Dynasty Awakening: Building My Own Football Empire-Chapter 269: Miracle

The Barnsley players stormed into the luxury sushi restaurant, shouting and hollering in celebration at the victory. The other diners, mostly tired businessmen, also raised their voices and applauded, cheering for the giant-killers of Anfield.

The first place that Michael ran was straight to the sashimi boat with his chopsticks in the air, but his joy was tempered by hunger. Diego Nunez, still wearing his full kit, managed a weak attempt at picking up a roll with his hands.

Arthur Milton too felt a rush of mixed emotions as he ran towards the dessert section to celebrate.

They embraced the menu, needing no words to express their current feelings of accomplishment and starvation.

Kenji and Sarah who were in the private booth stood up and cheered loudly as the players walked past. Sarah saw Diego trying to eat wasabi by the spoonful and a wave of emotions overcame her, causing tears of laughter to well up in her eyes.

Kenji on the other hand felt bittersweet. He was happy for what his investments had accomplished, however it was marred by the knowledge that the bill was going to be astronomical.

His protective instincts wished that this squad would stay together forever, yet on the other hand he didn’t want to get in the way of his bank balance if they kept ordering Wagyu beef.

He stopped himself from sighing, shaking his head to remove the negative thoughts threatening to overcome him. Now was not the time to dwell on such depressing things, it was a time of celebration.

Kenji and Sarah eventually made their way down to the table and greeted their heroes, as did the other staff who were in the restaurant. Of course this was after Michael had finished his emotional speech about fish and teamwork.

Michael finally laid down on his bed after an exhausting day. Remembering the antics of Vladimir trying to explain to the waiter that he only ate plants brought a smile to his face as he stared at the ceiling of his room.

’I hope we did enough to keep the morale high.’ He thought inwardly.

While winning at Anfield was a great achievement in itself, Michael’s main priority was to get Kaito back on the pitch.

Once he stepped into the training ground tomorrow, he would be able to test the S-Grade Elixir. But he had to be sure it would work in the first place.

In his previous life he had never seen magic potions work on hamstrings. Remembering the despair of injury-prone players filled him with a burning desire to fix them.

"I will make him run again," He murmured, gripping his fist tightly.

He was filled with confidence, no matter how bad the tear was he would fight his way back to full fitness with his new inventory item.

The reason for his confidence was currently displayed in front of his face, the Premier League System.

[You have consumed: S-Grade Elixir of Eternal Fitness.]

[Target: Kaito Tanaka (Hamstring Tear)]

[Status: CURED]

Michael woke up to the sweet notification of his successful healing and felt refreshed. It was as if he was a manager who had turned into a wizard with the sharp increase in his medical abilities over the past few hours.

He had entered a period of recovery in his week before the next game. However, Michael had a feeling that healing his players would not be as easy in the future. The absence of more S-Grade Elixirs was an indication that he would run out of magic at some point.

Yet Elixirs were not the only way that he could improve how he played. There was also tactical specific work he could do, as well as his Game Changer skill which was now active.

Michael hopped out of bed and let out a big stretch, his eyes focusing on the now cured Kaito status with a smile on his face.

In a good mood, he made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen, seeing Kenji and Sarah sitting at the dining table.

"Morning Kenji and Sarah." Michael said in a chipper tone.

"Good Morning."

Michael felt that Kenji’s tone was a little odd, but he quickly shrugged it off.

"Is Arthur awake yet?"

"He’s just finishing up in the bathroom. Are you going for your morning coffee?" Sarah replied. Her tone sounded even more forced, causing Michael some alarm.

He turned to his friend’s wife and gave her a questioning look, however her expression was giving nothing away. Even moving his gaze to the billionaire gave him no indication of what was wrong.

Feeling his anxiety peak, he wanted nothing more than to leave the room as soon as possible. Just as he was about to leave without Arthur, the assistant in question emerged from the bathroom with all smiles.

"Morning Boss." He said sweetly, lacking the undertone that the owners had.

"Let’s go..." Michael said, grabbing Arthur by the arm and ushering him out the front door.

"A-Ah, okay. Bye Kenji and Sarah, we’ll be back later."

"Bye Arthur dear." Sarah responded, her tone sweet as usual.

’What the hell!?’ Michael shouted inwardly. They must be mad at me for some reason then...

Seeing as how it was only himself that they were being weird with, his mind began to race about all the things he had done wrong. Could they have found out he wasn’t a normal manager at all?

No, that was ridiculous. Could it be because of him risking Kaito? But how could they be mad, they had won the game.

As soon as he thought of this, he remembered the text he sent to Kenji last night. Since his owner lived and breathed profit, there was no way that he wouldn’t have been annoyed by the "Tell PSG to fuck off" message.

This paired with the fact that he had ignored the 100 million offer meant that it was easy enough to make a plausible theory.

Michael was so caught up in his inner thoughts that he put his shoes on the wrong feet and had already left the house. Arthur tried to get his attention, however Michael was already walking forwards while his mind was preoccupied.

By the time he returned, Michael was filled with dread about the upcoming conversation that would likely take place after breakfast. He tried to dodge the looks of the owners and retreated to the bathroom, however that would only delay the issue.

Michael shook his head and slapped his face while staring at the mirror.

’I’m the Manager of the Month for goodness sake. Why am I shirking my responsibilities like a child right now.’ He thought inwardly, taking in his confident features.

Once he was cleaned up, he decided to be a man and tackle the situation head on.

When he arrived at the dining table, everyone was already waiting for him with croissants on the table. He turned to Kenji and bowed his head slightly.

"Kenji, I’m sorry!"

Kenji’s face lit up in surprise for a moment, not expecting the sudden apology. However, he regained his composure, not yet sure of where this was going.

"Oh yeah? For what?" He inquired in a lazy tone, buttering a croissant.

Michael knew that this gesture would not be enough to get him off the hook, so he dug deep and got everything off his chest.

"I’m sorry for risking Kaito’s career. I’m sorry for being selfish and continuing to play him without your consent. I should have subbed him when I knew something was wrong, that was very reckless of me."

With his head still bowed, Michael listed his crimes and owned up to his mistakes. Of course it was too little and too late, but he hoped to at least ease some of their anger with this gesture.

"Mmm. What do you think honey? Does he sound sincere?" Kenji had a playful look on his face as he turned to Sarah.

Since Michael still had his head bowed he was unable to see the exchange between the two, therefore he was inwardly sweating bullets.

"Hmmmm."

Sarah placed her finger on her chin and creased her brows as if she was thinking deeply, however this gesture caused Kenji to lose his composure as he began to laugh out loud.

"Hahaha."

Arthur who was originally shocked that Michael had chosen to come clean like this, soon began to inwardly cheer for his Boss. He had seen how hard Michael had worked to make the team win, so he didn’t want him to suffer too much.

However, this situation was a little out of his expectations. Seeing that Sarah had also joined in on the laughter while Michael had his head bowed, caused him to feel confused. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

The laughter only died down a few moments later.

"Go sit down and eat breakfast." Kenji said, a smile still tugging on the corner of his lips.

Michael felt his body flood with relief as he heard these words. Despite this being the case, he still solemnly walked over to his chair and sat down, waiting for his owner to begin eating.

Seeing his manager being so obedient, Kenji felt a wave of incredulity wash over him. Was this really his chaotic friend who used to fight tooth and nail over every transfer budget?

Kenji could only smile and shake his head, picking up his coffee and grabbing a mouthful of croissant.

Michael breathed a sigh of relief and went to dig into the food.

"Don’t think you’re off the hook yet even with that apology. We still need to discuss the PSG offer." Kenji commented off-handedly, causing Michael to drop his fork in response.

"Hahaha." This time it was Arthur who couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. Michael’s reaction and his expression was enough to make him feel weak with hilarity.

It wasn’t long before both Kenji and Sarah were swept up by Arthur’s contagious laugh, joining in on the fun.

Michael inwardly sighed, reaching down to grab his fork with his left hand. On his way up he pinched Arthur’s elbow with the fork, causing him to let out a yelp of pain.

"Hahaha." Now it was Michael’s turn to laugh, experiencing the sweet taste of revenge after dealing out some punishment.

However, he stopped merely a moment later and stared at the fork in his hand. His left hand to be exact.

’How was I able to use my fork with my left hand? Could it be?’ Michael’s mind raced as he made his way to the kitchen sink in order to wash the fork which had been left on the floor.

After returning to the table, he began to eat with his left hand wielding the fork. He was shocked to see that he was able to freely use it just as well as he could with his right hand.

’This must be the Game Changer ability affecting my adaptability...’

His mind began to work, thinking about all the possibilities that had just opened up for him. Could it be that he was just as dexterous with his left arm as he was with his right now?

’Does that mean I can throw water bottles with both hands?’

Michael’s spirit surged, feeling a wave of ecstasy threaten to overcome him. However, he quickly reigned it in. He didn’t want to get his hopes up just yet.

"Arthur, let’s go play catch after breakfast." Michael said, his tone serious.

"Huh? Ah okay. With jelly babies?"

"Not so fast Mister. We haven’t discussed your punishment yet." Sarah stated, her gaze a little fiery.

"Y-Yes Sarah." Michael murmured in response. Despite being a visionary mentally, he still found it tough to face his friend’s wife’s stare when she was in this mood.

Once everyone had finished breakfast, Arthur excused himself from the table, not wanting to be embroiled in the ensuing budget talks.

Around 20 minutes later, the two men went to the garden with a football.

Michael had a small smile on his face after the talk with the owners. The punishment that Kenji had come up with was quite superficial, at least by Michael’s standards.

In addition to some extra media appearances, he now had a limit of one yellow card per month. However, if his Champions League results were bad, they would reassess the punishment once more.

There was no talk about forbidding him from rejecting the PSG offer, nor selling Kaito.

He had a feeling that the punishment was only so light because he had come clean by himself and not made any excuses for his actions. If it was his previous self, he might have copped it a lot worse.

Thankfully, he had taken the right actions by owning up to his mistakes like a manager should. This probably garnered some sympathy from both his friends which in turn worked in his favor.

"Why were you so serious about playing catch?" Arthur asked, placing the ball on the grass.

"I just want to try something." Michael replied, walking to the other side of the garden.

Arthur raised his eyebrow in question, wondering why Michael wasn’t wearing his boots.

In the next moment, Michael brought his hands together and lifted his knee in the air close to his body, beginning his wind-up for a throw.

"Ah! What are you doing?" Arthur called out in confusion.

However, Michael ignored him and continued. Although it felt a little foreign, he lunged forward with his right foot before planting it on the grass and whipping his left arm in a throwing action.

Arthur’s eyes widened, feeling a strange aura flowing from his Boss. He suddenly regretted not putting his glasses on for this.

He sharpened his concentration and braced himself for the ball that would surely come blitzing towards him in a moment. Yet he could only open his jaw wide in the next moment as he saw the ball blazing through the air.

"Ah..."

The two both watched on silently as the ball rocketed straight through the air as if it was a NASA rocket on its way to the moon.

SMASH!

The ball flew over the fence and shattered the greenhouse window next door.

Michael felt his face heat up in embarrassment. "Maybe I need a little bit of practice with the Game Changer."

Arthur stared at the broken glass. "Boss... that was Mrs. Higgins’ prize orchids."

"Run," Michael whispered. "Run like Kaito."