Chapter 63: Ch 61. Military reconstruction investigation

When we were passing by burnt down houses, Stella asked.

“What happened here?” (S)

“The same as back in the laboratory. People killing each other.”

“Why do humans like to kill…?” It was weird to hear this question from something that doesn’t hesitate to slaughter a group of soldiers, without leaving them a single chance.

“The humans group together around something, and sometimes it turns into isolating themselves from the others. Isolation is the first step towards hating the others…”

When I glanced at Stella, I saw how its eyes were distorted. It was creepy.

“Your eyes…” The moment I pointed it out, Stella corrected its appearance. I have no idea what the f* it is to be able to do something like that.

“Let me give you an example. Those people in white coats, you must’ve observed them a lot, some of them work on one thing, while others work on something different. [Stella nods] Logically they should be helping each other to achieve the best results, since it benefits them all. [Stella unsurely nods] Then why do they start to compete? For the reason that they stop talking between the groups and slowly drift apart. That is the same here. Some people are ‘different’ from the others, and that is why after many years of separation they start to dislike each other.” Stella’s appearance didn’t change but now she was unnaturally numb. I guess it still can’t process what I said.

I patted it, and pulled it to a shop.

---

We entered the shop and saw some things, like hay pillows and clay dishes.

“Oh, customers? You are… a bit weird…” The shopkeeper cautiously peeked from behind the stall.

“Relax, Sir. I am with the military. You are safe.” The man hesitated but stood up.

“W-what things c-could interest you…?” (Shopkeeper)

“I wonder where you are getting the goods from?” Suddenly, the man trembled and knelt.

“I beg you, don’t hurt me! I swear, those are produced by my family! For God’s sake, I swear those were not smuggled!” I quickly approached the man and put my small hands on his shoulders. His eyes caught on the grip of the gun but he didn’t try to fight.

“Sir, I assure you, I am looking around but I am not here to disrupt your business. Re-lax.” I had to pat his shoulders for a couple of times until he stopped trembling.

Afterwards, the shopkeeper calmed down and started showing what he has. He was pulling the best he had from the furthest corners of his shop and honestly tried to explain what goods are better.

While the staff he was selling was not required for us (even the shabby cracked dishes from the cafeteria are way better than this) but I bought several things we ‘may’ require.

“Thank you for your patronage!” The man bowed and quickly packed the dishes.

“While I am here, can you answer some questions?” The man paled and I had to gesture that everything is alright.

You are reading story Machine of war at novel35.com

“Why is everybody so concerned about the soldiers?”

“W-well… Whenever soldiers appear, they rip off the taxes, draft men, and execute the collaborators… ‘As well as rob that is not nailed…’ Our Lord may be benevolent but rumors say he will be levying troops. Everything will be taken, again…” Ask Valencio, check.

“We are not locals so we are a bit in the dark. Why did the war start?”

“Some say that the Lords couldn’t divide some land to the North. I am just a petty merchant, I know only what happens in the city and its surroundings.” (Shopkeeper)

“Thank you, Sir. Stella!”

I looked around but couldn’t find it.

I started searching for it, and found it in a corner, playing with wooden toys and a cloth doll.

“Sir, wrap those too~.”

---

My next point of concern were the areas where the wall was bombed, and where the prison was.

I wanted to check the collateral damage. I might as well prepare a report on the repairs possibility. A castle wall should be everything for those people.

During the fight we had no time to assess the damage we would be doing but now it was my headache to solve this riddle of what can and cannot be repaired.

The area around the wall was in an acceptable condition. Some houses have crumbled but most of them only required their windows replaced. A completely different situation was near the prison.

My indiscriminate artillery support was devastating. The craters were filled, and the rubble was cleared but this area was still filled with destroyed buildings. According to the city map, this district is a high-cost property and so the reconstruction effort are no doubt going to be focused here.

“Stella, can I ask you for assistance?”

“Of course~!” (S)

“Please, search through these buildings and tell me if you find something that is about to crumble.” It was useless to ask her to assess the constructions’ integrity, so I just asked to find the weak points.

A couple of hours later I started marking the investigation results for my report.

Some buildings were directly hit by Nonas when they were aiming, those are better to be raised and rebuilt from scratch. The rest of the buildings sustained moderate damage but after the rubble inside is cleared, the people can immediately start working on them.

I returned by the night, and immediately headed to sleep.

You can find story with these keywords: Machine of war, Read Machine of war, Machine of war novel, Machine of war book, Machine of war story, Machine of war full, Machine of war Latest Chapter