It was now the fifth day since the invasion of the Prava Divine Kingdom had begun.
At present, eighteen villages and towns centered around the landing point had already been subdued.
“Big Sis, we’ve pulled back from the already-subdued villages and towns, leaving only the minimum necessary forces behind. Relief supplies are currently being transported. All hostile units have already been tagged, but is elimination unnecessary?”
“Hm. If the threat level is low, leaving them alone is fine. You’re measuring them, right?”
“Yes. Monitoring pillars are conducting real-time measurements.”
In the neutralized villages and towns, nothing had been left behind except multi-legged ground carrier platforms and their escorting multi-legged tanks. For public-order maintenance, only bipedal security machines called sheriffs were being sent on patrol.
Since all combat forces had been wiped out in advance according to the measured threat levels, there was no risk of cracks forming in the areas controlled by the <The Tree> faction.
“We’ve informed the residents to continue their work as before, right? The gap in attitude between the cleric-soldiers and the residents really helps.”
“Yes. They seem capable of a certain degree of cost-benefit calculation. The cleric-soldiers, on the other hand, don’t appear able to understand the difference in strength between our side and theirs.”
Eve gave a wry smile at Ichigo’s merciless assessment.
Well, Eve did not exactly understand the thought patterns of fanatics either. She only knew of them as knowledge. Fortunately, the residents other than the cleric-soldiers did not seem devout enough to be called fanatics. At the very least on the surface, they were obeying the instructions issued by the units of <The Tree>, their new rulers.
That said, it was not as though they felt no hostility at all.
“Human beings are individuals who sometimes have things they value more than their own lives. They can’t always make calm judgments like you girls do.”
“Is the cause a collapse in the balance of narcotic compounds in the brain? Certainly, our Brain Units can be controlled to a degree through external stimuli, so I don’t think we would enter a state that could be called fanaticism.”
“Mm, well... yes...”
Ichigo tilted her head as if she simply could not understand, and Eve found herself tilting her own head, wondering how best to explain it.
“We regard serving Big Sis as our highest imperative, but units other than us do not necessarily see it that way. If a unit outside our group were to observe our judgment from the outside, it might interpret that as fanatical behavior. That’s the idea.”
“...?”
“That’s just how it is.”
“Yeah, let’s not have conversations like that in front of me.”
Akane’s explanation had gone rather too far, so Eve reached out and poked her in the cheek with a finger.
“Okaaay, okaaay.”
Squishing Akane’s cheeks as she nodded without resistance, Eve turned back to Ichigo.
“Well, even if you can’t understand it, it’s enough to know it exists. Just classify it as one of those things. Knowledge can always be updated whenever necessary.”
“Understood.”
Akane nodded as well, then resumed her report.
“Over the four days of operations, twenty-six multi-legged tanks have been damaged. All of it was caused by attacks from hostile units. Of those, eleven are damaged beyond repair.”
“Hm. Well, considering the ratio, I suppose that level of damage is within acceptable limits.”
The number of multi-legged tanks participating in this operation had already exceeded one thousand. If only fifteen ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) were damaged and eleven lost, it could safely be said there was no problem at all.
“The operational area is expanding, and the number of towns that can be attacked simultaneously has reached its maximum. Information suppression is nearing its limit.”
“Yes, that’s right. Exactly as planned beforehand. So then, the next target is...”
Everything was progressing exactly according to plan. Every target village and town had already been subdued. No information leaks had been confirmed. All forces scheduled for landing, including reserves, had already been transported, and additional reinforcements were still being moved in.
“The next target is Gheni, the central city of southeastern Prava Divine Kingdom. With the capture of this city, every operational objective for Phase One of the Prava Divine Kingdom subjugation campaign will be achieved.”
“Very nice. Even so, I knew it from the operation chart already, but ground campaigns really do take time.”
Gheni was located roughly 500 km in a straight line from Yaakari Port, the initial landing point. Five days to advance 500 km. That meant they had only advanced 100 km per day.
Compared to an invasion carried out by air power, it certainly took an absurd amount of time.
“We are pacifying every hostile force along the route. An air operation could not do the same.”
Just as Akane pointed out, air power could destroy enemy forces with pinpoint strikes, but it was not suited for exterminating them across a broad area. The amount of force that could be committed would inevitably be smaller, making it far less effective against enemies spread out over a wide region.
“At this point, every region east of Gheni is already under the control of <The Tree>. Supply routes are also under construction. While the movement speed of our forces is certainly slow, overall operational progress remains perfectly smooth.”
The forces being manufactured from the resources mined around Second Fortress Black Iron were being fed into the battlefield one after another. Numbers far exceeding the garrison permanently stationed in the United Kingdom of Aphrasia were being landed in the Prava Divine Kingdom in a steady stream.
“Heh. Moving a massive army really does feel good.”
Pleased by Commander Eve’s excellent mood, <Ringo>, behind the scenes, kept a close eye on the resource balance sheet. Because of the enormous surge in production far beyond normal resource output, the stockpiled supplies were being consumed at a terrifying rate.
They should have been feeding the hungry fortress plenty, yet it was nowhere near enough.
In that sense as well, they wanted to completely conquer the Prava Divine Kingdom and increase the number of resource-production bases.
“Gheni is a hub city that gathers the food and metal resources produced in the surrounding area. Capturing it should pose no problem, but it will probably be impossible to prevent news of <The Tree>’s invasion from spreading.”
Even under a total blockade, all exchange routed through Gheni itself would come to a halt. It would become obvious very quickly that something entirely out of the ordinary had occurred. And if individual combatants like that Chimiya Family unit focused solely on reconnaissance, capturing them would be difficult.
“Even for a great power on the scale of the Prava Divine Kingdom, a two-front war would be difficult. No matter how fast they move, they would need at least half a year to organize a proper counteroffensive force.”
Capture Gheni and fortify it. With half a year, it would be possible to establish an unshakable position. No—according to their estimates, even one month would be sufficient.
“As soon as fortification is complete, the operation will proceed to Phase Two. We will fully subjugate the entire country.”
Gheni was a major city bordering an enormous lake. The surrounding terrain was almost entirely flat, making it an ideal location.
The lake would allow supplies to be transported by flying boats. And once track-laying from Yaakari Port was complete, enormous quantities of resources would be able to be brought in.
“Once the capture of Gheni is complete, we will lift information suppression and begin deploying air power. There are several large cities around Gheni, so we will continue the offensive there.”
“So at last the joint land-air campaign begins. The only problem is how far it is from the air base...”
The combat zone lay some 2,800 km from the air base built in the royal capital of the United Kingdom of Aphrasia. For conventional aircraft already in service, that distance exceeded their range.
As a result, the only forces that could realistically be committed were the Gigantia units, which had effectively no range restrictions, and the carrier groups.
Originally, air power had been concealed specifically because of the threat posed by the Prava Divine Kingdom. Once the campaign to conquer that nation had begun, there was no further reason to hide it.
As a result, their superweapons would also likely be revealed to the Wheat Country of Weizenland, the Kingdom of Lepuitari, and the nations surrounding them.
“The second and third Gigantia ships are also nearing completion. Deployment speed will improve dramatically.”
“Once the runway scheduled for construction in Gheni is complete, it would not be an exaggeration to say the subjugation of the Prava Divine Kingdom will be almost complete. Even the mineral veins already discovered contain several times the reserves found around Second Fortress Black Iron. Our resource balance will improve dramatically.”
“Yes. Once we finally have some room to breathe, we’ll be able to start thinking about what comes next. I’m looking forward to it.”
The campaign against the Prava Divine Kingdom was an operation being carried out mainly for Amajio Salmon’s sake.
Had he not existed, <The Tree> would likely have expanded its influence outward from the United Kingdom of Aphrasia. After all, the Prava Divine Kingdom had been an unknown realm—a nation of magic.
The reason they had carried out this operation anyway, swallowing a certain degree of risk, had much to do with the change in Eve’s own thinking. From a passive policy to active expansionism.
<The Tree> was about to reach a major turning point.
