Why would I join the army if I can’t drive a Gundam!

Chapter 31 Vacation
"stand at attention!"

Still in front of the familiar Zeon Military Academy building, the podium where Gihren had stood before was moved out again, but this time, the person giving the speech was Dozle.

The Zeon military's exercise results were ultimately judged to be negative, as they lost nearly three-quarters of their combat forces while still failing to achieve their tactical objectives.

Although the federal army won, it was a pyrrhic victory. In the end, only one platoon of an infantry company was left. However, Macharius' tank squad suffered no losses.

Therefore, Dozle's speech naturally lacked a bit of arrogance. Instead, it was encouragement and affirmation for the students. Although things were not going well, they were determined to achieve a goal in their actions, and they threw themselves into it without fear of difficulties or storms.

After the speech, it was naturally time for the awards ceremony.

In order to boost morale, Dozle prepared quite a lot of awards this time, distributing more than a dozen of them to Zeon and Federation students. Each of them received a medal and a saber. However, I don't know if it was for the purpose of disgusting people, but these medals and sabers were made of materials taken from asteroids, which represented Zeon's independent industrial production under the blockade of the Federation.

After that, there were some specially prepared for a few people. The commanders of both sides basically had one. Dozle gave it to the Zeon side first, then to John, and the last person to read out the name was Macharius.

"Makarius Skrini, a third-year student at the Federal Armored Academy, demonstrated extraordinary courage and superb skills and tactics during the exercise, winning victory for your team and saving the lives of others. Here, please allow me to express my respect as a soldier and my gratitude as a principal!"

Macharius, who was wearing a military uniform, a wide-brimmed hat, and a cadet collar badge on his collar, calmly accepted Dozle's salute. Then, the latter hung a medal of honor on his chest.

"Also, this is my personal thank you gift!"

Looking at the pistol handed over by Dozle, Macharius did not refuse. After responding to the military salute, he took it.

"Thank you, General!"

"You're welcome. I really don't want us to meet on the battlefield. You're a formidable opponent!"

Dozle thought about Macharius's record and couldn't help but laugh.

"Then I'll try my best to avoid that from happening!"

"Since you haven't had any training missions in the past few days, when can you come to my office and sit down?"

"No problem, just give me your orders!"

Because there were other military exercises to come, the summary of the confrontation exercise did not take too long. After the summary meeting, Macharius turned around and disappeared, which made Kalmazabi, who was about to look for him, a little confused.

Afterwards, he was even more prepared to go to the federal army base to look for someone, but when he dragged Char to the door, he learned that the Red Dragon Team had already left the team on vacation because there was no exercise mission!
"Don't lose heart, Karma, there will be opportunities in the future!"

This is not because Macharius is hiding from people. In fact, he is anxious to go to Zim City and go there to find someone he feels sorry for.

"Boss, is Zim City's attitude towards the Federation really that bad?"

"Otherwise why would I ask you to change into casual clothes?"

On the commuter shuttle from Guardian Banchi to Zim City, the Red Dragon Team had changed into casual clothes and removed all items with federal logos.

In fact, it is not impossible not to change into casual clothes, but if you don’t want people to hit you with bricks while walking and spit in your food, it is better to change into casual clothes, because in the eyes of the Zeon civilians in Zim City, the Federation Army is just a pile of walking feces.

Originally, Macharius planned to go alone, but his teammates were worried that something might happen to him, so they all followed him.

"So where are you going? Don't tell me you have a childhood sweetheart in Zim City!"

Andre, dressed like a delinquent, leaned back in his seat and tilted his head inquiringly. "Let's go to a bar and see some pretty girls!"

"Ah? No, boss, going to the bar? You're going to the bar?"

The men were all stunned, then turned aside and began to whisper.

"The boss doesn't look like he's lying?"

"It should be true. Then the point is, big sister, I'm very curious about what kind of woman she is!"

"It must be the intellectual older sister who has played with Tou since childhood. This is called Bai Yueguang!"

"Well, boss, I think you should buy some flowers or something on the way?"

Others who felt they knew the truth began to offer suggestions. Even the driver of car number three took out a communication terminal and used the nearby public network to check which restaurants in Zim City were suitable for a date.

"That's enough. You'll know when we get there. Remember to keep a low profile!"

Soon, the shuttle arrived at the spaceport of Zim City. To everyone's surprise, although it was blockaded and sanctioned by the Federation, the port of Zim City was extremely busy, with cargo ships and merchants from other sides and the Earth coming in an endless stream.

Looking from the spaceport to the other side of the colony satellite, all you can see are tall buildings.

"Zim City is still very prosperous!"

"Yeah, it's the capital after all, how could it not be prosperous? But the other satellites might not be the same. And did you see it?"

Walking on the city street, Macharius nodded at a building.

"That building looks quite new, but it's run-down and dilapidated. It's obvious that no one lives there!"

"This shouldn't be the case. Shouldn't the capital be overcrowded?"

"Zeon's population has grown from 60 billion in UC to million now. What do you think?"

"This, this is really..."

Yudin shook his head, not knowing what to say.

In fact, there are many strange things about the prosperity of this city. In broad daylight, there are shopping malls with a wide variety of goods, but there are not many customers coming and going. Instead, there are queues in front of the shops in some alleys. There are also relatively few young people on the streets, especially men. Groups of eight people like Macharius who are crowded together even attract the attention of passers-by.

"It's just a false prosperity. Considering the heavy taxes levied on the Zabi family, if it weren't for the secret police keeping watch over them, do you believe their population would continue to decline?"

"What about the young people on the street?"

"Just like us, they are in the army!"

Macharius suddenly stopped and took out a piece of paper. While looking at the words on it, he gestured for a long time towards a small alley on their right.

"Yes, it's right here, the bar with the beautiful older sister!"

(End of this chapter)