Adopted Soldier

Carlo gulped dryly, face to face with this much pressure was something new for Carlo. 'Alex manage to fight this guy alone?' Carlo was surprised that his son, could fight this kind of monster to a standstill. Unknown to him, that after that battle with Alex, Lyner was secretly sharpening himself, to get back into shape. So the Lyner in front of Carlo was so much stronger than he was a few days ago.

Lyner was actually practicing during the night, that's why he was always sleepy in the morning. But because he was doing this even before he started to practice at night, so no one noticed the difference from before he started to practice.

At this very moment Lyner was nearing his peak state. Carlo gritted his teeth, as he prepared himself to face off against the monster in front of him. If he does this, it would mean that he would most certainly lose the bet, and he might lose his life as well.

The moment Lyner was going to move, he stopped himself. When Carlo looked at Lyner's face he saw a look of disappointment.

"Tsk, this is not worth it... You aren't worth it yet. I'll face you once you get used to that new leg of yours. The stance you are taking, is the same stance you used to take, when you still had a proper leg, am I right? But now that you have that phony one, the stance you're using will break that phony leg of yours... Ah... How disappointing... Fine then take your men and leave."

Carlo looked at Lyner a bit bewildered as to what had happened. He couldn't move even after the pressure Lyner was emitting suddenly disappeared.

"Why aren't you moving? Go take your men... Also see me again once you get used to that leg of yours." Lyner didn't bother to wait for a response from Carlo, he just left.

Carlo got hold of himself, as quickly as he could. He released his men from their bindings, and told them to head back to HQ. Carlo felt a bit bad, since his first meeting with the legendary SS rank merc wasn't a good one. He even told him that he was not worth it, not in his current state.

Carlo didn't dwell too much on this, and continued on. It was now 19:43 it took less time to deal with the situation with Lyner, than he expected. Carlo then proceeded to head to the final destination, which was a mall.

Recon Team A which was assigned to this place, had split into two teams. Team Alpha surveyed the outside of the mall, while team Beta was inside of the mall, blending with the crowd.

Carlo spoke to the leader of team Alpha, and asked what was going on. The leader of Team Alpha reported, that they spotted three individuals who were most likely one of Alex's friends, and the Amamamis going inside the mall. When Team Beta followed them, they had lost track of two of the targets, but they were still able to spot one of them. It was a very muscular boy, who was wearing a similar uniform as Alex.

He was seen in a coffee shop, he even waved at the members of team Beta as if he was saying that he knew there positions, and they shouldn't bother hiding.

When Carlo heard the description of the person, he immediately knew it was Oliver, a.k.a James Bourne. This was going to be the very first time, Carlo will actually meet Oliver. He was Alex's first friend, no at this point Oliver might actually be Alex's best friend.

Carlo hid his sword in a cane, since he had a prosthetic leg, the cane actually felt right, even though he doesn't really need it. Carlo needed to be extremely cautious, since among Alex's friends aside from Lyner, Oliver was the most dangerous, that is if he truly is James Bourne of the shadow mercenaries.

Carlo entered the mall, and upon entering he could immediately spot Oliver, since he was very eye catching. Alex wasn't exaggerating when he said that Oliver's body was a palace of muscle. His muscular body coupled with his handsome face, one couldn't really tell that this boy was sixteen years old.

Carlo approached Oliver, who was drinking coffee. Oliver noticed and smiled at him. "It's good to finally meet you Mr. Carlo. I have heard many a tale about you from my comrade Alex." Oliver gestured at Carlo to sit at the chair in front of him.

Carlo did so, and he looked at Oliver with an inquisitive look. Yet before he said anything he bowed his head in front of Oliver, which shocked the boy.

"Thank you for being friends with my son."

"Please raise your head. There is no need to bow, both Alex and I have become blood brothers. We are more than just friends, we are comrades, brothers in arms. So you Alex's father am a father to me as well." Oliver proudly announced so to Carlo.

Carlo looked at Oliver with a smile on his face, but that lasted for a few seconds before his expression changed into a serious one. Oliver who saw, Carlo's changing expression in a drop of a hat, made Oliver think that Alex and his dad are really different from each other.

"So Oliver care to tell me, where the Amamamis are? Or are we going to do this the hard way." Carlo had no more time, to assess Oliver, since with a quick look at his watch he saw that the time was at 20:07. He had roughly two hours left to find the Amamamis.

Oliver didn't mind the urgency in Carlo's tone, nor did he mind about the threat Carlo made. Olive simply sipped his coffee in a carefree manner. Since to Oliver all of these was all a game. A few hours ago, Alex explained about the bet, and he gave each of them a specific action to take.

Alex told Niel and the others a different story, which evaded the topic about the killing, and him being a merc. On the other hand Alex told Oliver the whole truth, which made Oliver think that they were going to do some role playing.

Oliver chuckled at Carlo's statement. "Really did you actually say do it the hard way? Even if I respect you as my comrades father, Mr. Carlo but I think you seem to be confused about the situation. You are not the one with all the cards, I'm the one with all the cards. SO if someone is going to say, do you want to do it the hard way, that someone should be me. Don't you think?"

Oliver who was really feeling his role at this moment, just kind of threatened the merc feared as the messenger of death, while sipping a cup of coffee.