“This is getting really interesting. Everyone else, get out. I want to hear what he has to say in private.” Helena didn’t care about the backlash from the envoys. “Who knows? This old man might just be faking it, hehe.”

The envoy from Dominion suddenly blurted out, “He just wanted to see it earlier! Isn’t that right?” There was now far too much at stake, if he were to let this happen then their chances would diminish greatly.

Helena didn’t care much about whoever received the sword, she was more focused on what would entertain her the most. “Well, Miyamoto? Now you’ve seen the sword, do you want it?”

Miyamoto sighed, feeling that that he was getting entrapped even further. Even though he knew that there was something inherently wrong he still braved forward without fear. “I desire to purchase the sword from your hands.” There was a glint within his eyes that further intensified Helena’s interest.

“Well, you heard him, get out before I make you.” Helena casually pointed the sword to the door. She didn’t even put him in her eyes. “What? Are you angry? Hahahaha!”

The envoy from Dominion felt that he was being disrespected, which was true. All the alliances, all the guilds, all the world forces in the current world weren’t enough to catch Helena’s eyes. Although she was curious about how they managed to reach their current power it wasn’t even remotely valuable to her.

“All I ask is to listen in on his request.” He wasn’t backing down, he felt something odd about an old man who donned nothing but a sword in hand. He even had the audacity to face the reputation of most of the world powers.

“Ugh, fine. Let’s get this over with. You and pink hair can stay. The rest get out before I get angry.” Helena’s current appearance was young, far too young to even seem remotely powerful to hold their own. As easily as they might’ve thought they could steal it for themselves there was a certain barrier to this plan. The two greatest guilds uphold their own reputations.

Facing against the current top two strongest forces of the current world, they could only back down. Leaving the small nameless store of their own forced volition, there were only four people left to discuss the final results.

“Come on, let’s spill it. I can’t wait for what you’re going to offer.” Helena giggled, anticipating something fun.

“Before that, as the envoy of the Epitome, I would like to present a gift of 1 High-Quality Mana Stone for giving me this opportunity.” The pink-haired man casually took out the gift from his spatial ring and presented it towards Helena.

She grabbed it, examined it a little bit before throwing it behind her, not even storing it away. If they saw someone do this then they would educate them on what they were wasting but the current situation forced them no other choice but to let her be.

“Go on. I’m dying to hear it. This better be really good.” Helena innocently smiled yet the implication behind her words severely affected Miyamoto’s mental state.

If it’s not to your satisfaction then it’s my head. I’ll take that challenge head-on. Miyamoto thought.

“From what I’ve seen, there is one thing that you’re severely lacking in, a cover. I’ll offer my services and let my name be used as a barrier to prevent others from bothering you.” Miyamoto boldly stated.

“Eh? Is that it-” Helena was caught off guard by a sudden person running downstairs. It was a person that she knew would turn this already questionable situation even worse, Cain.

“H-Helena… what’s going on?” Cain went downstairs in a hurry due to a sudden quest that appeared before him.

[Quest: Survive for a month.

Reward: Mystery Prize]

When Cain saw this very ominous quest his heart almost stopped. He didn’t understand why or how this came up but one thing was for sure, something was going down.

“Wait, who did I even offend?” Cain tried to recall everything only to pinpoint one person. “Oisho… he’s going to take my head… I need to warn the others!”

Thus Cain came down as fast as he could to let Helena know. Due to his sudden appearance the delicate and tense situation that was happening before him was now complicated even more.

“Young lady, who is he?” The pink-haired man innocently asked. “It seems like your little store has quite the exceptional-”

“Him? Oh, he’s Cain. The owner of this store.” Helena smirked, watching the expression of the three before her suddenly change immensely.

The pink-haired man choked on his saliva as he coughed, trying to clear his throat. He had almost offended the owner of this store, it wouldn’t have been good for him if his superiors heard of this.

“The owner of the store…” The envoy from Dominion, a towering man carefully looked at Cain’s entire person and realized one thing. “A puppet leader. It turns out that this little girl is the actual boss of this store. Luckily I could see through such simple tricks. My superiors will be very happy with what I’ve discovered.”

As for Miyamoto, he tried to glimpse into Cain’s true prowess using his Eye of the Sword yet… “It… it won’t even work?! Just what kind of monster am I facing? To suppress my very appraisal skill by his sheer existence, this place just might be my grave. I need to choose my words carefully unless I wish for death.”

Three different people all had three different reactions to Cain’s introduction. Seeing that Cain might react too absurdly, Helena decided to downplay their identities, “See here, Cain. I’ve been trying to sell the sword and I’ve been having trouble wondering who I should sell it to.”

“But didn’t you say-” Cain recalled that last night, Helena was going to sell it herself. Helena also knew this and cut him off before he could speak even further.

“I’ll make it easier for you. If you like the old man’s offer then we can sell it to him. If you don’t like it then you can just go handle Nue in the kitchen.”

“Nue’s in the kitchen? Why didn’t you stop her?!” If left alone, Nue might just about eat everything there without anyone stopping her. Cain had to hurry and make sure that they didn’t starve.

“She probably already ate everything already. Just help me out with this.” Helena swayed the Lower Rank 10 sword around as if it were some kind of toy. The three onlookers could only further solidify their own thoughts on what the dynamic of this group was.

“O… okay…” Cain looked at Miyamoto, checking out his status.

[Name: Nensho Miyamoto

Power Level: Unrivalled

Cultivation: Peak Rank 6

Mastery: Swordsmanship - Completed Mastery Lvl. 1, Phase Step - Basic Mastery Lvl. 1 Sword Intent - Advanced Mastery Lvl. 2, Truth Seeker - Basic Mastery Lvl. 1

Body: Constitution of the Divine Sword, God of the Sword’s Envoy, Ascension Qualified]

‘It doesn’t have Sword Strike or Flash Step like Oisho did but he has Swordsmanship. Oh, it’s an ever higher mastery as well. It looks like the more mastered a skill is, the more general the skill is, I should’ve looked at this in the other world but everything kept increasing too fast… so fast I couldn’t keep track of it.’

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Cain then glanced at the other two people’s status windows. The second person he looked at was the most terrifying-looking person here. A hulking mass of flesh that seemed as if he could break apart everything around him with ease.

[Name: Barlet Agun

Power Level: Very Weak

Cultivation: Lower Rank 8

Mastery: Close-Quarters Combat - Basic Mastery Lvl. 8, Hidden Arsenal - Advanced Mastery Lvl. 1, Mind Control - Basic Mastery Lvl. 9, Endless Stamina - Basic Mastery Lvl. 1

Body: None]

Eh? Wait… what? Why is his Power Level, Very Weak? Man, I thought he was a strong person but he’s weaker than the old man. This is kind of embarrassing for me. Cain coughed and tried to look at the last person, the pink-haired guy.

[Name: Felix Turna

Power Level: Weak

Cultivation: Higher Rank 8

Mastery: Homing Aim - Advanced Mastery Lvl. 1, Fleeting Feet - Advanced Mastery Lvl. 9, Poison Resistance - Basic Mastery Lvl. 4, Truth Seeker - Unmastered

Body: Split Body]

Average? So does this mean that he goes even with Oisho? It looks like only the old man can do anything for us.

“You’ve been staring at us for quite a bit. What are you looking at?” Barlet, the envoy of Dominion, said out in a menacing voice. He was looking down at this puppet leader.

“Nothing…” Cain mocked him in his head. Being the weakest of the group meant that he was essentially a nobody in this group. If anything, the only person he had to care about was Miyamoto’s opinion.

“So… Miyamoto, what do you propose for the sword?” Cain grabbed a hold of the Lower Rank 10 sword with ease, not even showing any signs of stress on himself. He played around with it only to sigh, “I’ll be honest, I don’t know why you would want such a piece of junk. I’m sure you can get this from anywhere with how badly it’s made.”

‘Hahahaha, it’s starting.’ Helena kept to herself as she enjoyed the show.

Barlet grew annoyed, he first looked at Helena’s expression realizing that she was enjoying the show. ‘It seems she’s only here to show off by having some fun. The other two with me don’t understand that she’s the real master behind this.’

Barlet kept his mouth shut, only determining how he should move based on Helena’s mood. Felix, on the other hand, was curious.

“Cain, yes? I wonder what you mean by ‘piece of junk’ and ‘how badly it’s made,’ didn’t you create this yourself?” Felix asked.

“This… I didn’t make it. I watched someone forge it from beginning to end. After my disciple named the sword, he gave it to me. If you want the blacksmith that forged this blade then you can meet him yourself if you want.” Cain looked at the Lower Rank 10 sword in his hand and started to see the pure imperfections finally showing up on it. “It could’ve been a lot stronger if I did it myself but there’s no point in dwelling in the past.”

Hmph! A nobody not knowing what he’s talking about! However looking at the young lady’s expression, she seems to be still enjoying the show. Barlet kept his silence.

“Y-You say you could make something… better?” Felix tried to compose himself. “Are you certain of this?”

“I-” Cain was immediately cut off.

“No promises.” Helena pinched Cain’s cheeks forcing him to reel in pain. “The conversation is only based on whoever we should sell the sword to. Miyamoto, speak up already. I’m starting to get bored from how dull this long conversation is going on for.”

“I understand. As I said before, I’ll say it again. You desire cover, and shelter against the ongoing world’s conspiracies and annoyances. I’m willing to swear my sword into protecting you from such inconveniences.” As Miyamoto said this, Cain’s eyes started to sparkle.

Yes! This is it! This is exactly what I need! Cain was, despite being poked ruthlessly by Helena, in complete and utter joy.

“Ahem, I have to say this isn’t a fair deal at all. This sword for your services? That’s a little too much don’t you think?” Cain had felt that his and his friends’ safety was more important than this waste of a sword. For a uselessly weak sword in exchange for a person who could handle his safety, it felt a little unfair towards Miyamoto.

‘But… I don’t know what else to give him! We don’t have anything else to offer! I need to try my best to ensure that he is properly compensated! As a proper merchant should!’ Cain was wracking his brain on what he could do to make it up for him.

“That… is true. I suppose that does make sense.” Miyamoto had weighed his options even further and realized that his name wasn’t currently enough for a Lower Rank 10 sword. Then again, after he gains fame it would also start to overshadow the value of the Lower Rank 10 sword. “What you say is true, it truly is unfair.”

“Then how about this… we set a time limit? Say a month?” Cain also weighed his options and realized that the ‘supposed’ danger was only limited to a single month. A broken sword for a free and easy quest, it was far too good.

“A month?” Miyamoto was trying to understand why it was a single month. He wasn’t worthy of currently wielding this blade with his non-existent reputation. As he was starting to think about it even further Cain then laid out his plans.

“After a month, you may leave as you wish based on your experience.” Cain was thinking that this would make this negotiation a bit better. He was thinking that Miyamoto would stay depending on how generous he felt. That way the one-month time limit wasn’t

At once, Miyamoto finally understood what Cain was thinking. He was supposed to increase his reputation as high as he could within a single month and protect this place based on the reputation he had gained. The higher his reputation, the shorter the amount of time he would have to guard this place. This was the perfect and fair solution to this dilemma.

“I fully agree. Pleasure doing business with you, Cain.” Miyamoto went over as Cain threw it towards him ever so casually. As Miyamoto finally grabbed a hold of it, he finally realized just how heavy the burden he had just taken was. He couldn’t hold it in as he unleashed his full power just trying to properly hold the Lower Rank 10 weapon. And it was all, merely holding it in was place all he could muster.

Seeing that he still couldn’t wield it at all, he finally called upon his innate constitution, the Constitution of the Divine Sword. Miyamoto’s eyes turned pure white, seemingly filled with the feeling of cutting through the world. He grabbed ahold of the Lower Rank 10 sword and easily swayed it around. He opened the door and disappeared, using Phase Step to disappear in front of their very eyes.

Helena was covering her mouth as her shoulders trembled trying to hold in her laughter, ‘Hahahahaha! I cannot believe both of them didn’t understand each other’s intentions. This is comedy gold!’

Felix was casually listening in on them, not even bothering to push the boundary and try to steal the Lower Rank 10 sword in front of him. He was more than satisfied learning about the Lower Rank 10 sword and this little nameless shop.

That was before Miyamoto fully unleashed his power, Felix felt his instincts tell him that this was no ordinary person, a being that even his guild master would have to suffer a loss against. “This had been fun, I wish for Master Cain and my guild, Epitome to have a close relationship in the future. But for now, I must leave.” Using his mastery of Fleeting Foot, he also walked off into the distance without making a single sound.

Lastly, it was Barlet, he hadn’t felt Miyamoto’s surging power at all due to his lacking a certain ability. He looked at Helena who was still laughing and bowed, “I bid farewell to the true master of this store. I will not be fooled like the other sheep.” Barlet walked away, not using any fancy footwork to leave.

“Huh? Real Master? Hahahaha! Another idiot. I love this place. Oh yeah, Cain, you should go check on Nue.” Helena continued enjoying the entire scene unfolding.

“Oh right! Nue! I’ll be back!” Cain immediately ran to the living area, only to see Nue completely drench in various condiments and pastes.

“Bleh, tastes bad.” Nue stuck out her tongue as she pointed at the oven. “Cain, cook.”

“Cook? Cook what? You ate everything! Go get cleaned up already.” Cain sighed as he went over and started cleaning up the entire kitchen, even half the dining table.

“Oh!” Nue regurgitated a few packed ingredients nonchalantly and pointed at them. “Ingredients! Now cook!”

Cain looked at those still well-packaged food ingredients and was more confused than anything. Firstly, Nue ate them with the packaging still on and secondly, they weren’t drenched in saliva at all. They looked completely brand new as if nothing went wrong at all.

“I feel morally… disinclined to cook using this.” Cain looked to the side as he tried to skirt around the issue.

Nue got annoyed and immediately threw a tantrum making adorable noises in a very unadorable situation. “Cook or I revolt! I’ll eat humans!”

“That! You promised you wouldn’t do that anymore!” Cain was shocked.

“You promised to cook for me too! Hmph!” Nue crossed her arms and looked away. Despite looking like a scholar, she acted very childish.

“That… fine. I’ll just warn everyone else to not touch… this.” Cain sighed and gave up. He made a quick five-course meal for Nue specifically. “It should be fine right? It came from her stomach so there shouldn’t be anything wrong… for now.”

After Cain finished up, Nue immediately started to dig in. Happily savoring her meal her energy reserves were quickly increasing back to full. Each bite took her quite a few seconds to digest due to Cain filling up her meal with as much mana as he could currently posses.

“Helena, I’ll be starting to craft some actual wares this time. Don’t bother me!” Cain yelled out as Helena sat on the counter, spinning around in pure boredom. “Also, don’t let anyone eat Nue’s food! She’s really hungry.”

“I got it!” Helena’s attention was completely on something else, “Hehe, Harry, I wonder how you’ll entertain me with your little friend.”

As Cain finally came downstairs, he nervously grabbed a hammer and easily moved it around. He sighed in relief as he finally started doing what he was supposed to.

“Time to make weapons!” Cain raised his hand as he looked at the system.

[Host: Cain Ex

Power Level: Super Weak

Mastery: Apotheosis Crafter - Basic Mastery Lvl. 1, Ambrosial Master - Basic Mastery Lvl. 1

Body: None

Points: 125,250]