CHAPTER 12: THE DISCOVERY OF THE EASTERN CONTINENT

The day after Eryutheia and the holy maiden Roshana had concluded their meeting in Fugaku and were about to return to their home country. 

There was a single warship sailing 4,000 kilometers east of the Manchurian Continent. That ship is the protected cruiser Chiyoda of the Yamato Imperial Navy. It is the second ship of the Izumi-class of protected cruisers. 

On the bridge, in the captain’s seat, a tanned, well-built man who was truly a man of the sea was hatefully clutching a telegram that had just arrived. 

“Oh, Captain. You seemed to be in a bad mood” 

“Read this, and you’ll see why” 

With that, the captain― Samejima tossed the crumpled telegram to the first officer right behind him. 

You idiot, don’t clench an important telegram… with this in mind, the first officer unfolded the paper and checked its contents. 

“Now then… let’s see, ‘Protected cruiser Izumi discovers ship carrying people from another world’ Isn’t that great news?” 

“What’s so great about it? don’t you get it? it’s Izumi, which means he’s done it again! not me, but that Wakabayashi!” 

Goddamn it! Samejima shouts in frustration. 

Incidentally, Wakabayashi is the captain of the cruiser Izumi and this man Samejima’s old classmate, rival, and more importantly, a childhood friend who lives next door. 

“It always goes like this. All the way from kindergarten until I graduated from the Naval Academy, he was always the top student and I was the eternal second! He was the first to win a naval battle, too! The merit of discovering a new continent was also taken away first. And on top of that, he’s also the first person to make contact with people from another world!” 

“Hahaa…” 

I don’t care what the usual is. “Come to think of it, this guy lost his first love to Wakabayashi, too” I secretly thought to myself. 

“I bet right now he’s playing it cool, saying he was just doing his duty as a soldier, or that he got lucky. He’s a scruffy little prick who pretends to be an elite soldier!” 

“Uh, really? So why don’t you make a war achievement so that the captain can be cool too? you see, according to information from otherworlders, there is a continent to the west. I’ll rearrange it now and…” 

“You Dumbass! If we find that western continent now, we’ll never catch up with Wakabayashi! even a kid can run errands to find something he knows is there!” 

Samejima let out a snort.

Ah, yes yes, I see what you mean, said the first officer, who was also in a sort of resigned mood. 

“You want to find a new continent with no information at all?” 

“That’s what I just say. Otherwise, I’ll never be able to beat him, Wakabayashi.” 

“But there are limits to what can be done in the East. Let’s us pull the coal tanker…” 

That’s exactly what I said. However, Samejima doesn’t care. 

Then, for a while, he thought about how to win against my eternal rival, who he was one-sidedly viewed as a rival, and the excuse of forcibly bringing in a coal carrier to increase the cruising range of the ship. 

“First officer, did you hear that? It is said that the Manchuria continent has a large amount of natural rubber and other resources. If we can develop that one continent, at least our country will not have a problem with resources. That means he found the Empire’s lifeline” 

“Yeah, I guess so. It’s a major discovery that could determine the very survival of our nation” 

“However, so far we have not made any major discoveries about the people of the other world on the one hand. According to the telegram, that country of the otherworlders has been destroyed.” 

“We can’t trade with a country that has been destroyed, so I’m not talking about saving our country immediately. Well, I guess we just found out that there is a continent to the west of our country and that there are humans in this world? Still, it’s enough of a discovery” 

The captain nods in agreement 

No matter how many times I think about it, I am certain that Izumi and his rival Wakabayashi’s war results are nothing short of spectacular. 

And I don’t know how many times I’ve come to the exact same conclusion. 

“I’m just saying you can’t make half-baked discoveries to win against a guy like that. So we need to make discoveries that will greatly affect the survival of our country. Just finding new continents is still not enough” 

“We need to find a nation friendly to our country that will trade and sell us food in this other world. Then shouldn’t we be selling oil on these remote eastern waters?” 

“However, it seems that the western continent where the current existence is clear, is ruled by a different race called Elves. Now, how friendly can our country be with them?” 

“Not so friendly, you say, Captain.” 

“It’s obvious. Even humans don’t get along in this world, and we can’t possibly get along with such incomprehensible creatures!” 

Humanity is a creature that fights over relatively unimportant things, such as different skin colors or different religions, even among the same people. 

When you are dealing with elves and humans, two fundamentally different creatures, …the result is obvious. 

That said… 

“It is inevitable that the only way forward is in the East. The Manchuria continent is already to the south, the Elven continent for example to the west, and it’s just too cold to continue north. Yes, justification complete, that’s why we were forced to pull the coal tanker” 

“Please write your own report when you get back home. Unfortunately, I have a mountain of paperwork to write as well. Mostly, though, it’s about the captain.” 

Making a gap of about 3cm with my finger, I think it’s about this thick. He is a totally troublesome captain. 

“Hmph, You make it sound like I’m a bad soldier. I am still an exemplary soldier who’s been successful in battle and obedient to orders, you know?”

“Isn’t it a big problem that you don’t care about the means to carry out orders? And during the final war, you launched a massive assault on an enemy ship…” 

“I didn’t have a choice. After all, the other ship is a 10,000-ton class armored cruiser, much bigger than my Chiyoda, remember? can you win the artillery battle?”

“Even when Captain Wakabayashi fought an enemy ship of a similar size, he didn’t run from it and sank it with torpedoes. Also, this is not your ship, but the Führer’s.” 

“Shut up, I know. I mean, even my torpedo was hit. It just misfired.” 

“Yes, yes.” 

What a pain in the butt, this old man. He thought, and then, speaking of which, the first officer breaks off the conversation. 

“I didn’t come here to ask you this stupid question.” 

“Oh, that’s right. So, what brings you to me?” 

In response to Captain Samejima’s question, the first officer points forward at the ocean with his finger. 

And there… there was a continent. The continent was just barely visible. 

The first officer then points directly to the starboard side of the ocean. 

There was a boat. A medieval sailboat. Just like the ship on which the Saint of the Celestial Kingdom was aboard. 

The captain makes a surprised face. 

“Whoa, what the heck! why didn’t you say anything! that’s what we were talking about, right? how many times have we had the timing to say, if it’s a new continent, it’s there? I mean, why didn’t I see that!” 

“Because you talk like an idiot with your silly face on”

“Don’t be a smart ass and get on with it. You’re a military man, you need to understand priorities! It’s called asparagus!” 

Samejima said, “Shouldn’t it be spinach?” He completely ignored the first officer’s correction. 

With a bam, he rises vigorously and gets so close that his nose is stuck to the glass of the bridge. Then, we seriously observed the ship. 

“Okay, no matter how you look at it, it’s a medieval clunker of a ship. That’s not even a threat. I’m sending an inspection team to that ship! prepare the launch boat, follow me!” 

Captain Samejima leaves the bridge in a hurry. 

The first officer wondered, “I wonder what this old man would do if he was equipped with a strange magic weapon” but he had a strange sense of trust, saying, “Well, I doubt that old man would die anyway”