After sending Rego to start looking for desk workers, Micah looked at Baldas.
“So? What do you think?”
“That Hell chose the right guy. But I can’t see how you’re going to finish your First Task by taking over Vanitapolis.”
“All in due time. But I meant about Rego. Oh, and what did those weird wing signals mean?”
“I thought you understood what I meant. My signaling was as clear as glass!”
“Yeah. Sunglasses, maybe.”
“Argh! Anyway! I wanted to stop you from prying deeper into that poor fella’s mind. That’s what those signals meant.”
“So you know what’s happened to him?”
“Yeah. Well, kind of.”
“Kind of?”
“It’s hard to say in detail, but it seems like he’s been brainwashed.”
“By someone in town?”
Baldas only shook his body in response to Micah’s slightly worried question.
“No. If it were, I would know. None of the demons have a brainwashing ability.”
“But the humans? Do you know if anyone has that kind of ability?”
“In this dump? No way.”
Micah hummed. As long as it wasn’t someone in town, there wouldn’t be any worries, at least not at the moment. But the question of why someone would go through the trouble of brainwashing everyone in Vanitapolis still remained. However, Micah didn’t have enough information to even begin figuring out who or why, so he shelved those thoughts and took a moment to rest and hammer out the details of his plans.
Now that he had taken Vanitapolis mostly under his control, it was time to start moving on to the next step.
But they had to take at least a day to take it slow and let everyone recover their pol before they could proceed. Micah and his followers had just looted most of the residents of Vanitapolis of their pol to buy the headquarters. Even if they used violence, they wouldn’t get any more at this point.
So, instead of wasting time chasing pennies, it would be better to gather everyone and maybe even start preparing the paperwork that Micah wanted to be done.
It didn’t take long until Rego returned with a few people who looked a little nervous as they stood politely behind Rego in front of Micah. Micah scrutinized them for a few seconds before saying anything.
“You all will do. I want you to start organizing every resident in this town. What’s important are their names, a description of their appearance, a note of their personalities, and any other things of interest, such as talents or whatever. Do a good job, and you can expect a salary starting tomorrow.”
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After giving his orders, Micah sent them away to do their job. After that, Micah moved to the second floor.
“Gather the executives.”
Rego looked a little hesitant and didn’t immediately carry out Micah’s order.
“Yes?”
Rego was a little startled, but he still bravely opened his mouth.
“Um, boss? Will we also be getting a salary?”
“Only if you want to.”
“Thank you, boss!”
Rego bowed and took off with a smile as he went to find Artholomew and Tineya, the other two who could officially be considered executives of Micah’s group.
Rego was a little eager after hearing that they would be getting paid, and he didn’t dally as he brought the other two to the second floor of the headquarters.
“Does anyone have any pol left over?”
The three of them didn’t quite know how to respond to Micah’s question that came as soon as they stepped on the second floor. They were a little worried that he was going to ask them to hand it over.
“I gave it all to you, boss!”
However, after Rego responded without hesitation, Artholomew and Tineya hesitantly revealed that they had a few bronze coins left as a precaution. If one had gone beyond the limits of a human, the restoration would usually take more than five bronze coins worth of pol unless one had five coins on them. So, if they, contrary to expectation, died, they wouldn’t lose any strength.
“Great. Make a couple of chairs or sofas or something. I want to sit down.”
Artholomew and Tineya looked at each other before making four comfy armchairs and a table in the middle. Micah got the most luxurious-looking one, as a matter of course. He sat down on it with a slightly exaggerated sigh of relief, as if he was an older man.
“Now, first things first.”
Micah faced Artholomew.
“Artholomew.”
“Yes, sir.”
“What do you think about nicknames?”
“Sir?”
“Artholomew is a mouthful. What about Art?”
“As long as you’re the only one that calls me that, sir.”
“Good. We’re still on the matter of names.”
Micah leaned back in his armchair and put one leg on the other as he looked at his three executives in turn.
“As a privilege for being founding members, I’ll give you all the opportunity to come up with a name for our group and business.”
The three executives looked at Micah in surprise.
“Don’t worry. If they suck, I won’t even consider your suggestions.”
Rego, Art, and Tineya sank into thought for a few moments as they began thinking of names. Eventually, Art spoke up.
“Sir, you were a businessman on earth, right?”
Micah wasn’t surprised at Art’s guess since he hadn’t made any attempts at hiding it. He wore a business suit and set up a business and office on his first day in Hell.
“Yeah.”
“What did you call your business or corporation on Earth?”
Art naturally assumed that Micah was the CEO or boss of the business he ran on Earth as if it was natural.
“Oh, several things. But the first ones I ran were stuff like shops and boutiques, so I used stuff like ‘Mike’s.’ Then later on, I just used my last name and tagged on corporation or incorporated or whatever.”
“Sir, your last name was Witherom, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Yeah, that’s not very catchy.”
Tineya spoke the truth that Rego and Art didn’t dare. But Micah didn’t really seem to bother.
“Then, do you have any suggestions?”
However, Micah still put Tineya on the spot with his question.
“Ah… Uhm… Well….”