"We follow the rule of law because we believe and benefit from it. They follow it, for now, because they fear it."

- Gallian Prime Minister Elise d'Lavant, 1988

+++

"You're not even going to leave some cash on the counter?"

"Why would I? Will someone ever even see it?"

"Well, what if the people who run this place come back?"

"They'd be foolish to do that. Besides, who's going to buy from them? It'll take years before this city recovers."

"Still…it's their stuff. Not ours."

"Don't care."

"Hmph."

Oakley smiled a bit while opening a bar of chocolate in his hands, while Freya in front of him pouted, disappointed by his behavior. He placed the bag of goodies he had acquired on the counter, while she, on the other hand, left a bunch of paper blancs and pinned them under one of the books nearby.

He narrowed his eyes, bewildered by it, but the young woman simply sighed.

"It's not good, you know…to just take things so lawlessly. That's not how society should work. Even if this is symbolic, and not practical, it's important."

Her explanation didn't resonate with him whatsoever.

"No wonder the guys high above discouraged these activities since you girls arrived," Oakley laughed. "Didn't know y'all would be so stuck up about it."

"Discouraged?"

"That we shouldn't loot 'like monkeys' when the ladies are around," he waved his bar of chocolate lazily. "Kind of a bummer, you know? It's not like our rations are that good, or we get everything all the time. We should live off the land more."

She leaned her back on the counter while grabbing one of the chocolate bars she took from the store, which she placed in a nearby paper bag she found.

"I don't like that kind of mentality. At all. It just sounds sad."

"What's so sad about that? You get what you want for free. In some ways, this is even better when you're back at home. You don't need a good job and lots of money to get what you want. You can just crash in on the ruins and get the best things humanity can offer!"

"No…it's just, the idea, that you have to force people to steal so they can survive."

"Ah…"

"Mother said that habits form when you keep getting used to doing something. That's why I pay when I take it. I don't want to ever normalize robbery in my mind."

"Oh, come on, it's only robbery if the store's active. When it's not, you're just…it's like you're just cleaning things up."

Oakley stopped his defensive response when Freya remained silent.

She eyed the watches that Oakley looted and placed on his two wrists. She neither frowned nor smiled as she looked at it. Instead, all there was in her eyes was a resigned, sad, and melancholic stare. For a bit, Oakley was bothered by it.

"I bet you have…a collection of those already, huh?" she asked.

"Well…"

Oakley stared at the wristwatches he looted.

"I'm not really sure if I'll get a good job once this war is over…so, I take some trinkets as an 'emergency collection'..."

"And?"

"Yeah. Well, you know, back when we went home after the first great war, I never actually received a proper job, and I was mostly just…wandering aimlessly in the Marine Corps, happy that the unit I was in refused the Queen's demobilization orders. I wasn't sure yet how I'd survive without many things to burn through back then…"

"So now…?"

"Yeah! I learned my lesson. Luckily, the Civil War happened before I went back to civilian life, and…well, I'm not going to get caught off guard next time. Hopefully, I have enough trinkets to last me a year once this one ends…assuming I'm alive at the end that is."

He looked at her a bit sheepishly.

"See what I was talking about?" she asked.

"Yeah…it does sound a bit of a downer. Do you think it's a lame excuse to steal?"

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"I don't know. Stealing is bad, always…"

"I guess I'm bad then…"

"But at the same time…I don't really know, after hearing that."

She looked to her side, and Oakley did the same, ashamed of meeting her head-on. She then mumbled something again.

"I guess the rules of life are flexible when you're in a bad spot, huh?"

"Well...I don't know why I broke it now after you asked for chocolates. I wasn't exactly starving to get that 'bad spot' condition yet."

"...I guess so."

She giggled a bit after that. Then, she took a tiny nibble of her chocolate. Oakley was baffled by her tonal shift, and he could only mutter a defensive groan.

"Hey, what is it now?"

"Nothing! Just, sorry. I was just curious early on so I asked questions. That shouldn't stop you from enjoying this though. It's better than our rations."

"...Right. I thought you were making fun of me."

"I wouldn't do that, trust me."

"They're just silly rules. We're at war anyway…"

"No need to be so defensive, I already said I'm not making fun of you. Just enjoy it."

Oakley turned away from her. Then, he began enjoying his spoils of war, however small it was.

+++

Jeanne placed a case filled with bottles of water on the turret of Henrietta's tank. Their driver called out to the hatch, and quickly, Linze appeared, taking the case straight inside.

Outside, Henrietta placed the last checkmark on her notepad. The supply truck on the side of the road right then also revved its engine, before driving away, doing its best to avoid the debris and rubble in the road.

"Captain! We're clear now!" Freya's cheerful voice called out from inside. Jeanne on the other hand jumped down their tank, wiping her sweaty face with her handkerchief.

"That should be it," Jeanne declared, looking at Henrietta worriedly. "Are we going out now?"

"No. Not yet. Probably in ETA three hours."

"I see, I see."

Watching her driver turn away, Henrietta also walked from their tank. The rest of her company was still resting on the side of the road or inside the buildings they managed to occupy. Behind them, units from the Marine Corps and the Kusari Imperial Army were flooding in.

They were going to continue their assault, no matter what.

She turned a street, reaching the area where the groups of marine HMLVs were parked, all of them hard at work resupplying themselves. The trucks that had been arriving from the rear sent them a lot of AP belts, alongside handheld disposable MANPATs.

Tube after tube of MANPATs armed and ready were in cases on the ground, being carried by the marines into their respective vehicles in bulk. To this day, this boldness is quite…concerning to Henrietta.

These soldiers, with their barely armored cars, liked to charge into combat with only light drone support, handheld ATs, and their mounted machine guns. Earlier, nearly a hundred twenty of them already ended up on the casualties roster after they attempted a thunder run in the central district of the city.

Of course, it didn't go swimmingly well for them. They were ambushed, and the survivors only got out after heavy artillery and air support took out the autonomous ground drones bearing down on them.

She walked straight into the commander of this specific marine company, and the two had a brief follow-up talk about their plans. The middle-aged man in charge of them seemed cordial, yet he saw in his eyes, and his officer's eyes, that they were expecting the worst today.

By the time she left the command post, nearly an hour had passed, and she was a little down. Luckily, nothing noteworthy happened during that time, save for one of her platoons dispatching another one of those four-walkers that tried to poke their defense perimeter using their IFV-mounted autocannons.

The rest of the city though…the battle had already resumed there. She could hear the distant sounds of artillery and rocket artillery from their rear and the scattered impacts they were causing in the distance. A lot of the marines ahead of them were already conducting preliminary shaping operations ahead of them.

Therefore, airstrikes and rear fire support were already hard at work at softening up their targets. If they were lucky, the assault from their armored units like her company would go swimmingly well. She doubted that, of course, especially when she saw the first batches of HMLVs arriving from the frontline.

One of them stopped just a few meters away from her. Medics with stretchers immediately rushed toward the vehicle, and she had the misfortune to watch as four marines, all of them with heinous injuries, one probably already dying with his face filled with shrapnel wounds, were placed on the stretchers.

She hastened her pace and practically ran back to their tank. Even now, after so long fighting in the front lines, she still hated the smell and look of death. It still terrified her.

The marines on the other hand, when she looked at them, none of them seemed like they could even give a toss. They just drank and played with cards, or smoked on the sidelines. Sometimes, some people truly would just be more veteran than you, she thought.

+++

"Alright, pack it all up, boys!" Sergeant Higgs clapped, as Oakley and Timmy finished placing the last MANPAT and cases of heavy machine gun ammo on their vehicle. "Nice work. We'll be going out now, so get to your stations!"

"Aye, sarge!"

As Timmy pulled their doors closed, Oakley made his way up into the roof of their HMLV. He gave their machine gun a few final checks, moving his turret left and right, up and down, to see if things were smooth. He already replaced the barrel, so that should be good for the fight.

"I'm good to go!" Oakley shouted from on top, and he felt their HMLV revving up.

Below him, Timmy already readied his rifle, while Sergeant Higgs was busy talking over the radio.

Oakley took a deep breath, watching as those ahead of them began advancing. His eyes especially locked on one of the tanks from the Royal Guard's H Company—Captain Henrietta's tank. Noticing the number of white rings on their main gun, an impressed grin grew on Oakley's face.

…Freya's their gunner, no?

It seemed that she was a good shot in that case. Before he could look more on that tank, their HMLV moved forward, catching him off-guard for a bit. But, he held on to his gun, balancing himself.

Two fighters zoomed high above them, dropping four glide bombs from their wings. The battle was definitely on now.

Alright…

He steeled himself.

Would be a shame to disappoint someone so good. Let's try our best then!

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