Gundam, driving a mass-produced machine will change the world

The flight landed in New Hong Kong.

Unfortunately, no one wearing a pumpkin mask attempted to hijack the plane under the guise of Andre Tek. Eli even felt a pang of regret when he was truly on solid ground.

"Is there something you're unhappy about with the flight, Mr. Shuji?"

Inside the terminal, the people who came to greet Eli noticed that he was staring at the flight and assumed that he was dissatisfied with the last-minute flight arrangement.

"That's not true, I'm just thinking about unrealistic things."

Eli laughed, banishing the image of the dancing pumpkin man from his mind, and looked at the person who had come to pick him up.

Stephanie Luo of the Luo Chamber of Commerce.

"I never expected that the leaders of the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce would come to receive me in person."

"I never expected you to take over the moon so decisively."

The two were already in the Lu-O Chamber of Commerce's van, so Eli stopped using his alias and was chatting with Stephanie.

"Haha, the situation forces us to act; after all, we can't let such a large economic entity fall into the hands of the Titans."

Eli's words seemed to be an attempt to justify his plan to conquer the moon, but Stephanie narrowed her eyes and smiled in agreement. Was saying such a thing at this juncture a warning to the Lu-Ou Chamber of Commerce?
However, since the Luo-ou Chamber of Commerce ultimately chose to support Calaba's actions, it hadn't done anything out of line, so Stephanie wasn't worried. She even began handling the Luo-ou Chamber of Commerce's various important matters in front of Eli.

Eli didn't seem to mind, after all, his trip to Earth was a sudden decision, and he had indeed bothered others.

"I wonder if Mr. Eli still harbors those unrealistic ideas, like wanting all of humanity to leave Earth or something."

Eli managed to hold back, but Stephanie, who had rushed to pick him up in every sense of the word, finally couldn't resist and, after thinking for a long time, brought up the topic of their previous conversation again.

"If we look at it from the perspective of a thousand years from now, there is no doubt that humanity should indeed leave Earth. Although it's not nice to say it like that, the population reduction caused by the war waged by the Principality of Zeon has indeed allowed humanity to stay on Earth for a longer period of time... No, it's more accurate to say that the actions of the Principality of Zeon have provided some people with an excuse to continue staying on Earth."

Eli readily answered Stephanie's question. Across from him, Stephanie wore a disappointed expression. If this man was truly using ideas from a thousand years in the future to guide the present, then Stephanie really needed to reconsider the future of the Lu-Ou Chamber of Commerce.

"That's ideal, isn't it? But we businessmen are more focused on what we can actually get our hands on right now."

When Stephanie uttered those words, Eli knew she wasn't just representing him. Behind her lay a complex network of relationships among various conglomerates, using her voice to ask questions. Even the Eight Continents Conglomerate, which had supported Eli from the beginning, awaited his answer.

This is a very serious matter, so serious that it shouldn't be answered by Eli alone, and even this book shouldn't offer any opinions on it casually.

Fortunately, what the conglomerates really wanted to test was Eli's attitude.

“Building a society that allows everyone to travel to the universe is not something I can achieve right now. I just want to clear the obstacles for such a future in advance. I want people to understand that if there are still people who want to stay on Earth and deplete its resources, the only result will be the extinction of humanity itself. At that time, people will spontaneously regard living on Earth as a mistake.”

"The existing satellite colony system is not capable of enabling people to continue developing in space. So... after the war, I might devote myself to the construction of space colonies. As for the details, they won't be something I can decide alone at that time."

Despite the long and rambling passage, Eli's core message boils down to two points: the society following Andre Tek's victory will inevitably continue to promote space colonization, and the related systems for space colonization will be revised at that time.

"It's just like the Federation before."

"As long as it's different from the current Federation."

How long ago was the former federation?

That's not important. When people realize that history is like an infinitely looping Möbius strip, many become pessimistic and believe that everything they've done is in vain.

Even the Federation, which began to lean more to the right after UC40, achieved far greater success in space colonization than all the years in the Common Era combined.

If history must be compared to a Möbius strip, then please add a coordinate axis that can extend vertically to this Möbius strip. What Eli wants to do is to move this coordinate axis with human effort.

"I see, I understand. I think the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce should invest more in space."

"My personal suggestion is that you develop more in the direction of solar power generation and low-orbit space base stations."

Low Earth orbit space base stations have not been built by the Federation since the Federation's Prime Minister's residence was destroyed in UC00.

Eli smiled, finally bringing the conversation to a close.

He knew that what he said here today would soon spread throughout the Earth sphere, leading to a flood of ambiguous interpretations. Eli only needed to fight on the front lines; the propaganda department would have plenty of headaches to deal with.

The day passed quickly, and that night Eli boarded a plane to another place across the sea—Japan.

This time, the people who came to pick her up were not Stephanie, who came with questions, but rather ground operations personnel from Calaba.

These combatants, primarily veterans of the One Year War, quickly led Eli to a safe house. After all, the Titans were a formidable force in Japan.

"Have you found the target location?"

"Yes, with the help of the intelligence provided by Kai, we have narrowed down the scope to these three locations."

Eli was facing familiar faces: Kobayashi and Kai. Kobayashi was pointing at a map in front of him with a serious expression. There were three locations: two were military bases in the suburbs, and the other was the Titans outpost in the city.

Eli is currently using the power of Karaba to search for the location of the Murasame Research Institute.

While Andre Tek still possessed considerable power on the ground, Eli knew the location of the Murasame Research Institute. But with the war dragging on for so long, it's safe to assume the institute had already relocated. Otherwise, Eli would have launched a surprise attack on the Murasame Institute long ago, eliminating this scourge of a research facility.

After all, compared to the Augusta Research Institute, which was very gentle in its methods from beginning to end in the original work and focused more on how to strengthen the mental aspect of the New Humans, the Murasame Research Institute has been conducting research on the physical bodies of the New Humans from the very beginning. The infamous product of enhanced humans came from their hands.

These people have now colluded with the Titans, providing them with technology, enhanced humans, clones, and other combat resources. In Eli's eyes, they are now a target that urgently needs to be dealt with. "It's impossible to carry out a large-scale personnel movement on Earth right now. At most, we can identify which one is the Murasame Research Institute and then conduct an infiltration operation."

Kobayashi explained the current situation to Eli. He wholeheartedly agreed that they could eliminate the Murasame Research Institute. However, given Karaba's current mobilization capabilities, Kobayashi believed it was simply impossible.

"Yes, I know. This time, pinpointing the exact location is enough."

Eli stared at the three marked locations, pondering how to confirm them. He was seriously considering whether he should take a walk around the perimeter of these three bases himself; the more abnormal brainwave activity he sensed, the higher the likelihood that the Murasame Research Institute was located.

"Communications control!"

Someone spoke inside the safe house, and then the safe house, which had been converted into a command center, fell silent. Then, Eli felt a tremor coming from the ground; as a pilot, he was all too familiar with it—it was the sound of mobile suits moving.

But this should be the city center, right?

Eli also checked the location of the safe zone on the map. Although it wasn't a bustling area, it was still a genuine urban area, and all the low-rise houses outside were residential.

"What's happening here?"

Although Under Tec operates in space, it doesn't neglect monitoring the situation on the ground. Under normal circumstances, mobile suits don't appear inside urban areas—roadways weren't designed to withstand the pressure of bipedal walking robots, and the very act of mobile suits walking in urban areas is a test for road maintenance.

"Just one day ago, remnants of Zeon launched an attack from Tokyo Bay, causing extensive damage to buildings along the coast. As a result, martial law is in effect for the next few days, and mobile suits have been deployed for patrols to reassure the public."

As Kobayashi said this, he showed Eli a group photo of a bunch of kids standing at the feet of the MS. These kids couldn't understand how serious it was for MS to be out in the streets; all they cared about was that it was a huge robot.

"We're all traveling light."

Eli looked at the GM on the screen. Yes, the machine equipped here wasn't even a GM II, but a GM. Furthermore, its armor had clearly been lightened; it didn't even carry a shield, only a beam rifle and a beam saber, perhaps to reduce damage to the ground.

"They all came from this base?"

Eli pointed to the only military base in the city.

"Yes, one aircraft will come out of the base in the morning, and the shift will be changed twice, once at noon and once in the evening."

This is the information obtained from today's observations.

"It really is just to appease the people."

With this kind of armament and this method of mobilization, if there were any Zeon remnants attacking, they would probably fall immediately, let alone launch a counterattack.

MS's footsteps have gradually receded into the distance, and this safe house has resumed operation.

"Then, the base in the city can be ruled out."

An organization of the Murasame Research Institute's caliber would certainly not undertake such a task.

"Well, the problem is that the two bases are located in the suburbs and are too far apart. But please understand, we may only be able to choose one base to infiltrate."

This is the current situation of Karaba; having severed its connection with the universe, its power has become significantly weaker.

Upon hearing this, Eli pondered a solution.

There was only one chance to confirm the internal situation... Based on the idea of ​​just ruling out the urban base, Eli had roughly come up with an idea.

"Let's become the remnants of Zeon."

"Eh?"

Eli's words were truly astonishing, leaving Kobayashi momentarily stunned.

“Even when facing an attack from the remnants of Zeon, the Murasame Research Institute would be the lowest priority for retaliation. So we’ll create a feint attack to pressure both bases into reacting. The one that doesn’t send reinforcements is more likely to be the Murasame Research Institute.”

"...The pilot is easy to deal with, but what about the machine itself?"

The machine Karaba used was the Rick Diaz, which was previously provided by AEUG. This machine was too iconic, so it was absolutely impossible for them to use it.

"Contact the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce; they should give back after receiving my market guidance."

The cost of transporting mobile suits on Earth is too high. If we need mobile suits from the Principality of Zeon temporarily, we can only turn to a conglomerate of this caliber.

After all, the Lu-Ou Chamber of Commerce had done things like sending its private army to hijack regular army prison transport vehicles in the original work. The development of the financial cliques in the UC era has been much longer than these eighty years. This group of people existed even earlier.

We need to find ways to win over some, reform others, and resolve the problems of others.

Eli stopped thinking about it and instead discussed the scale, location, and personnel of the "attack" with Kobayashi.

They are not true Zeon remnants or Titans, so they certainly wouldn't treat human lives as worthless; minimizing losses is essential.

"Let's set the location for the operation here. The local government has decided to conduct a evacuation drill, and the time and location are both good. It just depends on whether the Lu-Ou Chamber of Commerce can deploy the MS there in advance."

Kobayashi has been supporting Karaba on the ground for so long that he is already quite skilled.

"I wonder if our ace pilot is comfortable driving Zeon mobile suits?"

Finally, Kobayashi even teased Eli a little. (End of Chapter)