Commander, The Summit (3)
"...Commander?"
The news that had just dropped in front of me was so outrageous I forgot to even answer.
Look, I'm sorry, but... can we really pin this one on me?
Blaming me for this would be a cruel verdict. Something that had absolutely no business being heard in this room had just come through loud and clear — how was anyone supposed to keep a straight face?
And honestly, I'm being pretty well-behaved about it.
"A man who has the gall to call himself a senator..."
"Y-Your Excellency?"
"Even if he has no sense of shame whatsoever... to come all the way to the skyscraper and pull a stunt like this... haah..."
Right in front of me, a genuine power broker of an entire nation was currently dying of rage in real time.
It was kind of throwing me off, though. At a glance she looked like the type who wouldn't bat an eyelash if a few people died, but her emotional range was surprisingly colorful.
Then again, I'd be stressed too. Like someone just said — a man who calls himself a senator can't even tell right from wrong and is out here trolling.
For now, the Vice President didn't look capable of holding a conversation. I'd leave her until her blood pressure came down, and hurriedly picked up the radio.
"...It blew up?"
"...You mean Senior Shien? Nah, she's fine."
"Then what is it?"
"There's armed troops facing off with our people on the lower floors. Like, five squads?"
Hmm. Same news as before.
I'd been a little worried that disasters were stacking on top of each other, but at least this wasn't the worst-case scenario. Nothing had been resolved, sure — but I'd take a nuisance over something I actually couldn't handle.
"Um... Commander?"
"What."
"Senior Shien... she says she was the one who reported it, so she wants you to praise her."
"...Yeah. Good job."
The moment I offered a perfunctory compliment, a little hehe— of laughter came through the radio.
She's so simple it's almost nice. When your body's that good, your head can afford to take it easy — this is the kind of combat power that lets you live simply. Detecting lunatics who barged straight into a summit venue at roughly the same level as Berta's side, who have security blanketing the entire building...
The fact that her dependence on me is oddly high is a bit of a problem... but that's something I can just pay a little more attention to.
"Haah..."
While I was mulling over how to manage Shien, the Vice President — who'd been fuming at full boil — seemed to have finally cooled enough to let out a deep sigh.
"Commander. I apologize. There is no excuse."
"There's no need to apologize."
I wasn't being polite. I meant it. I knew perfectly well what a bastard Garron was, and I didn't feel this was the Vice President's fault at all.
Is this the fault of someone who locked down the perimeter from morning and blanketed the place with security, doing everything she could for this summit? It's the fault of the guy who showed up with troops because he decided he'd just punch through if things didn't go his way.
That said, an incident had happened, so I could use this as leverage to squeeze something extra out of them — but I didn't really feel like it.
"However... what do you intend to do now?"
"Hmm..."
"I mean, is he even allowed to do this...?"
"...No. He isn't."
Right. Of course he isn't. If you allow this, you're insane. The moment you permit something like that, the country's already circling the drain.
"He isn't allowed — but honestly, stopping him is difficult."
"...What...?"
"Berta's high officials are permitted to maintain private soldiers under the pretext of personal protection."
...Not security personnel. Private soldiers?
Is this a coup-encouragement policy? People usually treat packing the government with military veterans as a military-friendly stance, right? Just because the country started as an army, you're going to make your own leadership military too...?
"...Of course, legally, only two squads are permitted."
Ah. That's more in the neighborhood of a security detail. A bit much, but still. Being a military state, they use soldiers as bodyguards too. But is running them as private armies really the right call?
...Maybe I, the head of a PMC, shouldn't be the one saying that. Whatever.
...Wait a second.
The force that just stormed in was... five squads, wasn't it?
Then what? Did he borrow them using military connections?
"They know where the line is, at least, so they don't lend each other troops. All Senator Garron receives is protection — or cover."
"Then...?"
"...Hard as it is to believe, it appears he expanded his forces in secret, right under my nose."
Having said that much, the Vice President clenched her fist tight and trembled with indignation.
Honestly, it was impressive. It couldn't have been easy. So he hadn't just lucked into a Senate seat with a poker face, huh. And of all days, he chose today — at the summit venue, no less — to play that card. What a talent.
"The political faction, including the former president, was cleaned out thanks to the help you provided that day, but..."
"...The military was beyond your reach?"
"You could put it that way."
Even so — however much we'd helped — catching them red-handed and impeaching even the president was impressive. Scary, even. So now she has the president she installed take the bullets, while she does whatever she wants behind the scenes? She might not be a completely hidden shadow power, but she has far more freedom of movement than if she'd taken the presidency herself.
"I tried to purge Senator Garron and the other old military figures in advance, precisely to prevent something like today... but my abilities were insufficient."
"..."
...By the way, isn't she spilling way too much to me? I'm an outsider, you know?
I got tangled up in this out of nowhere, so I suppose I have a right to know the full story — but this is a bit too detailed. Or is she asking for my help because she can't resolve this herself right now?
Well, helping the Vice President isn't a bad idea. No — that would actually be the appropriate response. Garron's target is clearly me, and the Vice President has every reason to protect me. And if I resolve this well and put Berta in my debt, I'll have a use for that someday.
...Hmm.
With a mind that remained remarkably calm even after weathering a torrent of chaos, I slowly organized the situation.
The culprit of this incident: Senator Garron, whom I'd dealt with back when I was still the 'Commander.' After that affair clipped his wings, he'd been marked as a person of interest by the Vice President. Meanwhile, displaying a talent like a weed growing in the desert, he'd kept himself alive while sharpening a blade for a rainy day. A blade that, however slim the odds, could aim even at the overthrow of the nation if it struck true.
So what made him suddenly change his attitude?
I narrowed the cause down to roughly two possibilities. Either he'd been swept up in emotions like resentment and hatred toward me and acted on impulse.
Or...
...Someone put him up to it.
His talent for self-preservation is fairly remarkable, but that's all he has. For a man of only that caliber to lie low enough to evade the Vice President's eyes, then suddenly make a move? There's a high probability he has an advisor on the inside.
No matter how stupid Senator Garron is, the current situation simply doesn't add up if he planned all of this alone. And though there are plenty of holes, everything from the timing of the raid to the mobilization of forces that aren't easily suppressed reeks of someone else's counsel. Whether that counsel was given in any genuine sense... I have no way of knowing right now.
Taking all these factors into account, the solution I offered was...
"Why don't we not stop him?"
"...Excuse me?"
Leave the front door wide open.
"Don't stop him — but have him bring only a small escort, and send him up only as far as the door."
"What... do you mean by that?"
"I want to hear him out."
Honestly, five squads didn't feel dangerous to me. The forces I'd brought were far too overwhelming for that. I just wanted to narrow the effective range of those forces, and reduce the headcount as a precaution. If I could neutralize the enemy's head in one stroke, that would be the end of it.
"..."
"I want to know what gave him the confidence to come here, and..."
And I was curious, too. The man was so stupid it didn't match his position as a senator, so I couldn't predict his reasoning at all. I really wanted to hear from his own mouth what his goal was — what he was thinking.
And one more thing.
"What kind of garbage he's going to spew."
Whether he even has the right to be in this room.
Though some questions remained, she granted the Commander's request as asked.
...Damn it.
Afterward, she immediately sank into self-reproach.
She'd held out her hand again.
She'd wanted to make her homeland, Berta, into a livable utopia — so that someday she could live happily, sweetly, with the Commander. That was why she'd used every opportunity given to her to sweep away all the old political fossils who'd been lining their own pockets.
And yet a maggot who'd already tasted bitter defeat, whose Senate seat was hanging by a thread — why?
Should she have stationed more personnel? No. Even if he'd come alone without troops, those people wouldn't have stopped him easily. Inversely proportional to his intelligence, his personal combat ability was fairly strong. That's why the military still hasn't purged him. They want to use him in a pinch.
Because of that, she'd had no other options, and asked the Commander for help. Thankfully, the Commander had offered a plan that could resolve this peacefully, without force.
But...
But...!
"Keh. Still got that punchable pretty face, I see."
"...Ha?"
"If you spend one night with me, I'll even do you the favor of making those tools of yours into my sex slaves!"
What in the world was this sudden, outrageous insolence...!
No — even calling that worm "insolent" was a compliment. Insolence is a word that applies to intelligent beings who understand etiquette. Attaching it to that thing, which has lost even the concept of manners, is far too generous. That alone would be reason enough to bury him alive.
And he dares — he dares speak that way to my Commander...?!
"Hhk?!"
A sudden, flesh-cutting chill made her look at the Commander. Seeing that expressionless face unique to her... despite being a pure human with no abilities whatsoever, an illusion of razor-sharp killing frost seemed to swirl around her. A cold fury that called to mind the North's cutting winds.
And the direction of that fury was all too clear.
"...Vice President."
Then, the words that left her lips.
That was the last conversation we had that day.
This was my mistake.
"Shien. Lucy."
Being insulted myself doesn't matter. Someone's cursing me out even now, and hearing it to my face doesn't change anything.
But.
The girls who trust me, who look after me, who followed me here...
The fact that he looked at them as tools — and with sexual eyes, at that. The fact that he said it proudly, right in front of me.
That, I could never, ever tolerate.
That's why this is my mistake. Even if her abilities fall short, I thought that as a high official of a nation, some form of dialogue would be possible. I didn't like it, but I was confident I could persuade him and dig out whoever was behind this, if it came to that.
I was wrong.
If you want to communicate with a beast, you first have to teach it its place.