I am not the shield hero

Warning: Brief depiction of torture.

"Good morning, sunshine." Dante said to the knight.

"Wha…" The knight took in his surroundings. He tried to, but he found himself completely restrained. His arms, his legs, even his head was completely immobile. He was pinned to a long log they'd found, and was propped against another log, with his legs elevated and his face toward the sky.

"You…How dare you attack a knight of Melromarc!" The knight bellowed.

"You said that already." Dante replied, rummaging through his backpack.

In truth, the knight had woken up during the night. Since Keel was still shaken, Sadeena took first watch. After a few hours, the knight started yelling at them to release him. Dante had already awoken, stirred from yet another nightmare, and figured then was a good time to figure out his question from yesterday. He held the knight's throat until he passed out, which did take longer than he thought, but not incredibly so. He had Sadeena repeat her spell, just to make sure the knight stayed out. Dante kept watch after then, until the sun rose and they had breakfast.

"What are you planning, Shield?!"

"Well, first, I'm glad you recognized me. So many knights seem to be bad at their job." They weren't the only ones. Sadeena had yet to spot a single shadow, or anyone else spying on them. Guards not looking at cloaked travelers is one thing, but what are the church shadows doing? Hopefully, they aren't as numerous as I feared.

Dante stood above the knight, hands behind his back. "Second, I have some questions for you."

"I'll tell you nothing, devil!" The knight spat.

"You say that…" Dante gestured to Sadeena and Keel to come over. "But, really, you will. I want you to look at these two first."

The knight's eyes shifted between the two. "A dog brat and your girlfriend. So what?"

Sadeena held her harpoon and gripped it tightly.

Wow. No joke about that? She is pissed.

"Look at the boy. Do you recognize him?" Dante prodded, but the knight remained silent. "He was a resident of Lurolona"

"Hah! One of those beast—" His exposed head was swiftly met with the butt of Sadeena's harpoon. Keel shook slightly, but he kept standing.

"Yes. Now, I want you to think hard about what you say next." Dante knelt next to the man, putting his face right in front of the knight's. "Who else raided the village, and where did you sell the children?"

Dante got his answer in the form of spit on his face. He simply stood up and wiped it off.

"Rude, but I'm so glad you feel that way. Otherwise," A cruel grin spread on his face as he looked down at the knight, "I wouldn't be able to test out a few things."

"Go to hell, devil!"

"No need to worry about that." He turned to Keel. "Go wait with the filolials while we deal with this."

"No, I want to be here." Keel said, standing firm.

"This isn't something a child should see."

"I said—" Keel stopped when Sadeena placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Wait for us over there." She said simply. The dog boy stood still for a moment before nodding.

Once he disappeared through the foliage, Dante reached behind him. "Do you see what this is?" He asked, holding a knife in his hands. "I've used this to skin dozens of usapils in my short time here."

He twirled the knife in his hand. "But, you see, my shield is a bit particular."

He slowly brought the knife lower. "I can't use any weapon other than my shield."

The knife inched its way closer to the bound knight. "But that only applies to combat."

"Stop!"

It was inches from his face. "This isn't combat. You aren't an enemy. You are simply a piece of meat."

The knife made contact with the knight. "So…"

In an instant, the knife was flung from Dante's hand, the remnants of the shock dissipating from him.

"Well, it was worth a shot." Dante looked over at the knife, embedded in the ground. "No matter, I have a more realistic idea."

Dante knelt down and picked up a couple items. In one hand was a large piece of cloth. In the other was a waterskin.

"I'll be placing this cloth over your face. It was from your buddy's shirt, in case you were wondering."

"Bastard!"

When he lay it over the bound man, Sadeena held it tight on either side.

"Will this really work?" She asked.

"Do you not have this here?" Dante returned. Sadeena shook her head. He supposed in a world with magic and levels, some torture techniques might be more obscure than others. "Ah, well, yes. This will work quite well. Assuming, of course…"

He opened the waterskin and began to pour. The water hit the cloth, but the waterskin stayed in his hand. He continued to pour a little at a time.

Interesting. It's indirect enough that the shield will let me do this. Of course, this would either be something like environmental damage, where I would gain no XP, or it's the equivalent of me handing a weapon to Sadeena, since the soaked cloth is doing the work. Either or.

It was barely ten seconds before the knight started shaking violently against his restraints. His ungloved hands desperately scratched against the log he was bound to in a vain attempt at escape. He sputtered as he tried to gain a single breath of air.

"Okay, take it off." Dante said.

The second Sadeena lifted the cloth, the man coughed uncontrollably. His face had begun to turn red.

"So, ready to talk yet—"

"It was Davon Mallory! He led us to the village after the wave! There was Karta, Ballan Nate, Adler—"

"Slow down a second!" Dante fumbled with his notebook on the ground and began writing.

Over the next fifteen minutes, Dante had a list of twenty-four names with descriptions of the knights and slavers, their usual hangouts, approximate levels, and who likely handled the transactions with the slave traders.

God, he just doesn't shut up. I could barely keep up with the bastard. I know it was bad, but it wasn't that bad. Didn't even get the chance to threaten refilling the waterskin in the river over there. Got to say, I'm not impressed with these knights.

"Is that everything?" Dante asked, glancing down at the knight through slit eyes.

"That's all I know!" The man pleaded.

Dante hummed to himself before nodding. "Good. I suppose we're done here then." He took the knife and cut the ropes binding the knight to the log, but not releasing him entirely.

"Y-You'll let me go?" He tentatively asked. There was actual hope in his voice.

"Don't be ridiculous." Dante pulled the man by his legs. He began walking towards the small river as Sadeena followed. "I just tortured you, albeit barely, and we killed your friend. Can't really leave any witnesses, can we?"

"Wait!" The man called as he was dragged along, thrashing around. "I-I know other things! I'll tell you if you let me go! I swear I'll never breathe a word of any of this!"

"I highly doubt that. Both of those things." They were a few feet into the river, the water coming just above the knight's shoulders.

"The church! I can tell you what the church is planning!"

That got Dante to stop. He figured the man was just a slaver, not in on whatever the church had going on. If he knew something, it might be useful.

"This had better be good." Dante looked down at him, not letting go of his leg.

"The princess! They plan on stirring up problems for you and making it look like Princess Malty's doing! They want you to kill her in anger!"

Well…that was certainly something. If Malty was more cunning, there was no reason to believe the church leaders weren't also. Hoping he died in the waves was an option, but if they could trick Dante into killing a princess, well, that would give a good excuse to kill the Shield Hero and start a crusade.

This also muddied Dante's thoughts on what Malty might have planned for him. If she wasn't going to screw with Dante, then was framing him and ensnaring Motoyasu the bulk of her plan in the early stages? Was she aware of the church's plans to remove her? Was she aware of their theocracy plan? The knight that presented the bloody sheet could have been loyal to Malty and not the church.

Hell, the framing might even be the full extent of their interactions, but Dante wasn't going to hold his breath. There were more moving parts than he was comfortable with.

"So…do we have a deal?" The knight broke him from his thoughts.

Dante smiled as he looked down at the knight. "That was a very nice piece of information you gave me."

"Then…"

"However." Dante pulled the knight a few more feet, submerging his head. He placed a boot on the knight's chest, keeping his writhing head underwater. "I'd be a fool to let you live, no matter what knowledge you can provide me. I do appreciate it, though."

The knight kept struggling to get out from under Dante, but being bound and under Dante's stats, his fate was sealed.

A harpoon thrust to his throat was what did him in, however. XP and a level-up flashed in his vision.

Dante jerked his head toward Sadeena. "Why did you do that? He was going to die anyway."

Sadeena shook her head. "I didn't want to do it like this."

"Like what? I told you, I wouldn't have you do anything I wouldn't do myself. I was proving that."

"And you did."

Dante ran his hand through his hair. "Look, the other guy was one thing, but this was basically an execution. You didn't have to—"

Sadeena gestured to the side with her head. When Dante looked over, he saw Keel watching them from behind a tree, terror written on his face.

Shit.

Dante gave the knight one last look before he stepped out of the water. "Keel, would you come over here a moment?"

The dog boy huddled closer to the tree.

"I'm not mad at you." Dante said, beckoning him closer.

Keel slowly stepped beyond the tree and made his way over. He kept his head down as he stood before Dante. The man placed a hand on his shoulder, causing him to flinch.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want you to see that." He said, giving Keel a light squeeze. "Are you okay?"

"I-I wanted…I thought I could watch…I'm…" Tears threatened to burst from his eyes.

Dante knelt down, meeting Keel at eye level while keeping his hold. "You didn't like watching that." He stated. Keel shook his head, tears starting to fall. "That's good. You shouldn't, and I don't want you to. Sometimes, I might need to do things like this. When I do, I want you to stay away from it. I don't want you to have to see any of this. Understand?"

Keel gave him a short nod, gripping his shirt all the while.

"Good." Dante stood again, giving Keel a pat on the shoulder. "Run along. We'll be over shortly."

Keel quickly ran off through the forest yet again, leaving Dante and Sadeena with the dead knight. He scratched his head as he walked back over.

"Sorry. I should have paid more attention." He said to the orca woman. He pulled the knight from the river and back onto dry land.

"No, I should have as well." Sadeena admitted. "I was too focused on watching…"

"I can't blame you for that." He cut the ropes and began unstrapping the chest piece. "He attacked your village and helped steal away Raphtalia. So, you watched him suffer. If anything, I'm impressed with your restraint. You could have done all this yourself."

"Yeah…"

"But you didn't, and that's good too." He finished removing the heavy armor and set it aside. He stood up before continuing. "We haven't really talked about what you used to do, but if I had to guess, you don't want to do those sorts of things anymore."

She remained silent at his assessment. Being an executioner, torturer, and whatever else the Heavenly Emperor needed, especially at such a young age, likely damaged her more than she would be willing to admit. At least right now, to him.

"Then I will handle the…interrogations we might need to do. You just give them a quick end when it's over. Deal?"

Sadeena gave him a shallow nod. "Deal."

It wasn't ideal, but in all likelihood, they may need to get more information out of people in the future. Now, Dante knew he had a method to do so.

"And, thank you." He said, earning a confused look from her.

"For what?"

"For not taking my silver and running. You could have and you chose to stay. I never thanked you before, so, thank you." He said earnestly.

Sadeena gave him a smile. "You're welcome.

"One last thing." He pointed to the relatively exposed limb of the knight. "I'm sorry to ask, but can you remove his arm from his body?"

"What for?" She was again confused at the request.

"For my shield. I'll come back over to you all when I'm done." That was all he said, signaling for her not to watch. Sadeena gave the arm a quick thrust, piercing the chainmail covering it and severing it. After that, she went back to camp.

Dante readied the knife and got to work.

~The Wrong Hero~

Once he was finished butchering the arm, he absorbed the components and the rest of the body and equipment. He thought it strange the shield required him to disassemble monsters, or a human in this case, to get the individual component shields, even though he absorbed them combined before. Though he thought it stranger that the bodies of people had their clothes on in his monster drops.

Human Bone Shield

(abilities locked) equip bonus: HP bonus (tiny)

Human Skin Shield

(abilities locked) equip bonus: defense bonus (tiny)

Human Meat Shield

(abilities locked) equip bonus: cooking skill +2

The fact that the Human Meat Shield gave a cooking bonus was really something, but he didn't pay it much mind. He did get a drop of blood from both Sadeena and Keel, but only Keel's blood gave him anything, that being the Slave User Shield III. He'd reached the level for the second shield, but the third was still greyed out.

The next shield he would work on was the Monster User Shield II, as he already unlocked the first one during the night. Despite not knowing what level was required for the shield, it took much less time to unlock than the Slave User Shield would. In fact, he had switched to the Monster User Shield II throughout the previous day whenever JoJo or Dio were about to gain a level, as well as the Slave User Shield II for Keel. He figured doing this would be pretty efficient in the short term while he worked on other shields, though it did appear the maturation bonuses affected XP gains. It all depended on how the Whip power up method worked, but there would be time for that later.

The filolials had grown quite a bit during the night, just shorter than Dante come morning. With their newfound size and strength, they could aid in the monster hunting, as well as carry Keel in between areas, though they were still too small for Dante and Sadeena.

Before they began, they went to town to check on Beloukas' progress. Even with Sadeena and Keel providing details about the villagers, the slave trader didn't have any new information. It wasn't entirely surprising, they may have been sold in an entirely different town and Beloukas' colleague just happened to pick up Keel when they did.

After that, they—or more accurately, Sadeena—sold many of the usapil pelts, along with a number of the item drops from the other monsters that were basically useless. In truth, the usapils never dropped items, but they would sometimes drop a few bronze coins. Dante had tried pulling those coins from his shield, mixing in a few of his own, and putting them back, but his coins only bounced off the shield's gem.

With the large number of pelts, items, and a few healing potions, they made over one hundred silver. In fact, Dante had sold the potions to the apothecary in town. He remembered Naofumi had good interactions with him early on, and Dante wasn't disappointed to find he had the same. Impressed with his potions and with a bit of bartering, the apothecary took a few herbs and a potion for some old equipment, though Dante would absorb them soon after for the shields.

One item Dante made sure to keep was an otherwise useless piece of pipe. The Pipe Shield would take around sixteen hours to unlock, whenever he got around to that. He'd also need to unlock the Blue Egg Shield he got for the appraisal bonus, but using the Bow's power to give a point to that skill would suffice for now. He also remembered to absorb a potion and a few of the other Blue Mush Shield recipe items for the shields they would reveal.

Something Dante had noticed when entering and exiting the city was the guards at the gate sneering at him. He supposed they final got around to learning his face. He made sure not to be seen with Sadeena and the others there, making it look like he came and went alone, though that would only work for so long.

Finished with their business in town, they'd set out for more grinding in the forests. With a number of levels under their belts, Keel, Dio, and JoJo were able to do more of the fighting, with Sadeena observing and Dante running interference when needed. They slayed a number of balloons, eggugs, and usapils on their way to Lute village. They even killed a few giant frogs near some swamps.

Of course, one issue they encountered persisted throughout a number of the fights.

"Dio, don't chase that!" Dante yelled to the filolial.

Compared to JoJo, who was more content to stay in the group, Dio preferred charging into battle. Most of the enemies were weak, so it wasn't too dangerous, but the bird's current target had one problem.

"Those quills are sharp, don't attack it from behind!" The porcupine took advantage of Dio's recklessness. After surviving the initial kick, the porcupine started to run away from the bird, keeping its protective quills towards its target.

"I think you might need to use the monster seal again, little Dante~." Sadeena watched as Dio tried and failed to catch the monster.

"Yeah, I think you're right." Dante shifted his shield to the Pipe Shield. "Dio, I order you to stop!"

When the bird refused, it was shocked from the seal and fell to the ground.

"Gweh!"

The porcupine saw this and decided it was time to go on the offensive. Of course, that wasn't going to work.

"Shield Prison!"

As the porcupine was surrounded by the glowing shields, Dante released Dio from the seal. "When I say, attack the monster from the front." He told the filolial. The bird stared at the ball of shields, ready to pounce. "Now!"

In an instant, the Shield Prison dissipated and Dio lunged at the porcupine, sinking its claw into its head. An XP notification confirmed the kill.

"Gweh!" With a proud look, Dio stood on the porcupine in victory.

"Alright, enough of that. Come here." Dante pointed at the ground in front of him. Dio trotted over and bumped heads with Dante, nuzzling into him. Dante pulled the filolial back and looked into its eyes.

"You need to follow instructions better." He said. "If I need to use the seal on you during combat, it could be very dangerous. Got it?"

"Gweh…" Dio looked at him with wide, pleading eyes.

Dante closed his eyes as he continued. "This is important. If you do something dangerous and I'm not ready to defend you, you could get seriously hurt." He looked back at the filolial, his heart melting at the display. "Alright?"

"Gweh!" Dio nodded and began to nuzzle him again. Dante scratched the bird's neck in return.

"I swear, I think all Shield Heroes really like animals." He said, moving his hands to the wings.

"Animals?" Keel asked. After a bit of hunting, he was able to calm down from this morning. He finished wiping off his blade when he came back over.

"Monsters." Dante clarified. "I'm more a fan of cute and fuzzy, but fluffy birds are good too."

"But what does that have to do with being the Shield Hero?" Keel wasn't really getting it.

Of course, Dante hadn't mentioned anything about the books to Keel, much less the Shield Hero of the past. He had even less of an idea on how Keel would react to it all, though it would probably be more negative.

"Well," he started, "the Shield Heroes tend to favor demi-humans, correct? And demi-humans have monster-like qualities, like their ears and tails, not to mention therianthropes. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that's part of the initial reason. Hell, I always enjoyed the company of animals more than most people. Within a minute, a dog could come up to you and let you scratch its head and rub its belly."

Keel seemed to think over his words for a moment. "So…when we first met, you wanted to pet me?" He asked, his expression wary.

Dante looked at him for a bit. "…Well, the thought did pass through my head, but I figured it would be a little weird." He gave a shrug. "Although, if you want me to…"

"No!" Keel held his ears on top of his head protectively.

"Then, no, I won't pet you." He returned his attention to Dio. "I'll just have to content myself with the filolial boys here, at least for now."

"Huh? But Dio's a girl." Keel said.

"Huh?" That was news to Dante. To be fair, he didn't check…again. "How do you know?"

"You see how the feathers on her chest point differently than on JoJo?"

Dante looked at where Keel was pointing. "…No?"

"Well, that's how you tell." Keel looked up in realization. "Wait, are you bad at telling if someone is a boy or a girl? Is that why you thought I was a girl before?"

"That's not…okay." It was honestly easier than explaining the book thing.

"Gweh!" Dio didn't seem to mind the confusion, more than happy with the petting.

"We should probably stop for the day." Sadeena pointed out. The sun was starting to get close to the horizon, and they did make some good gains already.

"Yeah, that sounds good." Dante agreed. "Lute village isn't far from here. Let's stay there for the night and travel back to castle town early in the morning." Beloukas should have Raphtalia and, possibly, Rifana by then.

Within forty minutes, the group made it to the village, after a quick stop by the river to bathe. Monster killing was sweaty and bloody work. With some bronze coins spent on their entry, they made their way to a nearby inn. Dante paid for some room in the stable, dropped a few usapil remains for the filolials, and went in with Sadeena and Keel.

Dante made sure to order a good amount of food for Keel, the first proper meal since he was enslaved. He remarked that Dante's food was almost as good as the inn's. A few more bonuses from Dante's shield would change that soon enough. Of course, Sadeena also took the opportunity to order a healthy, or unhealthy, amount of ale. Dante could use one as well, not having a drink since the meal at the castle.

When they finished, Dante went to get some rooms for them.

"We'll take two rooms for the night." He said to the innkeeper.

"That'll be two silver." The burly man replied. He didn't show any hostility to Dante, same as the guard at the village entrance. News about his supposed crimes mustn't have reached here yet.

"Two rooms?" Sadeena asked, leaning in next to him. "Wouldn't one be enough?"

"I thought I should give you some privacy, plus to have enough beds. Or, if you rather, you and Keel can share a room."

"Nonsense~." She waved him off. "The bedrolls are comfy enough. Save your silver."

It really wasn't that big of a deal, especially with all the monster killing they've done. But, he supposed she did drink a lot this evening.

"Alright, one room it is." He gave in.

They got to the room and found two beds inside, along with a small desk. There was more than enough room to roll out one of their bedrolls.

Keel immediately dropped his pack and leapt onto the closest bed. "This is the best…"

"Heh, yeah. Enjoy it, you've earned it." Dante took off his cloak and draped it over the same bed. By the time he pulled his armor and backpack off, Keel was already snoring.

"Oh my~. He really worked hard today." Sadeena likewise removed her cloak, pack, and harpoon.

It was similar to yesterday. When they took a break during the day, Keel had nearly passed out before he could eat his meal. They ended up letting him nap for almost an hour before they continued.

"He's not the only one. JoJo and Dio got used to fighting real quick, and you made sure they all worked together. Well, for the most part." He would need to keep a close eye on Dio.

"What about you?" She gave him a nudge. "Running around, making sure no one took a hit? Especially Keel."

"It's my job." Dante shrugged. "Besides, I don't like seeing kids getting hurt."

"And you did a great job." She pointed to the bed.

"Oh, you can take the bed. You still do more work than any of us."

"Not that." She walked over to the bed and gave it a pat. "Lie down, on your stomach."

"Okay?" He did as she requested, pulling off his boots as he got on.

In the next moment, he could feel her hands pressing against his shoulders.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Giving you a massage." She said evenly.

"But why? Like I said, you do most of the work. If anything, I should be the one who—Ah!" Right there. That really hit the spot.

"Hmm. You're really tense. Just let big sis here work out all your muscles."

"This is…you really don't…h-hah…" The words just wouldn't come out properly. How long had it been since he really relaxed like this? Sure, he'd slept well before…well, he wasn't going to stop this anytime soon.

Minutes passed as every muscle in his body gave way to Sadeena's work. Every muscle that he'd been working hard to keep his party safe was rejoicing at the massage. It felt like this could go on forever.

Of course, in what seemed like no time at all, Sadeena had finished.

"All better?" She played with his hair that had splayed out on the pillow.

"You're the best, Sadeena. Don't ever forget that." He said lazily.

"Oh my~. You really are a charmer." She moved from the bed and extinguished the lamp in the room. "Get some sleep. We have an early start tomorrow."

Dante had no complaints with that. After they got done at Beloukas' place, Sadeena would really get into grinding. Raphtalia and Rifana could ride one or both of the filolials as they went to rest and recover their strength. Then, Dante could start empowering them with the Whip's method. He wasn't sure how it would affect demi-human children, since he hadn't used it on Keel yet, but there was time enough to figure it out.

~The Wrong Hero~

The flames burst from the apartment in front of Dante. Glass shattered from the sudden force, littering the ground with shards. A lone woman stood in the doorway, her face melted by the flames.

"You did this." She said, pointing a hateful finger at Dante.

"Stop it…" He looked away from the woman.

"How could you do this?" She asked, stepping out of the doorway.

"Stop it." He took a step back at her approach.

"Did you ever care at all?" She demanded, standing right in front of him.

"I always cared…" Dante shook as her gaze pierced him.

"Look at me." She said. "Look at what you did."

Dante stood frozen, tears leaking from his eyes.

"Look at me!"

With a jolt, Dante woke in his bed. His head twisted around to get his bearings. He was at the inn. He wasn't there. He was here.

Dante ran his fingers through his black hair as he gazed out the window. It was still dark out, the moonlight spilling into the room.

Quietly, he rose from his bed and pulled from his pack. Carefully stepping around Sadeena sleeping on the floor, he slipped out the door. He made his way downstairs and out of the inn.

He found the filolials sleeping in the stables. Even in the short time they were in the village, he could see they'd grown some more. Not wanting to wake them, he leaned against the inn and lit a cigarette. He likely wasn't going back to sleep this night.

The moon was strange to look at. It didn't have the patterns he was used to, and the stars were all off. He never asked if this world had an equivalent to the North Star, but he imagined it did.

"Still can't sleep?" He snapped his head to the side to see Sadeena step out of the inn.

"…No." He replied, looking back to the moon.

"I was hoping the massage would help keep you asleep the whole night." She leaned against the inn with him. "This will be the third night in a row you woke up like that."

"Third?" Hadn't they only been out like this for two?

"At the inn near the castle. I rented the room next to yours." She answered. "I heard you wake up and talk to yourself a little, though I couldn't make out what you said."

"Ah." That did make sense, now that he thought about it. She did mention she saw someone go out of his room before.

She turned to face him. "Do you want to talk about it? It might help you sleep."

Dante played with his cigarette in his hand. With what he used the past two days, and losing one to a balloon that snuck up on them, he had one left in his pack.

"You don't have to." She clarified, reading his hesitation. "But I'm here to listen if you want."

Dante didn't want to talk about it. He didn't want to think about it. But Sadeena was placing her trust in him. He should try and do the same.

"I made a mistake." He started, letting his arms hang from his sides. "A series of mistakes. And because of that, I lost…"

"I see." She looked up at the moon with him. "It's not easy going on when the people you love die. Sometimes, I almost wish I didn't have to. But I need to. There's still someone that needs my help. That's how I go on."

He didn't want to go on. Not really. But he had to. For his wish. For a chance. That's all he had, really. A chance at a wish. For all he knew, the shield couldn't or wouldn't grant it, but he had nothing else to go on other than that odd bit of information he could remember from the books.

So, he would go on. Until or unless the shield couldn't grant his wish, he would fight for this world. And if he found that the shield couldn't grant his wish, well…

They could always summon new heroes.

~The Wrong Hero~

After assuring Sadeena he would be fine for the night, she returned to the room. Before the sun could fully rise, they had their breakfast and made for the castle town. The filolials were now able to carry them, making their trip that much faster. They did the same as before, with Dante going in separate from them, much to the filolials' displeasure.

He made his way to Beloukas' tent while Sadeena and Keel sold some of the pelts and items they had from yesterday. It would have been nice for the kids to see Sadeena first, but they wanted to move out as soon as they could. They probably wouldn't be spending too much time in the city from then on anyway.

However, once Dante met with Beloukas, he was told something he was not expecting.

"I'm sorry, Sir Hero, it seems Lord Rabier doesn't wish to sell."

"Huh?" That…couldn't be right. "What do you mean?"

"I'm afraid it's as I said. Lord Rabier has no interest in selling his slaves, yes sir."

This definitely wasn't right. Idol was a sadist who enjoyed breaking slaves and selling them off. Was there something he was missing? Some detail he overlooked?

"Ah!" Dante remembered. "He's renting them, right? That's why he won't sell."

"Renting, sir?" Beloukas clearly didn't understand.

"Yeah. He rents slaves, tortures them, then returns them to whatever slave dealer he got them from. We just need to find—"

"Forgive me, Sir Hero, but that practice has been made illegal some time ago." Beloukas interrupted. He shook his head as he continued. "Any slave merchant caught knowingly renting slaves for such a purpose would be lucky to only lose their product, if not their freedom."

Dante was lost. Wasn't that why Idol took in slaves? Why else would he?

"Did your man not offer him enough? What price did he give?" He needed to get to the bottom of this.

"I wasn't sure how much you were willing to pay, so I had set a limit of two hundred silver for each. Even then, if Lord Rabier was still unwilling, my man would bring back the price he would accept for your approval, yes sir."

Four hundred?! Idol still refused four gold coins for two children? I don't believe that. There must have been some mistake.

"Another thing, Sir Hero." Beloukas continued. "I fear you may be misinformed about the man."

"What do you mean?" Clearly he was, if even this amount wasn't enough.

"While making inquiries, I happened to make mention of Lord Rabier. He did indeed buy the children you were looking for, as well as number of other slaves. But a rather concerning rumor has been spread about the man. As it turns out, Lord Rabier usually buys a number of slaves from different dealers, and he never sells any slaves back."

That made Dante's heart drop. "You mean…"

"It would appear that Lord Rabier kills the slaves he buys."

"I…see…"

"Ah, Sir Shield hero?" Beloukas called after him as he walked from the tent.

Dante's thoughts swam in his head. If Idol was killing his slaves, did that mean the girls were dead? No, Beloukas would have said as much. He doubted the pompous lord would have talked with the slave trader's man long enough to reach that price if they were gone.

The real question was: what would he do now?

Paying a large price was one thing, but to try and rescue the girls? It would be incredibly difficult, if not suicidal. They were as good as dead. Which meant…

"Ah, Dante." Sadeena greeted him. He'd somehow made his way to the market area. "Where's Raphtalia?"

Dante looked her in the eyes. What could he say to her? To give up? She would never. Should he lie? She would see through it. No, the smartest course would be to tell her what he knew, then dissolve their partnership. She would run off to try and rescue Raphtalia, only to be killed. It wasn't something he wanted, but what other choice was there?

"Dante?" She prodded, concern growing on her face.

Yes, that would be the best option. She would likely demand Keel, and she could have him. He could make do with Dio and JoJo.

He didn't want to see children being hurt or killed, but that wasn't his responsibility. He had his own goals. He had his own wants. He didn't owe them anything. It was a choice between Sadeena and possibly Keel dying, and all of them dying. It was a simple decision.

"Dante, answer me. Where's Raphtalia?" Panic started to leak into her voice.

But…could he accept this? Would he hate himself? Would he be able to look himself in the mirror? And, if he got his wish…would he be hated?

"I was wrong." Dante broke his silence. "Raphtalia and Rifana's lives are in danger. We need to save them."

Having a conscience was a bitch.

Author's Notes:

Wise man say, you can't have a conscience in the pimp game.

Dante isn't a fool. He knows Idol is strong, but damn if he can't help himself.

Now all he needs to do is come up with a plan to save the girls and not get killed. Shouldn't be too hard, right?

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