----Miki Arakawa Point of View

　While a small-scale skirmish continues along the border, Ellis-san, who has been appointed as my personal second in command aboard the Alice, reports the information on the advance of the 'Northern Sector Army' led by Gongju.

I've got to admit, I'm not sure if it's a good idea, but I think it's a good idea. We have successfully captured it.

'You're done with it!　That's pretty fast.

　No matter how much they led a fleet with an aircraft carrier and a battleship to forcefully attack it, it was indeed too soon. You don't mean they used live ammunition, do you?　I urged Ellis-san to continue his report with a touch of unease and found that Gongju had used a genius method to take over Asti.　

'His Excellency Major General Special Affairs sailed from the Sirens using a special capsule for atmospheric descent. He used the bellowing device after a forced landing on the coast, but because of the bellowing inside the capsule at this time, the reverberating sound became a directional sound wave and hit the semi-encircled Knights. It is said that all the Knights of the Empire were knocked out by the impact of the acoustic grenade.

　 Victoria-san called Gongju a demon god, but even for me, as a mother, I'm afraid that boy is going to hump the human frame lately. Lately, ''Mother!　Sometimes I wonder what I'll do if someone says 'look, I've learned to use magic' or something like that.　Well, if that happens, I'm sure I'll have to learn magic and insist that 'my son is a person of my blood' - but right now, I'm more worried about the progress of the Merkava front than such trivial matters.

''Ellis-san, what's the situation on the front line?　If we don't break through here soon, Gongju will be isolated in Imperial territory.

Currently, the two knightly orders of the Merkava Kingdom are being deployed to the front. We believe that the enemy is trying to preserve their main force by placing sub-human infantry units on the front lines.

　So it's a stalemate, no casualties on either side, but it's a lack of decisive action, and the problem is that the game hasn't changed much. Is it time to go on the offensive?

What's the ammunition loss rate on a land-based battleship?

'At the end of the sixteenth bombardment just now, all of our ships are below fifty percent. The heaviest wear and tear is on the second ship, the Clare, with 32 percent remaining.

　Every time a call for artillery support came in, Claire was conducting a support attack, so I don't blame her, but Claire, who would be useless in the distance, should be allowed to get resupplied in the rear for once. Biting my nails as I make my decision, I give instructions to Ellis-san.

'Order Claire to get resupplied in the rear, and don't forget to tell the captains of each ship to have the suits on Claire dispersed and redeployed to Alice and Miki before they go back. Also, I'll be ejecting the 'Panjandrum' and you'll alert the kingdom side.

Yes, sir.

　I sit back in my chair and re-cross my legs, but remembering something important, I hurriedly call out after Miss Ellis, who is about to go to the communications officer.

'Could I have a cup of tea, please?　No sugar and a little milk.

Yes, please hold.

　After looking away from Ellis-san, who smiled back at me, I began to think of a plan to break the war situation as I stared at the information on the screen.




'Miki-san, Princess Cassis and General Auguste have asked Alice for permission to board the ship to discuss the war situation.

"If the captain will allow it, you'll take me to the CIC.

　As I was drinking tea and planning the general plan, the kingdom side offered me a 'consultation'. Probably, they didn't come to consult, but rather to scream that it was impossible to maintain the front line any longer, but they must have the kingdom's knights to hold out for another ten minutes or so, by all means.
　As I was trying to figure out how to tell them that, Princess Cassis and General Auguste, who were wearing armor and looking tired, entered the CIC.

''Miki-san, I apologize for my unexpected visit.

'No, I'm fine. But more importantly, the Knights are at their limit, aren't they?

　Princess Cassis answers my question with a face like she's about to cry.

''Yes......... Fortunately, thanks to the efforts of Noah's people, no deaths have occurred, but four knightly orders have already been destroyed, and the rest of the knightly orders are doing their best to prevent the enemy's attack once more. If the Black Gold Knights had been here, they could have held out a little longer...''

"They have been entrusted with another mission of great importance, and that is unavoidable. But I'd like to thank you, on behalf of Noah, for holding up so well.

　When I bowed my head, the princess hurriedly shouted, ''Please raise your head,'' but I have to tell the knights of the kingdom that are about to be destroyed to ''endure a little more,'' so I must show my sincerity. I raise my lowered head and look into the princess's eyes as I tell her the plan I just came up with.

''Soon, the Imperial offensive will reach its breaking point. I plan to take advantage of the momentary gap between the offensive and defensive positions to rush the land battleships into the enemy's ranks and overwhelm the enemy's main battlefield at once, but in order to do so, I need the Royal Knights to overcome the enemy's onslaught just once more. Can you please help us?

I understand. I will order the Order to hold out for as long as it takes.

　Having received permission from Princess Cassis, who nodded vigorously while contacting the Knights with her magic tool, I give orders to all the troops under my command.

''All units are notified!　The land battleships are prepared to move into enemy lines. Power suit squadrons, head to support the withdrawal of the Royal Knights.

Sir, we've just received a transmission from Claire, Number 2. They've resupplied and are returning to the front lines.

　The report of just the right time made me smile, if all the ships are lined up in a horizontal line to squeeze the front of the imperial army, there will be a gap somewhere. If you shoot the remaining panjandrum through the gap and spray neutralization gas, it will open up a route of attack to the enemy's front line, and if you use mobile infantry equipped with Noah's reinforced exoskeleton to suppress it, you can break through this front line. With this in mind, I was somewhat relieved to see the layout of each unit on the screen, when I felt a slight change.



I'm sorry, sir, but the information is still very confusing. We're waiting to hear from the tank corps directly.

　It was hard to imagine that a tank squadron with high firepower and strong armor would easily retreat. The only possibility is an airborne ground attack, but according to preliminary information, the imperial forces on this front should not have any dragonriders deployed. Even if they did come with reinforcements, they would be able to catch them on Alice's radar, so what the hell is going on here?

Emergency message from the tank!　"Large enemy weapon in front of right flank, urgently requesting immediate reinforcements.

　The big one?　It's unlikely that the Imperial Army has the technical capability to do this, but as a matter of fact, the tank corps is in retreat. I've decided that we need to see the actual large weapon to be able to take effective countermeasures, and I've ordered the screen to show the right wing.

"I'll switch to live feed from the tank that is serving as Lord. You can't mean...

　I can see that Ellis-san, who switched images, is exclaiming when she sees the giant humanoid Nanika on the screen.

''Giant Golem!　How could a human being run it like that... no way!

Princess Cassis, do you know what that thing is?

　When I crowded in on Princess Cassis and asked her a question, she explained about the giants with a blue face.

It's a giant golem, one of the weapons used in ancient times for sieges, but it uses an enormous amount of magic to activate it. I'm sure you'll be able to find out more about this in the future.

But it's up and coming at us now. Can you guess how it was activated?　And is there a person on that thing?

　Princess Cassis raised her eyebrows and thought frantically, but after a while she seemed to have come to one conclusion, and with a face that looked like she'd bitten down on a bitter bug, she told me what she'd guessed.

'There are no people on board, the Giant Golem is an automatic doll.

　These words made me want to use an imaginary bomb to obliterate the main camp of the Imperial Army right now, but I bit my lip and held back the urge, shouting at the captain as I gave the order.

''Captain!　You are permitted to use live ammunition. Now blow up that blinding giant.

"With all due respect, sir, with the type of ammunition we have on board this ship, we'll be able to do a fair amount of damage to those around us, if that's alright?

　

'What about the heavily armed power suit squadron?'

'We have just assisted in the withdrawal of the Royal Knights. We could abandon them and let them come to you, but that might cause the Knights' damage rate to exceed acceptable levels.

Oh, my God!

　Gunning, I kick up the admiral's seat with the toe of the heel I'm wearing, and if I don't, the right wing unit will be destroyed. Should I use live ammunition, even at the risk of commensurate damage?　But in that case, there would undoubtedly be deaths, so even if we could achieve a tactical victory, it would be the equivalent of a strategic defeat.

''Miki-san, the line of retreat of the right wing troops is the breaking point. No more.''

''Miki-san, if you don't stop the Giant Golem as soon as possible, the lives of the Empire's sorcerers are in danger.

Ellis-san and Princess Kassis urge me to make a decision.

''E.........e.......noise......badly......do you hear that? ?　It's communicating in one direction on all frequency bands due to heavy noise. This is 'Ground Raider Odin' and has been sent to your rescue by the order of His Excellency, Major General. All units requiring backup firepower will use infrared strobes to alert you to their targets, and until further notice, we will attack the giants below.

　It looks like Gongju saved me again. I sipped my tea while looking at the screen showing Odin's slow descent from the sky to the ground.




----Captain Odin's point of view

Major, are we still on standby today?

　Lucas, the gunner, is blubbering with a cigarette in his mouth over a shell. It's hard to judge whether it's gutsy or simply stupid to smoke in a place where fire is strictly prohibited, but since he's a good marksman, I'm not going to remove him from the team for now.

Oh, and be ready to scramble off at any time while you wait. Oh, and get out of there!　If you accidentally trigger a bomb, you'll be blown up into space.

Hey. Well, who cares if it's a crazy place?　We're always on standby for food. It's not like we had a chance to do this when we were on earth, but even in another world, it's still not worth it. I should have aimed to become a suit wearer too.

　It's somewhat understandable why Lucas is blubbering like he's not going to get laid. There are several types of weapons on Earth that have been retired because they no longer need to be deployed, but there are only two types of weapons that would cause problems if they were completely retired.

　The first is the Missile Attack Nuclear Submarine, which is deployed in a small number of countries simply because it's better to have it than not, now that missile defense technology has been developed.

　The second is the strategic bombers we use. In today's military balance, where power suits can shoot down aircraft if they want to, the bombers are treated as a disappointing weapon rather than a nuclear submarine, because they are slower than fighter jets and have a larger surface area to hit than a nuclear submarine, which is better to have than not.
　I understand Lucas's sadness at being assigned to a bomber squadron, even though he joined the Air Force, but he needs a little more motivation.

'Hey Lucas, what's up with John?'

　I wonder why John, who usually smokes with Lucas, isn't there, so I ask him where he is.

Oh, he went to the lavatory about half an hour ago with a magazine. Miss Link is over there getting her nails done.

　I mean, no matter how much work you say you don't have, you have too much freedom!　Tolstoy's captain and crew in similar circumstances have gone through rigorous training and are now commanding a land-based battleship, you guys should learn a little more from them.
　As I was thinking about this, the main communication terminal installed in the cabin suddenly rang and displayed a light to let me know that a communication had come in from outside the base. It's probably just the ground troops chilling out as usual anyway..., I thought as I merrily pressed the comm button to answer it.

This is Captain Odin, this is Major Martin. What's your division?

　The 'Huh?' that they were supposed to continue after this.　'You're not a pizza delivery service?' As I twisted my head around to think about how to respond to the line, the woman on the screen replied with a frown.

I am Lieutenant Colonel Claire Dauntless, second-in-command to His Excellency Arakawa Koki, Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Army. His Excellency wanted to speak to you personally, so we communicated with you, but you are quite arrogant.

　Are you kidding me?　Speaking of Arakawa Koki, isn't he Shuichi's only son? He's supposed to be commanding Noah's main force and taking control of the Linkdoble Empire right now, so why is he sending a message to a lowly colonel like me!　No, I'll have to apologize first, or I'll be court-martialed.

'I'm sorry!　The wait has been prolonged, sir, and we've grown slack.

"I would normally instruct you on how to talk to your superiors, but that's fine. I'll be on the line with you, but please don't be rude if you make a mistake.

　With that, Commander Claire exited the screen, and this time a gentle-looking boy appeared on the screen. We joined Noah out of respect for Shuichi-san, so I've never seen his face like the others in the unit, but since he looks like Miki-san, there's no doubt that this is the boy.

I'm Major Martin Achenbach, Captain Odin!　It's a pleasure to meet you, my lord.

''I'm Katsuki Arakawa. There's no need to be so fearful, please make yourself comfortable.

'Please make yourself comfortable,' he says, so I decide to assume an upright, immovable position. I'll make a note in my mind to definitely punch him out later as Lucas is whispering behind me, 'Please sit down and cross your legs.

'I'm pretty sure it's a new type of ground assault aircraft that the Major will be commanding, right?'

Yes, I have a ground assault craft, Odin, under my command.

　You'll be able to see that it's a very good thing that you're able to do. As I recall, he designed Odin himself, but did he just want to find out what kind of people were using the plane he designed?　As I was pondering these questions, the boy on the screen gave me a ridiculous order with a smiling expression on his face.

''Using the authority I have, I'm giving orders to Major Martin. The ground assault aircraft Odin is to sortie immediately and cover the kingdom's relief forces that are fighting in the direction of the Merkava Kingdom. The Ursna's Dragonriders have informed us that a large siege weapon is expected to appear in the direction of the kingdom.

Why would you give us such a big role in...

　I can't help but huff and puff after I say it. I'm sure that if you ask your superiors, or even the commander-in-chief, this time you will be instructed by Commander Claire, but I don't understand why she would entrust us with such an important role.
　I'm sure that if you use your authority, you can launch a full-scale sortie of the power suits and fighter squadrons standing by at Noah's Island. I've been waiting for an answer, and he smiled back at me.

It's a great idea to have a super-sized ground assault plane turn the enemy's siege weapons into a beehive of romance!　And I'm sure the Major has grown tired of waiting around.　I can understand the feeling, as I was also canned on the island before this. Please go and relieve yourself of your sorrows.'

　I was stunned by Kouki's words, but I was able to understand his true intentions immediately. I'm sure you'll be able to find a lot of good reasons to go for this mission.
　Lucas noticed this and started checking his equipment as quickly as possible, and John and Link, who had been listening in on the exchange, ran to the hangar to get everyone's flight equipment. After confirming the actions of my subordinates with a sideways glance, I once again stand up straight and salute while replying to Kunugi, "I'm sure you will succeed in your rescue mission.

''We will definitely succeed in the rescue mission and destroy the expected enemy's large siege weapons!

　I don't know if you are satisfied with this response, but after nodding twice, he bowed his head to me, a lowly major, and cut off the communication, saying, "I look forward to working with you. It's a good thing that you're able to get a good idea of what's going on in your life.




"Major, we'll be arriving in combat airspace in a few minutes,

'Tell me in exact time, not 'soon'!

　The operator's link has given a lazy report, and while chiding it, he tries to communicate with the ground troops, but since a while ago, the communication is not working well, and it seems that the main terminal is temporarily down because it can no longer process the information, as it seems to be processing a large amount of communication at once.

To be exact, it will take about two minutes, and also the command center on Noah's island has informed us that they are currently unable to communicate with the upper ground forces at all. What do we do now?

　I don't want you to ask me what I'm going to do, precision bombing isn't our mission to begin with, and we can't decide which ones to attack without a request from the ground forces. Shall we hold in the air until we can make contact with them?　Just when I started to think about this, Lucas, the shooter, reports to me in a raised voice.

The 'large siege weapon' that was predicted to appear is in sight. It's kind of troublesome, so let's just shoot it now. Anyway, we'll be instructed to beat up that big thing afterwards, so it's okay.

'Wait!　It's not good enough to fire a shot with friendly forces around.

　I can't get permission to shoot, and Lucas is complaining and looking at the target scope, but he can't do anything in this situation. If we involve our friends in the shooting, it will cause trouble for Kouki, who trusted us and sent us off.
　If we can somehow inform the ground troops of our intentions, we can start firing.........................　Just use what you were taught when you were still in the officer's school.

"Linc, I want you to take control of all frequency bands in this war zone. I don't care if it's a one-way communication, we'll let the ground troops know our intentions.

　Link immediately takes control of Odin's information system, which also functions as an air traffic control system, and gives me a thumbs-up with his finger. I check it and then speak into the headset's microphone.

'Do you read me?　This is Odin. You're buzzing with noise do you hear that?　It's communicating in one direction on all frequency bands due to heavy noise. This is 'Ground Raider Odin' and we've been sent to your rescue by the order of the Special Marshal Major General. All units requiring backup attacks will use infrared strobes to alert you to their targets, and we will attack the giants below us until further notice.

　That's it, all that's left to do is keep the enemy infantry off the giants' feet. We'll use soft-iron bullets, which have relatively low killing power, to destroy the siege weapons, but even so, a direct hit on a human will result in a fatal wound. The question of how to draw the infantry away is already figured out, I grinned and ordered my co-pilot, John.

"Reduce flight altitude and fly around the siege weapon. The Imperials will be stunned when the 100-meter-long Odin snatches and flies five meters off the ground.

Yes, sir!　You have a nice arm.

　Once it made a wide turn over the battlefield, it lowered its nose and accelerated as it plunged towards the ground.
　But it doesn't end there, we are the 'elite' among strategic bombers, and this is the Odin, designed by the genius Gongju-kun and developed by Noah.

"Link, Lucas, I hope you've got your belt on," he said.　Let's do a somersault!

'Major, I've been thinking about this for a while now, but let me make it clear once. You're an idiot, aren't you!　There's no way a bomber can fly a juggling act.

　Ignoring Lucas's words, I raise Odin's nose in one fluid motion, rising at a right angle and then somersaulting to see the tank squadron on the ground upside down. I turned on the microphone in the headset that extends to my mouth and then shouted at the tank corps instead of my subordinates, who kept getting made fun of as representatives of Odin.

'You tank corps bastards, take a good look at that!　The pizzeria you've made such a fool of yourselves, I'm going to beat the hell out of that big fat thing!

　Odin's plane is back in normal flight, but the juggling act has scattered a lot of things in the cabin, but no one cares about it, they're all intent on beating up the tank's retreating opponent.

'Lucas, use the Gatling gun to destroy the enemy's siege weapons. Don't be stingy with them, okay?　We won't be back for a while anyway, so use all 20 gates we're equipped with and smash them to pieces.

Yes, sir.

　At my command, Lucas looks through the target scope and begins to aim and prepare to fire. This Odin is equipped with 20 Gatling guns of 36mm caliber in addition to 120mm guns and missile launchers, it is true that the power is small compared to the high-powered heavy artillery that tank guns and power suits are equipped with.
　However, there is the greatest advantage that they do not have. The tank cannon fires six or even eight rounds a minute, even with the automatic reloader, which is the most it can do, but the Gatling gun can fire 3,900 rounds a minute. 　What happens if you deploy a solid magical barrier that bounces off a tank gun, but lands in the same spot in succession?　We'll find out soon enough.

Open fire!

　The 36mm bullets attacked the siege weapon, leaving behind Gatling's distinctive vaunting sound. For the first three seconds, a purple luminescence could be seen at the point of impact, but after five seconds, it landed without any resistance and a rain of bullets could be seen gouging out the shoulder of the human shape.

Legs!　Aim for the legs and stop moving. Let him roll over and then take his time cooking.

　The upper half of the giant's body is already torn to shreds because it didn't stop firing at my instruction and moved its sights to its feet. When its legs have been torn to pieces and it falls onto its face, bullets rain down from the skies, firing evenly from head to toe, and the original form is no longer recognizable... then the ground troops contacted me.

It's Miyuki Arakawa, the commander of the rescue force. I'd like to thank you for rescuing me from a dangerous place this time. But could you stop firing soon?　Both Princess Cassis and Alice's CIC personnel next to her look drawn out. If you do too much, it will damage Noah's reputation and interfere with future negotiations, so please stop right there.''

　I became calm at those words and ordered Lucas, who was still firing, to stop firing, and then replied to Miki-san, who is also Noah's commander.

''Understood. We've destroyed the siege weapon, but do we need any other supportive attacks?

No, it's not necessary. You've given us time to regain our footing, and most importantly, as soon as the Titans are down, the Imperial Army will lose the will to fight and will begin to retreat. You can retreat now and return to Noah Island, but first, I'd like to see you fly over the Northern Command if you have enough fuel to spare. For the sake of fighting spirit and because my son, who I just got in touch with, wanted to see Odin, could you please do me a favor?

'Yes, sir!　From this point on, Odin will fly on a course to the north and then make an exhibition flight over the northern sector forces.

　At the same time as I saluted, he saw the screen go off and instructed John to head north. As I recall, Kouki said that the one dispatched by the Ursna Empire was the Dragon Rider, and as a fellow skywalker, I can't wait to see how he reacts to this aircraft.




----Viewpoint ---- Miki Arakawa

　I was inwardly relieved to see that Odin had flown off to the north. I was relieved to see that Odin had gone north. If you keep attacking the enemy with such a thieving attitude like that, Princess Kassis next to me and the Ursna Empire's generals listening to the transmissions will have a strange misunderstanding of what you are doing.
　Since it was Koki who created such a ridiculous airplane, let's have her take care of Odin's crew... When I was thinking about such an escape from responsibility, Ellis-san spoke to me.

''Miki-san, it's Odin, but how can he fly with such a huge body?　That was about 100 meters long, wasn't it?

''I don't know, I made a mock-up of the prototype as designed by Kunugi in the Creation Program and it floated, so I ordered the engineering department to create it. By the way, if you move even the slightest bit of one of the 12 engines, it will stop flying.

Mr. Ellis' eyes widen at my explanation and he closes in on me.

'Isn't that a problem?　Please make sure to check with Conju-kun exactly why you can fly!

"Because she's like, 'It's a coincidence!　Just saying 'I just happened to fly, and I didn't think I'd ever be able to get one of those things to float' is not enough to get me off on a tangent.　I guess I'm a rebel.

　When I spilled my worries as a mother, Ellis-san shuts down, I'm sure she's sympathetic to my inability to get along with her son. I made up my mind to have a proper discussion with Kunugi after this war was over, and then I gave the order to have the high-speed suit unit deployed to pursue the enemy.