CHAPTER 282: A REAL MISSION
Sitting in a large living room that for its size would be considered a separate apartment, Nicole couldn’t help but feel self-conscious.
The stately decor, the impeccable furniture and the antique feel next to the huge television gave her a sense of oppression.
Her family was not wealthy, and she was average in many ways, but being in this place always gave her a sense of mismatch.
Such a situation didn’t matter when she was training due to the fact that she was only dedicated to it leaving her other thoughts aside, but in quiet moments she realized the situation.
She was in the ‘White Palace’ of the Emperor of South America, who was also the person she trained with.
She was still puzzled every time someone told her that she trained with an SSS rank, one of the strongest individuals in the land.
Faced with such a situation, adding that she was very well taken care of, the feeling of discordance with her past made being in places like this, difficult to bear.
Taking a deep breath, Nicole turned on the television.
Right now, she was waiting for Victor, who was busy with some sudden business.
Watching the news and changing channels, her attention turned to different areas.
“The Cosmos Enterprise has technology greater than all of humanity. We saw that during the assault on Constance City. Those power armors achieved S-rank strength for their wearers,” said the interviewee on a talk show and, looking at the host, he hesitated. “What else can they have? Weapons of mass destruction?”
“That’s an exaggeration,” replied the host, urging his interviewee to continue.
“Is it? We’re talking about a company that monopolized the ‘Sage of Technology and Science.’ The technology in their hands is deeper than they share and it is to such an extent that even now they deny sharing it,” replied the interviewee and giving a cold look, he charged. “With such technology, humanity could move forward without fear. Nations could stop relying on corrupt guilds and it would give humanity the strength to fearlessly face the abyssal portals.”
Nicole, hearing such words, agreed.
It was her more idealistic side that pushed her to agree, but another side that was slowly maturing told her that if humanity had advanced technology, they would use it to their advantage in a very negative way.
Maybe not all, but most certainly many would take advantage... Like the ability, users took advantage of their own power before they were regulated.
Still, the abyssal portals were causing some fear, even though rumors were spreading that it was a test.
It was being done superficially, but renowned priests and theologians were beginning to question it as a test, giving it all sorts of meanings.
From it being a test to show that mankind had ‘grown up’ and stopped being ‘children’, to the test of whether mankind was capable of surviving on its own.
Others talked about it being another stage marking the beginning for mankind to get to know the ‘outside’ and realize that there was something bigger out there.
Which one was right?
Nicole didn’t know and, giving a sigh as she heard that the abyssal portals expedition was still reporting their situation, she changed the channel to one of Zerzura.
“The Sanctuary is on the move. The goblins led by their leader Zrag have cleared their first temporary dungeon. They are expected to continue working around Zerzura looking for means to help the citizens,” said the hostess and, tapping her papers, she reported. “In other news, Abdellah El Ouazzani, leader of the Zerzura City Mercenaries Guild, has inaugurated the first branch of the guild in Kenya.”
At such words, they played a video informing about the inauguration of the mercenary guild.
The Mercenaries Guild was an international organization that was in charge of managing members and also took the job of registering groups and accepting ‘reliable’ missions, while providing missions.
However, in each country there was a separate Mercenaries Guild headquarters and in this case, in the city Zerzura also had its own.
Only now the leader Abdellah had opened a branch in Kenya... Marking the first phase of ‘stability’ in the region.
For an international body to appear was proof of reliability in that land for the common mercenaries.
It was a way of telling the world that mercenaries in that region would have the support of the guild when it came to missions and would have the legal protection they deserved.
After all, even though the international mercenary guild did not command the mercenaries, they made a profit by brokering missions and ensuring the trust of those who requested the missions.
They were not a non-profit organization or relied on donations like the Heroes Guild, they were simply a middleman connecting mercenaries and users in need of missions.
Protecting both, at the same time offering their services worldwide, with legal guarantees and international connections.
In this case, that branch of the guild would open the door for mercenaries from all over the world to be attracted with the confidence that everything was legal and reliable.
Kenya would most likely become an important source of income in the area thanks to its special position.
To the east was the sea and to the west was the magical forest, while its lands were full of temporary and natural dungeons, resources, creatures, and wild beasts.
“As everyone should know. The government that would reign in Kenya would be a constitutional monarchy. While at present they plan to settle the infrastructure and bring order back, in the future in the future they will hold elections to choose their Prime Minister diplomatically,” added the hostess and with her same expression, she added. “According to rumors, soon the new government will become official. Its official name will be the ‘Kingdom of Mombasa’.”
Holding elections to choose the Prime Minister in a ‘legal’ and ‘democratic’ way right now was impossible.
As someone who had been there, Nicole knew that the infrastructure was sparse and needed quite a bit of investment before everything would work properly.
The former warlord was going to become the King of the Kingdom Of Mombasa... For Nicole it was curious how his title got an ‘upgrade’.
Nicole, with a smile to herself, observed the changes they brought.
The Zerzura news media had spread out to cover the changes in Kenya and were now broadcasting it.
Reconstruction of main roads, buildings, opening of basic service centers like hospitals.
Electricity and clean water were becoming the norm again.
The Lord of Mombasa was getting quite a lot of investors and had two major sponsors.
One was the King of Madagascar, Ronald Einhorn, who being of SS rank had great wealth and the other was the Apicius Company, who was not hesitating to invest in the development.
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Only now, unlike before, no one scoffed at investing in a new nation, and more so when Zerzura was evidence of a successful investment.
Nicole was pleased to see how everything was progressing or to see how children were going to school for the first time in years.
The nice thing about the situation was that the Lord of Mombasa was not corrupt... Or he could not be.
The Apicius Company and behind it the Zerzura City were watching that their investments were well treated, while on the other side the King of Madagascar was keeping an eye on those lands.
The Kingdom of Madagascar may not be much talked about, but its people did not live too badly.
Their quality of life was second only to Zerzura City and that their ruler focused on their lands instead of expanding was the reason they got to that point.
Seeing such images of Kenya made Nicole feel slightly proud.
After all, she did intervene in those matters and in a way did her bit to help them reach this point.
Hearing passage from outside, Nicole turned off the television and hid her smile.
“Sorry for the delay. I had a little work meeting. Apparently, some little mishaps have occurred,” Victor said with a smile as he waved.
Beside him, as always, was his secretary Ersin, who gave a professional look.
Victor approached with a smile and, as Nicole was about to tell him that there was no problem with his tardiness, he stopped short.
“I think it’s about time you went outside,” Victor suddenly declared and when Nicole and Ersin looked at him, he gave a big smile and added. “This isn’t the end of training, but you need real experience.”
“You’re not thinking about the subject we talked about?” hesitated Ersin, giving him a serious look.
“Of course I am. Didn’t you say that conflicts are possible? Well, instead of just sending Eva to take over, we’ll send Nicole to get experience,” Victor replied and, giving her a look, he asked. “You want to work abroad? Your area of work will be Africa.”
At such words, Nicole’s expression filled with interest.
******
Andrew walked down the hallway, yawning.
The information network building was located, and he was quite exhausted because he had been working with the Sage of Technology and Science Lucius.
That flamboyant man had come up with the idea of staying up all night to design a small spaceship on a small scale, all for fun.
If it wasn’t for the fact that he was learning quite a bit at his side and working on that project helped him understand Artificial Intelligences and their safety measures, he would have most likely quit his second job.
Arriving at the break room and seeing no one, Andrew checked his holographic watch for the meeting, to which he was called, and then dropped, seeing that it was several minutes away.
His work on the information network continued to be centered in the area of information organization, search and basically media with which he was increasing his interaction with his AI.
At the same time, he was learning about his new capabilities and polishing them.
Still, he was exhausted.
It was to such an extent that the time to interact with his colleagues at the academy had been greatly reduced.
Even Cristian, with whom he got along best among his male peers, had commented to him that he had ‘disappeared’, teasing him that he was missing out on his vacation.
The good thing in that area was that the group had postponed Aurora and Alice’s birthday party, looking for a time where everyone would be comfortable and enjoyable for all.
It was nice to know that he wasn’t the only one who was busy at all sorts of jobs.
“If you’re sleepy, you can go occupy a room to rest.”
Hearing that voice and realizing he was drowsy, Andrés opened his eyes and coughed at the sight of his boss, Serena and his partner Giselle.
“No, it’s okay, I can continue.” Andrés replied like a professional worker and, giving the duo a glance, asked curiously. “Why did you call me? Do you need anything?”
Giselle, who was dressed as a librarian, kept her gaze serious and made Andrés think about whether he would be scolded for something he didn’t remember he did.
“We have a new job and because you have a certain connection to our client, I have decided to give it to you and Giselle. I need you both to take on the job together. In your case it would be the first official job,” Serena mentioned and activating her talent made everything stop working around her.
She then erected a barrier using an artifact, and with a drone projected her targets.
They were several individuals who looked ordinary and were hiding following someone Andrés knew.
“Why are they following Cithrel?” Andrés hesitated with an odd expression.
In the camera videos, several individuals were following that princess everywhere she went.
Whether she was walking down the street, going to her hotel, or visiting a medical facility.
The cameras were recording that group and it was, to such an extent, that some of them did not seem to know each other.
It gave the feeling that they were different people following the same target.
“She is our client and she will pay us to find out who those people are and why they are following her, as well as find their bosses,” Serena explained and pointing to both of them, she specified. “You will be the ones to take this job. It’s not that difficult, at least the surface you will explore.”
While there were several individuals, as Serena mentioned, it wasn’t a complicated job.
Some were private investigators, others appeared to be gang members and even normal individuals.
They just needed to infiltrate their holographic clocks and get the details of their mission, and then search for who was behind them.
It was likely that these individuals were only those hired on a perfunctory basis to perform the mission and, in a sense, disposable pawns.
However, once they percolated deeply, it was possible that they would find other things and more so when the person they were following was an S rank and the princess of a powerful empire.
Andrés was slightly worried, because he didn’t know what Cithrel had gotten himself into.
Cases of kidnapping Terranovans were quite frequent and while they had diminished over time when they made it clear that they were not easy to catch, they still continued.
Organizations demanding ransom or attempting to sell an ‘exotic’ elf existed... Just as the Imperial force existed to crack down and stop such individuals.
“Andrés, this will be your first job and you are in charge,” Serena said and giving Giselle a look, she added. “She will be your partner and subordinate.”
Giselle’s expression didn’t change much, making it clear that she didn’t mind being under a ‘rookie’.
Without giving any warning, Serena left and Andrés reviewed the information he had regaining all his energy.
“This is not only your first mission but also a test,” revealed Giselle in a serious tone.
It was a friendly revelation.
“I know. He’s probably trying to test my ‘loyalty’ to the job and our ability to be reliable. At the same time, he must be wanting to test our boundaries,” Andrés replied and giving Giselle a look, he pointed out. “Especially you... Not to go beyond our mission.”
His last words were also his sincere thoughts, but they were interspersed with an animated tone, at the thought of being about to go on his first mission.
He knew Serena was testing him.
The client was Cithrel, and the mission urged to keep it confidential, but Andrés not only knew her, he knew she was close friends with Aurora, as was he himself.
It was putting him in a difficult position, since, if Cithrel was put in danger, he would report directly to Aurora because she was the only one who had the ability to support her.
Such a scenario had been thought up by Serena and the problem was that if he did that, he would most likely fail the test.
To work in an information network was to have ‘loyalty’ to those to whom they accepted the job, and it was also to have the ability to keep matters confidential when necessary.
Cithrel was a princess and Andrés thought that anything related to her would be complicated matters.
“Our duty is only to carry out the mission,” Andrés commented with a serious tone.
They were not to go deeper than what the mission said, at least not on their own... That was the other test of their boss.
“I understand. I’ll just follow your orders. Without going overboard,” replied Giselle, nodding with a half sigh.
Andrés gave a smile and went back to looking at his targets.
“We will move quietly and without leaving our tracks. So we will use discreet methods,” Andrés said, thinking about such methods.
Send spam with viruses to infiltrate, make calls to transmit data, and with it infiltrate secretly.
Trying to change the AI code in the holographic clock or take it over with a fake update... The latter method learned from Sage Lucius.
As they were within all things ‘normal’ people, it wasn’t going to be that difficult and it was possible to use all the cards in their repertoire to put them into practice.
Even though this mission was being carried out by Cithrel, Andrés couldn’t help but get excited.
It was going to be his first solo mission on the information network... A real mission for a virtual warrior.
******
Aurora watched through a drone camera as her group of companions were clearing a temporary dungeon.
Because a dungeon had appeared in the area, Aurora had mentioned to the Goliathus that she would take care of it and those magical beasts agreed.
The magic forest was large and natural and temporary dungeons were quite frequent in the area because of the high density of magical energy.
While the magical beasts hunted those creatures to eat their flesh, assimilate their magical cores to strengthen themselves or sell their materials to the Apicius Company, they might leave one or two dungeons for the humans to take care of.
Joslyn and Vanessa were in the same group as the soldiers, being watched by High Priestess Xaali and Captain Sadiya.
Joslyn was being pushed to the front to see if it was possible for her to move up the ranks with some external pressure.
A slightly harsh training method, but ideal for those who wished to move up the ranks and become stronger.
Paying attention to the video, her holographic watch vibrated with two messages.
“What’s wrong?” asked Alice, who was sitting on the couch next to her.
She had seen her smile appear on her lips and Aurora’s expression quivered for a moment, hiding Kairos’ message and checking Liam’s message.
She was embarrassed to say that she spent her free time messaging a young man with lovely eyes... And more so when her gluttonous sister called him a ‘pervert’.
However, as she reviewed Liam’s message, her expression turned serious.
“Liam found the hunting party and has managed to define their next hunting route,” Aurora reported and with a solemn expression, announced. “We’ll be able to catch them red-handed.”
She was already tired of waiting and scouting the area in their search... It was time to catch them.