Chapter 2 – Supreme Ruler of the Sea
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Around the same time, the battle was also going to start at the town Siracusa near the border of Trystovy.
The main army of Answerer Kingdom numbered around 100000. In addition 50000 troops were also gathering from Europa Church’s pope territory as reinforcement.
A force of 150000 in total was a large army that deserved special mention even in the history of Aurelia Continent.
It was a large army that even Answerer King Alexei might have never seen before. In front of such large army, Count Isaac Valberg who was entrusted with its command had a triumphant air.
(This is my unrivalled army.)
Surely nobody could blame Isaac for having such vision.
In this continent, there was no other country that could mobilize multiple armies to this degree.
Furthermore the enemy Trystovy Kingdom army numbered less than 30000.
(When I win my fame will be talked until a hundred years in the future.)
Isaac closed his eyes and saw himself liberating Trystovy Kingdom from the beastman king and be welcomed with cheers.
──Even such a scene wasn’t just a dream by any means.
The expectation on him who was personally given words of encouragement from the pope and bestowed with a sword directly from the king was in a different level compared to his former classmate Boris.
Isaac had the pride that he was the one shouldering the next generation of Answerer Kingdom’s military.
The reason why Boris felt jealous and his heart got distorted also lied in here.
The expectation that people put in the northern frontline and Trystovy frontline was too different.
「……King Baldr still hasn’t appeared?」
「He must be losing his nerve.」
Machiavelli who tasted defeat in Nedras Kingdom and returned in shame got demoted before returning once more to this battlefield.
For him the ultimate enemy that had to be defeated was Baldr. He was yearning for the day Baldr appeared in the battlefield.
The commander of the reinforcement from the church was Archbishop MacManus, but from the start the church wasn’t a battle organization.
Although there were also a lot of military personnel among their believers, the church’s administration couldn’t allow for a believer to be entrusted with the command of the army.
In the end, the actual commander was still Machiavelli.
Although his ranked had been lowered, there was no way there was other bishop with battle experience as abundant as Machiavelli in the church.
This time for sure he would extract payback, no, he would make him get the divine punishment that wouldn’t allow him to make a comeback anymore.
Machiavelli survived that battlefield in Nedras Kingdom with that determined purpose.
「……We have to be even more vigilant against that beastman’s king when he is outnumbered instead.」
Baldr had come this far by always defeating the many with the few.
He defeated Haurelia Kingdom at Antrim, and then Trystovy Dukedom, and finally the combined armies of Nedras Kingdom and Answerer Kingdom.
Baldr always overturned the adversity with fantastic knowledge that overturned the concept of war until now on its head in his every battle.
That was exactly why Machiavelli believed that Baldr was the incarnation of demon.
He was instinctually sensing that he couldn’t measure Baldr with human common sense.
The only thing that could defeat that demon was resolve of martyrdom to sacrifice oneself with pure piety.
He didn’t want to badmouth his ally, but Answerer Kingdom army was mistaken in their type of resolve.
It didn’t matter whether the enemy was strong or weak, whether their allies would die or live, they should just focus on killing Baldr and nothing else.
Machiavelli was stubbornly making up his mind like that.
「It’s impossible for that beast to lose his nerve or the like. I can swear on god’s name for that.」
Isaac looked awkward by the way Machiavelli spoke that was filled with conviction, but he asked with an ill-natured smile.
「Then where could that man be……?」
「Either he is already in this battlefield without us noticing, or he is in a completely different battlefield……」
The capital Millianna would fall into danger if this Siracusa fell.
Machiavelli couldn’t even imagine of this battlefield as a place that could be ignored.
However Baldr had continuously obtained victory until now because he had betrayed every single imagination that everyone had on him.
「Dammit, accursed demon, what are you planning this time?」
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「The enemy is really in high spirit huh.」
Ramillies chuckled lightly after hearing the report from the observation unit in the hot-air balloon.
The cannons that Trystovy Kingdom could finally use at battle was ten, while for gun they had around 500.
Most likely Answerer Kingdom still hadn’t succeeded with their mass production attempt.
That meant that the enemies would only be able to use the holy relics in the church’s storage.
If they wanted to equip an army that big, surely their storage would immediately get emptied.
「Even if they have the example, they won’t be able to mass produce it in one or two years anyway. And Answerer Kingdom is also lacking the gunpowder itself. They won’t be able to use the weapons as much they like.」
「True. Even our country that has been preparing for a long time won’t be able to use gunpowder as lavishly as now if we can’t import saltpeter from the southern continent.」
Ramillies’s subordinate who had followed him since Antrim, Barnard nodded in agreement.
「Surely they’ll be disappointed when things ended up contrary to their expectations.」
Gerhart chuckled cynically.
At the Warring States era, matchlock and cannon that was called as Kunikuzushi(Country Destroyer) certainly got popular in the blink of eye.
However there were a lot of problems during the process. Especially in regard to saltpeter. If they couldn’t import saltpeter from Ming dynasty of China through the intermediation of western merchants, it was considered to be almost impossible to use gun and cannon as their battle strength.
At that time only very few feudal lords like Oda Nobunaga who was in control of Sakai, Ootomo who was in control of Kyushu Hakata, and Shimazu who was in control of Tanegashima, the birthplace of gun that could make use of guns for battle in large scale.
That was why Ramillies believed that this war would be over already by the time Answerer Kingdom succeeded in mass production.
「Even so, I wonder why did the church hide those relics. Even we would be placed in really bad spot if only they offered the information to Answerer Kingdom quicker.」
Barnard said in puzzlement.
Even Baldr needed extremely long time to reproduce several new technologies.
If the church felt like it, perhaps Trystovy Dukedom would still continue to survive even now.
「There must be some kind of religious reason for it. After all the church has the tendency to extremely hate allowing the relics to leak to outsider.」
Ramillies’s guess was completely correct.
Originally these technologies were something that mustn’t exist in Aurelia Continent.
Technology would accelerate progress. Even if somebody else would copy it one day, having the lead was an extremely big advantage.
At the same time technology was also something that would become obsolete one day.
Baldr decided to get into an all-out war with Answerer Kingdom and Europa Church at this time because of such reason.
If he had ten years, then the difference of national power would grow so big that Answerer Kingdom wouldn’t even be able to go to war with Trystovy Kingdom, but there was no way Answerer Kingdom would just allow that to happen.
Then it would be better to do the war in a timing where they could make use of their advantage to the maximum effect.
「I don’t know what kind of reason they have but……let’s finish this in one go. We won’t even need to trouble his majesty for this.」
It would be a big mistake if you think his majesty will come here honestly.
You fools are still underestimating his majesty too much.
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「I’m not worried anymore at this point but, I’ll still pray for your fortune in war Baldr.」
「You too Urraca──sorry that I was a bit rough.」
「T-t-t-there was no such thing. Just this much is……oops」
Urraca’s legs were shaking like a newly born fawn. She almost lost her balance and hurriedly held on the deck’s cord.
That was just how passionate her love affair with Baldr last night was.
Or rather Satsuki also joined at the same time, so Urraca had to take on two King’s Gate owners simultaneously. She was completely out cold until the morning came.
And then her waist and legs hadn’t completely recovered even now that the sun had climbed until the zenith. It was clear just how intense the assault she had encountered last night.
「You are feeble nya. Urraca should train a bit more nya.」
「I don’t have a zombie-like recovery power like you-!」
As expected from King’s Gate. The innocent and passive Satsuki was already gone.
Right now she was a sexual prodigy that unleashed new techniques by taking full advantage of King’s Gate stamina. Together with Agatha who could turn Baldr into a wild beast with her inviting and submissive stance, they were the unchallenged two-top in the bedroom.
Silk whose stomach was getting bigger day by day was becoming very calm. Perhaps the feeling of happiness as a mother was growing bigger inside her. But when her pregnancy was over, she was bound to join in again in order to catch up with the others.
With Tylos’s prediction, there was no doubt that the child that would be born would be male. Anyone who worked in Trystovy royal court shared the same conviction.
It was said that if Tylos was showing concern to Baldr’s health, it was a sign that tomorrow Baldr would definitely catch cold.
It was unknown how far that butler was going to keep evolving.
「Well, there was good thing happened so I won’t say anything more.」
Even though she was teased by Satsuki and tormented by lethargy and muscle pain, Urraca was in a good mood.
Living on the sea would make one’s instinct sharper.
A sailor wouldn’t live long if his sixth sense didn’t work when facing the mother nature as his opponent.
She got the feeling that this time a new life from her and Baldr had dwelled within her for sure.
It was the crystallization of their love, the child who would shoulder the future of Majorca Kingdom’s navy.
She was feeling the weight of life that came from heaven to dwell in her womb.
「──Mumu-? This presence, Urraca-sama?」
For some reason Tylos could be seen looking as though he had received some kind of signal in the capital Millianna around this time.
「Then, I’ll leave the rest to you Urraca.」
「Leave it to me. The fleet of this Urraca-sama is invincible under the heaven.」
Baldr patted Urraca’s head *yosh yosh* soothingly before jumping over La Mancha’s deck to land on the wharf.
「Aah! Wait for me Baldr!」
Satsuki also followed behind him in a hurry. There at the airport a force of around 5000 beastmen under the command of Gitze and Lagunitas was lined up at the harbor.
「Your majesty, Gitze and 3000 volunteer soldiers of Nordland Empire are prepared to depart!」
「Similarly Lagunitas and 2000 beastman corps of Nedras Kingdom has finished preparing to depart!」
「Good work.」
This was a small port city Nergal that was around 10 km south from Ninliver that was located at the west coast of Nedras Kingdom.
Baldr was planning to secretly cross Nedras Kingdom by relying on beastman’s mobility and attacked Answerer Kingdom army that was trying to capture Siracusa from behind.
However in order to keep their movement a secret, they would only move at night. At the same time Urraca was moving her fleet to the north to make it looked like they would forcefully land on Answerer Kingdom.
Baldr’s achievement of landing on Ninliver and conquer Nedras Kingdom in one day had naturally been told to Answerer Kingdom too.
If they learned that a large scale fleet was going north, they would be forced to deploy a lot of soldiers to protect the capital.
The fleet under Urraca’s command would hold 100000 soldiers in place without even a single land soldier on board.
Even after sending out large armies of 100000 to Siracusa and 80000 to Angelholm, Answerer Kingdom still had a leeway with its military force.
It wasn’t just for show that it had the biggest population on the continent.
It would be troubling if that excess troops were sent out to Siracusa or other place.
Therefore he wanted to make as many enemy soldiers as possible to be idle.
Of course that wasn’t all. Urraca was also planning to completely choke the life out of Answerer Kingdom navy.
If Answerer Kingdom navy could be destroyed, there would be no more sea force that could rival the allied forces, much less surpassing them.
Trystovy Kingdom navy was still in the middle of reconstruction, so the actual initiative was still held by the maritime guild. Considering that, it was the fleets of Sanjuan Kingdom and Majorca Kingdom that could be said as the ruler of the sea.
A sailor whose heart didn’t leap toward that prospect wasn’t a sailor at all. That was what Urraca thought.
「……After all it feels that I won’t be able to enjoy war calmly If I take too much time here.」
Although raising child on sea was something common for Parma House, it wouldn’t be possible to raise child at the spare time while the fleet was getting busily engaged with enemy fleet in war.
If Urraca’s instinct was correct, the indication of pregnancy would appear in several more months.
When that happened, as expected even Urraca would have to limit her activity.
「It’s troubling if those guys keep being arrogant like that forever.」
Unlike Marmara Sea, Orkney Sea was still the turf of Answerer Kingdom navy. It was difficult to oppose them head-on even for Horntbeck Kingdom.
That Odysseus said that, so there was no doubt that they were formidable opponent.
「The man that Federigo allowed to escape at the cost of his life, what was his name again……if he is still alive, I’ll finish him off this time for sure.」
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「Matching the aim!」
「Target locked!」
「Fire.」
「Sir!」
The high speed schooner that Percival boarded, Poltava fired the cannon at one of its sides toward the fishing boat that was its target.
The cannon shells flew in a parabolic arc. Large water pillars rose up and the fishing boat was swallowed by a curtain of water like a waterfall.
When the water pillar vanished, the fishing boat appeared in a completely soaked state although it was still unharmed.
「……Almost huh.」
「Still, the accuracy has gone up greatly. We will hit it next time.」
Domitory consoled Percival.
Percival was able to recall Domitory to be the flagship captain of his new fleet. It was a godsend.
He was really deeply indebted to his mentor and superior Sergei.
「If it’s that Tormenta Negra then she will hit it with one shot.」
「Even so, it will be difficult to deal with the rocket arrow with just one ship.」
「……Certainly it’s as you say. However if this cannon become popular, a single heroic ship won’t be able to change the sea battle anymore.」
Of course the fact that the sailors’ skill was the cornerstone of the navy’s strength still wouldn’t change.
However in the future from here, the quality and quantity of cannon would become the most important factor in battle.
No matter how much someone polished their skill, in the end cannon was a probability weapon.
Furthermore the bombardment range would we dramatically improved in the future.
The time a genius like Urraca could act like the god of battlefield wouldn’t last any longer.
However there was no doubt that Urraca wouldn’t stop absorbing new technology and polished her skill.
That was the only thing that Percival couldn’t help but felt jealous at.
「If I can be greedy, I want to have one more fleet. This fleet is finally starting to get the hang of shooting cannon. If there is one more fleet, the breadth of options that we can use as strategy will increase.」
「Unfortunately the majority of the navy is in the rocket arrow faction. To be honest I myself think that cannon is hard to use.」
Cannon was simply difficult to use. Its recoil was strong, and then experience and instinct were needed to calculate the shaking of the ship and the wind speed for every single shot.
That was its difference with rocket arrow that could be scattered around in large amount.
Furthermore the barrel’s lifespan was short. It also needed a lot of maintenance like removing the soot or preventing it from heating up.
If an old man who hated new thing was asked for his opinion, they might say that this thing was only a waste of time that didn’t have any use.
「Do you still think that even now?」
「Not anymore. If its accuracy increase, we will be able to one-sidedly annihilate a fleet equipped with rocket arrow from outside its range.」
The cannon had a lot of problem, but it had a merit that made up for it.
Although there was still a mountain of problems with it, Domitory felt that it was worth it to spend effort to master its use.
「I think the top brass will also change their mind if we show result but, I wonder if we’ll have the leeway for that……」
Even in Percival’s perception, the battle on sea had changed drastically within these several years.
A long time ago, they wouldn’t even think about building a fortress above the sea like Gigante. He believed that ship control and the strength of marines would decide the result of sea battle.
Most likely from here on he wouldn’t be able to see boarding action like in the past anymore.
It was something lonely for Percival who spent his youth as a marine commander.
The era where marine running around on the deck with sword in hand to cut down the enemies gloriously certainly existed.
However that era would never come back anymore.
「Tacking ready!」
「Sir!」
「Left attack ready!」
「Sir!」
「Fire!」
「Sir!」
Another four explosions enveloped the fishing boat. This time the fishing boat was definitely turned into scraps at the bottom of the sea.
The ship handling and the proficiency of the gunners were definitely improving.
It was just a bit more until they reached the standard that he wished for. Percival nodded deeply in satisfaction because they were approaching such level.
But ironically, fate didn’t give Percival any more time.
「──At four o’clock, that’s a friendly contact boat.」
「I wonder if it’s coming to send us some nasty remarks again.」
Actually Percival’s fleet was devouring money.
The number of top brass who attacked Precival saying that he was wasting precious gunpowder just for training was a lot.
As expected it was difficult to erase the stigma from his defeat at Marmara Sea and running away while abandoning their ally Trystovy Dukedom fleet.
If Sergei didn’t give him any support, there was no doubt that even now he would still be kept in low position.
「It’s sending flag signal.」
「Decipher it.」
「enemy fleet three countries discovered. numbered around 70. hurry to gather」
「──Seventy you said?」
It was a number that almost rivaled the total force of Answerer Kingdom fleet.
That number was impossible with just Sanjuan Kingdom and Majorca Kingdom.
Right now the fleet of Trystovy Kingdom’s maritime guild was returning to its original duty of guarding the sea routes. There was no doubt that the fleet of Horntbeck Kingdom was joining the other side.
「──It seems heaven isn’t giving me any more time.」
「Even so admiral has obtained the chance to restore your honor. Let’s take this as a good thing for now.」
「You have a point. I should be thankful that I can even still fight.」
Percival wouldn’t be able to endure if he only continued to smolder in obscurity where he wouldn’t be able to repay Federigo at all for saving him.
Of course he had anxiety, but first nothing would begin unless he entered the battlefield.
「I’ll teach you that I’m not the same person from before, Tormenta Negra.」
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Answerer Kingdom navy that discovered Urraca’s fleet temporarily fell into a panicked state.
The nightmare in Nedras Kingdom where the enemy landed forcefully near the capital and destroyed the country in a single stroke was revived in their mind.
If the capital got occupied and the king was defeated, then the war would be lost even if they were victorious everywhere else.
In addition if their home port was destroyed just like what happened at Trystovy Dukedom, it would become a great shame for the navy.
In that case, there was no other option other than going out and intercepted the enemy.
The winning percentage would be higher if they lured the enemy as close as possible, but if they carelessly allowed any surprise attack or landing to succeed, the fury of King Alexei would physically lop off the navy’s top brasses’ head.
「To think that they seriously appear here.」
The navy minister Nikita was tapping the desk in irritation and bitter expression.
He had been called by the military minister Borodino just now and got reminded to not make any blunder no matter what.
If by any chance the enemy succeeded in attacking the homeport, it wouldn’t be strange even if he got executed.
This attack came just when he had finally managed to climb until the post of navy minister. He couldn’t help but cursing his bad luck.
For a military personnel, there was only the military minister above the navy minister. Only someone from prestigious military family with long history could sit in such post.
Nikita didn’t come from a prestigious family. He couldn’t climb any higher than his current position. To be honest, he would be happier if there wasn’t any war.
「Spread out a patrolling net that is centered around the second and third fleets! Don’t allow them to invade any deeper no matter the cost!」
「I shall convey this order immediately!」
Answerer Kingdom’s combined fleet was made up from four main fleets and coast guard fleet.
The first fleet belonged to Konigsberg which was the last line of defense of the capital. It was leading more than thirty ships. The commander was Admiral Leonid.
The second fleet was based at Novorossiysk that was located near Nedras Kingdom. They stood at the forefront against the alliance fleet.
This fleet was also made up from 30 ships. The fleet commander was Admiral Yuri who was known as a brave and broadminded general.
And then the third fleet was based at Arkhangelsk at the north, protecting the intensely cold northern sea route.
This fleet was protecting the whole northern area of Answerer Kingdom that was the widest sea area. Currently only around ten ships from this fleet would participate in the battle. The commander was Admiral Anatoli.
Originally the fourth fleet that was based at Sevastopol at the northwest would join this battle, but because that fleet was destroyed at the expedition to Trystovy Kingdom, the second fleet was currently also taking care of their duty.
In addition there was the newly established raid fleet under Percival’s command that was made up of twelve ships. There were also thirty ships of coast guard fleet that were all small sized and couldn’t participate at naval battle on the open sea.
Those were the whole Answerer Kingdom navy.
They couldn’t possibly leave their ports completely empty, so realistically the number of ships they could invest to the decisive battle was around 70.
「They’re really underestimating us.」
「Exactly. They’re no different from lowly pirates from gentle sea like Marmara Sea who has let their success get into their head!」
The one who was expressing his anger with rough breathing was the commander of the second fleet Admiral Yuri.
Of course they weren’t really believing what they were saying themselves.
It was Admiral Yuri’s way to show consideration to not show any fear in front of his subordinates.
They understood that the Tormenta Negra wasn’t just the average opponent. Not to mention that Yuri had experience carrying an operation together with Odysseus of Horntbeck Kingdom.
Odysseus was undoubtedly a genius in commanding a fleet. Yuri himself was an excellent fleet commander, that was why he was able to understand how abnormal Odysseus was.
There was no way that Urraca who defeated that Odysseus was just an average commander.
(I never thought that the day will come where our Answerer Kingdom is feeling fear toward external enemy.)
Before Percival was defeated, Answerer Kingdom navy with its more than 120 ships were undoubtedly the strongest sea force in Aurelia Continent.
But now only very few people still believed that Answerer Kingdom was the strongest.
The surprise attack to Riga by Admiral Jose, and then Answerer Kingdom navy that was defeated at Marmara Sea by the teamwork of Urraca and Jose, all those caused them to be slipping off from the seat of the strongest.
Then the clincher was that landing operation at Ninliver that was executed after defeating Horntbeck Kingdom.
It was a magnificent strategy that nobody had ever imagined. It was reckless, novel, and even provoked envy.
It could be said that it made all the excellent military personnel of all countries to reconfirm the new possibility that the navy had.
They would have to fight such opponent after this.
It was so terrifying that he wanted to run away. And yet, a trembling delight was welling up from the bottom of Yuri’s heart.
──They were facing a worthy opponent.
In the first place, the navy’s role was to face the mother nature, something that no human could control.
Perhaps that was why a lot more people in navy were more realist than the people in the army. At the same time they also had dual nature as a romanticist.
Yuri’s logical mind was hesitant to battle Urraca, but his instinct as a warrior was wishing for a powerful enemy.
「──Port four o’clock. A signal from the fast ship, target, red!」
「Wearing ready!」
「Sir!」
「Send urgent fast ship to the first and third fleets! We encounter the combined fleet of Majorca – Sanjuan – Horntbeck Kingdom!」
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The sea area that was stretching from the northwest of Answerer Kingdom until the north was called Galeares Sea.
The seasonal winds were violent and the north wind was especially strong.
A fleet that came from the south would have to head upwind almost without exception. Answerer Kingdom navy had occupied the advantageous position right from the start.
There were also a lot of small islands scattered in the area. The sea current was also complex. It was believed that the local sailor would have great advantage over outsider.
「Well, that too is only the story until yesterday.」
Urraca held her hat with her left hand so that the wind wouldn’t blow it away. She was looking up at the cloudy sky happily.
She realized that indeed, this sea was different from Marmara Sea that was often sunny.
But so what, Urraca thought.
There was no coldness of winter there, but Marmara Sea was a dangerous sea where cyclone could spring forth from the south.
When she thought back of when she got caught by the storm of cyclone, seasonal winds of this degree was just like a breeze.
Its absurd that the enemy was claiming to be the strongest in the continent just from being able to endure this much.
──Although, the one who could honestly believe that was only Urraca.
「Uuu……cold cold! As I thought I just want to relax at Cadiz while drinking brandy……」
「Please don’t say such disheartening thing admiral.」
Jose was wearing clothes so thick that he looked like a daruma, and yet all the words that came out of his mouth were complaints of being unable to bear the cold.
His subordinate who had to keep him company──the captain of the flagship Rio, Cristobal was scratching his head in exasperation together with his aide Sale.
This person was really an amazing wise general, but he was just a lazy ass at this kind of time.
It was difficult to genuinely pay him respect. But perhaps that side of him was also Jose’s natural virtue.
His subordinates would think that they couldn’t leave everything to this person and unconsciously worked hard.
「It will be a bit shaky, so please withdraw admiral.」
「I’ll do just that. Call me when the enemy show up.」
Shouldn’t he say 「I’ll remain on the deck」 here even if he had to bluff? Cristobal thought. However thinking carefully, this person wouldn’t be useful even if he was here.
「……I’ll take my time.」
「Don’t drink when it’s still noon okay! Admiral!」
「Even I won’t act that illogically.」
Jose curled to himself from the cold and slinked away to his cabin. His two subordinates looked at each other and smiled wryly.
They hadn’t adapted to this Galeares Sea as much as Urraca.
The wind that was hitting them from above had different disposition from Marmara Sea, so they were really bewildered.
「It’s too late to say this now but, that lady is a real monster.」
Even so that didn’t mean they could just do nothing except complaining. After all they were the skilled sailors who represented Sanjuan Kingdom.
「As expected, Sanjuan Kingdom fleet is slightly drifting to the east.」
The one who gave such evaluation to the hard struggle of Cristobal was Odysseus who was in command of Horntbeck Kingdom fleet.
They had piled up experiences of fighting against Answerer Kingdom or forming alliance with them.
Furthermore Odysseus was a genius who surpassed Urraca when it came to commanding a fleet like it was a single organism.
「Well, I guess they got a passing mark for someone sailing Galeares Sea for the first time.」
「Well of course. Anyway let’s pray so that the sea won’t get even stormier than this.」
For a sailor, air temperature was an important factor that couldn’t be ignored.
The decline in body temperature would show itself as decline in the ability to think and reflex speed. Sailor would only be able to display a fraction of their usual ability and often times it would lead to a completely unexpected situation.
「……This pocket heater thing is quite nice.」
The sensation of warmth that was seeping out from the stomach felt pleasant.
The pocket heater was supplied as countermeasure against cold. Odysseus had really taken a liking to it.
The internal organs would be warmed if the stomach was warmed. If the internal organs were vigorous, the whole body would be warmed.
With this the decline of the sailors’ movement ability should be held in check to the minimum.
Even so, how in the world Trystovy king could think up of something like this.
『If it’s impossible to reproduce kotatsu than we can only make pocket heater!』
Masaharu said.
The development of kotatsu that was even called as Japanese people’s utopia, the depraved people production machine of the demon, or futon killer was rough going.
They were just barely able to reproduce sunken kotatsu that made use of black charcoal, but the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning couldn’t be erased from that. How could such thing be called kotatsu when people couldn’t indulge in indolence without any worry using it?
With a passion that was going off the rails, Masaharu immersed himself in developing infrared rays electric kotatsu, but as expected it was impossible to reproduce kotatsu in this world with immature fundamental science.
Then he would at least develop something that was possible──with that thinking, he recalled this disposable pocket heater.
Disposable pocket heater was developed at 1975 when a Japan company caught sight of the technology of foot warmer that was originally used by American army.
Its principle was extremely simple. The oxidation heat that came out from the reaction between iron powder and oxygen was moderately adjusted by soaking sawdust and activated charcoal in water.
Because it could be produced relatively cheaply, it quickly turned popular as winter’s seasonal item.
『Pardon me with just this much this time ‘kay.』
「What’s with the Osaka dialect?」
Masaharu also grappled with other things like kerosene style pocket heater or charcoal briquette bed heater, but what in the world was spurring him on to such degree?
『I won’t stop developing home heater until I obtain kotatsu with this hand!』
「No, the one who is developing them is actually me though.」
『I’ll take revenge of the academic worldddd!』
「Are you holding some kind of grudge?」
『No, it’s just joke material.』
Setting aside the reason, Masaharu splendidly succeeded in mass producing disposable pocket warmer.
Actually this item was also shipped to Angelholm in great quantity. It especially greatly delighted the cat-eared tribe’s warriors.
「The warmth from this is more enduring than wearing thick clothes. There won’t be anyone else who froze to death with this.」
「If I’m asked whether this is a good thing or not, it’s a good thing, but our debt to his majesty Baldr is only continuously increasing like this……」
It wasn’t just disposable pocket heater. As the compensation of entering the alliance, Horntbeck Kingdom also received compass and cannon.
There was also the help with the king’s medical treatment, the sharing of the knowhow to raise oyster, and on top of that was this pocket heater.
It would be impossible to tell them not to mind it after receiving so much.
There was nothing scarier than free thing. As a nation, it was necessary for them to repay the favor.
However, the way Horntbeck Kingdom could repay the favor was limited as an island country.
The most effective way for that was to play an active part in this decisive battle even if it cost them their lives.
Odysseus had been resolved for that since that Eustachius lowered his head to him saying 「Please」 with an apologetic look.
In order for Horntbeck Kingdom to show its presence as a small country inside the alliance, they couldn’t allow Urraca to snatch the biggest achievement.
Based on Odysseus’s experience, the difficulty of that would be roughly the same with the naval battle against Urraca and Jose the other day.
「Even so I still have to do it. Don’t think badly of me, Urraca-dono, Jose-dono.」
.
Answerer royal court was severely shaken by the report of the enemy fleet’s appearance.
It was just around this time that Baldr and the countries that were allied with him were starting to introduce themselves as the Grand Union.
It was a clear display to the outside factions of the vision that would rule over Aurelia Continent from here on. It was a declaration of challenge toward Answerer Kingdom.
The Grand Union, a multinational order, it would bring an end to the dream of reuniting and ruling the continent just like the unification dynasty in the past.
That vision was something that was absolutely unacceptable for Answerer Kingdom.
However the fact that Baldr had finally pushed for a new vision that was the antithesis of Answerer Kingdom had great significance.
This was the moment where the dozens of matters that were still ambiguous until now even though they were moving behind the scene got consolidated into one.
The Grand Union that had boldly become a challenger to Answerer Kingdom had finally reached out their hand of aggression until this closely to the capital.
Could it be that this capital would get direly attacked just like with Nedras Kingdom? Such fear was assaulting King Alexei.
It was a fear that was never experienced by generations of Answerer kings for even once.
The biggest territory on the continent, the biggest population, the biggest food production ability, the biggest economy, Answerer Kingdom was constantly placed in the safety zone.
In a sense, it was a nation that didn’t need to take any risk and could one day unite the continent just by steadily progressing forward.
That was why it was able to incite the confrontation between Mauricia Kingdom and Haurelia Kingdom from behind the scene, and ruled Nedras Kingdom and Grand Duchy Tenedora as vassal states by spending a long time using political marriages.
If they took their time for three generations at the latest, it would be easy for them to unify the continent. It was a way of fighting that could only be done by a powerful country like Answerer Kingdom.
That strategy was going to be overturned by the change of era that was progressing too quickly.
「Drive them off no matter what! Tell them that they will lose their head if they allow even a single soldier to land on Konigsberg!」
Alexei ranted at the military minister Borodino with a pale face.
As the king of the biggest country in this continent, Alexei had never felt the threat of external enemy from this close by until now.
There was a case where a staff officer who often had strategy meeting in a safe place would turn cowardly the moment he boarded a battleship at the frontline. The current Alexei was exactly in such state.
In the past it was ridiculous to even imagine that soldiers of enemy country would advance to this palace.
It was now Alexei recognized the danger to himself.
The fear to death that was accompanied with a taste of reality pushed Alexei into bewilderment.
「Chichi-ue, please calm down. Even for the Grand Union, it’s impossible for them to bring that many soldiers with them. At best they will only have 10000. Our capital has the force of 100000 right now.」
「There is no way that animal will fight in a decent way! There is no doubt that they will hide under the darkness of night to target my life!」
It was a disaster that Nedras Kingdom got conquered by a night surprise attack.
Realistically speaking, it was impossible for an army of 10000 to break through an army of 100000 and infiltrated into Novgorod that was the biggest citadel in the continent.
The crown prince Piotr had a correct understanding of that.
Of course it wasn’t like he didn’t feel scared of getting his life targeted. He had resistance against it from the experience of getting his life targeted due to the struggle for the throne with his siblings.
Alexei had also experienced the same thing in the past, but apparently he had completely lost that resistance because he had sat down on the throne for many years.
「Strengthen the defense of Konigsberg. Assign the 30000 soldiers that we planned to send to Nedras Kingdom to it.」
「With all due respect, right now is our greatest chance to take back Nedras Kingdom. The capital already has 100000 soldiers. There is no need for us to also make use of the soldiers that we are going to dispatch to Nedras.」
「Do you know what is this place? All of you have always told me that we will win while continuing to lose every time until now! There won’t be any excuse if you lose again this time by any chance!」
The harmful effect of their defeat at Marmara Sea and Nedras Kingdom immediately appeared at this stage.
Alexei couldn’t trust Piotr and Borodino because they had continued to lose in the battles that they claimed there was no way they could lose.
In the slightest chance, even if it was just a one in million chance, defeat couldn’t be allowed to happen this time.
Even allowing this capital to become a battlefield would be an unforgivable disgrace.
After the king said that, even Borodino and Piotr couldn’t argue any further.
They thought that this matter wasn’t so serious that they had to risk their life to admonish the king. It was the proof that the two of them had also been deeply dyed by the color of the superpower country Answerer Kingdom as expected.
If Baldr was in their position, there was no doubt that he would only left 50000 soldiers to guard the capital and its surrounding while sending off the rest to attack.
The lost of trust toward the military that had lost in the battles that were thought to end in a sure win for them. And then the illusion of the enemy’s landing operation that had never happened even once in history. Those two factors didn’t allow Alexei to make the same decision.
「I shall repeat my order once more. Win no matter what. Tell them that they aren’t allowed to lose or allow the enemy to escape.」
「As your majesty command.」
If they didn’t calm down the king’s worry first, it would also affect their plan going forward. Borodino obediently bowed his head.
.
「──They are asking us to do that like it’s so easy.」
The headquarters of the combined fleet was enveloped in gloom after the king’s command was conveyed to them.
The navy minister of Answerer Kingdom and the commander-in-chief of the combined fleet Nikita had a bitter expression.
Due to the king’s order, they became unable to choose the option of driving away the enemies.
Their only option was to get into blow with the enemies until one side was annihilated.
If the information was correct, the number of both sides was almost equal.
If their side had the advantage, the enemies would surely run away.
However with this order to not allow the enemies to get away, the battle would become a battle of extermination. Their side had to also resolve themselves to exchange blows that would inflict heavy damage to their own too. If they were unlucky, they would have to relentless pursue the enemies and it was even possible that both sides would go down together.
「It can’t be helped if this is the king’s command.」
His adviser Sergei was also looking bitter, but he had accurately sensed how angry the king would be if the navy refused this order.
The king was thrown into panic from his first experience of his life getting exposed to danger by external enemies.
He would come back to his senses on his own if he just had time. Human was a creature that could adapt even to danger.
However right now such time was extremely precious.
「Now that things has reached until this point, our only choice is to crush them head on. I don’t have any intention to let them go home alive from the start.」
The commander of the first fleet, Admiral Leonid snorted roughly.
Leonid was also a fanatic believer of Europa religion. He seriously thought that it would be for the best to exterminate beastman race.
He also felt the same toward the fleet of the Grand Union that wagged their tail to Baldr and acted as his pawn.
「Don’t make it sound so easy. It won’t be a problem if we win, but if we take each other down than it will spell our defeat at the end.」
「They don’t have the strength to do something like that.」
「I heard that Nedras Kingdom has joined the Grand Union. Besides I think you have also learned that Nordland Empire is starting to expand its navy.」
「Muu……」
Leonid groaned by the chastisement from Admiral Yuri who was known for his valor.
Traditionally Nordland Empire had never put any importance on navy because the northern sea would get closed off by drift ices at winter. But recently there was a report that they suddenly began to expand their navy. Even Leonid had heard about it.
「I believe that it is cannon that will likely decide the outcome of this battle.」
「What use that kind of toy has?」
Leonid laughed off Sergei’s words.
It was a weapon with low accuracy, on top of that it took time to prepare. Such weapon couldn’t be said as practical at all.
In that sense, Leonid’s thinking wasn’t actually wrong.
「It will be our win if that weapon prove useless. After all the fleet of the Grand Union is mostly equipped with cannon.」
「Are they sane? They are seriously counting on that kind of weapon?」
The cannon in their mind was a weapon with accuracy that would drop drastically when aiming at a distance that was more than 100 meters. The shaking of the ship would also affect it. Furthermore its firing interval was long. It was a weapon that was riddled with flaws.
Its only strong point was its range that was barely longer than rocket arrow, but because its firing interval was long, they thought that even that strong point was no different than nonexistent.
「──Admiral Percival, have you gotten used to the use of cannon?」
「Yes. Though I still haven’t managed to realize my ideal.」
「How accurate can you hit a battleship that is 100 meter ahead and moving in battle speed?」
「If the target is a battleship than we will hit 8 out of 10.」
「Brat, don’t think that you can get off lightly if you joke around at this kind of time you know?」
Admiral Yuri glared at Percival with a chilling gaze.
Setting aside Percival’s ability, he still was unable to manage to regain other people’s trust on him as a fleet commander.
There was a common saying, on a boat, one is only an inch or two from a watery grave. A ship could easily sink just by opening a single hole in the ship’s planking.
That was why sailor treasured a relationship of trust with comrade who he could entrust his life to.
Percival still hadn’t managed to regain that trust.
「I swear to god that I’m not joking. If I have half more month, I’ll surely manage to raise the accuracy to hit the target 10 times out of 10 times.」
「What kind of training have you done?」
Percival answered Sergei’s question.
「I bought a fishing boat and fired at it from a ship that was in the middle of running in full speed. To be honest even now the cannon would miss once out of three times, but it won’t miss if the target is big like a battleship.」
Leonid snapped angrily.
「Who’s going to believe that! Even if you’re Sergei-dono’s favorite pupil, I won’t show any mercy if you go too far with your nonsense!」
Sergei wasn’t just the combined fleet’s advisor, he had also raised many students to high position as an educator. As expected even Leonid still had to pay respect to him.
Without Sergei here, Percival might have gotten thrown out from here without question.
However Percival calmly declared as though even the menacing attitude of Leonid was just a passing breeze.
「──It will be faster for everyone to directly watch it yourself.」
.
「That guy talked big……there is no way he can actually do it.」
Leonid was the very picture of ill humor. But unlike him, Yuri and Anatoli were making a conflicted expression.
It couldn’t be helped.
If this exhibition failed, the raid unit would become useless. That would be problematic for their side. But if what Percival said was actually true and the cannon’s accuracy had increased, that meant the enemy fleet possessed formidable weapons in great amount.
To be honest, they were hoping that Percival was just talking big and he would fail his exhibition.
But, that Sergei had given his permission. He surely had a considerable chance of victory.
(There is no way……right?)
「Come on, the guests are watching us. Go all out you bastards!」
「Sir!」
The crews of Poltava replied to Domitory’s fierce encouragement with energetic smile.
No nervousness or fervor could be felt from them.
That was because they had known deep down that they would be able to do it.
「Match the trim!」
「Sir!」
「Right attack ready!」
「Sir」
「Maximum speed!」
「Sir!」
The distance with the target was shortened in the blink of eye.
When the distance was about to become 100 meters, Percival raised his left hand.
「Port!」
「Port, sir!」
「Fire!」
「Sir!」
The ship was veering. While its inclination still hadn’t returned to normal, the cannons all fired simultaneously.
It was a bombardment with splendid timing that allowed the firing sound to sound like it only rang out once. The result answered Percival’s expectation.
The target was sank in one shot.
Although the target was unmanned and it was simply being set adrift by wind for the sake of safety, the admirals had witnessed Poltava cruising in maximum speed.
That meant, the result was beyond doubt.
Admiral Yuri unconsciously held his head in his hands.
「This is troublesome. We have to rethought our way of fighting the Grand Union fleet from zero.」
They could still manage somehow if the fighting range was 100 meters.
However if the range was stretched until more than 150 meters, they would simply get beaten up one-sidedly from outside the range of rocket arrow.
「No, not yet! How much time they will take to prepare for the next shooting?」
Leonid yelled angrily while looking as though he was glaring at his parent’s murderer.
「C-certainly……」
If he remembered correctly, once a cannon had fired, it would need cumbersome service before that it could fire again.
「Mizzen spanker whole in!」
「Sir!」
「Left attack ready!」
「Sir!」
「Fire!」
「Sir!」
By making use of the change of course, this time the left side of the ship was pointed to the target. Then Poltava fired once more at the target that was already starting to sink.
The shells moved as though they were getting sucked toward the target and raised large water pillars around it.
「Port, how is the firing preparation?」
「Thirty more seconds!」
「We finally can cut the time until below one minute, but still……」
Percival bit his lip with a bitter face.
This was the flaw of cannon that he couldn’t do anything about.
Although the loading time could be drastically reduced by training the gunners, they still needed around one minute or less for it.
「Preparation complete!」
「Fire!」
「Sir!」
──Another thunderous roar.
「The reloading take around one minute huh.」
「This is tricky.」
If there was one minute, a distance of 100 meters could be easily traversed.
If they could just endure the first shot, if they could just enter the firing range for rocket arrow, their side had better instantaneous firepower.
Yuri put his right hand on his chin and began to think.
「……In that case, should we try to increase the range of rocket arrow? No, rather than that a method to somehow close the distance……」
.
The sea surface had been shaking with strong surge since the morning of that day.
It wasn’t a good weather for naval battle by any means.
「I see, it’s a rough sea. I can understand why those guys will want to boast if it’s like this.」
Even so Urraca was still maneuvering through the sea joyfully.
It was pitiful for the people here that this sea had few days where it was warm with gentle breeze like in Marmara Sea, even so the scariness of sea wasn’t any different whether it was here or there.
The threat of the mother nature wasn’t so lenient that it would be gone just from changing place.
「I wonder if they are going to come out?」
Urraca’s right-hand man, Kailas stretched his back and stared at the horizon.
Just like Ernst, he was keeping his unrequited love toward Urraca in his chest and cursed Baldr inside his heart so he would drop dead, but when fighting against an enemy, his sight was looking at nothing but victory.
「They will. If they got some smart cookies over there, there is no way they won’t come out.」
「──Why is that?」
「If the sea is this rough, the cannon’s accuracy and loading speed will also drop.」
「I see, certainly.」
No matter how used the crews were with the ship’s shaking, it still didn’t change how hard it was to handle tool or weapon when they were unbalanced.
In contrast regardless of the accuracy, rocket arrow could be scattered around to a wide area. It was also easy to handle. If the enemies correctly understood the power of cannon, they would absolutely attack under rough weather.
Urraca’s prediction was correct.
One of the lookouts blew his whistle right at that timing.
「Right two o’clock! Many ships detected!」
They were coming.
「Right eight o’clock! Many ships detected!」
「……Looks like they’re really confident. After all they are cruising under this wind.」
「Thanks to that we can trap them like this.」
「Certainly that’s true.」
A weather this stormy was classified as extreme even at Galeares Sea.
If the weather worsened even more, they would even have to consider reefing the sails and avoided battling the enemy.
「I guess luck is on our side.」
The weather was barely just right for them to be able to take battle action.
Yuri felt there was an arrangement from heaven that this kind of weather could appear right in time within the grace period for intercepting the enemy fleet.
「However this weather is also difficult for our men.」
「Don’t complain!」
This Galeares Sea was their turf. Some guests had come from Marmara Sea into here. It would be unforgivable if they lost to their guest in ship handling just because the weather was stormy.
This could be said as an understanding that was shared by the whole world.
The enemy fleet was continuing to advance north while still maintaining cohesion. They couldn’t be the first one to break down and complain in that case.
Even so──.
「Prepare to fold the fore and mizzen’s top sail.」
「Sir!」
Being stubborn and losing to the nature because of that would definitely become a disgrace too.
Yuri weighed that risk and the fleet’s movement while glaring at the Grand Union fleet that didn’t stop advancing even now.
「Those bastards are more capable than I thought.」
「Boss lady, it’s impossible to cut through upwind even more than this!」
「Tsk! Starboard easy!」
Sailing ship couldn’t sail to a direction that was completely the opposite of the blowing wind.
Because of that, a ship would take a diagonal route to advance toward the upwind. It was still possible to advance like that.
And then, there was a limit to the measurement of how small the angle could be so that the ship could still advance toward the upwind. La Mancha was currently advancing with an angle that was extremely close to the limit.
That extremely close angle was enough to strike Answerer Kingdom fleet with astonishment.
「Looks like her nickname of Tormenta Negra isn’t just for show.」
Even the crusty Leonid acknowledged Urraca’s superior ship handling skill.
But as expected, it seemed there was nobody who could imitate Urraca’s skill. La Mancha was sticking out greatly from the fleet.
It was an action that could be said as forbidden for the fleet commander to do. Especially now that it was possible to rain down rocket arrows to an area──.
「Good grief. Even though we already know from the start that they are going to take up positions at the upwind, it’s still really troublesome.」
Answerer Kingdom fleet was firmly maintaining a fan shaped formation within the strong wind. Urraca grumbled seeing that.
Their side’s weapon wouldn’t be able to reach, while the other side’s weapon would be able to reach.
Their side wouldn’t be able to close the distance even if they tried, but the opponent would be able to close the distance easily.
The upwind position was a very significant factor as the naval battle progressed.
Although, for Urraca it was nothing more than a natural hindrance that ought to be removed.
「Let’s show them something a bit shocking. The price for the show will be their lives!」
This was different from a boar that was charging ahead without any plan.
Sometimes a veteran wolf could be tougher when fighting alone rather than fighting together with a pack.
「Enemy ship has fired!」
「Impossible! There is still a distance of 400 meters between us!」
There was a very visible flash of fire and a thunderous roar. It was immediately clear that La Mancha had fired its cannons.
But the distance was incomprehensible.
The effective range of cannon wasn’t that long.
In an unlucky situation, the cannon might not even be able to hit a target that was just a hundred meters away. A cannon should be that kind of weapon.
「──Port!」
「Port, sir!」
But Yuri steered the ship to the right without even a moment of hesitation.
If he was asked why he did that, he could only answer that it was his instinct. Yuri’s instinct as a sailor was telling him to change the ship’s direction.
A beat later, a water pillar rose from the water surface where the flagship Retvizan was at just now.
It was unknown whether that shot would really hit this ship, but at the very least there was no doubt that it came close to hitting them.
「Shit-! That monster!」
Even though it was already shocking that Percival managed to hit a target 100 meters away in his demonstration, this one almost done it from 400 meters.
This was something that they had never taken into consideration at all. Who could possibly predict a maximum range that was this absurd?
「Should we charge?」
It also didn’t fit his nature to allow the enemy to one-sidedly fire at him.
Even so it would also be dangerous if the second fleet charged out by itself.
Both sides were equal in number. If the second fleet got ganged up, their side would become inferior in number.
First it was necessary for their side to work together. Yuri sent flag signal toward the first and third fleets.
「Enemy ship firing!」
「What-?」
Not even thirty seconds had passed since the last shot. Even Percival being able to cut the time below one minute was already groundbreaking.
「Starboard easy!」
「Starboard easy, sir!」
He would change the ship’s direction slightly and observed the situation. It was his instinct again that made him made that decision.
But this time it wasn’t Retvizan that was targeted by the shot.
「Second ship is hit!」
「That’s impossible! Are they targeting the ship individually!?」
He could see that La Mancha was equipped with four cannons at each side of the ship.
Even so it was just four cannons.
Even if it was more accurate than rocket arrow, cannon was still a probability weapon.
It was nothing but the height of madness to use such weapon to intentionally target a specific ship.
「Unfortunately our skill and cannon are different.」
Urraca clearly sensed Yuri’s astonishment.
(Yep yep, I know what you are feeling. Even I was thinking the same until just the other day after all.)
There was an equipment that still didn’t exist at the naval battle against Horntbeck Kingdom.
The equipment arrived after the battle and it was just a few days ago when she finished training her crews to familiarize themselves with its use.
The equipment was still primitive and the calculation error was still big, but having it and not having it would create a world of difference. This equipment was──sighting device.
It had simple aiming line and aiming dot that corresponded to distance. It still didn’t have bearing disk or even the formula for estimating the shot.
However the gunner’s skill and training could make up for what it lacked.
Right now the whole fleet of Grand Union couldn’t perform godly feat like La Mancha, but they could still boast accuracy that was above the standard.
Cold sweat was trickling down Yuri’s back along with a cold chill.
「No good! We’ll get beaten up at this rate!」
Now that he had learned that the Grand Union fleet had skill that far surpassed their estimation, just folding their arms quietly would be suicide.
「We, shall, charge, forward」
「Roger, following, behind」
Admiral Leonid of the first fleet and Admiral Anatoli of the third fleet also shared Yuri’s sense of danger.
It was just one person who wasn’t surprised by the situation. It was Percival of the raid fleet.
「……Even so, the situation is the worst of the worst of my prediction.」
He believed that he had resolved himself for this possibility. That perhaps if it was Urraca, such crazy feat could be possible.
However, he never expected for a cannon shot from the maximum range would be able to hit. Furthermore it was done under this stormy weather.
It was nothing but magnificent.
That was the very picture of the ideal that Percival was aiming for.
「Even so I can’t simply sitting quietly in admiration here.」
「So what if they can shot that far, my ship won’t lose that easily against them, admiral.」
「Very good. Then let’s begin the second round. We shall decide which side is the hero and which side is the villain above the stage here. First let’s teach them that we have the qualification to be their opponent!」
「Aye sir!」
「The raid fleet isn’t following!」
「What? They’re doing as they please!」
Yri was enraged.
The only fleet that had cannon among Answerer Kingdom fleet was throwing their coordination into disorder.
After doing such act, they wouldn’t be able to protest even if they were sentenced to death in military court.
「No, come to think of it the raid fleet is under the command of the joint fleet headquarters.」
Yuri suddenly recalled that and gritted his teeth.
He recalled that Percival’s fleet wasn’t formed to revive the fourth fleet, but a newly established one as a raid fleet.
Even so, just because that fleet wasn’t under his command, seeing it showboating in this battle that put the fate of the country on the line was really infuriating.
「No……the raid fleet, is accelerating……it’s going to the front left!」
「Aaa~~rgh! Shit-! Fire the rocket arrows! Back up that guy’s advance!」
「Sir!」
Flames rose simultaneously from the second fleet’s battleships.
The rocket arrows scattered countless sparks and hid the figure of the raid fleet with their explosions.
Even if they were completely pointless as an attack, they were enough to ask as smokescreen.
「Its infuriating, but we also can’t possibly let them get destroyed on their own!」
.
「Looks like there are also a capable guy among the enemies.」
「Boss lady, we’re going to get surrounded yeah?」
「Nice timing. I was just planning to try getting into blow with the enemy properly at least once.」
The essence of cannon was to one-sidedly knock out the opponent from the long range that was beyond the opponent’s reach. However that wasn’t a style that Urraca liked.
Besides Urraca understood that Percival was coming to pick a fight with Majorca Kingdom fleet that should be regarded as the most dangerous among the Grand Union.
Furthermore they were coming with fewer number than this side.
They were enemy, but their spirit was admirable. They were worthy to be her opponent.
「……That’s why, I’ll leave the rest to you, Admiral Jose.」
Jose immediately noticed Urraca’s thinking.
There was a toy that was more interesting than she thought approaching right in front of her.
Urraca wasn’t someone who would overlook that.
「Troublesome……」
「Admiral Jose, our distance with the enemy fleet is shrinking.」
「Good grief, thanks to Urraca-dono, the number of enemies that are coming our way increased a lot……」
The raid fleet under Percival’s command numbered 12 ships, while Majorca Kingdom fleet under Urraca’s command numbered 20 ships.
That difference of eight ships was allotted to become a burden for Jose and Odysseus.
「Well, I’m also pushing off the burden to Admiral Odysseus so I have no ground to speak about other person……」
「That’s certainly true.」
「You should deny it there even if it’s just empty words.」
Jose smiled wryly in spite of himself at his scathing adjutant.
Sanjuan Kingdom fleet was intentionally slowing down.
Because of that Horntbeck Kingdom fleet was passing through Sanjuan Kingdom fleet to take the forefront.
If Horntbeck Kingdom fleet kept advancing like this, they would be the first one to collide against Answerer Kingdom’s second fleet.
「──Admiral Jose is really a terrifying person.」
Odysseus was astounded by Jose who was like a wall that he couldn’t possibly overcome in regard to ingenuity.
It seemed that from the start Jose had seen through Odysseus’s intention to obtain achievement even if he had to steal a march on his allies.
It would be problematic if Odysseus made a poor move at the critical moment, so Jose decided to concede the achievement to him from the start while he himself would act as support.
With this Odysseus too also had no choice other than resolving himself to fight head on till the end.
Although this was exactly what he wanted, it still definitely meant that several of his least risky options had been erased.
「However to face Answerer Kingdom that has its back to the wall under this stormy weather……well, I’m getting itchy to show my skill.」
He had already known from the start of his unfavorable position.
For the sake of Horntbeck Kingdom’s future, he didn’t mind even if his fleet got annihilated here. That was his resolve.
「It will be troubling if I allow Urraca-dono to be the only one having good time.」
The fleet that Urraca was facing had the fewest ships among the enemies──however most likely it was the toughest opponent among Answerer Kingdom fleet. It was convenient for Odysseus that Urraca had taken off such opponent from his hands.
「Left attack ready!」
「Sir!」
「Originally bombardment should be a field that is my specialty rather Urraca-dono.」
For Odysseus who was even called as the magician of fleet maneuver, it was easy to command the use of probability weapon like cannon.
「Begin bombardment at distance 200!」
「Sir!」
He couldn’t performed monstrous feat like Urraca, but he was still someone with the caliber that broke through the standard of this era.
Cannon was inferior to rocket arrow in area suppression ability, so he had to get a head start over the enemy.
「Left attack ready!」
「Sir!」
For some reason Percival felt that his heart was calm when the distance with La Mancha had shrunken until 200 meters.
Even though he had that much hatred and swore to take revenge for Federigo, the feeling of happiness that he felt in this encounter surpassed it instead.
Perhaps it was something that he should feel ashamed for as a military officer of Answerer Kingdom navy.
However he couldn’t help but feeling delighted of being given a chance to give his all against an extraordinary sailor like Urraca.
「Let’s see what they got, Domitory.」
「Please don’t pressure me so much like that.」
Although Domitory said that, he was also unable to completely hide his excitement.
The bombardment from the shooting range of 400 meters had brought extremely great shock to them.
Just from the instant of void before Poltava changed direction, Urraca had sensed everything and waved her left hand.
「Port!」
「Port, ma’am!」
「Right attack ready, fire!」
At the same time Percival’s Poltava also changed direction and began firing.
「Fire!」
「Sir!」
The cannon shells that had high initial velocity arrived several times faster than rocket arrow and raised water pillars.
La Mancha also felt the impact from two cannon shells landing nearby and the ship hull was rattled.
「Hmph, they’re better than I thought.」
In contrast, a cannon shell grazed Poltava’s mast and the hand railing on the deck was destroyed.
It wasn’t a direct hit, but it showed that the accuracy of Urraca’s side was higher.
「Second ship and the rest, begin firing in turn!」
「The rest of Majorca Kingdom fleet is approaching!」
「Don’t mind them! Focus on the enemy’s flagship!」
Right now was the best chance while Urraca’s La Mancha was far ahead of the rest of her fleet.
If they let go of this chance, the winning chance of the raid fleet would most likely drop to below ten percent.
「Reload for the next shot!」
「Sir!」
「Right attack ready!」
「Sir!」
Rain was gradually getting mixed in the wind.
Judging from the present situation, a storm──wouldn’t occur, but it would still become a very heavy rain.
Most likely the battle also wouldn’t be able to keep continue for long in such weather.
Even with the king’s decree, it would be impossible to pursue the enemy under a bad weather where battle couldn’t be carried out.
「For that reason too we have to bring down that witch here……!」
He had brought up this raid fleet under his personal care. Percival believed in his fleet’s shooting technique that had been polished through training.
「Hard starboard!」
「Hard starboard, sir!」
And then just when the second bombardment was about to be fired, Poltava changed direction sharply.
「Fore top sail a back!」
「Sir!」
「Mizzen spanker whole out!」
「Sir!」
「Left attack, fire!」
「Sir!」
As though it had been waiting for the timing when the rest of the raid fleet’s ships fired one after another, La Mancha began to make a tight turn just when it looked like it was going to do emergency break.
It was an acrobatic ship handling, but to the raid fleet it was like a nightmare.
No ship could seize La Mancha that had turned far before the predicted position.
Instead La Mancha’s bombardment hit the third ship that had finished veering. A large hole was opened on the hull below the sea gauge.
Sea water flooded in and the third ship’s speed dropped as though it was pitching forward. The raid fleet had no leeway to send help to that ship.
The weather and the temperature were like this. The sailors who got thrown to the sea would be beyond saving.
Rather it might be a salvation for them instead that they would die immediately from hypothermia.
「Right attack ready! Do reentry right after we change course!」
「Sir!」
The fourth ship and the rest could only send their heartrending prayer to the slowly sinking third ship before they began changing course to attack once more.
La Mancha had finished changing course far faster than them and accelerated.
But as expected, even for La Mancha its speed dropped after changing course so sharply like that.
The bombardment of Poltava that had delayed its attack assaulted La Mancha faster than it could completely restore its speed.
It was an accurate delayed timing that could only be done by Percival who had witnessed Urraca’s magical ship handling at Marmara Sea.
「Tsk! Fore spanker, whole in!」
「Ma’am!」
「Open and change the jive!」
「Ma’am!」
During that time, for around one second or less.
The distance between La Mancha and Poltava was already shrinking until it almost became 100 meters.
There was just around one second until the cannon shells hit.
It was a range where evasion was difficult to do even if it was done at the same time of the cannon firing.
「──Direct hit, incoming!」
「You all! Hold on to something!」
Baldr was on board when she fought Odysseus. To be more accurate, there was Baldr’s previous life Oka Sanai who intercepted the rocket arrow for her.
However there was no prince on white horse to save Urraca this time.
Urraca had no choice but to save herself.
Urraca snapped her eyes open and ascertained the cannon shell’s trajectory until the very last moment.
──It’s fine, it’ll be fine no matter what. I’m not going to die until I hold my child with these hands!
──*Crack crack crack!*
There was the impact sound of wood being torn apart. At the same time La Mancha’s first cabin was shot through.
It was located far above the sea gauge, so there was no flooding occurring.
One more shot blew away the mizzen’s deck storehouse, but there was no other damage than that.
If the shells hit a spot below the sea gauge, that would be the end of the line for La Mancha.
La Mancha’s acceleration surpassed Percival’s prediction.
Because of that the cannon shells hit some spots that were further above his prediction.
「Boss lady, this isn’t the right season for a test of courage yeah.」
「Don’t say that. Thanks to that you can get drenched in sweat even though it’s this cold.」
「You won’t get warmed even if you sweat like waterfall in this weather.」
「That’s true.」
Urraca won her bet.
Poltava desperately changed course after it finished shooting, but a chance could be found behind the pinch. This time it was Urraca’s turn to fire.
「Right attack ready!」
「Ma’am!」
「Hit! Hit!」
「Its speed isn’t falling! We only got the upper part huh……」
Cheers rose when they heard the impact sound of hull breaking, but it only lasted for a moment. Percival immediately saw that La Mancha’s combat ability hadn’t been damaged any.
「Their counterattack is coming!」
「Hard port! All hands prepare for impact!」
「Sir!」
At the present time the fleet was only equipped with cannon that fired round lump of iron. They didn’t have the explosive bullets like in the modern time.
A method of heating the shell first before firing it out, the so called blazing ball also hadn’t been applied.
That was why unlike with sinking a small ship like a fishing boat, to sink a large battleship, the spot that got hit was important.
It would be fine if the shell hit important part like the spot below the sea gauge, or the mast, or the rudder, etc, but the effect from destroying a top part of the ship only had minimal effect.
「So the witch’s luck won……she wasn’t actually aiming to make our shots hit those unimportant spot right?」
Water that was unknown whether it was sweat or rain was trickling down Percival’s forehead.
His instinct understood that Urraca had intentionally aimed to make their shots hit the upper part of the ship hull when she saw that she couldn’t completely dodge the bombardment.
But the logical part of his mind didn’t want to accept that such monstrous feat of ship handling was possible.
No, if Urraca could do something like that then he could also do the same.
Percival turned toward the direction where the bombardment would come after this and glared in challenge.
The cannon shells that La Mancha fired were coming to them for payback in double amount──it actually wasn’t that many, but almost all of them were flying in direct hit courses.
「Hard starboard!」
「Hard starboard, sir!」
Percival ascertained the attack’s limit and yelled.
──Dodge. We can dodge this.
Percival felt his senses were rapidly getting sharpened within the slowed down time.
The shells that were flying this way looked like they were moving in slow motion.
He could see their angle and speed like the back of his own hand.
But the rudder of Poltava was only moving so infuriatingly slowly.
──What are you doing. Quick, quickly. At this rate we…….
No matter how sharpened Percival’s senses were, it couldn’t speed up the ship’s movement in reality.
「……Nice skill, but you were too slow to dodge in this range.」
Urraca who saw Poltava’s maneuver muttered that to no one in particular.
The distance between the two ships was shrinking.
That difference was only slight, but for a sailing ship’s limited cruising ability, it was a fatal difference.
「Move! Can’t you move any faster, you damn slowpoke!」
Percival let out a loud curse at the same time of the shells impacting.
Poltava shook with a thunderous roar.
As expected both Percival and Domitory couldn’t stay on their feet and fell on their knees.
「What’s the damage?」
Domitory stood up faster and asked for the damage report. The chief navigator answered him in grief.
「The mizzen spanker is damaged, the upper deck of the starboard is damaged, in addition……the prow below the sea gauge is damaged, the water is flooding in!」
「Shit!」
They should be able to avoid the damage to the prow if only the ship turned just slightly faster.
It was painful that the mizzen spanker was destroyed, but if only no spot below sea gauge was damaged, Poltava would still be able to fight.
「The damaged spot is just barely above the waterline, so we still have time if we begin now!」
The damaged spot wasn’t completely below the waterline, so the speed of the flooding water was slow, the chief navigator said.
「Are you telling me to retire from this battle?」
「I don’t think the enemy will attack the sailors who evacuated using boat.」
「The weather is like this you know? It might be alright if our allies win, but if they’re defeated then doing that will only delay death for a short time.」
The chief navigator lost his words from Domitory’s calm words.
Certainly, there was no way anyone would be able to return until the navy base using a small boat in this stormy sea.
「Can we still move the ship?」
If the flooding would take time, if they were going to sink anyway, he wanted to at least get a payback before that.
Any military officer would naturally have such way of thinking.
He had the human feeling of wanting to survive.
However if he was going to die, he wanted to die in a way that wouldn’t be shameful as a soldier. Percival genuinely didn’t want to lose his cool and acted unsightly in front of death.
「Of course, our speed have fallen, but there won’t be any problem to keep fighting!」
「Then what we should do is obvious. Transfer the right of command to the second ship. Our ship will continue fighting as much as possible!」
Poltava was already half paralyzed. The possibility it could achieve its objective was low.
「Even so, I won’t be able to face Federigo-dono in that world if I come there empty handed. That’s why keep me company for now, Tormenta Negra!」
The second ship Svetlana that had the right of command transferred to it witnessed countless sparks blooming just when it was going to attack La Mancha again.
「Port!」
「Port, sir!」
Majorca Kingdom fleet that was lagging behind finally joined the battle.
That meant that they had lost the chance of the lifetime to take down Urraca.
「All ships! Hold back Majorca Kingdom fleet!」
「Hit, incoming!」
Water pillars rose close by. The field of vision was blocked for a moment by the splash.
And then when the water of wall crumbled, his recovered field of vision saw the fifth ship being lost.
With this the raid fleet had lost two ships.
If Poltava was also counted as dropping out, then the raid fleet only had nine ships remaining already.
「Fire back! Left attack ready!」
「Sir!」
On the other hand, Majorca Kingdom fleet that got left behind by Urraca couldn’t possibly stay composed.
They were aware that Urraca had a skill like she was the reincarnation of the sea god.
Even so that didn’t mean that their pride didn’t get wounded that they were unable to even follow behind her.
「Don’t fall behind Urraca-sama!」
「Teach them that Majorca Kingdom also has us!」
Majorca Kingdom fleet continued bombarding the enemy with a fierce fighting spirit.
It wasn’t something that Answerer Kingdom’s raid fleet could endure.
「How can they be this accurate even though they’re downwind?」
The advantage of being upwind was absolute in naval battle.
Answerer Kingdom fleet originally should hold the initiative in this battle, but they were getting trampled unreasonably due to the cannon’s firing range.
The raid fleet wanted to quickly shorten the distance to 100 meters and began bombarding.
However they would only become a juicy target if they tried to close the distance from the front.
The decrease in range would be slowed if they did it while taking evasive maneuver. The phrase mixed blessing surely referred to this kind of situation.
「I don’t mind! Begin firing!」
「Sir!」
The raid fleet began firing before their situation gradually became even worse.
Fortunately they were occupying the upwind position, so their shells could still reach the enemies.
The problem was that the distance wasn’t the optimum range that their gunners had trained in. They were doing this without any preparation beforehand. In the end, the raid fleet’s bombardment could only shake the sea in vain.
「……Unfortunately for you we can still fight even without Urraca-sama. Though it seems the same doesn’t apply to your side.」
If Percival was still in command, the raid fleet wouldn’t attack from such range.
They should endure the enemy’s attack until they entered the sure hit range exactly because their number was inferior.
After all they wouldn’t get another chance once they missed.
The second ship’s commander who succeeded the command from Percival couldn’t do that.
「Blast their guts! Fire!」
「Sir!」
.
Around that time, Percival didn’t have the leeway to split his attention to his subordinates’ struggle.
「Hard port!」
「Hard port, sir!」
After that Poltava got hit once more and one of the cannons became unusable.
The amount of water that flooded in also gradually increased. The ship’s speed had fallen until half the original.
With this the advantage from being upwind was already the same like nonexistent.
In contrast La Mancha was moving nimbly and continued to attack mercilessly.
However that also meant that Poltava was still continuing to endure Urraca’s attacks.
「That guy must be listening to the sea god’s voice right now.」
Sometimes human could break the limit and display an inhuman power of concentration. It was commonly called as trance or being possessed by god. In that state people could make a decision that was like a precognition with how sharp their five senses were working.
Urraca and other sailors phrased such state as listening to the sea god’s voice.
Although there was no way such concentration could last long.
Right now Pericval could display a power that surpassed his limit exactly because he was in time limit until Poltava was flooded and sank.
「We can just take distance from them and wait it out but……」
Although it would take time, Poltava wouldn’t be able to avoid sinking.
Naturally there was an option to take distance from Poltava and simply waited until the ship sank. Urraca herself didn’t think that such method was cowardly.
In the first place fighting with cannon to attack from outside the enemy’s range was also that kind of concept.
「But that will make it look like I’m inferior in skill. The victory won’t taste good at all.」
「That’s just like you boss lady.」
It didn’t matter whether the opponent was listening to the sea god’s voice or the best commander in Answerer Kingdom. There was no better sailor than Urraca in this continent.
No matter what kind opponent stood on her way, Urraca would defeat them and proved herself the strongest.
「Well, it’ll be troubling if that guy get bigheaded just from doing that much.」
In the end, this was like human showing super strength when in a deathly situation. If such skill couldn’t be displayed any time, than it was no different at all from luck.
There was no way Urraca would lose against such thing.
「──I can see! I can see it!」
Since then Percival had endured Urraca’s bombardment twice.
He could only shoot once during that time, but La Mancha got hit again from that and its mast’s sail was torn.
Even that was a level of damage that Urraca had never experienced before.
「I’ll hit the spot below sea gauge next time for sure……!」
Regardless of Percival’s fighting spirit, Poltava itself was nearing its limit.
The flooding from the prow was already filling the ship with nearly two tons of water. The crews were desperately scooping out the water, but the inclination of the ship was gradually getting steeper.
If the flooding increased, the water inside the ship would shake when the ship tilted. It would make it difficult for the ship to restore its posture.
Poltava’s fate was already like a candle light that was placed in front of wind.
Most likely it also only had one more chance to attack.
「Hit, incoming!」
「All hands, brace for impact!」
Because water was entering the front of the ship, the driving power of the ship was rapidly falling.
Thanks to that the ship couldn’t take evasive maneuver just like Percival imagined it.
「Starboard quarter is hit! Water is flooding in!」
「Domitory, give me just two more minutes.」
「Leave it to me.」
Poltava’s sinking was already unavoidable.
Even so in order to attack once more, in order to obtain the last chance to attack, Percival relied on Domitory, and Domitory was determined to answer that request.
「Five people, come with me!」
「Sir!」
「La Mancha is turning!」
「Starboard!」
「Starboard, sir!」
「Left attack ready!」
「Sir!」
La Mancha’s speed was declining because it was veering in order to attack.
Percival sensed that this was his last chance to attack.
He predicted La Mancha’s course with his whole being.
Wind’s speed, the shape of the waves, various factors were simulated at the back of Percival’s mind and the optimum solution was worked out.
「Fire!」
「Sir!」
Urraca wouldn’t be able to avoid no matter what kind of miraculous ship handling she performed.
This shot was fired after he had calculated everything perfectly to arrive to such result.
「Sea anchor let go」
「Ma’am!」
Sea anchor had the shape like a parachute. It was a tool to increase the resistance in water.
An anchor was something to make a ship stopped completely. In a stormy weather, the anchor was dropped to reduce the speed and to avoid the ship from getting capsized.
However it wasn’t something that would be suddenly dropped to the sea in the middle of battle even by mistake.
As expected, La Mancha rapidly braked as though a giant had had captured it from behind and it lost its moving power.
The vehicle called sailing ship needed some time to accelerate back to battle worthy speed once more after it lost its acceleration.
Stopped moving in the middle of battle was a suicide.
That was why they was nobody who would drop the anchor in the middle of battle.
Because of such sudden brake that was like a type of suicide caused all the shots that Percival fired with his whole being to land in front of La Mancha. They caused water pillars to rise uselessly.
「Purge!」
「Purge, ma’am!」
The sea anchor that had fulfilled its purpose was purged. La Mancha slowly turned.
It was clear that it was to attack Poltava.
「To think that she would also use sea anchor, how stupid of me. I’m still unable to free myself from stereotype.」
He had definitely displayed everything he had and more.
Even so he still fell short. He was frustrated, but he had no regret.
Urraca was a level above him as a sailor. On the sea there was nothing else that matter than that.
「I can only bow my head to Federigo-dono in that world. If there is a chance I want to have a rematch but……I guess this is what people called lingering attachment.」
*Gakun*, an impact ran through the ship. The flooding from the starboard had reached the limit. Poltava was tilting twenty degree to the right.
The angle limit that a ship could endure was considered to be thirty degree. This ship couldn’t endure anymore no matter what they did. With this inclination, even the rudder wouldn’t work anymore.
Nearing his last moment, Percival stared at his hateful opponent who was also the supreme rival who embodied the ideal sailor at the same time.
He burned that last sight into his eyes──he continued to stare until the shells that were fired from La Mancha’s cannons approached before his eyes.
.
「What in the world is this?」
The commander of Answerer Kingdom’s second fleet, Yuri was being toyed around by Horntbeck Kingdom fleet that was led by Odysseus.
He knew that the skill of Horntbeck Kingdom fleet couldn’t be underestimated from their hostile relationship in the past.
He should also have been resolved to for it.
Even Yuri had the confidence that he was first class as a man of the sea. Even now his opinion that Horntbeck Kingdom fleet was nothing to be afraid of hadn’t changed.
And yet what was with this reality?
「What is the difference between you and me? Odysseus!」
Bombardment sound rose from Horntbeck Kingdom fleet once more.
Odysseus repeatedly fired and turned around. He didn’t allow the second fleet to charge forward as though to mock Yuri.
When Yuri thought that he had caught the enemies, they would slip out from his encirclement like a slippery snake. They would bombard his fleet and then left in a hit and run repeatedly.
The fleet maneuver that was like a living creature had been polished even further after overcoming a defeat.
「It’s too bad. But the absurdity that I faced before was far more than this you know?」
Yuri’s misfortune was his lack of real battle experience facing a powerful enemy.
The difference between Odysseus who had the experience of fighting a living absurdity like Urraca and Yuri who only had experience of subjugating pirates at best was stark.
The two’s ability to calculate the enemy’s skill and their imagination power to predict the future had too wide of a difference between each other.
It was only logical that there would be such clear difference between a genius who had fought a powerful enemy and a prodigy who had only ever fought weaker enemies.
As the result, the second fleet was being whittled down while being unable to seize Horntbeck’s fleet. The despairing war of attrition was continuing.
「Aa~rgh! What are you doing over there being sluggish like that!」
The first fleet that Leonid was leading raised its speed drastically to pass the second fleet.
It would sound nice to call his action as active and bold, but that decision was accompanied with the risk of his fleet ending up at the downwind instead if he raised his fleet’s speed too much and his charge missed.
In the end Admiral Jose had completely predicted that action.
「Split the fleet into two and bombard them from left and right. Then keep going to take position behind them and take the upwind position.」
「Sir!」
His tactic wasn’t showy like Urraca and Odysseus, but Jose’s calm prediction and the steady Sanjuan Kingdom fleet were a formidable existence because of that.
If they focused on defense, even Urraca would find it difficult to break through.
Leonid who only had assertiveness that was came from trampling the weak was nothing but a shooting target.
「Sanjuan Kingdom fleet is splitting to left and right!」
「Hmph, so they are fearing us. Destroy the left wing first, and then we’ll destroy the right wing!」
「Enemy ships firing!」
「Port!」
「Port, sir!」
Seeing that the first fleet was going to attack the left wing, the left wing was firing bombardment while moving to keep the distance.
At the opposite side the right wing was maneuvering to close the distance and positioned itself behind the first fleet.
At this rate the first fleet would get completely encircled.
Right now the left wing was moving to run away. It would be difficult to annihilate it in a short time.
However if the first fleet turned around to aim at the right wing, the left wing obviously would turn around to attack from behind.
The first fleet was already falling into Jose’s strategy.
However Leonid who had never fought an opponent stronger than him decisively continued with his decision to annihilate the left wing.
「Don’t pay attention to the right wing! Match the trim! Accelerate and don’t let them get away!」
「Sir!」
The first fleet was the last fortress to protect the nation. It was said that most of the elites of the navy were gathered in the first fleet.
However sometimes, soldier would grow after piling up experiences from battle even if they weren’t elite.
In contrast to the soldiers who survived at the front line, the elites at the rear didn’t grow at all. Before they knew it their position in regard of their strength had been reversed.
Those elites were hard to deal with because they had high half-baked pride. The first fleet’s current situation was exactly like that.
They could win hands down if they could just catch the enemies within their firing range. After all the enemies were second rate navy that couldn’t even suppress the small Marmara Sea with their own strength.
「……I’m jealous. It feels like the other side has been living with no worry at all until now.」
「Admiral Jose, please be a bit more serious.」
「I’m just an elderly that only want to yield the way forward to my juniors and retire in peace you know?」
「There is nobody who want to take admiral’s position.」
「No no no, there is no way that’s the case, I’m Sanjuan Kingdom’s navy minister you know? If it’s now the position of military minister will also come with it.」
「Don’t talk about the highest position in the military like it’s just a freebie from greengrocer.」
What a troublesome person. He really didn’t understand about his own worth.
Urraca’s talent was abnormal, but in this world there were also people who rated Admiral Jose’s ingenuity higher than that.
Especially the surprise attack to Riga Harbor and the Crossing the T tactic. The navy officers of all the countries rated him highly for those.
Urraca’s genius couldn’t be imitated by anyone, but the strategy that Jose devised could be imitated by everyone.
In that sense, Jose’s talent was more precious than Urraca.
There was no way that Sanjuan Kingdom and other countries would accept Jose doing something like leaving the navy just because he retired from being the military minister. Or rather, his achievements until now were too dazzling that no one dared to succeed after him.
It was obvious that the successor would constantly get compared to Jose by his subordinates.
At the very least the adjutant absolutely refused to go through something like that.
Jose was dreaming of retiring and travelling to the southern country without being aware of that at the slightest.
(When this battle is over, I’ll ask his highness Franco to be allowed to take a long vacation……)
「Admiral Jose! Please return back to reality!」
.
In a complete contrast from Sanjuan Kingdom that was enveloped in a somewhat heartwarming atmosphere, Answerer Kingdom’s first fleet was driven by uneasiness.
「The eighteenth ship is hit! It’s losing moving power!」
「The twentieth ship is hit! Its mizzen spanker is broken! It’s falling behind!」
「Why are we still not catching up!?」
「The enemies are retreating to the east so……we lost the upwind advantage and can’t easily catch up with them.」
「Those shrewd bastards……!」
Leonid gritted his teeth, but this too was caused by his charge that was too hasty.
If there was more distance, he would be able to chase Jose’s fleet from more diagonally upwind.
But because he raised his speed too much, his course change to the east was delayed and as the result the first fleet wasn’t upwind anymore. It had even fallen slightly to the downwind.
With this he couldn’t catch up no matter how much he wanted it to.
Thanks to that his fleet kept getting whittled by the right wing of Sanjuan Kingdom’s fleet.
Leonid’s stress was going to enter the extreme due to the battlefield that wouldn’t move like he wanted it.
「Should we also split our fleet into two?」
「That will be difficult. We’ll get showered by the attack from the enemy’s right wing while turning around. As expected, it will be better to focus on crushing one wing first rather than increasing our casualties like that.」
「How is it going with the third fleet?」
「It seems the second fleet is also struggling. So the third fleet is heading toward them because it’s nearer.」
「That stupid Yuri! His can only talk big!」
Leonid cursed his colleagues while turning a blind eye to his own arbitrary action.
In the first place the cause of this was his arbitrary charge that caused a distance to be opened between his fleet and the third fleet.
Even so he didn’t get cold feet even now in his situation. As expected from someone who was in the rank of general.
「It’s no use asking for the impossible. Continue chasing after the enemies!」
「Sir!」
As expected, Jose was taken aback by Leonid’s decision to keep charging at the left wing of Sanjuan Kingdom fleet without any hesitation.
He completely thought that the first fleet was dropping its speed intentionally to attempt to split the left wing and the right wing.
「We can win even if we keep running like this but……」
「The enemy’s third fleet is heading toward Horntbeck Kingdom fleet. If we leave them alone for too long……」
「Well, it might turn bad in that case.」
It looked like Urraca’s battle with the raid fleet was going to end soon, but Odysseus’s burden would be too big if he had to face two fleets at the same time.
「And so let’s turn around to join up with the right wing.」
「Sir!」
When Sanjuan Kingdom fleet’s left wing started to turn around, the first fleet quickly livened up because they finally could close the distance.
「Prepare to fire!」
There was just a bit more until they entered the rocket arrow’s firing range. As long as they could close the distance, the rocket arrow would be overwhelmingly inferior to cannon in regard to area suppression power.
It couldn’t be helped that they were getting eager because they finally would be able to vent their resentment.
However, obviously Jose wasn’t such a kindhearted person.
「Right attack ready.」
「Sir!」
「Full speed after the volley, fire!」
「Sir!」
Because the ship’s speed dropped from turning around, the ship’s shaking settled down and a situation where it was easy to aim was arranged temporarily.
And then when the distance was close like this, being able to hit easily wasn’t the advantage of rocket arrow alone. The same also applied to the cannon.
Two ships from the first fleet quickly got damaged and dropped out.
「Don’t falter! Hit them back if we got hit!」
「Enemy ships are accelerating!」
「Hold back the leading ship!」
「B-but if we change direction to hinder the left wing fleet’s leading ship, the right wing fleet will launch pincer attack to us……」
And yet if they did nothing to hinder the left wing and right wing to link up, the first fleet would be the one in disadvantage after all the damages they accrued.
「I don’t mind! In that case we will just take on all of them!」
Human couldn’t bear to let go something that they obtained after much effort. Leonid couldn’t allow the left wing to get away after he finally caught up to them.
He made his decision with the excuse that he would have to fight the right wing fleet too sooner or later anyway.
Of course the world wouldn’t work that conveniently.
「That move will be effective against a weaker opponent, but in this case……」
Jose could predict that Leonid would choose to rely on brute force.
「Fore top sail a back!」
「Sir!」
「Hard starboard!」
「Hard starboard, sir!」
They had no obligation to move just like the enemy wanted them to.
Running away by turning around completely and passing the first fleet was also a choice but, Jose chose to perform a rapid braking before changing course once more.
「They’re still continuing with their futile struggle!」
Should he change course once more? Or perhaps he should continue attacking like this?
Leonid hesitated.
The left wing fleet was already within his firing range due to their declining speed from changing direction.
It would be fine if he could hit the enemies from here, but if it missed then the enemies would escape to outside his range once more.
Either option had their own merits and demerits.
The basic of psychological warfare was forcing the opponent to choose from such options.
After hesitating for a few moments, Leonid decided to attack.
However the bombardment from the right wing fleet attacked the first fleet slightly faster.
「Kuh! Fire the rocket arrows!」
「Sir!」
The number of the rocket arrows that were fired simultaneously was around 1000.
However the angle of the firing was bad. The wind that was blowing from the north was hitting the rocket arrows from the side.
Rocket arrow with its slow speed could be easily affected by wind from the start.
And the type of wind that affected the rocket arrow’s accuracy the most was side wind.
Leonid was unable to realize that the timing he chose was the worst.
If he was in a composed state, he might not overlooked the wind, but the tense atmosphere of the battlefield was throwing Leonid’s focus into disarray.
The first attack of the first fleet damaged two ships of Sanjuan Kingdom fleet. One of them sank.
──But that result couldn’t be compared to all the damages that the first fleet had received until now.
「Damn it! How can I of all people blundered like that……」
Leonid finally returned to his senses seeing the rocket arrows got greatly diverted by the wind. But it was already too late at that point.
And then when he realized, the left wing fleet and the right wing fleet began their bombardment with the first fleet’s single line formation sandwiched between them.
Because the fleet was using a probability weapon like rocket arrow as their main weapon, it was desirable for the fleet to maneuver as one.
Single line formation was adopted due to such tactical demand.
However when the left wing fleet began to attack the head of the formation while the right wing fleet began to attack the rear of the formation, the first fleet started to become unable to maintain the single line formation.
The distance between the two sides had also been shortened and the bombardment accuracy increased.
「Don’t falther! An exchange of blow like this is also exactly what we wanted!」
There was a saying poverty would make a person dull-brained.
The first fleet’s tactical objective was approaching the enemy fleet to use their rocket arrows, and that objective had been achieved.
And yet, before they realized it they had been sandwiched from the front and rear, the wind direction was disadvantageous for them, and they had also been damaged considerably.
The current first fleet was similar to an animal that was falling into a trap due to the bait that was dangled in front of their eyes.
「Fire! Keep firing until we run out of rocket arrow!」
「Fifth ship and seventeenth ship are hit!」
「Hit them back! Hit them no matter what! It should be possible if we have taken the wind direction into account too from the start!」
Leonid issued his order.
But rocket arrow wasn’t like cannon. It didn’t have sighting device and it could simply be fired repeatedly without anything much that could be done to improve the aim. Nobody would be troubled if it was easy to hit the target with this weapon.
The only thing left that Leonid could do was only to pray to god.
If all the rocket arrows could luckily hit the enemies, of the ship Rio that Jose was on board could at least be hit……
「There is no way they will hit. After all luck will only butter up the strong.」
Jose smiled wryly seeing the rocket arrows that were mostly being shot randomly.
Fundamentally luck would never save the weak who was seeking for it. Instead it was the hero who cut open the path of their life even without something like luck who for some reason would be frequently blessed with miraculous luck.
There was no way the goddess of luck would go to butter up Leonid who had been cornered to the verge of defeat at this point.
In the end, the first fleet continued to fight until their very last ship sank. Sanjuan Kingdom fleet was also forced to lose five ships in exchange.
Only in that respect they were worthy to be proud as the most elite force within Answerer Kingdom navy. Jose sent his respect wordlessly to the first fleet that had vanished below the sea.
On the other hand, Yuri’s second fleet was putting up a better fight than the first fleet.
Yuri realized that he couldn’t match Odysseus in fleet maneuver and he made a bet by splitting his fleet into four and ordered each group to counterattack.
In order to control a wide area like Galeares Sea, it was common for a fleet to be split up when it was at the peace time. That experience was being used for this strategy now.
If a fleet’s commander was changed, than the fleet’s habit and decision would also completely change.
That difference between each commander was putting Odysseus in a tough spot to react.
「As expected from the person who will come first to mind when talking about Answerer Kingdom navy.」
Odysseus groaned because he didn’t expect that Yuri would use such perplexing strategy.
Of course this strategy only made it troublesome for Odysseus, but he still had the advantage. Odysseus carefully keep the distance with his enemies while continuing to whittle down his enemies’ number by sniping the fleet whose teamwork had turned shoddy because of the split.
However the enemies were also formidable.
They accepted that they wouldn’t be able to get out of this unharmed and they began to charge at Horntbeck Kingdom fleet from four directions to half surround them.
Horntbeck Kingdom fleet that was inferior in number headed west to retreat while concentrating their attack to one of the four sub fleets. They succeeded in almost annihilating that sub fleet.
「I’m amazed they can hit that accurate on a sea this shaky.」
Yuri began to wonder if it was a mistake to choose a stormy weather for this battle.
After all it looked like the weather affected the rocket arrow more than the cannon.
They were barely able to put up a fight, but they were bearing more loss than the enemy.
However there was also a good news.
The third fleet was heading to reinforce them instead of the second fleet.
It seemed that Leonid had dashed off as he pleased and ignored the battle plan, so he got left behind.
With the ten ships of the third fleet at his side, he outnumbered the enemies by quite a lot.
Yuri finally felt relieved.
「……Good grief, today is an unlucky day.」
Odysseus looked up to the sky.
Urraca had gone off to fight with the raid fleet on her own, in addition even the third fleet was coming toward him. He didn’t think that his habitual behavior was that bad that he deserved this…….
However it was pointless to only lament like this.
If the third fleet joined the battle, the combat strength difference with the second fleet that he had shortened after much effort would open up widely again.
The fact that his fleet hadn’t spent as much time training using cannon like Majorca Kingdom and Sanjuan Kingdom was also significant.
Currently Odysseus couldn’t hit a target from the cannon’s maximum range like Urraca could no matter how hard he tried.
「Well, it’s great that the achievement is coming at me on their own instead of me having to chase after them.」
In order to show the presence of Horntbeck Kingdom within the Grand Union, Odysseus had to obtain achievement in this battle no matter what. The third fleet coming after him in addition of the second fleet were something that he was also thankful about.
If he could destroy these two fleets by himself, he would make the biggest contribution in this naval battle.
There would be no need for him to share the achievement with others.
「As expected, I can only allow them to cut my flesh in order to break their bone.」
As expected, trying to win without any loss would be simply asking for too much.
He wanted to preserve his force as much as possible because Horntbeck Kingdom fleet hadn’t recovered from the damage in the battle against Urraca and Jose, but there was no other way.
「Tacking!」
「Tacking, sir!」
The wind that was blowing from the north to slightly the west changed to blow to the east right at that timing.
Galeares Sea wasn’t just Answerer Kingdom’s turf.
Horntbeck Kingdom had also fought against Answerer Kingdom until now for the hegemony of this sea.
The north wind coiling and changing direction to the east and west was a common phenomenon in this sea.
However it was also an unmistakable fact that Odysseus was the fastest one to notice that.
「Well, he got a passing mark I guess.」
Urraca who was observing the battle with a sidelong glance smiled while watching Odysseus with slight admiration.
She almost finished with annihilating the raid fleet, but Urraca didn’t have any intention to snatch the achievement from Odysseus at this point. She planned to observe Odysseus’s struggle with a warm gaze.
It was unknown whether Odysseus was thinking something like give us a little help here or not.
「Starboard!」
「Starboard, sir!」
「Left attack ready, fire!」
「Sir!」
Horntbeck Kingdom fleet turned around and moved toward the third fleet.
And then they hit the third fleet’s nose with all out bombardment.
「Enemy flag ship is hit!」
「ALRIGHTTTTTTTT!」
The commander of the third fleet Admiral Anatoli was just a temporary commander that was dispatched from the main third fleet. He liked to take command from the front and today too his flagship was leading from the forefront to inspire the morale.
The demerit of such move appeared in the worst timing.
The flagship’s speed dropped drastically and it immediately dropped out from the frontline.
「Attack back! Don’t mind the flagship! Fire!」
「Sir!」
It became a grand exchange of blow, but Horntbeck Kingdom fleet had superior number, and on top of that they had taken the initiative. Half of the third fleet was immediately sunk.
──That wasn’t all.
「Prepare the flamethrower!」
「Sir!」
「Fire!」
Odysseus had approached the third fleet until point-blank range in order to avoid the attack from the second fleet. He also did it to carry out this scheme.
Horntbeck Kingdom fleet wasn’t just equipped with cannons, but also flamethrowers.
Odysseus used the blazing third fleet as shield and avoided being sandwiched by the second fleet. Then he turned around to finally have a showdown with the second fleet.
「Starboard!」
「Starboard, sir!」
「Right attack ready!」
「Sir!」
The sequence of battle was something splendid that frustrated even Yuri.
He wanted to sandwich the enemies together with the third fleet, but by catching the sudden change of wind, Horntbeck Kingdom fleet circled behind the third fleet and completely prevented the second fleet from trying anything.
Yuri’s second fleet could do nothing but watching the third fleet getting annihilated helplessly.
If he tried shooting with rocket arrow, its wide area effect might also hit the third fleet in the worst case.
It was difficult for Yuri to make a decision of shooting his allies.
「We’re going all out. Make sure that each ship take down at least one ship!」
「Sir!」
Fortunately the second fleet could advance with the third fleet as their cover. All the ships of Horntbeck Kingdom fleet were within range.
It could be said that the third fleet that accomplished the role as bait so that the second fleet could close the distance.
「I’m sorry, but unfortunately I’m not planning to fight you head on.」
However Horntbeck Kingdom fleet performed tacking while using the third fleet as their shield, and they began bombarding the second fleet from the gaps.
Rocket arrow was something to be scattered in great number, so it could also hit allies incidentally, but cannon wasn’t. And on top of that, the third fleet wasn’t their ally from the start.
「You coward……!」
Ships that burned like torch. Sailors drifting in the extremely cold sea. Those lucky ones were getting onto boat and waiting for help from their allies.
Could he fire rocket arrows on top of them?
「Fifth ship is hit!」
「Shit-! Port! Circle around!」
「Port, sir!」
Yuri searched for an angle to shoot that wouldn’t hit his allies, but Odysseus didn’t allow that.
The second fleet lost two more ships while that was going on.
「Damn you……」
Something like this wasn’t an upstanding way of fighting war between nations. This was a way of fighting of pirate.
It was natural for Yuri to think like that, but for a fleet of small country like Horntbeck Kingdom, pirate strategy was their specialty instead.
The worth of a small country’s navy was in harassing the opponent.
「Don’t you think that it’s stupid for the weak to face the strong head on?」
Odysseus didn’t have the slightest feeling of guilt from taking the third fleet hostage that he could even assert like that.
「The sixth ship is hit! Admiral, if we lose even more ships than this……」
「I know!」
It was painful to admit it, but if the difference of strength kept widening like this, the second fleet would also definitely walk the path of defeat.
Furthermore when he looked around him, the raid fleet was already annihilated, and the first fleet was also going to be defeated.
It was a situation where he had to destroy Horntbeck Kingdom fleet as quickly as possible and thought of how to retreat from here.
「Fire the rocket arrows!」
「Sir!」
Odysseus shrugged seeing the second fleet decided to attack.
「I wished that you will be a bit more docile.」
He wanted to sink several more ships, but he couldn’t ask for extravagance here.
「Let’s do it for real from here.」
Horntbeck Kingdom fleet had already overturned the difference of number.
「All hands, prepare to extinguish fire!」
「Sir!」
Unlike cannon, rocket arrows almost never damaged the spot below sea gauge.
If the crews could calmly extinguish the fire, the ship’s survivability would be increased drastically.
Such battle training was only done by the Grand Union as the only side that had the experience of being attacked by rocket arrow.
「Match the trim!」
「Sir!」
After they smoothly sped up and rushed out from the shadow of the third fleet, Horntbeck Kingdom fleet started their counterattack.
「Third ship, fourth ship are hit! The sixth ship is flooded and fall behind!」
「Don’t panic! We will save you guys later so don’t die in vain!」
The Grand Union’s victory was already almost set in stone.
As long as the damaged ships could stay afloat somehow, help would come for them later.
Such feeling of safety also heightened the morale of Horntbeck Kingdom fleet.
In contrast to that, Answerer Kingdom fleet wouldn’t have anyone to save them if their ship sank.
It couldn’t be helped at all that the sailors were feeling anxious in their heart because they absolutely didn’t want to sink.
「Left attack ready!」
「Sir!」
「Focus the shots at the lead ship and the second ship! Fire!」
「Sir!」
Unlike the third fleet, Yuri wasn’t located at the forefront.
However if the lead ship of a single line formation was disabled, the fleet movement would naturally get disarrayed.
In a sense, it was a tactic that should be called as a conventional tactic in fleet battle.
「So he doesn’t only has dirty trick……」
Yuri muttered loathingly.
The enemy had also perfected the basic.
「Don’t falter! The one that get cold feet first will lose!」
Both fleets passed each other while hitting each other.
Rocket arrow’s firepower was superior with its greater quantity, but the effect of the weather was strong, so the firepower of both sides was almost equal.
Yuri’s words that the side that got cold feet first would lose really hit the mark.
If two adults that got into blow with each other were equally strong, the strength of heart would be the factor that broke the equilibrium.
First the side that got cold feet would be swallowed and forced into one-sided defense, and then at the end they would run away.
Perhaps the strength of Yuri’s heart was first class.
But there was no guarantee that his subordinates were also the same.
「Fire the flamethrower!」
「Is it alright when the enemy is still outside the range?」
「Even if it doesn’t hit, what will they think when they saw the flame coming that close to them?」
「I see.」
In the end the firing of flamethrower brought about a severe impact to the second fleet.
「Idiots! Don’t mess the formation! It won’t reach us!」
Yuri yelled angrily seeing the ships at the front messing the formation because they feared the flame.
The flame of the flamethrower wouldn’t vanish even after it touched the seawater.
There was still a distance of dozens of meters until the flame wall that suddenly appeared.
However for them who had witnessed the defeat of their allies, it felt like the flame was just several meters away from reaching them.
They turned the rudder almost instinctually to avoid the flame.
Naturally the rocket arrows that they fired got scattered loosely. The attack power of the rocket arrows got drastically reduced.
It was just a trivial thing, but equilibrium was something that could be broken by such trivial thing.
Yuri was angry because he also knew that.
「The enemy is near! Don’t miss your aim!」
It was over with this, Odysseus thought, but he didn’t say it out loud.
As a commander, he couldn’t possibly say something that would make his subordinates let their guard down in this situation.
「Fire!」
「Sir!」
He couldn’t use magic to hit the target 400 meter away like Urraca, but for Horntbeck Kingdom fleet, the distance of 100 meter was a point-blank range.
The gunners knew that Urraca and Jose had won.
Liberated from the fear of defeat, they felt elevated and desired to also win and obtain achievement.
Their moral was high and their heart was composed.
Missing the target from this close range in their current mental state would be harder to do.
The well aimed cannonballs pierced through the second fleet one after another.
「Fire back! Fire fire fire keep firing!」
Unlike cannon, rocket arrow could be fired rapidly.
In an immobile exchange of blow, their side should be superior in the number of blows they could inflict.
However the crews who had witnessed the annihilation of the third fleet from close by couldn’t fight calmly when they were faced with defeat like this.
At this point, Yuri realized that he was being defeated by Odysseus due to the numerous impacts on his men’s mind from the psychological warfare.
It was then, a cannonball hit the flagship Yuri was in. A thunderous roar and impact ran through the ship.
Yuri fell on his knee for the first time today because of the great shock.
「The flagship is hit on the middle of the port side! Many of other ships are also hit!」
「Tell the unharmed ships to retreat. The flagship will continue fighting like this!」
When he looked, the number of operable ships had been reduced to half.
The number of unharmed ships was only around four or five.
Yuri didn’t think that they had to continue fighting until the last ship like this.
There was still the main third fleet at the north. He should preserve his combat force to some degree.
Most of all, it would be unbeneficial for the country if he allowed the sailors that had been raised with much time and effort to die in vain.
Still, surrendering was something that Yuri’s aesthetic didn’t permit.
「Keep firing rocket arrows until this ship sink. Don’t let them chase after the retreating ships no matter what.」
Although Yuri thought in his heart, that if that person was the enemy commander, he surely wouldn’t chase the survivors too deeply.
「The enemies are a wounded beast. There is no need for us to get hurt facing a beast that will die by itself if we just leave it alone.」
Odysseus stopped fighting just like Yuri expected. He sent out his salute toward the sinking second fleet.
.
Answerer Kingdom’s sea force got almost completely annihilated from the naval battle of Galeares Sea.
The damage to the Grand Union was around 20%. It could be surmised that the battle was completely a one-sided game.
Although Answerer Kingdom navy still had more than thirty ships left, they would never become a threat for the Grand Union anymore.
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