Nihonkoku Shoukan Chapter 25

I feel pretty happy that I'm able to translate so much without having to look up as much stuff anymore :3

Chapter 25 - The Empire's Distress

Kingdom of Fenn, in the ocean about 30 km west of Nis.h.i.+nomiyako

The Papaldia Empire imperial army's dragon carriers were arranged in a perfect line. To facilitate the arrival and departure of wyvern lords, dragon carriers were twice as large as s.h.i.+ps-of-the-line. The empire advanced their s.h.i.+pbuilding technology in secret, so it were the only country capable of building dragon carriers. Vice Admiral Armos nodded contentedly to himself when he surveyed the fleet of dragon carriers, their very presence giving off a sense of might.

"Dragon Knight Captain!" he said to the man standing next to him.

"Yes sir!"

"The imperial army is strong!!!"

"Yes, I am aware."

"Why do you think we are strong?"

"Because of our comprehensive strength, sir."

"You're exactly right! However, the reason to have pride in our power, even more than our s.h.i.+ps-of-the-line, the true core of our strength, is our dragon carriers. Dragon carriers allow us to outrange any opponent far beyond the capability of any cannon. Captain, total control of the air means total control of both sea and land. That is what I believe."

"Indeed, sir! That is a very enlightened perspective!"

"The Papaldia Empire is invincible on the sea because of our dragon carrier fleet! As long as we have them, the imperial army will carve a path for our empire to rule supreme! And look! Leading that fleet is our newest, most advanced flags.h.i.+p, the Mille! …How spectacular. It overflows with functional beauty, enough to match its size."

The Mille was built with much more antimagic steel plating than normal, and thus it was the strongest, largest, and most beautiful s.h.i.+p in the fleet.

Bwooooh—!!!

Their chat was interrupted by the alarm sounding from the foremost escort s.h.i.+p. Vice Admiral Armos looked ahead cautiously.

"?! What's that?!?"

It was very hard to see, but two large arrows painted blue were flying at the flags.h.i.+p Mille at an astounding speed.

"What… what speed!!!"

Those "things" skated just above the ocean, sharply turned upwards right before they reached the front of the s.h.i.+p, and finally plunged right into the s.h.i.+p at a diagonal angle from above. The two Type 93 ASM-2s fired from an F-2, traveling at 1150 km/h, scored direct hits on the dragon carrier fleet's flags.h.i.+p, the Mille.

Ksha!!!

There was a violent flash… and the Mille was engulfed in light.

Bom… BAAAABAAAAAAM!!!

The giant flags.h.i.+p become wrapped in an even larger explosion, accompanied by the roaring sound of destruction. Right before Armos's eyes, the anti-s.h.i.+p missiles, which individually had enough firepower to destroy a cruiser, erased the flags.h.i.+p Mille from existence, along with its crew and wyvern lords. The leftover noise from the blast echoed across the water.

"Wha… wha… what the h.e.l.l?! What just happened?!"

Distress ensued.

"Numerous flying objects are incoming!!!"

The fleet broke formation, each s.h.i.+p starting to move on its own without orders.

"Aaahh!!!"

Another flash… and another roar…

"The Fissennuss has been lost!!!"

The Papaldia Empire's cutting-edge 100-gun s.h.i.+p-of-the-line Fissennuss, sporting the most advanced antimagic steel plating, was the pride of the empire, and it disintegrated into dust after a single attack. Flashes and roars erupted one after another.

"Dragon carrier Ganam, lost!!! Dragon carrier Masale, lost!!!"

Tragic reports kept coming in as the mysterious objects kept, without missing even once, blowing up dragon carriers.

"This… this is impossible! The empire's peerless dragon carrier fleet was, in such a… impossible!!!"

Vice Admiral Armos worked his brain at full capacity, trying desperately to identify anything in his life experience that could explain what was going on. Nothing from any of his battles was able to help him make sense of what he saw before his eyes.

"Could… could it be…? Are these the ancient sorcerers' magic bombs of light?!"

"One's coming for our s.h.i.+p!!!" the lookout shrieked.

The crew screamed. The vice admiral's flash of insight never went anywhere.

The j.a.pan Air Self-Defense Force's F-2s and their barrage of anti-s.h.i.+p missiles sank all twenty s.h.i.+ps in the Papaldia Empire's dragon carrier fleet and its gunboat escorts.

The majority of Papaldia's great fleet was stationed offsh.o.r.e of the Kingdom of Fenn's town of Nis.h.i.+nomiyako. On the deck of the flags.h.i.+p, the Papaldia Empire's 120-gun super-F cla.s.s s.h.i.+p-of-the-line Pall ("super-F" meaning "super-Fissennuss," in the way that a battles.h.i.+p higher than a dreadnought is called a "super-dreadnought"), General Cius of the imperial army was looking out to the west. Because this planet was larger than Earth, the horizon was much further away.

Cius simply looked, unmoving. His forehead was drenched in sweat. The sound of numerous explosions had come from that direction. After the sounds stopped, the army could not contact any of the twenty s.h.i.+ps in the dragon carrier fleet or its escort. None of their magical communicators were responsive and, unbelievably enough, even their magical signatures had completely disappeared. For twenty s.h.i.+ps from their unrivaled fleet to be lost in such an insanely short period of time, without even being able to contact command, Cius couldn't even imagine what could have happened. The rest of the fleet was already on alert, and four gunboats were sent to their last known location to investigate.

(What if the dragon carrier fleet was wiped out…)

Cius immediately thought of the worst-case scenario. They had already established a base in Nis.h.i.+nomiyako, their ground forces had already departed for the capital Amanoki, and twenty gunboats were also dispatched to serve as support. Things were already in motion; they couldn't be taken back now. The emperor was very interested in this invasion; even if they faced a strong enemy, he would forgive neither retreat nor defeat.

Cius suddenly remembered the oversight army's report and the laughter that came with it, and his imagination began to go wild.

Dragon knight squadron leader Baross saw the disaster beneath him and was speechless. The dragon carriers all spontaneously exploded—that was the only possibility that came to mind. He decided to have his squad of twelve dragon knights land back at Nis.h.i.+nomiyako.

"Unidentified objects at the front!!! They're coming right for us!!!" yelled his subordinate with the best eyes.

Baross squinted his eyes. "What is that?!"

Something that looked like an arrow was coming towards them. It looked like it would pa.s.s them by.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Behind him, big bursts of black smoke appeared.

"Huh?!"

Eight of the dragon riders in his elite squadron were shred into pieces, falling out of the sky.

Distress…

He saw two things in front of them.

"They're… quick!!!"

They pa.s.sed by them high in the sky, so fast they didn't even have time to think, and only after they were already gone did the sound come. Two red flames came out the rear ends.

"They're too fast!!!"

The rest of the squadron chased after the objects, trying to identify what they were. They could not catch up at all.

"Erg!!! What the h.e.l.l!!! Are those!!!"

The objects suddenly ascended at a speed they couldn't believe, vanis.h.i.+ng into the sky. The destructive sky G.o.ds promptly turned and pointed back at them, rapidly returning to their position.

"! They fired something!!! Maybe a fire blast?!"

The squadron moved to evade it. One of the F-15J Kais' Type 04 AAM-5s struck the wyvern lord that Baross was riding. He and his men had run out of time to act—they were all hit by air-to-air missiles, blowing them out of the sky.

j.a.pan, Yamaguchi prefecture, prisoner-of-war camp

When they decided to go to war with the Papaldia Empire, a prison was converted into a war camp, which was where imperial oversight army eastern fleet Special Cla.s.s A Dragon Knight Reckmeyer was sent. He was currently sitting with a j.a.panese newspaper in one hand and a j.a.panese-Common Fillades dictionary in the other. He was reading the news one word at a time. The more he read, the more his fingers became wet with sweat. Eventually, his entire body was covered in cold sweat and his fingers were trembling.

This was the article he was reading:

Papaldia Kills j.a.panese Tourists!! j.a.panese Gov't: "We Absolutely Cannot Forgive This!!" Gov't Orders Entire JSDF to Remove Papaldia Army from Fenn!!

by Tanabe Souichirou

After the Papaldia Empire's ma.s.sacre of j.a.panese tourists in the Kingdom of Fenn, the j.a.panese government has ordered the JSDF to eliminate all of Papaldia's armed forces in Fenn. When our reporter asked about the possibility of battle, the strong response we received was "There will be no further j.a.panese victims. We won't allow it. That's why we're taking military action!!" In other words, if the Papaldia Empire does not yield, the chances of combat are very high. This is the first order for real military action in 70 years, since the establishment of the JSDF. The government has vowed that there will be no more casualties among the j.a.panese citizens still trapped in Fenn.

Continued on page 3

"They… they've gone and done it now…"

His homeland had finally tried to push their usual intimidation diplomacy. Because the foreign affairs departments were too large, reports to superiors were often simplified or twisted to fit someone's agenda. They normally would have already been aware of the danger j.a.pan posed, but their hubris and indolence as a superpower probably resulted in that information never being communicated properly. A war with j.a.pan was simply unavoidable now.

…Can they win? Reckmeyer wondered.

He knew for himself how much national power j.a.pan had, as their prisoner. However, they were still only a small island nation, the empire might have a chance in an all-out war. …No, if it were just after j.a.pan was transported here, they could maybe have defeated them. But now, they were being supported by the resource-rich Quira and the farming nation of Kua Toine.

At the very least, he knew they were going to lose in the Fenn conflict. His homeland was going to have its foundations shaken. Reckmeyer silently grieved over the future of the empire.

Kingdom of Fenn, capital city Amanoki, east coast

On the eastern coast of Amanoki, the 330 members of the j.a.pan Ground Self-Defense Force's Kingdom of Fenn civilian rescue brigade's 1st battalion were unloading supplies. This new organization was formed to combat the threat of an enemy that mercilessly slaughtered civilians; they were trained and equipped to be ready for combat at a moment's notice. The battalion included:

330 Ground Self-Defense Force soldiers 55 trucks 10 MLRS 2 Mitsubis.h.i.+ Type 89 IFV 5 Type 99 155 mm self-propelled howitzers 10 Type 90 tanks

Sword King s.h.i.+han was observing the coast. He watched LCACs go back and forth between the sh.o.r.e and the Oosumi-cla.s.s LSTs. Since these were amphibious vehicles, they could travel both on the sea and up onto the sh.o.r.e, shuttling both personnel and vehicles onto land.

"j.a.pan really is an incredible country. Their boats can even sail on land," the king said to Knight-Captain Magreb, who was standing beside him.

Strictly speaking, hovercrafts were actually aircraft; as long as there weren't large protrusions on the ground, they could float on top of both land and sea. The things they were unloading, the tanks and self-propelled artillery… this was their first time seeing anything like them, and they had no idea what they were for or how they were used.

"They are a country full of surprises. For j.a.pan to be a.s.sisting in our conflict is something I can only see as ordained by the G.o.d of the Sword," Magreb replied.

The j.a.panese soldiers kept unloading more and more. These were the people who crushed the Papaldian oversight army's wyvern lord squadron… many Fenn citizens gathered to get a glance of them.

"I heard j.a.pan had magic boats, so I came to check them out; look, they're sailing on land! They really are magical! With their help, the Kingdom of Fenn will be saved!!!"

"The superpowers too, they can't possibly be prepared to deal with what j.a.pan brought here. I've seen it myself and I still can't believe it."

"We're so thankful, we're so, so thankful…"

The people of Fenn had high expectations for j.a.pan. The j.a.panese troops continued making preparations on the beach.

Papaldia Empire, imperial army, ground legion

Lieutenant General Dolbo led the ground legion out of Nis.h.i.+nomiyako on a march towards the capital Amanoki. There were 3,000 soldiers in all. The invasion force included 32 of the empire's prided land dragons as well as twelve wyvern lords for reconnaissance. The wyvern lords were being towed in flatbeds pulled by the land dragons; because they were kept on the ground, they had not been marked as targets for the F-15s.

They were currently in the middle of the detour to avoid the mountains, taking a one-hour break in a magical dead zone where they were out of contact with the fleet's flags.h.i.+p. They had already sent a team of three wyvern lords scouting ahead for hidden ambushes; if there were enemies, the wyvern lords could shoot fire blasts at them while the soldiers used their muskets. They had already foiled three ambushes by Fenn forces.

"Once we reach the Coate Plains, this war is as good as won!" Lieutenant General Dolbo called to the Tactical Officer Yosh.

"Yes… if we make it to the Coate Plains, we'll be able to make full use of our strengths. We haven't lost even a single battle after we've gotten into our special battle formation. Furthermore… this time we have the benefit of combat support from twenty gunboats as well. In the Kingdom of Altarus, our forces achieved complete victory with seven times less manpower. Even though Altarus was outside the civilized areas, they were a strong opponent… and we decimated them. An opponent on the level of Fenn… wait, it's possible that j.a.pan will also join the fight, but even the two of them combined won't measure up to Altarus."

Dolbo was reminded of the j.a.panese wrist.w.a.tches. He felt vaguely anxious… and swallowed his words. He couldn't stop the operation now. They had no idea what kind of weapons j.a.pan would employ; they could be powerful, they could be weak. They didn't even know how many there were. However, the empire was strong! This was an undeniable truth. Dolbo buried his worries deep in his heart and killed them off.

The Papaldian ground legion came across a village along the way, which they attacked and looted. They were on schedule to reach the plains with one more break along the way. The soldiers were given free rein to do whatever they wanted with the people and things of the Fenn village. The right to do as they wished with barbarians was necessary to keep troop morale high during wars. He could hear screams occasionally, but that was business as usual, so he didn't let it bother him.

Following their next march, the Papaldian ground legion arrived at the Coate Plains.

The JGSDF civilian rescue brigade 1st battalion leader, Lieutenant Colonel Amano, was a.n.a.lyzing a report he received from one of his men. The imperial army's ground forces had arrived at the Coate Plains, and there were no residences in the vicinity, so it was the optimal time to attack them. However, if they launched an attack now, the next battalion wouldn't make it in time for the battle. In addition, while they did know the enemy's current position, there were villages in the area, so they couldn't bomb them. Aside from their a.s.sortment of vehicles and mobile weaponry, they also had access to three AH-64D Apache helicopters they could borrow from the Maritime SDF's helicopter carrier.

"We're going to attack the enemy at the Coate Plains! If possible, request air support from the Air SDF, but keep in mind that it could turn into a free-for-all!"

"Yes sir!!!"

On the Coate Plains, a battle was about to begin to determine the fate of the civilians in the Kingdom of Fenn

Papaldia Empire, imperial capital Esthirant, Second Civilization Superpower, Mu emba.s.sy

Nisol, a staff member from the 1st foreign affairs department, was visiting the Mu emba.s.sy to speak with Mu's Amba.s.sador, Mugei.

"And what exactly did you need to discuss so urgently today?" Mugei asked Nisol.

"The Papaldia Empire has entered into hostilities with the Kingdom of Fenn, as I believe you are aware. There is also a possibility of the country of j.a.pan joining the conflict."

"Yes, I was aware of that. I have also heard that the empire ma.s.sacred two hundred j.a.panese citizens who were visiting Fenn for leisure. My country is watching this conflict closely and with great interest."

"Yes, that is correct. We would like to inquire about a rumor that Mu sent an observer to j.a.pan."

"We did send an observer to j.a.pan, this is the truth."

Even though he had heard the report beforehand, Nisol was still shocked to hear it come straight from the amba.s.sador's mouth.

Nisol took a breath. "I would ask if you could share the reason, if possible."

"I am not a military expert, so I am unclear on the specifics, but this decision came from our military. I believe they made the appropriate considerations when coming to that decision."

"In all cases in the past, your country has always only sent an observer to the victor's side. Is the fact that you chose to send an observer to j.a.pan this time because your a.n.a.lysis has concluded that the empire will lose?"

"I'm afraid that's confidential information and I am not allowed to speak about it. However, I would like to stress that Mu does not see the Papaldia Empire as an enemy. We hope you understand that."

"I do."

"One more thing, and this is not as an amba.s.sador, but just a personal comment; is that acceptable?"

"Please, go ahead."

"If I'm not mistaken, the Papaldia Empire has researched j.a.pan and concluded that, after killing those tourists, you would be able to shrug off j.a.pan's wrath and emerge victorious; I believe that is how my country would have simulated your thought process. However, based on our own a.n.a.lysis, if Mu were in your shoes… we do not believe that to be the case for us. Mu has judged that it does not have sufficient national power to be hostile with j.a.pan. I apologize for repeating myself so many times, but this is not a formal message from Mu, it is simply my personal opinion. I would simply like to pay tribute to the valor of your country."

"Wha—!!!"

Nisol felt his back break out into a cold sweat. After the impromptu meeting ended, he immediately returned to his office and began writing an emergency research report.

 —  — Chapter 26