Micah had originally intended to meet up with Rego and whatever group of thugs he would scrounge together after he had met with Pride. But since Pride had hidden themselves inside a jungle of overgrown plants, he would have to adapt his plans.

Hopefully, Rego or one of the people he knew in Vanitapolis would be able to help Micah. Otherwise, he would simply have to wait until he had gathered enough pol to awaken his ability. If his ability was as potentially powerful as Baldas said, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect that it would be useful.

And well, if Rego had more friends that were interested in also becoming friends with him, Micah would have an easier time accumulating enough pol to create a silver coin.

As he had expected, Micah found Rego sitting on the ground next to Bunt’s fog-hidden corpse. And based on Rego’s empty hands and pained look, Bunt would make a complete recovery.

“I see you know how to treat your friends. Good. Introduce me to your other ones.”

Rego almost jumped out of his skin when he heard Micah’s voice from behind him. He turned around, half hoping that there would be nothing there, that he had simply hallucinated the voice. But much to Rego’s dismay, Micah stood in front of him with crossed arms and a slight smile.

“Well?”

“D-didn’t you say to meet you tomorrow?”

“I did. But I changed my mind. Is that a problem?”

Although Micah worded it as a question, his voice and the disappearing smile didn’t allow Rego to refuse.

“N-not at all!”

Rego still hadn’t gotten over how Micah had beaten him and then smashed his head against the ground. But when he went to put the coins on Bunt’s corpse, Rego saw what Micah had done to Bunt.

Shoving a spoon in someone’s eye and pushing it deep enough to kill that person wasn’t something ordinary people did. And it also showed that Micah had been expecting Rego to betray him from the start since he had taken the precaution to arm himself. And the trick with the jacket wasn’t something someone not used to fighting dirty would pull off on the first try.

An inexperienced person would just throw the jacket at their target and hope that it would block their view for a few seconds. But Micah had thrown the jacket and made sure that it completely covered Rego’s face. And then, before Rego could react, Micah had already stepped around him and tied the jacket's arms together, which made it even harder for Rego to regain his vision.

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When he calmed down and got some time to think about it, Rego realized that Micah probably deserved his spot in Hell, especially with how he had beaten the information he wanted out of him after killing Bunt and defeating him.

So, instead of angering Micah, dying, and losing the meager pol in his body, Rego decided to obey his orders.

Rego began standing up to show Micah where he could find more friends.

“What about that guy?”

Micah nodded in Bunt’s direction as he and Rego started walking.

“Restoration can take a little while. But we’re going to where our group usually hangs out, and that’s the first place Bunt would go after his body is restored.”

“‘Your group’? I guess that makes sense. There’s no way the two of you alone would be enough to run amok, even in this small town.”

“Of course, none of us are capable enough to go against you. But I should warn you. There’s a couple of guys who have gotten enough pol to grow stronger than when they first arrived.”

“How many?”

“It’s hard to say since most people hide how much pol they have, but at least three.”

“And in total?”

“We’re about twelve in our group. Occasionally some of the stragglers join us for a few days, hoping to get a cut of the share until they realize they aren’t good enough.”

“I see. You take from others and give a share to the people higher up in the hierarchy. And those people have your backs in case you fuck up. If you don’t do a good job collecting pol, then you’re forced to pay out your own pocket, I guess?”

“T-that’s exactly right.”

Rego was a little stunned that Micah had figured it out that quickly. But to Micah, it wasn’t anything special. When he started taking care of his community in his younger days, back on Earth, he used a similar arrangement. The people walking around and making sure that the shops were safe and well protected gathered the lion’s share, which they were forced to share with their superiors, who protected them against other groups or organizations that interfered in their business.

Naturally, Micah made sure to put himself at the top, where most of the wealth accumulated.

Now that he had arrived in Hell, it seemed like Micah had both gotten his youth back and an opportunity to relive his younger days. He was feeling quite nostalgic as he walked with Rego toward a house on the edge of the Residential District.

It was a decently big house and looked like a place where multiple families lived together. Though, instead of families, it was more like cliques of sinners that fit well together.

On the way there, Rego introduced him to the three he knew had accumulated enough pol to begin reaching beyond the physical strength of an ordinary human, as well as two people who might have gathered enough.

Thankfully, none of them liked working together, so if Micah tried storming the fort, they would go at him one at a time as long as he didn’t pose an overwhelming threat. And as someone who had just arrived in Hell just a few hours ago, Rego wouldn’t classify Micah as a serious threat purely statistically speaking.

Micah might not be as physically strong or overwhelming as the top three in Rego’s group of thugs, but Rego was sure that Micah was good enough at fighting dirty that it wouldn’t matter.