The figure with ragged clothings

I sat in an empty alleyway, a worn-out cloak covering my face.

I checked my pocket for something edible and found a clump of bread crust that I gathered around a bakery.

"Today's menu is bread crust again, huh? Not bad… at least it's edible," I muttered as I took a couple before putting them back to my pocket.

I keep nibbling the bread crust as I left the alley, and saw commoners walking around with soldiers patrolling the area. As long as I don't do anything stupid the guards won't care. I really don't want to deal with them.

I once again saw a few teenager wearing uniforms with white collar and a short black robe. Some of them gave me a short glance before fleeing, while trying not to embarrass themselves for running for the reason they themselves don't understand.

I keep wondering aimlessly until I arrived in front of what appears to be a school; a massive gate with the school's name on top of it, a lot of cheerful uniformed teenager entering and exiting. Yep this is a school alright.

I didn't realize I've been standing there for too long when a figure wearing a pristine white cloak followed by a group of female teachers. I merely gave him a glance and walked away but for some reason I could feel his gaze on me.

When I was walking back to the market, I heard a scream from an alley to my right. Followed by a couple of guys laughing.

"NO! P-Please… Don't hurt me!" Whimpered the victim I assume. Her voice sounds quite high pitched, I bet it's a she.

I just shrugged my shoulder, my condolence I guess but I'm not interfering.

"Hehe… this is our lucky day isn't it brothers?"

"I call dibs!"

"Indeed brother, it's not everyday we got a young witch. Today is going to be unforgettable isn't it brothers! HAHAHA!"

Until now at least.

Hearing the word witch I unconsciously ran to the source of the voice. I arrived at a scene where a girl with a witch's attire surrounded by 3 old muscular thugs.

They realized my sudden arrival and doesn't look happy with me interrupting their "Lucky day".

"Brother! We've got a hero on our hand! HAHAHA" One of them laughed while pointing at me.

I flinched a little but still doesn't take any action as I scanned my surrounding to determine if there's anyone else but us in the area.

"Oy, Oy, Now you're ignoring us, HAH?!" one of them threaten me, but seeing no reaction from me he looked back at the whimpering witch and grinned. A chill went up my spine as he torn her clothes around the chest area. Showing some kind of seal that glowed dimly in the chest area.

"NO!! HELP!! PLEASE!!" She screamed while flailing as tears started falling down her face. The tugs were NOT happy, one of them looks annoyed at both my reaction, or lack there of or the girl's flailing and screaming.

He raised his right hand up while clenching his teeth and threw a punch at her face.

A disgusting crunching sound of a broken bone could be heard, followed by a blood curling scream of a 30-year-old adult.

"BROTHER! You DAMN witch, what did you do?!" seeing the witch unharmed they immediately thought the witch cast protective spell. One of them ran to their brother to check him out.

"N-No! That… that wasn't me! I swear!" the witch pleaded as more tears went down her eyes.

"Y-YOU!... What did you *ugh* Do?" the fallen thug said as he looked me with anger and confusion clear in his eyes.

Realizing what their brother means, the two survivors dropped the witch and ran at me sword drawn.

"First lesson of combat" I said with a cold tone "Watch your surrounding"

Using a pebble, I picked up I tossed it upwards.

They don't care one bit and both swung at me at the same time, if anything at least their teamwork is something.

The pebble that they neglected cut a rope and dropped a block of wood on their head. Cancelling their attack.

"Second lesson of combat, A missed opportunity is lost forever" I said as I pulled my leg back.

When they both lost their balance, I kicked both simultaneously throwing both of them back to where they started.

I tossed a coin at their direction, remembering their last plight after dismissing the pebble they watched the coin flew towards them but what they didn't realize is I picked up 3 hand sized stone nearby and threw it at them successively.

They were still focused on my coin they didn't know how they got hit in the head.

"Third lesson of combat, Focus"

"Fourth lesson of combat know when to fight dirty and how… Just scurry off, you know I could kill all of you with ease, right?" I said to them lazily.

Just after a few steps my instinct trigger and I side stepped lightly to the left. Just in time to see a high-speed water ball, barely missing my face.

"You're capable of using magic? Well guess thugs these days are a little bit smarter." I said while looking at the water magic's impact location. Annihilating a poor trash can. "Water magic huh? Not bad for a loser"

Realizing he just missed he started casting again.

I calmly walked forward while dodging every spell and projectiles they threw at me until they were cornered.

"Extra Lesson, during a spellcaster vs spellcaster combat … defeat their spell with the spell's counter affinity."

Our eyes met for the last times as I said firmly "LIGHTNING JUDGEMENT!"

As soon as my word fell a thunder immediately struck all of them, frying them alive.

Checking the thug's body to make sure they don't have any nasty surprises I approached the fallen witch.

Teary eyed, she took a step back with fear but after the second step she winced in pain and fell on her butt.

"Easy now… I'm not going to hurt you…" I tried calming her down using hand gestures and gentle voice. "Here use this…" I said while tossing my cloak at her "Just cover yourself first"

Once she covered her face she gazed at me and a look of pity and guilt flashed for a moment before disappearing. Guess my face is still depressing, huh? The knights used to tell me that after my 20th resurrection.

She attempted to get up but winced and cursed under her breath when the pain from her leg kicks in. She lost her balance when trying for the second time but luckily, I was able to catch her and supported her up.

"You're not strong enough… Don't force yourself," I muttered to her ear.

She yelped in surprise before resigning. Guess she's still afraid of me huh? I carried her like a sack of potato down the road to the main street.

"Who...? Who are you? Why are you doing this for me?" the girl tried to break the ice.

"Sorry to burst your bubble but I'm not doing this for you…" I answered without glancing at her "I happen to pass by and heard your cry for help."

After walking for a while, we both finally left the market district.

Warily she asked, "Where are you taking me?"

"Just shut up and behave… I'm not going to sell you or anything…" I said while scanning my surrounding.

The girl chuckled and her face visibly relaxed.

"By the way I have a name and it's not 'you', it's Grea… Grea Azzure," She declared while smiling broadly.

I gave her a glance before resuming my scan. After a while we arrived at our destination.

An alchemist's shop.

I pushed open the door, and walked in. A woman in her twenties wearing witch's clothing was standing behind a desk littered with various potions and plants.

"Welcome… ah… you again… what kind of problem have you stirred and who is the girl that you kidnapped?" The woman asked tiredly.

"She injured her leg and a few bruises in her body, ah… and prepare a few clothes for her to wear," I said as bought her to another door to our left.

I laid Grea on the bed in the center of the room.

"I-" Grea wanted to protests but was cut short.

"You just shut up and rest," I commanded as I left the room.

Grea looks confused but decided that angering the grumpy, scary man is not a good idea so she just lay there and started to consider where she went wrong in life to arrive at this point.

"Warm…" At least the cloak that scary man gave her is comfy.

Meanwhile, as soon as I left the room I closed the door behind me and sighed.

"Hoho… NOW you love helping damsels in distress…. Dante, your sense of justice is returning?" the woman teased as she laid back on her chair.

I didn't spare her a glance as I walked forward a grabbed a few herbal plants from the drawer and started mixing them.

"Hmm…. You even made a potion for her? What makes you go so far as to help her this much?"

"She… reminded me of someone…" I muttered while moving the finished balm to a wooden bowl and shove it at the woman "Now can you brew this for me Theresa?"

Theresa smiled softly while taking the wooden bowl from my arm and moved to the cauldron. I washed my hand and decided to check on Grea.

What happened when I opened the door is Grea sleeping peacefully with the cloak that I gave her acting as a makeshift blanket. Something tugged on my heart and unneeded thoughts started filling my head, but I merely shook my head and grabbed a chair to sit near Grea.

Slowly I start wiping the legs with wet rags.

Then I checked her temperature… Lo and behold she got a fever either from shock or from her poor living condition.

After a few minutes she opened her eyes and we just stared at each other for a few minutes before her head cleared up and her face redden then she covered her face with the cloak I gave her.

I heard soft footsteps outside of the door, followed by Theresa bringing in a glass filled with green liquid.

"I've brewed it like you said~" She said while opening the door, but she just looked at both of us "Hmm? What are you doing Dante?"

"Here… Drink this… It'll help," Theresa said while giving her the glass filled with suspicious green liquid.

She wanted to reject it, but my unwavering gaze unnerved her so much she decided that there's nothing left to lose… she got a feeling the scary grumpy man is going to force her to drink the liquid either way.

She gulped it down in one drink… and her facial expression contracted with a deep frown, "What was that?!" She asked in shock, and disgust.

"Something to help you recover…" Theresa answered with a teasing grin.

"Here's something to wash it away with," Theresa said as she pulled out a water flask from her pocket.

"So… girly… what kind of problem did Dante cause? Did he hurt you?"

"Hey…" I protested.

Grea shook her head slowly.

"He… saved me… from bastards that wanted to rape me… if he didn't come… maybe… maybe I would be…" Grea answered while her lips quivered as a small tear started forming in her eyes.

"Sorry… It's ok if you don't want to talk about it…" Theresa interrupted Grea then gave me an annoyed look "Besides… I know that Dante here is not of the most polite man out there and his "I'd rather die than be bothered by that" gaze is so annoying it could annoy even a saint… but you could see that he's a good guy inside" She paused, glanced at me, then sighed again "that is if you look hard enough"

I stared sharply at Theresa but doesn't say anything, I merely got up and left them to their own devices.

Theresa sat next to Grea while smiling softly while staring at the ceiling, "you know… the first time I met him… his face is so desperate and so devoid of hope and emotion you would think he's been alive for too long. and then there's his personality… oh boy his personality… short tempered coupled with sloth reincarnate makes for a bad first impression." She paused while looking at Grea who looks like she listened intently. She smiled gently before continuing "It's been month since I gave him shelter in my shop… his knowledge in brewing potions is quite something I tell you it wouldn't be a exaggeration to call him a walking ancient encyclopedia tough I kinda hope he told me about his past or at least where he got his knowledges…"

"that's all about me, now tell me about yourself Grea… what brings you here?"

Grea seems hesitant at first, and then she steeled herself while slowly showing Theresa her chest. Which caused Theresa's teasing smile to grow wider "What are you trying to show me?"

Grea looks confused for a moment before looking at her own chest with a glimpse of hope… what greeted her is her smooth skin and underwear that she doesn't remember owning.

"If you're talking about the slave seal… that boy removed it while you're sleeping"

"What you drank just now wasn't a recovery potion… it's an anti-magic potion to remove all kind of curses… and buffs including slave seals… He must have known you were a slave"

"I-I… Th-thank you… *sob* Thank you… I'm free… at last…" Grea's tear started resurfacing and when she remembered Dante's face her last defenses broke and like a broken dam she cried her heart out.

Unknown to both of them I stood in front of the door holding a glass of water, clenching my teeth I put the glass under the door, get my cape behind the door, wore them, then left the shop.

"Why? Why is she saying the same thing as teach… Sh*t, why am I remembering this again?" I said as I wipe the tear that subconsciously form on my eyes, "Sh****T… it hurts thinking about her… I need to cool my head… F*cking hell…"

That night… a lonely figure walks through the street accompanied by a lentern's gentle light and the chilly winds of winter, while cursing like a sailor under his breath.