Chapter 2: The Kingdom’s Secret Weapon (7)

That's right. Up until now, we hadn't been on an "island" at all. We had been on

that ship.

"Wyverns fear the sea," I told Castor, who seemed at a loss for words at the

incredible sight. "That's because wyverns, lacking the flight range of dragons, can't

cross the sea, right? To be more precise, wyverns hate being so far out to sea that

they can't see land. That's why it's been common sense that you can't employ

wyverns in naval battles, right?"

"R-Right..." Castor nodded.

Because dragons could fly continuously across incredible distances, they could

cross the sea in a single flight, and that meant they had no reason to be afraid of it.

However, wyverns, with their lesser flight range, would run out of strength halfway

if they tried to cross the sea. Because of that, they feared going out far enough to lose

sight of land. This held true for the Empire's griffon squadrons, too, which had an

even shorter flight range than the wyverns did. (In fact, they were even afraid of

rivers if they couldn't see the other side, so they had it worse.)

"Huh?!" Castor cried. "Now that you mention it, the wyverns were flying in

formation earlier, weren't they?! No, even the wyvern carrying this gondola seems

perfectly fine out here in the middle of the sea!"

Finally, Castor was beginning to grasp the situation. However, the more he

figured it out, the wider his eyes opened in surprise. His lips were trembling.

"You... What the hell have you created here...?"

"A vessel which carries air power across the sea, and also acts as a base for it," I

said. "In my world, a ship like this was called an aircraft carrier, or just a carrier."

That's right. That island-shaped ship was analogous to a carrier, with wyvern

knights as an analogue to fighter planes. When I'd seen this world had wyverns and

steel ships, I had wondered if maybe I could combine the two to create a carrier.

When I'd first started planning it out, the first issue that had been pointed out to me

was the wyverns' fear of the sea.

"So that was when I had an idea," I explained, "to try and trick the wyverns out of

being afraid of the sea."

I'd gotten the hint I needed from the first of the Thirty-Six Stratagems from my

world: "Deceive the emperor to cross the ocean." It's about making your strategy

look like nothing out of the ordinary, then acting while your enemy's guard is down.

The stratagem had been based on an event when, in order to get the Emperor of

Tang, who feared the sea, aboard a boat, his retainers had piled dirt on top of it to

make it look like the land. I'd thought that maybe I could use the same trick on

wyverns.

First, I'd created a giant ship, then packed soil on top of it. Though a portion was

left as dirt, most was covered with grass or trees to create plains and forests. The

bridge had been covered in Roman concrete and painted to disguise it as a rocky

mountain. Then, in order to lower the wyverns' stress levels, their stables and

everything below deck had been made to look like the inside of a cave.

Basically, I was trying to make the wyverns recognize this carrier as an "island."

The issue had been how I was going to find the propulsion to move my islandtype carrier, but that had been solved thanks to Genia's Little Susumu Mark V. They

weren't visible from the air, but there were four Little Susumu Mark Vs attached to

the sides of this island-type carrier below the waterline. The reason the distribution

of the Light model wasn't further along was because I had prioritized the production

of these larger ones.

Now, as for this island-type carrier that we had built, it was still incomplete. It

had taken a long time to get the wyverns used to the carrier. Our first priorities had

been to give it the bare minimum features required of a ship, make the outside look

island-y, and focus on making it seaworthy. In terms of propulsion, the plan was

actually to have double the number of Little Susumu Mark Vs (with the current

number, it could only go at a crawl), and the area currently being used as a military

research and development lab was eventually going to be used for equipment

storage and the crew's quarters. (They were currently camping out in tents on the

deck.)

Castor, who had been staring at the half-finished cruiser in a daze, turned to me,

his eyes filled with disbelief. "But this thing is massive... Just how long have you been

building it for?"

"Hm? If you mean when I started gathering funds and materials, I did that right

after taking the throne, you know?"

"Whaa?! Before you fought me and Amidonia?!"

"It was part of my plan to enrich the country and strengthen the military," I said.

"As a trump card against the Empire."

With my arms crossed, I leaned back in the gondola's sofa.

"I didn't know what the Empire was thinking back then, after all. I was working

on a plan that would give me a trump card when we had to oppose them. Up against

the more powerful and more populous Empire, we wouldn't stand a chance in a

land-based arms race. I thought the path to survival might lie in expanding our air or

sea power, where technology plays a much bigger role. Well... at that stage, I was just

allocating the funds and materials. Construction only began in earnest after the end

of the war with Amidonia."

Besides, because I had been moving ahead with the new city project at the same

time, I hadn't been able to gather quite enough funds or resources for the project. If

Roroa and Colbert hadn't joined us, giving me a source of funding, and if I hadn't

been able to secure a source of resources by annexing Amidonia, construction might

have started even later.

Still, once construction began, ship construction in this world went fast. Actually,

I'd felt this way when rolling out the transportation network and building the new

city, too but construction in this world went unusually fast.

Because they had magic here, there was no need for large pieces of construction

equipment. For instance, if you try to build something large on Earth, you first need

to build the cranes and such that will be used in building it. At worst, there were

even times you might need equipment to build the equipment you needed to build

the equipment... and so on.

However, because there were earth mages who could manipulate gravity in this

world, that equipment wasn't necessary here. Also, an experienced fire mage could

handle casting metal and welding in no time. In this world with its strange balance of

things that could and couldn't be done, it felt like it actually took more time to secure

the funds and materials than anything else.

I got up and stood in front of Castor, who was still taken aback by everything.

"Well, this is what I've been doing as king, Castor," I said, looking him straight in

the eye. "You rebelled against me because you thought I was a usurper. It seems

your doubts had already been cleared up by Liscia and Excel's attempts to dissuade

you from doing so, but in the end, you still chose to oppose me, prepared to martyr

yourself for your friendship with Georg Carmine. Then you lost and were placed in

Excel's custody."

Castor lowered his eyes. "You don't need to tell me that now. I lost... That's all

there is to it."

"That's not what I'm trying to say," I said. "Right now, I'm showing you my power

as king of this country."

"You mean that carrier?" Castor asked.

But I shook my head. "No. The carrier itself isn't my power. If there is one thing I

can take pride in as king, it's gathering gifted comrades, preparing a place for their

talents to shine, and creating a country that could build that carrier. When you see

what I'm capable of, does it not seem fitting that you should serve under me?"

Castor shook his head with a wry smile. "You've got me beaten completely. I can

see clearly now... why King Albert left the country to you. But I'm not fit to serve

you."

"Can I take that to mean you recognize me as the king of this country?" I asked.

"Hm? Yeah, I recognize you. You're one hell of a king."

He'd recognized me as king. Now that I had dragged those words out of Castor, I

was finally certain of it. I didn't sense any of the arrogance Castor had had before. In

his defeat, and with some polishing by Excel, he had grown as a person. Considering

that... I could trust him with it.

I placed a hand on Castor's shoulder, looking him straight in the eye as I said,

"Castor, this carrier is an extremely unique weapon. Though it is a ship attached to

the Navy, it carries the troops of the Air Force. In order to run it efficiently, it

requires not just knowledge of handling a ship and fighting at sea, but the

knowledge and experience to command the Air Force. I want to leave this ship under

the command of someone with those skills."

Castor's eyes opened wide. "Huh?! No... You can't mean..."

It looked like he'd figured out where I was going with this. He was a man who had

been the former General of the Air Force, yet now he had trained under Excel to

learn how to control a naval force.

I grinned as I asked him, "I'm sure you've kept studying, even now that you're in

the Navy, right?"

"...Yes, sir! Excel has beaten it all into me!"

Castor rose from his seat, then knelt, putting his hands together in front of him

and bowing his head. I placed the captain's hat I had brought with me on Castor's

bowed head. Because Castor had horns, it had been specially made with holes for

them.

"Good," I approved. "Now, then... Castor who has no family name! I appoint you as

the first captain of this aircraft carrier!"

"Yes, sir! I humbly accept, my lord!"

My lord... huh. It was a bit embarrassing to be called that, but it was a sign that

Castor had truly accepted me as his lord, so I was more than happy to take it.

While I was thinking about that, Excel, who had quietly watched over the

proceedings up until that point, spoke up. "Hee hee, I'm glad. That's one burden off

of my shoulders." Then she smiled.

I had already told her I wanted to make Castor the captain of this carrier before

she'd begun teaching him.