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A few days after the meeting with Amelia, Edward suddenly popped up at Fleur's Tower. After contacting the Tower Spirit to let him in, he strode inside.
"What brings this sudden visit?"
He hugged her tightly on his arm and said: "Let's go on a small vacation."
"Now? I'm a little busy."
"I promise you that it will be worth it."
After pondering for a few seconds, she agreed. They did not waste time as Edward took her back to his palace and got inside a spaceship. Since he had the highest authority in the Empire, he did not need to report his flight operation.
So, after getting into the small individual spaceship, he flew into outer space. The ship had auto-pilot mode so he did not have to drive.
"Activating Void Jump," said the artificial intelligence in a cold and monotonous voice.
The spaceship seemed to enter a world that is completely white before exiting. To Edward and Fleur, it seemed that only a few seconds had passed.
Fleur–who was curious about where they were–looked through the window, She saw a massive fortress floating in space.
"Where are we?"
"Epsilon Cluster, more than 300,000 light-years away from Earth."
Fleur nodded her head. After the space expedition five years ago, the Empire has learned plenty of things about the universe. The Milkyway Galaxy is divided into different clusters, and each cluster is made up of many star systems.
The ship flew directly to the fortress to the parking area. Suddenly, the A.I. said: "Receiving information transmission. Accept or Deny?"
"Accept."
A message was then projected in front of Edward.
"Dear Customer, Welcome to Acadia Bar. If you want to park, a certain fee is required. What form of payment would you like to use?"
"Direct Deposit from the Central Cosmic Bank," said Edward. Then, a bank account number was transferred to his ship. Under his instruction, the AI accessed Edward's bank and transfer the money.
"I did not expect you to be so rich, even outside of Earth," said Fleur in a joking manner.
"Of course, otherwise, how could I be the sugar daddy of so many women."
Edward was indeed rich. In the cosmos, there are many forms of currency. However, two of them are the mainstream. The first is one is the Universe Coin issued by the Central Cosmic Bank.
The other is mana stone, which is a rare mineral found in certain planets where mana is abundant. The stone contained mana inside, which can be used by casters for increasing their mana and a variety of other things.
After learning about this, Edward commented how this thing was the same as spiritual stones that he often read about in novels in his past life.
As for the source of Edward's wealth, it came from two things: mana crystal and gold.
Mana crystal is an artificial version of mana stones. Despite being artificial, the energy inside is purer since it is made from Philosopher's Stones, so Edward discovered that they were quite valuable after selling them.
As for gold, it was not the material itself that was precious, but the things that could be made with it. A large quantity of gold can be used to refine another ore called Magic Gold, which is a very rare and valuable mineral that is in high demand.
After buying a few pieces of magic cold and studying it, he did reverse engineer the method of making it. And with the Philosopher's Stone's ability to turn metal into gold, he never lacked this stuff.
So, he was a relatively rich man in the cosmos.
"It seems that you have been too influenced by the Americans," said Fleur. Edward shrugged his shoulder after hearing this. In his past life, he was American. Although in this life, he was British and speak with their accent, sometimes, the influence of his past life will manifest itself.
…
After paying the fee and landing, Edward handed Fleur a watch.
"What's this?" she asked
"A universal translator."
"No need. I have already learned the universal language."
Edward suddenly remembered that the Empire has already entered the Space Age. Currently, the universal language is a normal course in schools along with basic knowledge of the universe.
While thinking about this, he suddenly started to wonder how this language was accepted as the universal one. Who was so powerful or influential to be able to do this?
Not just the language, but even the central currency issued by the Central Cosmic Bank. To have so many races and civilizations accept your currency as the standard one is not something a regular person or group can do.
He decided to pay more attention to these issues and get to the bottom in the future once he is more powerful.
After getting off the ship, the two of them headed to their destination. They soon reached a building that had the design of a rundown bar in a fantasy world full of magic.
There was a sign with the word "Acadia" on top.
After entering inside, they soon found themselves in a very large area full of people. According to size only, this place was probably bigger than a football stadium. Obviously, a spell similar to Extension Charm was placed inside the small bar as the interior space was larger than the exterior one.
Fleur's eyes lit up as she saw all kinds of different races. Humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, and more. Many of these races she thought only existed in stories or legends, and they were right in front of her.
Although her facial expression did not change much, she was excited on the inside.
"Is this place really a bar?"
The reason she asked this was that she saw that all the people here had weapons on them or wore some sort of armor. More ever, based on the mana she detected on many of them, there were many people of different Tiers.
The majority of them were between Tier 0 to Tier 3, while dozens were in Tier 4. As for Tier 5, including Edward, she only detected 4 of them. And there were no higher Tiers, at least she did not detect any.
"Although it is called a Bar, this place is in fact a Mercenary Guild where people can post and take jobs from all over the galaxy."
"Task?"
"Yes. From saving a country on some planet to saving princesses to slave and drug trafficking. You will find everything here."
"Something tells me that we are not here only for vacation?"
Edward smiled at her before leading her in a specific direction.
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Title: Strange Encounter
