The Author's POV
chapter-386

At the same time.

Aaron calmly walked around the venue with a glass cup in his hand.

His brows were locked into a tight frown as he looked at a small letter in his hand.

The first thing he thought as he stared at the letter was, 'Why would they give this to me?'

He was merely drinking and trying to make as many connections as possible when suddenly one of the elven workers handed him the letter.

It was apparently from one of the higher ups. Dwarven elders to be exact. Their comments were rather vague, but in short, they wanted to arrange a meeting with him.

'What exactly do they want from me?' Aaron wondered, taking a sip of his drink.

"…maybe they've heard about the product my guild is making."

A sudden thought occurred to him.

Lowering his head, he looked at his smartwatch. Tapping onto it, he looked through a series of files on his watch.

[Project - Nolon]

[Project - Convention467]

[Project - β98]

[Project - Rentolv]

On his watch was a list. A list of projects that his guild was working on behind the scenes.

Being the number one guild in Lewington city, one of the four great cities, their guild invested in many side projects. This was just what guilds did.

Staring at the list, Aaron's finger soon paused on a certain file.

[Project α-12]

Project detail : Automated machine.

Time of operation : 12 minutes, 09 seconds.

Capabilities : D rank.

Licking his bottom lip, Aaron had a sudden look of enlightenment.

'They must be curious about this.'

He had been worried over nothing. The reason why the dwarves wanted to meet with him had to do with this. Project α-12, one of their latest projects and something that they had been working on for over a decade.

The project idea was simple, create an automated artifact that would act on its own and kill monsters without the need of sending actual heroes. Sort of like a golem.

It was a project in which they had invested billions and billions of U. It was still in the testing phases but without a doubt, it was something that would revolutionize the world once it got out.

Most likely, one of the elders from his guild leaked the contents of the project to one of the dwarven elders in hope of catching their interest.

'I'm sure it's this.' A smirk appeared on Aaron's lips. Folding the letter neatly, he quietly placed it inside of his pocket before heading for the back exit of the building.

Even if it wasn't because of the project, Aaron wasn't suspicious of the contents of the latter.

After all, he didn't think anyone would have the balls to plan something against him when he was so close to so many elites. His death would definitely be a sign of incompetency from them, as well as a declaration of war on the humans.

'According to the letter, I should have no problem exiting the building.' Aaron lightheartedly thought as he followed the instructions written in the letter.

It wasn't long before he arrived at the back door exit of the building where an elven guard stood.

Standing with his back straight, the elven guard stared up ahead. An imposing presence emanating from his body.

Rummaging through his pocket, Aaron showed the elf the letter.

"Here, I've been told to go out of this place."

Lifting his head and staring at Aaron, the elf wordlessly took the letter in his hands and gave it a quick scan before giving it bank.

Ci clank—

Following which, extending his hand, he opened the door for Aaron who quietly got out.

Throughout the whole exchange, the elf never spoke a single word to Aaron, but he didn't seem to care as he also didn't talk back to him and quietly exited the building.

"Haaa…"

Once he got out, Aaron let out a long breath. He felt a lot more relaxed.

Since the elf had taken his letter and accepted it, it must mean that the contents of it were legitimate. He no longer needed to worry about it being a sham.

Wooosh—

As he took a step outside of the building, a fresh nightly breeze brushed past him as his clothes and hair fluttered. Around him were a lot of trees, making it hard for him to see ahead.

'What next?'

Glancing around the place and only seeing trees, Aaron licked his lower lip.

Taking out the letter and taking a good look at it, his head tilted sideways.

"Go straight?…Okay."

And so Aaron headed deeper into the forest. Not an inkling of worry was displayed on his face as he followed the directions indicated in the letter.

Rustle—

It was then that out of nowhere a rustling sound rang from next to him. Snapping his head in the direction of where the sound came from, Aaron saw the silhouette of a figure in the distance.

Because it was dark, it was hard for Aaron to make out the features of the silhouette, but staring at its outline in the distance, Aaron could tell that it was not a dwarf. It was simply too tall to be a dwarf.

But he was still not worried. With a relaxed tone, he called out for the figure.

"Hey, are you the guy that I'm supposed to meet?"

His tone was polite, but the narcissism and pride behind it could not be hidden.

"You're here to meet me right?"

Lifting his head and staring at the greenery, he muttered.

"Im not exactly sure as to why you want to meet me here, but here I am."

Rustle— Rustle—

Once Aaron's words faded, the silhouette slowly walked forward, and Aaron, who was paying close attention to it, suddenly frowned.

'Doesn't he look like a human?' He thought as his eyes squinted. Trying to get a better look at the features of the silhouette.

He wasn't as big as an orc, nor did he have pointy ears like an elf. The more he stared at the silhouette the more Aaron was sure that it was a human.

"….hm?"

It didn't take long for the silhouette to come out from the bushes as its features were soon revealed for Aaron to see.

Brown hair, emerald-colored eyes, and rounded ears. As he had suspected, he was a human.

"Who are you?" Aaron asked, the frown on his face deepening.

An ominous feeling suddenly enshrouded him as the figure just stared at him without saying anything. Aarons's muscles tensed, reading himself for combat at any moment.

"Are you mute or somethin—"

"Yes, I'm here to meet you."

Cutting Aaron off, the figure suddenly spoke. His calm and collected voice echoed throughout the area around him.

Listening to the words, Aaron finally calmed down and a smile returned to his face.

"Ah, I see. That's good. You weren't speaking so—hm?"

Midway through his sentence, Aaron suddenly stopped speaking.

That was because the figure suddenly did something completely unexpected.

Placing his hand on his face, the figure slowly clenched his hand and ripped something off of his face, revealing two distinctive blue-colored eyes that were as deep as the ocean.

His black hair slowly fell onto his shoulders, and a serene look appeared on his face. But the serene look did not last for long; what replaced it was a cold and indifferent one. Standing beneath a tree, half of his face was obscured.

'What's going on?…he looks familiar.'

Blinking a couple of times, trying to comprehend what was going on, Aaron tilted his head.

It was then that the figure suddenly took a step forward and his face became clearer to see for Aaron as the moonlight shone directly onto his face.

The moment Aaron was able to get a clear look at the figure, his body froze.

Coldly looking at Aaron from the other side, the figure softly said.

"You remember me?"

***

"Fuck, where is he!"

Kevin shouted in frustration. His voice was quite loud, gathering the attention of the people around him.

Realizing what he had done, Kevin bowed slightly.

"Huuu."

Letting out a long breath, he lowered his head and walked away.

He was walking in the direction of where he had last seen Ren. He only missed him for a split second, he was bound to be close, no?

'Ren, Ren, Ren…no, no, no.'

Blinking a couple of times, Kevin looked at the names of everyone present, in hopes of finding Ren. But regardless of where he looked, he was unable to see Ren at all. Just where could he have gone?

'There's no way he made it that far, he should still be within my visible range,' Kevin tiptoed to get a better look at what was ahead, but all he saw were an endless amount of people.

"How could I have missed him?"

He muttered out loud with a voice filled with frustration.

"Are you looking for Ren?"

Just when he was about to give up, he suddenly heard a calm voice from behind.

"Who?"

Startled, Kevin snapped in the direction of where the voice came from. Kevin's eyes soon paused on an old man who was looking at him with keen eyes.

He appeared to look like a regular old man, but the moment Kevin observed him through the inspection skill, he felt an overbearing pressure bear down on him, prompting him to quickly turn off his skill.

With a calm smile on his face, The old man opened his mouth.

"Are you Kevin?"

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Kevin nodded his head.

"Yes…yes, I am."

The old man looked familiar, but Kevin did not know where he had seen him before. He just remembered having faint recollections of seeing him before.

He didn't know why, but as Kevin looked at the old man before, he felt that he had to answer him truthfully.

Stroking his beard, the old man, who was none other than Douglas, opened his mouth.

"You're looking for Ren aren't you?"

"…ah."

Kevin did not know what to say. How did the old man before him know what he was looking for? Was he somewhat related to Ren?

Kevin nodded his head again.

"Yes."

"Over there."

Douglas pointed towards the distance. His calm and serene voice gently traveled through Kevin's ears.

"If you're looking for Ren, he's gone through the back exit of the building. You don't need to worry about exiting, I've already told the guards that a group of humans will be going out."

"A group of humans?" Kevins's head titled. But before he could ask the old man more questions, a voice sounded from behind.

"Kevin! There you are?"

"…what are you guys doing here?"

It was Emma and the others. Everyone was here.

"What do you mean what are we doing here? You were previously causing a scene."

Leaning forward, Emma looked up at him. Worry flashed across her face.

"You okay?"

"…ah, yes."

Kevin took a step back and pushed Emma away slightly.

Shaking his head and clearing his mind, Kevin remembered why he was here and turned his head to where the old man was previously standing.

"Huh?"

But the moment he turned his head, the old man that was previously there was long gone.

"Kevin are you okay?"

"Yeah…yeah….I think so."

Absentmindedly nodding his head, Kevin turned to stare in the direction of where the old man pointed at.

"…I've got something to do."

"Something to do?"

"Yeah…"

Without paying more attention to Emma, Kevin headed for the exit in the distance.

"Wait up."

Emma followed after him. After her, Amanda also followed. She had a pensive look on her face. As though she had an idea of what was going on.

Then, after them, it was Jin and Melissa.

It wasn't long before they all arrived at the exit of the building where an elf stood. But before they could even say anything, the elf merely opened the door to let them out.

Ci Clank—!