Nihonkoku Shoukan Volume 1 Chapter 2 Part9

Minasan Oidemasu! This is Yukkuri demasu!

Last part or Chapter 2.

As always,

DISCLAIMER: There is no guarantee that my translation is 100% correct. Please correct me if I was wrong.

Plus, if you want to thank someone go to the guys at Ainus.h.i.+ Translation who give me the RAW for this LN. They're the real MVPs.

Author:

みのろう (Minorou)

Translator:

Yukkuri Oniisan!

Editor:

Discord user?

Chapter 2

The Kingdom's Miscalculation

Part 9

Dragoon Muller Member of the Louria Kingdom's Eastern Subjugation Army's Wyvern Knight Squadron.

「 We will soon reach the area……right?」

Muller was part of the twelve wyvern units that were tasked to reconnoiter around Ejei, and just when he reached the area where a cavalry unit just disappeared several days ago, he received an order to investigate the Eastern Lords Division that had been deployed as the vanguard unit but suddenly ceased any communication.

Today's cloud coverage was high and even though he flew on the open sky, a Dragoon like him would still feel the chill on his skin. His body felt stiff and it was tough to fly like this, but he felt refreshed.

The vanguard unit's communication suddenly ceased. Their role was to make reconnaissance-in-force of the Fortress City Ejei and probe its weak points. Then they would wait until the Subjugation Army finished with its preparations and linked up with them when they arrived.

So it was imperative to investigate if something had happened and their whereabouts if they had disappeared.

「Hmm……!?」

Although not as good as birds, amongst the humans, a Dragoon had really outstanding eyesight. Muller had seen something on the ground. Something that looked to be an armor fragment. So he turned his wyvern and descended.

「Wh……What in the world!? What the h.e.l.l is this!!」

The ground was dotted with many scars, as if someone had scooped out the soil. The entire surface had been turned upside down, and where the ground was untouched, there were objects that looked like the remains of formerly living humans.

Parts of men and horse, together with unrecognizable armor and helmets, mingled together and scattered over a large area. And then, the jet black birds that were called as the  『Symbol of Evil』 in the Louria Kingdom were pecking over the flesh.

「The h.e.l.l is this……」

Dragoon Muller choose a place without any scattered pieces of meat and tried to land.

Even when he searched around, he couldn't found anyone alive. He picked up a fallen armor and examined it. The armor was without any doubt had been worn by a Lourian soldier.

「Wiped-………out………? –th-, that's impossible!!」

Muller trembled as his mind coped with the fear of the unknown. ‘What had happened? What attacked them?'

── Gwaaa! Gwaaa!

His partner wyvern roared a warning call.

He followed his Wyvern's gaze and stared closely at the eastern sky as his ears picked up a faint sound of something striking the air.

As he kept looking at the sky, he felt a tinge of his stomach churning.

「What is that thing?」

At the far end of the sky, he could spot a black dot that was as big as a grain. The dot-like, soulless object gradually became bigger, until it reached a distance where he could see the entirety of that object.

A dragon? …… No, a dragon would flap their wings when flying, this is strange!

「── !!!」

Suddenly, the dragon shot out a smoke, and a small flame was heading at his direction at a speed faster than the sound.

「Is it a boosted flame shot?」

The opponent was far away…… but the shot's speed was fast. It seemed that its range was further than his own Wyvern's boosted flame shot. For it to be able to shoot from such distance, this might have even surpa.s.sed the Wyvern Lord of Parpardia Empire.

(However……)

Without falling into a panic, Muller took into the sky. From such distance, no matter how fast the shot was, if it was noticed then it can be avoided. This kind of attack was only effective if it was a surprise attack. Perhaps the enemy lacked experience?

Just when his mind thought about that, the sense of discomfort returned.

「……!? It's heading here!!」

The flame shot had changed its trajectory mid-air and chased after Muller.

「Uwaaaaaaaaaaa‼」

He gave instruction to the mount to fly at full power and attempted a zig-zag maneuver to avoid being followed from behind. However, each time that happened, the flame shot changed directions following the Wyvern's action. He had never heard an attack that can follow its target like this before.

「A boosted flame shot is --- following me!!」

His voice shrieked as Muller screamed at the transmitter of the mana communication device.

「d.a.m.n it…… d.a.m.n it all……!」

His face was. .h.i.t by a combination of wind and premonition of death, while memories started to flash over his eyes.

yuk✦✧✦✧✦kuu

『Take care.』

──The morning he went to the war, his wife sent him off with a smile.

『Now girl, don't you have something to say to your father?』

『Ba, ba』

── His daughter who just had turned 1 year old, came to hug him while smiling.

『Here…… Please take this protective charm.』

He received an object that was made of light metal. He still wore in on his waist, even now ──

yuk✦✧✦✧✦kuu

「── Me, dying?…… Like I let you!」

He instructed the wyvern to make a climb and dive with its full might, but the boosted flame shot still corrected its trajectory and coming after him.  At that point, the important protective charm that he wore on his waist had slipped out during a dive.

The moment the flame bullet reached his rear and both Muller and his wyvern would surely meet their doom, ──

── BOOM!!!

The flame bullet exploded with the thunderous roaring noise behind Muller.

yuk✦✧✦✧✦kuu

The scout helicopter 『OH-1』[1], discovered a single wyvern unit belonged to the Lourian army acting alone, during its patrol flight around Ejei. It approached until it reached a distance of 2 kilometers from the wyvern before launching its close-range air-to-air guided missile (a variant of the man-portable Type-91 portable surface-to-air guidance missile). While pursuing the enemy, the missile came into a contact with a metallic object fallen from the enemy, which cause a midair explosion that didn't harm the Dragoon.

Since the enemy retreated toward the west and leave the airs.p.a.ce, it decided to withdraw and stopped the pursuit.

yuk✦✧✦✧✦kuu

Muller who had escaped death by a hairbreadth, flew towards the west.

He didn't know how it saved him, but the protective charm he received from his wife had fallen off without realizing it.

「Perhaps…… Perhaps, that thing had saved me.」

He was thinking about how he might be able to meet with his family again and can't be more joyous that his life didn't end today.

He couldn't contact the main army because the mana communication device had been damaged. When he was weighing between hiding himself near the army meeting point or continue to fly at low alt.i.tude, he suddenly sensed a bad premonition so he made an emergency landing on the woods that he came across.

「── !!?」

He looked towards the sky, as several small objects flew with white trails behind them. Because it looked really small, he only noticed that those things must have flown at a very high alt.i.tude at an ultrafast speed when they pa.s.sed above him.

「To…… It's too fast! What in the world are those thing?」

The majority of the unidentified flying objects then disappeared as they crossed the far western horizon.

yuk✦✧✦✧✦kuu

Louria Kingdom Eastern Subjugation Army. Main Force's Gim Headquarters.

The Deputy General Adem was irritated.

「What the h.e.l.l is happening!」

His men broke out a cold sweat at his angry shouting.

The wyvern scout's last message was a frantic yelling before the communication was lost. The Main Force had fallen into chaos by the repeated front line units disappearance. What does he mean by, 『A boosted flame shot is following me!!』?

「We are in the middle of investigating it, but there is still too little information……」

「Just in what way do you investigate this!」

「We will send cavalrymen to visit and investigate the area. In addition, we will organize a wyvern reconnaissance team again. The preparation will soon be completed……」

「You useless numbskull!」

Adem screamed at his subordinates and the place fell into a silence.

Pandor, one of the Three Great General, who was specially dispatched for conquering Fortress City Ejei, spoke up to calm Adem down.

「Well, shouting will not do anything. Let's do what we can do. How's the Headquarters defense?」

A pale-faced strategy officer answered Pandor's question.

「We have 44 wyverns on continuous close-range defense. The rest are resting in the wyvern roost, but if there is an order, they can be dispatched at any time.」

「44? Aren't that too many?」

「On the contrary, General. Though we still have no information on the missing soldiers, if it happened because they have been attacked by a tremendous powerful attack, this number is too few. It might be hard to believe, but there is a possibility that the soldiers had been annihilated by QuToyne Princ.i.p.ality and j.a.pan's counterattack. Perhaps we can't underestimate this situation. If we were done by them for the second time, then the current QuToyne subjugation operation would be a failure.」

「I see……」

Pandor's expression became heavy after he heard the strategy officer's words.

Pandor and Adem left the Manor of the former Gim's Feudal Lord where the Main Force Headquarters was now located. They then looked up at the sky. There were several wyverns flying in a formation as they were performing guard duty. The might of the unparalleled dragons and their majestic figures, which made anyone would think that the wyvern could defeat anything thrown at them, and these conferred a peace of mind to the soldiers.

Even if the legendary 「March of the Magi-Empire Army」  arrived, with an army this large, they will surely be able to repulse them.

But…… The enemy this time……

「General, I plan to present myself to the Haag Castle and try to give a report on the war status.」

Adem didn't hide his irritation even when speaking to someone ranked above him.

「Hmm? I see. But shouldn't you wait until you understand the situation first?」

「If we take too much time, then we will be at a disadvantage. In my humble opinion, to create a strong defense on Gim, we should call for reinforcement as early as possible.」

Pandor was greatly surprised at the unexpected conservative plan from Adem. This might be the first time for him who had a fierce personality to be pushed into the defensive.

「I understand, in this case, the task is too heavy for just a messenger soldier. Adem, can I trust you with this matter?」

「As your wish.」

Adem spurred his horse and departed for the castle of Jin-Haak.

The expression of bitterness never left from his face.

 (The vanguard unit must have been wiped out. It's now impossible to conquer QuToyne…… I must contact that person immediately.)

「Now then, I have to hold the place until Adem returned with the reinforcements.」

Pandor murmured to himself as he stared at the eastern sky.

In just a few more hours – if nothing happened, then the cavalry unit that went out for investigation will return. And when the second wyvern reconnaissance team departed, then there will surely be some kind of progress. However…….

Pandor had been suffering from a sense of uneasiness that he couldn't shake off. He sighed so that the nearby soldiers wouldn't perceive it.

His sense of uneasiness…… Appeared as a nightmare.

Out of nowhere, the 16 wyverns flying above Gim were suddenly enveloped by smoke and torn into pieces. Then on the next moment, an additional 8 wyverns, were struck by some unseen object and was similarly swallowed by an explosion.

「What the-!? What in the world just happened?」

Soon, in the eastern sky, there were six black dots that were approaching silently.

The 6 objects were flying without flapping any wings and each of them released 2 sparkling light shots.

The light shots flew at an ultrafast speed, chased the wyverns who were taking evasive action, and struck them.

The body of the 12 wyverns ripped open, and they fell as their four limbs were literally scattered into four directions.

「Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!」

「Impossible…… This is impossible!」

The soldiers on the ground, who saw the falling wyverns, were stricken with fear and fell on their knees. The number of wyverns is the criteria for measuring an army's power. The very definition of power, the absolute ruler of the sky, had been swatted from the air without even able to do anything.

The objects that had shot down the wyverns pa.s.sed Gim's airs.p.a.ce at an incredible speed. It was arrowhead-shaped and grey-colored. It pa.s.sed in an instant while spewing out two flames from its rear. A moment later, a thunderous roar echoed over the entire battlefield that instilled terror inside the heart of Louria Kingdom's Force.

The shockwaves a.s.sailed them.

What the Lourian soldiers saw was the sight of F-15J Kai flying over them at supersonic speed.

「Wh-…… Th-…… too fast!!!」

「Those are not wyverns! What the h.e.l.l are those!!!」

The nightmare didn't end at that point.

The iron dragons that had flown away returned. Each of them released two more light shots, and eight more wyverns fell.

They believed that if there have 100 wyverns, then they could even beat a Flame Divine Dragon.

But this situation ── as if it was a tabletop game where the result of the war had been decided, they were crushed one-sidedly. The destroyed dragoons blood and flesh became a rain that drizzled over the battlefield.

「It…… can't be……」

Pandor stood dumbfounded as he was bathed by the rain of blood.

When the rain of blood ceased, this time there were several large-sized iron dragons approached from the eastern sky. The iron dragon's belly opened and then dropped a large amount of tube-like thing.

Pandol's eyes had a vision of how the vanguard unit was annihilated.

── What's those?! ── They dropped something‼

Someone yelled.

Slowly-

His life-

See the end-

Death is approaching-

The light ──

The ground was a.s.saulted by the incandescence of h.e.l.lfire.

It happened instantly.

General Pandor was eaten by the light and left this earthly world.

yuk✦✧✦✧✦kuu

Dragoon Muller was flying to Gim while taking a detour to the south.

He had underestimated QuToyne as just a backward rural nation.

However, what he had seen in the western area of Ejei was the tragic sight of the vanguard unit's fate.

(Have a Demon Lord appeared in QuToyne Princ.i.p.ality? Or……. can it be…. the ancient Magic Empire? Have their Time of Return mentioned in the legends had arrived?)

Muller recalled the fairy tale which could be said as known to everyone in this world.

── In the times of the old, the one who ruled the world, was the Magi-Empire.

Its name was Ravernal Empire. They possessed tremendous power and ruled over every race.

As a superior race of humanity, each individual had mana far higher than any human, with advanced knowledge and supremely high level of civilization, the other races feared them.

Not to mention the human, demihuman, or elves, not even the dragonfolk could match their power.

Their reign was harsh as they treated races other than themselves as livestock.

Many rebellions blazed, and numerous wars that decided a nation's fate raged, but each of these was subdued before the Empire's overwhelming power.

Their civilization continued to grow until they became arrogant and turned their bows towards the G.o.ds.

The anger of the G.o.ds manifested in the form of a falling star, which will fall into the Latistoa Continent where the Magi-Empire is located.

The Empire judged that they couldn't prevent the falling star and established a barrier that enveloped the entire Latistoa Continent, before they activated a magic that transcended the time over the entire continent and transferred them into the future.

Only an indestructible stone tablet remained, where this message was inscribed: 『At the Time of Our Return, the World will once more prostrate underneath us』……

The small survivor of the Magi-Empire outside of the Latistoa Continent were then overwhelmed, absorbed, and extinguished by the humanity, and thus the country that was recognized as the strongest in the world, the Holy Milis.h.i.+al Empire of the Great Central, was established.

Therefore, the Holy Milis.h.i.+al Empire was said to be afraid of the Return of the Ancient Magi-Empire ──

Muller began to think that perhaps the enemy that they was fighting right now is the Ancient Magi-Empire. The complete annihilation of a 20,000 strong army, and the pursuing boosted flame shot, were beyond normal reasoning.

The wind began to turn cold. Since he was helpless against the enemy flying unit's attack, he was making an ultralow alt.i.tude flight barely above the ground surface, while his body a.s.sailed by fatigue.

When he approached the Main Force position, he felt shockwaves and loud noises.

「Wh-…… What's that?」

A m.u.f.fled sound can be heard intermittently. In front of him, his destination, was a violent blaze as if a volcano had erupted.

「No…… It can't be happening…… that location……」

When he finally reached the Gim's Main Force headquarters, he experienced the greatest sense of loss of the day.

The black and burnt objects scattered around that place…… were once humans.

yuk☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽kku

CHAPTER 2 END

NEXT CHAPTER: 5 Stage of Grief: Denial.

[1] Kawasaki OH-1 (nickname: "Ninja"), developed and manufactured by the Kawasaki Aeros.p.a.ce Company, with similar design as Boeing AH-64 Apache. The primary operator is the j.a.pan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF). The OH-1 has the distinction of being the first helicopter to be entirely produced in j.a.pan. It hardpoints can be equipped Type-91 AAM. Even so, it's not an attack helicopter, rather, a recon helicopter.