"You have shown us that we can still place our trust in our Overlord. Lord Rubik never bothered to answer any of our pleas, and we could never trust him to have our best interests at heart. I could not be happier to have you as the overlord presiding over this domain."
Makin bowed low to Jason when he said this, and all the nobles behind him also bowed their heads respectfully. Jason felt a small smile growing on his face as a feeling of accomplishment rose from inside him, and he simply nodded to Makin and the others before he poured mana from his body and opened a Dimensional Tear behind him. The L’horm nobles stood up again, and they watched as Stragga and the other superhumans walked through the portal first before Jason began to head out.
Jason turned around one last time and locked eyes with Queen Phina silently, and the Queen smiled at him and bowed her head thankfully. Phina never called out to Jason like he asked her to earlier, and Jason took that to mean that she and Makin had finally come to an understanding about their relationship. Jason was happy that things worked out, and he nodded back to her before he finally went through the portal.
It took a few hours of travel on dragonback for Jason and the other superhumans to get to Earth, but once they did, Jason was immediately dragged into a meeting with some of the higher-ups from the Monarch Guild and Gaia. The room was packed with hundreds of people who were all looking at Jason curiously, and Jason stood in front of the room with a tired look in his eyes! Jason had no idea why he was here, but it was obvious Jason simply wanted to go home, and he would leave soon if no one spoke up! Finally, Cerci stepped forward and asked.
"Lord Jason, we wanted to ask about the recent development going on in the world of the Machina. Is it true that you granted an Academy association the authority to build a new research facility in that world?"
Jason nodded.
"Yeah, I did. Did you not read the message I sent to you regarding this?"
Cerci deadpanned in slight disbelief. Jason had told a subordinate to give Cerci a message on what he was doing, but the message had only said: We’re working with the Northern Alliance Academy now. They’ll be building on Machina and Core City. Don’t bother them.
It was straight to the point, but it also left Cerci with a lot of questions, and one of the executives behind Jason spoke up.
"My lord, why are we giving them land from our world? Did we enter into a deal with them?"
Jason hummed, and he said that they did. The Northern Alliance Academy wouldn’t be building for free. The room of executives became more excited when they heard this, and someone asked Jason what sort of benefit they would get from the Academy. At this moment, Jason stopped and went into deep thought. There was only one question on Jason’s mind: did he want to tell them about the [Mortal Severance Pill]? Even though the pill would be beneficial for all of them, Jason knew that there was a limited amount of the pill and it would be impossible for him to pass it around to everyone in this world to help them grow!
’Wouldn’t it be better to keep the pill within a smaller circle and only give it to people with high potential? If the entire world knew about it, they’d beg me to share it with everyone, and it’ll be a waste. I don’t want them to cry about favouritism.’
Jason nodded his head calmly, and he decided that this was the best way to do things! Only very few people would know about the [Mortal Severance Pill], and Jason would only give the pill to superhumans who show high potential for growth! Jason spoke up.
"The research facility will be sharing some of their inventions with us. They’ll also be developing Core City so we can train the superhumans on how to use their abilities better. I have a plan to expand the Academy across multiple worlds, so for now I need you all to cooperate with the researchers as they build at Core City. Now, you’ll have to excuse me; I have somewhere to be."
Jason turned and began leaving the room once he was done talking, and he could hear murmurs spreading through the room as he walked out.
"Do you think that’s a fair price? We’re giving them so much land, and we only get research in return?"
"They’ll also be teaching the children how to use their abilities better. I think it’s fair."
"Do you think they’ll cause any problems for us?"
"Maybe I can enroll as well. I’ve hit a bottleneck in my training recently, so they might be able to help me."
But even though the rest of the gathered executives all bought Jason’s words easily, there were two people who knew that there was something more to this deal than what Jason had said! Cerci and Juliet had been standing in front of the crowd, and they shared amused looks with each other before they also began walking out of the room.
"There is something else going on, isn’t there?"
It was Juliet who had said this as she walked beside Cerci, and Cerci nodded.
"Of course there is. Since when have things ever been simple with Jason?"
Juliet laughed at Cerci’s words, and Cerci told her that he would talk to Jason later about what was really happening. If Jason hid it from them, then it had to be for a good reason. Juliet nodded, and she bowed respectfully to Cerci before she went to finish her tasks!
After leaving the Monarch Guild headquarters, Jason quickly used the shadows to travel down to his estate, and he rose from the ground and stepped into his dark mansion with a tired look on his face. It had been close to a week since Jason left home, and in that time, Jason hadn’t gotten any proper sleep. Jason had been so busy with setting up the Northern Alliance Academy on Machina, and Jason couldn’t be happier to be back home! But as Jason looked around the massive building, he felt a sudden surge of loneliness hit him out of nowhere!
Jason didn’t mind being alone, and after so many missions in distant worlds, Jason had gotten used to it already. But now that he was at home, Jason could easily imagine Gina’s happy face that would usually welcome him whenever he came back, or Riyala’s excitement and Hesbeath’s prideful joy. Those all seemed like such simple things, but at this moment, Jason did not like the fact that he had been away from his girls for so long. Jason frowned in annoyance, and he decided that he wasn’t going to stay alone!
One of the things Jason had hated the most about his father was the fact that his father left his mother alone for so long! Jason understood why his father had to leave, and Jason knew that his father had a good reason for it, but Jason didn’t want his family to end up in the same way as well! Now that Jason had some free time, he wasn’t going to be staying alone! Jason turned around and walked out of the house calmly, and once Jason was outside of the magical shield surrounding his building, he activated [King’s Substitute] and vanished from Earth.