Ch.128Chapter 17. Desertion (6)

“Römer Spam Gift Set! Such a precious thing!”

Leticia’s surprised voice. It’s loud. Sounds like she’s deliberately making sure I can hear.

“Well, if I’d known you’d be this happy, I would have brought it sooner. I was wondering when to give it to you, and since you just moved in, I came to bring a housewarming gift.”

“H-housewarming, ma’am?”

Housewarming? Today of all days? Not just me, but Leticia seems quite flustered too. I noticed last night that when something catches her off guard, her voice suddenly jumps up in pitch, just like it’s doing now.

“…Yes. I realized I’ve never attended a housewarming for any of my subordinates during my time in the military. Since you just moved, I thought it was perfect timing. But we’ve both been so busy that I completely forgot about it until now.”

“No, it’s fine. Thank you so much for the gift.”

This is troublesome.

A housewarming literally means looking around the entire house. If that happens, I’ll definitely be discovered hiding in this dressing room.

But should I just walk out casually? That’s problematic too. If I can’t leave but it’s awkward to stay here, I’d better hide deeper.

The room is quite spacious. There should be plenty of hiding spots. The built-in closet looks large enough to conceal a person without issue. But when I flung open the door…

“What’s this?”

Neatly folded leather tights. In various colors. Black, brown, red. Next to them, smoke grenades with clear “Military Use” markings, sorted by type.

Now I’m certain. The mysterious pervert who helped us escape last time was Leticia. But why? What’s going on?

Could it be that she and Virginia are plotting together to trap me?

“Would it be alright if I look around your home?”

No. Let me think this through again. What if Virginia genuinely came to congratulate Leticia?

Virginia brought a spam gift set and deliberately visited on a holiday morning for her subordinate’s housewarming. Even emphasizing that this was “something she’d never done before.”

If Leticia were to say “I’m sorry” and turn her away, it would seem strange and rude to anyone.

“Oh, please come in. Have a seat on the sofa. I’m sorry for keeping you standing at the entrance for so long.”

Right. It can’t be helped. Leticia and Virginia aren’t just casual acquaintances—it would be problematic if she just accepted the gift and said “please leave.”

“Commander, would you prefer tea or coffee?”

“Just water. I’ve been having severe migraines lately, probably from drinking too much caffeine. But with the good news that came in last night, I think things will improve. Actually, that’s why I came.”

Barging in on a subordinate’s day off to talk about work.

“Good news?”

“It seems we’ve caught the real Tights Phantom. We’ve had several false alarms before, but this time the probability is high.”

Wasn’t Leticia not caught yet? Are they framing an innocent person? Leticia remained silent, and Virginia seemed curious about her reaction.

“You don’t seem surprised?”

“Well, we’ve caught many copycats before. Was this revealed during interrogation?”

“The interrogation is ongoing, but what we’ve discovered so far is sufficient. They handled military equipment with remarkable skill and seemed to know the guard post arrangements well. I’ve always believed the culprit was someone with a military or police background, but strangely, we hadn’t found anyone like that until now.”

The atmosphere was such that it wouldn’t have been surprising if Virginia suddenly declared, “The culprit is you!” Meanwhile, Leticia was clearly struggling to hide her panic.

“Surely not a soldier or police officer?”

“A veteran, to be precise. Once we approached it from that angle, everything made sense. But trying to infiltrate the National Military Police’s kitchen to raid the food storage was going too far. So, you don’t need to carry out the task I assigned you.”

Last night, Leticia seemed quite troubled about this matter. When I casually asked and made her feel comfortable, she reluctantly—though not completely—explained in a roundabout way.

‘Actually, there’s a thief causing trouble in the city. Several copycats have emerged. My superior wants to send a message to the original thief to surrender by putting the copycats in mortal danger. But I think that’s… not right.’

‘Why do you think so?’

‘Because they’re people too. If someone makes a mistake, they should be punished, not killed. We’re already at risk of turning into zombies at any moment—if the law squeezes people too tightly…’

This must be the line Leticia refused to cross, even while being called a traitor and collaborator. Or perhaps she’s always wanted to resist being labeled as someone who betrays her own people. And now her dilemma seems to have been resolved quite easily.

“You mean using the fakes to pressure the ‘real one’?”

“Yes, that won’t be necessary anymore. Since we’ve caught the real culprit, we plan to execute them by firing squad in Hampton City Hall Square.”

Clang. The sound of a spoon crashing into the sink.

“Did you say execution?”

“There are more than enough reasons. The culprit stole from innocent people. They humiliated the National Military Police in front of civilians.

Think about all the copycat crimes committed by those who no longer fear authority. This is a challenge to our community and mockery of law and order. I can no longer tolerate such behavior. It’s especially necessary during these unstable times.”

The real culprit?

I looked at the closet. The equipment inside clearly indicated that Leticia herself was the “Tights Phantom.”

So they’ve definitely caught the wrong person again.

Virginia continued:

“Even people working in government agencies are getting involved in these copycat crimes. I understand why. The black market has frozen up. Whether you bring food exchange vouchers or meal tickets, you can’t get proper food. But if everyone starts stealing, our community will eventually collapse.”

I couldn’t hold back anymore. I slightly opened the door and lay flat on the floor to peek outside.

Fortunately, the hallway is quite long and dark, and from here I can only see the back of Virginia’s head. Unless she has eyes in the back of her head, she won’t notice me.

But Leticia had turned pale. Even to my ears, Virginia seemed to be speaking in a strangely pointed way, as if making sure Leticia heard.

“And it’s already happening. You’ve heard that other regional armies, like ours, are drafting civilians into military organizations to form self-defense forces?

They’re roaming through less-affected non-protected zones, collecting supplies and provisions. During this process, we’ve detected subversive movements. Deserters, I mean. Interestingly, they rarely flee alone—usually in squad or platoon units.

They don’t want to live alone in non-protected zones either. But if they occupy places with abundant goods, like department stores… that’s incentive enough. This is classified, but I wanted you to know.”

So soldiers are roaming around. Troubling news. Squads and platoons that have worked together for a long time becoming bandits? I don’t want to deal with them. But how do they resupply their ammunition?

“As you know, Leticia, Hampton must also prepare for the future. With roads narrowing daily and the quality of goods deteriorating, we can’t feed the city’s people by relying on supplies and exchanges. We need to go out and find resources.

However, we won’t repeat the same mistakes. So… we need to form teams of active-duty resources and civilian forces, but select only those with ties to Hampton. They won’t abandon their starving families. Not yet, anyway.”

This sounds extremely dangerous.

Essentially, the military plans to lead the confiscation of civilian property. And if regional defense forces are doing this, eventually all military units across the country will do the same.

And what happens next is obvious. When food runs out, the beasts—the military forces—will only have each other to fight.

“Commander, when even the supplies in our immediate vicinity run out, then what…?”

Leticia seems to share my concerns.

“Of course, I’m not suggesting we continue this indefinitely. What I want is stockpiling. We need to gather as many supplies as possible until the Clean Sweep Operation is specifically formulated.”

Clean Sweep Operation? First time I’m hearing this.

“About that Clean Sweep Operation. Are the details still classified? All I know is that the Elsa government and National Military Police are planning a counterattack against zombies. Reorganizing administrative districts and redesignating absolute safe zones… that’s all I know.”

Sounds like a meaningless operation. According to Cassandra, the people of Elsa are already infected with the zombie virus.

But Virginia looks quite serious.

“For now, only the highest commanders of each unit and district administrators know about it. There’s not much to keep confidential, really. Nothing’s been decided yet. Everyone’s just boasting about their own importance. It would be wonderful to have a capable adjutant like you in that position.”

“You flatter me.”

“No. Without you, Hampton couldn’t have maintained such stability. Don’t worry about the Tights Phantom anymore. She will officially remain a dead person.”

Even though I can only see Virginia from behind, she seems to be making subtle hushing sounds. Cunning and subtle. Like she’s coaxing Leticia.

“Leticia. I’m truly fortunate to have you as my adjutant. Without you, I couldn’t have accomplished all this. Or what I must do next.”

‘What I must do next.’ There seems to be some strange emotion in her voice. Virginia lightly rose from her seat.

“Well. Anyway… here I am talking about work on your day off. These are difficult times, but thank you for your hard work. Leticia.”

“Th-thank you.”

“Then I’ll be going…”

Good. She’s leaving.

“Oh. Right.”

What now?

Virginia turned around at the entrance as if she’d just remembered something.

“Isn’t a housewarming also about seeing the inside of the house? This is my first time, so I was distracted. If it’s alright, would you mind showing me around?”

“The place is quite messy, but if you don’t mind…”

“I’m curious. I want to see if the administrative department did their job properly. There are many terrible homes with mold growing everywhere. Since you’re my adjutant, I should check with my own eyes.”

Oh no.

This won’t work. I stuffed the weapons from my bag along with Leticia’s tights and smoke grenades. Thankfully the bag was large enough to cram everything in.

I placed the bag in the corner of the closet as if it had been there all along.

“Alright.”

I finished my preparations by taking off all my upper clothes.