The day before the expedition.
By now Christos is back from the Telchine territory. He made all the preparations that he could. He staked everything on the point that Sam might be related to the Hub. He is now praying to Zeus hoping that he can prove his speculations with this.
In fact, he would have liked to stay back at the Telchine territory waiting for Sam's twelfth labor, so that he could deal with him by himself.
However, he was informed by Bloody Chariot about the expedition, which made him unable to refuse.
And Sam is not showing any signs of going on his twelfth labor any time soon. Since he is way ahead of the schedule in completing the first eleven, the Poseidon academy didn't really have any grounds to pressure him.
Even if they do, they are not really bothered to it.
In their minds, Sam's matter is now not the top priority. Even if the suspected his involvement with the Hub and in turn the cases filed against their academies, they are more inclined to believe that Sam is but a pawn in the grand schemes laid out by Icarus or any other backer that he might have.
So, focusing on Sam so much is counter productive in their opinion. But they are getting their benefits from young master Vlachous, that's why they cooperated well.
Christos thought it would take more time for Sam to make a move and agreed to go on the expedition. But to his dismay, Sam immediately went to meet the people at Poseidon academy. Christos had half a mind to cancel the expedition, but he knew that Bloody Chariot wouldn't have easily kept his differences with the Noble league aside to call him on to this.
He was curious to know what is happening.
Particularly, when he came to know that the expedition is going in conjunction with the Thor academy.
He knew something big is happening and he wanted to be a part of it. Particularly, after he learned that his post as the leader of the student noble league has been ousted.
He doesn't know what is happening behind the scenes, but he does know that the influence of the nine families that are attacking the Vlachous family is behind this. He wondered how things would end up at this rate.
The day before expedition, he is feeling down on the dumps, worrying about what might happen the next day. Meanwhile.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtThere is a meeting happening inside the Hub branch of the Olympian city.
Sam and all the Hub managers, the eight members that he recruited are all there along with his friends.
"I have some important instructions for all of you today.
We are about to make one of the most critical moves we have until now. Tomorrow, all the key Third grade students from the Zeus academy will leave for the expedition and the same goes for their second grade students.
The first grade students were already dwindling, so they are not much of a threat. On top of that, there is a pocket dimension opening tomorrow. So, most of them will be gone there.
I will be going on my twelfth labor. I already collected the information today and I will be leaving at the dawn
tomorrow.
Dean Heron is not here, Bloody Chariot will be busy with the expedition preparations. Most of the elders are still performing their twelve labors. The numbers are at all time high. Coincidentally, the progress that we are hoping to get from the kid in the Sanatan realm is already reaching our current goal.
By the time he reaches the goal and cracks open the puppet, we need to make sure that all of us are safe.
The first graders, my friends, will all be in the pocket dimensions tomorrow. Philip, you take the lead on that. Make sure that all of you are noticed by someone prominent who doesn't keep their mouth shut. Make sure that you do something significant enough for them to spread the news, but not significant enough to be remembered for a long time.
I am sure, you understand what I mean."
Philip nodded his head.
"Also, we don't exactly know when the exact moment that kid will crack the puppet. So, we need to make sure that our actions are aligning with it. Luckily, it would be while the pocket dimension is still going on.
So, the managers need to be prepared.
You are going activate all of the hubs mechanisms tonight and gathered in this branch. You will receive a message when the kid cracks the puppet. At that moment, you need to move immediately.
Your wrist bands, will give you the exact locations of all our targets that we are going after tomorrow. All of them are the fourth graders. The moment, the kid cracks the puppet, you go after them. Cause as much chaos as possible.
I am sure, you are not exactly going to feel guilty about targeting them. You already saw all the criminal activities they have conducted."
Sam paused and waved his hand. An injection gun and a bunch of vials appeared in front of everyone in the meeting.
"The vials that are in front of you, are the key to your escape. After the puppet is cracked, there is no way the academies will stay still, you will have a target on your backs. The vials and the injection will be of great help to you.
All you need to do is inject yourself with that vial.
I would have liked to give you more, but it was only completed a few days ago and I couldn't find time to make it.
Anyway, it would be enough to escape safely.
Not even the Deans, Grand elders and even Bloody Chariot himself can pin you down with those. As long as you escape after executing the plans here, everything will be fine..."
Sam explained a few more details to the managers, before he turned to speak to Stone.
"Your time has finally come.
You have executed everything that I told you perfectly. You made the perfect use of the gift that I gave you. Tomorrow, you can have what you want"
He paused and waved his hand again.
A spatial storage ring appeared in front of Stone.
"You can use the contents of the ring and you will be able to leave this place. I don't want to impose a live of slavery on you by taking advantage of your gratitude. After all, I believe that we have a fair exchange.
You became my test subject and let me experiment on you while you gained the results of that experiment. And you worked perfectly based on my words in the past few days. We are even.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmAfter you achieve your goal, you have two ways and you will find both of them in that ring. You can choose either. If you choose the second one, I hope that you do it as soon as possible. I would also be glad knowing that you are safe!" Stone hesitantly picked up the ring and looked at Sam.
"Sir, I am honored to be a slave to you. I have been a slave my entire life. However, it was against my will. My life might have been sold away to the owners of those mines at my birth, however, every time I failed to fight back that fate, I sold my self-respect in parts.
For the first time, I ever did fight back, those owners made sure that I lost everything that I had.
You...
You bestowed up on me the blessing that all the gods in this world failed to do.
So, for the first time, I am willing to be your slave. Not just out of an obligation, but with my whole heart and soul."
Sam didn't speak and just stayed silent.
After that, he turned to the rest of his team.
"I am sure you are all a bit nervous. I know that I am. However, this is the key plan in achieving our common goal of destabilizing the academy realm.
With our tomorrow's move, the gods will see what it means when the mortals truly fight back with all their heart.
I won't say that I am doing all this out of pure intentions. In fact, I would like to believe that I am very candid about my selfish motives. It just so happens that our motives aligned.
I hope, we will be successful with the execution of our plan and live to tell the tale of how as mortals, we shook up the foundations of the gods."
Sam finished his speech and raised his wine in toast.
The others raised as well.
However, they were not as openly excited as Sam. Even though they are happy that they have come this far and confident that they can execute the next plan perfectly, there is just one thing that they all hand in their minds.
All of their backs are covered with the plans Sam just explained. But there was no mention on how Sam's back is covered.
Because, until now, only one person is the key suspect to have direct connection with Hub, apart from the managers. And that is Sam.
If they really executed the plans as Sam mentioned, then he will be the first suspect to not just Zeus academy, but every person that is any way related or associated with the academy realm.