Chapter 159: Old Friends

A/N: competition starts in 6 months, not 7. There was a miscalculation in the past Chapter which I fixed now (Yes, I admit. I see why I failed math)

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“That’s the city, my lord.”

“Yeah… I can see that.”

Dante and Ruby were now in a trade convoy, traveling slowly toward the capital of Morgana’s duchy.

It was the second biggest city in Ashton Kingdom after the capital of the kingdom itself, where the royal family lived.

This city was called Emilana. Anyone with a brain would notice that it was named after the Duchess’s daughter herself, Lady Emilia.

This small detail screamed volumes of how much the Duchess loved her daughter. After all, she had more than just one daughter, but apparently, Lady Emilia was her favourite, or so the rumours said.

Obviously, this city wasn’t only big in size, but also extremely advanced and secure.

From this distance, Dante could see the high walls that surrounded the town, the watchtowers filled with guards, and even the advanced weapons for each guard.

With the ability of his eyes, he was certain that the majority of them were Rank 2.

That was a level of security that Dante had never seen before other than at the Holy Kingdom.

’There is even one person at Rank 3…’

Standing on top of the main gate was an armored muscular man with long black hair and a pair of red eyes.

✧IMG✧

His Spirit stat had the value of 160, which screamed of the amount of resources he devoured to reach this number. After all, absorbing Cores of Existence couldn’t give all these stats alone.

All of a sudden, the guy’s eyes locked into Dante’s carriage. After a few seconds, he simply raised his eyebrows with a look of confusion before shifting his focus to the other carriages.

’Wait, what was that just now?’

Dante was confused by the man’s strange behaviour. Did Dante do something wrong?

’Don’t tell me he noticed when I used my ability.’

That thought was enough to make a shiver run down Dante’s spine. He had never seen anyone that could notice such a thing!

How could he even notice it? The ability was completely invisible!

’At least he doesn’t have bad intentions. He just looked a bit confused.’

Dante decided to just ignore this matter and focus on the path.

He had already spent a month either traveling or resting every once in a while. That meant the registration had already started.

And of course, his Demon Bloodline got 1% more to its awakening percentage, becoming 19%. With that, his vitality also increased and became 150.

Dante had high confidence that, so long as no monsters were in the competition, his win was guaranteed!

5 months remained before the competition. By then, he’d have another draconic part and 10 more vitality stats, not to mention that he might strengthen himself in another way.

With such power, who could defeat him? Jin?

Of course… Dante knew that a real monster with a talent higher than his wasn’t out of consideration, but he was still okay with second place.

After arriving at the city, Dante and Ruby left the convoy immediately. They had no carriage or goods. Ruby had sold all of them before traveling for less liability.

…And maybe the incident in which a mysterious beast stole everything was still affecting her.

After entering the city and paying the fees.

’Fucking scammers!’

Dante and Ruby headed toward the Registration Centre quickly, and there, they saw a long line of people, mostly men, waiting for their turn to enter a specific building.

Sighing helplessly, they went to the end of the line and waited for their turn.

“Huh? Ruby? I can recognize your stupid hair anywhere!”

Just then, a familiar voice resounded behind them. They turned back and remembered the owner of that voice immediately.

“Oh, Jin!” Ruby waved to the blonde drunk guy who was approaching them.

As expected, he was holding a big bottle that was filled with an alcoholic drink. His cheeks were red, showing that he was as drunk as ever. And he still had the sword he got from Storm of Shadows in his back.

Surprisingly, Dante saw another person approaching them.

“Emeralda?”

She was the green-haired girl he had accused of being a pervert. She still had her Spirit on her shoulder, and wielded a longbow that was enchanted by runes.

Once she and Jin got closer, they suddenly froze in place, and for some reason, Jin’s nose bled while looking at Ruby.

“I… I think… No, how the fuck?!”

The more he stared, the more his eyes widened.

Was this the same Ruby he had known?

If yes, then how did she change this much? Jin could swear she was more beautiful than an angel!

“Ruby, did you make a potion that increases your beauty?!” Jin asked excitedly: “It worked perfectly! You are more beautiful than Lady Emilia!”

“Huh? Who dares disrespect Lady Emilia like this!”

Some people heard Jin and approached him, but once they looked at Ruby, they hesitated.

“Ah… understandable.”

“You have… a good taste.”

Jin ignored them and rushed toward Ruby, taking her into a tight hug.

“Hey! You smell like shit!”

“I knew you’d come to cheer for me! I’ll treat you well after winning this competition.”

“No you won’t, and close your disgusting mouth!”

Dante stood at the side and watched them silently. It was nice to see Ruby acting like her old self when she wasn’t preoccupied with thoughts of Dante.

It was also nice to see that Jin ignored Dante entirely. He missed that guy a little, but he didn’t want a stupid conversation with him.

As he was waiting, Emeralda suddenly stood behind him, her hands on her back, and watched Ruby and Jin with him.

After a few moments, she finally opened her mouth: “You aren’t wearing your blindfold now. It’s my first time seeing your eyes and full face. Why did you hide them if you are that handsome?”

“I had my reasons…” Dante answered indifferently.

“Oh, I see…”

After a few seconds, she finally went into the real topic she was curious about and whispered: “Unlike Jin, I don’t really know anything about this merchant, but I’m sure the mark on her head wasn’t there before. Also, the feeling I get from her is slightly similar to the one I’m getting from you… it’s a bit hard to explain.”

“Is it… related to that mark?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep