Neither soldier-kun nor the commandant I knew was here.
Itâs obvious, I guess.
I went to the headquartersâ building, but I guess if a full-scale sortie were issued, then naturally, the HQ would also come on the fleet flagship.
Iâm sure the other officers I met at that bar wouldâve been dispatched too. Even if some remained at the base, thereâs no way they would tell something like the fleetâs action schedule or the sailing route to the little girl they met at a bar.
In the first place, I donât even know their names or positions. So I canât think of a way to meet them other than to meet them at the bar by chance. And thereâs no way they would go out to drink while most of their colleagues went out on a sortie.
UmumumuâŠ
Alright, Iâll have to use that method, I supposeâŠ
ââŠand so, thatâs the case. I would appreciate your assistance againâ (Mitsuha)
âGladly!!!â
Right, itâs the same old diplomat-san from a certain country.
And this timeâŠ
âNavyâs airbase, I choose you!!â (Mitsuha)
Right, this time is the turn for a maritime patrol planeâŠ
This timeâs mission is to search for fleets in offshore waters.\n
So what I want this time is cruising time (not cruising range), search capability, multi-target plot, and so on. Thatâs why I chose the maritime patrol plane.
I have no plan to interfere, so anti-ship attack capability is not required.
Air-to-ship missiles are expensive, and besides, itâd be overkill if we use that against sailboatsâŠ
Anyway, unless itâs absolutely necessary for self-defense, thereâs no need to use something like that.
Besides, if I really want to interfere, it would be more convenient and cheaper to bring a patrol ship loaded with a 76mm rapid-fire gun and 20 or 30mm machine guns.
You donât need anti-ship missiles or large-caliber guns against wooden sailing ships, which can only launch a few lumps of irons a few miles away, after all.
The crew seems to be different from the last time.
I thought it would be better to have the same members, but it seems that there would be a dispute if itâs always the same.
âŠwell, I get that, though. Everyone wants to go to another world, after all.
If the information ban were to be lifted in the future, they would be able to boast to their children and grandchildren.
Yeah, itâs definitely not weird if thereâs a competition for the seat to go to another worldâŠ
And of course, the same goes for the scholars.
Some of them are the same as last time, but theyâre probably very competent or influential people. But still, most are replaced by other people.
Letâs hope that no one would think about doing strange things like the last time. As expected, I will not tolerate the second time. If that happens, I will cut off all my relationship with this country, of course.
Well then, letâs go!\nâThank you very much!!â (Mitsuha)
Dismissed!
Yeah, it seems that it hasnât been a long time since they left the port, so I could easily find Vanelâs fleet.
Iâve also found Noralâs fleet relatively easily. Then I plotted each of their position and course speed and went back right away.
If this were the Earth, it wouldâve been possible to make rough estimates of the enemyâs movement, but itâd be meaningless here.
The speed of advancement dramatically changes depending on the wind direction and the ocean current, after all. Also, theyâre not heading straight for each other. In the first place, they donât even know where their opponents are, nor do they know what each other is doingâŠ
Anyway, thereâs still time until they came in contact with each other.
So I decided to come back again in a few days, but the scholars begged to stay as long as we had fuel, so I had no choice but to let the plane fly around the new continent to kill time.
Everyone seemed to be busy taking pictures and measurements.
Well, thanks to that, I have some more places to transfer added to my repository, so it was also good for me.
Besides, I would feel bad if I borrowed the plane without returning the favor. Fuel, labor, maintenance, and various other costs are needed per flight, after all. I wonder if it costs at least several million yen for a single flightâŠ
Eh? Is it possible to bring a seaplane or a large helicopter next time, you ask?
Ah, I guess you do want to land⊠It would be a big harvest just by taking a sample of the seawater⊠But, of course, bacteria and microbes will be excluded during transfer, you knowâŠ
âAnd so, a naval battle between Vanel and Noral is about to happen. Now, I have a proposal for the former members of Vanel Kingdomâs expeditionary fleet.
âŠIf Vanelâs fleet is in crisisâthough, itâs your home country you can never return to, but with the help of the goddess, do you want to take the opportunity to serve your country for one last time?\n\nâWhat in the world is going onâŠâ (Mitsuha)
âStarting from alcohol to high-quality foodstuffsâall kinds of luxury items have been sold out without any restriction! Because of that, the sales plan went out of controlâŠâ (Rephilia)
âEhâŠâ (Mitsuha)
Apparently, families, relatives, and friendsâall sorts of people who are related to the crew were begging on their knees at the storefront. They seemed to want to get something to savor while they spend the last moment with the crew before the sortie.
Rephilia is also a citizen of this country, so if she were to refuse them coldly, she might be accused of being unpatriotic. Â
Even butlers from noble families went as far as to lower their heads to a commoner shopkeeper. Although theyâre not nobles themselves, it seems that it wouldâve been unthinkable for someone representing a noble family to do something like that.
âŠwell, of course, thereâs no way Rephilia could resist it in such a case.
âIt canât be helped. Well⊠you wonât be blamed!â (Mitsuha)
It seems that she also broke the sales regulation and sold them to the noble families whoâve been banned too, but Iâm not a demon either. Iâll overlook this much.
Of course, the people of this country would believe that their countryâs fleet would come out as the victor. However, it doesnât mean that everyone will be able to return from the battle unscathed.
[Enemyâs Grumman, 500 units. Our Zero Fighters, 200 units. All enemy planes were shot down, zero damage on our side!], thereâs no such a thing in even in fictional war stories. No matter how advanced your equipment is, no matter how much secret weapon you have, at least youâd lose 70-80 planes. âŠeven then, it was considered a big victory.
In other words, no matter how big the victory is, there will be damage, and many people wouldnât be able to return. The odds of having a final farewell to someone they hold dear are by no means low.
And of course, thereâs also the undeniable possibility of suffering a great defeat.
âWe will send replenishments immediately, so make a sales plan and send them to our customers as soon as possible!!â
Since the fleet has already left the port, there would be no more customers like that.
âŠwe should be able to manage it somehow or another!