"Hgnnn…That was a good sleep." Said Dante after an extremely satisfying sleep.
This was the first time Dante had slept in a bed in this world. Previously he had just slept on that blanket, in that broken down house…if you could even call it a house. Anyway this was a great sleep and he was ready for the day.
After getting dressed with some clothes he had bought from the market system, he walked downstairs to the restaurant part of the inn and was greeted by a disguised Eva waiting for her food.
"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" she asked.
"Yeah, thank you for paying for me, it was the best night i've had in a while" he responded
"Hehe, it was the least I can do for my savior. Do you not normally sleep on a bed?" She was curious about Dantes background and who could blame her. That strange aura, his combat techniques, all of him was mysterious and she wanted to know more.
Just as he was about to respond, Dante heard a notification from his system.
[Ping!]
[New Capture Target!
Eva Von Astaril
Intimacy: 25]
'She's a capture target! Well, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.'
He was curious about the whole capture target system and why he had to do it. It didn't make sense to him and when he asked the system before it only replied with a,
[The system doesn't have the authority to answer that question.]
So it was useless. But Dante thought that it couldn't have been that important, he even asked the system that if he didn't capture the capture targets would his life be at risk and it said no, but Dante would get a 'reward' for doing so.
So, after a little thinking Dante decided that he would try to naturally develop relations with the capture targets and try to mutually fall in love with them before "capturing" them.
"Are you okay?" asked Eva, snapping Dante out of his thoughts.
"Oh, yes, I'm fine. What did you ask again?" he said, forgetting her previous question.
"I asked if you normally don't sleep on a bed, if you don't want to answer I understand." Realizing that her question was rude, Eva left Dante a way out.
"It's fine, I'm actually…an orphan. My mom left me a few years ago and since then I haven't really had a home. I recently heard about how great the Astaril territory was in commerce, so I thought I might be able to find a job there." Dante mixed lies and truth together in his responses.
Ever since Dante got this body's memories he felt his personality change, this is also part of the reason why he didn't hesitate to kill that man yesterday. So, it was weird but Dante felt like this body's mother was his own and he resented her. In neither this life nor his previous one did he have a reliable motherly figure, it only made Dante resent his current lifes mother even more.
"Oh, I'm sorry for your loss." Eva spoke regrettingly, misunderstanding the situation.
"Hm? She's not dead, she just left me…" Dante clinched his hands tightly as he spoke.
"Oh…I apologize once again." She spoke, embarrassed that she misunderstood.
As Dante waved off her apology, the food they had ordered arrived and they enjoyed some nice conversation. This especially applied to Eva. She grew up in an environment where she could only comfortably talk to her mother and sister, so talking so freely to a stranger and making small talk was enjoyable to her.
[+100 Affection points]
While Dante was eating and talking with Eva, he suddenly got some affection points. He then looked over at Eva who had a genuine smile on her face and opened the capture target tab on his system.
[Eva Von Astaril
Intimacy: 40]
Seeing this, Dante continued to talk and eat with her until they finished their meal and her Intimacy level reached 50 before they left towards Astaril Dukedom.
***
"A ride for two?" Spoke the coachman.
After leaving the inn they gathered some supplies they may need during the trip and went to the 'Logoman Company'. The Logoman Company is a company that specializes in carriages in general. Luxury, normal, public, it doesn't matter, they monopolized almost all of the types of carriages. But what they are most popular for is their public transportation. They are the first company in this world to have public transportation and in a world where there is no internet, that's a big deal that brings in big money.
Of course, Eva wasn't a commoner, so she paid for a private carriage for the both of them.
"Yes, sir, that's us." Eva responded.
Confirming that the two of them were his customers, he invited the two in and returned to his seat in the front.
Approaching the door, Dante helped Eva in first, earning a chuckle.
"Hehe, It almost feels like you're a knight." She said as she accepted his help.
After breakfast, the two of them shopped while continuing to converse with each other, leading both of them to become quite comfortable around one another. Another thing Dante noticed was that the more comfortable she became the more mischievous she also became, this led her to tease him when she had the chance.
"Why of course, my lady." Dante figured out that the best way to stop her teasing was to just play along.
She chuckled once more before sitting down in the carriage, Dante soon followed her.
***
Dante and Eva have been riding for about 6 hours now and are in the last 30 min left before they reach their stopping point for the night, Blandon city, a border town of the Astaril dukedom.
And Dante was just sitting down watching Eva sleep. She has been sleeping for about 2 hours up to this point and Dante took it as a token of her trust towards him. During this trip Dante learned a lot of things about Eva and this world, some important, some not so much but nonetheless he absorbed the information like a sponge.
By this point he could name Eva's favorite food, drink, passtime, almost anything really. And Eva knew quite a bit about him as well. In his thoughts Dante opened up the capture target tab in his system.
[Eva Von Astaril
Intimacy: 80(Close-friend)]
He was happy when he saw that Eva saw him as a close friend because he was starting to think of her as one as well. As he was in his thoughts the carriage suddenly came to a sudden halt, waking Eva up.
"Mmmm…What's going on?" She asked, still half asleep.
"I don't know, stay here, i'll be right back."
Without seeing Eva's response, Dante rushed out of the carriage and looked at the coachman, only to see his eyes shaking in fear. Following the coachmans gaze he landed on a middle-aged looking man wearing the same mask as the people who attacked them in the alley. Seeing the man Dante activated his system.
[Garret lugman
Age: 32
Charm: 3/10
Realm: Silver Core(Low)
Core Stage: 6
Body: Basic Demon physique
Bloodline: Blooming Death
Body/Bloodline Compatibility: 50%
Attributes: Death
Titles: Sacred Death]
'Silver core!'
This was the strongest person Dante had seen so far in this world.
"I don't know how the girl got away from those three but hand her over and you shall be given an easy death, boy." The man in front of him seemed indifferent and didn't care much about the situation. This irritated Dante, this seemed to have chipped at his pride, but he wasn't about to let his pride take control of him.
"Oh? And here I thought you were going to spare me." Dante replied to the man in a mocking tone.
"Spare you? No, No, boy. You have killed one of my own, hence you must die as well. So, just hand over the girl." The man looked amused when Dante mentioned sparing him.
Inside of the carriage, Eva was listening to the conversation. When the man asked for her, she was slightly scared. But she wasn't going to let herself be used as a hostage against her mom or her uncle, so she was prepared to kill herself in case Dante did run away. Dante was her only hope in this situation as her core was sealed and she couldn't do anything. But it was strange, a part of her wanted Dante to run, wanted Dante to live, but the other part wanted Dante to stay with her and didn't want Dante to leave her. But all of these thoughts were blown away by what she heard next.
"Well, I'm afraid that's just not possible, I already told the lady I would escort her home and I don't feel like going back on my word, especially to a friend." He said, confidence flowing through his every word.
Hearing Dantes words Eva felt a warmth flow throughout her body, a different type of warmth that she felt when she was with her mom or her sister but a caring warmth nonetheless. She had made friends before but all of those relationships had some sort of business feeling to them but hearing Dante call her a friend, she could tell that he meant that with no strings attached.
'Dante…' Even though she had only known him for one day, she felt as if she could call him family and she was happy to do so.
Outside, while fighting intent soared to the sky Dante heard a notification from his system.
[+10000 Affection points]
'What the hell did I do?'
Before he had time to think, the man dashed at Dante with his bear fist and struck down towards him. Pushing his attribute to his legs, Dante quickly dodged before it made contact.
*Crash*
Looking back at the loud sound the man's fist made, he saw a small crater where the man had struck.
"You're quite fast, boy." Said the man, then an aura of death surrounded him.
As a response Dante cladded himself in his attribute and started to give off an aura of supremacy.
Seeing this the man's face grew grim. He didn't know what kind of attribute could give off an aura like that but he knew it was something far surpassing his death attribute. That surprised him, his death attribute was one of the strongest, what kind of attribute could give even death a feeling of doom!
On Dante's side he wasn't that calm either. The man's death attribute was strong and so was he, being in the silver realm meant that he could wave off some of the effects his aura caused. While he was trying to figure out a way to win, he felt his attribute brimming with greed, it wanted the death attribute. Dante then suddenly remembered what happens when he cultivates, unlike normal when he activates his attribute to cultivate, it doesn't have any outside attributes to merge with, so instead it just forcefully devours all of the surrounding attributes.
Realizing this he decided to try it on the man, in all honesty Dante was a bit lost trying to find a way to win, so this was his only hope.
Seeing the man lunging towards him with his fist once again, Dante spread his attribute throughout his entire body, but instead of dodging he took the punch straight to the chest.
"Nooo!" Eva screamed from inside the carriage.
Feeling his punch land, the man's lips raised up into a cruel smirk before he noticed something wrong. Instead of being launched away like he should have been, Dante latched onto his arm.
Dante quickly channeled his attribute into the man, at least making sure to get a sliver into him before he collapsed.
Inside of the man, Dante's attribute greedily ate all of the death energy before finally reaching the man's core. Then it proceeded to engulf the man's core and ate the source of his energy, his attribute.
Outside, the man felt this and started screaming on the floor in pain. After his attribute was eaten, most of his power was gone, realizing that he looked towards Dante, who had now stood up, in fear.
"You-you monster!" he screamed.
Before having a chance to say another word, Dante quickly punched a whole straight through the man's chest, killing him.
After killing the man, Dante fell to the ground on his knees, out of mana to push his attribute with.