Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 104

Dante immediately went to his command tent after leaving Warlord Vidal. As soon as he got there, he addressed Samson, one of the few retainers he kept around to pass on messages. “Samson, go find Jayden and send him to me. Then tell Addison to go see her father.”

Samson saluted to him. “Sir.” Then he walked away to carry out his task.

Dante sat down behind his desk and drew out a piece of paper that was created specifically for mana contracts. Time was of the essence, so he wanted to get Warlord Vidal out of the way quickly. He had two weeks to finish negotiations and find a place for Addison to live safely. The further away the better. If she decided to get revenge on the people who poisoned her father things could only end badly.

He drew up the mana contract, making sure to leave it vague so he wouldn’t be restricted by it. He stated that he would make Addison’s safety a priority during negotiations, and if he was unable to accomplish that, he would bring her away and help her find a place to settle down. Upon doing so, the contract would be considered complete and he would have no further obligations.

He also added a few clauses that would help in precarious situations. Namely, the ability to prioritize his safety over Addison’s if need be. He fully intended to help her, but there was no way he would give his life to do so if something that he couldn’t anticipate happened.

When he finished, Dante signed his name at the bottom, completing the contract. There was no need for Warlord Vidal to do anything, as the contract solely placed obligations on him alone.

Dante then waited for Jayden, which didn’t take long.

Jayden stepped into the tent with his usual calm, yet somehow exaggerated presence. “Dear brother, have you finally decided to act?”

Dante looked up from his reports and did his best to restrain a smile. Jayden was wearing a new scarf, and like all the others, this one had several errors in the stitching. Tabitha was improving at the very least, her newly knitted items had far less mistakes that they used to. Which was to be expected, because every time he left the camp she made him buy her more yarn to knit with.

“You could say that. Why are you still wearing those things?”

Jayden looked down at his scarf with a small amount of dissatisfaction. “I’m afraid that if I didn’t support Miss Tabitha, her frail heart would be unable to bear the blow.”

Dante didn’t know what to say, so he just nodded in agreement. “Anyways… Victoria has decided that we need to leave in the next two weeks, so I’ll need to finish things here in that time frame.”

Jayden slumped down into the chair across from him with an exaggerated sigh, as though a massive weight had been lifted from his shoulders. A satisfied smile was on his face. “Thank the Goddess. I thought I was going to be worked to death. The two-week timeline is somewhat troubling though, I’m afraid that only seven of my original forty-three plans can be implemented and completed within two weeks.”

Dante rolled his eyes. Jayden had come up with dozens of plans to completely defeat their enemy, but all of them would be completely disastrous for everyone involved. Among them was wide scale poisoning, spreading diseases through the enemy’s encampment, and even leading other Warlords toward them. And those were some of the tamer options. “That won’t be necessary, I’ve decided to surrender.”

Jayden paused, which was a first. Then his eyes wandered slightly before he looked back at Dante. “Dear brother, our reputation would be completely tarnished. Why don’t we just wipe out the enemy before we set out?”

Dante frowned as he heard the words ‘we set out’, but ignored it for the time being. “That would be pointless. Besides, what reputation do we have?” If Warlord Vidal was in good health, he likely would’ve tried to win the war instead of just using it to get ample combat experience. It was pointless now though. If he won it wouldn’t even matter. Someone he didn’t know would just become the warlord and reap the benefits of the slaughter he would carry out. Even Jayden was against the idea of assuming a position of power.

Jayden was aghast. “How could you ask such a question after I put so much work into building the two of us up in the eyes of the common man? Even the enemy trembles when the two of us gather.”

Dante narrowed his eyes, but Jayden continued. “Besides, surrendering would be far too tedious. There is too much groundwork required. And the most significant challenge would be killing Warlord Vidal prior to engaging in negotiations so that things would go smoother, which would then cause unrest among those who are still loyal to him.”

Dante nodded in agreement. “Warlord Vidal has already agreed to end his own life, the contingency being Addison’s safety. I have already agreed to help her escape this predicament.”

Jayden looked like he was going to say something in regard to Addison, but seemed to have thought better of it. The two of them definitely didn’t get along. “There are still other problems. Carter, Jaric, and Soryn will also need to be offed. They are the ones who are most likely to sabotage the negotiations.”

“That is why I called you in here. Invite them in for a meeting about new rationing regulations and have them killed. Also, get rid of Crassus and Gius. I doubt they would make a move so openly, but it would be better to eliminate all possible threats.” All of the men they had designated opposed his or Warlord Vidal’s authority, mostly covertly. The three that Jayden mentioned in particular still had enough influence to contend for the warlord position if he left, making them the biggest threat while negotiating a surrender.

Jayden nodded in understanding. “Very well. I am curious though. Shouldn’t such matters usually be delegated to Miss Addison?”

“She is going to be busy, possibly for the next few days.” He wasn’t sure what state of mind Addison would be in after talking with Warlord Vidal.

Jayden stood and stretched. “Very well. I suppose it doesn’t matter anyways. After discovering that we will be departing soon, I am suddenly filled with a newfound vigor. I’ll be off.”

As soon as Jayden stepped out of the tent Victoria appeared next to him. She seemed to be deeply contemplating something. “You’re just going to surrender?”

Dante could only smile bitterly. “You know I have no intention of becoming an actual assassin, right?” Victoria’s advice when she gave him the deadline was to sneak into the enemy’s encampment and silently kill all of their key leaders. It was definitely preferable to all of Jayden’s plans when it came down to the overall death count, but still needlessly chaotic.

He wasn’t even sure if that would be possible. Victoria had taught him how to move silently and conceal himself in some of their more varied lessons, but killing off all of their leaders silently would be more than a challenge without some form of a stealth skill.

Victoria smiled lightly as she rolled her eyes. “That’s rather obvious. Still, my intention was for you to actually win this war.” She sat in the chair that Jayden had just occupied. “But I suppose that your choice is reasonable.”

Dante leaned back in his chair, far more relaxed now that it was just he and Victoria in the command tent. “More than reasonable. If anything, you and Jayden are the unreasonable ones. There just isn’t enough gain to justify the cost of lives involved.”

Victoria just shrugged, as though that was debatable. “By the way, how much world essence do you need to specialize your Blade Dancer Classification?”

“Only a few thousand.” He had spread out his world essence a bit during the first few months of training, leveling all of Classifications to 15 before he leveled Blade Dancer with the intention of specialization. He leveled the others for the attributes, and chose to specialize his Blade Dancer Classification because a new killing skill or just something to aid him offensively would be a massive help in combat.

Victoria tapped on the armrest of her chair in thought. “We will need to stop on our way back and get that out of the way if you aren’t going to engage in any more fighting here. I don’t think that you will have too much of a problem against Jace, but his skills will definitely be unusual and hard to deal with. What are you going to do about Jayden?”

Dante looked at Victoria inquisitively. “What do you mean?”

“Even among strategists, he is the most remarkable I have ever met in regards to his Classification level, which is saying something. Also, he has mentioned that he intends to follow you, and his intentions appear to be pure, I think that you should consider how valuable he could be.”

Dante scratched his chin. Jayden had been ridiculously useful in the past few months, almost unbelievably so. He still had never really considered allowing Jayden to come with him, he just didn’t trust Jayden enough to not stab him in the back when it would be convenient. But if he was going to wipe out the Calmans, Jayden’s planning skills would be invaluable.

He was also a really good cook…

“You think his intentions are pure?” His tone made his disbelief clear.

Victoria nodded. “I am sure of that. Besides, his reasoning for trying to get closer to you is obvious. He notices far more than you think, and you have shown him enough for him to draw several conclusions. It is only natural that he would try and tie himself to you.”

Dante frowned. “That makes me more inclined to kill him than to trust him.”

Victoria looked amused. “Usually, I would completely agree. But his character is strangely upright. For instance, he really does wear the things Tabitha makes so that he won’t hurt her feelings. And he also puts a great amount of effort in taking Addison’s mind away from her dying father… even if his means of doing so are less than conventional.”

Dante thought back to all of the quarreling he had to endure because of those two. Looking at it from a different perspective, what Victoria said was plausible. “Is this what you do when you disappear between training sessions, watch what goes on in the camp like it’s a drama?”

Victoria shrugged. “I get bored.”

Dante rubbed his eyes. Of course. “Why does an assassin even have a skill that detects lies?”

Victoria hesitated, as though unsure of how to answer. “The guild was looking for new members that could collect intel from the targets they killed. Both Melisandre and I excel in that aspect, so we were recruited.”

He couldn’t imagine how much more clients would pay an assassin if they could collect valuable information from their targets. “Anyways, we are going to need more than one raptor. Do you think that you could find more?”

“Yes, but the nearest settlement that might have them is two days ride from here. You’ll be alone until I get back.”

Dante wasn’t bothered by the two-day absence. “That’s fine, I’ll try to finish things here while you’re gone so that we have time to stop and collect the world essence I need to specialize my Classification.”