"Ladies and gentlemen, let's get this show on the road!"
Micah stepped out of the house with his arms splayed wide and a smile on his face.
"Boss?"
All of Micah's underlings were confused, but Rego was the only one comfortable asking him what he meant.
"This city is ours, and I want it done in an hour. Split in half and get the rest of the residents to fall in line. Tineya, you take that half. The rest, follow me."
It took a few moments before everyone processed Micah's words, but they were already listening to his orders before they knew it. His Persuasion had taken effect and helped him persuade his underlings to follow his orders.
Micah couldn't be sure, but it felt like the temporary confusion wrought by his declaration that revealed his success against Ystris helped his ability take effect. He didn't put too much thought into it. He just briefly considered it while he took the lead of his underlings and led them through the town to clean up all the rabble and show them who was in charge.
Artholomew followed Tineya as extra insurance, but Micah wasn't worried about having lost his fighting power.
Ystris took two of the four silver coins as a show of their future cooperation, which left two coins for Micah to absorb. Not all of it went to increasing his physical strength since it was absorbed by his ability. It wasn't as bad as he had expected since he still grew significantly stronger. But his second page didn't show any signs of getting filled with any information.
Successfully persuading Ystris without revealing the Hell Restoration Project and then absorbing two silver coins worth of pol had Micah in high spirits. And it seemed like he wasn't the only one.
The excitement of finally uniting the town spread through his underlings and followers, and Tineya and Artholomew completed their task in less than forty-five minutes.
They met up back in the house where Artholomew's gang stayed.
Since Micah gave them a time limit, Tineya and Artholomew didn't bother wasting time. They went straight to showing dominance by using violence. The leaders of the groups targeted by them didn't even get a chance to resist and ended up slammed into the ground.
That show of force would help cement Micah's followers' reputations, which would prevent insubordination in the future. But it also meant that there wouldn't be any more followers on the same level as Rego, Artholomew, and Tineya. Dennis and Bunt were close to their level, but they hadn't shown the same resourcefulness, initiative, and loyalty that the others had managed to do in the short time they had known Micah.
But Micah was planning on giving Dennis an important opportunity to show his usefulness in the near future. Bunt would also get his turn since there would be a lot to do if he wanted to achieve his goals. While thinking about Bunt, Micah realized his opportunity wouldn't come far from Dennis'. And as he started planning, he realized that he would first have to start organizing things.
"Alright. Rego, how much did we get?"
Micah, Rego, Artholomew, and Tineya were gathered in a room inside Artholomew's house. The living room was a little small, but it was only temporary, so no one bothered about the room. The only thing that was on everyone's minds was the small pile of coins on the table in the middle of them all.
Micah was the only one sitting down. He looked at Rego to his right while he spoke.
"Two silver and seventy-seven bronze."
"It's enough for the house, right?"
"Yes, boss."
"Great. How much do we need to remodel it into an office?"
"An office, boss?"
"Yeah. It was three floors, right?"
"Yes, boss."
"I'm thinking of making the first floor an office where we'll deal with the paperwork and the administrative parts of our future endeavors."
"That should be doable, boss. What about the other two floors?"
"For now, a place for me and a place for you guys if you want. It'll be easier if you aren't all spread out over the town. And then, when we have enough money, we'll either expand or you can get your own nearby places."
The others' eyes couldn't help but light up at that. Micah was clearly telling them that he was going to treat them well. They had been in Hell and Vanitapolis for quite a while. Most lost count after a year. And after all that time, they had only managed to get a single house while also having enough pol to make sure they remained the strongest.
It had taken them all a lot of time and effort. And here, Micah made it sound as if their own mansions would only be a week or so away.
"Sounds good?"
"Yes, boss!"
"Yes, sir."
"Hell yeah, dude!"
Artholomew and Rego, who had taken to talking to Micah with a certain degree of formality, looked at her with pointed looks at her blatant disrespect. But since Micah didn't say anything, they didn't either.
"Great. Let's get on that before slowly taking a couple of days to get enough pol for the Cube."
"The Cube, sir?"
"Oh, right. Don't sell your old places just yet. If you want, you can let your old crews stay there at the moment, but I have plans for the estates in this town.
Since Micah didn't answer Artholonew's question, no one asked him about it again. They would find out soon enough anyway. Besides, if the boss wanted to keep a surprise, they would happily let them.
With an initial step to Micah's plan of completely taking over Vanitapolis complete, only the rest remained. Micah and Rego went toward the house so that they could purchase it from Hell and Vanitapolis before they started redecorating the place. And Artholomew and Tineya got to work straightening out all the old crews to make sure they fell in line without creating any trouble.
They also got any other affairs, such as the management of the houses, in order.
Baldas had stayed out of sight since he noticed how his presence caused unnecessary attention to fall on Micah. It might also become troublesome if Ystris spotted another demon hanging out with Micah as if they were best friends. Though, now that Ystris had been charmed, that probably wouldn't pose a problem anymore.
But Baldas was happy that he wasn't in Micah's vicinity. If Micah saw the stupid face he was making despite being only an eyeball with four wings, he might as well return to the grave on his own out of shame.