“I’m sorry guys, I take her as my mom, so the little time I spent with her was precious to me. Please understand”. “And besides, we only agreed on staying at my place for 2 days before we go to your city. So allow me to relish this opportunity, I did not waste your time”. Clark explained as Leo’s complaints continued unabashedly. Benny only smiled benevolently, as Leo finally decided to stop his complaints. He finally had the time to compliment the woman’s food, after calming down from his bantering. Though he complained, it was just a means of a joke for him to make his friend talk more. “Clark, to be sincere you would have paid dearly, but the delicious free food from your mom placated me,” He said while rubbing his fists with a slight grin on his face. “You have to thank her, or you would probably be picking up your broken teeth by now”. He sharply added as he turned to face his friend. “Hahaha,” Clark laughed off his friend’s sarcasm, before he led the way, taking them to other places.This time, he took them to a computer games company that he loved visiting to play games when he was younger. The difference in mood was so glaring. Unlike the last place, none of his companions complained as they immediately fell in love with the place. They just decided to relax here, and they spent the rest of their day playing games. That was their way of spending their short vacation. They did not have any good thing to engage themselves with, so just enjoy yourself. … The next day was just like the previous one, but Clark ended the tour by taking his friends to a company called trailblazers. Trailblazers are one of the few non-combat entertainment centers in the Spartan republic that was thriving. It was a company that specializes in keeping recordings and highlights of humanity legends, from the last few centuries. They engage in the business of showing these highlights to the public, just like a theater. Despite this being the age of exotics and technology, they were still able to get crowds to patronize them. Leo and Benny thought Clark wanted to watch highlights of war legends. No, they were wrong, instead of war legends he wanted to watch the highlights of the football legend, “Lionel Messi”. Both soldiers were perplexed as football was not too famous again in this era. Despite their doubts, they still followed Clark without asking. It was only because Clark learned about high-grade soldiers that he grew to love the soldier profession; his original childhood dream was to become a footballer just like Messi. Despite already being more than a century ago, Lionel Messi’s football achievements and records were still unbroken, untouched, and legendary. He is the main reason why football is still being appreciated in this era, despite the attention given to it being low. Other sports have already become the stuff of legends and history, as battle tournaments are now the mainstay. He is the only player to have won the prestigious award, the ballon dor award that was given to exceptional players centuries ago for a total of 8 times, which is an unbreakable record that has been proven to date. He won the UEFA champions league for a record-breaking 6 times, and also won the golden boot award an astonishing 10 times. He won a lot of other football awards, but these were the most mind-blowing of them all.He also took Barcelona, his one and only team to win 15 la Liga titles during his career, which is still an unbroken record to date. When Clark was younger, watching Messi highlights was simply his greatest source of joy. The feeling was better than getting high through drugs, it felt just like floating in the heavens. Watching him dribble past players, was an experience that always kept him shaking in excitement. Containing his excitement to himself was a problem that he couldn’t fix, so he frequently pulled his friends along to watch together when he was younger. He was clearly aiming to do the same today, as he excitedly pulled his 2 friends forward. He went inside quickly while pulling both of them along after paying the gate fee. Inside the trailblazer, the hall was just like a cinema, but the projection video was far clearer than normal and could be zoomed in different impossible angles to understand more clearly. “Increase in technology is really a great boon to society,” he thought excitedly, as they quickly located a seat. They were lucky to be among the last batch of people to enter, the video started not long after as the hall was now full. The hall suddenly darkened as all light was switched off, leaving only the light coming from the huge projection. A picture of Lionel Messi was first shone in the projection, making everybody in the hall erupt in cheers and shout wildly. A short biography of the legend was displayed shortly after before the highlight officially began. The magical feeling of watching football quickly overtook the whole hall. The voice of the commentator felt just like spiritual music to Clark, as Messi’s magic began being displayed. Messi tackled, Messi ran with the ball, Messi dribbled and then Messi scored. On hearing the Messi, Messi, and Messi emphasis of the commentator, Clark felt the urge to shout but kept to myself as the sound dampeners were already activated to prevent any noise when the highlight begins. Even if he shouted on top of his lungs, no sound will be heard. Despite the silence around the hall, the commentary, background cheers, and background music made the video too legendary and epic to look away from. He shook with excitement as Messi scored another goal. “I respect you man, the king of football. The G.O.A.T, the greatest of all time,” he thought inwardly with strong emotional backing. The highlight went on for 4 hours before it ended on a satisfying note. Leo was also a football fan, but despite Benny not being one, he enjoyed the video as he kept blabbering about how awesome Messi was. Clark grinned on seeing this; he always felt great when someone compliments Messi. This was one of the reasons he liked bringing his friends to watch together. This was the best place that he brought them to, Leo and Benny later confessed. His mood improved considerably from hearing this, as he smiled throughout their journey back home. The sky was already dark as they finally strolled back home. On the way back, Clark and Leo engaged Benny by telling him about Messi’s other achievements and records. They ordered food on the way, which they ate after getting home. They watched a movie with satisfaction before they later retired to sleep in Clark’s bed. The day was well spent, Clark led a short prayer before they slept. … “It is finally time to visit my town baby, give me the car keys Clark,” Leo said excitedly as they came out. Clark smiled at him, before throwing the keys in his direction. They already bought a lot of clothes during the last 2 days; they wore outing clothes, before keeping all their other clothes in the car booth after packaging them in a new bag. Clark already instructed the A. I on how to take care of the house during his time of leave. So basically, he was done here, he had no other meaningful business here. Zoom!! Leo started the car as he smoothly drove out of the compound. As his friend drove, Clark finally did something that he had been contemplating for the last few days. He hacked the old woman’s account, before sending her 20,000 Spartan credits. She would never have agreed if he told her directly, probably arguing that he needed it more. He indicated his identity, as his face bloomed into a broad smile when he thought of the expression, she’ll have on her face on seeing it. Leo’s home city is Balmi city, the city next to Vatican City. He stepped harder on the accelerator, as the car accelerated after reaching the highway. The journey took less than an hour before they finally saw the sign, “Welcome to Balmi”. Balmi is one of the most highly populated and barely developed cities in South Sparta. It was also one of the cities which is more prone to terrorist attacks, and its security level is also pretty low. Leo drove into the city experiencedly like a veteran, as he navigated in the heavy traffic. 20 minutes later, they finally reached his home street. Clark and Benny were really shocked this time as, despite the rumors, they didn’t expect a street in Sparta to be this underdeveloped and backward. “Is this where we’ll spend our last days of vacation?” Clark blurted out with an I’m finished expression on his face, as he sharply turned to face his friend.