten, hurt, or lock up anyone I haven’t told you to. That includes the other women I meet."

Her golden eyes narrowed. "W–What other women?"

"Esabella." Dante said

"Yes my king?"

"That’s rule four."

She pouted, then nodded very slowly. "I will try."

"You will do it. If you break one, I leave you behind. No second chance, understand."

"And if I keep them all? What reward will i get?"

Dante looked at her for a long moment."Then we’ll see," he said.

Her whole face lit up like a lamp.She walked to the terminal and pressed her palm against the blue panel. Text slid across it.

[Soul Signature registered: Esabella Vaelorix.]

[Status: Player.]

[Rank: Unrated. Awaiting evaluation.]

[Floor Ownership: Transferred to Orrin of the Southern Guard.]

[Notice: The Floor Core is bound to this player. Core energy will travel with the host.]

"Done," she said, very pleased with herself. "Officially a hunter. Maybe I’ll be a very good F-Rank."

"You’ll be an F-Rank for about five minutes," Gideon muttered.

"Gideon." Dante turned. "you are coming right?"

"Wouldn’t miss it." The old man grinned. "Besides, someone has to stand between you two."

"Thanks," Dante said.

He walked to the shaft and stopped at the edge. The twisting air tugged at his hoodie.

[Spatial Shaft: Destination Floor 34. Warning: Entry cannot be undone. Proceed?]

’Floor 34,’ Dante thought. ’Yenna. Elena. Marcus and everyone ’

He pressed his hand to the panel.

Esabella took her three steps back. Then, very quietly, she took one extra step back, just to be safe.

Dante noticed. He didn’t say anything , Then the floor opened under all three of them, and then they fell into that.

There was no light or sound. The air pulled at his clothes, and then it stopped, all at once, like a hand letting go. He land in the ground on his feet and bent his knees to take the shock.He stood up slowly.

’Where am I?’ he said in his mind

He was in a narrow alley between two tall buildings. Wet stone under his boots. A pipe dripped somewhere. Above him, the sky was a glass roof with white lamps.

’Floor 34.’ he thought.

He looked to his left and right. Gideon wasn’t there. Esabella wasn’t there. He waited for the sound of heels behind him. Nothing came.

’The shaft split us,’ he thought. ’ only few steps distance, she said.’ He shock his head, ’She’ll be furious.’

He pulled his hood forward and stepped out of the alley.

...

The plaza was quiet. A few workers were fixing the stone floor, filling the long crack that Robert’s weapon had left. A bored guard stood near the lift, picking at his fingernails. There was no blood, and no sign of the three S-ranks. Whoever cleaned up had done it well.

Dante walked across the plaza with his hands in his pockets. His eyes moved from the workers to the guard to the windows above, then back to the floor. He stopped at the spot where Yenna had been standing when the spatial tear closed.

He crouched. Five thin scratches ran across the stone . He touched them with one finger.

’She tried to hold on.’ He stayed there a few seconds,Then he stood up, and his face was blank again.

"Hey, you!" A hunter at the edge of the plaza was pointing at him. "Don’t stand there. Get lost. Floor workers need room."

"Sorry," Dante said and move aside. then he saw a wall and it was covered in posters.many of them, glued edge to edge, the same one over and over. A man’s face looked out from every sheet. Dante walked toward it slowly. The poster was big, black letters across the top.

[WANTED. ALIVE OR DEAD.]

Under it was a drawing of a man with a scarred face, a hard jaw, and short hair. The man looked tired and angry. It was Dante’s old face, the one from the billboards.

[DANTE GREY]

[Former S-Rank. Traitor to the Radiant Dawn Guild.]

[Murderer of twelve guild members. Thief of guild property.]

[Reward: 500,000,000 credits.]

[Contact Guild Master Marcus.]

At the bottom, in small letters, one more line.

[Anyone who shelters this man will be treated as his accomplice.]

Behind him, two hunters had stopped to look. One of them whistled. "Five hundred million," the first said. "For one guy."

"He killed many hunters and one from the radiant dawn guild too ?."

"I heard he sold guild secrets to the demon clans."

"Marcus said the body was never found. Maybe he faked it."

"If I got that money, I’d quit tomorrow."

"You and everyone else."

They laughed and walked away.Dante stood very still. He wasn’t angry. He had expected something like this. Marcus liked to win with paper before he used a sword, and a poster was cheaper than a vanguard.

But he read one line again. [Murderer of twelve guild members.]

He had killed more than twelve since waking up. Briggs, Kenneth, Kaelen’s squad, the guards. The poster didn’t even count them. It was talking about the people who were left behind on the 55th floor.

’He’s saying I killed the ones who died in that boss room,’ Dante thought. ’The ones he left to cover his own mess.’ He looked at the face on the wall.

’That man is dead,’ he thought. ’I’m not him anymore.’ He turned and walked away.

At the edge of the plaza, a small girl was pulling on her mother’s sleeve and staring at the wall. "Mommy, is he a bad man?"

"Don’t look at that," her mother said quickly, and covered her eyes.

Dante didn’t stop. But his step slowed for half a second.

’Everyone sees what they’re told to,’ he thought.’well, it doesn’t matter for me anyway ’

Then he picked up his pace and vanished between the buildings.