Chapter 284: back to the beginning

Clark already knew of his best friend’s mansion before he went for his latest mission in the Everest, but he was not going there. Today was a Thursday, he was pretty sure that Leo was in his military division base.

Thinking of the fact that Leo was already an old veteran in the Python military division, he chuckled amusedly to himself.

As soon as he drove past the enormous gate that led inside the Presidential Villa, he leaned back on his chair, added pressure to the car’s gas pedal before speeding off straight to the highway.

With a calm face, he accepted the fresh atmosphere of the highway.

…

A few hours later when it was already getting late, he finally arrived at the familiar roads of Delhi city. His speed slowed considerably as he expertly drove down from the highway and into the boisterous road.

The wide road was filled with vehicles going back and forth, spreading optimism in the air. As the road leading to the city’s only military division, it was not weird for it to be like this.

Though no one recognized Clark here, seeing the military vehicle that was cruising across the road was enough for the other casual drivers to steer away in respect.

Seeing the familiar road, the familiar layout of streets and buildings, the familiar atmosphere of Delhi citizens, Clark’s face lit up into a smile with a nostalgic feeling engulfing his heart.

This was where he started his career as a soldier.

After over 4 years, he was finally back, he was back to the beginning. Feeling the respect emanating from everyone that saw his car only made his heart warmer.

“I missed this feeling”. He muttered; his eyes enchanted in delight.

As soon as a clear path was made for him by the other drivers on the road, he horned appreciatively at them before stepping hard on the gas pedal, prompting the car to speed across.

For the next 15 minutes before he arrived at the Python military division base, he was assaulted with a lot of sights that evoked countless nostalgic feelings in his heart.

What shocked him most was that he saw a large signboard with a picture of himself on it. He was completely stunned. “This advertisement board is still here?”

This board was made by the well-known broadcasting station, STA [Spartan Television Authority] when he raided and disbanded Haaland’s security company owned by the traitor, Tim Haaland 4 years ago.

As the board was made then to highlight his status as a rising star of the Python military division, he thought that it would have been removed by now but he was clearly wrong.

He suddenly felt smug. Hell men, he had the right to be proud of himself a bit. Then as the best graduating cadet of his batch, he was damn popular.

Thinking of the good old days, he smiled.

With a large zooming sound from him revving his car’s engine, he announced his arrival to the soldiers who were manning the gate of the military base.

A soldier came out to meet him. Before the young man could even speak out, he wound down the car glass and stuck his hand out, his military badge sparkling under the illumination of the sun.

The poor soldier stiffened before hastily saluting. “Major!”

Clark nodded with a reassuring smile which made the soldier heave a sigh of relief as he hastily asked for the gates to be opened.

When he drove inside the military base, he noticed some new changes that were not here 4 years back. He was not surprised; he would have been even surprised if nothing changed.

After parking the military car at the garage, as soon as he came out of the car, he saw a soldier walking in his direction. “That was fast”.

“Hey!” The soldier waved at him. “Do you still remember me?”

Clark was stunned as he did a double-take on this soldier. “Sergeant Adam?”

“Yes, it’s me”. The soldier visibly heaved a sigh of relief. “It’s been a long time, Major. I thought you wouldn’t recognize me again”.

“What do you mean? You’re my buddy”. Clark laughed loudly before giving the soldier a bear hug, he was pretty surprised by this unexpected encounter.

Sergeant Adam was among the few high-grade soldiers that he met in the military division back then when he just came with Leo and Benny. He felt warm meeting old friends.

After taking jabs at each other to relive the old days, the Sergeant finally started escorting Clark away. According to him, Captain Daniel asked for Clark as soon as the news of his arrival reached his desk.

Though the Sergeant originally acted restrained around him, with just a few words Clark was able to make him feel free to express himself again.

It could not be helped really. After 4 years, Adam was still a Sergeant which was a normal scenario, but his abnormal comrade already leaped a few ranks straight to the rank of a Major.

At times, he felt that they were living in different worlds. If not so, why would the difference between them be so vast?

Clark felt weird meeting his superior of 4 years ago again, but he shrugged the feeling of.

As soon as he entered the captain’s apartment in the military base, he was greeted with the stern man’s deep voice again.

“Clark! You came?” Captain Daniel had a rare smile on his face.

“Yes, Captain”. Clark replied respectfully.

Forget about the fact that he was now a 3rd rank high-grade soldier also, respect is reciprocal. He was conscious of the fact that this man was once his superior and had guided him.

“I came to meet my friend after coming back from my mission”.

“Oh, I heard it from Leo that you went for some confidential mission. Well, sorry, Leo is not here now, he’s celebrating his wife’s pregnancy at home”.

“What?”

Clark was shocked, which foreign terms are these? His friend, a wife, pregnancy, none of these words correlated at all to him, the contrast was too much.

Captain Daniel just smiled before telling him a fairy tale that was hard to believe. Yes, he felt that this was a fairy tale.

After just 4 months of him not being around, not only did his best friend marry his fiancée, Leo was now about to become a father, a term that seemed alien to him despite all the facts laid down.

“The drunken hands is about to become a father?”

“What?” Captain Daniel looked at him.

“Oh, nothing, I was singing”.

“…”

The truth was that he was completely stunned. He found it a little unbelievable, Leo was now a married man!

After he digested this truth, only happiness filled his heart for his best friend. Now, he could not wait to see his married friend. Did Leo become a different Leo after becoming a husband?

That bastard was really fierce. He still couldn’t believe that he won Kate’s heart in such a short time frame; since when did Leo become so skilled with the other sex?

Suppressing the feeling in his heart, he finally turned to speak with his Captain again. They exchanged a few more words before he stood up to go.

During this time that he stayed, 3 other soldiers came in to meet him. Of the soldiers that he stayed with in the military division, including Sergeant Adam and Leo, only 5 of them were still here.

Of course, he enjoyed some nostalgic moments with them but unfortunately, he couldn’t stay with them more. He also broke the news of Benny’s death to them, which was completely shocking to them.

Captain Daniel was calm though. “He died as a real soldier, he died doing something good for the republic. It’s a glorious thing, not something to be sad about”.

“Thanks for this moment Captain, I think it’s time that I go”.

This was when Captain Daniel broke the shell. “When did you break through?”

Clark was stunned and rendered speechless for a moment.

The other soldiers were even more confused at first but when the realization of the question that was just asked came to them, they practically fainted immediately.

Sergeant Adam had imaginary tears and snots all over his face. “Clark, you’re now a 3rd rank high-grade soldier?”

“Umm…, yeah”.

“…”

After they got over their shock, they congratulated him, using this to offset the sadness caused by the news of Benny’s death.

They escorted him out, all except the Captain, of course. They wished him well before allowing him to go.

Driving out of the military division base, Clark felt his heart become warmer. He didn’t know why, but spending time with soldiers that were close to Benny alleviated his suffering about the latter’s death a bit.

Before he left, some soldiers who knew him already heard about his arrival. They gathered together at the gate, waving at him vigorously as he drove out of the base.

This brought another smile to his face.

…

As Benny’s mansion was built not too far from the military division base, Clark was able to get there just after 10 minutes of driving.

As soon as the gatekeeper opened the gem-laced gate, he drove inside smoothly before parking the car at the mansion’s garage. He finally laid his eyes on the recently wedded couple.

“Clark? You’re back?” Leo was surprised.

When he first saw the military vehicle, his first guess was that a soldier from the Python military division visited him. He did not expect to see Clark at all.

Thwack!

“Ouch!” Leo whined as soon as Clark’s hand smacked his head.

“You actually have the guts to get married without me being there? It seems that a girl has brainwashed you, I will reprogram your brain today”.

As the 2 best friends enjoyed their reunion in a well, peculiar way, a voice suddenly reverberated out, making the both of them stiffen.

“Leave my husband alone!”

“Oh boy!” Clark almost fainted.

“Please, it’s not medically advisable to scream like that. You’re a doctor Kate, how can you not know something so simple? Do you want to bring harm to our baby?” Clark improvised on the spot.

“…”

“Hahaha”.

Husband and wife went silent for a moment before they erupted laughing the next moment. Leo finally hosted his best friend properly with his wife, making sure to give him a memorable time.

During dinner, they took their time to discuss the good old days, poking jokes at each other. When Kate retreated for the night, Clark finally broke the sad news to his best friend.

To Clark’s surprise, Leo took the news more calmly than he thought.

He sighed. “We’ve grown up”.

He agreed with Leo. They were soldiers, and Benny made his choice. Being sad over it was ok, but being depressed was a no.

Benny died serving the Spartan republic, the best they could do for him as friends is to give him a burial befitting a Sergeant.

They also decided to visit Benny’s parents the next day. No matter how sad the news was, they still had to inform their friend’s parents. It was their right to know of their son’s death.

To Clark, avenging his friend’s death was enough. As Dickson said, life moves on.

[Here's the second chapter for today, sorry for the late release.]