Translator Corner
Minasan Oidemasu! This is Yukkuri demasu!
As always,
DISCLAIMER: There is no guarantee that my translation is 100%correct. Please correct me if I was wrong.
Plus, if youwant to thank someone go to the guys at Ainushi Translation who give me the RAWfor this LN. They’re the real MVPs.
Author:
みのろう (Minorou)
Translator:
Yukkuri Oniisan!
Editor:
Online Grammar Editor!
Chapter 2
The Kingdom’s Miscalculation
Part 1
Central Calendar Year 1639, Month 4, Day 30.
Qua-Toyne Princ.i.p.ality - Government Council
Several days ago on the 26th day of this month, the eventof the battle when j.a.pan repulsed Lourian Kingdom Navy was reported by the militaryobserver officer Bruay as he was asked to give his testimony.
It was previously unprecedented for a mere militaryobserver officer to testify in the Government Council, but as it was a battle reportthat determined the fate and survival of this country, the country’s representativeswere seriously listening.
「――, that is the battle report of the Grand Battle of the Rodenius Sea.」
The reports were distributed to the members of the GovernmentCouncil.
「…… What is this? Just with 8 ships, j.a.pan challenged a Lourian Fleet of 4,400ships and destroyed their morale by sinking 1,400 ships. In addition, they shotdown an air support of more than 200 Wyverns, furthermore, the 8 ships didn’treceive any damage?」
「When the j.a.panese Navy warship was issuing a warning, it received a flame arrow.Hence, just like what is stated, the damage is not zero, the ship received ascratch on its hull paint.」
「This can’t be considered as a damage at all.」
It was a subdued retort, but Bruay made a troubledexpression. He had thought that it would be unbelievable if he didn’t write anydamage, but even if he had that paint-damage written on the report, Bruayhimself could agree that this line could be seen as a poor joke no matter what.Besides, just how should he wrote it so it will be acceptable?
「The record state that there is no damage on j.a.panese personnel. So thatmeans, no casualties? Our country navy doesn’t even have a part to play? Evenif this is a fairytale, it’s too preposterous. I don’t think that you aredeliberately lying in this place, but this report is too unreal that it isunbelievable.」
The remark made by the greatly perplexed ForeignMinister Linsui, represented the thoughts of the other council members.
「Foreign Minister, Sir! In the first place, doesn’t the report say thatj.a.pan 『only have the minimum military power necessary for self-defense』?」
A mock flew from a corner of the Council Room.
By all rights, they should be rejoicing since the Louria’sinvasion was prevented, but since the result from the first battle was too outof bounds, the Government Council had fear of some sort to j.a.pan.
「In the report from the diplomatic delegation dispatched to j.a.pan, theyheard that j.a.panese people can’t use magic. But in your report, 『The Louria Kingdom Navy’s warships were pulverized into fragments by somethingsimilar to a ma.s.sive explosion magic.』 So which one is the truth?」
Bruay answered Linsui’s question.
「The attack done by j.a.pan is, to put it in simpler words: 『something similar to a ma.s.sive explosion magic』. It can’t be concluded whether or not it was magic, but since it exhibitedsuch tremendous power and the closest similar thing that came to my mind isonly the explosion magic, I used that expression in the record.」
「Then, so that means j.a.pan repeatedly launched large explosion attackswithout magic, which destroyed the Louria Kingdom’s warship? That is absolutelyimpossible.」
A mockery flew again, Bruay thought that it will be awaste a time to explain more than this and so he became a bit sullen.
Prime Minister Kanata, who was silently watching thesituation, carefully began to talk.
「At any rate, the sea invasion this time has been prevented. Though Louria stillshould have about 3,000 ships remaining, if they were beaten up this much byjust 8 ships, they would be on guard and it will take times before they able tolaunch another invasion. Military Minister, what about the situation in theland-side?」
「Currently the Louria Army units had fortified themselves on encampmentssurrounding Gim. It seems that since the sea invasion strategy has failed, afterthey solidified Gim’s defense, they will launch another invasion. It seems thatthey had abandoned their rapid push strategy.」
The Military Minister answered while reading thereports from the Intelligence Section and the Western Defense Corps in hishand.
「About j.a.pan’s movement, they have asked a permission to borrow 3 kilometerssquare of land on Daital Plain, 5 kilometers east of the Fortress City Ejei.」
The Military Minister pa.s.sed an application written inthe Continental Common Language to Kanata. The Foreign Minister and the MilitaryMinister had already given their sign, it only lacked a sign from the Prime Minister.
「Behind Ejei……? Are they planning to construct an encampment there?」
「Looks like it.」
「There is nothing important on that plain…… No problem. Foreign Minister,when you return this application, issue a permit for encampment construction.Let them use it indefinitely.」
There was some opposition to Kanata"s order, buteveryone understood that it is impossible to defend against Louria withoutj.a.pan"s power. In addition, it was obvious that in the unlikely event of j.a.pan baredtheir fangs at Qua-Toyne, at that point, the country’s destruction isinevitable.
In the future, j.a.pan will construct an airfield on thesame location.
✦✧✦✧✦
Louria Kingdom. CapitalCity: Jin-Haag, Haag Castle.
Louria Kingdom’s 34th King, Haag Louria x.x.xIV, was exasperatedwhen he hear the after battle report from General Patagene. Just a few daysago, a new emerging nation named j.a.pan, partic.i.p.ate in the war against theLouria Kingdom, and in the Grand Battle of the Rodenius Sea, they annihilated 250wyverns. Furthermore, it was an unprecedented catastrophe, 1400 warships weresunk, about one-third of the fleet,.
Moreover, there were no confirmed military gain ofthis battle at all. It was indeed a completely unexpected defeat.
「Why did we lose to j.a.pan in this naval battle?」
「Because the content of the report from the Navy is too absurd, we arecurrently in the process of re-investigating the cause and verifying thecredibility of the report, Your Majesty.」
According to the report, the j.a.panese attacked thewyvern squadron with 「a light arrow that continued to pursue its target even after avoiding them」 and practically annihilated the wyvern squadron. The evidence for this werethe mid-battle manacom messages from the wyverns and the discovery of hugeamount of wyvern corpses floating in the ocean by the retreating navy. They conjecturedthis to be the result of some kind of new magic weapon.
However, even when they were 4 km away from the battlefield,they were felled by something.
(What the heck is ‘something’?)
Patagene had been racking his brain at this vaguelyworded report. However, the report also stated that the wyvern bodies were torninto pieces. That something had a power to destroy a warship with a single hit,furthermore, it could be launched in succession. He couldn’t imagine, just howmuch magic power it needed.
Had the ancient Magic Empire of the legends revived? Hedidn’t know what kind of opponent they went to war against.
For ages, Louria Kingdom only has a large population,but the individual quality wasn’t that good. In order to unify Rodenius, forthe last 6 years, they had educated as much as possible and able to gather anoverwhelming number of decent talented people. However, given the situation, theywere fearful that they could be annihilated without able to do anything.
「Either way, the damage is a reality. It will be troubling if something likethis happened in the future.」
「Yes, Your Majesty!! Until we identified the cause of our defeat in thenaval battle, we will refrain from aggressivelyadvancing our Navy. However, in the land, the number is everything. Currently, Gimhad already fallen. After we absolutely reviewed our future war strategy, itwill be easy to conquer the Princ.i.p.ality with only our ground forces. YourMajesty could expect to hear a victory report.」
「Patagene, I entrust the war this time to you. I ask you not to betray myexpectation.」
「Yes, Your Majesty‼ It’s my humble pleasure‼」
In the sea and the sky, the quality reigns. However,in the land, the numbers reigns. In a land battle, Louria might be able to triumphone way or another.
On that day, the King was tormented by the unexpecteddefeat and had a sleepless night.
✦✧✦✧✦
Third CivilizedLand. Papardia Empire.
The dim room was illuminated by a faint orange light. Itslight source was a gla.s.s ball that was brightened with light spirit’s power,and under that light, there were two shadows.
The two men who cast that shadows had a conversationthat will influence the fate of the country.
「... ... j.a.pan? It"s a name that I have never heard before……」
「It’s an island country that it is located northeast of the Rodeniuscontinent」
「If so then I will recognize it when reading the report…… But, has a countrylike that ever existed before? To begin with, if that country is located about1,000 kilometers from Rodenius, then it will be unthinkable that it had never beenmentioned in our history until now.」
「Because of the chaotic ocean currents and winds in that ocean area, it is aperilous route. Since we tried to avoid that area as much as possible, wehadn’t sent any investigation to that place.」
「However, even for the decidedly uncivilized naval battle in the Frontierthat is far away from the Civilized Lands, that Louria Kingdom lost 1,400 shipsagainst 8 enemy ships, is rather… too unreal?」
「『An Always Accurate Cannon』 is ludicrous. Perhaps he had mental illness due to the long duty asmilitary attaché in the barbaric Frontier. Let’s subst.i.tute him soon. However,Your Excellency, if Lourian Navy’s warships, for argument’s sake, clashed with our100-Cannons Ship-of-the-Line 『Fishernus』, the outcome might be similar.」
「Your point?」
「With height and armor thickness, there is no chance for Fishernus to besunk by those mobs. As long as they continue to shot cannon sh.e.l.ls from adistance of 2 kilometers, they could attack one-sidedly. At any rate, for it tobe 8 ships, there must be a mistake. It is unknown if j.a.pan attacked LourianNavy with hundreds of ships, but seeing the warship destruction description, weshould conclude that they have reached the technological level for cannonbuilding.」
「A cannon built by a bunch of uncivilized savages? …… Until now, the reasonwhy the nations in Rodenius and the surrounding area never try to invade us mightbe because they realized just how puny their power is. But, now that theyfinally able to build cannons, they judge that this is the right time to showtheir face, huh? By the way, to think that Louria could lose, is this possible? This will interfere with our national strategy.」
「A land battle is different from the sea ones, the number decide everything.In any case, Louria has a large population, so they wouldn’t possibly lose to acountry that had just begun to possess a cannon.」
「This naval battle report had no credibility. Until we could verify it, postponereporting this to His Majesty. You understand?」
「As you wish.」
✦✧✦✧✦
Central Calendar Year 1639, Month 5, Day 21.
Near Qua-Toyne Princ.i.p.ality, Near the Border
「Hah…….! Hah……! Hah……!」
The villagers were gasping their breath while heading east. It was toescape from the Lourian invading army.
About 20 kilometers east from Gim, there was a small nameless elven village.They had little interaction with the outside world, and so seldom obtain new information,so they were late to receive the news about Gim Ma.s.sacre.
The entire village started to evacuate, but there was no Qua-Toynese armyleft in the vicinity, and so, they decided to wager their life and evacuate withtheir own power from the area controlled by Louria.
Currently, the villagers had moved 10 kilometers east from the village. Theirnumber was 200 people.
The area they pa.s.sed through was nothing but short-gra.s.s covered openplains. The sky was clear and the blowing wind was comfortable. The birds weresinging, while the wild cows were eating the gra.s.s in bliss. This was atranquil scenery through and through, but for the villagers, they were travelingon the shadow valley of death. It was easy to travel through this place, butthere were few covers and so it was easy for them to get discovered.
A young boy was walking hand in hand with his imouto(little sis).
The boy’s name is Parun. His mother had pa.s.sed away early from sickness andso he lived only with his father and imouto. However, his father received acall to service in the army when Louria was gathering its force to invade, andthe left the home that morning.
His father"s smile burned inside Parun’s mind.
『Palun, I entrust you with Asha.You are the onii-chan(big bro) after all.』
He had been entrusted with everything and so he vowed to absolutely protecthis imouto, Asha.
Their travel speed wasn’t that fast, and so Parun’s uneasiness becameworse.
On the rear group, there were youngsters standing guard – what’s remained afterthe army’s call for service – but their numbers was only 10 people, considerablyfew.
(25 kilometers ahead... If wego for another 25 kilometers, there is a base of Qua-Toyne Princ.i.p.ality Army)
Suddenly, screams raised from the rear group.
「It’s Lourian Cavalry!!」
When Parun looked back, there were 100 Lourian Cavalry approaching, 3 kilometersbehind their group.
It was the army from Louria Kingdom, a country that devoted to annihilatethe demi-humans.
The villagers began to scream and ran away. However, they couldn’t escapefrom the cavalry"s speed, and the looming threats gradually closing in.
☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽
NEXT CHAPTER:
*CLIFF*