Chapter 527 - The Unwanted Guest (1/2)

At 5 PM, both of them arrived at the Schneider family mansion's yard, welcomed by Aleksis who had just been experimenting with baking.

”Hey... good afternoon. You came on time. I just made brownies,” Aleksis commented as she saw Nicolae's car entering the yard. She waited for the man to get out of the car before hugging him.

”I have a gift for you,” Nicolae came out with a large bunch of lavender in his hand. ”I managed to find a few left in the field. Autumn is almost here, so it's hard to find wild lavenders like these.”

Lavender was Aleksis' favorite flower, so she was really delighted to see Nicolae bring a big bunch for her.

”Thank you. I'll put it in a vase. You should sit down...” Aleksis kissed Nicolae on the cheek and took the lavenders from his hand. A moment later, she was back with a large flower vase with the lavenders in it.

She was happy to see her older brother, Terry, who was super busy and they spent that evening talking over a bottle of wine.

***

Alaric never cared about the gossip circulating about him. For the past four years, he had always focused on his work and his goal of world domination. Other things besides those were insignificant to him.

So when all the entertainment news re-linked him with the famous superstar ballerina Elien Mikhailova, he didn't take any action to deny nor confirm.

Since EIien became a Virconnect ambassador three years ago and had always been present wherever there was an event sponsored by Splitz, people thought it happened because the ballet superstar had a special relationship with Elios Linden.

Elien's management was very pleased with all the publicity she gained because of the gossip, while Splitz's management thought this was good for the image of their boss, who was often seen by the public as a cold man who disliked people.

Since the leaking of several documents last year about various Rhionen-Meier Industries (RMI) programs that significantly reduced employment for humans and made it difficult for humans to compete with AI systems, various movements around the world had begun to protest the presence of Rhionen-Meier Industries in their countries.

Every day, there were demonstrations in front of the RMI representative offices demanding that they cancel the latest automation system, which was almost a common sight. Alaric never cared.

This week, he was in New York dealing with various RMI projects in America. When his car entered the entrance to the RMI parking lot in the basement, he saw several hundred people protesting in front of the building carrying various banners and boards containing their protest statements.

”What's this demo again?” he asked Aleksis.

”Hmm... This is from the largest supermarket chain company in America. They've reduced their workforce by eighty percent because our automation program has helped them save very much by making it more efficient. The union organized protested to all of our branches in America.”

”Hmmm... What fools,” Alaric muttered softly. The guilty party was the supermarket chain company that had fired many of its employees without providing adequate compensation, but instead, they blamed RMI for providing an automation system that made them lose their jobs.

The guilty ones, according to Alaric, were those lowly employees who didn't have any other useful skills, which could have given them better occupations, those which machines wouldn't be able to replace.

The guilty ones were parents who had children without being able to guarantee that their education and skills would provide for their livelihood.

The guilty ones were societies that allowed humans to breed without being able to take responsibility for their lives on this planet.

And so on.

”Good morning, Sir. You have a guest this morning,” the receptionist on the fiftieth floor informed when he saw Alaric coming out of the elevator. His face looked radiant as if he felt that he was the bearer of good news that would surely make Alaric happy.

”Guest?” Alaric frowned. He wasn't expecting anyone. ”Who?”

”She said it was a surprise.” The receptionist opened the door into Alaric's room and stood up with a wide smile, hoping for praise. Alaric rarely came to the office in New York, so he was hoping he could to make a good impression on his boss.

”Good morning.” A crisp voice greeted Alaric from inside his room. A moment later, a gorgeous lady rose from the sofa. ”I heard you were in this city, so I decided to stop by...”