80: Deadbeat

Deadbeat

Eleven boring hours passed before red-slit eyes fluttered open as I slowly regained the awareness of my surroundings. The stagecoach that had been hired in order to take me to my destination was somewhat of a bumpy ride, but it was tolerable enough to apparently fall asleep in for my case.0

"Man, sitting in an enclosed space for so long just seems really dull. I don't understand how so many nobles can handle it..." I mumbled to myself, rubbing the dust out of my eyes. A slight frown marred my face as a couple of ideas popped into my mind. To keep it short and simple, none of them were exactly positive.

Taking a brief glance out one of the small windows, all that there was to look at had been green pastures and hills for hours on end.

Breathing out a sigh indicative of boredom, my left shoulder rested on the inner wall of the stagecoach, my eyes growing heavy once again from the monotony currently permeating the encompassing atmosphere.

We should be there in a few more hours. I really hoped so, at least.

--------------------------------------------------

"Just keep the extra change. Think of it as an additional gift for allowing me to reach this place safe and sound. I hope you two have a pleasant rest of your day." I respectfully bowed, waving the two reinsmen off as they left me in front of an inn within an area called Murenfall Village.

Due to the rather sheltered lifestyle that I had been living since my arrival in this world, which was mostly because of how possessive Helena was of me, I really wasn't all that familiar with the established settlements in the lands surrounding Malak Village.

Well, aside from a few important locations. Ars, for example. It was the capital of the Asura Kingdom, as well as the largest city in the world.

Somewhat of a recent construction, only dating back to around a hundred years as a matter of fact, Murenfall Village had a very small population compared to the much larger towns that had a lot more popularity. Four hundred and ninety residents was supposedly the current approximated guess. The last census hadn't been measured since the year before so it was likely that the population had actually increased to around five hundred and twenty people.

All of this newfound information had been generously provided to me by the two reinsmen from earlier, the last part being more of a speculation than anything, but I honestly wouldn't be shocked if it turned out to be true.

Entering the decently-sized inn, I walked up towards the front desk and greeted the man sitting behind it with a friendly smile. "Hey, I'd like to get a room for the night."

--------------------------------------------------

Casually roaming around what I would've considered to be the 'downtown' of Murenfall Village with both hands placed into my pockets, these dirt roads were a lot busier compared to the area that I had entered through.

However, I quickly caught on to the fact that a lot of people were beginning to take glances at my unique physical appearance, and some of them even appeared to be a little wary of me. Getting that sort of reaction out of people didn't really feel good in all honesty, especially when it wasn't intended to happen in the first place.

In an attempt to distract myself from a quickly descending mood, I focused my attention on a small clique of rambunctious kids that darted out of a random alleyway, kicking a worn out ball towards one another while laughing and playfully fighting for the bouncy sphere.

What caught my scrutinizing eye, however, was the little girl following behind the group. The moment I laid my eyes on her, I could just feel the aura of sadness that surrounded her. With a few back and forth glances between the children kicking the ball and the girl, I quickly pieced together that they were most likely ignoring her for some odd reason. It was probably something dumb like the fact that she was a girl, which their innocent minds considered to be weak or inferior to them.

...That's so fucking retarded.

Walking up right next to the little girl, she didn't notice my presence because her eyes were still on the kids slowly making their way down the street.

"Don't let it get to you." I said, gazing off in the same direction as her. At the sound of my voice, her head whipped around to stare at me, a look of surprise evident on the girl's face. "W-What do you mean by that?" She murmured in confusion, a frown marring her face.

Rolling my eyes, I pointed towards the group of children leaving the area. "Those kids didn't treat you very well, did they? Due to that, your feelings were hurt and it has put you in a bad mood. To answer your question, I meant exactly what I said. Don't let their ignorance dictate how you feel about yourself."

Unfortunately, I felt like this wouldn't be the last time I felt this way. Not even towards just children, who are naturally going to be naïve, but towards grown adults as well. Since this world was a lot more... regressed than the one I came from in my previous life, it wasn't a surprise that certain beliefs were also going to be evident in the kind of era that this world was set in. Women had it really rough in times like these.

Before she could fire back with a reply, I had noticed a store a couple of buildings down that apparently sold toys for children. Walking in that direction, I immediately came up with the plan to buy a ball for the little girl. Since I didn't really have anything to do around here besides exploring or leaving, I figured that cheering this kid up before I continued on with my journey wouldn't hurt.

--------------------------------------------------

~Nobody's POV~

Jogging up to walk by Dante's side, the girl silently examined his physical appearance with a sense of curiosity, finding it odd that a person with such abnormal looking eyes would just be having a casual stroll throughout the village that she had been born and raised in. The sight wasn't one that she felt negatively about or anything like that, but it wasn't a very common occurrence for someone who was clearly of a different race to simply travel through the land without some kind of purpose.

Seemingly taking a few notes from his mannerisms, along with the fact that she had quickly spotted a very obvious blade at the young boy's side from the very beginning of their sudden introduction to each other, the little girl had a hunch that he was walking the path of a swordsman. Due to his youthful appearance, he most likely wasn't very good at using it just yet, or at least not to the degree that he would be considered some kind of expert within the art. However, she didn't really know anything about him, and was instead going off of the ability to use her better than average observational skills.

The little girl's upbringing had been quite rough so far, which forced her to learn a couple tricks while living in the most poverty-stricken area of Murenfall Village with only a single parent to go home to, and it was unfortunately a piece of shit human being that cared nothing for her. It was already bad enough that her mother died from giving birth, but to also have to deal with a deadbeat father that didn't give a shit about their own kid as well?

Life wasn't always full of sunshine and rainbows, that was a grim thought that constantly ran through the little girl's mind on a daily basis. She had practically gotten disowned a long time ago, so following the one person that hadn't shown any animosity towards her felt like the best option rather than sulking all alone to herself.

In all honesty, the girl was starting to get real tired of being abused in general, constantly feeling weak and helpless as a result.

It was as if her pre-existing fate had somehow been altered by the mysterious arrival of Dante, his very presence in the world causing things to shift and warp without him even realizing it.

--------------------------------------------------

~Dante's POV~

A happy smile was etched onto the little girl's face as I kicked her newfound toy towards her, which she ran to intercept, deftly launching the ball into a makeshift goal on my side of the imaginary field.

The two of us had been non-stop playing for over four hours together, deciding to finally call it quits after the sun had begun to lower over the horizon, creating a pink and orange hue in the sky that we laid down on the ground to admire in a peaceful silence.

Personally, with the training that I had been in the process of going through back at the manor, I wasn't really all that affected by the physical activities today. Not in the slightest, actually. My small companion, on the other hand, was breathing heavily as an obvious side-effect of playing so hard to make her goals during the game that we had come up with after several minutes of debating.

I had sort of forgot to go easy on her in the beginning, after all. However, she didn't appear to really get bothered by it, seemingly expecting my better reaction speeds that naturally came with being a vampire. While I thought that was somewhat unusual, I didn't question it.

"Thank you for doing this... It means a lot to me, honestly." She blurted out, abruptly cutting through the silence while continuing to look up at the beautiful sky. With my arms resting behind my head, I glanced at her small form with a faint smile on my face.

"Don't mention it." I said with a casual yet dismissive tone, waving off her words before getting back up to my feet.

--------------------------------------------------

After reluctantly saying goodbye, I watched the girl that I had spent nearly all day with slowly walk back to her home. However, I couldn't find it in myself to return to the inn just yet. A deep-set frown gradually replaced the faint smile as I set a hand on the pommel of the sword hanging at my side.

"Something about this just doesn't feel right..." I mumbled to myself, red-slit eyes narrowing onto the shrinking figure getting farther and farther away from me. Making a decision on the spot, I trailed the girl all the way back to her house, nearly getting caught on a few occasions because of just how anxious she seemed to have become.

There were still a couple of people out and about, but since it was quickly approaching night time, most of them automatically appeared to be more suspicious in nature. Keeping a close eye on her, I hid behind a fragmented brick wall as she gently knocked on the worn out door to her home.

The door opened a couple seconds later, revealing the obscure silhouette of a man that struggled to keep himself standing, appearing to be incredibly drunk as he began shouting a barrage of insults at his daughter shortly after a brief period of hushed whispering that originated from the girl.

It got to a point where there was tears building up in her blue eyes, a chaotic mixture of emotions that were hidden as she lowered her head. Due to witnessing the situation, I could practically feel the little girl's sadness from where I was standing. My face had just become a pained grimace once the insults started to get even worse as time went on.

However, unfortunately for the poor girl, her unresponsive reaction to all of it actually further increased the man's anger to the extent that it got physical at the end. When she attempted to enter the house, her chest had been met with a heavy boot, which aggressively knocked the girl onto her back in the middle of the dirt road.

"-AND DON'T EVER COME BACK!" The girl's father yelled in rage, basically slamming the door shut right in front of her as she couldn't hold back the emotions anymore. In that moment, her mental fortitude shattered, and tears proceeded to roll down her face as she broke down and quietly sobbed to herself.

Reluctantly pulling my hand away from the sword, I slowly walked over to the crying girl, and made my presence known. "You should've told me that your father was a horrible person."

Momentarily shocked that someone was standing right next to her without even realizing it, her body immediately froze, but it soon relaxed a couple seconds later when she recognized the familiar voice that it belonged to. "I didn't want to put that burden on your shoulders. It's mine to sustain. We just met today anyways..." She murmured, periodically stuttering from the emotions that continued to leak through her voice.

"Come on, get up to your feet. I'm going to buy a room for you at the inn so that you'll at least have someplace to lay your head tonight." I said after a while of silence, finding the girl's life to be somewhat relatable to my past, which caused me to feel a sort of kinship to the child.

Pushing herself up from the ground, dirt all over her ragged clothes and short blonde hair, she wiped away her tears in order to look at me in confusion. "W-What...?" Once her eyes landed on my own, her breath hitched at the sight. My red-slit eyes had a natural glow to them that was further accentuated in the dark, which just added a certain intimidation factor to them.

Raising an eyebrow, I replied to her confusion with a firm expression. "Did I stutter?"

pqdm.com