Milano in Great Chaos (3)

Anyway, after the self-proclaimed "Milano Defense Force" — better known by their less flattering nickname, "former special forces unit directly under the Milano-V planetary government" — had stormed the government building with shouts of "Go get 'em, Ilenamon! Body Slam!", I gave the order for their complete annihilation, and by hook or by crook, we managed to retake the first floor of the government building.

The problem, however, was exactly what we'd overheard in their communications: in the capital of Milano-V where we were based, former special forces operatives and active guerrillas were holed up inside practically every building you could name. Which meant that the very moment Ilena came back from retaking that first floor — having just realized that the 'Ggomuli' living on my body was rather more than a mere wriggler, and marched over ready to chew me out—

— ‧‧‧‧‧‧ KWA-BOOM! FWOOSH!

"Hyeck!"

"...It would seem this is not the time for idle jesting, Lady Benya."

Beyond the wide glass windows of the sprawling government building, plumes of black smoke could be seen boiling up across the city, each one punctuated by the rumble of an explosion.

And the instant I saw it, I quietly opened the status window that only I could see and took a screenshot.

Wearing a hollow smile, I felt the absurdity of the situation wash over me as I stared at the crisis unfolding right in front of my eyes.

And no wonder — the scale of whatever was erupting across the city was far, far larger than anything we'd heard in the enemy communications. Anyone could see this was the work of special forces — or rather, of the sheer number of traitors colluding with the central government — and a sigh escaped me whether I wanted it to or not.

Then, just as that thought crossed my mind, sure enough—

Out of the frying pan, into the fire, huh.

On top of everything else, an urgent quest window had popped up practically screaming 'you, yes you, are in a dangerously screwed situation.' With trouble raining down on me nonstop, I couldn't help but feel my stomach churn with anxiety.

Yet despite my inner turmoil, when Heisenberg and Ilena actually laid eyes on this situation, their expressions somehow grew brighter. Wondering what on earth could possibly explain that, I stared at them blankly, and here is what the two of them had to say:

"It is tragic news for those who suffered losses, Lady Benya — but paradoxically, this incident has effectively flushed out every last potentially hostile faction still hiding on Milano-V."

"Uh, it works like that?"

"This is an entirely different matter from when the planetary system's forces rallied to you after ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠your imprisonment. Back then, moral justification allowed people to simply sit out without openly backing us, which is precisely why it would have been so difficult for the central government to identify its insiders."

"But in this case, everyone who joined in is by definition one of our potential traitors. Which means we are free to simply eliminate them."

"...Ohhh."

Watching the two of them lay out this logic with such evident confidence, I could only marvel — so what exactly are they planning to do, and how?

***

That question, as it turned out, answered itself precisely two days, twelve hours, one hour, fifty-seven minutes, and twenty-five seconds later...

"We have successfully eliminated all guerrillas and opposition factions, Lady Benya!"

"We stormed the media outlets that had been serving as loudspeakers for the anti-Demonia camp, destroyed their internal opinion-manipulation systems, and burned the buildings to the ground."

"Uh, hm."

"And with the support of the megacorps and local business owners — who took a considerable financial hit from this whole affair — not to mention the other frontier cities, we also succeeded in driving out the so-called 'resistance forces' that had been trying to seize the capital and the colonial cities."

"Yeah, I— I see."

They'd wrapped things up even faster than I'd expected, successfully suppressing — or 'eliminating' — the internal reactionaries commonly known as the 'pro-government faction.' With the urgent quest delivering an unambiguous verdict of success, and with the forces our enemies had committed now thoroughly shredded, it occurred to me that the people who had sent those forces in the first place — the central government — would have to react somehow. So I turned to Ilena and voiced my concerns on exactly that point.

But it seemed the preparations on this front were already complete as well; Ilena replied with perfect composure that there was nothing to worry about. And of all the points she raised, the one I had been most curious about was this: why the Milano central government had shown absolutely no ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠reaction even while its pro-government allies here were being ground into paste.

"They are incapable of reacting, Lady Benya. That is only natural."

"Uh, why?"

"Because in the capital star system where the central government resides, branch offices of the Earth Alliance and the Babel Cult have firmly taken ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠root, you see."

"...?"

"To put it simply: the Earth Alliance and Babel Cult branches are currently shaking the central government to its core from within, mobilizing the mercenary companies, corporations, and political leverage under their banners."

"Oh-ho."

Just as Ilena and Heisenberg had briefed me before, it was no lie that the Earth Alliance and the Babel Cult branches had decided to throw in with us. Ilena glossed over the details — too much explanation and I wouldn't follow anyway — but in short, those two branches had stirred up one magnificent pot of chaos on Milano-III on our behalf. Which meant that no matter how thoroughly the pro-government faction on distant Milano-V got shredded, the central government simply had no bandwidth to spare for this place.

And from the words that followed, I learned that our complete destruction of the pro-government faction would not end as a mere consolidation of our grip on Milano-V...

"Furthermore, Lady Benya! Despite how furiously the pro-government faction raged this time, they received not a shred of support from the central government before being wiped out by us, did they not?"

"Thanks to that, we hear that all manner of infighting has now broken out among the pro-government factions on the other planets."

"Hmmm."

"And in the midst of it all, we have been deliberately deploying the Black Scourge we created for large-scale public training exercises, so our own camp — the so-called 'anti-government faction' — is currently overwhelming public opinion across the system."

"Hoeaack, so what's the conclusion?"

"The governments of Milano-IV, Milano-VI, and their moons have begun declaring their support for us."

"And the corporations on each of those planets and moons — the megacorps above all — have grown disillusioned with the Milano central government and are starting to switch their allegiance to our side."

"...Ooh."

I couldn't quite follow all the moving pieces, but watching everything get handled with such brisk efficiency, I found myself thinking: all we have to do is keep this up, and we'll have this whole system smoothly under our control!

The truly regrettable part, however, was that unlike this political illiterate's rosy assessment, Ilena and Heisenberg thought nothing of the sort. In fact, it was the very moment I opened my mouth to say, 'So... does this mean we can take a little break now?' that—

"Which is precisely why there is only one thing left for us to do now, Lady Benya."

"Hnn?"

"With financial support now flowing in from the system's megacorps, and the central government unable to project its military power directly thanks to the chaos in the capital — now is our golden opportunity."

"Ehh!"

Riding the momentum, the conversation had arrived at the conclusion that we should simply march on the capital itself, and all I could do was reflect on how extraordinarily warlike my subordinates truly were.