Chapter 51: Possessed.
[connection established]
- Good morning, General Leken. Thank you for calling back. - A slightly hoarse male voice sounded in the office.
- Good morning, sir. - Clare replied in a calm, somewhat slurred tone before continuing. - If you're calling about the delay in the weekly report, I'm sorry, but I don't have anything to tell you, sir.
- ... - An awkward silence hung over the room for several seconds before the Marshal sighed and spoke. - General, it's impossible to hide what happened yesterday... - The voice sounded as tired as a father scolding his son for lying.
- I've never tried to hide it, sir...
- Not notifying the army is not the best way to notify your superiors... - The man's voice sounded again and his tired tone remained, but this time a slight tone of irritation was contained in his voice.
- Hmm... Did I forget? - Clare replied with her slurred tone to the irritated voice at the other end.
- ...Sigh, Clare... That excuse isn't good enough in this case... - Clare's response was obviously provocative, but the man's irritated tone strangely softened as he continued "scolding" her.
- Why?
- As "why?", do you realize how serious this matter is? - The man's voice rose considerably as if to show how frustrated he was with this conversation. 'Sigh... Talking to her is always so... tiring' the man could only think how depressing it was to be the superior of a person as irrational as Clare while waiting for the other party to give him some other ridiculous argument.
- Sigh... Right, tell me exactly why I have to notify you...
- Really? Do I need to explain something like that? - The man asked with obvious anger in his voice.
- Of course, after all, if your useless men were watching everything and you were notified in real time... Why do I need to inform you that my house has been attacked by the possessed? You should know the exact damage more precisely than I do by now, right? - Clare replied with obvious anger and smugness in her tone.
- Cough, cough... That's... Well... - Listening to Clare's tone and seeing that she knew about lookout implanted in her, the man was surprised and couldn't formulate an answer to Clare's question, even he only needed to answer so that she would respect the rules. Noticing Clare's irritated tone, the man decided to put it aside, his concern now was how Clare would react to him assigning "guards to her without her authorization and supervision". The man spent several seconds thinking while silence lingered in the room where Clare stood with her eyes closed, and only after several seconds did the man's voice sound in the room again.
- Clare, they're just guards we've allocated to everyone of general rank... - He decided to leave out the reporting part, after all, as Clare said he already knew everything, and even if he didn't, he would prefer to leave it out completely if in return he could resolve this matter without making someone like her angry.
- Hmm... - Clare, who had her eyes closed, opened them, and ignoring what she had just heard, said. - TMN - 2 switch to a video call - After saying this, she sat looking at the computer screen and crossed the fingers of both hands before resting her chin on her interlaced fingers.
[Requesting authorization... Authorization granted... Initiating connection... video call established]
Clare stared at the computer screen and an image of a middle-aged man appeared. The man appeared to be in his forties or fifties, his hair was a shade of gray and he had light blue eyes, his skin was also fair.
The man looked at the monitor and couldn't help a melancholy sigh coming from his lips when he glanced at Clare's face, just one look and it was obvious how angry she was. - General Leken... - The man greeted Clare and waited for her to say what was bothering her and her terms.
- About "my" guards, I think they're unnecessary, sir. - Clare said this with a calm and reassuring tone in her voice, but the blatant hostility in her expression showed just how angry she really was at the moment.
- The guards stay, they keep all the generals safe... I'm sorry, but there are no exceptions... - The man kept a firm tone in his voice and the same could be said for his expression, but deep down he already accepted the withdrawal of the guards, he himself already knew the arguments she would use, in fact, anyone would think of such simple arguments since guards wouldn't watch from the sidelines doing nothing, and just as he expected she used this simple argument to deny his need.
- Mr. Gustav Clypeus, may I ask you a question? - Clare said without changing her tone, but her expression softened a little as she realized that the man wasn't even going to try to argue to keep the guards.
- Of course.
- If a guard at your mansion watched your son and his teacher being beaten up, and gossiped about the beating to someone else, what would you do? - Clare stared at Gustav's eyes on the monitor as she waited for his answer.
-... I... I have no idea. - Gustav answered Clare's question honestly.
- Really? I certainly wouldn't be as kind as you, and I didn't imagine what I was going to do with them... After all, yesterday I definitely felt like getting rid of my incompetent guards... - Clare said this, staring at the screen. She remained silent for several seconds, staring at Gustav until he let it show in his expression that he was feeling uncomfortable, only after realizing this did Clare speak again with a slight smile on her face. - Even though I felt like killing those useless sadists, I just decided to take care of my priorities..., But this is just an isolated occurrence, if I find another guard acting in such an irresponsible way I'm not sure how I'm going to discipline and punish him... - Clare looked at Gustav again and stared at him for several seconds without speaking until he decided to speak to break the suffocating silence.
- I think it's better to hire more competent guards, I'd like to send some, but... Well, I'm kind of short-staffed at the moment... - Gustav gave a lame excuse to get rid of the guards and almost sighed with relief when he saw her lips arch up.
- There's no need to worry, sir, I'll hire my guards personally from now on and train them myself... That should be better for everyone, right? - Clare said with a smile on her face as she stared at Gustav's image.
- Right... I'll relieve your guards of their duties... - Gustav said and let out another sigh before trying to end the conversation with Clare. - Uh, since you've already made it clear that you have nothing to report, let's call it a night, I still have a meeting now. See you, Clare! - Gustav waved at the image of Clare on the monitor and hung up.
- Sigh... - 'What a shitty situation' Gustav couldn't help an annoyed look as he stared at the turned off monitor and after sighing again, he called for his secretary.
- Jaqueline!
A few seconds after Gustav had called her name, a young woman entered his office. The young woman appeared to be in her twenties and thirties, with black hair and brown eyes. Of medium height, around 160 centimeters, Jaqueline was wearing a simple blue dressing gown that matched her dark skin. - Good morning, Mr. Gustav. What can I do for you? - Jaqueline asked with a smile on her face as she looked at the Marshal, who appeared to be in a bad mood.
- Good morning, Jaqueline. I need you to summon for me all the people responsible for watching General Leken, it has to be done as soon as possible...
- Yes, sir, I'll call everyone immediately. - Jaqueline turned to leave the room, but before she could take a single step Gustav's voice sounded again.
- Send some high-performance drones to the Clare neighborhood without them noticing, it won't be as effective, but we should still be able to observe something... - Gustav said and watched Jaqueline close the door before sighing again - A marshal afraid of his generals... Sigh... - After a final sigh of frustration, Gustav returned to his work.
"This is already the second chapter where the last paragraph has disappeared when viewed on cell phones. To avoid this, I've decided to duplicate this message at the end of each chapter, hoping it will resolve the issue. If you're reading this, I apologize if it's intrusive, but it's a better solution than leaving the chapter incomplete."
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