George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 196

< Episode 195 >

“The emergency support for Riga is over. Now, all we have to do is steadily pour in subsidies and slowly take control.”

The aide adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, pausing to gather his thoughts. A single mistake could lead to ‘very difficult things’ happening to him.

“Now that our massive capital has flowed in, it’s highly unlikely that the Baltic Three’s joint destiny will work. It may seem like a temporary rift now, but we need to widen that gap soon.”

The aide finished speaking. He was confident that his pronunciation and content were perfect. However, the Tsar, who should have been pleased, seemed rather displeased.

As the world’s political situation became more difficult, Russia’s status suddenly rose in response. Russia, with its vast land and population distribution, was inherently a country where droplet infections were difficult to spread, provided thorough inspections were conducted.

In any case, as Russia’s status rose, Putin’s status soared. Strong Russia. Strong Russian army. Russia that never yields. All these words were used to praise the Putin regime.

“In a nutshell?”

“One Russian volunteer division, 2 billion rubles worth of essential goods and medicines, and Russian companies are largely involved in Riga’s reconstruction.”

“As long as the volunteer division we sent doesn’t act like a bunch of crazy bastards.”

The aide remained silent on that point. He had no choice but to trust that the volunteers and those in charge would do well. They were a military force trained for dispatch from the start, so he believed they would observe etiquette. However, the aide was still human, and he couldn’t suppress the doubts rising in a corner of his heart.

“Once we safely incorporate Latvia into our sphere of influence, the remaining two Baltic countries will change their minds.”

“That’s right. They’ll either stick with Russia or try to join the EU. The latter is more likely, but it depends on the picture we paint. Depending on how we handle it, all three Baltic countries could stick with Russia.”

That was the most ideal scenario, but wasn’t the ideal called that because it was hard to achieve? But Putin had power. The power to turn the ideal into reality. Russia was already in Putin’s grasp.

All votes were being rigged, and all situations were reaching Putin’s ears. Ironically, this was thanks to the United States stealing a bunch of classified documents. Thanks to that, Putin was able to wield divinely inspired, legitimate iron fists against those involved or completely turn them to his side.

Thanks to this, he was able to perfectly complete a one-man dictatorship in a very short period. This was the only thing Putin was grateful to Bush for. In other words, except for this one thing, he didn’t like anything about that Yankee bastard.

‘To stand up to the United States on equal terms, we need to go back to the Soviet era at least.’

This was truly humiliating, but also a stark fact. The current Russia was not an equal to the United States, and it was questionable whether they even cared about it. Circumstantially, real secrets like nuclear codes hadn’t been stolen, but many national projects like defense projects had to be overhauled. Not necessarily because they were stolen. The main reason was that most of those in charge had been replaced.

In any case, this incident strengthened the power of the Federal Security Service [FSB, the successor to the KGB], which was the foundation of Putin’s power. No, it didn’t just get stronger, it transformed into a lawless organization with powers as strong as the KGB during the Soviet era.

Can you imagine the president’s words being law? Since it ostensibly professed democracy, elections would be held, but those elections were just a formality anyway. All Russian personnel appointments were being made according to the president’s taste under the president’s guidance.

“By the way, did our ‘gift’ get delivered properly?”

“Yes, almost all broadcasters across the United States reported false information simultaneously. The current American media landscape seems to be operating as we have identified. The American media is unprecedentedly dogmatic and extremely sloppy at the same time.”

“Still, after about 10 years, once we accumulate know-how, we’ll be able to move all the media perfectly according to the government’s taste. It’s an excellent choice for such a softie.”

The ‘softie’ referred to Bush. That man seemed to have a firm personal philosophy and never crossed the line he had set. Frankly, even Putin sometimes didn’t know what that line looked like, but it was certain that he didn’t cross the line created by his beliefs.

‘Well, we can take control of everything without doing that.’

All personnel appointments weren’t just vague things like regime appointments. Everything was at Putin’s discretion, including broadcasting stations, promising small and medium-sized business owners, and even the heads of Russian national corporations.

Putin’s authority wasn’t limited to Russia. Whether they liked it or not, if they wanted to work with Russian companies, they needed to look good to Russian companies, but also to the Russian government, that is, to Putin.

“Are we properly securing Riga’s security?”

This part was a bit problematic. Latvia only wanted Latvian forces and law enforcement to secure Riga, and the Russian army needed to show results, so there was a very minor friction. This time, Russia yielded easily. There was no point in antagonizing Latvia, which was already full of venom. When Russia took a step back like this, Latvia became suspicious and began to accept Russian help. One person’s hand was sorely needed to restore this devastation.

“Then what about the area around Riga? It seems Latvia was in charge of the search.”

The Russian volunteers were full of complaints, saying they came to handle odd jobs, but no one dared to voice those complaints or raise them up. Those who had escaped Riga were forming new warlords. In fact, they weren’t really warlords, but their numbers were enough to be a burden on the Latvian army. There would definitely be significant casualties at the company level.

In a typical field battle, they wouldn’t even be a match due to the overwhelming equipment difference, but what they had to face were guerrillas. Some had willingly returned to the embrace of the state, but others had not. They were people who had been betrayed by the state. And at the same time, they were people who were afraid of being legally punished for what had happened in Riga. So, if there was a commonality, it was that most of them were not people who had survived honorably.

So there were people who hunted them.

“Shit! What the hell!”

Ivo was so surprised that he couldn’t even scream when a black arrow was embedded in the tree right next to him.

‘I don’t know what method he’s using, but…’

These black arrows were embedded precariously close to Ivo. In the trees, in the ground, even deep in Ivo’s bag. But Ivo doesn’t know this yet. Ivo first realized that arrows were flying at him on the fifth shot.

‘He’s accurately targeting me, who’s barely visible through the trees, with some kind of method!’

The sixth shot hit the bag again, causing a shock. Unlike the previous shock that only felt like it had hit, this time it gave a huge shock that made him want to fall forward. If the contents of the bag hadn’t been a sleeping bag, he would have had his lungs or heart pierced and died like his friend.

“Damn it! If it weren’t for the trees! It would have hit him right in the head!”

There are a total of 13 arrows left in the quiver. All of them are in bad condition. Maybe if he shoots them one more time each, that’ll be the end of it.

From ancient times, arrows have been disposable. Once fired and hit somewhere, the shaft is bound to be twisted. Due to budget issues, arrows that looked intact were reused, but that’s the same for other disposable items anyway.

In modern times, the development of materials has made it possible to use them quite a bit, but his arrows, which had already been used several times, could not escape the fate of these disposable items.

The way Levitz reliably aims and shoots at Ivo is simple. He looks with his eyes, estimates with his hands, and releases the arrow. He was doing ‘honest archery’ faithful to the basic principles of archery. A hunting talent that he would never have discovered in a peaceful daily life if it hadn’t been for the Riga situation blossomed dazzlingly at the crossroads of life and death.

Along with a grotesquely twisted, foul-smelling justice.

“If only I had bullet arrows, they would have easily penetrated the bag.”

Unfortunately, they had all been used up in the street fighting on the day Riga fell. In the first place, live ammunition itself was scarce, it was difficult to make, and if it was used, unlike other arrows, the arrow shaft itself would be destroyed, making it impossible to repair or recycle.

One way or another, Ivo was destined to die at the hands of Levitz. With each step Ivo took, his strength was visibly draining, and Levitz was confident in close combat as well. To what extent? He was so skilled that he had killed three people with a hunting knife when he ran out of arrows.

But fate is messy and complicated, causing confusion to the observer. This is commonly called ‘the play of fate.’

Russia tested the waters with the United States, the American George Bush stole Russian secrets, Putin’s power in Russia became solid, and in order to maintain this, Latvia was brought under Russia’s influence, and in the process, Russian volunteers went on a mop-up operation to the outskirts of Riga.

“I, I’m alive! Soldiers!”

This series of fates lowered a rope from the abyss of death created by malice and pulled Ivo towards life in an instant. As soon as he met the soldiers, Ivo collapsed to the ground.

‘The military?’

Levitz, who had been chasing Ivo triumphantly, had no choice but to stop this time after confirming the unknown number of figures. He could somehow deal with one or two hunting shotguns, but in front of dozens of automatic weapons, cold weapons were endlessly powerless.

“There’s a murderer in that forest! A vicious and cruel murderer who killed my friend!”

Ivo, who had fallen to the ground, desperately clung to the Russian soldier’s military boots, crying without distinguishing between tears and snot.

“Hey, calm down!”

“Damn it, it’s Latvian! I don’t know Latvian! And the interpreter has a stomachache!”

“Secure the perimeter! I don’t know what it is, but there’s something!”

The Russian volunteers, realizing that the situation was unusual even though they couldn’t understand the words, sharpened their nerves and strengthened their perimeter security. But no matter how elite the troops were, they couldn’t know where the guerrillas hiding in the forest were hiding.

“The military? So what?”

Levitz, who could have hidden and slowly dried him up, stepped forward to the Russian army with his bow and arrows held high.