The Author's POV

"Shit, where am I supposed to go?"

Looking toward my right and left sides, my footsteps came to a halt as I scratched the back of my head.

Staring at the two different paths in front of me, I was stumped.

"Which way am I supposed to go?"

I turned to face Angelica who looked at me and shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know."

She answered. Her tone was rather flat.

Taking a look at Liam that was still slumped on my shoulder, I slapped the side of his cheeks.

"Oy, wake up and start being useful for once."

While he may have tried to hide it, when I turned my head to face him, I noticed a slight twitch in his eye and knew he had woken up.

He had already woken up and was probably embarrassed from the whole ordeal.

"Oy, wake up."

I slapped his cheeks with more force.

"Okay fine! Fine!"

Finally opening his eyes, Liam got off my shoulders and stretched his body a bit. For a short couple of seconds, I just quietly stared at him, waiting for him to say something.

But as time passed and he continued to say nothing, my brows furrowed and I raised my hand.

I was ready to slap him again. That might help him wake him up.

"Where do you want to go?"

A yellow hue sprang from Liam's eyes just as I was about to slap his face again.

I let out a sight when I saw this.

"I want you to help me find the location of where the core of the mana compressor is. It should be the place with the highest demonic energy and mana density."

Since a mana compressor essentially converted mana into demonic energy, there should be a place in the mana compressor where the mana was extremely dense.

That should be the place where the core of the compressor was located, and the place where the others were.

"Let me have a look."

When Liam nodded, his eyes shone with a brighter yellow hue, and his head started to move all over the place as he searched for the location I had pointed out.

Time flew by, and a minute soon passed.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Impatiently tapping my foot against the ground, I looked at Liam who seemed to still be having trouble looking for the core of the mana compressor.

"Find anything?"

"Nope."

Liam shook his head as his gaze paused in a particular direction.

"There seems to be a lot of places here where energy seems to be blocked. I've found several rooms on each layer that block any form of energy from coming in and out of the place. Since I can't tell whether the rooms are big or small, I can't really help you in finding the location that you're looking for. But if there's one thing that I'm sure about, is that the rooms probably are really important."

"I see…"

I lowered my head and crossed my arms together.

'This is more troublesome than I originally thought.'

While I promised the other group that I would quickly rejoin them once I was done helping Liam, after seeing how much time I had wasted, I realized that I had already broken my promise with them.

I shifted my attention back toward Liam.

"Alright, can you tell me exactly where the rooms that you said can't let energy escape are located?"

"Why?"

Liam asked as he cocked his head to the side.

I was quick to answer.

"Since you can't find the place, we are left with no choice but to look at each room individually. If there is one thing that I know, however, is that the place is located in the middle upper area of the structure, and if we cut out sev—"

"Wait a second."

Liam suddenly cut in.

Scratching the side of his head, he looked at me with a confused look.

"What's wrong?"

I asked as I noted his expression.

Did he not understand what I was trying to say? If so, then I really didn't have time to properly explain it to him since we were short on time, but…

"Ehm…"

While still scratching the side of his head, and allowing the hue in his eyes to recede, Liam suddenly opened his mouth and suggested.

"Instead of doing it that way, wouldn't it be easier if we just kidnapped a demon and force him to talk? I mean...since they live here, they surely must know, right?"

In an instant, my body froze. Slowly, as I opened and closed my mouth repeatedly, my eyes began to open wide.

I was genuinely at a loss for words at the moment as I ended up mumbling to myself out loud.

"…How could I have not thought about that?"

I realized today what it meant when some said the hardest problems had the easiest of solutions.

"Let's go."

Without second thoughts, I turned around and headed toward one of the tunnels.

"Liam, quickly tell me the location of the nearest demon!"

"How strong?"

"It doesn't matter…no actually, as long as it isn't a Duke ranked demon, then I'm fine with anything."

"Got it."

I came to regret my words later.

***

Light spilled from the sky, as the clouds looked sparse, allowing the azure blue sky to spread all the way to the horizon.

There were several figures standing beneath a tall glass skyscraper. An older figure received a small card from a skinny figure who appeared to be in his teens.

"Thank you very much, this is my business card and if you would like to contact me. I will be available at any time."

"Brian, huh?"

The elderly figure stared at the card with a little bit of interest in his eyes. That interest didn't last for long, however, as he soon pocketed the card.

"I'll make sure to contact you if anything happens."

"Thank you, and if you need any tips on hitting a golf ball properly, I'll be happy to help."

The skinny youthful figure lowered his body and thanked the elderly figure who burst out laughing.

"Hahahaha. How polite of you, im starting to like you more and more."

"Thank you. Thank you."

Brian meekly thanked the elderly figure as he scratched the back of his head.

Soon, he felt a hand pat him on the shoulder. Without raising his head, he knew that it was the elderly man.

"It's getting late. Lunch break is almost over, I'll make sure to call you if anything truly happens."

"Please do."

Waving his hand, the elderly figure left the premise with what seemed to be his colleagues.

A bright smile spread across the youth's face as he focused his attention on the figure's back.

This continued until their back finally disappeared. While still waiting in the same spot for several more minutes, Brian's smile soon faded.

"It hurts."

Massaging his mouth, the edges of his lips twitched.

"Not bad."

A familiar voice echoed inside of Brian's ears.

Without turning around, Brian already knew who the voice belonged to.

"Hemlock."

It wasn't just his voice that gave him away, but the stares that were directed in his direction were also a dead giveaway.

It was a scene that Brian was all too familiar with at the moment.

"I have to admit, you're incredibly Brian."

"How so?"

The two chatted as they walked through the busy streets of Ashton city.

"I'm just impressed by how you are able to quickly build up favourability with all the clients that we meet. Just how do you do it?"

"It's simple really."

Brian took out a small handkerchief and wiped the sweat on his forehead.

It was currently extremely hot outside, and unlike Hemlock, who could control mana, Brian couldn't and therefore couldn't exactly withstand the heat.

"...It's hot."

He waved his face with his hand.

Picking up his pace, he pulled out several files from the well-worn briefcase that he held in his right hand and handed them to Hemlock.

"What's this?"

"That's information regarding the client that we just met."

Brian pointed toward the top right section of the paper.

"In here, I've got listed the person's hobbies, behavior, likes, dislikes, and so on. Study them carefully for at least 100 hours before meeting the client, and everything will be smooth sailing from there."

"...You call this easy?"

Hemlock stared at Brian with a baffled look on his face.

Taking the papers back, Brian nodded his head.

"It is."

To build a good impression with someone, Brian would spend a substantial amount of time carefully examining the person he was supposed to work with. From their hobbies to the way they talked, where they were born, and everything...he needed to know everything before even thinking of talking to them.

It was his principle.

In this case, the client he was working with was called Igor Liviat, and he was currently one of the top heads of a famous guild in the human domain.

In fact, just the fact that he was able to even talk to him shocked Brian to no end, but as he knew that this job was what was helping him pay for his mother's treatment, he didn't ask any questions and continued to faithfully do his job.

It was better this way.

"Since I'm born with no talent, this is the only way I can make a living in this world. I have to put in countless hours in order to achieve something that someone with a skill can achieve in minutes. It's the sad reality."

A bitter smile spread across Brian's face.

Just as Hemlock was about to say something, Brian cut him off.

"I know what you're going to say, and I'll repeat it again. I don't have talent, I just work a lot harder than the others."

Putting the papers back in his briefcase, Brian turned his watch and picked up the pace.

"Now, onto the next client."