HEAVY OBJECT:Volume6 Chapter 3
Status: Incomplete
Chapter 3: The Conspiracy Bank that Motivates Human Greed >> Bombardment Battle in the Amazon District
Part 1
Details of the incident involving the explosion of unexploded shells loaded into a civilian truck:
Three dead, two injured. No civilian deaths.
The unexploded shells were an old-style weapon used by independent local guerrillas, but remains of the fuses discovered were that of a Legitimacy Kingdom model. It is possible they were intentionally detonated.
The reason the suspects Quenser Barbotage and Heivia Winchell were in the Athabasca district civilian residential city of Maple Queen is unknown. However, local camera footage confirms that they led the civilian truck into Maple Queen.
The two insist the explosion was due to the interference of the 202nd Mobile Support Company aka “Unicorn”, but no evidence of this has been found. Also, no proof has been found to indicate the existence of the supposed 20 tons of lithium ingots.
It is estimated the suspects are almost certainly guilty, but the Background Unit does not officially exist. Also, Operation Christmas Boot is being treated as “negative noise”. That is, it will not remain in the official records, so we cannot view the documents at our level of authority.
As such, investigation of the battlefield cannot be continued according to the formal methods.
Since a court martial under standard regulations cannot be carried out either, the rest will be handed over to the Black Uniforms in charge of barrier duty.
…On a personal note, I seriously hope the Black Uniforms end up shooting the suspects.
Part 2
The Amazon district in South America was technically classified as a battlefield country, but in reality it was almost entirely under the control of the Legitimacy Kingdom. It freely used cutting edge technology to be an overly hygienic-seeming powerful player in the primary sector thanks to the living resources of all the flora and fauna in its vast jungles, the research and patents on the caffeine and other substances extracted from coffee beans, and the foreign currency acquired from its large scale plantations centered on bioethanol.
One primary political issue existed. The Legitimacy Kingdom preferred to control a territory via a local monarch, but they had to choose between setting up a king from the indigenous people whose culture continued back for thousands of years or from the European population that had arrived during the Age of Exploration and now made up 90% of the population. Either choice could have explosive consequences.
Even though it was relatively stable, it was still a battlefield country. A certain city that could simply be described with the word “motley” displayed that distinct characteristic of the Amazon district. A small barracks had been forcibly added to the side of a building overflowing with a sense of cleanliness that had been built for a community campaign. Both trash and actually usable items had been piled up on the sidewalk. According to economic commentators, it would take another 10 years before they would realize the value of those items.
An open-air café existed in one corner of that cityscape that looked like it had been forcibly put together using pieces from a few different jigsaw puzzles.
Stores that served such nasty coffee were rare in a great coffee nation like that. The draw was neither the product nor the waitress’s smile; it was the money to be made gambling at dominoes. A suspicious-looking group sat at one of the tables.
However, they could easily hide their out-of-place aura in a place like that.
The group all had a crest on their shoulder showing a horse with a spear stabbing into its forehead.
That was the symbol of the 202nd Mobile Support Company aka Unicorn.
“Sogia, should you really be smoking a cigar?” A relatively fair-skinned young man spoke to a large man whose neck seemed to be as thick as his skull. “If you keep smoking them this much, you’ll get dogs chasing after you. They still use them as cheap sensors.”
“Just because we’re in the Amazon district doesn’t mean we’re going to be having shootouts in the jungle. It will be easier to blend in if you smell like civilization. …Mars, you smell like a wild animal. That isn’t good for a city. You need to take a shower and put on some cologne. Like a gentleman.”
“Tch,” came a click of the tongue from a silver-haired, brown-skinned woman named Sanya at the same table. “That’s the problem with newcomers.”
“What does this have to do with me being a newcomer!? Can you answer me that!? Not to mention that I’ve been with you for three years now!!” cried Mars in a shrill voice, but this was nothing new so no one at the table paid him any heed.
The final person at the table, a boy with a small build, poked at some domino tiles and spoke up hesitantly.
“…I feel kind of bad about what we did to those two.”
The boy had very recently played the role of a supply soldier with a chef’s license.
In response, Sogia smiled because he was more used to that kind of thing.
“You mean the Dragon Killers? Flat, people tend to meet a horrible fate when they get philosophical on the battlefield. By the way, what happened to the lithium? Whose job was it to deal with that?”
“Mine,” said Sanya as she raised her hand. “I melted it down once more just to be sure and then put it into a reserve fund. The rate was 0.75.”
“That’s a rip off.”
“Well, yes. They were completely taking advantage of us, so I had the rare earth transport ship sunk on the way back. Hopefully that makes them rethink the rates they give people. But the money was sent to the Information Alliance via check. It seems they are willing to send out a terrorist group they finance.”
“That’s fine then,” replied Sogia in an offhand tone as he lightly scratched at his neck with his index finger.
Just like the others, he had scars from stiches circling around his neck.
It was the symbol of the ceremony undertaken when entering Unicorn.
“The other units scattered around have mostly succeeded in making their connections as well. And now we have somehow managed to acquire the final piece. I suppose it’s about time we begin. Contact Colonel Marechiare.”
In an attempt to look cool, Sogia punctuated his statement by taking a sip of his coffee, but he ended up spitting the black liquid onto the ground because it tasted so bad.
He then said, “We’ve prepared all these delicious ingredients. Let’s treat those spoiled Legitimacy Kingdom VIPs to a wonderful meal.”
