Chapter 270: He Done Fucked Up

Aron was in his uniform, inspecting the fourth batch of graduating Esparian soldiers. They stood at attention in front of him as he passed through them.

It had become a tradition for him to inspect each batch of graduates. Every man had had a dream of being the general of a massive army at one point in their lives, and Aron had actually accomplished it. Thus, he didn't skimp on the pomp and circumstance at all.

As he walked through their formation, he couldn't help but smile when he remembered the reaction of the first batch of Esparian soldiers who woke up and found themselves in VR for training.

When the knowledge of what was going to happen to them had been assimilated into their minds (Athena had determined that explaining it in words was a waste of time, so she had begun using direct assimilation instead), the expressions on their faces were truly something to behold. They even had goosebumps all over their virtual bodies when they came to the realization of what kind of monsters they had fought in the war.

And with that realization came gratitude. They felt nothing but grateful to Eden, who, despite having such massive power at their disposal, had decided to go easy on them and not massacre them like chickens in a slaughterhouse.

Even from the little knowledge they had received to get them accustomed to VR, they could extrapolate that if Eden were to go all out, the entire war would have lasted less than an hour. But Esparia would have to spend more than a decade to recover from that single hour of damage that would have rained down upon them.

With the start of their training, they realized that their assumptions seemed to have stemmed from having eyes but being unable to see Mount Tai. That was especially the case when they discovered the enemies they would be fighting against in their training with their lives on the line.

They had begun by fighting enemies that made them feel despair, despite the advanced tech now at their disposal, and those weren't even the worst enemies they had to face in their training.

Upon finishing his inspection, Aron left to allow the ceremony to continue and the graduates to enjoy themselves. They wouldn't be able to do that if he remained there, so he invited Athena to take over and continue the ceremony. Once it was over, the soldiers left their pods and headed to their assigned rooms to rest and wait for transportation to take them to the port. Then they would be returned to Esparia to begin their mission as members of the ARES Esparia division.

...

"Did it start already?" Aron asked as Nova teleported him to one of his mansions inside the universal simulation. It was surrounded in a time field that was synchronized with the time in reality. From there, he would watch the Rothschild board meeting through Rina's glasses. Naturally, it was with her knowledge and consent, of course.

[Yes, she just entered a few seconds ago,] Nova said as she accelerated the time dilation in the mansion to 2:1 and restarted the recording, showing him what had taken place earlier. Then she returned the time dilation to 1:1 so Aron could watch things play out in real time.

...

"Eden is my domain. Don't reach your grubby hands out to take what's mine. I've been working on it for a long time," Rina said with confidence. She wasn't worried about it being taken from her at all.

"It would've been that way if you'd gone there with the family's blessing. But since you didn't, then the family rules apply. When it comes to the family's interest, it supersedes your own and the board members will vote to decide what's yours and what's the family's," Arieh sneered. He was positive that, if it really went to a vote, he would win. To the best of his knowledge, Rina had only successfully managed to buy three board members. And that, in and of itself, didn't guarantee that they would vote for her. At least if Hebel wasn't included, as he seemed to have completely chosen her side.

"Sure, let's vote," Rina said. She turned and looked at the board members and said, "Those in favor of Arieh being responsible for the family's plans in Eden, raise your hands." She had a calm smile on her face, causing Arieh to feel anxious.

Not one single person raised their hand, catching both Arieh and the family head off guard; neither had expected such a unanimous vote.

'Looks like I'm getting old,' the family head thought to himself when he realized that Rina had already brought all the board members to her side.

"Those in favor of leaving me to continue my business without interference?" she asked.

Once again, Arieh and the family head were left dumbfounded as the vote was unanimous. Every board member, other than the family head and Arieh, had raised their hands.

The secretary took over and said, "With the votes tallied, the board has unanimously decided that we won't be entering Eden and will leave Miss Rina to continue her plans. The family will completely support her in her goals." With that, the vote was officially over and could only be overturned by bringing evidence that the initial decision was wrong, prompting another vote.

Rina turned to Arieh and, with a smile that hid daggers behind it, asked, "Anything you want to say?"

"H... how!?" he stammered, his brain still not registering what had happened. He'd thought that Rina only had three board members on her side and was being naive to think that they would even vote for her! But instead, it seemed that he was the naive one, as he hadn't even realized that he had no support on his side any more.

"It doesn't concern you," she said as she turned to the family head, who had a proud smile on his face. As he looked at his daughter with the eyes of a proud father, she said, "I'd like to report a member who broke the family rules and made an attempt on my life."

The smile completely disappeared from the family head's face, then was replaced by rage at the idea that a family member had attempted to take the life of a main family's descendant. "Who is it, and what evidence do you have to back your accusation?" he asked, speaking for the first time since the board meeting had begun.

"It's all here," she said and removed a USB stick from her purse—a custom luxury gift from Nova—then extended it to the secretary.

Immediately understanding what was wanted of her, she took the thumb drive and inserted it into the computer that was linked to the projector. There was one folder on the thumb drive, and within it was an audio recording of what had transpired in Arieh's office shortly before Nova had her unplanned meltdown, and a few image files.

When the secretary clicked on the recording, the computer was immediately taken over by Nova and what was being shown on the projector changed.

It began playing the recording of the conversation between Charlotte and Terry. The sound visualization had Terry and Charlotte's headshots on either side of it, alternately brightening and dimming when to show which of them was speaking.

Arieh couldn't believe what was happening. He was almost convinced that he was in a nightmare as he felt the weight of consequences looming over him and settling on his shoulders. He'd been so sure that it would be impossible to record anything in his or his secretary's office, since he had them swept for bugs on a daily basis. And as impossible as it would be to bug their offices, it was even more so for the phone call that was taking place, since it was from a brand-new burner phone to another brand-new burner and had taken place in one of those 'secure' locations!

But what he had failed to consider was the possibility of the recording being taken straight from the memory of one of the participants in the call. Who could blame him for missing that, though?

"You need to finish what you started," said the caller, Charlotte.

"I need time, money, and information to accomplish it without any problems," Terry's voice replied.

"I'll email you an account number. Use that money to solve any problems that arise. You have a month to take action," she replied.

As the recording reached that part, the screenshot of a bank account appeared on the projector screen. It showed the amount of money in it from before the call, and what had been used over the month following the call. Everything was annotated, noting how much was withdrawn or transferred and where or to whom it went.

When Arieh saw the beginning of the recording, he knew he done fucked up.