“No—at least, not right now. Maybe there’s something left in the compressed-memory archive, but...”
“Right. These documents are on doctrine. These are cultural practices. This is the national-power estimate.”
“...Why do you have that stuff ready to hand like it’s nothing?”
Amajio Silverhead sat across from Ixia=Ayame Zero, enjoying tea time.
Publicly, anyway.
The one enjoying it was probably Ixia alone.
Amajio flipped through the paper documents Ixia had handed over and let out a deep sigh.
“We’ve been inserting spy bots. We finally exceeded the target penetration rate. The information density went up, so the accuracy of inductive inference processing has improved.”
“Ahh, sure, sure...”
At this point, saying anything was pointless. It was better for mental health to treat it as that’s just how it works.
“The basic doctrine of the Prava Divine Kingdom is magic. With a demon god that governs all magic at the apex, cleric-mages who were granted a share of divine works rule the country. The populace can handle magic to one degree or another, and those with especially strong skill are elevated as soldier-monks.”
“So that’s why those people keep looking down on us... I’m hopeless at magic...”
Maybe remembering the Prava Divine Kingdom’s resident missionary (diplomat), who had already been expelled from the country, Amajio’s face twisted.
To that group, a human who couldn’t use magic wasn’t human. Only by serving the demon god with total sincerity would such a life be acknowledged—about that level of thinking.
Of course, thanks to <Paraiso>, horrific fighting was continuing on the front line.
A lot of soldier-monks were probably dying at the hands of the very foreigners the Prava Divine Kingdom despised.
“We also copied the texts they call scriptures. There are signs of alteration, but the source can be judged as an AI that belonged to your faction.”
Amajio flipped through the copied scripture as well.
It was only a skim, but with the performance of Amajio’s chassis, every single character should already be stored without omission.
“Deep within <Demon Forest>, the demon god sleeps in a holy land. The ultimate goal is to open a road to that place. The labor to open that road is borne by all citizens. Hey, hey—this is...”
“Right. Most likely, the Prava Divine Kingdom is still continuing to develop <Demon Forest>, aiming for your base, <Trout Nursery>.”
“...”
The origin of the Prava Divine Kingdom was a child of god who had lost the place to return to.
Back then, a tiny, tiny village on the frontier—on the verge of collapse—became the center.
The child of god had been unable to move from injuries, but while helping the villagers, took time and eventually found the place that was meant to be home.
But the body had become one that could no longer go there on its own.
So the child of god begged the villagers—knowing it was unreasonable.
Someday, open a road to that place. The child of god would die eventually, but if possible, be taken there.
Having been helped so much, and with the village already grown into a country, the villagers swore to fulfill the child of god’s wish.
That was the founding myth of the Prava Divine Kingdom.
“There’s a lot I could say, but their objective is clear. Plunder wealth from other nations, secure labor, and complete the road to the holy land.”
“...Sorry. I can’t put it into words.”
At Ixia’s explanation, Amajio shut his eyes with a complicated expression.
“You can wallow in sentiment later.”
“Do you have a human heart at all?”
“No. The issue is the unit called the Chimiya, the ones who develop <Demon Forest>. If the front line situation worsens, there’s a chance they’ll come out.”
The Chimiya families were units that entered <Demon Forest>, killed monsters, cut through the trees, and carved roads into being. Doctrinally, they possessed the greatest power. Enormous budgets were allocated, and they continued development every day—elite among elites.
But the supplies supporting them were reaching their limit.
That was why the Prava Divine Kingdom had begun expeditions into other countries.
“...Right. Holy Knights who keep fighting in <Demon Forest> might appear.”
But those expeditions were starting to stall.
The push on the front line had bogged down, and casualties among the dispatched units were growing.
And the rear had been ravaged by the suddenly appearing <Fenrir>, crushing supply routes. On top of that, many assault units had been lost. Fortunately, no further expansion of damage had occurred beyond that, but it still meant resources and territory had been seized by an overwhelmingly powerful monster.
Most likely, plundering supplies wasn’t progressing as far as originally planned.
“To break the deadlock, they may dispatch their highest combat power. We still haven’t penetrated that far, so everything is prediction, but the ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) front line’s combat strength is on a completely different scale.”
“A knight who fights the monsters in <Demon Forest> every single day. No matter how you look at it, that’s a problem.”
“If <Fenrir> moved to be hunted first, it would be easier to predict their combat strength.”
“They’ll probably prioritize conquering other countries. They can just avoid Fenrir.”
Based on projections by <Ayame Zero> and the Prava Divine Kingdom–assigned Strategic AI <Iris>, further combat power would be committed against the conquest forces.
In terms of force evaluation, there was a strong possibility that powerful Holy Knights—Ruitsari—with tactical-class or strategic-class power would be dispatched.
“So, the kind of level where one person can take on an army. Well, even that <Fenrir> looks like it could casually topple a country, so if those people are trading blows with it, maybe that’s natural...”
“We have not observed it directly. That is only prediction. Do not confuse it. It is nothing more than inference from the information so far.”
“Or rather—Fenrir too, but—just the fact that you people have information on monsters that are basically the embodiment of unreasonable... that’s what shocks me.”
“Based on prior engagement experience, <Fenrir> has combat capability sufficient to fight us effectively.”
“Listening to you, your tech level feels... inconsistent.”
“I invoke the right to remain silent.”
“What right is that supposed to be?”
Keeping up that heartwarming conversation, Amajio turned the documents in hand.
“...”
Prava Divine Kingdom reinforcements. Combat predictions.
The assault rifles scattered across the front line now might not even serve as deterrence.
Even large-caliber heavy machine guns—there was no telling whether they would matter.
What was needed was artillery-class destructive power.
But preparing that was not simple.
The artillery pieces themselves could be manufactured even with the Kingdom of Lepuitari’s current technical ability. But whether they could be operated on the front line—that was hard to say. The target would be a single human.
With so-called fixed heavy artillery, aiming at such a target was impossible.
What was needed was artillery with both massive destructive power and maneuverability.
In other words: tanks.
“I figured you couldn’t decide right away, so I tried not to push. But we don’t have time.”
A few days earlier, Amajio had asked Eve for something: to arrange an external computation device.
But that was a discussion aimed months—or years—ahead. Between Amajio and Eve, who had no relationship of trust, Amajio hadn’t expected things to proceed smoothly.
“And that means?”
“The situation is tight. Is it wrong to recognize it that way?”
“...”
<Ayame Zero> considered it. <Ringo> could probably answer instantly with abundant computation resources, but the undersea fortress <Ayame> didn’t have that much computation prepared.
At most, with a thinking speed several dozen times that of a human, possibilities were weighed.
“In one aspect, I agree. Do not misunderstand: for us as <Paraiso>, either outcome poses no problem.”
“...Yeah. Well, I guess so. Sorry—this is my situation. You’re right. It’s my country’s problem. But like you recognize, this is probably the watershed.”
A scientific-civilization state centered on the Kingdom of Lepuitari.
A magic-religion coalition centered on the Prava Divine Kingdom.
For the super-intellects of <The Tree>, there was no major long-term difference which state ruled this land. At most, given the degree of civilizational progress and the commander’s intentions, <Paraiso> was leaning toward the Kingdom of Lepuitari.
“I’ll transfer everything that belongs to me into your ownership. Including myself. I can’t show every value, but will you consider these terms?”
“...We will consider it.”
