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'.

I somewhat sorted out the stuff with regards to the

sent me, I realized that recruiting her wasn't actually going

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

into

of a way

was currently sitting

are, took me a while

he was wearing a black hoodie that

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

did you call me

I tell you before I had a deal

"A deal?"

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

"Yeah..."

"Alright let's hear it"

an open-palm position. Noticing my

"High five?"

head, I

"No, Five"

"...Five?"

in the eyes,

"Five-star sword manual"

words came out of my mouth, the

Yeah.

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

Five-star manual [Levisha style]

the three five-star swords art that I had

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

that the opportunity presented itself, why not just use it as bait for enticing Kevin into bringing me to

wasn't sure that he would accept, I

"Huuuuuu..."

tried his

the system, he doubted he would ever get

could he

couldn't help but find him more and more mysterious the more

proposed such a deal unless he wanted something from him. Therefore, taking a couple

"The catch?"

my head, I

see, I have an ability that lets me foresee

"Huh?"

at me with

foresee the future, those people were a dime in a dozen. Moreover, they

sought-after they

me with even

he reveal to me such

internal conflict,

"You don't believe me?

slightly...I glanced at Kevin in the eyes and

clear, my ability

at me,

"...what?"

you have the ability to travel

"..."

if time had frozen, he stared at

be impressed by the

said I could foresee the future. After all, I did have a book

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

remain composed, Kevin lowered his

how much

shook my

much, just about this

more, but there was no need for him to become warier of me. I think this

his help. I didn't need for him to start becoming apprehensive

me some time to

on the chair and fell

'...A five-star manual"

had to admit, the

Problem was...

drinking his coffee,

'Should I trust him?'

they never actually talked for long. At most 10 minutes.

the thicker

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

*Sigh*