Eren nodded his head in satisfaction as he saw their reaction.
It assured him greatly that the elixir worked perfectly fine.
He could even peek at their status and saw that all of their stats had gained 10 points in every attribute.
"It doesn't matter how I got these potions..." he said as he shook his head in a dismissive attitude and tried to act in a mysterious way to confuse his friends.
"But you all need to know that, for the power backing me, these potions are nothing..."
Dorian, Kael, Rowan, and Lyra all looked at each other with bewildered gazes as Eren's words constantly echoed through their minds.
"These Lesser Elixirs are nothing?!"
Lyra gasped as she closed her mouth in shock.
"Oi oi oi, who the hell are they exactly?"
"And why would they even want to give so many of these things to you?"
"What exactly are they trying to do with you?"
"Guys, please shut up first!"
Eren cut them off and continued, "Stop asking questions that I can't answer, okay? I already told you yesterday that I was recruited by a guild. That guild is very powerful and very ambitious. The money they gave and these potions are just a tiny allowance they gave to me."
Under the siege of so many questions at the same time, Eren decided to keep up the bullshit he previously said and tried to shut them down.
Eren paused for a moment, checking if his friends were believing it or not, and found that they unexpectedly started to look convinced as they kept silent.
A smirk formed on Eren's lips as an idea came to his mind.
"Another important thing is that they also want to recruit some lifestyle profession holders who are nothing special but can keep secrets."
A strange glint of light shone in the eyes of the four in an instant.
"So, I recommended the four of you, and they accepted it. They are ready to invest in all of you, no matter the expenses. What do you guys think about it?"
He straight up decided to bribe his friends with money and some bullshit.
Even he himself felt so cringed by the utter nonsense he came up with, but seeing that his friends were seriously considering his words, he held himself back from cursing himself in embarrassment.
Eren knew very well that his talent that multiplied rewards was something very absurd and went beyond the common sense of this world.
Not only would it be very dangerous for him if it was revealed, it would also be dangerous for the people who were close to him.
It's not like he didn't trust his friends to keep a secret or anything.
He just didn't want his friends to know things that could potentially endanger them.
Kael was the first one to speak with a serious face, as if calculating everything Eren said.
"Hey Eren, are you under a Binding Curse?"
"?"
A big question mark appeared above Eren's head as he tilted his head in confusion.
'Binding Curse? Why the hell would I be under such a curse?'
Eren stood silent as he processed Kael's words, but Kael took his silence as confirmation and nodded his head as if he understood everything.
"As I thought, you are under a curse to not reveal their information and their secrets. A Binding Curse could trigger if you break the certain conditions the caster has set, after all."
"What?! Binding Curses are way too dangerous! It can even kill you! Eren, what kind of people are you involved with? Are you sure these guys are good people? They sound shady as hell!"
Eren immediately shook his head, denying Dorian's words.
"No, they are not shady at all... at least that's what I believe..."
Eren somehow felt offended when they called them shady, even though he was just trying to help them.
"What the hell do you mean they are not shady?! They are... Wait a second... you asked us how much money we needed for faster leveling up exactly two days ago! You had already gotten involved with them and even spoke to them about getting support for us?!"
"Yeah, now it all seems to make sense. Remember he took out four elixirs from his inventory as if he had already prepared to give them to us."
"So he was going to give us these elixirs even if we didn't find out that he was hiding something!"
"Hey, even after that, it still doesn't make full sense to me... I can somehow understand them seeing potential in Eren, but why would they want to help us? We are nobodies!"
"I think that's the exact reason. Because we are nobodies, no one is going to notice us, and we are free to do whatever they want us to do... We are just useful pawns."
"Pawns? I don't like being a pawn..."
Eren stood there silently, blinking in confusion as he watched his friends speak as if they were involved in some kind of master plan that could change the course of the world or something.
'What the hell are these guys talking about?!'
He screamed inside his mind in embarrassment on behalf of his friends.
It felt like a group of adults with eighth-grade syndrome talking to each other.
He badly wanted to dig a hole in the ground and hide in embarrassment, but with his best effort he managed to keep a straight face in front of them.
"Guys, what happened has already happened. There is nothing we can do about it now. Eren has already gotten involved, and he stupidly involved us too without realizing the seriousness."
Eren clenched his fist in pure rage and badly wanted to punch Kael in the face right now.
Not only because Kael called him stupid, but also because of the smug look on his face, as if he were some kind of genius despite being the dumbest one in the group.
What was even more absurd was that the other three were listening to his nonsense with serious expressions as Kael continued.
"I know it looks very dangerous to get involved, but it's also a huge opportunity for us. We are just normal-grade lifestyle profession holders. We are not from rich families either. For us, it's a great opportunity to get the strongest backing we could ask for."
"But what if they want us to do something we don't want to?" Rowan asked.
To Rowan's question, Kael looked at Eren and asked,
"Eren, what is their first order for us? Did they say anything?"
'Order?'
'What could I even order these fools to do? Guys, just focus on leveling up!'
Annoyed, but hiding it, Eren shook his head.
"No, they didn't say anything. They only told me to help you guys increase your levels and skills as much as possible..."
Kael nodded his head with a knowing smile, which Eren found extremely repulsive, and said confidently,
"Whatever they want from us shouldn't be anything dangerous. We lifestyle profession holders can only produce things. They want us to increase our capabilities to a certain stage so they can use us. That also means we are not disposable pawns, but tools that can be used again and again. All we need to do is prove our worth."
Kael stepped forward, stood beside Eren with a serious face, and announced,
"I am willing to join..."
The other three exchanged looks between themselves before Dorian asked with concern,
"Eren, if we join, do we also need to be under a Binding Curse?"
Eren immediately shook his head.
"No. You guys are not going to be directly involved with them or get to know them, so there is no need."
The three of them looked relieved after hearing that.
"That means we are under Eren, and they will relay their needs through him. Hahaha... this is our Eren... What could possibly go wrong?"
Kael proudly put his arm around Eren's shoulder with a smug look.
'I really want to punch him!'
But thanks to Kael's stupid reasoning, all of them were ready to take Eren's sponsorship.
"Okay guys, I need a full expense report with all details by tomorrow..."
The four of them nodded their heads and went home with very serious expressions on their faces that night.
"Hey Eren, why do your friends look like that...? It's kind of scary..."
Mira peeked from behind him and asked.
"Right? Even I don't know what the fuck is wrong with them anymore!"