Bang! Bang! Bang!
Leo's curses were cut short by heavy knocking on the door. It felt less like knocking and more like someone was letting out their frustration on his poor little door. Leo could even feel the hinges becoming loose with each passing second.
"Mr. Leo, are you home?" a voice called from beyond the door.
"Are you trying to break my door? Do you think I can afford a replacement?" Leo shouted in anger as he flung the door open.
He was already in a bad mood because of his profits, and now someone was annoying him even more.
The moment he opened the door, he expected to see the face of the person who had been knocking. However, no one was there, at least not at his eye level.
"Huh? Where is your face?" Leo wondered before slowly raising his head. Only then did he see the person's face.
A man was standing before him, well over ten feet tall. Just to look at him, Leo had to strain the muscles in his neck. The man wasn't just tall but also extremely bulky. His biceps alone were bigger than Leo's head.
"Are you Mr. Leo?" the musclehead asked in a gruff voice.
Leo's survival instincts kicked in instantly. He swallowed hard and took a polite step backward.
"Me? No way. I'm Jack. I just came to collect a debt, but, uh, clearly the owner isn't home."
The man stared down at Leo silently.
Leo smiled weakly as his brain started wondering. Has he offended someone recently? Why would someone like him be looking for him?
The man before him looked like a goon who was paid to break people.
After a long silence, the bulky man burst into an awkward laugh.
"It seems Mr. Leo has a great sense of humor," he said, scratching the back of his bald head.
The man seemed convinced that the person before him was Leo. After all, he had already seen an image of Leo in the database before being dispatched.
As for asking, that was only for confirmation. He didn't expect Leo to deny it outright, but he figured geniuses had a strange temperament, so he didn't think much of it.
He wasn't upset with Leo's behavior. He didn't have a death wish, after all. The person who sent him had repeatedly asked him to be extremely respectful and handle the matter properly.
"Mr. Leo, we are from the Hero's Guild. Can we have a moment of your time?" another voice chimed in, much sweeter than the bald man's heavy voice.
The bald man respectfully moved aside. Once his large body was out of the way, Leo was finally able to see past his door's threshold.
"What... is happening?" Leo mumbled, looking in the surreal sight.
A woman who had previously been hidden behind the bald man's body now stood in view. But she wasn't alone.
There were over twenty guards, each carrying a plasma gun. He couldn't see their faces, as their bodies were covered in high-tech armor. The only thing he could see was the Hero's Guild symbol on their armor.
The woman was even more striking. She wore a heavy overcoat slung over her shoulders, and on her chest was a golden badge with a tree symbol.
The badge alone was enough to reveal her identity. She was clearly a high-ranking member of the Hero Guild.
The Hero Guild had multiple departments, but only three could be called its true pillars.
They were the War Department, which managed the strongest Heroes. The Finance Department, which managed the Guild's finances. And the Administrative Department, which handled regular operations.
The badge on the woman's chest belonged to the Finance Department, one of the three great pillars.
"What does the Finance Department want from me?" Leo asked, maintaining a calm exterior. But every few seconds, his gaze shifted to the plasma guns in the hands of the guards.
He had just received money from the Guild. His thoughts couldn't help but stray.
'Are they here to ask for it back? Even if I wanted to return it, I couldn't. The money was already taken by the system.'
'No, why would the entire finance department mobilize for a mere fifty thousand credits? Are they here because they found out it's just lemon juice? I really thought they would just toss the delivery in a corner and never use it, since it was free.'
'Who would've thought they would pay me without even checking what it was? Also, if they were scammed, what does that have to do with me?'
Leo considered a possibility, and his heart sank. They had paid in advance because they thought it was an actual elixir. They probably didn't think someone would try to scam them.
After they found out the elixir was useless, they must have felt insulted.
'Are they here to bury me in a coffin to ease their embarrassment at being fooled?'
'This is really bad,' Leo thought, his frown growing deeper. He almost stumbled as he tried to think of an excuse.
'It was a prank! My cat did it! I'm not Leo. He was eaten by his cat! Wait, I don't have a cat...'
"Mr. Leo?" the woman asked. "Ah, right. I forgot to introduce myself. I am Kayla, the Deputy Head of the Finance Department."
"Nice to meet you," Leo said, his expression as cold as ever. Deep down, his mind was a mess.
"Mr. Leo, you recently sent a few 'elixirs' to the Guild?"
Leo's mind refused to work. Fortunately, his inner turmoil wasn't visible on his face. He was so busy processing the situation that his expression was completely blank.
It was as if all the staff of his expression department was sent to attend the emergency meeting of his brain department, leaving his face expressionless.
'Wait a minute! Aren't I the victim? These idiots screwed me over by sending me that money! Shouldn't I be the angry one here?'
Leo didn't even notice as his lips started twitching in anger at the thoughts.
He still didn't forget all the torment he went through to survive through the last ten days on the bare minimum, looking forward to the system rewards. The pain of failure was still fresh in his heart.
His gaze grew even colder, giving the impression to the Guild Members that he was seriously displeased.
Even Kayla was flustered, looking at Leo's cold face. She didn't know why, but it made her feel like she was standing before a superior, having made some mistake.