Within a finely furnished office located in an unknown place, a man stood close to the windows, ignoring the fine chair and exquisite desk behind him.

The blond hair on his head was a lot longer than a man's, but a tad bit shorter than a woman's. He had a few wrinkles covering his face, displaying his age, and a short beard that was finely trimmed.

His outfit was also reminiscent of the roomgrandiose and expensive-looking.

He was watching the events of the marketplacethe Black Marketand a smile was on his face.

As one of the six members of the Obsidian Council, it pleased him to see the community thriving.

As he smiled and sipped his wine, his moment of reminiscing was cut short by a knock on the door.

The man's green eyes darted to the door, and his curled up lips slowly fell.

"Come in."

The door slowly opened, and a man dressed in an expensive waistcoat, as well as an overall formal entire walked in.

He looked youngperhaps in his early thirtiesbut the experienced look in his eyes did not belong to a youth.

He was Aldred Winsley, one of the many Brokers of the KariBlanc Group.

"Lord Blanc, I have reports for you."

Blanc was his code name in the Obsidian Council. Each of the six had their pseudonyms, yet his managed to be the opposite color to what their entire group was named after.

"It's fine, boy. There's no need to call me that here. Just address me normally"

Sure, the man who entered was younger than this Lord Blanc, but it wasn't enough to be called a boy.

Still, he nodded in understanding.

As this man slowly turned to Aldred, he could see him deactivate his Identity Concealment Item.

Soon, Aldred's appearance transformed into a younger version of Blanc.

"I understand father."

The Aldred from before was now replaced by a boy who was barely twenty.

"Hehe that's much better."

Blanc chuckled as he sat on his very comfortable chair and offered Aldred the same courtesy.

Aldred took it without a moment's hesitation and sat opposite his father.

"So talk to me. Tell me what all this fuss is about."

Blanc was a man of many means. Even before Aldred had come, he had a faint inclination of what was going on in his company.

However, just how much did he know?!

"Alright father. The thing is"

***********

"G-good heavens!"

Blanc's face contorted in downright shock as he listened to his son finalize his story.

"That's absurd!" He yelled.

"Right? I thought so too. But it was all realeverything I told you."

It seemed like a made up story that someone of such caliber would just walk into their place of business like it was nothing.

'What kind of man is this masked seller?'

"Did he drop a name? Anything to identify him as?" Blanc asked, desperately hoping he could use some of his connections to dig up something.

The look on Aldred's face told him, however, that it wouldn't be worthwhile.

"He just told us to call him Yer. Even among the accomplished Adventurers, none bear that name."

Blanc squinted his eyes and pulled at his beards a little.

His son wasn't wrong.

'Adventurers either use their real name or have flashy titles and pseudonyms. This seems like the latter, but"

If Yer was an extremely strong or accomplished Adventurer, surely they would have heard of him by now.

"What a mysterious fellow" Blanc whispered. "You did good by bringing him to our side, boy."

There was just one more thing.

It was a matter of utmost pertinence that Blanc had to personally ask.

'This'll determine how we consider our future with him'

"You used your [Eye Of God], right? What was the Type of Skill he had?"

[Eye Of God] was an Enchanted Item of the 4th Grade. It could detect a person's Stats to a limited degree, but not without the other party finding out.

The only thing it could do very subtly was reading how strong overall an individual was by measuring their Skill.

"What was the Tier?"

In response to this question, Aldred Winsley had a conflicted expression.

It wasn't that he didn't understand the question, but rather he couldn't decide on how to answer it.

As he gulped, he decided to throw aside his indecision and just be as straightforward as possible.

"It it didn't work, I think."

"It didn't work? That's a Grade 4 Item. It has to work!" Blanc responded with a deep frown.

Grade 4 was the highest Grade anyone could obtain on the market right now.

Whether it was raw materials or finished products, it existed at the epitome of the current chain.

Why would such a sophisticated item be broken?

"I-I know! But after our meeting, I tried to see what it picked up, but it was only telling me ~Error!~"

This had never happened in the course of doing business. Aldred didn't know what it meant, so he just chalked it down to a malfunction.

Blanc, on the other hand, had a different expression.

"D-did you just say ~Error!~?"

The look of horror on the older man's face scared Aldred a little, but he did his best to nod regardless.

'I've never seen Father this shaken before'

As he had this thought, Blanc rose from his seat as if it suddenly had a thousand needles on it.

He just wasn't comfortable any longer.

"The [Eye Of God] can detect Skills from the F-Tier up to the A-

Tier" He began, his breathing seeming a little uneven.

Even Aldred was growing increasingly restless just listening to his father.

"If the Item showed error, it means it had encountered something above its ability to analyze."

In essence

"N-no way!"

"Indeed" A grim frown tugged at Blanc's lips as he stared hard at his son.

"The S-Tier. Realm of Heroes and Gods."

Only the strongest of entitieslike the Dragonshad such power.

Even their most powerful Mage only had an A-Tier Skill at most.

"Boy, I'll tell you this for free"

Aldred had never seen his father this shaken before. Full caution, mixed with a grimness so deep that it defied explanation, shrouded his face.

It seemed even one of the Obsidian Councilors could show fear.

"Never ever cross that man."

Aldred instantly nodded at his father's wise words.

"He could destroy us all."

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Thanks for reading!

A nice grasp into the criminal underworld before we resume our grind!