Nihonkoku Shoukan

Here we are, 10 chapters done, and the end of the arc! Chocolate for everyone!

Since we"re on NU now and getting a lot of visitors, I figured I would let you all know my situation. I"m currently between jobs, which is why I have a lot of time to spend on translating right now. I am looking for jobs, though, so if/when I get one, I"ll have to cut down my time translating SJ. Just a heads up! For the near future, though, I think I can continue at this pace. We"ll see how far I get before I have to slow down!

I also don"t think I"ll get burned out, since translating is a way to forcefully teach myself j.a.panese, so it"s interesting and fun for me. If I do start feeling burned out, though, you can be sure I"ll just slow my pace and write something on this blog. I won"t just disappear~

Anyway, enjoy the chapter, cheers!

The OH-1 reconnaissance helicopter had fired a short-range air-to-air self-guided missile (an improved version of the Type 91 man-portable surface-to-air missile) which, while tracking the enemy, miraculously collided with a metal object, setting off its contact fuze, causing it to fail to hit the dragon rider.

Muura flew off to the west. He didn"t understand how he avoided being hit. The charm his wife had given him fell off at some point without him knowing. His magical communication tool was broken too.

"Was it… my wife who saved me?" he muttered.

He had an ominous feeling and looked up into the sky. A huge number of somethings were flying far above his head, leaving white trails behind them as they raced west at unbelievable speeds.

Kingdom of Rowlia, eastern va.s.sal army

"What happened!" Lieutenant General Adem asked angrily.

His subordinates broke out in a cold sweat. Their communications with all 12 of the scouting wyverns were cut off by screams. The last one to get through said something about being chased by a fire blast.

"We"re looking into it now…"

"And how, exactly, are you looking into it?! Idiots!"

They all meekly stayed quiet.

"Well, there"s no helping it, right? Just let them do what they can. What about the main army"s escort?" General Pandour interjected.

"They always have fifty wyverns on guard. The rest are standing by at the wyvern roost in Gim, but if they"re needed, they"re ready to deploy at any time."

"Fifty? Isn"t that too many?"

"Not at all, sir. Since we don"t know how the advance force disappeared, we think the enemy army might have acquired some kind of supernatural power. After all, if our main army is defeated, our mission to conquer Kua Toine will end in failure."

"I see…"

Overheard, a great number of wyverns had formed into groups and were flitting about haphazardly. The sight was so imposing that they could surely pulverize anything that challenged them. Except… what exactly was the enemy…?

Pandour forced himself to stop thinking about it.

Just then, 16 of the wyverns flying above him were spontaneously enveloped in smoke and shredded into pieces. Then 8 more! An invisible something just extinguished 24 wyverns.

"Wh-what?! What"s going on?!"

Before long, six black dots appeared in the eastern sky, but they made no sound as they approached. They were faster than sound! Each of them fired 2 bullets of light. The bullets were also supersonic, and they decimated the wyverns who were trying to avoid them. Another 12 wyverns were dismembered and fell from the sky.

"Aaaaaahhh!!!"

"This isn"t happening… This can"t be happening!!!"

There was shouting all over. The "things" flew over the army at an absurd speed. They were shaped like arrowheads, giant devices painted gray and breathing out fire as they pa.s.sed by.

KRAKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!

They were hit by an enormous shockwave. What they just experienced was a flyby from an F-15J Kai going Mach 2.5.

"Th-that… thing is unG.o.dly fast!!!"

"What was that!"

There was widespread panic…

Unfortunately, the disaster hadn"t ended. The iron dragons that had flown away now returned, and they each fired 2 more bullets of light. The squadron of elite dragon riders was being one-sidedly slaughtered…

It was generally believed that an army"s strength directly correlated with how many wyverns it had. The number of wyverns in the Rowlian army would probably even be enough to defeat the flame dragon G.o.d.

But this almost felt like a game, with their wyverns being killed off like pieces being flicked off a board.

"d.a.m.n IT ALL!"

The elite wyvern squadron was now completely wiped out. In that instant, a swarm of iron dragons came from the east, dropping countless large objects. The disappearance of the advance force suddenly flashed across General Pandour"s mind.

"What are those?! What are they dropping?!"

Someone shouted.

Slowly…
His own…
Life…
Ended…
The other world approached.
Light—
The blistering heat of h.e.l.lfire washed over the army.
It was instantaneous.
General Pandour departed this world along with that light.

Dragon rider Muura flew west. He thought Kua Toine was a country of barbarians and had underestimated them. However, from his scouting, he now knew that the advance force was actually defeated to the west of Ejey. Did Kua Toine ally themselves with a demon lord? Or maybe even… that legendary, ancient sorcerous empire… According to folklore pa.s.sed down through history, the time of resurrection had not yet come. As far as Muura knew, there was no one in the entire world who wouldn"t know this story.

Once, there was a great empire that ruled the world. The ancient sorcerous empire that subjugated all other living beings with its tremendous power. Each individual had far more magic power than humans did; their knowledge was extremely advanced; they had a superdeveloped civilization, feared by all life; they were beings that stood above humans. Their civilization was so advanced that they even pointed their sword at the G.o.ds.

The angered G.o.ds sent stars to fall on the continent of Latistor, where the empire resided. They were incapable of protecting themselves from the falling stars, so they erected a gigantic barrier and cast a spell to send the entire continent into the future. "When the time of resurrection comes, the world shall once again grovel at our feet," or so they had written on an indestructible stone carving that was left behind.

The few survivors of the sorcerous empire living outside Latistor, now overwhelmingly outnumbered by humans, were absorbed into the Holy Mirishial Empire of the Central World, the most powerful country in the world. Any who refused were exterminated, so their race was now effectively extinct. Because of this, it was rumored that the Mirishial Empire feared the resurrection of the ancient sorcerous empire.

Muura began to wonder if, perhaps, this enemy might possibly be the ancient sorcerous empire. A strong army of 20,000 troops annihilated, a guided fire blast that relentlessly pursued its target… everything they tried got pushed off the weathered road and into the wild brush.

BOOM… b.o.o.bOOBOOOOM…

He heard the dull sound of impacts echoing. Before him, a fierce blaze danced, as though from a volcano erupting.

"It… it can"t be… that"s where…!"

With his heart freezing, he hurried back to camp… When he arrived in the skies above it, his worst nightmares were realized. All he could see were human remains, burned black.

A few days later

Kingdom of Rowlia, royal capital Jin Hark, Castle Hark

He had spent over 6 years building up support and accepting humiliating demands in order to feign obedience, but he was finally able to a.s.semble and train a polished, unyielding army capable of uniting the entire continent of Rodenius. He invested nearly all of Rowlia"s possessions and national power, putting his country in debt for decades, to create this legion. To deal with any possible outliers, he raised the power of his military to unthinkable heights; it was like crossing a stone bridge then destroying it, the level of their military strength was supposed to be insurmountable. They should have trampled over everything.

But then, this j.a.pan country with its nonsensical combat power joined the war and came out nearly untouched. At first, they had sent messengers, offering to make diplomatic ties. He should have treated them more politely and researched their country more. "They were some barbarian country because they didn"t have wyverns"? Rubbish. They were a country that didn"t need wyverns because they were so advanced.

He had lost most of his army. His naval fleet too, what was left of it took an air strike as it laid anchor at night and turned to ashes along with the entire port. His country suffered catastrophic losses, but he couldn"t even confirm a single death on the j.a.panese side. What a staggering kill/death ratio; if he had fought with one of the major civilizations" superpowers, it wouldn"t have turned out this lopsided.

He should have been more careful from the start. But, regardless of how devastated he felt, he had no time for regrets. The enemy had already come here. They were in the skies of the capital, their devices buzzing around like gnats in his face. His wyverns were already all dead. There was nothing else he could do…

Ratatata… ratatatata…

That peppering noise was constantly going off inside the castle. He heard screams from the royal guards.

WHAM!

A strange squad of men wearing green clothing with a speckled pattern poured into the royal audience chamber. Among them, there were 5 people with blue-based uniforms mixed in. They had what looked like magic staves in their hands. No one was armed with swords, so they must all be mages. The king all of a sudden remembered the story of the ancient sorcerous empire.

"It-it"s not possible… are you the army of the sorcerous empire?!" asked Jin Hark, shaking in terror.

The men in blue approached the king.

"I"m not sure what this… "sorcerous empire"… is, but my name is Aoki from the Metropolitan Police Department of j.a.pan. You are under arrest for ordering the ma.s.sacre of Gim in the Princ.i.p.ality of Kua Toine. We do not have the arrest warrant with us right now, so we are carrying out an emergency arrest and will show you the warrant later."

Hark Rowlia was led away in handcuffs.

TL note: BUT WHAT ABOUT THAT ADEM b.a.s.t.a.r.d D: He"d better not be randomly alive later.

 —  — Chapter 11