Nihonkoku Shoukan Chapter 26

Kind of sad when I give myself time to do other things instead of translating all day and still end up translating all day…

Chapter 26 - The Empire's Distress (2)

j.a.pan, capital city Tokyo, Kasumigaseki

Princess Lumiess of the Kingdom of Altarus, who was currently being granted asylum in j.a.pan, received a request to meet from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so she made her way to their building in Kasumigaseki. She opened the door to the visitor's conference room and went inside. Everyone already in the room stood up and bowed to her.

"Please have a seat."

Once everyone was seated, the meeting began.

"I believe you had some business with me, what would you like to discuss?" Lumiess asked.

"My name is Yanagida with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Are you aware of the incident where the Papaldia Empire executed a large number of j.a.panese tourists?"

"Yes, I did hear of it. I pray that your people find peace in the world beyond."

Lumiess touched her left hand to the right side of her chest and closed her eyes. It was a beautiful gesture.

"So, the j.a.panese government has a proposal for you. After we have driven the Papaldian army out of the Kingdom of Fenn, would you be willing to declare yourself, the royal princess, as the leader of the Kingdom of Altarus's legitimate government? Naturally, j.a.pan would recognize your claim, and we will also help persuade other countries with diplomatic ties to us to recognize it as well."

Lumiess's expression went slack in surprise.

"Th… that's… I didn't dare to hope, and I would be grateful if you were to help me, but… um… if you were to do so, the Papaldia Empire might see it as a territorial rebellion with the potential to shake their national foundations and begin a war of extermination against j.a.pan. It could subject your country to much sorrow. Would you still be willing to support my kingdom?"

While the Kingdom of Altarus was outside the civilized areas, they had a remarkably strong military. However, even though they had investigated the Papaldia Empire's capabilities, they still suffered a ma.s.sive defeat. Even though Lumiess knew the power that j.a.pan had, the fear of a superpower was still engraved in her heart.

"Yes, the j.a.panese government is not afraid of an all-out war with the Papaldia Empire. We also do not mind if you wait to make your decision after seeing the result of our battle in the Kingdom of Fenn. In order to liberate the Kingdom of Altarus, j.a.pan fully intends to lend our military support. We hope that Altarus can become a model case of freeing a colony from the Papaldia Empire, and that it will be the first step towards dismantling the empire completely."

j.a.pan was so angry over its citizens being killed that it intended to topple the Papaldia Empire, a superpower. This was something that no sane person would ever even dream of happening. Was something so monumental, so historic really even possible?

Princess Lumiess of the Kingdom of Altarus had to carefully consider this offer.

Kingdom of Fenn, Coate Plains

The Coate Plains were located in between Nis.h.i.+nomiyako and the capital city Amanoki. The earth there was quite dry, unsuitable for growing crops, but it was extremely absorbent, so much so that the rainwater it absorbed sank far beneath the ground, away from the reach of human hands. Therefore, no one lived there and no trees grew; it was just a bleak field of short gra.s.s.

The Papaldia Empire's ground legion of about 3,000 troops got into combat formation. Once they crossed the plains, they would be in front of Amanoki. This was the battlefield where they predicted the Fenn army would desperately oppose them.

Lieutenant General Dolbo looked to the south. He could see twenty gunboats floating in the sea there, ready to provide support. He made out the imposing silhouettes of the s.h.i.+ps-of-the-line, which gave him complete confidence. A wicked smile formed on his face.

"Whew… no matter how many come at us, we'll never lose!"

He took a deep breath, then yelled out the order.

"All right, let's march!!!"

Dancing high up in the sky, twelve wyvern lords flew along the route to Amanoki to scout ahead. With a line of land dragons leading the way, the legion marched.

"Pa.s.s the word: Once Amanoki falls, soldiers can do whatever they want with the people there!"

"RAAAAAAHHH!!!"

The soldiers' morale soared as they imagined what they would do with their spoils.

"Another victory for the empire!" someone yelled enthusiastically.

…Hm?

He suddenly felt that something was wrong.

Out of nowhere, the burst of an explosion rang out.

"What was that sound?!"

He looked in the direction of the noise. Up in the sky—

His eyes darted over to twelve pulverized wyvern lord scouts that were falling out of the sky in a rain of meat and blood.

"!! Wha—! What happened?!"

Dolbo's head swiveled over to the sea.

Reflected in his eyes was a single s.h.i.+p, its size on a scale he had never seen before. At first, he thought something was wrong with his sense of perspective, but he quickly realized that wasn't the case. He took out a telescope. He saw a flag with a s.h.i.+ning sun hoisted high, flapping in the wind.

"?! Is that a j.a.panese s.h.i.+p…?"

He abruptly noticed puffs of smoke rising from the s.h.i.+p.

"Is that… are they firing magic cannons?"

They reloaded so quickly!!! He then heard the a.s.sociated booms.

In horror, he watched something unbelievable happen. Their s.h.i.+ps… their mighty s.h.i.+ps-of-the-line exploded one after another.

"That's… that's impossible!!!"

So he believed, but he could also hear the sounds of their s.h.i.+ps exploding and sinking.

"Their… Their s.h.i.+p's magic cannon has a range far above our s.h.i.+ps'! I don't know how it's possible, but they didn't even miss a single time!!!"

In that extremely short interval, their backup s.h.i.+ps-of-the-line turned into sc.r.a.ps of driftwood.

The observers from Mu, Technical Officer Myrus and Tactical Officer La.s.san, were watching the events from on board an Akizuki-cla.s.s destroyer. This s.h.i.+p had a highly-advanced design, and compared to Mu's acclaimed La Kasami, it was much longer but also much skinnier. It also really did only have a single cannon, which was simply negligent. Because this was a mechanically-powered s.h.i.+p, they didn't think Papaldia's sailing s.h.i.+ps could get into firing range, but with such paltry offensive options, it was possible they would take some damage from the fleet of s.h.i.+ps-of-the-line.

Or so they thought.

j.a.pan's single wars.h.i.+p challenged Papaldia's fleet of twenty s.h.i.+ps and one-sidedly slaughtered them all. The single cannon had ridiculous range, and its rate of fire was completely beyond their common sense. The most surprising thing was that, despite their s.h.i.+p and the enemy's s.h.i.+ps and the ocean all moving and constantly changing the angle of attack, its accuracy was 100%. They felt their own sense of combat logic crumbling to pieces. If a cannon could fire so accurately, they certainly did only need one of them. Myrus was mentally conducting this technical discourse.

The destroyer, having accomplished its mission, withdrew from the battle.

Having just seen their wyvern lord scouts shot down and the Third Civilization's strongest fleet sunk s.h.i.+p by s.h.i.+p right before their eyes, the Papaldian ground legion was quickly losing morale.

"!!! There are ten things coming towards us!" a lookout shouted.

Dolbo turned, looking for these objects. He saw clouds of dust far away, caused by ten odd-looking vehicles with long horns coming towards them. They were fast!

"What are those?!"

Dolbo had no idea. When the land dragons saw the strange objects, they began charging up their wide-ranged fire blasts. At the same time, the ten vehicles cast explosive magic, firing it at the dragons from their horns.

The ten Type 90 tanks' 120mm smoothbore cannons all scored direct hits on the land dragons they targeted, opening large holes in their bodies and tearing up their innards. The kinetic sh.e.l.ls pierced through the dragons and ravaged the dense crowds of infantry behind them, throwing huge clods of dirt into the air where they landed. The force of the impacts reverberated throughout the area, each affecting about thirty soldiers. Any of them who still clung to life wailed out in agony; it was a picture of h.e.l.l.

"Tch! Exploding magic?! No, those are magic cannons!!!"

The enemy's iron dragons continued advancing.

"Use the magic cannons we towed here to take down those monsters!"

The imperial soldiers set up the portable magic cannons that were hauled along for the march by the cavalry and aimed them at the iron dragons. They boomed loudly as they fired at the same time the iron dragons did. The land dragons cried so loudly as they died that everyone around them wanted to plug their ears.

"They reload so quickly! Their efficiency is crazy!!!"

"Concentrate on the closest one!!!"

PAPAPAPAPAH… DODODODODONNN…

The Papaldian ground legion fired their portable magic cannons at the nearest Type 90 tank. Numerous magic cannon sh.e.l.ls rained down on it. The barrage shaved away the earth. Miraculously, two of the sh.e.l.ls. .h.i.t the tank dead-on and it went up in smoke.

"Two sh.e.l.ls. .h.i.t the enemy!!!"

"Fuhahahah! We got them! Now, let's clean up the rest of those iron dragons!"

From within the blazing fire caused by the exploding magic cannon sh.e.l.ls, the iron dragon emerged unscathed and continued running towards them.

"It… It can't be, there was no effect?!"

"No way… that's impossible!!!"

The iron dragons once again roared with thunder, tearing up the earth with the explosive magic they released. The Papaldian ground legion's 32 land dragons had now all been eliminated by the JGSDF's Type 90 tanks.

"The iron dragons are retreating!!!"

The Type 90 tanks that had just annihilated the land dragons started moving backwards while still facing the imperial legion. Some of the soldiers thought they were afraid of the empire's magic cannons and began cheering.

"Land dragons, all down!!!"

After that chilling report, they realized the truth: they had only been aiming at the land dragons, and, now that their targets were dead, they were withdrawing.

"Something else is coming now!"

Lieutenant General Dolbo was paralyzed with fear. The empire's secret weapon, these magic cannons that could be used in ground warfare, capable of toppling a castle gate in a single attack, couldn't even take out a single one of those mysterious things. j.a.pan's weapons… their magic cannons never missed, and they kept on moving and attacking no matter what happened to them. With his current forces, he had no way to deal with those iron dragons.

"What do we do…"

The word "surrender" immediately came to mind.

"No, that is the one thing we cannot do."

His Grace was watching this battle closely. If he were to surrender, he didn't know how much shame that would bring to his household. Dolbo was determined to keep fighting.

The enemy's iron dragons stopped when they were about 3 km away from the legion with their horns still pointed at them.

"What exactly are they doing?"

"Unidentified flying objects to our rear! Three of them!"

Dolbo turned around.

"! What are those?!"

They were far outside of magic cannon range, one coming from directly behind them, another from behind and to the right, the last from behind and to the left. They were floating high in the sky and hovering around the legion like bugs. He listened carefully.

…batabatabata…

It was the sound of something hitting the air over and over again. He stared at them.

They were firing something!!!

The flying things let off white smoke as javelins of light furiously, endlessly flew at the army at high speeds. Without even time to scream, the rear of the legion took heavy damage from the attacks.

VWOOOOO…!!!

The enemy flying dragons roared oppressively while continuing to fire bursts of light. The lights exploded, steadily whittling away the ground legion. The soldiers in the rear, consumed by fear, pushed their way into the middle of the legion. However, since the front lines were stopped, this just served to increase the density of the formation.

"Dammit! Can we not defeat those flying dragons either?!" Dolbo spit out angrily.

The army was terrified, their main force of land dragons had been annihilated, and he could think of no method to deal with the iron dragons in the sky or the iron land dragons.

"Sir Dolbo, Sir Dolbo!!!" Tactical Officer Yosh hysterically yelled.

"What do you want!!!"

"We need to surrender immediately! They got us!!!"

"What?!"

"We're cornered! The soldiers have bunched up unconsciously, they're all gathering into the center of the formation! The enemy plans to wipe us all out in one fell swoop!!! We've lost our land dragons, our wyvern lords, and our supporting gunboats as well! We have no more path to victory! Surrender, before we're all killed!!!"

"But… we're the ones who killed all those j.a.panese people. Even if we surrender, we'll just be executed anyway!"

"H-However, we're already going to be ma.s.sacred at this rate! Rather than forcing everyone to die, even if only a few survive, surrendering allows for that possibility!!!"

"…I understand. Raise the flag of surrender!!!"

The Papaldia Empire's imperial army ground legion began waving their unit flag to the left in big, sweeping circles, the Third Civilization's signal for surrender.

The JGSDF civilian rescue brigade's 1st battalion successfully herded the enemy's army into a tight group.

Next, with the Type 99 self-propelled howitzers and the MLRS, they would conduct direct suppressive fire and completely obliterate the ground legion. Lieutenant Colonel Amano was about to give the command when…

"The enemy is, uh, waving their unit flag to their left in a circle."

"?! What's that supposed to mean??"

"This world has magic. Maybe they're trying to perform some kind of ceremony to cast a big spell."

"No, maybe it's how they declare surrender in this world."

Amano considered carefully. He then received a more detailed report. The enemy forces had laid down their weapons and were frantically waving their flag. This was probably… surrender. However…

"Hey… Yamada," Amano called out.

"Yes sir."

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Papaldia Empire to raise a white flag if they wanted to surrender, didn't they?"

"Yes, they were told after the last 'education' session. Would you like me to confirm the method of surrender in the Papaldia Empire with headquarters?"

"No, it's fine."

A twisted smile curled up on Amano's face.

"You know, Yamada… my sister's kid, my niece and her husband, were killed by the Papaldia Empire in Nis.h.i.+nomiyako. My sister… broke down crying when she found out."

Yamada couldn't say a thing. No words came to mind.

"I've been thinking. Up until now, they've been tormenting and trampling over people powerless to stop them, but as soon as they're in a tight spot, they surrender, like it's a game? Who decided on those rules? We told them, if they raise a white flag, then they'll be taken in as prisoners of war. However, what they're doing now has a possibility of being offensive magic. Whether it means surrender is just speculation. And we don't have time to check with headquarters. Our battalion is currently at an overwhelming numerical disadvantage. Above all else, if we lose, then what happened at Nis.h.i.+nomiyako will happen again."

Yamada understood Amano's logic. But Amano kept muttering, quiet enough that his subordinates couldn't hear.

"Papaldia, I'm glad you didn't use a white flag… Your stupidity sure helped me out. Now it's your turn to shake in your boots… to be killed at someone's whim!!!"

He grabbed the radio transmitter and yelled loudly into the mic: "FIIIIIIREEEE!!!!!!"

The numerous weapons launching were so loud that it made everyone's ears rang. The sound of rockets igniting. The JGSDF civilian rescue brigade's 1st battalion employed all firepower at their disposal, five Type 99 155mm self-propelled howitzers and ten MLRS, to fire on the cl.u.s.tered Papaldia Empire imperial army's ground legion.

The rockets left traces of their trajectories in the sky. Each of the ten MLRS launched twelve rockets, a total of 120 rockets that would annihilate the enemy forces. Each rocket split into 644 submunitions, creating 77,280 projectiles. Along with five shots from the Type 99 155mm self-propelled howitzers, the Papaldian ground legion watched death rain down on them. The MLRS submunitions were particularly effective against unarmored targets, and they sprinkled down on the soldiers, turning them into splashes of blood as they fell.

"N-No! We surrendered! You d.a.m.ned barbarians!!!"

Lieutenant General Dolbo died after being torn apart by five submunitions. The Papaldia Empire imperial army ground legion was defeated in the Kingdom of Fenn on the Coate Plains by the j.a.pan Ground Self-Defense Force civilian rescue brigade. All of their soldiers perished.

Papaldia Empire, imperial army

On board the super-F cla.s.s s.h.i.+p-of-the-line Pall, General Cius was distraught. The imperial army, sent to conquer the Kingdom of Fenn, should have been able to achieve that with just the forces they initially dispatched. Nis.h.i.+nomiyako fell quickly and easily. But, as soon as Remille, from the 1st foreign affairs department and the imperial house, ordered the execution of the j.a.panese tourists, something began to change.

The four gunboats sent to check on the dragon carrier fleet reported devastation. Not just devastating damage, but pure, unfiltered devastation. A wyvern rider that had been flying high up in the sky also reported that twelve of their lauded wyvern lords with unmatched speed were shot down by even faster iron dragons and couldn't even put up a semblance of a fight. The last and most concerning problem was that the ground legion should have long left the magical dead zone, but neither they nor the gunboats sent to support them had gotten in contact with the main army yet.

"Is it possible… they were annihilated as well?!"

'No, that couldn't possibly happen!' he wanted to deny with all his might, but their dragon carriers had all been destroyed, and their wyvern lords were killed by an iron dragon with a speed that completely surpa.s.sed their common sense. This was no time to be blinded by pride.

"Sixteen unidentified s.h.i.+ps detected coming from the southwest!!!" reported a lookout.

"So they've come!!!"

General Cius ordered all s.h.i.+ps to get ready for battle.

(Well, based on numbers, we clearly have the upper-hand!!!)

Later, the naval battle that was about to begin, together with the battle within the Kingdom of Fenn, would be regarded as a major historical event.

 —  — Chapter 27