10 The Mainland

Meanwhile, Lance and Dima were walking to the island, the Admiral meeting room, to be exact. Because of the numbers of the personnel that was available at the moment, only a few of them were called to the meeting.

Only a handful of captains and commanders were being called to the meeting. Lance and Dima were also summoned by the Admiral.

In the hallway of the carrier, "Dima, which one is better, Natasha or Melody?" Lance asked him. What a freak Lace is, Dima felt that he was asked the question in the same context as, "Whose dick is bigger yours or mine?" In the middle of a shower.

"You urod, well, let's see, I go with Tasha obviously," Dima said while climbing the ladder.

"Mhmm," Lance nodded as they opened the door to the meeting room, and several officers had already waited there. Admiral Andersen had already written his plan on the whiteboard.

Lance sat at one of the chairs while the Admiral explained his plan, which far from the idea that Lance had in mind.

"So gentlemen, we will move the carrier to about 20 kilos from the shoreline and dispatch one LCS to the shoreline. Any question?" The Admiral said.

"Admiral, I think this distance is ok for the most part, but don't you think its largely underpowered considering the amount of fleet that we brought here?" Lance said to his Admiral.

"Ok, so what do you have in mind?" Admiral Andersen asked him.

"A cruiser, two destroyers, and one LC to the shoreline sir," Lance said.

"Objection, sir," one of the captain said to me.

"Why?"

The Captain explained her opinion, "Respectfully sir, if your Objective is not to spark some conflict, we should just send a patrol boat to the shoreline. The size of our smallest LCS is bigger than the biggest battleship that they have."

"Opinion denied, Captain, we have to play safe here, and sending only a patrol boat is quite risky," said the Admiral to her.

"Ok, whose ship is going to be chosen?" Lanc asked.

"Commander Vasiliy one, CG-52 and other ships," The Admiral said.

"Ok, the plan is set and dismissed," Dima said in the meeting as the others left their chair.

Lance returned to his quarter and packed his clothes in his 90L backpack. Dima did the same too. They left their quarters which Will be preserved for them and for them only.

They walked to the flight deck with an empty SH-60 Blackhawk on the deck. Lance wore the flight helmet and sat down on the helicopter pilot seat.

"You can pilot a halo comrade?" Dima asked.

"Hell, Dima, I can fly everything," Lance said as he flipped a few knobs on the helicopter.

The ship's name was USS Bunker Hill. She carried enough firepower to take down an entire port. Once Lance landed the helicopter at the ship, Dima got out first and greeted his fellow Ruskies.

"Tovarisch, its good to be seeing you," Dima said to the commander.

"Nice to meet you too, General Dimitri," Commander Vasiliy said to him while Lance was carrying his massive backpack into the ship.

As Lance walked passed them, he said this, "Dima, your belongings are still in the cargo." He walked into the ship while leaving the helicopter parked on the rear section.

After some minutes, the custom finally came. In the form of a tiny boat, which about 1:100 in the scale against the might of the Littoral Combat Ship. It was pretty amusing when the crew was on their combat position as soon as the custom threw a hook at the ship.

It also funs looking at the customs officer who got intimidated just by looking at the ship that has a size more significant than the biggest ship that they had.

'Blimey, they can give us a more polite way of approaching someone else ship, well, at least they don't approach us in their first-rate battleship,' Lance mumbled as he saw the crew of the ship approached the sailor while some of the other was on top of the M2 Browning Heavy Machine gun turret. They didn't forget the Bushmaster 20mm that the sailor used and the other weaponry that they had.

He walked to the customs officers while the other sailor was on stand by with their sights on the head of the customs officers. about 150/300 personnel has their rifle aimed at him.

"Who is in charge here?" the custom asked.

Lance walked between the sailor and said, "I'm in charge here, what can I do for you, gentlemen."

Dima whispered from behind his ear, "Lance, it looks like we need some diplomatic solution here."

Lance looked at the customs officer, "Pardon me for the intrusion, what do you need?"

"Thanks, could you give me the details about what are you bringing here?" The custom asked.

"Well, 330 people are on board, anything else?" Lance replied unwillingly.

"No, I mean the cargo," The custom said.

"Sorry, but its a secret," Lance said.

"Well, it looks like you have to pay the fine for about two gold coins. If not, then you must return back to your homeport. Forcing to gain entrance, then our ship and fort will open fire. Mind you, that our port here has four first-rate battleships and a fort that can blast your ship out of the sea," the custom tried to give a threat through power projection.

'I got a fleet of a carrier strike group that can blast that precious ship of yours multiple times to oblivion and beyond' He wanted to say that, but that's not going to work. Instead, he took a more peaceful action, "Two gold coins? Well, wait for a minute, ok."

1 Platinum= 100 Gold coins

1 Gold = 100 silver coins.

1 Silver = 100 Copper coins.

However, although the distance from the CVN was about 30km, with jets, well, the thing that makes the trip took time is the take-off procedure, which took about two minutes, maybe. The commander who was very smart indeed, sent an emergency transmission to send us the gold coins in the form of cargo pod that will be dropped at the ship.

After about five minutes, the jet made a low pass flight in afterburner and dropped the cargo pod right at the water behind the rear deck at an exact location. The pilots were good pilots, after all. The sailor fetched the pod, and after that, they opened it and revealing a lot of containers and one of them contained the gold coins.

"Wow, what a gold you have there," He complimented him.

"Thanks," Lance replied as he shot the custom officer with his FN Five-seveN. The sailor cleaned the body and threw it into the sea and rammed the small boat with the cruiser.

The ship started to sail again and revealed the huge port of the city. The Portsmouth Harbor, located in the city of Portsmouth. This is one of the main trade ports of the Soulisphate kingdom. Used to be managed by his father, this town was a thriving society by itself.

The ship convoy anchored down at the port and the whole crowd around the port was surprised looking at the largest ship they've ever seen. Most of them were scared, but there were some soldiers that had some sinister look. They had a goosebump when they saw that ship

"There she is, my hometown, Portsmouth," Lance said as he looked at the port from the side railing of the ship.

"Hehe Comrade, Feeling homesick again?" Dima asked him.

Some sailor was bringing two HK416 and two cans of ammo and two Glock 17. The sailor gave it to them, and when they docked down at the harbor, the admiral came, "Sir, we will wait until the LMSR ship arrives at the port. Why don't walk around, sir? We will be your bodyguard for today" he said as he shook Lance's hand and saluted with the other five sailors that were wearing a navy BDU and holding an M4 on their hands.

The sailor lowered a bridge for them to cross, and after they went for the port, the ship stayed there. The bodyguards around them were on standby and also impressed by the medieval era society, "Well, Gentlemen, Let's find a tavern, shall we?" Dima said to the other sailors.

"Sure, I know a bar near here," Lance said as they walked away from the port while carrying a heavy armor rig and an HK416 in each hand. The view of the harbor just spectacular. Merchant traffic was here and there trying to sell their things in the port market.

Dima felt an immense amount of hostility from around him. A bunch of people wore criminal clothing, and some of them had a skull on their hat. He readied his rifle every time, but Lance told him to calm down. Nobody wants a shootout in the middle of the day.

They walked down the road just like a backpacker. They finally arrived at the bar, 'Ala folks bar.' "Dima, this is the bar, let's get in. The room is good as far as I knew," Lance said as he let Dima opened the door.

The bar was still empty since it's still in the afternoon. Dima and Lance took a sit on the barstool while the other sailors sat on a table near the window while putting their weapons on the table. Then this beautiful bartender lady appeared, a woman in his thirties with a light brown hair which was fitting for Dima considering his age.

"Hi there, what can I get you?" The bartender asked.

"A bottle of Vodka, please," Dima said to the beautiful bartender, but that's for his age.

"Vodka? What is that?" The bartender seemed to be very confused.

"The only bartender that is purely stupid and mentally retarded that asked what is vodka to a Slav,," Dima complained.

Lance added, "Just give him anything strong."

"Well," the bartender grabbed a dark glass bottle contained a golden-ish liquid and poured it into a shot glass and used a magic spell to make it cooler. "Here you go," the bartender gave the drink to Dima.

He drunk the whole drink in one shot, and suddenly, he had happy eyes on his face, "Blyat, now this is what I call alcohol. Another one," Dima said as he asked for another one.

The bodyguard that guarded Lance and Dima was surprised when they looked at Dima's behavior that surely already violate the code of conduct. However, they just let it go because officer is known for their attitude of searching for a mistake in any of his/her hated subordinates.

"Wow, you're such a heavy drinker, I don't know anyone besides me can handle that drink," The bartender said.

"What do you mean? Do you want to try it too? It's on the house," Dima said as he brought up one gold coin and grabbed the bottle from the bar, and poured it into his shot glass.

They both started to drink heavily, and that face of Dima had begun to turn red. Lance just wait there to be served until, "What do you want to drink?" A grey-haired woman of the same age as Lance said. This woman was the daughter of the bartender, and she helped her mom. In Lance's opinion, she is more beautiful than her mother.

"Hey there, a beer," Lance said to the beauty bartender.

"Ok," she said as she filled a large glass with beer and did the same thing as her mom, which was chilling the glass with a spell.

Lance took a sip from the glass and asked the woman, "Do you rent any room?" Lance asked her.

"Well, about 2 silver coins per night," the girl said to Lance.

"Is this is enough?" Lance said as he handed her a gold coin.

The girl held the gold coin in her hand and wiped it with the cloth that is used to clean the glass, "How long are you planning to play this out?"

Lance got surprised and put his drink down, "What do you mean?"

"Gee, Lance, Getting sunk at sea really messed you up, isn't it? You Hellish bastard, remember me now?" She said to Lance, that was confused.

"Wait, Are you Amara Gardner? Amara the young viscountess? Amara?" Lance asked in full curiosity.

[Quest completed. Transferring the reward immediately to the user. [Amara the Pantomath] has been unlocked for the user.]

"Yes, I'm Amara. Gee Lance, do we play and go to school together memories flew away in only a month?" Amara said to him.

Amara was Lance's childhood friend. Their parents were pretty close since they grew up together as childhood friends. They played together since the age of four and continued until they grew up and entered the nobility school. Now Lance was wondering, 'Why the hell did she got stripped off from nobility status.'

"So, Amara, what the hell happened?" Lance asked as her mother and Dima were singing an incomprehensible song in English. Though, Dima oftentimes started by singing Kalinka at first. The bodyguard was trying harder to not give a fuck on Dima's action. Lance tried to hide his embarrassment.

"Don't mind them," Amara said to him.

"What the hell did he drink?" Lance asked her.

"That? A quadruple distilled whiskey specially made for mom, and she is the only one that drinks it. Seeing that guardian of yours drinks multiple shots without passing out is already impressive," Said Amara as Dima and her mother had already dead drunk.

"Follow me, Lance, I will take you around the town so you won't be lost in the massive change of the city," Amara said as she grabbed a robe and a hood and wore it. She put the shop to close and let Dima and her mother have fun in the closed tavern. He gave Lance a sword, but he blatantly refused. He said his rifle is better. The bodyguards followed them from behind and harassed every soldier that gets in their way.

Lance and Amara walked side by side, they walked around the town that had changed so much since he left, "Well, what the hell happened? Are you a viscountess? Who is the town lord now?" Lance asked.

"Viscountess? Two months ago, yes. Now, No. After your disappearance, mom and dad were having a divorce resulting, my mom gets stripped off from his nobility status. Luckily, my mom has talent, especially in the alcohol sector. Not stopping there, now my father had been thrown to jail because of suspicion of espionage," Amara said to Lance.

"Well, my ship is sunk because of the same reason apparently," Lance said sarcastically.

"I know you won't talk about it. You might want to exchange and put some of that coins at the bank," Amara guided him.

Although what Amara had said, the town hadn't changed much since the last time he was there. Though, he could feel the massive appearance of soldiers and pirates. "What's with these pirates?"

"Since the new townlord came, the pirates use this harbor as a trading Post. Though, it has been well known as a public secret," Amara said as one of the pirates seduce a prostitute.

They continued to walk across the busy port, and finally, they stumbled across the bank.

"This is the bank Lance, here you can use my mother's account," Amara said as she gave him a book.

"Is it better for me to make another one personalized for me," Lance refused the book.

"Fine, do you have 10 gold coins?" Amara asked him.

"10? I have a chest of them," Lance said as he entered the not so busy bank.

The bank was just like a usual bank. The teller at the front and an entrance for the vault in behind. The security guard was standing near the door of the bank with one wealthy merchant was lining in front of the teller.

"Just come to the teller and tell him that you're going to make an account," Amara said as he sat down in a wooden waiting bench beside a wealthy merchant that wore clothes far better than her.

"Ok," Lance said as he stood behind the wealthy merchant.

The line was quick, and Lance could get his account fast and deposit all of his gold coins. He exchanged it with 200 silver coins. He got out of the bank with Amira afterward.

"That was quicker than I thought," Lance said as he put his bank book on his leather pouch.

"Yeah, What's that black rod that you hold all the time?" Amara asked me.

"Hmm, a magic wand, I guess," Lance replied while trying to hide his eagerness to explain his HK416A5.

"Cool, Can it do this?" Amara asked as he showed him the [Fire] spell.

"What? No," Lance said.

Suddenly, yup suddenly, a woman came screaming to the soldier's direction. "The bank is under attack."

Lance added his opinion, "Bank robbery? In the middle of the day? What a ruse," he said as he walked away from the bank towards the farmer's market.

"It could be true, though," Amara said to him.

"If it's true, then that's the soldier's business and not mine," Lance straightened his point.

In the farmer's market, the traffic was so heavy. Their intention was to buy some fresh fish for the beer platter for the night. The market was selling fish, a lot of them.

"Hehe, That's a good fish," Amara said to Lance as she pointed her hands at a fresh salmon.

"Yes, but we need a smoked one for the platter, am I right?" Lance said.

"Right," Amara said as she went searching for a high-quality smoked fish. Once she found one, she put it inside her bag after paying for it, of course. They bought many glasses, and only God knew why.

What a not so big surprise for Lance, but big enough surprise for Amara. Dima and his mother were drunk as fuck. Well, no surprise since the alcohol that they drunk has more than 90% in alcohol content. They have passed out in the bar stool with an empty shot glass and a quarter full dark whiskey bottle.

"Gee, now who is going to serve the crowds tonight?" Amara said as she slapped her drunk mother multiple times. Lance did the same too with Dima, but more harsh, "You lazy cyka, wake up for blyat sake."

"What should we do now? Renting another person will surely be costly. I got an idea, Lance, are you familiar enough with alcohol?" Amara asked Lance as she guided her mother to her bedroom.

Lance and his bodyguards carried Dima to a nearby floor and used his large backpack as a makeshift pillow. He put a bottle of first aid for him, which was some drugs for his hangover. Though, Lance also brought some alcohol in the form of Cabernet red wine from the admiral's office. Though he prefers to drink it with meat.

"I'm familiar with alcohol, why?" Lance said as he tried to show off by making a drink inside a collins glass. He added a large rectangular ice cube to the glass and added 15ml of fresh lemon juices into the glass. Then he added 45ml of Gin and 15ml of simple syrup. Then he pops opened a bottle of champagne and filled the glass up. He served it at the bar to Amara, "Here you go, please enjoy." Lance said as he used the same spell as Amara used when she served the drink to him.

"What's this?" Amara asked as she tasted the drink. She took another sip since the drink was delicious, "Hmm, nice one Lance, I don't know you are good enough in alcohol. What's the name?"

"I forgot it to be honest," he lied.

"Ok, help me for tonight, and you and your buddy can stay here as long as you want," Amara said as she finished up the drink.

"Ok, hey, help me and her!" Lance said to the other bodyguards that are going to be a server for the day.