On the Brink of Ruin

682 25 13
                                    

The land war will begin soon.

- Kazuhiro Kasami

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

June 19, 1738

Republic of Francesca, Capital Palin

An urgent meeting was to be held at the seat of the Administrative Congress of Palin, the capital of the Republic of Francesca, which is mostly farmland and forests. The meeting was to hear a report from a military officer who had observed the naval battle between the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the Spernino-Italician forces off the western coast of Francesca.

"I've never been in a meeting as tense as this one..."

"How good is Japan, really?"

Many nobles were seated, anxiously awaiting the report of the military commander. In the center of the room, there is also Prime Minister Christia. The importance of this meeting can be seen from that fact alone. Then, the doors of the conference hall opened and the elf Lysiol, who was on board the JMSDF landing ship Azuchi, entered.

Lysiol went up on the central platform and held up before him a high-quality paper document that he had brought with him. Of course, this paper was also imported from Japan.

"I will not begin the report of the Battle of Poisson between the Spernino-Italician fleet and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force."

Poisson is the name of the western sea area as seen from Francesca. This name was later properly conveyed to the Japanese and was published in Japan as the Battle of Poisson.

"The Spernino-Italician force used a large fleet of 275 ships, including ships-of-the-line, landing craft, and bird carriers, as per prior information. Japan, on the other hand, deployed 11 ships of the Maritime Self-Defense Force Escort Squadron to face them."

The report seemed overwhelmingly unfavorable in terms of numbers if compared to Spernino-Italician forces, but the executives urged the report to be continued with their gazes.

"As a result of the naval battle, Japan suffered no casualties. The enemy was annihilated before it was in range of the guns, and about 6.000 of the winged warriors who had come close to them were killed by a storm of light from the ships and 500 army soldiers aboard the ship Azuchi."

Everyone present was stunned. Normally, if one wanted to get rid of winged warriors, one would need to be as sturdy as the dragonoid and dwarves. Even the Yi Empire, whose ship's capabilities could be said to rival those of the Grand Lago Kingdom, was once defeated when it declared war against the two kingdoms because it had no air support and enemy soldiers boarded its vessels.

However, the Japanese were a race that did not appear to be so physically strong. They could not comprehend how it was possible to drive them away. Also, many of those present at the Congress knew that Japan, like Grand Lago, operated ships equipped with cannons. However, given the meager number and small caliber of their guns, one could only be stunned by the sheer overwhelming results of the war.

"S-seriously? In terms of all equipment and personnel, the Japanese suffered no damage?"

"Yes. The deck of the landing ship Azuchi, on which I was boarding, was stained with the blood, grease, and corpses of the winged warriors, but other than that, there was no damage at all. Moreover, the observer from Grand Lago standing next to me... a captain of the protected cruiser, looked shocked as well, and I judged that this was probably impossible for Grand Lago."

The Grand Lago Kingdom is the second most powerful country in the world, partly because of its powerful air power. Considering the fact that a captain commanding the warship of such a powerful country was shocked, it can be seen how overwhelmingly powerful Japan was.

Japan Space-Time Strange ChroniclesWhere stories live. Discover now