Milo had heard of Romany’s name on many occasions. As the leader of the Vasophati Group, it was quite normal that his name was so well-known. But in his opinion, the leader of an organization should be someone very prominent and aloof. As Milo did not like interacting with such people, favonovel.com initially wanted to bail on Adrian.
The Radianz Consortium had also invited Milo to a gala before. However, that event made favonovel.com lose interest in all galas since then.
The games people in the upper class played did not interest Milo at all.
But right now, Romany was dressed in a casual gray sweater paired with a checkered apron. He held a plate of shredded pork with garlic sauce in one hand and a spatula in the other. He looked like favonovel.com was only in his thirties and could be considered young.
This image did not suit the looks of an organization’s leader at all. Instead, favonovel.com felt more like a really nice househusband.
Adrian introduced Milo to Romany, “This is Milo, whom I mentioned to you previously.”
“Pleased to meet you! Quickly take a seat. I’ll bring the food over.” Romany said, “Due to the secrecy of this matter, the place that we chose is a little secluded. It’s just some home-cooked food, so I hope you won’t mind.”
“It looks pretty good…” Milo looked at the shredded pork with garlic sauce in front of him. It looked delicious and appetizing.
Adrian said from next to him, “Dig in. This is a secret gathering place for the Riders. It’s usually Big Brother Romany who prepares the meals.”
Meanwhile, Old Mauriat was rummaging through the cabinets for something.
Romany wondered, “What are you looking for?”
“Where’s the wine you hid in the house?” Old Mauriat asked.
“Have you forgotten?” Romany did not know whether to laugh or cry. “You and Jonan finished it the previous time. Also, we shouldn’t be having any alcohol now since it might delay our work.”
“Ahem…” Jonan said, “He drank a lot more than me. I only had a little…”
When the five of them took their seats, Romany raised his teacup and said to Milo, “I’m grateful to Brother Milo for coming to Bidara City’s assistance during this crisis. I would have liked to have given you a toast with wine, but I have to keep a clear head right now. So in place of that, let me use tea to toast you instead.”
With that, Romany downed the tea in one gulp.
Curious, Milo asked, “Just what is the cause of this crisis? Surely those organizations can’t come looking for trouble just because they want to seize your satellites, right?”
“The cause of this actually arose from the Norton clan’s control of the Vasophati Group.” Romany calmly explained, “You should’ve heard the rumor that we’re searching for the heir of the major shareholder. In fact, our Norton clan only owns 3% of the Vasophati Group’s shares. The rest of the company belongs to the major shareholder.”
“I know that.” Milo asked, “But what does that have to do with the crisis?”
“Our Norton clan’s ancestor was named Howell. He built the organization with the founder of the Vasophati Group, and the leadership role has since been passed down from father to son through my family’s lineage. We all abide by the teachings of our forebears and do not covet what does not belong to us.” Romany sighed. “This is really a scandal for our clan. Although my direct family does not have ambitions of seizing control of the Vasophati Group for ourselves, some of our relatives are unwilling to comply.”
With Romany’s explanation, Milo realized Romany and his father had always only taken a 3% share of the profits, while the rest of the money was reinvested back into the operations of the Vasophati Group.
As the Norton clan was firmly in power, some of the Norton clan’s relatives gradually started holding important positions within the Vasophati Group.
At first, everyone worked hard and performed quite well. But over time, these people started to completely regard the Vasophati Group as the Norton clan’s asset. Moreover, a lot of them tried to persuade Romany to not search for the major shareholder’s heir anymore.
It was their Norton clan who had been managing the Vasophati Group for all these years, toiling hard and earning merit for the organization. Therefore, they felt the Vasophati Group should rightfully belong to the Norton clan.
Some of the business arms were even monopolized by certain relatives as they passed down their positions within their own families. In the past, it was the capable people who assumed these positions. But now the children would take over after their parents’ death, regardless of whether they were capable or not.
When Romany realized his relatives were starting to get such ideas, favonovel.com immediately started purging potential threats within the organization. This was to prevent the Vasophati Group from being led to its demise by the hands of his relatives’ children while under his watch.
In this clan struggle, Romany came out as the winner in the end. After all, the Riders were on his side. But this power struggle also made the relatives of the Norton clan realize their strength alone was not enough to exert any pressure on Romany. Moreover, they were not firmly in power at the moment, so they began to secretly conspire with each other and search for external forces to help them seize authority from within the group.
The most critical step was dealing with the Riders.
After his relatives had found the external powers to help them, they did not immediately make a move. Instead, they spent several years planning and letting a large number of spies and unidentified superhumans into Bidara City.
Milo wondered, “Aren’t they afraid that the external powers will usurp power over Bidara City?”
Romany laughed. “That’s why they thought they were being smart by finding different groups of people to aid their conspiracy. Their goal is to let the various forces fight among themselves and hold each other back so that no one can usurp the stronghold. In the end, they’re even willing to give up control of all the satellites in exchange for the wealth that’s been accumulated by the Vasophati Group over many years. Some of them even want to sell the Vasophati Group and go lead a life of riches at the other organizations.”
“So, who’s the main enemy this time?” Milo asked.
“The Stelaria Consortium…” Jonan said in a low voice, “But we don’t have any hard evidence yet. We only suspect the Stelaria Consortium wants to use our seven satellites to complete the final step of their AI strategy.”
After the meal, Milo had a rough understanding of the situation. Perhaps out of gratitude to Milo for his help, Romany told favonovel.com everything favonovel.com knew.
Then Romany said with a smile, “Let’s not talk about such serious topics anymore. Do you all want some dessert? Brother Milo, what would you like to eat?”
Milo was stunned. As if favonovel.com ever had dessert before!
Milo pondered it for a moment before saying, “Give me a plate of pickled garlic then…”
Romany, Larry, and Adrian were all surprised.
In the end, Milo did not get to eat pickled garlic. But it was not because there wasn’t any in the house as it just so happened that Romany really kept a jar.
Before the pickled garlic could be served, Jonan received a phone call. “A chaotic battle has broken out at Triumphant Road again, but we still can’t figure out which of the forces are involved. The garrison troops are already on their way. We’d better hurry over now.”
Romany nodded. “Thank you for the assistance. I’ll also return to the Group’s headquarters immediately.”
With that, everyone got dressed and left in different directions. Milo was surprised to see that Romany’s mode of transportation was actually a bicycle.
Perhaps by using such a mode of transportation, it would make it harder for others to track favonovel.com down.
Milo asked Adrian, who was beside him, “Are any of the supernatural beings going to make a move tonight?”
“Yes.” Adrian nodded. “But based on their characteristics, one of them seems to have operated as a lone wolf in the past. I wonder which organization recruited favonovel.com here to make this hard-earned money.”
“A lone wolf?” Milo asked, “What’s his power?”
“Oh, I heard favonovel.com can produce saliva bubbles to blow people up…”
