Chapter 190: the deep dark secrets of the spartan republic

An hour after the soldiers who followed Clark to destroy the terrorist base came back from their aggressive pursuit, the aftermath of the destruction wrath by the terrorists gradually started being curbed.

Medical practitioners around the city were mobilized, as help finally started being rendered to the injured.

Every hospital that was close by became overwhelmed with patients, as they strained their resources to treat so many injured and traumatized people.

The families who went through and survived the trauma of the attack were quickly isolated after quick treatments, to undergo elaborate psychological examination by the hospitals’ psychiatrists and psychologists.

As the medical officials did their jobs, cleaning bots also arrived to remove all the blood that dyed the roads. Vatican City suddenly felt like a city that was recovering from a pandemic, as recovery activities went on in full swing.

The news media was banned from broadcasting the news for now. Though they were frustrated, they did not dare disobey as this was a direct order from their Major, Clark himself.

As all these commotions from the recovery procedures went on, Clark finally went inside a room at one of the better equipped and developed hospitals. Like the others, he also sustained injuries from the attack, though they were far milder.

The only thing that showed that he was injured was the small bandage that was attached to the corner of his forehead.

This was the only glaring injury that he sustained from the attack, and it was when the terrorist Commander dominated him in their small duel before he got his trump cards.

After entering the room, the door was quickly shut close as he trudged directly to the chair placed at the center of the room. Seeing him enter, 5 figures in the room stood up to greet him.

After receiving treatment from the doctors who attended to him, he already changed into his Spartan army uniform. The golden colors of the uniform paired with his frightening gloomy face formed an unpleasant contrast.

As soon as he sat down on the chair, he inclined his head to the side, supported it with his left hand before looking deep into the eyes of the 5 leading commissioners of the city.

“Tell me”.

“Yes, sir”. The one with the most authority among them quickly responded politely, as he could see that their leader was still pissed off from the attack.

“After a proxy statistic was made, our A. I processed the damage reports and estimated that the dead civilians are approximately 5000. 4200 deaths have already been confirmed, the status of the others is still unknown”.

“Our soldiers are working at full capacity to excavate and rescue anyone that was trapped from the destruction caused by the attack”.

“Of the 4200 dead, 1200 are adult males, 1843 are adult females, the remaining 1157 are children and teenagers”.

After saying all these, the commissioner paused a bit on seeing his leader’s expression, allowing him to digest the information before he could continue.

Hearing all these statistics, though Clark already expected it, he still felt crushed and sad. His straight shoulders and muscle-filled figure backdropped a bit, as he leaned back on his chair while closing his eyes to regulate his emotions.

He faintly felt like this attack was because of neglect on his part. Though he always knew that the threat of the Persian tigers was there, he never really took it seriously.

Till now, he still took overthrowing the big 5 as his only goal, while neglecting the immediate problem of the Persian tigers’ organization that was supposed to be his priority.

This was when he knew that his scale of preference in terms of priorities was heavily skewed and flawed. He should have placed the terrorists as his top priority for now, and the big 5 as his secondary priority.

A lot of things went through his mind in these short few seconds, as the silence stretched infinitely making the room suddenly seem like a graveyard.

After thinking through a lot of things and finally recollecting his thoughts and emotions a bit, he sighed before opening his eyes and staring at the silent commissioners again.

“Continue”.

Seeing that he did not flip out immediately as feared, the leader of the commissioners heaved a sigh of relief inwardly before he continued.

“Ok, sir”.

“According to our economic processing A. Is, it is estimated that the damage caused to the 4 towns that were attacked has stacked up to over 12,000,000 Spartan credits”.

“Though our budget for terrorist attacks is enough to solve the financial problem, it will still strain us economically”.

“Don’t worry about that, use the loot that we got from the terrorist base to cover it up. I believe that it is enough to cover the costs”. Clark quickly interjected, canceling that problem with a wave of his hand.

Hearing what he said, the commissioners were shocked as they all looked at him incredulously.

“You are not taking the loot?”

Hearing this and seeing their expressions, Clark’s face darkened a bit as he easily grasped their thought processes.

“What do you all take me for? Do you think that I’ll be thinking of profiting when my citizens suffered so much in just a day?”

“Sorry sir, we misunderstood you”.

A weird but badly hidden smile outlined the commissioner’s faces, as they quickly started filling him on all the information that he needed to know.

Though they have never served under a leader before, they saw in other territories enough to know that they got a very nice leader. They never knew that the feeling of having a caring and reliable leader was so cushy cushy and nice.

It took another 15 minutes before they finally explained everything about the current condition of the 4 attacked cities to Clark.

After getting answers to almost everything that he needed, Clark nodded before suddenly sitting straighter on his chair. He wanted to find an answer to a puzzling question that he was thinking of since when he just destroyed the terrorist base.

“Commissioners…, I need nothing but the truth from you all. Tell me, how were the terrorists able to invade the city and attack without any single intelligence unit detecting it”.

“Don’t bullshit me this time, I want the truth. I’m not completely ignorant, I know that my city has better equipment and detection abilities than the terrorists”.

“There’s no way they can invade so easily with their abilities. This is not the main mobile base of the Persian tigers; this is a goddamn side base. Tell me how this happened”.

Nearing the end of his query, his voice slightly grew louder due to his agitated feelings before turning into a growl.

Hearing such an unexpected question from their Major, the commissioners were caught off guard and were stumped. They had to receive another prompting from Clark again before they reacted.

“Umm, sir, this is a very controversial topic”.

“I said don’t bullshit me!!” Clark raged as he stood up from his chair, startling the 5 commissioners who immediately cowered back”.

“Oh…, ok, sir”.

After taking a moment to calm his nerves, the leader of the commissioners finally spoke out again. They have never seen Clark rage at them, the first time was always the most shocking.

He activated his jamming device to prevent snooping eyes, as he spoke out with a solemn expression on his face.

“Sir, as I said, this is a very controversial topic. If you have been keeping note of the happenings in the city, and even the whole republic, I believe that you would have already noticed the strange happenings”.

He took a moment to organize his wordings, adjusted his suit that was now a little covered with sweat before continuing with a slight cough.

“There are some deep dark secrets of the republic that are safer if kept hidden where they belong. Though we are in the era of exotics and technology, it's not only soldiers that own all the powers of the republic”.

“There are some people that I don’t know their names that have most of the powers to the governing of the republic in their hands, every decision-making power is not at the palms of our President alone”.

“Though I don’t have much information due to my lowly status compared to them, it is clear that they are not exactly the most peaceful type. If they want chaos to advance their endeavors, then the chaos will fill the country”.

“They have delegates and followers in every city of the republic, so their influence is equal to the President’s, if not stronger. They decide what we are and what we see every day”.

“Sir, please, don’t force me further. Even with all these jamming devices activated, I cannot guarantee that we are not being monitored”.

“I believe that with the little that I already said, you can connect the dots and answer the question that you asked yourself”.

Hearing this mind-blowing information that just dropped from nowhere like a nuclear bomb, Clark could not help but just watch his commissioners in a daze. His brain quickly went to work and started analyzing different things.

“No wonder”.

He felt like this information that he just heard was the piece of the puzzle that he was looking for all along. If this was true, then most of his confusions and speculations were all finally answered and clarified.

After he became a 2nd rank high-grade soldier and returned home from the Mediterranean Sea, he started observing and discovering some problems that he originally overlooked.

As he grew in influence and power, he also finally started seeing the real depths of how powerful his country actually was.

With his current knowledge about military power, he was sure that if Sparta really wanted it, they could mobilize in large numbers and wipe out the whole Persian tigers’ organization in less than a month.

Though the terrorists were strong, compared to the might of the Spartan republic, they were just like bulldogs challenging a lion to a duel.

After pairing this puzzle with the piece of knowledge that he just got from his commissioners, he finally answered his question.

“So, these mysterious people are the people who are secretly protecting and funding the terrorists from the dark. How strong are they that they can do something so terrible against a whole country?”

“Can Leonidas not wipe them out? Do they have more power over the country than him?”

Though he got the knowledge that some strong people in the dark were the ones probably orchestrating the tyranny of the terrorists, he was not afraid, his curiosity to know these hidden behemoths only grew.

He wanted to know what gave them the guts to use their fellow human beings like chess pieces to further their motives.

Seeing that the incredulous and thinking expression on his face subsided a bit, the leader of the commissioners finally spoke out again in a significantly more timid tone this time.

“Sir, the time for your press conference is now. The Vatican citizens need reassurance from you to calm their hearts that they are finally safe”.

Clark finally snapped out of his thoughtful daze, as he nodded to show that he understood before standing up. In this short moment that he internalized this new information, he already came to some crucial decisions.

Bzzz!! As he took a step forward to go outside the room, he was stopped by the sound of his military encrypted communication device ringing.

Taking it out, he sighed on seeing the person who called. He could already imagine how flustered Rose would be, hearing that he went with his soldiers to hunt down the terrorists to their base.

“Please, give me a moment. I will be there shortly”.

The 5 commissioners acknowledged immediately, as they all left the hall with monotonous and awkward footsteps.

As Clark was about to answer the call, he was surprised as the communication device indicated that another person was calling at the same time. Seeing the person’s identity, he was even more surprised.

“Leo called?”

[Thank you for reading this chapter, I really appreciate it. If you love this book, please leave your power stones behind to support it. Purchase privilege for The Conspiracy Of The Elites and read a varying amount of chapters ahead of regular readers.]