The preparations for the coronation had already begun. Invitations had been sent out to the nobles, and even the small details, like the ordered arrangements, had already arrived. However, the nobles were curious about why the coronation ceremony was taking place at the Imperial Palace, within the court.
Usually, the coronation would be done publicly, with various broadcasts throughout the kingdom. However, this time, the entire world was watching. Not only that, but all the nobles, even those of lower rank, had been summoned and received invitations, as if something significant might happen.
Not only that, but even Ethan didn't understand. His stepmother, Aldria, assured him that it was just to enhance his glory, which made sense to him since Aldria had always shown favoritism towards him.
What else could happen, right? Well, he probably didn't anticipate anything beyond his wicked plans, unlike Dante... who was making the most of such an important moment.
What? Did you think he would be tirelessly training? Of course not, he had already prepared everything, had already ascended to the next Realm, and had already ordered a spear from the Kingdom's blacksmiths with the help of Nafiri, who, by the way... had proven to be a very good subordinate.
"Dammit!" Chakal's scream echoed throughout the inn she bought in the Empire with Velryna's help.
"Master, calm down," Misty said, trying to soothe her boss's mind, which seemed on the verge of giving in to the temptation to kill Dante at any moment.
"How dare he treat me like this! Who does he think he is?" She shouted, slamming a table to the ground. Then, she mimicked Dante's words. "Oh, get me a mithril lance, oh, help me with this, oh, help me with that." She mimicked how Dante spoke while Misty suppressed laughter.
"He's treating me like a dog!" She shouted lightly, letting an orange aura emanate from her body, her eyes becoming serious with a glow of imminent death.
"I know you're angry, Boss, but you need to calm down. He's not forcing you to do anything," Misty said, she was actually right.
Working for Dante was something exclusively for Nafiri, he never forced her or did anything, and that was what really bothered her, she would rather be blackmailed than be someone's servant!
"UGRH!" She snorted in anger, as if she were going to destroy the entire inn, and turned to Misty, who was about to scream from holding back laughter, at how comically her master was behaving.
"If you laugh, I'll cut your salary!" She yelled at Misty, who held back as much as possible while trying not to break character as a dedicated employee.
"Did you get the damn lance?" Nafiri asked, and Misty nodded, pulling it wrapped in cloth directly from her spatial ring.
"I don't understand why he wants a lance, doesn't he already have the one he took from Valentina?" Misty asked, and Nafiri didn't have an answer, she just observed the wrapped lance.
"I don't need a reason to have a weapon." The voice echoed through the room...
"KYA!!!" Nafiri screamed, jumping like a startled cat towards Misty, who held her for a moment... Nafiri the Chakal had turned into a frightened kitten.
"This is a sight I didn't expect to see," Dante said, watching Misty holding Nafiri in her arms.
"Dammit! How dare you scare me like that! You little shit!" Nafiri began to curse and swear at Dante, who just smiled at her with his eyes closed.
"She seems pretty stupid for a guild leader, Master," Vex appeared next to Nafiri, flying as he observed her.
"KYAAAA!!!" This time, it was Misty who was startled by the little succubus.
*Bonk*
The two women fell to the ground, their heads colliding. "Ow!" They both cried out in unison.
"Misty!" Nafiri shouted as she put her hand on her forehead, where their heads had bumped.
"Ai ai ai," Misty said, mimicking Nafiri. Both of them looked quite silly, and Vex, mischievous as ever, started to burst into laughter as she flew around.
"Hahahahahaha," she laughed while Dante just watched the scene with a smile. He bent down and picked up his merchandise from the ground, something he had specially ordered.
"Good job," he said, unwrapping the weapon, seeing a spear completely silver with the tip red as ruby.
"Frankly, I expected something much worse, but the quality is reasonably good," Dante said, pointing the spear to one side and a gust of wind came out, effortlessly.
"Indeed, good work," Dante said as he observed the spear, the design reminding him of someone he really missed, one of his friends, or rather, his only friend, Clovis Arton.
"I bought it from a dwarf, he said the creator considered it a failure," Misty said as she stood up and adjusted her slightly crooked leather outfit.
"Hmm, interesting... is this another one of his failures?" Dante questioned as the three women didn't understand a thing.
Suddenly, a fourth woman appeared. "Master," Aaralyn appeared, entering through the shadows of the building and appearing in front of Dante, kneeling and bowing.
"I have information," she said, and Dante nodded, so she began her report. "The movements of the Emperor's shadow soldiers are calm. They are watching you from four blocks away. Their skills are quite decent, but they show no hostility and cannot detect me," she said, and Dante nodded.
"A woman who can hide from the shadow guards? You're full of tricks," Nafiri said as she adjusted her dress.
"Quiet, don't interrupt," Dante said seriously, quite unlike the usual Dante, and this made Nafiri shrink slightly, it was the first time this had happened to her. "Who do you think you are to... I told you to be quiet," he said, releasing pressure on her body, making her fear Dante for a few moments.
"Continue, Aaralyn," Dante said, and she nodded as she handed him a letter, taken from her pocket.
"What's this?" Dante questioned and she didn't say anything, just gestured for him to read. He looked at the letter and opened it, as he read the content his body started to heat up.
The aura of death began to spread throughout the room, even Nafiri and Misty started to suffocate. Vex, however, did nothing, just went behind Dante and intertwined her arms around his neck.
"Calm down, my love," she said in his ears and the pressure suddenly stopped, and Dante looked at the letter with disdain.
"What's in this letter?" Nafiri, still unstable, asked as she gasped for air. She had already understood that some things that happened to Dante he didn't take seriously, but when he did, it was really serious.
"Tsk, these bastards plan to kill Velryna during the coronation, they want to tie up loose ends," Dante shouted and his fury began to spread throughout the place.
"It's not just that, master, here," she handed another letter, this one seemed more noble, like a response to an invitation, and well, that's exactly what it was.
"But what?" when Dante read the first sentence, he froze completely, looking at it. Vex, who was by his side, stared at him and then waved her hand in front of him;
"Hello? Are you okay?" she questioned and got no response. "Hey? Dante?" she continued insisting while Dante remained static.
"Master?" she questioned, and then bit Dante's ear to see if he snapped out of it. He remained unresponsive.
She then snatched the letter from his hand, which he continued to hold as if it were still there but now looked at the ground since the paper was removed.
"Hmm, let's see, here we go, oriental language... hmmm...," Vex said, Nafiri and Misty were completely curious and couldn't stand it anymore.
"Speak up!" Nafiri shouted, however Vex looked at her as if to say 'Be quiet, servant'.
"Ok, here we go. Thank you for the invitation, my daughter has agreed to your proposal, she will go to the Western Empire for the coronation, I hope you keep your word, in case you don't have information about Dante, you know the consequences," Vex read aloud and when she turned to speak to Dante...
He disappeared, leaving a trail of flames on the ground.
"Tsk, now he's going to kill the Empress," Vex said and the two women looked at him. "Hm? Why?" Nafiri asked.
"The Empress wanted to play with something she shouldn't have," Aaralyn said and they all turned to her waiting for an explanation, even Vex, who partially knew what it was about, was eager to know.
"She wants to use Sara Vortex and her companion, Nagasawa Scarlet, to judge whether Dante is Dante or not. At the same time, it's good to be able to gather them, but... in my master's head, it's probably the worst possible scenario.
After all, it's not just Velryna who will be in danger now, at least that's how I see it," Aaralyn explained and the women agreed, actually it was almost impossible not to see another scenario.