“This is exactly the kind of story that gives you a headache, damn it.”
“Take your complaints up with <Fenrir>.”
Having promptly received the report about <Fenrir>’s appearance from Aide-Envoy Ayame Zero, Amajio Silverhead let out a sigh with a grim expression.
The Prava Divine Kingdom’s offensive was already a colossal headache, and on top of that, an unbelievable bomb had just been dropped into his hands.
Anyone would end up with a furrowed brow.
“Still... <Demon Forest>, huh. That place really is a hellscape, same as ever.”
“We do not know why <Fenrir> suddenly moved south. Do you have any ideas?”
As Amajio muttered while staring at the enlarged, printed satellite photos, the Aide-Envoy asked.
But Amajio shook his head.
“Not a clue. For one thing, this <Fenrir> monster is the first I’ve ever seen. If it were one of the countries directly involved, maybe there’d be some oral tradition or something. But us? We don’t even have contact with <Demon Forest> in the first place.”
“If it were about a hundred and twenty years ago, I might know a bit,” Amajio added with a wry smile.
“My memories from back then are missing a lot, too. Maybe it’s archived in an expanded memory field, but I don’t have enough decode space. That’s the limit of a biological computer.”
“I see. <Ringo> has judged that providing you expansion modules is premature. Please accumulate trust.”
“...Good grief. Fine. We’re going to be dealing with each other for a long time anyway, so I’ll take it slow.”
Amajio, whose unspoken request for parts had been cleanly refused, shrugged. He brought it up whenever he could, but <Paraiso> kept refusing.
From <Ringo>’s perspective, it was not a demand to accept lightly.
Of course it wasn’t.
“...Anyway. The big question is whether the Prava Divine Kingdom will commit forces to restrain this <Fenrir>. It needs watching, but depending on that, the pressure on the front changes completely.”
“Agreed. Whether it diverts forces, ignores it, or throws forces directly at <Fenrir>. The intelligence network inside the divine kingdom is still incomplete. Not much information is coming in.”
“You just casually said something insane... an intelligence network...?”
Lately, the <Paraiso> side had even stopped trying to hide things from Amajio. In a way, it might have been proof of trust.
Even so, setting Amajio himself aside, more than thirty percent of the Kingdom of Lepuitari’s current economy was supported by trade with <Paraiso>. And that share continued to grow by the day.
If <Paraiso> severed relations with the Kingdom of Lepuitari at this point, it was obvious that catastrophic damage would occur.
As a result, <Paraiso> made demands as it pleased, and the Kingdom of Lepuitari had become a party that obediently complied.
The only saving grace was that <Paraiso> generally made decisions from goodwill.
“Fine. I’ve given up on that part. Are you going to keep the weapons and ammunition support going for now?”
“Affirmative. As requested, the production factory has begun operations. A second factory is under construction. It will be a degraded mass-produced monkey model, but we can provide twenty thousand rifles on the next shipment. Naturally, ammunition will be even more than that.”
“...That alone makes the army’s number of guns ten times larger.”
“Wartime exception. It cannot be helped.”
“You’re probably using that phrase wrong, you know?”
Twenty thousand assault rifles. Eight hundred light machine guns. One hundred heavy machine guns. And bullets—numbers with so many digits it was tiring to even count—were written on the paper he’d been handed.
“Do you know the word ‘restraint’?”
“I do. It means to be careful not to act recklessly. Support of weapons and ammunition may be unfortunate for you, but it has been kept to the minimum necessary. Please understand.”
The Aide-Envoy answered with a faint air of pride. Amajio sighed again and leaned back in his chair.
The way they framed things was fundamentally different. Understanding that, Amajio seemed to decide not to push any further.
“Fine. Next is transport. Well, you obviously can’t provide that fuel-stone engine, but... wagons, wagons... Yeah. Outside the country, so of course it’d be like that...”
Next, Amajio raised the matter of how to move the weapons and ammunition to the front lines.
For the time being, <Paraiso> planned to prepare the vehicles as well.
“A large dual-wheel configuration. The body uses high-tensile steel, and weight reduction has been achieved using resin and cellulose as well. Naturally, it is equipped with a powerful suspension. It can be pulled by horses and move even over very rough roads.”
“Airless tires, was it? It also said you can adjust ground pressure?”
“Affirmative. A mechanism was incorporated to allow some adjustment of the contact area. Even where the ground is soft, movement becomes possible by adjusting in advance.”
With overtechnology slipped in so casually, Amajio pressed at the inner corners of his eyes.
“With a special spoke structure, the tire width can be changed. The wagon must be stopped, and adjustments are required for each wheel, but it should withstand transport for the time being.”
“...Yeah. Rubber tires still aren’t even widespread yet. I can already see the bidding war...”
The first to make a fuss would be the merchants’ guild. With that “wagon,” logistics costs could be drastically reduced. On top of that, transport vibration would be reduced as well. Delicate goods could be carried far more safely.
“With your technological capabilities... you will be able to mass-produce it in two hundred years. Wait until then.”
“Normal humans don’t live a hundred years.”
Even so, no particular usage restrictions had been placed on these vehicles being supplied by <Paraiso>. They were handed over merely as one means of delivering cargo to the front. The contract was that once the immediate need was met, further uses would not be their concern.
If this war settled down, the Kingdom of Lepuitari and its neighboring states would likely experience a dramatic civilizational transformation.
“Still... a lump of overtechnology like this being pulled by horses... It’s got a weird charm. Like it’s picturesque, or something...”
And on top of that, enormous quantities of firearms were being loaded inside those vehicles.
“If you mean that it evokes the atmosphere of trial-and-error in the dawn of science and technology, I agree. Or perhaps: the relics of a fallen civilization being used without understanding the mechanisms. Excavated artifacts used in ways far removed from their original purpose. It is a truly fascinating subject.”
“Oh? You get it. What kind of education policy does Eve run, anyway? I don’t get it.”
“If you are interested, I can have various references bound and prepared.”
“Ah... yeah. I don’t want [N O V E L I G H T] it circulating yet, but... as long as it’s going into my private library... sure. Can you do that?”
“No problem. I will deliver them directly to the estate.”
It was complete mixing of public and private, but he was, in his own way, a duke at the top of the nation. If anything, it was more like royal diplomacy.
Probably.
“Well, looks like we can buy time for now. By the way—if you <Paraiso> people put forces into that front, how far can you go?”
“...At minimum, with the current force distribution, pacification of everything is possible. <Ringo> has calculated it so. However, if that is executed, we would need to behave as conquerors. The Commander does not want that.”
“Huh... you’re all too soft, seriously. Still, knowing you’re sitting in the back makes it easy for me. At least my country’s safe.”
“The uncertain factor is that monster. There is some experience engaging other types of monsters, but the baseline judgment is that it is a lifeform that should be avoided.”
“Oh... that’s news to me. I don’t have anything left in my memory about what monsters are, but what I do have is all data up to just before the abandonment of our stronghold. There might be some interesting information in there.”
“That is under consideration. We will contact you again.”
“Work talk, huh.”
