“…what is this?” The one-tailed clone muttered as he stared at the strikingly handsome man with quite an imposing mane of black hair lying down on a couch, snacking on what looked like popcorn whilst watching a TV screen on the office’s ceiling.

Elora was standing behind Obsidian, the social pressure of being in the presence of the Pavilion’s President overpowering her fear for the Nine-Tailed Wolf. Though… she was starting to doubt if the person relaxing in front of them was truly the acclaimed leader of the largest organization in the entire System.

“Hm, I sense a fellow follower of Sloth,” the President abruptly said and sat up, his deep onyx eyes gazing deep into the wolf’s own.

“Likewise…” Rakna replied carefully. “Though you appear to have more than just Sloth,” he added after examining the man with purely his senses and his understanding of demonic energy.

“Hm… you could say that. I also happen to possess Patience.”

“A Virtue, huh?” The wolf snorted. “Quite a combination.”

“You think so? I agree, I’m rather content with it as well,” the President said and sluggishly stood up before making his way to the desk. He sat behind it and waved. “Make yourself comfortable.”

“Thank you,” Rakna nodded and silently used his magic to create a comfy pillow to sit on. Thanks to his Sloth, which the Pavilion President seemed to share with him, it was doable to use his magic and not have its nature discovered by anyone.

Something that was promptly proven by precisely one of the System’s greatest residents, “That is indeed a peculiar magic,” he said as he glanced at the construct. “Creating something like that… It is also definitive, isn’t it?”

“Yes, I can make it last forever,” Rakna answered, maintaining the cordial and relaxed mood of the conversation without disturbing it at any point in time. Elora had retreated to a corner of the room because she had no idea of what she should do without being told to leave.

“Hm, is that something you’re also teaching your pupil?”

“My magic? Yes,” the wolf acquiesced. “Not only that. I plan to impart to him all my powers. From my magic to my skills, and my Sloth.”

“Interesting…” The President squinted his eyes; his voice monotonous but strangely not difficult to the ears. It sounded disinterested but patient. “I believe it’s about time I introduce myself,” he followed up with a grunt. “I am the Second President of the Pavilion, from its inception to this day, Kryas Io Fascio, at your service. You can call me Kryas.”

“Pleased to make your acquaintance. Feel free to call me Obsidian.”

“Hm. Let’s get to the core of the subject then,” Kryas said and tapped on the desk with his finger twice. The material lit up and projected a wide array of text. They compiled themselves into one holographic pile that was rapidly imported by the System.

Rakna watched the System open windows for him to sign documents. He didn’t need to read them since Eye of Symphony had already done it in the short period that they had all been visible above the desk.

“I have skipped most of the boring steps for you,” Kryas continued. “I just need you to sign these and declare your corporation. You’ll have to choose the name of it first and then the appointment of staff is at your discretion, but they must be disclosed appropriately.”

“Mhm,” Rakna simply said as he signed the most basic ones with an imprint of mana. The good thing about these documents is that the details about the founder’s identity were loose enough for him to apply himself as both the CEO and President by taking advantage of his shape-shifting and his ability to mask his mana’s intrinsic nature by using Pisces’ constellation.

In the end, he was signing these documents as ‘Obsidian’ but it was equally true that he was signing them as his real self. So, technically, there was both an issue and no issue at all. In other words, it was a convenient loophole.

But the reason he would be able to pull it off is that he had made sure to publicly separate ‘Rakna’ and ‘Obsidian’ as two different people. This way, appointing Obsidian as the founder would not make anyone suspicious.

‘Though…’ He paused his thoughts and glanced at Kryas who was calmly waiting for him to finish the procedure. ‘People like him can’t be fooled. I bet that the moment he meets me as Rakna, he will find out that we are one and the same. Or maybe he has already noticed something wrong. I don’t believe someone of his level doesn’t have the senses necessary to bypass my Sloth to at least peek into my overall strength through experience. Especially if he has that Sin Skill himself.’

Rakna looked away from the Pavilion’s President and finished the procedure, naming Obsidian as the Founder and CEO, and giving a name that he found appropriate.

“Harvest,” Kryas said half-intrigued at the name shown on his System windows. “Is that what you are going for the name of your corporation?”

“Yes. What? Is it a problem?”

“No, if anything, there isn’t a copyright issue about another company having the same name,” the man casually said and turned off the desk’s projections. “Well, the Pavilion’s and the System’s own infrastructures make it easier for you. Now, you’re officially at the head of a company. But it is just a front for now. Go to the City Hall to buy land and channels. Then, once you start your business, you can appeal to the Pavilion for publicity. Depending on the promise of your plan, at the cost of a portion of the shares or a revenue cut, we will back you up.”

“I’m all right. We won’t need external financing.”

Kryas tilted his head. “Are you sure? If you want this to be a decent project, especially to live up to your reputation, you would need at least a billion Talys. Building prices and shipping prices in and out of Plateaus can be costly. We don’t see many new influential companies in the System for the very reason that it is obscenely expensive to make a place for themselves in the market. And this is still assuming that you aren’t necessarily aiming for a large-scale business.”

“Hm, yes, but I stand by what I said. Financing won’t be a problem. There is no market for what I’m about to sell in the first place, nor can it be replaced in any manner.”

Kryas’ widened slightly at that and sat straighter. “Bold words. Can you live up to them?”

“Only time will tell,” Rakna said and stood up, dispelling the pillow into star energy particles that floated up around him.

“I see… I look forward to doing business with you if it does,” Kryas said as he also stood up. That’s when he spotted Elora trembling in the corner of the room and hummed. “Ah, you collected your Portable Unit earlier, correct?” He asked and the wolf nodded.

The casket that he had gotten earlier was actually called a Portable Pavilion Unit. It was an item capable of building a functioning Pavilion inside a Host or Local’s territory. He, of course, intended to use it for his land.

“Yes, I did,” Rakna said and Kryas nodded.

“In that case,” he paused and looked at the poor receptionist. “Young girl, you are promoted to a Tier 3 Staff Official, effective immediately. You will follow Obsidian and be the Master of that new Pavilion Branch. You will be given the right to personally contact me at the will of either Obsidian or Rakna Xiorra.”

“…” Elora froze right then and there. A few seconds ticked by and then her mouth slacked open as if her soul had just left her body.

“Hm. She fainted,” Kryas remarked as if nothing was wrong. “You can bring her with you and leave her in your Pavilion Branch. When she wakes up, the System will tell her about her new post.”

Rakna speechlessly looked at his fellow sinner of Sloth before shaking his head. He summoned a single Valkal to lift the poor woman and Kryas’ eyes flashed in awe for a split second.

“Thank you for your time. I am sure you are quite busy,” the wolf said.

“No, it’s fine. This meeting was rather fruitful for me. And, like you, I’m not actually here. This is a clone of mine,” the Pavilion President admitted. “I was very curious about what kind of being you would be, so I sent myself here. After sensing that tremendous explosion yesterday, my curiosity was through the roof as well.”

Rakna’s eye twitched furtively. ‘Does he mean the Origin Explosion? Did he attribute it to me purely out of an arbitrary guess? Or does he think I ‘taught’ it to my ‘pupil’?’ He thought.

“{Frankly, I don’t think there would be many candidates for such an occurrence on the 50th Plateau other than you,}” Fray chided in and the wolf scowled.

‘Whatever… the fact that he sensed it is scarier. That means he probably was one of many,’ he added and glanced at Kryas. “I don’t blame you, that explosion even scares me,” he said and the President revealed a surprised face. “On that note, farewell. I owe you favor,” Rakna concluded briefly and left the office.

About a minute later, while he was walking through the main corridors of the Pavilion where some staff members would pass by and bow to him, he awkwardly eyed the floating Elora.

“{She is going to have a rough wake-up call,}” Fray jested.

“You don’t say… wait,” Rakna suddenly realized something. “You; how are you here? Shouldn’t you be with the original?”

“{Ah, well, he is dealing with… stuff,}” the storyteller snorted. “{I am not necessarily keen on being there at the moment. So then, in a stroke of genius, I thought; ‘Couldn’t I switch between the clones since I am technically part of the original soul?’ And thus, here I am. Rejoice! I have found a way for you to converse with your clones! Though it does take a bit of time for me to move around. And it might be impossible if you are too far apart…}” Fray trailed. “{But you know… it counts. Sort of.}”

‘And here I thought being a clone had its advantages,’ the wolf deadpanned and headed to the hall of the Pavilion.

“{Hey, that is awfully rude of you.}”

* * *

“Is it good now?” The original Rakna asked as he poked his head inside the shop after waiting for five minutes or so. When he saw that the three girls inside were calmly sitting and not tearing each other’s throats, he exhaled and extinguished his cigarette; his affinity having returned to Hoarfrost while he was outside.

He cleared his throat and fought the urge to activate both Crystal Sight and Founding Intuition as he approached their table, expecting for something to get out of control from any of the room’s occupants at any moment.

When he finally took a seat in the mind-numbing silence, no one said anything until one additional intruder came into the picture at the last second. Pronos teleported in as Higure had done, but on top of Rakna’s head this time.

The small Hydra hissed happily in greeting at the women who snapped their heads toward him in a strangely stern way. The little guy tilted his heads at their stares.

Kaelith and Kara stared at him for a moment and completely ignored the fact that he was a Nine-Headed Hydra before simultaneously asking a question, “Is that a woman as well?”

Pronos blinked nine times in utter confusion and Rakna facepalmed.

“No… no, you definitely need a few more minutes to yourselves,” the therian sighed.