When Dante opened his eyes, he was sitting on a soft office chair in front of a large and fancy wooden desk. Around him, a woman and two men stood guard, making sure he wouldn't ever stand without them being able to smack him down, and in front of him, the woman who smacked him at the canteen sat, leaning on her desk and resting her chin on her hands as she stared right at him. Her expression was calm, but her cold and unmoving gaze clearly gave him the creeps.
Just like before, he could tell at a glance that she was even more horrifying than that Cursed Alien he saw at the river, yet for some reason, he wasn't afraid of her. It might be the two clean and pristine souls she had, her beautiful face, or the fact that he knew she couldn't kill him, as he is an immortal.
Those around him were also powerful, but nowhere like her. They all had just one soul, and their souls were one rank below that of the saint. Unlike her, they looked threatening to the point that he would've thought they were monsters if he couldn't see their clean souls.
Right now, he was certain those three around him were all Masters, and he didn't have a single drop of doubt that the woman glaring at him was the Saint herself. He did want to speak, but knew well that opening his mouth could get him in trouble. The same way it got her to almost crack his neck in the canteen.
"With that scary glare, I know I'm not gonna like you." He still opened his mouth and growled in a mocking tone, prompting the guards standing around to almost attack him. "You insolent little brat! Do you have any idea that she had saved your life?"
Dante just returned the sharp glare and was about to tell them how he rotted in a truck and was sent by her to get cremated alive.
"Leave us, all of you." The Saint spoke in a calm voice. "I'll talk to him privately and solve the matter. You're dismissed." She glared at them, and after hesitating for a second, they all walked out, cursing under their breath. For a moment there, Dante almost asked them to stay since he didn't want to be left alone with this scary woman in front of him.
As the door closed, the Saint lifted her hand and cast a barrier over the entire room, making sure no one could hear them talk. "Dante, I would like to first apologize for what happened to you." Her voice was sweet, soothing even, and the moment Dante heard it, most of his worries and agitation got pushed to the back of his mind, leaving him calm.
Dante stared at her in silence and then growled. "Forget that. You just did something, didn't you?" He noticed that she had used magic, but couldn't tell what it was or what it did. She didn't need to explain anything to Dante, and so she didn't. She had just cast two spells at the same time; one was a barrier to make sure no one spies on them, and the second calmed Dante's mind to get rid of any fear, nervousness, or hesitation that might cloud his mind.
She wasn't able to get rid of his hostility, though. She could sense the emotions boiling deep within his mind and understood what got him on the edge all the time. He was scared and terrified; he was all alone here, surrounded by people he didn't know in an unfamiliar world, and everything looked like a threat, especially after the gruesome experience he had in the forest.
Dante was like a stray, scarred kitten fighting for its life after being rescued. He doesn't trust anyone now and won't for the near future until he warms up a bit. The only ones getting a bit close to him were Alexander and Miguel, so she should pull some strings to keep them close to him.
The Saint smiled. "I just wanted us to have a private conversation without anyone listening to us." She stood, walked toward the window, and then turned toward Dante. She was trying to see if keeping a distance helped, but that didn't seem to be the case. "You can tell Class and Rank just by looking, don't you? You better keep that ability a secret." Seeing her move for the first time almost made Dante puke, as with her wearing such a long robe, it looked like she was floating instead of walking, and the worst part was the faint holy light engulfing her. To him, it was just another type of the same disgusting, reality-bending aura that he saw the Cursed Alien at the river have.
Staring at her back, his casual look quickly turned into a glare. "So that's why you hit me." Noticing that he was glaring at her back, the Saint didn't understand why. She had just calmed his emotions with magic… but when Dante closed his eyes so as not to look at her directly, she figured that it might have something to do with his Blessing.
"If your Blessing is visual-based, be careful. Stronger beings can sense your gaze, and looking at those beings will stress your visual cortex. Turn that ability off, keep me in your peripheral vision, or just close your eyes if all fail." At the Mundane rank, human senses just aren't used to the extra amount of information that Blessings allow them to perceive. That problem only gets worse if they use those Blessings on stronger creatures.
With his eyes closed, Dante sighed. "How does that even make sense?"
"You'll learn about it later, but back to why I hit you. It was to silence you. Trying to argue in front of the people would only raise suspicions, especially since I'm not known for being talkative." She approached her chair and tapped her fingers on a larger pile of papers that was on the desk. "Keep everything related to your Blessing a secret. The abominations aren't the only threat out there. To make it quick, the other two Saints and I are in a power struggle to rule the world."
"So, you aren't any better than them? The higher-ups fight for wealth and power, and we, the Commoners, are just pawns you want to collect and use." He chuckled. "Is this the moment you tell me that you will kill me if I go to the other two?"
"I'm the Holy Saint, and as you can guess, I specialize in holy magic. My belief is that God granted us the Blessings so we can wipe out the invading abominations and save humanity. The Sword Saint specializes in martial arts and doesn't want to wipe out all the abominations, but instead wants to keep fighting them and grow stronger. The Magic Saint, on the other hand, specializes in magic and doesn't care about either the abominations or humans. He only cares about his spells and artifacts."
Dante had to think about it for a while. If he had babbled about it in front of everyone, the word would eventually have reached all of the Saints, and if that power is as useful as she proclaims, they would've already been planning to kidnap him by now. Would he have shut up if she just told him so? Probably not without her having to explain everything in front of the entire canteen, which would have defied the purpose of keeping it a secret.
As he remained silent for a long while, the Saint spoke again.
"I suggest that you keep your powers hidden and avoid joining any faction to be safe. If even my holy magic couldn't recover your lost memories, the only reasonable explanation is that one of the Magic Saint's spells is behind it." She pulled one of the papers and handed it to Dante. "I enrolled you in the Blessed Academy run by the government. Train a bit there and use their library and courses to learn about the world. Don't worry, the government is mostly independent."
'Mostly' did a lot of heavy lifting, and Dante knew that. Even if that Academy wasn't run by this Saint's church, he was certain that she had enough influence to basically do whatever she pleased, like allowing a random and unidentified stranger with a shady background to join unquestioned.
Dante looked at the paper and then frowned. "What's the catch? Even if you aren't running the Academy, don't tell me you aren't in control." It was clear that this Saint had just told the Academy that they had to accept him, and they obliged.
"The abominations that attacked the Knight's squad were displaced by the appearance of a new dungeon nearby. A strike team would be formed in a month from now, and I want you in it. Your ability to tell ranks and classes would be extremely useful to avoid dangerous monsters and make the expedition successful. You'll get money, fame, experience, and most importantly, you'll rank up if we manage to clear the dungeon." She smiled.
"Won't joining the expedition reveal what I can do?" He glared at her, and she shook her head. "You'll report directly to me in secret. That way you'll be hidden. It helps you as well, doesn't it? If you want to remain safe from me and the other two, your only real option is to either serve one of us or become strong enough to resist."
"So, my only option is to trust you? Not that I seem to have any better choice." He stood. "But I've got a whole month to think about it. So, we'll see." But as he was about to leave, she called him back.
"One last thing: humans cannot increase their class." Hearing her voice, Dante stopped and looked back. "You are clearly a Monster Class. Are you telling me you're an abomination?"
"No, I'm mainly a healer, and do you hear how they say a cat has nine lives?" She touched her chest. "I got an extra soul from my Blessing. It allows me to survive one fatal hit and revive."
Dante smiled. "That's a big secret you're telling me about." And she immediately giggled. "In a past fight against an Abyssal abomination in Australia, I got killed and revived with this ability, so most people know about it. Many call me the Saint with two lives."
Just thinking about what an Abyssal abomination would've looked like, Dante could feel the faint hair on his body standing as his entire body trembled. Hopefully they killed that thing. Otherwise, Dante might not be able to sleep knowing that such a horror is out there somewhere.
"So, you're not a Celestial Monster but a Celestial Beast with an extra soul? I won't argue since I know nothing about how the Blessings work." He shrugged, "But I'm starting to like you a bit. Maybe we're kindred spirits, who knows." At least he isn't the only one who cannot die, even though he was almost certain that her ability was limited, unlike his immortality.
He then reached toward the door to leave, but stopped and looked back at her. "Ah… is that Abyssal abomination dead?" He asked with a worried face, and she smiled.
"The Sword Saint kicked that Giant Spider to the clouds, and the Magic Saint blew it up. I made sure everyone stayed alive and survived its Neurotoxin Blizzard." She clenched her fist up with a faint smile. "It… wasn't a fun fight." She looked sad and stressed for a second as she remembered that fight.
Dante still couldn't remember what a spider was, but he was certain that he didn't want to ever know what kind of elder, horrific, disgusting abomination that thing was. If there was one thing he was thankful to the Saints for, it was that they dealt with those things. "Well, I'll have to thank all of you for that. I wouldn't want to see that thing." He then quickly left, taking his Academy application with him.
She looked out of the window and then took a deep breath, finally letting her shoulders drop and her feet touch the ground. "That was close."
The moment Dante got out of the office, he was faced by the Saint's three guards, who didn't seem all that friendly. Seeing them glaring at him, Dante knew that talking with them would bring nothing but problems. "What? Got a problem with me?" Yet against his best judgment, he still opened his mouth.
One of the guards, the tall guy with a short beard, stood to face him. "Go, it isn't worth it."
Dante smiled. "Not a friendly bunch, aren't ya?" Waving his hand, he left to go find Miguel and Alexander.