“I will once again provide a report on the forces we are capable of deploying.”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
<Ringo> was about to give a force-readiness report for Commander Eve, while also sharing the information with Amajio. That said, Amajio only needed the data transmitted to him, so this was really more like a casual briefing that doubled as a social gathering.
“First, our reconnaissance satellites for information gathering. At present, we are operating a total of 27 satellites on a trial basis.”
“Satellites, huh... Is that really the number?”
“We’re being cautious because our intelligence on threat organisms... ah, monsters, I mean. Our intelligence on threat organisms is still incomplete. There are species that can attack all the way up into orbital altitude...”
“...What?”
They had suddenly veered off the main subject, but since the timing was convenient, they told Amajio about the wyverns and about whatever it was that fired beam cannons at them—probably some sort of plant.
“Seriously, you people really are out there enjoying the full fantasy experience, huh?”
“Hey, don’t joke about that! We’re fighting for our lives over here!”
Amajio’s face had stiffened, and Eve snapped right back at him. That said, considering that Amajio himself had built a nation by essentially rewriting history, he was hardly in a position ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ to talk.
“Fine, I get it. I already knew those monsters were a nuisance, but I didn’t realize it was that bad. More importantly, what kind of cheat is it when a single life-form can attack something in satellite orbit?”
“On that point, I completely agree...”
“That is why we are keeping satellite deployment to the bare minimum. Six GPS satellites, eight resource-survey satellites, six reconnaissance satellites, two deep-space surveillance satellites, and five gravity-measurement satellites.”
The number of satellites was small, but that was a different matter entirely if they had launched them in only a few years. After confirming <The Tree>’s history, Amajio made a helpless face.
“Honestly... I can’t believe you got this far in such a short time...”
“Well, for better or worse, there was nothing around us at all. If we had appeared in the middle of <Demon Forest>, we probably would’ve been finished too. Guess we just got lucky.”
“Yeah. All right, we can get back to that later. Right now we’re confirming the forces for the Prava Divine Kingdom campaign.”
The forces currently landed in the Prava Divine Kingdom were as follows.
Three land battleships Jotun.
1,640 multi-legged tanks operating together. Another 202 assigned as defensive forces for Yaakari Port and the surrounding region.
56 multi-legged ground carrier platforms. Ten assigned to each Jotun, and 26 deployed around Yaakari Port.
A large number of multi-legged attack craft. 800 on each Jotun, 4 on each multi-legged ground carrier platform, and a total of 2,230 across the occupied villages and towns.
840 anti-personnel drones and 145 ground-attack drones.
35 doll-machine communicators, and 140 bipedal escort units <Primates>, with 4 accompanying each communicator.
And 6,840 sheriff security machines for public-order maintenance, distributed across the various villages and towns.
“Seriously, those numbers sound like a bad joke.”
“Even this is us holding back to the minimum. We’re planning to ramp up production before the invasion of the Holy Capital, so for now this is just the temporary baseline.”
And on top of that, the giant transport ship Midgards, protected by a fleet that included Naglfar-class and Fringhornir-class ships, was traveling back and forth to Second Fortress Black Iron, diligently transporting troops and materials.
Their strength was only going to keep increasing from here.
“For the time being, we’ve secured the relay city of Gheni. We’ll build a base on its outskirts. Right now we’ve got all three land battleships concentrated there, which is honestly excessive force, so after leaving behind escort elements, we’ll dispatch the three ships to suppress the surrounding areas.”
“The people on the other side aren’t going to get much peace and quiet if that’s the case...”
“It’s also to put pressure on them and force them to gather their forces in the Holy Capital. We resume the invasion in three days.”
They would send forces east and west with Gheni as the center and completely bring down the southern part of the Prava Divine Kingdom.
That was expected to take about three weeks.
Also, because the occupied territory would increase, their total forces would triple from the current level. To stabilize the local command system, they planned to construct a fortress in Gheni and install a stationary Strategic AI there.
“And the other thing that catches my eye is this Gigantia. That’s your air power, right?”
“Ah, that. The airborne carriers Gigantia-class and the airborne escort ships Titan-class. We only have two groups right now, but we’re planning to add two more.”
“I’m genuinely grateful you had the sense not to come to my country with those.”
“Well, we had at least that much sense. Besides, to be honest, they’re a little lacking. Want to see? The anti-wyvern battle. Honestly, if we’re facing the same number of wyverns, I’m worried about our striking power.”
<Ringo> sent Amajio the recorded combat data from the Titan-versus-wyvern battle. After reviewing it, Amajio let out a long sigh.
“...So if you make a big move carelessly, you end up drawing the monsters in.”
“Exactly. We have no idea what’s buried where. Feels like tap-dancing in a minefield.”
If they carelessly flooded the area with electromagnetic signals, the wyverns would come. And while it was at a distance, there was also the absurd monster known as <The Reflector> waiting in the wings.
To begin with, even the Mountain Boar they had fought once in the Forest Kingdom of Levresta had enough defensive power to withstand railgun bombardment, and multiple similar individuals had already been confirmed to be active.
“So if we’re heading north in particular, we need to store up plenty of strength first. We’ll also want to commit air power, so runway construction is necessary too.”
“Now I really understand why the Kingdom of Lepuitari’s response has been so halfhearted. If you’re dealing with things like this, human countries really must look like something you can handle however you want.”
He was probably recalling the trade negotiations up to now. Amajio muttered the words with a bitter tone.
“It’s not like we were handling things carelessly. As you can see, no matter how much we have, resources are never enough. If all we have to do is send transport ships and they come back loaded with resources, that’s a deal we welcome.”
“The difference in perspective is just too extreme. Well, you’ve probably already identified likely mineral veins, right? From what I can tell, the United Kingdom of Aphrasia also seems like it probably has a fair amount of buried resources. So you’re going to keep pouring things into that side too?”
“When gamers discover a new mineral vein, the first thing they do is secure it, right? Besides, we need to diversify our production bases.”
“Well, I can’t argue with that.”
Declaring that he would leave that area to their policy, Amajio changed the subject.
“So, there’s something I want to ask sooner rather than later. Going forward, how do you intend to deal with the Kingdom of Lepuitari? Right now I can still help. We could even turn it into a vassal state.”
Amajio said that, but as far as <The Tree> was concerned, there was nothing particularly appealing about making it a vassal state.
“Yeah, about that. Honestly, even if we incorporated a human nation as a unit, it would be inefficient.”
And that was exactly the problem.
It was possible to educate the population and make them produce resources.
But in the end, there was no way they could surpass AI-controlled machine groups in efficiency.
“Well... yeah. Obviously. I mean, well... yeah, of course.”
Faced with the unvarnished truth from <The Tree>’s commander, Amajio could only respond with a wry smile.
“That said, I’d still feel bad just abandoning them, and since it’s the country you built, Mr. Amajio, I think I’d be fine with giving it some support. It seems like the possibility of it becoming a threat has pretty much disappeared now too.”
The Player known as Amajio Salmon had been incorporated into <The Tree>’s faction. And the country in question was one where that same Amajio held overwhelming authority, while Amajio himself was ageless. Barring something like a coup, he would continue to reign as its de facto ruler indefinitely.
If that was the case, then for the time being the Kingdom of Lepuitari could be judged a friendly nation.
“There’s no real benefit in occupying it and trying to force things. At least not at this point. Let’s see... we could provide technical assistance. It sounds like some of that’s already happening, but I wouldn’t mind increasing that under family privilege.”
“Ah... mm. Let’s put that on hold for now. I’ve got my own obligations too, and it’s not something that can be changed overnight. For the time being, let’s move in the direction of expanding trade volume.”
“Okay. Oh, right—what about Fuelstone? Want to increase the numbers?”
“That stuff, huh. Sure, we can increase it... though, come to think of it, how are you mining that, anyway?”
“Oh, that. We still don’t understand the principle yet, but apparently it calms down when soaked with water...”
