Глава 8

I know.

No. Maybe you still don't know.

...There'd be another memory from far too long ago. I'm not certain how much pressure it would bring about on your body.

Every simulation's result is leagues from anything ideal. I can rule out this choice.

Then how about this, Dr. Kal'tsit. Let me put it this way.

This time, I need to do things this way. I'll be taking off one more ring.

Amiya, we are going over a form of violence. You have said as much to me. If you didn't want me to stop you here and now, then you wouldn't have asked me to swear it to you.

The Chairman and I cast these rings together. It was so that no-one who came after would easily walk that path again.

I'm using them, Dr. Kal'tsit. I won't argue for weapons, and I would never say that any kind is better for its ability to kill faster.

However, what Miss Theresa left to me was not the same thing at all.

Since the very beginning, perhaps they were never designed as weapons.

They shouldn't be used to kill anyone... they never should. When they're used, what I think of is who I should save.

This is the conclusion I've come to, after years of coexisting with them.

...Trusting a kind of weapon is not in any way a wise act.

If you wish to use them as a surgical tool and not as a lethal weapon, then you must be in control of their blade.

A blade is a blade to both the enemy and me, no matter how you use it. Its characteristics will not change.

Amiya... they will incise you.

Dr. Kal'tsit, I'm not afraid.

Wounds can heal.

But they can leave behind scars. Scars that nobody can bear to look at.

...Mngh.

But I... I won't give up.

Originium has already changed my body in ways you know. Any further wounds... they'd be one or two wounds, and nothing more.

I am not a weapon.

Do you need me to bring up another hurtful example?

—What case?

Who can prove that you and I are not a kind of weapon?

Who can come to define whether or not we are a kind of weapon?

Can weapons think? Are weapons that can think all the more fearsome? Are weapons with self-awareness automatically no longer a kind of weapon?

No, Amiya. I disagree.

Even if I know—

You've already grown up.

I can't stop you.

Your decisions are yours to make.

Yes, Operator. You've misspoken.

Have you ever seen, um... such a...

...cute...

...weapon... before?

Um. No, not that I'm saying...

Amiya... is cuter.

S—Sorry! I can't think of... I can't think of another way to put it...

We're people. People, with a full complement of emotions.

After this is over, find the chance to apologize to her, okay?

Don't, don't, Amiya. It's okay.

Let's go. Together.

Ah, wait, Rosmontis... I think I might fall here!

I'm going to hold on tight to you. I can't let those guys, those Infected. I can't let them hurt you.

A little slower... let's go a little slower, okay?

(Maybe i shouldn't have said it like that. But...)

(Hm...)

Central District

Can you see that, Kal'tsit?

Ngh, guh.

No. No come near.

I see it. Nobody with even normal eyesight could ignore this sort of phenomenon.

—Do you still remember the special Infected you came across back in Lungmen?

The Infected Reunion boy who could induce mutation within other Infected's organs.

Who?;......;I remember.

...Ah.

Mephisto's Herd?!

Even the devils...

Don't. Don't, forward, any more, inside.

What are you...? We need to lay out our defenses forward! The rebels have almost fought their way here!

Goddamnit, Mephisto. What are you thinking? If we detoured, they wouldn't attack us...

Nothing but, pain.

Wait a moment, wait a moment! What are you doing?!

Pain.

Let go of me! Let go!

All units, we're moving back. Keep cover.

We'll change entranceways after that. Something bad's happened already.

Central District

A short while before

How are you certain Amiya's group will reach the command tower...

...without crossing one of Talulah's elite squads?

This is the problem with conspirators.

Take a warlord, or a tyrant of a devious king. Their strongholds are always easy to defend, hard to attack.

They know their own deeds will invite furious retribution without fail. They'll use superior strength and advanced armaments to deploy unyielding defense.

Yet, seeing as Talulah's despotic behavior is confirmed to be some kind of act, she would not do things this way.

What makes you so confident?;......;I wanna hear your reasoning.

Experience, theory, phenomena.

I have no confidence. I can only derive the facts.

...Truthfully, I'm hoping to see you ever offer your own opinion.

Or maybe you're already content with silence as a brand of opinion?

Then I thank you for your understanding.

If my thought process was one that won your approval...

Did you think that I would thus feel some kind of happy?

Respect is a two-way street. If you value my point of view, and arrive at any useful conclusions, then I in turn will give your point of view serious consideration.

Talulah is maintaining her own image. She needs to have the normal Infected respect her, have the Sarkaz mercenaries obey her, have the guerrillas trust her, have the zealots worship her...

She needs to have the distance between her and them clearly visible, and have these people able to examine each other.

According to a series of behavior exhibited by Reunion so far, we can very clearly realize that Reunion's other leaders do not particularly recognize Talulah's conduct at all.

Even Patriot, seeing through to her scheme, had no power to reverse the tide in the middle of its change. If he could have killed Talulah, all the same, he still would have been unable to alter Reunion tending towards collapse.

To say nothing of the plot to exploit the Infected that Talulah has drawn up inside her own head... The time she would need likely far exceed the time Reunion has existed so far.

I conjecture that all of Reunion's actions up to now have been premised on a plan. Namely...

'Reunion will perish after all this is over.'

Talulah will scatter keen, hidden forces across every part of her territory. When she needs them, she'll assemble them, and have them make their appearance at the right moment.

Doctor, I believe the Empire of Ursus's Third Army would not permit any Infected to act freely whatsoever.

However, Reunion's current conduct is all within the bounds of their tolerance. Superficial violence, lacking discipline and organization. The Third Army must be happy to see it.

Think about it carefully. Would they limit themselves to being onlookers? Thus, would they risk truly, willingly letting Talulah control a whole city—even a whole country's state of affairs?

Or perhaps, even this is one of the weights on Talulah's scales, used to swindle the Ursus military out of their power... having them hibernate somewhere, waiting until the situation is just about to move on from her control.

And then, in the truest sense, she'll be able to use... the power she could never even touch. Just as she wishes.