Nihonkoku Shoukan Chapter 32

This felt like the worst chapter to translate, haha. It just kept going and going, but nothing was really happening. Glad it's finally done, though.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I got a lot of new books recently, so I spent most of the weekend reading instead of translating, which was really what pushed back a lot of releases. I think I'm going to relax my TL release schedule a bit for a while so I can catch up on my reading without feeling bad about not translating, haha.

Chapter 32 - The Battle of Altarus

Kingdom of Altarus, royal capital Le Brias

"Please stop! My daughter has nothing to do with this!!!"

"What are you trying to say?! Your daughter is suspected of being a rebel! Whether or not she's innocent will be made clear once the Altarus governing board has done a thorough investigation!!!"

"B-But, the governing board only ever takes pretty young girls back to the capital! And they were all executed as rebels!!! It's not possible for every one of them to be guilty!!!"

"You dare slander us?! The empire's intelligence gathering capabilities are simply flawless! Now, get out of the way!!!"

"Please, no!!!"

Today, once again, the Papaldia Empire's Altarus governing board personnel accused a young girl of being a.s.sociated with an anti-government organization and came to take her into custody. The Kingdom of Altarus lost the war against the empire, so this was now a familiar sight in the country's towns. The father, desperate to save his daughter, clutched at the staff member. The staff member swung his baton down at the father's head. The man collapsed to the ground, his head bleeding from where he was clubbed.

"No! Father!!! NOOOOOO!!!"

The girl was taken away by the Altarus governing board. None of the girls taken away by the board ever returned. No one believed for a second that these girls had anything to do with any rebel groups, but they were still executed in the name of "justice."

In Altarus's royal capital of Le Brias, there were rumors that the head of the Altarus governing board, Schsok, was a perverted predator who targeted young girls, kidnapped them, did whatever he wanted to them, then silenced them by having them killed. These rumors were all true. The board's enforcers frequently traveled to villages and hit on women. If those women turned down their advances, they would say: "Maybe someone in your family is a rebel." That line would usually shut them up and make them give in. If they wanted money, they would go to a household that seemed rich and just take it by using the same line.

This humiliating governing board represented the current Kingdom of Altarus.

Captain Rial, a member of an anti-empire underground organization, was patrolling in plain clothes. He had faith in Princess Lumiess's plan to liberate the kingdom, so he was making preparations and scouting out the defenses at important areas. Today, yet again, he watched a parent being beaten nearly to death while a child was dragged away crying. Rial had held the position of captain of the First Cavalry Division in the former Kingdom of Altarus. He had a strong sense of justice, so seeing that scene and being unable to help was akin to torture. However, if he were caught, when the princess made the call to action, no one else could take command. He considered risking his life to save her, but his leaders.h.i.+p ability was crucial for the future of the entire kingdom. He wept in his heart.

After doing one patrol lap, Rial returned to the underground hideout before he forgot the positions of the guards.

"Dammit!!! I had to watch that revolting farce today. That piece of s.h.i.+t empire! They won't get off easy for this!!!" Rial raged quietly, taking care not to be too loud.

"Did something happen?!" asked another member of the organization.

"I watched another girl get taken away by the governing board today. We need to take the kingdom back from those Papaldian s.h.i.+tters as soon as possible. I wonder if Her Highness's negotiations with j.a.pan went well?"

"We did get some good news about that."

After he heard the report, Rial began to feel excited. The other day, a strong magical communication was sent out from the direction of Rodenius. If a typical country intercepted the message, they wouldn't have any idea what it meant. However, for someone from Altarus, it made perfect sense.

"Morning will come after a long night.
The sun shall once again rise from the east.
The longer you have suffered, the brighter the sun will s.h.i.+ne.
Good fortunes on the day of Tas."

At first glance, it seemed like a poem. But for Altarans, the first part was taken from a piece called 'The Miraculous Victory,' a historical battle in the Kingdom of Altarus where they had been rescued from an invading army by a hero from another country. Then the last line, 'Good fortunes on the day of Tas,' was code for 'in one week'!!!

"Inform all the squads, make sure they're prepared to fight a week from now!"

"Yes sir!!!"

The operator holed up in the comms room and began sending encrypted magical communications to all the anti-empire organizations scattered throughout Altarus.

One week later, Kingdom of Altarus, royal capital Le Brias, northeastern skies

Dragon knight Abbis, one of the soldiers dispatched to the Kingdom of Altarus from the Papaldia Empire, was currently patrolling the northeast region. He rode his favorite wyvern lord through the clear, cloudless skies in the chilly wind. The island nation of Altarus had been quickly subjugated by the empire, and there were no longer any public disturbances. The empire was located about 500 km north, there were various barbarian countries across the sea to the south, and east-southeast was Rodenius, where there were no longer any hegemonic countries like the former-Kingdom of Rowlia.

In the ocean northeast of Altarus, there were five s.h.i.+ps-of-the-line, 30-gun s.h.i.+ps and 50-gun s.h.i.+ps. The Papaldia Empire was always at war with other countries, so the military's actions didn't differ a lot between routine activities and emergencies. Currently, they were at war with the Kingdom of Fenn and the country of j.a.pan, but that had nothing to do with Altarus, so today's patrol would just wrap up the way it always did.

At least, that was what Abbis believed.

Through a gap in the clouds, he noticed something he had never seen before. Diving down to get a closer look, his entire field of vision was filled with a fleet of gray-painted s.h.i.+ps that were far larger than the empire's s.h.i.+ps-of-the-line.

"It-It can't be!"

He took out his magical communicator, intending to report this in.

CHKA!

A light flashed on the front of one of the s.h.i.+ps. An instant later, dragon knight Abbis's consciousness faded away, his report to the Papaldia Empire's Altarus forces left unsaid.

After confirming that the wyvern belonged to the Papaldia Empire, the j.a.pan Maritime Self-Defense Force's second escort flotilla guided-missile destroyer Kiris.h.i.+ma fired its 127mm single-mounted rapid-fire gun, shooting down the wyvern lord. The impact turned the wyvern and its rider into scattered lumps of meat that fell out of the sky. Dragon knight Abbis was the first casualty of what would later be known as the Battle of Altarus.

Papaldia's five s.h.i.+ps-of-the-line were patrolling the nearby waters. Captain Daaz was looking at the communicator. The dragon knight on patrol had been about to say something before the connection got cut off. His signal on the magic detector had also disappeared. Because the knight's last-known position was very close to where they were now, Daaz became very nervous.

"s.h.i.+p spotted! It's coming towards us!"

They watched a s.h.i.+p the size of a castle coming over the horizon. Captain Daaz was shocked at how fast the unknown s.h.i.+p moved.

"Men, to your battle stations!"

All the Papaldian wars.h.i.+ps prepared to engage in combat.

"That… that flag is, the enemy s.h.i.+p is j.a.panese! The enemy s.h.i.+p is flying the j.a.panese flag!!!"

"What?! They sailed all this way… We need to send an urgent mes—"

"Enemy s.h.i.+p has opened fire!"

They saw smoke rise from the front of the s.h.i.+p.

"Impossible, they're too far away!!!"

While they yelled, more puffs of smoke appeared; it had fired five times.

Captain Daaz felt his s.h.i.+p shake slightly. Immediately following that, the 50-gun s.h.i.+p-of-the-line was engulfed in a pillar of flame, then it disappeared from the surface of the ocean.

The destroyer Takanami's five sh.e.l.ls tore through the Papaldia Empire's antimagic steel-equipped s.h.i.+ps-of-the-line, igniting their magazines and turning all five s.h.i.+ps into shards of wood and erasing them from the sea.

Papaldia Empire, military deployment in the Kingdom of Altarus

After invading and occupying the Kingdom of Altarus, the imperial military was now setting its sights east. Only a small part of the army needed to remain behind for the purposes of disarmament, putting down small rebellions, and governing the country. In the capital Le Brias, 20 crewed s.h.i.+ps-of-the-line made up their naval forces, and a short distance from Le Brias they had set up a military base for the ground forces consisting of 2,000 soldiers and 20 wyvern lords. Finally, about 40 km north of the capital, there was a second military encampment with another 2,000 soldiers.

General Rejak, looking over Le Brias from the base, spoke to one of his officers.

"To the east, our comrades who were in the Kingdom of Fenn were almost completely wiped out, it seems. I wonder what happened?"

"We're unclear on that. I still can't quite believe that the imperial military was defeated. Wouldn't the enemy have needed to send thousands of s.h.i.+ps to attack us?"

"No, even if a country from the civilized areas sent thousands of s.h.i.+ps, the troops that were sent there may have taken some damage but they should have still completed the operation with only a delay, they would never have gotten annihilated. Something strange had to have happened. It couldn't be…" Rejak's expression turned grim. "It couldn't be Mu, could it?"

"No… No, that isn't possible!"

The officer s.h.i.+vered fearfully when he imagined the worst case scenario.

"Nah, it can't have been. At any rate, Altarus is much closer to the empire, whereas Fenn is quite far. The chances of that enemy coming here are fairly low."

The two of them looked at the port from atop one of the buildings constructed in the military base. They saw one of the empire's proud 100-gun s.h.i.+ps-of-the-line anch.o.r.ed there; its mere presence felt overpowering, rea.s.suring. There were twenty of them, and, to most other countries, they could not be matched.

"How beautiful…"

General Rejak expressed his heartfelt admiration while looking at the s.h.i.+p.

"Hm?!"

That beautiful, calm scene suddenly warped. While he watched, there was some kind of movement around the bottom of the 100-gun s.h.i.+p-of-the-line Spaar. Seconds later, the Spaar exploded into flames, the parts of the s.h.i.+p and its crew consumed in the deafening blast that split the s.h.i.+p in half before sinking to the bottom of the port.

"What…? Was there an accident?!"

When the 80-gun s.h.i.+p-of-the-line moored next to the Spaar went down in the same spectacular fas.h.i.+on, the realization dawned on him.

"E… Enemy attack! Enemy attack!!!"

The s.h.i.+ps-of-the-line anch.o.r.ed at the ported all sunk one after another. News of the attack quickly spread to the ground army stationed in the outskirts of the capital, but by the time they finished preparing for battle all the s.h.i.+ps had been destroyed.

"How… How did this happen!!!"

The entire army, every last person, was in shock. They could not comprehend what happened. Unfortunately for them, they had not been spared from this destruction. The center of the military base became wrapped in flames, and a slightly-delayed shockwave hit Rejak. He writhed on the ground awkwardly. From there, he looked up into the sky and saw some kind of machine flying at ridiculous speeds with blaring thunder in its wake. The machines had the j.a.panese flag painted on them.

"Messenger! Send a message to the home country, we've been attacked by j.a.pan!!!"

"Yes sir!!!"

The messenger ran for a communicator. As soon as he finished sending the magic message to the Papaldia Empire, the base and everyone in it departed this world along with a fierce light.

The Papaldia Empire's fleet of s.h.i.+ps-of-the-line anch.o.r.ed at Le Brias, the capital of the Kingdom of Altarus, was sunk by cannon fire from the j.a.pan Maritime Self-Defense Force's second flotilla of escort s.h.i.+ps. In addition, the F-2 fighter planes launched from the airport in the Princ.i.p.ality of Kua Toine completely neutralized Papaldia's military bases in the outskirts of Le Brias as well as 40 km north of the capital. Within 20 minutes, Papaldia lost almost all of its forces stationed within the Kingdom of Altarus.

At the end of the operation, all escort s.h.i.+ps and aircraft returned home with no losses.

A bell rang loudly. On board the s.h.i.+p, soldiers ran back and forth in a hurry.

"I wonder what's going on…," dragon knight Denis asked his companion Sheo. They were on board a new model of dragon carrier conducting an experimental voyage about 240 km west of the Kingdom of Altarus.

"Everyone gather on deck!!!" came the order.

The prototype dragon carrier Palkimaera was constructed with a longer runway than previous dragon carriers. Prior to their attack on the Kingdom of Altarus, j.a.pan had notified various countries that entry into predesignated warzones would be restricted. However, because many countries had large merchant vessels, and because wyvern lords didn't have the range to fly to Altarus from another country, it was decided that there would be no problem even if dragon carriers were to show up on the radar, which is how the Palkimaera avoided being attacked.

Wyverns were considered the champions of the sky. Wyvern lords were raised through selective breeding, exchanging their reproductive capabilities for stronger aerial combat performance. They dominated the skies for a long time, until the Second Civilization superpower Mu created the machine called the "airplane," s.n.a.t.c.hing away air superiority from the beasts. In recent years, with the development of the Marin, a state-of-the-art combat-specialized airplane, the wyvern lord's aerial combat abilities fell so low to be considered "inferior." To not fall behind, the Papaldia Empire used its superior magical technology to successfully breed a new type of wyvern.

The wyvern overlord had limited reproductive capabilities and lifespan, but, compared to the wyvern lord, its speed, agility, and overall combat readiness was much higher. A side effect of its improved abilities was that it needed a longer runway to take off, meaning that dragon carriers needed to be built to accommodate them. With a top speed of 430 km/h, it was believed that the wyvern overlord could reclaim aerial superiority from Mu's combat aircraft. However, they were actually too fast, and the dragon knights were unable to stand the wind pressure, so new saddles had to be developed.

Outside, on the deck of the state-of-the-art dragon carrier Palkimaera, the s.h.i.+p's officers stood, ready to address all the soldiers who gathered. Their faces were grim.

"We just received communications from home base. Our defenses in the Kingdom of Altarus have been attacked."

Everyone tensed up at the news.

"The enemy used aircraft in their attacks… You know what that means, right? The only country capable of producing aircraft is the superpower Mu. We believe the enemy is using Mu's aircraft. And so, we were given orders. This will be the wyvern overlord dragon knight order's first campaign. Conduct an attack on the aircraft currently in the airs.p.a.ce above the capital of the Kingdom of Altarus, Le Brias. Our wyvern overlords are stronger than Mu's famous Marin aircraft! We never thought their planes could come all the way from the Second Civilization, but if Mu is our enemy, fight with confidence but don't get c.o.c.ky! Dismissed!!!"

The dragon knight squadron began preparing to launch. About ten minutes later, the experienced soldiers were ready to depart.

"Lift off!!!"

The wyvern overlords ran along the top of the dragon carrier. Some couldn't run very well, so they looked kind of awkward, but once the wind caught in their wings, they lightly, elegantly soared into the air. The elite wyvern overlords of the Palkimaera flapped their wings and headed off into the dark blue, cloudy sky at the behest of their dragon knights.

Dragon knight Denis clenched his teeth while riding his dragon. He was used to riding wyverns and wyvern lords, so this wyvern overlord was way too fast for him. Its fierce climbing ability, the wind pressure it generated from its high speed, the centripetal force it created when it made sharp turns, all of these forces on the rider were much more intense than when riding a wyvern lord.

"This terrifying weapon was created by the empire. If these are ever ma.s.s-produced, there will be nothing to fear from Mu any longer."

The dragon knight order arrived in the skies above Altarus. However, there were no enemy aircraft there anymore.

"Where did they go?!" Denis shouted at Sheo.

"Not here… they already retreated… Hey, look at that!!!"

Sheo spotted smoke rising up from the military base on the ground.

"Wha—! It can't be!!!"

Denis dove down to check. He could see the smoke from afar, but as he got closer he realized that the amount of smoke was unusual. When he could finally see everything clearly, he saw that the imperial military base had been completely demolished.

"Already…? This is… way too fast. It's all already destroyed!!!"

Denis immediately used his magical communicator to report back to the empire about the current state of this base and, at the same time, received updates on the status of their other bases and the port. As he heard the news, he felt sick to his stomach. The Papaldia military, which was undeniably the strongest armed force in the entire Third Civilization, had been stationed here in the Kingdom of Altarus. It may have been only a small deployment, but, compared to the other countries in the area, they were by far the strongest force. And that deployment had been completely annihilated.

"In this… In such a short amount of time! This can't be happening!!!"

The dragon knight order was unable to find the enemy aircraft, so they returned to the dragon carrier. Denis's report made its way to the Papaldia imperial military back in the empire; when they heard, they were stunned.

Captain Rial, dressed as a civilian, was looking at the wreckage from a tower and couldn't decide what kind of expression he should be making. There had been twenty powerful s.h.i.+ps-of-the-line anch.o.r.ed at the port, their strength unquestioned. Only twenty s.h.i.+ps. However, the entire Altarus military could challenge one and they would probably still lose. That was how powerful a s.h.i.+p-of-the-line was. Their enemy was a superpower; even the leftover army was invincible.

These enemy s.h.i.+ps, which they thought were strong, were a.s.saulted by fearsome explosive magic and one by one went up in flames then sunk into the sea.

Captain Rial could only stand there in astonishment at the sight that he could barely acknowledge as reality. A second later, something unbelievably fast pa.s.sed overhead, accompanied by a boom of thunder. As he watched that something, behind him there was another explosion loud enough for him to need to cover his ears. When he turned around, he saw that the Papaldia Empire's military base was being consumed by fire.

His senses finally returned to him.

"Oh… c.r.a.p!!!"

He grabbed his communicator and yelled into it.

"It's time! We're taking back Altarus! All troops, begin the operation!!!"

Afterwards, the Papaldia Empire's governing board, having lost nearly all of their military power, surrendered to the rebel organizations that had caused simultaneous uprisings across the country. The Kingdom of Altarus had regained its sovereignty.

Papaldia Empire, Kooze territory

Haki was listening to the magic broadcast from the Central World in his home.

"How old do you think this woman is?"

"Hmm… about thirty?"

"The answer is… sixty-seven years old!"

"EHH?!"

"With the mage Candee's magical skincare lotion, all your wrinkly-winklies will become squeaky-smooth! With this magic lotion pack…"

Beepbeepbeeeeep, beepbeepbeeeeep~

Suddenly, the program was cut off by this alert.

"We apologize for interrupting your program, but we have breaking news! We apologize for interrupting your program, but we have breaking news!!!"

Haki sat up to listen to the urgent news.

"The Kingdom of Altarus, which was invaded and conquered by the Third Civilization superpower Papaldia Empire, has declared its independence. The Papaldian forces that had been occupying Altarus were destroyed, and Papaldia's Altarus governing board has surrendered to one of Altarus's rebel organizations. Altarus's declaration of independence was, according to experts, facilitated by the intervention of the country of j.a.pan.

"We repeat…"

Haki felt his entire heart seize up. There had never been a case in the history of the Papaldia Empire where a va.s.sal state had ever regained its independence. Princess Lumiess of the Kingdom of Altarus must have had strong ties to j.a.pan. However, Princess Lumiess also declared this before:

"The Papaldia Empire is not invincible! Those suffering under the rule of the empire, prepare yourselves for 'that time'!"

Haki felt his heart burn with pa.s.sion. Maybe it was possible to escape from this hopeless, empty situation. For the sake of both his own country and Altarus, he should start gathering comrades.

In order to prepare for "that time."

Holy Miris.h.i.+al Empire, port town Cartalpas, a certain bar

At a certain bar today, the drunken patrons were once again chatting.

"Hey hey, did you hear? I couldn't believe it!"

"Ah, yeah, I heard! The Papaldia Empire lost one of its territories!"

"That empire, the supreme conquerors of the Third Civilization, actually lost a territory…"

"Not only that, but it was at the hands of that country again."

"j.a.pan… hm…"

While those drunks were talking, another drunk suddenly started yelling loudly.

"The Papaldia Empire is gonna lose to j.a.pan! They picked a fight with the wrong people! I know—I've been to j.a.pan!!!"

Startled, all the drunks looked over. With all eyes on him, the drunk kept on talking.

"After j.a.pan beat Rowlia, I figured, as an emerging country, they'd be expanding a lot, so I might as well try trading with them, and brought a bunch of easily-transportable stuff like Mu's mechanical wrist.w.a.tches there. I'm from the Third Civilization's Duchy of Nates, and they only just established diplomatic ties with j.a.pan, but I somehow got a trading license and got myself into j.a.pan. These j.a.panese, as soon as they saw the mechanical watches, they'd be completely surprised, the way every country outside the civilized areas became shocked when they first came into contact with the civilization of a superpower. At least, that's what I thought would happen…

"When I first stepped into j.a.pan through f.u.kuoka, I realized my image of them as an emerging country was completely wrong. They had buildings that reached all the way up into the sky, and their roads were full of those four-wheeled carriages they have in Miris.h.i.+al. These roads crisscrossed all over the place, even going up into the air, in three dimensions, and in the sky they had what looked like Mu's flying machines, but they were a lot bigger and faster.

"And this wasn't even their capital, it was just a coastal city. I couldn't believe it, but j.a.pan's national power, as far as I could tell, it might even be above the Holy Miris.h.i.+al Empire's!"

"…Hahaha! There's no way that's true!"

"Old man, you're way too drunk!"

The bar erupted in laughter.

"Then take a look at this!!!"

The drunk shouted down the laughter, silencing everyone.

"Do any of you know any country that can make this?!"

The merchant took out a wrist.w.a.tch that was far more sophisticated than Mu's.

"Look at it! This wrist.w.a.tch holds energy to create light, and as long as it isn't broken, it'll run forever! Compared to this thing, Mu's mechanical ones are like garbage! And that's not all, j.a.pan has something called 'electromagnetic waves' that are like magical communications, and they automatically correct the second hand, it will never be off by more than one second in a hundred thousand years! What other country could make something like this?!"

His challenge was met with awkward silence.

"Y-Yeah, we get it, j.a.pan is pretty amazing."

The drunkards' conversations continued on.

Topa Kingdom, royal capital Berngen

"Is… Is this true? What's in this report, you've verified it?" King Topa the 16th asked his men.

"It's true. Following j.a.pan's attacks, the Papaldia Empire's forces occupying the Kingdom of Altarus have been annihilated, and their governing board has surrendered. Altarus has taken back its sovereignty."

"However, the Kingdom of Altarus should be rather close to the Papaldia Empire. What is the empire's navy doing?"

"Their navy appears to be at full strength."

"Then, won't Altarus simply fall once more?"

"About that, while j.a.pan's base in Altarus is being built, the j.a.pan Maritime Self-Defense Force, their de facto navy, has been tasked with monitoring the seas around Altarus. Considering that this is j.a.pan, that much should be sufficient to deal with the Papaldia Empire's forces."

"My… My word. So to j.a.pan, even the superpower Papaldia Empire poses no threat."

"That appears to be the case. One more thing, j.a.pan has made a request of our country."

"What is it?"

"To avoid unintentional damages, until the war is over, they'd like us to avoid entering the skies and seas around that area."

"I'm not sure why the skies are a problem, but, well, we have no wyverns anyway, so that should be fine. What is the problem with the seas? As long as we fly our country's flag, they should be able to tell who it is, right? Well, to avoid any misunderstandings, I suppose we just should do as they ask."

"Apparently, j.a.pan has the ability to attack outside of visual range."

"That's outrageous! Hmmm… I am very glad that j.a.pan is not our enemy. All right, order our forces not to enter the area specified by j.a.pan. Alert all the private vessels and merchant vessels as well!!!"

"Yes sir!"

King Topa the 16th was truly relieved that the Topa Kingdom was friendly with j.a.pan.

Papaldia Empire, imperial capital Esthirant

Beautiful, elegant, surrounded by civilized countries, and fattened by wealth exploited from barbarian countries. This was an apt description of the imperial capital Esthirant, the most prosperous city in the Third Civilization. It truly lived up to the name of a superpower.

The imperial n.o.ble Remille walked through this beautiful city.

There was no filth from vagrants or beggars. The city had already taken up all the s.p.a.ce it could horizontally, so now it was growing vertically.

Remille remembered the emperor's words and mumbled to herself. "Someday, this beautiful city will be the center of the world."

Given the empire's staggering national power, it should be a simple task.

"Work was so tiring today as well…"

Keeping her health in mind, Remille was going home on foot. Behind her, bodyguards followed. After making it back to her mansion, she drew a warm bath. Some countries with less advanced civilizations didn't have warm baths, or they didn't even bathe at all, they only wiped down their bodies. Remille despised squalid barbarians.

After the bath, she put on some loose clothing and lied down on her bed.

"Today was truly tiring. Well, it's fine, some days are just busier than others."

She was exhausted to the point where she nearly nodded off right there. However, right when she was about to fall asleep, someone knocked loudly on the door to her room.

"Mistress Remille! Mistress Remille! The emergency alarm at the first foreign affairs department is sounding!!!"

Remille was disgruntled at having her rest disturbed.

"This better be an actual emergency or I'm going to be extremely cross."

Remille called in to the 1st foreign affairs department.

"This is Remille! Get me the department head!"

The department head came on the line.

"The emergency alarm went off, what's happened?!"

"An emergency situation was flagged. I… cannot tell you any more over magic communications due to risk of interception. You need to come here as quickly as possible!!!"

"…I understand."

Remille cut the communication. She was already tired from work, but was immediately called on again as soon as she was about to take a rest.

"What the h.e.l.l!"

Her irritation was about to reach its limits. She returned to the 1st foreign affairs department and was immediately led to the department head's office. Inside, Department Head Elto, the officials, and the other staff members were all ashen-faced. Remille sat down at the desk reserved for the imperial n.o.bility. There were several sheets of paper on it.

"Mistress Remille, please look at this doc.u.ment first."

Remille looked over the brief report. Her hands began to shake in anger and shock. What was written there evinced in her a feeling of numbness she had never felt before.

Report on the Capitulation of the Kingdom of Altarus (doc.u.ment 1)

"What is… What exactly is this?!"

The Papaldia Empire, in all its history, had never surrendered, a country it governed had never attained independence or been rescued before.

"I will summarize the contents," Department Head Elto said. "Early this morning, our forces in the Kingdom of Altarus were attacked by j.a.pan and decimated. As if in coordination, the citizens of Altarus revolted, forcing the empire's governing board to declare the kingdom's independence. Princess Lumiess is now calling for the independence of other va.s.sal states belonging to the empire."

"How did this happen! How has the empire suffered consecutive defeats to some uncivilized land of barbarians?! I thought the imperial military was considered invincible within the Third Civilization!!!" Remille shrieked hysterically.

Department Head Elto wanted to cover his ears to block out her shrill voice, but he instead bore it and answered, "There is no doubt that they are the strongest military force in the Third Civilization. However…"

"However what?"

"They used flying machines to attack the imperial forces in Altarus."

"Flying machines…? Did you say flying machines?! That means…"

"Yes, the only country who makes flying machines is none other than the superpower Mu. It would seem that they are exporting these important weapons. We don't know why exactly they're exporting to j.a.pan, though. But it's possible nonetheless they're being backed by Mu."

"So, a war by proxy… What impudence! That explains why j.a.pan's diplomats were so c.o.c.ksure before the war started. We need to verify if this is true. Summon Mu's amba.s.sador! I will deal with him."

"Yes ma'am!"

"Mistress Remille, there is one more thing I want to report."

"What now!"

"Since we've all but confirmed Mu's involvement, in order to make sure we maintain aerial superiority, the military would like to secure the appropriate budget from the finance department in order to ma.s.s-produce wyvern orverlords."

"I understand. However, if ma.s.s-producing overlords will really take that much money, the finance department may push back. Let me speak with them directly."

"Thank you very much."

Papaldia Empire Supreme Commander Arde's mansion

Supreme Commander Arde was sitting on the bed in his mansion holding his head in his hands. There were multiple witness reports of flying machines, which basically confirmed Mu's involvement with j.a.pan's military. To combat the aerial strength of Mu's state-of-the-art Marin, they had to invest in more wyvern overlords; as long as they had equal numbers, they could maintain aerial superiority.

The problem was their naval forces. There was a limit to the size of a cannon that could be loaded onto a s.h.i.+p-of-the-line. The cannons equipped on the Papaldia Empire's s.h.i.+ps couldn't destroy the armor on Mu's wars.h.i.+ps. The reverse was not likewise true, though. If they wanted to install armor sufficient to withstand Mu's cannons, the s.h.i.+ps would be too heavy to move using Tears of the Wind G.o.d to power their sails.

Arde didn't know how many of Mu's s.h.i.+ps j.a.pan had bought, but if they had even one it would be a major threat. This must  be why Mu sent an observer to j.a.pan for the previous battle, Arde thought.

"Dammit, Mu! Why are you siding with j.a.pan…"

Arde kept worrying over the threat of Mu.

3rd Foreign Affairs Department Head Kyeos's mansion

After hearing about the surrender in the Kingdom of Altarus, Kyeos s.h.i.+vered in fear.

Aside from being a department head, Kyeos also had strong connections with traders, so, after his first contact with j.a.pan, he began to investigate them using his private connections. What became immediately clear was that they had an obscene amount of national power for an emerging country. However, this information came from merchants who liked to embellish, after all, so he thought they just had enough power for him to use as a tool for his own political gains.

Unfortunately, his ability to negotiate with j.a.pan was taken from him with the emperor's authority by that mad dog, the imperial n.o.ble Remille, who proceeded to treat j.a.pan like every other country outside the civilized areas and had their people killed. She then declared to them that she would kill every last j.a.panese person staying in the Kingdom of Fenn.

Obviously, this infuriated j.a.pan. At the time, Kyeos's a.n.a.lysis showed that the battle in Fenn would cause the empire some amount of damage, but while the empire's navy got completely routed, they couldn't confirm any j.a.panese vessels being sunk. Based on information from merchants traveling through the Third Civilization, j.a.pan miraculously suffered no losses. If this news had been delivered to the empire's information department, they would have just said the source wasn't credible and disregarded it.

But then… after the battle in Fenn, Kyeos was shown a book from the merchants. It was completely filled with magic photographs. The merchants had helpfully written the translation on the margins of the pages, which served as proof that there were j.a.panese-Common Fillades dictionaries available in j.a.pan. This was the name of the book:

Extra Continental Treasure! SDF vs. Papaldia Empire Army, This Is The Result Of Their Battle?!

It was a book comparing weapons, sold by j.a.panese publishers. There was a lot of information on the empire, and, while the specifics about their cannons were wrong, they had truly done a lot of research on the range and power of their weapons. The specifications of j.a.pan's weapons were probably also described accurately in the book. Kyeos could still recall the impact he felt when reading that book even now.

The more he read, the more his hands shook, and the more he could feel himself sweat. At that time, Kyeos had considered a single possibility, which he now knew he had correctly identified.

j.a.pan was a super-scientific country that far surpa.s.sed Mu.

And the emperor had declared a war of genocide on j.a.pan.

Kyeos had called out to Amba.s.sador Asada from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before he returned to j.a.pan and successfully set up a backchannel via a communication device that was installed in his home. The recent surrender in Altarus reconfirmed the fact that he wasn't wrong about j.a.pan.

"At this rate… At this rate…!!!" Kyeos muttered to himself in his room with no one else around. "At this rate, the empire will… even with all this national power, the proud superpower Papaldia will be completely erased!!!"

The 3rd Department Head Kyeos, who originally saw j.a.pan as only a political tool, accurately realized the crisis the empire was in and resolved to risk his life in order to save his country.

Papaldia Empire, imperial palace

Emperor Ludius silently raged as he listened to the report. Knowing about this quirk whenever the emperor's mood soured, the messenger continued delivering the report while trembling.

"…Finally, the troops stationed in the Kingdom of Altarus were attacked and annihilated by the country of j.a.pan. The Altarus governing board then surrendered to the native people of Altarus. As Princess Lumiess had declared to the world, the territory of Altarus regained its independence. Our other territories have now grown restless."

The Papaldia Empire controlled a lot of territories. The empire's absolute control was reliant on fear. That fear had to be preserved in order to maintain their overwhelming power, but it was starting to weaken.

"Bring the Kingdom of Altarus back under our control by any means necessary! We must show all the other territories what happens to them if they try to declare independence! If we fail, more territories will start rising up! The Kingdom of Altarus must absolutely be suppressed!!!"

"Yes, Your Grace!"

 —  — Chapter 33