Episode 289: A Cunning Plan
After forging an agreement with the Chimyera Clan of the Prawa Theocracy, ＜The Tree＞ rapidly advanced the development of their base.
The Chimyera Clan’s paramount mission is to carve a path through the Demon Forest.
If there’s aid in developing the Demon Forest, they’ll join hands with any force, regardless of who they are.
They’re pragmatic, almost mechanical; devoid of emotions like resentment. Perhaps it’s because their sense of belonging to the Prawa Theocracy is weak.
In any case, an agreement was reached with the promise of actively cooperating with their endeavors. ＜The Tree＞ unleashed its capabilities without reservation.
First, they gathered supplies for their operations.
On the land cleared for developing the Demon Forest, at its entrance, they constructed a supply depot.
A massive warehouse was assembled, and supplies airlifted by transport planes were continuously brought in. A large number of transport planes were mobilized, and large ground vehicles caught the containers dropped with parachutes.
Even the Chimyera Clan seemed surprised by the spectacle.
Using the prepared materials, roads for ground transportation were constructed. Parallel to them, a railway was laid. First, it connected the rear base with the supply depot, establishing a material transport system.
Since the initial supplies were airlifted, the Chimyera Clan resumed their development work.
Units departed with food and equipment supplied by ＜Paraiso＞ to re-liberate the abandoned intermediate development areas. Once a certain level of safety was secured, multi-legged machines for transporting goods, ＜Backpackers＞, could be deployed.
The Backpacker is a small machine for transporting goods on uneven terrain, used in North End City of the Afrasia United Kingdom. It’s a transport machine designed to work alongside small groups of humans, and its operational record is steadily growing, making it an excellent machine.
Using them at the very front lines would be difficult, but they would be excellent for transportation along the way.
The deployment of highly offensive automated machines like multi-legged tanks was postponed for the time being.
To begin with, their massive size made them conspicuous, and there was the problem of difficult coordination with the Chimyera Clan, whose main attack method was close combat.
There was also a plan to use Land Battleships (Jötunn) for escorting along the way and defending bases, but it was determined to be difficult because filtering of heavy metals and radioactive materials emitted during operation was necessary for them to work with living humans.
Adding filter devices would limit the load capacity, reducing cost-effectiveness. Besides, like multi-legged tanks, they couldn’t fight together.
For the time being, they envisioned a cooperative system in which multi-legged tanks would be sent as fixed gun emplacements as a final defense measure. ＜Paraiso＞ would simply supply the materials.
As development progressed to a certain extent and roads were improved, railway construction would become possible. Then, armored trains could be run for defense and material transport.
With railways, drive energy could be supplied externally. This would minimize the emission of harmful substances.
However, it would still take time to secure safety before railways could be laid in the forest.
And to drive these automated machines, it was necessary to install an energy furnace locally. For the time being, they would use fusion reactors.
Currently, ＜The Tree＞ operates roughly two types of fusion reactors.
Small fusion reactors for mounting on mobile large machines, and large fusion reactors for base installation.
The large fusion reactors also handle the production of tritium, which is very difficult to collect from the natural environment.
Small fusion reactors produce energy through the reaction of deuterium and tritium, but there is the problem that it is almost impossible to collect this tritium. Deuterium can be collected from seawater, but tritium is almost non-existent.
Therefore, it is necessary to operate large fusion reactors capable of producing tritium at the same time.
When deuterium and tritium react, helium and neutrons are generated. These neutrons activate the reactor walls, but tritium can be produced by reacting them with lithium, for example.
By the way, it is also possible to use other fusion reactions, such as fusion using only deuterium, or light hydrogen (ordinary hydrogen) and boron, but the reaction conditions are strict, so the efficiency is poor compared to the D-T reaction (reaction using deuterium and tritium as fuel). For the time being, it is necessary to continue producing tritium.
Several such large fusion reactors are under construction at the entrance to the Demon Forest.
Once these are operational, the energy loss due to the current microwave power supply will be alleviated. As a result, the number of automated machines that can be operated simultaneously will increase several times over.
This material collection point will continue to expand in scale, becoming a huge base that manages all development of the Demon Forest on the north side of the Prawa Theocracy. Support for the Chimyera Clan and the provision of housing for normal life will also be provided. In addition, various materials collected from the Demon Forest will be handled collectively.
If the stable collection and supply of Demon Forest materials is successful, the forefront of magical research may be here.
And, connecting the railway from Yakari Port, via various production and collection bases. Once this is completed, it will become the main artery of the Prawa Theocracy. The expansion of farmland development will also improve dramatically with the introduction of automated machines. Chemical fertilizers are also becoming widespread, so grain production will increase dozens of times in a few years.
Along with supplying these large quantities of goods to the Chimyera Clan, they will also export them to other countries.
Currently, maritime trade is practically only conducted with the Repuytari Kingdom, but they will expand it to surrounding countries.
If food reaches the people of those countries, their national power will also increase. Then, the mining of mineral resources will also expand. It will be possible to convert food into minerals.
It’s not very good in terms of efficiency, but it’s a good trade in terms of humanity.
Also, if national power increases, they may be able to put more effort into exploring the Demon Forest.
As for the Demon Forest, no matter how many people there are, it is not enough. By supplying ＜Paraiso＞-made adventure equipment, an adventure fever may occur.
For the time being, how to associate with human nations will continue to be a process of trial and error.
As far as they can currently observe, the Forest Country (Lebresta) is the only one with the national power to pose a threat to ＜The Tree＞. That country is still unfathomable.
However, the relationship is not hostile.
Therefore, they are trying to refrain from actions that would worsen ＜Paraiso＞’s image.
Well, it might be troublesome if the invasion and conquest of the Prawa Theocracy were to be exposed.
This will be kept hidden for the time being, so there will be no problem.
In that regard, some measures need to be taken regarding the battle lines between the invading Prawa Theocracy and other countries.
For now, the Warrior Monks who were deployed to the front lines have been left alone, but they will soon realize that they have lost contact with their home country. If they come back to contact, they can just Zistroi them, but it would be boring if the front line were left unattended.
The fact that the Prawa Theocracy has been occupied by ＜Paraiso＞ means that the Prawa Theocracy’s sphere of influence, which is currently expanding, has become ＜The Tree＞’s.
It would be boring to reduce this on the grounds of a shortage of Warrior Monks.
In terms of the map, the current situation is that two countries have been completely invaded, and the neighboring country has been invaded halfway.
They want to avoid releasing all of that land without getting anything in return.
In this regard, they have no choice but to ask for cooperation from the Repuytari Kingdom.
One possibility would be to dispatch troops in response to a request for assistance, and have them recapture the occupied territories.
In any case, this issue has a time limit, so it was necessary to urgently request Duke Amadio Silverhead.
It would be nice to have a good idea to maintain the Prawa Theocracy’s sphere of influence as it is.
Let’s have Amadio-san do his best.