Chapter 1250: Guilty
Earl was completely speechless as he saw this scene unfold in front of him. All his sins, all of his false promises, all of his treachery, were laid out in front of him.
Now this wasn’t the first time that someone had figured out about his betrayal. That he hadn’t been fulfilling the payment that he promised to his employees.
But every time, he would always silence those who knew. One way or another.
This time though, it seemed that that was not possible. Every single one of his employees had that look in their eyes. Red filled with rage and emotion. Earl couldn’t help but step back, even though he knew that he was much stronger than every single one of them. He was a Nascent Spirit cultivator!
However, he had only achieved that through bribery. Through training, endless resources, and a little bit of luck and talent. He hadn’t actually fought in a real battle. The fights that he fought were all simulated, with the brutality of war, but none of the risk. At least, for him.
So, faced with the grim looks of his employees, Earl couldn’t help but be intimidated.
"What... what are you all doing? This... this isn’t what I paid you for!" he screamed at them.
They kept advancing.
"I’ll have you all punished for this insubordination!"
But who would punish them? They were all now turning against him. And the army that he had, he sacrificed in order to save himself. He had no one.
"I.. I was going to pay them!" he said, desperately. "I know that those impoverished have a tendency of splurging all of their money in gambling and alcohol. So if you think about it, I was doing them a favor! If they had the money that I said they would have, they would have squandered it all!"
Earl lived a life of luxury and opulence. He would never understand what it felt like to live in squalor.
His employees surrounded him from all sides. The men took his arms, locked them in place, making sure that he couldn’t leave.
Then, the women, one by one, stepped forward and slapped his face, leaving a red mark on his cheeks.
"Ow!" Earl whimpered.
Once the women had their shot, the men now began beating Earl senselessly. He had done worse. He had sent off their brothers, their friends, off to senseless deaths.
"Okay, stop! Stop!"
But they didn’t stop. It was at this point that Earl realized that they were not going to end this with a few bruises. They were intending to kill him!
"Whatever you are planning, stop! I am still an Oscorpe! Tenth in line to the succession! If I am found dead, my family will investigate! They’ll know you killed me! And they’ll take revenge on your families!"
Earl was bluffing. It was made painfully clear by sending their army to chase him that the Oscorpe conglomerate didn’t care about him. They would have found it good riddance if he died. But he hoped that these people didn’t know that.
"Our families are already safe," said one of the soldiers. "They’re rescued from hell, and was now in paradise in the desert. And all we had to do was turn you in..."
Their ominous voices left Earl shivering in fear. Surrender him to who?
The sounds of rhythmic beats echoed off somewhere in the room. Earl looked around, fearfully. But it seemed that he was the only one who could hear it.
Shadows grew its tendrils from dark recesses. Growing forwards, stretching their limbs towards Earl.
Earl didn’t know if he was seeing it correctly, but he seemed to have seen a white devilish smile form from one of the shadows.
"Hehehehehehe..."
...
...
...
Michael was given the report that operation Earl had been successful.
He didn’t kill the man. As much as he was a bad guy, Michael didn’t believe that it was enough for him to die. At least, not until he was given his second chance. He believed that Earl could still change. Like everyone. No one was irredeemable in his eyes.
There was too much killing in this world. Too much hate. Too much vendettas.
That was what Ersatz wanted. Revenge. They fueled people’s hatred, made them want vengeance so hard that they would sacrifice their soul just to earn the Artifice’s power.
If Michael executed Earl, he’d be no different from them.
And besides... Michael doubted that Earl would be more punished in death rather than be in Fudge’s hands. That devilish slime would make Earl wish he was dead.
With that done, Michael had officially survived and won a fight against a Conglomerate.
Now, they wouldn’t be able to absorb every piece of money, resource, or territory that Earl had. After all, their fight was unofficial. It wasn’t presided over by a Montgomery.
Meaning, those territories will still be under Oscorpe’s possession. And if Michael tried to get their lands, he doubted they’d hand it to him easily.
Thankfully, Earl did leave Michael with something more important.
Manpower. Earl had sacrificed most of his army, leaving only a thousand left. However, he did have about ten thousand workers he left behind. These were elite miners, elite production workers, all of which were trained and skilled enough to work in a Conglomerate.
Thanks to the Shadow Orcs saving their families and reuniting them in the Nation of Reborn, they were quick to promise their loyalty to Reborn.
And after spending a day in the Parched Lands, they immediately knew their decision was correct.
They wanted to work for Reborn. Not just out of their debt to him, but because they believed they could do something good in this nation.
And that’s exactly what Michael wanted.
After all, they were lacking exactly in manpower. The very reason why it took them so long to start the electrical grid was because they lacked in manpower.
But now, they had plenty. Plenty to also start the phone factory.
