25 March 2018

Nihonkoku Shoukan. Volume 1. Chapter 2 Part 1

Translator Corner
Minasan Oidemasu! This is Yukkuri demasu!

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

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:
Online Grammar Editor!

Chapter 2
The Kingdom’s Miscalculation
Part 1


Central Calendar Year 1639, Month 4, Day 30.
Qua-Toyne Principality - Government Council

Several days ago on the 26th day of this month, the event of the battle when Japan repulsed Lourian Kingdom Navy was reported by the military observer officer Bruay as he was asked to give his testimony.
It was previously unprecedented for a mere military observer officer to testify in the Government Council, but as it was a battle report that determined the fate and survival of this country, the country’s representatives were seriously listening.

「――, that is the battle report of the Grand Battle of the Rodenius Sea.

The reports were distributed to the members of the Government Council.

…… What is this? Just with 8 ships, Japan challenged a Lourian Fleet of 4,400 ships and destroyed their morale by sinking 1,400 ships. In addition, they shot down an air support of more than 200 Wyverns, furthermore, the 8 ships didn’t receive any damage?
When the Japanese Navy warship was issuing a warning, it received a flame arrow. Hence, just like what is stated, the damage is not zero, the ship received a scratch on its hull paint.
This can’t be considered as a damage at all.

It was a subdued retort, but Bruay made a troubled expression. He had thought that it would be unbelievable if he didn’t write any damage, but even if he had that paint-damage written on the report, Bruay himself could agree that this line could be seen as a poor joke no matter what. Besides, just how should he wrote it so it will be acceptable?

The record state that there is no damage on Japanese personnel. So that means, no casualties? Our country navy doesn’t even have a part to play? Even if this is a fairytale, it’s too preposterous. I don’t think that you are deliberately lying in this place, but this report is too unreal that it is unbelievable.

The remark made by the greatly perplexed Foreign Minister Linsui, represented the thoughts of the other council members.

Foreign Minister, Sir! In the first place, doesn’t the report say that Japan only have the minimum military power necessary for self-defense?

A mock flew from a corner of the Council Room.
By all rights, they should be rejoicing since the Louria’s invasion was prevented, but since the result from the first battle was too out of bounds, the Government Council had fear of some sort to Japan.

In the report from the diplomatic delegation dispatched to Japan, they heard that Japanese people can’t use magic. But in your report, The Louria Kingdom Navy’s warships were pulverized into fragments by something similar to a massive explosion magic. So which one is the truth?

Bruay answered Linsui’s question.

The attack done by Japan is, to put it in simpler words: something similar to a massive explosion magic. It can’t be concluded whether or not it was magic, but since it exhibited such tremendous power and the closest similar thing that came to my mind is only the explosion magic, I used that expression in the record.
Then, so that means Japan repeatedly launched large explosion attacks without magic, which destroyed the Louria Kingdom’s warship? That is absolutely impossible.

A mockery flew again, Bruay thought that it will be a waste a time to explain more than this and so he became a bit sullen.
Prime Minister Kanata, who was silently watching the situation, carefully began to talk.

At any rate, the sea invasion this time has been prevented. Though Louria still should have about 3,000 ships remaining, if they were beaten up this much by just 8 ships, they would be on guard and it will take times before they able to launch another invasion. Military Minister, what about the situation in the land-side?
Currently the Louria Army units had fortified themselves on encampments surrounding Gim. It seems that since the sea invasion strategy has failed, after they solidified Gim’s defense, they will launch another invasion. It seems that they had abandoned their rapid push strategy.

The Military Minister answered while reading the reports from the Intelligence Section and the Western Defense Corps in his hand.

About Japan’s movement, they have asked a permission to borrow 3 kilometers square of land on Daital Plain, 5 kilometers east of the Fortress City Ejei.

The Military Minister passed an application written in the Continental Common Language to Kanata. The Foreign Minister and the Military Minister had already given their sign, it only lacked a sign from the Prime Minister.

Behind Ejei……? Are they planning to construct an encampment there?
Looks like it.
There is nothing important on that plain…… No problem. Foreign Minister, when you return this application, issue a permit for encampment construction. Let them use it indefinitely.

There was some opposition to Kanata's order, but everyone understood that it is impossible to defend against Louria without Japan's power. In addition, it was obvious that in the unlikely event of Japan bared their fangs at Qua-Toyne, at that point, the country’s destruction is inevitable.
In the future, Japan will construct an airfield on the same location.

✦✧✦✧✦

Louria Kingdom. Capital City: Jin-Haag, Haag Castle.

Louria Kingdom’s 34th King, Haag Louria XXXIV, was exasperated when he hear the after battle report from General Patagene. Just a few days ago, a new emerging nation named Japan, participate in the war against the Louria Kingdom, and in the Grand Battle of the Rodenius Sea, they annihilated 250 wyverns. Furthermore, it was an unprecedented catastrophe, 1400 warships were sunk, about one-third of the fleet,.
Moreover, there were no confirmed military gain of this battle at all. It was indeed a completely unexpected defeat.

Why did we lose to Japan in this naval battle?
Because the content of the report from the Navy is too absurd, we are currently in the process of re-investigating the cause and verifying the credibility of the report, Your Majesty.

According to the report, the Japanese attacked the wyvern squadron with a light arrow that continued to pursue its target even after avoiding them and practically annihilated the wyvern squadron. The evidence for this were the mid-battle manacom messages from the wyverns and the discovery of huge amount of wyvern corpses floating in the ocean by the retreating navy. They conjectured this to be the result of some kind of new magic weapon.
However, even when they were 4 km away from the battlefield, they were felled by something.

(What the heck is ‘something’?)

Patagene had been racking his brain at this vaguely worded report. However, the report also stated that the wyvern bodies were torn into pieces. That something had a power to destroy a warship with a single hit, furthermore, it could be launched in succession. He couldn’t imagine, just how much magic power it needed.
Had the ancient Magic Empire of the legends revived? He didn’t know what kind of opponent they went to war against.
For ages, Louria Kingdom only has a large population, but the individual quality wasn’t that good. In order to unify Rodenius, for the last 6 years, they had educated as much as possible and able to gather an overwhelming number of decent talented people. However, given the situation, they were fearful that they could be annihilated without able to do anything.

Either way, the damage is a reality. It will be troubling if something like this happened in the future.
Yes, Your Majesty!! Until we identified the cause of our defeat in the naval battle,  we will refrain from aggressively advancing our Navy. However, in the land, the number is everything. Currently, Gim had already fallen. After we absolutely reviewed our future war strategy, it will be easy to conquer the Principality with only our ground forces. Your Majesty could expect to hear a victory report.
Patagene, I entrust the war this time to you. I ask you not to betray my expectation.
Yes, Your Majesty‼ It’s my humble pleasure‼

In the sea and the sky, the quality reigns. However, in the land, the numbers reigns. In a land battle, Louria might be able to triumph one way or another.
On that day, the King was tormented by the unexpected defeat and had a sleepless night.

✦✧✦✧✦

Third Civilized Land. Papardia Empire.

The dim room was illuminated by a faint orange light. Its light source was a glass ball that was brightened with light spirit’s power, and under that light, there were two shadows.
The two men who cast that shadows had a conversation that will influence the fate of the country.

... ... Japan? It's a name that I have never heard before……
It’s an island country that it is located northeast of the Rodenius continent
If so then I will recognize it when reading the report…… But, has a country like that ever existed before? To begin with, if that country is located about 1,000 kilometers from Rodenius, then it will be unthinkable that it had never been mentioned in our history until now.
Because of the chaotic ocean currents and winds in that ocean area, it is a perilous route. Since we tried to avoid that area as much as possible, we hadn’t sent any investigation to that place.
However, even for the decidedly uncivilized naval battle in the Frontier that is far away from the Civilized Lands, that Louria Kingdom lost 1,400 ships against 8 enemy ships, is rather… too unreal?
「『An Always Accurate Cannon is ludicrous. Perhaps he had mental illness due to the long duty as military attaché in the barbaric Frontier. Let’s substitute him soon. However, Your Excellency, if Lourian Navy’s warships, for argument’s sake, clashed with our 100-Cannons Ship-of-the-Line Fishernus, the outcome might be similar.
Your point?
With height and armor thickness, there is no chance for Fishernus to be sunk by those mobs. As long as they continue to shot cannon shells from a distance of 2 kilometers, they could attack one-sidedly. At any rate, for it to be 8 ships, there must be a mistake. It is unknown if Japan attacked Lourian Navy with hundreds of ships, but seeing the warship destruction description, we should conclude that they have reached the technological level for cannon building.
A cannon built by a bunch of uncivilized savages? …… Until now, the reason why the nations in Rodenius and the surrounding area never try to invade us might be because they realized just how puny their power is. But, now that they finally able to build cannons, they judge that this is the right time to show their face, huh? By the way, to think that Louria could lose, is this possible?  This will interfere with our national strategy.
A land battle is different from the sea ones, the number decide everything. In any case, Louria has a large population, so they wouldn’t possibly lose to a country that had just begun to possess a cannon.
This naval battle report had no credibility. Until we could verify it, postpone reporting this to His Majesty. You understand?
As you wish.

✦✧✦✧✦

Central Calendar Year 1639, Month 5, Day 21.
Near Qua-Toyne Principality,  Near the Border

Hah…….! Hah……! Hah……!

The villagers were gasping their breath while heading east. It was to escape from the Lourian invading army.
About 20 kilometers east from Gim, there was a small nameless elven village. They had little interaction with the outside world, and so seldom obtain new information, so they were late to receive the news about Gim Massacre.
The entire village started to evacuate, but there was no Qua-Toynese army left in the vicinity, and so, they decided to wager their life and evacuate with their own power from the area controlled by Louria.
Currently, the villagers had moved 10 kilometers east from the village. Their number was 200 people.
The area they passed through was nothing but short-grass covered open plains. The sky was clear and the blowing wind was comfortable. The birds were singing, while the wild cows were eating the grass in bliss. This was a tranquil scenery through and through, but for the villagers, they were traveling on the shadow valley of death. It was easy to travel through this place, but there were few covers and so it was easy for them to get discovered.
A young boy was walking hand in hand with his imouto(little sis).
The boy’s name is Parun. His mother had passed away early from sickness and so he lived only with his father and imouto. However, his father received a call to service in the army when Louria was gathering its force to invade, and the left the home that morning.
His father's smile burned inside Parun’s mind.

Palun, I entrust you with Asha. You are the onii-chan(big bro) after all.

He had been entrusted with everything and so he vowed to absolutely protect his imouto, Asha.

Their travel speed wasn’t that fast, and so Parun’s uneasiness became worse.
On the rear group, there were youngsters standing guard – what’s remained after the army’s call for service – but their numbers was only 10 people, considerably few.

(25 kilometers ahead... If we go for another 25 kilometers, there is a base of Qua-Toyne Principality Army)

Suddenly, screams raised from the rear group.

It’s Lourian Cavalry!!

When Parun looked back, there were 100 Lourian Cavalry approaching, 3 kilometers behind their group.
It was the army from Louria Kingdom, a country that devoted to annihilate the demi-humans.
The villagers began to scream and ran away. However, they couldn’t escape from the cavalry's speed, and the looming threats gradually closing in.

☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽


NEXT CHAPTER:
*CLIFF*

27 comments:

  1. Thanks 4 the translation!

    Next, horse cavalry vs armored cavalry (aka tanks)?

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    Replies
    1. you're also here ? does that mean bot and nepu also here ?

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    2. Not sure. I've seen them a lot along with a few others in various sites.

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    3. Since they're harping so much on the airfield, I'm guessing F-4s since the AH have already had their orgasm. Military fanboi writers don't like to reuse old stuff when they can show off more 'we stronk' stuff.

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    4. I'm gonna second Owl on this.

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    5. 'They shot magic light arrows that chased down our wyverns at sea.'
      'They probably can't use it on land.'

      ....right. Their mages must have overate so much they can only be moved by ship....

      Shouldn't ANYONE with even half a functional brain not assume a 'magic' weapon can be used on land AND at sea? Or do their mages come with no legs?

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    6. Their saying something like that just to be part of their common sense. Like falsifying a false hope that what their witness is all about that.

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    7. When evaluating intelligence like this, one should consider:

      1: Things we know, aka "Known knowns".

      2: Things we don't know, aka "Known unknowns".

      3: Things we cannot know, aka "Unknown unknowns".

      4: Things we do not like to know.

      These guys are failing at #4, denying evidence of an enemy that completely outclasses them in ways they aren't even aware of.

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    8. It's even worse than that, they're failing at #1 too by their standards. They might not know what 'magic' was used but I bet they do know mages are mobile, which is why their 'blindness' of the possibility of the same 'magic' being used on land is stupidly suicidal. Please bear in mind there are 2 'hostile' parties, the direct hostile knows the power of the weapons, they should be the ones taking extra care. It's the 'other continent' that is in denial about 'Neo-Japan's' capabilities.

      And yet they still stick their heads into the noose. I do suppose if the enemy does not behave like brain dead scarecrows for 'Japan' to shoot at, the author might have to write something other than techno fanboy fantasy.

      Honestly, think I'm dropping this. After a certain level, excessive stupidity becomes both boring and insulting.

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Thanks for the chapter (/>o<)/

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  4. well.why elf first? i expect to meet black cat ear first.

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    Replies
    1. Black cat is too mainstream nowadays, Yukkuri tends to translate stories that go in strange directions, like the bipedal Golden retriever from the Hikineet story.

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  5. go SDF army ! save the EROfu-- i mean Erofu !! for the glory of pafu-pafu !

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    Replies
    1. You're thinking of the Dark Erofu, this sounds so far like refugees from the Forest Erufu, completely different experience, you may end up in jail after.

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  6. ohhh this is nice at this point Qua-Toyne Principality should just become a vassal state of japan

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    Replies
    1. Well, they already are, unofficially of course :D

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  7.   ∧ ∧
     ( - з -)
    ┏━〇〇━━━━┓
    ┃Thanks! Nepu!┃
    ┗┳┳━━━┳┳┛
     ┗┛   ┗┛

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  8. Modern humans won't tolerate such barbaric method of killing innocent lives.
    If they think that in navy battle against Japan is bad its much worse on land. Where you got tanks, guns, artilleries and by air, modern aircraft rule the sky in that world.
    Without a doubt just like in Gate. Some JSDF soldiers would get close to demi-human girls such as a neko and an elf.

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    Replies
    1. Rogue, you won't believe what 'modern' people can do for 'amusement' or 'for the greater good' or 'they're just enemies/traitors and deserve it'.

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    2. The difference with Gate, is that Japan itself is Right There, how will the Lourian military react if a million otaku suddenly storm that plain looking for erofu waifu!?

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    3. Considering if were talking civilians. Japan government is still on making connection to that world so its gonna take some time before immigrants would started pouring out in the Uncivilized Land if that what's called by the Papardia Empire, west from Japan. Both Principality and Quila Kingdom has many diverged races so its a sacred ground for the otakus and if there are otaku's JSDF and politicians then by heaven the Uncivilized Land is secured and safe once the Louria Kingdom is destroyed.

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  9. "Suddenly, the basso profundo of a great horn sounded out, temporarily distracting Parun from the danger at hand. Returning to his wits, he looked back to the riders, only to see them frantically sawing at their reins in a panicked effort to stop. Indeed, several of the knights had already fallen off their mounts as a result. What on earth was going on?

    From the direction of the horn's call came the unmistakable sound of hundreds, no thousands of feet moving in step. Accompanying that sound came a tight phalanx of armored forms and wicked-looking long spears. But something seemed off - the members of this miracle army were only as tall as Parun. They were demihumans, goblins to be precise. But their grim expressions, disciplined movements and functional weapons and armour were anything but funny.

    The knights seemed to have shaken off their confusion and formed up to charge. But what could they do? Charging heavy spearmen head on was suicide, all the knights could do was die. As if to accentuate the point, the goblin army let out a great shout; "We are the subordinates of Her Excellency, General Enri - The Goblin Heavy Infantry! Don't you dare think this much can stop us!

    "Who the hell is this General Enri?" The knights thought as one.

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  10. I would love it if you would actually use the English terms when referring to siblings. I have zero desire to know Japanese, much less become one. Please just use the English words instead of onii Chan and shit

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