[Blue Archive] I am the Trinity Checkpoint Chief – Chapter 83

“Hey, Ayane-san. It’s me. Uh, about that. I got your letter.”

My junior with the red glasses… approached me with a softer attitude than I expected.

It’s a relief she didn’t start off angry.

Who wouldn’t know why Ayane-san sent that letter? No matter who sat in my position as head of the border checkpoint, they’d understand. We bought up their school’s claimed territory and turned the ground upside down with an experiment. How could she not be furious?

Not sending a warning beforehand was just icing on the cake. Even though we’re under the federal system of the general student council, it’s customary to notify the other school in advance for large-scale experiments like this. Forgetting to do so in the rush of work was the root of the problem.

Ugh, what a mess. Even sharp-witted Sayuri-san forgot. Maybe this is God’s will, telling us to resolve it through dialogue.

I anticipated this situation when we signed the contract with Kaiser Corporation and conducted the experiment. I expected a direct response from the teacher closely tied to the Countermeasures Committee, but Ayane-san was a surprise. I’m grateful she sent a personal letter instead of an official one, considering our convenience.

Whether the Countermeasures Committee’s sincere concession will change my stance remains to be seen. But we have plenty to say too. Trinity General Academy has secured enough justification to defend itself.

The general student council’s administrative map clearly states that the area is owned by a Kaiser Corporation subsidiary. From the perspective of Trinity General Academy’s laws, the recent contract was merely the border checkpoint purchasing 39,000 square meters of military land.

Legal issues? Nonsense. It was a perfectly legitimate deal. The media can’t be trusted.

Things get a bit complicated if we delve into the territorial dispute surrounding actual ownership… but what do we have to fear? Calling out ordinary real estate speculation as tyranny is absurd. The border checkpoint is unequivocally innocent.

We haven’t violated Trinity General Academy’s code, the federal laws of the general student council, or even Kaiser’s internal regulations.

In the end, the only leverage they can wield lies in the realm of emotions:

• Why did you two make that contract?
• Is it right to buy up our long-held territory?
• Do you think the Countermeasures Committee is a joke?

“That last one isn’t true! I mean, is it okay to use profanity toward a junior at Trinity?!”

“Of course not. I got carried away with the example. Sorry, Ayane-san.”

Who would object to correcting a false statement? Yamatsu Hikari is ready to accept the other party’s request for correction. Assuming, of course, our kind-hearted Ayane-san wouldn’t use profanity.

But here’s the issue: my junior only denied the last of the three questions. What is Abydos High School, through Okusora Ayane’s voice, trying to say with a letter that’s practically an official protest?

“The answer’s easy to find. Abydos is simply too outmatched to antagonize their alma mater.”

“…”

“Ayane-san, why did Abydos respond to this? It’s not like you’re demanding we relinquish the land. Are you looking for backroom negotiations? It doesn’t seem like you want to show hostility.”

My junior lightly brushed off my reasoning, but I took it as a form of tacit approval.

Abydos High School has overcome its crisis and is said to be stabilizing. Sure, there’s talk that Ayane-san got a new helicopter, so they’re relatively well-off, but that gunship is something SRT and Valkyrie have hundreds of. It’s absurd for a school-level group to have just one.

Compare that to Trinity General Academy, a juggernaut in the federation. Can the five-member Abydos Countermeasures Committee even compare to a school where tens of thousands of students commute daily? Not just in armaments, but in sheer student numbers, they’re vastly outclassed.

What I’m saying is that Ayane-san and her seniors and juniors are well aware of the situation.

The border checkpoint has about 500 members, roughly equivalent to a hundred Countermeasures Committees, and we can’t guarantee our armaments, including Caesar self-propelled guns, are on the same level. The difference between a place that can leverage economies of scale and one that can’t is stark.

“It’s different from when the Problem Solver team invaded, isn’t it? Unlike administrators, I didn’t set foot in the city. And our relationship isn’t that bad. After all, I’ve directly helped the Countermeasures Committee.”

“That’s… why I sent the letter. Hoshino-senpai said there was no need to protest… I still feel it’s necessary, though…”

“Of course! As a student of Abydos High School, I can’t just stand by while Hikari-senpai takes the land we’re supposed to reclaim! Even if it’s legal, reason only governs half the world, doesn’t it?”

What an interesting point, Junior. Thanks for speaking your mind, but I can’t agree.

It’s not that reason governs half the world—it’s that all emotions are rooted in reason. In the marketplace, human emotions are conveyed through electrical signals in the brain’s neurons, defining their unspoken meaning.

Diplomacy is conducted through the projection of force—cannon diplomacy, as even the Tea Party calls it in this era of rampant phrases. Yet, all contracts are still made through laws and regulations. The law is reason and truth. The thick tomes of relationships remain unchanged.

“Ayane-san, a contract, no matter how offensive to the listener, is fine if it’s legal. I feel bad for you all, but I have to prioritize Trinity’s interests.”

“What benefit did Trinity gain by buying Abydos’s land? I don’t get it…”

“Well, you’re right. Even at a bargain, it’s the middle of nowhere.”

The public might think it’s obvious. Some might read Mitsuki-san’s article and say:

“That damn girl spent 6 million yen on a desert dump!”

“Oh no, my taxes for the alma mater are leaking into a useless place!”

You idiot, that money came from passing around my hat!

Seriously. With Sayuri-san’s 330,000 yen—why she hides that much in her skirt, I don’t know—as the start, it was the fruit of contributions from 500 checkpoint members. Even Arius Branch members chipped in.

Why extort students, you ask? Because they sympathized with my appeal. The purchase contract was too burdensome to justify diverting surplus funds. Getting a supplementary budget was even harder.

Then I thought, “We made the contract, so we’ll pay for it.” If others’ money won’t do, why not use our own?

It worked! Since it’s internal checkpoint donations, we don’t need budget approval, and no one can question the funds’ source. I don’t plan to bankrupt my juniors, but we might use this method more often.

I’m getting off track. To answer Ayane-san’s question, we need a map.

The desert sits in a corner of Trinity’s territory. Kaiser Corporation’s land offers a geographic advantage. Unless a major public incident occurs, we don’t need to worry about other schools’ scrutiny.

Testing a bomb that collapses the ground and facing pressure from the student council to explain? Tell them to shove it—no one lives there anyway. They’d have to cross the desert to set foot on our land.

Setting up an outpost in the wide-open desert? It’s Trinity’s territory, my call!

A position that enables absurd demands and rebuffs diplomatic overtures. The only infrastructure built is our alma mater’s. In the territory of a paramilitary and research organization backed by Trinity’s might, who knows what could happen?

Flip it around. Is the desert, occupying most of Abydos’s autonomous district, truly just a contrast of gold and blue beyond the horizon?

There’s a city in the desert. Not a typical one—a metropolis exists.

“Your robot commuters always say it, Junior. It straddles the edge of legal and illegal.”

“…The black market.”

Even the Milky Way of the student council’s cross couldn’t overturn the yellow-green dunes. A city that drowns even honest adults in darkness, a cesspool where all evil converges.

A city large enough to be called the black market lies just miles outside Trinity General Academy’s administrative zone. Considering the range of an artillery unit moved to a base… this haughty academy is tied to a societal cancer.

Some might worry that a commander living in the city could order a preemptive strike.

And I’d say:

Who’s foolish enough to think that? Look at reality!

I dare to ask: Is Trinity General Academy’s border checkpoint just a few dozen infantry? Does our honorable border guard lack the spirit to cross a dune? Are we that weak?

A strong student can endure a march of miles without issue. Even today, our checkpoint members, battling Gehenna’s ilk, surpass ordinary students in skill.

Forward! Trinity must advance into the metropolitan.

As their leader, I express regret to the poor bastards we’ll fight. We won’t even get close to them. We’ll just pull the firing lever from dozens of miles away. They won’t see our faces.

There are robots roaming the city. They’re paid to drive out students kicked out of pachinko parlors back to the desert. These pitiful scapegoats for mobsters’ wrath follow orders from other robots running the metropolis.

An old military adage: follow orders! They’ll climb dunes when told to advance, and we’ll calmly shell them.

The desert land is an excellent foothold against them.

“I think the black market folks are salivating over you too, so this contract isn’t just for Trinity’s benefit. Call it an excuse, but I believe that.”

“Is Abydos… supposed to see this as a deal benefiting both us and Trinity?”

“I’d appreciate that.”

“…It’s exactly what Nonomi-senpai said. That Hikari-senpai wouldn’t just ignore us.”

Oh, great story. I should send Nonomi-san some cocoa as thanks.

I did think of Abydos High School’s students when making the contract, so maybe half of it’s true. I can’t say, “I made this deal for Abydos!” though. I have a conscience.

“Trinity may overlook Abydos’s interests, but we won’t choose to destroy you. As a club department head, I guarantee it. That won’t happen. Even if someone tries, I’ll stop them.”

“Sigh… Alright, I didn’t think you’d stab us in the back. But what happened a few days ago? Shiroko-senpai was shocked.”

“Huh? Oh, that. It’s nothing.”

“You can’t just say that. The Abydos Countermeasures Committee needs at least an explanation.”

This Yamatsu Hikari’s explanation didn’t satisfy you, huh? Of course, I’ll kindly clarify. It’s a favorite activity.

“To explain, Ayane-san, there are many people in this world who dislike me. For all sorts of reasons, but anyway.”

“Anyway?”

“I want to level what they like to call the balance of power. I want them to know what it feels like to have enemy artillery aimed at you. It’s about breaking that balance.”

“Is… that so? I don’t quite get it.”

“Yeah, something like that. I want to call that experiment…”

Sayuri-san asked the same question. She said we needed a name for the experiment.

One word was enough for me.

“Declaration.”