A Warrior's Second Chance (Faye and Alexander) novel Chapter 573

Chapter 562-1

ALEXANDER

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I had already decided that I wasn’t going to rush what I saw simply because I was pressed for

time.

The eastern border deserved more than that. And so did I.

The next two hours passed with more walking than talking.

Rufus and the other elders took me through different parts of the settlement while Faye

remained beside me almost the entire time.

They spoke when necessary, pointing out places they believed deserved my attention, but for the most part, I preferred to observe.

The first thing that struck me was how… ordinary everything looked.

There were no abandoned streets.

No collapsing buildings.

No obvious signs of a territory that had been left to rot.

If anything, a visitor passing through would probably conclude that life was moving on as it should.

But the longer I looked, the more the cracks began to appear.

Not the kind that immediately caught the eye.

The kind that only became visible when someone knew what they were supposed to be

looking at.

The clinic was operational. Patients were being attended to.

The building itself was exactly the way it was supposed to be.

Yet there were fewer medical personnel than I remembered approving, and some of the equipment being used should have been replaced a long time ago, based on what I remembered.

But no one there was complaining. They had simply adapted.

The school told a similar story.

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The classrooms were occupied.

Children were learning.

Teachers were doing the best they could with what they had.

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But several of the materials that had been included in the approved budget were nowhere to

be seen.

The same pattern repeated itself at the guard barracks.

The buildings had been renovated.

The training grounds were maintained.

Discipline hadn’t disappeared.

Yet some of the weapons should have been retired after the last procurement cycle.

I remembered signing those approvals myself.

That much, I was certain of.

None of the discoveries, taken individually, would have raised immediate suspicion.

There was enough to convince anyone making a brief inspection that the projects had indeed been completed.

That was what made the situation so dangerous.

Everything existed.

Just… not quite the way it should have.

It was as though someone had taken every instruction that left my office and trimmed away just enough for it to remain functional while quietly reducing its actual value.

By the time we finished inspecting the last location, I understood something I hadn’t fully appreciated before making this trip.

The people weren’t imagining their frustrations.

Faye caught my eye briefly.

She didn’t say a word… She didn’t need to.

I already knew what she was thinking.

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The farther a leader was from his people, the easier it became for someone else to speak in his place.

The unsettling part was that we still hadn’t reached the issue Rufus insisted bothered the people the most.

As we continued walking, he slowed his pace before turning toward me.

“There’s one more place I’d like you to see, Alpha.”

His tone was noticeably different this time.

More serious.

“The water project.”

FAYE

I didn’t realize the place referred to as the eastern border was a settlement of its own.

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