Chapter 260
"Why did it have to go this far?! No matter what you think of me, Kamille is still your child, isn't he?!"
Some distance away from AEUG and Undertaker, a Lombardia-class ship cruised through space.
In the original story, the Lombardia-class was a battleship developed from the Alexandria-class. However, in this world, the model was produced specifically to rival the Alexandria-class.
At the time, General Revil was in a position to adopt the Birmingham-class, but for Titans, accepting a model like the Alexandria-class—produced by the Eight Continents—was simply out of the question.
In any case, within the brig of this Lombardia-class ship, a married couple was in the midst of a heated argument.
Needless to say, it was the Vidan couple.
"What do you even understand? You're just a woman! That brat destroyed everything we've spent years building! The Titans don't trust us anymore!"
Franklin had clearly not been forgiven by the Titans for what they saw as Kamille's "betrayal" that day.
Or rather, even within the Titans, no one could possibly admire a man who, in the most literal sense, had abandoned his wife and child.
Now that the technology in his possession had been fully utilized, this space-born man held little remaining value.
At this point, he was more useful as a bargaining chip to threaten AEUG.
The Titans' thinking was arrogant, to say the least.
"I'd say it's you who doesn't understand! Why do you think Kamille turned out this way? That child used to long for your approval!"
Their argument escalated into a full-blown shouting match.
Franklin kept circling back to his status, while Hilda continued to focus solely on Kamille.
Naturally, this meant the argument would never reach any kind of resolution.
"Hilda Vidan. You're coming with me."
A soldier with a rifle entered, cutting off the fruitless shouting match.
"When are we going to be released? You all saw how Kamille treated me that day, didn't you? Even if you keep us locked up—"
Whack!
The soldier slammed the butt of his rifle into Franklin's face, knocking him clean off his feet.
"You don't have the right to speak, scum. Kamille may be our enemy, but you? You're just garbage."
The soldier looked at Franklin with visible disgust.
"Hah, speaking of which, it sounds like your lover has already found someone new."
The soldier's voice turned mocking as he sneered at Franklin.
"Wha—"
Franklin's expression froze in disbelief. He covered his face and turned toward Hilda, whose hands were now bound.
But she didn't even glance in his direction. Her face remained calm and expressionless.
"Move!"
By the time Hilda—who no longer held any expectations for her husband—came back to her senses, she had already been brought to the hangar.
To her surprise, the hangar was eerily quiet.
And standing before her was a capsule.
—
While both sides in space were preparing to deal with the nearby Titans, the White Chaser had arrived in Hong Kong on Earth.
Along the way, there had indeed been resistance from the Titans, but it wasn't enough to pose any real threat to Eli and his group.
However, once they arrived in Hong Kong, the situation took a noticeable turn.
Hostility.
The inspector who came aboard stared at them with overt hostility.
Although he was skilled in bureaucratic protocol and masked his attitude, Eli was a Newtype—he could sense it clearly.
Even during the One Year War, inspectors in places like Side 6—which at the time was still an independent entity—hadn't shown this level of hostility.
Hong Kong might have a special status, but it was certainly not a sovereign power.
Which meant the cause of this inspector's hostility couldn't be political.
Let's be blunt: it was pure class conflict.
Eli wasn't exactly sure which social class he represented now, but one thing was certain—the things he planned to do would threaten the class this man belonged to.
"What are your thoughts on our actions, Mr. Inspector?"
Eli looked directly at the man struggling to suppress his hostility, feeling a flicker of amusement rise within him.
"Eh?"
The inspector, who had been reciting the port entry regulations word-for-word, clearly hadn't expected Eli to ask so directly.
Normally, even if someone wanted to ask such a question, they'd phrase it more tactfully, wouldn't they?
"Well, I suppose what you're doing is something that would easily gain the support of people dissatisfied with their current situation."
That was the best the inspector could manage in response.
Right next to him was a disassembled beam rifle for a mobile suit.
He'd have to be insane to actually speak his mind in that situation.
After that, Eli didn't press further, and the inspector didn't say anything more. The port entry procedure was completed without incident.
"Well, he was a textbook example of arrogance," came a casual voice.
Shiro Amada leaned on the steering wheel of a car, speaking nonchalantly from the driver's seat.
"But honestly, that kind of response is a relief. If all our enemies think like him, things'll be easier."
"You do realize you were being underestimated, right?"
"Let them underestimate me. They're the kind of people who still think this is nothing more than the 'rage of the ignorant masses.' What really matters is the Luio & Co.'s current situation."
As Amada turned the car right again, Eli noted this was the third time they'd passed the same mailbox.
"The Luio & Co. is one of Karaba's supporters. You're aware of that, right?"
"I am. I probably knew even earlier than you. And they're also supporters of AEUG, aren't they?"
Amada scratched the back of his head, looking sheepish at how Eli had just laid it all out plainly.
"Well, they said they'd prefer to explain that themselves."
So Newtypes are really this sharp, huh?
That thought crossed Shiro Amada's mind, but he wasn't worried that this kind of secret would create a rift between them.
The two continued their conversation as the car finally reached its destination after circling around several times—a quiet, unremarkable location.
No strange incidents like Amuro getting randomly assaulted, as in the original story, would happen here.
Frankly, the fact that it happened at all in the original was what never made sense.
"Welcome, Colonel Eli."
Eli noticed that the young woman before him addressed him by rank.
In other words, they intended to get straight to the point from the beginning.
So Eli skipped the formal pleasantries as well.
"Is your organization aware of the structure behind AEUG's funding sources?"