Chapter 93: Miso

"I don’t want to manage shops and tax miners," Dante said, pressing the Decree of Absolution against the pillar. "It would be better if You do it."

[Property Seizure complete.]

[Administrative authority for Floors 1 through 54 has been transferred to: Gideon.]

Orrin let out a rough bark of laughter, slapping his knee. "Well, I’ll be damned. Look at that. After ten years of hiding in the alleys, the old man finally owns the street."

"Shut your mouth and grab the ladder, Orrin," Gideon snapped, though the corner of his mouth twitched upward. "Varn, get the men from the lower district. Tear down those red rags before the wind blows them into my face."

Within an hour, the banners of the Radiant Dawn were ripped off the buildings and tossed into a bonfire in the middle of the avenue. Varn and Orrin climbed up the front of the main hall and nailed the faded blue banner of the Heavenly Sword back over the entrance.

Gideon didn’t stop there. He pulled the black crystal from his coat, slotted it into the square’s public projector, and turned the volume all the way up.

The whole district froze. Hundreds of hunters, merchants, and porters crowded into the street, staring up at the giant projection on the wall. They watched Marcus kneel before the two shadowy figures. They watched twelve of their own guild brothers drop dead to feed the entities.

Murmurs turned into shouts. Someone threw a rock at Marcus’s white statue, chipping the nose off. By nightfall, nobody in the lower fifty floors wanted anything to do with the old guild.

Dante walked back into the yard of the little house on Floor 54.

Behind him, the ground shook with every step.

Esabella was sitting on the porch steps, polishing her glass for the fifth time that morning. When she saw what was walking behind Dante, she stopped.

It was a mountain dire-wolf, twice the size of the alligator they had left below. A single black link of the Sovereign’s Binding Chain loosely around its thick neck.

Yenna drifted out of the front door, Her cat ears shot straight up. She floated right over to the wolf’s giant snout without a shred of fear. The beast lowered its head, sniffed her lantern, and let out a warm puff of air that blew her hair back.

"Dante," Yenna breathed, her eyes shining.

"Where did you get him?"

"Found him in the outer ridges," Dante said, shoving his hands into his pockets. "You can’t walk and you can’t always use only that skill, So He’s yours."

Yenna’s face lit up. She reached out and buried both hands in the thick fur behind its ear. "Can I name him?"

"Do whatever you want."

"Miso," she said happily. "His name is Miso."

The giant wolf grunted once, then dropped its chest onto the grass so she could slide easily onto its back. As soon as she settled into the fur, Miso stood up smoothly, keeping its spine completely level so she wouldn’t tilt.

Across the yard, a cracking sound came from the porch. Dante turned his head. Esabella was still sitting on the steps, except the wooden rail beside her had just turned into black under her grip. A sweet, very terrifying smile was stretched across her face.

"My King," Esabella said, her voice dripping with honey. "What a big, furry creature. It looks very... warm."

"What?" Dante said.

"I’m just saying," she continued, standing up slowly as small licks of fire danced between her fingers. "It has a lot of meat on its bones. If we run out of rations on the upper floors, I could roast it for you. Nice and slow. Would you like that, Yenna? Do you like roasted dog?"

Yenna hugged Miso’s neck tighter and stuck her tongue out. "He’s not a dog, Lady Esabella. And Dante got him for me. Because I’m important."

Esabella’s left eye twitched. Her horns pushed halfway through her hair before she forced them back down.

Esabella immediately turned to Dante, and the coldness vanished from her face, replaced by a desperate, pleading look. She stopped a step away from him, keeping her hands clasped tightly in front of her dress, her head tilted down slightly.

"My King," she said, her voice trembling with a strange mix of hurt and devotion. "You went out at dawn without waking me. You hunted a beast... and gave it to her. Have I displeased you? Did I not serve you well enough?"

Dante looked at her. "You didn’t do anything wrong, Esabella."

"Then why does she get a gift?" she asked quietly, looking up at him with wide, shining gold eyes. "I saved the core of the apple you gave me. I saved your glass. I am your queen, My king. If someone needs to carry things, or fight, or clear the path, I am right here.if you need anything just say one word. So why did only she gets somthing from you?"

"She can’t walk," Dante said simply. "You can. And the wolf isn’t a gift—it’s a tool so we don’t have to stop every ten minutes."

Esabella stared at him for a long moment. Then she breathed out slowly, a bright, slightly unhinged smile returning to her lips.

"A tool," she repeated softly, nodding to herself as if everything suddenly made sense. "Yes. Of course. A tool for the baggage. Not a gift. Only I get gifts from my King." She glanced sideways at Yenna, her smile widening just a fraction too much. "I’ll let the dog live. For now."

Dante sighed. "Just keep your fire to yourself."

She glared sideways at Yenna, mouthing the words’ I’m watching you’ before storming back inside the house.

Yenna giggled from atop Miso’s back, patting the wolf’s neck. "She’s crazy, Dante."

"I know," Dante sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Just keep the wolf away from her."

That night, the yard was quiet. Miso was curled up by the fence with Yenna fast asleep against his side.

Dante stood near the back gate, checking the straps on his daggers. Footsteps came across the grass, and Esabella stopped beside him. The manic energy from earlier was gone. She looked tired again, watching the sky above the tower.

"The floors above fifty-five aren’t like anything down here," Dante said quietly, not looking at her. "Those two things in Marcus’s body came from up there, and whoever has been pulling the strings of this tower has been sitting at the top for years."

Esabella stayed silent, listening. "If you go back to the Basin now," Dante continued, turning his head to meet her golden eyes, "Gideon will make sure nobody bothers your territory. You can rebuild your court more better. Keep your people safe. This is your last chance to walk away."

Esabella stared at him for a long time. Then she laughed—!

She stepped closer to him. "Go back?" she whispered, tilting her head up so he could see the fierce, unblinking devotion burning in her eyes. "And leave you alone with a cat girl and a giant dog? Please. I can’t leave you alone, i just want to stay with you forever, untill the end of world"

She smiled, leaning her cheek briefly against his arm.

"My court is wherever my king stands,so please Stop trying to get rid of me. It’s rude."

Dante looked down at her hand on his sleeve, then let out a short breath. He didn’t argue.

At dawn, the four of them stood at the base of the great stairs leading up to Floor 55’s exit gate. Behind them, Gideon, Varn and Orrin standing silently at his shoulders.

Yenna sat high on Miso’s back, the giant wolf waiting patiently with its ears pricked forward. Esabella stood right at Dante’s left side, practically glued to his arm, her whip coiled at her hip and her chin lifted proudly.

Have you really made up your mind, kid?"

Gideon asked,"Marcus is dead. Elena is dead. You got your ring back, and we hold fifty-four floors. Nobody down here is ever going to touch you again. Why walk into that?"

Varn nodded, resting his one hand on his belt. "The old man is right. Nobody has ever come back down from above sixty. Stay here. You can live like a king."

"Yeah," Orrin grunted, crossing his burnt arms. "What’s even up there for you?"

Even Yenna looked down from Miso’s back, her cat ears twitching nervously. "Dante... we could stay in the little house and look for a healer here. Do we really have to go?"

Dante stood with his hands in his pockets, looking up at the stairs disappearing into the clouds. For a moment, nobody spoke.

"If I stop here, I’m just sitting in a bigger cellar waiting for the door to open," Dante said calmly. "You all saw the black crystal. Marcus wasn’t the master. Those two entities in his body came from up there, and they have bigger plans than just a few floors. To them, everything below fifty-five is just a farm."

He turned his head slightly, looking at Gideon and the two veterans, then at Yenna.

"If we stay down here, we’re just waiting to be harvested when their real plan starts," Dante continued. "We need to grow stronger before they come down. Besides... I spent my whole life fighting in the lower levels just to survive. Now I want to see the rest of this world. I want to see what happens when someone actually reaches the 100th floor. What is the origin of tower? i have many questions, and they can be only answer after reaching the top"

Gideon stared at him for a long second, then let out a quiet laugh. "Crazy bastard. You really haven’t changed at all."

He turned back toward Gideon, Varn, and Orrin. The old man raised his wooden staff in a silent salute. Dante looked up at the mist of Floor 56. He didn’t give a speech. He simply lifted his foot and took one step forward.