The oil loading base was simply named Oil Port.
Depending on the reserves, it might become a permanent facility, but since the plan was to withdraw in the short term, it was decided that there was no need to give it a fancy name.
“Speaking of names, I’d like to decide on an official name for Fortress Two soon.”
“Yes, Ma’am. Any candidates?”
“I can’t think of any at the moment.”
Well, it’s a base that will be kept secret from the outside world for a while, so it’s not a problem.
At the Oil Port, they are currently constructing a pier and excavating the seabed beyond it. The pier itself is also made of metal, and spider bots are busily assembling it.
The work vessel that arrived yesterday is already dropping equipment and working on seabed excavation. The seabed is crushed and excavated with high-pressure water, and the sediment is sucked up along with seawater, which is then separated into seawater and sediment through a multi-stage separation mechanism.
The sediment is used for landfill, packed into cellulose cloth bags, and dropped into the sea one after another.
“You can dig at an amazing rate, can’t you?”
“Yes, Ma’am. We’ve already done all the construction methods around here when building Fortress Two, and we’ve adopted the most efficient one. According to the plan, all excavation work will be completed in about three days. Once the pier is completed, we will be able to load and unload directly from large cargo ships, and from there we will go to the oil field in one fell swoop.”
“Cargo ship, huh? That thing we made for transporting resources. Is it transporting equipment?”
“Yes, Ma’am. It is sailing with 80 Multi-legged Tanks, 150 Multi-legged Heavy Machines, 120 Small Work Units, a complete set of oil mining plants, and 20 Multi-Wheeled Articulated Transporters. Cargo planes are not sufficient to transport this amount, so transportation by ship is essential.”
“I see… Hmm, you’ve managed to gather all this. I’m deeply moved, I guess.”
She recalls the days when she was struggling with a shortage of supplies at the beginning of the transfer. There was a shortage of resources no matter what she did, and she spent her days walking a tightrope while cutting into her reserves.
Even now, she doesn’t have a surplus of resources, but the production volume of equipment has improved dramatically.
“Even so, we’re still far from the old days. I wonder if we can find a large-scale iron ore deposit.”
“Yes, Ma’am. We are currently searching for one. An undersea deposit is still the most promising. We temporarily suspended it for the construction of this oil plant, but let’s put a lot of resources into it once it starts operating. We can use resin materials, so platform construction will be easier.”
It has been 690 days since ＜The Tree＞ discovered the undersea ore deposit. It took an incredibly long time, but we can finally see the end of it.
The estimated reserves are 100 million tons.
That’s just the amount in the sea area around ＜The Tree＞. Furthermore, although it has not been explored yet, it is estimated that there are still attractive undersea resources such as hydrothermal deposits and methane hydrate.
“The dream is expanding… Well, there’s the problem of Monsters, though.”
The seabed is vast. According to Ringo’s estimate, the sea covers three times as much area as the land on this planet.
So far, no threatening Monsters have been found in the sea area around ＜The Tree＞, but there is a high possibility that they are just not there by chance.
The more ＜The Tree＞ expands its area of activity, the higher the probability of encountering that threat.
“Outer ocean navigation is not very active in the Northern Continent. Information on sea Monsters is also limited and not helpful. Since there are no predecessors, we have no choice but to proceed by trial and error.”
And for that, sufficient armament is necessary. This is what she learned from the battle with ＜Rain Croin＞.
Against Monsters, it was necessary to use force anyway. Therefore, when constructing the undersea platform, it was necessary to allocate resources to defensive power and offensive power, and she struggled with resource allocation.
In the end, she chose ＜Ringo＞’s recommended menu.
“For now, I want to secure the oil in front of me for sure. What about the advance reconnaissance team?”
“Yes, Ma’am. Aerial reconnaissance is going well. So far, no creatures that could be a threat have been found.
The coast is sandy, but the inland area has vegetation that can be classified as a steppe climate. Dry land and short grass continue.
There are not many undulations, but there are areas where rocks are exposed, so it may be difficult to connect them in a straight line.
We will move the Multi-legged Machines as soon as the geological map is completed.”
Currently, propeller planes are being sent from Fortress Two to create a map of the area around the Oil Port. The bottleneck is that we can’t take aerial photographs all at once because of the altitude restrictions, but this can’t be helped.
The map is essential for selecting a route to connect the oil wells and the Oil Port, and it is also important for the construction of pipelines.
By the way, Multi-Wheeled Articulated Transporters are used to transport oil until the pipeline is opened. Because they are not Multi-legged, they need a road that has been leveled to some extent.
They can run on slightly uneven ground, but they cannot move on steep slopes like Multi-legged Machines.
Multi-legged transporters were also considered, but they were not adopted due to the problem of the ground pressure of each leg when fully loaded with oil.
It seemed that the problem could be solved by attaching a large number of Legs like a centipede, but the failure rate would be ridiculously high if that many moving parts were provided, so it was not an option.
“I think Multi-legged transport machines would be good, though.”
“Yes, Ma’am. It is possible to use them if we are transporting materials that are not too heavy. However, they are not suitable for transporting oil.”
“I guess not.”
She thought that it might be good as a supply machine for local invasions, but she decided to put it on hold for the time being.
“Okay. Olive submitted a defense plan for the mining facility. Let’s check it together.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
700 days after the transfer, ＜The Tree＞ landed its first large-scale unit group on the territory of another country on this day.
Combined with the troops that had already been dropped by air, a large force consisting of 4 Multi-legged Ground Carriers, 112 Multi-legged Tanks, 180 Multi-legged Heavy Machines, 161 Small Work Units, and 20 Multi-Wheeled Articulated Transporters began to invade the desert.
Some will remain to guard the Oil Port and work on construction, but the majority will advance along the selected route.
Multi-legged Tanks kick up sand as they dash along, confirming the route. Behind them are Multi-legged Ground Carriers, followed by a swarm of Multi-legged Heavy Machines.
The ground trampled by hundreds of Multi-legged Machines is fairly flat, and the Multi-Wheeled Articulated Transporters running at the end can also reach sufficient speed.
By the way, the appearance of the Multi-Wheeled Articulated Transporter is a running tank.
It doesn’t matter as long as there is space to load oil, and the driver’s seat is omitted because it is automatically controlled. The power source is an in-wheel motor, and there is no large engine in the body.
The result is a simple and eerie vehicle with tires attached directly to a huge tank.
Furthermore, four of them will be traveling through the desert in a connected state.
“Is it the Demon King’s army?”
This is Commander (Eve)’s impression. However, is it okay for the person who strongly requested this formation to say that?
“As a countermeasure against the Forest Country (Lebresta) side, Multi-legged Reconnaissance Vehicles in particular are at risk of being visually recognized, so we may want to design them to resemble living creatures for camouflage purposes.”
As a result, the armor panels of some of the machines were replaced with designs that emphasized curves. It is expected that even if Lebresta finds out about their existence, they will be mistaken for Monsters.
“If we show ourselves carelessly, it’s going to cause a big commotion, with people saying we’re the vanguard of the Demon King…”
The armor placement to protect the leg joints and other parts created an ominous atmosphere.
These Multi-legged Reconnaissance Vehicles are scheduled to be assigned to guard the area around the oil field. If there is room, we are also considering advancing into the area around the fortress line.
“Well… it’ll be fine if we don’t get caught…”
She muttered with an attitude that she didn’t expect much.