Chapter 148: Vault

“Finally!” Dante let out a breath of relief, looking at the town that didn’t even have walls.

He didn’t even bother asking about its name. From the appearance alone, he knew that it wasn’t in good condition.

There were some guards here and there, but it didn’t have a good security system like Onyxsilk town, where they had to check everyone before they could enter the town.

But here, the people were entering and leaving the town freely, and some guards were even playing some games instead of doing their job properly.

’It reminds me of that old village. Hopefully, this one doesn’t have a demon ruling it.’

Dante looked at Ruby, who was standing right beside him, and asked: “Your goods are here, right?”

Ruby nodded immediately: “Yes! I told the mercenaries to put the carriage in my home in exchange for my mount and a few other items if anything happened. Also, I have a vault where I keep a few other things.”

“I see.” Dante gave her a nod and walked with her into the town.

As expected, the guards didn’t even try to stop them, letting them go into the town without any problems.

Although one of them tried to flirt with Ruby—because of her new appearance—she simply rejected him and nothing happened after that.

All this time, Dante couldn’t stop smiling.

He had no misfortune, and even if he had, the parasite wouldn’t be able to leak it!

’Greed, can you see this? I’m walking among them without being a threat! HAHAHAHA!’

Dante laughed inwardly, barely suppressing the urge to look at his right arm while laughing.

Unlike everything that happened to him after his journey in the White Abyss, the change in his misfortune was due to his own efforts and comprehension of misfortune.

In other words, even if he neither gained the items in Greed’s hidden room nor advanced to Rank 2, he would have still fixed the issue of his misfortune and traits.

Therefore, he was happy without feeling any bad emotions.

After walking for a few minutes, they reached an old building without windows or doors, on a big gate with runes closing them.

“Does it open only to your mana signature?” Dante asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes.” Ruby went to the door and channeled her mana, causing the door to open like a mechanical door and getting the attention of some passing people.

Dante and Ruby ignored them and entered the building. While Ruby was closing the door, Dante asked: “No, I mean, how did they enter the place if they don’t have your mana signature?”

“Oh, my lord, they have it.” Ruby explained: “I gave them a one-time-use mana key that has my mana signature. It ensures that they can open the place only one time and be unable to give it to anyone else.”

Dante thanked her for explanation and examined the room.

“They are here!” Without a warning, Ruby suddenly rushed forward to the figure that was in the middle of the room.

It was a carriage tied to a wagon filled with goods. Ruby hugged and kissed the wagon, as though it was her child.

’I wonder if that’s because of her losses.’

At first, she lost her goods, carriage, and mount to a mysterious being that used some kind of invisible force to steal everything.

And recently, she had lost her backpack that contained her most valuable goods. In a sense, she was so unlucky when it came to goods that Dante felt bad for her, so he understood her happiness for seeing her belongings in their place.

Not to mention the enslavement…

“Anyway, what will you do now?” Dante leaned back against a wall and crossed his arms.

“What do you mean? Surely, I’ll stay you, my lord. All my goods are yours now!” Ruby answered without hesitation.

That was the reason why she wanted to return to her goods.

She still liked money, but now, she loved Dante more than even herself. She knew about his mysterious storage and had no doubt that he could take her goods to himself without a problem.

Dante’s eyes twitched at his response, feeling the guilt that he had been trying to ignore returning.

He pointed at the wagon and suggested: “And let your goods rot? I don’t think it’s something wise to do. Maybe you can do the thing you like about being a merchant and visit me like you always do, right? Won’t more wealth be more helpful for me when the time comes and I need your help?”

Ruby started showing some hesitation on her face. Seeing that, Dante’s eyes sparkled with a silver of hope.

If she accepted, she technically wouldn’t be a slave!

She would just live her normal life and rarely meet him. That was the best outcome Dante could think about for her situation.

“But… but…” Ruby bit her lower lip: “My lord, I want to be with you. I want to stay next to you. Can’t we travel together and sell them? I-I will teach you everything I know about business and I can make you rich!”

For a few moments, Dante stood speechless in front of her desperation. After calming his heart, he shook his head: “Ruby, you know that I can’t, right? I’m not really interested in all these things, but you are interested, aren’t you? You didn’t get your class by coincidence.”

“You can live normally, keep traveling to get richer, maybe s-sleep with a handsome man, and eat all the food you want. After you finish everything, you can return to me with anything that could be useful or fun for me like a good slave. Think about it!”

Ruby began scratching her hair while considering it.

She wanted to travel with Dante, but she didn’t want to force him to do something he didn’t like.

“I don’t want to do this…” Ruby wiped a tear and sighed: “I’ll do it, my lord. I’ll be a good slave and bring you treasures when I return!”

Dante sighed in relief.

He succeeded!

He could already feel that some guilt was fading away. He could simply say that he didn’t need her treasures with any random reason if she returned with anything.

He still didn’t want to take advantage of her situation. That was the least he could do as the person who was responsible for what happened to her.

Dante and Ruby quickly discussed what she was going to do. Dante would return to the treehouse alone, and she’d hire some mercenaries and go to a specific town to do her usual trades.

Afterward, she began checking all her goods and the condition of each one.

She had to throw away a few of them with tears in her eyes. They were plants that needed consistent care to stay alive and usable. Unfortunately, she was busy in the White Abyss to care about them, and the mercenaries didn’t have her aspect.

“Okay, I’m done here.” Ruby nodded to herself, half satisfied, half sad for her losses: “My lord, I’ll show you my vault now. It will certainly help you, so prepare your storage.”

Without waiting for Dante to respond, Ruby tore off a piece of his sleeve and used a dagger to make her finger bleed.

’Isn’t a mana signature enough nowadays?’

Ruby crouched and placed the bloody piece of cloth on a specific area on the floor, pressing heavily to paint the area red.

Afterward, she channeled her mana, causing the floor to open and show a ladder that led underground.

“It’s here, please follow me.” Ruby created a glowing flower and held it in her mouth, then she quickly climbed down the stairs.

’Underground vault, huh?’

Taking a deep breath, Dante quickly followed after her.

It took him only a few seconds before his feet touched the ground. After turning around, he saw Ruby standing with her arms opened.

“My lord, feast your eyes on your fortune!”

Dante looked behind her…

Gulp!

…And swallowed

The room was small and barely had space to store a few things, but these few things were so valuable that they were literally shining!

Only two boxes, one potion, and one weapon were enough to make Dante reconsider taking advantage of this situation.

’No! Focus, Dante, focus!’

Dante shook his head and quickly examined the items.

The first was a metallic box that contained a significant number of Rank 1 cores. That was the thing that affected Dante the least, because he already had a lot of them.

But the next box, which was the largest, was tempting.

It was filled with both mana crystals and coins, but they weren’t the normal ones.

There were only Platinum coins, and a lot of medium-sized mana crystals!

It was widely known that the medium-sized mana crystals were more valuable than the small ones. They provided a large amount of mana with a lower chance of getting mana poison than eating several small mana crystals.

And it was exactly what Dante needed now.

’…Next.’

The next was a spear, which had a sharp head and seemed to be made of a black material.

“Grade 3… right?”

“Yes, and the potion as well.”

Dante looked at the potion that contained a clear cyan liquid, then Ruby explained: “It can raise the Mind stat permanently.”

Dante inhaled deeply, dismissing all the stupid thoughts.

Now, he had to convince Ruby that he didn’t need any of them.

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