Chapter 59: Forcing Clyde To Join Me
For the next few minutes, no response came from the other side, then Clyde spoke into his phone,
"I am," Klaus said without any change in his voice and expression.
"Because you won’t, and even if you do find them, you won’t be able to do so before I find your replacement. Once that person helps TREG find the leakers, he’ll be the obvious choice for the position you’ve spent years working toward."
Clyde mumbled, though annoyance and irritation were clear in his tone.
"You underestimate me too much, Clyde Rodgers."
<...>
"Are you still unwilling to work for me?"
<...I need to think longer about something like this.>
’After all this, you want more time? Hell no.’
"I should start looking for your replacement then," Klaus stated.
"I have already given you enough time. What I want now is an answer. Either join me or get ready to lose the golden ticket for promotion."
"You have already been unable to use it for over five months now, anyway."
Klaus chuckled and brushed his hair with his free hand as he replied, "I am not asking you to be a slave. We are forming a deal. I will help you reach the heights that you can only dream of, and in return you will help me build what I envision."
Klaus shook his head. "You can. I never said otherwise. The question is whether you should.
"What is the point of reaching that once you are nothing but an old man who would be overtaken by someone younger regardless of the service? Nothing. I require you in the coming years, not after decades."
Clyde fell silent. He didn’t have any retort to this because he was aware that the worst enemy of dreams and ambitions was time.
A human, no matter how excellent, couldn’t escape the bounds of time and the limits that come with it.
Yet deep down, his pride was stopping him from bowing down to the person whom he knew nothing about. He didn’t even know what his face looked like.
But he didn’t really have a choice. He was prideful but not stupid.
What the masked man was giving him wasn’t a slave collar but opportunities in return for devotion.
Project Dremis was much bigger than Clyde was, and to see it through, he was ready to do anything.
"You are finally seeing things clearly," Klaus mumbled with a smile.
Blue screens appeared before him.
[Host has formed a meaningful connection!]
[Host has gained another companion!]
[The quest can be repeated two more times!]
[Gain another companion.]
The faint warmth of level up spread across his body, and he let out a soft breath before he said, "Let’s start with the names then."
Klaus gave him the names of the leakers, which he had found out about with the help of the system and Carl.
The system had told him about the companies that were involved in this, and then Carl found the TREG employees who were related to those companies in secret.
He obviously didn’t give Clyde all the names, but just a few to make Clyde believe that Klaus wasn’t just bluffing.
After about half an hour, he cut the call and stared at his phone with a faint smile on his face.
He had already obtained three of the five individuals who were going to be the pillars of his shadow empire, leaving only two of them.
’Once I have Victor Frank and Maker Finance, Elijah will join me without any complaints.’
It had been a few weeks since he had awakened the apocalypse system, and in just a few more, he would be changing the power dynamics of the whole world.
[Host, you do remember that you are to be a great hero and not a great villain, right?]
"Heh. Don’t worry about it," Klaus replied while waving off the screen.
[I just cannot help it when you make decisions which I cannot understand. Maybe if you were a bit less stupid, it would have worked out better. Now, I am even questioning if it would be better for humanity to go extinct than to be born from you.]
Klaus shot the screen a deadpan glare and muttered, "I am not a children-making factory."
[That is also one of my worries. Can I run a physical checkup to make sure that you can do it in the first place?]
He blinked a few times and then his eyes sharpened.
"...Are you calling me impotent?" He asked in a serious tone, veins throbbing on his forehead.
[Negative. I am only making sure that you are not.]
"That doesn’t convince me at all," he mumbled with a deadpan look.
[I am doing what I can to support your grand journey to replenish the human population.]
That’s where you’re wrong. Humanity still has years before extinction, and I’ll save as many people as I can when the time comes.
[Host, you truly have a hero’s heart. But nothing is wrong with a backup or two.]
Klaus rolled his eyes.
Why did I have to get a system like this? And why won’t it shut up already?
[Host, I agree with you. I also believe that I deserve someone better.]
Klaus read the words on the system screen and shook his head. "Your delusion has started to affect you even more."
[Must be because I am with you all the time.]