Papaldia Empire, Imperial Oversight Army, Eastern Fleet

Admiral Pioiotus observed the eastern sea. The skies were clear, but the breeze over the ocean was dry and pleasant. Currently, they were about 120km from the Kingdom of Selarong.

“?!”

There was something on the horizon.

“Something that looks like a ship has been spotted! It’s approaching us!”

“?!... It’s huge… and I don’t think it’s with Selarong…”

A small mountain was moving through the water. Was it a ship? He wasn’t sure what to think, but it was much larger than anything he had ever seen moving on the ocean.

“All hands, prepare for battle!”

The huge, castle-like gray ship rapidly closed the distance. It was too fast!

“! Could it be… even faster than our ships?!”

The unknown ship came close and began sailing parallel to our fleet. It was all alone.

“Admiral... What do we do?”

The 3rd Foreign Affairs Department Head Kyeos had ordered them to punish Selarong in front of all the visiting officers and thoroughly intimidate their countries. If there was any interference, get rid of it. He was absolutely certain that the giant gray ship neither belonged to an allied country of Papaldia nor a private citizen. Considering it as an enemy, it was only a single ship, no matter how big it was, it couldn’t possibly be superior to the 24 ships in a superpower’s fleet. He also only saw a single, humongous cannon equipped, whereas his fleet consisted mainly of 50-gun ships-of-the-line, with no ships having fewer than 30 guns, and there were even some 80-gun ships.

Failure did not seem possible.

Furthermore, the enemy’s single cannon reminded him of the Selarong navy’s flagship, which had a piece of shared technology from the civilized areas. This was the thing: the superpowers all used cannons with a range of 2 km, while all the other non-superpower countries in the civilized areas only had access to cannons with a range of up to 1 km, and explosive shells weren’t available on the market, so both the power and range on Papaldia cannons were superior. If this was a technology share cannon, then it was completely inferior to the originals.

…At least, that should have been the case, but… Pioiotus couldn’t think of a country that could manufacture a cannon as abnormally large as that one. Regardless, the ship had clearly come from Selarong, so Admiral Pioiotus was determined to enact Papaldia’s will and attack it. The enemy ship had come within 1,5 km of the fleet, and its main cannon was still pointed straight ahead.

“It’s completely within our range… the fools… Fire magic cannon!!”

BABABABABA…

Smoke consumed the fleet.

BOBOBOBOBOBOOM!!!

The sound of cannons firing echoed over the sea. Still flush with confidence after obliterating Selarong’s palace navy as easy as stealing candy from a baby, the 24 ships in the eastern fleet of the superpower Papaldia imperial oversight army threw all their might at the Celestina Imperial Navy Magnetic-class Destroyer Golden Lion.

“Reporting! All shots… missed the target!”

The trajectories of the cannon shells were quickly verified, and they confirmed that there were no hits. Since the coordinated broadside missed, there were gigantic splashes of water all over.

“The enemy ship has retreated outside the range of our magic cannons.”

For something so big, its acceleration was monstrous, as evidenced by how fast the enemy ship separated from its fleet. After the first broadside missed, they decided to retreat out of range while the fleet was reloading.

“Shit… it’s so fast!!! What the hell is that ship?!” Admiral Pioiotus scoffed in wonder.

He could see several lights blinking on the deck of the enemy ship, he wondered if they were trying to tell him something. However, they were already attacking it. The fleet pursued the ship aggressively… but they couldn’t catch up.

“We are unable to approach within firing range of the enemy ship. Our distance is slowly growing…”

Once the enemy was about 4 km away, it once again matched its speed and bearing with the fleet.

“Tch, making fun of us… keep monitoring the enemy ship, set course for Selarong’s capital, Gowok!!! It’s just one ship, they can’t stop us!”

They couldn’t catch up to it, but it still stuck to them like an obnoxious fly, so he decided to just ignore it. The lights on its deck blinked furiously… he ignored those too.

They didn’t know the Undines are keeping an eye on them as they never look at the surface of the ocean itself.

Celestina Empire, Magnetic-class Destroyer, Golden Lion

“That’s the Papaldia Empire’s ship? They do really creative on making that ships-of-the-line.”

“If looking at the file of British Navy rates, they are around Third to Fifth rate.”

“On the age of sails?”

“Yeah.”

The Captain of the Golden Lion, Lieutenant Commander Kenzie looks at the comparable analysis at the database between Papaldia’s warships and ships-of-the-line back on Earth.

“All right, then. Target those mast. We don’t need to drop bloodshed here.”

“But, what about Jill and Silvano? Should we inform them?”

“Not necessary. Master Tohriu refuses to extract them since everything went as planned.”

“All right then.”

“Load the Armor Piercing rounds. Fire at will.”

“But, isn’t that too much?”

“We will break all of the masts in one shot. It could be overkill, but…”

Kenzie was aware that the Papaldia Empire’s armor could be better than he thought.

“In case if it was clearly overkilling, then we will switch to the standard rounds.”

“Yes, sir.”

The giant cannon on the giant ship started to move.

BOOM!!!

“Enemy ship has fired!!!”

The shell hit right in front of the fleet, erupting into a giant pillar of water.

“What ridiculous power!!! And they can reach us from all the way out there?!”

The admiral, captains, ship’s officers, and all the crew were stunned at this display. That ship was faster, and it had a longer attack range; at this rate, they’d simply eat outranged attacks and slowly crumble. However, the department head Kyeos’s orders were absolute. To abandon the operation without fighting would hurt the dignity of the empire and be equivalent to rebellion. The entire fleet would be punished if they ran in front of the enemy. Pioiotus wouldn’t abandon his duty to his country. He still had 24 ships. The fleet once again set course for the Golden Lion.

An instant later…

BOOM!!!

The enemy cannon roars.

KRAKOOOWW!!

The ship-of-the-line Pios, sailing at the front of the fleet, had the entire mast blown away. Not only at the front, but also it went all the way to the back as the rounds fell into the ocean. The mast creaked loudly and falls to the deck.

“Ship-of-the-line Pios has lost its masts, it can no longer move!!”

“What?! Only the masts were hit from that blast?! A-Are they possibly…!?”

Leaving the incapacitated Pios behind, other ships continued to head towards the enemy ship.

“AP rounds are too much to handle.”

“Load the standard rounds then.”

“They won’t budge, do they?”

The situation on Golden Lion’s bridge was tense. They change their Armor Piercing rounds to a standard round which were enough to destroy their masts in one hit.

“Get rid half of their fleet’s masts and wait for their movements. If they refuse to budge, then we will drop all of them to the sea.”

“Yes, sir.”

BOOM!!!

That terrifying sound once again swept over the ocean. This time, the ship-of-the-line Antequil had its masts destroyed.

“This… this is preposterous!!!”

Cannons were very inaccurate weapons. To counteract that, 100-gun ships-of-the-line were invented. However, the enemy ship was targeting the swaying masts and actually hitting them! And their reloading speed was incredible!

There were waves on the open sea that caused both ally ships and enemy ships to shake. Shooting from an unstable platform all but guaranteed that long distances attacks were fruitless. A single degree of variance would cause enormous deviations in the actual landing points. But this enemy was spitting in the face of such an obvious fact.

BOOM!!!

The Gafe lost its masts.

BOOM!!!

The Kitoli lost its masts.

The attacks continued, a chain of impossible feats right before their eyes. The Papaldia oversight army could do nothing but watch. They were hopelessly outmatched, and by only a single enemy ship. They wondered if they might be dreaming. Would they suddenly wake up in their beds? That was how nightmarish this situation was. The enemy’s unparalleled accuracy had already decimated about half of the fleet’s masts, and it continued to keep its distance. It stops firing once half of the fleet are incapacitated.

“…They don’t want to sink us, do they…” murmured Admiral Pioiotus, after which he came to a decision. “…Retreat! Any seaworthy ships, withdraw while towing a crippled one. This operation has failed…!”

They couldn’t abandon their immobilized allies, and it was clear that, if this situation continued, there wouldn’t be any ships that could sail by the end. But Admiral Pioiotus had also surmised that the enemy’s objective was not to kill or wound anyone, so he ordered the retreat. The retreat itself was confirmed by Celestina Undines who watches them tow the incapacitated ship back to the Papaldia Empire.

Damn it… if only we had a dragon carrier…

If they had air support from wyvern lords, that could have changed the entire situation. Admiral Pioiotus considered such things as they withdrew. His report for this battle… even if he submitted it accurately, no one would believe it. But, Celestina already has plans for that. Golden Lion alone already enough to get rid of the Dragon Carrier and the wyverns.

The first naval battle between Celestina and Papaldia ended with Celestina’s strategic victory. Papaldia suffered a few injuries but no casualties. It was the first naval battle in the entire history of the world that was settled without any deaths.

On 12th September 1523 central calendar or 224 Celestina Calendar, Celestina Imperial Space Command Navy, a Magnetic-class Destroyer, Golden Lion recorded this and reported the battle to Ishiene Aquaria Elise, the Commanding Officer of Ocean Crystal 2nd Division.

Kingdom of Selarong, Capital City Gowok

Let’s rewind the time for a bit.

After witnessing the Celestina Imperial Space Command Navy casual action to capture the Papaldia’s Wyvern Lords using the ancient dragon, all the military officers visiting from countries outside the civilized areas were in a state of awe.

“D-did they have the ancient dragon?!”

“He’s so powerful! Even the Wind Dragon of Gahara doesn’t want to mess with it!!”

“Those wyvern lords are even treated like a child!! Just who the hell are they?!”

“Apparently they belonged to an emerging country named Celestina…”

“Could it be…? Are they descended from the Ancient Sorcerous Empire?!”

Those officers were watching the sea from the coast. While they were terrified of the ancient dragon and the gray ships that were powerful beyond imagination, at the same time they wondered if they could ally themselves with them. Perhaps… the country that owned those ships had the power that even surpassed the Papaldia Empire. Since they attended Selarong’s Military Festival, maybe they were on friendly terms with the Kingdom of Selarong. If their own countries became friendly with Selarong, and by extension the country that owned that monstrous flotilla, maybe they could get out from under Papaldia’s thumb. Freed from having to condemn their own citizens to slavery and gifting their own land away. If only…

When the Selarong King Dimas rejected Papaldia’s demand to cede land to them, they were all sure that Selarong would be razed to the ground. However, now that they learned of Selarong’s new ally, they could understand why he had done that.

After what would later be known as the Naval Battle of Selarong, Celestina would quickly establish diplomatic relations with numerous countries.

Papaldia Empire, 3rd Foreign Affairs Department

Department Head Kyeos was so furious after reading the report that it seems probable for blood to start spurting from his head any moment. This was all because Selarong refused the Empire’s generous offer to receive their land as a tribute. They even rejected the offer to lease the land for 498 years, an arrangement with significant benefits to both sides.

“You will regret insulting the Empire, Selarong…”

This became the mantra of the 3rd foreign affairs department. The Papaldia Empire held dominance over six countries within the civilized areas and seventy outside of them, countries both large and small. For such a grand empire to be mocked by some barbarian country was not something they could forgive. It would be a problem if the manacles of fear were to come undone. That being the case, the 3rd foreign affairs department had deployed the 24 ships of the imperial oversight army’s fleet, along with two squadrons of wyvern lords.

The wyvern lords were to terrorize the Military Festival and plant fear into the military officials attending from other countries. The fleet was to mercilessly attack the capital city of Selarong, Gowok, and burn it to cinders, thus demonstrating to all the other barbarian countries the cost of defying Papaldia. However, the actual result was pathetic.

Silvano listens to his tantrum and secretly watches his expression through “bug” planted at the hidden area so they never notice that the place has been wiretapped and infiltrated. Jill also was able to do her job by secretly installing the “bug” from the palace under the pretext of cleaning the 1st Foreign Affairs Department that was connected to the palace. Silvano was able to make her job done earlier than everyone. She knows how to handle the paperwork and arranged it to the point where the office’s efficiency is increased by fifty percent, gaining the 1st Foreign Affairs Department's attention to recruit her.

Jill Wagner is a popular maid on the palace, Emperor Ludius even will reward her with five hundred thousand Pasos or equal as five hundred Ceny because of her diligence and be an example of the Palace Maids even she has just worked there for a couple of months, skipping her path as Apprentice Maid, Low Tier-class Maid, and Middle-class Maid, making her promoted as High-class Maid that allows her to gain full access on the Royal Palace, serving the Emperor directly to clean up his room and gain the authority to train Apprentice Maid. What they don’t know is she works as a part of the Zealot Strike Force that was assigned to obtain intel from the Palace by Lyrallei Windrunner. She was planned to receive the reward in the next month due to lots of recommendations from the head maids from every class at the palace.

The wyvern lords, sent to attack by air, went missing, their last known communication is they met a dragon that far bigger than Gahara’s dragon. No one knew what happened to them, but they were probably all dead. They initially conjectured that Gahara’s wind dragon riders came to Selarong’s aid. However, while wind dragons were powerful, their numbers were also few, so it was improbable for them to be able to overwhelm a squadron of wyvern lords to the point that they couldn’t communicate anything back to command. However, one of the interesting reports is the encounter of the dragon bigger than Gahara’s wind dragon itself where even the Gahara riders won’t meddle with it.

Shortly after that, information came in that they had encountered the Selarong palace navy and unilaterally annihilated them! Their fleet suffered no damage. As expected, this was the obvious result of clashing with barbarians. The real problem came with the next report.

“Imperial oversight army, eastern fleet – defeated.”

This news caused the department to erupt into chaos. Furthermore, the admiral must have gone insane, since his report stated that they only faced a single enemy ship. This was the admiral’s report:

Encountered a colossal grey ship. Fired on the enemy with magic cannons, the enemy retreated from magic cannons very quickly. From 4km, the enemy ship fired warning shots at formation, enemy’s range, and firepower far surpasses fleet’s range. Enemy’s speed eclipsed fleet’s speed, could not get within firing range.

Up until this point, he could already hardly believe the report.

First, the part about how this ship was both larger than the empire’s ships, but also faster. Obviously, the bigger the ship, the more water resistance they had to overcome. The Tears of the Wind God used in the empire were, to be honest, the best in the world; aside from possibly the Holy Mirishial Empire, no one else was capable of crafting Tears as potent as Papaldia. Not only did Papaldia have access to mines of magic gems of the highest purity, but they also had the best refineries. In other words, it was unimaginable for a giant ship to be faster.

Second, firing warning shots from 4 km. Among the superpowers, the maximum range they could achieve for cannon shells was 2 km. To double that range, coming from a country outside the civilized areas at that, was simply not possible.

Even if such a hostile ship were to exist, some fantastical super-advanced warship like in the admiral’s report, there was no point in firing warning shots. If they had decimated the fleet and left a few alive to tell the story, they could easily start widespread panic in another country. If the enemy got scared off by the warning shots, then they’d lose their opportunity to demonstrate their power.

Last, the final straw that led him to believe the admiral had lost his mind was this part:

The unknown enemy ship fired 11 times. All shots hit a different ship’s mast, rendering that ship immobile. The enemy did not attempt to sink any ships. Our flagship withdrew completely intact.

…How dare he submit this farce of a report. The ocean was unstable. There were waves. Any slight shaking would cause a magic cannon shell to miss its intended target. Achieving 100% accuracy was impossible outside of the ancient sorcerous empire. Furthermore, to precisely hit only masts, he was almost impressed with how wild the admiral’s imagination was.

Beyond that… no, let’s stop. This kind of report was simply a list of ludicrous excuses. Some barbarian countries couldn’t possess such an advanced weapon. He was highly skeptical of anything the admiral or his men claimed. And because the admiral might interfere, he would have to wait until later to conduct a detailed investigation on the enemy and their ships.

The one thing he could take away from this report was that there was an enemy out there flinging mud at the empire, and those enemies had to be crushed. But, because he didn’t know who those enemies were, there was nothing to attack. They had lost this round. This news would certainly reach the emperor. Next time, the homeland would send its elite fleet. It was very likely that another superpower was backing this mystery enemy.

In order to know about this new enemy, the 3rd foreign affairs department began to collect information. For the first step, he calls Silvano, the one who recently caught his attention and the one he can rely on.

“Call Miss Regal here!”

“Yes, sir!”

Moments later, Silvano was summoned as she knocks the door.

Kon! Kon!

“Come in!”

Silvano looks at him as there could be something that he wanted her to do, “Is there anything I can do to help, sir?”

“Research about this new enemy. I want you to get information about this new enemy as many as possible! I don’t care how much you gather, just get as much information you can get.”

“Yes, sir.”

Silvano immediately prepares to collect the information. At the same time, she saw Celestina’s Delegation return to the reception window as an appointment date.

Papaldia Empire, 3rd Foreign Affairs Department, Reception Window

“My sincere apologies, but you cannot meet the department head today.”

The officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had returned as scheduled to meet with the department head only to once again be obstructed by the clerk.

“Why is that?! We had an appointment!!!”

“A rather complicated situation has recently arisen… I am very sorry, but we are currently not meeting with emerging countries outside the civilized areas. Our schedule is not open. Please contact us again in another month, or later.”

They were already aware that Celestina itself had caused this sudden increase in workload, leading to a lack of personnel to meet with them, so the officials once again decide to return home. But, when they are about to return, Silvano act as she didn’t see them and she bumps into them.

“Ah! S-Sorry…”

“It’s alright.”

Before leaves after collecting the documents, she slips a small paper to them so they can read the current situation on Foreign Affairs.

“Miss Regal! We need that paper fast!!”

“I’ll be right there!!”

Once Celestina diplomats are out from the 3rd Foreign Affairs Department, they read the message from Silvano.

“They want to find out about us. Inform the command.”

Pleased for the current situation, they make a call while heading back to the hotel through carriage. For safety, they use soundproof magic so no one can eavesdrop them.

“Patch us through to Grand Duchess Alicia and Lyrallei Windrunner.”

Alicia was the one who sent the diplomats to the Papaldia Empire while Lyrallei is the Commanding Officer for Silvano and Jill Wagner.

“This is Lyrallei Windrunner, is there a report?”

“Yes, Ma’am. They wish to research about us.”

“Alright. Proceed as plan and make sure we prepare a non-dangerous content at first.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Is there any news from Jill?”

“No, not yet.”

“Alright.”

Before the transmission was cut, Alicia joins the communication.

“Looks like we cause some ruckus… Alright, be ready to enter it again within two months. Everything goes according to the plan now.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Lyrallei, have Silvano contact Jill to gain the blueprints of the palace. Pick a place where we could breach the palace later.”

“Understood. But why Grand Duchess wants Jill to set up a teleportation device?”

“They could be our next opponent. If they do set their sight on the Verlaine Kingdom, then we will make preparations immediately and wait for their first move.”

“On it.”

Celestina Empire, South of Zaid, Ocean Crystal 2nd Division

After Selarong’s Military Festival, Celestina established diplomatic relations one after another with countries outside the civilized areas. Up until now, they had to leave Celestina to explore and apply to negotiate for diplomatic ties, but now, after the Naval Battle of Selarong, countries came to them one after another on old-fashioned boats. Although the Celestina Coast Guard was now inundated with work, it also involves the Embellia Army since the main force of the Coast Guard lies at Embellia Kingdom personnel.

Ishiene also participates in the Coast Guard defenses while they’re not on duty or want to be out of adventurer task for a while. With some countries that had already established the adventurer’s guild and applying the necessary system to stimulate the economy of the country, the Adventurer guild Main Headquarters at Regnieburg are also filled with paperwork. The guild staff is complaining of a sudden workload for preparing to open a new branch of adventurer’s guild to put up requests. Even they got AI and digitalization to help their work, they still need to know who will be in charge of handling the adventurer guild in such places. Celestina’s bureaucracy has no issue, but the problem is in the country that forms a diplomatic relationship with Celestina itself.

“Vice Admiral, the Coast Guard needs help at the ship from the Topa Kingdom.”

“Uuuhh… How many of them this time?”

“Three ships.”

“Please, give me a break. Where are they?”

“2 kilometers from Clements Harbor, 15 kilometers from our position.”

“Can’t they handle it by themselves?”

“No, they are using Sloop-class ship to approach. Three Coast Guard ships are being redeployed from the South-East. They will be here in around 6 hours. Currently, the ships from the Topa Kingdom are awaiting to be docked while the Coast Guard that handles the Awari Kingdom is towing their Lugger away. We can’t use civilian deck since it will be too crowded with people.”

“Oh, please…”

Frowning, Ishiene swims to where the Coast Guard is handling the Topa Kingdom.

“Lapis, please inform her majesty Emelone about this.”

“I will try.”

Under Emperor Hillem's order, all ships that want to open a diplomatic relationship must be redirected to Zaid. This means the Ocean Crystal 2nd Division and 8th Ocean Dragoon Corps stationed in that vicinity must guide any ships coming to the port. Also, they are helping Celestina Coast Guard to guide the ship to Zaid while the instruction from Alicia Permeal is to conceal the weapons to hide their true capabilities for aquatic combat.

Celestina has plenty of docks, but the docks they use to accept the diplomats were not designed to accept any ship size around Sloop-class such as Schooner and Lugger. The ship can be taken into the private ship port, but it will cause a ruckus amongst those who park the ship there. The dock crew use extension bridges and Lightbridge to accommodate them before the Coast Guard took it into a parking lot prepared by Clements Harbor.

The Papaldia Empire, 3rd Foreign Affairs Department

“What did you say?! You want to stop sending us slaves from next year?!” the foreign affairs official shouted at the ambassador of the Topa Kingdom (outside the civilized area).

“We have decided to stop enslaving our citizens to send to you,” the ambassador returned while breaking into a cold sweat.

“Hmph! In that case, your country alone will be suspended from the technology share arrangement!!!”

The empire was very slowly sharing its obsolete technology with countries under its care outside the civilized areas. This allowed those countries to slowly increase their national power… but since all the other countries in the area also grew at the same rate, this didn’t upset the balance in power. If one country was excluded, there would be a difference in the speed of development between countries, which would lead to that country slowly declining in national power instead.

The technology share was only one of the empire’s diplomatic cards. If they wouldn’t listen, he would next threaten to stop the export of tools and nails and other essential items until they gave in… or, that was how it should have gone.

The Topa ambassador let out a disgusted chuckle. “‘Technology,’ is it… Even still, we refuse to send any slaves to the empire. Please end our participation in the technology share. Will this be satisfactory? We have… already established ties with the Celestina.”

It would have been previously unthinkable for Topa to act this way. The ambassador snorted with a smirk, ending the conversation.

Foreign Affairs Department, Dining Hall

It was now lunch break time, so the officials chatted while they ate.

“Lately, the barbarian countries have been rather defiant, haven’t they?”

“It’s true, over the past month or so, they’ve undergone a remarkable change in attitude.”

“Aah, before, they were always so scared, getting overwhelmed by our requirements. But yesterday, one was all ‘we have now allied with Celestina,’ acting all haughty! Even though they’re just the stupid Awari Kingdom!”

“!! I just heard something like that from the ambassador of Topa. Topa, of all places, telling us they don’t need our technology! Their reason was also that they have ties with that ‘Celestina.’ Have you ever heard of ‘Celestina?’”

“Dunno.”

“Me neither.”

“I don’t either.”

“By the way, Miss Regal. Did you know about the country named ‘Celestina’?”

Sipping her drink as she finished her eating, she nodded.

“I’ve talked with some merchants. They do seem very interested in trading with Celestina.”

“Oh. As expected of Miss Regal. What kind of information you already have?”

“Only rumors, like they sell things that we have never seen before. Unless we can send a diplomat to make sure it was as the rumor says.”

“Ha! There’s no way we will send a diplomat to that barbarian country!”

“Yeah! They’re not worthy to be visited at!”

When the clerk who managed the reception window, Rita finishes eating and overheard their conversation, she remembers the Celestina diplomat and she yells.

“Ahhh!!!”

Everyone in the room turned to look at her.

“M-Miss Regal! I need that information as quickly as possible!”

“Sure thing. I will prepare it right away.”

After that, both Rita and Silvano start gathering the materials to be handed down to the officials.