Nobody had seen that turn of events coming, and the hall went deathly quiet. The officers were frozen, and so was Jean. He didn’t understand what was happening. Neither did Erna.
Chloe’s abrupt shift in demeanor was one thing, but it was the things she was saying that truly made no sense.
“Day in and day out, those despicable Galgad spies threaten our livelihoods,” Chloe went on. “Their goal is to wipe out the biggest industrial zone in the Lylat Kingdom and force our manufacturing to a standstill. They’re constantly blowing up our local rail lines and setting fire to the offices of people who work at the mines. Us workers live in constant fear of Galgad spies.”
Her voice gradually grew, both in volume and intensity.
“Much to our shame, there are some people in the industrial zone who fall for their temptations and act out against the government. The striking workers were just the latest example of that. They let Galgad agents push them into resenting the administration, and they turned to heinous, extreme measures. They were goaded into hating and killing their own countrymen.”
Not once had she even shown such a gift for modulating her speech. There was a strength to her voice that carried it all the way to the back corners of the lecture hall. She’d obviously had some sort of vocal training. Each of her words was clearly enunciated, landing smoothly in people’s ears.
A nasty premonition welled up in Erna.
Chloe was intentionally trying to proselytize to the Knights of Valor.
“The Bertram Mines are under constant threat from the Empire’s agents. I came here so I could tell you that in person.”
“Hold your damn horses—”
Unable to take it any longer, Jean cut in.
Chloe gave him a serene look as he marched right up to her.
“What are you talking about?! This isn’t what you told us in the briefing at all!!”
“But it’s the truth.”
“And besides, it was the government who forced you to work there in the—”
“My old factory could have gone under at any moment. These days, it’s a blessing just having a job at all. I consider it an honor to be able to contribute to our nation’s development.”
Once again, she continued defending the royal administration.
A hint of exasperation began seeping into her face.
“Ask anyone who works at the Bertram Mines, and they would tell you the same thing.”
“……! That’s absurd, and you—!”
“If you think I’m wrong, then let me ask you this. What do you think caused that explosion that was so loud, it could be heard well outside the mines’ premises?”
“What? That was the Royal Guard using grenades against the—”
Chloe chuckled. “After deducing all that, how could you not notice? Why would they bring bombs to suppress something as simple as a strike? Why risk a cave-in? Rifles would have done the job just fine. What you should have realized was, something forced their hand. And that something…was the fact that the workers were armed with heavy weaponry.”
“……………”
“That’s certainly strange, isn’t it? The army keeps a close watch on the industrial zone. Normal workers could never have smuggled firearms in there. Not unless they had help from a trained spy, that is.”
Chloe’s series of logical leaps left Jean at a loss for words.
On seeing that, the officers exchanged glances with each other. “What’s going on?” They were starting to realize that the meeting had veered off script. Meanwhile, some people had their gazes fixed right on Chloe. Many of them wanted to at least hear her out.
That might have seemed like the logical thing to do, but letting that woman keep speaking was a poor decision.
After stunning Jean into silence, Chloe continued putting on the pressure. “But the inconsistencies don’t stop there. Seeing the ‘kings can be replaced’ slogan in the mine might lead one to think that the strike was politically motivated, but that doesn’t make sense, does it? All the miners were asking for were better working conditions. Why, then, get carried away and blame the king? And it’s the same with the people running the mine. If they wanted to stop the strike, why go to all the trouble of dividing the mines into eight wedges with fences and nameplates when they could have just improved the shabby barracks a bit?”
After delivering her speech in a single breath, she smiled.
“If you think about it logically, you’ll realize that Galgad spies were behind everything.”
Erna was flabbergasted.
What’s going on? What is she even talking about?
She didn’t understand what Chloe was hoping to achieve.
Sure, there were parts of Erna’s theory that required some leaps in logic. That was the whole reason she’d taken the risk of finding a witness. She wanted to hear from Chloe, an actual mine worker, about all the barbaric things the Lylat government did.
But she never showed even a single sign that she was going to do this—
Chloe’s rapid-fire arguments left Jean confused and bewildered.
The way Chloe’s lips curled into an amused smirk didn’t escape Erna’s notice.
Chloe turned to the officers gathered in the hall. “Just think back!” she loudly proclaimed. “Think back to the way the Galgad soldiers massacred our parents! Think back to the way they razed our gorgeous Pilca streets with cannon fire!”
Her pleas came from the heart.
It was like she was the heroine of some great tragedy.
“Remember the nights we spent cowering in fear as their bombers blackened the sky!”
Tears welled in her eyes, and her words hit the audience right in their hearts.
“Please, you mustn’t fall for the Galgad Empire’s propaganda!”
“ENOUGH OF THIS HORSESHIT!!”
Jean let out a roar and slammed his fist against the lecture hall’s wall.
He’d finally realized that Chloe was acting in bad faith. He ignored the blood trickling down his fist and shouted at her. “Quit peddling those cheap lies! The government crossed a—”
“So now that the facts don’t fit your narrative, you’re going to suppress them?” Chloe said with a mocking giggle. “Even when they’re coming from a witness that you yourself summoned?”
The confidence she carried herself with was a far cry from the picture she’d just painted of herself cowering in the mines.
Jean was at a complete loss for words, and he looked imploringly at Erna over in the back of the hall. “Is she telling the truth? Is this really the woman you brought back from the Bertram Mines—?”
“…That’s her, all right.”
Erna swiftly stood up to disavow Chloe.
She needed to regain control of the room quickly, or things could get ugly.
“That’s her, but—”
“You can’t turn your eyes from the truth!” Chloe cried out, robbing Erna of her chance to speak. “There are countless Imperial agents hiding in our borders as I speak, engaged in all manner of sabotage. They’re fabricating stories to make the government look bad and turning our people against each other.”