Chapter 25
*As of 12:30 PM on 5/30, Chapter 24 has been heavily revised.
The battle layout has changed considerably, so if you read it before, I’d really appreciate it if you gave it another look. I’m really, really sorry for the trouble...!
KWAAAANG-!
When a massive explosion erupted from the bow of the battleship, everyone on the bridge tensed.
The acrid smoke that blocked their view and the vibration that shook the ship. Even though the era had changed, the mages’ status hadn’t, and their power was as formidable as ever.
The captain asked urgently.
"Report on bow deck damage!"
"Two injured, minor fire on deck! No damage to the forward armor plate!"
"Engine room, no abnormalities!"
"Turret No. 1, no abnormalities!"
However, an attack of that level couldn’t do much damage to a ship made of 20,000 tons of steel.
When the smoke cleared, the battleship’s deck came into view. There was nothing unusual except for a few tiny flames crackling on the deck.
The crackling embers were quickly extinguished by the waves spilling over the deck.
The mages’ first attack hadn’t inflicted even the slightest damage on the dreadnought’s hull.
And now it was the dreadnought’s turn to attack.
"Turret No. 1, fire!"
KWA-GAGAGANG-!
Two orange beams fired in a direct shot shattered one magic tower and shot upward into the sky.
"Hard to port!"
At the same time, the ship’s massive body turned to the left.
At a distance of 700 meters, the ship and the fortress wall ran parallel. All the armaments facing starboard were now pointed at the fortress.
Eight naval guns. Ten 76mm secondary guns mounted on the starboard side. And numerous 20mm machine guns.
The concentrated firepower capable of erasing the fortress itself was aimed at the remaining five towers.
"Turrets 2, 4, and 5, each select a target and destroy it! Turret No. 1, finish reloading quickly!"
The fire-control team sprang into action once again.
KWA-GWANG-! Lightning from the sky struck the battleship’s rear deck. Waves rose like houses, and a huge explosion burst out along the ship’s side.
Even so, the battleship’s bridge remained calm.
The monstrous 20,000-ton weight plowed through the crashing waves as it sailed on.
The lightning bolt that came crashing down failed to pierce the deck armor, and the thick side armor that could withstand even 305mm shells easily blocked the explosion of the fireball.
Then, all the battleship’s firepower burst forth at once.
--------!
An immense roar, impossible to describe in words, erupted.
The 305mm shells fired in direct shots smashed the magic towers, and the 76mm secondary gun turrets brought down the tightly shut harbor gate.
When the smoke and dust cleared, the shattered shield was visible.
Beyond the shield battered by point-blank fire from the battleship’s main guns, one tower could be seen collapsing.
"One magic tower completely destroyed! Two others heavily damaged!"
By then, the other side had come out in desperation as well.
A variety of magic circles rose into the sky. The colors of the magic squeezed out at the risk of their lives by the remaining mages filled the sea.
The close-quarters barrage that followed lasted about three minutes.
The sky was covered in dark clouds, the sea roared violently, and thunder rumbled one after another.
When all the sounds finally fell silent.
All of Aquitten Fortress’s towers had been blown away.
On the now calm sea, only one battleship, trailing gun smoke, floated leisurely.
***
When the main force, including the 2nd Division, arrived at Aquitten Fortress, all of its defenses had already been neutralized.
All six magic towers erected around the fortress had collapsed.
Resistance?
There was none.
There was no way soldiers who had watched all the defensive magic towers collapse before their eyes would have any will to fight.
"The Western Army’s main force has already been annihilated by our army! Will you die waiting for reinforcements that will never come, or surrender and accept the inevitable!"
As I said that, I brought forward Eric Smith, who had been captured.
His habit of valuing his own life so much was useful at times like this.
After all, he was the one who, while captured, had made the surrender demand to his own army with more enthusiasm than anyone else.
"I am Eric Smith, Supreme Commander of the Western Army! Our 40,000 troops were annihilated by the Southern Army without inflicting even a single casualty on them!"
As the West’s Supreme Commander said that, the forces defending Aquitten Fortress also began to waver.
In that situation, Eric Smith faithfully read the script we had shoved into his hands.
"I do not want the soldiers of our West to lose their lives meaninglessly! Therefore, as the Western Army’s Supreme Commander, I order you! All troops lay down your weapons, open the gates, and surrender!"
It was funny coming from a man who looked at commoners’ lives like insects, but the effect was outstanding.
Maybe because he was exactly that kind of man. When someone who sees commoners’ lives as bugs says something like that, it means there is really something behind it.
About 15 minutes later.
Aquitten Fortress’s thick gates slowly began to open.
From the shattered harbor gate to the fortress gates. The soldiers of Aquitten Fortress, having opened every gate, laid down their weapons.
And there was a bit of commotion inside the fortress.
Some nobles who still wanted to resist to the death even after watching the magic towers shatter before their eyes.
And the soldiers who were supposed to die on the nobles’ orders pushed back in protest.
The fight ended with the fortress lord being dragged out to the main gate and forced to his knees.
[ I, Louis Armand, am in Aquitten. Not a single enemy will pass through here. ]
For someone who had sent such a bold declaration to the center, it was a rather pitiful ending.
***
No matter the era, the biggest victims of war are ordinary civilians.
From BCE to the 21st century. In every war that has ever taken place on Earth, civilians have always been the ones robbed, abused, and killed.
In war, things like the Geneva Conventions or UN statements meant nothing. Talk between the powerful in safe places never reached the lowest front lines.
The madness of war hid far too much.
In battlefields where law and order had collapsed, civilian casualties weren’t even properly tallied.
That wasn’t much different here than on Earth.
The people, already stripped of almost everything and burned under the so-called scorched-earth tactics, looked at the Southern Army entering the fortress with fearful eyes.
The West had been used to war.
And because they knew all too well what the cities conquered by the Western barbarians had suffered.
Even the soldiers who were supposed to defend the West—being fellow Westerners—were busy looting civilians.
No matter how close the South and West were, they were an occupying army.
What made the Western people uneasy wasn’t just that.
The sight of the Guard entering Aquitten Fortress alongside the Southern Grand Duke.
The soldiers in heavy armor covered from head to toe in ash gray, and the soldiers in coats... somehow didn’t look human.
Killing machines wearing human masks.
That was the thought that came to mind as they watched the Guard members march behind the Grand Duke without a word, moving their arms and legs at perfectly measured angles.
Thus, the people hurried into motion.
The rich hid their wealth, merchants hid their goods, and farmers rushed to hide their cattle and families.
"Hurry up and hide the assets! If we can’t pay back the loans, our merchant house is bankrupt!"
"I don’t know what the Southern Army will do. So don’t come out of here, kids. Okay?"
"Run! If you stay here, who knows what they’ll do to you!"
Some Westerners even fled the city.
In the process, some of the fleeing remnants of the West even looted the people.
Amid all that, the Southern Army entered Aquitten.
"Soldiers who commit crimes like looting, rape, or murder will be severely punished under military law!"
"The citizens of the West are family and friends who share the same roots as us Southerners! Our army is here to protect family and friends from corrupt nobles!"
Naturally, there weren’t many who believed that from the start.
No looting. We’re different from the others. That was just lip service that everyone, from the Western Army to the barbarians, said the same way.
However, once the Southern Army actually entered downtown Aquitten, they behaved quite gentlemanly.
The Guard marching behind Southern Grand Duke Kyle Leopold weren’t as stiff as I had imagined.
"Waaah, please help me...! My mom and dad are trapped under that rubble!"
When some little kid ran to the Guard’s encampment saying that, everyone expected a terrible outcome.
That was because the people carrying around eerie weapons with blood-red eyes in gray coats didn’t look human at all.
Everyone turned away, anticipating the little boy’s end after he walked up to the killing machine on his own—
"Where is it?"
They followed the child, broke through the rubble, and were shocked to see them rescue his family.
"Thank you for saving us...!"
"No need to thank us. Protecting civilians is the duty of our Guard."
When kindness is shown where none was expected, people naturally come away with a good impression.
For the people of the West, who had long viewed soldiers as looters, the kindness shown by the Southern soldiers felt strangely familiar.
Besides, when people who looked strong said they were on your side, it was reassuring.
Even that night, the Southern Army focused on restoring order inside the fortress, putting up camps in empty spaces and sleeping there themselves.
To the Westerners, it was a bewildering sight.
The fortress had fallen, and yet there was no looting, no arson, no murder?
Instead, they were helping us?
Then aren’t these guys better than the noble bastards who looted us under the guise of scorched-earth tactics and ran off?
Thus, that night became a truly strange night.
A quiet, orderly night so calm it was hard to believe the fortress had been defeated and occupied.
That one night became the biggest turning point in changing the Westerners’ perceptions.
The next morning.
After hearing about the stable situation inside Aquitten Fortress, Kyle Leopold looked toward Porvin with a satisfied smile.
"Now it’s time to meet that bastard Charles."
Kyle Leopold’s calm voice soon became an order and spread through the entire army.
The battleship docked in Aquitten’s harbor aimed its naval guns, and 5,000 elite troops began marching in unison.
The capital of the West.
Toward Porvin.