Chapter 848: Apollo... Phrasing
Chapter 848: Apollo... Phrasing
The Lochagos got up to his feet with surprising haste, ignoring the bloody gash on his temple as she looked at Serena.
"L-L-Lady Serena. I wasn’t aware you had come down planeside. Forgive me. Wait, did you say Sentinel?"
Carmine’s eyes turned to me at which point I flashed a smile and a wave at him. His head then slowly turned towards Serena as he asked with fear,
"T-Thats not the one Valerica adopted. Is it?"
Serena nodded silently and Carmine dropped to his knees, his face looked more in pain than when I was holding him. "Well... I’m dead."
Confused by the sudden personality switch, I asked. "Serena. Do you know this antagonist?"
"Apollo, this is my fourth daughter’s second child’s husband. Carmine Hyllus, formerly Galio. Honestly, the only reason I know him is because he was selected for a special training program. It is also the only reason he was allowed to marry into this family... I am starting to suspect it was a mistake if you act like this when unsupervised."
"You’re telling me this cunt is family?" I blurted out, unintentionally, getting some laughs for my sudden crassness.
"Oh don’t worry about that, Apollo. Kathrine is the current head of the family after Sis stepped down as you know. There are so many branches of the Hyllus bloodline. Just consider them as acquaintances and not family." Serena said casually.
Looking at Carmine, his hair was ginger not red, but I supposed that could make him pass for Hyllus blood.
Taking into account he was apart of the Hyllus family, I would cut him some slack, though I wasn’t going to roll over on the weapons, so I asked,
"Carmine. Tell me exactly what you are here for."
The man turned and looked at me, I could still see a flash of hostility in his eyes, but Serena’s posture shut down any resistance.
"Sentinel. I am Lochagos Carmine. Local head of Xenos Purgation. First, allow me to apologise for not recognising your-"
"-Get to the point." I cut him off, not in the mood for ass kissing.
"Of course. My job is a serious one. Only those with intense training and personal vetting from King Sigismund himself can be recruited for it. As you know. Aliens are the enemy of Spartari. All of them. As such, it is my job to make sure their influence doesn’t reach out. I am here on Lleon T1 for this reason.
With the war progressing, Soldiers begin to get bored. Fed up. Perhaps they find a trinket on the battlefield that belonged to an enemy. An alien. Perhaps they think they could take it home. Because why not? It’s just a trinket. But it is not so simple. Xeno tech is contraband for a reason. Filthy minds created it. So it must be destroyed. It must be purged.
Therefore, when I spotted such blatantly disgusting alien weaponry wielded by already dangerous Psionic individuals. It was my honour and duty to seize the weapons and destroy them after a brief investigation about their origin.
I was in my right to order these soldiers to give me their weapons and I will not apologise for doing my job... Even if Lady Serena is here..."
Turning to my group who were still holding their weapons up, I gave them a subtle nod and they instantly lowered them, a moment later everyone else nearby did so as well.
I then turned back to Carmine and spoke. " Carmine. I have a licence for the use of alien technology. After finding these odd and unique weapons in a Drakoshi ammo dump, I took action as a Sentinel and I proceeded to extend that permission to the rest of my allies for the duration of this campaign. At the end of the campaign I shall personally make sure all weapons are returned to my protection at which point I will decide what to do with them, not you. Do you understand?"
Carmine looked up at me with narrowed eyes. He clearly did not like what I said, but thanks to Nerissa’s shenanigans, I outranked the man.
"Of course, Sentinel. Whatever you say..."
"Good." I nodded and turned to Serena. "Aunty. Sorry for bringing you out of your planning, I just didn’t want to have to be forced to kill our brothers in arms over someone’s swollen ego.
"Not a problem, my nephew and sentinel. I will get back to it now." Serena said and turned around to leave
"Actually, hold up a second actually." I stopped her, but quickly turned back to Carmine. "Go find another place to redeploy, I don’t want to see you on a battlefield where I am for the duration of this war, understood?"
The man simply saluted before walking away, seething.
"Alright everyone, the show is over. Go back to lollygagging." I proclaimed, prompting a few nearby to ask one another what that meant.
I then approached Serena and leant in close to whisper in her ear. "Make sure you are alone in an hour. There is something I need to give you in private that is going to make you very happy."
I then gave her a playful wink and sat down next to Onyx while beginning to regale the rest of the troops about what we had been up to since we last saw one another.
...
An hour later, Serena was sitting in her chair drinking a small glass of wine as she overlooked her battle plans for the coming weeks. However, as hard as she tried, her mind kept wandering back to Apollo’s words.
’Did he mean for them to sound so...’ She shook her head. He 100% did not. She knew this. She didn’t even know why she was humouring the thought.
’Him, flirting with me? Preposterous. I am old enough to be his grandmother. There is no way he-’ She cut her thoughts out again. What was going on?
The thought was parasitic at this point and was vexing her. She shouldn’t be even entertaining the notion. It wasn’t even that long ago her second husband died. She wasn’t ready to get back on the-
"What the fuck!?!" She exclaimed before looking at the wine for a moment. She hadn’t had a glass since before the campaign, she was just celebrating the fact that she was on the ground finally. It wasn’t to build up any nerves...
Pouring the limited edition vintage onto the ground, she cried internally, but it needed to be done, she wasn’t thinking straight.
Slapping her cheeks she took a deep breath. Any moment her adoptive Nephew was coming into the tent. Her family. Someone her mental sister adopted. Someone she loves a scarily amount. Someone who has consensually engaged in pankration with her; prompting Valerica to tell her every little detail about his body and what-
Serena swiftly sat on the ground and began meditating the family technique. Her mind needed clearing before-
...
"Serena? Are you here?" I asked, entering the tent, only to see her pop up off the ground all of a sudden.
"Ah! Apollo. Hello. I was just stretching. Come in, what can I do for you?" Serena replied with a warm smile that reminded me of Valerica.
Entering the tent, I suddenly stopped as I smelt something. "Is there alcohol in here?"
Serena nodded. "Wow, good nose. Yes, I spilled some wine that I brought with me on the sly. I still have the bottle though, would you care for a glass? It’s a special vintage."
"Oh I won’t say no to that. Thank you." I said cheerfully.
I then watched as Serena moved to a trunk in the corner of the room and leant over to rummage through it. Watching her, I noticed how her armour was truly contoured to her body. She had a full range of movements, which was good.
She then looked at me in the midst of her rummaging. "A-Apollo, what are you looking at?"
"Just admiring your armour. I am a sucker for a good aesthetic, yet practical armour, and yours is spectacular."
"Oh I see..." She said, seemingly disappointed by my answer? Before replying happily as she brought another glass and a bottle with her,
"Really? It’s nothing flashy like yours. I don’t like tech in my armour so I had it fashioned after Ancient Spartari design. I still think it holds up taste wise."
"I couldn’t agree more. It makes you look something fierce which is quite an accomplishment with your natural Hyllus beauty." I said, acknowledging the fact that every Hyllus woman I have seen has been drop dead gorgeous. They really had amazing genes thanks to their technique after all.
"O-Oh! Well thank you. It’s been a while since I have been complimented in that regard so I will happily take it. Haha." Serena said, blushing.
I just chuckled and raised the glass after it was poured. "Is it a compliment if it’s just the truth? Anyway, cheers!"
After a few sips of wine I was not swayed away from my love of fruity drinks, but could enjoy this every so often.
I then spoke up once more, getting to the reason I was here. I was excited to see the look on her face after all.
"So, I mentioned earlier that I had a surprise for you. I’ll let you unwrap it, but lets just say you are going to be really excited about what I have in my pants right now."