“Finally…! Finally, we’ve made it this far…!”
She raised both ears, both hands, and her tail to the heavens and shouted before it.
“This is the Large Construction Dock! It’s huge! It’s vast!”
“Yes, Ma’am. It took some time for the concrete to cure, but this allows us to construct ships up to 300 meters in length.”
Commander (Eve) was ecstatic as she walked through the dock complex for large ships, built adjacent to Fortress ＜The Tree＞.
“After untold hardships—well, I don’t know how many days it took, but it’s wonderful! This will make our expansion even smoother!”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
The construction dock was all-weather. The entire dock, 400m long, 100m wide, and 15m deep, was covered by a structure. Inside, enormous construction machines moved vertically and horizontally, and the construction of the momentous first vessel had begun.
“It’s incredibly impressive!!”
“Onee-sama. I want to see inside, see inside.”
“Alright, let’s go!”
Urged on by Olive, Eve firmly retook her hand and started walking. The tails seen from behind were wagging furiously for both of them.
Moreover, they were walking at a considerable pace.
“＜Ringo＞, what are we building right now?”
“Battleship, ＜Hringhorni＞. The first ship of the Hringhorni-class.”
＜Ringo＞, Akane, and Ichigo followed the two at a leisurely pace.
Utsugi and Erika had already run off.
“Hringhorni is the name of the largest ship in Norse mythology.”
＜Ringo＞ nodded at Akane’s explanation.
It was the first battleship of ＜The Tree＞, named with glee by Eve.
“It has an overall length of 321m and a beam of 68m. It is equipped with four fusion reactors and utilizes multiple Strategic AIs, assuming fully autonomous operation. It will be operated as a fleet flagship and is intended as a dispatch force to various locations, but the primary mission of the first ship is to defend ＜The Tree＞.”
“I’ve always felt that ＜The Tree＞’s maritime defense capabilities were lacking. This will give us peace of mind.”
“I thought we had prepared ten times the strength of the assumed enemy forces…?”
“I understand Akane’s concerns. As Ichigo says, we have prepared the necessary forces, but whether that gives us peace of mind is another matter. Personally, I still want to bring back half of the maritime forces currently dispatched.”
“Onee-sama judges and allocates forces based on numerical values, so I can’t argue. I’m not Asahi, but you could be a little more afraid of the irrationality of fantasy.”
Eve says that she doesn’t like letting the forces at her disposal sit idle, but well, that’s just the nature of a gamer.
Using a large force solely for defense in the absence of an imminent crisis is certainly a state to be avoided.
“We have been responding by increasing patrol aircraft, but I was worried. You agreed to keep the fleet around ＜The Tree＞ under the guise of an experimental fleet, so Ma’am’s safety will also increase.”
Assets that aren’t used are the same as zero.
That was Eve’s judgment.
But defensive power isn’t like that. There is meaning in it being there.
Currently, there was also a surplus in the resource balance. It was time to reconsider the defense of ＜The Tree＞ itself.
“However, Ma’am seems to be considering risk hedging for defensive power each time she fights Monsters. The Fortress Two (Black Iron) and the Oil Port have also had their standing forces strengthened. It’s dangerous that the main base is being put on the back burner, but I understand that it can’t be helped considering the resource balance.”
“For now, it is analyzed that Monsters are unlikely to clash unless their territory is invaded, so it is also true that ＜The Tree＞ is somewhat safer compared to other regions.”
“At least, there are no threats other than roaming types like Rain Croin. If we can build a defense network like this, ＜The Tree＞ will become impregnable.”
The development of lodes within the Afrasia United Kingdom and the recovery of seabed resources were also progressing smoothly. The necessary elements were steadily accumulating. ＜Ringo＞ was appropriately managing the distribution of resources to the recovery platform and the strengthening of forces.
On the ground, giant disks were scraping the earth, and on the seabed, monster-like recovery machines were crawling around.
And such sites were steadily expanding.
There were good prospects for recovering enough materials for battleship construction, which was estimated to be over 100,000 tons per ship. All that remained was to mass-produce them.
They stepped into the dock.
In front of where ＜Ringo＞ and the others were headed, Eve, Utsugi, Erika, and Olive were huddled together in a chaotic mess. They seemed to be playing a pushing game in a state of excitement.
Below them, a gate-shaped construction machine was directly outputting the hull of the battleship. According to the plan, the output of the hull would be completed in one week. After that, it would take another week or so to install each piece of equipment and launch it.
And there were a total of three construction facilities of this size. In other words, by operating at full capacity, weekly battleship production was possible.
Moreover, there was no need for a crew training period. It would be possible to turn them into combat-ready forces in about three weeks from the start of construction.
However, it was difficult to operate battleships alone. Escort ships and aircraft carriers, which would be the core of the striking force, were also necessary.
If there were no problems with this construction dock, they planned to start building aircraft carriers and supply ships in the second and third docks.
“＜Ringo＞, is there any prospect for the Land Battleship that Asahi proposed?”
“Akane is very observant. Yes, we are currently running simulations. Unlike the Gigantia-class, the mobile large-scale equipment is far more robust. When invading the vast Prawa Theocracy, the plan to push up the battle line with Land Battleships as a base is worth considering.”
“…I don’t really understand the concept of romance that Onee-sama often mentions, but she said that Land Battleships are romantic.”
While watching the four people who had started spinning around while holding hands, ＜Ringo＞ and the others continued their conversation.
By the way, the reason why they were exchanging information verbally was simply for recreation.
If it were business, this level of conversation would be completed in milliseconds.
“That’s right. There is romance, but it is also quite useful in terms of resource acquisition. It can supply the defensive power and power for the construction of defensive facilities. After that, the Land Battleship moves to the next point. It can also have the function of a mothership, so the range of activity is much wider than the mass operation of small machinery.”
“The problem is the speed of movement. Compared to the Gigantia-class, the deployment speed becomes a bottleneck.”
“I see. However, conversely, it would be very useful as a force to advance after the Gigantia-class has suppressed an area. If used as a mothership, it can also maintain airspace control.”
With the current resource balance, mass production of Land Battleships was also possible.
The problem was the transportation of Land Battleships to the Prawa Theocracy, which would be the main battlefield.
The base of ＜The Tree＞ in the Northern Continent currently only exists within the Afrasia United Kingdom.
Therefore, considering land routes, there were several countries in between. As expected, they couldn’t pass through the territories of countries with which they had little interaction with Land Battleships.
They couldn’t pass through the streets, so it would be a normal act of trampling.
“It will be maritime transport. Air transport is too far, and there is a limit to the amount of transport. It is difficult to assemble on site, so it is most efficient to send it directly with a large mothership.”
“For now, we can consider advancing via the Demon Forest. Asahi warned that there are many uncertain factors.”
“Passing through the Demon Forest may stimulate unknown Monsters. If we move huge moving machines like Land Battleships there, we certainly can’t predict what will happen.”
The Demon Forest stretches east and west, blocking the northern side of the countries in the southern part of the Northern Continent. None of the countries have succeeded in developing the Demon Forest. Therefore, even if they cut a path through the Demon Forest and pass through, there is no need to worry about being obstructed.
Of course, no one knows what kind of Monsters will jump out, so everyone, including Asahi, is against developing that route.
“There is a high possibility that useful resources are sleeping there, so we will have to challenge it someday. But we are not ready yet. We should avoid unnecessary risks.”
The three were playing with conversation while watching over the other sisters.
At the end of their gaze, Eve was walking unsteadily with Olive on her shoulders and Utsugi and Erika in each arm. Perhaps because of the characteristics of the Beastkin, they were far stronger than they looked.