An Overwhelming Difference And A Clever Strategy
Jumping out of the Mobile Battleship Ama no Murakumo, Helmnoire surveyed her surroundings while thinking about how to carry out Misaki's orders to neutralize the enemy forces while avoiding any casualties.
"Given the current situation, the most efficient way to avoid human loss is.... that's right, I should think of this a 'procurement' mission instead. The payment is their safety. Let's go with that."
Helmviecke ignored the fighter jets circling around and attacking her. No physical weapon in this world could damage Magia Ritter. Even without it, her body was made of the same orichalcum alloy. Only magical attack would be able to scratch it.
*rat-tat-tat-tat-tat*
The Chinese latest fighter jet, Jienji-20. Even an attack from the 30mm single machine gun of its prototype successor, Jienji-21, was unable to penetrate the force shield that covered the surface of the Helmnoire's armor.
"They don't have enough firepower. I commend their acceleration, but their maneuverability is a bit lacking. By this world's standards, it's probably quite impressive aircraft, but I guess this is as far as they can go with their technology and for the safety of the pilots."
Helmnoire slowly turned around. Her target was the Russian fleet behind the Chinese fleet. Instead of engaging the fighter jets that were attacking her, she focused her attention on the Russian warships in the distance that had been collecting data ever since the battle began, and their new submarine, Knyaz Vladimir, that had been silently tracking Ama no Murakumo from under the sea.
*baam*
High-temperature magic energy burst out from the thrusters on Helmnoire's back, accelerated her from zero speed to exceeding the speed of sound in just two milliseconds. The sudden shock wave caused the fighter jets to lose their balance, but they quickly regained it and immediately chased after Helmnoire. However, waiting ahead of them was a Gremyashchiy-class corvette, the Russian fleet's flagship. Helmnoire came to a halt midair and aimed the large-caliber blaster guns mounted on her back at its bridge.
"This is a warning. I give you 30 minutes to abandon this ship. If you have not abandoned the ship by then, your lives will be in danger."
Helmviecke declared loudly in fluent Russian. Hearing this declaration, the bridge of Gremyashchiy was in chaos, with no sign of calming down as they contacted their home country and consulted with Knyaz Vladimir, lurking under the sea beneath Ama no Murakumo. Furthermore, by positioning Helmnoire right in front of Gremyashchiy's bridge, the Chinese fighter jets had stopped their attack due to the risk of hitting the ship. Meanwhile, the Chinese warships had also given up on attacking Ama no Murakumo.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Misaki was on the bridge of Ama no Murakumo, watching closely to see what Helmviecke tried to do.
"Instead of confronting three countries at the same time, we could stop the two countries from attacking us by taking the third country hostage. I see...."
"*beep*.... China will not take the risk of accidentally attacking Russia. If it were the US, there is a 16% probability that they would launch an attack without hesitation."
"That's pretty low probability. Then what if we took the US hostage?"
"*beep*.... Russia and China would launch an all-out attack even the US get caught in it, under the pretext of maintaining peace. However, the probability is only 13%, which is lower than the previous example."
"So those numbers are based on the relationship of three countries. Then, what is Helmviecke planning to do next?"
I don't think this is the end of the story. Mobile Battleship Ama no Murakumo is still advancing towards the designated coordinates with fleets from various countries following us from behind. So far, only the Chinese fleet and the Russian fleet have engaged in combat with us within the Japanese territorial waters. The Japanese government will likely fire a 'regret cannon' after this, but their 'regret cannon' lacks firepower. Moreover, it appears that these countries were proceeding with this operation while expecting this kind of response from Japan.
"I received a message from Helmviecke, requesting hangar no.86 to be opened."
"Octa One, hangar no.86 is that big one, right?"
"*beep*.... Yes. Helmviecke is probably planning to seize the ship."
"Oh, I see. But why?"
"*beep*.... I'm not Helmviecke, so I don't know what is inside her head. For now, let's trust her and watch."
"The Valkyries do think like humans. Oh well, since I've entrusted this mission to her, I'll just wait and see how it turns out."
Thirty minutes had passed since then. When I checked the monitor, I saw the Gremyashchiy crew members being evacuated to the Russian aircraft carrier next to it one by one.
I see, so she neutralized them by seizing their ship. It'd be interesting if we modified the ship and loaded it with a magical engine.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
A painful choice. A decision to abandon Gremyashchiy was made, and the crew had no choice but to evacuate to the nearby aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov. This was a Russian state-of-the-art warship, so rather than handing it over to the enemy undamaged, it would be better to destroy it altogether. The Russian top brass came up with a plan to connect all of the explosives on board to time fuses, turning the entire warship into a bomb. However, since they had less than 30 minutes to make the adjustments, they couldn't create such a large-scale mechanism. Still, it has more than enough firepower to sink Gremyashchiy, a mass of classified information, into the bottom of the ocean.
"One Gremyashchiy and the wreckage of one enemy mobile weapon. It's not quite an equal exchange, but it's still worth a lot...."
Russian President Fudin made this judgment and gave permission to sink Gremyashchiy. However, this prediction would turn out to be far off.
"Time's up. Please get away from this location as soon as possible."
Receiving a warning from Helmnoire, Admiral Kuznetsov slowly moved away from Gremyashchiy. When they were at a distance where they would not be affected by the explosion, mobile weapons began to drop one after another from Ama no Murakumo, surrounding the hull of Gremyashchiy. The mobile weapons then deployed mana field for towing. Enveloped by this, Gremyashchiy began to rise higher into the sky.
"H-Hurry up! Is the time fuse still not activated?"
"It will active soon. We've taken into account the time it will take for Admiral Kuznetsov to retreat to a safe distance."
*boooom*
The operator reported this to the captain, and almost at the same time, Gremyashchiy exploded in the air. Surprisingly, there was no debris from the explosion scattered in the surrounding area. An invisible wall that encased Gremyashchiy prevented the explosion from escaping. Naturally, none of the nearby Magia Ritters were harmed. Due to this unexpected turn of events, the Russian fleet paid the price for their gamble with their latest warship as a result.
"Report to Chairman Ouyang. With our current technology, it's impossible to capture that mobile battleship, let alone destroy it."
The commander of the Chinese fleet was astonished at the reality that had just unfolded before his eyes. Not only him, the commanders of other countries' fleets were also left speechless, confronted with the unbelievable truth.
A barrier that prevents the destructive force from escaping even if a warship self-destructs. Would you make an enemy of an entity that possesses such a thing? This is an impossible battle.
Sudden explosions. Treating one's own warship as a time bomb was not in Helmviecke’s tactical data, so she didn't expect this development.
"An equivalent exchange? Wrong. This is clearly a hostile act."
A total of seven Magia Ritters, with Helmnoire as the squadron leader, surrounded the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov.
"This is a warning. We will be attacking this aircraft carrier in 20 minutes. If you want to evacuate, you'd better hurry. We have recognized the previous action as a hostile act...."
Unlike the previous warning, it was a cold and emotionless declaration this time. The captain of the aircraft carrier then made an inquiry to his home country, just like the captain of Gremyashchiy had done earlier.
Russia is done for.
We have made this mobile battleship our enemy.
With that message, the captain began to approach neighboring fleets for the evacuation of his crew and all the crew who had been evacuated from Gremyashchiy.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Gremyashchiy exploded. This was a completely unexpected development, even for Misaki, who was observing the situation from the bridge.
"Octa One, how much damage would that explosion do to Ama no Murakumo?"
"*beep*.... The hangar will get sooted. There will probably be some dents, but it won't be fatal. It will only damage the facilities and equipment around the hangar at most."
"Yeah, that sounds pretty bad. The hull armor and frame are made of orichalcum alloy, and the interior walls are made of light mithril alloy. It's amazing that that it can be dented."
"*beep*... That's about it. The facilities and cranes are made of steel, so they will break, but if we repair them quickly, they will be back to normal in about three days."
Okay, that's all I need to know. No matter how pacifist I am, I would find it difficult to forgive anyone who damage Ama no Murakumo. The factory inside Ama no Murakumo also has a section to manufacture industrial equipment. There's no use for it, so it's usually not in operation. However, I'd like to avoid a situation where I have to rely on it.
"Contact Helmviecke. Tell her that she can go wild as long as she doesn't kill anyone."
"Understood. This is control center. Helmviecke, disabling the limiter."
"Understood. This is Helmviecke. Please look forward to the souvenir."
Now then, I wonder what the other countries are going to do next....
After the explosion of Gremyashchiy, the Chinese fleet began to distance itself from the Ama no Murakumo after calling back their fighter jets. The Russian aircraft carrier was evacuating its crew and passengers with the help of other countries' fleets that were nearby. Meanwhile, the US fleet hadn't made any move. They kept a certain distance from Ama no Murakumo, not too close or too far. They didn't even fly their fighter jets and were simply observing the situation quietly.
"Valtraute, Rossweisse, I've hacked into the enemies' communications network detected a frequency that appears to be directed at Ama no Murakumo. Please confirm it."
"Understood. Currently, 256 radio signals have been confirmed as communications directed at Ama no Murakumo. Excluding warnings and surrender advisories, we will magically connect to the closest and friendliest source."
"Okay, connection start, click~"
"Ross.... Oh, well."
*beep*
The communication line opened. There was no projection on the monitor as usual, but the audio was coming through clearly. It seemed that magic wavelengths could be used to interfere with radio communications that would normally be impossible.
"This is Vice Admiral Osman Hayward, commander of the US 7th Fleet. I would like to speak with Ama no Murakumo. I repeat, this is Vice Admiral Osman...."
"This is Misaki Tendo, commander of Mobile Battleship Ama no Murakumo. What does the US want from us?"
"Nice to meet you, Miss Tendo. The US would like to welcome Ama no Murakumo as a friend. To discus about this, we would like to send our delegations there."
Delegations, huh. I wonder how many marines will be mixed in with those delegations. I'm still flesh and blood, so I can be killed.
"We'll set up a negotiation table, but it will take place outside of Ama no Murakumo. I don't think it will be any different from the discussions we had with Japan the other day, though."
"I can't say anything about that. However, our president has expressed his intention to establish a friendly relationship with Ama no Murakumo."
"I see.... Well, we don't want to be subjected to any more hostile acts, so why don't we all get together and talk things out? The location will be the United Nations Headquarters. Let's meet up there."
Alright, our next destination is Switzerland. Let's declare Ama no Murakumo as a country to the UN while we're at it. If we can get them to recognize us as a fully independent country, like the Principality of Sealand off the coast of England, they'll stop interfering with us in the future.
"Understood. We look forward to seeing you there."
"Oh, by the way, we will also invite other countries that want to talk with us, so it won't be just between Ama no Murakumo and the US, but between Ama no Murakumo and all the countries on Earth."
"P-Please wait a moment!"
"Well then, I will contact the other countries from this side. That's all."
*beep*
The communication line was cut.
"Octa-One. Please communicate what I just said to the fleets of all the countries currently stationed around Ama no Murakumo."
"*beep*.... Understood. I will make all necessary arrangements."
"Okay, I'll leave it to you. I'll go and make something to protect myself."
"*beep*.... Are you going to make equipment with alchemy? Or maybe you are going to make weapon with alchemy, in short 'Buso Renkin' ---[That's e-n-o-u-g-h]--- Please excuse me."
"Gerhilde, change course, we are heading to Switzerland."
"Understood. Change course and set new target coordinates. Mobile Battleship Ama no Murakumo departs for Switzerland.''
*rumble*
The Mobile Battleship Ama no Murakumo slowly changed course and headed for Switzerland.
I don't want to go out there unless I'm fully prepared.
Now it's time for alchemy!!