Free Web NovelChapter 276: The Mission [1]
Jake was just sitting silently on one of the roofs of random buildings. He was watching as the moonlit the dark land below him. He was listening attentively to the sounds that were reaching his position. It was a familiar voice, and as soon as he recognized it, his face changed into one that was dignified.
He breathed calmly and gracefully for some time, then looked again below him. He watched the layout and described it in his head, then nodded. After listening to the sound, he stood up and then jumped, landing on the ground.
A frustrated look appeared on his face, but slowly, it turned to something neutral and static.
"It is starting..."
***
The long days of a month passed as if a river was streaming. Brian didn’t notice it, but he could feel that the preparation time was lacking. However, as he contemplated and understood that it must be done, he calmed down and went to the place where his subordinates were.
He succeeded in subordinating the messy "assets" of White Lead. The process might be mysterious to others, but what they could only see was that Brian was becoming a good leader.
The board members and the officials also took it into account. After some rumors spread throughout the capital, their doubts about him began to fade, obscured by the feats he had accomplished in the previous few days.
They soon came to realize that Brian must be deserving of the position he was asking for. However, it wasn’t enough, as he needed to prove himself well to all the officials.
"Welcome, Third Young Master!"
As soon as Brian arrived, 21 people immediately lowered their heads. To show their respect, they became silent after their greetings and waited for him to nod.
"Are you all ready?" Brian asked.
"Yes, we are already prepared, Third Young Master. The Maliban Squad is already ready for this day’s mission. To conquer and defeat monsters that were harming our lands."
"Enough with that, Lilin, that is cringe as fuck to hear."
"Sorry."
Brian just turned his back with a smile on his face. He could feel it, the fruits of his effort in the past few days that he put into making the messy "assets" of White Lead his special squad. Even before having the company he was taking, this would surely be the foothold for his promotion.
He started walking, and others followed him. They were as if they had made a march in the streets, as they went to the meeting spot of the expedition team that Alfred would be leading.
People watched them. Astonishment and awe, different mixtures of amusement painted their faces as they also watched Brian, who led them, have a graceful and dignified face. They couldn’t help but look at them as they made their 4th appearance in the whole city.
"Isn’t this one of the rare times that we get to see the Maliban Squad? Today is the beginning of the expedition team to the Northern Lands of the Wu region. And having the Maliban Squad, led by the Third Young Master, would surely bring success to this."
"Yeah... I heard that they got their assessment straight after the Third Young Master handled them. The reason why they only made some rare appearances in the city in the past few days of this month was because of their hellish training."
"Hellish training? What do you mean?" frёewebηovel.cѳm
"Can you see their scars? Look at all of them. At least each of them has five scars. Do you know where they got that?"
"No way... Are you telling me that they got that from their training? Just how harsh was the training for it to leave permanent scars? They even made them look scarier."
"I know right. That’s just... too hard to explain. They were still alive at this point, so maybe the training did what was best for them."
Brian couldn’t help but smile as he listened to the conversations of the other members of White Lead that were watching them. Recalling the days, he felt the refreshment of each expression of despair on their faces.
He inhaled, then exhaled with a smile on his face. As they were arriving, the members of the Maliban Squad had gloomy faces. They were slightly frustrated deep within as they listened to the conversations of the people watching their march.
’Ah... if they only knew that it wasn’t a hellish training but instead, a punishment to consider. As if we committed all the sins in the world to deserve such treatment. I thought the Third Young Master was the kindest of all the young masters. But it turned out he wasn’t.’
’I just hope that your food won’t be good tonight.’
’Fuck hellish training. I can still feel the waters inside me when he tried to drown us. How could he dip us in the water while being upside down? Where’s his conscience?’
Lilin started noticing the displeased expressions of the other members of the squad. As he cared for them, he awkwardly made a gesture by shaking his head at them. He was gritting his teeth with his worried eyes.
’If the devil notices this, we will suffer again.’ Lilin thought as, just like others, the "training" rushed to his head.
"Welcome, my dearest brother."
Everyone lowered their heads.
Brian and his squad had arrived at their meeting place. And as soon as Alfred saw him, he rushed to him with bouncing steps and then tapped his shoulders.
"Look at you, brother. Are you excited?"
"Who would be excited if you were going to be the leader of this expedition team?" Brian groaned, sounding sarcastic, but the truth was that he was really displeased.
"Oh come on...As if I am not your brother, Brother Brian."
"Ah... I hoped that you were really not my brother. You are just... never mind."
Instead of being displeased after hearing Brian talk shit about him, he was pleased, and his eyes were even flickering.
’Now that we are going on the expedition, what I needed to do was just stay vigilant while we observe the surroundings. Who knows what would happen? The monsters in that area are at least Master Spirit Realm and above. If left unattended, things would be difficult for the villages and cities below the area.’
The expedition team finished preparing things and went on their journey. The other members left in the capital rooted for them, but there was one person who wasn’t happy or even showing any excitement about the expedition, and it was Jake.
For some reason, he was preoccupied. Something on his mind was making his mind cloudy, and he didn’t notice that Brian was talking to him.
"Are you okay, Brother Jake? You seemed distracted. Don’t tell me you are nervous."
"Nervous? There is no way a master like Advisor Jake is nervous." One who was talking was a "friend" Brian made. It was all for the purpose of political power, and as he wasn’t fully aware of it, this person was just too attached to him.
"Brother Seva, Brother Jake is not like that. Maybe there is something on his mind."
Seva, the son of one of the officials, was already fond of Brian before they even became friends. As rumors of Brian’s feats spread in the whole capital city, Seva wanted to be friends with Brian and see if he could learn something.
Since Brian was still a sprouting seed but at an incredible pace, Seva was so curious about him that he used some of his influence to be attached to Brian. And as Brian heard advice from Jake that it wasn’t a bad idea to be friends with him, he just let him be.
And now, as Seva joined them, he became the eyes for that one official to assess Brian’s abilities, even though it was unnecessary.
"Nothing, just ignore it."
***
"Now, my sons are on their way to fight some newly formed type of monster. A shadow has a physical appearance and also a body... An embodiment of shadow... Just what kind of monster that could be..."
Del Dai then arrived, and as he got a report, Banglang couldn’t help but be tensed.
"That report... is that from the Senior Brother Charles Zhui, Fire Storm General?"
Del Dai nodded. He sighed and reached for the small scroll.
He then read the contents, and while reading it, his face couldn’t help but wrinkle in frustration.
"Now... Just what the fuck happened in Quanzhi Province that they needed our help? What happened to the previous general and also to the Battalion Commanders?"
Frustrated, he stood up and rushed out.
"There’s no time to think. This will surely be a threat to the province..."
Del Dai just watched Brian leave, and as he felt the surrounding aura, he couldn’t help but feel the pressure.
’Big Boss is just too patriotic for the province. It is already an obsession, but who cares anyway? As long as the Wu Region prospers in his care, I don’t care if he minds the whole province.’
