Conquer Europe from the West

Chapter 12: Shoot the flying wood...airship!
Half an hour ago.

The Farlan Republic Army, the headquarters of the Third Air Fleet, inside the flagship airship Lawrence.

Captain Francis de Fere sat upright in the captain's seat in the center of the bridge, observing the vast land ahead through the hemispherical greenhouse-style glass cover in front of him that had almost no blind spots.

This is a privilege only available to the latest Republic-class airships, and the bridge observation windows aren't the only areas that have been upgraded.

The length of the ship has been expanded from 60 meters to 90 meters, but the internal space is four times larger.

The new propellers are more than twice as quiet as the old gasoline engines, so most crew members can focus more on their tasks than before.

or……

Taste the whole, non-spliced, non-synthetic, natural raw cut of meat that you haven't been able to eat for six months due to the food crisis.

But this is a meal that can only be eaten when on a battle mission.

That's right, just a few minutes ago, Colonel France received an order for an emergency attack.

The order required him to lead the fleet to attack immediately, go to the front line area, and carry out a mission to pursue the fleeing enemy forces.

There was no information about the target of pursuit, nor about their number.

All France knew was that they had recently seized a magic communicator from the Farlan Army and used it to complete the first honorary communication in this war.

After swallowing the last of his sandwich with some cold water, Colonel France turned to his deputy, First Mate Clementon, and asked, "Have you finished deciphering the honor signal sent by the enemy earlier?"

The Honor Newsletter talks about the pillar of light that shot up into the sky created by Brinkman and Lane.

Placing a catalyst on a device to generate a beam of light that can contain a large amount of information was a technology that was successfully mastered a hundred years ago, before the invention of radio communications, and it was also the foundation of the empire.

"not yet."

Major Clementon lowered his head, preventing France from seeing his expression. "But rear headquarters has confirmed the use of high-purity catalysts. The sender is at least a noble who has been canonized by the Imperial Emperor."

"Oh?"

As soon as he heard the word "noble", France's expression changed. He looked a little excited, or perhaps excited: "It's a big fish."

The Republic's attack was to seize sufficient food and fuel from the Empire.

The purpose is to alleviate the food crisis caused by natural disasters.

Of course, ordinary soldiers and citizens were not aware of this. For them, life was indeed much better after overthrowing the kingdom and establishing a republican government.

The war against the empire was an active attack launched out of fear of the powerful empire.

The propaganda claims that it is to help the people of the empire who are trapped under the rule of the brutal imperial aristocracy.

Naturally, if one could capture an imperial noble on the battlefield, both the commander of the troops and the troops that carried out the capture mission would receive extremely high praise.

It could be a one-year unlimited supply of franchised materials, or it could be francs equivalent to several years' income for an average family.

The specific details depend on the identity of the prisoner, but the guy who can be personally canonized by the emperor is obviously not a stray dog ​​on the roadside.

"It seems that the decision to dispatch the fleet was indeed the right one."

The corners of France's mouth curled up slightly, causing his meticulously trimmed beard to twitch. "Have the reconnaissance troops found any trace of the enemy? It's been quite a while since the Glory communication began. Bergman's no idiot. He should have sent out a unit to provide support, right?"

"Yes!"

Major Clementon nodded.

"However, we have only confirmed the takeoff of one reconnaissance aircraft. The target took off from the direction of the Fifth Military District's headquarters and entered the visual range of our frontline troops five minutes ago."

"Is it necessary to launch an attack?" Clementon asked.

But France was obviously not that anxious. His fingers tapped the armrest of the chair at a slow frequency, and then he said, "No need."

"Clementon, flagship order." France said.

"All fleet, altitude 2000 (2000 feet, approximately 609.6 meters), sailing along the planned bombing route at second battle speed. Upon entering Imperial airspace, reduce to first battle speed and correct course to 061."

"All ships, strengthen all air and ground surveillance. Our mission is to search for and capture the Imperial Army officer who just issued the honorable communication. Anything else is not our target!"

After he finished speaking, Clementon immediately turned around and repeated the order from France to the messenger beside him.

Immediately afterwards, accompanied by several strange low roars like the roars of giant beasts, the four Republic-class airships, led by the Lawrence, threw off the anchor ropes that fixed them to the ground and began to climb into the sky.

————————————————————

In the village, Brinkman immediately took his men and hid in a house. Looking at the fire that was emitting wisps of green smoke, he was filled with regret.

Ryan discovered what she was thinking, but it was no use saying anything now.

This girl really looks like she came out of a military academy. She can make correct judgments in most cases, but she is still too young and can't think of what will happen next.

Whether it was when they were about to attack the command post or when they were putting out the fire, it was the same. Well, he thought, I have no right to criticize them.

But the threat posed by the airship force is real.

"We can't stay in this place anymore," Ryan said, staring at the gradually growing black spots. "The fire just now might not have been discovered, but they're clearly coming for us."

"It's because of the Honor Communications incident, right?" Brinkman frowned. "They discovered the signal was generated by a high-purity catalyst, so they're definitely desperate to catch us."

"?"

Ryan was stunned for a moment, but he quickly realized that Brinkman was talking about the beam of light that shot up into the sky just now.

"Yes."

He nodded: "So we have to retreat as quickly as possible. The nearest camp is still..."

"Sixteen kilometers, in the northeast direction. If we set off now, we can arrive at the earliest tonight." Brinkman said immediately.

Ryan immediately rejected her proposal: "But we can't move now."

At the same time, he immediately looked at the system's map interface.

I don't know if it's because I just looked at the map that Brinkman brought, or because of something else, but the system that could only see the 502nd Battalion camp before can now see the entire military district.

That's a good thing, he thought.

But there are bad things too.

On the new map, Ryan could only see the areas he had already visited, including the 502nd Battalion camp, the tunnel he had moved through before, and the village he was currently in.

There is nothing else, everything is shrouded in a haze.

Is it because it's not marked on the map?
Ryan was a little confused, but he immediately noticed four red arrows appearing on the edge of the map.

He couldn't move the screen to confirm what the arrows were, but judging from the speed at which they moved, they were obviously not ordinary infantry.

"Is it the airship fleet from before?"

Combining the four black spots he had seen before, Ryan immediately made a judgment.

At the same time, several rows of small words appeared under the map.

[Mission target update]

[Current Mission: Hold on until you reunite with friendly forces]

[Time remaining for the mission: 2:00:00]

Then, just east of the small dot representing Ryan and others, approximately in the center of the map.

Two small blue dots suddenly appeared.

Friendly forces are coming!
Return to reality immediately.

Ryan endured the discomfort of his vision turning white and looked at the people huddled behind the door.

"Pack up your things, we're heading east."

Lieutenant Brinkman immediately leaned forward and asked, "But you weren't..."

Ryan waved his hand and changed the subject: "The signal we sent should have been confirmed by the rear headquarters, right?"

"If they weren't attacked, they definitely received it," Brinkman said.

Ryan nodded. "Second Lieutenant, what do you think the rear headquarters will do after receiving our signal?"

"What else could there be..." Brinkman was about to say what he had learned in military academy, but he immediately shut his mouth, with a look of sudden enlightenment on his face: "Are you saying they've sent troops to support us?"

Ryan's answer to this is also very simple.

"With all communication lines cut off, the only people they can rely on are our small team that managed to escape, right?"

"but."

Suddenly, he changed the subject.

"before that."

Ryan pointed at the gray dots in the distant sky.

"We have to find a way to get those dogs down from the sky first."

(End of this chapter)