CHAPTER 302: A GENIUS.

[There is no doubt about it.]

Thankfully, Dante knew to keep his expression from changing once his resident AI started speaking. He immediately understood which girl he was referring to, and his mind started working on what that would mean for him. At the same time, he continued the conversation as if everything was normal.

"Sorry about her." The girl, Suzuka, smiled apologetically. "I... haven’t been proactive about finding someone, so she’s trying to set me up."

"More like avoiding it, right?" Dante said. "Is that why we never got to meet before?"

"No, that was entirely by coincidence. I’m surprised that we never crossed paths, even though you are a regular here."

"I would say you were the one who has been avoiding her, Dante." Jonah chimed in. "You just happened to be away for one of your jobs whenever she’s here? Do you seriously expect us to believe that?"

"Hey now, Mr. Johanson. Why would I purposefully avoid meeting cute girls?"

"I wonder why?"

"Alright, I will admit it." Dante raised his hands slightly. "I have a bad track record with geniuses, but that’s definitely not why we never met." Turning to the girl, Dante smiled and asked. "I heard you went to Novagrad. That’s pretty impressive.

"Thanks." She smiled, her cheeks reddening slightly. "That said, I’m far from being a genius. It still took a lot of work to get through it."

"Just getting there is impressive enough," Dante said. "I couldn’t even get through high school."

"E-everyone has their strengths, haha..."

From the short, awkward laugh, it was clear that his admission took her by surprise. Jonah facepalmed himself, muttering something about fumbling his chance. There was a wave of laughter from the other table, but a loud clatter silenced them.

Nobara had returned faster than expected and slammed a bowl in front of Dante, her wrinkled face no different from that of an enraged demon.

"You idiot!" She said between her teeth. "Are you trying to ruin this on purpose?"

"Hey, she’s your granddaughter. Don’t you want her to know who she’s messing with?"

Dante had always questioned Nobara’s decision for wanting to set him up with her granddaughter, but now that he got to see the girl, his confusion grew further. A girl with those looks and achievements will probably find herself a husband in the upper class of society.

A guy who only recently graduated from being a street rat would never have made it to her list of options. Not that he had any intention of pursuing her, or any other girl for that matter, but specifically her.

"Still, Novagrad, huh?" Dante said. "Did you study cybernetics there?"

"Yes," Suzuka replied. "That’s the field I’m majoring in."

"Told you. A genius." He nodded.

"Oh, stop it." She giggled.

"So... how far are you from finishing your studies?" Eyeing her for a moment, he followed with another question. "Have you made any implants so far?"

"A few prototypes here and there. Nothing that would see use, though."

"Guess that’s for when you join one of the big corpos."

"That’s how it usually goes."

Though it was subtle, the blue-haired girl showed a bit of discomfort at the mention of her most likely career. Dante took that as further proof of her not being who she claims to be.

Nobara retreated into the background, pretending she wasn’t there after noticing the conversation progressing. Dante took that chance to grab a pair of chopsticks and pulled his bowl of spicy noodles closer, taking a bite before resuming.

"I actually plan on getting some bionic arms in the near future." He said.

Though it was within their topic of conversation, Suzuka didn’t seem to get why he brought it up.

"Really?"

"Yeah, my job has been getting dangerous lately. I recently had to deal with this rabid dog. Ended up losing a lung and both kidneys."

The conversation between Dante and the young beauty was the most interesting thing happening inside the Bowl of Fortune, so naturally, everyone remained silent as they listened in on them. The silence made Dante’s last statement land heavier than anything else he said, causing everyone who heard him to pale, and one of them even broke into a coughing fit.

"Wha... boy, what did you say?" Nobara asked, her eyes wide with shock.

Her granddaughter was in shock as well, the charming smile and slight blush having disappeared from her face.

"Kid... I didn’t hear you wrong, right?"

As everyone looked at him with disbelief, Dante was slurping his noodles, pretending to be oblivious to their reaction. He continued doing so after looking up from his bowl, showing a little surprise.

"Oh, I haven’t told you, huh?" He grinned as if it were just a small mistake. "You don’t have to worry. I’m totally fine."

"To hell with that!" Nobara snapped. "What do you mean you lost both kidneys!!? And a lung, too!? How are you even alive!!?"

"With the magic of modern medicine, of course," Dante replied. "I got some pretty good replacements, just so you know. brand new from Vitalcor."

"You’re saying that as if it’s nothing big." Said Jonah. "You... you didn’t get some shady loans, right?"

Losing one’s organs was a huge deal to most people, and an insurmountable financial hurdle that could lead to bankruptcy. Dante was barely twenty and didn’t have anyone to support him. When put in such a situation, his only choice would have been assisted death. Since he was there, however, it would mean that he somehow got his hands on the fortune needed to replace three organs, and there were only a few ways he could have done that.

"Don’t worry, I paid cash for everything." Slurping some of his noodles, Dante turned to the old officer and grinned. "And I still got the dough to spare."

Once again, the statement landed heavily in the silence filling the noodle shop. The other customers were too shocked to say anything, and so were Nobara and the others. To most, it might have appeared like he was flexing his wealth to impress the beautiful girl, but to the old cook, it was something that threatened to give her a heart attack. Unable to take it anymore, she sat down and held a hand to her forehead.

"I’m too old for this."