Micah, accompanied by Rego and Baldas, walked toward the house where he dominated the top three strongest individuals in Rego's former group. Although Micah was going to gather pol, he wasn't going to do it himself. He had underlings for just that purpose, after all.
But before he could begin using the more useful of the lot, Micah first had to make all of them submit. And based on what Rego told him, it would be easiest to do it himself.
Micah arrived at the house and was greeted by Bunt and a few other thugs, who decided to be wise and stick around instead of trying to escape while Rego waited for Micah to return after finishing his business. Even if they left the house, they wouldn't leave the town. So, Micah would deal with those people later.
But first up was Chris, who lay on the ground face-down with his arms and legs tied together. Micah looked questioningly at Rego since it was an elaborate way of restraining someone that would also be painful if one had to endure it for a while.
"That's… There was only enough rope to tie him like that."
Rego looked a little embarrassed as he spoke.
"I think you might have a talent for this kind of work, Rego."
"Thank you, boss!"
Rego enthusiastically accepted Micah's praise. Getting praise from Micah meant that he was in his good books and would thus not end up in a ditch anytime soon.
Micah tapped Rego on the shoulder before walking over to Chris and using his foot to flip him over so that he was even more uncomfortable since he lay on top of his bound hands and feet.
"I heard you were stubborn. Why?"
"Fuck- Aaah!"
Before he could even finish cursing, Micah kicked him in the belly.
"Do we have some kind of problem here?"
"Da- Ummf!"
Micah kicked him with enough force to make Chris roll over again.
"Well, this one seems like a lost cause. Put him somewhere safe, and make sure to monitor him around the time he gets his coins. When he does, take them before he can absorb them."
"Yes, boss."
Rego ordered Bunt and two other guys to move Chris out of the way and into the middle of the lawn, where it would be easy to supervise him and make sure he didn't escape. While they were at it, they also changed the rope to a set of chains that would be even harder to break.
While they did that, Micah sat down at the table and chairs Artholomew had prepared.
"What makes you think I'll follow your request?"
Artholomew didn't even think before answering Micah's question.
"Because you're smart."
"Elaborate."
"You'd much rather want a strong and loyal subordinate than a strong subordinate watching your every move and waiting for a chance to strike."
"Or I'll just kill you over and over until you're no longer strong."
"You could do that."
Artholomew shrugged and showed no intentions of resisting.
"But you won't."
"And why is that?"
"You don't need to, and I'll be useful in taking over Vanitapolis."
"Good. Let's begin."
Micah gestured for Rego to take a pawn from either side and hold them behind his back and let Artholomew choose first. The chess match began after that.
"I'll give you some time to think."
The game technically wasn't over yet, but Artholomew was stuck. So, while he considered all the possible moves and whether to surrender or not, Micah walked over to Dennis, who stood among a few other thugs and watched the game from afar.
The other thugs stepped back and let Dennis face Micah on his own.
"Greetings, boss."
Dennis had completely dropped the friendly attitude he had while talking to Rego before and maintained a neutral face as he greeted Micah.
"Quick to adapt, are we?"
"Thank you, boss."
"It wasn't a compliment."
"Sorry, boss."
"Well, as long as you don't cause trouble, it's fine."
With those words, Micah returned to Artholomew while ignoring Dennis' heavy sigh of relief.
"So, figure it out yet?"
"No. I admit defeat at your hands."
Artholomew shook Micah's hand with a humble expression.
"But I will keep trying until I find a solution."
"Do that later. We have stuff to do."
"Yes, sir."
Artholomew stood up while looking at the chess board with concentrated eyes.
"Use your mind. Not your eyes."
Micah's words got Artholomew to scrunch his eyebrows in confusion, but he looked away from the board after a little while and looked into the middle of empty air instead. Micah sighed a little at Artholomew's chess obsession, but he didn't interrupt him. Even while thinking about the problem that Micah had set up, Artholomew was still capable of walking slightly behind him.
Micah walked to in front of the house and looked out at the few thugs spread around the lawn or hanging out through the windows spectating Micah and what he was doing.
"Gather!"
Micah's voice was strong enough to startle most people, even Artholomew. And some of them hesitantly began moving to stand in front of Micah in a disorderly line. But a lot of them continued lazing around.
"Rego, if they're not in front of me in ten seconds, make sure they have a valid excuse."
Rego didn't understand what Micah meant at first. But he quickly figured out that they had to have a reason for not standing in front of him. And if they didn't have one themselves, Rego would get one for them. And one of the most solid excuses for being unable to move is being dead.
A few of the thugs heard what Micah said but didn't know him well enough to figure out what he meant. However, some could tell that it was a threat, and before Rego even began moving walked in front of Micah. Ernest and Bruder were included in the second group.
But there were still a few twos and threes of thugs or spectators who got stuck from when they watched Micah's fight and didn't move even after those ten seconds were up.