Preparing for War
"Yup, you're perfectly healthy."
I packed away the stethoscope and other equipment. Today, I’d conducted one of Mother’s regular checkups.
Apparently, in this world—or rather, in our country—there’s this belief that pregnant women should stay quiet and still. Among the nobility, it’s even more extreme: they’re expected to stay confined to their rooms. Naturally, that’s bad for one’s health, so I recommended light exercise like walking and artistic activities such as listening to music.
At first, the castle staff were excessively insistent that she return to her room, but once I explained things properly, that custom disappeared. It seems my words carry some weight.
Incidentally, I even received letters from other pregnant women thanking me deeply. Personally, I’m just exasperated that anyone thought confining pregnant women was ever okay.
Maybe it’s thanks to those efforts, but Mother is in perfect health. She barely had any morning sickness and hasn’t had a single illness.
"Honestly, I was so bored during this pregnancy. I’m really grateful to you, Alice."
"It’s just common sense not to stress out pregnant women. You get that, right, Father?"
"Y-yes. I immediately issued a royal decree to all the nobles across the country, declaring this an evil custom that must be abolished at once."
That’s a weird way to use a royal decree. Well, there are probably people who wouldn’t change their minds easily otherwise, so it’s fine to leave it at that. If it’s a royal order, they’ll have no choice.
"Also, the baby’s gender is confirmed."
"“Which is it?!”"
My brother, who had been sitting quietly next to Father, sprang up together with him.
Today’s examination involved an abdominal ultrasound—in other words, an echo scan. It took time to make the equipment, but it turned out pretty well.
"It’s a girl."
"A daughter!"
Father broke out into a dance. So noisy.
"Still, I’m surprised you could tell."
"That area is more advanced in the other world. Here’s the photo, by the way."
"Hmm… I have no idea what I’m looking at."
"She’s got a human shape, see?"
No matter how you look at it, it’s clearly a baby.
"You can tell the gender from this? The priest said it was likely a boy, though."
"That’s just a coin toss. This is based on actual imagery, so it’s unlikely to be wrong. That said, I’m not an experienced obstetrician, so I’d recommend preparing a boy’s name just in case."
From what I can see, it’s a girl. Based on my previous life’s knowledge, I’m confident in that. Although Iris had medical knowledge, she wasn’t a doctor.
And what the priest does is basically just fortune-telling. With only two choices, the accuracy’s bound to be low. In contrast, an echo scan is clear and straightforward.
"Then where exactly are you checking to determine that?"
"Just whether it’s there or not. Look."
I showed the ultrasound photo to Father.
"…… That’s it?"
"There are other ways to tell, but with the current equipment, that’s all we’ve got."
"Remarkably straightforward."
"Okay, then we need to mass-produce these. Also, I’ll prepare materials covering basic hygiene knowledge needed during childbirth. Spread them throughout the kingdom. That alone should greatly reduce the risks during labor."
I just want to shout, “At least wash your hands first!” There are so many deaths from puerperal fever, and until antibiotic production becomes stable, disinfection is crucial.
Incidentally, antibiotics and similar drugs are hard to produce. We’ve only managed minimal production in a small facility within the treasure vault. I don’t have the bandwidth to build full-scale infrastructure. As a workaround, I’m advancing the simplification of healing magic.
We’ll need to thoroughly eliminate ineffective folk remedies too. But that’s not my job anymore. That’s what the newly appointed Minister of Medicine is for—though they’re basically under my control.
The Minister of Medicine’s job is to investigate traditional remedies across the kingdom, determine if they’re effective, and publicize corrections when they’re not.
They’re also in charge of managing everything related to medicine. Drug development is happening under their supervision too. Honestly, I can’t take care of everything in the medical field. For now, I’ve handed over about a thousand medical books from Earth, so I hope they’ll manage.
"Got it. I’ll consult with the Minister of Medicine. Appointing new ministers was clearly the right move. It should ease your burden a bit, Alicetia."
"Father, Alice’s clones continue to scream in torment, by the way."
I’m only making them work a little. About 24 hours a day.
Honestly, how pathetic to be whining over something like that. Naturally, as the ruler, I myself take elegant breaks.
That day passed peacefully. And then the next day—
We were, as usual, attending to our duties. Father had already relinquished control of the major monster territories, so he was back to official work. Or rather, he was imprisoned in the office. A king chained to a chair is quite a surreal sight.
"I always wonder… I *am* the king, right? Is this treatment really acceptable?"
"If you didn’t try to escape, Father, it wouldn’t be necessary."
Big brother shot him a sharp glare. He had already attempted to escape twice *just today*, so it couldn’t be helped. At first, we hadn’t bound him. Meanwhile, I had already finished my work and was now assembling small parts for the rocket I was developing.
At this pace, we’ll be able to conduct a propulsion test for the engine in six months. Next year, let’s launch satellites… about thirty of them.
"Hey, can you work on developing artificial satellites too?"
"Drop dead!"
When I contacted one of my clones to delegate the task, I got yelled at.
"Quite the nerve, huh."
To think a clone would dare curse at me… do they *want* to be assigned to constructing heavily armed airships?
"You seriously don’t get how overwhelmed we are. With the current manpower, it’s impossible."
I decided to deal with it by increasing the number of clones. There are about 300 right now, so that should be enough. The number of ongoing projects has surpassed 1,000, though.
"Your management style is insane as always… Please, go easy. This is seriously crushing our spirits."
"If we had someone to take over the necessary research, I would."
The training of scientists is the responsibility of the kingdom. It’s a problem when they keep sending completely useless personnel.
It’s the same with the Technical Development Bureau. A large number of people have been sent in, but most end up being sent back to field units, and the lack of manpower is critical. Only a very small handful are actually useful.
Incidentally, the original staff members almost never get thrown out. They say, “Since they’re used to witnessing Her Highness’s achievements, they probably don’t have any biases.” Well, that can’t be helped—our Technical Development Bureau is a den of chaos full of things that overturn all established norms.
“We’re doing our best to send only the most capable people…”
“But the reports say the opposite—that those very capable people stand out too much but lack the drive to challenge conventional thinking.”
We get daily requests saying they don’t want competent people who are stuck in their ways. People who seriously declare it’s impossible to go to space are useless.
What we need are people with the drive to say, “We’ll make it happen!”—in other words, people with dreams. They’re incredible. They won’t spare any effort to achieve their dreams. And they’ve already abandoned common sense. In short, they’re MAD.
That’s why it’s said we are the Technical Development Bureau *by the MAD, for the MAD*. Incidentally, I am perfectly rational.
“Let’s revise the selection process.”
It was a quiet day. The kingdom’s economy had broken free from years of stagnation and was now growing at a rate that made even the nobility lament, “What was the point of all our past efforts…” In ten years, the Empire would no longer be a threat to Arland. In fifteen, we would possess the national strength to fight against the entire continent.
Overturning numerical inferiority with technological superiority is what I excel at. If we can complete a fleet of armed airships, no nation would dare to attack Arland. And even if they blindly started a war without seeing the facts, we could still win.
That was my arrogance. I thought time would solve everything. I failed to realize—would the enemy simply sit and watch?
It started to get noisy outside the office. Then someone banged on the door in a panic. Not a knock—a pounding. A report so urgent that it disregarded all etiquette.
“What is it? Did a dragon from the Dragon Valley attack? I thought I took care of that a while ago.”
“No, Your Majesty. It’s an emergency.
The Empire has made a move. They are invading with a military force the likes of which we’ve never seen before, aiming to destroy our nation!”
“What! But we just got a report from the Special Service saying there was no activity!”
“That information… The Special Service within the Empire has apparently been wiped out. One agent risked their life to deliver this report. The Empire is gathering all its military might to flood into our homeland.”
“Their entire military force… Damn it, the emperor’s incompetence has exceeded even our worst expectations.”
Thinking logically, if the Empire threw everything they had at Arland, the other allied nations would seize the chance to reclaim their lands. With border troops pulled away, they'd be overrun.
“Father… They’re probably after Alice. Even if their territory gets partially overrun by allies, the Empire doesn’t have the strength to take over the whole continent. They’re likely planning to stall along the borders, blitz Arland, and then crush the allied nations afterward.”
“Me, huh…”
“A report, sir. The Empire’s forces will cross the border in about ten days.”
“There has been no declaration of war from the Empire!”
My father stood up, and with a swing of his arm, the desk shattered. The chains that had been binding his body were all torn apart.
“Those savages… They even forgot the declaration of war?”
“They probably tried to launch a surprise attack… but their force is too large, and they failed to understand it’s impossible to conceal.”
In this world, the primary method of transportation is horse-drawn carriages. There are airships, but they’re scarce. The larger the army, the slower it moves. And the slower they are, the easier it is to detect them, even without the Special Service inside the Empire. Still, it was thanks to the one surviving agent that we found out in time. That early warning is critical—it gives us a chance to respond.
“Mobilize the entire army immediately.”
“Report! A monster stampede has occurred in the northern region. The frontier fort has requested reinforcements… it seems to be the usual pattern.”
“Damn it!”
Stampedes within Arland have significantly decreased in recent years, or at least become smaller in scale. That’s thanks to my father’s domestic pacification policy since my first battle. By reducing the domain of monsters as much as possible, stampedes within the kingdom have been suppressed.
But the frontier fort is a different story. Everything north of there is monster territory.
“A two-front operation… Even if we gather quickly, 150,000 troops would be the limit.”
“That’s the total number. Our front-line combat strength would be around 120,000 at best. It’ll take time to assemble as well.”
Gathering troops from all over the kingdom takes time.
“Let’s deploy the airships. We currently have about 30 large ones.”
My brother suggested deploying airships. Naturally, I agreed. The large ones can carry many troops and are more mobile than the existing mid-sized or smaller airships.
And with the spread of magic cellphones, military mobilization is faster than ever.
“I see. Then I’ll take my personal guard and move ahead to slow the enemy’s advance. Gil, you will command the main force that follows.”
“Understood.”
“I-I’ll go too. The more fighting strength we have, the better.”
The Royal Mage Corps alone is not reliable. They’ve just bulked up and turned into musclebound barbarians. They’ve gotten stronger, yes, but their mana hasn’t increased much. They’ve just job-changed into a mysterious magician group that fights alongside knights on the front lines.
With that, they can’t counter the Empire’s Mage Corps. And right now, we’re missing our greatest asset—Mother. This is the worst-case scenario.
"……… You can’t."
"Arland’s Magic Corps can’t stand against the Empire’s."
"Could you kill someone?"
"... I could."
Father slapped me across the face. I collapsed onto the floor.
"Someone who loses composure over this can’t be taken to the battlefield. And you hesitated for a second, didn’t you? Are you planning to kill your allies!?"
"B-But the Magic Corps without Mother—its fighting power—"
"Even so, anyone who hesitates is useless. Besides, you have your own job to do. I want the unit you’ve been entrusted with to move."
Indeed, I’ve been entrusted with a unit by the Kingdom's army. However...
"It’s impossible to move the experimental unit right away. It’s still a training unit—its level of readiness is a problem, and more importantly, there’s simply not enough ammunition."
Because it's a training unit, most of what’s being produced are training rounds. On top of that, the production facilities are still under construction, so manufacturing of weapons and shells currently depends entirely on me.
Besides, the official deployment isn’t scheduled for another few years. I haven’t prepared for this at all.
"That’s exactly why. Alicetia... this war is one Arland won’t win unless we go all in. We can’t afford to let that unit sit idle. I want you to ramp up production immediately."
"I mean... I can do that.”
If I halt current research and reallocate most of the personnel, it’s possible. But with the facilities in the Treasury alone, it won’t be enough.
That would mean I’d need to expand the production facilities from scratch. Even I would need some time to do that.
"How much time would you need to get the experimental unit moving?"
"If we intensify training and ramp up bullet production... it’ll take at least two months.
B-But if it’s the armed airship, we can deploy it immediately. Its ammunition is produced on a separate line, so supplies are abundant."
The armed airship has already been deemed operational for the most part.
"But it’s only one ship. On their side, they’ve probably got a fleet of more than 200 airships."
"If that’s all, then we’re fine. Ours far outclass theirs in both speed and combat range."
The Empire has apparently succeeded in manufacturing cannons and mounting them on airships, but from the reports I’ve seen, they’re inferior even to culverins. Moreover, being designed for ships and made lightweight, they’re short-barreled with an effective range of only about 150 meters at best. And since they’re just firing iron balls, it would take over 200 shots to even penetrate a barrier. If mana is focused on defense, shooting them down becomes even more difficult.
Their airships are also sailships—slow.
On the other hand, Arland’s armed airship has a main gun with a 25 km effective range and far superior mobility. As long as we keep attacking from a distance to avoid encirclement, we’ll be fine. Even if pursued, they won’t be able to catch us, and thanks to radar, it’s practically impossible for them to intercept us ahead of time.
"I see. Then we’ll leave the skies to the Air Force."
"In two months, the second ship will also be ready for deployment, so our firepower will increase even more."
"Will it be ready for operation?"
"Right now, more than twice the standard crew is training on the first ship, so there’s no problem."
As a result, I’ve been getting complaints that it’s cramped, but the ship is automated. It's originally designed to operate with a minimal crew, so it only *feels* crowded.
"Understood. Also, we’ll likely have to mobilize the Second Army Training Unit. We can move part of it, right?"
"That unit was always meant to become a special forces group, so if we focus ammunition on them, we can move it."
The Second Army Training Unit is an elite force created to eventually serve as special forces. Their training is far beyond that of others, so they’re already at a level where they can be deployed to some extent.
"Deploy them immediately. Evacuate civilians from every village and town along the Empire’s invasion route. The airships that transported the soldiers will then take the civilians to the Royal Capital. The capital won’t fall."
Currently, three city-type mana furnaces are operating in the capital. Thanks to them, the city’s defensive barrier is incredibly strong. In two months, we’ll have all seven furnaces up and running. The seven-layered city barrier won’t break even if it’s hit by the world’s largest nuclear bomb—the one the Soviets made—directly, as designed. There wouldn’t even be radiation exposure within the capital. I’m constructing it with all my power. Even now, it can easily withstand something like an ICBM.
"Understood. I’ll have the Viceroy Workshop requisition storage bags from the Kingdom and transport all supplies. We won’t let the Empire resupply."
We’ll have them enact a sort of scorched-earth policy. The Empire’s probably short on supplies too, anyway.
"Yes. Destroy all the wells as well."
"Poisoning them is... a bit much, though—"
"I wouldn’t go that far! What kind of monster do you take me for!? We’ll just fill them in normally."
That’s a relief.
"Alright, I’m heading out."
Just as Father was about to leave the office, Mother came in and blocked the door.
"Don’t you have something to say before that?"
"I’m not planning to die."
Father frowned slightly at Mother's words.
"All the previous royalty said the same thing... and none of them came back. Are you planning to let what must be passed down die with your generation?"
Father paused, then nodded.
"Very well. You two, gather all the forces you can."
"Yessir!"
The knights left the office.
"Gil, Alicetia... there’s something I must tell you. The truth of this kingdom. If I fall in battle, you two will have to pass it on to future generations. Come with me."
Tilting our heads in confusion, we followed Father and Mother.
What do you think about this chapter?
