Beach

Avery blinked. Leonel really made decisions fast.

The truth was that it didn't' really matter to Leonel if there was another storefront that was a little bit better than this one. As long as it was close—as he expected they would be—his store would become the most popular among them. In fact, even if he didn't get a prime storefront, it was only a matter of time before his store still reached the top. It would just take a little longer.

"Do you need me to assign some people of Terrain to you? They can help with the upkeep of the store and can also manage it for you. There's a small fee to pay, but it's nothing too great."

It made Leonel slightly uncomfortable to hear this but he knew it was probably the best choice so long as his grandfather followed through on his promise to integrate their later generations as one of their own.

"No, that won't be necessary."

Leonel could just automate everything like he had with his Valiant Mountain store. As long as he upgraded it from time to time and had his people maintain them Force Arts, there wouldn't be a problem.

Avery nodded. "Alright."Content rights by NôvelDr//ama.Org.

Leonel was about to say something when he suddenly sensed several responses from his talisman. He had sent out quite a few messages earlier and they had finally gathered up. It was about time for him to go.

"Seems that I have to go now. Tell your elder brother that he can come here in about a week with the specifications for the Craft he wants. If you'd like, I can make something for you too." Leonel said with a light smile.

Avery was stunned again but before she could react, a black surfboard had appeared beneath Leonel's feet as he shot into the air.

Toward such a thing, Avery could only be speechless. Flying was most definitely prohibited within city limits. This Leonel broke rules left and right without regard for anything. But, rather than feeling that he was a pampered Prince, Avery couldn't help but smile. It was clear her impression of Leonel was quite good.

"Oh no, there's so much work to do." A bulb suddenly went off for Avery.

She needed to sign over the property in Leonel's name, handle the paperwork for the property and service taxes, and on top of that she needed to get the permit to sell goods from the Imperial Capital itself. She suddenly felt as though Leonel had saddled her with a whole bunch of work he was oblivious to.

It was a whole other can of worms if Leonel planned on opening a Crafters shop. Just think about it, back on 21st century Earth, not just anyone could open up a gun shop or a gun range. It was definitely far more difficult than opening up a restaurant, but even a restaurant needed to meet certain health guidelines.

Compared to a gun shop of the 21st century, a Crafter's shop was thousands of times more dangerous and such things had already been taken into account and heavily regulated by the Ascension Empire. Now Avery needed to wade through these waters and handle it all.

She pouted her cherry lips, her appearance becoming even more adorable than it was previously. She didn't think Leonel had done it on purpose, but he was really too reckless.

'Forget it, maybe he knew something since he offered to make me a treasure too.'

Avery did an about face and began to stroll back to her family estate, thinking of all the stories of the outside world Leonel had told her about.

**

"The air is so salty, my skin is drying out." Allan frowned, his brows furrowing behind his glasses.

"Stop complaining, four eyes. You're already wearing so many layers of clothes to begin with, how much of your skin is being affected at all?" Raj called out.

As usual, Allan had buried his perfect physique beneath layers of baggy clothing. Considering they were currently standing on a beach, he looked especially out of place. Though, that could be said for all of them. Despite the surroundings, they didn't have the luxury of wearing swim trunks and exposing their torsos.

Up ahead, rather than sand meeting water as it usually would, there was an enormous border of steel. Not just that that, but the ocean's water was filled with tankers and warships. It was easier to spot a wall of metal than it was to see the blue of the waters.

The eight brothers stood a distance away. If not for this, they wouldn't even have the luxury to stand on sand. It was clear that Earth was taking the defense of its coasts extremely seriously, but if you had seen the kind of monstrosities that were trying to make their way to land, this wouldn't be a great surprise at all.

After just a year, the auras of the eight had grown exponentially. It felt like they could conquer anything.

"Hey you eight, what are you standing around there for?"

A modified military jeep drove through the sand, rolling toward the boys. It only took a simple glance at their wrists to know that these eight came from Earth. However, the soldier was casting them looks of disgust.

There were no small number of youths that had come to the coast to show off and say they participated when in reality they would just stand around and avoid danger just like these eight. At least… That was what the man sitting in the passenger seat of the jeep thought initially until he got closer.

He didn't recognize them all, but when Arnold cast a glance over toward him, he froze.

A memory of Arnold shooting into the air and smashing a 20 meter tall squid to minced meat with a single palm replayed in his mind. In that moment, his next words couldn't help but get caught in his throat.

However, by that point, the eight young men had already ignored him as they had all locked eyes with another young man who rode the back of the military jeep with a wide grin on his face.

Who else could this man be if not for Leonel?

"Cap!"