They traveled back to the city, it took roughly 20 minutes to drive all the way back, the perks of a bullet train like car, just a tad bit faster though.
Amanda told him she would make the preparations so he could attend the academy again, he couldn’t just waltz back in after being gone for 2 years.
The surroundings of the outer city seemed to change a bit, the Vivum Virtual Reality thing appeared to be the top dog of the market.
Michael asked her about it and she said it was some sort of a technological breakthrough, however, it seemed like she knew more than she let on.
He wasn’t one to pry though, it did not seem like they were on the best of terms, he felt that if he hadn’t healed her father, she would have killed him the moment she saw him.
Amanda told him that the bounty on his head will be rescinded, else he would have been hunted down while walking on the street, definitely not something he wanted to go through.
They finally arrived at the inner part of the city and headed straight for the government building, everything there still looked the same as 2 years ago.
“I recommend staying low for a bit, I need to prepare extra because of your return, I don’t want the current Saint to get thrown under the bus” She said and went inside the building, leaving Michael standing by himself.
‘So where do I go now? It’s not like I have a house anymore’
Can’t you just rent something? Didn’t you get enough funds from being a Saint? Even if it was for only a little while.
I guess you are right, Michael pulled out the ID card he had kept in his pocket all this time, unlike his sniper, he didn’t take this one out even once.
However, as he inspected it, his expression crumbled further.
‘0 fucking dollars? Are you serious?’ He clicked on it and it displayed a mini hologram of the transactions.
They were all directed to all sorts of charity funding organizations.
He was shaking in disbelief, not only was he homeless, he was also broke.
Yikes.
As he was debating on what to do, Michael remembered he still had connections with the slums, even if they became a separate city, the people should mostly be the same.
Walking up to the car he got inside of it, however, the driver flashed him a confused look.
‘Oh right’
“To the slums” Michael said naturally, like he used to do 2 years ago.
Much to his surprise, the driver shook his head “No can do, you are no longer the Saint and I am no longer your driver.”
It just keeps getting worse huh.
“I-I see..” He got out of the car, he needed to walk now, the distance from the government headquarters to the subway leading to the slums was at the very least a 10 hour walk.
Why would you walk? Just run.
‘Oh right, I am as fast as a car now’ Michael face palmed, even after all the time he had spent in this world, his thinking still strayed back to his previous world.
He took one last look at the headquarters and began sprinting, looking like a blur to normal people and an idiot to slightly stronger people.
After 2 hours, he finally arrived at the entrance to the slums and to say he was a bit shocked was an understatement.
The previous entrance which was a run down subway station, turned into what appeared an elegant pair of stairs that lead into an escalator leading in the direction of the slums.
‘Wow.. they sure went all out’ He thought, if they became an independent city, this was the least they could do.
The barrier which blocked detection had been strengthened somehow, It would be near impossible to sense someone all the way from the upper city, even if Meph tried.
‘Yeah that seems to be the case, I can feel mana all around.’ Michael glanced around him while standing on the escalator, it seemed the intensified mana acted as some kind of an EMP.
Well, even the slums need privacy.
The escalator turned the corner and the slums were in full sight.
‘Holy shit, they did this in 2 years?’ Michael was absolutely shocked by what greeted his eyes.
The city that previously looked like some kind of a ruin, now, didn’t even have a single building that looked run down.
In fact, he could even call this a proper city, one that was equivalent to the top cities he had been to in his previous world.
And all of that in merely 2 years, it was simply unbelievable.
The staircase from before was replaced with a massive staircase that looked newly remodeled, by the side there was also the escalator that connected with the stairs and headed downwards.
‘How does this work though? You can come down but you can’t go back up’ He noticed the escalator only traveling in one direction.
Turn around.
Michael tilted his head and did just that, all of a sudden, the escalator’s trajectory changed, it was now heading back to where he came from.
Magic and science, what a lovely concept.
‘Yeah.. I can’t believe something this simple is so convenient’ He was impressed, however, he got his stuff together and took the escalator down to the new underground city.
There were a bunch of people running around, they all looked healthy, just like when Michael left.
That put a warm smile on his face, it seemed his efforts were not for nothing.
Of course, take pride in your accomplishments, but don’t take them for granted.
He understood what the system was referring to and simply nodded, already in front of the mayor’s building where Alfred dwelled.
Some people who noticed him had shocked expressions, some even bowing down and praying, murmuring that the Saint had returned.
Michael merely chuckled at that, even after his supposed death, the reverence did not die down in the slightest.
‘Good luck Amanda’ He snickered, not causing trouble his first day back would be too strange.
He walked up to Alfred’s office, along the way, none of the guards attempted to stop him, they all seemed to recognize who he was.
Opening the door abruptly, what greeted Michael’s sight was a bunch of documents strewn around the entire room.
‘it is even worse than Rebecca’s’ He thought with a sour expression, he still didn’t have any clues about her, he didn’t have any contact information at the time, so he didn’t even exchange numbers with Meph or any of his former party members.
Well not like he could have anyway, they were in a coma.
“Get out, I am busy” Alfred’s tired voice rang out from the desk fortified in documents, he couldn’t even be seen.
However, upon not receiving a single reply and having the door still open, he stood up irritated “Hey! Do you even know how ha-”
His words were cut short as he noticed the figure in front of him.
“Michael?” Alfred asked with a trembling voice.
‘He is still the same’
“Sup, miss me?”
