Nihonkoku Shoukan

Minorou being a c.o.c.ktease again… there are 2 short stories following this chapter. Fortunately, the first one is super short, even shorter than MS!, so I"ll probably get that out on… Friday, after I do SS. The second story is twice as long, but still shorter than the typical SJ chapter, so I"ll try to put that out by Sunday, if not Sat.u.r.day.

j.a.pan, capital city Tokyo, a room in a certain hotel

Technical Officer Myrus and Tactical Officer La.s.san of Mu were chatting with each other. On board the Akizuki-cla.s.s destroyer as observers, they experienced the greatest shock of their lives during the mission to measure j.a.pan"s strength. First of all, the cannon"s firing rate and accuracy. Despite the ship"s swaying, the waves in the ocean, and the enemy ships" movements, as far as they could tell with their own eyes, j.a.pan"s. .h.i.t rate was 100%.

According to one of the books they bought in j.a.pan that they had been translating, the guns used a stabilizing technology known as "FCS" to instantly process the target"s relative speed, the sh.e.l.l"s speed and trajectory, and the enemy"s future position when the gun was fired. Unbelievably, this system could also be used to hit airborne targets.

Furthermore, the book made mention of a number of other ridiculous weapons that they wouldn"t be able to observe during this mission. A ship that could dive into the water called a "submarine," a weapon that had an effective range of over 100 km called a "guided missile," and a weapon that swam underneath the ocean called a "torpedo." All of these different weapons had been completely unimaginable to them. And even if Mu were to devote all of its technological resources, they couldn"t possibly build any of them. And the overwhelming power that Mu saw this time wasn"t even a fraction of the might that j.a.pan had at its disposal. They now knew that Mu did not have any technical superiority whatsoever.

While the two officers were wary of j.a.pan"s hidden power, they were also relieved that Mu was on friendly terms with j.a.pan. After seeing all this strength and technology, through imports and exports, Mu might be able to develop countermeasures for the Gra Valkas Empire.

"Myrus, how do you see j.a.pan?"

"What do you mean "how"? In terms of technology, they"re way too far ahead of us. There are just too many things I just don"t understand here. Especially this LSI integrated circuits thing and this high-performance computing device they called a "computer," I can"t even begin to understand the theory behind them."

"I see. What surprises me the most is how different our very concepts of war and combat are. To put it simply, our navy could easily rout Papaldia"s navy, but, against j.a.pan, we would end up the same as Papaldia"s navy ended up in that last battle. We simply have no way to outspend j.a.pan on weaponry."

"Haah…"

They both sighed. The atmosphere felt heavy.

"Still, La.s.san, we did get a good harvest."

"What do you mean?"

"We understand the concept behind their weapons, so we have a rough map to follow. For weapons we never thought of like guided missiles, even if they"re laughably slow compared to j.a.pan"s, I think we do have the capability of making simple ones. If we continue our current relations with j.a.pan, I can see our country surpa.s.sing the Holy Mirishial Empire in the long term."

"Interesting. By the way, what are your thoughts on the Gra Valkas Empire?"

"I don"t know. We don"t have enough information on them, except that we"re both nations of science. Right now, I think they"re about fifty years ahead of Mu, technologically speaking. They"re probably continuing to advance, too… we don"t know anything about their national power, so I have no idea how we measure up to them."

"Is that so…"

The two observers from Mu continued to investigate.

Yanagida from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had asked to meet the amba.s.sador from Mu.

"I"m Yuuhi, the Mu amba.s.sador. What can I do for j.a.pan today?" he asked somewhat nervously. He looked somewhat panicked.

"Actually, the j.a.panese government has a request for your country."

Yuuhi"s expression degraded into even further panic.

"And what might that be?"

"Well…"

Yanagida took an A3-sized photograph out of his briefcase.

"I hear that Mu built an airport for the purpose of maintaining diplomatic contact with their allies."

Yanagida pointed to a spot on the photo.

"We want to ask for permission to use this airport in the Kingdom of Altarus. We"d also like a few details on it, such as how much weight it can support."

"Wha!!! This… This is so intricate! Is this an aerial photograph?!"

"No, this was taken by an unmanned satellite my country launched into outer s.p.a.ce."

"!! …No no, I"ve read your country"s books, but I"m still beholden to my old common sense. This photograph is so wide, but I already about your country"s technology."

Yuuhi took a deep breath. The tension that was showing on his face earlier was now already gone.

"You"re correct, my country built that airport. I don"t have the specifications on hand right now, but I will contact my superiors and let you know as soon as I hear from them. Because of the large-scale magic gem mining operations in the Kingdom of Altarus, we had been developing a large transport aircraft for future use, so it should be quite st.u.r.dy.

"However, whenever we construct an airfield, we build it with permission from the country, then the airfield belongs to that country. So if it"s built in the Kingdom of Altarus, it becomes Altarus"s property. Altarus is currently under the Papaldia Empire"s rule, so it technically belongs to Papaldia. When the empire attacked Altarus, they gave advance notice to Mu, so none of our people are currently there.

"So, if you want permission to use an airfield, you must ask its current owner for permission, not Mu. If the country that owns the rights allows it, Mu has no reason to object. With regards to Altarus, under the empire"s rule, it cannot be used in its current state, so if j.a.pan wants to use it as a base, you"re free to remodel it as you see fit, we don"t mind."

Yanagida"s face brightened up.

"Thank you very much. This is great!!! One other thing: while our some people in our government have their own views on it, I wanted to tell you that there have been discussions about relaxing a part of the Technology Outflow Prevention Act with regards to the country of Mu."

"That"s… That"s wonderful news!!! I do hope that… it continues moving in a favorable direction."

Their meeting concluded.

"The press conference will be starting in just a moment!"

It had been 70 years since the last war, and now they were thrust, unwilling, into another country"s war where their enemies didn"t hesitate to kill j.a.panese civilians. Now, during this urgent situation, their prime minister decided to hold an emergency press conference.

(As the current prime minister, I"m the one responsible for guiding j.a.pan into another war. It was unavoidable, but I may be remembered historically as a foolish leader.)

His feet felt like they were made out of lead as he headed out to begin the press conference.

All the reporters present had their eyes on him. Photographers" cameras flashed endlessly as he walked to the stage. He raised his hand, quieting the crowd. The Prime Minister of j.a.pan chewed on his words for a moment before he began to speak.

"People of j.a.pan, our diplomatic negotiations have failed… As you are all aware, the Papaldia Empire has declared war on us, on our j.a.pan. We tried as hard as we could, again and again, to negotiate with them and prevent our relationship from deteriorating. However, for our efforts, we were rewarded in the worst possible outcome: war. Even now, the j.a.panese government is continuing to look for any possible path to peace.

"Now, the Papaldia Empire has declared that it intends to kill every j.a.panese citizen, that they want to perform an ethnic cleansing. I want to make myself very clear in front of you all. The j.a.panese government a.s.sures that with every ounce of power we hold, every j.a.panese citizen will be protected!!! No exceptions!!! We will safeguard every last person!!!

"In response to this imminent threat of violence from the Papaldia Empire, the j.a.panese government is invoking the right of individual self-defense. This of course includes if our enemies attempt to invade the country of j.a.pan or any of our bases or factories. The j.a.panese government absolutely swears to protect everyone from the Papaldia Empire"s heinous ethnic cleansing!!!"

After answering various questions, the press conference concluded.

j.a.pan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Princess Lumiess of the Kingdom of Altarus came to meet with the j.a.panese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After exchanging greetings, they began the meeting.

"I am Yanagida with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Let me just be frank with you. With regards to the security treaty with the Kingdom of Altarus, because of the way our current const.i.tution is written, it is unlikely to pa.s.s."

Princess Lumiess stiffened, looking petrified. Yanagida continued talking.

"As an alternative, we wanted to float the possibility of our forces invading the Kingdom of Altarus in order to destroy Papaldia"s military bases and take care of most of the imperial army. Once Altarus regains its independence, we would like to request permission to use the airfield that Mu built in your kingdom. We would also like to do additional construction on it. This would allow us to put the imperial capital of the Papaldia Empire, Esthirant, within range of airstrike."

Using the airport that was built in the Kingdom of Altarus, they could launch airstrikes from the airfields in both j.a.pan and Kua Toine and hit not only Papaldia"s industrial cities and their large-scale military inst.i.tutions, but also the imperial capital itself. j.a.pan was trying to move the conversation forward from a military point of view.

"If my country can claim its independence, I will gladly give j.a.pan permission to use the airport in my kingdom. You may convert it to a base or use it however you wish."

The talks ended early, and the decision was made to attack the Papaldian forces stationed in the Kingdom of Altarus.

Holy Mirishial Empire, imperial capital Runepolis

The information office was experiencing an unprecedented overload of work. The Holy Mirishial Empire understood the importance of "information" and operated with the philosophy that whoever controlled information controlled the world, so they poured a lot of resources into information a.n.a.lysis. However, there were two matters they simply could not understand.

The first was the Gra Valkas Empire, who arrived out of nowhere from the western seas some years ago and suddenly barged into the spotlight of history.

There was a wall separating civilized countries and uncivilized countries that could not be scaled. While there were many cases of uncivilized countries becoming civilized, because all the civilized countries looked down on the uncivilized ones, it was basically impossible for an uncivilized country to surpa.s.s a civilized country"s national power on its own. There were also many limits on the spread of technology outside the civilized areas. Because of this fundamental difference in national power, civilized countries siphoned off various resources from uncivilized ones. This was a right ordained by nature and granted to those who progressed faster and stood above others.

Throughout history, many uncivilized countries tried to band together to a.s.sault the civilized areas. However, not one ever succeeded.

The Gra Valkas Empire, an uncivilized country, subjugated the countries around it in the blink of an eye. They started to negotiate with the Second Civilization before trying to go through the Palse Kingdom as an intermediary to Leifor. Considering Leifor"s temperament as a superpower, this was the correct approach. However, when negotiations were set to begin, they were turned away at the door and told to go through the Kingdom of Paganda.

So, they went to Paganda, which was under the protection of Leifor. They had to negotiate with the Pagandan royal family. Gra Valkas"s goal was to eventually speak with Leifor directly, but the Kingdom of Paganda treated them like uncouth barbarians, insulting them and demanding bribes. They even knew that Gra Valkas"s chief negotiator was a member of the imperial family, which completely set him off.

(Even though we lowered ourselves to deal with your little s.h.i.thole country, you"re taking that att.i.tude with us?!)

To the Pagandan royalty who were negotiating, he was just some uncivilized barbarian diplomat, and Paganda was protected by Leifor, so they could act however they wanted. To Gra Valkas, these insults were considered lèse-majesté, so they declared war on the Second Civilization in anger, attacked and took over the Kingdom of Paganda, then completely routed Leifor in the subsequent war.

Information Director Arneus was getting reports from his subordinates.

"Have we gotten any new information on the Gra Valkas Empire?"

"Currently, we have let to learn where the Gra Valkas home country is located. Also, based on our a.n.a.lysis of their war with Leifor, we believe the Eighth Empire"s warship, the Grade Atlastar, is comparable to our latest warships, or perhaps even more powerful. It"s hard to believe, but those are the results from our a.n.a.lysis."

For a country this powerful to suddenly materialize from beyond the void made the director"s head hurt.

The second thing they didn"t understand involved the Topa Kingdom, a country in the northeast corner of the Third Civilization continent of Fillades, and one of the myths in the Third Civilization, the Demon Lord Nosgoorah, coming back to life. When that event occurred, an uncivilized country called "j.a.pan" sent a small platoon of soldiers and defeated the Demon Lord Nosgoorah. The weapons j.a.pan used to beat the demon lord called "tanks," after a.n.a.lysis, were determined to be completely beyond the capabilities of Mirishial"s magic engines. Perhaps if they could shrink them…

Even more unbelievable, they also used what appeared to be man-portable anti-air magic missiles. The empire"s magic missiles were currently being developed for use against ships; an anti-air version was still a distant dream. One small enough to be man-portable was even further away, a dream within a dream. If this report were true, then the country of j.a.pan was far more advanced than the Holy Mirishial Empire.

Of course, this report was considered completely preposterous, and, within the information office, very few people believed it could be true. However, the other day, the Papaldia Empire, which had invaded the Kingdom of Fenn, lost enough of their forces to be considered obliterated by the allied forces of Fenn and j.a.pan. It was much, much harder to dismiss the report on j.a.pan"s military technology as a fabrication now.

"We need to gather more information on j.a.pan!!!" Information Director Arneus ordered.

j.a.pan, Ministry of Defense

"This might actually be easier than we thought…"

They were a.n.a.lyzing the satellite images taken of the Kingdom of Altarus. It showed the Papaldian army within Altarus, a little distance away from the capital Le Brias, laying down a runway for wyvern lords to use and constructing a military base. That was the first point.

The second point was the port in Le Brias, where there were twenty ships-of-the-line anch.o.r.ed there. The third point was 40 km north of the capital, which looked like another military base. Papaldia"s forces in Altarus were concentrated in those three places; luckily enough, there were no other military bases near large population centers.

If j.a.pan targeted these three points with their naval forces and wiped out most of the empire"s main forces with supporting fire, couldn"t the people of Altarus take back their kingdom with their own hands?

"Hmm, I doubt things will go as smoothly as that."

The preparations for war proceeded at a steady pace.

 —  — Chapter 30