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'.

stuff with regards to the company, it

files Smallsnake sent me, I realized that

directly and decided to jump straight into

Kevin into

already knew of a way to convince

I was currently sitting inside of a

you are, took me a while to find

Currently, he was wearing

off his hoodie, Kevin's deep-red eyes were revealed. Holding onto a cup of coffee, Kevin glanced

did you

before I had

"A deal?"

head. Although he didn't know what the deal was, he was curious as to why he asked for him to meet him all the way over here.

"Yeah..."

"Alright let's hear it"

my hand in an open-palm position.

"High five?"

head, I

"No, Five"

"...Five?"

straight in the eyes, I

"Five-star sword manual"

those words came out of my mouth, the atmosphere around

Yeah.

a five-star manual. To be more precise, I was giving him something that would've already belonged to him in the

Five-star manual [Levisha style]

five-star swords art that I had

back to the novel, in terms of the timeline he should've

use it as bait for enticing Kevin into

would accept, I at

"Huuuuuu..."

deep breath, Kevin tried his best to retain

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

the world could he

Ren, Kevin couldn't help but find him more and more mysterious the more

that he wouldn't have proposed such a deal unless he

"The catch?"

my head, I

ability that

"Huh?"

me with a

for someone to have the ability to foresee the future, those people were a dime in a dozen. Moreover,

how sought-after

me with even more

reveal to me

Kevin's internal

"You don't believe me?

glanced at Kevin

my ability allowed me

glancing at me, Kevin

"...what?"

have the ability to travel

"..."

words reached Kevin's ears, almost as if time had frozen,

couldn't help but be impressed by the level of bullshit that came out of

lying when I said I could foresee the future. After all, I did have

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

remain composed, Kevin lowered his head and

much do

I shook my

much, just

no need for him to become warier of

didn't need for him to start becoming apprehensive towards

me some time

on the chair and fell into

'...A five-star manual"

to admit, the

Problem was...

who was leisurely drinking his coffee,

'Should I trust him?'

the past, they never actually talked for long. At most 10 minutes.

knew him, the thicker the veil of

a being that wasn't supposed

*Sigh*