079. False Accusation (2)
079. False Accusation (2)
The bullet veered one degree left and struck the escort target instead of the intended target.
The escort target was a seventeen-year-old girl.
The mission was a complete failure.
A disastrous accident occurred, and the military launched an investigation.
Before long, they concluded that the accident had been caused by sniper Alicia's carelessness.
They decided to confiscate her Telescope, thereby stripping her of her ability to serve as a sniper, and punitively reassign her to a standard field unit.
Alicia, of course, resisted.
Because right before the incident, all sorts of suspicious things had happened.
There had been an unexplained inspection, an operation assigned in haste against normal procedure, and a sight picture that felt subtly wrong.
And the more definitive evidence was Alicia's body.
When she returned to base and checked, she found that several small internal components had been replaced or adjusted differently from usual.
The Telescope is a component so sensitive that it requires tuning.
It was like a firearm with its sight clicks knocked out of alignment.
At the very least, it was necessary to accurately investigate the root cause of the incident, including the Commander's negligence, and Alicia had pleaded for just that.
Even so, the higher-ups wouldn't listen.
Because the Commander, who had promised to take responsibility, pinned all the blame on Alicia.
In the end, the higher-ups conveniently covered up the issue, stating, 'There is no problem whatsoever in the data and simulation.'
Instead, Alicia was punished for refusing to admit fault and sent to the worst base imaginable.
Forward Base Krädel.
There, with nothing else she could do, Alicia took over operational duties for the Commanders who rotated through every few days.
In the body of an S-rank sniper, no less.
And somehow, Krädel had gone from strength to strength.
Alicia, having finished her story, added.
As if it were just a trivial footnote.
As if it were an inconsequential aside she could have just let pass without mention.
Of course, I had no choice but to ask.
"On a roll? How?"
"Dunkel Industries began backing Yoo Sung-hyun. As a result, he now seems to hold a senior position at headquarters."
Dunkel Industries was the large biodroid manufacturer that had even produced Alicia.
Ordinarily the military ordered manufacturers around like servants, but with a manufacturer on Dunkel's level, the relationship could reverse. A company like that could influence which officers were promoted, backed, or sidelined.
Of course, it was almost unheard of for them to actively push a mere special task force Commander, not even a general officer.
Alicia's next answer resolved my question.
"Because the girl who was shot and killed by my gun was Yoo Ha-eun."
"..."
"Yes. The girl who was originally designated as the next chairperson of Dunkel Industries."
That seemed to be the case.
So, that was about ten years ago, wasn't it?
The previous chairperson of Dunkel Industries, Yoo Jung-seok, had defied everyone's expectations and declared he would hand over the company to his young second daughter, Yoo Ha-eun, instead of his adult first son, Yoo Sung-hyun.
The problem was that Chairman Yoo Jung-seok had passed away far earlier than expected.
At the time of his death, Yoo Ha-eun was only 16 years old, and the foundation for the power succession was nonexistent, to say the least.
As a result, the first son Yoo Sung-hyun seized control of the company against his father's will, and Yoo Ha-eun became a headache within Dunkel Industries.
In such a situation, I had heard once that Yoo Ha-eun had met with a conveniently timed 'accident'——
"...So they colluded with the military to assassinate her."
That Yoo Ha-eun had almost no support base.
Covering up the incident would have been child's play.
They just needed to pin all the blame on the one soldier mobilized for the assassination and declare, 'Let's just leave it at that.'
"So, you see. Getting the Telescope back is impossible. It wasn't lost, it was confiscated, and by now, it has probably been given to someone else or disposed of."
I understood that now.
I definitely understood, but...
"That's not something we should just accept and let end here."
"...What are you going to say now?"
What was I going to say...
"We have to uncover the truth and clear your name."
"Well. I suppose there was a time when I thought that way too... ..."
Alicia said with a sigh.
"There is no practical way to do that. They have already decided the answer is 'no abnormality in the data.' How are we supposed to refute a conclusion they chose in advance?"
What did she mean, no way.
"We can just do a re-enactment experiment."
"...A re-enactment experiment?"
Exactly.
A re-enactment experiment.
In other words, we would reconstruct the conditions of Alicia's friendly-fire incident and have her shoot again.
Of course, re-enactment experiments had limitations.
Because it was realistically impossible to control all factors, especially external ones.
For instance, the weather including wind direction and speed, the floor's thermal radiation rate depending on the season, and so on.
It was impossible to accurately recreate such elements.
But in Alicia's case, those external factors could be excluded.
Because her Telescope, Asterisk Green, created Absolute Ballistics, forcing the bullet along a perfectly straight path.
Alicia only had to recreate her own conditions.
That meant matching the component configuration and the Telescope's tuning.
"If it veers one degree to the left again doing that, it's not your fault but a problem with the settings."
In other words, the responsibility of the Commander who manipulated the component configuration would be proven.
"It's not something to speak of so simply. The incident was already five years ago. I've replaced quite a few parts due to aging, and more than anything, whether it's physically possible to match the Telescope and its performance specs to the exact level they were back then... ..."
"I'll take care of that somehow, as your Commander."
"Well, I knew you would answer that way... ..."
After a moment, Alicia glared at me and asked,
"Can we even hold anyone accountable with a mere re-enactment experiment in the first place?"
Good question.
And to answer it, I wanted to ask one of my own.
"Why do you think the military confiscated your Telescope and sent you to Krädel?"
"Pardon?"
"If they wanted a clean ending, wouldn't it have been easier to frame you as a deliberate murderer and dispose of you?"
Alicia, after a moment, agreed.
"...That is true. If they had just disposed of me outright, I wouldn't be here grumbling like this."
"Right."
But the military didn't do that.
Military regulations required the central investigation unit to conduct a reconstruction experiment before someone could be disposed of for an accident during an operation.
On the other hand, light disciplinary actions like unit reassignment or removal from position could be handed down without a re-enactment experiment.
For lighter punishment, they only had to run an easily manipulated data simulation and call it done.
Considering these facts, the reason they didn't dispose of Alicia, even at the cost of taking a slight risk, became clear.
"...Are you saying it was because if a re-enactment experiment were carried out, covering up the incident would become impossible?"
"Yeah. So that's why I'm saying, let's proceed with that re-enactment experiment even now."
Once the experiment produced results showing that manipulated body data affected the shot, it would be clear that the responsibility lay with someone other than Alicia.
Then the military brass and Dunkel Industries could cut their losses and say, "That bitch—Alicia's Commander—did all of it."
At the very least, we could get real revenge on the Commander who had betrayed Alicia.
"Besides, even if by some one-in-a-million chance it fizzles out, that in itself holds meaning."
And it would at least prove that Alicia had not made the mistake.
It would clear her name after she had been branded a murderer.
That alone, I thought, made it worth a try.
I had explained it logically and emotionally, and yet—
"Then why...?"
"...I see."
Alicia answered with the same flat expression as always.
"What? You don't think my plan is convincing?"
"No. It's not that... ..."
"Then what? You're not actually hesitating because you don't want to accept a Telescope made from my eyeball at this point, are you?"
This time, Alicia didn't answer at all.
She just stared silently into empty space, as she always did in the office.
Unable to bear the frustration, I was about to kick my seat back and stand up.
"...Ah, fine. If you'd rather live with the injustice because you don't want to have eye-fucking sex with me, then live with it. Why would I be the one feeling wronged? You're the one who's been wronged."
But then, Alicia shook her head.
"I do not attach much significance to that."
"What?"
"I am saying it is fine. You may put your eye inside me."
Alicia said that and then casually added.
"I can tolerate it if there is a good reason."
I was dumbfounded and asked.
"Then what on earth is the problem?"
Alicia answered a moment later.
"But right now, I am not sure."
"...You don't know? Know what?"
"I do not know whether it truly was not my fault."
"What?"
I asked, utterly flabbergasted.
Then Alicia looked up at the moon and began to speak.
"What I told you today was only how the incident unfolded from my point of view. In other words, those are not objective facts. The actual truth lies somewhere beyond that."
"No, based on the circumstantial evidence, anyone can see it was a proxy assassination using you."
"How can you be sure? At least according to the official investigation, it was my error. It is also true that I hesitated before pulling the trigger. I cannot rule out the possibility that my hesitation affected the shot."
"...What about the Commander being pushed by the Yoo Sung-hyun faction after the accident?"
"Who knows. That doesn't necessarily mean they instigated the assassination, does it? They might have just pushed for her out of gratitude because she killed the troublesome Yoo Ha-eun in an accident.
"Also, incidents like this happen quite often. If simply having an accident and then doing well is taken as a sign of a lurking conspiracy, then you, Commander, are also on a roll here despite having caused an accident. You can't call that the fault of a conspiracy, can you?"
When she put it that way, she had a point.
Seeing me unable to easily refute her, Alicia let out a deep sigh.
"So, the possibility that I made a mistake is not 0%. Even if the higher-ups truly did manipulate things, I recognized an anomaly before I shot. My fault doesn't completely disappear at that point. So, I'm truly ashamed to say this... ..."
After a moment, Alicia said, averting her gaze.
"I am afraid. Of finding out the truth."
...Hmm.
At that point, well...
I had been far too pushy.
I had gone from sweet to spicy without finding the middle.
So I tried to find the middle ground again.
Probably.
Maybe I should put it this way.
"Alright. I understand what you're saying. I'm sorry for forcing only my thoughts on you. So, I'll leave the final decision to you. Whether you'll gather the courage to find out the truth. Or whether you'll just live like this, content with a quiet, peaceful life. Whichever you choose, I'll help you as your Commander."
I said that and carefully added.
"But just know this one thing. Regret over not doing something is far more painful and lasts longer than regret over doing something."
I wasn't just randomly spouting something I'd heard somewhere.
It was an assertion based on experience.
I regretted things too. On the day Sion was attacked by the Legion swarm in my place, if I had switched positions with her, maybe she would not have disappeared.
If I, a human, had disappeared instead of her, a biodroid, maybe the Academy's response would have been different too.
I'd already been regretting for nearly a year.
I hoped Alicia wouldn't have a similar experience.
So.
"Give me your answer by the end of this week. Then I can figure out Eve's assignment properly."
Having said that, I finally turned around.
I turned around, but.
Something caught my collar.
Needless to say, it was Alicia's left hand.
While holding me with her left hand, Alicia held out an object in her right hand.
The liquor I had gifted her. The apple fruit liquor carrying the meaning of an apology, Apple Reminiscence.
What was she trying to do by holding out that liquor?
I didn't need to ask.
Because the next moment, Alicia, avoiding my gaze, spoke first.
"Please drink with me."
"What?"
"If you drink with me... ..."
Alicia said, her face reddening for the first time.
"With a little liquid courage, I think I could go through with it."
"...I told you, that is not what this is."