To Number Seven, Ena's words were utterly absurd.
"Self-defense? You actually dare call it self-defense?" Number Seven sneered. "The Alliance treated you as allies, but you treated the Alliance as an enemy."
After a pause, she added:
"Even if the Alliance really does move south, what's so bad about that? The Alliance will bring advanced technology and industrial development to the Southern Region. Its enemies are the slaveholders of the Logging Association, and it will liberate every slave! Giving slaves their freedom-isn't that the same goal you have?"
Number Seven couldn't understand why the Redemption Army would stab the Alliance in the back when they shared the same goal.
But the Redemption Army's leader, Mr. Ena, offered his explanation:
"We do indeed seek freedom from enslavement. But in my view, the industrialization the Alliance brings cannot give slaves true freedom. Those factories are nothing more than slave plantations in a different guise! Are these supposedly free workers truly free?
"Factory owners may not lash workers' backs with whips like slaveholders do, but they use attendance rules and fines to torment their minds!
"Unfortunately, this kind of industrialization the Alliance offers is not the freedom our Redemption Army seeks. We were indeed once allies, but our conflicting ideals leave us no choice but to become enemies."
Hearing this, Number Seven collected her thoughts and countered:
"Your words are full of sophistry. You make factories sound utterly wretched, but you fail to see the prosperity industrialization brings to society-or rather, you turn a blind eye to it."
After a pause, she demanded:
"You say our ideals differ. Then tell me, what does your Redemption Army seek? Or rather, what kind of society do you intend to build?"
"Freedom, absolute freedom! A completely equal society, rather than the pyramid-shaped one we have now."