Gerard and his company are just 2 kilometers away from the Crossing where Aliyah and Lina's group are waiting for him not far away from.
As expected, no one dare to attack him and the 5 members of Sky Heaven. It seems they are afraid of the repercussion of agitating the Count and Adventurer Guild.
Of course, that is just a made-up and false influence. But he is glad his plan works out somehow.
Now that they can get away from the eyes of core groups and government communities once the 5 members of Sky Heaven leave him in the Crossing, he can start to focus on his journey ahead.
On the way, they met several low-level monsters such as goblins and mostly slimes. Gerard joins the fun by slaying them and earning experience. But that is not enough for him to ascend to the next level.
These 5 members of Sky Heaven are all skilled and collected. It seems Lina purposely pick them to escort him.
And at last, after treading the 2 kilometers, they safely arrived at the Crossing. There are three stations that look like a house that served as boarding for the knights guarding the Crossing.
There are also a few merchants who laid out their goods for sale. In the distant corner, there are houses owned by NPCs living here. To simplify, the Crossing is more lively than he anticipated.
The Swordsman seems to be their leader and walks up to him.
"Mr. Payne. I think our mission ended here. Thank you for being good to Sky Heaven."
The Swordsman bow his head and the four players behind him followed suit.
"Good luck then. Always be on your guard on the way."
"Yes, Sir!"
Then the 5 members of Sky Heaven bid their farewell to him.
Gerard walks up towards the station and looks at the items and goods laid out on the sidewalk by merchants.
"Good Sir, you can buy fruit for 5 copper coins a piece. I can give you a discount if you buy in bulk."
Many tried to persuade him but Gerard respectfully told them he is not there to buy but just to look around as he is waiting for someone.
Gerard can proceed on their rendezvous but to be safe if some eyes are eyeing him, it is better to wander for a while before meeting the players waiting for him not far away on the Crossing.
After five minutes, Gerard decided to meet them.
Gerard look around and when he made sure no one is eyeing him, he went straight ahead to the bushes and start walking deeper into the forest.
After walking for five minutes, Gerard heard a distant rustle in bushes. He immediately put his guard up and draw his sword from the scabbard and waited if something or a monster will rush up toward him.
Fortunately, no monster gangs up on him.
"Probably some rabbit or something." He murmurs and sheathed his swords back to the scabbard.
But before he turn around, he heard another rustle, and finally, his eyes caught a human appearance.
"Mr. Payne. I'm sorry if I startled you."
Gerard heave a sigh of relief when she saw Lina. He cannot help but commend Lina, she is good at her main job.
As an assassin, she can blend in with her surrounding with ease.
He also noticed that she already replaced her previous equipment with new equipment and items. Most probably, these are the rewards they received for slaying the Special Monster. Not bad.
Although he cannot see the attributes and if these have special effects, he can scrutinize them increasing Lina's Base Points and Attributes to a certain degree.
"It is okay. Where are the others?"
Lina walk beside him and responded. "They are currently waiting in the designated location."
"That's good." He responded as he nodded his head."
"I hope the members that escorted you on the Crossing didn't give you much trouble. But if they did, I will personally teach them a lesson."
Gerard wryly smiles and turns his head to face Lina. "They are quite good and skilled. They even let me slay some monsters although they needed experiences to ascend they still let me."
Lina smiles and looks ahead on their path.
The two become silent and continue treading forward until they reached the designated location.
"Mr. Payne, we are here."
Lina commented
Gerard was greeted by a small open field surrounded by multiple big rocks that were scattered everywhere.
He saw the rest of the players he invited for this journey.
They too changed their gears to a new one. And Gerard cannot help but envy them.
Certainly, their attributes raise to a certain degree. If the Announcement Board takes effect, sure these players will be included in the top 100 that have the best gear.
"Mr. Payne!"
Everyone simultaneously greeted him and bow their head to show respect.
"Guys, I told you. You do not need to bow your head to me."
Everyone becomes aloof all of a sudden remembering what he told them when they were in the pub.
"We're sorry. It's just a habit."
"Nah, it's okay. Anyway, Lina."
Gerard turns his head towards Lina who just standing beside him.
"Give me reports on the team we sent in the Oak City. How's the progress?"
"According to the message I received, the team already arrived at the rendezvous location and just waiting for us to get there. I also told them to set a 50-meter perimeter and don't interact with other heroes. Also, I told them not to engage in monsters just to be safe until we get there and search the surroundings. 2 hours from now we will receive another message regarding the location."
Gerard expected this much from Lina, after all, she was the Guild Leader of a sought-out core group.
"Thank you. Starting now, I will give you all the right to decide what's better for the team."
This is better, giving all the decisions and planning to Lina during combat. Unlike him who is not very experienced in leading.
Lina was flabbergasted. Actually, all the players were shocked. She quickly raises her concern.
"Mr. Payne. I cannot accept such treatment. I will not dare to steal away the position of commanding our team. Please."
Sally also interjected.
"She's right, Mr. Payne. Please."
Gerard was not surprised. These players thought once I give them all the responsibility and failed, I would blame them. Well, depends on their decision. Besides, even if I gave Lina the responsibility, it doesn't mean I won't intervene if the decision goes against my original plan.
Gerard shook his head softly and smile at them.
"I won't blame you if you made a wrong call besides, I could always intervene if necessary. I will only give you the responsibility regarding combat. You are more adept in battle and I don't have much experience. Won't it be better to give you the responsibility of what we should do during the fight with monsters?"
"T-that…"
Lina lowers her head and immediately forces her chin up. Mr. Payne is right, I am the most experienced player in the group. But I am afraid if I made a mistake, it would displease him, and won't continue interacting with us anymore which will result in our downfall… Lina thought to herself but before she can continue to ponder for more, Payne interrupted her thoughts.
"Ms. Lina, you do not need to worry about trivial matters. It is my call to assign you as the leader of our group. Even if you made a wrong call, I won't blame you, or any of you." Gerard paused and look at everyone and smile. "It is wise to give the leader position to you."
Lina was taken aback, and gritted her teeth, clenching her first before putting one of her clenched fists to her bountiful chest.
"I will accept and I will do anything on I can to not let you down."
Gerard smile and nodded his head.
Success! One responsibility was removed. I mean, giving the team more chances of winning if engaging in combat is inevitable. Gerard said to himself in his mind.
Excuses.
Huh? What was that? Weird.
Gerard frowned. He has a gist of it but he is not sure. But if he is, then the Supreme System…No. That's impossible.
Gerard shook his head and cleared his mind of impossibility.
He took a deep breath and look at every one of them.
"Since all the preparations are done, let's head out and start our journey. Remember, do not engage in battles recklessly. If we saw a few level monsters, we can fight them to gain experience. But if we saw high-level monsters, we will take a detour, okay?"
"Yes, we understand!"
They simultaneously replied.
"Good. Lina, please spray the perfume I purchased from you."
"Yes!"
Lina took out a bottle of perfume from her space inventory and start to sprinkle the perfume on their surroundings.
Although it is called perfume, there's no actual smell on it. In fact, it felt like it was just simple tap water. But the effect of this simple water is inconceivable compared to starting items in this phase of the game.
The effect of this perfume is to ward off or avoid getting smelled by powerful monsters or ferocious wild animals during the night and has 3 hours duration.
This perfume is called Eluding Perfume was one of the prizes in Special Rewards. Gerard buys this Eluding Perfume for 1 Gold Coin.
On the way to the Crossing, he remembers there's a particular perfume included on the Special Reward and has one of the 5 escorting him message Lina and ask her about the perfume.
Upon verification, Lina learned the secret effect of perfume. At first, she thought it is just some useless reward but when she read what Payne told his subordinate about the special effect, she almost choke.
This perfume is special and one of a kind. She can use this perfume during a dire situation for Sky Heaven in raiding dungeon or grinding monsters. She tried to think of excuses to deny Payne Blanc from purchasing it when suddenly, she received another message from her subordinate accompanying Payne Blanc.
The perfume will appear in the Market one day when the first player reaches level 5.
She was surprised so she open the forum and look for the item archives in the Kingdom. And from there, she learned that the perfume will be sold in the Market when the first player in Japan reaches level 5.
She didn't have a choice but to sell the perfume to Payne. It is better to sell it now before its price drastically goes down. There are many players who are already level 4 and it is only a matter of a moment before they reach level 5.
In the end, she agreed which lead to the current situation.
Aliyah was the first to ask what's perfume can do.
"Leader Lina."
Aliyah called out respectfully. She added Leader to her name to respect Payne's decision in choosing Lina to become a Leader in their group.
"May I know what is the effect of that perfume?" Aliyah continued as the bottle of perfume is familiar to her.
Everyone nodded their head including Sally.
"This perfume is called Eluding Perfume can ward off powerful monsters or ferocious wild animals during the night and has 3 hours duration."
Everybody simultaneously gasps and "Oh!"
Aliyah becomes bitter and gritted her teeth silently. When Lina show her the Special Awards, she personally thought the bottle of perfume is useless because there was nothing written in the description of the item.
She can only blame herself for not noticing. And she wonders how can Lina able to tell the effect. No wait, since Payne Blanc purchases it from Lina, does it mean it was him who knows the effect and only asked Lina and gamble if the said perfume is included in the Special Rewards? Possibly, yes. And this was proven right when Lina continue.
"This item has nothing written on the description even on the item archives of Kingdom. It was Mr. Payne who told me about the special effect. But this will be available in the Market soon when the player in Japan reaches level 5."
Everyone becomes amazed again and simultaneously glance at Payne Blanc who coughs twice upon noticing their stare full of reverence.
Gerard has no choice but to explain things.
"Just as what Lina said, I try to inquire about it. This item is well known to the original citizen of this world, since every time a hero was summoned eons ago when they reaches level 5, this Eluding Bottle will spread out in the Market immediately by Merchants. And this no secrets."
Gerard sigh in relief when he saw that everyone buy his excuses.
"O-okay. Let's get going. A long and dangerous journey is ahead of us. Let's make the most of it by killing low-level monsters."
"All right!"
"Okay! I can't wait to travel deep in the woods!"
"Well, I am sure there are no powerful monsters that will appear in this location so we'll be safe."
Gerard almost had a heart attack hearing Lex.
Don't raise a red flag damn it! He shouted inwardly.
Then just like in any other novels he read, a cliché like this is always bound to happen.
Gerard's hair stood up when he heard a low growl behind them.
For fuck sake… he hopelessly murmurs and turns around.