Chapter 97

Unsung Heroes 3

-:-

3 hours later

A certain meeting room

Theo’s Company Building

Too much crap has happened in rapid succession, and this has left Theo quite drained.

This day has been nothing short of stress inducing to the young lad.

Watching the protesters getting slaughtered weighed heavily on his soul.

He knew that while they were not hurting anyone with their idiocities, he understood that these irrational fools were the ones that brought the greatest harm to him and to humanity.

But was it right to not save largely unarmed fools from their stupidity and their eventual death?

This was the issue that has haunted Theo for the past few hours.

And then, there was the 4 giants found underneath the 9th Hell Hole District.

The materials used to create the stasis chambers were nothing Theo has ever seen before. This was the reason why transmuting through the metal took so much out of Theo.

The less Theo knew about a certain material, the more brute force was required to transmute it. Understanding a certain material allows more efficient use of what limited energy Theo had.

And the slower he performs the midas alchemy, the more efficient he can make use of his energy.

While he had rested a bit after the whole event, Theo still felt a decent amount of fatigue.

As for the giants themselves, they were divided evenly between Theo’s group and the Ecclesiarchy.

Both received 2 each in order to study them as they see fit.

Nichola was as giddy as a schoolgirl when she heard of the news.

At the moment, Theo’s forces suspended their work on the cathedral and concentrated on getting the 2 giants + the newly made refrigeration units to Theo’s hideout where Nichola was impatiently waiting for her new ‘toys’.

It might take some time though given the size of the stasis pods.

While there were bajillions of things that could go wrong during the transfer, Theo was not able to personally supervise it due to another crap he had to deal with personally.

Within one of the many rooms designed for corporate meetings, Theo was sitting through one and it was boring as hell.

Within the room were 6 individuals.

On one side, there were 3 individuals from Golden Lotus Manpower Industries, a Jade Empire company that specialized in mass production.

At the moment, they were pitching an offer for Theo to open a factory in the Jade Empire.

Low cost of labor, an opportunity to do business in the heavily regulated Imperial market, ease of distribution to the rest of the easter nations, yada yada yada.

Graphs, charts and numbers were being shown one after another as the Golden Lotus representatives went through their powerpoint presentation.

Personally, Theo didn't even want to meet with the Golden Lotus reps because his answer was already a NO to their offer.

Low cost of labor?

Theo’s reformants work for free!

While Theo did provide them with food, shelter and anything they desired as long as they asked. However, the cybernetic implants in their brain gave them only one desire: To serve Theo to the best of their abilities.

As such, they asked only to work.

Naturally, Theo provided them with random forms of entertainment such as TV, swimming pools, a gym, etc, but such things were miniscule compared to the amount of money he saved by using his Reformants as labor.

And besides, the Jade Empire was infamous for their intellectual property theft.

While Theo was not the one to talk, he was very greedy when it came to hoarding the knowledge he has acquired.

As for the opportunity to expand his market base, truth be told, he really didn't give a rats ass.

He may have started this company in hopes of earning money while indulging on his more violent vices, the money part became secondary as time went by.

For him, the company was a front for him to grow his military power.

This conviction started when he met Jabir ibn Hayyan who showed him what a Technomancer + Midas Alchemist were capable of.

This conviction was further solidified by the Valkyrie Incident.

If he wanted to make the world a better place, killing one crackhead at a time was too slow.

Who knows how many lives could have been saved if Theo’s purge was faster.

With that in mind, his forces needed to be stronger, faster, have a wider reach and, most importantly, be independent from any control.

As such, Theo had to keep his company completely under his control.

Entertaining the likes of the Golden Lotus was a complete waste of time since Theo would have said NO regardless of how lucrative their offer was.

However, his dismissal of this meeting was fiercely objected by the 2 people who were essentially the ones running his company.

Sitting to his left was a very fat man with thick mustache, clean cut hair and, for some unknown reason, wore a pure white business suit.

Despite being essentially a bipedal pig, the man’s eyes were as sharp as blades. His microscopic stare that allowed no detail to escape his sight made the Golden Lotus reps squirm uncomfortably.

This man was Augustine Boreal. The father of Dorothy Boreal and was in all intents and purposes the CEO of Theo’s company.

Naturally, Theo paid him a very large salary that matched his skill. A small price to pay compared to the money Augustine raked in for the company.

While Miss Samantha was the one that set up the foundation, it was Augustine that expanded on it and made it into the company that it was today.

Without Augustine, Theo’s company would probably be still in the initial start up stages.

Sitting to Theo’s right was a chocolate skinned girl that seemed to have a fetish for sunday dresses. With a thin build, bob cut hair and sleepy looking eyes, Assistant Clone No. 58912213 AKA Pani was delicious to look at as always.

Despite her youthful looks, Pani had mental access to Jabir’s information network where all of the clones’ experiences were shared to their fellow clones.

Naturally, a lot of these clones were businessmen, CEOs, and general workers of the business industry.

Her access to massive amounts of information instantly made her an indispensable asset to Theo’s company.

Even Augustine, the most business savvy individual in Theo’s group, couldn't help but approve of Pani’s ability.

With a pair of incredible minds working together, Theo’ presence was not required here.

However, they insisted he attended this worthless meeting.

What a pain.

After approximately 30 minutes of absolute boredom, the Golden Lotus began wrapping up their presentation.

Theo took a peak at Augustine.

The moment that their eyes met, Augustine stroked his fabulous beard with his left arm.

After a nod of understanding, Theo turned to Pani.

Similarly, the moment their eyes met, Pani adjusted her glasses using her left hand.

These were predetermined signals that the 3 have determined that the deal was no good.

“As you can see Mr. Lorne, the benefits with a joint venture with the Golden Lotus Manpower Industries could easily double your current profi-” said the Golden Lotus rep before Theo cut him off with a wave of his hand.

“While your offer is indeed interesting, however the few catastrophic negatives outweigh the large amount of positives. As such, I’ll have to terminate the negotiations.” said Theo in the most businessman-ish manner he could muster.

“Please wait! If there is a problem then I’m sure we can iron things out!”

“There are 2 major ones. First is the Joint Venture. I refuse the joint venture because I don't like other gaining control of MY company. Second is the manpower. The only ones that join my workforce are people that I personally vouch for. These 2 are non-negotiable.” replied Theo.

“Hence why I am here. I am authorized to negotiate a deal that allow us to meet in the middle”

“There is no meeting in the middle because I will never allow anyone I don't trust to work in my company. Please leave.” replied Theo

“Our company can ensure a ROI of at least 200% thanks to the large market of the Empire” the Golden Lotus ignored Theo’s words and continued to speak over him.

Of course, Theo was pissed off.

Theo slammed his left hand on the table with a force that shattered half of it in one go, much to the surprise of everyone including Pani and Augustine.

Not a moment later, armed guards entered the room and pointed their guns on the Golden Lotus reps.

“They were just leaving. Escort them out.”

“Yes my lord!” replied one of the guards before performing their duties.

“*sigh*. Was that really necessary? You know you just started a war with the Golden Lotus, and as extension, the whole Jade Empire, right?” said Augustine while he picked up the scattered documents.

“Of course. But you misunderstood something” replied Theo.

“And that is?”

“I’m already in a small scale war with the Jade Empire. You’re a businessman so you don't know this, but who do you think suffers the most when I go on my ‘escapades’?” said Theo.

“The Jade Empire? Really? Why?”

Augustine knew many of Theo’s wrong doings ever since Lord of Vermilion introduced them to each other. Such was the result of being an ex-employee for the Lord who was equally prone to kill people that he didn't like.

Augustine was normally assigned to the more legal and business aspects of Lord of Vermillion’s Happy Bee convenience store chain. But that doesnt mean he was not familiar with all the violence happening behind the scenes.

Pani interjects to clear out some of Augustine’s confusion.

“Report: Approximately 72.51% of criminal organizations in Vermilion City have ties with the Jade Empire. 49.85% of drugs in the Commonwealth have Imperial origins. Commonwealth human traffickers often send girls with blond hair and blue eyes to Imperial customers. H-husband's actions have been in direct conflict of Imperial efforts. Conclusion: Exposing himself as an ally of ‘The Boss’ immediately made h-husband as their enemy. Conflict is inevitable” said Pani

Theo couldn't help but chuckle at Pani’s explanation. It seemed that her marital status was both a sense of pride and still was a source of utter confusion.

Theo grabbed Pani’s hand and gently pulled her close.

“There ya have it. Straight from my wife’s mouth.” said Theo which caused the ever stoic Pani to blush profusely.

“Hahaha! Little Pani is a keeper. That’s for sure” replied Augustine with an old man smile. “By the way, I heard that you have a relationship with my daughter… is that true?”

Theo shivered a bit under Augustine’s snake eyes, but he stood firm.

“Correct. Though she’s been avoiding me since the Valkyrie incident. Understandable, but a bit depressing.” replied Theo

“Does she know that she’s part of a harem?”

“Correct. I told her right at the get go.”

“And she approves?”

“Yes. Though I don't know if her view has changed since the Valkyrie Incident”

“I see….. *sigh*.... Just… If you 2 ever make up, please take good care of her. She may look like her mother, but she isnt like that skank. Dorothy is a good girl.”

“That’s already given Augustine. When we eventually make up, she’ll be the happiest girl in the world.”

Augustine groaned at Theo’s conviction filled word.

“Personally, I don't understand the whole harem thing so I can't really comment at how ‘love’ works in harems. But I do worry that my future son-in-law might be the bloodiest person alive.” said Augustine with an exhausted smile. “I know you’re a good lad and your heart is in the right place… but your body count is…. Concerning.”

Theo couldn't help but feel pity for Augustine. It seemed that he still has no idea of Dorothy’s alter ego

“Understandable. All I can do now is prove to you that I’m worthy of Dorothy.” replied Theo with a well practiced line.

“I see….. Anyways, I doubt the Jade Empire will make any moves on you at the moment seeing how you’re in the good graces of Freyja, the Ecclesiarchy, the Nosferatu and this mysterious Machine God. We have a lot of breathing room to work with. What’s the plan?” asked Augustine

Theo responded with a confident smile.

“That’s easy. Prepare for war.”