Chapter 11: East Asian 11th Expeditionary Army
Fire Birds were the first flying beasts used by the residents of planet Falmart as their air force prior to the introduction of the Wyvern and Titan transformation power: turning into Titan Wyvern Lord. It can fly the speeds from 500 to 540 kph with a maximum speed up to 840 kph. They can emit fire magic up to 800 m, hence its name. However, since it is slower and not agile compared to the natural wyvern, it cannot outlast a wyvern, Titan Wyvern Lord, Titan Wyvern Overlord. An easy to mass-produced genetic modification version of the Fire Birds is being produced. Equipped with the ability to sense radar waves, the fire birds would utilize the same tactics as a drone swarms to attack UEAADF radar. The UEADF call them Kamikaze bird.
Scaven are large manta-ray looking creatures that live in several different deserts around Falmart. They make hydrogen within their bodies that they store in large bladders, these are used to increase their mobility by allowing them to skim over the surface of the desert while they are active. When they rest the burrow under the surface of the desert, covering themselves with sand. It can fly the speeds from 400 to 440 kph with a maximum speed up to 550 kph. An easy to mass-produced genetic modification the Scaven is being produced. They are 7 meters in length have white and navy blue color. They also have powerful plasma beams they use to defend themselves. Equipped with the ability to sense infrared, the Scaven would utilize the same tactics as a suicide drone swarms to attack UEA ground vehicles. Each Scaven can self- explode with the force equal to 105kg of C4. The UEADF call them Kamikaze manta-ray.
Waspsters are bio-engineered bio-weapon units of the Empire. It has the length of 1 meter and weight 25 kilograms. Waspsters resemble a 8-leg mosquito/wasp with five pairs of thin wings adorned with digital-like veins. They can fly at speeds comparable to a helicopter. Hornets usually travel in swarms of three or five thousands. Waspsters have two weapons. Waspsters usually attack their targets with a energy blast from their tail, the blast can penetrate up to 12mm of steel. Waspsters also attack with a poisonous liquid sprayed from their massive proboscis. The poison can melt through metal indicates high acidity. The toxic liquid can also create puddles that release highly damaging smog.
Wyvern is the basic dragon variant of the so-called Flying Dragon. As wild animals, like other dragon species, lives in mountainous areas rich in magical elements emitted by veins in the underlying rock. Their color shades ranges from green, red and brown. Wyverns are omnivores, that they eat meat, fish, large insects, small monsters, plants, seaweed, grains, etc. It has a lifespan of about 30 years and breeding season is done on spring to fall and they lay up to 1-3 eggs. Eggs will hatch within a year and mature at the age of 3 years. If they are intended for military use, they must be trained for one year.
Mass-produced Wyvern are bio-engineered bio-weapon units. Due to the high cost in creating one perfect and high-quality Dragon unit, the Holy Empire created an inferior line of Wyvern in the cloning tanks with less magical power and durability in a that enable them to be mass-produced in the battle. Its maximum speed is 940 kph and has a ceiling height of 40,000 m on Falmart's thick atmosphere.
Scarlet Dragon is large red land dragon created and used by the Holy Empire as living flame walking battleships. Scarlet Dragon is about three time larger and much meaner than the normal Land Dragons (Lintwurm). It has red dragon scale skin with six horns around the back of its head. It has a total length of 656 foot (200 m) and a total height of 328 foot (100 m). Its maximum speed of 350 km / h or more. It has the ability to control gravity (repulsive force) and invalidates all missiles. It is far from throwing stones, even 46 cm cannons and bombs. They can fire extremely potent and sustained energy blasts from an energy orb above their horns, capable of burning or melting through anything, as well as strike a target with great amounts of kinetic energy, seemingly just as powerful as 51 cm naval gun.
It takes a lot of time to manufacture, and the parent dragon that breeds the Scarlet Dragon species must be carefully selected and its eggs cultivated until hatched on a newly developed enhanced magic circle. The necessity of using abundant gemstones requires three times the manufacturing cost of a Lintwurm. Since the reproductive organs have been completely deleted from the Scarlet Dragon species, they cannot be produced except by this method, and it production greatly influenced the internal affair of the Holy Empire to some extent. Moreover, their lifespan is shorter than that of normal species.
Cloning was the process of creating a genetically identical or—purposefully and specifically—modified copy of an original organism. Through the magic of cloning, a vast clone army of magical beast were created by the Kamino's magicans for the purpose of serving the Empire. Programmed with absolute loyalty to the Holy Empire the clones beasts proved to be an important instrumental in the Great Falmart-Terran War.
In order to create a clone, samples of genetic code had to be drawn from a subject's cells, duplicated and implanted into donor cells. These donor cells would then grow, divide and, eventually gestate in artificial wombs, filled with nutrients and organic catalysts. Altering the nutrients and catalyst solutions that the cells received could influence the physical attributes and maturation rates of the resulting clone. The most aggressive mixtures of nutrients and catalyst solutions produced fully formed full grown clones in several days.
Furthermore, genetic engineering could further modify the clone to specialize for every conceivable facet of warfare, which can be altered and re-grown to suit a battle's needs in a short span of time.
Pure Fusion Bomb or Antimatter-catalyzed nuclear Fusion Bomb is a weapon based upon the injection of antimatter into a mass of nuclear fuel. This technology could be used to make very small and "fission-free" weapons. The basic of this technology has been researched in a top secret program by the US military for nearly 20 years.
Pure fusion weapons offer the possibility of generating arbitrarily small nuclear yields because no critical mass of fissile fuel need be assembled for detonation, as with a conventional fission primary needed to spark a fusion explosion.
There is also the advantage of reduced collateral damage stemming from fallout because these weapons would not create the highly radioactive byproducts associated with fission-type weapons (very low nuclear fallout).
These weapons would be lethal not only because of their explosive force, which could be large compared to bombs based on chemical explosives, but also because of the neutrons they generate.
Antimatter-catalyzed weapons could be more discriminate and result in less long-term contamination than conventional nuclear weapons, and their use might therefore be more politically acceptable.
Final note: The Holy Empire technology level was around 1700s In 52019 I.C, after the rapid industrialization and militarization thanks to knowledge stolen from Earth, in 52030 I.C the Holy Darwinian Empire overall technology has reached around WW1 level. But due to magic some of their weapons design and tactics are more like in late WW2 early Cold War. Also just because Earth and Falmart are in total war doesn't mean UEA will act like barbarian, we won't bomb random civilian or full-blown genocide for fun.
One further reminder: Falmartian don't need food, water or even air to survive. It very uncomfortable without those things though. They can also summon most of their needed raw resources from Path dimension that is the reason why it is almost impossible to starve their war machine.
Lemuria, Falmart, 52030 I.C
People who could defeat a demons army single handedly would only appear in the Highest rank of the Holy Order and legends.
Triumphing over Dragons or Arachnid horde barehanded was still possible if one trained hard enough in combat magic and Titan combat. But to fight an Demon Army was suicidal.
Even if an entire order of Titan knights, equipped with magic armor and weapons, magicians, priests, and Elven Titan archers and Spirit users were sent against a demons army, it would still be futile, not because of their combat ability but because their complete immortality. Unless hit with holy magic a demon would keep regenerating indefinitely. This was common sense in this world. As such, Demons Incursion meant disaster.
That one of the reason why an Apostle like Rory Mecury is extremely respected by all citizens of the Holy Empire. The Thirteen Apostles and the Incomparable Legion Of Light are the sword and the shield of Falmart. Only them can defeat the Chaos Demon's Black Crusade. During the 12th Black Crusade, Rory Mercury was the Supreme Commander of The Incomparable Legion Of Light. She herself had excommunicated Abaddon the Despoiler and banished the demons army back to the sunless realm of Chaos.
For now, let's change the scene.
Atomic Assault and Imperial Consolidation, February -2030
Shortly after Operation London in which nuclear weapons were used against civilian population, a statement was released on February 2rd 2030, following the Fourth Washington Conference.
The statement outlined the terms of surrender for Holy Darwinian Empire which boiled down to little more than unconditional surrender. It also contained an ultimatum that said that if the Holy Empire didn't surrender, it would face
"Prompt and Utter Destruction."
Molt laughed it off and Diabo's propaganda machinery paid little attention to the Earth Alliance ultimatum, apart from a short article ridiculing it and exalting Imperial's Wunderwaffe. To punish the arrogant Terrans, Molt ordered V-2 magic rocket launches to be stepped up while the V-3 super guns, also on the Emperor's orders, heightened its rate of fire.
They'd been given the chance to surrender and had failed to take it, which led to Global Security Council's decision to use nuclear weapons.
The first selected target was Bramen Kingdom, which was the home of several shipyards, aircraft factories, motor transport plants, steel mill and golem factories.
At 08:32 AM on February 2nd, 2030, an American B-52M bomber squadron dropped 10 "Big Boy" nuclear gravity bombs, which were pure fusion-type design, on Bramen Kingdom. Each of the weapons produced an explosion with a yield of 13 megatons, proving particularly devastating to the above cities centre while most of the aforementioned targets remained fairly intact due to the fact that most of them were deep underground. About 330.000 civilians were killed and over 50.000 troops were killed in these attacks.
At 09:07 AM on February 3rd, 10 more weapons were dropped over Esson Community, home to a major Mithril and Adamant producing centre in the western industrial area and the location of a major missile factory. The resulting of ten 21 megaton explosion devastated much of Esson and heavily damaged the missile factory; civilian casualties were "only" 440,000 dead and 25,000 troops killed because the bomb didn't explode over a residential area and surprisingly deep tunnels system below.
Given the obstinate refusal of the regime to surrender, a squadron of Tu-688 bomber dropped the ten more fusion bombs over Duisbarg Knightland on the 4th. Duisbarg Knightland was a major logistical centre and a location of chemical, steel and iron industries as well as magic gems mining. Ten 22 megaton nuclear explosion ruined the region's use as the logistical centers and heavily damaged its other industries, also once again entailing massive civilian loss of life.
Even after 32 atomic bombings, Molt was no closer to surrendering, but had in fact decided to retaliate with his own weapons of mass destruction.
On February 5nd 2030, a salvo of 120,000 V-2 attacked Military District 4, the location of an important Russian garrison. They dropped 120,000 tonnes of warhead filled with a total of 1200 tonnes of nerve gas, mostly Red Dawn and some of it Quite Night. It proved to be a day with good circumstances for dispersal. It was lethal even in second doses. Around 30,000 people died agonizing deaths while over twice that number was injured, shocking the allies to their core.
The symptoms of exposure include: nervousness/restlessness, contraction of the pupil, a runny nose, excessive salivation, difficulty in breathing due to bronchoconstriction/secretions, sweating, slow heartbeat, loss of consciousness, convulsions, flaccid paralysis, loss of bladder and bowel control, apnea (breathing stopped) and lung blisters.
After the atomic bombings of Bramen, Esson and Duisbarg in early February didn't bring about Empire's surrender, the Global Security Council authorized more. On February 6th, 150 Tu-688 bomber appeared in the skies over Dusadof Republic, which had been selected as a target because of the presence of many magic gems refinery. Ten 20 megaton explosions destroyed the gems refineries, tearing through a number of market districts and ultimately turning those ten cities into a colossal fireball.
To retaliate for the bombing of Dusadof Republic, a large nerve gas attack took place on District 9, an important logistic base, after the Holy Empire had awaited good weather conditions.
On February 7th over 2 million shells containing nerve gas was shelled on the base and cost the lives of 220,000 people while triple that number were injured; of the Holy Empire's nerve gas attacks, this one would prove to be the most lethal single attack to date.
In order to demonstrate to the obstinate Molt regime that they meant business, UEADF decided to launch 20 nuclear bombings on one day.
Hidarg Union had 3 large port and industrial centre containing shipyards, magic gems refineries and clone facility. The first ten nuclear strike took place on February 8th 2030, with the first bomb dropping over Hidarg at 04:43, producing ten 25 megaton blast. Another ten 23 megaton explosions lit up the night sky over Cologan Principality from 08:04 to 08:15 that very same day, making it the first night time nuclear attack.
A furious Emperor, pulled out all the stops and ordered a quintuple chemical attack against Military District One, Three, Four, Five and Ten. Using V1 aerial bombs, and in District One's case also artillery shells fired from the V-3 super guns, the Imperial Army delivered a combination of Red Dawn and Quite Night on February 10th. Due to the well-prepare of military personal and rainy weather, the number of fatalities was relatively low: 84,000 people.
Meanwhile, the atomic bombings of the Holy Empire continued. Even after 62 cities destroyed Molt remained adamant that there would be no surrender as long as he was alive. He maintained that The Holy Empire should continue its use of chemical weapons against UEADF bases until their resolve broke. Kiala Kingdom, home to 3 important naval base and 7 shipbuilding centre, was targeted for the next attack on February 11th and the explosion damaged 2998 ships and sank 5897 ships in those ports. The next target was Hakoner Kingdom: the home several magic gems refineries, two plants of golem manufacturing company, the magic posion plant, the clone factory and an artillery factory. It was hit on February 12th.
The list of Imperial regions hit by atomic bombs now consisted of Bramen, Esson, Duisbarg, Dusadof, Hidarg, Cologan, Kiala and Hakoner. Dartmond Kingdom, the location of many steel plant and 3 synthetic magic gems plants, was added to the list on February 13th. Mayheim Kingdom, another industrial region, followed a day later on February 14th and Minstar Dukedom on the 15th.
Krankurt Community was targeted because its river port and many important shipping centre for bulk goods with its own rail connection. It was hit by 10 nuclear weapons, which produced an explosive yield of 38 megatons each, on February 16th.
In late February, fourty more cities were added to the list: 10 cities in Meinz Kingdom was hit solely for its cultural significance, the reasoning being that its loss would lower morale; 10 cities in Schwafurt Knightland was hit next to reduce Holy Empire's war effort, it being a production centre for mindless Titans; and 10 cities in Wurzbarg Kingdom was struck purely for its role as a transportation hub and to demoralize its populace. All three were hit by 30 Mark 3 pure fusion bombs with 20 megatons yields (+- 2 megatons). The last target of was Stugat Principality on February 18th, which was selected because it headquartered several major companies, most prominently Merenz shipbuilding. A 23 megaton weapon caused severe damage to the Merenz headquarters.
All of these cities were major industrial centres, transportation hubs and important oil refining sites to one degree or another. By late February 2030 the Allies' nuclear offensive was becoming more and more disruptive to Empire's war industry and its magic gems production. Many of major industrial facilities, transportation hubs and magic gems production centres had, after all, been reduced to rubble. Besides that, over 3 million civilians had died (which didn't faze Molt at all).
To safeguard the Holy Empire's capacity to continue fighting, Molt ordered key industrial facilities to be moved east into gigantic deep underground caverns in Silesian, Posan, Pomirania, West Grussia and East Grussia, which were believed to be out of reach. Either that or they had to be moved underwater into natural deep sea caverns or man made ones, made by mindless Titan to be accurate.
In many other ways, in an improvised fashion, Imperial society also continue to function normally: the mail was still being delivered, the trains were mostly on time, people went to work, stores stayed open, the police maintained law and order, people had food on the table and charity made sure that most of those who couldn't afford it had a decent meal and a place to sleep too in the winter of 52030-'52031 I.C as well.
The Allied atomic assault, despite destroying 162 cities so far, was still far from breaking the Holy Darwinian Empire. This was the result of the fact that its absolute leader, Emperor Molt Sol Augustus only considered the options total victory or atomic annihilation and didn't really care about the suffering of his people (besides that, various measures had been enacted to stabilize the regime and secure Empire's ability to fight on). In the Empire's twisted Social-Darwinist views, the laws of nature said that the Imperial citizens didn't deserve to survive if they couldn't overcome these adversities.
Prince Zorzal, Diabo and Odysseus were tasked with the job of keeping everybody in line and making sure they continued to support the war effort, or at least not actively undermine it. Zorzal controlled the entire armaments industry.
The annual drive for the "War Relief" still took place and was highly successful, particularly because Molt himself donated 100 billion Suwani. Though Molt lacked the empathy to actually feel bad about the suffering of his people, he did care about keeping up morale so the fight could keep going. His major contribution to the " War Relief" temporarily boosted morale as well as his high popularity.
Being aware of morale issues, he blocked a proposal by Diabo to introduce alcohol rations. Beer breweries kept up production unimpeded and even saw increased consumption as alcohol consumption was becoming an issue in some parts of the country as a coping mechanism. Other proposals concerning rationing were also blocked or mitigated by Molt.
The Holy Darwinian Empire felt fairly secure. Their own population wasn't about to rise up against them, never mind the vassal states. The security apparatus made sure of that, supported by millions of nobleman that had a vested interest in the continuation of the current regime.
In the meantime, the Holy Empire and the Allies continued to use weapons of mass destruction against each other with no end in sight. After many of their bombers was shot down, the Allies had already reluctantly switched to night time attacks, as mentioned before. They accepted that their attacks would be less accurate as a result (in some cases they were off by 36 meters).
They also undertook other diversionary efforts: disinformation by Allied intelligence, concurrent large conventional air raids, dozens of dummy raids to cover the one carrying the actual weapon, and even painting the planes black so they would be practically invisible to the naked eye in the dark. That many of the dummy bombers would probably also be lost to enemy interceptors was also considered acceptable as long as the bomb got through. Out of the thousands of dummy bombers sent into Imperial territory, hundreds were indeed shot down over the Empire and their crews, if they were captured, were generally ill treated.
Durnstad Kingdom was hit on February, 19th, 2030 because it was a major centre of scientific institutions and possibly involved with Empire's bomber program. Ulm Kingdom was the location of the Kasborer and Magieutz golem factories as well as other industries, barracks and depots. That was why it was consumed by ten 20 megaton blast on February, 20th, 2030, followed by Arurag Union one day later, 5 centres of nerve gas and weapons manufacturing, 4 major garrisons and the location of Imperial Air Forces headquarters.
At this point it looked like Mulish Kingdom could be next and therefore Diabo El Caesar, head of The Imperial Government, ordered the evacuation of all government offices from the region (the Imperial government backup headquarters was housed in it). Much of the civilian population and troops were also moved out of the kingdom, except for essential personnel.
So when the kingdom was indeed struck as anticipated on February 21st the number of fatalities was below 100,000 , though the blow to morale was still major. Ten 42 megaton blast. This time, both the amount of fusion material as well as the amount of antimatter booster was greater, producing some of the largest explosion Falmart had ever seen until then. The number of Imperial cities hit by nuclear weapons now stood at 202.
The Allies, however, suffered their own morale blow because the Tu-688 bomber was intercepted by a squadron of Wind Dragon on its return trip despite all the efforts taken to distract the Imperial Air Forces. Another plane was shot down and the surviving crew members were put on a highly publicized war crimes trial.
It was pretty much a long shouting session in which Imperial Judge Roland La Froler spewed vitriolic verbal abuse at the defendants to the point that the court appointed translator appointed to them could barely keep up and that the sound equipment recording it almost couldn't handle it.
They were all sentenced to death for war crimes and were publicly hanged, being booed by a large crowd of angry imperialist (though they were military personnel, Roland had decided they had forfeited their right to a military execution through their "crimes").
Before the trial, they had been coerced into signing elaborate confessions through torture by Oprichnina agents, who had also tried to glean information from them about nuclear weapons (in that regard they proved to be useless to the Holy Empire, which likely contributed to their death sentence).
Needless to say, Emperor Molt Sol Augustus was infuriated and continue to order retaliations.
The Holy Empire had a very advance biological warfare program. In the spirit of "a tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye" Molt ordered retaliation with biological weapons, which resulted in plague infested fleas being dropped over UEADF bases in February 22nd 2030.
The result was the major outbreak of Red Anthrax plagues in UEADF bases, before quarantine measures were enacted, it had already spread across Alnus Base.
Because the magical natural of the plague no antibiotics were effective, the only thing the UEADF could do was quarantine everybody who fell ill and wait for the epidemic to subside naturally.
The last recorded deaths of red anthrax plague were in March 2030, by which time it had cost the lives of over 750,000 people.
Other biological attacks followed in February 23rd 2030. Cordyceps Fungal Brain Infection was introduced, cost a few hundred thousand lives because, like the Red Anthrax plague, it couldn't be treated.
Crety Zombie Epidemic couldn't be treated either and many suffered from symptoms like high fever and inflammation of the throat and lungs. Unfortunately it lead to undead in most cases, over a million people were turn into zombies by the disease caused major chaos in UEADF bases.
At this point both civil and military leader of United Earth Alliance started to realize that Emperor Molt wouldn't be moved by any number of cities destroyed by fusion bombs. After all, over 200 strikes had taken place already. The Allies started to figure that if the Imperial Family was somehow removed from power and replaced by a saner leadership then peace could be made. Prime Minister Shinzō in particular wanted peace. The resolve and resilience of the Japanese people thus far had been extraordinary, but it had its limits: by early January signs of war weariness were starting to show.
For example, an opinion poll conducted in February in Japan asked the question of whether or not the Allies should continue to pursue the doctrine of unconditional surrender as established at the UN Conference in January 2020. A majority of the respondents was of the opinion that if the Imperial Family was removed then the unconditional surrender demand should be abandoned.
The UEADF therefore decided to try and take Imperial Falmily out by the only means available to them: a multi-nuclear strikes on their location. The question of ascertaining their location would have been a difficult one since no Allied spy had even remotely come close to penetrating the Imperial falmily's inner circle.
There was, however, a certain Imperial intelligence officer known as Bouro Co Igloo. He was actually a double agent of Chaos Insurgency. By January 2030, he was in regular contact with CIA agents and he informed them of Molt's itinerary for as far as possible.
The Allies were informed that the Imperial Family would be in Kingdom of Elbe for 3 days between February 24th and 27th 2030, which led to 20 atomic strikes on all possible locations on February 24th 2030. Since a boosted device was unavailable at the time, 20 regular Mk.3 bombs were dropped on Kingdom of Elbe and they devastated much of the Kingdom with twenty 20 megaton blasts (+- 2 megatons ).
Unfortunately, the nearest of the 20 bombs detonated about 800 metres (0.5 mi) away from the Emperor bunker where only a direct hit would suffice. The 400 metre thick armed concrete walls of the underground bunker resisted the blast fairly easily and Molt, after quite a scare, survived the ordeal.
Imperial Palace, Sadera, Falmart, Imperial Calendar 52030
"AAAARGH!" Emperor Molt Sol Augustus yelled as he threw his wine glass towards the wall of his chambers. The lastest nuclear attacks on Kingdom of Elbe made the Emperor's mood quite aggrieved. The otherworld weapons had destroyed the Kingdom of Elbe, a major trade hub, and one of the Holy Empire's oldest allies. Hell, they dared to attempt to assassinate the Holy Emperor of Darwinian himself. Those barbarian had really crossed the line, an attack on the Sovereign himself, such act was unthinkable, unforgivable.
Upon returning to the capital's Underground Fortress, he immediately summoned his top military commanders and advisers to his chambers. Now stood Wizard King Solomon, Commander of Knight of the Round Table - Knight of One, Sir Arthur Pendragon, his son's, Odysseus, Zorzal and Diabo, and his daughter, 11th Princess Élodie Valadon, alongside with dozens of other prince/princess and hundreds of Generalissimus both. "How dare they think they can destroy one of the Empire's oldest allies and even tried to assassinate the Divine Emperor himself!"
"This insult to the Imperial Sovereignty must not be allowed to go unpunished, Father!" Minister of Defense Zorzal El Caesar said, a look of anger present. "What do you suggest we do against the otherworld forces occupying the holy hill of Alnus, and the army they've amassed there?"
"Big brother Zorzal is right, the enemy is now practically try to kill us!" Secretary of State of the Air Force, Élodie Valadon proclaimed. "We must act swiftly if we're to stop them from any further action!"
"Your Majesty, I agree with Élodie. What do you suppose we do father?" Crown Prince Odysseus watched as his father closed his eyes and breathed deeply, trying to think of a way to throw back the otherworld attackers. After a while, he opened his eyes and spoke.
"We have lost much to these otherworlders. But we still have considerable power at our disposal. To compensate for our losses, I will order the Imperial Air Force to launch the largest air raid on Alnus Hill, and take the fight to them there. It will teach them a lesson not to mess with us, the Imperial Family.
Sir Arthur Pendragon?"
"Yes, your Majesty!" the commander of Knight of the Round Table - Knight of One replied.
"You will lead an army worth of 1 million dragon knights and Titan Wyvern Lord, with the support of 9 million mass-produced wyverns, and attack the enemy force at Alnus Hill. The rest of your dragon knights will stay here to defend the capital, as well as the small garrison you have at Italica. Your dragon will be support by fire birds and scaven."
"Your Majesty, It shall be done." Arthur answered.
"Wizard King Solomon."
"Yes your Imperial Majesty?"
"You are to take your best mages, alongside 50,000 of the Titan Armored Ogre, and 1000 Scarlet Dragon, bestow them with the strongest enchantments you can possibly cast, and join Sir Arthur in his assault on the enemy at Alnus Base." As the words left his mouth, those in the room went wide eyed at what they heard Molt say. He was sending the Holy Empire's best units, the same units that are responsible with defending the Eternal Capital Sadera itself, to fight the enemy who was threatening them.
"Let my personal army join the attack, your Majesty!" Princess Élodie said, further surprising her siblings." I'm the leader of the Imperial Air Force. Just like how I led the counterattacks against the Alien Fungus of Darwin IV, I shall lead this one. And like before, I will lead our armies to a glorious victory against the enemy and this time I brought with me a little surprise for our enemies." Molt thought it over for a moment before giving his daughter permission.
"Very well Élodie, you shall lead alongside Sir Arthur in his air assault."
"Thank you, your Majesty!" Élodie bowed "I shall make your Majesty proud."
"And Katerina, I have a special assignment for you!" he said turning to face the 15th Princess. "You and your Order of Crimson Knights will reinforce the Italican garrison, alongside the the Rose Order of your sister Pina. You and Pina must ensure that the city fortress does not fall, do you understand?"
Y-yes father, I understand!" Katerina Tsaristla Volga La Romanoff, the 15th Princess, was at a loss for words. Before this crisis, unlike the Rose Order of her genius sister, the Fifth Imperial Princess Pina Co Lala, her Crimson Order was treated as nothing more than a ceremonial color guard, never meant to be put into battle. But all that changed with the opening of the Gate, and the subsequent invasion from the otherworlders. For as shocked as she was, she knew this was her chance to prove that the Crimson Knights were more than just children from influential families, but actual soldiers. She had a duty to fulfill, and she would do it.
"Then let's not waste anymore time," Molt said rising to his feet.
"The longer we wait, the more time our enemy has to prepare to attack us here. As soon as all preparations are made, we shall attack Alnus Base, and strike the very heart the otherworlders invading army.
XXXXXXXXXXX
For lack of nuclear weapons of his own, Emperor Molt Sol Augustus ordered the Imperial Air Forces to retaliate for the bombing of Elbe with the largest conventional air raid they had ever launched.
Around 100 million flying beasts were assembled for an attack on Alnus Base. Including 1 million dragon and titan wyverns, 9 million mass-produced wyvern, 20 million fire birds and 70 million scaven suicide bombers.
Many of those were Wind Dragon interceptor equipped with the lastest anti-radar magic armor that were to offset the swarms of missile interceptors that the Imperial Air Forces expected to encounter in the skies over and around Alnus Base.
For the first time, the Holy Empire also used other innovations that Princess Élodie had recently implemented such as radar jamming Skyship. In late February, 6000 prototype Clovis Class Magic Skyship Carriers retrofitted with the most advanced radar jamming magic device available had been delivered for trials.
Their original purpose had been to patrol the skies of the Holy Empire in the hopes of jamming incoming UEAADF air-launched cruise missile (ALCM). Now they were to patrol over the Lemuria Channel and effectively vector escort bio-fighters toward UEAADF fighters on course to intercept the incoming assault.
The battle commenced on February 26th 2030 and became the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind.
The Holy Darwinian Empire had launched their major counterattack on UAEDF forces in the early hours of the morning. Reconnaissance drones had spotted them from hundreds of miles far out, and arsenal bombers and interceptor aircraft were sent to wipe them out. But they failed. An army of over 1 million dragon, backed by 9 million wyverns and over 90 million suicide beasts, and numerous mages divisions marched forwards towards their position. But that wasn't the worst thing about the invading force coming their way. Something far more terrifying was accompanying them, and nothing they had was stopping it.
They saw 20,000 grand mages soaring to their position, then 8,000 grand mages stood in front chanting a spell creating 8 yellow shields arranged in a diamond pattern to cover the remaining 12,000 grand mages, the remaining 2,000 grand mages per group stood in a hexagonal star chanting behind it with Wizard King Solomon at the center of the formation. It took 3 waves of attacks using long range nuclear artillery for those 8 shields to be broken, but by that time it seemed like a nightmare just started, in the position of 12,000 grand mages behind formed a yellow hexagonal star-shaped matrix with characters puzzling, then half of the battlefield darkened, dark clouds came.
Before the air battle even began, Alnus Base and surrounding area had been struck by a massive Strategic-class magic:
"Tenpenchii."
By interfering with the natural energy using an immeasurable amount of mana, Tenpenchii was able to simultaneously create a variety of natural disasters that devastate the surrounding area, with Alnus Hill acting as their epicentre. The phenomena involved in this technique include: earthquakes, floods, thunderstorms, and tornadoes. These concurrent events resulted in a blast akin to a nuclear explosion, even forming a vast mushroom cloud.
Explosions shook the ground and lit up the sky as UEADF forces in Alnus were fighting for their lives. It had been barely 4 months since they had taken the Alnus Region, and had since established a powerful perimeter. Now they were under attack by a Falmartian air force that was by far more powerful than anything the armies of the UAE met on Falmart. Blue lightning shot up into the sky, creating a terrifyingly beautiful display of lights in the atmosphere. Every single AAA gun in the trenches was pouring fire onto the horde of flying abomination that was slowly flying its way towards the base perimeter. Tens of thousands of aircraft took to the sky loaded to the brim with everything they had, supporting the millions of marines and soldiers fighting desperately to hold the ground
The verocity of the Imperial attack was something never seen before by the UEADF. The attacking Wyverns, Fire Birds and Scaven would be relentlessly slaughtered like an ocean of blood and corpses. Exploding, disinterating and being vaporized by the unwavering but slowly weakening FACIDS system.
God dammit, we can't hold them back! There's to many of-Ahhhh!"
"The AAA guns are barely fucking slowing them down!"
"All units fall back, I say again, fall back to Phase Line Bravo, over!"
"This is Badger 1-1, we can no longer hold this position, I repeat we cannot hold our ground. Falling back to Phase Line Bravo, over!"
"This is Cobra 1-1, 1-4 and 1-7 are down, I say again, 1-4 and 1-7 are down. Enemy has unknown electronic countermeasures capabilities and we can't get through that damn jamming to lock on targets to wipe them out.
"Nothing we have is breaking that fucking jamming! Where the hell are the nukes!"
"Fury 1-8 reporting no effect on those targets! Repeat, SAM fire is ineffective, there are too many targets, over!"
"Mosin 2-5 here, were on the way to provide air support, standby!
The unrelenting weight and force of the Imperial air assault not be suppressed even with the power of the nuclear armed surface to air missiles defense system.
Thousands of Black Arrows surface to air missiles armed with command detonated tactical nuclear warheads carrying up to 5kt nominal yields were used against Wyvern formations. Flash upon flash of nuclear explosions illuminated the sky and swallowed hordes of wyverns but the hordes keep coming.
As Captain Antonio Valencia listened in over the radio, it seemed as if the world was ending. A cacophony of explosions filled his ears as the anti-aircraft artillery batteries fired nonstop, hoping to stop the enemy force closing in. He watched as multitude of tanks and armored vehicles drove northward, heading to join those on Phase Line Alpha and Bravo. Around him and his squad, dozens of men carrying guided anti aircraft rockets and anti air guns raced alongside the vehicles. Flak crews worked overtime sending round after round overhead, impacting into the formation that was moving ever so steadily closer to them.
"Massive Ground Target detected, distance 13,000 meters, at 10 O'clock!" An American Lieutenant screamed into his radio as another another marine next to him sent another anti tank rocket downrange towards its target. A spotter who was positioned up ahead ran back and reported the situation to the Lieutenant.
"No effect on target! No effect!" the lance Corporal reported with fear written across his face. The young officer on the radio could only nod in affirmation as he reported the situation to command.
"No effect, I say again, no effect on the ground target, over!" the Lieutenant screamed, before looking over at a nearby Captain. asking him for orders. "What the hell are we doing sir?"
"Our mission Lieutenant, assuming we can't break those fucking shields, is to delay their advance long enough for our train in the base to pull out with all the noncoms, now keep firing!" he screamed as another tank drove past him, its cannon roaring, sending another 152mm round downrange.
"Mosin 2-5 here, all units open fire!" He heard over the radio as a loud hovering sound broke in over the frantic screams and barks of orders. As Private Tyagi looked up, multiple squadrons of attack helicopters flew overhead in a tight, but spread out formation. All at once, they let rip with everything they had, flashes erupting from the rocket pods and thousands of pounds of ordinance screamed towards its intended target.
He then looked forward, towards the source of all the pandemonium occurring. The entirety of Phase Line Charlie was burning, the hill covered with flames, and from it, a massive shape tearing through it, exposing itself, and its gigantic size.
A Scarlet Dragon, far larger than any land dragon encountered before, with a bright blue aura around its body, was making its way closer and closer to UEADF defense lines. As each missile, artillery round, and tank shell hit the scarlet beast, only a white flash erupted as they made impact with the shield. Tyagi could only look on in horror as the best weapons in their arsenal, was doing nothing to the scarlet beast. UEADF forces that survived the destruction of Phase Line Charlie, made a disorganized retreat from the hill, both on foot, and from the vehicles. The subsequent sweep from the Scarlet Dragon energy blast took down a great many of them however.
"God fucking dammit, nothing we have can get through that shield!" he heard one of his countrymen yell as he reloaded his guided missile launcher.
"With how long we've been hammering them, if those shields don't go down soon, we're fucked!" a Malaysian infantryman said as he rushed forward with a Javelin launcher. Like the others, he took aim, locking onto the beast, and letting rip. The missile hit its mark, but did no damage to it. Looking up in the sky, they saw a glowing projectile hit an attack helicopter, sending it spiraling out of control, and slamming into the ground. "Hell, our fucking 180mm batteries overheated their barrels, and can't fire now!"
"Same thing with our pieces, and all of our fucking tanks were at Phase Line Charlie, so what's over here is what's left of us!" Tyagi screamed back in reply before he was blowed away by a suicide beast, a manta-ray looking creatures, a Scaven.
By now, the air battle became even more brutal and desperate with much of Alnus Base air defense forces now slaughtered.
One of the strongest if not strongest air defenses of Alnus Base was its CPAW system that fired high into sky obliterating the Fire Birds rainning down to the base.
(Each 12 ton displacement CPAW system was mounted on its own dedicated armored fire tower, capable of full traverse, elevation and deflection. Each fire tower was equipped with attendant capacitors for extended firing, 5000 liter deuterium fuel tanks to provide mass to the particle stream and heavy duty power links to draw energy directly from the underground reactors through power accumulation matrix arrays. Each accelerator cannon had an effective throughput of over a hundred mega joules (Mj) with a burst radius greater than 150 meters effective. Primary damage was from kinetic impact of particles traveling at nearly the speed of light. Casualty enhancement through follow-up high speed redundant particle collisions and the sympathetic burst of short lived lethal radiation that accompanied a direct physical hit also increased the effectiveness of the CPAW system dramatically.)
Unfortunately, The Imperial Air Forces is now being highly aware of this concentration of firepower proceeded to rain down tens of millions more Kamikaze manta-ray.
By the time the Imperial Air Forces under Princess Élodie and Knight of One, Sir Arthur Pendragon deployed their twelfth waves of attacks the CPAW system were now essentially overheated and annihilated so the IAF would even further intensify their assaults. Shells upon shells of AAA guns fell back to earth like a rain of molten metal. Many of the AAA gun barrels became overheated and melted away after hours of continuous shooting.
The Wyverns were spread out in their attempts to envelop Alnus Base and then launched a Strategic-class fire magic attacks into the Alnus Base.
"Inferno."
By using an immeasurable amount of mana, Inferno was able to simultaneously create a fire hurricane that devastate the surrounding area, with Alnus Hill acting as their epicentre.
The battlefield started to darken as as an ominous glowing cloud covered the entire sky, the the rain started falling down. It wasn't normal rain however, it was a rain of hell fire. The fire and the wind combined create fire tornados destroyed everything on their path.
By this time much of the military contractors and soldiers were evacuated out of the base and back to Japan, except for essential personnel. So when the final defense was finally breached the number of fatalities was below 400,000.
By the time the last Imperial dragons and flying beasts retreated behind the iron curtain along the Indisky coast almost nineteen hours had passed. The toll, both in damage and in aircraft and suicide beasts was enormous. Nuclear armed SAM and UEAADF fighters with nuclear armed AMRAAM claimed 22,8 million kills, while AAA crews claimed an additional 30,6 million flying beasts shot down (post war records indicate that the actual Imperial losses were between 25,6 million and 29,2 million flying beasts) while the UEAADF had lost 15,600 interceptor jet fighters along with 11,900 combat helicopter lost. A quarter of the overall allied air power designated for Lemuria campaign. Still, allied aircraft production was such that the air losses could be replaced fairly quickly, in mere weeks.
Much of Alnus was devastated in this battle, for as far as V-2 magic rockets and 150 mm shells from the V-3 super gun hadn't already done so. The battle also saw the first dogfights between jets and dragons armed with anti radar armor by the Hoy Empire, leading to heavy losses for the Allies. However, UEADF resolve remained unbroken and the air raid sirens made sure that there were fairly few casualties.
One the Empire side. The Air Raid on Alnus Base was, by all accounts, a tactical success, but a strategic failure or at best a Pyrrhic victory.
The destruction of Alnus Base while providing a morale boost for the Darwinian public, was hardly worth the better part of a Darwinian Grand Mages division in the failed assault on the Base perimeter or the loss of 1000 Scarlet Dragon and 50,000 Armor Ogre Titan, along with the crippling of 6000 Clovis Class Skyship Carrier in the air cover effort.
According to internal Ministry of Production documents found in Prime Minister Diabo's personal files post war, the raids caused losses that, in ideal circumstances, would take 4 months to make good. The report left unsaid the fact that ideal circumstances were very unlikely to be present post January 26th.
Worst of all, these enormous efforts inflicted limited damage to the UEADF ability to conduct nuclear attack, the total casualties even lower than the previous biological attacks while costing the Holy Empire highly trained men and much needed shipping.
The Chinese, Russian, Indian and European were eager, even demanding, to up the ante on the Holy Empire by deploying even more nuclear weapons against hundreds of Falmartian population centers, while none of the decision makers believed that the destruction of even a thousand Imperial cities would end the war, the Holy Empire was otherwise too structurally sound for them to crumble that quickly, and enough of the Imperial production was scattered across the rest of the world that to ensure crippling the Imperial economy would require deploying tens of thousands of nuclear weapons across the entire world, killing billions of innocent forced laborers in the Vassal Countries, and the rest of the "Holy Darwinian Empire".
Still, the Empire's actions had to be responded to quickly and in far greater power than the original attacks.
After 120 further atomic strikes on Leiaga Union, Dressen Dukedom, Biela Kingdom, Wilhelmkhaen Dukedom, Bremerh Kingdom, Olden Dukedom, Panderborn Dukedom, Kassel Dukedom, Cuxhaven Knightland and Celle Principality, Magdeburg Community and Jena Repuclic in February 28th to retaliate for the Alnus Hill Raid, raising the tally of cities destroyed by nuclear weapons to 342, The Allies decided to stop the nuclear strikes against Imperial cities because it just wasn't working.
For one, Molt was unimpressed and as far as the Allies were aware there was nobody who was able and willing to remove him.
Secondly, the attacks, though demoralizing, did not nearly have the crippling effect on their war machine that had been expected. Instead further bombs were to be saved up for tactical use against the fortifications in Lemuria.
Nothern Lemuria had been heavily reinforced with up to 2000 divisions by now and plenty of flying beast. Fortress Italica had become practically impregnable.
Leiaga had been targeted because it was a railroad intersection and the location of the Erela magicraft factory
Dressen was targeted because it was a major logistical hub for the Imperial Army
Biela was hit first because of the presence of many barracks and for its textile industry
Wilhelmkhaen had been targeted for its ports and also for its use as naval bases .
Bremerh had been targeted for its shipyards
Olden, Panderborn and Kassel (the first being railway hubs, the second mostly a symbolic target for its historical buildings, and the third the HQ of the 9th Military District as well as the site of weapons factories)
Cuxhaven and Celle (the first have port towns and the second had many important garrison)
Magdeburg and Jena (the location of many synthetic magic gems plant and of modern glass and optics industry respectively)
The lost in both men and materials inflicted by the Imperial counterattack on the UEADF on Bloody February were so horrible that it was remarkable that the will of the Earth's nations hadn't been broken.
From February 1st to 28th February, the UAEDF lost
3,25 million troops, 17,500 Tanks and SP Artillery, 11,250 Armored personnel carriers and half tracks: (this includes Amphibious Tractors), 7,500 Towed Artillery tubes* over 105mm, 5,500 Self Propelled Anti-Aircraft Artillery, 1250 medium-range SAM, 27,800 Jet Fighters, 16,000 helicopters, 280 ultra heavy bomber, 1500 heavy bomber, 3500 heavy gunship aircrafts.
Virtually every navy ships the UEAMDF had in Falmart at that moment: 850 Combat ships (excluding Submarines), 860 Amphibious ships (including rocket bombardment and "monitors" created from LCT), 975 Transports and support vessels, 2926 Landing craft (not including Amphibious Tractors or Amphibious Tanks).
The second month of 2030 had become the deadliest month since the beginning of the war with the Global Security Council's 342 nuclear attacks had caused up to 19+ million Falmartian deaths, 62 million if homunculus slave labours were introduced. The Holy Empire's retaliation strikes also added 3+ million Terrans to the final casualty number. In total, about 23 million people had died in the shortest month of the year.
Italica Fortress, Lemuria (Pina's Base)
The Imperial 5th Princess Piña Co Lada awoke after a long sleep. She immediately lighted up her study by the spell "Light of Dawn". As the 6 spheres of light appeared, their light shone on her face and made her squint, the artifitial suns light were strong, but the cool wind blowing down from her next spell "Northern Wind" made it comfortable instead.
The Italica Fortress was two days inland by horse from the shores of the Lemuria Sea.
The Imperial bunker chambers was located 5 kilometers underground at the 500 floors of the Italica Fortress. This is one of the safest location in the Holy Empire protected by kilometers of magic-reinforced concrete.
One of the chambers in east wing was hers office. The room that Piña used for her office was once her brother the Prime Minister Diabo El Caesar's study. The furniture was very high quality, featuring items like a heavy, polished mithril desk, a comfortable golden chair, and the room itself was filled with the fragrance of parchment and ink. It was well ventilated, and the censer brought the fragrant scent from the cypress trees in the eastern forest over to her. Piña loved the way it cleared her head when she breathed it in. She then listened to the daily morning broadcast of the Imperial National Anthem:
"All Hail Drawinian"
Truth and hope in our Fatherland!
And death to every foe!
Our soldiers shall not pause to rest
We vow our loyalty
Old traditions they will abide
Arise young heroes!
Our past inspires noble deeds
All Hail Drawinian !
Immortal beacon shows the way
Step forth and seek glory!
Hoist your swords high into the clouds
Hail Drawinian !
Our Emperor stands astride this world
He'll vanquish every foe!
His truth and justice shine so bright
All hail his brilliant light!
Never will he be overthrown
Like mountains and sea
His bloodline immortal and pure
All Hail Drawinian !
So let his wisdom guide our way
Go forth and seek glory
Hoist your swords high into the clouds
Hail Drawinian !
Being aware of morale issues caused by the continuous nuclear bombardment, the Holy Empire broadcasted its national anthem everyday to boost troops morale.
"Your Highness, you didn't sleep in your bed again," In the Imperial Courts, there were female knights who served as aides. One of them, Hamilton Uno Ro, asked her princess grumbled as she opened each of the windows to the study.
Piña was wearing a garment that people in this world called a "Tunic", and her upper body was sprawled over her desk as though she had jumped out over it.
The desk was covered with all manner of books, as well as letters from many places. Most of them were made of parchment, but recently, they had started using photocopy paper bought from the Rondel Magic Academy (RMA).
"Ah, I messed up…"
She hurriedly tried to smooth out the parchment she had crumpled in her sleep. It was a military report from Minister of Defense Zorzal. She must have fallen asleep while reading it.
A closer look at her fingers revealed ink stains there. While she managed not to get her clothes and face dirty, her clothes were crumpled and her body and face felt uncomfortable.
"Your Highness, why not have a bath before you have breakfast?"
"Sorry. We'll go with that," Piña said, throwing her hands up in surrender after hearing Hamilton.
"For today's schedule, the more important events are meeting with the Rose-Order of Knights and the Crimson Knights to discuss the situation of Lemuria and the dinner party with your sister Princess Katerina to celebrate the successful air attack on Alnus Base. Between metting and dinner, Shandy wishes to speak with you. I think she wants to recommend candidates for the next leader of the White Rose Knights."
"I think Panache and Shandy swore a vow of sisterhood, right? Doesn't that mean Shandy Cuff will be the next leader of the White Rose Knights?"
"Perhaps she does not wish to be the leader, but wants to go with Panache to Sadera instead?"
Piña wrinkled her immaculate forehead with a frown. If she wanted to repay the trust placed in her by her own sworn sister, wouldn't it be better for her to stay and manage the knights? What on earth was she thinking, suddenly saying that she was sick of the knight band's traditions and rules? If it was really like Hamilton said, she could not agree just like that. In any case, she would meet Shandy first and decide what to do about her later.
XXXXXXXX
"Sir Norma, what do you think?"
Hamilton Uno Ro, asked her sempai, who was also her colleague, about the new song promoting the war effort was being broadcasted in the bar.
Courage, Duty, Honor
We call upon our legionaries
In this our darkest hour
Our way of life is what we are waiting for
The flag that flies above us, inspires us each day.
To give our very best, in every way !
It's a good day to die
When you know the reasons why
Citizens we fight for what is right
A noble sacrifice
When duty calls, you pay the price
For the Emperor I will give my life
Well all is fair, in love and war.
That's what my gunny says
You not alive unless your almost dying
These are the words I march by, Duty, Courage , Honor.
Every single day and I've been trying.
It\'s a good day to die
When you know the reasons why
Citizens we fight for what is right
A noble sacrifice
When duty calls, you pay the price
For the Emperor I will give my life
(Courage, Duty, Honor)
The dragon, he flies high above us
The dragon, he makes our spirits sore !
He's giving the strength to carry on.
To fly and win this war
It's a good day to die
When you know the reasons why
Citizens we fight for what is right
(Courage, Duty, Honor)
A noble sacrifice
When duty calls, you pay the price
For the Emperor I will give my life
(Courage, Duty, Honor)
It's a good day to die
When you know the reasons why
Citizens we fight for what is right
A noble sacrifice
When duty calls , you pay the price
For the Emperor I will give my life
(Courage, Duty, Honor)
For the Emperor I will give my life
Several knights and their followers sat in the corner of the rowdy tavern, filled with guests. The bar was big but crowed so it only had a little space between tables. The place was so noisy that one might not be able to hear what was being said at a nearby table, unless one shouted.
Amidst this noisy atmosphere, the knights and their followers sat side by side reaching out with their hands for food and holding their cups full of wine. Wine was very cheap due to government subsidies. It's a way to easy people's pain.
Knight Commander Norma, whose mustache was neatly trimmed, had an uncomfortable look on his face.
Norma raised his hand to signal the waitress for a refill. After he got his refill, Norma shrugged under the innocent gaze of Hamilton who was waiting for his reply.
"The lyrics is a little bit too cheesy for my taste, but I guess it good for the common people morale."
"I heard that many people are saying the same thing, but it wouldn't wise up said it out loud. It took his Highness Diabo three days to write that song after all." Hamilton replied.
XXXXXXXXX
"Your Highness, we have many report about demons intrusion in Southern Lemuria." said Knight of Eighth Grey Co Aldo, a veteran of the battlefield who rose through the ranks.
For his achievement in the subjungation of rebel army. He had been has been knighted and became a part of a unit of twelve most elite knights of the Holy Drawinian Empire: the Knights of the Round Table. Working under the direct command of the Emperor ,they were the strongest Knights of the Empire.
Each members of the Round Table was assigned into the group by royalty and under direct command of the Emperor. The Knights of the Round Table date back to at least the 12th Millennium, with the First Knight of One being Sir Richard Hector, they operate outside the standard Imperial military and are given special privileges and authority. All Knights of the Round Table were given a higher rank than many nobles, excluding members of the Imperial family. They were also given clearance to enter highly restricted areas. A Round Table couldn't be punished for his crimes by anyone other than the Emperor. They were the symbol of authority of the Empire's knights.
Grey was assigned by the Emperor to guard Piña due to her eccentrics behavior. Following Piña's wish, at the age of 340, he trained the Rose-Order of Knights. As Grey's name suggests, he has very short grey hair as well as grey colored eyes.
"Demons intrusion, are you sure?" Pina asked sceptically. "At a time like this !"
"Yes, Your Highness, those reports have been confirmed. Their vanguard attacked the city of Coda and was defeated by an army of UEADF. If Abaddon the Despoiler has returned then we can expect the 13th Black Crusade will soon follow. " Grey replied nervously.
"A Black Crusade, Now.
●×△、□○○○！！！！！ .
Those damn Demons, why can't they make an appointment, we are in a midle of a Great War, right now." Pina screamed furiously.
A Black Crusade was an incursion that is formed when the usually disparate forces of Chaos unite under a particularly strong Chaos Champion and go forth en masse to wage war against the Realm of the Living. They were one of the greatest threat to Falmart and unlike the Arachnid the Demons can't be destroyed.
The history of the Black Crusades could be traced back to the Arminius Heresy in the 14th millennium. Following the devastating events of the Arminius Heresy, the Holy Empire began the Great Scouring, a campaign to cast out all traitors who had sided with Chaos and drove them into the warp storm known as the Eye of Terror. There, the followers of Chaos began to fight among each other for domination and territory and their vast armies eventually fractured.
Even so, the threat the exiles posed was far from gone. To this day they seek to overthrow the Holy Empire, launching separate raids and invasions against it.
Once or twice within a millennium however, when an exceptional Chaos Champion rises who is strong enough to bring his fellow warlords and their hosts under his sway. When this happens ancient rivalries are set aside and uneasy alliances are forged, clearing the way for the Black Crusade.
Commanding one of these campaigns is often considered the greatest reward that can be bestowed upon a mortal servant of the Chaos Gods. Successfully achieving the stated objective of one of these lesser Black Crusades can result in the ultimate reward: ascension to the rank of Demon Prince.
The most devastating Black Crusades have been led by the Warmaster of Chaos and commander of the Black Legion, Abaddon the Despoiler, who has led multiple Black Crusades against the Holy Darwinian Empire.
When the crusade is launched, whole continent fall prey to the rampaging hordes and the Dark Gods themselves divert their attention to the material realm, delighting in the sacrifices made in their names. Still, the nature of Chaos is fickle and unless it is repelled by the defenders, the crusade is bound to splinter into separate hosts and warbands who pursue their own ambitions.
After Pina calmed down, she began to examine their current situation. They had two invading army at their doorstep, one was old and one was new, but both were powerful. The Holy Empire didn't have the strenght to defeat them both, the situation was truly dire.
"What shoud we so, what should we do?" the princess frowned thoughtfully as she rotated the pen.
Piña had to tried her best. The Holy Empire could not afford underestimated their opponents. Darwinian had many wars in the past, however, Piña felt that this new Enemies and this Great War were on completely different levels. She had the feeling that if the Holy Empire did not acting wisely, it would be completely destroyed.
As those thoughts ground in her head, the Imperial Princess stared straight at the picture hanged on the wall. It was a picture of a 3 heads chimera fighting a dragon.
A sinister idea suddenly flashed in the vermillion-haired princess head. What would happen if they let their two enemy fighting each other. This was a brilliant idea. They could I kill two birds with one stone simply by letting their enemy fight each other to death and then mopped the floor up with whoever the weakened winner.
"You said the demons vanguard has been defeated by an UEADF army. How can that be, do those demons completely immortal? UEADF don't have magician, do they ?" Pina asked puzzledly.
"Yes, Your Highness, after after questioning many witnesses, It seem that Her Holiness Rory Mecury helped them banishing the Demons after they had been defeated."
"Her Holiness !" Pina frowned "So the Gods have noticed, I wonder what will they do now? But why Her Holiness is with the enemy ?"
"Gods work in mysterious ways. Her Holiness is doing the work of Gods, us mortal shouldn't question her action." Sir Grey replied. "Now, what should we do, Your Highness?"
"Immediately recall all the fortress troops in the south to add the defending of the north and Italica Fortress. Give a general order to evacuate all civilian population in Lemuria back to the mainland. Creating fake track leading the demons army back to the UEADF bases."
Pina paused for a moment and then continued "Oh, and order a scout to inform Her Holiness the demons army activities, we don't want Her Holiness scold, do we?"
"Yes, Your Highness" Grey answered and left the room.
Pina put the piles of paperwork done on her desk, rubbing her temple at the while.
"Just another day in this damn War... Oh god I will have wrinkles at this rate."
Alnus base, March 5th 2030
There were three ways of evacuating the refugees. Two had already been touched on.
The method Itami and the others picked was the third. They chose this method of evacuation because there were only about 20 to 30 people they had to worry about.
Following an armed group of unknown affiliation was just as risky as jumping into a ravine for the people of this world. They might as well have been stripped naked and sold into slavery.
However, they had no choice. They were children who had lost their parents when the Flame Demons attacked, or elderly people who had lost their children, and some were even wounded by demons magic. Under normal circumstances, the outcome for them would be a long and slow death anyway.
Of course, some of them were different. For instance, there was the Grand Magician Cato and his noble pupil, who were very interested in the JSDF, as well as the priestess of Emroy.
However, many of the refugees were asked questions that could not be answered, such as "Where do you want to go after this? We'll take you to wherever you want to go."
Itami decided to ask the Lord Mayor about what to do with the remaining 20 to 30 people. The reply he got was "Leave it to God."
Itami tilted his head and asked again. After translation, the replies he got were along the lines of "Where nobody needs to take care of them", "Anywhere", "Wherever you want".
He sighed deeply.
The Lord Mayor got onto the wagon his family was riding, and spoke to Itami, "I fully understand that you are noble and compassionate folk, and that we must seem cruel and heartless in your eyes. However, it's already very hard for us just to take care of ourselves… forgive our selfishness in this matter."
The Lord Mayor left without looking back.
Itami and the others had been struck dumb by the sheer callousness of that statement. They knew that everyone left behind had been abandoned.
The Cybertruck was loaded with the orphaned children, the widow, the homeless… all their eyes were on Itami. They were very uneasy about the decision he was going to make here. Because they could not understand his language, they studied the minute changes on his face. Among them, the black-clad goth Loli (super scary and strong) looked at him with great interest in her eyes.
However, Itami did not feel the great weight of the responsibility everyone was placing on him.
"Well, who cares… Never mind, we'll take care of it."
His innocent smile removed the tension in the air.
Itami's duty was to investigate the inhabitants of this world. Communicating with them, building good relations with them, and collecting the knowledge of this world was a critical part of that mission. Wouldn't it be great if he could bring natives back of their own free will and improve their understanding of this world's language and culture? At least, that was what he thought. Besides that if what they were told about the black-clad goth Loli named Rory were true then she could be a valuable asset.
In truth, a civil servant who thought like this would be nearly impossible to find. Especially in the time of World War like this.
Anyone who didn't realize the problem with that sort of thinking would never have become a public servant. What public servants hated the most were people who increased their workload.
"You, you, you…"
Director for Defense Intelligence Higaki grabbed his head, in front of his subordinate who didn't know what he had done.
The officers from the other Advance Reconnaissance Task Forces remained silent, while the refugees who had been left outside the camp looked around in curiosity.
"Who, who said you could bring them here?!" Higaki shouted " Do you know we just under attack, we just barely removed the corpses and turned on the light ."
"Eh? Was that a bad thing?"
Itami idly scratched his head. Higaki paced around a little, before saying "Follow me" and walking out of his office.
XXXXXXXXX
"General… the reports from the recon task forces we dispatched have come in."
"Oh!"
The man who responded was General of the Army Hazama. Because the Gate was in Japan , the Japanese had bargained to let them control Alnus Base operation. So Hazama was also the commanding officer of Alnus Base.
He had been a student of philosophy in Tokyo University, a graduate of that school which only accepted the best of the best. However, the truly inspiring part of his life story was how he enlisted as a private with the JSDF and climbed the ranks until he became the mighty 5 Star General he was now. One could say that, although he could have taken the fast-track, he chose to go the long way instead. His catchphrase was "No pain, no gain".
Hazama took off his glasses, and looked from the pile of documents on his desk to Lieutenant General Yanagida.
Lieutenant General Yanagida had graduated from the National Defense Academy of Japan (NDA) with flying colours, and under normal circumstances he would have been considered an elite thinker. However, in front of Hazama he never seemed to be able to raise his head. The reason for that was apparently because he failed to get into Tokyo University.
People compare themselves to others by many metrics; academic records, resumes, performance records, and, for members of the JSDF, their ability as warriors. They would always look for fields in which they could surpass others. Then what would happen if an individual who was excellent in all areas appeared before them? Most people would unconditionally accept their inferiority and think, "That guy's amazing", but Yanagida was far too proud for that. Perhaps he had an unfortunate encounter as a child, or his parents had raised him that way, but in the face of a superior individual, he did not feel respect, but rather resentment from the bottom of his heart.
"What's the matter, did you realize something?"
Hazama raised his crew-cut head and leaned back against his chair. The cheap office furniture creaked under his weight. He didn't think too much about Yanagida's resentment, though he did think, "I need to keep an eye on this fellow."
"Several reconnaissance reports have arrived, but I didn't think they were that important because they're just raw data…"
"That's true, make sure they do a good job."
Hazama did not feel that a simple reconnaissance would give him or the High Command a full picture of the situation. However, he was looking forward to understanding the inclinations of the locals.
Their relationship with the locals, the safety of the UEADF units, and the opinions about the Great War with respect to the United Earth Alliance and governmental influence were all closely interlinked. Ignoring the locals' feelings would breed contempt, or worse, active insurgency and that would outweigh any benefits of such callousness. As such, it was critical to understand what the locals meant by righteousness, evil and so on. For instance, Islamic cultures hated dogs and preferred men to have beards.
"The only common point between the task forces was that, despite the difficulty, they all made first contact. The locals, who superficially resemble fantasy beings, primarily make their living through manufacture, with agriculture being a close second. Their population is distributed into settlements and is generally high. The 6th Recon Task Forces has found many mercantile installations in towns and cities with populations between 5,000 to 50,000 people. They mainly sell clothes, magic potions, gemstones, jewellery, tools, farming equipment, magic lamps and other miscellaneous living essentials... This is the stock list and the price catalogue. Several photos are also enclosed."
Yanagida concluded his briefing by placing a sheet of photocopied A4 paper on Hazama's desk. He excelled in this field of work and rarely made mistakes.
Hazama went through the materials as if he were reading a table of figures. However, this information was critical for understanding the economic situation of the Holy Empire , so he had to send it back through the Gate for study by UEADF experts.
"At the present moment, we have been able to confirm there is a central authority for the Sub-continent Lemuria. Every town or city encountered has been led by a local Lord who looks after the commoners."
"How do they choose the lords ?"
By our understanding, this world was run by a mix of theocracy and aristocracy. All the land belong to the Imperial Family and the Holy Order of Eden and they would bestow the land to the aristocrats and bishops. They would govern the land in the Emperor's name under the blessing of the Gods and in return they would pay the tax and defend the Realm.
"I wonder if we can bribe them off ?"
Yanagida sighed with exaggerated loudness, hinting at how difficult that task would be.
"All we need is to invite a few lords or priests over for…"
"It would be troublesome if we brought them over without properly communicating with them, no? Having it phrased as kidnapping or forced transportation would be a headache…"
"About that…"
After laying the foundations, Yanagida was ready to make his main thrust. Carried by the flow of the conversation, Hazama now seemed ready to listen to his subordinate's words.
"Fortunately, Itami's team has brought back some very interesting refugees from Coda city. One of them is a Viscountess and the other is.." Yanagida paused for a moment "...a Grandmaster of the Holy Order of Eden."
"What, a Grandmaster of the Holy Order of Eden, are they like the Pope in our world." Hazama said in disbelieve." This is very big."
"Big, indeed."
"And, Coda city that would be the place where the Demons Army was sighted."
"Yes, Sir."
UEADF's high-ranking officials, including Hazama, could only equate the Demons Army in Falmart to dangerous militant group like ISIS, Taliban and the like. It was easy comprehend to them that people would abandon their city over such a threats. They just could not imagine such dangerous beings exited even in this alien world, so all they could say was "It can't be helped if something like that happened there, right?"
One of the reasons why it was so hard for them to believe in the danger posed by the Demons was because of the Titans which had they were fighting. While they were very hard to kill they weren't completely immortal. This had caused the high-ranking officials in UEADF very worried.
"Well, why don't we lodge these interesting refugees from Coda city here? We'll explain it as a necessary measure. The people concerned will be grateful, and nobody will think it's a kidnapping, right?"
Yanagida began his explanation.
The plan was to build a refugee camp near Arnus Hill and take them in. Since the evacuation of Coda city was caused by a demonic invasion, it would not be a temporary measure. While the refugees were there, it would be possible for the relevant research and investigation personnel to gain significant information from the refugees. Through extended daily interaction with the refugees, they could solve the language barrier problem, and gain a clear understanding of the Imperial economic situation and the social structure of this world.
In truth, the Global Security Council and the Prime Minister's Office had started making demands for detailed internal reports on the Holy Empire. Yanagida and his colleague were under a lot of pressure, so he wanted to show them results quickly.
Hazama tapped the table with his finger.
"What happens if another fight breaks out? The enemy's main armed force is seem to expand without limit with every passing day, this Base is still their target."
This was one of the most obvious questions to ask.
"We need to consider how enemy forces will deal with locals who have had contact with us."
He recalled an incident in the past, where Japanese citizens had been massacred because they were too close to a hated minority or religion.
"When the enemy approaches, we will take the refugees in and guarantee their safety. Although how the enemy treats the residents, be it torture or massacre, is not technically our concern, we cannot stand by and let such things happen."
Hazama furrowed his brow. He approved of the plan to take in the refugees. He had been thinking of something similar himself, so he had no opposition to it. What annoyed him was Yanagida's blunt way of speaking.
There was a limit to how much one person could think about by themselves, because there would be mistakes or omissions made. Even if they housed the refugees within the base itself, it could cause all sorts of problems. The enemy might have infiltrated the refugees and bringing them into the base would invite sabotage, for instance. But they could not locate the refugees far away just because they were afraid of taking risks.
In order to make the ones who had caused the Rumbling Incident surrender to them on the negotiation table, they would need to firmly grasp the situation on the planet Falmart. They would need to investigate and understand this land, this domain, as well as this world's government.
Just as Hazama was about to ask about the refugee center during combat operations, a voice came from outside.
"I'm coming in."
There was a sign outside Hazama's door which said, "No need to knock, just enter". As a result Director for Defense Intelligence Higaki entered after announcing himself.
"I have a report. 3rd Recon Task Forces has returned. Although they're back… actually… that Itami, he…"
And just like that, the matter of taking in the refugees was approved.
XXXXXXXXX
"Yo, Itami."
Itami halted in place as he heard his name being called.
While his superiors chewed him out for nearly an hour, Itami had put on a mask of carefully feigned ignorance and let the words flow in one ear and out the other. In the end, the meeting (which felt more like an interrogation) had ended with a "Since you brought them back, it can't be helped."
He had to report to the Supreme Combined Chiefs of Staff about how he had been protecting those refugees who were unable to care for themselves, such as the sick, injured elderly and the children. While the lecture was unavoidable, when Itami said that he had forced his way through for humanitarian reasons, the other side could only smile bitterly and acknowledge his efforts. Of course they appreciate that he brought the fricking Grandmaster of the Holy Order of Eden back.
"Although, you'll have to take care of them."
That didn't mean that Itami would have to pay for them out of his own pocket, but that Itami would be in charge of arranging the protection of the refugees. That was the condition placed on him.
Itami thought about feeding the refugees and sleeping arrangements for them, and left the black corridor for the staircase. If he put in a requisition with the ration team, he could probably solve the first problem. Granted, they would be eating combat rations, but they could hardly pick and choose. The real problem was arranging for beds for them. The barracks on the base were not completed yet, and the team members had to make do with the frames of the buildings. Tents were the only way out, it would seem. Preparing the documents, recording the required items, the chops… ahhh, what a pain, Itami thought as he stepped out into the corridor.
So when he heard the voice, he turned his head back very, very slowly.
After looking back, he saw someone sitting on a chair in the shadows, as well as a mote of light from a lit cigarette. The wisp of smoke which curled up to the ceiling came from a mouth that was curled up in a sly smile.
It was Lieutenant General Yanagida.
"Itami, You magnificent bastard, you did it on purpose, did't you?"
"Did what on purpose?"
Lieutenant General Yanagida was younger than him, but he had been a general longer than the freshly-promoted Itami. When ranks were the same, seniority took precedence. On the other hand, Itami didn't like Yanagida at all. His principle was to involve himself as little as possible with people he didn't like. That way would reduce friction and smooth over painful incidents in the other party's memory.
"Don't act dumb. Everyone knows it. You go through all this trouble to bring her back. After the demons were defeated, there is no reason to bring the refugees back to the base. You are just trying to win her sympathy with the little plays of your."
"Whose sympathy?"
"Rory Mecury! The Grandmaster of the Holy Order of Eden and the real reason why your task forces can defeat the immortal demons army. You Immediately realize her potential and make a plan to bring her back.
If an important religious figure with godlike power like her agree to help us or even stay neutral in this war, that will be a great victory for the Human race and of course you will be reward for it."
"What? Why do you think of me like some kind of career opportunist? What about the good old humanitarianism! I just want to help the ones in need, any benefit it bring is just a bonus."
Itami scratched his head while he laughed like an idiot. It felt bad, but he didn't particularly need to convince Yanagida. Even if no one believed him, the report still said, "Because these is still a posibility of another demonic invasion or wild beasts attack, I could not abandon these refugees, so I made a judgement call and brought the refugees back to the base."
"Hmph, you're really trying to deny wanting to be promoted, really…"
Yanagida took a long drag on his cigarette and exhaled. Along with the smoke came a sigh.
"Eh, well, we had to deepen relations with the locals sooner or later if we want to avoid the Vietnam experience multiply by tens thousand time anyway, this was just ahead of schedule. Even Top thinks of it that way too. But to us… well, it's a pain in the ass. Our plans are all in a mess now, exspecially after the latest Imperial air raid. Those fuckers just killed 3 millions of our man last month.
Yanagida sounded kind of helpless and anger as he said that.
When he saw the state Yanagida was in, he couldn't help but feel condolence for those whose had fallen.
"You'll be spiritually rewarded for it, sooner or later."
Yanagida forcefully put out his cigarette in an ashtray and shrugged.
"That's not enough. It's nowhere near enough."
"Well, someone's being petty today… what do you want me to do to cheer you up?"
Yanagida smiled thinly, then rose.
"We'll talk about it elsewhere."
XXXXXXXXX
The sky was red orange due to the ash from the previous nuclear bombardment and to the west, the sun was slowly setting, signal where the day would end.
As they watched the ominous red sky, the two men at the clothes drying point of the West No. 2 Barracks (temporary) looked at each other.
Yanagida leaned against the fence and lit a cigarette before speaking.
"As you already know, after the Rumbling, we were mobilized for war. Our armed forces depend on armored vehicles for their mobility and for defense against enemy attacks. Those armored vehicles need fuel and the battles over the last few months have shown how much they require. We must give them priority for supplies of gasoline and diesel fuel. So, the top brass gave orders for fuel rationing to be instituted all over the world. Each licensed driver in a family was allowed to buy no more that 15 gallons of automobile fuel per month.
There was a crying need for more vehicles to carry the supplies needed to our troops. Therefore, most private automobile production in the world were converted to military use. Heavy truck plants were, of course, converted to produce military trucks. Car and SUV facilities were also converted to produce light armored cars or aircraft depending on their level of technology. The only exception to this are the factories producing electric cars or small commercial vehicles.
You see, we have talked much about replacing gasoline-powered automobiles in our society. Now, our hand has been forced.
Judging from the information we've collected earlier, this world is a goldmine. Mankind had stumbled upon a new world with limitless potential, the DNA sequences of the creatures here are very similar to ours. For all we know, we could even breed with them. The exact theory is still in the hands of the scholars, but what I can tell you is that we can live in this world. We're breathing this world's air now, and although our food is imported from the other side of the Gate, if the creatures here can eat it, then we should be able to eat theirs with no difficulty.
This world's environment has not been destroyed or polluted. There's a lot of land and its plants are lush and vibrant. And those elements which would be considered rare earths back in our world are abundant here. Investments in resource entrepreneurships are going through the roof in the New York, Shanghai and London Stock Exchanges. Oil and ore-related stocks are going down. This is either great good fortune or a disaster in the making.
After deciding to declare war on this whole world, United Earth Alliance directed the mass production of weapons to supply the Earth Expeditionary Forces. Even then, we still under-ammunitions due to the ammunition production was barely able to keep up with the weapons production capabilities, making the actual battle strength less than what it should be.
In the view of some of the politicians and weapons manufactures, war was seen as an opportunity to boost their country's economy and make a profit for itself, as in the case of Frank St John - an employee of Lockheed Martin - bribed US government to gain priority for new military contracts, or Mike Pompeo, known as a belligerent senator, constantly calling for war to profit from the arms industry.
However, these endeavors to promote war economy to earn great profit would be extremely short-term and highly detrimental in the long run if we keeps losing man and weapons or worst being subjected to counter attack by the Holy Empire in the future in which all assets of corporations like factories, research facilities or offices within those countries would be bombed to the ground and their profit would never be able to cover all damages.
Moreover, the world economic growth remains stagnant due to this wartime economy, the development of civil sectors was considerably slow as the governments mostly put their budget into military campaigns rather than economic development itself. Since the world spends primary in military sector plus their mindset of strictly military superiority, conquest and exploitation, they almost spend very little to nothing in non-military sector to sustain and growth the global economy.
Should the United Earth Alliance fail in the invasion of Falmart, the world could fall into the largest economic crisis since the Rumbling. The current invasion on Lemuria alone was worth around almost 12 Trillion US dollars, combining the price of Tanks, Combat Jackets, Artillery, IFV, APC, Destroyers, Aircraft Carriers, and Cruisers altogether alone excluding Aircraft in 2028 prices was around 37 Trillion US dollars. Should it was included in military operations, fuel, arsenals, etc., the cost of the military campaign on Falmart alone may rise up more than twice the total price of the Global Fleet warships.
So I'm telling you, Itami, this is what the people want to know. They want to know what this world has that is worth bankrupting half the world for."
"And if there is such a thing?"
"Obviously we need to resort to any means necessary to secure it. The world economy is depend on this, this war is a bottomless resources sunken pit we need to turn it into a net positive."
Itami shrugged.
"Yanagida, I know you're a patriot. But I don't get the point, what is the tie between the refugees I brought back and global economy ?"
"You got a relationship of trust going on with these guys."
"What ?"
"Didn't I tell you? They want to know what value this place has. No, that's not right, they want to know where the valuable things are. You do know that you're in the best position to gain this information, right? All the other recon task forces did was check out what the towns were selling and add a few new words to our vocabulary. What you did was gain the trust of the people here. As long as you're around, we can find out where they build things, where they hide things, how to communicate with them, and so on."
"Hang on, Yanagida. Do you expect me to ask the kids where gold, rare earths element and treasure is buried ? Where the oil fields are ? Do you think they'll tell me if I just ask them? I'm sorry to say this, but I suck at geography, even though I went through university. Do you think these uneducated children will do any better ? I can tell you right now that they won't know anything that doesn't concern their immediate daily lives."
"How about asking them for the people who know ?"
As he heard that, Itami thought about the silver-haired noble girl with a wagon full of books and the old man that was her master. It would probably be more productive to let the linguists go through their books.
"Finding people with information and obtaining that information is absolutely critical. We need to cover our lost soon or our economy will crumble. The fact that it had been 5 months without any substantial word or items of value from within the Gate didn't help either."
After hearing this, Itami could not go on.
"Itami, of late, you've been allowed a lot of freedom in your activities. Your next mission is not going to easy, congratualation, General Itami."
"What ?" Itami asked back in surprise.
"Oh! Have you known? Lieutenant General Itami. For your efforts in defeating the Demons army, The Supreme Combined Chiefs of Staff has promoted you to the rank general. You will command the newly created: The East Asian 11th Expeditionary Army."
"The 11th Army what ?"
"The East Asian 11th Expeditionary Army" Yanagida repeated.
"The 3rd Japanese Special Task Force will absorb the 13th Air Wing (JASDF), the 1st Ho Chi Minh Armored Division and the 4th Vo Nguyen Giap Mechanized Division from Indochina, the 5th Joseon Armored Division and 6th Goryeo Mechanized Division from Korea to build The East Asian 11th Expeditionary Army. The 11th Army is going to travel south to secure our southern flank in case of a demons incursion."
"..."
"Dammit, I'm tired of this shit."
Itami continued cursing bitterly.
"Hmph! Well, you were happily spending taxpayers' money up till now, so how can you say, 'Oooh, I don't like it, I don't want it'? Better work hard. Army General "
Yanagida tossed his cigarette butt away after he finished.
XXXXXXXXX
Although he could not see what the future would bring, practically speaking, he had to handle this carefully. Since the whole situation was a mess, proceeding without a plan would be counterproductive. Even so, the people who lived in these conditions were probably used to it.
In any case, he had to get them something to eat.
In any case, he had to start pitching tents for the refugees to sleep in.
In any case, he had to distribute clothing.
The elderly people or the older children could take care of the younger children.
After a few days of these "In any cases", he could probably relax a little. Living in tents was not going to be a long-term arrangement, especially since the people who would do so were children and old people. They would obviously want strong walls and a roof over their heads.
After listening to Kurokawa and Kuribayashi's suggestions, Itami was currently about 200 kilometers away from the south of Arnus Hill. They were building a campsite for the Coda city refugees in the patch of forest located there.
For convenience's sake, they should have built the camp closer to the hill, but that ran the risk of involving them in any fire fights that occurred, so after studying the local terrain and conditions, they picked this place.
Actually building the place was the job of the engineers, but it was up to Itami to provide resources, expendables, schematics, blueprints, and so on. MSGT Nishina was experienced with this sort of thing and had provided a lot of useful feedback. Though he got frustrated by Yanagida's nitpicky obsession with details (down to pointing out punctuation errors), in the end, he managed to obtain a computer from his superiors to help with his problems, and he spent the whole of the second day sleeping.
"If it were a government bureaucrat doing this, he'd have finished it with one hand."
After hearing MSG Nishina's words, Itami gave thanks that he had never entered civil service.
"Well, I'm a public servant too, but because of special duties, we're hardly related any more. Ah, I'm lucky to be a public servant on special duties!"
Sometimes he would mumble these words, and sometimes he would shout them.
XXXXXXXXX
Preparing for a task was very troublesome. But once a mission started, the UEADF worked fast.
In the blink of an eye, they clear-cut a stretch of trees, and after moving the ground with heavy equipment, they easily built a set of roofed houses.
Lelei could only watch this scene with her mouth open and her tongue tied.
"...Well, looks like the rumors are true the "Terran" army are rival the mighty Empire even without magic or Titan power. We can unload our luggage at last. I need my sleep."
Having resigned himself with these words, he vanished back into his tent. After watching her Master, Lelei could not help but agree with him.
Their carriages were not drawn by horses, but they ran faster than horses they look like the imperial magic carriages .
Their "sci-ence" weapons could force back a demons army.
Their sturdy, vast fortress city at Arnus Hill.
Their gigantic iron dragonflies soared through the sky while making terrible noises.
The way they could instantly turn huge trees into planks, rival an Imperial steel golem.
Their carriages with giant shovels that could do the work of a mindless Titan in a flash.
And then, there was the way they built houses in moments.
In truth, she was growing jaded to these surprises.
The children and elderly who knew nothing had been shocked into silence. They gave thanks in earnest and sincerely accepted these benefits. As for Lelei, who was wiser but still could not make sense of these unreal circumstances, her brain had long since overheated.
"...Big sis Arpeggio will be disappointed that she missed seeing something like this. I have to tell her later…"
Lelei was envious.
She couldn't bear to watch any more. All she wanted to do was curl up under her blankets. Well, she had already forgotten that she was supposed to be a Viscountess of the Empire, and watched in mute surprise.
However, since she had chosen the path of the sage, she could not leave these difficult-to-explain circumstances as they were. After all, a sage's ambition was to conquer the mysteries of the world with wisdom.
Lelei recalled the story she read when she was a child: The Adventure into Arachnid Homeworld by the famous astrologer Hong Bao Zheng. About 3000 years ago, Arachnid Empire launched an invasion into Falmart, their army were defeated by the Imperial army and ran back to their homeworld.
When they returned, they captured many prisoners, including famous astrologer. Most of the prisoners could not stand the extreme weather and died with only a few remain including Hong Bao Zheng. It took him many year to return home and when he did he wrote his famous memoir. She wanted to become the new Hong Bao Zheng.
After properly motivating herself, she set forth.
With that, the sage Lelei La Lelena, threw herself into the study of the Terran invading army and its secret.
Well, that is about for this chapter
See you next time