A Lovely Boat Ride in the River of Pain and Suffering

'Leandro' aka avid hater Zhou Chouhen took the meek MC's hand and push the front gates of hell open.

They saw a river with the ferryman, Charon. He stared at them with sickly yellow eyes, a skeleton hand reaching out from the long sleeves of his black robes like a Grim Reaper's.

He pointed at Daniele. "That child does not belong here."

"Me? Or my brother Leandro?" Daniele's eyes glittered with hope. At least one of them might not go to hell after all!

(Welp, that's game over. Old bony man Charon clearly knows everything. He'll call an angel to pick up Daniele now.)

[Use your powers, dumbass. Didn't you read the book?]

(I know that, I just wanted Daniele to get the afterlife he deserves, damn it!)

Zhou Chouhen rolled his eyes internally, then set off playing his role as the black sorcerer Leandro. He clicked his fingers and a black and red aura coalesced in his hand, only visible to him and creatures of hell. The aura stretched out like tendrils and wrap around Charon like a rope.

Charon heard 'Leandro's' voice, even though 'Leandro' did not open his mouth.

He ordered: "You will grant us safe passage. I am a herald of Satan himself, a devout worshipper of evil who will join him in the lowermost circle of hell. The boy is my own business, I am free to bring anyone I desire to accompany me."

Charon seemed dazed and then grimly nodded, his cloaked skull hanging low. "Apologies, I was mistaken. You are both denizens of hell."

Daniele's face darkened and his hope vanished. "I see. Only God is perfect after all, even the ferryman can make mistakes."

[Scum Meter raised to 5%]

[Satisfaction Meter Raised to 15%]

(Fuck, why did the scum meter go up!?) Zhe Chouhan panicked internally, but kept a straight face as Leandro.

[Because you used your dark magic to let you and Daniele pass through despite Charon's warning.]

(But I have no choice to do that without acting OOC!)

[I told you, it's not possible to avoid being a scum.]

(Then..... I lost the bet?)

[Relax, the three meters can increase and decrease on any given time. Your goal is to get 0% Scum Meter by the ending.]

Zhe Chouhen was about to say something telepathically to Daoist Panda, when Daniele tugged at his sleeve. "Brother, should we go to the boat now? You seemed dazed and thinking of something."

"I'm just recalling my knowledge on the circles of hell." 'Leandro' made an excuse.

"You know about the landscape of hell? Where did you read about it?" Daniele's eyes widened. "I thought it was blasphemous to seek knowledge about anything regarding Satan."

(Fuck, I forgot that it should be a big secret.) Zhe Chouhen cursed, then made another excuse.

"I was taught about it by a priest long ago to serve as a warning for the living people. It was not meant to make me interested in the Satanic, but to fear it, so the Lord allows it."

Daniele considers this. "Is that so? Then I trust brother to guide me in this eternal damnation. I do not know anything about it."

"I will. Let us go to the boat now?" 'Leandro' offered his hand and Daniele took it.

'Leandro' smiled as he guided him carefully to the boat, and they both sat down as Charon rowed his oar on the murky waters. His skeleton face loomed over 'Leandro' for a while, then said nothing and went back to rowing.

Daniele yelped a bit when he did that, because who wouldn't be scared by a skeleton man with yellow glowing eyes?

(You do know that Charon doesn't look like that in the original Inferno, don't you?) Zhe Chouhen said to Panda.

[Yeah, yeah. I just thought it would look cooler and spookier.]

He internally sneered. (Of course, cheap author would sacrifice the accuracy for cheap coolness.)

[Shut up or I'll transport you to another one of my novels, the R18 ones.]

(Yuck, all your R18 doesn't have a single papapa scene that has full consent! I'm already happy I chose something as less messed up as I Will Drag You To Hell With Me.)

[You're exaggerating, I write one papapa with consent for every book.]

(Yeah, at the ending when the MC is already brainwashed by his love for the ML!)

Screams could be heard from a distance, and Daniele clutched on Leandro's sleeve.

"Brother, where are those screams coming from?" Daniele asked.

"Those screams are from this circle of the Uncommitted, the Vestibule of Hell. They are people who chose to be neither good or bad, wasting away their lifetime by staying at the in-between."

'Leandro' explained the Vestibule like he was a living Inferno Encyclopedia, in a monotonous and informative voice. That's because Zhe Chouhen was so desensitized to these kind of things, and he'd seen a lot of messed-up stuff on the Internet.

"They will forever run naked chasing a banner while being swarmed by wasps and hornets in the shores of this river, Acheron. Maggots and worms drink their blood, pus, and tears the flows down their body as they run. This symbolizes their stagnation from pursuing anything besides spirituality and living a selfish life."

Daniele's face writhed in fear and disgust at the description alone. "Then.... I shall not look at the shore anymore. I will close my eyes."

He closed his eyes and hold on to 'Leandro'.

Zhe Chouhen felt sorry for the poor guy, he must have been a pampered duke's son and have never seen gore and suffering in the real world before. He patted Daniele's head and took off his cape, wrapping it over Daniele's head.

"It is not much, but this will keep you from seeing and hearing the horrible punishments of the Uncommitted. You should sleep for the whole ride, I will wake you when we have reached our destination."

Daniele nodded and leaned on his shoulder. "Thank you, brother. I do not think I will be able to rest here, but your prescence brings comfort enough that I would like to try."

Zhe Chouhen did not just gave him the cape as a cover. He put an enchantment on it to block all sounds and bring a soothing feeling to the wearer. Though he cannot give good dreams because he practices dark magic, not light magic, the least he could do is to make it a dreamless sleep for his fictional stepbrother.

Daoist Panda appeared before him with a 'poof' cloud effect. [Congrats! Scum Meter went back to 0%]

"Is the Scum Meter only affected by my usage of powers?" Zhe Chouhen asked.

[Not really, but they do greatly affect the Scum Meter depending on how you use them.]

Zhe Chouhen grinned. "Then I just have to avoid using my powers as much as I can, or I should only use it for good things."

[That's too much of an optimistic mindset. Your magic is not meant to be used for good, you already noticed how limited it can be used through unmalicious means.]

"I can do it. You just lack faith in me." Zhe Chouhen added a wind blocker spell as well so Daniele would not feel cold.

The panda crossed his arms. [I'm betting against you, of course I won't have faith in you.]

The boat came to a slow halt as it dock on a clearer shore. The panda 'poof'-ed out of existence when Charon turned around his grating skull. He said in a cold, deadpan voice: "We are here."

Zhe Chouhen took out the enchanted cape from Daniele's head, and woke up the sleeping MC. "Wake up, my dear Daniele. It is time for us to leave the boat."

Daniele stirred slowly, looking like a delicate cherub minus the wings. His blue eyes seemed to sadden a bit from disappointment, but he stood up and took 'Leandro's' hand to leave the boat.

Charon gave them one last menacing look before rowing away to retrieve other unfortunate souls by the gates.

"Did you sleep well?" 'Leandro' rubbed the blond boy's disheveled hair.

The trip was no fun boat ride, it was rocky and they often clashed with the strong waves of River Acheron. But Daniele was asleep to notice it, and Zhe Chouhen used a little magic to still appear unblemished.

"I did. There were no dreams, however. I wished I could have dreamt of father or appeared to him in a vision one last time." Daniele's eyes became teary. "He will be deeply grieved by our deaths, I can imagine his heartbreak."

'Leandro' wiped his tears away. "We should be happy for father and mother that they could not see this kind of scene, and pray for them to have long and prosperous lives."

"Do you think they will go to heaven? I want to be with them but I know I should not, I should hope for them to reach paradise. But I dearly miss them, I can't stand the idea of spending eternity without seeing them again. Why do I have to be such a despicable person?" Daniele sobbed.

(You're not despicable, you're stepbrother is. You're supposed to be in heaven waiting for them there instead.) Zhe Chouhen said in his mind.

"I believe they would also miss us when they see that we are not with them in the afterlife. Let us just cherish the love they have given us while we were alive and move forward despite the hardships." 'Leandro' could only give him this little consolation.

Daniele cleared his eyesight from the blurry tears, and observed his surroundings truly for the first time. "This place does not look.... As bad as I thought. There are even castles and noble residences. Who resides in this place?"

"The benevolent pagans and non-believers. This is Limbo, where they stay in an otherwise peaceful eternity but somber and empty without the presence of God." Zhe Chouhen said.

He took his hand as they finally reached the first official circle of hell.

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