642 The Wait, The Third Faction and General Padillas Troubles (1/2)
In a newly built building in the east part of the port area, several people were in attendance while discussing something. Looking at how these people seemed to be in a hurry, some even arrived a bit late, it appeared that the meeting was called in all of a sudden.
”So, Seguerra was forced to escape, was it?”
A woman sitting behind an office table asked while she stared at the messenger standing in the middle of the room.
She was Elma Marcos. A member of a very influential political family in the Philippines and was a provincial politician. Now, she was leading this group, the third faction within this settlement that was led mainly by politicians residing in this place.
It might have been already the end of the world. However, there were still those people that did not want to lose their power and influence. A good example of those kinds of people were politicians and successful businessmen. Losing all they had and reverting to regular people was not acceptable for them. This was even more to those that came from families whose power and prestige was built over generations.
Even so, despite their status and influence back before the apocalypse, their current standing was hard to maintain.
And thus, like-minded people decided to bond together, strengthening their overall influence and power over the settlement.
Of course, the leader of this coalition was no other than the person with the greatest influence among them. Who would that be other than the person that came from the lineage of a previous president?
And now, that person was receiving urgent information from their messenger while the other members of the coalition listened to the side.
There was no way that any of them would miss this information. It was because one of the factions within the settlement took a big hit all of a sudden. There was also the events that transpired today, along with the arrival of the couriers from Infanta.
This group had many ears and eyes within the settlement. Almost no events that happened in it go unnoticed by them. It was even more since General Seguerra went out full force, bringing his loyal men and even a tank. They were supposed to respond to a call that a monster was by the west beach. However, the news that they received now was quite unexpected.
And to Elma's question, the messenger replied.
”Yes. However, no one knows if he did manage to. The surveillance target seemed to have chased after the General and his brother.”
”Chased? How?” The leader asked. ”You just said that Seguerra and his brother flew off on the back of a flying serpent. Did that person fly too?”
”No, madam.” The messenger shook his head. ”He just vanished, leaving his group by the coast. They were still there at the moment, and number two is still monitoring them.”
It was a rude remark. Of course, the messenger did not take it nicely. However, there was no need for him to speak.
”Mr. Alcantara.” Elma glared, widen your narrow mind, please. He is my person and not yours. A big event like this sooner or later will reach the ears of everyone. Besides, just because you never witnessed or believed it, it did not mean that it doesn't' exist.”
The rude politician shut up with a low inaudible grumble.
Elma then faced her messenger.
”Is that all?”
”Yes.” The messenger replied. ”Before I returned here, the members of the group we were tailing did not leave the beach area, and General Padilla also stayed with his men. So far, there were no other notable things that happened.”
”Good.” Elma nodded. ”Return for now and continue observing them. We need to keep an eye on those people for various reasons.”
”Yes, madam.”
The messenger bowed slightly before leaving.
After the messenger left, a short meeting followed. It was about what steps to take if the Marines General never came back and his faction crumbled. Besides, even if he did come back, their faction lost a good amount of people.
Unfortunately, without the aftermath of the event being disclosed, there was not much they could do but wait. Thus, the meeting ended without achieving anything.
As almost everyone left the room, Elma turned to the man standing beside her. It appeared to be her personal guard, but there was some kind of mysterious aura around him.
”What do you think, Panther?”
”About what? The situation, General Seguerra or the courier?”
The man called Panther asked back.
”Everything.”
The woman replied.
”Then, I think that the power balance here will shift drastically with General Seguerra's faction crumbling.”
”You don't think that General Seguerra will come back?”
”That courier killed the General's men without any regard to the military. Even if the General did come back, he would still die. For a long time now, his bastard brother had been his weakest link. He was unlucky that his brother offended the wrong person this time.”
Those words from Panther made Elma nod.
”About that courier,” Panther continued. ”It's better if we don't interact with them at all.”
”Why is that?” The Coalition leader asked. ”I was thinking trying to win them over to our side.”
”You won't likely succeed in that endeavor, Madam.” Panther shook his head. ”A person, no, a group that could cross almost half of Luzon to get here would not be just anybody. Just refrain from making contact or you might accidentally follow General Seguerra's steps.”
Hearing that, Elma went silent.
”I see.” She soon said. ”Unfortunately, we can't just ignore them. Although it might offend them slightly, we should continue the surveillance over them.”
”I agree with that.” Panther nodded. ”So far, we only knew that they were here to deliver that mysterious package. However, the reports we had earlier indicated that there might be some other reason.”
Then, Elma asked.
”What about strength, Panther? Can you win?”
”I don't know yet, Madam.” Panther shook his head. ”Just the reports won't be able to fully describe a person. It's better for me to see them personally before making an assumption.”
”Then, go to the beach,” Elma commanded. ”See them for yourself and give me a good evaluation.”
”As you wish, Madam.”