The Author's POV

[Caïssa - Headquarters]

"Here are all the files of the people you requested for me to find"

"Alright, thanks"

Without glancing at Smallsnake on my left, I took the files from his hand and threw them on the desk I was currently working on.

A week had passed since I learned about Ren's past, and nothing changed.

The renovations for the warehouse were pretty much done. With my limited budget, I could only redecorate the place to make it look more presentable, but there really wasn't any high-tech equipment nor training rooms here yet.

I was too poor for that.

"...What are you doing?"

Seeing me discard the files he had just given me, rolling his eyes, Smallsnake couldn't help but ask

"I'm making preparations"

"Preparations for?"

"Well, let's just say that in four months I'll be going on a long trip with a couple of people..."

Frowning, Smallsnake couldn't help but tilt his head in confusion

"...if it's in four months why do you need to start making preparations now?"

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you"

I will be going to find a cure for a curse that has been universally acknowledged as something that didn't have a cure.

...was what I wanted to say, but he wouldn't believe me even if I told him so.

Moreover, I also didn't tell him that I was not going to be on earth throughout that whole trip.

So may as well just dodge the question.

"..."

Speechless, Smallsnake could only pinch the middle of his brows as he continued.

"Anyhow, I did look at the profiles of the people you had previously recommended to join our mercenary group, and I still don't understand why you want them?"

Taking the file that I threw on the desk, Smallsnake opened it and took out three profiles.

"I sort of understand why you want to recruit Ryan Polive, but why a monster tamer and an old mercenary?"

Pointing towards Eva's and Leopold's files, Smallsnake frowned.

"Isn't the monster tamer class useless since they can only control one beast? Moreover from what I've been told, the beast they tame can't even increase in strength."

Without glancing at Smallsnake, I continued scribbling on a piece of paper.

What he said wasn't wrong.

Monster tamers weren't very sought after due to their limitations with regards to how many beasts they could tame. Normally one, on rare occasions two.

Moreover, the beasts that they could tame couldn't become stronger. Their strength was fixed. Meaning that if you tamed a <G> ranked beast that was it.

No matter how much food you fed to it or how much time you spent training it, the beast was forever going to stay at <G> rank.

Unless you got a new one, you couldn't raise its rank.

...and that's where the real problem laid.

The expenses needed to sustain a monster tamer were astronomical.

The costs of capturing and feeding a <S> ranked beast probably amounted to the same costs needed to raise multiple <S> ranked heroes.

It just wasn't worth it.

"Don't even get me started about the mercenary"

Seeing that I was still scribbling stuff, Smallsnake continued

"From what I've found in the files, he seems to be a regular member with seemingly no out-"

"Stop"

Sigh

Putting my pen down, I leaned on my chair and looked at Smallsnake, and sighed

"Smallsnake, just trust me. I know what I'm doing."

-Flick!

Flicking the pen that was rolling down on my paper, I continued

"You think I would just choose random people without having put much thought into it?"

Shaking his head, Smallsnake responded

"No"

"Then what's the point of asking? just wait and I will prove to you that my judgment wasn't wrong"

Frowning for a second, Smallsnake eventually nodded his head.

"...alright"

Seeing Smallsnake nod, I faint smile appeared on my lips.

Although Smallsnake was a very capable person, he tended to question my every decision.

...well, he wasn't wrong in doing so. I mean, apart from the C.B. pharmaceuticals incident, he hasn't really seen the full extent of my abilities.

Nor did he know I was the author of this novel.

It wasn't wrong of him to doubt me. Especially since he didn't know what I had in store for the members I was planning on recruiting.

In the end, with due time, Smallsnake will eventually understand what I was doing.

"Any other problems?"

"Yes actually"

Smiling, my brows twitched.

"You weren't supposed to answer that..."

Shaking his head and ignoring my rumbling, Smallsnake continued

"According to the information inside of the files, Ryan Polive, the 12 year old kid that you were keen on recruiting is currently being scouted by a gold graded guild"

"Gold graded?"

"...yeah"

Resting my face on my hand, I softly mumbled

"This is indeed a problem..."

A gold-graded guild.

I knew that Ryan was currently being scouted by a gold-graded guild, but that still didn't change the fact that this was a problem.

Guilds were divided into five different ranks, bronze, silver, gold, platinum, and diamond.

In order for a guild to be classified in the gold ranks, it meant that they had to at least have someone who was <B> ranked in their guild.

For platinum, they had to have at least one <A> ranked Hero and for diamond <S>.

'...B ranked huh'

So far the strongest opponent I faced was around <D> rank...and that was already with me exploiting openings that others had made for me.

Fighting against a B rank with my current strength was suicidal.

As my thoughts paused this far, a smile appeared on my face

...but who said anything about me fighting against them openly?

Turning my attention back to Smallsnake, I ordered

"Smallsnake, send me all of the information regarding the gold-graded guild that wants to recruit my future member..."

"from their enemies, details regarding their guild master, the top executives as well as their families, make sure you miss nothing. I want to know their habits, their friends, their enemies, everything!"

"What?"

Frowning, Smallsnake couldn't but be even more confused.

Just what would he need all that information for?

Was he planning on blackmailing them?

There's no way he thought the top executives of a gold-graded guild would think people wouldn't target their families.

The more Ren spoke, the more Smallsnake became confused.

Smiling at Smallsnake's confused face, I interlocked my fingers and rested my chin on them. Glancing at him I asked

"Smallsnake, what do you do when you find yourself against an opponent who is way stronger than you?"

"...you run?"

Shaking my head, I couldn't help but look at Smallsnake in disapproval

"Smallsnake, grow some balls"

"What are you-"

Raising my hand, I stopped him from speaking.

"Smallsnake, you don't have to be the strongest person in the world in order to beat a strong opponent...no"

Raising my finger, I pointed towards my head

"...regardless of how strong someone is, if they can't outsmart you, they can never win"

"Unless they had power that was overwhelming to the point no trickery nor scheme could win, there was always a solution...you just need to find that solution."

-Vuam!

Tapping on my watch, a huge chessboard appeared on top of my desk.

Yawning, I stretched my back and started a game. As I did, I started speaking.

"Unless you're a god, no being is perfect."

Tak!

Moving my pawn forward to start the game, I glanced at Smallsnake

"Everyone has a weakness, regardless of how much they try to hide it...Be it big or small, hidden or not hidden they all have a weakness...Take Achilles for example. Despite the fact that he was invulnerable to anything, as soon as an arrow pierced his weakness, the heel, he like everyone else on the battlefield died..."

-Tak! -Tak! -Tak!

As I talked, in real-time, the pieces on the chessboard automatically moved, matching my tempo.

"...Regardless of how strong your opponent was, once you found their weakness you could exploit it to your advantage..."

-Tak!

As I talked, focusing my mind on the game, I looked at the ever-changing pieces and made the appropriate moves. The more time passed, the lower the number of pieces on the board remained.

Staring at the game before him, Smallsnake looked at my calm face and couldn't help but ask

"But what if you don't know what their weakness is?"

Looking at Smallsnake, I smirked.

"Can't find it? Then...just make one."

Moving the rook all the way down the now empty board, it soon appeared below another rook, blocking the defenseless king.

"Be it through the use of deception, schemes, money, connections, information...if used well, an opening will definitely appear...and then"

-Tak

"Checkmate"

[Game over - You won]

As Smallsnake listened, watching the game unfold before his eyes, although he agreed somewhat, he couldn't help but frown

"Are you saying that you alone can go against a gold-graded guild?"

Smiling mysteriously, I didn't answer

"In two days you'll know..."

After a bit of silence, Smallsnake nodded his head.

"Alright, I'm very curious of what you'll do"

Smallsnake was indeed curious

...The reason why he joined the mercenary group was mainly out of his own curiosity.

If he thought about it, apart from the pharmaceuticals incident, he never really saw Ren doing anything grand.

Sure the fact that he knew his circumstances regarding the Monolith has also shocked him, but...that didn't mean he fully trusted Ren's abilities.

He talked a lot, but he never really proved to him that his decision was worthy of his trust.

...perhaps this could be a great opportunity to be able to determine if his decision in joining him was the right decision.

Thinking thus far, Smallsnake sighed and switched the topic.

"Anyhow, regarding the mercenary Leopold Ray, I think we should be able to recruit him if we just pay him enough money. He is a mercenary after all...but there's just one problem"

Frowning, my mouth twitched.

How come there was a problem for everything?

Why couldn't something just go smoothly for once?

Sighing and massaging my forehead, I asked

"What is it?"

Pausing, and looking at me in the eyes, Smallsnake hesitated for a moment before saying

"We don't have any money..."

"..."

Silence swept the warehouse.

"Keumm...Keumm...Don't worry about it. I'll solve it by the end of the week"

Disrupting the silence, coughing to hide my embarrassment, I leaned on my chair.

Money.

Fucking money.

Whenever I wanted to do something, money was always the first thing that troubled me.

With the cost for my training, warehouse renovations, taxes, and other useless expenses I facing, I was now poor.

There was just never enough money.

I did have a couple of short-term solutions that would allow me to make a lot of money, but in the end, if I wanted to sustain a whole mercenary group, I needed to think more broadly.

I need to create a steady source of income.

...and fortunately for me, a plan had already started formulating in my head.