"Y-You! What do you mean by that?! T-This is our home so how could you!" One of the nineteen leaders stood up and said in shock. His voice quivered as he pointed his fingers at Souta while trembling. He was one of the initial S-rank in the group.
They were here before Souta became the City Lord.
Souta glanced at the initial S-rank with a smile. He slowly said, "No, this is my city. I'm the Lord of this place so naturally, it belongs to me, not you."
He suddenly remember something so he changed his words, "Okay, I will not force you to leave the city. Just remember that once you join the Astros, you will gain power. I will even help you expand your organization."
Franklin, who was ready to kill, tilted his head in confusion. He didn't know why Souta suddenly changed his mind. But since it was the decision of his leader, he could only follow it.
Something came to Souta's mind that changed his decision. It was too sudden but he realized something. It was better to have these guys around the Pople District. Yep, these guys would definitely have some uses so he couldn't just force them to leave or directly kill them.
"I'll permit it. You have my word that my forces will not harm you as long as you didn't try to harm Ekatoe City." Souta narrowed his eyes and said in a serious tone.
It was better if they realized that joining the Astros would be the right decision. He could also use them for some experiments in the future. Of course, it wouldn't kill them but it has a chance that they would be heavily injured if the experiments failed. If it succeeded they were the ones who were going to receive benefits.
'Are you going to try it on them?' Saya suddenly asked.
'Yep, since I don't have any guinea pigs they can become one for me.' Souta replied to her.
According to Isabella's research, the red marble could be refined using people's life essence. It would resonate once ingested and using the consumer's life essence they would receive an enhancement in their bodies.
Souta couldn't clearly understand but she said that it wouldn't work on old people. Since the red marble uses own's life span to permanently increase the user's own strength.
'The red marble that you gave to her couldn't be used by anyone aside from the owner of the life essence inside it. It means that if Isabella refined that pill using your life essence, the other people wouldn't receive a benefit even if they ingested it.' Saya explained.
'My life essence will only resonate with me, not with other people. It wouldn't recognize other people so it will not have an effect on them.' Souta said inwardly.
But the problem was how to refine that pill. Although Isabella learned the effect of the red marble, she didn't know the process to perfectly refine it. According to her, the red marble was refined crudely and it couldn't bring out the true effect of the pill. Even if it was ingested, the owner of that life essence would only gain a little bit of strength.
Souta smiled as he looked at the nineteen people. He would offer them some benefits so that they would volunteer to join the experimentation.
"Don't worry, I'll treat you better."
His grin almost reached his ears. Since these guys weren't his direct subordinates, they could become his guinea pig along with the captured criminals in the city.
They didn't know why the mood quickly change but they felt glad that the intense atmosphere was gone.
Edward suddenly stood up from his seat and slightly bowed, "I'm willing to accept your proposal to join the Astros."
Souta's smile froze when he heard Edward's words. He slightly turned his head and narrowed his eyes, "Can you tell me why did you accept my proposal?"
"I felt that I would grow stronger if I became your follower. No, not just me, I have a feeling that the entire Shimpan Family if we are under your care." Edward said.
Souta couldn't help but sigh. He motioned Edward to return to his seat and said, "Just remember that you couldn't revoke this decision for the rest of your life."
"I..." Edward paused for a moment. Then, he resolved himself and answered, "Yes, I'm willing."
"Good." Souta stood up and clapped his hand. He looked at everyone and said, "For those people who didn't want to work for me then you can leave this room. Ah, don't be afraid as I promise you that we will not harm you on your way out."
They looked at each other. Some of them hesitated but in the end, out of nineteen people, only three of them were left in the room.
Souta didn't care about them. Since they wouldn't work for him, he wouldn't guarantee their protection against outsiders. They could continue their business here. As long as they didn't break any law, then nothing would happen to them.
But it would be hard to have a business in Ekatoe, especially those underground organizations. Souta didn't permit that kind of business in his territory. If they continued, they could only blame themselves.
Astros would swiftly wipe their organization in this city. They would become guinea pigs for the experiments.
"Since the three of you decided to work for me... Let me get this straight first. You will follow whatever I want and whatever I wish. It doesn't matter if it's hard or not. Well, I'm not the type of person that gives his subordinate an impossible task so you don't have to worry about it." Souta waved his hand and smiled.
Edward and the other two listened to his words. They didn't know what would happen to them.
"Okay, concentrate on your body and let your guard down. Deactivate all the protective energy and lowered your muscles." Souta said as he stretched out his hand. "I'll give you guys some power."
Edward glanced at the other two. They saw the hesitation in their eyes.
'There's no turning back. I just hope that nothing will happen to my family after this.'
He said inwardly before he closed his eyes. The defenses in his body were lowered to the limit. He was in his most vulnerable state.
"Your flesh controls it a little bit," Souta said as he placed his hand on Edward's chest. Even without the natural protective field, the parasite wouldn't be able to enter an S-rank's skin. It would be crushed under the heavy pressure of the strengthened flesh of an expert.
Strings of flesh came out of his palm, the flesh pierced Edward's skin and slowly entered his body. The strings of blood-red flesh kept wriggling around as it slowly fused with his body.
After a while, Edward opened his eyes. He examined his body and felt nothing wrong.
"This..."
He didn't know what happened. He was just confused as the other two.
"That's the power of parasite. Since you just acquired it, you have to train yourself to control it. Its potential is huge and it could save you in dangerous situations." Torkez proceeded to tell the parasite to them. He even demonstrated its abilities.
Edward and the other two were shocked. The abilities of this so-called parasite were unbelievable to them. They couldn't imagine that they would have the power to instantly regenerate any of their limbs.
Souta grinned looking at this.
The procedures continued as the other two also received their parasites. Then, Souta asked them about the legend of the expert that spread combat arts and spells a thousand years ago in this land.
The answer that he received was just like what he expected. They heard about it but there's no evidence that it was true. Although there's no evidence, they said that the expert arrived at the Mine Valley first.
"Mine Valley..." Souta muttered as he rubbed his chin. Legends like this tend to be true. After all, this story wouldn't circulate if similar events didn't happen in the past or maybe this was completely made up.
"City Lord... Is there something wrong with this legend?" Edward carefully asked. He wanted to know why Souta was asking about this old story in a children's book.
"Nope, I just find this story quite fascinating," Souta answered vaguely. He didn't explain anymore.
The three bid farewell as they left the Astros. Souta didn't explain to them that he could control their life and death with the parasite in their bodies. It was better this way as he could see if they would betray him or not.
As for the others who rejected his proposal, they wouldn't receive any help from him in this city. If they made one wrong move, the Astros would swiftly end their organizations.
Days had passed and the construction of the portal was completed. From now on, the members of the Astros could go to the Guardian Fortress without traveling for a few days.
The construction of the portal exhausted the wealth that he accumulated over the past few months. Everything that he plundered from dungeon to dungeon was almost gone.
In short, he was broke once again.
