Chapter 179: trails of the elusive thief

The sun shone down on its full splendor, illuminating the large mansion with its shine while making its walls and surrounding environment sparkle with a light golden sheen.

After Clark got the mission from General Vincent, he immediately put his now enormous influence into play by issuing a region-wide search for the thief. With the silent help of the General, his decree quickly came into effect across South Sparta.

Despite the enormous mobilization of the regions’ intelligence agencies, this thief still proved to be extremely elusive, proving the General’s words that he was probably a spoiled brat from a high-grade country.

To show contempt for the search methods being utilized against him, he struck again thrice during the last week.

What really pissed off Clark was that this brat targeted him specifically, as 2 of those theft attacks were aimed at Vatican City.

The first one was the next day immediately after he issued the decree, where the thief came out to raid the City’s public military armory.

Though he was not completely unhinged and did not wreak havoc rampantly nor kill anyone, his movements were completely filled with mockery for the rulership of the city.

He even complimented it to increase his mysterious identity by leaving a gold-plated R mark, to represent his identity whenever he struck. Seeing all these, Clark finally knew why the General was determined to capture this brat.

The 2nd attack was on the nearby Gandalf City, and the last one which just happened 2 days ago was in Vatican City again.

This time, the brat raided the city’s central bank, stealing more than half of the money left as ground reserves. This was what crossed the limit, as the whole city was now on high alert for any signs of him.

“Prick, enjoy your freedom now. If I ever capture you, you’re dead”. Clark cursed frustratedly, as he finally felt what it was like to be crushed by the difference in gadgets and equipment quality.

After taking time to device torture measures in his head that he would use against the thief when he caught him, he finally turned to his bathroom to bathe.

Today was a Sunday, so he intended to go to church again after so long. As he wanted to use it as an opportunity for publicity to enhance his stature, all his workers would be following him there.

20 minutes later, his make-up artists finally completed their works. This time, he was dressed in a native attire exclusive to Vatican City.

The large attire was made by special tailors and designers, who used the fabric to make him a large garment that looked like those used by patriarchs in medieval web novels.

After complimenting it with the other local spicy add-ons, he now looked more mature than his age.

Though he felt awkward on the large garment, he endured the feeling as his assistant told him that this dress code would make him gain more favor in the people’s sight.

He slightly felt repulsed at such manipulative and calculative measures, but he trusted Rose, so he followed her advice.

Due to him staying here more often than he stayed at his other mansion, Rose relocated here to continue her job of being his assistant. Unlike him, she was dressed in a cute tuxedo suit.

After all the preparations were done, they finally left for the nearest big church in a bombastic manner.

Seeing the large entourage of vehicles that left their leader’s mansion, the curiosity of the Vatican’s living nearby was sparked as they all followed to know his location.

On hearing the news, the Spartan professional reporters quickly mobilized like sharks that just smelled fresh blood.

Due to his movements, the church that he went to ended up making the headlines for the day. People from all over Vatican City came, after hearing the news to see their leader in the church for the first time.

3 hours later, after the church session ended, he came out and had a little time with the people before he went back with his large entourage to his mansion.

On getting back, he did not waste time with his workers as he immediately went inside to remove his uncomfortable garment. He had a lot of plans for today, so he was not staying at home.

After giving all his workers a day out, he ignited his car’s engine before driving out with Rose in tow. After so long together, they were already extremely close. She followed him everywhere he went, except his mission journeys.

…

30 minutes after he left in his car, he finally arrived at his destination. He went to a restaurant at the periphery borders of Benger City.

Coming down, a smile quickly brightened up his face on seeing his friends. Leo, Benny, Smart man, Emily, and Kate smiled at him, as he moved forward to meet them with his assistant in tow.

For the past 6 months, due to all their hectic schedules, they hardly saw each other, so they made today to be a special day to converge together and catch up on each other’s situation.

“Haha, the Vatican patriarch is finally here. Welcome bro”. Leo stood up with his mouth already running like flowing water, as he hugged his best friend.

Despite their current different statuses, both friends were still as close as back in their cadet training days.

After Leo did his shameless passionate hug to his fill, the other boys and girls could finally come to greet Clark.

Though Emily was the one with the most hectic schedule, she did not want to miss this gathering for anything, so she left the mercenary organization to be temporarily controlled by Jack, her second in command.

Clark and his assistant finally sat down, before wolfing down the luxurious food that was ordered for the both of them by his friends.

They rested for a few minutes after this, as they started discussing their eventful daily occurrences.

Though they all currently had different statuses, it was undeniable that they all already made a name for themselves. Even if it was not as bombastic as Clark’s, they were higher than normal citizens now.

“Ok, we’ve rested enough. We already choose the sentry beach, so no last-minute changes. Let’s go, I don’t think anyone has any other random events to discuss, right?”

Clark stopped the constant blabbering between them about their experiences, as he finally brought up the main topic of why they gathered.

They wanted to spend some time together and build up their bonds as friends more. What other way was better for doing that, than going to a popular beach and go crazy together.

Though Leo glared at Clark for interrupting his unfunny jokes session, he still obediently stood up to follow.

After so long, serving under the republic and doing their various works, they now all had their own exotic cars. Though they were not as expensive or outrageous as Clark’s, they could do the basic job of a car.

Zoom!! Zoom!! Zoom!! “Let’s see who gets there first”.

The challenge was not even fully given out before the 6 cars jerked softly, got more streamlined to prevent friction after receiving an order from their drivers before flying away across the road with thunder-like engine mechanical sounds.

Though there were road safety officials in the Spartan republic, as soldiers, they were allowed to go at any speed they wanted.

The reason was that they had the required skill, and they needed such speedy handling for most missions, so the military even encourages it.

10 minutes after their sharp burst of speed, Clark finally arrived at the sentry beach. His assistant already fainted from the high-speed movements of the car, but he kept a wide smile on his face as he won again.

2 minutes later, Leo finally arrived with Emily following closely behind. It took another 5 minutes before the other 3 slowpokes arrived, earning laughter from them all.

After bickering a bit about the outcome of the race, they finally stopped and went closer to the sea.

They quickly removed their clothes, put on their protective glasses before diving into the sea together as a group.

For the rest of the day, they either spent their time swimming leisurely, joining swimming competitions, getting refreshment to get their strength back, reciting stories to each other, or engaging in small-scale duels.

After being the undisputed winner in all the duels since they arrived here, Clark finally met his limit when all his friends ganged up to fight another friendly duel with him.

With Emily’s help, they finally overwhelmed him. Leo and the other boys jumped triumphantly like kids, as they rejoiced in their victory.

Only Emily did not join enthusiastically in the celebration, as she knew that Clark held back and went easy on them throughout the fight.

Seeing this long-awaited victory against the beast, Clark, the ecstatic Kate quickly rushed forward before giving Leo a fast kiss on the cheeks on impulse. As she wanted to go further, she finally remembered where she was, making her movements pause.

“Umm…, yeah…, we already suspected it. But damn”. This mistake made the atmosphere funnily awkward between them, as the already red Kate quickly ran away from them. She had never felt this embarrassed before.

Unlike her, Leo was not embarrassed at all. “What are you guys surprised about? Man, we are already old enough to do this, it puzzles me how you guys are still single. Act like adults”.

Hearing his completely shameless declaration, the others blushed on his behalf as they quickly resumed their games to defuse the awkwardness in the air.

Seeing their harmonious gathering, others at the beach slowly started coming to them to engage the games together, as they already recognized Clark after staying together with him for so long.

His current popularity worked wonders, as the part of the beach where they came to quickly attracted everyone to their positions. They spent the rest of the day like this.

At around 6 in the evening, they finally packed up and got ready to go. Their choice to come here proved to be the best decision, as the day was well spent for them.

As they changed into the other clothes that they brought with them, Clark’s implant suddenly notified him of an incoming message.

After bringing his encrypted communication device, his eyes narrowed on seeing the message that was displayed on the screen.

“Finally, they discovered trails left by this bastard”.

“You said what?” Leo who was nearby quickly asked his best friend, on hearing him mutter to himself.

“Oh, nothing. Just some random message”.

After using other words to shoo his curious best friend, he continued arranging his clothes normally.

Inwardly, he felt like cursing and shouting for joy at the same time, as trails of the thief who was currently terrorizing him and staining his reputation were finally found.

“I’ll come for you; just wait till I escort my friends back”.

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