Thanks to the beasts, the Alpha Squad had grown exponentially over the past two months! When they started out, it took all ten members of the Alpha Squad as well as their beasts to clear out an Orange Gate, but now all they needed were five members, and the other five members could go and handle other gates with the other guild members! Francis knew that all of this was only possible because of the beasts that Jason had given them, and Francis let out a small huff as he wondered when Jason would return.
’Any day now, I’m sure he’ll return. It’s sad that we can’t even contact him, but as long as the beasts are still here, I know he is still alive. It’s not possible for summons to remain in the world if their summoner dies, after all. So, I’m sure he’ll be back.’
RATATATATATATA!
"Please move out of the way! Move out of the way!"
The sound of a helicopter echoed through the region, and one of the policemen on standby suddenly shouted for everyone to get out of the way so that the helicopter could land! There were multiple policemen as well as many agents from the SMD battle division, and they made all the people move back quickly! Francis looked up at the helicopter with a small hum, and he turned and told the rest of his team to stand by as he began to walk towards it while taking off his gloves. The helicopter had the large golden M symbol of the Monarch Guild printed on its side, and Francis knew that there was only one person who had the authority to use the Guild helicopter so easily. A beautiful woman with long blond hair stepped out of the helicopter. She was wearing a white trouser-suit that hugged her body perfectly, and she had a pair of white leather gloves and sunglasses. This woman was Juliet, the current Managing Director of the Monarch Guild as well as the head of the Magical Core and Artefact Processing Department!
"Madam Juliet! Is something wrong!?"
Francis jogged up to Juliet once he saw her, and Juliet shook her head and looked down at her watch before speaking.
"I was just waiting for you to finish with the gate. I was about to go for my weekly visit, and I was wondering if you’d like to come with me this time."
Juliet smiled as she said this, and she chuckled in amusement when she saw Francis’s face light up! Anyone who saw Francis right now would be shocked that this was the same man who always had a frown on his face, but Juliet knew exactly why Francis was so happy! Juliet was one of the people who had missed Jason the most after he left! Juliet’s company, Tenet, had flourished after she made that first business deal with Jason, and right now they were seen as one of the fastest-growing conglomerates in the world! All of this had only been possible because of Jason, and Juliet had been shocked when she heard that Jason and Gina had both gone on the run because of an interdimensional matter! For a few days after the news, Juliet had been a little confused about what to do. Juliet knew that running the company in Jason’s absence was possible, but Juliet didn’t like the feeling of not knowing whether Jason was okay. But that had changed after Juliet went to visit the restaurant where Jason’s mother, Mira Marc, worked, and she spoke to Mira about her worries! Mira had encouraged Juliet not to feel any despair, and she told Juliet that she had to keep moving forward for Jason’s sake! Jason would be just fine, and he would come back stronger than ever before, but it would be disappointing if Jason returned and found out that his company was left to rot, so Mira encouraged Juliet not to stop!
That conversation had been the motivational fuel that Juliet needed, and Juliet immediately took charge of the Monarch Guild in Jason’s absence and began to organise even more gate raids! Over the past two months, Francis had been acting as the leader of the combat section of the guild, but it was Juliet who took charge of all administrative matters as well as recruitment! In just two months, Juliet increased the guild’s number and influence to make them the largest guild in the entire country! The Monarch Guild now had a roster that was made up of more than two hundred superhumans across five branches across the country, and although the main branch in Riverdale was where the most work was done, the other branches still brought in a substantial amount of money every month!
There was at least one member of the Alpha Squad in each of the branches to take care of any serious Gate raids, and since Katarina had been put under Jason’s care by the government, Juliet was able to use Katarina’s support gift to boost the strength of many weaker guild members so that they could keep up with the stronger ones! The combination of Katarina’s boost as well as the help from the Legion and the strength of the superhumans made it impossible for any other guild to keep up with the Monarch Guild, and it wasn’t long before many guilds began to disband because their members were all moving to join Monarch!
As of now, the Monarch Guild was the single largest guild in America, and it was making so much money from their sale of Mana cores and artefacts that Juliet was starting to think of creating a Monarch Bank just for the guild! But along with all this, Juliet had also made it a part of her routine to visit the Marc restaurant at least once every week. Juliet did this as a way to pay Mira back for the advice that she had given her all those months ago, but Juliet was also doing it because she wanted to help Jason keep an eye on Mira and make sure that everything was going fine in the restaurant!
After learning about what Juliet was doing, many guild members expressed their interest in also visiting the restaurant, and Juliet had to put her foot down and forbid everyone from going to the restaurant so they didn’t overwhelm Mira! Instead, Juliet began to pick one or two people out of the guild every week to take with her, and it had become a big deal in the guild for the members to fight for the right to visit the Marc restaurant with Juliet! There was an entire gambling pool where people put down hundreds of thousands of dollars every week for the privilege, and Juliet did her best to ignore the crazy antics from the guild members. But right now, Juliet knew that the one person who would want to visit that restaurant more than anyone else was Francis, and it wasn’t even because of Mira! Instead, it was because of Mira’s first daughter, Janet Marc.
The first time Juliet met Janet was when she had employed a superhuman instructor to teach Janet and Maya how to control their superhuman strength. Juliet had no idea how Janet and Maya gained abilities, but she knew that they were Jason’s sisters, so she didn’t bother asking too many questions. When Janet came to the Monarch Guild and ran into Francis for the first time, Juliet had literally witnessed Francis fall in love with Janet at first sight! Juliet would never say that she believed in the whole ’love at first sight’ thing, but she couldn’t deny what she had seen that day! And over the next few days, Juliet watched Francis stumble around as he tried to get close to Janet one way or another!