Leo looked at Kayla’s hand, then at the window at the end of the hallway.
The Guards that were standing behind Kayla, rushed to the end of the hallway.
"Home?" Leo asked while wondering what the Guards were trying to do.
"Of course," Kayla nodded. "Your new quarters are being prepared as we speak. We’ve cleared the entire 969th floor of the tower for you."
"The... entire floor?" Leo asked, his eyes starting to twitch again. That sounded expensive, and large.
Although he hadn’t personally seen the Hero Guild Headquarters, even in the media articles, it looked huge, spread across thousands of acres.
If it looked so large in the images, then how large would it actually look in person? And now an entire floor was given to him?
"It’s the least we can do!" Kayla smiled.
She was clearly trying to be polite, but her eyes kept darting to the peeling paint and the flickering light above them as if they might fall right on her.
Leo looked back into his small apartment. It was empty, except for the faint lingering smell of lemons. There were still a few lemons lying on the floor and shelves. They were supposed to be his lunch for the next few days.
He had been dreaming about being able to leave this hellhole for a long time. But now that he was finally leaving, he felt a little nostalgic.
"If you’re worried about your furnit-" Kayla was about to mention his furniture but she quickly closed her mouth, remembering what she had seen inside before.
There was no furniture. There was not even an air mattress. All she saw was a small blanket on the ground which was used as a mattress. It still has a few holes that were visible even from a distance.
She was really wondering just why these rich geniuses had such weird preferences, but she wasn’t in a place to judge.
Leo felt a little embarrassed, looking at her gaze. He could clearly guess what she was thinking, but he didn’t show it on his face.
Meanwhile Kayla used a more careful term as she continued, "I meant, if you’re worried about your possessions, we would escort them back with us. Leave them to the Guards."
" I’ll leave them to you then." Leo said while simultaneously returning to his room.
He picked a lemon from the shelf. It was a love hate relationship. This lemon had made his life hell. But it was also the reason he was able to move out of his hellhole.
For the first time in a while, a beautiful calm smile spread across his face. At this moment, he didn’t think about his losses and profits. He was simply glad to be alive, having a friend like this lemon which had already started to go bad.
Leo still kept it in his pocket, like it was an old friend and his good luck charm.
He had nothing to pack. He had already sold his game station, which was his most precious item, all to fund his company.
Even though that didn’t go as planned, but so far, things weren’t too bad either. As for accumulating losses, he could always come up with better plans, making them even more foolproof.
"I’m ready," he said, stepping out and closing the door on his old life for the last time.
The guards that had rushed to the end of the hallway, had already placed small explosive devices on the four corners of the wall.
They quickly stepped back, creating some distance between them and the wall.
Following a few loud beeps, an explosion occured. But it didn’t send the rubble of the wall flying off all over the place.
Instead, a small black hole was created between the four walls.
The black hole absorbed all the rubble within itself, leaving not even a speck of dust behind. Within second, the entire wall at the end of the hallway had disappeared, leaving what looked like a giant exit from the building
Kayla led the way, meanwhile the giant man followed behind Leo. The twenty guards cleared the path for them.
’Is this what kings felt?’ Leo thought, looking at guards on both sides who were saluting them, with their guns held in the other hand.
As they approached the hallway’s end, a beautiful black ship was revealed to be hovering right outside.
A platform extended from the ship’s entrance to the spot where the wall used to be, creating a firm and stable bridge with railings on both sides.
Leo stepped onto the ramp, taking his first step to his new life, not knowing what was actually waiting for him.
"Lord Leo, please be careful!" The giant man said, his huge hand hovering near Leo’s back, just in case a gust of wind, or a sudden existential crisis, caused him to stumble.
The inside of the ship looked just as beautiful with holographic displays, many of whom were depicting the greatest heroes that the Hero Guild had produced throughout the years.
There were many private organizations that controlled and branded S-Rank Heroes that were popular all over the place. But no organization was as big as the Hero Guild. And he was going right there.
Kayla said, out of nowhere. "I apologize, the Meta Class ships have been undergoing maintenance for new upgrades. So we could only use this..."
’We could just use this? Are you flexing, lady?’ Leo clicked his tongue, truly wondering about the awareness of the wealthy.
They called this a second grade ship, looking down on it? Just this one ship’s cost was alone to buy an entire city, not even considering the offensive power of this ship.
Leo just shook his head and stared out the window as the ship rose higher, his old apartment building slowly shrinking into just another small block in a third tier city
’Okay. Analyze. I’m safe. I have free food. I have a very large, very scary bodyguard. The Guild thinks I’m a genius. This is good. It solves my ’dying of starvation’ problem.’
He checked his glass slab.
[Personal Credits: 59.17]
[Investment Fund Balance: 100,050,000 Credits]
’This is still a big problem though. My starvation problem has been replaced by a filthy rich problem. I need to go bankrupt as soon as possible!"