Vol 5. Chapter 10: Side Story (United Kingdom of Aphrasia)
The residents of Fratara City stared up at the sky, dumbstruck.
It came from the southern sky.
Sure, they had received notices from Paraiso over and over.
On this day, the force meant for the capture of the royal capital would be passing overhead, so don’t be surprised, they said.
They knew that airships had been flying back and forth almost daily from Paraiso’s gigantic fortress built on the outskirts.
They’d been shocked at first, but by now they were used to it.
So the residents figured that those familiar ships of the sky would be coming in great numbers.
Those who could take a day off took one, and from the morning, with cups of liquor in hand, they gathered in the plaza to watch the start of the huge event called “the invasion of the royal capital.”
Stalls were set up too, hoping to make a quick profit off the crowd.
And then, it arrived.
At first, it was like a smudge appearing in the southern sky.
A few people noticed it and started shouting, and the plaza swelled with excitement—here it comes, here it comes.
Then the noise gradually died down.
Everyone realized it was different from the skyships they knew.
“Hey... isn’t that... kind of huge...?”
Someone muttered that.
It looked nothing like the cargo planes that always went back and forth.
It wasn’t like the small ships they sometimes saw either, the ones shaped like sharp triangles.
There wasn’t a word for it in their world, but the silhouette looked like a boomerang.
A flying machine in the category called a flying wing was closing in out of the southern sky.
“Is the one in front... one of the usual small ships...?”
A small aircraft flew ahead of the giant flying machine like a guide.
It was an air-superiority fighter, the kind often seen escorting cargo planes. Its full length was around 20 m, and up close it was a pretty large airframe, but seen high overhead it didn’t look that big.
Usually, it flew in formation alongside heavy cargo planes in the 70 m class.
But even so.
The flying machine behind it was simply too enormous.
Not “an adult next to a child,” but more like “an adult next to a mouse.”
“What the hell is that...?”
That was probably the thought shared by every resident staring up.
Too huge.
Too alien.
And the instinctive fear that comes from something like that passing over your head welled up in them.
“Paraiso... they’re using something like that...?”
That was the murmured line of Radaeri Fratara, watching from the terrace of the lord’s manor.
Once again they felt terror at how bottomless the power of the force ruling them was, and along with it, awe.
Thankfully, that gigantic ship wasn’t going to pass directly over Fratara City.
If it had, the residents might have panicked.
A gigantic ship in the sky, followed by a small one, went by.
Everyone stared at it in silence, but—
“...Hey, look over there!”
Someone noticed, and everyone learned all over again:
You must never oppose Paraiso. They are the rulers, the absolute sovereigns.
Behind the first gigantic ship, another ship—many times larger, even more enormous—drifted past.
That first ship, even that one, had only been a knight guarding this true giant.
Later, Paraiso told them about the formation.
A gigantic fortress that flew through the sky.
Its name was Gigantia, and the three Titan ships that guarded it.
Both were a mighty army held by Paraiso, each bearing the name of a foreign “god of giants.”
◇◇◇◇
“What is this...? What is this...!”
In the ducal residence of Afrasia’s royal capital, Akirai Yubaden Aphrasia—one of the kingdom’s Three Grand Dukes—was shouting.
Something enormous was closing in from the southern sky.
Looking closer, small grains seemed to be scattering down from that thing in the sky, fluttering like sprinkled dust.
“D-Duke...! What should we do...?!”
A shaken attendant who had dragged the duke out to the terrace, calling it an emergency, asked that in a trembling voice.
“M-monster attack...?”
But even a duke had never imagined anything like this.
While he stood there stunned, the situation advanced even further.
The tiny grains that had separated from the enormous thing drew close to the royal capital while spewing fire.
The duke wasn’t the only one who noticed. Everyone seeing it must have realized.
The alarm bells of the royal capital began to ring.
“D-Duke! Quickly, to evacuation—!”
“Y-yeah...”
He didn’t know what was happening. He didn’t know, but he could understand that this was going to be disastrous.
Led by the attendant, the duke ran.
For now, the destination was the knights’ garrison. With forces concentrated there, it should be the safest place at this moment.
But because the emergency had begun so suddenly, everyone was in chaos.
It wasn’t as if they had no preparations for contingencies, but this was far too abrupt.
Normally, if some power was going to attack, it was hard to imagine it being a perfect surprise.
The surroundings were wilderness, and if a large army moved, you’d be able to spot it days in advance. Even if they tried a cavalry raid, on a clear day dust would rise, and in rain their hooves would bog down in mud.
On top of that, moving an army directly without passing through any of the nearby towns wasn’t realistic because of water and food.
Yet the enemy force had cleared all of that with the absurd method of falling from the sky.
“Duke Yubaden! Apologies for meeting you in a place like this, but please, this way!”
“Mm...”
Inside the knights’ building, in a reception room, Duke Akirai was shown in.
The interior was filled with a deafening uproar: the sound of knights running, the metallic clatter of equipment, and the shouts of command.
“Duke, shall I go confirm the situation?”
“Yeah... no, not yet. If I call for reports now, I’ll only get in the way. It’s better to wait until things settle a bit. I doubt it’s my turn to act yet...”
Calming the rattled attendant, the duke sat heavily into the sofa.
Right now, this was the information-gathering stage.
If he demanded a report, someone of appropriate rank would have to respond.
They surely knew he had evacuated here, so sooner or later someone would come to brief him.
And if it was so chaotic that no one came, he was better off staying quiet.
“Yes... my apologies. If the kitchen can be used, I’ll prepare something to drink. Please excuse me for a while.”
“Do so.”
After confirming the attendant had left, the duke let out a long breath.
The royal capital’s knights currently consisted of two forces.
One was the Royal Guard Knights under Duke Akirai Yubaden.
The other was the Capital Defense Force led by Duke Grogaria Mercatia.
These two knightly forces did not divide roles in the straightforward way their names implied.
They each acted independently.
Halfway to open hostility.
That was because of the struggle for leadership now roiling the United Kingdom of Aphrasia.
The Three Grand Dukes opposed one another, each day grinding against the others, ready to bite at a throat the moment a weakness appeared.
Of the three, the one who publicly held no military might was Duke Rianna Calbark, but she controlled the economy, so the balance had turned into a strange triangle.
Even so, Duke Akirai didn’t believe Rianna truly lacked military power.
“D-Duke!! A-an armed group that looks like Rianna’s faction is—!!”
At that moment, the attendant burst back in, pale-faced, along with a huge man in glittering armor.
“Your Grace, I will guard you!! I’m sorry, but °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° the deputy commander has sortied to deal with the monsters outside, so I will stay at your side!”
“...! The knights’ commander, then. Thank you. I see...”
Maybe this had been predictable.
The knights were thrown into confusion by an external enemy. The defense force would be the same.
Someone would move now to break the deadlock among the dukes. Looking only at this situation, it wasn’t a bad play.
But could they really face an outside enemy after fighting inside and cutting down their own strength?
“Outside the walls, it seems giant spider-like monsters have encircled the city. And overhead, something many times larger than any dragon species is squatting there, dropping those spider monsters on us.
Honestly, I have no idea what’s going on.
On top of that, while our knights were deployed, an unidentified armed force used the opening to launch an assault.
Judging from their gear, they’re probably the mercenaries Rianna was gathering. Their numbers are small, so this incident was likely unexpected for her too, but...”
“Tch... the idiot can’t read the room...”
Duke Akirai spat the words, pressed his back to the wall, and hid behind the knights’ commander. The attendant followed, taking a position to shield the duke.
And then—
“This room, huh?!”
“There he is—the knights’ commander!!”
They kicked open the double doors, and armed men poured in.
“Kill them!!”
What they held were crossbows, a new-style bow. He knew their power better than anyone—after all, the Royal Guard Knights had been the first to introduce them.
The fired bolts rushed at the knights’ commander and at the attendant who had stepped in as a shield.
The commander slashed them aside with incredible reflexes, but the attendant was no combatant. Three bolts sank into his torso, and he collapsed.
“Damn it!”
“GRAAAAH!!”
“Come on!!”
The charging men collided with the knights’ commander.
And then—
With a thunderous boom, everything was swallowed by a cloud of sand and dust.