It was 3 am at night when Dante was riding in the back of the SUV with both Megan and Sophia sitting in front of him.
There was an awkward silence at first, as the two women didn't know what to talk about with the warlock. Still, Dante didn't mind it since he was looking out the window, admiring the view.
"Sorry for waking you up so suddenly, Sophie. I know you have class early in the morning…" said Megan after seeing the blonde woman yawning.
"It's okay. I still don't really know what's going on…" she replied, as it was difficult to believe that the man before her was from another world.
Still, the warlock couldn't blame them since he believed he would have also doubted someone who claimed to be from a different world.
While Sophia had only witnessed him doing a simple dispel of a curse, Megan was the one present when he erased a bunch of gang members from existence.
"Class? There's an academy here?" Dante asked after listening to Megan's apology.
Instantly, Megan could tell that whatever academy he was talking about was different from the university that Sophia attended.
The blonde girl explained that she was going to college to study culinary arts and business, surprising the warlock.
In his past world, only people who were learning magic or wanted to become scholars were able to attend the academy.
Sophia looked somewhat interested in talking about the universities from his world, but Megan interrupted them as the car arrived at their drop-off location.
The two women lived in a large residential building that had four floors, each of them with a dozen apartments where mainly college students resided.
After taking the elevator to the fourth level, Dante showed his admiration for the engineering of the machinery, saying that elevators in his world worked with the magic of wizards. However, he still preferred the one he was riding at that moment.
Nevertheless, the two girls were too tired to listen to his bicker, and after Sophia let out a yawn, Dante remembered that he hadn't slept for three whole days.
"Three days? What are you talking about? You got here a few hours ago…" said Megan, not understanding the warlock entirely.
"Well, yeah, but I wasn't sleeping when I got sent here…" he replied.
At that moment, the brunette remembered the state in which Dante appeared, with his tattered clothes and his body full of cuts and bruises. Still, she decided not to inquire about it.
"Alright, this is our apartment. It's pretty small, but it should be fine for you to stay a few days…" Megan commented as she opened the door.
It was a small apartment specifically made for two to three people, as they were meant to be residences for college students to rent.
They had a kitchen, a living room with one couch and a flat-screen TV, two bedrooms, and one bathroom.
Even then, the architecture was wholly new to Dante, making the humble students' apartment look somewhat fancy to him.
"You'll sleep here. Hold up, let me get you a pillow…" Megan continued, pointing at the couch in the living room.
The brunette went to her room for a few seconds, but before she grabbed what she was looking for, Sophia called her from the living room.
"Ummm, Meg?" the blonde said.
When Megan came out with a pillow for the warlock, she noticed he was passed out on the couch, using one of the adornment cushions to pose his head.
"He just fell asleep in an instant…" Sophia muttered as the two women stared at Dante, who was peacefully slumbering on their couch.
*sigh* "He did say he hadn't slept for three days…" Megan continued, covering the warlock with a bedsheet before going to her bedroom.
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The following morning, Sophia woke up to the sound of her alarm clock and got up from her bed with vigor, ready to start her day.
On her way to the bathroom, she noticed Dante sleeping on her couch, making her realize that the events from the previous night were not a dream.
She had been woken up and brought out of her house in the middle of the night by Camille's men, and she attributed everything that had happened to it being a simple dream.
Still, the sight of the warlock peacefully sleeping refuted her delusions.
After she changed from her pajamas into a sundress, she silently walked to the kitchen, not wanting her stomps to wake Dante up.
She glanced at the warlock for a moment, and while she still believed that he had a somewhat scary appearance, she thought he had an "honest face," comparing him to Megan and Camille.
'He said he hadn't slept for three days. I wonder if he ate something…' Sophia thought while preparing her breakfast.
Every morning, the blonde student would wake up and make breakfast for her and Megan, leaving it inside a plastic container for the brunette to eat whenever she woke up.
However, seeing that they had a guest, she pulled out an extra container for Dante.
'An omelet would be nice…' she thought before cracking the eggs against the pan.
Inside the omelet, she added pieces of bacon, green peppers, and onions, creating an enchanting aroma that traveled through the apartment in mere seconds.
'Nghh, I hope this isn't too loud.' Sophia thought as she grunted, believing that the sizzling from the pan would wake the warlock up.
Nonetheless, it wasn't the sound that made Dante open his eyes but the smell of a dish that he had never tried before.
"It smells good…" the warlock muttered as he sat up straight on the couch, letting out a long yawn.
"Oh, uhhh, good morning. Sorry to wake you up!" Sophia nervously exclaimed.
"No, no. I'm sorry. Seems like I passed out without even noticing…" he courteously replied.
"It's okay! You seemed pretty tired. Are you hungry?" the blonde asked, feeling relieved at the politeness of the warlock so early in the morning.
"Umm…" Dante hummed, not wanting to bother her. However, he was betrayed by the sound of his stomach growling.
Sophia couldn't help it and let out a chuckle, realizing that Dante was as much of a human as her, even if he claimed to be from a completely different world.
"Come, sit here. I'll serve you a plate," she said, prompting the warlock to stretch his arms and accompany her to the kitchen counter.
Noticing that the man was looking curiously at the ingredients she was using, she remembered his comments the previous night at the bar and served him a glass of orange juice.
"This is called an omelet. It's an egg-based dish, but I added some veggies and some bacon to it. E-enjoy!" said Sophia, handing the hearty breakfast plate to the warlock.
He had a little over three days without eating anything, and as his body got taken over by the dish's aroma, he began chowing down his meal.
The blonde woman smiled, as it always made her happy whenever other people enjoyed her food. Still, her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing, startling the warlock.
"Camille? It's pretty early for you to be calling me…" said Sophia as she picked up the phone.
"No, that's not what I mean. Of course, you can call me any time!" she continued, being obviously teased by the platinum-haired woman on the call.
"Oh, you are here!? Yes, come on up!"
A few minutes after hanging up, Dante had devoured his plate before Camille reached the apartment carrying two large bags behind her.
"Cami, everything okay?" Sophia asked the woman, who had a smirk on her face.
"Everything's great. I was in a hurry to get here before you went to class…" Camille replied.
The two bags she carried were filled with men's clothing for Dante, along with a few other essential products he would need, such as a toothbrush and deodorant, which were items that were wholly unknown to him.
"Don't take this the wrong way, Dante, but when was the last time you took a shower?" Camille asked the warlock, who raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"A what now?" he replied.
"You know, a bath. When was the last time you cleaned your body?" the woman clarified.
"When we healed your shot wound, we had to scrub your body quite a bit to get all that dirt off…" she continued.
"Umm, I guess I dipped in a river about a week ago. It's not exactly a bath, but I did clean myself…" said Dante, unsure about his answer, making both Camille and Sophia shiver at the thought of it.
*sigh* "I got some work to do…" Camille muttered.