Ch.610Episode 22 – The Kazinsky Test

# Reunion with Camilla

The reunion with Camilla was the worst.

At least, that’s what I thought.

A human magician surrounded by non-human children, munching on chocolates, grapes, and figs—it was an utterly unnatural combination.

Especially considering that these non-human children were treated as second-class citizens in the host country, and the person at the center of it all happened to be British, which made it even more awkward.

“Nom nom nom. Delicious! Do you have more of these?”

“Yes, we still have plenty.”

The goblin pulling a merchandise cart bowed obsequiously and began rubbing his palms together. He took out fruits piled like mountains from his cart, skillfully prepared them with a knife, and handed them to her.

And Camilla…

“Give me more. No, give me all of them!”

She produced a wad of cash from somewhere and handed it to the goblin fruit vendor.

As I looked around in confusion, I could see similar scenes everywhere.

Various goods in the hands of passersby of all ages, merchants of different species lined up waiting for her wallet to open, and so on.

I fell into thought.

“…Um. Hmm.”

Massive foreign capital. Oppressed subordinate classes. External forces with overwhelming power. A dependent market economy. The New World.

…This scene looks familiar. Very familiar.

Where have I seen this before?

I groaned and sank into deep contemplation.

And shortly after.

Having reached a conclusion, I lunged toward Camilla, who was surrounded by non-humans, foaming at the mouth.

“Camilla, you wicked Anglo-Saxon! I should have known when you said you burned down my African farmer’s cornfield. How dare you attempt divide and rule here! Wasn’t making a mess of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh enough for you?!”

“…What?”

“Don’t even dream of becoming a colonial governor, you ghost of the British Empire!”

# Episode 22 – The Kajiski Test

A commotion broke out in the beastfolk residential district on the outskirts of Bahar.

Word spread that a human man and woman were rolling around in the dirt, screaming and squawking at each other while beastfolk looked on.

To the uninformed beastfolk, it looked like crazy humans attacking each other, but to humans who knew the situation, it was the most ridiculous comedy ever.

“I thought we’d go out to eat and have fun quietly, but who told you to establish an East India Company? Are you Columbus?! Did Her Majesty the Queen give you money to plant a flag and establish British territory here? Do you think this is Hong Kong?!”

“What are you even doing in the beastfolk district? Don’t tell me you’re planning to declare independence for them? The McMahon Declaration was a rental scam! Your ancestors promised the Arab people an independent nation but then sold Palestine to the Jews with the Balfour Declaration. It was a planned real estate fraud!”

“No to colonial rule, stop divide and conquer! Reject fraudulent contracts!”

Frederick’s reason for lying on the ground and screaming like a 7-year-old was simple. He had experienced firsthand what it was like in countries that were former British colonies.

And as intelligence officers often do, foreign assignments meant spying, which meant he had thoroughly tasted the “exquisite traces of colonial rule” that the British Empire had been fermenting for centuries.

“Y-you know what! During British Burma, you armed the Rohingya and massacred 25,000 Burmese people, and then after independence, the Myanmar military ethnically cleansed the Rohingya. Have you forgotten that?!”

“Why are you bringing that up all of a sudden…?!”

“Well, I’m asking because I’m worried you might awaken your flowing national character and arm these non-humans with capital before they start shooting.”

Frederick spoke with a confident attitude.

He was suspicious that she might incite these people and become the “British Colonial Governor of Another World” or the “British East India Company Branch Manager of Another World.”

It was a fairly reasonable suspicion, given that Camilla had been setting fires around the city all night instead of returning to the lodging.

Logically, it was more realistic to believe that “this person has finally become drunk with power and is trying to subjugate non-humans with capital to incite an armed uprising, then occupy suitable land and rise as the sun of a great nation” than to believe that “a girl who was a serial arsonist until six hours ago has suddenly transformed into a kind activist giving charity to marginalized groups!”

Of course—

To Camilla who was listening, this was nonsense comparable to saying France was the center of Europe.

For reference, the center of Europe is Britain.

At least, that’s what Camilla thought.

“What national character is flowing in my blood that leads to such an extreme conclusion?!”

“Please direct that question to the Royal Army and Royal Marines who inherited the Redcoats. By the way, did I tell you about how I almost died in the Myanmar jungle? I was trying to meet up with my team members when I got caught in an air raid, and I nearly got roasted along with a North Korean military officer I was trying to help escape.”

“No? First time hearing about it. Tell me in detail later. But anyway—!”

Ugh.

Camilla stomped her feet in frustration as her words were interrupted. The conversation kept going off on tangents, and at this rate, there would be no end to it.

Finally, drastic measures were needed.

“Just shut up and follow me.”

Camilla grabbed the babbling Frederick and began dragging him somewhere.

He made some absurd claim that since he was white and definitely not an Irish protest group, kidnapping him would be problematic (a statement that would horrify Northern Irish citizens if they heard it), but it wasn’t worth listening to anyway.

Even as he was being dragged along by legs empowered with magical force, Frederick’s mouth showed no signs of stopping.

“The Grand Duke said we’d die if we got caught, so why are you telling me to follow you? Shouldn’t we be thinking about escaping instead of spending money here? Why are you so calm?”

“It’s part of the plan. I’ll explain everything.”

“Plan…? My God, is my mentor commissioning extremists to assassinate someone who tormented her! The second Sarajevo cannot—”

“Ah- stop being so dramatic! We can prevent the werewolf terror, I tell you!”

A shriek-like exclamation rang out.

Frederick, covered in dust, opened his eyes wide.

“…Really?”

“Yes!”

“No. How?”

*

After the commotion had passed.

The two people agreed to set aside their uncivilized behavior—shouting, finger-pointing, and hypocrisy—and engage in calm conversation.

“Are you calmer now?”

“Yeees-“

“Good.”

In response to Frederick’s soulless answer, Camilla nodded with an expression that seemed to embrace all the fatigue in the world.

She pressed her throbbing temples and began to speak with an “umm.”

“There was a misunderstanding earlier. But I’ll explain everything now, so please listen carefully. Especially you, Frederick.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Answer properly!”

“Yes….”

Frederick nodded up and down, seemingly agreeing with Camilla’s words. Of course, his eyes showed he wasn’t concentrating at all.

There was a good reason for this—his gaze was directed not at Camilla, who was leading the conversation, but at someone else.

Veronica.

The saint who had reportedly been arm-in-arm with the British magic girl, roaming the streets all night.

And according to what Frederick had heard from his workplace superiors, who had mysteriously accumulated stacks of anger as soon as he arrived at work, “reports of unexplained gunfire and fires” had rained down across Bahar during the time the two women spent together.

It was easy to guess why he was glaring at Veronica with burning eyes.

Of course—

“Nice to see you again here, Major?”

Veronica, who lived life her own way, just smiled and waved at Frederick.

“…You’re smiling?”

“Oh my. Did I just smile?”

“Be quiet, both of you! I’m trying to explain here.”

Just as foam was about to bubble up in Frederick’s mouth, Camilla tactfully began her briefing.

“First of all, the reason we’ve gathered here today is, as we all know, to prevent deaths. Regardless of skin color, nationality, race, or species. We aim to prevent innocent deaths that would result from the werewolves’ terror.”

It was a clean summary.

Sitting on the sofa, Camilla faced both Frederick and Veronica, clearly stating the purpose of this activity. This could be considered a goal.

“The terror—or more precisely, the assassination—is being planned by ‘werewolves,’ or ‘lycanthropes.’ The targets are the foreign ministers of four countries, as well as our group, including myself.”

“Yes, those are the facts established through investigation.”

In response to Frederick’s casual answer as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, Camilla continued while opening snacks she had bought from a street vendor.

“What we need to consider is that this isn’t a terror attack stemming from grievances built up overnight. It’s the result of very long-term, complex factors that have accumulated over time. It’s the ‘worst form of explosion of accumulated issues,’ so to speak.”

“……”

“Doesn’t that make sense? The assassination of someone isn’t going to happen as calmly as saying, ‘Mom, I’m going to the mart tomorrow to buy a bottle of cola.'”

“…That’s true.”

The causes of extremist terrorism are complex. Why? Because nine out of ten stem from sociological problems.

Wealth disparity, political conflicts, workplace or school bullying, racial discrimination, religious disputes, pathological factors like mental illness, and so on.

In modern society, there’s rarely a dramatic reason for an ordinary person to suddenly transform into a terrorist.

Would a normally quiet student pull out a Glock and open fire in a classroom just because they were slapped once?

The student might have been exposed to long-term school violence, or might have opened fire due to pathological factors like schizophrenia.

Perhaps they were driven to terrorism after their father’s business failed and the family fell into poverty.

Maybe they were twisted by a mother who treated them like an abandoned child and beat them.

Or they might have watched videos of far-right mass shooters or ISIS propaganda on social media, and at some point became consumed by the thought, “I want to shoot and kill everyone too.”

Thus, terrorism in modern society is influenced by various sociological factors and occurs due to complex causes that are difficult to pinpoint.

That’s why Camilla says:

Terrorism is the worst form of explosion of complex angers that have accumulated as much as they could.

It’s like a boil of social problems that has been festering for a very long time.

“……”

Frederick nodded solemnly.

She majored in conflict studies, after all. She didn’t study in vain, he thought.

Resting his chin on his hand, Frederick asked in a low voice:

“What do you think is the fundamental reason why werewolves are trying to commit terrorism?”

“It’s likely rooted in historical and racial backgrounds. They have a history of being hunted by humans and have been persecuted.”

But there’s an important problem here. Camilla raised a finger and mentioned a crucial clue.

“The problem is that werewolves are complete outsiders beyond the inner circle. The lycans currently residing—strictly speaking, illegally immigrated—in Lushan are all from the Mauritanian continent.”

They have no knowledge of Lushan Federation’s culture or institutions.

They’re like immigrants with no economic, social, or political foundation.

“But to assassinate ministers without any foundation? Doesn’t that sound absurd?”

Camilla stretched out her arms, looked around at the audience, and shrugged her shoulders.

“It does sound like a fantasy. Certainly.”

Hmm, Veronica leaned back on the sofa and responded plainly.

“Outsiders can plan an assassination. But to execute and succeed, they would definitely need accomplices. And within the federation, the only species that lycans could get help from are the non-humans living in the ‘shared residence.'”

“This is where I’ve narrowed down two motivating factors for non-humans to participate in the werewolves’ terrorism.”

Snap. Camilla extended her index and middle fingers and smiled confidently.

“One is discriminatory exclusion policies across society. The other is economic poverty!”

“Werewolves can use these two motivating factors to get non-humans to join in terrorism, and the reason I spent money in the shared residence today was to prevent exactly that!”

*

There’s a policy called CONTEST.

After the 9/11 attacks, as awareness of terrorism spread worldwide, the British government introduced this new form of counter-terrorism policy.

CONTEST consists of a 4P strategy defined as Prevent, Pursue, Protect, and Prepare.

Simply put, it’s a “policy to reduce the possibility of terrorism occurring in Britain.”

And this policy underwent a major change under the name CONTEST2 on July 7, 2005.

That was the day of the London Underground serial bombing attacks.

“A long time ago, there was a moment when bombs went off in London.”

Camilla began to mention the tragedy that occurred at Liverpool Street.

“It was terrorism carried out by second-generation immigrants born and raised in our country. We didn’t know at the time, but… later, the mastermind behind the terror was revealed to be the notorious overseas terrorist organization known as Al-Qaeda. A video testament left by one of the terrorists, Shehzad Tanweer, was released through AQ’s propaganda department around 2006.”

Her voice sounded calm on the surface.

Her outward appearance was the same.

“At first glance, this incident might seem like a foreign terrorist organization carrying out an attack domestically, but it was actually a terrorist attack by domestic citizens. That’s why the government, police, and civil society were all shocked.”

“So the government analyzed the background of why second-generation immigrants participated in terrorism. They judged that sociological factors like racial discrimination and economic marginalization had worked together complexly. And they created a new policy to prevent this. This is CONTEST2 that I mentioned earlier, Ms. Veronica.”

“…Ah, that counter-terrorism policy?”

“Yes. More precisely, it’s a soft policy that encourages people not to commit terrorism.”

The main goal of CONTEST2 is just one:

To eliminate as much as possible the causes that lead domestic citizens to participate in terrorism.

Usually in Britain, this focuses on Muslim immigrants.

Of course, counter-terrorism doesn’t mean shooting guns and rescuing hostages.

Basically, it’s closer to a social welfare system that helps vulnerable groups.

Teaching English to those who don’t know it, helping with employment, connecting them to health centers when they’re sick, giving lectures on preventing racial discrimination, occasionally having tea with Muslim community leaders, and so on…

The interesting fact is that activities that seem like they could be done at any local government office involve intelligence and investigation agencies like MI5, the London Metropolitan Police, and MI6.

And quite coincidentally,

The girl in front of them had worked as an intern at a British intelligence agency.

“Considering that foreign terrorist organizations approached domestic citizens, the pattern of the 7/7 bombings and the werewolves’ terrorism we’re facing today are very similar.”

“Al-Qaeda, who knew the Middle East well but were unfamiliar with London; lycans who illegally immigrated from East Mauritania to the Lushan Federation not long ago.”

“Conversely, second-generation immigrants born and raised in London; non-humans who, unlike werewolves, have lived here their entire lives.”

“Different incidents, but the characteristics of the four groups resemble each other.”

“Then isn’t it possible that the werewolves might be using tactics similar to those used by Al-Qaeda when they got second-generation immigrants to participate in terrorism?”

Though she phrased it that way,

Camilla was already estimating a sufficiently high probability.

“How did they draw them in, Hero?”

“It’s nothing special. It’s really simple.”

Indeed, it’s really nothing special.

People become friends by eating together, participating in religious events, and attending gatherings.

They share stories about the hardships of immigration, uncomfortable experiences at work or school, empathize with each other, and comfort each other. Sometimes they have deep religious discussions.

And when the relationship deepens, they gradually reveal their true colors and begin their work.

If someone notices and tries to escape or report to investigative agencies, they threaten them using family relationships they’ve learned about during their “friendship.” Or they might just kill them to silence them.

This is a common method used by Middle Eastern terrorist organization members when recruiting second and third-generation immigrants in Europe.

Well, these days, with the development of social media, recruitment is often done through Facebook and Instagram… Camilla would know that well.

I thought, having been forcibly disconnected from social media for about 28 years.

Camilla crossed her arms lightly and continued her explanation.

“They wouldn’t involve everyone since they can’t risk exposure, but a significant number of non-humans needed for the assassination were probably recruited through such channels. They’re also victims of ‘discriminatory exclusion policies’ from the federal government. As a result, most suffer from ‘economic poverty’…”

“But they wouldn’t have had time to preach political ideologies like ‘racial liberation’ in such a short period, right? In the end, they probably actively recruited those pushed to the edge by offering some incitement along with financial benefits.”

“In other words, non-humans who are participating in terrorism, or are likely to participate in the future, would return to their places immediately if their economic problems were solved.”

Camilla’s solution to stop such nonsense from the werewolves was material aid. In other words, “spread the money.”

Whether they were beastfolk or orcs, the reason they had to participate was probably “anger at discrimination,” but “economic poverty” couldn’t be ignored either.

“To be honest, if the non-humans here were a little more well-off… wouldn’t they just leave Lushan and look for a better country? Even according to the statistics of the World Union’s Non-Human Rights Investigation Agency, the average income of non-humans residing in Lushan is among the lowest on the continent…”

I don’t know exactly how much she withdrew from her account.

But given that the local exploitative employers always push down the average wages of non-humans, there were probably quite a few cases of people whose lives were turned around after meeting Camilla today.

That’s why Veronica says things like:

“It wasn’t just a little wallet filling, was it? With a bundle of cash per beastfolk, that’s already several years’ worth of salary here, and you even gave cute pocket money to the kids, so if you calculate that too…”

The saint, who seemed to be mentally calculating with her fingertips tapping in the air, finished her calculation and suddenly stuck out her tongue.

“Heeh- It’s like you’ve prepaid those young non-human children 30 years’ worth of salary? How impressive.”

“Wait. How does that add up to 30 years?”

“Oh, you gave the kids 10,000 shillings each. Because they were cute.”

“…My monthly salary isn’t even 5,000, and I’m giving out 10,000. To kids.”

“…Oh dear.”

Of course, Camilla’s method isn’t a “fundamental solution.”

The werewolves’ assassination terrorism is a problem arising from social structure, and that’s not something that can be addressed by individual effort alone.

But if you ask whether “non-humans who have regained economic stability, even temporarily” would risk participating in “terrorism”… well.

Wouldn’t even a fairly socially hostile terrorist want to take a step back until they’ve spent all their money?

Honestly, even a potential criminal preparing to stab someone would probably go to a restaurant to cut meat instead if they won the lottery on their way to the convenience store.

They wouldn’t be crazy enough to draw a knife while leaving the prize money behind.

Veronica, finding this an interesting thought, began to gently swing her legs while stroking her chin.

“Hmm. I understand the Hero’s opinion that it’s not a perfect solution, but I think it’s the best method for now. Let’s be honest—we just need to prevent the assassination that’s about to happen today or tomorrow. We don’t have an obligation to prevent future crimes caused by chronic social problems, do we? That’s the role of the federal government, after all.”

“That’s true. Though it still feels a bit unsettling…”

“There’s no need to feel unsettled, Hero. It’s all the karma of the people in this neighborhood.”

“……”

The important fact is that money has been distributed.

And by the time all the funds distributed today are spent, our group and the four foreign ministers will all have returned to their respective countries.

As this thought reached its conclusion, Veronica placed her hands on her knees with a thud and rose from her seat with an “ucha.”

“Giving funds to non-humans who might participate in the werewolves’ terrorism, creating an environment where they don’t need to commit terrorism. Yes, it’s a good method, but…”

Veronica quietly folded her arms and looked down at Camilla with a slightly dazed expression.

“Isn’t this a bit lacking in impact, Hero?”

“Now, let me ask you a question!”

At that moment, Camilla raised her hands above her head and suddenly began to ask questions.

“Just assassinating the four ministers would require enormous manpower from preparation, but it seems there are already vacancies somewhere. Yet the conference is heading into its fourth day, and the assassination hasn’t even started. Right?”

“Yes.”

“If there are many defectors, the plan will be disrupted, and internal conflicts will naturally arise, right? They have to keep pushing forward even if it means changing the operation and filling vacancies. No, it was a reckless challenge from the beginning, and they should stop now.”

“…Yes.”

“Werewolves who want to proceed quickly, non-humans trying to save themselves. Perhaps there might be defectors among the werewolves… and there might also be non-humans who insist on a hardline stance…”

“……”

“Which side do you think will prevail? I think they’ll either fold at this point and say goodbye, or someone will take the lead and suppress the rest by force. Or they might catch the first person trying to escape and make an example of them by slitting their throat.”

“……”

“Well, regardless of who takes control, isn’t there a high probability that it will be decided at the Canine-Feline Symbiosis Alliance meeting tonight? Perhaps a few lycans might attend the meeting to fill vacancies.”

*

Even after Camilla finished her briefing, Veronica remained silent for a long time.

She couldn’t speak and just kept blinking her eyes.

Seeing this, Camilla thought, “Ah, she must have something to worry about…” and waited calmly. After about three minutes,

Seeing that the other person was still blinking repeatedly, Camilla belatedly realized the reality—”Ah! My choice of vocabulary earlier was truly inappropriate!”—and began to panic.

“…Wait. What I just said absolutely doesn’t mean anything bad, like I killed someone to silence them or executed them as an example! I meant that’s what terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda do to Muslim immigrants when they report—”

“Silencing…?”

Veronica’s shoulders swayed as if she was half-unconscious. A short sigh of “Ah” was added.

Seeing this, Camilla was startled again and let out a scream, “Gyaaaak…!” Since she usually discussed such topics only with Frederick, she had failed to moderate her language, forgetting there was a third party present.

Though this is how she always appears, the image of Camilla that most people know (and are familiar with) is on par with Saint Veronica’s form—almost a “gentleman’s country England” level magic girl image.

But when the veil was lifted and the curtain pulled back, how could this be?

Gentleman’s country, my foot. It was just England.

Of course, the great adventurer who had thrown away the veil and looked inside to confirm the contents was amazed at a completely different point:

“…Wow.”

Isn’t that the technique used by Anglo-American intelligence agencies to automatically dismantle Middle Eastern terrorist organizations?

Making them split into factions on their own.

Divided into your side and my side, some return home, some move to another terrorist organization B, some establish a new terrorist organization C.

Usually, those who went to other terrorist organizations B and C are quietly watched by intelligence agencies before their hideouts are blown up by drones.

Those who returned home have their phones and texts monitored by satellite, and if something suspicious appears, they check… if there’s no problem, they leave them alone, and if there is, they send a package or mark the coordinates of the person who texted them.

This was probably the “pursuit” strategy that British CONTEST2 aimed for.

“Well, well, they must have really gotten their money’s worth from that intern. They must have made her try all sorts of things…”

Well done, Camilla. Destroy all terrorist organizations with your own hands.

Slurp slurp. Frederick muttered in disbelief as he sucked up iced tea through a straw.

Meanwhile, Camilla was alone, shedding tears and snot while trying to shake the heavy Veronica awake.

“Huuung- Don’t just stand there, help me!”

“Let me finish this first.”

“Oh, come on, seriously!”

*

And a few hours later.

The curtain rose on the Canine-Feline Symbiosis Alliance meeting.