The wooden door closed with a thud.

The room was bare, apart from a pair of crudely made bed frames with accompanying tables and chairs. After opening the window blinds, they could directly feel the artificial lights and polluted outside air.

Lucifer was somewhat disappointed as he finished his circular sweep of the room. Although he could not expect 5 star hotel level of furnishings and cleanliness in a godforsaken place like this, he still wanted to get out of here.

"I can't believe he would dare let you stay in a place like this, Sato-kun."

"Don't say that, ox. Our aim is to become mercs, and then increase our fame to the point where everyone knows of us. Until then, it won't hurt to experience the life of a newbie."

He had to say that the life of a newbie was indeed tough; the life of a professional mercenary was even more pitiful. They had to walk down a thorny and rocky path before they got to the top. If their luck was bad, they might die on the road.

Not everyone could become a legendary hero.

Oxy sat on one of the bed frames, clearly unhappy.

"I can understand the importance of low-profile, but this place is just too... shabby!"

The room was in a miserable state. The wooden floorboards creaked as if they could break down at any minute, and the wallpaper was peeling off. The bed frame was very simple and lacked any sort of refinement. The blanket and pillows were rough and uncomfortable. There were many cracks in the walls. It certainly didn't live up to the minimum standard for a living environment.

It definitely gave off an atmosphere of depression.

"How could you be this casual about it? Sato-sama" Oxy pointed at the bed frame.

" the life of an merc is pretty banal."

Lucifer replied.

Mercenary.

Once, Lucifer dreamed about that profession.

If he was being completely honest, this whole thing reminded him of a adventure's guild in a shitty isekai.

He saw mercs in various parts of the world. Lucifer had previously thought that mercs were a physical manifestation of the right way to play Hollow , but after listening to the company receptionist, he realized that mercenaries was a more realistic and more boring job than he had expected.

Simply put, mercs were "do any job that pays well."

Although some parts of it fit his dreams of them — for instance, delving into the ruins of cities destroyed by World war III and investigating mysteries in uncharted lands — for the most part, they were simply human and Cyborg hunters.

Everyone enhanced by cybernetic's possessed different special abilities, so they could only be taken care of by people who knew more tricks than average soldiers. Just going by that point, one might think that they were heroes who were loved and relied on by the common man, like in games.

However, the reality was somewhat different from that. This was because the ruling authorities did not smile on the existence of armed groups which they could not control. Therefore, aside from the prices they commanded mercenaries did not have much status.

Another reason why mercenaries were not accepted on a national scale was because of the same thinking which made companies look for cheap, local temps than employing expensive permanent staff. Thus, much like how temp workers were treated by companies who could get by without hiring them, mercenaries were held in lower regard in those nations which could eliminate mutant's and criminals by dint of their own military power.

Mercs did not always get the big contracts. Most of the time, their missions were small, boring tasks which the local security forces did not deal with due to some kind of circumstances or another. The pay was not much better than common soldiers. That was enough to earn the derision of regular soldiers and locals who saw mercs as upstart thugs. They were a group of people whose status fluctuated depending on how many powerful people needed them.

Despite that, they were always wanted by someone.

In the end, most people thought of mercs as soldiers for hire who could not be fully trusted. Many believed that if the pay was high enough, a mercenary would turn his gun against their employer.

That was why mercs were not loved like heroes. Most were merely hired as armed forces, bodyguards, and private security, while a few were used as expendable cannon fodder by large, unscrupulous corporations.

People did not hate mercs, nor did they love them. Mercs were simply useful.

Lucifer banished his mild disappointment from his heart. It was a common thing in life to find that a job which one admired was hardly as glamorous in reality.

This was a common occurrence, one which Lucifer himself should have long since gotten used to. Despite this, he was surprised when he found out that the actual jobs they did was far from his childhood dreams. Lucifer shook his head as if wanting to banish such thoughts from his mind.

With a wave of his hands, all his shiny white armour and mask disappeared into thin air.

He was now in his usual form — black wings coming out of his back, horns protruding out of his head, instead of circular — long ear's like a elf.

What he had been wearing was armour — something a magical ie a sorcerer like Lucifer should never have been able to wear.

How had he accomplished such a feat?

A p2w item.

This allowed this armour to act more like a skin or a decoration instead of armour.

The armour was a special p2w item.

Lucifer had brought it around six months ago when one of his friends juviel had asked for it and thus Lucifer had gifted it to him as a birthday gift but not long after, juviel had stopped playing Hollow and given it back to Hayate alongside everything he had.

The reason juviel wanted this was because he wanted to cosplay dark-angel's armour, another friend of Lucifer and vice leader of the Angels of hell.

But since juviel's class didn't allow him to wear armour, they had no choice but to buy a few p2w items.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

However, wearing this p2w item was quite tiring, draining his stamina at a frightening rate. However, Lucifer did not pay it much head. This item was meant for someone with strength of only level 50 and not someone at level 100. Thus, while wearing this p2w item, his stats were halved but his skills weren't so he could operate it as normal.

What he wore previously was a headache if he was being honest.

The mask he wore was made of a thin material resembling porcelain. It was completely opaque, showing no signs of the persons face underneath. The mask was a mixture of a very little white and ninety percent black from top to bottom, and the only thing which stood out was the pair of red eyes in the eye sockets.

The white body armour was thick. It was made of several layers, each one giving off a strong feeling of protection.

The chest of the armour had thin, vertical grooves running across it, while the area surrounding the chest had a design of swirls.

The body armour had long sleeves, the cuffs stopping at the wrists. The shoulder pads connected to the chest piece and ran up to the back of the neck. The leg armour was also made out of several layers, offering similar protection to the torso. The armour fitted snugly against the legs but did not restrict movement.

Like the chest and shoulder piece, the leg armour was also adorned with swirl designs, as well as patterns at the side and at the knees. The last piece of the armour was the pairs of boots. They were the same white colour as the whole armour, and were made of hard leather. They were ankle-length boots which protected the wearer's toes. On the feet, there were small spurs.

It was called the perfect warrior's armour.

Not only was it aesthetically pleasing, it had many uses — skills to be precise.

Lucifer worked his shoulders and savoured the sensation of being free from his armour. Just then, oxy asked a question:

"Speaking of which, how shall we deal with that annoying man?"

"Ah, the one who i kicked? We don't need to do anything. I'd be angry if he had done something bad but he didn't do it's fine."

Lucifer paused for a while, before continuing:

"…Well let's leave it at that."

"But he tried to attack you. That man is the one who was to blame."

"Perhaps, but I was the one who kicked him first. Therefore, I hope that you will be big hearted and forgive him. What we should be doing in this city is becoming a part of this world, to increase the renown of Sato and ox. It would reflect badly on us if rumours spread that we hurt people needlessly."

Ox nodded, although he could not quite accept what Lucifer had said.

"Also, we should give him some face, since he's technically our senior in this field."

Since their status as newcomers were too obvious, they needed to be more careful and not provoke anyone. They still had to depend on other people for now so they had to keep things friendly. Lucifer did not care too much about how others thought about him. However, he did not want to be regarded as an unreasonable and violent person in this world. Even Lucifer knew that as a newcomer, it was important to be seen as a civilized and respectful individual.

Lucifer did not mind if oxy was dissatisfied with his decision, nor did he plan on changing it. However, he could understand why his attitude might be disliked.

He did not think that he was wrong but he did not plan on forcing this viewpoint upon oxy. All he sought to do was to share his opinions with the person he created.

Oxy bowed to Lucifer and apologised.

"I'm sorry lord Lucifer, i didn't understand your genius."

"Stop. Don't bow to me while we are outside."

Lucifer internally sighed.

"You don't need to apologise, just try to remember next time." He replied in a gentle tone.

While he said that, he was looking at a tattoo on his shoulder, it was a black star.

It was imprinted on his armour but since it was behaved like a skin (even though it was not but that was just how p2w items broke the game), the tattoo had been imprinted on his actual skin.

That small black tattoo was something like a set of dog tags. It was what allowed people to know the strength of an mercenary.

Black. Iron. Silver. Gold. Platinum. White. Red. Diamond.

The latter metals were more valuable, which meant that adventurers of those ranks could select more difficult and more rewarding quests although he didn't know why they had incorporated colours into it. This was part of the system the mercenary company had developed to keep mercenaries from going to pointless deaths.

Lucifer, a freshly registered mercenary, was of the lowest star — black. That man from before was an iron star and those mercenaries he had encountered with Hiroshi were...gold star?

The higher the category, the greater his rank, the stronger the equipment and the higher the payment.

However, no matter how much money they could make, it was not as simple

As that. The higher the rank, the more dangerous the quests, and the chance of dying was naturally more higher. That was why they needed to be careful. Mercs with very low star-ranks often failed before they could reach the Gold star-rank and were killed or retired. It was a very hard life.

Just then, oxy spoke up.

"They should have just given you diamond star right from the bat, sato-sama.."

"Unfortunately, that is not how it works. We'll be treated just the same as every other newcomer until we climb our way up with our own power."

Lucifer knew very well that if his strength befit the diamond ranking but still, he wanted to experience this. It was like playing a new game, starting from level 1 again.

No, it was like maxing out your character in a mmorpg then leaving all your equipment somewhere and starting new with your level 100 character.

"This is our plan for the future—"

"Yes!"

Oxy promptly genuflected before Lucifer. It was the attitude of a vassal awaiting orders.

An annoyed Lucifer had no idea how to proceed. Though he had locked the door after coming in, gossip would swiftly spread if people saw this scene.

With a tone of vague resignation, Lucifer said:

"We are here to go undercover as adventurers in this city. This is because we have to collect information on mercenaries — in other words, the strongest people in this world — though our emphasis will be on learning about Hollow players, like myself. Attaining higher ranks will allow us to take higher-ranked jobs, which will also allow us to collect more reliable and useful information. Therefore, our first objective is to become successful adventurers."

After oxy indicated that he understood, Lucifer told him about the things he had to do.

"However, there are several problems at the moment."

Lucifer withdrew his small purse and opened it, then dumped its contents onto his hand. There were three notes of ¥10,000.

"To begin with, we have no money."

Lucifer turned to the surprised oxy, and explained:

"No, I should say that we do have a lot of money, but the currency we have is largely Hollow gold coins. Therefore, I would like to use those gold coins as a last resort."

"Why is that? Haven't we already confirmed that hollow coins have monetary value?"

"Indeed, gold has value on earth. However, if we use Hollow gold coins here, there's no telling where they'll end up. If things go bad, the news might spread beyond to others, and it'll be a blatant advertisement to other Hollow Players that we're here. Therefore, we have to avoid that situation as long as we do not fully Understand the situation."

"Players… entities on the same level as yourself, Lord Lucifer, and the villains who once attacked you and your team."

Lucifer frowned as he referred to him as lord Lucifer, but he did not say anything, for the same reasons as just now.

"Indeed. They are people that cannot be taken lightly."

His — Lucifer The Light-bringer — level was the highest in Hollow, level one hundred. However, to Players, being maximum level was hardly a rare thing. It could be said that most Players were level one hundred.

Lucifer considered himself to be among the upper middle tier of the game's player. This was because he was focused on being a jack of all. However, given the legendary class items he possessed as well as the multiple times which had raised his stats as well as his numerous p2w items, he might be ranked in the just below of the top-tier. Still, he could not take things easy.

"In any case, I plan to sell off the equipment taken from the corpses of the golden circle… but before that, we need to get a job."

After he had ordered Hiroshi to clean up the corpses, he had asked him to strip them clean of anything he could get his hands on and that equipment would be here in a while.

"Understood. Then, shall we visit the company again tomorrow?"

"Indeed. Although I'd like to learn more by walking around this city, we should leave that for after we've earned some money."

"I see. As a jester, I shall carry out your orders with all my strength."

"Is that so. Then, I'll be counting on you, oxy."

Lucifer felt a warm glow of satisfaction as he watched oxy bowing deeply. Then, waved his hands once more and his body was covered in the armour once more.

"I will be inspecting our surroundings. You will stay here and wait for orders."

"Please allow me to come with you!"

"No, I'm only looking around the neighbourhood. And, the other reason why you're staying here is to ward off intruders. You must stay on your guard and never slack off. While I don't think there's any vulnerabilities in our defenses for the moment, this place might well be considered enemy territory, so you must never relax."

"Understood."

"I'll leave the scheduled call-ins to you as well."

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