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~~((New Year's Day Special - Page 12 of 12))~~
It seemed like Hector was spending more and more time in P.J., lately--and that probably wasn't going to change anytime soon, he figured. He was bouncing back and forth between Warrenhold and Lorent on a daily basis. After telling the Lorentian Secretary of Defense about their lackluster border security, they'd been calling him up constantly, asking him to sit in on more meetings every day.

He tried to attend some, but they were pretty difficult to listen to, especially when he had so much other stuff on his mind. And it felt a little improper for him to even be there, at times, too. If the Secretary of Defense hadn't sounded so... well, desperate, then Hector probably would have politely refused altogether.

The people on the Lorentian Security Council obviously meant well. They wanted to keep their nation safe as best they could. But it also became increasingly clear to Hector that they were a bit overwhelmed by the war. They were constantly talking about trying to recruit more "superhuman soldiers" to their side--a sentiment which Hector didn't necessarily disagree with--but their strategies for actually doing so were a bit lacking, quite frankly.

They seemed to think it was purely a matter of money, that if they diverted a large enough amount of government funds, they could hire pretty much anyone they wanted to protect the country. Which, by extension, meant that anyone opposing such an increase in funding was also opposing the safety of the nation.

Apparently, the reason they were under this impression was because, a few years ago, Lorent had a private security company on retainer called Greenworth.

A lesser known mercenary group who used servants, according to Garovel.

And according to Ravi Zaman, Greenworth had been involved in a number of national scandals, not the least of which was the sudden death of a politician. The details were disputed, however, with some claiming that Greenworth had actually been trying to save the man's life, not end it.