NOVEL NEXT vol. 5 chapter 3 - West Gate City
That day, the Wheat Country of /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ Weizenland embassy was in utter chaos.
“We’re completely surrounded!”
“What are those gigantic monsters…?!”
A swarm of gigantic spider-like monsters had appeared out of nowhere. They completely encircled the city, then smashed the hastily closed gates as if they were nothing and invaded the streets.
“Ambassador, to the back room!”
“We’ll hold them off!”
“I’m counting on you!”
Taking nothing, thinking only of escape. He had been watching the situation from his office, but there was no mistaking that it was rapidly worsening.
“Papa!”
“Ah, you…!”
When he came downstairs, the ambassador’s wife and daughter were standing frozen with their guards.
He scooped up his daughter as she ran to him and urged his wife along.
“We’re going out the back. Honestly, I have no idea what’s happening. You—take the lead.”
“Yes, sir. We should depart immediately; those monsters seem to be getting closer!”
“Right!”
The ambassador’s family and their guards exited through the embassy’s back door. The streets weren’t even wide enough for a carriage to pass, and the city was in utter turmoil.
They would have to move on foot.
“Kya!”
Something shattered with a crack, and the wife clung to the ambassador.
“It isn’t coming this way! Now—this way!”
“I’m counting on you…!”
Cradling his daughter with his left arm and supporting his wife’s shoulder with his right, the ambassador followed the guards.
“Even if we get out of the city, I doubt we can really escape! For now, let’s make for the safe house!”
“Agreed! We can’t do anything until we’re properly equipped—!”
And then, the moment the group burst out of the alley—
With a violent blast, the ground erupted.
The ambassador instinctively turned his back, shielding his wife and daughter, and pressed his body to the wall of a building.
“Ambassador, are you all right?!”
“I am! Damn it, what on earth is that?!”
The guards ringed the family, taking positions to protect them.
“Wha… what is that thing…?!”
And there—just above the street in front of them, a little way up—
With a sound like the wind singing, something hovered in the air.
◇◇◇◇
“We’ve found the Wheat Country ambassador’s party.”
“Local Strategic AI is attempting capture.”
“Mannequin Communicator units are hurrying to the site.”
With Great Horse Town mostly wrapped up, next was West Gate City.
Here the plan was to encircle with ground-marched multi-legged tanks and multi-legged ground mothercraft, then break in by destroying each gate and suppressing from within.
Unlike Great Horse Town, this was a regional city with a concentrated population, so this would not go as smoothly as a clean, immediate disarmament.
“This one’s going to take time.”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Disarming the public authorities will complete as planned, but we believe securing every last resident will be difficult.”
Therefore, the initial objective was to neutralize the organized armed groups—regular garrison, security forces—and paralyze government functions.
At the same time, they would capture the embassies of each nation along with their ambassadors, families, staff, and guards—elements that could otherwise become rallying flags later.
“Mannequin Communicators have made contact. Visual on the targets.”
Six Mannequin Communicators, electromagnetic batons at the ready, blocked the path of the fleeing Wheat Country ambassador’s party. Behind them were two anti-personnel drones, and farther back a multi-legged tank was closing in.
For the ambassador’s party, it was a hopeless situation.
If there was any path, it might be through the Mannequin Communicators to the front, which looked more beatable than what loomed at their rear.
“Targets have engaged Mannequin Communicators. Guards neutralized.”
“Secured the ambassador, wife, and daughter.”
The Mannequin Communicators who felled the guards in an instant flowed right into restraining and capturing the ambassador’s party.
They seemed to be shouting something, but unfortunately Commander Eve could not understand the Wheat Country’s language.
“Other embassies appear to be barricading themselves.”
“Oh? …Are we going to keep them under house arrest as-is?”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. We will call for surrender; if they comply, we leave them as-is. If they resist, we breach.”
“Hmm. So far, so good, then.”
On the display, the map of Great Horse Town had turned entirely yellow to indicate suppression complete. From here, a thorough search would be conducted, changing it to green once search completed, then blue when information validation finished.
Meanwhile, West Gate City, where sporadic fighting continued, still had plenty of red for areas not yet subdued.
“After neutralizing the primary hostile forces, we will sequentially install fixed emplacement search devices.
There are many buildings and intricate spaces; the sensors mounted on tanks and drones alone cannot verify everything.
The dedicated devices can lay bare a radius of roughly 100 m, and we will use them for security maintenance.”
As an occupying Paraiso force, of course they had to maintain security afterward.
Protecting residents from criminals was part of it, but the real purpose was finding terrorists and resistance cells.
This would be difficult in a true large metropolis, but for a city on the scale of West Gate City, even the Strategic AI deployed on-site could grasp the details sufficiently.
“Let’s see—Telek Port City is direct rule, Iron Town basically autonomous. Fratara City we toss ongoing administration back to the original lord and only flag problems. For Great Horse Town and West Gate City, do these count as direct rule?”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am.
The character differs from Telek Port City, but we plan full administration by The Tree.
Great Horse Town will be shifted to the same form as Fratara City when the time is right, but West Gate City serves as a contact point with other countries, so we deem it desirable that we control it one hundred percent.”
West Gate City would be run as the city closest to the western border.
If it were left autonomous, some ruler might start thinking up something untoward; Paraiso direct control was preferable. That was Ringo’s conclusion.
Thus the governance apparatus had to be placed fully under control.
“We have completed restraint of the lord. All security forces—except those off-duty—are restrained as well.”
“Neutralization of primary targets confirmed. Proceeding to install search devices.”
◇◇◇◇
The invasion of the United Kingdom of Aphrasia by The Tree—outwardly by Paraiso—had begun.
Three hours and fifty-six minutes after the start, Great Horse Town’s disarmament was complete, and it was placed under Paraiso occupation.
Seven hours and thirteen minutes after the start, West Gate City’s organized resistance capability was confirmed fully dismantled. The standing army and security troops under the lord were all restrained. The embassies of each nation were completely surrounded and effectively placed under house arrest.
The invasion operations against these two cities, which had begun before noon, achieved all objectives before nightfall.
At this point, Fratara City and the four southern cities of the United Kingdom of Aphrasia became entirely occupied by Paraiso.
The trade network—which had all but not existed to begin with—would now be placed completely under Paraiso’s control.
All that remained was to continue information blackout until preparations to occupy the northern cities were ready.
Fortunately, contact with Wheat Hill City was minimal, and Fratara City, which had had the most ties, now had access to food imports via Paraiso and had effectively ceased direct dealings.
The forces投入ed this time were as follows:
Common Assets
Recon aircraft: 2 (supersonic high-altitude reconnaissance)
Great Horse Town
Air-superiority fighters: 32
Transports: 39 (Group A: 12; Group B: 12; Group C: 12; Group D: 3)
Escort fighters: 24
Ground-attack aircraft: 10 (airborne standby)
Multi-legged tanks: 96 (Group A: 48 via Transport Group A; Group B: 48 via Transport Group C)
Multi-legged ground mothercraft: 12 (via Transport Group B)
Anti-personnel drones: 72
Mannequins: 72
West Gate City
Air-superiority fighters: 24
Transports: 10
Escort fighters: 6
Ground-attack aircraft: 16 (airborne standby)
Multi-legged tanks: 160 (Encirclement Group: 68; Breach Group: 92)
Multi-legged ground mothercraft: 18
Anti-personnel drones: 108
Multi-legged transports: 8
Mannequins: 192
Reserve (Information-Blackout Detachment)
Surveillance drones: 320
Multi-legged tanks: 100
Ground mothercraft: 16
Ground-attack drones: 32
Anti-personnel drones: 80
Anti-air attack drones: 16
Mannequins: 32
In total, 356 multi-legged tanks, 46 multi-legged ground mothercraft, and 296 Mannequin Communicators—about one third of The Tree’s current force—were投入ed.
Having achieved their objectives with a lightning offensive, the next phase was reinforcement.
With less need to hide drones and aircraft, resource survey craft had already been dispatched in every direction.
From here, the power balance among the southern nations of the northern continent would undergo a major shift.