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Chapter 375c
🕑 Added 2025-09-07 15:36:27 +0000 UTCChapter 375c
2-in-1-chapter
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“Mr. President, you must be joking. People aren’t commodities—they can’t be exchanged like merchandise.”
The president looked at Leo for a long moment.
Then he smiled. “Forgive me, that was out of line. I hope you’ll let that slip.”
The vehicle started, flanked by two Humvees in the front, the extended limo in the center, and two more Humvees at the rear.
The convoy began making its way toward the presidential palace in the heart of the city.
Upon entering La Paz, Leo noticed through the window that something had changed. The streets were now filled with hollow-eyed refugees in tattered clothing.
They appeared listless, gaunt, and broken, many living in makeshift tents erected along the roadside. Some were in even worse shape—without even a tent, their only shelter was a cardboard box.
Like stray cats and dogs, that single box was their home.
Leo distinctly remembered that, when he had first come to La Paz a year ago, there hadn’t been nearly this many refugees.
Now…
Perhaps noticing the confusion on Leo’s face, the president spoke with a solemn expression.
“Mr. Leo, are you wondering what happened?”
Leo nodded. “Mr. President—what’s going on here?”
“It’s shameful to admit, but even with your company’s support, our forces remain unable to resist the advance of the anti-government troops. Our defensive lines have been pushed back again and again.”
“So these refugees…”
The president sighed with regret. “They’re people who refused to submit to the anti-government forces and fled to La Paz. Unfortunately, we don’t have a better way to accommodate them.”
Leo showed no expression on the surface, but inwardly scoffed.
Was it really that they had no means? Or simply no will?
Despite being the nation’s official and legitimate military, the government forces under the president were in many ways no better than the corporations in Night City—if anything, they were worse.
This president had risen to power with the backing of the country’s elite class. Therefore, everything he did served their interests. It was unrealistic to expect him to betray the very people who had secured his position.
From Leo’s point of view—and those around him—it wasn’t that the elite had to be completely equal to the common people. Human nature was inherently self-interested. The old fable about the “man with a cow” said enough.*
But the elite could, when appropriate, release a fraction of their gains. Even just a little, a tiny portion slipping through their fingers, would be enough to vastly improve the lives of the lower class.
That, at least, was Leo’s perspective.
Yet to the president and the elite class surrounding him, such a notion was unthinkable. Their resources were their own—why should they share them with the “filthy masses”?
And that was why, in front of Leo now, there stood thousands of displaced civilians—living in tents and cardboard shelters.
“Then, Mr. President, do you intend to purchase more Basilisk armored transports and Scorpiodrone heavy combat aircraft from our company?”
Leo was aware that the government forces had already burned through almost all of the Basilisks and Scorpiodrones he had procured for them earlier.
It was a classic case of the indifferent heir selling off his grandfather’s estate. The president had traded away two gold mines and one copper mine to obtain those vehicles through Leo’s company.
But in the hands of the government military, those assets had barely lasted. Misused, poorly maintained, and tactically wasted—most of them were already lost.
So Leo had assumed that the president’s reason for calling him all the way to the capital, La Paz, was to request another procurement order.
But unexpectedly, the president shook his head.
“I wish to hire your company to fight on behalf of our nation. We have personally witnessed your military’s capabilities.”
Currently, the anti-government forces held control over Bolivia’s western, eastern, and northern regions.
The territory of the Shining Group lay in the south.
The government, meanwhile, retained only the capital La Paz and a small adjacent area in the central region.
For years, the government army had been under siege from three sides. While the Shining Group generally didn’t engage the government—so long as no one interfered with their coca plantations—the anti-government forces alone were more than enough to keep the military on the defensive.
The government army had clashed with the rebels more than once, but they had never managed to drive them out.
It wasn’t until a year ago, when Aurora PMC entered the scene that things changed.
Within just a few months, Aurora achieved what the national military had failed to accomplish in years—they completely drove the anti-government forces out of the eastern region.
The president and his generals at the Ministry of Defense were fully aware that their own military was underperforming. But they hadn’t expected Aurora PMC to be so overwhelmingly effective—crushing the enemy with pure force.
One year ago, Aurora had numbered only a few hundred personnel.
Now they had grown to a force of 30,000.
They even outnumbered the government army—and every soldier was equipped with high-grade gear and combat training.
Thus, the generals had suggested to the president: why not simply hire Aurora PMC to fight for them? Let them handle the war—while the government merely took credit for the victories.
Even though Aurora had agreed to train the national forces, it hadn’t changed the outcome. No matter how much the army drilled, they remained the same—cowardly on the battlefield, obsessed with their own survival, and even going so far as to surrender Basilisks and Scorpiodrones to the rebels.
The generals had long given up hope in their own army’s ability to defeat the insurgents.
If they couldn’t do it, but someone else could—then why not hire the one who could?
As long as the hostile forces within the country could be thoroughly eliminated, everything else would be negotiable.
That was also how the President saw it—hence his decision to bring Leo in.
As for the kind of concerns Saul and the others had, the President didn’t even dare to consider them. At this point, Aurora PMC was their only ally. If they were to offend Aurora now, they would find themselves surrounded by enemies on all sides.
Even a fool wouldn’t make such a catastrophic mistake.
“Very well, Mr. President,” Leo said. “Let’s assume I agree. What exactly does your country have to offer in return?”
The President answered swiftly, “The eastern territory of Bolivia—from this day forward, it will belong to you. I mean in name as well as in fact. Your company will become the rightful ruler of eastern Bolivia.”
It was a tempting offer.
Up until now, Aurora PMC had occupied eastern Bolivia in practice, but not in title. Their control was de facto, not de jure.
But if the President were to personally sign over the land—either free of charge or for a symbolic price of one euro—then Aurora PMC would gain legal legitimacy.
They would no longer be seen as illegal occupiers.
Some might dismiss the importance of that distinction, but it was crucial. Even the Anglo powers, for all their dominance, still maintained a façade of legality in matters like this.
Despite how appealing the offer was, Leo did not give an immediate answer.
“I’m afraid I can’t respond to that right away. I’ll need to discuss it thoroughly with my people.”
He shook his head.
It was indeed an enticing deal—transforming Aurora PMC from an unauthorized force into a legitimate governing power in eastern Bolivia. Even if the current President were to later go back on his word, or if a new administration came to power and refused to recognize the agreement, they still wouldn’t be able to take the land back.
The territory, once signed over, would be out of reach for future governments.
However, for all its allure, the price of that legitimacy would be steep.
Aurora PMC had indeed driven the insurgents out of eastern Bolivia, but the rebels still controlled the northern and western regions, and their strength remained formidable.
To push them out completely—to secure the north and west, to eliminate them entirely—would not be easy, not with the thirty thousand personnel Leo currently had at his command.
What mattered even more was that Aurora PMC had only achieved such success in the east because they treated it as their own territory.
They had bought food from civilians at international market prices, paying in euros.
They had allowed people to receive medical treatment first and pay afterward, with monthly costs kept low enough to avoid burdening the average household.
Because of these actions—treating civilians like actual human beings—Aurora PMC had won public support. That support had been essential in allowing them to consolidate control.
But if Leo were to accept the President’s request and go west and north to fight the insurgents, would Aurora PMC need to apply the same approach there?
If so, would that land remain under Aurora’s control until the war ended?
Or would they hand each village over to the government forces the moment it was secured?
If it were the latter, could the government forces even hold the territory?
