Rentaro was very depressed.
Ever since becoming a Promoter, his life had not been easy.
Since leaving home with his childhood friend and establishing the Tendo Civil Security Company, he had been living a frugal life.
Tendo Kisara, once the eldest young lady of the Tendo family, used to live a luxurious life where she was waited on hand and foot. Even though she took a considerable amount of pocket money when she ran away to start a company, her original extravagant spending habits, coupled with her unnecessary pride that made her pay high tuition fees to attend a prestigious noble girls' school, and the frequent hemodialysis expenses because she refused to replace her kidney to remember her hatred, made her life even more difficult.
And because the two had no money, the company could only be set up in a cheap office building in a corner, with a foot bath parlor and loan sharks downstairs, so no commissions came their way.
The entire company's funding came solely from Rentaro's "hunting in the wild" and selling Gastrea tissue to acquaintances.
Recently, the company received a big commission.
It was a commission personally issued by the leader of the Tokyo Area, the Seitenshi.
It wasn't really a commission received by the company, but rather a commission received by all security companies in the Tokyo Area.
However, as a former soldier of the New Human Creation Project, Rentaro, despite his current hardships, was actually very confident in his own strength and believed he could stand out among all the Promoter pairs in Tokyo.
And indeed, that was the case.
However, after he found the commissioned item, a mysterious masked man suddenly appeared and stole it.
Seeing the commission fee disappear just like that, he couldn't help but feel utterly frustrated, not to mention his partner, Enju, was injured.
He brought the shattered corpse of the spider-type Gastrea to his old friend, Sumire's laboratory.
"Doctor, where are you?"
This doctor, who had once performed modifications on him, was a remarkable person.
Although Rentaro didn't know how remarkable this doctor was, the title of "Four Sages" alone told him that the doctor was an extraordinary figure.
Moreover, she had helped him in many ways, from installing ultra-Varanium prosthetic arms, legs, and eyes for him, to providing free physical examinations and medications for his partner, and acquiring the Gastrea corpses he hunted.
She had helped him in various aspects.
Although she seemed a bit unreliable in her personal life, as an elder, she was quite good.
"I'm here."
Rentaro carried the food into the laboratory and saw Sumire leaning against a corpse.
"Yo, Rentaro."
Sumire merely lifted her eyelids slightly upon seeing Rentaro, without her usual "enthusiasm."
Rentaro and Sumire hadn't known each other for just a day, so he immediately noticed Sumire's strange state.
"What's wrong, Doctor?"
"Rentaro..."
Completely ignoring the corpse beneath her, Sumire propped her head up with her hand, as if she were resting on a table.
"Do you believe in God?"
"..."
Rentaro was stunned for a moment, then said with a wry smile, "What's wrong, Doctor? Aren't you a famous scientist? How can a scientist believe in God?"
After speaking, he added a sentence, as if speaking to Sumire and also to himself.
"If there is a God, then what is humanity's current predicament?"
Sumire looked at Rentaro, realizing that this sixteen-year-old, still underage child, had experienced far more than she had.
He lost his parents during the First Kanto War and was subsequently adopted by the Tendo family.
Then, while at the Tendo family, he was attacked by Gastrea again, and to protect Tendo Kisara, the eldest young lady of the Tendo family, he lost his left eye, right arm, and right leg.
And at the brink of death, he met Sumire, who intensely hated Gastrea due to the loss of her lover.
Out of her hatred, Sumire chose him as an experimental subject for the "New Human Creation Project."
Although this project was quickly abandoned due to the application of the Cursed Children, the modifications had already been made.
Sumire always felt somewhat sorry for Rentaro.
Although Rentaro didn't mind Sumire's modifications and even thanked Sumire for saving his life, Sumire herself still felt apologetic towards him.
"Sorry, Rentaro."
Hearing Sumire's words, Rentaro was stunned for a moment, then said with a smile, "What's wrong with you, Doctor? You're really not yourself today."
"Because I saw God."
Sumire's words made Rentaro freeze.
"But God doesn't seem to be what we imagined, not an omniscient and omnipotent being."
"Then that God?"
"I know what you're thinking, Rentaro."
Sumire lifted her head and stared at Rentaro with her exposed eye.
"I saw a miracle, not science, nor something that can be explained like Gastrea. No, perhaps it can be explained."
Sumire paused: "But it's already far beyond human comprehension. To give an example, it's beyond humanity by about... a thousand years."
Rentaro didn't know how Sumire came to such a judgment.
"More importantly, Doctor, I did see something strange today."
As if returning the favor, Sumire looked at Rentaro without interrupting, waiting for him to continue.
"Doctor, is there really a technique in this world that can disregard the concepts of time and space?"
"I'm just a scientist, not a martial artist like you. How would I know?"
Now you remember you're a scientist, huh?
Rentaro looked at Sumire without speaking, and after a while, he said, "When I was tracking the Gastrea that stole the Seven Stars' legacy, Enju and I were attacked by Hiruko Kagetane. He was also a soldier from the New Human Creation Project, and I couldn't break through his repulsive field."
"And his combat techniques were very skilled."
Rentaro recalled that battle with lingering fear.
"But then a swordsman with a katana appeared. With just one slash... no, it should have been three slashes, but he only used one, a move called 'Swallow Reversal,' and he defeated Hiruko Kagetane and took the Seven Stars' legacy."
It was precisely because of this that Hiruko Kagetane didn't continue to bother him, and he and Enju escaped unscathed.
Rentaro didn't continue speaking, but saw the doctor in front of him lost in thought: "Doctor? What's wrong?"
"Rentaro, the person you just mentioned."
Sumire looked at Rentaro as if waking from a dream: "What was his name?"
"Name?"
Rentaro, who hadn't received much schooling, was clearly not very familiar with his country's history, and most children of this era only knew history related to Gastrea.
"I remember it was something like Sasaki."
"Kojirō Sasaki."
"That's right, that's it! How did you know, Doctor?"
Rentaro looked at Sumire with some surprise.
"Rentaro, you're really stupid, lazy, lecherous, and your grades are terrible. You really should go back to school and catch up on your lessons."
Sumire sighed: "Kojirō Sasaki was a famous swordsman from the Warring States period."
"Warring States?"
Even with his poor grades, Rentaro knew how far the Warring States period was from his own time.
"That's not the point, Rentaro. Look at this."
Rentaro looked at the screen Sumire opened, and a huge fortress appeared on the screen.
"This building is on the outskirts of the Tokyo Area, and... it appeared out of thin air."