642 The Wait, The Third Faction and General Padillas Troubles (2/2)

With those words, Panther turned into a blur as he left the room.

Alone in the room, Elma stood up and stared outside the window.

She could not help but sigh.

Getting rid of Liden might be a good thing but the power balance would now crumble. It will give the NPA a hole to exploit and create trouble.

”We better prepare for the worst.”

She murmured.

Although she was quite surprised that the Marines General had someone behind him that could summon and control monsters, such people were not new to her. Being in a family that was revered as the most powerful political dynasty in the country, their members were bound to see those kinds of people from time to time. Their family had knowledge that most regular people and politicians did not have.

In fact, her current personal guard, Panther, was one of those people.

”But it appeared that Panther was weaker than a courier sent by General Faustino, huh.” She sighed again. ”I'm really curious about those people.”

It was impossible for her to not be curious. The reports they received earlier was too intriguing. But in any case, she would heed Panther's suggestion. Unless it could not be helped, she would refrain from any contact with that dangerous group of people.”

***

Day 147 - 2:15 PM - Western Coast, Codon, San Andres, Catanduanes

”General, how long are we going to wait here?”

A soldier in General Padilla's entourage asked.

”You can go first if you don't want to wait anymore.”

The Genera replied.

”No, General. I did not mean it like that. It was just it's already been more than an hour.”

That was right. It was already more than an hour since the Marines General had fled the scene, and Mark went after them.

The shock from the events had not died down, though. It was the very first time for the majority of the people that saw the event to witness actual magic. Even though the world was already facing zombie-like creatures, its progression and effects were still more or less scientific. Magic, on the other hand, was still unbelievable to them.

That was why, even though the battle had ended long ago, there were still people here, waiting. They were the same as the General. They were all waiting for when Mark return.

Why here?

Well, Mei and the girls refused to go anywhere else until Mark returned. The group was still in the same spot, not minding the leftover blood on the sand.

General Padilla tried to invite Mei and the others to wait somewhere else more suitable. However, they refused and insisted on waiting here. The only thing that the General could do was to order his men to do some cleanup. The dead bodies and the disembodied heads were already removed. But of course, the blood still remained. The soldiers tried to wash it away with seawater, but not everything would be removed instantly.

And like Mark's group, the General decided to stay here and wait.

Still, it had been more than an hour. Everyone that stayed behind curious was wondering what happened. There were even those that started to leave already.

At this moment, a messenger came and whispered something to the general. Hearing the message, General Padilla could not help but frown.

”Alright, you can go.”

The General said and the messenger left.

”General, what is it about?”

The General's secretary asked as she noticed the General's expression.

”It is the families of the soldiers that were killed. They started to make a ruckus.” The General replied. ”They were gathered in front of the base crying out for justice.”

”For f*cks sake.”

The secretary could not help but curse.

They were already dealing with a lot of matters, and here came the unreasonable troublemakers.

The Marines General's camp had been unreasonable for a while now, and their soldiers also took advantage of it. Those families also benefited as the soldiers abused their post, causing displeasure to other parties. Now, they had the guts to cry out for justice when the justice to the people their families had stepped on never happened.

All of these things aside, there was also the matter of the monster on this beach. It was that rock that was sitting still near Mark's group. The General had yet to decide what to do with it.

Trouble, trouble everywhere.

General Padilla could not help but give out a deep sigh.

”General, what are we going to do about those troublemakers?”

Andrew asked. He was pertaining to the families of the killed soldiers.

”It would be good if we can just chase them away.” The General replied. ”However, that will heavily impact our prestige and influence here. There might be those that witness what happened here but it is just a few compared to the whole population of the settlement. Not everyone will believe the things that transpired here, and if we did not do anything to address the issue, the people would lose trust in us.”

Everyone became silent. It would be a tough decision to make. The only thing that they decided to do right now was not to offend Mark's group at any cost.

They could not help but glance at Andrew. It was a close call this morning.

If they could not make Mark's group among their people, in the least, they should not turn them into their enemies.

It was at this time that the General noticed Mei stand from her seat. She was staring in a certain direction. Unexpectedly, the direction was the forest.

Only a few seconds passed, and Mark came out of the forest. Unexpectedly, behind him was General Seguerra's supposed helper.