Chapter 233: Election Campaign (3)
Chapter 233: Election Campaign (3)
The Account Freezing Incident was resolved much more easily than expected.
Perhaps the waiter had decided we weren't the type to skip out on a bill, as he suggested we head to a nearby branch of the bank in question to resolve the freeze.
Even though the fault was clearly ours, I felt an indescribable sense of professionalism from him for not making the customers feel humiliated.
Because of that, we tried to leave something behind as collateral, but...
We had nothing of the sort in our possession.
Just as I was beginning to worry about how to handle the situation, Al’shel spoke up.
"I’ll stay behind. I can just chat with the waiter while I wait."
With those words, Al’shel volunteered to remain at the restaurant.
The waiter also agreed, saying it was a slow hour and he wouldn't mind the company.
We quickly left the restaurant and headed for the bank.
The bank visit went smoothly as well. There was only a brief farce where a security guard questioned us because I was scanning the surroundings for another potential ambush.
Un-ho’s personal identification was processed in an instant via magic. To be safe, we also contacted the military base, and Captain Af, who took the call, provided a testimony that cleared everything up perfectly.
With the frozen account finally released, we could finally become "customers" again.
To be honest, the moment you can't pay, you're not a customer—you're just a common dine-and-dasher.
Anyway, thanks to the waiter who treated even such potential dine-and-dashers as guests, we were able to leave the restaurant without any major scene.
Since our funding issues were resolved as well, we booked a room at a fairly expensive hotel.
* * *
Finally, we were inside the peace of our lodgings.
As Un-ho had said, the "expensive hotel" lived up to its name; the interior was impeccably clean.
However, admiring the decor would have to wait.
Following the spy training I’d received, the moment we entered the room, I checked the locks on the windows and the entrance for any signs of tampering before drawing the curtains.
Then, I swept the rest of the room.
There were two plush, single-sized beds covered in white linens. A brown cloth of unknown purpose lay across them, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
A bowl of fruit sat on the table.
I didn't see a familiar refrigerator, but when I opened a cupboard, I found packaged snacks and drinks kept cool by a refreshing chill. It seemed the cupboard was sufficient since they likely used some magical means of preservation.
After turning the room upside down and finding nothing physically suspicious, I turned to my companions to ask about things I might have missed.
"Do you feel any strange magic?"
"Nothing in particular," Al’shel replied.
"I don't feel anything either!" Un-ho added.
That was a relief. No matter how much these people loved their civil wars, it didn't seem like they had the initiative to plant bugs the moment we checked into a hotel. If they were that efficient, I’d have to watch my every move until I lost my mind.
Alright, I guess I can relax a little now.
Sigh.
Releasing the tension that had built up from being on constant alert, I threw myself into a wooden chair.
Contrary to my expectation that it would be hard since it was made of wood, the thin slats where my body touched the chair flexed and wrapped around me. It was a different kind of comfort from a plush sofa, and the fatigue of the day began to melt away.
Seeing me sit down, the other two seemed to decide it was time to unwind from their travels as well. They scattered to do their own things.
Al’shel, apparently interested in this world, opened a book provided by the hotel and began reading on the spot.
Un-ho sat at the table, munching on fruit while tapping away at a brown, rectangular object.
I wondered what she was doing.
I was curious, but I didn't have the energy to get up from the chair. As I watched her blankly...
"...New product! Now you can produce meat at home as long as you have mana!"
A cheerful voice, unmistakably an advertisement, filled the hotel room.
The center of The Wall glowed brightly, and an image began to manifest.
...Ah. Right. Since they have broadcasting stations, they'd obviously have those too.
"Is that something like a television...?"
"Well, something like that. You can watch whatever program you want at any time, or view the footage from different angles, so it's technically a bit different."
Un-ho, modern TVs can do that too if you subscribe to the service... It's just that you're bad with machines.
However, being able to view the footage from different angles was quite interesting.
As if to prove his words, Un-ho tapped the brown board, changing the camera angles of the video.
He paused it. Then, he erased the commercial model and zoomed in on the product itself. The machine began to rotate slowly on the screen.
"Hmm. This product looks great, but I guess it still can't do Fruit-Meat... Aww... Fruit-Meat..."
"From my perspective, the fact that you can churn out infinite meat as long as you have mana is amazing enough..."
And it wasn't like it required some special technique; they were selling it as a consumer product.
Of course, I’d seen something similar on the Demon Train, but at the very least, that was an absolute system belonging to the pseudo-world of the train, not something every household had.
It would be nice to have one of those at my house.
I can't produce mana, but if I squeeze Un-ho, meat would come out, wouldn't it?
"...If there's a model that produces Fruit-Meat, it might be worth buying one to take back."
Since Un-ho seemed to really love Fruit-Meat.
Of course, I could just put Un-ho to work, but he might get sulky, so I figured it could be a 'give and take' sort of thing.
"Oh? Can we take it back?"
"How should I know? Ask Al’shel or your Queen..."
I also wondered if it would even work...
Well, if it's a matter of physical laws, it might be an issue, but if it's magical, maybe it would work out.
"Ugh. I really should ask. A model that can generate Fruit-Meat... I'd love to have one. Poyo."
Right. It would be good if we could at least get that out of this.
As I leaned back in the chair and found some peace of mind, Un-ho seemed to have moved on from the meat machine. He shook the brown plate again, and the frozen screen began to play.
"...Next up is the news."
It must have been news hour, as a Wolf Beastman Announcer with neatly groomed fur began reading something while waving around floating letters in the air.
The screen changed immediately.
"...Holy crap."
Seeing the screen, I jumped out of my chair in surprise.
The reason was simple: a very familiar figure was appearing on the screen.
To be specific, it was my mascot and myself. And in the corner, an octopus with half its face cut off.
"There has been little movement regarding the Military Allocation Council Members recently, but a major tectonic shift is expected. This is because Brigadier General Un-ho, currently on screen, has announced his candidacy."
...I had prepared myself for this, but seeing it on the screen left me speechless.
"Wow, they even put it on the news that I'm running. They didn't even mention me when I won the battle."
Un-ho, looking at the screen, sounded excited, as if he were a child happy just to be on TV.
...Right, it'll be fine.
In the first place, wasn't our candidacy just a desperate measure to avoid being deported?
Those spying on us would eventually realize Un-ho had no chance of winning and would lose interest.
If we could just get through the Election Season, we wouldn't have a reason to be deported anymore.
"...In relation to this, we will hear from Captain Af, the general manager of this Military Council Election Committee."
Then, the screen changed.
...Why are you appearing too?
While I was momentarily dazed, Captain Af stood quietly before the reporters.
"Brigadier General Un-ho’s candidacy has been authorized following the committee's deliberations, and I hereby declare him a new candidate."
After saying only that, Captain Af stepped down from the podium in the press conference room.
"Is that all? In a situation where the winner is practically decided, wouldn't allowing a new candidacy be a legal issue...?"
"We've heard that Brigadier General Un-ho was under your command before his dispatch, Captain Af. Did you perhaps grant a favor to a Former Subordinate...?"
"There is a controversy regarding an outsider who hasn't obtained citizenship being registered at the election office. Could you comment on this...?"
"We heard there was an explosion incident in the city related to this today. Is it correct that the right to engage in combat is still authorized when the Election Season has practically ended...?"
Perhaps it was because Captain Af was mechanically spitting out only what she wanted to say and leaving, just like when she met us.
The reporters were simply shouting questions in a chaotic clamor.
"Reporters aren't much different from the ones in our world."
"A reporter once stole my fruit, you know."
...It's ironic that reporters are the same even when the world and species change.
True to my observation, the reporters' ruckus grew louder.
Despite this, Captain Af didn't even give them a glance and began to fly quietly out of the press conference room.
Well, that's her personality for you.
Even though we hadn't known each other long, I had learned all too well how much she prioritized efficiency.
I expected her to just leave the room like that.
However, just before exiting, she turned around and uttered a single sentence.
"Everything is legal. If you wish for detailed information, please inquire with the committee."
She answered in a way that was even more efficient than I had expected.
And as if that signaled the end of the press conference...
The screen switched immediately.
All that remained where Captain Af had been was the Wolf Beastman Announcer looking dumbfounded.
"Ahem. Ahem. My apologies. Now, let us hear the announcements from Lieutenant General Par and Captain Ronia, who were previously the leading candidates."
A short announcement from them followed.
The phrasing was so dignified that it took a moment to translate.
But to summarize, it went like this:
'So, Brigadier General Un-ho is picking a fight, is he? Fine, let's see how well he can fight.'
In other words, it was a declaration of war—forget the voting, they were just going to fight.
"...With this, the Military Council election, which seemed all but settled, has become unpredictable once again. Neutral generals who didn't belong to either faction, and even factions that had conceded defeat, are now saying they will cast their votes for Brigadier General Un-ho. The possibility of seeing another War of the Stars for the first time in fifteen years is being predicted..."
No. Stop. We're not doing this to get elected.
While the screen continued to pour out nothing but ominous news for us...
I quietly spoke to Un-ho.
"Un-ho."
"...Yeees?"
Un-ho also seemed to have sensed the impending doom, answering in a voice different from his usual self.
"That announcer said the voting was practically over, didn't he?"
"...He did, poyo."
"So the factional war had already passed once, and you jumped in right in the middle of it?"
"...That wasn't my intention, but that's how it turned out, poyo."
"So we basically shouted, 'Hey, I can't accept you. Let's have a go at it,' right?"
In a situation where the winner was already decided, wouldn't we, throwing a new spark into the mix, be interpreted that way by the two factions?
Of course, that wasn't our intention, but it's not like they'd say, 'Oh, I see,' if we told them, 'Oh, sorry, we didn't mean it that way.'
Right now, even the defeated or neutral factions were saying they'd vote for Un-ho—though I didn't know what they were thinking.
That meant there was a possibility that someone who ran out of the blue could actually get elected.
"In this situation, Brigadier General Un-ho used the ancient magic, Song of Origin, to put Lieutenant General Par’s soldiers to sleep. In response, Lieutenant General Par expressed fury, asking what would have happened if there had been casualties..."
"...Ancient magic?"
"Ah, I'm talking about the song magic I use sometimes. What was it... they said it's a magic system our ancestors used. It consumes a massive amount of mana, and it's an unstable thing that doesn't guarantee the user gets the result they want. Poyo."
"..."
"Oh, I'm good at it, so I usually get the result I want. Poyo! Unstable magic like that is my specialty. Ahem."
So, it meant this:
Un-ho claimed it was 99% safe, but to others, it looked like he had thrown a bomb without knowing what was inside.
In the end, that one sentence snapped my patience.
"You damn Un-hooooooo!"
"Gyaaaaaak! It's been a while since I got the rag-wringing treatmeeeeent!"