“Does it really come down to me having to step in?”
“I’m truly sorry, but our assessment is that we can’t resist unless we use everything we can get our hands on...”
“Hm...”
Amajio Silverhead—the hereditary Grand Duke of the Kingdom of Lepuitari, and the supervising general in charge of the Bureau of Engineering—groaned.
The location was an officers-only bar prepared inside the Ministry of the Navy. In the small interior were Amajio and one other person: Fleet Admiral Alban Breias. Normally there would be a few more people, but today the place had been reserved.
That was how heavy the topic was.
“I haven’t gone head-to-head with them myself, either. Are they really that strong?”
“Even if we wanted to conduct direct reconnaissance, they’re still very far away. And there aren’t any ports in that area with proper harbor facilities, so it’s difficult to insert personnel.”
“You bullied them too hard. That’s why I said you needed to crack down on piracy.”
“I have no excuse.”
Amajio let out a sigh and swirled the glass in his hand.
Clink—the ice made a sound.
“Well, it’s in the past. So what kind of information do we have on them? If you think about it normally, their invasion speed is too fast.”
“Yes. The Prava Divine Kingdom’s main force is its cleric-soldier corps. Cleric-soldiers are an all-purpose army made up entirely of mage-warriors. In that country, it’s said that anyone who can use magic is conscripted as a cleric-soldier.”
“...”
“I see. Just hearing that makes me want to run.”
Mage-warriors.
That was the blanket term for warriors capable of wielding magic in some form.
“With physical enhancement, they can invade faster than horses. They can operate regardless of day or night, and they can carry heavy equipment on their own feet. They could take a stone fortress overnight. They can reproduce, with nothing but their bodies, the kind of attack a battering ram delivers.”
“So they’re walking tanks.”
“Ah, yes. They could likely be employed in a manner similar to the combat machine called a tank that you taught me about long ago, Lord Amajio. The problem is that each individual cleric-soldier possesses that level of power.”
The Prava Divine Kingdom did not publicly disclose its population or the scale of its military, but prior intelligence-gathering had allowed for rough estimates.
“If thousands of individuals are moving around with power on the level of a tank... well, no country is going to be able to stand against that.”
“They attack cities and dismantle the defenders’ combat power. After crushing resistance forces, multiple personnel garrison the area to maintain public order. The seized supplies are simply carried on their backs for rear transport. Those who can work are sent to the homeland as serfs. That, too, is possible to suppress by force with only a few cleric-soldiers, and they can carry far more provisions for the rear-march as well.”
“They’re like a jack-in-the-box...”
In reality, cleric-soldiers were an extremely capable unit.
With magic, their offensive power ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) was high, their mobility was high, and they could even be employed as heavy machinery.
“The most troublesome part is their loyalty. They are, in principle, faithful to their missions and humane. Uprisings are less likely to occur even in occupied territory, and it’s said that if you don’t resist, you won’t be treated cruelly.”
“So even resistance is harder to organize. Long-term, you can deal with it somehow, but short-term, they’re practically unassailable.”
And their abilities were also why they could conduct long marches without supply lines.
“They can take a city with a small number. They resupply in the city they took and move on to the next, repeating that cycle. As they advance, the front stretches, so the invasion speed is slowing—but it’s safe to assume that everything in their wake is fundamentally indoctrinated.”
“So it’s not like only the invasion force is sticking out ahead. They operate by unit, so it’s hard to settle it with one decisive battle...”
“And the fact that just a few nearby units merging is enough to constitute decisive-battle strength is also why the nations can’t contain them.”
Because their combat power was too high, even delaying actions were impossible with small forces. You had to grind them down by throwing large numbers at them—but it seemed that while countries were gathering troops, they were detected, and sometimes even hit with a counterstrike.
“To oppose them... If we put machine guns against them, we can respond, right?”
“Probably. However, the machine guns we operate are emplaced weapons. Their deployment speed is a problem.”
“So we have no choice but to dig in and meet them. I’ll leave the selection of interception points to you, but we’re still short on ground forces.”
If they sat on their hands, they would not make it in time. If anything, Amajio wanted to form units and launch a counter-invasion—but—
“We can gather the manpower. But we’re overwhelmingly short on equipment.”
“That is the biggest issue. The elders are pressing us—asking whether you can do something about it, Lord Amajio...”
As Alban Breias bowed his head apologetically, Amajio let out another sigh.
“There are things I can do and things I can’t. I can’t exactly produce weapons out of nothing. I can’t—but... right now, I have an idea.”
“Yes... If we can somehow obtain their cooperation...”
“I told you before. This is the devil’s whisper. One wrong step and our kingdom will...”
The Kingdom of Lepuitari was currently trading with a staggering existence.
A nation with power beyond comparison—<Paraiso>.
Even the delicate glass they were drinking from, the ice inside it, and the liquor used to make the cocktails were all products of <Paraiso>. The ice itself was made in this bar, but the ice machine was something they had purchased from <Paraiso>.
“To be clear, we aren’t hoping for military force. If we did that, our kingdom would become nothing more than a vassal state. But if we can obtain the provision of weapons and ammunition under the justification of compensation—”
“Well, you can always chase the technology later. I won’t refuse, either. Technology without a foundation doesn’t develop, so I’d rather avoid it if possible. But in a crisis that threatens the state’s very survival, I guess we can’t afford to say that.”
<Paraiso>’s national power was high.
In no time at all, the Kingdom of Lepuitari had been swallowed into the <Paraiso> economic sphere.
Now, to the point where the port of the capital, Moar, had effectively become exclusive to <Paraiso>.
Day and night, <Paraiso> transport ships went in and out, continuing massive exchanges of goods.
“Alright. I understand your resolve. I’ll negotiate. This is the path you decided on.”
“Thank you.”
“Ideally, we attract a manufacturing plant. At minimum, we import weapons. Technology transfer... well... those girls might nod along to that...”
“...That’s reassuring.”
“Just so you know. I can convey your requests and negotiate the details, but I’m not in a position to demand anything from them. Don’t get that wrong. We’re the ones asking.”
“We understand completely. There are still foolish, benighted people who misunderstand that, but we will restrain them on our end.”
“Good. If someone pulls something stupid, I’ll crush them personally.”
“Yes. We’ll engrave it on our hearts.”
◇◇◇◇
“Whew...”
Back in his room, Amajio Salmon let out a sigh.
“Guess it’s time for me to make up my mind, too.”
Several months had passed since the first meeting with <Paraiso>.
The thing he had been agonizing over.
His conversation with Eve, the master of <Paraiso>.
Everything <Paraiso> had done so far—and what it was aiming for.
Amajio Salmon steeled himself and removed one of his own shackles.
“Guh...”
The internal information-processing unit he had kept sealed away.
From the day he learned of <Paraiso>’s existence, he had been scraping together his limited resources to repair it—and now, for the first time in 120 years, he activated it.
“Good morning. Commander Sir.”
“...It’s been a while, Assistant.”
“Yes-yes, Commander Sir. Affirmative. It has been 122 years, 16 days, 11 hours, 26 minutes, and 14 seconds.”
Amajio had no way of knowing whether that span was accurate. Still, faced with the length of time that had passed, he sighed again.
“Straight to work. Within the communications domain, are there any terminals you can connect to?”
“Yes-yes, Commander Sir. Beginning search.”
His Assistant executed using a portion of the information-processing unit inside his brain. As a result, its processing speed could not honestly be called fast. Originally, it was an intelligent AI designed to operate using external computational resources.
But it could do the bare minimum.
“Search complete. One common device of general terminals. Additionally, twelve connection points belonging to other forces have been confirmed.”
Just as he thought.
He input commands in his mind and expanded the display frequency range of his vision.
As if applying a filter, electromagnetic waves outside visible light flooded into Amajio’s sight.
“...I expected it, but. Huh? This is completely invaded.”
The electromagnetic waves operated by <Paraiso> filled Amajio’s vision to the brim.
