Chapter 97 - Payday
Chapter 97 – Payday
"That was a magnificent firework show," the officer commented.
"Thanks, sir," Del was sitting down on the ground while being treated.
Terry was treating Del's wound by sewing it with a sterile suture. Terry was a second-year student that participated in MSVI. His distinguishing feature was his bald face, his thin mustache, and his tanned skin.
"Dude, you're fucking mental, I meant, 14 tanks at once, seriously, how talented are you?" Terry asked as he sewed Del's wound.
Hubert approached Del. He took off his Bonnie hat and put it on his hands. He smiled when he looked at him. He was just amazed by Del's performance. "So, you're Del Moore, huh? My fiancee said that she met a certain kid with a great combat talent, I will assume that it's you.."
"Your fiancee, do you mean Mrs. Gable?" Del asked.
"Oh, so it is indeed confirmed. It's a pleasure to meet you, Del, I'm Major Hubert Houle, part of the 24th Rapid-Response Task Force. It's been a pleasure to meet you, perhaps, do you need a letter of recommendation from me or something?" Hubert asked.
"Oh, you're a military officer? It's been a pleasure to meet you, sir," Del said.
"Thanks, I assume that you have met Captain Gable, how was she there?" Hubert asked.
"It seems that you chose the perfect woman, sir," Del said.
"Ah please, stop calling me sir, just call me Hubert or doc," Hubert said.
"Alright, Doc, can I call your wife Cassie?" Del asked.
"No, don't do that," Hubert said.
The military officer gave Del ten white gold coins for the initial payment. "The rest will be given by the guild, I have contacted the guild at Halivaara for your work. You'll get the rest 140 white gold coins by tomorrow."
"Thanks, commander," Del said.
With 100,000$ in his pocket, it should be enough to provide him some healthy funds for the next operation. Halivaara was a town under a siege, there should be enough jobs for him to take as a contractor. Overall, he needed to get as much money as possible from the war economy.
He knew his limit and he had known what he was incapable of. Right now, he had the resource to destroy tanks more efficiently. He brought RPG because he already had an RPG and because he only expected tank in a self-defense situation. He didn't expect a mission to destroy a damn tank.
"Moore, why are you smiling?" Hubert asked.
"Nothing, doc, I'm just thinking of something," Del answered.
"Something good?" Hubert asked.
"Perhaps?" Del said.
"Anyway, let's continue the journey towards Halivaara," Hubert said as he got inside the train.
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Ilbistirum could be split in half and Halivaara was in the middle of it. Since the civil war, the used-to-be prospering town turned into a battlefield between the Federation and the Empire that often ended in a stalemate. The citizen of the town had got used to living in that situation.
The moment the train arrived at the town, Del knew that the town was barely functional. The train station wasn't a station. It was just a bunch of platforms set up in the middle of a railway so people would be able to embark and disembark from the train. The military must have used that train station a lot.
The buildings in that town were mostly in ruins. Many buildings had turned into rubbles. Del could count how many building that was still standing just by using his own hands. The town was just a shadow of its former glory to the point that Del wondered why Ilbistirum Federal Government still defended that town.
"Ah, Halivaara, the main supply lines," Hubert said.
That was fast. The main supply lines, huh? Del opened his tablet to see the exact location of Halivaara and measured its distance to another town. It turned out that the distance to each town surrounding it was less than twenty miles. Strategically, it was an advantage. Anyone that held that town would have an advantage.
Unfortunately, right now, the town was under a siege which meant supply would be stopped entirely. Field guns and artillery were scattered around the town to deal with the incoming infantry and armored vehicles that would be attacking the premise. There were also several flak cannons to deal with any air forces from bombers to flying soldiers.
Overall, it was a heavily defended position. It was no surprise if a siege was required to take over the town. However, the situation wasn't as good as expected. If they even accepted medical students to bring in supplies, the situation must have been pretty bad, right?
"Town is heavily defended, don't you think?" Del asked.
"Yeah, I agree with you, the town is pretty much filled with heavy immovable weapons with a very thick air defense, if you ask me, this town is practically impenetrable by any conventional means of this era," Anna commented.
"What if an F-15 jet decides to strike here?" Del asked.
"The whole town would be destroyed before they knew what hit them," Anna sighed, "Del, I said conventional means of this era, not our era."
"Let's say if you're an enemy, what will you do to destroy this town?" Del asked.
"Me? Well, I will put it under siege, after that, I will cut it off from the remaining support. So, I will probably attack the weaker cities first and destroy their rail network and cut off their access from the capital," Anna commented.
"Ah, I see," Del said, "If I were the enemy, I will send my special forces first to disable their air defenses and send in the heavy bombers to flatten out the city."
Hubert and the rest of MSVI were looking at them in confusion, especially Hubert. Hubert was still a major in the military and hearing their independent military contractors planning to destroy the major supply lines was simply unnerving and insightful at the same time. It meant that the contractors that they hired weren't just some muscle-for-brain types.
"Emm, guys, you two aren't planning to attack this town, right?" Hubert asked.
"No, we are assessing the situation," Anna commented.
"For?"
"So we know what is the high-priority targets for the enemy," Del said.
"Ah, you are assessing, huh? Good," Hubert commented.
"Anyway, Sir, if you don't mind, do you need my assistance further, or can I take a walk around the town with my sister?" Del asked.
"Sure, sure, you may take a walk," Hubert said.
"Thanks, doc," Del said.
Del and Anna took a walk around the town. The town was pretty quiet. There were no civilians in that town, it was all soldiers ranging from male to female. They were either patrolling the town, manning the weapons, or moving boxes from one place to another.
Del took the initiative to ask one of the soldiers, "Sir, where are the civilians?"
"Civilians? They are evacuated from this town a long time ago, this is practically a military base and supply point at this moment," the soldier answered.
"Thanks for the answer," Del replied.
A town turned into a temporary base, well, it wasn't weird. Anyone with a sane mind wouldn't even think to stay in a town whose permanent structure was less than ten with most structures being tents with military colors.
There was a tent with a red cross on top of it. It must have been the medical tent. Del would enter the tent later. He wanted to search for the guild office first. They should have the money for Del. However, which one was them?
Del asked the same soldier again, "Sir, excuse me, but where's the guild building?"
The soldier pointed his hand at a white building with a radio antenna on top of it, "That's the guild building."
"Thanks."
"No problem."
Del and Anna walked to the building. The guild building there looked more similar to a command room than a usual guild building. For example, instead of the usual guild secretary wearing a black skirt and black vest with a white shirt, all Del could see people, whether it was women or men, in green military uniforms.
Del approached one of the desks, "Excuse me, can I retrieve rewards for a certain favor here?"
The female soldier answered, "Yes, what's your name?"
"Del Moore."
The female soldier looked at him in amazement, "Del Moore? The tank destroyer? It's an honor to meet you, I heard that you destroy the tank company attacking from the East. Good job, Moore," the female soldier said as she placed something on the table.
It was a black metal plate and forty white gold coins. The black plate was heavy, it was heavier than even gold. Was it a form of payment? Or was it something else? To be honest, Del had no idea.
"Husnael plate," Anna grabbed the plate from Del's hand, "One of this worth at around one hundred white gold coins. The only people that have this in Elbanian are the rich and famous, and yet, you manage to procure one, bro."
"This shit worth 1,000,000$," Del added.
"Wow," Anna didn't know about the conversion rate from coins to dollars.
"Yeah, with this, we can buy some expensive military hardware, like the Javelin," Del said.
"It will be great to destroy a tank with a Javelin," Anna commented.
"Nah, it will be too expensive, I will vote either using TOW or Kornet missiles. It is way cheaper than a Javelin missile," Del commented.
"Ah, I see, but now, what will we do with all of these money?" Anna asked.
"Well, let's think about that later," Del commented.
Del opened his tablet to check his balance. He put the money inside of his backpack and opened his tablet for his balance. He wasn't surprised, but he was certainly ecstatic. It was more than enough to purchase something fancy.
[Balance: 1,577,870$]