Erend and Billy turned around and entered through another gate. In this place, there were no journalists waiting for them.
As soon as they got out of the car, Erend and Billy immediately walked quickly to enter the military headquarters. Then they got ready with the other soldiers to take weapons.
They passed General Lennard shortly after in the corridor.
There were black eye bags under the general's eyes as if to emphasize the tiredness he was experiencing. They both made a salute gesture. The general replied languidly.
"What about the President, sir?" Erend asked after lowering his salute.
"He will be arriving in a few minutes," General Lennard replied.
Based on what General Lennard said, the President immediately canceled his appointment when he saw the news on television. He then asked to fly back immediately regardless of the consequences of what he did.
Erend and Billy were assigned to take turns with other soldiers to guard the front of the military base.
They saw and felt the enthusiasm of journalists to get the news from General Lennard or anyone they could find.
Erend and Billy who were standing side by side whispered to each other.
"You see them?" Billy said. "How about we leak information about what happened in the secret facility?"
Erend immediately glanced at Billy. "That's not necessary. You'll only cause chaos."
Billy smiled mischievously. "Yeah, you're right. But don't you think society should know about that Magic awakening?"
Erend paused for a moment to think. The event of Magic's awakening is not something that is just talking. But it's unmistakable that it is going to happen soon.
So, letting the public know about it doesn't seem like a bad thing.
However, if word of that news were to spread along with an accident that shook this country ― and the surrounding countries ― then it would only cause an uproar. Maybe even the military will use violence to suppress the information and whoever spread it.
"I think," Erend said. "We have to provide information about the Magic's awakening in another way."
"You think so?" Billy asked. Then he tilted his head to one side as if he had just realized something. "Oh, maybe the military will do something bad to whoever they think is spreading that information, huh?"
"Yeah." Erend nodded. "General Lennard - and the President - would have been agitated and would have no hesitation about committing violence against those innocent people. Even if they have no clear evidence whether or not they actually did it."
Billy nodded briefly because he agreed with Erend's opinion.
Not long after, a group came. Several SUVs guarded by police and army patrols entered the front yard of the military headquarters.
"There he is!"
"Mr. President! It's Mr. President!"
A commotion started to erupt as soon as they saw the group. Several men wearing neat suits and tall bodies got out of the car quickly and created a human wall to prevent the journalists from approaching.
Julius got out of the car with a smile on his face. The President seemed to be calm. Even so, Erend and Billy knew that the man was feeling anxiety in his heart.
Various questions were thrown directly at the President from the mouths of the journalists who already looked like beasts hungry for any news they could get from him.
Julius stopped outside his car and stared at the journalists for a few moments. Once again, demonstrated his ability to keep his manners as calm as possible.
"We are trying to handle this problem as best we can," said Julius. "Our guess for the time being, perhaps it was a terrorist attack like what happened on the ship when we were carrying military exercises at the time."
Erend and Billy exchanged glances. It turns out that the President is using the incident on the ship as an excuse for this problem.
They both thought it was a pretty good idea. The momentum between the incident during the military operation exercise on the ship and the incident at the secret facility is indeed not that far apart.
Even if the two events were not directly connected, people would think that the connection between the two incident were made sense. Unless there is other evidence that says otherwise.
After giving that testimony, Julius entered the military headquarters with Security Force officers - the President's security squad - surrounding him.
"That's a pretty good reason," Billy said in a whisper.
"You're right." Erend nodded in agreement.
They continued their guard duty as if they knew nothing about anything.
Even though they were the masterminds behind the chaos that made President and General Lennard so anxious.
~~~
Julius enters General Lennard's room alone. He ordered his guards to wait outside the door and not allow anyone to enter.
"What do you know?" Julius asked while plopping down on the chair in front of the General.
Julius took a flat bottle then opened it and drank the contents. His adam's apple rose and fell as the liquid of alcohol in the bottle ran down his throat.
"There's no salvageable camera footage whatsoever, sir. So we can't figure anything out," General Lennard replied with a strained expression.
"Nothing? In such a state-of-the-art facility you can't get any footage?!" Julius looked in disbelief.
"The ones who attacked the facility were most likely the Elves. That's according to what Thomas had said."
"Where is Thomas now?"
"He's watching Conrad."
Julius's brow twitched briefly. "What happened to Conrad?"
There was an uneasiness in Julius' heart when he heard about Thomas looking after Conrad. He had heard that something bad had happened to the subjects. But he doesn't know the details yet.
"Conrad hasn't regained consciousness since last night, sir," General Lennard said.
"What happened to him?"
"Based on what Thomas said, he fought one of the parties that attacked the facility. Their fight devastated the facility.
Conrad is found fallen and unconscious in the middle of the rubble. Thomas said, there is a possibility that Conrad has lost his Magic ability."
~~~
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢