Chapter 3
The fog-laden sea at dawn was cold.
But the sailors aboard the Dreadnought could not properly feel that cold.
Because a thick tension pressed down on the cabin, leaving them too on edge to notice the chill.
"...So, we really are going to face mages now, right?"
'Mages'
Monsters that summon storms with a wave of the hand and blast ships apart with a snap of the fingers.
To go up against those monsters without a single mage on our side.
To ordinary sailors, there was no way to picture a victory.
"Can we really beat mages with this?"
Of course, the sailors were not underestimating this ship.
What they had seen during training was a ship that knew no fear, worthy of the name Dreadnought.
The first time they faced the giant steel monster Dreadnought.
When the departing Dreadnought let out a mighty horn blast that shook the heart.
And when it sailed across the South's rough waves, crushing them beneath its overwhelming mass.
They had once again realized that this ship was a monster unlike any ordinary sailing vessel.
It was just that the existence of the beings called mages was too overwhelming.
Sailor Hans had once seen a high-ranking mage demonstrate his magic.
As a bearded mage lightly stamped his foot, a sailing ship exploded without any warning.
The exploded ship sank on the spot without leaving a single piece of wreckage behind.
Could this steel monster withstand an attack like that?
To be honest, Hans wasn't sure.
Even so, the reason he had volunteered for this operation was simple.
"Because Lord Kyle Leopold would definitely have a plan."
To Hans, and to the sailors who had come with him, Kyle Leopold was a godlike being.
For ten years, they had worked in factories every day. The one who saved them from a fate of living their whole lives as mere parts of a factory was Lord Kyle Leopold's Labor Standards Act.
"That's right. We owe that man our lives."
Beside Hans, another sailor chimed in.
His companion Alex, missing one arm, was originally someone who should never have been able to survive in the South.
There were plenty of people who could work in the South. A laborer who lost an arm to a machine malfunction could simply be thrown out onto the street and replaced with someone new.
What happened after that was obvious.
Alex would be unable to work, waste away from his lingering injuries, and die, while his wife and daughter, who had lived off the money he earned, would be sold to a brothel.
It was the Labor Standards Act that saved his family from that future.
Thanks to the industrial accident compensation provisions under the Labor Standards Act, Hans had been able to receive enough compensation to live with his family.
"So even if I die, I'll die alongside him."
"Me too."
"Same here."
Saying that, they looked at the Dreadnought's gun turrets.
The massive gun turrets, bigger than houses, somehow looked even more reassuring.
***
"I'm glad morale seems high."
The voices of the sailors I heard while heading up to the bridge were much brighter than expected.
That was a relief. Low morale wouldn't help much before a battle.
"Though I guess it'll still be a one-sided beating."
No matter how great a mage was, they were still human. With human eyesight, it was impossible to hit a ship moving seven kilometers away with any precision.
But on this side, we aimed at a fixed target—the fortress—using precision mechanical devices.
There were three mages stationed on their side.
There were eight naval guns we could fire at once on our side.
A mage's spell cooldown averaged three minutes, while a battleship's main guns reloaded in an average of thirty seconds.
Just thinking about it simply, this was a fight we couldn't lose.
From the very beginning, the Dreadnought itself was the counter to coastal fortresses.
You let the Dreadnought come within range of the coastal fortress?
Then you should get hit, plain and simple.
That is modern warfare.
"Starboard lookout reporting! Bearing 0-7-0, the Sarsen Fortress is visible 10 kilometers ahead!"
I took up the binoculars after hearing the lookout's report.
As the fog lifted, Sarsen's coastline began to come into view on the starboard side of the bridge.
A narrow path atop sheer cliffs, with a thick fortress firmly blocking the way ahead.
It was certainly the kind of place that deserved to be called a natural fortress.
A narrow passage where large troop deployments were impossible. Fortress towers designed to concentrate firepower. And powerful mages waiting there.
'In the original story,' it would have been the bulwark that stopped the tide of red workers rising in the South...
"All hands, battle stations!"
But not in this world.
I had no intention of following the original story.
How could I watch the South I had built collapse because of men blinded by the hem of a skirt?
Absolutely not.
"Engine room, full power on both shafts!"
"Both shafts full power!"
The chief engineer echoed my command and brought the engines to life. The 20,000-ton steel giant that had been sailing quietly through the fog awakened.
As the engines began to run in earnest, the bridge trembled faintly. That vibration intertwined with the tension before battle, creating a strange silence.
Breaking that silence was my adjutant, Lucilla.
"Lord Kyle, did you not accept the negotiation proposal from the County of Sarsen?"
"Yeah, I did."
Battle is battle, and negotiations are negotiations.
No matter how much of a scoundrel he was, since we were nominally part of the same empire, I couldn't just smash the fortress and leave it at that.
Tomorrow's negotiation was absolutely necessary for reaffirming the Sarsen-Lutetia Treaty.
"Is it all right to attack the day before negotiations?"
So I could understand why Lucilla was asking that.
The common-sense diplomatic method in this romance fantasy world is negotiation -> failed negotiation -> war.
But... that's only a method used when the military strength of both sides is equal.
When our military strength is superior, we can use an age-old diplomatic method from Earth.
"Have you ever heard of gunboat diplomacy?"
"Gunboat... diplomacy?"
There is a saying that war is the continuation of politics.
In other words, war is also just a tool of politics.
"And I'm only going to use that tool."
In any case, everyone knew Count Sarsen had no intention of tearing down that fortress or abolishing the toll.
You mean we'd have to go through that boring, pretentious process of conversation -> failed conversation -> war?
So wouldn't it be better to start with war first?
Cannon fire -> negotiations -> successful negotiations
What a neat and simple method that was.
"That's not diplomacy, is it?"
"It's fine. Count Sarsen was the one who crossed the line first."
From the moment he built a fortress at the choke point and extorted money from people, he had nothing to say.
If the other side had been someone reasonable, I wouldn't have gone to this extreme.
Watching the approaching Sarsen Fortress, I asked.
"Gunnery officer, are the firing calculations complete?"
"Almost! We'll be ready to fire within 30 seconds!"
Turning my gaze out the window, I saw the giant main gun turret aimed at the fortress.
The massive 305mm naval gun only stared quietly at its prey like a beast poised to hunt.
By then, the fortress had begun to react as well.
"Magical response from the enemy fortress! The mages are raising a defensive magic circle!"
Apparently the other side had also noticed us, because a gigantic magic circle rose over the fortress.
The blue magic circle woven by the three high-ranking mages instantly spread over the fortress like a dome.
It had taken only 30 seconds to get that far.
Just as the officers' expressions were beginning to harden at the overwhelming scale and casting speed of the magic—
the gunnery officer's voice rang through the tense bridge.
"Ready to fire!"
Everyone on the bridge swallowed hard and stared at the naval guns.
Could our guns pierce that sturdy fortress?
Could an ordinary human really defeat a mage?
Such worries were visible in everyone's eyes.
In a situation like this, I couldn't let my own expression stiffen, so I deliberately gave the order in a loud voice.
"First shell, fire!"
Kugugugung-!
With an explosion like the heavens and earth were collapsing, black smoke shot upward.
The gun's fierce shockwave shattered the waves and tore the surface of the water to shreds. The ruined surface caved in as if collapsing, then lurched and heaved.
At the same time, a violent recoil slammed into the ship.
"Ghk!?"
Naturally, the officers weren't going to be completely fine either.
Even with earplugs in, quite a few officers flinched and staggered.
Even so, everyone's eyes remained fixed on the fortress.
"Time to impact, 5, 4, 3, 2... 1!"
What appeared first was light.
Bright red flashes burst out in succession. Flames flashed like lightning, and thick bursts of smoke billowed upward.
Under that overwhelming violence, the shield cast by mere mages was meaningless.
"Impact confirmed! First shot, hit!"
Before the lookout's report even finished, the defensive magic circle shattered with a crash.
The blue dome disappeared from the top downward, revealing the fortress's sleek outer wall in full.
A few lines of a magic circle appeared in the sky as if trying to restore the shattered barrier, but...
"Second shot, loaded!"
For mages, catching up with the reload speed of a mechanically built naval gun was impossible from the start.
"Fire!"
Immediately after, the eight naval guns lined up in a row spat fire once more.