CHAPTER 50: CHAPTER 50 - INTERLUDE

Robert’s father looked at his son with soft eyes.

Snapping out of his daze, he quickly bowed slightly.

"Where are my manners?" he said, realizing he’d forgotten to introduce himself.

"My name is Andrew Thompson," he said. "I’m extremely grateful that you’re willing to be Robert’s friend. He’s had struggles with friends since he was young."

"Stop that, Dad," Robert said, jumping in front of his father, his face red from embarrassment. "You are embarrassing me."

Logan watched Robert and his father joke around, a wide smile on his face.

’That’s what a normal family is supposed to look like,’ he thought, enjoying the moment.

Logan thought about his own supposed family.

’I wonder, would they have been like this?’

He still didn’t know why he’d been abandoned as an orphan all these years.

’I need to have a talk with Silas and Edric later,’ he thought, glancing at them.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Logan saw the Imperial Church leave the building from the corner of his eye.

’Come to think of it,’

Logan thought. ’I don’t even know that girl’s name.’

He shook his head, forgetting about it.

Logan turned back to his friends and struck up a conversation.

After two hours, the conversations finally broke off.

"I guess I’ll see all of you at the university in a few days," Logan said, smiling.

Waving his friends goodbye, Logan walked away towards his flying shuttle with Edric and Silas by his side.

"So, did you enjoy a relatively normal day for someone your age?" Silas asked, smirking.

Logan smiled, shaking his head. "It was fun, but I’ll have to catch up on a lot of work now."

Silas and Edric nodded, but their smiles slowly faded as they looked at Logan.

"Too bad you didn’t find yourself a girlfriend to support you," Edric mumbled sympathetically. "With your attitude, it won’t be long before you die from overwork or loneliness."

"What?" Logan asked, not having heard clearly.

"Don’t worry about it," Silas said, a small smile reappearing on his face.

After their flying shuttle lifted off, Logan returned to his room alone.

"It certainly was an interesting day," he muttered, opening a large hologram. "Let’s see if the investigation team managed to confirm Franklin’s confession."

After searching, Logan found the report the investigation team had written on Franklin.

Logan read through it quickly, noting every important detail.

’He didn’t lie,’ Logan thought, having finished reading through the entire thing. ’His reasons for the embezzlement were surprisingly understandable too.’

Franklin began withholding funds after Albert repeatedly slashed his budget, even making him fear for his job.

’But that isn’t the interesting part about this,’ Logan thought, glancing through the report again. ’Through an interview with Franklin, the investigation team figured out that the board member in charge of finances, Albert Hardza, had approached him multiple times before with special offers.’

’He even threatened to fire him if he refused the offers.’

Logan knew Albert was one of the main enemies he would have after reading through Silas’s small report, where he’d indicated him as one of the three ’faction’ leaders among the board members.

’But there still isn’t any evidence of his crimes,’ Logan thought, shaking his head. ’Without that, he’ll sue the company for billions because of wrongful termination, defamation, and more.’

Logan stared out the window, deep in thought.

’If the investigation team still hasn’t found anything by the end of my freshman year, I’ll have to take the loss and fire him.’

Logan let out a sigh and glanced at his hologram again, searching for any update from the Mana Enforcement Bureau on the assassination attempt at the dungeon.

’It’s been, what, a week now?’ he thought, annoyed. ’While I wasn’t expecting any conclusive results, a report on who these people were would’ve been great by now.’

He closed the hologram, shaking his head.

Logan left his room and walked over to the lounge area, where he found Silas and Edric playing cards once again.

"Mind if I join in?" Logan asked, sitting down on one of the couches.

"Of course not," Edric said, smiling while Silas had a sour expression on his face.

"You’ll have to walk me through it," Logan said, pouring himself a drink.

"That’s no problem, this match is over anyway," Edric said, grinning as he gestured for Silas to pay up.

Silas sighed begrudgingly and transferred ten thousand dollars to Edric’s account.

Logan spent the first few games observing, then joined in on the fun for the rest of the flight.

At the end of the flight, Logan stood up, shaking his head.

’I didn’t win a single time,’ he thought, a wry smile on his face.

Despite losing to Edric over and over again, Logan enjoyed playing the card game a lot.

"You’ll get better at it eventually," Silas remarked, grinning.

"I wish I could promise you that," Edric mumbled, staring at Silas.

"What was that?" Silas turned, annoyed.

Watching Edric smirk, a vein popped on Silas’s forehead. "Don’t get cocky just because you got lucky."

"Lucky, huh," Edric mumbled just loud enough for Silas to hear while smirking.

Logan shook his head, smiling as he watched the two bicker like children.

’Is this what family feels like?’ he wondered, enjoying the moment.

Moments later, Logan, Edric, and Silas left the flying shuttle.

"I’ll help you pack some bags with essentials tomorrow," Edric said, walking beside Logan. "You don’t have to worry about clothing since you’ll be wearing the school uniform on most days."

Logan nodded. "That sounds good," he answered.

"I’ll also call a friend of mine who works at the university to explain your special circumstances regarding the company," Silas said from behind Logan. "I’ll make sure we can pick you up anytime in case you need to represent the company for something."

Logan nodded once again, thanking Silas for solving one of the worries he had.

Walking back into his room, Logan dove onto his couch.

"System," Logan muttered, staring at the cooldown that had reached zero.