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Published at 27th of June 2022 06:43:32 AM


Chapter 51

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April 443 of the Monarchy history.

Fortress Kerviel, which had disappeared somewhere after the opening of the second MacLir System Battle last month, had invaded the territory of the Tenka Federation without being captured by the enemy.

The MacLir system invasion force is presumed to have left Seraphina’s realm, but if their destination is not detected and they are not spotted Tenka’s ships on the way, they can launch a surprise attack on the star system.

The Monarchy is not supposed to have a detailed star map of the Tenka Federation.

At least Hào Lán of Fukashiro understood that there were plenty of people inside Fukashiro who would sell the information for money, and that it would leak to the Monarchy side, but he did not pass the information to the Monarchy side.

However, his daughter Xuě Lì, who sold it to the Monarchy of Diete, passed the information to Hart in view of her position.

Xuě Lì is a shut-in with a communication disorder.

At that time, Hart couldn’t tell whether she was desperately trying to communicate with him while vomiting, or whether she sold herself high because she was smart enough. But Xuě Lì’s actions were bearing fruit. At least she obtained a mighty patron, the Marquis of Amakawa, in the Monarchy of Diete.

And, Hart, who learned the route used by Tenka, proceeded through the sector far away from it, and was able to approach the sector around Shinkyō without being detected.

“After the first battle in the MacLir Star System, this is the second one I owe you. With any hope, I’ll do my best to repay the two. Ah, apart from the fact that you’re a game-loving, incommunicable shut-in who doesn’t do any official duties unrelated to Tenka, I will fulfill your wishes, so please feel at ease.”

Xuě Lì, who contributed to the success of Fortress Kerviel, followed Hart, her marriage diplomacy partner, after the ceremony to establish diplomatic relations.

It was also possible to send her to the Diete System before the Second MacLir Star System Battle, and in fact, the other two who came for marriage diplomacy, the staff of the Fukashiro embassy in Diros, and the diplomatic delegation were headed there.

But even if Xuě Lì went to the Diete system, there are no Amakawa family members, just the people from the Monarchy and Fukashiro who are assigned to watch her. The Monarchy would then invite Xuě Lì to various social gatherings and events to keep her occupied, but that would have been hell for her.

Hart prepared Xuě Lì’s room in a manner similar to keeping a sheltered cat, with an android to take care of her, and he even shows up regularly.

Whether it was the result of successfully using the game, the spirits acting as mediators, or the result of hard work on her part, Xuě Lì, when talking with Hart, is not so stagnant.

“Then, don’t abandon me, I can’t go home anymore.”

“Yes, of course, I won’t abandon you, and I will reaffirm the isolated and unsupported position that came from marriage diplomacy, and I’ll be mindful to protect Xuě Lì’s position. In exchange you gave me performance data on Tenka warships in advance for the MacLir System Battle. Even if I get into a conflict with His Majesty the Sovereign, I’ll do something about it.”

When Hart gave his stamp of approval, her pink-greige head gave a small nod.

“Also, don’t be too angry, I can’t say what I want to say, I can’t get over it.”

“Is that so … I see. I won’t be mad at Xuě Lì. Even if something goes wrong, I won’t get angry, instead I will talk with you about what to do. If I forget my promise and get angry, Xuě Lì’s spirit, Chloe, will issue me a warning. In exchange for showing the Monarchy a reverse route, I won’t get angry.”

When he called out to Chloe, the spirit who appeared for the battle game, Chloe returned her consent with a smile.

『I understand the promise between Shari and Hart. What would you do if you broke it?』

“I apologize first. I probably didn’t have enough time and forgot that Xuě Lì is not good at conversation. I’m sorry. I’ll try not to get angry as much as possible, so I hope you’ll forgive me.”

『Please apologize properly.』

“Ah! Xuě Lì, is that all?”

“I’m fine, I’ll do my best.”

After forming an agreement with Xuě Lì, Hart was still glad that he hadn’t sent her home. If he hadn’t established a personal relationship at the beginning, he felt that she would have completely put up a mental wall.

Marriage diplomacy is based on the Sovereign’s orders, but once it has been undertaken, he didn’t want her to be irresponsibly thrown out.

Society demands that Hart increase the number of his concubines and mistresses. What society wants is high magic power holders, and it may be appropriate for those who cannot spend time. The meaning of increasing the number of high magic power holders was well taught.

However, the common people could not dispel the sense of discomfort about it.

For Hart, as a gene donor for Philine, they will never marry but feel like partners. Yuna feels that she is the one who will become his legal wife. Claudia had a sense of acceptance, since she had come to him through a clear self-selection, even moving the parliament.

Xuě Lì was also able to recognize the individual personality in Hart and had the awareness to accept him with conviction.

Hart self-analyzed his own thinking, wondering if he didn’t like the feeling of treating the other women as objects.

Looking back, if he didn’t like it, he shouldn’t become a high magic power holder, but when he used the Duke of Takrham’s device himself, he was unsure, but thought it was far better than letting Digitalis use it.

The only question now is how to reconcile his own ideals with the demands of society.

“In the meantime, you can count on me. Also, it would be better if you meet my intended legal wife, Yuna, as soon as possible. Yuna has been forced to do a lot of things as the First Princess, but she’s a very good girl at heart. When she hears about Xuě Lì’s situation, she will be on your side.”

“…… can’t do it all over again.”

“Just play that footage, and I’ll basically explain the rest. How about that?”

“………… I need a few days to prepare my mind. Or I might throw up.”

Xuě Lì spewed a weak tone, but Hart chose to involve Yuna.

Yuna must be convinced by emotions, while Collette is the type to be convinced by reason. Philine is a complicated mix of maiden circuit and senior aristocratic perspective, but Hart has learned how to forcibly push through. Claudia would accept it if she understands that it will benefit the Royal Citizens.

Hart, with his personal life settled, began to focus on the mission at hand.

Fortress Kerviel continued to warp and eventually reached the sector three-light-years from the Shinkyō Star System. They have not been discovered by the enemy yet, and can enter the outer rim of the star system by performing the next warp.

Hart, the fortress commander, declared to all.

[From now on, Fortress Kerviel will make a final warp-in to the enemy system. The purpose of the operation is to drop celestial bodies on the enemy’s inhabited planet and destroy the enemy national mages who invade the Monarchy. This also has the purpose of informing the enemy invasion forces that their stronghold is being attacked and having them withdraw from Monarchy territory.”

Hart has not explained it, but another objective is to elevate his spirit, Fleur, to an A-Class spirit like Seraphina.

The expected emergence point after warping out is outside the outer star system celestial group, about 5 billion km from the star system.

They will invade into the system at 400 million km/h, and after 12 hours advance to the inhabited planet, Suān, rushing celestial bodies No.1 to No.10 were housed in Fortress Kerviel.

The celestial body, made of tungsten with a heat-resistant coating, is 1 km in diameter.

Tungsten has excellent high temperature strength even in its natural state, and its density is 19,250 kg/m3, more than six times higher than ordinary rocks, making it suitable as a rushing object. Of these, No.1 to No.10 are imbued with Fleur’s magic.

1 km in diameter is about the size of a destroyer, but if it collides with a continent at an incident angle of 45 degrees at 10 million km/h, it would create a crater 200 km in diameter and 75 km deep at the point of direct impact. This is energy comparable to the celestial collision that destroyed dinosaurs on Earth.

Although there is little effect on the planet’s orbit or rotation, a 4,000-km radius from the direct point of impact is within the range of thermal radiation, and living beings exposed directly to it would be burned to death.

The earthquake that occurs will have a magnitude of 11.4 on the Richter scale. More dangerous is the shock wave, which destroys all structures within a radius of 8000 km from the point of impact, except for reinforced structures with multi-layered frames.

During this process, the Fleur’s magic power will run through the planet, purifying miasma and converting it into energy to be absorbed. It obliterates all but the miasma, but the Monarchy of Diete will be in a position to blow away the invading enemies in order to protect the royal citizens.

The death toll from the 10 celestial incursions is expected to be about 90% of the planet’s population. In addition, they scatter deadly weapons on the planet and force the invading enemy to turn back for relief.

“Chief of staff, in 12 hours, a fierce battle is expected. Order all fighter craft pilots to take a break and be prepared for type-1 battle formation in 12 hours. We will adjust the advance speed of the fortress, so the major battle won’t be earlier than 12 hours from now.”

“Sir, executing order immediately, but will your Excellency stay awake?”

“Once we’re discovered, speed of advance is important, I will reduce wear with machines and medication. The Chief of Staff should take a turn with the Deputy Chief of Staff and rest. You’ll do the brainwork later.”

“Understood”

After seeing off the Chief of Staff, who had withdrawn with a salute, Hart made the final warp when Yuna and the other assistants also rested.

Once at warp, he operated the command seat and attached a life support system to his body.

Next, he activated the visual and audio blockers in his seat, and the world experienced by Hart was enveloped in darkness. Then a monitor in front of him projected a scene that looked like a single screen projection. From the surroundings, only the murmur of a stream flowing through the mountain could be heard.

The limitation of visual and auditory information is to reduce the burden on the brain. Hart has already temporarily lost his senses of touch, smell and taste, and in this state he can fight for 200 hours. However, if he were conscious, he would see the equipment at hand, and by the operation of Hart, Fortress Kerviel began to move in the star system.

With the help of the spirits, they avoid the celestial groups floating in the sector at high speed. After breaking through the outer edge, he increased speed to 400 million km/h and advanced towards the lodgings of the inhabited planet.

“………… after raising speed to 600 million km/h, fire 500,000 fusion rounds onto inhabited planet in 10 bursts. Only missiles are to precede the fortress. As long as it is a straight line, a wide range of attacks are not required. Shoot down enemy interceptor missiles.”

Hart is lightening the burden on his brain, but he’s still clearly conscious.

After giving instructions, the magic engine’s output was increased, and the fortress accelerated rapidly, and then unleashed a torrent of nuclear fusion missiles in 10 bursts on the enemy system. The first salvo is at 600 million km/h, and from the second salvo they will slow down by 20 million km, with a time lag to precede the uninterrupted attack.

After the launch, the fortress slowed to 400 million km/h and advanced into the system.

Six hours after advancing into the system, the missiles of both forces collided with each other ten times at 30 minute intervals.

A million white stars explode many times on a black background of outer space.

The Tenka side, which had never experienced war since its founding, shot too many fusion rounds first. As a result, many fusion rounds turned into huge fireworks in the first explosion, and the repeated attacks after that caused them to lose their missiles to return fire.

As a result, the sector where the explosion occurred gradually approached the inhabited star system.

“Lord Amakawa, please temporarily deactivate the shields at the rear of the fortress. We’re two hours from the enemy system. We will launch the Salamanders.”

“………… Very well.”

The Chief of Staff and Operating Assistant, Yuna, returned to the fortress command center and issued a launch order to the Salamanders, 7.4 million crafts.

At that timing, Hart also released the blocking device and returned to his normal senses.

Looking around, Yuna and Colette sit on his right side, and Philine and Claudia on the left side. Half of the command center’s screens are glowing with missile explosions.

The star system map showed the attack target, planet Suān, and in front of it, about 50,000 enemies of 50 fleets were displayed.

50,000 Tenka ships are comparable to 3.75 million Salamanders or 78 fleets of the Monarchy.

The current Royal Fleet, half of the total army, was a defense force that could never be conquered without the presence of Fortress Kerviel.

However, the force evaluation in the current sector was 100:51, and the Royal Army was overwhelmingly dominant.

“Prior to contact, I will irradiate the fortress main cannons to burn down the neatly aligned enemy forces, continuing the irradiation in the range of 900 million to 200 million km. After the battle between the fighter crafts and the enemy, we will move in the zenith direction and continue to attack with the main gun and fusion rounds diagonally from the rear of the enemy and the enemy system. Yuna and Claudia, assist the attack, and Philine is on the propulsion engine. Colette will take her place in a timely manner.”

Hart chose the conventional method of shooting unilaterally from outside the enemy’s range, but the conventional means are used frequently because they are effective, and because they are frequently used, they become mundane and conventional.

Hart thinks that there is no need to take an eccentric measure in a predominant state. And to prove that his idea was correct, he fired the fortress gun at the enemy’s line.

A pillar of blue light stretched from Fortress Kerviel toward the front row of the Shinkyō fleet.

When the pillar of light penetrated the front-row ships located on the Tenka right wing, it swept through to the left wing side as it was, and it penetrated the ships located next to it one after another.

By arranging the ships in an orderly manner, it is possible to show the public the high level of control of the ships. But when facing Fortress Kerviel on the battlefield, it was as stupid as lining up the targets neatly and insisting that they be shot at all together.

The fortress cannons quickly penetrated from the right wing of Tenka to the left wing and burned down a thousand ships. And this time, from the left wing side to the right wing side, the enemy line of the next stage is burned.

“The defense commander is incompetent.”

Tenka’s national mages are obedient to their superiors, or worse, have poor self-judgment.

The national mages are not graduates of the military school. Androids that ride on board and execute commands do not care for their lives.

If the individual ships couldn’t make decisions, then the commander would have to take charge. In Hart’s experience, the commander’s ability to defend the system was a few steps lower than that of the commanders of the invading forces.

As Fortress Kerviel continued to burn the defense fleet unilaterally, the Tenka fleet took steps to move forward toward the fortress while breaking the line of ships.

If the enemy is disorganized, they will become prey to the group tactics of the fighter crafts. Salamanders rushed into the enemy Tenka fleet and went deep inside to avoid being burned by fusion rounds.

7.4 million ray guns attack 50,000 cruisers. In the midst of the confusion, the attacks of the two forces in all directions of the battle sector intermingled, and many ships and fighter crafts fall.

With the exception of some fighter crafts that were very good at maneuvering, warships and fighter crafts collided on the battlefield.

Fortress Kerviel tried to reduce the damage to its allies by unilaterally burning down the enemy back-row that was not engaged in close contact. Yuna and the others played their role, and Colette took the lead in reducing the burden on the other three and coordinating with the general staff.

“Our army is overwhelmingly superior. Part of salamanders have penetrated the enemy inhabited planet Suān”

After receiving the staff’s report, Hart nodded to the good news, but reaffirmed his purpose.

“Chief of Staff, our aim is to drop the 10 celestial bodies in the fortress to the enemy planet. Move some of the Salamanders towards the zenith direction to wipe out the enemies in the zenith. The fortress will go around from the outside and drop the celestial bodies.”

“Copy that, executing orders at once.”

When the Chief of Staff’s notification flew to the fighter craft division, from the two types of light that intersected in the front of the planet reflected in the system map, a blue part separated and began to move around the planet from the zenith direction.

As the fighter crafts pushed through in numbers to create a safe sector, Hart accelerated the fortress and released four rushing bodies to the top, bottom, left, and right of the planet facing them.

Confirming that celestial bodies had been released from the fortress, the Tenka army moved to prevent the entry of celestial bodies.

Because they had lost control of the sector, they had no choice but to forcibly intercept them with fusion rounds from deployed ships or from within the planet, but they were still able to stop two of them.

However, the remaining two shots could not be stopped, and they entered the continent and Arctic on the left side from the fortress with the speed and angle of incidence close to what Hart had planned.

The continent’s entry point was encased in a fireball, and heat radiation burned down a radius of 4,000 km. In addition, a powerful shockwave ran through the range that was further doubled.

Even on the Arctic side, the point of impact went through the ocean with ease, and a huge tsunami occurred from the impact point, and headed for various parts of the northern hemisphere.

“Successfully rushed into two shots.”

“Second projection, three points except the north pole. On the left, slightly lower the target to the continent in the south.”

Before the shockwaves and tsunamis generated by the rushing bodies raced through the planet, Hart had sent the next projectiles. The target is three places excluding the north pole. The shattered continent on the left was removed from target and replaced by the southern continent.

When the second celestial body was ejected, the Tenka defense fleet, which had been deprived of control, tried to break into their path, ignoring the damage.

As a result, the Tenka fleet succeeded in stopping one of the three celestial bodies amid the number of dropped ships.

As it was aimed at the continent on the right, Hart revisited his assessment of the commander, inwardly praising the efforts of the Tenka Defense Fleet with a click of his tongue.

But the national mages must be killed. In order for Fleur to absorb the purified magic elements, Hart brought Fortress Kerviel closer to the planet side.

“The continent to the right remains. There are three celestial bodies left, but one of them must be dropped on the continent on the right side. If it fails, we can’t cut down their national mages and protect the Monarchy. Chief of Staff, order to the command post to have Salamanders take down the enemy fleet on the path with the highest priority. At this time, our sacrifices will not matter.”

“Understood, Issuing the highest priority.”

The order was executed immediately.

As the fighter crafts, which were told the meaning of the operation, desperately secured the sector, Hart increased the speed of the fortress, deepened the angle of incidence, and projected one of the remaining three objects onto the right continent.

Regretting that more celestial bodies had not been prepared, the 8th celestial body broke through the enemy’s obstruction and rushed into the target continent.

Although it was more powerful than planned, Hart considered it within the margin of error due to the multiple failed objects. Dropping celestial bodies on three major continents, Hart then sent the 9th body onto an independent continent on the north side.

Perhaps because of the efforts of the fighter crafts, the 9th celestial body also succeeded in rushing in, so six out of nine hit the target. Hart, who threw the last celestial body into the right continent, advanced the fortress to the limit of the enemy ship’s attack range, and looked at Fleur’s situation.

Fleur, the contracted spirit of Hart, wore a hair ornament with crimson jewels on her head and held a staff with huge blue jewels in her hands, with a look of anguish and suppression on her face.

Recognizing that she was in the process of absorbing the massive magic elements being converted, Hart did not tell the people around him about it, but simply communicated his policy.

“The celestial rush was a success. The order prioritizing the suppression of the path is lifted. Originally, I wanted to force the return of the enemy’s invasion by scattering deadly weapons from satellite orbit, but it is impossible to destroy the enemies in the sector. After weeding out the enemy fleet in a dominant state, we will leave the sector. Let the battle continue until further notice.”

“Understood, Lifting top priority order.”

The battle sector is still in a state of chaos, with the wreckage of both forces warships’ were still flying around, with ships and salamanders that were thought to be wreckage moving and shooting.

In the battlefield, far beyond the information processing ability of the human brain, both armies were fighting with battle-linked systems, the decision-making speed of the androids, and the senses of the spirits attached to each of them.

This kind of crushing battle is not the way Hart likes to fight. In terms of strength evaluation, the Monarchy had an advantage, and it was possible to bring it to a state of complete melee so that each ally could not shoot fusion bullets, but if it was just a fight, he wanted to cut it short.

『It’s over.』

After holding out for three hours, Fleur reported that both allies and foes have suffered considerable damage.

After sighing, Hart removed the fortress from the planet’s orbit, and then ordered Salamanders in battle to retreat to the fortress.

After Salamander left the planet, Hart further expanded the damage by firing a total of 3 million fusion rounds at the dense enemy fleets and enemy planets.

The shockwaves of the explosion created a distance between the two armies, as if forcing Hart and others to leave the sector.




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