Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 46

Dante stared at the map blankly. “This is the noble’s territory?”

The cartographer had a smile on his face as he nodded in reply. “I did pretty well, don’t you think?”

He continued to stare at the map. The cartographer did do a good job, but that wasn’t the point. The noble’s territory was gigantic. “This is just the Outer Edge region?”

The cartographer indicated to the small map. “Of course, I wouldn’t have been able to fit the Outer region on that tiny piece of paper, it’s far too large.”

He would have never thought that the Outer Edge region was so vast… he had always heard it was the smallest region in Aleria.

If there was one saving grace, it was that he was already close to the wasteland border. Initially, he thought that he was very close, only an inch away on the map. But then he saw how close Grimspeak was to Kenguard. The two cities, which were almost 100 miles apart from each other, were only narrowly separated from each other by a tiny sliver of open space. Using that as a reference he estimated that he was a little over 2,000 miles away from the border.

Dante let out a sigh. It could be worse, far worse. If he wasn’t already close to the border, it could have taken him several months to get there, but given his agility and endurance, he could make it in less than a month easily… if unhindered.

There were two cities in between Grimspeak and the border. The first was Iraedon, which was located directly in his path and about halfway to the border.

The second was Vrita. Vrita was out of his direct path, if only slightly, but it was practically touching the wastelands border and may be a good supply point.

Dante glanced up at the cartographer, he had dozens of questions to ask about the map and the cities on the way to the border, but they would all give his destination away if the Calmans found out that he had been in Grimspeak. It was the reason he had a map made of the entirety of the Outer Edge region.

“Thank you, it’s perfect.” He rolled the map up and slipped it into his sack, then drew out enough coppers to equal the two silvers he owed and paid the cartographer.

The cartographer got up to get a blank piece of paper for a new map and sat back at his table. “The pleasure was mine.” After that, the cartographer dipped a quill into the jar of ink and completely dismissed him.

Dante shrugged and turned to leave, he didn’t mind the cartographer's lack of interest in him. Quite the opposite actually, he preferred it. The less interest the cartographer had in him, the less likely it was that he would be remembered.

Stepping out onto the street, the first thing he noticed was that the sun was no longer up. It had taken far longer to make the map than he had realized.

It messed up his plans slightly. He was going to use the rest of the money he had to buy supplies for the road, then leave Grimspeak before the gates were closed for the night, but that no longer seemed to be an option.

Not only was it unlikely that any shops selling road rations would still be open, but there was also no way he would make it out of the fortress that was Grimspeak unnoticed when the gates were closed.

Letting out a sigh, Dante began to walk the streets of Grimspeak aimlessly, looking for an inn that he could stay at for the night.

The streets were still packed full of people, and all of the buildings looked exactly the same. He found himself just looking around Grimspeak, and the people within, wondering how the entire thing could even function.

What do they even do?

He couldn’t understand how so many people could sustain themselves. None of them were farmers, they couldn’t hunt, and there were too many to just be shopkeepers or craftsmen. It raised the question, how did so many people even make enough money to sustain themselves?

Regardless, there was no way he would find an inn when every building looked exactly the same. Dante cleared his throat and grabbed the attention of the man to his side. “Excuse me, do you know where I can find an inn to stay at?”

Instead of an answer, he was awarded a look of irritation, then was completely ignored.

Thinking it was a one-off thing, Dante turned to the woman on his left instead. “Excuse me, but do you know where I can find an inn.”

The woman glanced back at him and flipped back her long brown hair, just as irritated as the man he had just asked. “Get away from me.”

He asked three more people after that, but received similar results.

It seems as though my appearance wasn’t the only thing stopping people from talking to me…

Giving up on asking for directions, Dante walked to the side of the street, then stepped into an alley.

Gritting his teeth, he stepped through the mush of human waste at his feet, it seemed like people just threw their chamber pot waste anywhere that people didn’t walk through.

Then, when no one was watching, he Blinked upward.

Thankfully, the stone roof was completely flat, and although it wouldn’t provide the luxury that a bed would, it was good enough.

Deciding now would be the best time to assign his world essence, Dante opened up his Status. He had ended up killing six groups of combatants in the forest, which had netted him slightly over 3,400 world essence. But so far, he had held off on assigning it in favor of saving it for specializing his Chronomancer class. Now that he had a moment of respite, it would be foolish to not gain the extra attributes that leveling his Classifications would provide.

He looked over his Classifications, both the Revenant and Blader Classifications were worth leveling. The Blader Classification would speed up his journey, and the Revenant Classification would stop him from getting killed.

That line of thinking done, he leveled the two of them.

World Essence waiting to be assigned: 3,432

Chronomancer lvl 10/10 (0/10,000 world essence)

Blademancer lvl 7/10 (0/700 world essence)

Blader lvl 7/10 (0/700 world essence)

Revenant lvl 6/10 (0/600 world essence)

Recent World Essence gain:

2,476 World Essence for Killing: Warrior x 24

931 World Essence for Killing: Ranger x 6

Revenant has reached level 8

Attributes have been added:

+2 Strength

+2 Constitution

Skill description for Rebirth of the Revenant has been updated

Blader has reached level 9

Attributes have been added:

+2 Dexterity

+2 Agility

Skill description for Blade Dancer has been updated

Leveling both of them twice left him with a little over 600 world essence leftover. Dante closed his Status.

Finding comfort on the flat stone roof, he curled up to protect his valuables and drifted asleep.

Andrea Calman

Andrea was in the middle of bathing herself when there was a knock on her bathroom door. “Come in.”

Vicar stepped through the doorway with an uncomfortable expression on his face, which amused her greatly.

She ran her hand through the water. “Did you come to join me, Vicar?”

Vicar cleared his throat. “No, my lady. Layla has sent her report from the academy.”

Andrea pouted. “All work and no play, how boorish.” She continued to run her hands through the water, then absentmindedly asked. “Is she sending the boy?”

“No, my lady.” His words caused Andrea to glance up, making him even more nervous. “He somehow got away… and when Layla deployed Trackers they were unable to pick up a trail.”

“Oh? How interesting, I wonder who he received help from… likely House Ramotar.” Andrea pondered over the implications, for a moment. “Varik should still be distracting House Ailloss, right?”

Vicar nodded in reply. “Yes, my lady. There hasn’t been any movement on his end, and their information networks are crippled.”

Andrea stood up from the bath, revealing her near perfect figure and causing Vicar’s face to redden as he glanced away. “What is Layla doing about it?”

“She has begun to spread the Tackers out further in an attempt to pick up a scent.”

Andrea let out a sigh, then grabbed a towel and began to pad herself dry. “The girl may have the ambition… but she seems to lack everything else. Hopefully she will grow out of it.” She continued to dry herself silently, considering House Ramotar’s objective carefully.

“I assume that Layla, at the very least, had an Artist Classification take a proper sketch of him while he was still at the academy?”

“Yes, my lady. She followed the standard procedures for those with potential.”

Andrea walked over to sit in front of the mirror while continuing to dry off her hair. “And which units are currently in that area?”

“Charles’ and Eric’s units are close by, they could get there in a few hours by raptor.”

She turned to Vicar with a charming smile. “That’s perfect. Send Eric’s group out between the academy and the wasteland border. I want every major city to be checked, entering or leaving. Place Charles’s Infiltrators between the academy and House Ramotar’s territory for reconnaissance, but tell them not to engage. Those should be the only two routes he takes to escape…”

“… and for the sketches.” She thought it over carefully, a delicate touch needed to be used, or they could lose too much potential. “Make copies of his sketch and send it out. I want it everywhere, but don’t use color, and don’t mention his hair or eye color in the description.”

Vicar cleared his throat. “Those two things may be the easiest way to identify him, my lady.”

Andrea rolled her eyes. “Of course they are. If you were in his position, or someone who was in a position to help him, what would you try to hide first.”

Vicar hesitated, but nodded in agreement.

“Set the bounty at one thousand gold, and post it everywhere. Make sure everyone in the Noble Territory knows his face within the week.” She gestured for him to leave.

“Yes, my lady.”