The Transmigrated Professor

It wasn’t difficult introducing Rohan to Izzy and Mike, considering they were all around the same age, and it was easy enough to introduce Rohan as ‘my student from the Academy with a few difficulties.’

“You are just picking them up hither thither, like strays on the street, aren’t you?” Jacob’s comment at the end was unwarranted, no matter how close it was.

Yes, he had picked Mike, Deus, the twin fox Spirits, and now, Rohan, like they were Pokemon. 

But he had a very genuine reason for this. 

The world was going to end soon at the hands of Demons, and he had to be prepared to survive that. It was justifiable for him to use his knowledge of the novel. 

Now that all introductions were done, he pulled Jacob aside in a separate room. 

“There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”

“I could see that.” Jacob took a seat on the bed. With how serious Ray’s tone was, it seemed that it would take long, and Jacob’s knees were hurting.

“Jacob, you are quite an experienced hacker, aren’t you? With quite a lot of connections, no doubt, considering you were even able to hack into the Aurum Guild’s information network?”

“Is this out of curiosity or an interrogation?” Jacob seemed skeptical of Ray’s questions. 

Ray quickly shook his head. “Out of curiosity…I plan on forming a mercenary group, and was wondering how good you were at working behind the scenes and information gathering.”

“A mercenary group…” He kept brooding over that word, before saying. “You do realise the problems with mercenaries, right?”

“Of course, I know that…”

Mercenary groups were organisations that operated much like the Guilds. They recruited Awakened, hunted monsters and Fallen for money, and sometimes, if the group did well, they could wield quite a lot of influence in society.

However, they both also had their differences. 

Guilds, from a legal point of view, came under the Hero League. The League gave them resources such as scouting Dungeons and providing help.

In return, Guilds would report their findings to the League, such as their missions, their discoveries regarding the Dungeons, the Skill Orbs, and manuals in their possession, and would also receive annual audits from the League. 

Of course, all Guilds kept some important information to themselves, and the League turned a blind eye to that.

It was basically an exchange of legitimacy and information, keeping each other in check. 

Mercenary groups, on the other hand, didn't answer to the Hero League. They were completely free from the scrutiny of the League, meaning no one would care what they did, as long as it wasn’t associating with the Fallen or harming the peace of human society. 

Of course, since the League couldn’t keep an eye on them, the mercenaries had no access to important information and would have to learn everything themselves, and wouldn’t receive any help from the League if their group got stuck inside a Dungeon.

To compensate for this weakness, most mercenaries made deals with Guilds, completing the dirty jobs their official members couldn’t, in return they got money and information.

This was the perfect set-up for Ray to exploit, considering he had access to a vast pool of information, both from his knowledge of the novel, as well as the EX Skill - Appraisal.

He could find out everything he needed to know about a Dungeon, with just a simple scan and conquer it within a fraction of the time other Guilds would take. 

But if he formed a Guild, the League would definitely keep a watchful eye on him, considering everything the Aurum Guild recently did, and scrutinise every single thing I reported. 

And if they realised all the information I was hiding along with my cheat skill, there was no way they wouldn’t think that I could have formed a contract with a Demon too.

Therefore, the best course of action was to form a mercenary group and operate in the Sanskriti Archipelago, where the League didn’t hold a lot of power.

But, even with all the knowledge I had at my disposal, I needed a strategist who could use the knowledge to its full potential. 

Jacob must have already realised I had some secrets to me, and I was aware of his skill set.

This would be the perfect partnership.

“So, would you be willing to be the strategist and behind-the-scenes operator for my mercenary group? Of course, I will compensate you properly.” Ray offered his deal.

“I am guessing Mike won’t just be training under you at the Archipelago?” 

Ray nodded in affirmation. “Of course, all of them are going to be in the mercenary group.”

“Well, I can’t just let kids go into the world undefended like that. I will help you.” Jacob finally decided to accept the deal. “But, there is a problem.”

“A problem.” Ray had given this quite a lot of thought, so he didn’t think there would be any problem.

“To establish a mercenary group, there should be one member who is a Hero approved by the League or has a certification of approval from an already-established Guild. We can’t get a Guild’s approval, since that would mean we would have to work as an affiliate of the Guild. Wouldn’t that mean you will have to be an official member of the group? I thought you wanted to hide your operations from the League.”

It's true, when Ray had first thought of this plan, he thought of joining under a false name. Since whichever Mercenary group or Guild he founded, the League would undoubtedly keep an eye on him due to this Laxon bloodline.

But one thing Jacob didn’t know was that he had already proved to the highest-ranking person in the League that there was no way he was affiliated with the Chaos Alliance. 

He had cured Rufus’ grandson of an incurable Curse. 

It was all but guaranteed that he was not a Fallen. 

Rufus would keep an eye on him for appearances, but he wouldn’t intrude much on what Ray would do, considering the favour he owed him.

“As long as I don’t need to officially report anything to the League, I think it will be fine.” Ray quickly made an excuse. “Besides, the League doesn’t keep an eye on what happens in the Archipelago.”

“...I guess.” Jacob still seemed a bit suspicious but decided to let it go since Ray seemed confident about it.

“So, what do you want to name your mercenary?” Jacob finally asked the question.

“A name…how about the Iris Anomaly! I plan on having the members be given titles based on the colours of the rainbow. Of course, the leader’s title will be different. I will be…Mr. Black!” 

Ray seemed pretty proud of the name he had chosen, so Jacob did his best not to cringe over his words. 

Did this guy have eighth-grader syndrome or something?

‘What are you, an eighth-grader? What’s with that stupid name?’ Deus didn’t seem to have any trouble pointing out Ray's stupidity.

‘Shut it!’ Ray hushed Deus' remarks by slapping his neck.

“I think you will be more suited to be Mr. Blue…but whatever. And why the ‘Anomaly’?”, Jacob questioned. 

The ‘Iris’ part made sense…somehow. But ‘Anomaly’ was unexpected.

“Because we are anomalies in this world.” Ray mumbled, but his voice was too low for Jacob to hear.

“What was that?”

“Nothing! Just register the group with that name. Of course, the colour distribution will be just among us.”

“All right, I will do that. By the way, what colour will I be?” Even if he hated the name, Jacob was still curious about his title.

“...How about Mr. Green? Don’t you always say you are very lucky? You will be a green four-leaf clover”

“I do say that, but…Fine, I will be Mr. Green.” Jacob decided to just roll with the flow.

After putting Jacob in charge of the Mercenary group registration, there was one burden off his shoulders. 

He decided to head to the black market. The sun was already starting to set, and soon the black market would be open.

Greeting DeeDee at the Bowling Alley reception, he quickly entered the locker and arrived at the black market.

“Ah, great! You are here.” The dwarf blacksmith, Boldor, handed him the two swords he had commissioned. “Here they are...One longsword for you, and one rapier for the little guy, made with my personally developed alloy blend. It's part Mythril, part Manasteel. Even S-Ranks will find it difficult to break these beauties.”

Considering it was Boldor who had made these, Ray didn’t doubt a word he said. 

He took out his own sword from its wooden sheath and swung it a few times. It balanced perfectly in his hands, as he slowly emitted some mana into the blade.

“It fits like a glove.” Ray subconsciously commented as he swung it a few more times. 

“Of course, it does.” Boldor proudly admired his creation. “The key is observation. Just by observing different people swing different types of swords, you can easily tell what kind of sword suits someone.”

“That’s all it takes?” Ray was fascinated at Boldor’s counsel.

“Of course. Just by observing different people, you can even find what move they would use next, their footwork, everything. Though, of course, it takes a very long time to develop a sense for that. Only Dwarves like me who work very closely with swords and live long lives could ever achieve this intuition.”

“Is that so…” Hearing this, a grin curled up on Ray’s lips. 

‘I think you are planning something suspicious.’ Deus became wary of his Master, seeing the distrustful smile on his face.

‘It’s nothing. I just remembered a particular fortune teller told me to practise my Appraisal Skill.’

Handing Boldor the rest of the money and thanking him for his advice, Ray quickly exited the garage-cum-smithy.

As he reached the black market’s exit, a particular stall caught Ray’s eye.