Nihonkoku Shoukan. Volume 1. Chapter 1 Part 5

Translator Corner

Minasan Oidemasu! This is Yukkuri demasu!

Here we go, new chapter!

As always,

DISCLAIMER: There is no guarantee that my translation is 100% correct. Please correct me if I was wrong.

onnline Plus, if you want to thank someone go to the guys at Ainushi Translation who give me the RAW for this LN. They’re the real MVPs.

Author:

みのろう (Minorou)

Translator:

Yukkuri Oniisan!

Editor:

So-Chintzy!

Chapter 1

Upheaval

Part 5

Central calendar Year 1639, Month 4, Day 25. Evening.

Port Maihark was in a great clamor like a madhouse.

Everyone raised their voices in wonder and admiration. The citizens living nearby, the soldiers, and the sailors altogether were gazing at the direction of the sea.

「What a huge thing!」

「Unbelievable, is that really a ship?」

「Is that a mountain floating on the sea?」

There were many shouts and yells.

Bruay was also doubting his own eyes. On the offshore, there were several unbelievably large ships lined up.

Just by measuring with the eye, one of the ships had an implausible estimated length of no less than 250m, which gave off a bizarre presence. There were talks about how when the warship Pima made contact with Japan, it boarded a 250 meter long ship, but he thought that they were just lying to exaggerate their accomplishments. However, the reality was: ‘that ship really existed’. Despite being anchored far away on the offshore, it was still absurdly large in appearance and had no sails.

Eventually, something flew away from that large ship.

He had eyesight good enough that he could see that there were people riding in it, so he understood that it was some kind of vehicle. On the top of the vehicle, there was something like an elongated board spinning around in high speed.

Although he previously had received a message about how he would be picked up by the other party, when Bruay actually saw this other way to fly in the sky that wasn’t a Wyvern, he was at loss for words. As it approached, there was an unfamiliar ringing sound and a loud unnatural flapping sound which put fear into the surrounding people. Eventually, a violent wind began to blow as if it could blow away anything nearby.

When the vehicles had landed in the plaza, the wind and the sounds gradually abated. A door on the vehicle’s side opened, a man appeared from it and started to move with a steady gait towards the gathered crowd.

Bruay stepped forward and the man standing in front of him saluted.

「Good day, I am Tsukasaki of the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force’s Qua-Toyne Principality Deployment Force. For this occasion, we have received an instruction to pick up an observation officer from the Qua-Toyne Principality.」

Bruay replied in a hurry, while also being a bit impressed by Tsukasaki's prompt behavior.

「Nice to meet you, I am Bruay, the operations staff of the Qua-Toyne Principality Navy’s 2nd Fleet. I am grateful for the current reinforcements from Japan.」

「Umm, I believe that you had been informed in advance, but have you finished your preparations for boarding?」

「Yes. I will be in your good hands.」

Bruay held his the luggage and timidly boarded the vehicle ──something that was called a helicopter, 『MCH-101』[1]. There were no decorations inside the aircraft, but the seat was fluffy and comfortable to sit on.

Once again, the helicopter’s engine speed accelerated and there were a strange sensation of floating. Although it was somewhat slower than a wyvern, there were no jerky vertical movements caused by flapping, and the smooth ascend of the helicopter astonished Bruay. This vehicle could fly without almost no shaking and was much more comfortable than a wyvern, moreover it could transport large numbers of people or goods.

「This is…… amazing. Just how this vehicle works is beyond my understanding……」

While in the middle of the flight to the mother ship, he kept admiring the usefulness of the helicopter.

When the helicopter approached the carrier anchored offshore, he was overwhelmed by the size of the mother ship that was incomparable when seen from the faraway shore.

(What’s with this ship size‼ …… Ah, I understand, if the ships are this big, then a large number of personnel could board it, and so when it becomes a melee fight, they could capture the enemy ship one by one through overwhelming numbers. As the number of captured ships increased, the fighting power will also be quickly increased, so this one ship alone would certainly be able to deal with dozens of ships.)

Using his own knowledge and logic, he was trying to make sense of the helicopter destroyer.

Helicopter Destroyer 『Izumo』

Total length - 248 m

Standard displacement - 19,500 tons

Construction cost - 114 billion yen[2]

It was the largest destroyer^[sic] of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force that could handle the arrival and departure of five helicopters at the same time.[3]

Bruay alighted on the ship deck that was wide enough for a cavalry battle.

(The floor is hard…… This is…… made from iron? How could it float in the sea? What kind of magic is this? A ship should be constructed from wood……)

With the incomprehensible fact of an iron ship floating in the sea as the beginning, Bruay’s confusion kept increasing.

As he was told by Tsukasaski, he entered the ship’s interior.

(…… The inside…… is bright. Did they burn something? No, light magic? Is this a Magic Ship?)

After being guided into the ship interior that was so wide that it felt like an illusion, Bruay arrived at the bridge and met with the captain.

This time, Bruay saluted without any delay.

「I am Bruay, the navy operations staff representative of the Qua-Toyne Principality. We are grateful for the reinforcements.」

「Nice to meet you, I am this ship’s captain, Yamamoto. This might be sudden, but we have already located the position of the armed insurgent ships. It’s about 500 kilometers west from this location. Their speed is very slow, about 5 knots[4], but they are heading towards our direction. So we planned to leave tomorrow morning and issue a warning to the armed insurgents to turn back. If they don’t abide, then after we fire a warning shot, we will eliminate them entirely. So please relax yourself inside the ship until tomorrow.」

「Eliminate them entirely...... Eliminate, entirely?」

How absurd. There were only 50 Qua-Tonean ships and 8 Japanese ships. Only 58 vessels couldn’t possibly confront 4,400 vessels.

「Ah, no. Of course if the enemy turns back, or begins to surrender or escape, then we will refrain from attacking.」

「That's not what I meant…… Certainly our country’s fleet has prepared 50 ships. Will we perform this operation with only 58 ships? This might be rude to ask, but have you been informed of the enemies’ number?」

Bruay was concerned that Japan hadn’t been informed of the enemy’s size.

「We have been informed of the number of the armed insurgent ships. We have already informed the staff that there will be no need for escorts from the Qua-Toyne Navy, so we will ensure Bruay-dono’s safety. Please be at ease while performing your duties.」

Bruay was surprised again. The Japanese intended to challenge a huge fleet of 4,400 ships by themselves without cooperating with the Qua-Toyne Navy.

✦✧✦✧✦

Bruay’s diary of that day

I boarded the Japanese ship safely as the Qua-Toyne Principality’s citizen.

The flight until the ship was extremely comfortable, the interior of the metal ship with a size beyond the norm also had a fixed temperature. In addition, it is bright even at night. Although I should be in the middle of the sea, the swaying of the waves are inexistent. Everything is out of common sense and so, I am very astonished.

In my meeting with the captain, when he told me that they will challenge Lourian’s 4,400 warships with just 8 ships, I at first thought that they were suicidal. But after I observed this ship’s interior, its size, and then its metal construction, then I understood that fire arrows or ballista wouldn’t be able to damage it for sure.

On the other hand, the ship's deck is so high, so the arrows fired from that higher altitude will surely hit the enemy ships. There are no fixed-installed weapons like a ballista, but it is highly probable that the weapons are portable and will be deployed when they enter battle preparations. Although for a moment, I was in despair that there were only 8 ships, there is a possibility that enemy’s attacks won’t be effective against this ship. Japan seems to possess absolute confidence in the battle.

To be this nervous as an observer officer, this is the first time I’ve felt this way ever since I had been born.

☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽

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Next Chapter: Otobreda 127/54 Compact Gun

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[1] MCH-101 Airborne Mine Countermeasures (AMCM) Helicopter. Japanese military version of Augusta Westland AW101 medium-lift helicopter.

The below stats are mainly derived from the civilian AW101 Helicopter since the military MCH-101’s stats is unknown to public.

Weight

Maximum Take-Off (int./ext. loads): 15,600 kg/34,392 lbs

Engine Rating (3 x GE CT7-8E)

Take-Off power (5 min): 3 x 1,884 kW/3 x 2,527 shp

Intermediate (30 min): 3 x 1,855 kW/3 x 2,488 shp

Maximum Continuous Power: 3 x 1,522 kW/3 x 2,041 shp

OEI* Max Contingency (2 min): 2 x 1,880 kW/2 x 2,522 shp

Fuel Capacity (VVIP version)

4 cell tanks (self-sealing): 4,094 L/1,081 USgal

Fuel Capacity (Utility version)

5 cell tanks (self-sealing): 5,135 L/1,357 USgal

Fuel Capacity (Military version)

???

Crew

Pilot: 2

Passengers: 38

External Dimensions

Overall length: 22.83 m/74.92 feet

Overall height: 6.66 m/21.83 feet

Main rotor diameter: 18.60 m/61.00 feet

Performance

Cruise speed: 278 km/h/150 knots

Hovering In Ground Effect (IGE): 3,307 m/10,850 feet

Max Range (Utility version): 1,360 km/735 NM

Max Endurance (Utility version): 6 h 30 min

Armaments (for MCH-101)

Northrop-Grumman AN/AQS-24A Airborne Mine Hunting System

Northrop Grumman AN/AES-1 Airborne Laser Mine Detection System

[2] 1,043,100,000 US$ or 95,000,000 Light Novels or 1/12 Gerald R. Ford Class Supercarrier or 173,850 YWY or Rp 13,9 triliun or 1/9 of Indonesia Defense Ministry Budget. Quite cheap actually. (Januari Exchange Rate, YWY = Yukkuri-work-years)

[3] The modern Japanese’ Destroyers are called 護衛艦 (Gou’eikan) or Escort. The old term for Destroyer 駆逐艦 (Kuchikukan) is not used anymore for the new Japanese ships (Also escorts sounds tamer than destroyers). So, yes, even the large sized Izumo is still considered as a Helicopter ‘Destroyer’ (DDH) for the Japanese. The other country usually called ship with Izumo specs as Helicopter Carrier (Landing Helicopter Dock-LHP/ Landing Helicopter Assault-LHA/ Landing Platform Helicopter-LPH) like Wasp Class or Juan-Carlos/Canberra Class.

[4] 9.26 km/h. This is very slow for modern standard…… But it’s the standard speed for sailships. Compare to the typical modern passenger/cargo ship speed of 20 knots (4 times faster). Of course, modern destroyer could travel much more faster.