The Author's POV

"Thank you for coming"

Taking a sip of my latte, I glanced towards Smallsnake who was sitting on the opposite seat to mine.

With his arms and legs crossed, Smallsnake looked at me in annoyance.

"...This better be worth it. It took me thirty minutes to get here. I am a busy man..."

Pttfff

Covering my mouth, I almost laughed out loud.

"Stop deluding yourself. Apart from me, there's no one else you currently manage"

"eh...ah"

Speechless, Smallsnake's demenour crumbled as he couldn't find any words to use to refute what I said.

It was true

In the latter half of the novel, when smallsnake meets Kevin, he was still unemployed. This meant that apart from me, there was no one else he managed.

Although he wasn't lying about taking thirty minutes to arrive here, he wasn't busy at all. He was merely pretending to look busy.

With a vein popping from his forehead, Smallsnake's extended his hand in my direction.

"...get to the point"

Nodding my head, I suddenly turned serious. Locking my fingers together I rested my chin on them.

Staring right into Smallsnake's green eyes, I solemnly said

"I want to create a mercenary group"

"...Congrats"

"Thanks, and you're going to be in it"

Nodding his head repeatedly, a smile appeared on Smallsnake's face. It was the smile of someone that had transcended humanity.

"...so let me get this straight. You made me come all the way here to join your mercenary group that still hasn't been founded nor has any members?"

Yeah.

As expected of someone as smart as smallsnake. He instantly understood what I said.

"Who said I'm the only member?"

"There are others?"

"No, not yet"

Smallsnake stared at me with a dumbstruck expression. I scratched the back of my head and took a sip of my latte and murmured

"...they will eventually join"

Haaa…. Speechless, Smallsnake's sigh lengthened as he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

It's always like this with him.

Always making proposals that didn't make sense and yet still looking so confident. Almost certain that whatever he was planning was going to succeed.

Smallsnake just didn't understand.

Where did that confidence come from?

"Sigh, I'm sorry but I'll have to refuse"

...In the end, even though he was slightly tempted, Smallsnake refused.

More than him not wanting to join. It was more like he couldn't join...

In the first place. If it wasn't for his current situation, he would've never worked in the black market in the first place.

I mean, why would someone as talented as him work as a low-leveled broker in the black market? it just didn't add up.

"Do you have anything else to say?"

Not bothered by Smallsnake's refusal, I exaggeratedly sighed and murmured in a tone that Smallsnake could hear.

"Sigh, and here I was doing this for your own good"

Shaking his head, finishing his drink, Smallsnake prepared to leave

"I guess you really just called me to waste time..."

Leaning on my seat, and staring at Smallsnake that was preparing to leave, in a voice that only we could hear, I said

"I know you're being hunted by the Monolith"

"What!"

-Plack!

Standing up abruptly, the chair behind smallsnake fell. Pointing at me, his voice shook

"H-how did you know!"

"Shhh..."

Putting my finger on my mouth, I motioned for Smallsnake to calm down and sit down.

"First, calm down. Look around you, everyone is looking"

Glancing towards his surroundings, Smallsnake noticed everyone staring at him.

"Ah, sorry"

Apologizing, Smallsnake took a deep breath to calm his mind down. He then proceeded to rub his forehead.

"Alright, I'm better..."

After a short pause, whilst still standing up, a small frown emerged on his brows. Looking at me, he said

"How did you know?"

Taking a look at the half-filled latte' in my hand, I twirled the cup.

"How did I know? Well, let's just say that you're not the only person that can dig into someone else's past."

Well, more or less.

As long as I wrote about them, I knew their backstory.

"...Anyhow, if you join me, I can help you with regards to the Monolith situation"

Frowning, after a short pause, Smallsnake couldn't help but once again ask to get confirmation.

"When you mentioned the Monolith, Y-you mean the same Monolith I'm thinking about?"

Smiling mysteriously, I nodded.

"Yup, that Monolith. The same Monolith that you're thinking of and the Union equivalent for villains..."

"tsssss..."

Sitting back down, Smallsnake's face became grim

His reaction was understandable.

The reason why Smallsnake was working in the black market was precisely because of the Monolith.

...A hidden organization that houses the strongest and most powerful villains in the human domain.

Also known as the Anti-Union.

After having been caught trying to infiltrate the ranks of the Monolith, a massive manhunt for Smallsneak's head began.

Because of how powerful the Monolith was, Smallsnake could only helplessly lay low inside of the black market. The only organization that could barely protect him.

If it weren't for the fact that Smallsnake had connections with some of the higher-ups of the black market, he would've long been caught by the Monolith.

With their aid, he managed to secure himself a job at a brokerage firm where he could lay low.

"...if you choose to trust me like before, I promise you won't regret it."

Hesitating for a bit, Smallsnake looked at me before saying

"H-how did you find out about my circumstances and the Monolith?"

Leaning back on my chair, I smiled

"oh, trust me. There's no one that knows more about the Monolith than I do"

...well I was the author of this world after all.

Because of how important they become in the second volume of the novel, I had an in-depth understanding of the Monolith.

Who their members compromised of, where their secret hideout was located, and what plans they were brewing.

I knew everything...

and of course, I also knew about Smallsnake's circumstances. He was after all an important character that appeared in the latter half of the novel...

Staying silent for a couple of seconds, Smallsnake deeply looked at me.

Though I couldn't read his thoughts, I knew that he was currently calculating his options.

He could either trust me or carry on with whatever he was doing in the black market.

...in the end, his decision came down to how much he trusted me.

"uuu..."

After a couple of more seconds. Taking a long and exhausted sigh, Smallsnake extended his hand in my direction.

"I don't even know why I'm doing this, but...alright, if you keep good on your promise I will join you"

"Haha, I knew you would make the right choice.

Extending my hand forward, we both shook hands. The first member of my mercenary group had officially joined...

After we shook hands, Smallsnake's mood brightened up a bit. Thinking for a bit, looking at me, he asked

"What will the name of the group be?"

Without hesitation I responded.

"Caïssa"

"Caïssa?"

"Yeah, named after the goddess of chess"

Frowning, Smallsnake placed his hand under his chin as he couldn't help but be confused.

"The goddess of chess? Why chess?"

Smiling, I turned on the holographic function of my phone. Soon a chessboard was projected before us.

Pointing towards the chessboard, I said

"The mercenary group will consist of eight main seats. Each according to the main chess pieces on this board"

Pausing to make sure Smallsnake was following, I continued.

"There will be one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, and two knights. Any other member will be a pawn. Depending on ability, I will assign them a seat acc-"

Nodding his head, Smallsnake cut me in the middle of my sentence

"Let me guess, you're the king, right? If so, who are the other members you're thinking of recruiting, and who's going to be the queen?"

Glancing at smallsnake for a brief moment, I seriously nodded my head.

"I understand. If you're that adamant about becoming the queen I don't mind"

Nodding his head, Smallsnake kept his cool. Sarcasm and teasing barely bothered him now, probably because he suffered way too much shame and humiliation. Letting go of his pride was hard at first but after realizing that there was no way for him to retaliate he could only ignore it.

Especially since he was now his boss.

"No, I'm good"

"Tsk, how boring"

Clicking my tongue, I continued

"You are my first member, and after a bit of thinking I decided that you will be a bishop"

Frowning slightly, he couldn't help but ask

"Why a bishop?"

Smiling, I didn't elaborate.

Didn't want him to realize what his role was going to be before it was too late.

"Because I said so..."

It wasn't really related to chess but typically bishops were people who were generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight.

...precisely the role that Smallsnake will play in our group.

Though he was not strong. He had connections and a bright head on his shoulders. With his talents, the mercenary group will be able to expand accordingly without any issues with regards to finding the right connections for supplies, potions, and other things that generally gave headaches to guilds and other mercenary groups.

If I had to put this bluntly. He was the group babysitter...

...

After explaining a few more things to Smallsnake, glancing at my watch, I checked the time.

-Plack!

Finishing my drink, I stood up

"Alright, I guess that's that for now"

I had a lot to do.

Setting a mercenary group wasn't easy. There were a lot of things I had to get done by the end of the day. Such as...

—Come up with a list of people who I wanted to recruit to my group

—Find an appropriate location for the group.

—Register the group name.

Only after I completed all of those tasks would I finally be able to actually start recruiting members.

Fortunately, I already had an idea of who to recruit, meaning that right now the main priority was finding an appropriate location and officially registering the name of the group so that we could finally be considered a proper mercenary group.

Standing up, I bid farewell to Smallsnake and headed towards the exit of the cafe. Just right before I separated from Smallsnake, I said

"Meet me tomorrow, and I'll give you a list of people I want to recruit"

"okay..."

Nodding his head, Smallsnake watched my figure leave the cafe. As he did, he couldn't help but think

'Hopefully, I made the right decision....'