Bad Ending: Dietrich Lives - Tumblr Posts
Chapter 7
The heroic slavemaster has recaptured his Amontel and all is well again. Eco asks if Belca has calmed down from his racist rage and says he has, wanting to leave to get away from the Amontel and the nobleman. But the nobleman stops them, saying he wants to apologize for the trouble his Amontel has caused them. Eco literally jumps on him, saying "It sure is nice to receive something, even if it's from a guy!"
The nobleman says he reminds him of an old friend...only to then immediately recognize him as Eco. Then Eco recognizes him as Dietrich, the son of Arlon. Dietrich corrects him that his name is Dietrich Noah, Earl of Arlon. How does Eco know him? Eco says in the past, he did student work at different estates. He was a stay-in, writing letters, copying books, nerd shit. Dietrich says that Eco would also sneak out to Sana's red light district and join drag contests (because of course he did) and Eco cuts him off, saying he still wants his apology. Since he knows him, Dietrich denies him the apology (funny how that works) but upon finding out he has a fever, he calls for two horses from his men and says that Belca and Eco are going to stay at the mansion. Belca doesn't want to stay just because he's been told this plus there's his feverent racism towards Amontels to take into account with the slaves the guy has...then it begins to snow. In autumn. So he really doesn't have a choice now, does he?
Mr. Grumpy Racist Pants is seen taking a hot bath in the mansion, asking Eco (in the same room with the tub) if it's okay to accept help from a nobleman. Eco says that one, if they refuse, they'll be suspected and two, the Noahs are one of the lesser noble families, so they're probably not involved with Lord Lagen. Deciding to pull the bandaid off the wound, Eco comes right out and asks if Hector was killed because of the Amontel. Belca says it's none of Eco's business but Eco continues, saying that he saw an Amontel among Hector's ranks when he was walking through the city and that he was rumored to be planning on changing the state of the kingdom to give the Amontels more rights. Belca darkly reiterates that it's none of his business. Eco agrees...correctly guessing that he only wanted to do so because he met a cute Amontel girl anyway.
That sets Belca off.
He yells at Eco to shut up, saying that the Amontels are monsters and they don't deserve descriptors like "cute" or "girl" to be applied to them. Eco calmly asks Belca why he feels that way and Belca begins to answer that it's always been like that...and then he remembers what Hector and Gramps both said about times and attitudes changing. The maid comes in to bring in a change of clothes and wash his dirty ones and tell the two that their rooms are ready so when Belca is done scrubbing his ass, they can get to bed.
Later on, Eco suggests that he and Belca can wait for the right time and escape. But Belca says it's impossible to camp out in that weather and even if they did, they would just get caught while they sleep. Telling Eco goodnight, he thinks about the Amontel, saying the way people act towards them has been decided before there were even humans...
Meanwhile, in the woods, Shingetsu catches himself a bandit and begins the interrogation.
The guy is a slaver and Shingetsu is interrogating him to find out where he sold his fellow Amontel. The slaver fearfully shouts that he and his men sold them all in Sana and that they're under the "Chemist"'s control now. Other than that, he doesn't know anything. Shingetsu is about to kill him before another Amontel stops him, saying if he kills him, he has to kill the rest too. Shingetsu instead puts a "curse" on the man: If he tries to go after them, he will get revenge on his children, and his children's children, and make their flesh rot away. The curse of the Red Forest.
Back to Prince Hour! Belca wakes up to discover one, he's alive and two, he still has his Primseed pendant and three, Eco's fever broke. Looking outside, Belca is amazed by the snow like a puppy seeing his first few inches (of snow...pervert.). Dietrich greets him, saying it's noon already (Really Belca...?) and asks if Belca will spar with him before he eats.
Belca still got the moves (in training, at least) and he gives Dietrich a good fight. Dietrich asks about Eco and apologizes for yesterday's incident, saying it must have been frightening to run into an Amontel in the forest. Belca quickly says no it wasn't...and fucks up enough to have to dodge a straight pierce from Dietrich's blade. He returns with renewed force though, saying that he can't forgive Amontel for looking human even though they're clearly not. Dietrich agrees...but says that Amontels are in fact "human imitations" that they can replace humans and the "real" humans can make them do stuff that "real" humans can't. They take a break and Dietrich continues that Amontel do dangerous work that "real" humans cannot like digging in mines and such. Therefore, he can't really hate them. But! He and Belca have to remain ever vigilant and make sure not to mistake them for "real" humans.
Anyway, Dietrich gets called away on a "matter" and leaves Belca alone, saying they'll talk later. Belca thinks that Dietrich reminds him of Hector, just a bit. Belca then thinks that if Hector just thought of the Amontels the way Dietrich does, he would still be alive. He goes back to his and Eco's room to say that Dietrich is a chill dude...only to not see Eco anyway. And his stuff is missing.
At the Royal Tomb's Palace Villa, at the Sana Town District Gate, the Vandemiel's Squad Captain (whoever the fuck that is) is greeted by the guards when he's about to go on a vacation to see his parents. Then he sees something in the distance that looks like a caravan...but something isn't right. He orders the guards to go over and investigate and it turns out that the caravan contained Moruga merchants...Amontel slave traders. The slave traders were taken to a hospital to recover but what's interesting is the fact that they were not attacked for their money. No...their attackers were Amontel.
And their next target are the traders' client...
A carrier pigeon can't get to them; it's already sunset! The Squad Captain will have to rescue that innocent slave owner before the Amontel reach him!
The chapter ends with Belca exploring the Arlon family estate.