Volume 4 Chapter 4 Part4 (1/2)

Translator

Corner

Minasan oideyasu. This is Yukkuri demasu!

DISCLAIMER: There is no

guarantee that my translation is 100% correct. Please correct me if I was

wrong.

Author:

Dozeumaru(どぜう丸)

Translator:

Yukkuri Oniisan

Editor:

So-Chintzy

Enlightenment Arc

Chapter 4 FDF D

「He-hey!

There are people falling down!」(Castor)

Castor shouted in a fl.u.s.tered

manner…… For those who “didn’t know”, this would be a natural reaction.

「They’ll

be fine. Please look at that.」(Souma)

As I said this, a round parachute

bloomed open from the backs of the falling people in the air almost

simultaneusly. Perhaps, they had already experienced this many times. Hal’s

group was opening their parachutes without panicking. When seen from the ground,

they looked like a firework display. Although…… If the parachutes disappeared

like fireworks, Hal and the others will be heads over heels, in a literal sense.

When he saw that the falling soldiers were visibly slowing down, Castor was

stunned.

「What……

what is that thing?」(Castor)

「Do

you mean the equipment? Or the soldiers?」(Souma)

「…… Both

of them.」(Castor)

「The

equipment is called a parachute. When it is deployed, it will reduce the

falling speed so it is possible to land safely. It was something that was

created after I had explained 『this kind of thing』 to the R&D Department. As for the soldiers….. They

are Flying Dragon-dropped paratroopers, abbreviated as Dratroopers.」(Souma)

「Dratroopers?」(Castor)

「It

is a branch of the army where the soldiers are dropped from the sky to conduct

surprise attacks on the enemies, to cause disturbances on the enemy’s rear

lines, or to capture positions. Even though, originally it was a type of military

branch that was first created by using aircrafts, this world had wyverns

instead, so I judged that there was already a suitable framework to develop and

organize it.」(Souma)

When I thought about whether it was

possible to introduce military organization of my previous world to this world,

the first thing that crossed my mind was using paratroopers. These soldiers, especially

the Fallschirmjager in Germany, had been employed since World War 2. Their main

function was just like what I had mentioned: surprise attacks, disturbances, and

securing positions. Its members were often muscular macho men, I could name

novel characters from j.a.pan’s 1st Airborne Brigade and there were many

anecdotes about them (example: they could cut 2mm wire barehanded).

Early airborne soldiers had their

equipment dropped in containers, so it seemed that if they dropped at a

position away from the containers, they ended up had to fight only with handguns.

Because this world is a world of swords and magic, if they could bring the weapons

that were they specialized in, then they could enter into battle immediately. In

case of Hal, as long as he had one spear, then he could do a Musou on the enemy lines when he landed.[1]

The parachutes themselves could be strengthened with support magic. So from this

point of view, this army branch was compatible with this world. However, Castor

tilted his head.

「Even

though they were dropped from Wyverns, why are they called Dratroopers?」(Castor)

「I-it

sounds better, right?! Dratrooper is way cooler than Wyvtrooper.」[2](Souma)

「……

Ah, that’s true.」(Castor)

Well, sounding cool is important.

Since they could also even be dropped by actual dragons, too.

「Leaving

that aside…… There is another purpose for organizing these Dratroopers.」(Souma)

「? There

is still another thing?」(Castor)

「You

will understand when you see it…… Kaede-chan.」(Souma)

「Yes nanodesu.」 (Kaede)

In the LN parallel world Kaede's line is: ATTACK! nanodesu

When I gave the signal, Kaede raised

her right hand and the anti-air ballista located in the center of the chalk double-circle

immediately shot its arrows. The arrows, that were enhanced with magic to

increase their range and accuracy, flew toward Hal and the others. Just in case,

the arrow tips were not sharp headed, but instead were b.a.l.l.s wrapped in cloth.

However, with the momentum at that speed, if they hit, it will be painful no

matter what.

「D’d

d.a.m.n it, oraaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!」(Halberd)

Then, Hal yelled out an unintelligible

roar, as he began to strike down the arrow flying towards him with the spear in

his hand. The others also cut the rain of arrows with their swords, blocked it

with big s.h.i.+elds, or parried them with bucklers. As soon as they approached the

ground, Hal clad the spear in his hand with flames…… or not, he launched the spear

at the anti-air ballista instead.

Blam!

The spear pierced the

anti-aircraft ballista. If Hal had clad the spear with flames, the pierced anti-air

ballista would be completely silenced. In other words…… This was the end of

training.

「Good.」(Souma)

With my signal, the anti-air ballista

stopped. Inside the double circle, Hal and the other Dratroopers landed one

after another. I explained to Castor who was observing that scene.

「This

is the other purpose, to serve as anti-air ballista killers.」(Souma)

The anti-air ballista was developed

to oppose the powerful air force elements, such as Wyvern Knights, Griffons, and

Dragon Knights. The repeating crossbows that had their range and homing ability

greatly increased with support magic was the natural enemy of air force units like

the Wyvern Knights. Due to this, the air force units couldn’t just perform

bombardments on a city. If the air force wants to bombard a city, it was first

necessary to destroy the anti-air ballistas installed on top of the walls.

In order to perform this, it was

necessary to conduct a siege with the army or other ground forces. Only after

the army had controlled the walls or destroyed the anti-air ballista with siege

weapons, then the air force could finally perform the decisive bombardment of the

city…… However, if the city fell into a situation where it could be bombarded,

the defender had already been ”checkmated”, so they would likely immediately

surrender if the airstrike possibility became apparent. Hence in a siege

battle, the air force's role was mostly to defeat the opponent's own air units so

they wouldn’t attack the ground army.

Then, I thought to myself: If

there was a simpler means to attack the anti-air ballistas, wouldn’t it be

possible to deploy the air force units more quickly and then promptly finish the

battle?

「So

what I organized was this, the Flying Dragon-dropped paratroopers. I believe that

you could understand this just by looking at Hal’s performance, as elite

soldiers will be able to strike off the arrows that flew towards them. While

fending off the arrow rain, they descend down near the anti-air ballista and render

them useless.」(Souma)

「Tsk…… Don’t

say it like it’s such a simple thing……」(Halberd)

The tired-faced Hal, joined us

while panting for air. It seemed that the training was extremely difficult, and

even thought we were still in the Second Month of the year[3],

he was drenched in sweat. He had detached his parachute, and perhaps because he

felt hot, he only wore wear a tank top.

「Geez,

I’ve had enough of falling from the sky over and over again.」(Halberd)

「More

or less, we are properly taking your safety into the consideration, you know.

In case the parachute doesn’t open when reaching the critical alt.i.tude, the Wyvern

Knight will retrieve you.」(Souma)

「That’s

not the problem! Falling from the sky is freaking scary! The wind even roars in

my ears! It's too d.a.m.n fast!」(Halberd)

「Yup.

I absolutely don’t want to experience it.」(Souma)

「Oi!?」(Halberd)

Hal and I cracked jokes like this

and then Castor gave me a question.

「But,

in order to drop the Dratroopers, there is a need to break the opponent's air

force beforehand, right? If the Wyvern Knights also hold the Dratroopers, then

won’t they be unable to fight properly?」(Castor)

……. As expected from the Air

Force Marshall. That was a good point he brought up.

「That's

why we strengthened our wyvern’s flight capabilities with 『Susumu-kun