The Author's POV

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Mercenary corp name : Caïssa

Grade : [▼I] [II] [III] [IV] [V]

Members : 1

Founder : Ren Dover

===

I stood under the blazing sun and the blue sky, enjoying the clear and warm Ashton city weather.

Exiting an enormous building, I glanced at an azure-colored card in my hand.

The card was made out of metal, and on its back was a large roman [I] engraved on it. This signified the rank of the mercenary group.

Since this world likes to rank everything, mercenary corps too were ranked. They went from one to five, with five being the best.

Anyhow, ranks aside, because Smallsnake had still not officially joined the guild yet, the members count on the card was one. Me.

When he joins the card will change accordingly.

One of the things that I was a bit hesitant about when creating the corp was whether I should use an alias or my name for the founder section of the card.

Ideally, my goal was to make this one of the strongest mercenary groups in the human domain.

I wasn't sure if making my name known would be ideal or not, but...

...In the end, I decided to use my name.

There was no reason for me to hide my identity. After all, I did create this as an affiliate with Galxicus. Even if I tried to hide it, people would easily be able to deduce who I was.

"Alright, now that I successfully established the mercenary corp, it is time for the next task"

Putting the card back into my pocket, I checked my watch.

6:45 P.M.

Seeing the time, I moved towards my next location.

I had made an appointment to meet with someone for a possible place that I could use for the headquarters for Caïssa

I had checked many places through my phone, but I thought that the one I was currently heading to, fit my ideal for the headquarters the best.

...

"Welcome"

Arriving inside of a large warehouse, a fat middle-aged man wearing a wrinkled black suit came to greet me. Taking out a white handkerchief from his pocket, he wiped the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead.

"...so?"

Staring at me with anticipation, the fat middle-aged man fiddled with his hands. It was evident from his demenour that he wanted to get rid of the place at all cost.

Glancing at the space, I nodded.

The warehouse, although empty, was extremely large. It was located quite a distance away from the main city, and apart from a couple of roads and greenery there really wasn't anything around it.

This was precisely why I liked it.

Plain and boring.

Perfect place to hide the location of the headquarters.

"Alright, I'll buy it"

Checking my account balance, and confirming that I had just about 6 million U in my bank. I decided to directly buy the warehouse with most of the money I had.

In total, the warehouse cost me 4,200,000 U

Though expensive, I didn't mind it. That's how much I liked the place.

I could've rented a different place, but after a bit of thinking, I opted to buy my own space so that I could do the appropriate modifications.

Money wasn't necessarily a problem for me.

I could easily make what I lost back with stocks again. With Smallsnake helping me, the repercussion of my actions wouldn't come back and bite me as no one would be able to trace me.

In fact, with my knowledge, I could easily make enough money to pay back my parent's guild debt. However, their debt was probably the least of their worries. With the internal strife going on inside of the guild, paying off the debt would do nothing.

Moreover, I also wanted to shroud my organization with a veil of mystery. With this place being hidden, it added an element of mystery to those that want to find out more about our organization.

I didn't want to create an organization that had a lot of members.

I wanted to keep to maximum of twenty elite members. Members that stood out from the rest.

Quality over quantity.

I wanted to reach a point in the future that whenever one of our members moved, organizations would tremble...

...

[Caïssa - Warehouse]

"So, how do you like the place?"

Glancing at Smallsnake beside me, I asked for his opinion as I showed him the warehouse I bought.

"hmm, well, why?"

Trying to find words to say, Smallsnake was speechless.

The location of the warehouse was in the middle of nowhere, and the place was empty. It was sad. Very sad.

Compared to every other organization Smallsnake had been to, even the worst one wasn't as bad as this.

Glancing at his employer beside him, Smallsnake really couldn't understand what was in his mind.

Once again, he couldn't help but start doubting his decision to join him.

"You don't really need to answer. Was just asking out of politeness. Already bought the place after all"

Looking at his reaction and shrugging my shoulders, I took a pile of papers from a folder I had on me and gave them to Smallsnake

"Here"

"What's this?"

Taking the papers, Smallsnake frowned. After flipping through them, he couldn't help but tilt his head in confusion.

"Why them?"

"Don't ask questions, find information about them and send them to me. You won't understand unless you see them in action"

"...Okay"

Nodding his head, Smallsnake sighed before taking a better look at the lists before him.

What I just handed Smallsnake was a brief description of a few individuals I wanted him to find information on.

The list I had given him contained a lot of names, but I needed to narrow it down.

I needed to take their characters into consideration, as well as the likelihood of being able to entice them to join Caïssa.

Arrogant or not arrogant? Brave or not brave? Money driven or not?

...everyone was different and that's why I needed information.

Because they were after all extras. Although I wrote about them, I didn't know too much about their backstory.

If I wanted to recruit them, I needed to be able to familiarize myself with them better so that I could entice them more convincingly...

"Ah, By the way Smallsnake"

"...hm?"

Remembering something, glancing towards Smallsnake, I said

"I highlighted three names in red, those are the top priority. Make sure you give me details about them. From their past and current situation. I want them all"

"Alright, let me see"

Flipping through the page, Smallsnake's eyes paused on the names of the three individuals I had highlighted.

His previous frown deepened.

'just what...'

Though his reaction was understandable, there was a reason why I prioritized them...

It wasn't because they were the best, no.

It was because they were the easiest to recruit considering what kind of circumstances I was in. Especially since recruiting people into a newly established guild was extremely hard.

Don't get me wrong though.

Just because they were easier to recruit wasn't the only reason I highlighted their name.

They were all extremely talented individuals that would no doubt add value to the members of the guild.

"huuu.."

Opening a copy of the files, I looked at the first highlighted profile...

=======

Name : Ava leafz

Age : 16

Picture : [Image]

Job : Student, Lock 976

Potential : Unranked

======

Ava in the novel was a monster tamer.

She does make a few appearances in the novel, but in the end, her roles always tended to be small. She'd just appear on one chapter and then just disappear for twenty more to once again appear for one chapter and disappear for another twenty.

A true extra.

I remember that in the last volume of the novel, during the third cataclysm, she was supposed to make another appearance.

I had planned for her to appear when the alliance between the four races was about to suffer major losses. She with an army of beasts would join the alliance and give them some breathing space and increase their momentum in the fight against demons.

She was finally going to show the world how strong her profession was. With an army of beasts, she would decimate and destroy multiple demons at once...

Unfortunately, that never happened.

Just when I was about to get to that part, I died.

One good thing about her was that because she wasn't heavily involved with the plotline, my interfering with her wouldn't cause any trouble to anyone.

Plus, with my knowledge as the author, I actually knew about the location of an item she was supposed to get at the end of the novel. It was sort of a cheat item. It essentially allowed for her to control multiple beasts at a time.

Since it was meant to be for hers, me getting it and giving it to her wouldn't affect the future events of the story.

She'll just be stronger faster than originally meant. Which was ideal.

Thinking thus far, I glanced at the next person on the list...

=======

Name : Leopold Ray

Age : 32

Picture : [Image]

Job : Mercenary at Moonlight corps

Potential : A [Current : D]

======

An experienced mercenary who appears in the third volume of the book.

Although he wasn't necessarily outstanding in combat, he was a very competent leader and commander.

The reason why I chose him was because we needed someone with experience to help us. Being new, I knew nothing about how to run a mercenary corp. With him aiding me, developing this organization wasn't a problem.

But that wasn't the only reason why I chose him.

He had another talent...

He was an extremely strong commander. During one of the arcs of the novel, Leopold would take charge of a few troops to fight against villains, and thanks to his heroic deeds he was able to survive and complete the mission flawlessly.

He meets Kevin on multiple occasions in the novel, and although Kevin had a good impression of him, he never managed to really enter Kevin's party, which in all honesty would've benefited a lot if they had someone as experienced as him helping them.

Sighing, I looked at the last name on the list.

=======

Name : Ryan Polive

Age : 12

Picture : [Image]

Job : None

Potential : S [Current : Unranked]

======

A child prodigy.

A child born with a supercomputer of a brain. He could calculate the probability of different factors in a matter of seconds. Whatever scenario was presented before him, he would be able to calculate everything in a matter of seconds detailing the best route and action to take.

He appeared in the fourth volume of the novel, and by the time Kevin found him, he was already dead.

He was part of a medium-sized guild that exploited his abilities.

They would continuously make him stay at night and work him to the bones. A 12-year-old child.

...Sadly, he was later killed by his own guild master due to Kevin foiling the plans he had come up with on multiple occasions.

In the end, Kevin caught the guild master and killed him on the spot.

"Must have them..."

Those were the three main people I had set my mind on recruiting...

Glancing at Smallsanke who was busy looking at the files I gave him, I smiled.

Though he may be doubting me now, as soon as he will see them, he will realize their true potential.

...I was sure.