Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume12 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 1===

Midnight arrived and the date changed.

Frolaytia Capistrano held her head in her hands as she received the report.

She had used the antenna-covered command patrol boat to leave Second Venice via the canals and arrive at the maintenance base zone on the coast of Malta.

“…So you shot him? You shot a civilian in front of a crowd.”

“He shot Myonri!” said Heivia over the radio. “And his weapon clearly wasn’t civilian. If he had used a grenade, the place would have been a sea of blood!!”

He had a point, but it meant nothing in this case.

This had all begun when a clash between the Legitimacy Kingdom and the Information Alliance had lowered the defenses of Second Venice as it was stopped alongside Malta.

Then several Legitimacy Kingdom Supernovas had arrived.

Finally, the Appetizer Asteroid had acted as a giant bonus prize. If the Baby Magnum had not destroyed the asteroid, it might have triggered a global ice age, but how had all of that looked to the people of Second Venice who were mostly from the Information Alliance? Even the midair explosion of the asteroid could have looked like a failure of an enemy nation.

And then the firefight had happened.

The Information Alliance crowd had felt the Legitimacy Kingdom had a duty to save them, but then the soldiers had fired on them.

Not shooting the man would have caused even more damage thanks to the grenade launcher and Heivia had been overwhelmingly right to act.

But not everyone would have an equal understanding of that fact.

(Damn. Everything is working against us here. At this rate, the nearly 130,000 VIPs could start rioting!!)

They were indeed a step away from that.

No one had climbed over the fence yet, but a great crowd was surrounding the maintenance base.

If someone did climb the fence, the Legitimacy Kingdom would show no mercy even if it was a civilian. If safely securing them was not possible, Frolaytia would have to approve the use of firearms.

At the same time, that would lead to the worst case scenario.

“Slaughtering 130,000 of the world’s upper class. This is going to cause a gigantic war.”

She felt like everything had been set up to lead that way, but then she shook her head.

She could only do what the situation allowed.

“Did you retrieve the semi-grenade launcher the man used?”

“Yes! It looks just like a Legitimacy Kingdom model, but it’s a copy. Someone might be trying to make it look like we set all this up!”

She could hear a metallic clattering over the radio.

Heivia may have been taking apart the gun and checking on the details.

“A few of the internal parts are made of plastic instead of metal. That’s something the Capitalist Corporations tend to do. It’s actually easier to use than ours.”

“The Capitalist Corporations? Not the Information Alliance?”

If their opponent was the Information Alliance, it was easy to imagine they would trigger a riot to get back at the Legitimacy Kingdom for taking Second Venice in a proper Object battle.

“I don’t know. It might be the Information Alliance pretending to be the Capitalist Corporations. Also, this is a spy’s paradise. The place is filled with VIPs from all four world powers, so the Capitalist Corporations might be interfering to wear down the Legitimacy Kingdom and the Information Alliance so they can find an opening to take Second Venice for themselves.”

“Understood. I’ll give it some thought.” Frolaytia slowly sighed. “And? If it’s a copy of our grenade launcher, the option would be .45 caliber. How is Myonri’s injury?”

“She was hit in the side, but her bulletproof plating worked against her. Instead of cleanly piercing her, the bullet is still inside her! So send a medical team right away!!”

“…”

She wanted to do just that.

But sending out a unit at the moment could easily unbalance the cup that was so full of water the surface tension was about to break. She could not doom the world to a fiery fate for a single soldier.

“Heivia, how many people are there with you?”

“It’s really just me and the skinny boy. Please don’t count Myonri! And what do we do about the little bikini devil? Although to be honest, she’s probably the strongest one here!!”

“Understood. The three of you, not including Myonri, need to determine where the launcher came from. We’re surrounded on all sides and can’t send anyone out. Anything we do will be interpreted negatively and will stimulate the crowd, so find a justification. Once we know some other military was involved in the attack with the grenade launcher, this is a job for the military instead of the police. That means we have an excuse to head out.”

“Wait! What about Myonri!?”

“Get to the bottom of this before the 37th’s cutest soldier kicks the bucket. Fail and it’s hara-kiri for the both of us!! Got that, Heivia!?”