—- Arakawa Miki Point of View —-

While small scale skirmish continues along the border, Ellis-san  who was appointed as my exclusive officer(adjutant) aboard Alice. A report about the advance of our northern troops led by Kouki arrived.

“Our army at the north under special Major General, the 1st Amphibious Brigade, attacked the Coast City ‘Asti’ of the Rinkudorubu Empire and was able to successfully occupy it”

“They won already! That was quite fast, isn’t it?”

Even if you raid the city with a fleet of aircraft carrier and battles.h.i.+p it shouldn’t take that fast. He did not use live ammunition, right? I felt a little uneasy and encouraged Ellis to continue the report, looks like Kouki used his genius method to occupy Asti.

“Major General sortie from Siren using a special capsule for atmospheric descent. He seemed to have used the roaring device of his suit after a strong landing to the coast. Since he did the roar while half inside the suit, the sound echoed and caused a strong sound wave which hit the nearby knights who was trying to surround the capsule. All of them fainted due to the shockwave almost similar to being hit by a stun grenade directly”

I guess that kid was aiming for that from the start, but… It is usually impossible for humans to calculate the position of the suit and the appropriate volume to create an echo of sound wave in a short amount of time. Victorisan was starting to address Kouki as the devil but as a mother I am afraid that they see him more than just a human being. What if one day he said “Mom! Look, I can use magic!”, I suppose I will also study magic and insist that “Kouki is a person who has the same blood as me”── I guess I should not worry about trivial things and just focus on Merkava Front. (TN: Kouki is a person who has the same blood as me means that Kouki got his ability/talent from his mother. I can change it to what it means but I prefer to leave the literal translation as it is)

“Ellis-san, what is the situation on the front line? If we don’t break through here quickly, Kouki is will be left isolated in the Empire’s Territory”

“Currently, 2 groups of Knights from Merkava Kingdom are in the foreground. It seems that the enemy is trying to preserve its main force by placing their demi-human infantry units to the front”

So we are in a stalemate, meaning that there are no casualties on both side but the battlefield itself does not fluctuate because there is lack of decisive blow. Should I start ordering an all-out attack?

“How about our ammunition on the land battles.h.i.+ps?”

“All of our s.h.i.+ps have used more than 50% after our 16th bombardment, the second s.h.i.+p Claire is the one who used up most of their ammunition and is currently down to 32%”

It can’t be helped because Claire is the one who do the support attack every time a request for artillery support is received. If this goes on, Claire will become useless. I should have Claire go back and replenish their supplies. I have decided while biting on my nails while thinking, I gave Ellis-san instructions.

“Please give orders to Claire to retreat and replenish their supplies. Do not forget to inform each captain of the s.h.i.+ps to distribute the suits which are on Claire between Alice and Miki. We will also fire a ‘Panajandrum’, so warn the Kingdom about it.” (TN: Panjandrum, also known as The Great Panajandrum was a ma.s.sive, rocket-propelled, explosive-laden cart designed by the British military during World War II. It was one of a number of highly experimental projects, including Hajile and the Hedgehog, that were developed by the Admiralty’s Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development (DMWD) in the final years of the war. The Panjandrum was never used in battle)

“Roger”

I sit down on the chair and cross my legs but then remember something important and hastily call on the back of Ellis-san who is about to leave.

“Can I have a tea, little milk and no sugar”

“Yes, please wait”

I sent off Ellis-san who answered with a smile. I began thinking of a plan to break through the battlefield while looking at the information on the screen.

“Miki-san, Ca.s.sis-ojo and Auguste-shogun wishes to board the s.h.i.+p, Alice, for consultation about the situation of the war” (TN: Shogun is a ruler of the country but in this sentence it means General or a General Officer, however since Auguste is a Knight, I guess this makes him a Knight General)

“Please guide them to CIC if the captain approves”

While I was drinking tea and outlining strategies, the kingdom asked me for “consultation”. They probably came here to raise an objection that it is impossible to maintain the frontline but it is essential for the Kingdom Knights to hold for another 10 minutes.

While thinking on how I can say that, Ca.s.sis-ojo and Auguste-shogun who are wearing armor and looked exhausted came into CIC.

“Miki-san, I apologize for the sudden visit”

“No, it’s ok. Are the knights on their limit?”

Ca.s.sis-ojo with a face that is about to cry answers my question.

“Yes…  Fortunately, thanks to the efforts of everyone from Noah, no one died but the four orders of the knights are already exhausted. The remaining knights are not capable enough to prevent another attack. If only the Black Knights stayed in this place, we could have done a bit more…”

“It is unavoidable since they have been entrusted with a different important mission. You did well in holding out. In behalf of Noah, I give you my thanks”

When I lower my head, the princess screams “Please raise your head” in a hurry but from now on, I have to ask “Hold out for a little bit longer” to the exhausted kingdom so I must show my sincerity by all means. I raised my head and looked into the eyes of the princess and spoke the plan that I thought of earlier.

“Soon, the

Empire’s offense will reach its limit. The moment it happens, they will switch from offensive to defensive position. During that gap, we will plunge the Land Battles.h.i.+ps into the enemy and will end the battle… but… It is necessary for everyone in the Kingdom to overcome more attacks from the enemy”

“──I understand. I will command the knights to hold their ground”

I got permission from Ca.s.sis-ojo who strongly nods on my request and is now contacting the knights using a magic tool, so I also order all units under my command.

“Attention all units! All Ground Battles.h.i.+p, prepare to break through the enemy formation. Power Suit Team will provide support on the withdrawing kingdom knights”

“Message received from the 2nd s.h.i.+p – Claire, they are currently on their way to the frontline and had completed in replenis.h.i.+ng their supplies”

I cannot help but smile at the good timing of the report. If all the s.h.i.+p move side by side in one row, the formation of the Imperial Army is will be squeezed and an opening somewhere will show. If we shoot the remaining Panajandrum at that opening and spread the neutralizing gas, it will open a path for us to attack the enemy main unit. Afterwards, the main army of the enemy is will be suppressed by our mobile infantry who are equipped with reinforced exoskeleton and break their battle lines. As I thought about the plan I feel somewhat relived and study the arrangement diagram of each unit reflected on screen. While looking at it, I noticed that there is something wrong.

“Our troops in the right wing are being pushed back… tanks are supposed to be deployed in there, did something happen?”

“The current reports that we have are conflicting each other, please wait as I contact the tanks directly”

It is unlikely for tanks with high fire power and hard armor to easily withdraw. The only thing that can push them back is if they are attacked from the sky but our Intel does not state that the Empire deployed Dragon Riders and even if they did, they will be detected by Alice’s radar. I wonder what is going on?

“Emergency communication from the Tanks! ‘The enemy deployed a large weapon in the right wing, we need immediate backup… I repeat we need immediate backup’… That is their report”

Large weapon? I did not think that the Imperial Army had such technical capability, however, it is a fact that our Tanks are withdrawing. I need to see this large weapon so that I can decide for an effective countermeasure. I give instructions to reflect our troops in the right wing on the screen.

“Switching display, this is a relay video from a tank in the back. ──Such a thing is…”

Ellis-san who switch the display was at loss for words when she saw a huge humanoid type something on the screen. It has more than 5 times the size of the suit used by Noah… It looks like it is around 20 meters tall and it is walking towards us without any awkward movement.

“Giant Golem!? How can humans make it move… No way!?”

“Ca.s.sis-ojo, do you know what that is?”

When I asked Ca.s.sis-ojo the question, the princess explains about the giant with a blue face.

“Aa~ that is one of the siege weapons used long time ago, ‘Giant Golem’. However, since it uses a large amount of magical power to move it. It cannot be handled by human beings or even demi-humans.”

“But it is moving right now and heading towards us. Do you have an idea how they make it move and is there a person inside it?”

Ca.s.sis-ojo frowned while desperately thinking and after a while seemed to reach a conclusion. She scowls while telling me her idea.

“People cannot ride inside. Giant Golem is an automaton doll, although to activate it… magical power from hundreds of people is not enough, you will also need a ‘soul’─ For Noah to easily understand, it will need the ‘life force’ of a living creature to activate “

I am immediately driven by my anger to eliminate the Imperial Army using the Imaginary Bomb but I bit my lips to endure it. I give instructions to the Captain while shouting.

“Captain! I approve the use of live ammunition, blow away that huge eyesore”

“If I may speak, the ammunition on this s.h.i.+p will cause considerable damage around the target as well. Are you sure about this?”

I forgot… because we decided to only use neutralizing gas, the land battles.h.i.+ps are not equipped with ammunition that can destroy a single target.

“Where are our Heavy Armored Power Suits?”

“They are supporting the withdrawal of the Kingdom Knights as per your previous order, it is possible to abandon them but that will surely cause considerable damage on the Knights Order”

“How could this happen!”

I kick the Admiral’s seat with the toes of the high heel that I am wearing. At this rate, the troops in the right wing are will be destroyed. Should we use live ammunition even if we know the damage it will cause? However, that case will definitely be labelled as a defeat, strategically, even though we technically won by killing people.

“Miki-san, the withdrawal line of the right wing is at its limit”

“Miki-san, if we don’t stop that Giant Golem immediately, the life of the casters of the empire is in danger”

Ellis-san and Ca.s.sis-ojo urge me to make a decision. At that moment, I apologize to Kouki in my mind for not keeping my promise of ‘not having a single death’ in this battle. The moment I was about to open my mouth to order the Captain to fire our main gun… A communication with noise came in Alice’s CIC.

“… h… noise is terrible…ear me? Because the noise is really bad, we are sending this message via one-way transmission on all frequencies. This is ‘Ground Attack Aircraft – Odin’, we rush to the rescue under the command of the special Major General. Forces that need a.s.sistance, please use the infrared strobes to inform us

us of the target. We will attack the giant until further instructions are given”

It looks like Kouki saved us. While looking at the screen showing Odin slowly descending to the ground, I drink the tea which is now cold.

—- Captain of Odin, Martin’s Point of View —-

“Major, are we on standby today as well?”

The shooting officer, Lucas, was straddling a sh.e.l.l while having a cigarette in his mouth. I cannot understand why he is smoking in places where fire is prohibited, he is probably stupid. If he is not skilled gunner, I already had him removed from my team.

“A~aa, we should be ready to scramble at any time and get off from there! If you ignite that, I will throw you out into s.p.a.ce”

“Yeah… Ma~ no one cares about us anyway? We are just always wasting time being on standby without anything happening. When we were on Earth, there was no chance for us to come out and even after going into the other world, we are still on standby after all. I wish I trained on how to use a power suit”

I can understand why Lucas is somewhat down. There are several types of old weapons on Earth which is not used anymore and are considered as retired but there were two types of weapons which can cause problems if they are completely removed.

One is ‘Nuclear Powered Attack Submarines that can carry missiles’, after missile defense technology developed, several country still deploy a few of them because it is still better than nothing.

The second is the Strategic Bomber, which is us. In modern military where nuclear weapons are completely removed, there are power suits that could shoot down aircrafts. Bombers which are slower than fighter aircraft has larger area of attack, and is thought better to have than nothing. In a sense, bomber is treated as an even useless weapon than the nuclear submarines.

Under such circ.u.mstances, after entering the Air Force, Lucas was a.s.signed to a Bomber Unit. This is why I can somewhat feel how frustrated he is.

“Hey Lucas, where is John?”

John is a person who always smoke cigarette with Lucas, I wonder where he is?

“Aaー he went to the toilet carrying a magazine around 30 minutes ago. Link-nesan is over there taking care of her nails”

Even though we are free, this is a bit too much! The Captain of Tolstoy and his crew were of similar circ.u.mstances but they have undergone hard training and are now leading a land battles.h.i.+p. You guys should learn a bit more.

While thinking about such things, the main communication terminal installed in the aircraft suddenly made a sound and a lamp which indicates that a communication from outside the base is received lights up. It must be those arrogant ground troops as usual… I push the b.u.t.ton for the communication while thinking so.

“Major Martin here, Captain of Odin. What do you want?”

I tilt my head as I did not received the usual “What? This is not a pizza delivery service?” and when I look, there is a woman on the screen with frowned eyebrows.

“I am an adjutant to Special Major General, Arakawa Kouki, the Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Front. I am Lieutenant Colonel, Claire Dauntless. Kakka would like to speak with you directly but… it seems you guys have a very arrogant att.i.tude”

Are you kidding me? Arakawa Kouki is the only son of Shuichi-san. He should be commanding the main force in the north and is suppressing Rinkudorubu Empire. Why would he talk to a lowly officer like me?! Anyway, I need to apologize first before I end up being sent to court.

“I am sorry! We are always on standby so I became careless”

“Normally, I will give a lecture on how to talk to your superior officers… Ma~ guess its fine for now, I am transferring the call to Kakka, please do not be rude in any way”

After saying so, Lieutenant Colonel disappears from the screen and this time, a boy who looks really kind is reflected. Since we really respect Shuichi-san we follow him to Noah, we have never seen Kouki-kun since we belong to a different unit but this boy had a face that resembles Miki-san, so there is no doubt that he is Kouki-kun.

“This is Major Martin Achenbach, Captain of Odin! It is an honor to meet you”

“This is Arakawa Kouki. You don’t have to be stiff, be at ease, I do not mind”

As I was told “Please Relax”, I decided to stand upright with my back straight. Lucas was behind and saying “Try to sit down and cross your legs”, so I make a note in my heart to definitely beat him up later.

“There is no doubt that Major is the commander of the new Ground Attack Aircraft, correct?”

“Yes. The Ground Attack Aircraft, Odin, is under my command”

Kouki-kun satisfyingly nods in my reply. Since Kouki-kun is the one who designed Odin, could it be that he just want to know who are using his designed aircraft. While I was wondering about that, the boy who is shown on the screen gave us an unexpected order with a smile on his face.

“Using my authority as Major General, I have an order for your unit. The Ground attack Aircraft – Odin is to sortie as soon as possible and support the Kingdom’s rescue unit who are fighting in Merkava battlefront. We received intel from the dispatched Dragon Riders from Ursna Empire that a ‘large siege weapon’ is expected to appear in the battlefront. Your mission is to destroy it using Odin”

“Why provide us mission with great importance…”

I need to clear my mind first. I will receive ‘lecture’ from Lieutenant Colonel Claire for questioning the Major General but I cannot understand why he is giving us such a big role for this battle. If he wants to, he can use his authority for all the power suits and fighter aircrafts which is on standby in Noah Island to attack. I kept silent while waiting for an

for an answer and he reply again with a smile on his face.

“Isn’t it cool? Won’t it be such a romance if a super-large ground attack aircraft make a beehive on the enemy’s siege weapon. Besides, Major should be getting tired of being on standby? I can understand since I was also detained on the Island just recently. You do not need to worry and just go”

I was speechless for a moment on Kouki-kun’s words but I was able to quickly come back to my senses. Romance is just an excuse, the truth is… he is giving us the opportunity to get back on the other units who looks down on us if we make this rescue mission successful. They will not be able to call us useless and waste of money anymore after that.

Lucas who realized what is happening quickly began checking the equipments. John and Link who also overheard the conversation are now getting the flight gear for everyone in the hangar. After confirming the actions of my subordinates at the side of my sight, I straightened myself up again and reply to Kouki-kun while saluting.

“I will definitely make the Rescue Mission successful and destroy the large siege weapon of the enemy”

I do not know if he will be satisfied with this reply but Kouki-kun nodded twice and said “Yoros.h.i.+ku Onegais.h.i.+masu” while lowering his head to someone like me before cutting off the communication. I was overwhelm by his compa.s.sion to his subordinates. He kinds of remind be of Shuichi-san. My heart is now excited for the upcoming actual combat for the first time in a long while. (TN: Yoros.h.i.+ku Onegais.h.i.+masu is one of those j.a.panese words that don’t have a specific English translation. It is a word concept which is hard to define in English thus it comes with different meaning depending on how you use it in a sentence. Here are the different English Translations of Yoros.h.i.+ku Onegais.h.i.+masu. ‘Be kind to me’, ‘I am in your debt’, ‘please help me’, ‘Please take care of me’, ‘Nice to meet you’ and ‘I am counting on you’. In this sentence, Kouki is using the one with the ‘I am counting on you’ meaning.)

“Major, we will arrive at the airs.p.a.ce of the battlefield in a little while”

“Say the exact time instead of ‘a little while’!”

The operator, Link, gave me a bogus report so I was not happy but I am more concern on why we are unable to get in touch with the ground troops. We tried sending a lot of communication all at once but it seems the main terminal cannot handle it and temporary go down.

“To be exact, it is about 2 minutes. According to HQ in Noah Island, there is no way to contact the ground troops. What should we do?”

I don’t know even if you ask me. In the first place, since this is not a precision bombing, we cannot decide on which one to attack if there is no request from the ground troops. Should we wait in the sky until we make a contact? While thinking about such things, the shooting officer Lucas reported with a loud voice.

“I’ve sighted the ‘large siege weapon’ that was expected to appear. Let shoot it down instead of waiting, since we were told to beat the c.r.a.p out of it after all, it should be fine”

“Wait! It will be bad if we shoot that thing while friendly forces are around it”

Lucas who did not received permission to shoot is still looking at the target scope while complaining but we really cannot do anything in the current situation. If we shoot and involved allies on the damage, then we will not be able to face Kouki-kun who shows his complete trust on us.

If only there is a way to inform the ground troops about our mission, we can start shooting… That’s it! I can use the lesson that I learned when I was still studying in the officer training school.

“Link, get all the frequency used in the battlefield and send a one way transmission to all of them. We will inform the ground troops of our mission”

Link immediately respond with a thumbs up after operating Odin’s Information System which also function as an air traffic control device. I use the microphone and the headset.

“Can you hear me? The noise is terrible. Can you all hear me? Because the noise is really bad, we are sending this message via one-way transmission on all frequencies. This is ‘Ground Attack Aircraft – Odin’, we rush to the rescue under the command of the special Major General. Forces that need a.s.sistance, please use the infrared strobes to inform us of the target. We will attack the giant until further instructions are given”

This should be good enough. What is left is to separate the enemy infantry near the giant’s feet. We will be destroying the siege weapon by using non-lethal rubber bullets but if it falls into a human being then they will surely receive fatal injuries. The problem is how to detach the enemy infantry but I already thought about it, I ordered John the co-pilot while grinning.

“Lower the flight alt.i.tude and fly around the siege weapon. Once Odin which has a huge body length of 100 meters, and flies around 5 meters above the ground, the Empire Forces will surely get scared and run away”

“Roger! Time to do my best”

After circling around the battlefield, we accelerate and lower the nose as if we are going to thrust towards the ground. Once we have enough speed… 1000 kilometers per hour… we reach Mach 0.8 and fly 5 meters above the ground. I check the external camera and saw the Imperial Army surprised by the shock wave and the roaring sound from the fuselage.

However, this alone is not enough. We are considered as ‘elite’ even among the other strategic bomber units, and this aircraft is “Odin” which is designed by the genius Kouki.

“Link, Lucas. Did you tightly strap your seatbelt?

strap your seatbelt? We will do a somersault!”

“Major, I’ve been meaning to say this from quite some time. Are you an idiot!? A bomber aircraft is not capable of making an air stunt like Woooooooooooah”

Ignoring the words of Lucas, I raise the nose of Odin at once. As it was rising at a right angle and turning backwards, we saw the tanks on our inverted sight. I turn on the microphone of the headset, place it near my mouth and shout at the tanks who keep on making fun on the unit of Odin.

“Look closely you Tank Morons! You always scoffed at us as a Pizza Shop but we are the one who can knock off that giant!”

Many things are scattered inside the Odin due to our acrobatic stunt but no one cares about it. Odin is now flying normally and everyone is focused in destroying the opponent that caused all our tanks to withdraw.

“Lucas, use the Gatling Cannon to destroy the siege weapon of the enemy. Don’t hold back. Remember that it will be a while before we can be in battle again, so you can also use all 20 cannon to crush it”

“Roger”

With my instruction, Lucas prepare to shoot by looking at the target scope and aims on the enemy. Odin has 20 36mm Gatling Cannon in addition to 120mm cannon and missile launcher. It is surely weaker compared to the high power heavy artillery equipped on the tanks and power suit but these has great advantage over them. Tank cannons can only do as much as 6 shots a minute if they are using the automatic loading device up to a maximum of 8 shots. However, with Gatling cannon, it can fire 3,900 shots per minute and since we have 20 of those… if you do simple calculation, that is a total of 78,000 shots per minute. Even if they deploy strong magic barrier that can repel tank cannons, what will happen if all of our shots. .h.i.t continuously in the same spot── the result should be obvious.

“Open Fire!”

The whirring sound which is peculiar to Gattling Cannon is can be heard and the 36mm sh.e.l.ls. .h.i.t the siege weapon. In the first 3 seconds, we saw a purple light thingy at the spot being hit but after 5 seconds the sh.e.l.ls started to land hits without any resistance and the rain of bullets scooped out the shoulder of the giant humanoid.

“The legs! We can stop its movement if we aim at its legs. We can destroy it slowly after it rolls to the ground”

The upper body of the giant was left in tatters because Lucas moved the aim to the legs without stop in shooting. When the legs were destroyed, it fell down on its spot and as soon as that happen we rain down bullets from the sky on its head to the toes. Its appearance became unrecognizable… and then the ground troops contact us.

“This is Arakawa Miki, commander of the Rescue Unit. Thank you for saving us from a difficult situation but can you stop shooting? Ca.s.sis-ojo and the CIC personnel are starting to look worried. If you do it too much, it will lower Noah’s reputation and will hinder future negotiations so it would be best to stop right now”.

I calm myself and commanded Lucas who is still shooting to stop. I then respond to Miki

“Roger that. We have destroyed the siege weapon but would you need further support attacks?”

“No, that is not necessary. Thanks to you guys we have time to rebuild our formation and when the giant collapse, the imperial army loses its will to fight and began to withdraw. You can go ahead and withdraw back to Noah Island… No, if you have plenty of fuel remaining, before you go back can I ask you to fly around the northern battlefront? My son got in touch with me earlier and said that it will raise his morale if he can see Odin”

“Understood. Odin will fly towards north and will do acrobatic demonstration”

I salute and made sure the communication is disconnected and ordered John to head north. Kouki-kun surely said that Dragon Riders are dispatched from Ursna Empire, I cannot wait to see their reaction once this aircraft fly side by side with them in the same sky.

—- Arakawa Miki Point of View —-

I felt relieved after confirming that Odin is flying towards north. If they continue attacking like that while shouting ‘The legs! We can stop its movement if we aim at its legs. We can destroy it slowly after it rolls to the ground’ it will surely give misunderstanding to Ca.s.sis-ojo and the Ursna Troops who are listening to transmission.

Since it was Kouki who design such a ridiculous aircraft, I will let him take care of Odin crews… Ellis-san talked to me while I was thinking of escaping from taking responsibility on their action.

“Miki-san, how can Odin fly with its huge body? It was around 100 meters, is it not?”

“I do not know, we built a mock-up following the design of Kouki on one of his Creation Program. It was able to fly so I ordered the Engineering Department to produce it. Incidentally, if you move any one of the 12 engines if for just a bit, it will not fly. That thing is a ma.s.s of mysterious technology.”

Ellis-san eyes was wide open in my explanation

“Why is that a problem? Did you not ask Kouki-kun on how he can make it fly?”

“I did but he won’t tell me. He just said ‘It just flew by chance, I did not thought that it will really fly’. He really is at his rebellious stage”

Ellis-san doesn’t know how to respond on my mother troubles. She probably feel sympathy for me since my relations.h.i.+p with my son is recently not going well… After deciding in my mind to talk properly with Kouki after this war, I issued an order to let the High speed power suit deployed to pursue the enemy.