The Crowned Greed: Transmigrated into a Demonic Dragon-Chapter 161: It Always Starts With One Cigarette

’Fluffy ears?’

As Dante examined the little girl, he couldn’t help but fix his attention on her ears, ignoring her bleeding nose and the red hand marks on her face.

It was a pair of fluffy, round ears.

There were no human ears on the sides of her head under her black hair. These two animal ears were her real and only ones.

In addition to them, she had a small tail with black lines that she was hugging tightly while crying.

’She looks like a raccoon... Is she a demihuman?’

There was a race common in the Western Region that looked human but had animal parts.

That race was called the Beastkin.

They had no fixed appearance. Some of them were cats, some were lions, some were birds, some were crabs. You could find anything there.

Some of them, though, preferred to isolate themselves from the Beastkin and give themselves their own racial names. The mermaids and mermen were an example, as they were technically beastkins with body parts of fish.

’I wonder what she’s doing here. A rich city isn’t a good place for poor people.’

Dante sighed and sat behind the girl, ignoring the mud that smeared his clothes and observing her Wheel of Luck.

’I wonder...’

What his eyes focused on was the misfortune in her Wheel of Luck and the parasite that he had.

His eyes suddenly blazed with determination, and the next moment, he broke the seal of the parasite.

Before it could do anything, Dante quickly used Shackles of Misfortune to stop its tendrils from moving and aim its mouth at the girl’s Wheel of Luck, then he cast Jinx in reverse.

Just then, the misfortune of the little girl flew out of her Wheel of Luck. Gradually, the parasite absorbed it, converting her misfortune into Dante’s Wheel of Luck.

Once her misfortune side was empty and the parasite began to absorb the misfortune of the surroundings again, Dante immediately sealed the parasite back.

’It worked...’

Dante used the parasite that could absorb misfortune and reversed the mechanism of Jinx that could give misfortune to others.

Putting them together, Dante absorbed the girl’s misfortune!

’I can use the parasite! I only have to think of how to do this.’

That realization made Dante look at the parasite in a new light. He could likely find a way to use it safely like a real useful trait instead of a curse that had to be sealed all the time.

Dante looked at the parasite for a second, then raised and lowered his eyebrows in mockery.

’Just wait, you bastard.’

Dante didn’t know whether the parasite could understand his actions or not, but mocking it felt good.

After some time, the girl finally stopped crying and looked at Dante with gratitude.

"T-thank you, sir. I could have died if not for you!" The girl tried to stand on her weak legs to bow, but Dante held her arm and stopped her.

"It’s okay. I helped you because I know how you feel." Dante smiled: "I was a skinny boy searching for food in trashcans only a few months ago."

The girl’s jaw dropped upon hearing him. Her ears twitched, as though they thought they misheard him.

She scanned his figure from head to toe, every detail sending more shock to her.

Dante chuckled before his eyes landed on a small box in the mud with some tubes splattered around it. He grabbed it off the ground and collected the small tubes one by one.

"Sir, I can collect them myself. You don’t have to bother your—"

"Shut it and let me do it." Dante silenced the girl before she could continue her sentence: "And stop calling me sir. I’m only 16."

"Oh..."

After collecting the tubes, Dante finally noticed that he had seen them before.

’Aren’t these cigarettes?’

They looked identical to the one that Beatrice’s son had smoked in front of him.

’Is she forced to sell them?’ Dante thought, regaining some of his old memories: ’I remember that a guy tried to force me once to help him sell drugs, but Jason had a conflict with him and ended up sending him to a hospital.’

As if sensing his curiosity, the girl grabbed the box and explained: "They are healing herbs... They can reduce stress and mental exhaustion, improve the blood flow, and heal lungs gradually. I sell them for a living."

"Heal what?" Dante frowned at her words.

As far as he knew, these cursed tubes were the main villains of all lung-related stories!

The girl nodded innocently: "Yes, you only have to ignite the tip and inhale the herb. I tried it before and it’s really comforting!"

Dante was convinced by her words, but he still took one cigarette out of curiosity.

Using a spark of black flames, he ignited the tip of the cigarette and brought the other end to his mouth.

’One cigarette to test won’t harm, right?’

Taking a deep breath, Dante inhaled the herb.

’That’s...’

His eyes suddenly widened, exhaling strange blue smoke.

He didn’t cough, he didn’t feel disgusted, his mouth didn’t smell bad. The cigarette was completely safe!

And the most shocking part was that the girl didn’t lie. Although the feeling was barely noticeable, his blood flow indeed improved a little, and he could feel the blue smoke washing his lungs instead of ruining them.

His draconic lungs wouldn’t have been affected by a simple cigarette to begin with, but he would have felt it if something went wrong.

And the best part was—

’I think it really helps in relaxing minds...’

Dante could feel his mental exhaustion fading away with every breath. It wasn’t like a magical treatment for everything, but every small ease was welcomed.

Before he realized it, he had already finished the "cigarette".

But he felt... empty.

"How much does it cost?" Dante asked the little girl calmly.

"Oh, it’s on me." The girl smiled: "That’s the best I can do for you after saving my—" 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"No, I’m asking because I’ll buy everything!" Dante immediately took 10 mana crystals from his pocket without waiting for the girl to finish her sentence.

He looked at the box, seeing that around 60 more cigarettes remained.

"Would 10 small mana crystals be enough?"

"Enough? THAT’S MORE THAN—"

"I think that’s yes."

Dante immediately took the small box and handed the mana crystals to the girl.

Was it a waste? Yes, but Dante was rich enough to do whatever he wanted!

Additionally, he wanted to help the little girl anyway.

"I... I can’t accept this!"

Dante lit the first cigarette and said: "Shut up and be grateful! Don’t refuse money when you are obviously barely living!"

The little girl finally stopped complaining and closed her mouth, looking at the mana crystals with a wide smile and tears streaming down her cheeks.

A single mana crystal could be exchanged for a number of coins between 5 and 20 gold coins depending on the exchanger. Maybe even more in some rare cases if the mana crystal was extremely needed in a specific situation.

As for the healing herbs, she sold each tube for only one silver coin...

In other words, Dante had paid more than three times the price of the herbs.

"Do you have a place to return?" Dante suddenly asked while smoking the second cigarette.

"Oh, yes, I have..." the little girl nodded: "I... I think I have to go. I’ll remember your kindness forever!"

"You’re welcome." Dante patted her head indifferently, exhaling more of the blue smoke.

The girl accepted the head pat and walked away, but suddenly, she remembered something and returned.

"Sir, please don’t take more than four a day. It can cause addiction!"

"Huh?"

Dante’s pupils shrank upon hearing her, watching her as she turned around again and left.

’Addiction? Damn! I knew I couldn’t trust cigarettes, no matter the used herb!’

He immediately pulled the third cigarette out of his mouth and sighed, leaning back against the wall.

Just why did it have to have such a downside? It was good until now!

’I hate my life...’

Dante groaned in frustration and stared indifferently at the sky.

’Maybe I don’t need an inn tonight. Fafnir doesn’t even sleep and I have to visit Elizabeth.’

While he was lost in his thoughts, his hand that was holding the cigarette suddenly twitched.

He closed his eyes and tried to ignore that strange feeling in his heart, but it only increased.

’I mean... I already lit the cigarette. It’d be a waste if I let it burn like that, right?’

At that thought, Dante brought back the cigarette to his mouth and inhaled deeply.

This time, he slowed down, enjoying the cigarette for a few minutes instead of seconds.

After finishing the cigarette, an inky-black sphere covered his figure, and what emerged from it was a white-haired man wearing an outfit made of shadows and a blindfold that was attached to his skin.

Fafnir sighed and stood up, deciding to learn more about the city for his master.

Unknown to him and Dante, there was a guy who had been watching since Dante entered the city.

He had a pair of red eyes and long black hair that was flying with every breeze.

He was standing on top of the city’s main gate, yet his eyes were able to capture everything.

At this moment, his lips curled softly upward.