Many people knew what was happening on the Red Line.
Knowing was one thing. Caring was another.
To the World Government, the vast nation that had grown over eight hundred years had become a burden.
It had no intention of paying a steep price to give a bunch of lowly commoners a decent life.
Establishing a security perimeter did not mean the World Government had abandoned its hundreds of millions of citizens. They still needed to be governed, and the Army was still suppressing them.
But the priority was to keep the unrest from spreading and disrupting life in Mary Geoise or among the many nobles who lived nearby.
And to extract as much profit as possible.
After all, people meant labor. The World Government understood that much.
Once it cast aside its reservations, the World Government acted with even greater abandon. It put vast numbers of people to work without pay, mining and producing goods to fuel its future growth.
No one cared how many died in the process.
With life so miserable and survival uncertain, many were willing to spend their whole lives working for the government.
They had no weapons with which to fight back. Any resistance the Army discovered could be crushed with ease.
The Army might not amount to much at sea, but on the Red Line, it had won plenty of battles. It held every advantage.
Expanding its ranks was just as easy.
Far too many people wanted to join the Army.
Only a fraction could become regular soldiers.
To cut costs further, the World Government had even established a system of auxiliary troops.
Auxiliary soldiers received no wages, only food.
Even so, countless people fought for a place among them.
The system had only recently been introduced—during the World Government's bloody war against