Holding a long stick, Dante stared with an open mouth at the big piece of meat he was cooking above the black flames.
With every drop of fat, the saliva on his mouth only increased. With every passing breeze, the rich scent of meat would force its way into Dante's nose.
Dante wanted nothing more than to eat it right now, but he knew that patience was required to cook meat perfectly.
All… all this waiting wouldn't be for nothing, right?
'When I taste this meat, I'll be glad that I have waited. I only have to be cautious of burning it.'
Eventually, Dante felt the meat becoming too soft on the stick and knew that it was done.
'Finally! Hehehe. Hahaha!'
Immediately, he took a heated rock from beside the flames and put the meat on it.
Taking a knife out of his dimensional ring, he cut the meat into slices.
'Now, for the best step.'
From his ring, he took a small bottle that was filled with white powder. It was salt.
Dante put the salt carefully on each slice—neither too little nor too much—before returning it and taking a small bottle of water out of his ring.
'It's time… I'll finally taste meat again. I'll finally taste meat again!'
With a shaky hand, Dante took a small slice and put it in his mouth. The moment it touched his tongue, a wide smile spread across his face.
'It-It's… wonderful.'
Using all his willpower, he stopped himself from crying as the rich flavour hit his tongue.
In his past world, buying expired beans a few times a month was considered a luxury. He almost forgot the taste of healthy food.
Even before falling into debts, he had been forced to work as a driver at a young age after his uncle died. Because he was responsible for feeding himself, Dante valued every coin he had and never wasted it.
He had spent only enough to live, but even that didn't prevent him from becoming homeless later.
'Damn the past! I'll definitely live happily this time, and I'll buy and eat whatever I want!"
As he happily took another slice, he noticed a short girl approaching him with a gluttonous expression.
Dante felt some annoyance as she silently sat behind him, her face focused on the meat slices.
"Can–can I—"
"Don't even think about that."
Dante rejected her instantly, wondering why the knights would leave that blind girl to approach him alone.
'Are they stupid? I'm a stranger! I might harm her or worse! Or are they underestimating me?'
Clearing his throat, Dante said: "Just go to your knights and search for any animal and hunt it. None of you is weak, anyway."
Dante looked at the knights, and noticed that their gazes didn't leave him and even their muscles seemed tense.
'Yeah, nevermind… they aren't underestimating me.'
They seemed to be ready to cast a spell at any second if Dante made a stupid move. Well, he didn't want to harm Elizabeth anyway.
Elizabeth looked at the ground: "But it's the night… it's dangerous out there, and we don't have a dimensional storage for storing fresh meat, so we didn't have anything stored."
"Not my problem."
Dante ate another slice indifferently.
"What about this?"
"Hmm?"
Looking at Elizabeth, he saw her smiling with a beautiful rose in her hand.
'Wait, where have I seen this thing before?'
Elizabeth brought it in front of him and begged: "Please… only six slices."
'What am I supposed to do with a rose? Eat it?'
Dante hesitated, looking at the rose with a frown.
A moment later, he took the rose from her: "Fine… only six."
'I still have Beatrice's frozen meat and the remains of the boar, anyway.'
Maybe as a simple act of kindness, or because her blindness reminded Dante of his crippled self, he accepted.
All of a sudden, Elizabeth hugged Dante's arm: "Thank you so much! I won't forget your kindness!"
Dante flinched violently, looking at Elizabeth with killing intent. He barely resisted the urge to turn the centipede into a blade and pierce her. Even Fafnir was ready to strike.
A moment later, she left his arm and took six slices of meat before returning to her campfire happily.
"You–you really did it? With the rose that the blood sucker gave to you?"
"Never underestimate the value of my roses!"
"Hehe, I told you he is a kind boy. You have to trust my judgment more often."
"Tsk, you are just too innocent and naive. I won't forget the merchant that scammed you."
Dante stared at them for a moment before looking at his trembling arm with a complex expression.
'I didn't allow her to touch me… damn it.'
Dante sighed and continued eating, trying to forget the past with the delicious meat.
'...Isn't she older than me? Why is she acting childish?'
A moment later, someone else approached him.
Skylar was smiling brightly at him, holding a familiar rose.
"Hey, my little brother. Do you have a moment?"
"...."
"I won't ask for meat, don't worry. All I want is the beast's blood. You don't need it, right? You won't lose anything."
Dante thought about that for a moment before accepting—he indeed didn't need the blood.
Still, why would he give it for free? It wasn't a few slices of meat, but entire liters of blood!
Additionally, that vampire didn't seem crippled like Elizabeth—he didn't have anything that deserved sympathy.
"If you want blood, then you have to buy it. The blind girl was a special case."
Skylar smiled as if expecting this answer. Immediately, he took a black blindfold out of his pocket.
Dante looked at the blindfold with confusion as Skylar explained: "We vampires know about our bad reputation, so it's common for us to hold a blindfold like this. The most noticeable thing about us is our blood-red eyes, thus we made blindfolds to hide them."
"Using this enchanted blindfold, you will hide your eyes without losing the ability to see. Here, try it."
Dante took the blindfold and wrapped it around his eyes. Surprisingly, he could still see clearly and it didn't hurt his eyes as if it weren't there!
'That's all I needed!'
He could now hide his eyes, which would be really useful in his travels, but there was something strange.
"W-why are you giving me this?"
Had he noticed his demonic eye?
Skylar pointed at Dante's right eye, which he had kept closed all the time, and said: "I respect your secrets, but you can't just keep it closed all the time. This blindfold will help."
"Oh."
Dante couldn't argue anymore as he really felt happy for having this offer. He didn't know how valuable blood was for vampires, but the blindfold was worth more in his opinion.
Dante was about to summon his ring, but then he looked at Skylar with confusion: "Wait, if you had this blindfold all along, why didn't you wear it?"
"Because my eyes are beautiful and charming! Why would I hide them?" Skylar answered without hesitation, as if that was the most normal thing in the world.
'Is this girl-man stupid?'
Dante sighed and immediately, two corpses—one of a boar and one of a wolf—appeared in front of him.
But this time, Skylar didn't fail to notice the black ring.
'So it was a relic? Did he clear a dungeon by himself or find it somewhere else?' Skylar wondered while taking a bunch of glass bottles out of his pockets.
Skylar opened the bottles and put them close to the beasts, then he raised his hand and pointed his finger at them.
To Dante's surprise, the blood began to fly magically into the bottles. Before he could say anything, Skylar explained: "It's an ability of a trait that all vampires have. Not a big deal."
"Oh, that's cool." Dante nodded in understanding and kept watching, continuing to eat the meat slices and wrapping a blanket around his shoulders.
On the other side, the knights and the saintess candidate were busy with their own conversation.
"I wonder what his other aspects are." Selena said while giving a quick glance to the shadow flames.
Of course, they knew that Shadow Aspect can mimic the other elements. After all, one of them had some experience on that.
Maxwell stared at his finger, shadow flames covering it silently: "I had to study for quite a long time until I started to mimic fire, and he learned it by himself? The crowned existences are really something else."
Selena nodded, patting Elizabeth's head lightly: "So, what do we know about him until now?"
"He is kind!" Elizabeth shouted.
Maxwell sighed: "He likely has Sorcerer's Gift and the Shadow Aspect from an unknown Domain. His comprehension is at least 20% and can already mimic fire. There is also a chance that he has Space Aspect or at least can mimic it. Plus, his language is really bad, as if he isn't used to talking."
Selena nodded, then she suddenly blushed: "And he is strangely… too handsome and attractive."
Maxwell and Elizabeth's jaws fell, but Selena quickly continued: "I mean that in a literal way. Maxwell, didn't you notice it? Even his voice isn't normal! This may be an ability, innate trait, or something related to his crown. We should keep that in our minds."
"Oh." Maxwell and Elizabeth gave her a nod, then Maxwell let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.
"Why do you want to take him to the Holy Kingdom, anyway? Didn't he refuse already?" Elizabeth suddenly asked.
Selena raised two fingers: "The first reason is that I genuinely want him to grow perfectly without wasting potential. And our lord will make sure he doesn't turn into a bad person or waste his talent."
Lowering one finger, she continued: "The second reason is you! If you brought a newly-discovered crowned existence to the kingdom, your chance of becoming one of the next saintesses will increase significantly."
"Even if we couldn't take him with us, a small report about him and his abilities will be considered a big contribution as well."
Elizabeth nodded, though she didn't really like the second reason. But she could understand Selena's concern.
After all, she wasn't the only candidate, but just one of tens. Her chance of becoming a saintess was really slim, especially with her blindness.
"We should add his strange eye to the report too. It may be special in a way that makes him want to hide it." Maxwell added, and Selena nodded to him.
On the other side, Skylar had gathered the last droplet of blood.
"Thank you, really. Here is your rose."
Dante accepted Skylar's rose emotionlessly: "Where did you and Elizabeth get the roses from, anyway?"
Skylar smiled and winked: "I made them myself, using my blood. A part of me is always with you now."
"Ah!" Dante threw the roses away immediately.
Looking at them, Dante had the urge to vomit, but he endured it. He couldn't waste the meal he had just eaten.
"You disgusting bastards!"
Skylar stood up and asked: "Anyway, are you sure you want to stay here alone? I know the human knights aren't trustworthy, but Elizabeth and I can protect you from them."
"I'm okay, thank you for your stupid concern."
Hearing Dante's reply, Skylar sighed in disappointment before returning to his campfire.
Sitting alone, Dante made a simple platform of wood and placed some of Beatrice's clothes on it, making a simple bed.
Lying down on them, Dante ordered Fafnir: 'Keep an eye on them and the forest, I have to sleep… and forget ever touching those disgusting roses! Does that blind girl know she was holding something made of blood?'
Fafnir nodded silently.
After a few moments, Dante finally gave in to his exhaustion and slept for the first time in this world.
He didn't need anyone other than himself and only himself. That was how he lived until now, and that was what he believed in.