The day after the Island Nation Special Zone was established, Ask returned to Britannia.
News also arrived of Nonette and Origami suppressing unrest in the Middle East.
Most of the rioters were civilians, but there were also quite a few terrorists of unknown origin, piloting strange models and specifically targeting large buildings.
After severe torture, several captured prisoners finally revealed one piece of information: "Their clothing and accents were very much like those of people from Gilkestan."
Gilkestan.
It was a warrior kingdom that had once defeated Britannia's armies during Charles's reign.
After it repelled Britannia's invasion, Charles had left it alone, perhaps because it had behaved itself, or perhaps because he had no interest in such mundane affairs.
Naturally, after Ask took power, he had not bothered with such a "small country" either.
To this day, it had shown no intention of joining the United States of Japan, continuing to "go its own way."
Why would a country that was practically "cut off from the world" suddenly supply terrorists with Knightmares and firearms?
He did not believe those terrorists had enough money to buy even a single Knightmare.
It was hard not to associate such handouts with a conspiracy.
As far as Ask knew, the arms trade accounted for a large proportion of Gilkestan's national revenue. The more war there was, the more they earned.
But if they wanted to destroy the current peace by fanning the flames, they would at least have to pin the blame on the Chinese Federation or the United States of Japan.
Petty disturbances like these could not spark a war. They would only invite a crackdown.
In other words, some other conspiracy was probably lurking beneath the surface.
Just as Ask was considering this, the phone inside his jacket rang.
He glanced at