Mercenary System: I can increase innate potential !-Chapter 200: It’s good to be back

Some even began to envy them; it looked so pleasant...

...

Maxime stayed in the fortress all day, mainly talking to regiment captains but also to soldiers.

He even participated in the capture of Dravak in the wild, as many of them were now in hiding, especially the Dravak regiment captains.

Of course, no one could find Vatar, nor did anyone want to find him.

Apart from Kavasta, no one could last more than three exchanges against him.

The captured Dravaks remained in the fortress during this time, because if the humans took them to Earth, it would become much more complicated to bring them back home.

Kavasta had obtained the rights to manage the dimensional battlefield for another four days, until the temporary closure of the dimensional battlefield.

He therefore opened access to the Dravaks, in limited numbers of course, so that emissaries of their race could come to negotiate to recover the prisoners.

The fortress was therefore still quite busy during the day, with many things still to be done and some fighting going on outside.

Finally night fell and Maxime also enjoyed a last evening in the relaxation area.

He took the time to have a drink with many regiment captains who wanted to befriend him, but also with many lieutenants and soldiers.

He also saw Varek again and spoke with him for a good hour. He didn’t know why, but he got on particularly well with him.

His mercenaries, who had survived all these events, also took advantage of the relaxation area, where they all had fun playing ’Spectral Duel’.

There was no such technology in their world, so it was great fun for them.

In this case, it was Kaite, Tena, Ultia, Romuald and Rodrigo who were present. That’s 5 mercenaries.

Laura, Henry and Terry had died taking a fatal blow in place of Maxime, while Charles had been targeted by the Dravak lieutenants.

Andrew had exceeded his physical limits after Charles’ death and was too seriously injured to be able to enjoy himself in the relaxation area.

He was staying in the medical wing of the fortress, and thanks to Maxime, he had a VIP room.

As for the mercenaries who died in battle, they could be resurrected after 24 hours, but Maxime had to leave the dimensional battlefield.

Invoking them again on the dimensional battlefield was impossible because of certain rules.

In the game ’Spectral Duel’, the ordinary soldiers who had tried their luck after hearing the reputation of the Sabertooth Tigers, and who were not convinced, lost miserably.

They had no chance against them even if the mercenaries were not under the influence of [Nox Limit].

It took the arrival of a few sergeants to put pressure on the Sabertooth Tigers, but they continued to win, further boosting the reputation of Maxime and his mercenaries.

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It was only when some of the lieutenants took the stage that the mercenaries began to lose.

But as most of the mercenaries were injured, some of the soldiers watching the scene began to say that if the mercenaries weren’t injured, even the lieutenants wouldn’t necessarily be their opponents.

Others disagreed, and a long debate ensued during the evening.

Maxime didn’t really care; he was just having fun on his own, chatting with other people.

The night passed quickly, and this time Maxime returned to his room alone.

He took time to recover from his eventful night, and didn’t return to the real world until the next day.

It was quite simple, all he had to do was ask the dimensional battlefield system to leave, and that was it.

Of course, this was only possible because the Dravak homeworld had been destroyed.

As for the eight saber-toothed tigers under Maxime’s command, they could all be taken care of by the army.

They will accompany the army until the beginning of the following month so that Maxime can return to his life in the real world, peacefully.

Otherwise it would be a headache to feed and house so many people.

...

Back in the real world, four full days had passed. It wasn’t like in the world of Eternity, where no matter how much time was spent in the game, less than a second passed in reality.

The dimensional battlefields had the same relationship to time as the real world.

Meanwhile, the sound of the shaker echoed throughout the bar as Hugo, sleeves rolled up and black shirt sticking to his skin from the heat, kept up a steady stream of orders.

"And here’s your whisky on the rocks! And here are two mojitos for the ladies!"

Hugo served the drinks directly to the customers waiting quietly at the counter.

The bar was almost full, and customers were piling up at the counter.

For the moment, it was still okay, but if it went on like this, the bar could really lose loyal customers because of the waiting time!

Hugo could feel the sweat running down his back.

"Damn it, you’re pissing me off Maxime! Since you left, I’ve been working overtime and working like crazy!"

With a sharp movement, he wiped his forehead with his forearm and glared around him. Still no sign of his colleague.

Four days earlier, he had disappeared without a word.

At first it was still okay, Hugo thought Maxime wasn’t feeling well and needed some fresh air.

But four days was a ridiculously long time to be out and about!

"Damn it... Maxime, if I ever find you, I swear..." he grumbled as he mixed a cocktail with extraordinary skill.

The boss, Mr. LeMoine, walked up behind him and said exasperatedly:

"Still no news of Maxime, Hugo?"

Hugo sighed loudly, his stress reaching new heights.

"No idea, boss! I still haven’t heard anything."

The boss’s face tightened.

"I swear, if he does it again, he’s fired!"

Hugo rolled his eyes while continuing to smile at the customers, take their orders and serve the drinks.

"This boss is super nice, but now he’s really pissed me off because he hasn’t found a replacement!" he thought silently with a certain amount of rage.

But it was true that his skills had improved a lot by keeping up this infernal pace.

He was going so fast that he had the impression that his hands were moving on their own. A gin and tonic, a Ricard, three shots of tequila...

But just as he was immersed in his own world, a voice came from just behind him.

"Hi."

« AAAAH ! »

"Shit, Maxime! Where have you been!? And stop disappearing and appearing out of nowhere, it’s too surprising!"

"And what’s this burn on your face!?"

Maxime raised an eyebrow, visibly amused.

"What? Are you okay? You look a little tense," Maxime replied, ignoring the second question.

A vein appeared on Hugo’s forehead.

"Of course, because of a certain person I’ve had to put in a monstrous amount of work these last few days!"

Maxime smiled slightly, and began to take orders from a few customers, immediately relieving the pressure in the bar.

He had already put on his black work shirt, guessing that he would appear again at his workplace.

"Oh Maxime, you’re back? Wow, you’ve got a nasty burn on your face. Are you sure you can work?"

Maxime smiled at the person speaking to him, an old man who was a regular at the bar.

"Thank you, Mr. Lotan, yes, I’m better now. Here’s your glass of whisky with two ice cubes as usual."

"Take care of your health anyway, that’s the most important thing. And thanks for the whisky."

As he was making the old man pay, Maxime turned to Hugo.

"It’s a blessing in disguise, isn’t it? Thanks to my absence, you’re going to get a great paycheck this month."

Maxime knew that Hugo was in financial difficulties, as he was not a high school student. He was a university student, but at a civilian university.

The latter did not offer any courses on the subject of Eternity.

This was also the case for most universities, because it took all sorts to make a society work.

As for Hugo, he had always had a bad relationship with his parents, so as soon as he finished high school and turned 18, he looked for work so that he could provide for himself.

And thanks to the owner of the bar, he was able to afford a small apartment and live decently. But making ends meet remained complicated because it was a part-time job since he had not wanted to give up his studies.

"Yes, it’s true... but I fell a long way behind in my architecture project." replied Hugo, still angry, but less so than at the beginning.

He was, in fact, at architecture school. Discover exclusive content at novelbuddy

"Don’t worry, I’ll take over. You can leave if you want." Maxime reassured him with a smile.

His bartending skills were not up to Hugo’s level, but with his physique, it was not difficult to keep up a high pace.

Hugo gave Maxime a suspicious look and did not reply.

The two worked for a while in silence, completely catching up on the customer tickets.

At that moment, the boss appeared.

"Hugo, you can go. There’s nothing to worry about now that Maxime is back."

Hugo had also had time to observe Maxime, and indeed, he was very efficient.

He wondered a little where all that energy came from, but he didn’t think too much about it.

"Thanks, boss."

Without hesitation, he grabbed his bag from behind the counter and took one last look at Maxime, who was bustling about with an almost supernatural ease.

His colleague seemed tireless, his movements fluid and precise.

It was... strange. In the past, although he did well, he really wasn’t as competent as he was today.

Hugo hesitated for a second before heading for the exit.

"By the way, Maxime..." he said, turning as he passed the bar counter.

"Seriously, where were you?"

Maxime looked up with a slight smile.

"Oh, that... It’s a long story."

Hugo narrowed his eyes, intrigued.

"A long story, eh... I hope it was at least worth it."

"And... I’d especially like to know where that burning sensation on your face comes from."

Maxime put a glass on the counter and replied enigmatically:

"Let’s just say that I learned some interesting things, but that I had to overcome a few obstacles to learn them."

Hugo raised an eyebrow, then shook his head with a sigh.

"That’s it... So you just messed up when you were trying out a recipe. My cousin had the same thing in high school, and it went away after a few months, so don’t worry."

"Well, have a good evening."

Maxime didn’t react particularly, except with a smile.

"Good evening, Hugo."

As the door of the bar closed behind him, Maxime glanced around the bar.

He could feel the flow of time, perceive every movement with new acuity.

Indeed, he could perceive time.

It was a really strange feeling.

And it wasn’t just that.

Whether in terms of strength, skill or temperament, he had changed a lot.

His whole perception of the world, and even the way he interacted with other people, had been completely changed.

The boss, Mr. LeMoine, watched Hugo leave before turning his attention back to Maxime. He approached the counter, arms crossed, one eyebrow raised.

"You..." he said in a deep voice.

Maxime looked up at him with an innocent smile.

"Me?"

"Don’t give me that look. You disappear for four days without warning, you don’t answer any calls, and then you reappear like a flower, calm, as if nothing had happened?!"

Maxime shrugged.

"Sorry, boss. Something unexpected came up."

"An unforeseen event?!" LeMoine growled, placing his hands on the counter abruptly.

"Do you take me for an idiot?! Do you think I’m going to accept this kind of lame excuse?!"

Maxime did not lose his composure and simply stared his boss straight in the eye.

"What do you want me to say? I got caught up in something important, and I couldn’t come back until today. That’s all."

The boss gauged him for a moment, then sighed loudly while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Tsk... If you weren’t such a good bartender and the customers didn’t like you as much, I would have fired you by now."

Maxime smiled.

"So, I guess I can keep my job?"

LeMoine stared at him for a moment longer before pointing a threatening finger at him.

"One more disappearance like that, and I’ll fire you for good. Understood?!"

"Understood, boss. I promise I’ll be more careful." Maxime replied seriously this time.

His boss was much nicer than he looked, so Maxime wasn’t worried.

But no matter how much his strength and status improved, he would always respect the people who had reached out to him when he needed them.

The boss blew his nose once more, shook his head and walked away muttering incomprehensible insults.

Maxime, meanwhile, calmly got back to work, wearing a slight smile.

"Ah... It’s good to be back."