Ruby and Dante had finished talking about their trade already. She was supposed to have left with the dead beasts by now.

So, why didn't she leave?

She simply decided to stay here to spend the night.

Even in the trade convoy, they used to stop at night to avoid most dangers. As a lonely merchant with only a few mercenaries, she followed this rule as well.

Fortunately for Ruby, she had a "friend" that had a treehouse nearby.

Thus, she decided to use this opportunity to sleep in a warm and secure place with her most expensive goods.

'She paid me with some of her food, so I don't really mind. Though I feel bad for the mercenaries outside.' Dante shook his head in pity.

Those poor mercenaries were securing the goods in the cold next to the tree while the merchant was going to sleep in a luxurious treehouse.

They couldn't do anything, as they were paid to stay behind the goods and secure them. They had no excuses to complain.

Using the power of the shadow formation, Dante observed Ruby as she took a quick shower before returning to the library and entering her sleeping bag.

For obvious reasons, she wasn't allowed to enter Dante's bedroom. Giving her the library was the best he could provide.

'I don't feel sleepy right now, I'll just read something for fun.' Dante retrieved a newspaper from his ring. Ruby often bought all the available newspapers for him.

As he read, he didn't forget to order Fafnir to tell the news to Elizabeth. Even some entertainment might help her in her current desperate situation, as it would help in preventing her from going depressed.

As he read, he reached the stories section. This time, it had a romance story, which was supposed to be inspired by a real story.

Dante didn't understand why, but he enjoyed reading the short stories!

In his childhood, he didn't read stories or play games. This experience was new to him.

But as he read this story, he couldn't help but roll his eyes in disappointment.

"How the hell is a guy with 12 women considered a romance?!"

The story was quite long and presented as a summary rather than a long book. But what annoyed Dante was the amount of girls the protagonist gained.

"One man and one woman is obviously a romance. Two women can be an exception. Three might pass sometimes. Four… maybe. But 12? Fucking 12?! Hell, three of them are a mother and her daughters!!"

Furiously, Dante burned the newspaper with a spark of shadow flames and moved to another one.

But just then, Ruby woke up with a puzzled expression. She narrowed her eyes before scratching her head.

Then, as though she got an idea, her eyes widened and she began to make strange movements. She looked like a dancing monkey.

"Is she trying to get my attention? Couldn't she just write in the air with mana?" Dante narrowed his eyes and stood up, walking toward the library.

If that was an emergency, he'd rather deal with it while his mana was full. Thus, he didn't use Shadowstep this time.

After Dante entered the library, Ruby didn't wait for him to ask about the matter as she quickly said: "Someone is outside! There are two people speaking with my mercenaries currently."

Seeing Ruby's confidence, Dante frowned: "Who— no, how do you know that?"

"Oh, about that…" Ruby scratched her head awkwardly before taking a deep breath and touching her eyelashes.

As she did that, her eyelashes suddenly turned green, showing that they were made from the roots of a strange plant.

"It's a spell that allows me to see a marked place." Ruby blinked: "Those are the roots that I see through. They are connected to the head of a flower that I kept on top of my carriage."

"So you just don't trust the mercenaries? I see." Dante nodded in understanding. She couldn't simply leave some mercenaries alone with her wagon, as they might steal her goods and make an excuse to explain their disappearance.

"Anyway, let's go out and see them. It might be important." Ruby urged while focusing on her eyelashes.

Dante's frown deepened: "Why should I leave with you? Aren't they talking with your mercenaries? I can escort you out if you want to meet them, but that's it."

"Because they seem to be interested in your tree…" Ruby smiled nervously.

"Interested in what?"

"Yes, the first thing they did was point at your tree!"

At her words, Dante began to hesitate.

Why would anyone be interested in his tree?

There were a few possibilities, and Jin was the first person to come into Dante's mind.

'Does anyone know about the treehouse? Did that bastard Jin tell some strangers while he was drunk?'

Jin had stopped traveling with Ruby long ago. Ruby said that he left to get some cores and advance to Rank 2 before the competition.

He might have told someone about the treehouse and the existence of the mysterious regressor that could see luck.

Of course, there were many other possibilities. It could be just a coincidence and Dante was just overthinking, but it also might be…

'This could be related to the mysterious shadow from before.'

After a moment of hesitation, Dante took Ruby to see those visitors.

While walking up the stairs, Ruby suddenly whispered: "They're now knocking on your door."

"They're either searching for you or truly have something to do with me." Dante sighed: "Are you sure you don't have people searching for you?"

Ruby shook her head quickly: "I've gotten rid of all my debts!"

After a few minutes, Dante and Ruby finally reached the surface.

Dante opened the tree's gate, and there he saw four figures.

Two of them were Ruby's mercenaries, Ryan and someone whom Dante didn't know. But what caught Dante's attention was the two individuals standing in front of them.

The first was a gorgeous woman with brown eyes and long brown hair tied in a ponytail. She was holding a long spear behind her back and had a strange fox-like red spirit on her shoulder.

The second person was a tall man with long orange hair and a pair of bright green eyes. He held no visible weapons and his tattooed hands were hidden in his pockets.

'Did I see this guy before?' Dante frowned. He looked at the man's face with a feeling of familiarity.

Out of curiosity, Dante used his silver eye's ability to check their souls.

The man: [83].

The woman: [68].

Dante: "..."

Looking at their bright smiles, Dante couldn't help but hope that they weren't enemies.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.