Chapter 52

Chapter 52

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The rumble of the star-shaped engines could be heard throughout the battlefield. Every person who looked up and saw the Gra Valkan airplanes racing across the sky felt a shiver of fear. Normally, just seeing them wouldn’t have inspired any particular emotion. However, this was an extraordinary situation—this wasn’t just anywhere, but the airspace above the Holy Mirishial Empire’s port town of Cartalpas.

“Here they come again!!!” someone cried.

As the planes dived down, the Doppler effect caused the sound of their piston engines to drastically rise in pitch, multiplying the amount of terror felt by those who heard it. These citizens, having never been victim to an attack themselves, ran through the town in a panic, trying to escape.

“Aaaaagh—!!!”

A woman’s scream accompanied the bedlam; people who had fallen to the ground were trampled by the crowds. This was the first time since Mirishial had been founded that they were experiencing an “air raid.” Bombs fell out of the sky, flames danced all around the Imperial Cultural Center, bullets were sprayed everywhere, and explosions toppled homes.

Their only defense, the anti-air magic light cannons, was simply ineffectual. Mirishial, subjected to its first air raid in history, had been scarred with horror and humiliation.

Port town Cartalpas, southern strait

The world had never seen a ship this size before, and it thundered with every cannon blast, bringing about destruction and ruin.

“Enemy ship has fired! We’re still not in firing range!!!” The panicked shriek echoed on the bridge of the proud Mu flagship La Kasami. The enemy’s aerial attacks had sunk many of their ships, starting with the armored cruiser La Bihaku. Even at top speed, they could only fire one attack at the enemy, so they sped along at 18 knots. The 15,000-horsepower engine wailed as massive clouds of smoke burbled from the ship’s two smokestacks.

“In any case… I still cannot believe that Japan’s warship was felled in a single attack…” The fleet commander felt cold sweat trickle down his back.

“According to our intelligence department, Japanese warships have unparalleled anti-air capabilities. The only conclusion I can come to is… that giant enemy battleship is just way too strong. Japan may have had zero casualties in their war with the Papaldia Empire, but the Gra Valkas Empire also decimated Leifor with only a single battleship. That same ship is now here before our very eyes.” Executive Officer Citras clenched his fists tightly, his nails stabbing into his palms and causing fresh blood to drip to the floor.

“Whoa!”

The battleship La Kasami was rocked violently by an explosion. The center of the ship had been struck by the super dreadnought Grade Atlastar’s secondary gun, a 15.5 cm 60 caliber triple turret.

“Damage report!!!” the XO yelled; he had hit his head from the shaking, and it was now bleeding.

“?!?! Navigation is down! We… We can’t slow down!!!”

They had no idea where the damage was, but they couldn’t steer or decelerate the ship, and it wandered off course. Mu’s battleship La Kasami charged toward land and ended up being grounded on a reef.

Super dreadnought Grade Atlastar

Boasting the greatest size and power in both their previous world and this one, the Gra Valkas Empire’s pride and joy, the super dreadnought Grade Atlastar, continued to sow mayhem and destruction. In the waters before them, the “elites” of this world’s “most powerful countries,” both feared and revered, flailed helplessly in defeat; some boats had gone up in flames, while others drifted on the surface of the ocean as little more than piles of wreckage. It was the very picture of Hell.

After most of the enemy ships had been neutralized, three Gra Valkan destroyers appeared from behind the island to accompany the battleship.

“Most of the trash has been cleaned up,” Captain Rockstar muttered from the bridge of the strongest ship.

“That’s right, sir. The air raid on Cartalpas is also underway, and the results will be included in your report. Originally, the plan was to set up a blockade at the strait and sink all their ships through air strikes, but since they came out themselves, we were able to show off this ship’s might on the battlefield. How fortunate for us.”

“So the only threat to us in this world is the Holy Mirishial Empire, huh…”

“Correct. Japan’s ship also had effective anti-air capabilities, but it was ineffectual in naval warfare. Mu as well, its fleet was antiquated; our previous generation of ships would have been sufficient to defeat them.”\nThey were already analyzing the battle.

“The air raid should require a bit more time, but the battle appears to be more or less over. It should be safe up here now. Bring the woman from the Foreign Affairs Bureau to the bridge.”

“Yes sir.”

A short time later, the bridge’s solid door opened and in walked Cielia, the foreign affairs eastern otherworld division chief who had temporarily evacuated to a safe holding area. The beautiful, slanted-eyed woman surveyed the battlefield with a pair of binoculars. The only things she could see in the distance were ships burning brightly; the fleet belonging to the “strongest countries in the world” had been reduced to piles of wreckage.

“Most of the pests have been exterminated,” the captain reported.

“A job well done… This ship truly deserves the title ‘strongest battleship in the world,’” Cielia praised in admiration.

“Hm?” She had spotted silhouettes of people in the water. “Captain, how are we on time?”

“One additional air raid will be conducted, so we plan to stand by here for the time being. Originally, we were to bomb them with our guns as well, but to do that we would need to advance another twenty kilometers into this strait, which would bring with it a commensurate amount of danger.”

“I would like the destroyers to rescue the survivors, would that be possible? They are simply soldiers that fought to protect their countries; they have committed no sins.”

“Oho…” The captain rather admired Cielia’s request. “It shall be done. So long as time permits, we will use the destroyers to aid anyone drifting about in the ocean.”

“Make sure they understand their rights as prisoners of war, and how courteous the empire would be to them.”

“Yes ma’am, understood.”

Captain Rockstar found his opinion of Cielia improving from witnessing the way she put her own sense of justice into practice.

 

As a result of this battle, the combined fleet formed of superpower countries was nearly completely wiped out, and the port town of Cartalpas was raided by the Gra Valkas Empire. The Holy Mirishial Empire’s worldwide reputation dropped like a stone, and the Gra Valkas Empire recalled its forces home with the completion of its objective. The flagship of the Second Civilization superpower Mu, the La Kasami, avoided further damage due to being grounded and was able to be repaired.

Second Civilization, superpower Mu

The navy headquarters was located in an imposing building within the country’s capital. The major leaders of the military had been gathered there to be briefed on the recent battle. Aside from those leaders, other attendees at the meeting included the heads of the foreign affairs department and Technical Officer Myrus. Executive Officer Citras, who served on the La Kasami and was himself a participant in and witness to the battle, was also present. After hearing that the country’s pride and joy, their carrier-based air force, was both completely useless in battle and nearly annihilated by the enemy’s forces, all the military officers’ faces were now clouded over in gloom.

Not only was a single country able to run roughshod over an allied fleet from multiple powerful countries, they were able to inflict devastating damage on their most cutting edge ships. The Gra Valkas Empire possessed superlative strength, and that selfsame empire had declared war on the entire Second Civilization. The military was in distress; the survival of the entire nation was at stake, and the sad reality was there was nothing they could do about it.

In the recent naval battle, not only did the Gra Valkas Empire display their overwhelming might, they also demonstrated how powerless the superpowers like Mu were. While the specifics of the battle would be compiled in a combat report at a later date, this meeting was called so that all relevant parties could present their thoughts and opinions, and to decide on a broad course of action for the country to take.

“All right then, I now declare this meeting to be in session,” the meeting presenter announced.

“I will now give a broad overview of the battle. A few days ago, at the Mirishial port town of Cartalpas, the eleven-country leadership conference began. At the conference, the Gra Valkas Empire announced its intention to conquer the world, one of the gravest declarations ever made in history. And that was not all; they also assaulted Cartalpas, where every country’s foreign minister had been staying. The Holy Mirishial Empire was caught unawares and could only muster a force of eight cruisers and some number of aircraft. The main defense consisted of other countries’ foreign affairs escorts; including Mirishial’s forces, a fleet of sixty-one ships was assembled to deal with the threat.”

The attendees started murmuring among themselves. The meeting presenter went on.

“By the conclusion of the battle, all of our carrier-based aircraft had been shot down by the enemy’s aircraft. The allied fleet first took heavy damage from their aerial assault, then it was annihilated, quite literally, by the giant battleship that appeared out of nowhere from the island past the strait. Furthermore, the very first report we received was that Japan’s warship was sunk by that very same battleship.”\nThe murmuring grew even louder in the meeting room.

“Those were the results of the battle. As for the progression of events, Executive Officer Citras was there to observe it in person, so we would like him to speak.”

The battleship La Kasami had gathered the cream of the crop from Mu’s proud mechanical society, one of which was Executive Officer Citras; he stepped up to the podium, and the venue quieted down.

“I am Executive Officer Citras. I will relay the state of the battlefield as I understood it. The allied fleet only detected the Gra Valkan aircraft once they had come extremely close to us, so we immediately launched our Marin aircraft, but it was soon clear that the enemy’s fighters were far superior to our aircraft and they were completely wiped out.”

“Wh-What?! Was there really that much of a difference?!”

“The Marin contains the most advanced aeronautical technology we’ve manufactured, they can’t have been destroyed that quickly!!!”

Loud yelling consumed the room.

“Quiet! Quiet down!!!” commanded the meeting presenter.

“I estimate that the enemy fighters were flying over five hundred kilometers per hour. In addition to that, their banking abilities, and most likely all other functions, were extremely high. Compared to our fighters… It would be like if we were to face an uncivilized country’s wyverns—we were literally powerless against them. Other countries’ wyvern lords were also in the dogfight, but they fared no better. Even Mirishial’s fighters could do nothing and simply dropped like flies.”

Everyone just stared at him in shock. Even the Holy Mirishial Empire’s outstanding fighter aircraft and their advanced magical light discharge-type compressed air engines could not compete with the Gra Valkas Empire. They, with all their strength and confidence, were muzzled.

“The only effective units were Eimor’s wind dragon knights. However, their numbers were few, and, from what I could tell, their kill ratio with the enemy was one-to-one.”

“A-A kill ratio of one-to-one with those unmatched wind dragons?! They’re said to each be worth a thousand planes!!!”

“Yes, I could not believe my eyes. The aerial battle that took place above the fleet was a disaster. Agarta’s fleet had wrapped itself in a veil to cast large-scale anti-fleet light magic. They created a giant sword of light that stabbed into the air, which was incredibly powerful, but they ran out of magic power after only destroying two enemy planes. Once their spell ended, they were attacked and wiped out. However, as previous reports stated, Japan’s battleship Shikishima put their immense anti-air capabilities on full display. That single ship shot down countless planes. That said, it was destroyed by the Gra Valkan super dreadnought; they did open fire, of course, but it seems no real damage was inflicted.”

Technical Officer Myrus raised an eyebrow at that. Citras continued to recount the battle.

“Those… Those bastards are simply too strong!!! We need to seriously acknowledge the threat that comes with this declaration of war! The Holy Mirishial Empire; we, the Second Civilization superpower; even Japan, who defeated the Papaldia Empire without any casualties… none of us can put even a scratch on their fleet.”

The military leaders felt the deepest parts of their hearts get pierced by the raw, emotional words that came from the mouth of someone who had witnessed the deaths of the majority of participants in the battle. All the meeting attendees felt the weight of despair press down on them.

…Except one: Technical Officer Myrus.

“Chairman! I have some questions I would like to ask Executive Officer Citras. May I?” Myrus asked and raised his hand.

“You have the floor.”

“Executive Officer Citras, regarding the Japanese ship that participated in the previous operation, you called it a ‘battleship’ I believe. This escort vessel, are you absolutely sure that it was a navy vessel?”

Everyone else in the meeting seemed confused at the question. No one grasped the meaning behind it.

“Well, let’s see. Japan lumps the classification of all their battleships, light cruisers, and escort ships together. I have no doubts about it.”

Myrus felt baffled at Citras’s response.

\n“That concludes my report on the eleven-country leadership conference and the ensuing battle.”

The Foreign Affairs Bureau’s eastern otherworld division chief Cielia had been reporting to her superior, the otherworld division manager Gesta.

“Yes, good work.”

Gesta had angry eyes, a wrinkled face, and the rotten personality to match. The civil officer listened to Cielia’s report from behind his desk without any hint of interest.

“By the way… you rounded up seventy-two prisoners of war, but what’ve we gotten outta them about their countries?”

“There are some who are willing to cooperate with us, but there are also some who refuse to give us anything. In particular, there are some fifteen Japanese soldiers, but not a single one has uttered a peep about their home country, astonishingly enough. Japan has produced excellent men.”

“That right… Cielia, prisoners who don’t talk have no value. Let’s see then, we wanna strike the fear of the empire across the world, so hold a public execution and broadcast it live. ‘This is the fate of those who dare resist us’ and so on.”

Cielia stiffened. “But sir! We do not torture prisoners of war. That should be a principle tenet of the empire. Even if they are your orders, I refuse to break this tenet. In any case, that falls under the military’s jurisdiction.”

“‘We need to build a rock-solid foundation for this country in this world. If that requires us to put down a few barbarian countries, then so be it.’ Those are His Excellency’s words, Emperor Gra Lukas’s. And by the way, if I say the word, the military will follow.”

“But, then we’re just lowering ourselves to the level of those barbarians. Our glorious empire should have no need to debase itself in such a manner!!!”

“You just don’t get it, do you, Cielia? You’re so focused on the small injustice before your eyes that you’re missing the big picture. His Excellency is building a foundation for the empire’s future.”

“Yes, but, we should be able to achieve that by just proceeding as we have up to this point. How is executing our POWs related to that?” Cielia asked, clearly worked up.

“The military heads only see the Holy Mirishial Empire as threats. They’ve been arguing that there’s nothing to fear from any other country, but His Excellency isn’t convinced.”

“What concerns does he have?”

“His Excellency conversely believes that Mirishial does not pose a threat. That’s because the origin of their civilization is different from ours; it’s rooted in magic. And not just that, they only rose to power by analyzing that super civilization from the past. They lack the technological foundation to compete with ours. On the other hand, the Second Civilization superpower Mu is the same as us, a mechanical civilization. But here’s the kicker: that single nation, independent from any foreign nations, invented cars, trains, and airplanes. You know what that means?”

“If they truly arrived at those developments by themselves, then they must have a group of amazing inventors; they are a technologically blessed country,” Cielia answered.

Gesta nodded. “That’s right. Their technology is only about fifty years behind ours. If we just allow the war to drag on, they’ll definitely start catching up. We need to put them under our thumb as early as possible.

“Continuing, His Excellency is especially worried about the country Japan. In the recent battle, we were able to take care of Japan’s cruiser quite easily, but their anti-air armaments were far more effective than our proximity fuzes. In this single area, their technology surpasses ours, so if they were to seriously focus on researching anti-ship guns, it’s not unthinkable for them to arrive at large caliber cannons. In other words, if we give them a certain amount of time to develop their technology, they could create a force that rivals our own.

“The emperor is concerned about the threat these two countries could become, and so he wishes to conquer them both as early as we can. The military is currently planning how to orchestrate the fall of Mu. This world is under the delusion that ‘Civilized countries are strong, the superpowers are strong; if it’s Mirishial they’ll be fine, if it’s Mu they’ll be fine,’ that kind of thing. We’ve smashed that illusion at an early stage, destroyed the sense that any hostile nations will be thoroughly trounced by them, and made the world aware of that. Any chickenshit nations will distance themselves from the superpowers at this point, so now we need to foster a new global common sense: ‘Gra Valkas is strong, the empire is a big threat.’

“Now then, next time there are POWs, investigating them one by one is inefficient, so if nothing can be squeezed out of ’em, just kill ’em. However, make sure to promise that anyone who collaborates with us will keep their lives. We need them to be aware of those conditions and decide that there’s value in cooperating, and these executions will serve as an example for the future. His Excellency wishes to commit this single act of savagery to set clear rules and expectations for our adversaries. All this is for the future of our citizens.”

This was a lot to process. Cielia was silent, lost in thought.

“Cielia, you are still young. You probably want all of your actions to align with your own sense of justice. However, you’re also a member of the Foreign Affairs Bureau, a division chief at that, and you are in a position to influence the direction of the entire nation. Don’t insert your personal feelings into your work. You need more determination. Ready the POWs who won’t cooperate for the public execution.”

“Yes sir… I understand,” Cielia replied listlessly.