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 <D> 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 <D> 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'.
Now that I somewhat sorted out the stuff with regards to the company, it was time for me to finish my next task.
...I had considered recruiting Ava, but after looking through the files Smallsnake sent me, I realized that recruiting her wasn't actually going to be that hard.
Therefore, I decided to skip that directly and decided to jump straight into the hardest task first.
'Somehow convince Kevin into bringing me to Immorra.'
Fortunately, I already knew of a way to convince him.
...and hence why I was currently sitting inside of a cafe waiting for him.
"There you are, took me a while to find you"
Snapping me out of my thoughts, was Kevin's figure. Currently, he was wearing a black hoodie that hid his facial features.
Sitting down and taking off his hoodie, Kevin's deep-red eyes were revealed. Holding onto a cup of coffee, Kevin glanced at me and asked
"...so why did you call me here?"
"Hm? Didn't I tell you before I had a deal to make with you?"
"A deal?"
Glancing at me in confusion, after a 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 meet him all the way over here. Far from the Lock.
"Yeah..."
"Alright let's hear it"
Smiling, I raised my hand in an open-palm position. Noticing my action, Kevin's confusion grew
"High five?"
Shaking my head, I smiled
"No, Five"
"...Five?"
Looking at Kevin straight in the eyes, I slowly said
"Five-star sword manual"
As those words came out of my mouth, the atmosphere around us froze.
Yeah.
I was offering him a five-star manual. To be more precise, I was giving him something that would've already belonged to him in the future.
Five-star manual [Levisha style]
One of the three five-star swords art that I had created for Kevin.
If I had to cross-reference back to the novel, in terms of the timeline he should've gotten the sword art, it should be in about two months' time.
...However, now that the opportunity presented itself, why not just use it as bait for enticing Kevin into bringing me to Immorra?
Though I wasn't sure that he would accept, I at least caught his interest.
"Huuuuuu..."
Taking a deep breath, Kevin tried his best to retain his composure.
A five-star manual... its value was immeasurable. Even with the system, he doubted he would ever get one in his life.
'How in the world could he possibly have a five-star manual?'
Glancing at Ren, Kevin couldn't help but find him more and more mysterious the more he got to know him.
...Still, 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, he asked
"The catch?"
Nodding my head, I didn't answer immediately.
"...you see, I have an ability that lets me foresee bits of the future"
"Huh?"
Confused, Kevin looked at me with a skeptical face. Foresee the future?
Altough it wasn't unheard of 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 top guilds.
That's how sought-after they were.
Glancing at me with even more confusion, Kevin grew cautious.
'Why would he reveal to me such important information?'
Noticing Kevin's internal conflict, I smiled.
"You don't believe me?
Pausing slightly...I glanced at Kevin in the eyes and said
"Altough it wasn't clear, my ability allowed me to foresee something interesting"
Warily glancing at me, Kevin asked
"...what?"
"...That you have the ability to travel through different planets"
"..."
As soon as my words reached Kevin's ears, almost as if time had frozen, he stared at me with wide eyes.
Honestly, I couldn't help but be impressed by the level of bullshit that came out of my mouth.
...actually, I wasn't lying when I said I could foresee the future. After all, I did have a book that allowed me to see 10 minutes in the future.
But it wasn't in the way I was describing it to Kevin...but still, he didn't need to know that fact.
Trying his best to remain composed, Kevin lowered his head and in a low voice he said
"y-ou, how much do you know?"
Smiling, I shook my head.
"Not much, just about this far..."
I knew a lot more, but there was no need for him to become warier of me. I think this was enough for now.
After all, I needed his help. I didn't need for him to start becoming apprehensive towards me
"Fuuuuuu...give me some time to think about it"
Taking a deep breath, Kevin slumped back on the chair and fell into deep thought.
'...A five-star manual"
He had to admit, the offer was enticing.
Problem was...
Glancing at Ren who was leisurely drinking his coffee, Kevin couldn't help but think
'Should I trust him?'
Altough he had interacted with him in the past, they never actually talked for long. At most 10 minutes. To him, Ren was someone that he couldn't decipher no matter how much he tried.
The more he knew him, the thicker the veil of mystery around him became.
...It sort of felt like he was a being that wasn't supposed to belong to this world.
*Sigh*
Sighing, Kevin didn't know how to explain his current feelings. It was weird.
"Where do you want to go?"
"...so you really can travel through planets?"
Taken aback, Kevin glanced at me in confusion
"Huh?"
Smiling slightly, whilst twirling the cup of coffee in his hands, I meaningfully looked at Kevin
"Well, to be honest, although I can foresee the future, not every one of my visions turns out to be true...but now that you just asked where I wanted to go, it seems like you really do have the ability to different planets...interesting"
Opening his mouth, no words came out from Kevin's mouth.
'...Did I just get played?'
"Immorra"
"huh?"
"That's the planet I want to go"
"Immorra? Are you crazy!"
Opening his eyes wide, Kevin couldn't but stand up and look at me in shock.
It had to be noted that, although Kevin had never been to Immorra before, he had a detailed description of the planet from his system.
According to the system, if he went to Immorra with his current abilities, only death would await him.
...From what he read, he had to be at least <C+> to <B-> ranked in order to even think about stepping foot in that place...Yet, he was currently being asked to go there now.
The current Kevin right now was only <D-> ranked!
How can a <D-> rank like him step foot into such a dangerous place? Wasn't that just like asking him to kill himself?
"I'm sorry, but-"
Placing my hand forward to stop Kevin from speaking, I took one big gulp of my latte' before saying
"Don't be so hasty with your refusal"
"No, I'm not being hasty, I'm just not crazy!"
Putting my now empty cup on the table, I glanced at Kevin and said
"How about this, next weekend, Saturday, meet me outside of the train station. I will prove to you that there's no need to worry"
Shaking his head, Kevin stood up.
"...still no"
As I watched Kevin getting ready to leave, whilst still leisurely relaxing in my seat, I asked
"Are you really willing to sacrifice your chance to get a five-star sword art like that? I mean, all you have to do is follow me next week, and you decide whether you're up for it or not"
Halting his steps, biting his lips, Kevin couldn't help but feel tempted.
...A part of him really wanted to just leave and ignore this deal. However...if he really had a chance of getting his hands on a five-star martial manual, he couldn't just give up like that.
If he wanted to exterminate the demons responsible for killing his parents, he had to become stronger.
Although he was currently on the right track...Kevin couldn't but feel that his progress was still too slow.
He wanted to get stronger faster...
He wanted nothing more but to kill those that were responsible for his parent's death.
...Just imagining how much stronger he would get once he got his hands on a five-star manual, Kevin couldn't help but feel himself waver.
"huuuu..."
Taking a deep breath, glancing at Ren from behind, he said
"Give me some time, I still need to think things through..."
Smiling slightly, I nodded
"Take your time, you have until next week to give me an answer"
"Thank you"
Seriously nodding his head, Kevin left the cafe'
"Huh?"
A minute after Kevin left, right after Kevin's figure disappeared in the distance, I couldn't help but notice a white bill on the table. Taken aback, glancing at the entrance of the cafe', I couldn't help but shout
"Hey, you still haven't paid for your coffee!"
