Chapter 160: Soul Issues

Julius was currently rubbing his head. It was still sore from where she whacked him after he threw her exact words back at her. The most annoying part was that he hadn’t even seen or sensed her move. One moment he was fine and the next his head was getting walloped.

The mean lady didn’t ask again, but he could tell that she was a little annoyed that he wouldn’t tell her.

She did however ask, or rather demanded another mug of it, to which he gladly passed over to her. Thankfully, that seemed to appease her a little bit and her glare was a little less painful to be subjected to.

When they arrived in front of Dante’s cabin, she had already finished the second mug. Julius stifled the smirk that tried to appear on his face. He could tell that she was tempted to ask for a third one but held off because she didn’t want to ask for another.

They didn’t have to walk up to the door to knock. Dante was already out in front with his arms crossed in front of his large chest. The old man had the same scowl as he did the last time Julius saw him. It weirdly felt a little comforting to see that expression on his face.

In truth, he might have felt more uneasy if the man had a smile on his scary face.

However, Julius did catch a small grin trying to appear on Dante’s face as he looked at the woman. The woman who he still didn’t know her name, he realized. He had forgotten to ask her among all of his other very important questions.

Dante turned to look at Julius with his dark eyes. “I see you have met Alice already,” he commented.

Ah, so her name is Alice, Julius thought to himself.

“It’s more like she stalked me, but yeah,” Julius replied to Dante when he got closer.

Dante just nodded his head as if that made perfect sense and acted as if it was completely reasonable. “If you haven’t realized it by now, but she is the thing I had in store for you.”

Julius had indeed been expecting that, so it wasn’t a surprise. “Yeah, I figured that was the case. But what is she supposed to do?” He asked interested in hearing how Dante would explain why this mystery person stalked him.

“She’s going to be your… supervisor for the time being,” Dante told him.

“So like a mentor?” Julius asked.

“No, not like a mentor. You do not deserve her to be your mentor,” Dante simultaneously told him he was wrong and insulted him at the same time.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Julius asked, just a tad bit offended at the implication.

Dante sighed and looked at him like he was stupid. Then he turned to look over at Alice who was standing there silently and then back to Julius. “Being someone’s apprentice or disciple is significant. The relationship between the two is quite close. The mentor usually shares many of their skills and techniques that their disciple will incorporate into their own path.”

“So if I am not a disciple, then what am I?” He asked.

Dante had to think about that one for a moment. “You are more like a pet or an interest that we have taken to,” he explained.

“A pet?” Julius asked incredulously.

“Yeah, like when someone finds an interesting or injured animal and decides to keep it as a pet,” Alice finally added from the side, seemingly very happy with that comparison.

Injured? He thought to himself.

Julius wanted to argue but immediately realized that he wouldn’t be getting anywhere with that. Not to mention, that both of these people were some, if not the strongest people he had met in person.

So in a way, he could see how they saw him about as interesting or dangerous as a pet. He didn’t like the comparison, but he could kind of see things from their perspective.

There was also the possibility that he was just trying to convince himself of some weird logic to make himself feel better.

“Okay, so what would a pet like me do under your supervision?” Julius asked the two of them.

“She’s gonna show you some tricks for you to do,” Dante said a little too quickly and with a little too much mirth.

Julius bit his retort that came to mind and instead asked for some clarification. “What kind of tricks?” He asked with as much genuine curiosity as he could muster.

However, before Dante could answer, Alice intervened.

“Actually, I don’t think I will be doing much showing,” she told Dante.

For the first time, Dante actually seemed quite caught off guard. He looked at Alice with a confused expression. “What do you mean? I thought we both talked about a while ago?”

Alice held both hands up in a pleading gesture. “That’s not what I mean,” she promised to Dante.

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“Then what is it?”

Alice frowned and looked at Dante with a judgemental look. “Are you really getting that old? Have you really not noticed?” She asked the older man.

Dante flinched a little bit at her reprimand. “I don’t understand,” he said slowly.

Alice pressed her lips together and sighed in disappointment. “Look at his soul, you old bag of bones.”

Me? My soul? Why would they do that? Does it have something to do with why it’s been sore lately? Julius frantically thought to himself.

Dante turned to give Julius his entire attention. For the first time since Julius last saw the man, he felt the older man’s overwhelming presence lock onto Julius. It felt like someone had kidnapped him in a sack and then put him underneath a microscope to study him.