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Chapter 87: The Imperial Army’s Magic Airship Unit

~Ibrudia Empire General Egon’s Perspective~

On that day, I was deeply moved as I boarded the magic airship at the magic airship hangar in Botlock.

Today, this beautiful battleship will fly across the skies and trample down on the enemy territory. I am simply overwhelmed with emotions…

「Your Excellency Admiral Egon, 8 battleships are ready to sally!」

「Good. Channel mana to the power source. We will take off on time as planned.」

Finally, the day has come. The day when the imperial magic airship unit will rule the skies…

His Majesty the Emperor of Ibrudia made a wise decision five years ago. The expansion of his army, and the wonderful decision to convert a magic airship into a battleship.

I’ve longed for the day when these beautiful battleships would soar through the skies and overrun enemy territory.

I am truly overwhelmed with emotions…

The Empire has had military authorities since long ago, and the military is an organization for waging war.

However, when the current emperor ascended the throne, the military authorities were reduced, and he began to seek peace in this world.

At that time, I was in despair. There will be no more wars.

I wondered if my status and fame would come to an end without getting a chance to do anything.

However, I reconsidered my train of thoughts. This must also be the result of me always reporting to my superiors.

For that reason, four years ago I was promoted from lieutenant general to general, and was also appointed as the person in charge of the magic airship unit.

「Your Excellency General Egon, it’s time! Your order to take off!」

If it’s going according to plan, the Empire must have just declared war on the Arto Kingdom. I picked up the voice expansion magic tool and gave the command to take off.

「Everyone! I am happy to be able to celebrate this historic day with you guys! Now then, let’s go kill the lizards of the Arto Kingdom! All troops take off!!」

It was a splendid order even if I do say so myself! This should boost morale!

The ceiling of the hangar opened, and I have already felt the feeling of the huge hull gradually rising into the air during the test flight, but it’s something that never gets old.

There is no magic in this world that can penetrate the magic defensive wall and armor of this battleship, and imagining a future where the enemy is overrun from an absolute superior position in the sky naturally brought a smile to my face.

The dragonewt tribe shouldn’t even know that war was declared. Even if they were notified immediately, there would be no time to respond to this surprise attack!

All we have to do is enjoy the air travel at our leisure and aim the main cannons at the Dragonewt village and fire.

My value and position will rise after completing such an easy mission. This is the best day ever

The estimated arrival time is about 6 hours… Let’s enjoy the journey above the clouds for a while.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

A little over three hours after leaving Botlock, there was a sudden contact, and the atmosphere in the ship became hectic.

「Your Excellency! A horde of dragons is approaching from the front! Looking at their formations, I think they are the Dragonewt tribe!!」

「What!? What are the dragonewts doing here!」

Strange! Why are they here? I’ve heard that they are a tribe that rarely leaves their village.

(No way… the information was leaked?)

That’s hard to imagine. Only the upper echelons of the Imperial Army should know about this strategy until just before. Besides, there are no benefits in selling out the Empire.

This war was a war to one-sidedly invade the Arto Kingdom and expand the territory of the Ibrudia Empire. I’ve heard that Arto Kingdom’s magic tool technology has improved in recent years, but I don’t think they have the technological strength to develop a magic airship like this.

…Wait, if I remember correctly, we received information that Princess Luna had gone missing for several weeks. Did Princess Luna leak the information…?

No, that shouldn’t be the case. I am overthinking it. Her Highness Princess Luna did not show any opposition to the war either. She can’t go against Her Majesty the Emperor.

She’s probably just playing adventurer with the two escorts anyway. In the past, when I was exploring a dungeon, I couldn’t be contacted for two months.

Then, where did the information leak from… it’s too unnatural to think that the Dragonewts happened to be here by coincidence…

「Your Excellency! Your order!」

「R-Right! Fifth battleship, ready the main cannon! Show the lizards the difference in power!」

「Yes, sir! Fifth battleship ready your main cannon!!」

「Fifth battleship here, main cannon is ready!」

「Fire!!」

A pillar of light was fired on my command. What great power! This shouldn’t take long!

…Hmm? That being said, it doesn’t seem like the enemy numbers have decreased that much.

A few dragons have crashed, but did they escape by luck?

However, the main cannon consumes a lot of energy. Besides, if they have enough speed to avoid the main cannon, it would be better to draw them closer and then use magic attacks from the mage unit to reduce their numbers.

「We’ll draw them closer and launch magic attacks from the mage unit! It is impossible to break through the ships’ defensive wall! Everyone, to your stations!」

Unexpected things keep happening, but there’s no problem!

The firepower that can break through the magic defense wall is not something that can be produced that often!

As long as they get close enough, it’ll be one-sided– What!?

「It’s a Dragon Breath wave attack! Damage to the power of the 4th and 5th battleships can be observed!! 4th and 5th battleships are forced to crashland!」

「A wave attack strong enough to penetrate the defensive wall!? Damn it! Enough! Prepare the first to third battleship main cannons! We’ll settle this in one fell swoop!」

The moment after I gave the order, a beam of light pierced the third battleship from above.

And just like that, the third battleship crashed to the ground, and black smoke covered the area along with the sound of an explosion.

「What!? What just happened! Why did an attack similar to the main cannon come from above!」

「I don’t know! The surroundings will clear up soon, so we’ll display the image of the sky above!」

A black dragon was reflected in the image, bathing in the sun’s rays, bluish patterns shining here and there on its body.

(B, beautiful… How majestic…)

「It’s a dragon!! It’s presumed to be the most powerful individual among the enemies! General Egon, your orders please!」

By the time the voice of my subordinate pulled me back to my senses, it already seemed to be too late.

The black dragon in the video stored up an ominous amount of energy in its mouth and fired a wide range Breath that caught not only the first battleship I was on, but also the second battleship.

Immediately after that, the image cracked, and the view through the window was frozen.

(Impossible… There’s no way we can win against such a monster.)

Was the dragon race such a powerful tribe?

We, the Ibrudia Empire’s magic airship unit, were supposed to be the rulers of the skies, but a single dragon destroyed three battleships in an instant…

(Ah, Your Majesty the Emperor…I’m sorry that I couldn’t live up to your expectations…)

「The ship is going to crash! Prepare for impact!」

A few seconds after my subordinate’s voice echoed through the voice-enhancing magic tool through the chaos of the ship, I lost consciousness from a huge impact.