Chapter 34: Shocking News!

The surrounding scene shattered.

One by one the stage, the lights, and the seats all began to crumble as the source of their existence, the Clown King, met his end.

A scene which, although expected, couldn’t help but leave Ethan with a strange, lingering sense of melancholy.

Was it because he was someone destined to leave a mark in the world, yet he died prematurely and alone in this abandoned warehouse?

Or was it because he was also a victim of fate, being kidnapped as a child unwillingly and having his whole life forced onto him by someone else?

Although Ethan couldn’t excuse him for his crimes, after all, the Clown Gang, whether willing or unwilling, had led to the loss and destruction of thousands of lives; Ethan could somewhat understand him.

’In a way, he’s just like me in my past life; we were both two people who struggled to change our fates.’

’The only difference being I, on the other hand, got a second chance; you did not.’

Talking to himself, Ethan looked around.

With the illusion ending, all around him lay the bodies of unconscious gangsters and mercenary members.

A lingering side effect from the ability.

"Fortunately my mental strength is stronger than theirs, so I easily woke up," he said.

Shaking his head, Ethan took out his phone and made a call.

"Hello, Grandpa, we have a lot to talk about."

........

Time soon passed, and by the time Ethan returned to the Smith Mansion, the sky had already begun to brighten.

Receiving Ethan’s call, although Christian was shocked by how quick it was, hearing the details in the notes and supplies instantly mobilized the Smith family to act as quickly as possible.

Not only that, but he also arranged lodging for the mercenaries to stay since Ethan had told him to.

Thanks to that, Ethan could attend to more important things.

The sky was almost bright, and he hadn’t slept a wink.

Luckily with his current attributes, he could go days on end without needing to rest.

’Rest can come later.’

’Now that I’m home, I can finally put the final preparations on the agenda,’ he thought, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

Unlike his past life, this time he had no plans to allow the Smith family to enter that nightmare unprepared.

According to his orders, most of the Smith family had already begun to move to the newly transformed air-raid shelter along with the supplies.

With the power of money and status, from the reports he had heard, the once abandoned facility had been transformed into an underground complex capable of holding almost two thousand people.

You must know that the Smith family, even adding extended family members, only amounted to around three hundred.

Currently, they still had a lot of leeway.

’At this rate, even if we add the mercenaries, the kids in the orphanage, and Grandpa’s army people and mercenary buddies...’

’We still won’t have that many people.’

’Should I arrange for Alfred to get a nearby farming village and move them to help take care of the crops there?’

Yes, in order to be self-sufficient when the time came and not rely on hoarded supplies, Ethan had planned for a large purchase of all kinds of seeds and fertilizer.

In this way, they would be able to grow their own food even when supplies ran out.

Walking into the Smith Mansion, Ethan had long since changed his bloody clothes and taken off his mask.

Right now he was heading towards the meeting room.

According to his grandpa, a major meeting deciding the future of the Smith family was about to take place.

’Is this about the apocalypse?’

’Well, considering it’s almost time and we’re already moving places, as long as Grandpa controls everyone’s communication, it should be fine.’

Weighing the pros and cons, Ethan figured it should be okay for others to know now.

Since even if anyone wanted to stop him they couldn’t, plus he had already eliminated his biggest threat in the early stage and recruited a future S-class.

Right now he had little to fear; rather, if he could use this to farm a large number of students to teach magic, then that would be great.

Thinking of this, the corners of his lips tilted up slightly as a smile crept onto his face.

Although he hadn’t been reborn very long ago, he was satisfied with what he had achieved.

"Alright then, now let’s see what this meeting is about," he said as he looked at the giant wooden door in front of him.

Arriving at his destination, without any hesitation, he pushed it open.

Creeek

Pushing it open, the first thing that came into sight was a huge round table with twelve people on the right, twelve people on the left, and his Grandpa at the top.

By Christian’s side, Alfred as always stood calmly, waving towards him.

However, one thing out of place was Elena, who for some reason was sitting beside Christian too, looking at him with fighting intent in her eyes.

"Hahaha, kid, you’re finally here!"

"In that case let us begin!" Laughing without care, Christian wore a mischievous smile on his face.

’Wait a minute, why do I suddenly have a bad feeling about this?’

Talking to himself, Ethan took a closer look and sure enough, Elena was trying hard to stifle her laugh and Alfred looked at him with a wry smile.

Seeing this he knew something was definitely wrong, but it was too late.

Finishing his laughter, Christian’s next words completely sent the whole room into a spiral of shock as they couldn’t believe what they heard.

Even Ethan, who had just faced a world-famous gang on his own, was in shock.

With a smile on his face, Christian had just said a sentence so shocking that if the outside world got news, the very global economy might shake.

"First order of business, and no one is allowed to say otherwise."

"I, Christian Smith, Patriarch of the Smith Family, as of today am officially stepping down as the patriarch of the Smith family!"