Chapter 696 Infiltration (2)
‘Damn, which pillar is this stupid mess hall in?’ Marcus thought while being quite frustrated.
He had already searched four of the six pillars that the soldiers from another continent had set up their base in and still not found the place he had been looking for.
At the very least he had located a meeting room and quarters area that were only accessible to the highest-ranking soldiers here.
The meeting room had been guarded by two level forty plus captains, while the quarters were guarded by one. These areas were by far the biggest he had come by and took up the majority of the third pillar he searched which was also the most central one.
With it already having been nearly two hours since his search began, Marcus was starting to get fed up trying to find this mess hall where he figured he could gather some more information in the relaxed atmosphere.
He was even beginning to contemplate devouring the soul of the man he was possessing so that he could take the information he wanted from his memories.
‘No, I am not that desperate, yet. I do not need a repeat of the last time I casually used my soul devour skill.’ Marcus thought while shaking the idea out of his head.
Thankfully he managed to find the mess hall he was looking for which was filled with a good thirty soldiers.
From the investigation he had done so far, he figured there were anywhere from four to five hundred soldiers here with any number out acting as adventurers while killing and kidnapping people.
“Lieutenant Enzo, you are later than we were expecting. You normally coming in right after your shift, but you are nearly two hours late. Did something happen to keep you up?” One of the men serving food asked Marcus.
“No, I was just feeling tired and decided to take a nap before coming in. I am feeling better now so go ahead and fill up my tray.”
Pouring some sort of stew into one of the sections of Marcus’ standard meal tray, the server smiled and told him that he could come back for more if he was still hungry.
Along with the stew he also picked up a salad with some sort of fruit topping and a number of roasted vegetables.
Then with his food in hand, he turned around towards the seating and looked around for a good group to integrate into.
Luckily the other soldiers at the same rank as the guy Marcus was possessing called him over.
“Enzo, it is rare to see you here around his time. Come over and join us. It has been too long since we last spoke.” One of the other lieutenants said.
With a fortunate invitation extended to him, Marcus took it up and sat down across from a grizzled man who had scars all over his body from countless battles.
Along with the grizzled man was the one who called him over. He was a youngish looking man with well-groomed brown hair and gave off a play boyish demeanor.
Across from him was a very sharp-eyed girl with raven hair who Marcus felt was probably a pretty straitlaced soldier.
“So, Enzo, how’s the watch been going? See anything interesting lately?” The playboy seeming man asked.
“No, it has been pretty much just routine. A few flying monsters or beasts might come by but nothing really dangerous. All has been pretty peaceful.” Marcus said giving a generic answer.
“Really, I thought that the pillar that you were stationed at got attacked a couple of days ago by one of the silver hide boars that roam this area?” the straitlaced girl said.
‘Of course, something like that happened.’ Marcus thought while internally sighing.
So far his luck blending in had been hit or miss, and this could blow his cover if he was not careful.
“Yeah, that did happen, but I was not on shift then, so I did not see it personally. Anyway, what about you guys, anything new happening?” Marcus said hoping to push past talking about the guy he was possessing.
Thankfully this seemed to work, and the man with scars all over him began elatedly talking about what they had been doing.
“Things have been going great for our squad. Just three days ago we ambushed a group of Borealian knights that were training in the dark tunnels area two away from here. We managed to get a lot of good equipment off of them, and they will make good slaves to be put on the front lines in our war against Nienaina kingdom who are the only ones still holding out on the home front.”
Hearing this Marcus now had a better grasp of what they were doing here, as the previous soldiers he had interrogated did not say anything about what was actually happening on the continent to the east of Borealia. Though that was because he had not asked.
“Sounds like you did pretty good. So, are those knights still on base?” Marcus asked, wanting to know if he also needed to perform a rescue mission.
“Hah, of course not. You know that the general uses her space magic at the end of every other day to teleport the prisoners back home. We got back three days ago, so they are long gone.” The man said while laughing.
Continuing this thread of the conversation Marcus asked more about the prisoners. Wanting to know how many there currently were and when this general that could use space magic would be sending them away.
“Hell if I know. I don’t keep track of boring stuff like that.” The man with scars said as he took a huge spoonful of food and jammed it in his mouth.
“Not sure why you are so interested, but right now we have twenty-three prisoners, and the general will be teleporting them out today.” The straightlaced woman with raven hair said.
She seemed to be looking at Marcus with some suspicion now. Probably wondering why he was asking all of this.
‘Great, now I need to worry about rescuing the people they have kidnapped. I may not want to go out of my way to go around saving people, but I would definitely feel bad if I ended up killing some unrelated parties because of my own negligence.’
Having gathered some worthwhile intelligence, Marcus was thinking up ways to get a full run down on the skills that these guys knew about the higher-ranking members stationed here.
Unfortunately, before he could. he was interrupted as the blonde captain he had passed not long after possessing Enzo came rushing into the mess hall.
She looked quite upset, and when she set her sights on Marcus, she walked over towards him in obvious anger.
“Lieutenant Enzo, we had a meeting scheduled for thirty minutes ago. What are you doing here lounging around and eating without even sending word of your delay.” The blonde captain said while tapping her finger on her arm.
Quickly standing up, Marcus said an apology and made up an excuse about having slept in and then getting caught up in conversation with the other lieutenants.
“Fine, we still have some time so come with me and we can start the meeting a bit late.” She said as she began walking away and beckoning Marcus to follow.
The lieutenants he had been eating gave him pitying looks as he left. They figured he was about to royally get chewed out.
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