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 you want to thank someone goes to the guys at Ainushi Translation who give me the RAW for this LN. They"re the real MVPs.
Author:
みのろう (Minorou)
Translator:
Yukkuri Oniisan!
Editor:
Discord Hivemind!
Chapter 3
The Counterattack
Part 5
Kingdom of Louria. The Capital City, Jin-Haag. Evening.
Dragoon Thanakane was still desperately struggling to lead his trembling wyvern, that refused to move, back to the base. They were still on their landing spot near the walls, which was far away from the city.
「b.l.o.o.d.y wyvern, the enemy is already gone! Don"t you feel infuriated when your comrades get killed!? I don"t care if you crawl, just move already‼」
The wyvern had been traumatized by the fear instilled by the death screams of its comrades.
The iron dragon back then deliberately only targeted its wyvern comrades. As proof for this, the iron dragon didn"t attack the city where there were a lot of people. If the wyvern showed itself, it might be killed immediately.
── That iron dragon must"ve hated wyverns.
Or so what the wyvern thought.
「b.l.o.o.d.y, s.h.i.t‼ Move dammit! Move‼」
While Thanakane was struggling, the Capital Defense Knights personnel, who had been looking for survivors in the surrounding area, reached his location. With their help, he was finally able to move his wyvern back to the Dragon Roost.
「I am deeply grateful for your help.」
He expressed his gratefulness.
「Please, do not mind. You are an important surviving dragoon after all.」
「Even so, what an unbelievable enemy, right? Since my wyvern won"t move, I ended up causing problems for others. My seniors will surely chew me out after this……」
Thanakane made a sorrowful face. It was his wyvern who was uncooperative and fled from the enemy, but as a soldier, he won"t be able to excuse his own inexperience.
However, the Capital Defense Knight looked down and somberly addressed Thanakane.
「I think…… you shouldn"t worry about that anymore.」
「What do you mean?」
「Every member of the 2nd and 3rd Dragoon Knights had been shot down, you are its lone survivor. The 1st Dragoon Knights that were heading to support the port were also annihilated. A complete unit lost. You are just a single dragoon, even if you went back then, the end result won"t be different.」
「Eh!?」
Thanakane, couldn"t immediately understand the meaning of the Knight"s words.
Slowly, the weight of the phrase 『Unit Lost』 seeped and broke into his mind. At that moment, he impulsively grasped the Knight"s shoulder and shouted furiously.
「Impossible‼ That"s impossible‼ For the Dragoon Knights to not just receive damage but completely destroyed, it"s impossible‼ Under a human"s control, the wyvern is the strongest creature in the world‼ They can"t just be defeated that easily‼ There are 150 units, it"s 150 units, you know!? Even if the opponent is a nation from a Civilized Land ── Even if the opponent is a Major Power nation, it"s inconceivable for them to be completely annihilated‼! The enemy on the port must be numbered hundreds‼! Isn"t it?!」
「…… This is just their confirmed number, but the enemy"s number was 20 units.」
「Twen… ty….?」
「The battle this time had been seen by the Capital"s citizens so we can"t hide the result. Among the Capital"s citizens, there are talks that this is 『The Greatest Defeat in History』 or 『The Ancient Magi-Empire is at war with the Kingdom of Louria』. ──You will soon find out about this, so there"s no harm if you hear it right now. You know about the Naval Headquarters on the Capital"s Northside Port, right?」
「Yes, I know……」
「It has been destroyed by naval and aerial attacks. The enemy air units projected a powerful explosion magics, while the sea demonic ships on the ocean magic-projected a G.o.d-like amount of mana, which pulverized the warships and the port facilities. The prospect of recovering these facilities will be…… Impossible.」
Thanakane was shaken. Just how much armaments does the enemy bring? Not only they had annihilated 150 wyverns, but they also completely destroyed the port facilities.
「Right now, there is a council meeting in the Castle, perhaps about how to defend against the impending Capital invasion…… The council will surely be in a mess, don"t you agree?」
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Just like the Capital Defense Knight had said ── or perhaps, just like what most people had expected, the war council was in a mess.
「The Dragoon Knights were annihilated, what the h.e.l.l is this‼!」
The Capital Defense Knights General Patagene bellowed.
「I have no excuse……」
The Dragoon Knights Battalion Commander feebly hung his head down.
「Even since j.a.pan joined the war, we have been defeated, again and again. If this keeps happening, they will eventually reach the Capital‼ Without having any air units, just how do you expect us to fight against an opponent capable to attack us from the air‼!」
The silence filled the hall where the emergency council took place. There was no one who could answer the supreme commander"s anger.
「About j.a.pan……」
Unable to stand how the time pa.s.sed idly, a young officer began to talk.
「No one has even seen their Army yet. A powerful attack from the air and then in the seas they have demonic G.o.d-like warships. There are people who have seen those before, but no one ever saw even a shadow of their Land Army.」
The one who destroyed the Eastern Lords Division, that was deployed west of Fortress City Ejei in the QuToyne Princ.i.p.ality, was the j.a.pan Ground Self Defense Force. But since the Eastern Lords Division was annihilated by attacks launched from a base located more than 5 km away, there was no Lourian survivor who had seen the JGSDF itself. For this reason, the Kingdom of Lourian"s military leaders were unable to grasp the strength of the j.a.panese Army.
「Before they reach the Capital, they will surely need to conquer the Craft City Beadsure in the southeast. There"s no other way but to measure how powerful j.a.panese Army will be during that battle, which will be useful for preparing the Capital"s defense. If their Army is weak, it will be the weakness that we can exploit.」
The Capital won"t be decisively conquered just by aerial attacks. To make the Capital capitulate, a force of ground soldiers is absolutely necessary. The young officer resolved to personally go to Beadsure to probe j.a.panese Army"s weakness.
「Yamirei-dono, did you discover anything about the previous j.a.panese"s attacks?」
「…….However…… The ancient m……. Too hasty…… No……」
Even though the military officer asked him, Yamirei only mumbled and didn"t give any proper answer.
Patagene, who had calmed down since there was a new idea which has been brought up, declared that the war will continue.
「The annihilation of the Dragoon Knights confirmed that the j.a.panese Force had a strong air and naval units. However, in the case they have a weak land army, no matter how powerful their other forces are, they can"t conquer a city. The Capital still possesses strong cavalry, heavy infantry, archers, and infantry. At this point, if we surrender, it will be a betrayal to those who had died.」
Then Patagene turned his face towards a black-robed man, and then addressed him with a hesitant tone in his voice.
「…… Papardia Empire"s Emissary-dono, the reinforcement from your country, the sole Major Power in the Third Civilized Land, have greatly helped us before. Would your country considers to once more send another reinforcement to us……?」
Patagene had a good grasp of the tremendous power of the Papardia Empire"s Magic Ship-of-the-Line Fleet. The great nation of the Philades Continent with more than 70 va.s.sal nations under their rule inside and outside the Third Civilized Land. Counted as one of the only Five Major Powers in the world, the Papardia Empire continuously expanded its national power backed by its powerful military.
If the Kingdom of Louria could make that powerful army their ally, there will be no need to fear j.a.pan any longer.
However, the black-robed man made a sickening smile and bluntly dismissed not only Patagene, but also the Kingdom of Louria itself.
「We should have already given enough support for the purpose of unifying the Rodenius Continent. Just how many wyverns and soldiers have we lent you? An incompetent ally who has been defeated this much? Our country has no use of them.」
It was a really impolite remark in a council where the important leaders of the nation gathered, but no one dared to talk back to the Emissary of the powerful nation of Papardia Empire. Also, Papardia Empire had actually given enough armaments to conquer both of the QuToyne Princ.i.p.ality and the Quila Kingdom. Patagene hadn"t forgotten this fact.
「Gugh….. I see……」
A young officer who was unable to watch this continue raised his hand to change the topic.
「In the first place, it"s unclear whether the j.a.panese Force has an Army. Because they seem to be an island nation, there is a possibility that their force might be specialized in the air and the seas, and so their army is not particularly powerful. The Capital is 40 km away from the port, so it will be outside the attack range of the magic ships that had devastated the port. The aerial attacks are a serious threat, however, after checking the testimonies of the citizens and the Capital Defense Knights, their number seems to be small. There are few survivors from the navy and they are unable to be questioned at this moment, so although the j.a.panese Force"s ground offensive capabilities are still unclear, it is conjectured that the cause of the catastrophic damage was due to a surprise attack.」
The information from the battlefield had been conveniently rewritten and simplified as it pa.s.sed up the branch of command.
The vanguard units to the western area of the Fortress City Ejei disappeared. The Subjugation Army Force disappeared. Since the one who could report had been annihilated to oblivion, the information didn"t properly get conveyed to the military leaders, and this caused the leaders to make a mistaken conclusion.
For the present, the war council arrived at a conclusion to meet the j.a.panese Army in a battle at Craft City Beadsure, east of the Kingdom of Louria"s Capital of Jin-Haag. Then after they measured the enemy"s strength, to put this information in defending the Capital.
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Next chapter Conclusion of the Capital"s raid.