Opportunity in the Game Becomes Reality Chapter 268
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Opportunity in the Game Becomes Reality Chapter 268
58. A New Era (4)
The countless wars and acts of terror caused by religion in the Middle East.
Many people die and lose their homes because of this situation, but even amid this orgy of destruction, there are certainly individuals and organizations that profit.
If you were to name the most representative among them, it would undoubtedly be America.
When people think of Islam in the Middle East, many assume it is hostile to Western developed nations, especially America, but Islam has many sects, and there are also countries that maintain alliances with America.
America sells weapons, technology, and people to such parts of the Middle East.
Weapons and technology aside, you might question the idea of selling people, but the people mentioned here refer to the US military.
The countless US military personnel who were sacrificed while supporting allies or becoming the main actors in wars were bringing enormous profits to their homeland.
"If things continue like this, we will all wither and die. If Rondel's magic digs deep into society, the weapons we sell will be pushed out of the mainstream, just like cold weapons that began to decline with the appearance of the matchlock gun."
In this way, the arms industry became an important pillar inseparable from America.
But when that pillar faced the threat of being shaken, arms companies pondering how to each survive on their own thought of a single method.
"So I believe that now we must join forces and stand against a common enemy."
"Supporting terrorism is the way to stand against a common enemy? Isn't this going too far?"
"Going too far? Do you still say that after seeing China and Japan already dismantled because of Rondel? Our choice is also for the peace and stability of Earth."
That method was none other than supporting the radical armed groups of the Middle East notorious as terrorist organizations.
United tightly by faith under the religion of Islam, they are fanatical warriors who do not fear death.
If they had even better weapons and richer resources, the world's power structure might have changed.
Those armed groups joining hands with American arms companies?
It sounded like something out of a conspiracy theory.
But the current situation made it possible, because a common enemy called Rondel had appeared.
Rondel was not only shaking from the roots the religion they believed in without doubt, but also changing Earth's power structure.
With the appearance of such a powerful enemy, two forces that seemed absolutely unlikely to mix were uniting.
"There is almost no terrorism in Rondel, right? And no religious wars either."
"That is what I heard. They say it is a single religion."
"Will those noble people really be able to recklessly expand their territory as they do now after experiencing terrorism by crazed fanatical warriors?"
"I suppose so..."
"We show them. That Earth is a very dangerous land. That it is a place where survival itself is a war every single day."
"And what makes that situation possible is armed groups supported by our advanced weapons?"
"That is right."
What they desired was only one thing.
To make every moment Rondelians advance into Earth place them under a threat to their survival.
"But isn't there a problem?"
"You mean getting caught by Rondel."
"You know it well. If that happens, even we America could end up in danger."
But even such radical means made the owners of arms companies called merchants of death hesitate.
"Is there any need to think of it as difficult? Among the people here, who hasn't sold weapons to the Middle East through brokers?"
"Ahem..."
"We just do as we have been doing. If we release a large volume to brokers and use agitators to fan the flames, the weapons will flow into the Middle East on their own. Then, even if we are caught later, we can shift responsibility to the brokers."
Since the arms dealers were a force inseparable from corruption, the method was nothing new.
If the UN and Interpol were functioning properly, it would be a difficult method to use, but the two organizations had now become virtually obsolete, so there was practically no force to stop them.
Of course, the US government could grasp the situation, but the ones most deeply connected to the government were none other than these people.
Moreover, from the US government's standpoint, even if this situation became known later, they could simply deny knowing and be done with it, so it was judged that there was no problem in proceeding with the work.
"After weighing this and that, it seems like a method worth trying."
"Right?"
In the end, as the US military contractors' operation to support terrorists gained sympathy, the threat of the Rondel people who had advanced onto Earth was no longer limited to religious organizations.
* * *
During the Great Disaster, the terrain of northeastern Africa collapsed and sank.
As a result, the entire Gulf of Suez, including the Suez Canal, was covered in desert sand, causing massive casualties.
If one were to name the country that suffered the most, Egypt was the representative example, and its capital, Cairo, completely lost its function.
As the nation's government failed to do its job, the Egyptian people were forcibly thrown into a survival game where they had to fight against epidemics and the poisonous insects of the poisoned lands.
The bigger problem was that many extreme Islamist armed groups, including IS, were located in Libya, the country next to Egypt.
Until then, Egypt had been a representative terror target of Islamist armed groups, so the surviving citizens had to live each day in hell.
"They say the Chase Kingdom's knight order has completely driven IS out of Alexandria."
"Oh, that's good news."
"And it looks like they've started repairing the Suez Canal too."
"The canal?"
"With the Strait of Gibraltar blocked, the Mediterranean has become completely isolated. If Suez is opened, Egypt becomes the only passage to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea."
"Indeed, the nations of Rondel really are impressive."
However, the situation changed drastically when Chase Kingdom, a nation belonging to Rondel, dispatched an investigation team to Egypt.
Chase Kingdom was the next strongest kingdom after Lucias even within Rondel, and they even dispatched an Aura Master as the head of the investigation.
Naturally, it was bound to be excessive armed force for an investigation team, but this was very effective in Egypt.
Merely driving out the armed groups was enough to win the support of the native Egyptians.
Moreover, the people of Chase Kingdom had an appearance similar to the people of the Middle East, so even when placed among the locals, they did not stand out as particularly foreign.
Thanks to this, Chase Kingdom steadily expanded its influence centered on Cairo, Egypt, and had even reached the point of thinking about reopening the canal and entering the shipping industry.
From Rondel's standpoint, it could be called the most ideal act of invasion.
Although Chase Kingdom's royal family worried that battles had broken out in the process of driving out the armed groups persecuting the locals, which could be seen as ignoring Adrian's warning, they did not stop expanding their influence.
"Your Excellency the Governor-General!"
"What is it?"
The Governor-General's Office of Chase Kingdom located in Cairo, Egypt.
The young 35-year-old Aura Master, Count Aeros, appointed as temporary governor-general, was reading a book at leisure when he saw his subordinate come rushing in to find him; he narrowed his brows and stood up.
But at the subordinate's subsequent report, his expression could not help but harden.
"W-we just received contact saying there was a message from His Highness the King of the duchy, Grand Duke Lawrence."
Adrian El Lawrence, the king of the duchy who was evaluated as having seized hegemony over Rondel at the age of 22.
He was someone one had to be careful with, to the extent there was a saying that the biggest obstacle to territorial expansion on Earth was not the resistance of natives but falling out of Grand Duke Lawrence's favor.
Because of that, Count Aeros asked urgently, fully tense.
"They said the likelihood is very high that the activities of Earth's armed groups centered on religion will become more active. Therefore, they ordered us to strengthen checkpoints and searches to properly protect our citizens and prevent terrorism."
"Is that so?"
He had worried it might be some kind of fault-finding, but unexpectedly the message was full of consideration.
'Unlike the nations of Rondel that have established themselves in other regions, we, who have established ourselves in Egypt, already understand well the ferocity of Islamist armed groups.'
Therefore, the Count easily realized what Adrian's warning meant and obediently nodded.
"If they're warning us to this extent, it means something big may be coming."
"But with the current troops, just maintaining the present alert posture is already too much?"
Count Aeros tried not to ignore Adrian's advice and to faithfully carry it out, but his adjutants objected.
Since the governor-general is in the position of governing the country, naturally his adjutants are bound to be closer to administrators than soldiers.
So the adjutants said that, but Count Aeros, a soldier by birth, was resolute.
"Is the teleport gate we built here just for decoration? If we put our minds to it, we could reinforce our troops within ten minutes. So request reinforcements from the homeland. And if possible, Vanguard-centered."
Considering the distance between Earth and Rondel, no matter how many teleport gates are built, a massive amount of mana is bound to be consumed for even a single transfer.
In other words, it means the cost is extremely high.
Moreover, since it was they themselves, not he who was the Governor-General, who had to handle the costs, the adjutants were reluctant.
But there was no choice.
"Understood. Then I will take immediate action."
"I'll leave it to you."
"Yes, Your Excellency the Governor-General."
Even as a temporary Governor-General, Count Aeros was a young noble with a promising future, and behind him stood a heavyweight Duke Jeremy.
Duke Jeremy was the Kingdom's only Grand Master, something even the Prius Republic could not boast of possessing, and Count Aeros was the Grand Master's direct disciple.
He was a figure at the very center of power.
So there was no choice but to obediently comply.
"Your Excellency, the homeland says they will send an additional two thousand Vanguards."
"Oh, is that so? Excellent. That should be enough."
The troops they currently possessed amounted to only five hundred Vanguards in total.
Yet the fact that they would send four times the current force meant the Chase royal family judged Adrian's advice to be the perfect Justification/Cause for reinforcing their forces.
So they decided to deploy a large number of additional Vanguards at lightning speed.
"Then you all will work with me to draw up the deployment zones for the additional troops."
"Yes, understood."
Count Aeros and his adjutants faithfully continued the duties entrusted to them.
And then, at that moment.
-Kwaaaang! Kwaaaang!
With a menacing roar that made the air tremble, the ground shook violently as if an earthquake had struck.
"W-what is it?"
Count Aeros approached the balcony to check what was happening….
Something heavy appeared above their heads, piercing through the building's ceiling.
-Kwaaaang!
Soon after, the entire Governor-General's office was engulfed in flames and explosions.
The identity of the thing that fell without warning was a bunker buster.
No matter how inferior Earth's engineering technology may be compared to Rondel's magic, the people of Rondel are ultimately flesh and blood.
If a bullet pierces through one's head, it was only natural that even an Aura Master would die.
Of course, Count Aeros, a high-ranking noble, was prepared against surprise attacks with various artifacts, but the others did not possess artifacts of such high performance.
It was close enough that even the Count's own artifacts were nearly insufficient, so everyone in the Governor-General's office except him was bound to be annihilated.
-Twitch.
"You son of a…."
Count Aeros, the Grand Master's disciple, had been ambushed.
Not only that, but high-ranking administrators of the Governor-General's office and hundreds of citizens of the Chase Kingdom had been killed.
This was a grave matter that could not simply be overlooked.
"Since they struck first, there should be no problem with responding."
The situation Adrian had worried about had finally come to pass.