Capazo was about to finish explaining the bureaucratic part of the war to Hianyan in the hologram room. Veltin, located on the proxy server, was swaying in the hologram chair where he sat half-asleep.
"So, Ashengine will remain neutral in the war, is that it?" Hianyan asked. "That means..."
"The SWR will intervene in the war much earlier," Capazo said. "Information about the war has probably already reached the high courts... They will determine which side they are on within just a few days."
"Who cares about the SWR?" Veltin grumbled. Then, with a yawn, he added, "If even Ashengine doesn't care about this war, why does the SWR care so much?"
"Why?" Hianyan continued in a disappointed tone. "Because the damn Republic grants millions of dollars in subsidies to this planet every year. Just because President Tiberion Solegard and Ashengine were once friends, they don't want these millions of dollars in subsidies to go to waste. But Ashengine doesn't even care about this situation..."
"Why is the Republic afraid of this subsidy going to waste? After all, it's already going to waste... TESO is a company that loses money every year," Veltin said.
"It is one thing for the money the SWR subsidized to the company to go to waste due to poor management. It is quite another for the SWR to invest in a colony or company where a war breaks out, causing the money to vanish into thin air. Whichever agency's inspectors signed off on that investment—or rather, that subsidy—they don't want to get into trouble," Hianyan explained.
"If we're done talking about the SWR..." Capazo said, leaning back in his chair and picking up his glass of whiskey. "...we should talk about the war."
"Yes... Thousands of robots have already perished," Veltin said. "That damn Tallus's robots are twice as strong as mine. In this case, I avoid fighting his robots face-to-face, but... But when they reach the gates of my factory, I might have to turn the defense systems on them. I'm trying to convince Ormene to help with my air defense."
Veltin ran his fingers along the corner of his lips. "With him, we can definitely defeat Tallus. But that young man is a bit timid... It will take me a while to convince him."
"I..." Capazo said, playing with the cigarette between his fingers. "...I'm thinking of attacking directly into the cloud."
A silence fell upon these words.
"I believe what's inside the cargo could change the course of the war. That's why they must not make it out of that cloud. Yes, I know... I can't send an army full of robots there. I couldn't control them... Especially while Labiba surrounds the cloud with his robot armies, it would be quite difficult. But my Jijiges can fight. They can move through places radars can't see and cut off this transport vehicle with their weapons."
"Even if your Jijiges confront the vehicle, both Labiba and those massive robot missiles Labiba pulls out of the sea will blow them to bits," Veltin said.
"If those Jijiges are very close to the transport vehicle, they can't bomb them. They can't risk bombing their own vehicle."
"That's quite risky... You must really trust your Jijige friends," Hianyan said.
"Not as much as you trust Edmond Kingsley."
"Ah... We had no choice but to build our plan around him. But since you joined my side in this war, you trust him at least as much as I do."
Hianyan must have caught Capazo off guard. For the first time in a long while, Capazo said with a sincere smile:
"Absolutely..." he said. "...I trust him too."
"Capazo, the man who doesn't even trust robots, believes in a man named Edmond Kingsley?" Veltin said mockingly. "I wouldn't have thought of it in forty years."
"Actually, it's not Edmond I trust. I trust a pattern I'm seeing."
"A pattern?"
"Yes... A pattern... I didn't mention it at the meeting because the factions of the war were exactly as I wanted, and I didn't want to prevent it. But the Calosians who attacked the transport vehicle were actually cannibals dressed in Calosian clothes."
"Cannibals? There have always been cannibal tribes on this damn planet. But you're saying a group of them intentionally wore Calosian clothes and attacked the vehicle in an organized manner?" Hianyan asked.
"No... These are not ordinary cannibal groups. They came and settled in our colony many years ago. It was as if a power had carefully spread them across the four corners of the planet. It was as if these cannibals were watching over something. When my Jijige teams noticed that transport route being built, they were attacked by these cannibals and barely escaped with their lives."
"Wait a second... What you're trying to say is..."
"Yes... I think those cannibals are on this planet to support the transport."
"But they attacked the vehicle..."
"Did we see an image proving they attacked the vehicle? Perhaps those two cybernetics killed them just to pin the blame on you."
"So you're saying it wasn't Labiba who did this..." Veltin said. "...someone else controls those cannibals."
"Yes..."
"So where are these cannibals?"
"Northwest of TESO2, and west of TESO3..."
"In the direction where Edmond Kingsley went?"
"I hope that friend of yours can fight well."
"But you were talking about a pattern. Where is the pattern in this?"
"The pattern started a long time ago, dear Hianyan. As you know, just a few years ago, a bioethics oversight inspector returned. It was an unexpected event... An inspector suddenly appearing in a disappearing agency..."
"I don't understand what an inspector has to do with this."
"That inspector, as soon as he woke up, caused a facility to be shut down. For the first time in centuries, a facility was closed because it was inhumane, because it did not cover human ethics. In this world where the SWR turns people into cybernetics and robots, don't you realize what a great revolution it is for an inspector to act with humanity in mind?"
"But you're talking about a pattern. What you're mentioning must be the first step of the pattern rather than the pattern itself, am I wrong?"
"Yes..." Capazo said. He took a puff of his cigarette and blew it out. "...later, one of the Hyperion ships, which even Emperor Claudis's armies couldn't bring down, just vanished. I don't know what power destroyed it, but do you realize how big of an event that is? Hyperion ships are the most extreme point of the SWR's power. And that means somewhere out there, there is a power that can stand up to a Hyperion ship! Moreover, that power brought about the end of Damon Weisshafen, the head of the Weisshafens, and threw the entire Weisshafen family into chaos."
"Yes... An unshakable family like the Weisshafens suddenly being thrown into chaos..."
"It's nothing more than a sign. Nowadays, I feel like a part of this pattern has leaped onto this planet. I don't know who Edmond Kingsley is, but I suspect he might be this bioethics oversight inspector."
"Why would there be such a pattern?" Veltin asked. "What is the purpose of all this?"
"Everyone thought the Interstellar War would be the war to end everything... The poverty left on humanity after the 'aimless' visit of the Incompatibles to our planets had to be reflected in some way. While the colonies were laden with poverty, while people were dying of disease and so many other things were happening, the birth of rage and the outbreak of war was inevitable."
"In fact, colonies like CLAUDIS and Maxerth Villian were able to advance so much technologically because they hadn't been visited by the Incompatibles; they had reached such prosperity by establishing trade with colonies hungry for commerce that they were even about to close the gap with the SWR. Because of hunger, poverty, injustice, the SWR's fear of losing power, Emperor Claudis's pride, the wreckage left by the Incompatibles while retreating, the lost trust of the colonies toward the SWR, and similar things, an interstellar war suddenly erupted. Although the essence of the war seemed to be a fierce struggle between the rebel colonies and the Supreme World Republic, in fact, the war had many fronts and many causes."
"When this war, which lasted for centuries, ended, everyone thought this war was the last war. Just as the First World War was thought to be the last war... But the First World War did not establish a balanced world order. The agreements after the First World War were more of an imposition than an agreement. In the First World War, all the anger had not been vented, all the regrets had not been experienced, all the powers had not been defeated, all the pain had not been suffered."
"Just like after the First World War, which solved no problems and only postponed them, some powers grew even stronger, while others lost all their power. So what happened next? Those who lost their power stood up with rage and ignored all agreements! The parties betrayed each other in different ways, and the real war began. The Second World War!"
"What you mean is..." Hianyan was beginning to speak when Capazo took his turn to speak again.
"The Interstellar War was just a beginning. The SWR became the only power after the war, but no one accepts this deep down, and therefore another war is about to break out against the pride of the SWR..."
"This... This is an unbelievable theory," Veltin said. As the spoiled old woman combed her hair with her hand, her hands were trembling. These words were able to scare even the reckless woman, who was old but had extremely young skin.
"This is just a theory of mine," Capazo said. "We won't know how true this theory is until the war ends. So, we should sit down and try to end the war first."
He pointed at Hianyan with his fingers. "So what will you do, Hianyan?"
"I... I plan to destroy that thing in the sea. Afterwards, whatever your plan is, Capazo, I intend to follow it."
"Great!" Capazo said. "Then, until your friend Edmond Kingsley brings the memory chip of that doctor woman, to war!"