Episode 37: Gradual Invasion Plan
“Hmm… having facilities over there makes me want to build something even bigger,” Eve mused.
“Yes, Ma’am. However, considering the risks of plunder and destruction, it’s still difficult to expand further,” ＜Ringo＞ replied.
About three months had passed since the defense of Telek Port City began. Confirming the gradual shift towards a welcoming atmosphere, ＜Ringo＞ negotiated with the merchant guild and secured a lease. It was a small plot of land, only about the size of a warehouse, but having a place where facilities could be installed relatively safely made a world of difference.
Using the materials they brought, they spent about a week constructing a three-story building. The first and third floors were packed with defensive equipment, while the second floor housed a general-purpose machining tool (printer), an atomic disassembler (recycler), and a replenishment machine (material filler). They had prepared a certain level of production capability. Although the production speed was slow, this allowed for Cannon Shell Replenishment locally. Fortunately, the raw materials could be extracted from the surrounding soil and stones, so they were secure for the time being. Once they had stockpiled a certain amount, they planned to prototype several automated combat machines. Mass production would be ideal, but Telek Port City had limited access to rare metals, so the materials were somewhat lacking.
However, the problem was securing a power source. For the time being, they were running each facility with a diesel engine, but since fuel replenishment was necessary, they needed to consider some countermeasures. For the moment, they had installed solar panels and a vertical (Magnus-type) wind turbine on the roof, but it was far from meeting their power needs. They needed to either acquire another lease and install an Energy Plant, or, at worst, consider connecting to a ＜Paraiso＞ warship.
“Fortunately, we have a reasonable prospect of obtaining Iron…”
“Yes, Ma’am. For the time being, transportation is the bottleneck, limiting the amount we can obtain, but we have provided technical assistance related to axles and wheels, so I expect it will gradually improve.”
In defending (or rather, seizing) Telek Port City, ＜Paraiso＞ had provided several technical guidances. One of them was improving transportation efficiency. They taught methods for reinforcing wooden axles and wheels with metal, as well as the principles of bearings, dampers, and suspensions. They also conveyed information about structural materials for supporting heavy objects.
Furthermore, they promoted the improvement of roads, the importance of crushed stone pavement, and the provision of passing places. ＜Ringo＞ judged that building a railway would drastically increase the amount of transportation, but that was probably impossible. If a new Lode were discovered, it would be worth considering.
“Would it be faster to provide bearings from our side?”
“Yes, Ma’am. Since the situation is unstable, we want to secure Iron Ore quickly. Let’s load axles and bearings onto the next transport. Providing about 100 units should significantly improve transportation operations.”
The Iron content of the Iron Ore was estimated to be around 50%. Considering that, it would simply be half the transportation efficiency of Iron ingots, so they wanted to smelt it locally if possible.
“Hmm. Prepare an atomic disassembler (recycler) specialized for Iron smelting…? Ideally, I’d like to install it at the mine, but then security would be difficult…”
“Unless we have a facility of a certain scale, the processing capacity will likely be overwhelmed. If it’s a stationary type, it’s certainly difficult to defend in that location. Whether we dispatch forces or station them there, the distance is a bottleneck.”
Iron Town was located approximately 300km inland from Telek Port City. Using a typical horse-drawn carriage, it was a distance of five to six days. They estimated that if the roads were improved and axles and bearings supplied by ＜The Tree＞ were introduced, this would increase the speed to two to three days.
Even so, that was still the distance. Naturally, it was outside the main Cannon range of the Alpha-Class Destroyer, and defense by ＜The Tree＞ affiliated forces was impossible. Missiles could reach, but the cost-effectiveness was terrible. That left them with no choice but to rely on the garrison stationed in Iron Town, but frankly, it was very unreliable. If they were seriously invaded by a national force, they would be easily scattered. No matter how armed they were, they were, after all, just militia.
“For the time being, it’s Iron Ore transportation, huh…? Build an Iron smelting facility in Telek Port City?”
“We can increase the amount that can be transported by transport ships, but considering the current production volume and transportable volume, it’s not very meaningful. It’s more efficient to import it as Iron Ore and refine it with ＜The Tree＞’s facilities. Here, we can also utilize the slag without waste, so let’s continue to obtain Iron Ore as is until we can build large-scale facilities in Telek Port City.”
“Okay. Then, road maintenance is urgent. How about securing crushed stone?”
“There was a quarry located a little away from Telek Port City, so that’s a candidate. However, considering all 300km of the road, it may not be enough, so we are currently conducting interviews to find other candidate sites.”
For the time being, they were planning to lay crushed stone with a depth of 50cm and a width of 4m, assuming simple paving. Although there would be some ups and downs depending on the location, 0.5m x 4m x 300km would require approximately 600,000 cubic meters of crushed stone. Transporting that much stone from the current quarry would interfere with the town’s operations. Also, the property required for paving is hardness. It would be difficult to gain understanding for deliberately crushing good quality stone and scattering it on the ground.
“We could open it in a few weeks if we brought out heavy machinery, but it’s too early,” Eve said.
“That’s right. It will also create employment for refugees, so we can’t use heavy machinery for a while.”
Since land reclamation had come to an end, there seemed to be a surplus of manpower. Such labor was used wastefully and without waste to carry out scattering. While supplying wealth from ＜The Tree＞, they would activate domestic demand. The overall plan was to gradually increase dependence on ＜The Tree＞ and eventually achieve complete control.
“Well, Telek Port City is safe for a while. The transport ship loaded with Iron Ore should be arriving soon…”
“Yes, Ma’am. We will use the Iron we obtained this time to manufacture defensive equipment for Telek Port City.”
“…Commander (Onee-chan), I’ll design it. The Cannon.”
“Oh. Is that so, Olive? I’m looking forward to it.”
“Commander (Onee-sama), I thought about the placement,” Ichigo said.
“Wow, that’s amazing. A collaboration between the two of you.”
She stroked the heads of Ichigo and Olive with a smile. Perhaps happy to be praised, the two Humanoid Machine (Android) wagged their tails.
The remaining three were assigned to other tasks. The eldest sister, Akane, was investigating how to utilize the slag extracted from Iron Ore. The third daughter, Utsugi, and the fourth daughter, Erika, were both in charge of expanding the atomic disassembler (recycler). By entrusting them with these tasks, they were improving their autonomy and training ＜The Tree＞’s network connection capabilities. The ultimate goal was to have them lead operations at bases like Telek Port City, but it would take several years before they could be entrusted with that.
For the time being, the sisters were scheduled to share tasks within ＜The Tree＞.
“Well, smooth sailing. It’s good that Telek Port City is geographically isolated. The internal situation has deteriorated, and in the end, trade between the center and Telek Port City has been cut off, right?”
“Yes, Ma’am. We are continuing to investigate from the air, but we cannot detect any groups heading to Telek Port City. Large-scale conflicts are occurring in neighboring territories, so they are probably not in a position to do so.”
Telek Port City was a port that mainly handled luxury goods and luxury items for the upper classes. Therefore, when war broke out, it was initially seen as a target for plunder, but it was soon ignored. It was only natural, since they couldn’t obtain the most needed food and weapons. The defenses were also decent, making it not worth the effort. That was probably due to the skills of Kullavia Telek.
“For the time being, it’s the internal affairs phase. We’ve grasped the neighboring situation to some extent, and it’s much more stable than expected… stable? It is, so we’re going to dive in!”
“Yes, Ma’am. The development of the flying boat is also progressing smoothly. Let’s consider it an opportunity to expand our power at once.”
“Ichigo, Olive, once you’ve completed the installation of your turrets, we’ll install an Energy Plant in Telek Port City. I’m counting on you.”
“Yes, Onee-sama!”
“…Leave it to us, Onee-chan.”
By the way, since everyone here had the same appearance, from a distance, it only looked like four girls were frolicking. It was a truly peaceful sight.
Soon, a transport ship loaded with iron ore arrived at ＜The Tree＞. With this, ＜The Tree＞ had acquired 1,000 tons of iron ore, which would yield 500 tons of iron. For the time being, this amount of iron would be delivered regularly. Commander (Eve)’s gleeful laughter would not cease for a while.