[Michael Aroa's POV]
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I opened my eyes to find myself back in the same darkness where I was held captive before. But there was a drastic difference between the previous me and the current me. I could completely see the entire room like it was clear as day.
'Must be the blessing which Angela gave me,' I thought as I observed the surrounding scene. Since I was focusing on everyone one by one, it became clear that I could see them. And knowing that, everyone was more or less stupefied at this result, as clearly they were not expecting that to happen.
"Treat Michael Aroa as your leader from now on and inform him of all the whereabouts. He will be working directly under me now and can make a direct report if he wishes to do so. And if anyone dares to do anything to him, even a single scratch, his life would be extended forever as a test subject of my experiments," Angela spoke with a threatening look as she observed everyone before a smile blossomed on her face as she looked at me.
"Is that fine by you?" She asked, making everyone dubious about what they were looking at. I could see the twins wiping their eyes as they wondered if they were dreaming or not.
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'That wasn't part of the script. Well, not that it brings any harm to my plans,' I chuckled a little as I tried to move my hands, which were still cuffed.
[Time Rejection!]
And now they were uncuffed easily as I jerked my hands.
Removing the cuffs, I stood up from the chair and nodded at her before speaking,"thank you. I should take my leave now. There are a few things that I need to settle as well."
Speaking of that, I saw Angela nodding at me before vanishing from there. According to her, I could easily use the contract to directly send a whisper to her. Even if I were to regress again, as long as the Contract is still intact, I could communicate to her and bound by the contract, she will always respond to my calls.
'Should have told me that last time,' I thought as I sighed before turning around to see the blank looks of everyone there.
"In the dungeon, I met someone that was supposed to be the father of Angela…" I spoke as I looked at all of them. I didn't lie in any essence since I did meet Angela's father, Ais, when I met with Aether while trying to mess with Angela's contract.
When I spoke these words to everyone in the room, they, for a moment, snapped back to reality before digesting these words in. At first, they were surprised, but it didn't take them long to understand the situation and connect the dots.
Even then, they were really surprised, perhaps at my luck, that I was able to make a connection to someone that high. Mom was kind of confused about how to approach me now, since I was both her son and boss. It was all the more difficult for her because it was rare for us to spend time together. Especially since she was too busy with business and I was too busy with college work.
"It's okay, mom. I am still your son,"I smiled at her as I moved closer to her and I could see from expression as her shoulders fell down that she was really exhausted because of this thought. Moving closer to her, I hugged her tightly as I muttered,
"Between all this serious stuff, I forgot the main purpose that I came here for. I missed you mom, I really missed you."
Erza smiled silently behind Mom as she looked at our interaction while I could see Spencer in a real deep thought about something. After separating from mom, I wiped her tears as I smiled at her before asking Spencer,
"What are you thinking?"
"Now that you are our boss… You can't participate in the contest of the champions, can you?" He asked as he looked at me and I pondered over it before asking,"Can you brief me exactly what this contest is?"
Nodding, he asked,"should I tell it here or should we sit and talk?" and I pondered a little before speaking,
"Brief it to me, since I am in a bit of a hurry."
"Long story short, it's a place determined to find out the most valuable person among all the business partners which the Dark Oracle supports. Dark Oracle is the organization's name which oversees everything here. So, in a way, it's a ticket to success if your successor is strong enough to uphold it. There are a set of 12 rules which everyone must follow. That's the jist of it," he spoke and I nodded before turning at Markus,
"Let him take part. I will teach him the ways of the spear. Though when is the next competition?"
"In a month. It's held annually and Markus is going to participate next year,"He spoke with a nod of approval, but it kind of confused me.
"Why not this year?" I asked.
"Umm… because he is too weak? You, I can consider him… he is weak." he was brutally honest with his words… I guess that's how he is.
"It's fine. I can turn him into a monster within a month,"I chuckled as I started walking,"while I could ask you guys about how the company works and stuff, I would like you to handle things on your own as you do. Consider me as a bystander as I am not really interested in these things. Though please do inform me in case you are in trouble… it may not look like it, but I have a few extra things that I could probably help you out with."
With those words spoken, I reached the gate and stopped before turning at Mom,"Hey Erza. Bring mom for dinner tonight. Let's have a party, okay?"
Erza gave me a thumbs up before smiling at me. Glad that at least someone was enjoying the atmosphere… unlike the others who are tensed about it.
With that being settled, I moved out of the room and walked to the nearest lift. There were a lot of unwanted variables that I encountered on this one trip, but I was glad that I achieved so many things on my first regression. I met two regressors, ended up meeting Angela, and got a blessing from her. Finding out about the Dark Oracle… cringy name… anyway, it was a nice and fruitful journey.
As for Markus, I guess I can have another person in my arsenal… seemed like a nice kid with a good head on his shoulders. Though his actions were a bit childish, he didn't do anything rash or let his ego get into his brain. It would be fine to help him out, I suppose.
Entering the lift, I moved to the ground floor, where I saw the same receptionist working with a tired face as if she would break down at any moment. The other receptionist was fired, so I didn't see her.
Ignoring her, I moved to the outside gate, but perhaps she saw me. She ran towards me and reached in front of me as she bowed down and spoke,"I am sorry. I really apologize for my behavior. It was really inappropriate of me to speak those words to you."
Trembling as she was, I could see fear from the words that she spoke… hmmm… how should I deal with this now? Actually…
"I will forgive you, but there is something you need to do for me."
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