The Author's POV

Inside of a large skyscraper made out of glass, multiple large portals that emanated strong magical power shone brightly.

-Vuam! -Vuam!

Soon after, as the light died down, a group of people emerged from the portal. They each wore different styled combat suits ranging from thin clothes to large bulky metallic ones. Each of them carried different weapons, with some holding onto massive swords whilst others holding onto long magic staff.

"Goodbye squad captain"

"Thank you very much for today"

"Hope you guide us again squad captain"

Waving goodbye towards the last person that came out, all of the individuals inside the group smiled brightly.

...it looked like they were all in a good mood.

"Heee...don't mention it, just doing my job"

Waving goodbye to multiple people wearing different-colored combat suits, a middle-aged man with a lazy smile on his face and a large cigar in his mouth stood within the lobby of the building.

He had Black hair, an unkempt beard, and a wild yet commanding aura around him that made everyone near him look at him in respect.

Leopold Ray.

That was the name of the middle-aged man standing in the lobby.

He was a ranked hero, and a squad captain working for the Moonlight mercenary group, a [IV] graded mercenary group.

His job was fairly easy.

All he had to do from day in and day out was train the new recruits that the mercenary group was seeking to recruit.

...In terms of ranking within the group, he was at the bottom of the mercenary corporation. However, despite being at the bottom of the hierarchy, he was a highly respected individual by all of the new recruits.

...and that's because he was extremely capable.

During dungeon raids, he was meticulous, efficient, and safe.

As long as he was in command, the raids would always be successful with the rookies barely sustaining any injury. Moreover, each recruit managed to learn a lot from Leopold as he would always calmly instruct them when the situation called for it.

...However, despite such accomplishments, the higher-ups of his mercenary group didn't bother to promote him nor give him a raise. To them, a ranked hero in his late thirties was not worth their notice.

Waiting for Leopold at the reception of the establishment, a young girl with custard brown hair and a neat grey uniform greeted Leopold with a professional smile on her face. Taking a stack of bills from the register, with both hands, the young girl handed it to Leopold

"Welcome back Leopold, here's your payment"

"Ah, thank you, Natasha"

Thanking the receptionist named Natasha, Leopold took the stack of bills and slowly counted each and every one of them. Not missing a single bill

"100U...500U...2800U...5000U...this should do for now"

Nodding his head, Leopold put the stack of money in his pocket and waved goodbye towards Natasha.

"Aight, cya around Natasha"

"Have a safe day Leopold"

With her usually business-like smile, Natasha waved goodbye to Leopold.

Not so far from Leopold, arriving at the lobby of the building, wearing a neat black suit and sunglasses, a young man spotted Leopold in the distance and headed in his direction.

Arriving a few meters away from Leopold, the young man said

"Excuse me?"

Having just received his payment, hearing someone calling out from him, Leopold glanced at the young man before him and asked

"Yes?"

Smiling brightly, the young man extended his hand towards Leopold

"Hello, Mr. Leopold, let me introduce myself, I'm Smallsnake"

...

On the same day, not so far from where Smallsnake was, Epsilon cafe

Sitting in the corner of the establishment, in a more secluded area of the cafe', I merrily sipped on my latte'.

regards to the company, it was time for me to

looking through the files Smallsnake sent me, I realized that recruiting her wasn't actually going to be

that directly and decided to jump straight into the hardest task

into bringing me to

I already knew of a way

why I was currently sitting inside

are, took me a

was Kevin's figure. Currently, he was wearing a black hoodie that

revealed. Holding onto a

did you call me

I tell you before I had a deal

"A deal?"

a while, Kevin nodded his head. Although he didn't know what the deal was, he was curious as to why

"Yeah..."

"Alright let's hear it"

my hand in an open-palm position. Noticing my

"High five?"

my head, I

"No, Five"

"...Five?"

straight in the eyes, I slowly

"Five-star sword manual"

of my mouth, the

Yeah.

manual. To be more precise, I was giving him something

Five-star manual [Levisha style]

swords art that

novel, in terms of the timeline he should've gotten the

not just use it as bait for enticing Kevin into bringing

I wasn't sure that he would

"Huuuuuu..."

breath, Kevin tried his best to retain

five-star manual... its value was immeasurable. Even with the system,

in the world could he possibly

help but find him more and more mysterious the more he got

impulsive enough to accept the offer like that. He knew that he wouldn't have proposed such a deal unless he wanted something from him. Therefore,

"The catch?"

I didn't answer

have an ability that lets me

"Huh?"

with

ability to foresee the

how sought-after they

even

reveal to me such

Kevin's internal conflict, I

"You don't believe me?

glanced at Kevin in the eyes and

it wasn't clear, my ability allowed me to foresee something

glancing at me,

"...what?"

have the ability to travel through different

"..."

if time

the level of

lying when I said I could foresee the future. After all, I did have a book that allowed me to see

it wasn't in the way I was describing it to Kevin...but still, he didn't need to know that

composed, Kevin lowered his head and in a low voice

much do you

I shook

much, just about this

knew a lot more, but there was no need for him to

need

some time to

Kevin slumped back on

'...A five-star manual"

admit, the offer

Problem was...

leisurely drinking his coffee, Kevin couldn't

'Should I trust him?'

for long. At most 10 minutes. To him, Ren was someone

he knew him, the thicker the

felt like he was a being that wasn't supposed to

*Sigh*