Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume1 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 6===

After having returned to the maintenance base zone, Quenser and Heivia leaned silently up against a passageway wall.

Froleytia spoke to her two subordinates.

“I checked the report, and it seems the owner of that picture book was not the girl you feared it was.”

Quenser and Heivia remained silent for a bit longer.

Finally, Quenser opened his mouth and said, “Do you think that is enough for us to be relieved?”

“I know that, as soldiers, we have no right to pretend we’re innocent, but this isn’t the type of war we want to fight.”

“I see,” muttered Froleytia before grabbing a nearby doorknob and entering without knocking.

She sighed at the troublesome job that lay ahead of her.

She was within a small room.

She had long, silver hair with a hint of blue, a long, narrow hairpin modeled after a Japanese kanzashi, and was inhaling gray smoke from a Japanese-style kiseru. She took the notebook computer and tablet sensor from under her arm and placed them on a table. She normally used a pen-shaped input device on the computer to send orders to distant units, but the monitor was closed.

Froleytia looked straight forward.

A chair was bolted to the floor across the small table from her and a man was sitting in it with his arms shackled to the armrests.

He was the reporter.

Quenser and Heivia had told her about their guess that he was a former mercenary, but Froleytia disagreed. A mercenary willing to enter a battlefield without an Object to protect him would have a harsher look in his eyes. Most likely, an even harsher look than a proper soldier.

He was most likely some rich kid come from outside of Oceania who fancied himself a person of culture.

“Mr…Sewax, was it? You have caused quite a bit of trouble. Are you aware that this is a military interrogation room and that you have done something warranting bringing you here?”

“Remove these restraints,” said Sewax quickly, cutting off Froleytia. “I have no obligation to speak without a lawyer present, but I’ll do you a favor. This is a clear human rights violation. You have no right to rob me of my freedom. Remove these restraints this instant.”

“…”

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“What, are you mad about the sniping? You soldiers are so worthless. Are you trying to say I’m a murderer just because I’m not part of the military? In other areas of conflict like Oceania where not even Objects have been deployed, mercenaries travel from safe countries, remove a few of the enemy troops, and then freely return home. Are you saying they are criminals, too?” Sewax grinned as if to say his rights were absolute and that no one could lay a finger on him. “All I did was what you all have forgotten to do. Isn’t it your job to put a bullet in those Oceanian monsters? I merely did it for you and now I will write a report on it and change the public opinion. To be blunt, you are not carrying out your job on a fundamental level when you get so upset over someone taking out a few Oceanian troops. Do you really think you can end their tyranny like that?”

Froleytia grimaced while Sewax looked at her with scornful eyes.

He overlooked the change in the soldier’s expression.

“Due to the Objects, you fools have forgotten what it means to be soldiers. I’m going to write about you when I return to the home country. I’ll tell everyone how you soldiers have forgotten what it means to fight and how you panic at the slightest sight of blood. Not to mention how you lost your ability to think rationally and illegally restrained an honest, hardworking reporter.”

Froleytia slowly placed her long, narrow kiseru on the table.

Immediately afterwards, a great noise rang out.

She had grabbed Sewax’s shoulders, picked up the reporter, chair and all, and thrown him forcefully against the wall.

“Gbh…Ghaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!?”

The force of the blow smashed the back of the chair to pieces and Sewax’s body bent backwards. However, Froleytia’s narrow arms did not allow him to collapse to the ground. She held his body against the wall and brought her face in close.

“There were four,” Froleytia said in a low, cold voice she had not used before. “If you had merely killed enemy troops, we would have been praising you. However, there were four. Four unrelated villagers were killed thanks to your unwanted actions. Those people would not have died otherwise. And one of them died from ''your'' bullet, not the Oceanians’.”

“Cough. But thanks to that, you were able to make the decision to attack the Oceanians! We cannot overlook even the smallest evil!! What I did wasn’t wrong!! If I write up a report on this, the people of the world will resent the irrationality of war and anti-war sentiment will start to spread. This age where we rely on you soldiers who do nothing but swallow up our taxes will come to an end, you idiot!!”

“Oh, is that so!?”

Froleytia took Sewax’s body from the wall and swung him around. The centrifugal force slammed his back down on top of the small table.

As Sewax coughed, Froleytia continued speaking.

“Then let me tell you something. It turns out those Oceanian soldiers were not in that village for their regular payment. They were there on an irregular visit. Even if you had not attacked with that sniper rifle, they would have obeyed their commands from above and systematically started attacking villages.”

“Th-then…”

“And they were doing this because of the actions of reporters like yourself!! Due to the coalition intervention, the Oceanian military nation thinks international society is taking them lightly. To show just how powerful they are, they came up with a ridiculous plan to actually strengthen their forestation and to slaughter the villagers!! They are using their own people as cards in the negotiation by saying their deaths are our fault for ignoring their orders and sending in the coalition Objects!! Why do you think we did not let any reporters or cameramen near the Oceanian border? Because we had already learned of their plan! They had no one to witness the slaughter and transmit it around the world, and that is why the Oceanians had not begun this meaningless slaughter before! However, your thoughtless actions gave them the push they needed!!” said Froleytia, regretting her own foolishness rather than Sewax’s. “What do you think the Oceanians are going to do now that their comrades have been killed? They were trying to show off to the international community and instead suffered a great disgrace. They are sure to escalate the slaughter now in order to erase this from their image! They will now ‘search for the killer’. They will arbitrarily choose a ‘suspicious-looking’ tribal village, send in troops, and slaughter them all until they are satisfied!! Did you hear that!? Until they are satisfied!!”

Sewax’s body stiffened in shock upon hearing that.

“B-but I am a journalist of the Legitimacy Kingdom. I made sure to fire into Oceanian territory from coalition territory. Why would they target Oceanian villages? That’s utter nonsense. Even that military nation would not take action without any evide-“

“Do you really think they will listen to that kind of reason!!!!!?”

Froleytia finally clenched her fist and punched Sewax in the gut.

Sewax was unable to restrain the nausea and spewed vomit across the floor. Froleytia grabbed his hair and spoke to him with a face filled with anger.

“They see the villagers’ lives as no more valuable than an insect’s!! If they feel like it, they will kill them regardless of whether they have evidence or not! That is why I said they would slaughter them until they are satisfied! They will attack the villages they do not like out of anger over their fellow soldiers being killed!! Did you think trials to enforce proper laws exist in this country!? How many innocent lives do you think will be lost thanks to this PR stunt of yours that was for nothing other than to sustain your own pride!?”

It was unclear if he had finally understood what he had done or if it was merely a chain reaction from emptying the contents of his stomach, but tears began falling from Sewax’s eyes.

“To be honest, I wish I could just hand you over to Oceania’s foolish leaders, but unfortunately, the Legitimacy Kingdom has excellent human rights laws. I can’t just casually hand you over.” Froleytia let go of his hair and seemed to have regained some of her cool when she spoke again. “Do you understand? We were barely managing a careful balance on this battlefield and your actions have changed that to the long, drawn-out fight we all dreaded.”