86 - Volume 10 - Chapter 2.2

2

Upon suddenly hearing the sound of splashing water from outside the barracks, Isuka stopped in the middle of the corridor. Looking out the first-story window, he saw the youngest Processor in the squadron standing like a wet mouse for some reason in the square in front of the barracks.

A large bucket’s worth of water had been dumped over his head. Mirei, a fellow Processor, threw away said bucket and mouthed a clearly fake, hypocritical apology.

“Oh, sorry about that, Shin. I slipped.”

This bucket had been placed in front of the hangar to gather water a few days ago when it was raining hard. It’d been left unattended in the hangar for days. No amount of carelessness would have gotten that bucket to the front of the barracks, where it would splash all over Shin.

Mirei continued his disingenuous apologies to Shin, his violet eyes watching him like a cat toying with a mouse, while the other Processors and maintenance crew looked on all around them, some of them sneering, others indifferent.

“…”

Shin wiped the filthy water off himself. He didn’t seem bothered by it, but mostly tired. He’d gotten used to this after that many times. Being splashed with water in the early-spring chill, finding razors hidden on his room’s doorknob, approaching his bed only to discover it drenched with muddy water, seeing the words walking plague and traitor scribbled on his Juggernaut…

He looked up at this person, who was standing a head taller than him, with scorn and cruelty that felt unnatural for an eleven-year-old boy.

“You don’t have to apologize… You’ll probably forget about it and do the same thing to me in five seconds anyway. You’re as dumb as a chicken.”

Birdbrained, forgetful, only knows how to clamor and cower even when he clucks around with the rest of his group… Nothing more than livestock that obeys its master.

“…What did you say?”

Mirei’s expression darkened. He was exactly the way Shin described him. Single-minded, foulmouthed, and only capable of parroting curse words he’d heard from others. Seeing he was about to give Shin an earful like always, Isuka turned to leave.

If it was a brawl, well, he couldn’t have them injure each other and would need to step in. But despite his size and youthful appearance, Shin was quite strong. He knew where to aim and how to apply his strength, and he didn’t hesitate to punch people. Even with that difference in physique, Mirei was likely in for some pain. That was why neither Mirei nor his cronies, despite being angry, actually dared to raise a hand to him.

Maybe Shin had learned how to defend himself when he was picked on like this in the internment camps or in one of his former squadrons. Or maybe someone who’d sheltered him taught him how to fight on a whim.

At some point, Isuka’s squadron’s machine gunner, Ruliya, observed the argument and spoke. She was a petite, skinny girl, roughly the same size as Shin despite being five years his senior, and had a timid face.

Outside the window were the same old swear words, shouted at Shin one-sidedly. The same old words. Pest. Vermin. Coward who only survived by hiding behind his friends. Combat freak. Imperial dog. Traitor.

There were rumors going around about how the two squadrons he’d been in so far were all wiped out—and how he fought in a way that didn’t fit his age and experience. People would also criticize the colors of his eyes and hair.

“Isn’t it about time you stepped in, Isuka?”

“If it bothers you that much, why don’t you step in instead, Ruliya?” Isuka replied curtly.

Ruliya winced, and Isuka turned around and looked down at her. The corridor hadn’t been cleaned in a long time and was both covered in dust and cluttered with objects. A stench wafted up from the lower level’s unused kitchen.

“Ever since he showed up, you’ve just been watching from the sidelines while acting like some kind of saint… Guess it’s good for you. This way, you don’t have to be the one sipping on mud or being fed insects.”

“…”

Her expression stiffened, and she fell silent. Ruliya’s dark skin was proof of her heritage as a mixed Deseria. They were a minority in the Republic and were a small ethnic group even within the Eighty-Six. The grand majority of the Republic’s population were Alba even before the war. But most of them, even the Eighty-Six, had the fair skin of the Vespertina.

For example, Isuka had a Celena’s silver hair and the golden eyes of a Heliodor, and yet he still had the same pale skin color. Mirei had Viola roots, his friends were of Violidia and Ferruginea origin, and Shin was half Onyx, half Pyrope. These peoples all shared the Vespertina’s white skin.

But Ruliya, who had darker skin, stood out. Just like the Orientas with their ivory skin and the Meridiana with their black skin, the Deseria were “outsiders” who had not only a different eye and hair color, but also differed in skin tone. And as such, they were hated and ostracized in both in the internment camps and the frontline bases.

Just like how the majority of the Alba discriminated against the Eighty-Six, the majority of the Eighty-Six persecuted their own people, simply as a means of taking their frustrations with life out on another scapegoat.

And the most hated of all were the noble Imperial races, the two races that were involved in the Imperial bloodline of the Giadian Empire, which had started this war. The Onyxes and the Pyropes. No one considered those two races as fellow Eighty-Six or even as fellow Vespertina.

They were the descendants of the damnable enemy that had triggered this war, and the hate for them was second only to the Alba themselves. They were seen as offenders who carried some of the burden of the blame for the Eighty-Six’s fate, as outsiders to be hated and punished.

And through some odd twist of fate, Shin was from both Onyx and Pyrope blood. And so it was only natural that the belligerence of the Processors and maintenance crew shifted from Ruliya, who had been scapegoated purely because of her skin color, to Shin, who had the blood of the enemy running through his veins.

“He won’t have it as hard as you will anyway. Unlike you, he’s strong.”

Shin was skilled and capable, both in and out of the Juggernaut, and had enough wit to know how to painfully insult Mirei after just a few days. Everyone was afraid of him getting back at them, so they only hurled insults from a distance or harassed him in little ways. All they did was ostracize and ignore Shin, but they didn’t do much more.

Shin knew this, and if he’d need to, he wouldn’t hesitate to turn to violence. And he was seemingly getting fed up with reacting to the relatively harmless kinds of harassment, so he ignored them for the most part.

“Do you still wanna cover for him? For a kid with Imperial blood? You’ve got a heart of gold, Ruliya. Go on, then, help him. Do it now. Go break up that fight. Say, Cut it out, you guys.”

You know you can’t.

“…”

Discord, hesitation, fear, and a hint of anger swirled for a moment in her reddish-brown eyes before she hung her head and fell silent.

“…A towel,” she eventually said.

As he stared at her, Ruliya averted her gaze awkwardly.

“If you just leave him wet like this, he could get sick. And if he breaks down, it’d be a problem for you, wouldn’t it? He’s your precious scapegoat, after all…”

After saying this spitefully, Ruliya turned around and left. Seeing her walk away, Isuka snickered. Was this her way of being snide?

“What are you saying? He’s a scapegoat for you, too.”

For him, for Ruliya, for the entirety of this base. Isuka knew all about the way Shin was being bullied, same as how he knew that Ruliya was being bullied before, and in both cases, he did nothing to stop it. At first, he even egged the others on, setting it up so this would happen.

Because if he didn’t, none of them would survive.

They rode in aluminum coffins that were poorly armored, lacking in firepower, and had weak suspension systems. To survive in those things, they needed perfect coordination and cooperation. And the easiest, most certain method of forming solidarity within a group…was to mark one member as everyone’s enemy.

Everyone would criticize, throw stones at, and ostracize that scapegoat, forming a common denominator and feeling of camaraderie that everyone—except for one of them—could share. They all opposed a common enemy, and that would brew a powerful binding effect in the group.

That was why Isuka always picked one of his squad members to serve as a scapegoat. That was how he was fighting this war. In most cases, it was the weakest, most burdensome member of the group. Someone with the type of conduct, appearance, or personality that would draw everyone’s ire. Someone who was easy to single out like Ruliya, or an Imperial like Shin.

He made examples of obvious, clear-cut scapegoats whom everyone could regard with unrestrained enmity, condemn to their heart’s content, and self-indulgently treat as an outlet for their frustrations.

Their natural enemies were the Republic’s white pigs, of course. But those were hiding a hundred kilometers away, behind walls and minefields, and hardly ever appeared in the hellscape of the battlefield. And enemies who didn’t feel real and present were the same as nonexistent ones.

And despite how advanced and ruthless they were, the Legion were automated machines that moved according to programming… Directing hatred at them felt both hollow and foolishly misguided.

Some people rejected that method at first, clinging to justice and a sense of ethics. But that was only at first. Those people eventually threw rocks and jeered just as gleefully as everyone else. Violence in numbers made it so that no one criticized the justice of your actions, and that lack of consequence made it the most satisfying pleasure of all. It was perhaps the only kind of diversion truly available in this sealed battlefield.

It went without saying that most of the people who’d been rendered into scapegoats went on to die soon enough. Their comrades offered them no support in battle, and the discrimination in their daily lives chipped away at their hearts and spirits. Before long, their willpower and stamina would be exhausted, and they’d either perish in battle or kill themselves.

Having them die so easily would be a problem, and so Isuka forbade everyone from excessive violence and didn’t allow the scapegoats to carry pistols, for fear of them ending their own misery. Sadly, many found alternative methods.

In that regard, Shin was holding on longer than expected. He was strong, both within the base and out on the battlefield.

Isuka snorted. He was the one who’d made Shin into a scapegoat, so the fact that he seemed harder than most was a welcome discovery. However…

“…Unfortunately for him…”

Being strong enough to endure constant harassment and abuse was nothing special. Not here, in the Eighty-Sixth Sector.