Minasan Oidemasu! This is Yukkuri demasu!
Last part or Chapter 2.
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:
Discord user?
Chapter 2
The Kingdom’s Miscalculation
Part 9
Dragoon Muller Member of the Louria Kingdom’s Eastern
Subjugation Army’s Wyvern Knight Squadron.
「 We will soon reach the area……right?」
Muller was part of the twelve wyvern units that were tasked
to reconnoiter around Ejei, and just when he reached the area where a cavalry
unit just disappeared several days ago, he received an order to investigate the
Eastern Lords Division that had been deployed as the vanguard unit but suddenly
ceased any communication.
Today’s cloud coverage was high and even though he
flew on the open sky, a Dragoon like him would still feel the chill on his
skin. His body felt stiff and it was tough to fly like this, but he felt
refreshed.
The vanguard unit’s communication suddenly ceased. Their
role was to make reconnaissance-in-force of the Fortress City Ejei and probe
its weak points. Then they would wait until the Subjugation Army finished with
its preparations and linked up with them when they arrived.
So it was imperative to investigate if something had
happened and their whereabouts if they had disappeared.
「Hmm……!?」
Although not as good as birds, amongst the humans, a Dragoon
had really outstanding eyesight. Muller had seen something on the ground.
Something that looked to be an armor fragment. So he turned his wyvern and
descended.
「Wha-……What in the world!? What the hell is this!!」
The ground was dotted with many scars, as if someone
had scooped out the soil. The entire surface had been turned upside down, and where
the ground was untouched, there were objects that looked like the remains of
formerly living humans.
Parts of men and horse, together with unrecognizable
armor and helmets, mingled together and scattered over a large area. And then, the
jet black birds that were called as the 『Symbol of Evil』 in the Louria Kingdom were pecking over the flesh.
「The hell is this……」
Dragoon Muller choose a place without any scattered pieces
of meat and tried to land.
Even when he searched around, he couldn’t found anyone
alive. He picked up a fallen armor and examined it. The armor was without any
doubt had been worn by a Lourian soldier.
「Wiped-………out………? –th-, that’s impossible!!」
Muller trembled as his mind coped with the fear of the
unknown. ‘What had happened? What attacked them?’
── Gwaaa! Gwaaa!
His partner wyvern roared a warning call.
He followed his Wyvern's gaze and stared closely at
the eastern sky as his ears picked up a faint sound of something striking the air.
As he kept looking at the sky, he felt a tinge of his stomach
churning.
「What is that thing?」
At the far end of the sky, he could spot a black dot that
was as big as a grain. The dot-like, soulless object gradually became bigger, until
it reached a distance where he could see the entirety of that object.
A dragon? …… No, a dragon would flap their wings when
flying, this is strange!
「── !!!」
Suddenly, the dragon shot out a smoke, and a small
flame was heading at his direction at a speed faster than the sound.
「Is it a boosted flame shot?」
The opponent was far away…… but the shot’s speed was fast.
It seemed that its range was further than his own Wyvern's boosted flame shot. For
it to be able to shoot from such distance, this might have even surpassed the
Wyvern Lord of Parpardia Empire.
(However……)
Without falling into a panic, Muller took into the sky.
From such distance, no matter how fast the shot was, if it was noticed then it can
be avoided. This kind of attack was only effective if it was a surprise attack.
Perhaps the enemy lacked experience?
Just when his mind thought about that, the sense of
discomfort returned.
「……!? It’s heading here!!」
The flame shot had changed its trajectory mid-air and chased
after Muller.
「Uwaaaaaaaaaaa‼」
He gave instruction to the mount to fly at full power
and attempted a zig-zag maneuver to avoid being followed from behind. However, each
time that happened, the flame shot changed directions following the Wyvern’s
action. He had never heard an attack that can follow its target like this
before.
「A boosted flame shot is --- following me!!」
His voice shrieked as Muller screamed at the transmitter
of the mana communication device.
「Damn it…… Damn it all……!」
His face was hit by a combination of wind and
premonition of death, while memories started to flash over his eyes.
yuk✦✧✦✧✦kuu
『Take care.』
──The morning he went to the war, his wife sent him off with a smile.
『Now girl, don’t you have something to say to your father?』
『Ba, ba』
── His daughter who just had
turned 1 year old, came to hug him while smiling.
『Here…… Please take this protective charm.』
He received an object that was made of light metal. He
still wore in on his waist, even now ──
yuk✦✧✦✧✦kuu
「── Me, dying?…… Like I let you!」
He instructed the wyvern to make a climb and dive with
its full might, but the boosted flame shot still corrected its trajectory and
coming after him. At that point, the important
protective charm that he wore on his waist had slipped out during a dive.
The moment the flame bullet reached his rear and both Muller
and his wyvern would surely meet their doom, ──
── BOOM!!!
The flame bullet exploded with the thunderous roaring
noise behind Muller.
yuk✦✧✦✧✦kuu
The scout helicopter 『OH-1』[1], discovered a single wyvern unit belonged to the Lourian army acting alone,
during its patrol flight around Ejei. It approached until it reached a distance
of 2 kilometers from the wyvern before launching its close-range air-to-air
guided missile (a variant of the man-portable Type-91 portable surface-to-air
guidance missile). While pursuing the enemy, the missile came into a contact
with a metallic object fallen from the enemy, which cause a midair explosion that
didn’t harm the Dragoon.
Since the enemy retreated toward the west and leave
the airspace, it decided to withdraw and stopped the pursuit.
yuk✦✧✦✧✦kuu
Muller who had escaped death by a hairbreadth, flew towards
the west.
He didn’t know how it saved him, but the protective charm
he received from his wife had fallen off without realizing it.
「Perhaps…… Perhaps, that thing had saved me.」
He was thinking about how he might be able to meet
with his family again and can’t be more joyous that his life didn’t end today.
He couldn’t contact the main army because the mana
communication device had been damaged. When he was weighing between hiding
himself near the army meeting point or continue to fly at low altitude, he suddenly
sensed a bad premonition so he made an emergency landing on the woods that he
came across.
「── !!?」
He looked towards the sky, as several small objects
flew with white trails behind them. Because it looked really small, he only
noticed that those things must have flown at a very high altitude at an
ultrafast speed when they passed above him.
「To…… It’s too fast! What in the world are those thing?」
The majority of the unidentified flying objects then disappeared
as they crossed the far western horizon.
yuk✦✧✦✧✦kuu
Louria Kingdom
Eastern Subjugation Army. Main Force’s Gim Headquarters.
The Deputy General Adem was irritated.
「What the hell is happening!」
His men broke out a cold sweat at his angry shouting.
The wyvern scout’s last message was a frantic yelling before
the communication was lost. The Main Force had fallen into chaos by the repeated
front line units disappearance. What does he mean by, 『A boosted flame shot is following me!!』?
「We are in the middle of investigating it, but there is still too little
information……」
「Just in what way do you investigate this!」
「We will send cavalrymen to visit and investigate the area. In addition, we
will organize a wyvern reconnaissance team again. The preparation will soon be
completed……」
「You useless numbskull!」
Adem screamed at his subordinates and the place fell
into a silence.
Pandor, one of the Three Great General, who was
specially dispatched for conquering Fortress City Ejei, spoke up to calm Adem
down.
「Well, shouting will not do anything. Let’s do what we can do. How’s the
Headquarters defense?」
A pale-faced strategy officer answered Pandor’s
question.
「We have 44 wyverns on continuous close-range defense. The rest are resting
in the wyvern roost, but if there is an order, they can be dispatched at any
time.」
「44? Aren’t that too many?」
「On the contrary, General. Though we still have no information on the missing
soldiers, if it happened because they have been attacked by a tremendous powerful
attack, this number is too few. It might be hard to believe, but there is a
possibility that the soldiers had been annihilated by Qua-Toyne Principality and
Japan’s counterattack. Perhaps we can’t underestimate this situation. If we
were done by them for the second time, then the current Qua-Toyne subjugation
operation would be a failure.」
「I see……」
Pandor’s expression became heavy after he heard the
strategy officer’s words.
Pandor and Adem left the Manor of the former Gim’s
Feudal Lord where the Main Force Headquarters was now located. They then looked
up at the sky. There were several wyverns flying in a formation as they were
performing guard duty. The might of the unparalleled dragons and their majestic
figures, which made anyone would think that the wyvern could defeat anything thrown
at them, and these conferred a peace of mind to the soldiers.
Even if the legendary 「March of the Magi-Empire Army」 arrived, with an army this large,
they will surely be able to repulse them.
But…… The enemy this time……
「General, I plan to present myself to the Haag Castle and try to give a report
on the war status.」
Adem didn’t hide his irritation even when speaking to someone
ranked above him.
「Hmm? I see. But shouldn’t you wait until you understand the situation
first?」
「If we take too much time, then we will be at a disadvantage. In my humble
opinion, to create a strong defense on Gim, we should call for reinforcement as
early as possible.」
Pandor was greatly surprised at the unexpected conservative
plan from Adem. This might be the first time for him who had a fierce
personality to be pushed into the defensive.
「I understand, in this case, the task is too heavy for just a messenger soldier.
Adem, can I trust you with this matter?」
「As your wish.」
Adem spurred his horse and departed for the castle of
Jin-Haak.
The expression of bitterness never left from his face.
(The vanguard unit must have been wiped out. It’s now impossible to conquer
Qua-Toyne…… I must contact that person immediately.)
「Now then, I have to hold the place until Adem returned with the reinforcements.」
Pandor murmured to himself as he stared at the eastern
sky.
In just a few more hours – if nothing happened, then the
cavalry unit that went out for investigation will return. And when the second wyvern
reconnaissance team departed, then there will surely be some kind of progress.
However…….
Pandor had been suffering from a sense of uneasiness
that he couldn’t shake off. He sighed so that the nearby soldiers wouldn’t
perceive it.
His sense of uneasiness…… Appeared as a nightmare.
Out of nowhere, the 16 wyverns flying above Gim were suddenly
enveloped by smoke and torn into pieces. Then on the next moment, an additional
8 wyverns, were struck by some unseen object and was similarly swallowed by an
explosion.
「What the-!? What in the world just happened?」
Soon, in the eastern sky, there were six black dots
that were approaching silently.
The 6 objects were flying without flapping any wings
and each of them released 2 sparkling light shots.
The light shots flew at an ultrafast speed, chased the
wyverns who were taking evasive action, and struck them.
The body of the 12 wyverns ripped open, and they fell
as their four limbs were literally scattered into four directions.
「Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!」
「Impossible…… This is impossible!」
The soldiers on the ground, who saw the falling wyverns,
were stricken with fear and fell on their knees. The number of wyverns is the criteria
for measuring an army’s power. The very definition of power, the absolute ruler
of the sky, had been swatted from the air without even able to do anything.
The objects that had shot down the wyverns passed Gim’s
airspace at an incredible speed. It was arrowhead-shaped and grey-colored. It
passed in an instant while spewing out two flames from its rear. A moment
later, a thunderous roar echoed over the entire battlefield that instilled terror
inside the heart of Louria Kingdom’s Force.
The shockwaves assailed them.
What the Lourian soldiers saw was the sight of F-15J
Kai flying over them at supersonic speed.
「Wh-…… Th-…… too fast!!!」
「Those are not wyverns! What the hell are those!!!」
The nightmare didn’t end at that point.
The iron dragons that had flown away returned. Each of
them released two more light shots, and eight more wyverns fell.
They believed that if there have 100 wyverns, then
they could even beat a Flame Divine Dragon.
But this situation ── as if it was a tabletop game where the result of the war had been decided, they
were crushed one-sidedly. The destroyed dragoons blood and flesh became a rain
that drizzled over the battlefield.
「It…… can’t be……」
Pandor stood dumbfounded as he was bathed by the rain
of blood.
When the rain of blood ceased, this time there were
several large-sized iron dragons approached from the eastern sky. The iron
dragon's belly opened and then dropped a large amount of tube-like thing.
Pandol’s eyes had a vision of how the vanguard unit
was annihilated.
── What’s those?! ── They dropped something‼
Someone yelled.
Slowly-
His life-
See the end-
Death is approaching-
The light ──
The ground was assaulted by the incandescence of hellfire.
It happened instantly.
General Pandor was eaten by the light and left this
earthly world.
yuk✦✧✦✧✦kuu
Dragoon Muller was flying to Gim while taking a detour
to the south.
He had underestimated Qua-Toyne as just a backward
rural nation.
However, what he had seen in the western area of Ejei
was the tragic sight of the vanguard unit’s fate.
(Have a Demon Lord appeared in
Qua-Toyne Principality? Or……. can it be…. the ancient Magic Empire? Have their Time
of Return mentioned in the legends had arrived?)
Muller recalled the fairy tale which could be said as
known to everyone in this world.
── In the times of the old, the one who ruled the world, was the Magi-Empire.
Its name was Ravernal Empire. They possessed tremendous power and ruled
over every race.
As a superior race of humanity, each individual had mana far higher than any
human, with advanced knowledge and supremely high level of civilization, the
other races feared them.
Not to mention the human, demihuman, or elves, not even the dragonfolk
could match their power.
Their reign was harsh as they treated races other than themselves as
livestock.
Many rebellions blazed, and numerous wars that decided a nation's fate raged,
but each of these was subdued before the Empire’s overwhelming power.
Their civilization continued to grow until they became arrogant and turned
their bows towards the Gods.
The anger of the Gods manifested in the form of a falling star, which will
fall into the Latistoa Continent where the Magi-Empire is located.
The Empire judged that they couldn’t prevent the falling star and established
a barrier that enveloped the entire Latistoa Continent, before they activated a
magic that transcended the time over the entire continent and transferred them
into the future.
Only an indestructible stone tablet remained, where this message was inscribed:
『At the Time of Our Return,
the World will once more prostrate underneath us』……
The small survivor of the Magi-Empire outside of the Latistoa Continent were
then overwhelmed, absorbed, and extinguished by the humanity, and thus the
country that was recognized as the strongest in the world, the Holy Milishial Empire
of the Great Central, was established.
Therefore, the Holy Milishial Empire was said to be afraid of the Return of
the Ancient Magi-Empire ──
Muller began to think that perhaps the enemy that they
was fighting right now is the Ancient Magi-Empire. The complete annihilation of
a 20,000 strong army, and the pursuing boosted flame shot, were beyond normal
reasoning.
The wind began to turn cold. Since he was helpless
against the enemy flying unit’s attack, he was making an ultralow altitude
flight barely above the ground surface, while his body assailed by fatigue.
When he approached the Main Force position, he felt
shockwaves and loud noises.
「Wh-…… What’s that?」
A muffled sound can be heard intermittently. In front
of him, his destination, was a violent blaze as if a volcano had erupted.
「No…… It can’t be happening…… that location……」
When he finally reached the Gim’s Main Force
headquarters, he experienced the greatest sense of loss of the day.
yuk☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽kku
CHAPTER 2 END
NEXT CHAPTER: 5 Stage of Grief: Denial.
[1]
Kawasaki OH-1 (nickname: "Ninja"), developed and manufactured by the Kawasaki
Aerospace Company, with similar design as Boeing AH-64 Apache. The primary
operator is the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF). The OH-1 has the
distinction of being the first helicopter to be entirely produced in Japan. It hardpoints
can be equipped Type-91 AAM. Even so, it’s not an attack helicopter, rather, a
recon helicopter.
Piece of medal stop a missile? Kind of hard to believe.
ReplyDeleteI guess the question is whether a radar proximity fuze on an AIM-7 or AAM-4 missile can be triggered by a small metalic object and whether the dragoon/wyvern pair could escape unscathed at the implied distance even if that was the case.
DeleteIt depends how it shows up on radar. It function a similar to chaff.
DeleteLuck probably also plays an important factor.
The Type 91 (I looked it up, this would actually be the Type 93 variant for use on vehicles) uses IR and laser seekers, not radar. MANPADs don't have the weight to spare for a honking great radar transceiver, and can't count on having a radar around for guidance. A piece of metal could conceivably fall directly through the laser beam and trigger a premature detonation.
DeleteEscaping the shrapnel cone is less of a puzzle, the wyvern was in the steepest dive it could manage, and the fuse is set to detonate at the right distance to catch the target in the cone. Causing the early detonation saved him (one in a billion chance there, but it happened by the power of plot).
I'm late but I'll say it anyways.
DeleteIt's not too unbelievable in a way, taken that what is essentially a MANPAD seemed to be able to pull more Gs than it should and the fact that it constantly had it's booster on and didn't loose any soeed while correcting itself even though its just a short range AA missile. i also don't think a Wyvern would have enough of a heat source for a heatseeker to lock on.
Poor wyverns.
ReplyDeletethe last one about dropping tube.... its bombing napalm ? japanese have the B2 bomber ?
ReplyDeleteMost bombs in current use are longer and thinner than WWII vintage stuff, as they are meant to hang from the airframe of a modern fighter-bomber, which might well be capable of supersonic flight, not tucked into a nice bomb bay. Aerodynamic drag is a serious design consideration
DeleteWhat if these guys are Atlantisian?
ReplyDelete