40. Executive Meeting
[Knock on the door]
"Ah! Come in!"
Jefferson, Commissioner of the Southern Bureau, arrived at the mayor's office on the top floor of Olympus City. When he opened the door, he found Victor seated there with two other elderly men, and a full drinking spread had already been laid out before them.
"Jefferson! Our hero! Come in, come in, have a seat!"
Victor, a large and broad-shouldered blond man seated at the center of the sofa, raised his right hand high and waved at Jefferson. The expression on his face was so openly pleased that it was almost embarrassing to look at. The other two men also smiled at Jefferson, their expressions like foxes grinning obsequiously beside a lion. Jefferson glanced once at Victor and the two men, gave a slight nod, and sat in the remaining seat. Victor poured whiskey into the empty glass before him and offered it to Jefferson. Jefferson accepted it without a word.
"The Hunters have performed magnificently, Commissioner. I hear the purification rate has already exceeded ninety percent. It seems the day when our Golden Tower returns to its former glory is not far off now. And surely that is all thanks to your support in sending us such capable Hunters, is it not?"
Victor flattered him gently, and Jefferson answered in an even tone.
"It is the troops who deserve the credit. Still, I believe the progress has gone smoothly thanks to the personnel deployed before us. If you can endure just a little longer, Murmansk should soon be able to recover its former state."
"Of course! This tiresome war against the Madmen must come to an end soon, mustn't it? Ah, but look at me—I completely forgot to introduce these gentlemen. The man on my left is Colonel Malko, commander of the Northern Defense Armored Headquarters of the Army."
The man in the dark blue uniform, wearing a thick black mustache that strongly recalled Freddie Mercury, nodded at Jefferson. He had the upright bearing of a soldier, along with a large frame and a broad face.
"And the man on my right is Brigadier General Rainer, commander of the Northern Defense Air Wing."
The man in the navy uniform, with an eagle insignia pinned to his chest, greeted Jefferson.
"It has been nearly half a year now since the armored forces and the Hunters were dispatched, has it not? I hear the number of Madmen has greatly decreased compared with when you first arrived. Though there are differences from district to district, most purification rates have already surpassed ninety percent, so I believe it is fair to say the crisis has largely been brought under control. Colonel Malko, what do you think?"
Victor turned toward the armored commander and spoke as though asking a carefully prepared question.
"As for our armored forces, we are the elite special unit of the Kast Branch's northern defense, and we have always taken part in disasters of this scale. Our pride, the armored robots, possess such overwhelming combat power that a single one can easily fight a hundred Madmen. There is never any shortage of demand for armored support. You should consider yourselves extremely fortunate that we were able to dispatch our forces here at all, Mayor Victor."
Colonel Malko spoke in a self-congratulatory tone, and Victor replied as though soothing a child.
"Oh, of course. Naturally. Who does not know that our commander of the armored headquarters is among the finest the Kast Branch has to offer? Why, that is exactly why I came to you first, Colonel! Ha ha ha! Ah, Commissioner Jefferson may find this gathering a little curious, but the three of us here all graduated from West Point together. Back then we were all foolish cadets, but as the years went by, each of us somehow ended up holding a position in our own field. Ha ha ha!"
"You have good friends."
Jefferson answered perfunctorily.
"Good friends? We were terrible troublemakers. Chasing girls from other schools all day, getting caught by professors, writing apology letters, sentenced to community service. Thinking back on those days, I can't say I'd want to go back to them. Ha ha. Ah, but that aside, we have good news for the Hunters. The Air Force will soon be joining the support effort as well. Isn't that right, Brigadier General Rainer?"
"The Kast Branch has already granted approval. Now that the purification rate is approaching ninety percent, our Air Force plans to deploy bombers to the remaining areas and incinerate all remaining Madmen."
Brigadier General Rainer spoke as though bestowing a favor.
"Bombers? You mean you intend to drop bombs?"
Jefferson asked back, clearly startled by the unexpected statement.
"That is correct. The Joint Chiefs have reached a consensus that further innocent sacrifices among the Hunters and armored forces must be prevented."
"But there will still be civilians in the remaining areas."
"There is no need for concern on that point. According to our investigation, the vast majority of surviving personnel have already been transferred to shelters. As for those still left behind, experts conducted simulations with the infectious strain and concluded that at this point, now that six months have passed, they can no longer be regarded as subjects requiring protection."
Victor cut in and answered in Rainer's place. Jefferson stared at him as though he had misheard.
"What do you mean, no longer require protection?"
"To put it simply, the opinion is that any civilians who have not yet been evacuated by now may as well already be considered Madmen."
"What kind of—"
Jefferson's expression hardened. Victor's explanation was so outrageous that he seemed to lose the words to answer. The other three men, sensing that Jefferson's mood had turned ominous, grew tense as well, realizing their position had not been accepted as smoothly as they had expected.
"There is no need to worry so much, Commissioner Jefferson. This is a decision made by experts, and it has been approved by the Branch. We need only follow it."
"So you are proposing that, in order to resolve this crisis quickly, we create innocent casualties."
Jefferson asked it bluntly. At the anger in his face, Victor's temper nearly flared up on instinct, a twitch passing across his face, but he quickly regained control, forced a smile to his lips, and calmed himself.
"Why are you so agitated, Commissioner? From your standpoint, surely it is important to prevent any further sacrifice among the Hunters, is it not? I understand the Hunters who remain are already exhausted in body and mind after such a long deployment."
Jefferson found himself momentarily at a loss for words. Victor had struck where he was vulnerable. And yet it still felt like a judgment fundamentally at odds with the duty and principles he ought to uphold, and so he felt compelled to resist.
"I understand that the thought of innocent sacrifices troubles you. If even you feel that way, then imagine how I must feel as the mayor responsible for this jurisdiction. But a leader must sometimes be cold. Especially when there is no alternative capable of satisfying every requirement perfectly. What we need now is the safety of those who remain and the reconstruction of Golden Tower. Surely you can understand that."
Jefferson fell silent. He disliked the mayor's attitude—this insistence that such treatment should simply be accepted—but he also realized that he was, in the end, nothing more than the head of a supporting force. His heart boiled with anger, but any further words here seemed meaningless.
"I know you must have suffered greatly as well, Commissioner. Concentrating so many Hunters from the South here must have left your own jurisdiction short on manpower. If it is no longer possible for you to continue supporting us, you may withdraw all Hunters currently deployed here. Thanks to the assistance you have already provided, I believe our Golden Tower has received more than enough help."
At Victor's words, Jefferson let out a hollow laugh. Victor had intended from the beginning to use the Hunters precisely in this way. The whole thing felt empty, but all that remained was the miserable knowledge that he alone had been used in a game already arranged.
"I can only be grateful that the mayor thinks so highly of our efforts."
He drained the whiskey in his hand in a single swallow and rose from his seat. He turned, walked to the door, and opened it. Then, as if suddenly deciding there was one thing he absolutely had to say, he turned back and spoke to Victor.
"Oh, come to think of it, there is something I neglected to mention. Our intelligence division has raised suspicions that this Madman outbreak was not a natural occurrence, but a planned incident."
Victor, who had been smiling cheerfully until that moment, stiffened as though he could not understand what he had just heard.
"Not long ago, through one of our agents, we obtained CCTV footage from water purification plants and personal information on several key figures. The investigation revealed coordinated activity—an organized effort to spread the viral pathogen into the purification plants of each district on the very same day and at the very same time."
"Coordinated activity?"
"We are quite convinced that someone, harboring deep resentment toward Murmansk, committed this tragic act deliberately. The fortunate part is that we may soon learn who was behind it."
Jefferson's words struck Victor in the chest like a dagger. Then Victor's lips twitched into the faintest smile as he replied,
"I must admit, I am curious who that might be."
"Aren't you? As soon as it is revealed, I will make sure you are the first to know, Mayor. Well then."
With a bitter smile, Jefferson left the mayor's office.