Southern Continent, East Balam.
"General Hague, what... what is this internal investigation about?"
Colonel Alfred Hall clutched a document, staring in disbelief at the middle-aged man behind the desk.
The protests and riots that had suddenly erupted across Balam had already left him overwhelmed. Then, first thing that morning, he had received an internal investigation order from the military.
The reason for the investigation was that he had allegedly ordered frontline troops to fire on civilians without authorization, causing bloodshed.
Was this some kind of joke?
Alfred looked at the charges listed in the document and found them utterly absurd.
In the Southern Continent, when local natives gathered to cause trouble and storm defensive lines, frontline commanders would open fire to suppress them as circumstances demanded. Wasn't that an unspoken convention among the garrison forces?
At the Governor's Mansion banquet just half a month ago, hadn't the officers of every defensive district reached precisely that understanding over wine and cigars in private?
Besides, in all fairness, Alfred had always considered himself restrained in his treatment of native civilians compared with his colleagues in other districts. Although this large-scale riot had indeed begun because troops under his command fired first during a confrontation, the direct casualties had actually been few.
What was more, after he opened fire, garrisons in the surrounding cities had followed suit to prevent the riots from spreading.
Why was the military command singling him out for a thorough investigation now that things had gone wrong?
Considering Balam's disastrous situation, and then thinking of the Hall Family behind him, Alfred felt a bad premonition rise in his heart.
"Just as the document says, military command is merely conducting a routine investigation into your unauthorized use of force."
Behind the desk, the middle-aged man addressed as General Hague spoke