Chapter 120: military briefing

The next day, after settling everything needed, the huge fleet of the Spartan republic finally embarked on their journey. After preparing a room for Emily next to his room on the main ship, Clark finally prepared to attend his first military meeting in years.

The tailors of the fleet, in conjunction with the tailoring A.I’s, prepared a completely brand new Spartan uniform for him. As the fleet was not facing an enemy, the higher-ups could wear their uniforms in the fleet, as no one would recognize them.

The unique color of the Spartan uniform, blue, black, and white, stood out, making him look like a man of authority. Sergeants were the 2nd strongest soldiers and the most important individuals in the fleet, so they had an exalted status.

The uniform was so immaculately made that he could not help smiling, as he admired its sharp and delicate edges. Paired with his slightly dark-toned skin, his current look was enough to win him an award.

The badge indicating his military rank as a Sergeant acted as the cream topping the cherry. It completely blended with the slightly dark colors of his uniform.

After admiring till satisfaction, he finally put on his military cap before turning to leave the room. The military briefing was scheduled to start in 10 minutes.

…

Shortly before the 10th-minute mark, he finally arrived at the meeting room. He was surprised on entering the room, as all the soldiers of the fleet were already here before him.

“Good morning Captain,” he greeted on seeing his Captain while complimenting it with a salute. He nodded at the other Sergeants, as a form of greeting.

“Good morning Sergeant”. Before he could sit down, the dozens of soldiers in the room stood up to greet him.

Only high-grade soldiers had the authority to attend this briefing that the Captain called for. The soldiers currently greeting him were the 1st rank high-grade soldiers, of the fleet. The 13 soldiers saluted, as they greeted their new Sergeant respectfully.

Clark acknowledged the soldiers with a nod of his head, before going to sit at the seat next to the commander.

As he sat, he could not help but think back to years ago when he was a captive of the Camelotian fleet. It just felt like yesterday to him. But now, he was no longer the inconsequential soldier of yesterday, he was now among the higher-ups.

His seating next to the Captain indicated his status as the new 2nd in command and the 2nd strongest soldier in the fleet.

Of the other 3 Sergeants in the fleet, two of them broke through 2 years ago. The last one just broke through to his rank, this year.

Sergeant Scott stared unblinkingly at Clark with glittering eyes, as just like the 1st rank high-grade soldiers, he also stood up to greet him. He was the new Sergeant who broke through this year.

He was of the same age as Clark, but that did not necessarily mean he was a genius. He was talented, but his breakthrough some months ago was completely by luck.

Unlike others, his father was a Captain of the Spartan republic, so he started training in the ways of the soldier since he was a child. Comparing when he started training with his current rank, showed his steady but mediocre talent and performance.

He was very hardworking, but most of the time, his performance underscored the efforts he put into training. Since the first day he heard about Clark, he became his fan.

After watching all his battles in the gladiator tournament, his respect for him grew exponentially. After looking up his history to see his achievements, and seeing that he emerged as the best cadet in his batch, this new Sergeant instantly became his idol.

Unless soldiers hated each other for a particular reason, all soldiers admired and respected the strong. After seeing Clark’s achievements, he already crossed his mind to get closer to him by all means.

After all the exchange of greeting, Captain Oxford finally opened his mouth to speak, instantly taking the center of attention.

“Good morning soldiers, you are all welcome to this important meeting. I called this meeting to update you all on the contents of our latest mission. There’s not much preparation time left for us”.

“For this mission, we don’t have to leave the sea, as the mission’s location is here in the Mediterranean Sea. Though no mission is easy, when I said this mission is extremely dangerous, I was not exaggerating, I will prove why”.

He waved his hand across the round table, as a projection quickly appeared, covering the whole table. All the soldiers kept quiet, as they looked at the projection. They already recognized the structure being projected.

“This is a treasure vault that a country deliberately filled up, and kept as a secret from the Seafarers alliance. The Seafarers surveillance team discovered traces of it a month ago, and they eventually traced the vault to its destination”.

“Despite being the absolute rulers of the waters, the Seafarers alliance’s forces are too stretched thin to monitor every corner of the water bodies”.

“The Atlantic Ocean is their main base, and they don’t still have an absolute grasp over all of its corners. They have even lesser forces here in the Mediterranean sea, so manner organizations and countries tend to be slippery at times”.

“One of the countries with high-grade military strength, the Nadan republic, succeeded in getting this valuable information in an auction organized by the Seafarers alliance 2 months ago”.

“This information was supposed to be exclusive information to them, but somehow, the information was leaked. Through some not too convenient means, our information team succeeded in getting part of the gist also”.

“According to the information we received, we believe that some countries and organizations also got this information. But just like us, they only got parts and fragments of it”.

“If the information is accurate, we believe that this vault is a treasure room, holding huge amounts of Arcanite metal. You already know the famous exotic metal, so I won’t elaborate on that”.

The Captain was right, as all the soldiers here knew about the extremely popular high-grade exotic metal. Arcanite metal is one of the best high-grade exotic metals, used by most high-grade countries and organizations to make their equipment.

When processed, it can be used in the production of high-grade exotic cold weapons, and some countries even use it in the production of some delicate parts in exotic guns.

If the information was correct, and there was such a vault holding such valuable wealth. Then they had to take part in it, by all means. That was no longer only wealth, but resources.

If they could get only a small amount, some higher-ups of the republic could immediately upgrade their gears to high-grade gears. Arcanite was not an exotic metal, that could be left behind when found.

After pausing for a bit to allow the soldiers to process the information he just dumped to them, Captain Oxford continued.

“As you may have already guessed, the danger of this mission is in the type of competitors we will meet in our quest to take a bite from this huge pie. As I already mentioned, the original owner of this information is already a country with high-grade military strength”.

“So, I’m expecting to meet other fleets there that are also from countries with high-grade military strength”.

“Our chances of taking a bite at this huge meat…, is extremely low. And you know that the Spartan republic would not leave such an opportunity behind”.

“Due to these considerations of how insignificant our strength is, we decided to combine our strength with one of our allies. For this mission, we are partnering with the Dawn kingdom”.

“The picture of the vault that we could get is not detailed enough, so we don’t know the capabilities of the vault, nor do we know if soldiers are manning it. Because of this lack of information, our main A. I evaluated the possibility of success to be less than 40%”.

“But we would still try our luck. When we reach there, we would make more sophisticated decisions on the spot. If we can’t get anything, and the chance of dying is high, we have orders to retreat”.

“The mission is dangerous, but so also is the reward being given for it. The reward has not been decided on yet, but expect it to be a satisfying one”.

“Go and get prepared for the next few days, if there are new updates, I will endeavor to keep you all up to date. Most of you have not battled in months; endeavor to brush up your training for the next few days”.

“We are expecting to converge with the Dawn kingdom’s fleet in a week. Do not spread this news to the other soldiers in the fleet, this is an order”.

After giving his last instruction about their mission to the soldiers, the Captain finally ordered one of the Sergeants to report the normal military report.

Sergeant Brody stood up with the report in his hands, as he gave the military report on the status of the ship, the soldiers, and their readiness for battle. They had to know the state of their fleet, in case any unwanted situation arises.

After going through all the available reports, the meeting was finally adjourned till further notice.

Clark stood up, as he exchanged greetings with his fellow soldiers again before going out of the meeting room. As he went out of the room, his implant suddenly sent him a message notification.

[Ding!! Hostility alert: From the expression and mannerisms of Sergeant Brody, hate and hostile feelings have been detected towards master.]

Clark smiled helplessly on hearing this; there was nothing he could do. Being the 2nd in command of the fleet previously, his arrival and taking of position pissed off the middle-aged Sergeant.

He didn’t feel sorry though, as in this age respect and authority were not equivalent to age, but to power. If the Sergeant felt he was being badly treated, he was always available to be challenged to a battle to decide the 2nd in command.

That’s the way of the Sparta republic, this was not the Mocan republic or any other civilian ruled countries where they manipulate and influence things from behind the scenes.

…

After going back to his room, he undressed from his uniform, before dropping on his bed while still in his underwear to rest his aching muscles. He closed his eyes, as he enjoyed the sensation of the sea breeze blowing into the room.

[Ding!! Incoming call request from Emily.]

He smiled and opened his eyes on hearing this, as he accepted the call. After knowing that he was back, Emily decided to contact him immediately to spend time together.

Unlike the days when they were still gladiators, this time he accepted the invitation. Those days, he was constantly under the pressure to improve or die. But now, he was more relaxed.

He quickly changed into casual clothes, as he climbed up to the deck of the ship to accompany the already waiting Emily.

For the rest of the day, they leisurely discussed their experiences, while counting the number of sea creatures they discovered as the ship moved forward.

[Thank you for reading this chapter, I really appreciate it. If you love this book, please leave your power stones behind to support it.]