Dante

Dante, a crocodilian thief and former Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook author, learns that he and Justice Light, a skyfowl shopkeeper and fellow cookbook author, have been reassigned to guard duty at an ice castle settlement on the eighth floor. Both are non-combatants struggling with guilt over their past actions as crawlers, and the reassignment threatens their carefully constructed lives and raises questions about whether they'll be forced into combat situations.

Dante and Justice Light discuss the implications of a newsletter reassigning them from their current positions—Dante from the trap master guild and Justice Light from his shop—to serve as guard captains at a snow castle settlement on the upcoming eighth floor. Justice Light expresses anxiety about losing his carefully organized shop and his fabric art, while Dante attempts to reassure him by explaining that the reassignment is temporary and that NPCs will maintain their positions. Dante reflects on Justice Light's history: the skyfowl was a former cookbook owner and trap master who killed a shopkeeper during his crawl, an act that devastated him emotionally. In response, Justice Light demanded an unusually long indentureship as that very shopkeeper, which Dante recognizes as an attempt at atonement. Dante reveals that he is Justice Light's brother—both are former cookbook authors who have been keeping this relationship secret, bound by shared guilt and a desire to correct past wrongs. With fourteen seasons left until freedom, Dante watches a crawler named York and worries about the implications of the reassignment. The chapter concludes with Justice Light's conviction that he cannot and will not fight crawlers, while Dante acknowledges the violence within himself and his uncertainty about what he would do if forced to choose between his freedom and following orders. The chapter ends with a biographical entry revealing Dante's ultimate fate: he was killed fourteen seasons short of freedom while reassigned as an ice castle guard, and his death resulted from administrative action for refusing orders.