Chapter 293: war preparation

Albert was having the time of his life since 2 days ago when he made the abrupt decision to accept Clark as his teacher. It was abrupt but he didn’t regret it in the slightest, he was happy that he made the decision.

Though after he made up with Clark and he returned the resources that he stole to get his attention, he still didn’t get much of Clark’s attention, he was compensated in ways that he did not expect.

“Where will you find a bunch of unemployed and unengaged high-grade soldiers to train and spar with? The answer is Major Clark’s mansion”.

Since 18 years ago when he just came to this world through his mom’s womb, this was the first time that he was seeing so many high-grade soldiers with such free time.

With Captain Josh around, Jason and his clique of subordinates, even King, he was not bored at all. His training and improvement efficiency already increased by a lot after sparing so many times with these experts, he felt on top of the world.

Normally, high-grade soldiers are always busy as they wanted to improve and get more strength, money also.

They either become soldiers serving under a country to achieve this goal or they become mercenaries, either lone mercenaries or they decide to set up their own mercenary organization.

Because of this, it was hard to see a high-grade soldier being free unless he/she just decided to go on a vacation, which was even more rare.

This was the norm across the world, but in Clark’s mansion, it was different. Since they arrived in the Spartan republic, Clark was busy with a lot of things so the soldiers that came back with him were idle for the time being.

He made some promises to them, but this would only be fulfilled after he was free again.

This did not make them dissatisfied though, they loved it here. After staying in regions where they had to bear some terrifying conditions, facing normalcy again brought them a feeling that they could not describe.

2 days ago, when they came back to the mansion after an eventful day out and heard that Clark took on a student, they were all surprised.

Driven by curiosity, they all sought out this student.

After meeting Albert for the first time, they all fell in love with the young man. He was just too cute to hate, his mannerisms, sense of humor, everything about him resonated with them.

Since then, whenever he asked for spars, they all diligently fought with him to hone his skills.

After just these few days, they already became good friends. It felt unreal, but some people were just so socially good. It was a talent that could not be replicated.

“Albert, what do you think? Want to go bike racing?” Josh winked as he asked the billionaire boy with a smile that was not a smile.

Yeah, it could not be forgotten that their new friend had a billionaire dad also. When they went to his warehouse to retrieve the Vatican City resources that he stole, they were blinded by luxury.

If not because of shame, they would have all agreed to let him become the boss and they would gladly be his followers.

The only problem was that Albert complained that his dad froze his account because he’s not visited home for the past 2 months. Like, how can his dad expect him to visit home every month when he was so far away from home?

Despite his frozen account, he was still a rich boy in his own right.

“I’ll have to take permission from Master first before going out”. Albert smiled at the others.

Getting to meet these guys was an experience that he cherished. Since he was small, he had always received the best of everything due to the influence of his dad.

His dad wanted to enroll him to take the course that could make him become a soldier of Araga, but he refused despite being only 15 then.

Instead of being a soldier who was confined to specific locations, he loved being an explorer more. Not a mercenary, just an explorer. He dreamed of getting to every nook and crook of the earth one day.

When he was younger, the 4th rank high-grade soldier that he had the privilege of learning from once told him that he had a special power, which was charisma.

He didn’t understand then, but now he understood.

He still didn’t know everything, but he was sure that the special ability was what made other people ease up to him far more easily than they would have done to others.

He also guessed that this was why Clark accepted him so easily as his student.

“I’ll be back in a jiffy, let me meet master”. As he left, the others smiled and waved at him.

…

Clark stood at a vantage point in his mansion, looking over the whole territory with a complicated look in his eyes.

It started 3 and a half years ago when he just graduated as a soldier with his parent’s ancestral home as his only net worth. Now, he was a 3rd rank high-grade soldier, the owner of 3 mansions, and the leader of the whole Vatican City.

From when he started, he already grew a lot. He was now a largely successful soldier, far more than most of his peers.

A bright smile lit his face as he looked on at the workers working energetically below, the smiling gatekeeper, the soldiers who came back with him from the Everest, and of course the new Albert- his student.

The word still sounded alien to him a few months back.

Perhaps, it was because he also had a teacher that was why he accepted Albert’s proposal so easily. He didn’t know why, he just felt that the kid was pleasing to the eye.

He was not old yet, but he could see the 18-year-old him in the boy.

Pleasing to the eye was in a different concept though. He still remembered a few months ago when he locked himself in, depressed just because of this same annoying young man.

As he looked on, the door leading to the balcony where he stood suddenly swung open. He was not surprised; he saw Albert when he started coming upwards.

Before Albert could speak, he spoke first without turning back. “Call everyone to the sitting room”.

“Umm, master?” Not getting any response, the kid sighed. “Should I call Mr. King also?”

“Yes, tell them that I want to have a talk with them”.

“Ok”. He skipped away the next moment.

Seeing this, Clark still felt that it was a dream. When he saw his student’s warehouse, he finally knew the real definition of money.

The warehouse was not only fortified like a military base, it was filled to the brim with gadgets upon gadgets, hundreds of machines, military cars, bikes, and lots of other things.

Perhaps, this was the real reason why he accepted the bastard as his student. But he doubted it, he knew his heart.

As soon as he saw Josh and the others responding to his summon, he took a deep breath and left the balcony, going back inside the house.

10 minutes later, the sound of the door being shut close reverberated as King entered the sitting room with a lazy expression on his face. Everyone else already came here before him.

As soon as he sat down, Clark activated a jamming device, turned to face Josh and the others before smiling. “How’s your stay here going? I hope Vatican City did not disappoint your expectations”.

“I know it’s better than the Everest though”.

“It’s not too developed but the atmosphere here is very harmonious, which is something that I love. So for me, it’s amazing”. Josh replied first.

The others responded shortly after, relaying their various views and experiences of staying in Vatican City.

“You didn’t call us here just to waste our time and ask this right?” King finally got fed up with all the talks.

“Of course not. You already heard of what I want to say, but I just want you to be here to receive the details with the others”.

“Guys, we’ll be getting set for battle very soon”.

“Really?” Josh was surprised.

“Yes, our opponent is the Persian tigers organization. As you’ve stayed here for a few days already, I believe that you already heard of the Persian tigers so I won’t say much about them”.

“They declared war and attacked my city when I was not around, now I want to strike back”.

“I gave you guys the past few days to relax yourselves from all the stress of your previous region, now is the time for you all to know”.

“My plan is very ambitious, and I need a lot of helping hands to make sure that it works. I’ll send the digital copy of my drafted plan to your implants in a moment, please go through it”.

“This attack would be in a month, so you have a lot of preparation time”.

“There’s a lot of things to look out for. If you have any questions, you can ask my assistant about it. The plan was drawn out with Rose’s help, so she can answer all your queries as much as I can do”.

“Though she’s not a soldier, she is a competent assistant who received special training in the Spartan army”.

After the copy of the plan was sent to their implants, they all kept quiet as they went through the information. 2 minutes later, they all opened their eyes with solemn expressions lacing their faces.

King narrowed his eyes. “Your proposed plan is a complete wipe-out of the terrorists. Vatican City is big, it’s not possible to detect and attack all the hidden terrorist bases at the same time without sustaining substantial damage”.

“The quality and quantity of your soldiers are not enough to wipe out the terrorists even if we’re added, it’s just not feasible”.

“And your city already suffered too much in such a short time frame, pushing for another attack now is not advisable by me. I already thought into the plan after you told it to your commissioners”.

Clark grinned. “Don’t worry about the problem of soldiers. I already told you guys that I need a lot of help to make my plans a success, you guys are not my only reinforcement”.

He waved his hand in the air as a picture got projected in mid-air. “Let me introduce you all to Corporal Emily”.

“She’s the temporary Commander of the Pendragon Mercenary group, which she jointly created with me. She’s a friend, and she’s just one of the reinforcements that I have in mind”.

“Don’t worry, I want you to start your preparation now. In a few weeks, all the puzzles will come together to form a whole”.

After saying a few more words and answering a few more questions, he finally dismissed everyone.

King was right; it was not easy to wipe out the terrorists but he was determined. After watching the video that his commissioners showed him, he was determined now more than ever to wipe the terrorists out.

He would achieve that by all means, no matter what it takes. He was ready to declare war on the terrorists.

As he stood up, intending to go back to his room, he was surprised as he felt his military pocket phone vibrating slightly.

He was receiving an incoming call which surprised him as most of his communication was done directly through his implant.

The name of the caller even surprised him more. “Captain Briggs?”

[Let's have relive the good old days first.]