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'.

to the company, it was

files Smallsnake sent me, I realized that recruiting her

decided to skip that directly and decided to jump straight into the

into bringing me

knew of a

was currently sitting inside of a cafe

you are, took me a

was Kevin's figure. Currently, he

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

did you call

tell you before I had a deal to

"A deal?"

head. Although he didn't know what the deal was, he was curious as to why he

"Yeah..."

"Alright let's hear it"

hand in an open-palm position. Noticing my

"High five?"

head,

"No, Five"

"...Five?"

at Kevin straight in

"Five-star sword manual"

of my mouth, the atmosphere around us

Yeah.

I was giving him something that would've already belonged to

Five-star manual [Levisha style]

of the three five-star swords art that

back to the novel, in terms of the timeline he should've gotten the sword art, it should be

why not just use it as bait for enticing Kevin into

he would accept, I at least caught

"Huuuuuu..."

deep breath, Kevin tried

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

in the world could he possibly have a

him more and more mysterious the more

he wasn't 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, taking a couple of seconds to regain his composure, glancing at Ren,

"The catch?"

head, I didn't answer

have an ability that lets

"Huh?"

at me with a skeptical face. Foresee the

in this day and age for someone to have the ability to foresee the future, those people were a dime in a dozen. Moreover, they would immediately be scouted by the

sought-after

even more confusion,

reveal to me such

Kevin's internal

"You don't believe me?

slightly...I glanced at Kevin

clear, my ability allowed me

at me, Kevin

"...what?"

ability to travel

"..."

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

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

future. After all, I did have a book that allowed me to see 10

it to Kevin...but still, he

Kevin lowered his head

much

I shook my

just about this

no need for him to become warier of me. I think this was enough for

I didn't need for him

some time to think

breath, Kevin slumped back on the chair

'...A five-star manual"

admit, the offer was

Problem was...

drinking

'Should I trust him?'

the past, they never actually talked for long. At most 10 minutes. To him, Ren was someone that he couldn't decipher no

knew him, the thicker the veil of

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

*Sigh*