The United Anti-Government Army, and the Mercenaries Preparing to Steal the Nest!

Bugani, Republic of Burkina.

Thirty kilometers to the east.

United Anti-Government Army headquarters.

"If you'd listened to me, we'd have fucking taken Bugani ages ago!"

"Pah!"

"Why should we lead the assault while you sit back and watch?"

"Which fucking eye of yours saw us sitting back and watching?"

"Exactly! Did our hundred-plus brothers die for nothing? I think you're the ones showing up without pulling your weight!"

"How about we just attack from here?"

"Here?! Do you have a pig's brain?"

"Why are you insulting me? You've got a fucking dog's brain!"

The entire headquarters rang with arguing.

Those who knew understood that this was a headquarters, a place for waging war. Anyone who didn't would have thought it was a market!

In a corner no one was paying attention to.

"This might be why we're pinned down here, without even a glimpse of Bugani's urban area. They can argue for ages over a single direction for the main assault."

A burly man with a scar on his left cheek watched the squabbling headquarters and spoke with a smile to another man standing on his right.

"Wasn't this to be expected? So many factions hastily mashed together, all wanting to lead the united army. It would be a miracle if there weren't chaos!"

Hearing the burly scar-faced man's words, the man on his right also shook his head with a smile. He was somewhat scrawny, and a chunk of flesh was visibly missing from his left ear.

"I heard the National Liberation Alliance pulled out of Nijia. What a bunch of useless trash. They actually let a bunch of police stop them in their tracks, and in the end, squandered their chance to take Nijia."

"Hahaha... doesn't that make us useless trash too? We're still stuck out in the wilderness twenty kilometers from Bugani."

"How are we the same? Honestly, if this bunch of useless idiots arguing here weren't dragging us down, I'd have taken Bugani long ago."

"Maybe! Hahaha..."

"Hey! Don't doubt me! That kid named Sankara has nothing but recruits in his army. They barely have any fighting strength. As for those four local brigades, they're clay chickens and pottery dogs too, no match whatsoever for my troops."

"Yes, yes, yes, you're right about everything! But the reality is that a bunch of what you call recruits and clay chickens and pottery dogs have us pinned down twenty kilometers from Bugani."

"I... I already told you it's because people are dragging us down! Fuck, this conversation's going nowhere. What possessed me to come talk to you?"

About sixty kilometers east of Nijia.

Li Bal.

The National Liberation Alliance's territory, where its headquarters was located.

Under the National Liberation Alliance's brutal rule, this city, which had once had nearly 700,000 residents, now had fewer than 100,000 left.

Desolation and decay lay everywhere.

"Vroom-"

A black pickup with a machine gun mounted in the back sped down the road, kicking up clouds of dust.

On either side of the road.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Several civilians, starved to skin and bones with their bellies pressed against their backbones, choked on the dust that rushed into their nostrils and coughed incessantly.

But after coughing for ages, they failed to cough up even a drop of spit. In the end, only a few drops of dark red blood trickled from their lips, which were dry, pale, and cracked.

The black pickup's destination.

It was an extravagantly decorated estate, with gardens full of birdsong and fragrant flowers, as well as fountains that danced to music.

Aside from the masked soldiers standing around with guns, who looked somewhat out of place and spoiled the scenery, this place was practically a paradise on earth.

It was an entirely different world from the dust-shrouded Li Bal outside.

Inside the villa at the very center of the estate.

Several foreigners with distinctly Western European features sat at a round conference table, while a glass chandelier above the table lit the entire room brightly.

"What do we do now? We definitely can't go back to France. The North African Strategic Intelligence Bureau will never let us off. If we dare go back, even rotting in prison until we die would be getting off lightly!"

A bald man asked, looking somewhat lost.

"Sigh-"

The blond man sitting to the bald man's right sighed too and said regretfully:

"How did we lose our heads back then and kill the National Liberation Alliance's top brass in a fit of anger? Otherwise, we wouldn't be holed up here now, unable even to return to France."

"Can you blame us? It's not like you don't know how viciously those bastards insulted us. Besides, you were clearly the one who fired first, and then we followed your lead, all right? If we're talking responsibility, it's all on you!"

Sitting opposite the blond man was a burly middle-aged man who looked around fifty. His white hair did nothing to diminish his muscles.

"Wait, I wasn't blaming anyone. Why are you starting to shove all the responsibility onto me? I was just saying what we shouldn't have done back then! If you're going to put it that way, then I've got something to say too..."

The blond man immediately bristled at the burly middle-aged man's words.

He promptly opened his mouth to argue back and properly sort out everyone's share of responsibility, but before he could get his rebuttal out, the one-eyed man at the head of the table cut him off.

"Enough! Why are you starting an argument?"

The one-eyed man first glared at the burly middle-aged man, then at the blond man. Though he had only one eye, the ferocity in it matched anyone's.

"I've said it plenty of times. We're a team! Whatever happens, we should shoulder it together! Besides, isn't this just about going back to France? If we can't go back, then we can't!"

The one-eyed man continued:

"We now control all the National Liberation Alliance's remaining armed forces. Doesn't that mean we control its territory?

"With this much territory, as long as we run it properly, splitting eight or ten million North African francs apiece every year won't be a problem! Isn't that far better than being mercenaries?

"Once we've established ourselves, we can bring our families over too, and all live happily together. Will we still need to worry about whether we can return to France?"

"Boss, that's true, but what if the men under us aren't willing?"

The bald man was still somewhat worried.

"What's the problem? Once we put the money in their hands, they'll naturally be willing. If they really aren't, then for the sake of our brotherhood, I won't force them. They can leave."

The one-eyed man paid no mind to the bald man's concerns.

"Boss, your plan does sound good, but there's still one major problem. This isn't just National Liberation Alliance territory. It's also part of the Republic of Burkina.

"What if the Republic of Burkina's government forces decide to take this region back? What do we do?"

The bald man voiced another concern.

"What do we do? Do you even need to think about that? We fucking fight them, of course!"

The burly middle-aged man, who had the worst temper, spoke up immediately.

"Exactly!"

The blond man immediately nodded too, then said indignantly:

"If those assholes at the North African Strategic Intelligence Bureau hadn't insisted on forcing us to keep attacking this time, would we have lost so many brothers? Would we have ended up where we are today?

"And another thing! The Republic of Burkina's government forces only won because they had the advantage of defending! If we were the defenders, we could blast their fucking brains out!"

The one-eyed man, their boss, agreed wholeheartedly with the blond man's view and immediately added:

"Exactly. Number Three, stop worrying about this and that all the time!

"The Republic of Burkina's army is, frankly, just a bunch of third-rate African native troops. They were just lucky this time and scraped out a win.

"If they really dare..."

Just then, a fully armed mercenary hurried into the room and said in a panic:

"Boss, bad news! The Republic of Burkina's government forces have launched an attack on us!"

"???"

"!!!"