Chapter 255: Black and Blue, and the Fishery
A countless number of bullets explode on the wreckages of the iron machine soldiers left in the wasteland. The one firing hundreds of those per second from a Gatling gun equipped on its right arm is [Grimgerde], Rin’s black fra. Nicola-san’s Night Baron has a similar Gatling gun, but it should be okay since their shapes are quite different.
The chest armor of Grimgerde unfolds, and a pair of Gatling guns installed inside blow fire.
Following it, both shoulders open in a manner similar to a gull-wing door, and six missile pods start firing their payloads. At the exact sa ti, the legs also open their missile pods in a similar fashion and fire away.
The fingertips of the left hand are shooting bullets too, along with the Vulcan cannon installed into the head. It totally looks like a rain of bullets.
「Uhiya... how dreadful...」(Touya)
The broken iron cavalry which I had taken out from [Storage] and used as targets are, far from being turned into a beehive, changed into scattered iron scraps in a blink of an eye.
Grimgerde then stops, having finished shooting. White smoke rise-up from all over its body indicates just how high its temperature has risen.
「How many bullets have been fired just now?」
「I suppose a ager 50 000, rounding it up」(Rosetta)
That many, huh? I’m speechless toward the reply of Rosetta who’s standing next to . How should I say it? Doesn’t that an that it’s invincible in so sense? Won’t Elzie’s Gerhilde or Yae’s Schwertleite be helpless if they take those attacks head-on... Even if the armor made from crystal materials could withstand that barrage, the damage taken should still be great.
Though I’m guessing Suu’s Ortlinde Overhold should be able to defend against that one way or another.
「However, it does have its own weaknesses, you know? First, the fra itself won’t be able to withstand consecutive shooting even if it can shoot bullets as long as the magazines being transferred from Babylon aren’t exhausted. It’s necessary to enter a “cooling mode” for several minutes after firing a volley with full power, which will create an opening」(Rosetta)
「Additionally, the fra itself is designed in such a way wherein it consus a considerable amount of magic power, so pilot’s fatigue will likely be considerable as well. It will probably be sowhat operable if it’s soone on the level of Rin or Touya-kun, or Linzie」(Regina)
I agree with what Rosetta and the professor said. That outco might be natural. It’s like continuously invoking [Explosion] while the person in question is shooting.
「So hot!」(Rin)
Having opened the hatch on the stomach of the fra, Rin and Pola jump out of the fra. With the power of her jump, Pola falls down from the cockpit and crashes into the ground. Oi, are you okay?
「Hey! That place is just like a steam bath, mind you!」(Rin)
「Aah, I’ve forgotten to install a cooling chanism around the cockpit」(Rosetta)
Rosetta folds her arms while groaning. That would be lethal. Isn’t it an absolute necessity to apply temperature isolation magic on the cockpit?
「Moreover, I don’t think it’ll be possible to hear a transmission with all those terrible explosive sounds, you know」(Rin)
「I see. A soundproofing barrier is also necessary in all likelihood. It’s better to be able to have it turned on and off if the need arises」(Touya)
After all, the cockpit is located right below the pair of Gatling guns installed in the chest. No wonder it would be noisy.
In terms of destructive power covering a wide area, the current fra gear takes the cake, but friendlies will likely going to end up being swallowed in its barrage. Therefore, it can’t be used during group battles. If I’m to say which type of battle it’s most suited for, it would be the one versus many extermination type of battles.
Kiiiiiiiiiiiin...
「Oh?」(Touya)
As I look up to the sound of a moving aircraft, I see a blue fighter flying toward us.
The said aircraft starts to transform in midair after it has dropped down its speed during its descent, changing into a slender human-type form upon landing.
It’s Linzie’s convertible type fra gear, [Helmwige].
Having opened the chest hatch, Linzie then cos down. Helmwige is a fra gear with acute lines. Its transformation chanism to a fighter aircraft is referenced after the machine piloted by a protagonist from a cha ani, so it’s equipped with a long shield on its left hand.
That shield will transform into the bottom part of the aircraft, so getting it destroyed will prevent the fra gear from transforming, which in turn is its weakness. For that reason, Helmwige’s shield is made from a larger amount of crystal materials and poured with a larger amount of magic power than usual, making it considerably solid.
「How was it? Have you gotten used to flying yet?」(Touya)
「I guess so. Well, sowhat. Though I wasn’t been able to raise the speed that much」(Linzie)
Linzie answers with a stiff-looking smile. If she gets used to piloting Helmwige, I should surely be able to [Fly] through the skies with her, shouldn’t I?
By combining with Elzie’s Gerhilde, Helmwige will be able to transform into an aerial support cha, taking its transformative capabilities further, though we haven’t installed that function yet.
(ED: Basically, this ans that Helmwige Gerhilde = support cha. Though I find this logic weird since Gerhilde is a lee fighter type cha. If there’s a support cha, it should be Helmwige. But whatever. I don’t really know what the author had been thinking when he wrote this part.)
「Linzie-dono’s and Rin-dono’s fras are almost finished, but what shall be done regarding the fras of the remaining Sakura-dono, Luu-dono and Yumina-dono?」(Rosetta)
Rosetta enquires to .
「Has professor not decided yet which fra will she make next?」(Touya)
「The current candidate is Sakura, I suppose. I’m considering a fra which utilizes support magic using [Sound] as the dium. Magic is ineffective against frazes, but it’s possible to cast magic on friendly fra gears, buffing them with raise of speed or expansion of personal barriers. I believe that it’ll be able to cast magic to them on a wide range if carried by sound」(Professor)
「A support model for group battles, so to speak」(Rosetta)
So are they going to make a frawork which can expand onto multiple targets like my [Multiple]? Is that it? Sound... No, it will be music in Sakura’s case. They say she’ll be to cast magic to everyone with it.
I often heard about the effects granted by songs since the olden days, like raising the morale of the troops with war songs. Though in this case, it would probably be called Song Magic.
Yep, not a bad idea.
「Then please start building Sakura’s fra」(Touya)
「Roger」(Rosetta)
I transfer both Grimgerde and Helmwige along with Rosetta and Professor to Babylon and go through [Gate] back to the castle together with Rin and Linzie. Though I return imdiately to the wasteland afterward.
I forgot about Pola.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
When I passed by in front of the training field after returning, I could see heaps of bodies of our rookie knights rolling about. Once again, the training today seems to be intense, I see.
Although the bootcamp started by Moroha-nee-san for the sake of the newcors has already finished, they’re still training every morning and evening, naturally.
So of them are being exempted, but the majority is still being worked hard like that by Moroha-nee-san in the mornings and the evenings. Still, as I would’ve expected, none of them runs away since they’ve already passed through that examination.
「[ga Heal] [Refresh]」(Touya)
On my way, I restore the physical strength and heal the wounds of our knights rolling on the training grounds.
Having been cured of their wounds and fatigue, everyone notices my presence and genuflects.
「Good job, that’s it for morning training. Each of you, orderly take a shower, eat your breakfast and move to your posts」(Moroha)
「「「「Yes!」」」」(Knights)
The knights move to the showers located in the lodging houses separated by gender as told by Moroha-nee-san.
Speaking of our newcor knights, their assignnts have already been decided, and they’re already at the stage where they’ve morized their duties. The ones standing on the castle guard will deal with visitors or, in extrely rare cases, foes entering the castle; those on castletown patrol duty will be solving troubles and making the rounds; the ones performing espionage will study things like how to gather information and how to talk with contacts.
The others whose abilities lie in fields like construction managent, paperwork and agricultural reclamation have been assigned there.
It’s been decided that newcors will also practice piloting fra gears using the fra units in addition to their regular duties.
Currently, the number of our knights is more than 200 people, and we’ve already had most of them morize the basics of piloting. Though we’ve exempted those who find it hard to ride inside the cockpit like the sisters Murret and Charret from the Lamia tribe or Zamza from the Ogre tribe.
We don’t know when frazes will appear, and it’s ultimately better to be prepared in advance.
LL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL JJJ JJJ JJJ JJJ JJJ JJJ JJJ
「Exploitation of the fishery, you say? 」(Touya)
「Yes」(Kousaka)
As we sit in the office, Pri Minister Kousaka-san broaches a topic like this.
Saying “fishery” he naturally ans the thod for acquiring fish. Why did this topic co up? Though that reminds , there are few opportunities to eat fish in our country.
「Do you an to procure more fish from the river flowing through our country?」(Touya)
Brunhild has no sea borders. The fish we would be catching would mostly be river fish.
「I’m not talking about the river. I an that we should have the fishern catch fish in the sea and raise profits with that catch」(Kousaka)
「Eh? The sea isn’t accessible in our...」(Touya)
「Isn’t there one on the other side of the transfer gates?」(Kousaka)
「Ah」(Touya)
That’s right. The seven islands with the labyrinths on the other side of the transfer gates. That territory is within our dominion as well.
It’ll be good if we can bring the harvested fish from over there to here. Since there’s no access to the sea around these parts, I suppose fresh fish should sell quite well. It might even be possible to eat sashimi.
「I see. It’s a good proposal. So, you want to develop one of those islands and build a harbor there, right?」(Touya)
「It’s just as you say. Though we probably won’t be able to develop it to the level of a port city since the islands themselves are small. Moreover, there are dangerous magic beasts in those islands, so I’ve been wondering what can be done about them」(Kousaka)
U~mu. I could hunt all of them until they run out, and the materials from those types of magic beasts could also be sold at quite a price. Though taking the adventurers’ bread and butter is kinda... And on the other hand, will there be fishern willing to catch fish in a dangerous place like that...?
「I wonder, is installing a barrier against magic beasts onto the harbor be sufficient?」(Touya)
「That’s reasonable, I guess. Furthermore, we might have to investigate whether there are any such magic beasts in the sea」(Kousaka)
Certainly. It’s out of the question to have the ship procuring fish be attacked by those magic beasts.
Well, I believe that it will be alright if I summon sothing like a sea dragon or a kraken and order them to hunt the magic beasts who look like they would attack humans living on the surrounding islands. That should do it.
「How do we gather the fishern?」(Touya)
「I will do sothing about it on my side. We still don’t know how much of a haul we’ll be able to acquire, so I can’t say anything. But I don’t think it’ll be a loss」(Kousaka)
If that’s the case, shall we do it then? For the ti being, I give out a provisional permission to catch fish.
I will go to the islands tomorrow either way, so I guess I can summon either a kraken or a sea dragon.
The sea serpent that’s protecting the kingdom of Igrett which I visited when I was searching for the ruins of Babylon. I guess I should summon soone like that dragon which should be properly called a guardian dragon, and have it act as a protector. I think I’ll just summon one from Ruli’s dependents.
While I’m at it, I think I’ll command them to stop any suspicious ships from approaching the islands. I don’t want to deal with any more slave trader ships coming to the islands similar to the one last ti.
I then affirm the pile of reports on my desk after Kousaka-san exits the room. I have to look into the important matters and understand the concerns of those living in this castle town.
Regarding news about the situation of the world and other similar concerns, I mostly receive those from Rerisha-san via mail.
「If it was my forr world, it would’ve been aired in the internet news」(Touya)
Nevertheless, various news sent by the rulers of each nation have arrived though. Like about the engagent of the second princess of Regulus Empire and the king of Ferzen Kingdom sent by the Emperor of Regulus; or that prince Yamato can now stand and walk, sent by the Belfast King. Though, that one had a photo attachnt to it.
Thanks to such socialization between countries of the East-West Alliance, there will be few conflicts. They’re managing to find a common ground with each other. There are still tis when they still can’t reach a compromise, so they then turn to to talk about their disagreent.
Even now, the exchange between Belfast and Misumido is becoming more profound than before, and the relations between Regulus and Rodoa have improved as well. Ramishu Holy Kingdom stops its isolationist policy, and Rynie Kingdom is in the process of forming a friendly relation with their northern neighbor, Paluf Kingdom. These are good things to happen.
As I read various reports while considering those events, I notice that there’s a considerable amount of news about the appearance of frazes in each country. Most of them are lower classes, so it looks like they’ve been subjugated by red ranked adventurers or higher.
During the ti when we defeated our first Fraze, our guild ranks must have been... Hmm? Co to think of it...
I bring out a photo I took when we defeated our first Fraze from a folder in my smartphone and project it in the air. The ruins were destroyed, and the article itself has been rendered to nothing, but it’s a pictograph which seems to have been taken more than 1000 years ago.
I couldn’t decipher it at that ti, but shouldn’t I be able to do it now with [Reading] or sothing similar? Though it will be impossible unless I accurately know what kind of pictograph it is. I wonder if Faam knows sothing it. She might be able to specify it, seeing as she’s the manager of the [Library].
However, there’s a possibility that she might not know the language if the letters didn’t exist 5000 years ago. I was also told that those letters weren’t used in Belfast from 1000 years ago, and it wasn’t the people of Belfast who created those ruins either.
If that’s the case, who created the ruins and for what reason did they create it... It’s also strange for a fraze to be sealed there together with it.
No good. I can’t get it out of my mind now that I’ve started thinking about it.
I then decide to go to the castle library to search for Faam.
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