Chapter 206: Virtue Of Charity

“Then he took me into this prison. The giants here tried to enslave me, but the marks didn’t stay on my head. So I just lived here peacefully while wondering if I could escape somehow. Unfortunately, an incident brought me here.”

Dante finally finished talking, telling a small story that probably answered all of Anastasia’s questions.

Ana had her mouth wide open as she stared at him in silence. She wanted to say something to break the silence, but her tongue refused to move.

She changed her mind after hearing about how speaking would hurt him for giving her some meaningless comfort, but he ignored her and spoke anyway.

And indeed, he had hurt himself while speaking. She had tried to stop him several times, but he just kept talking.

He had just told her about the state of the Holy Kingdom.

The war that was killing thousands of people.

Her father was so sad and wished nothing more than to save her. Dante told her more details about the guilt and regret in his eyes and all his talking to Valor.

He told her about the camps that he helped secretly and the fact that the giants seemed to know how to open the abyssal gates.

Of course, he cut some parts like his abilities and his relationship with a specific camp, but that didn’t change the overall result of his story.

’Charis… is he lying?’

Charis didn’t respond for a long moment, analysing Dante’s bloody expression. After a moment, she responded: “Unless he’s an expert in controlling his muscles and emotions, he doesn’t seem to be lying. He’s either telling the truth or believing his own lies.”

“…I see.” Anastasia nodded and bowed her head respectfully: “Thank you for helping my kingdom. I’m really grateful for you.”

Anastasia couldn’t help but see Dante in a new light. He might have been a chaos magic user, but maybe he wasn’t that bad morally.

Chaos magic corrupted most of its users, but there were some exceptions, people who either clung to their humanity or were lucky enough to gain classes that were related to chaos magic.

Maybe the boy in front of her was one of them.

Of course, there was a possibility that he truly believed his own lies and had a twisted perspective about helping people, but she wouldn’t assume the worst without having proof.

“It’s okay, I had other reasons to be there and helping them didn’t cost me anything.” Dante waved his chained hand: “And thank you for feeding me. I—!”

Before he could continue his sentence, Anastasia brought her trembling hand to his jaw, pushing his chin upward to shut his mouth by force.

Dante raised an eyebrow, confused by her action. She immediately explained: “Please… try to talk a bit less. You don’t have to keep harming yourself like this.”

Dante stared at her shaky fingers with analysing eyes, feeling a sense of familiarity with her actions.

’Oh, right, she was getting tortured only recently. Unlike me, her trauma is quite fresh, and maybe even worse. No, it’s certainly worse.’ Dante thought while nodding to her with his mouth shut, trying to hide the empathy in his eyes.

“Thank you for listening.” Anastasia smiled faintly and pulled back her hand: “Also, I’m not just another unlucky prisoner. I chose to feed you on my own, and I plan to come here more frequently.”

“Hmm?” Dante’s brows furrowed at her statement. Weren’t the prisoners avoiding him?

“Regardless, I have to leave now before the guards start getting angry. I’m sure they aren’t willing to let me stay here for so long. See you tomorrow.” Anastasia stood up and walked away.

Her figure kept becoming smaller in his sight until the gate closed, leaving him alone in the darkness.

Well, technically, he wasn’t alone.

His eyes immediately landed on Greed.

“Will you be generous enough to explain?” Dante spoke immediately, ignoring Anastasia’s warning.

“Oh, why not?” Unexpectedly, Greed responded: “You don’t have to overthink her actions too much. Did you forget that she has an angel bloodline?”

“Oh, right.” Dante nodded subtly in understanding as he continued listening to Greed.

“In simple words, that woman either felt empathy for you, the prisoners who are forced to feed you randomly, or both. She has the Charity Bloodline, so caring about people is her nature.”

“Your nature as a demon of greed is being selfish, while her nature as an angel of charity is being selfless. It’s strange to see her caring about you, right?”

Dante had no choice but to agree. The irony of an angel telling a demon to stop causing pain to himself…

However, Dante ignored that and started talking inwardly.

’And why did you call her an old friend? I’m sure as hell that you aren’t her childhood friend, unless you already revived yourself somewhere else. Also, why were you hitting the air?’

“Oh, I revived myself. Didn’t I tell you?” Greed laughed: “I told you that my new self was in the Holy Kingdom. When he arrived at Ashton Kingdom, you were already in the Abyss. He’s truly unlucky, don’t you think?”

Dante glared at Greed suspiciously. He couldn’t say whether Greed was just joking or telling the truth.

If he told Dante that there were 10 revived versions of him in Terra, he wouldn’t let that possibility out of consideration.

“Regardless…” Greed added: “That little woman isn’t my old friend, just someone who happened to accompany that old friend. My old friend was next to her.”

Dante frowned deeply, remembering how Greed kept hitting random places in the air.

’But there was no one there. Are you saying that there was an old friend of yours with her and that friend is… invisible…?’

Dante’s eyes darkened subtly, enlightenment giving him realization. Even Aza had a similar understanding of what was happening.

“In the eyes of others, you’re talking to yourself. Both Greed and I are invisible.”

Dante nodded to Aza: ’So… does she have an angelic relic? Does that relic have your “old friend” in a similar state to yours?’

“Ohoho, you got it right.” Greed clapped with a hint of pride: “Anastasia has a relic, and that relic contains a Virtue within it.”

“The founder of the Charity Bloodline, and one of my old friends from the era before the Ultimate Time Acceleration.”

“She’s the Virtue of Charity, Charis!”

’And… you’re expecting me to believe she’s your friend? Did you both enjoy feeding ducks together?’ Dante interrupted Greed with a mocking question.

“Of course she’s my friend. Why would I lie?” Greed asked confusedly: “In fact, she’s my best friend. Not only that, she’s also the only woman who was able to touch my heart. You should meet her to understand.”

“…”

Dante narrowed his eyes and smirked: ’Did she touch your heart… literally?’

Greed rolled his eyes: “You don’t have to focus on these small details. She touched my heart, whether it was physically or emotionally doesn’t matter that much.”

’Did she kill you? Was she one of the people who turned you into a relic?’

Greed rolled his eyes again: “USELESS DETAILS! So what if she was one of them? I can assure you that she truly loved me… Well, as the founder of the charity bloodline, she technically loves everyone… but it’s still love!”

“Also, is there any sane person who wouldn’t like a woman that is ready to kill him? The women who are ready to kill their men for small reasons are the best!”

“I see.” Dante sighed and started ignoring Greed.

So, to make it simple.

Greed wanted to see Dante here, in the Abyss and trapped in Uldor’s prison.

And COINCIDENTALLY! A woman who had a fragment of a virtue that likely caused Greed’s death was also there.

“You know that you’re exposed, right?” Aza asked, her voice as sharp as daggers.

Greed shrugged, though he didn’t have shoulders, and said: “So what if I’m exposed? You don’t know what my plans are, just that they’re related to her, right?”

“I was exposed when I talked about enslaving the merchant.Same thing when I talked about the Abyss. Yet, here you are. Was knowing that I’m planning something really helpful?”

Dante smiled widely: ’You are right, I don’t know what I should do to stop you. Actually, helping that virtue is something I don’t really care about. My only problem is that harming her is something YOU want.’

’So… I’ll just leave it for luck. I don’t know what will stop you, and you don’t know either. My advantage is that I have an aspect that is related to luck. After all those months, I finally know how to take advantage of misfortune, unlike you.’

“Yes, I’d like to see you ruining my plans.” Greed wiped a tear: “You really grew so much during the past year. My efforts weren’t meaningless. I’m truly a proud ancestor!”

Dante gritted his teeth, yet he didn’t respond to his mockery. It wasn’t worth it.

’Wait, if Anastasia has a virtue with her, why aren’t the angels saving her?’

Surprisingly, Greed decided to answer that question.

“It’s simple, Charis didn’t want to tell them. Unlike me, the fragment that Anastasia has doesn’t carry all her memories. She likely was afraid that someone would try to take advantage of Anastasia, and she didn’t have enough memories to know who is trustworthy anymore.”

Dante nodded. It was understandable then.

Shaking his head, he continued waiting. He had to prepare himself for the next stat boost.

Dante was truly filled with anticipation.

’It’s going to be fun.’

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