World Trends And The Establishment Of A Relaxed Nation
The declaration of statehood in Geneva. Immediately afterwards, Ama no Murakumo set course for the Pacific Ocean. The destination coordinates were 15 degrees north latitude and 150 degrees east longitude. This was the location where Ama no Murakmo would exist as a country.
"Launch D-Anchors. Fix Ama no Murakumo in space at an altitude of 100m!"
"Copy that. Launching D-Anchors. Captain, should we also set up buoys to indicate Ama no Murakumo's territorial waters?"
"Huh? You can do that too?"
"*beep*.... We can set up buoys that will create a barrier on the ocean with a diameter of 24km, centered on the current location of Ama no Murakumo."
Is there such a thing?
When I thought about it, sure enough, there was such information in my head.
You set them up on the sea and fix them in space. Then they will automatically connect to each other and create a thin barrier-like membrane. It's not a photon force, but a magic force barrier.
"Got it, we shall adopt that suggestion and surround Ama no Murakumo's territorial waters with a barrier. Does this barrier repel water as well?"
"*beep*.... It depends on the settings. We can make it quite extreme."
"In that case, we'll set it up so that anyone with hostile intentions can't get through."
"*beep*.... Understood. Missiles and the like will be able to get through, but is that okay?"
"Truss One can detect and intercept such attacks, right? Then we will just do that every time. It's not like they're going to fire nuclear missiles at us."
No matter how much of a nuisance we are, I don't think they will suddenly nuke us. Still, we need to be cautious.
"Ama no Murakumo has been fixed in space. What should we do next, Captain?"
"Eh? Speaking of what should we do, does anyone have any ideas?"
I asked nervously, but it seemed like everyone except me had their own thoughts on the matter.
"*beep.*.... By controlling the earth's crust, we could create an island in this location."
"Nope, rejected. What would the damage be if that happened?"
"*beep*.... Don't worry about that. This is where your alchemy skill takes the stage. Captain Misaki will manipulate the crust in this area and make the earth rise."
"Look, there's no way I'd cause crustal movement on a level that humans can't replicate."
Yeah, the idea of creating land is rejected. Although it would be more persuasive if our country had land territory.
"Speaking of which, how far are we from the nearest island?"
"The nearest would be Guam or Marshall Islands. Guam is only about 600km away from our location."
"600km, huh. That's about the distance from Matsumae to Shiretoko, or maybe a little closer or further than that. It's surprisingly close."
"*beep*.... I sometimes couldn't understand Hokkaido people's sense of distance."
"Leave me alone! For now, I want you to prepare the city and build the embassies. I said build but we are just going to remodel suitable buildings for that. I'd like you to prepare a place that connects the city block to the outside as well."
Looking at a floor plan of the ship, we decided to remodel the exterior hatch closest to the city center for embassy staffs to use. The only areas where they would have access to were the city block and its access hatches. Other than that, we decided to drop the bulkheads and seal off all passageways to keep them off-limits.
The Valkyries and support golems live in the city section, but there are no places to shop for daily necessities. There's just too much to do and not enough people to do it all.
"So, are we going to allocate more support personnel?"
"Yeah, we need store attendants in the shopping district, right? Also, what world's characters are these signs, menus, and product descriptions in?"
I hadn't really thought about it since I have automatic translation, but the characters are different. It's not any Earth alphabet that I know of, but some unknown sequence of characters.
"The characters used in Ama no Murakumo are called Vealst characters. They are the ancient magical kingdom of Vealst’s characters, and are also the ancient characters of the gods, which have now been lost."
"A god's language? So there is such a thing. In that case, it would be helpful if you could also prepare a conversion table between the alphabet and Vealst characters."
"*beep*.… I will prepare it."
"Thanks, Octa One. Then I guess my job is to create more support golems."
I don’t know how many embassies we will need, but it's better to start preparing in advance, right?
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Guam, USA. There was an unprecedented sense of tension hung in the air at Andersen Air Force Base. The coordinates where the Mobile Battleship Ama no Murakumo declared as the location of their country were approximately 600 km in a straight line from Guam. There were no islands at those coordinates. There was also quite a distance from international shipping routes. Since Ama no Murakumo territorial waters didn’t touch those routes, there was no violation of international law, such as obstruction of the sea routes. Nevertheless, the increase of ships and other vessels passing through the vicinity has heightened the tensions at the base.
"The order from the homeland is to carry out a reconnaissance mission in the high seas surrounding Ama no Murakumo. Other than that, we are to remain on standby until further orders."
"Alright, carry out the reconnaissance mission as usual. However, be extra careful not to violate their airspace."
The matters related to Ama no Murakumo were treated with the utmost care as if boiling water. However, there was a place where the atmosphere was even more tense than this air base --- the US Navy facility at Apra Harbor, western Guam.
Apra Harbor was the home port of the US 7th Fleet. This place was always on the alert, ready to take strategic actions against the Japanese archipelago, the Nansei Islands, the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, the Spratly Islands, Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia. Just the other day, the USS Ronald Reagan, the US 7th Fleet’s flagship, had finally returned after completing operations in Tokyo Bay, Japan.
The US 7th Fleet's captain, Vice Admiral Osman Hayward, was filling some documents at his office while enjoying his time on land for the first time in a long time. The amount of stress during the Tokyo Bay operation, in the face of foreign fleets, must have worn his down to the breaking point. However, his home country had already issued another order.
"The designated coordinates are exactly 15 degrees north latitude and 150 degrees east longitude. The US has recognized this as the territory of the Mobile Battleship Ama no Murakumo, now known as the Mobile Nation Ama no Murakumo. Accordingly, surveillance around these coordinates will be strengthened."
It had only been a few days since he was freed from Ama no Murakumo. Osman set off for a nearby drugstore in search of stomach medicine.
"Why is this happening to me? I mean, Ama no Murakumo is already under the surveillance of Russia and China...."
Osman realized it after talking to himself up to that point. Ama no Murakumo, which had not been recognized as a country by Russia and China, was in a situation that could be said to be constantly exposed to military danger. It wouldn’t be strange if the area just 600km away from Guam turned into a battlefield at any time.
"Damn it, did they predict this when they ordered the 7th Fleet to deploy the cutting-edge Aegis Destroyer Daniel Inouye to Japan!? What a jinx we've found!!"
Complaining will change nothing. Let’s buy some extra stomach medicine and headache medicine for now, so I can keep them on hand. If I have to go to the medical room every time I have a stomach ache, it will interfere with the mission.
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After the conference in Geneva ended, many countries sent their special forces to capture the Ama no Murakumo delegations. But surprisingly, Russia and China ordered their special forces to withdraw immediately. Not only Russia had their new Aegis ship scuttled, their aircraft carrier was also almost captured. Though it didn’t happen in the end, and Ama no Murakumo headed for Switzerland instead. Even so, Russia's reputation was completely ruined because of this incident.
When Russia formally inquired about this at the conference, Ama no Murakumo only answered that their warships were simply used as shields against attacks from the Chinese fleet. This infuriated the Russian delegations to the point they almost declared war. However, despite all things happened, Ama no Murakumo arrived at the coordinates they had designated as their country's location without any incident, and secured its hull with the 'spikes driven into the air' like what it did in Japan. A Russian Navy officer, Vladimir Shagin, watched the scene from a Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, which was anchored outside Ama no Murakumo's territorial waters.
"The order from our home country is just to monitor them, right?"
"Yes, sir. Apparently, there is a conflict between those who want to make peace with Ama no Murakumo and those who want to fight to the end. President Fudin wants to deploy our special forces to infiltrate and take over Ama no Murakunmo from the inside."
Vladimir had received reports of the annihilation of special forces from around the world in Switzerland. Had Russian special forces also tried to capture the Ama no Murakumo delegations, they would have faced the same humiliation as them. For this reason, President Fudin had not made any big move.
The question is how far are we going to compromise? I'm sure Mr. President understands that we will suffer consequences if we adopt an aggressive diplomacy towards Ama no Murakumo.
"Continue the monitoring. Even so, establishing a country in this location, just what on earth are they thinking?"
Even Vladimir couldn't comprehend what their true intentions were. This location was close to the US territory of Guam. Moreover, it was one of their military bases in the Pacific to keep a close eye on Asia. If war broke out, the US air and naval forces would swarm them.
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".........."
President Ouyang was lost in thought. At the conference in Geneva, the Chinese delegations had declared that China didn't recognize Ama no Murakumo as a country. This was President Ouyang’s instruction. He had decided that it was still too early to decide the direction they were going to take.
When it comes to a country, we can't just attack it at will. That's why we didn't give them our recognition. However, it doesn't mean we declare ourselves as their enemy.
"Deploy Shenzhen (a destroyer) 2,500 meters from Ama no Murakumo's territorial waters. Let it stay there as our watchdog."
If, by any chance, their side tries to make contact with us, we need to find an opportunity to get on their ship. What we need now is not a military force, but information.
"I don't care even if it's something trivial. Gather information about the battleship and find out Misaki Tendo's identity. Judging from her name, there's a good chance she's Japanese."
"Yes, sir. We will dispatch our special forces --- Jiaolong, for surveillance. In addition, we will also try to gather information from Japan through diplomatic channels, so please rest assured."
"Alright, I'm expecting good news. That’s all."
On the surface, China appeared to be working together with Russia, but behind the scenes, they began their own investigation. China wanted to take the lead when it came to Ama no Murakumo, more than any other country.
"Sir, I have one last thing to report. The attack by the Chinese fleet in Tokyo Bay was the sole decision of the field commander. This has already been made public through diplomatic sources. His punishment has also been carried out."
"I see. The commander did a bad job. I guess he will have to relax in the countryside for a while."
"Yes. He won't be able to go outside the city, but other than that, he should be able to live comfortably. Well then, I will excuse myself."
The more capable personnel you have, the better.
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Japan's National Diet Building. The Ama no Murakumo Countermeasures Committee was in a heated mood today as well. Japan gave up on negotiations with Ama no Murakumo due to the fear of Tokyo became a battlefield. Nevertheless, a battle still broke out in the Tokyo Bay, where a considerable number of missiles were fired. In addition, debris and fuel from the destroyed Russian ship had also polluted the surrounding sea.
The Japanese government expressed their regret towards Russia and China, the parties involved in this attack. However, instead of apologizing, the Chinese government only gave a statement that the attack in Tokyo Bay was the sole decision of the field commander and they have also been inconvenienced by this action. Meanwhile, the Russian government stated that since their warship was captured, they had no choice but to destroy it.
The final blow came after the conference in Geneva. The Japanese delegations tried to arrange a meeting between two countries, but was unsuccessful. Then, when they heard that the special forces from other countries were on the move, they immediately ordered their special forces to protect the Ama no Murakumo delegations. However, their special forces ended up being beaten up along with the other countries' special forces and returned home in shame.
After a series of blunders, the opposition parties finally submitted a motion of no-confidence against the current government. The motion was quickly passed and the cabinet was dissolved immediately. Because of this, all the discussion about Ama no Murakumo was suspended until the new cabinet formed within the next 40 days. It was apparent that various countries had been thrown into disarray by the appearance of Ama no Murakumo, and had suffered considerable damage.