"You accept? You truly accept? Thank you so much!"

The merchant jumped toward Dante to hug him, but he instantly stepped aside, causing her to fall to the ground.

"I accept, but under some conditions." Dante said, hiding his disgust from her behaviour, and walked a few steps away from her: "Firstly, you will lead the way and I'll simply follow you from afar. Secondly, you'll have to take care of yourself, I won't protect you or Jin. Thirdly, I'll take most of the profits and the right to choose first as the strongest among us."

The merchant nodded without complaining until she heard the last part. Her smile froze, she wanted to say that it was her ability so she had to take most of the profits, but she was too scared to complain.

"Of course…" Dante continued, causing the merchant's heart to sink: "That opportunity might be a singular item. If that happens, I have the right to take it and pay you mana crystals instead of it."

The merchant: "..."

"Also…" Dante added, taking more steps backward: "I want to know about your class, ability, and aspects. You're the one asking for my help, so I deserve to know that much at least."

"I…" The merchant hesitated, but before she could decide whether to accept or not, Dante continued:

"And lastly, I have the right to leave whenever I want. If you yourself don't know what we might face, then I have the right to give up when I see serious danger."

"That's… that's…" The merchant looked at him in disbelief. For her, that was too much to ask for.

The worst part was that he asked for her secrets. If she told him and he gave up later, she would have given him critical information about herself and earned nothing in return.

After thinking for some time, she sighed: "...Okay."

She had just lost all her goods, and buying some Cores of Existence cost her all her money. She was now poor and needed that opportunity.

"I refuse!" Jin stood up in a daze, holding a wine glass: "Bury, I have an additional condition too."

The merchant's face twitched as she heard Jin. She had discussed everything with him earlier, so what did he want now?

"My name is Ruby, and… it'd depend on the condition."

Jin's lips curled into a faint, stupid smile and said: "When I become a duke, you'll have to be part of my harem. I like your ability."

Ruby, the merchant, smiled, unfazed by his boldness: "I accept. I'll be waiting for this day."

"Yes!"

Jin drank happily, while Dante looked at them thoughtfully.

'Why is he obsessed with becoming a duke so much?'

Dante couldn't help but remember Jin's other face when they were in Silverwood Town. He was unwilling to die meaninglessly and was nowhere near the current Jin he was looking at.

'Maybe he's truly serious about becoming a duke. If he does well in the competition, he might really become the duke. I feel bad for this girl if this happens.'

"Ah… sir, why are you standing far away?" Ruby asked loudly, looking at Dante who was now a few meters away: "Didn't you ask for some information about me?"

Dante nodded: "I'm serious about my curse. Say everything from there, my hearing is a bit sharp, so don't worry."

Sighing helplessly, Ruby sat on the ground comfortably and started explaining.

She was just a lonely 27-year-old woman. Her parents were in debt, so they abandoned her when she was young.

That wasn't an act of mercilessness as people might think, but a genuine parental protection. Because of them, Ruby wasn't followed by their debts.

She had been working as a merchant since then, though her small trades were barely gaining anything back then.

When she reached the age of 16, she awakened the Potions Merchant class, which was common in this world for people who studied herbs and trading skills.

Still, it helped her to improve her trades and collect one thousand Cores of Existence to advance to Rank 2, which she achieved recently.

She had only one domain, which was Nature Domain. It gave her one aspect, which was Plant Aspect. This Aspect was what helped her the most in alchemy.

As a Rank 2 Existence, Ruby had two abilities. One of them allowed her to see the potency of the plants, which was improved after her advancement and allowed her to see the grade as well.

Her second ability gave her a kind of instinct while doing anything related to alchemy, like preparing potions.

"Wait, what is that ability then?" Dante asked, narrowing his eyes dangerously.

"It's…" Ruby showed hesitation regarding her ability, but she eventually bit her lip and said: "It was from a treasure I had found in one of my journeys. It isn't related to my class."

"It allows me to sense specific fortunate opportunities that need specific requirements. For example, it might be a buried treasure chest. That ability will lead me to the key and the land where the chest is buried without any explanation. I know that these two are connected, but it's up to me to figure out the connection."

"Oh, I see." Dante nodded in understanding, it was indeed a useful ability.

"Can we go now? Something might happen to the opportunity if we waste more time!" Ruby urged, looking at the direction of the third requirement of the opportunity in anticipation.

"Sure, just lead the way."

"Yes, yes, yes!" Ruby happily stood up and walked in a direction shown in her Wheel of Luck, pulling Jin with her.

Dante followed them silently from a safe distance, ensuring that his misfortune wouldn't affect them.

Suddenly, the centipede appeared in Dante's mind.

'What now? I accepted as you wanted and now I'm following her. Will you complain that I'm following them from a distance?'

Greed shook his head: 'No, I'm here to give you a real opportunity. I know a Rank 1 runic sigil to enslave people. It uses Ether instead of mana, so its effective even against Rank 2 beings.'

Dante: "..."

'Think of it, a treasure detector who will follow all your orders without complaining. This sigil directly affects the mind rather than causing fake pain, which means real loyalty rather than threatening. All you have to do is knock her down to draw the sigil perfectly without interruptions.'

'Keep dreaming.' Dante said coldly: 'I'll never turn someone innocent into a slave for my own desires—no, even if she isn't innocent, I will simply kill her rather than turning her into a slave.'

'Ho?' Greed's tone turned into something between surprise and amusement: 'Not even the most disgusting humans in this world? Not even the mindless beasts? Not even someone who already enslaved many innocent people?'

Dante shook his head: 'I'm not a monster like them. I'll never enslave anyone.'

'...Never.'

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