633 The Next Morning, Onwards Catanduanes Island Province (1/2)
Hearing what he wanted to hear from the two young soldiers, Mark decided to return. Just like how he appeared too suddenly, with Mark turning into a clump of black mist and disappearing from their sight gave the two soldiers quite a scare.
Mark appeared at the roof of the office building, looking over the surroundings. He could only sigh as he now knew how the reported information vastly differed from the actual situation.
Shaking his head at how humans behave even in this situation, Mark decided to return to their dwelling.
The moment that Mark entered the door, he saw Mei waiting for him.
”Still awake?”
Mark could not help but ask.
”It's hard to sleep.”
She replied with a deep sigh.
Mark shrugged. He could tell that she was feeling insecure sleeping in an unfamiliar place. It was even more because it was a place where it seemed that not a single female soldier was in sight.
Looking around, Pefile was still awake while the others were already asleep.
”You should rest too.”
Mark told the Tamawo as he made his way towards Mei.
”Don't worry about me. Unlike humans, we Spirit Races don't need that much sleep.”
”You sure?”
Mark asked as he turned to Amihan that was already drooling on a makeshift bed made of folded fur placed on Mark's backpack.
”That little girl is different, alright? Even among eccentrics, she's a strange one.”
Mark could not agree more. Among the Spirit Races that he saw before, all of them appeared to be detached from others. Family members were even included. That was why Amihan, Teremillio, and his harem, appeared to be strange with their odd behaviors and bonds with people around them.
”Alright, then.”
Mark said as he took a seat beside Mei and pulled her close.
”I'm back, so sleep already.”
”Un.”
With that, Mei laid down on the bed.
The bed was small. Two or three children might be able to share, but two adults would not fit at all. Well, Mark did not plan on sleeping at all, so it was no problem. They were currently in an unfamiliar and pretty hostile environment. Resting without care might result in bad situations.
Thus, for the remainder of the night, Mark would sit down beside Mei. He would watch over her and the little girls.
With Mark's warm right hand caressing her hair, Mei fell asleep while holding onto his left.
It was when Pefile suddenly asked a question.
”You look bad. Did you learn something?”
Mark could not help but look at Pefile. He was wearing his usual poker face. Just how did this guy notice?
”Your expression might be empty, but your eyes looked deep.”
Pefile said, understanding Mark's stare.
”And the reason?”
Pefile asked.
”Who knows?” Mark shrugged. ”Though, one reason is most likely because of pride.”
”Pride?”
Pefile asked.
”Despite the setbacks, Bay City and the New Infanta Settlement is doing well. Tell me. Tamawos are prideful races, so you might be able to answer it. If you are a leader of one of the Military Settlements and the situation is bad, compared to the others will you tell them?”
”Probably no, unless there's no way of controlling the situation anymore.”
Pefile replied.
”Bingo.” Mark nodded. ”Though for now, it's just our speculations.”
”Is the situation really bad?”
Pefile asked another question.
”More than half of the island is already under the control of the rebels. Tell me if that's bad or not.”
”No matter how you look at it, that's pretty bad already.”
Pefile was right in his answer. The situation was already bad.
The island province of Catanduanes had an area of more than five-hundred-seventy square miles. As the twelfth largest island in the Philippines, half of it falling to the control of the rebels was already a big deal. And yet, the Military branch stationed on the island chose to hide this fact.
The latest data in the papers Mark received was more than a week ago. However, it was already more than a month when the rebels gained control of half the island.
They deliberately hid the information to keep face, even though they were already endangering the people they should be protecting.
And that was not the worst part. As Mark had thought, the Military in Catanduanes was also broken into different factions. Three factions, to be exact. It was still unknown whether it had something to do with the NPA also having three. Nevertheless, it was what Mark noticed earlier. The soldiers here in this encampment were also divided into three.
”The world is already ending, but humans still chose to divide themselves despite being the most affected ones,” Pefile said, scratching his head. ”Well, it's not like the Spirit Races were any different.”
That was right. With the case of the Black Duendes, the Spirit Races were not that different from humans in this regard.
Pefile then looked at Mark directly.
”Are you going to meddle in the situation here?”
”Depends on the situation,” Mark replied with a shrug. ”If things overlapped with my business here, then I will not have any other choice but to join in.”
Mark then took a deep breath as silence enveloped the barracks.