CHAPTER 10: THE FÜHRER AND THE HOLY MAIDEN PART 1

Let’s go back in time to just a short time before Eryutheia received the urgent report.

Offshore off the New Continent.

On the sea, with no land in sight, a wooden ship was floating there.

The small ship, with a displacement of about 100 tons, is the kind of ship that was used for trading in medieval Europe before the Age of Discovery.

“Saint-sama, this is the farthest we can go. This ship can’t sail anymore”

“Gramps, are you giving up already! not yet, the mast just snapped off!”

On the deck of that ship, a woman called a saint and an old man were looking at the ship’s mast… No, more precisely, they were staring at the place where the mast had existed.
The mast was broken off from the base. It was obvious to everyone that it had lost its functionality, as there was nothing left but wreckage.

“I never thought we’d be unlucky enough to meet a storm here”

“Sage-sama, Saint-sama. It’s been nearly three weeks since we left port. There’s no more food…”

Saints, Sage, and the guards who protect them. Everyone stood there with exhausted looks on their faces.

For about three weeks, they had been pushing through these waters for that long.

Their objective was to escape the elves who had taken over the continent.

Originally their ships were designed for small coastal navigation, long-duration ocean voyages are next to impossible due to the performance of the vessels.

The hull creaks violently when subjected to large waves due to its lack of strength, and it is too small to accommodate the limited sleeping quarters and the meager amount of food that can be carried on board.

If the sea gets a little rough, it wouldn’t be strange for it to capsize. It is that kind of ship.

But they had no choice but to do it.
　
The only way to escape from the elves’ clutches was to leave the continent and continue onward through the sea.

“Damn it… our lives that the king risked his life to escape, in a place like this…”

But, as expected, you will pay the price if you overdo it.

They are located near the equator. It is an area where sudden monsoons are frequent.

If you sail through such a place, it is inevitable that you will be swallowed by the storm.

Their ship, which was not capable of withstanding the storm, was heavily damaged and unable to sail. Far out at sea from their homeland, unable to move forward or backward, they have become nothing more than an entity waiting to run out of what little food they have.

It is the end of the road now.

At that moment, I was ready to say that this is the place where I would die.

“…Please wait, Saint-sama, Sage-sama. It’s a ship, look over there!”

One of the guards points to the sea.

Beyond the horizon, there was indeed a ship there. For them in a predicament, it is the most fortuitous thing that could happen to them.

However…

“It’s definitely a ship!” but there are no masts. They may be in distress just like us”

“Yes, it’s even blowing black smoke. Could it be a fire?”

That ship was too bizarre for them.

It has no masts for sails, and moreover, it exhales black smoke high into the sky.
At first glance, it looks like a wrecked ship that has lost its mast and even caught fire.

They are even in worse shape than the situation the saints are in.

However, a closer look reveals that this is not the case. Because that ship is coming straight towards the ship the saints are on.

Despite the lack of masts, it has not lost its sailing capabilities.

Fear and bewilderment, with a little hint of hope.

As the saints were looking at the ship with mixed emotions, the strange ship─ the protected cruiser “Izumi” of the Yamato Empire came right up to the side of the saints’ ship.

“What the hell is that ship… the hull is made of iron. The fact that it goes without sails makes it seem like a piece of advanced magical technology that we don’t know about”

“Advanced magical technology, superior to the technology of our nemesis Elfusia…?”

A 3,300-ton steel hull that is much larger than the 100-ton ship that the saint board. The saints muttered while looking up at it.

Elfusia, officially known as the “Holy Republic of Elfusia”.

A demonic nation of elves possessing powerful magical technology. But even they could not build a ship like this.
If the existence that possesses this ship is more technologically advanced than the elves, maybe they can defeat those elves.
　
But we can’t rest easy yet. I can’t even imagine what kind of people are on this ship.

What if it was the elf race that created this?

Humans may find themselves in even more perilous situations. Even just now, we are technologically inferior to the elves, and if we are even provided with such a huge ship of steel…

Anxiety that I might have found is something more terrifying. However, her worries were unfounded.

There were no long ears in the tribe busily running around on the deck of that steel ship. They are not elves, they are humans.

“This is the Yamato Imperial Navy, protected cruiser “Izumi”. Attention unknown ship, please answer the affiliation of your ship. I repeat, this is Yamato Imperial Navy …”

Warning using a loudspeaker.

The saints raised their hands and called for help. This was the first moment of encounter between the Yamato Empire and the people of this world.

Yamato Calendar 7 April, Year 304

In about a week, it will be a month since we transferred to this world.

So far, little has been found to solve the problem on the mainland.

The current problems in our country are food and market problems. We have to import food from somewhere and sell industrial products to that somewhere.

If this problem is not solved, our country will suffer from poverty in the near future.

In my home country, I have been using the mass media to control information and tell the people, “There is no such thing as an otherworldly transition! Long live the Imperial Army!” I’m trying to make them think like that, but there are limits to that.

For the time being, we are starting to develop the Manchurian continent, but when will it be completed? Just because a continent is found doesn’t mean the problem is immediately solved.

But finally, you know?
　
That problem is about to be solved!
　
　New continent― as soon as I landed, I said, “This shall be our Manchukuo State!” This continent was named the “Manchuria Continent” because of this.

The protected cruiser Izumi, which was scouting the area, discovered something interesting.

Survey base in Manchuria Continent― known as “Shinkyo”. Well, I gave it a fancy name, but it refers to the landing site and its surroundings.

It was built around a nice inlet on the northern coast of the Manchurian Continent, and this “interesting thing”─ a mysterious wooden ship came to the site, being towed by Izumi.

“Aaahh… It is also a very old-fashioned ship. What do you think, Eryu-san?”

“Yeah, technologically speaking, I’d say it’s about the middle ages? It doesn’t seem to be a threat to our fleet”

The bow deck of the Führer’s personal ship “Fugaku”.

There, I and Ayame-san observe a rumored wooden ship towed by the cruiser “Izumi”.

Wooden, sailing, about 100 tons in size? It is not equipped with any armaments.

I think it is close in design to what is called a cog ship.
　
Perhaps it had been hit by a storm, the single mast was snapped off at the base, and the ship itself was in tatters.

It’s completely inoperable.

But I’m relatively uninterested in this ship.

What matters is the people on this ship.

I don’t know where they are from, but depending on their story, they may be able to solve all of our country’s problems.

And so the location has changed, the Führer’s office in “Fugaku”. I am seated at the magnificent desk in the office, with Ayame-san waiting behind me.

What are we waiting for? Of course, it is the crew of the ship in question. I ordered Imperial Guard to bring a representative.

　……A few minutes of waiting.

A knock sounded twice on the door.

“Your Excellency, the representative is here to see you”

From behind the door, the voice of a guard. “Yes, come in, please,” I tell them.

And the door is opened.

She came in, flanked on both sides by Imperial Guard… She is a big-breasted woman wearing white clothes that religious people might wear.

She has long blonde hair and slightly lecherous-looking droopy eyes.

“My name is Roshana, and I am the Saint of the Celestial Kingdom. Thank you so much for helping us in our distress”

And when the big-breasted lady entered the office, she introduced herself like this and bowed deeply. She may be very nervous, and her movements appear tense.

Eh, you are a saint?

Here comes another person with a fantasy role. It’s a little, unexpected. Now, how do we deal with this?

=====

A little supplementary explanation that probably won’t be mentioned in the main story

“Different World Technology” Edition
　
There is still no such thing as a compass in this world, and the technology for navigating the open seas does not exist at this time. In other words, they are basically incapable of leaving the continent they are on.
As such, there was naturally no intercontinental trade, and moreover, there was no country that could attack the Yamato mainland in the middle of the ocean.

It was completely by luck that the saints left their own continent and were picked up by the Imperial Navy near the Manchurian continent.