The Dairam People Are Now The Enemy

“Luson!”

“What is it?”

“The king’s army has brought out monsters!”

“Monsters? What kind of monsters are you talking about?”

“Biological weapons. They deployed those same kinds of biological weapons that the Magnia Empire is said to use. Right now, the kingdom’s patrol units are moving through the city center, and in front of them are four-legged biological weapons roaming around.”

“Biological weapons?”

For Luson, this was a force he had never anticipated at all. The deployment of such things instead of humans could not help but be deeply concerning. With his keen mind, Luson immediately understood what the enemy’s move meant.

“So they know how to wage psychological warfare…”

“Psychological warfare?”

“They are trying to shake our resolve. Since other things would not work, they are trying to make people lose the will to resist by instilling fear in them.”

“I-is that so? Then what do we do now?”

“We have to kill those biological weapons. The more time passes, the more the hearts of our people will waver.”

“Are you saying we should launch a preemptive strike now?”

At the middle-aged man’s flustered words, Luson spoke as if it were obvious. From the moment today passed, they were bound to fight them anyway, unless they intended to surrender.

“We absolutely cannot begin by yielding. If we can show that even those things called biological weapons can be killed, then the fear people are feeling will rise again into exhilaration.”

“I see. Then we must mobilize the snipers and try it at once!”

“Hurry. Time is not on our side.”

“Understood. Then I will go.”

As he hurried out of the room, Luson could not help but clench his fist. If they started out losing from the very beginning, the fighting spirit they had worked so hard to build in the people could vanish. It was already a fight they were entering at a disadvantage, so that could not be allowed to happen.

‘We will achieve independence without fail. King Ian, I will thoroughly crush your lust for domination!’

Shouting that inwardly, Luson quickly moved to prepare the next plan. The combat force prepared so far numbered roughly 50,000, and they had been deployed throughout the city center. In truth, he was planning a surprise attack before today passed. He intended to strike the command headquarters that had seized the city hall building in one blow.

‘We must seize everything, starting with the city hall building, then the radio station, and then the harbor.’

Of course, that alone would not solve everything, but by doing so they would achieve their first objective. They had to seize the city first for the possibility of independence to even open up. Countless bombs and shells would likely fall upon the city. And that would cause enormous damage.

They would lose much of their foundation. Many Dairam people would probably die. Even knowing that, they had no choice but to do it. Only through such pain would the Dairam people eventually gain the strength to rise again. And through independence, they would be able to build a world of their own.

The grim scene that had begun in the morning did not end even by the afternoon. The march of the Polia Kingdom army, with the biological weapons Beto at the front, looked cautious yet confident.

They had inwardly worried, What if those things suddenly attack us? But after continuing alongside them and clearly realizing that they would not turn on them, they were now moving with them a little more at ease.

“There is fear on the faces of the Dairam people now.”

“Exactly. Before, there were many who glared at us, but now they are so scared they will not even meet our eyes.”

“The effect is really good. Well, with things like those leading the way, who would not be afraid?”

“They feel really dependable. Better than a dog that only wags its tail.”

“That’s right. Their looks are a bit like that, but they obey even better than dogs.”

Three Betos were moving ahead together with ten scouts, constantly sweeping the surroundings. That action alone could not help but instill fear in ordinary people. Before long, they entered an intersection, and just as they were about to turn right, bang! a gunshot rang out.

“Ambush!”

“Take cover!”

“Where is it?!”

The soldiers aimed their gun barrels in all directions as they looked around, their eyes filled with vigilance. At the same time, they were seeking cover and hiding themselves. This was, in effect, a reconnaissance mission with high risk, and since they had inwardly known such a thing might happen, they did not descend into chaos.

“How are the Betos?”

“T-they’re fine.”

“Ah, right. We were told bullets aren’t enough to pierce their bodies.”

Just as that exchange suggested, they could see a Beto that had flinched after being struck by a bullet fired from a sniper rifle, but had immediately begun moving again and scanning in all directions. Nodding at that sight, the squad leader at once issued an order to the Betos.

“Find the one who attacked!”

Because the squad leader had already been given command authority in advance, the Betos immediately began moving as if running in response to that shout. As though they knew exactly where the bullet had come from, they ran—and then leaped toward a wall.

They sprang up two meters as if jumping outright, then drove their claws into the wall and began climbing it. All three showed the same movement, scaling the wall, and the soldiers could only stare blankly upward. They had thought, when told to find the attacker, that they would search somehow—but they had not expected them to be able to climb walls like that.

They could not be said to be extremely fast, but the sight of them climbing a wall itself was shocking. Soon the Betos climbed to the second, third, and fourth floors, and the moment they reached the window level, crash! they shattered the glass and went inside. Soon after, bang! bang! gunshots were heard from within.

“There! Let’s go!”

Tap-tap-tap-tap!

The soldiers who had been hiding behind cover hurriedly began running. They rushed toward the building entrance, but it was closed. Two of them then slammed into the door with their shoulders at the same time—bang!—forcing it open, and once inside, they searched for the stairs. As soon as they saw the staircase leading to the second floor, they began going up through it.

Even as they rushed forward in a mass, they did not let their guard down, and before long they were able to reach the fourth floor. Into their ears came shouts of “Aaaagh!” and “Get away from me!”

“Get away from me!”

“Die!”

Bang! Bang! Bang! With the gunshots sounding again, the soldiers exchanged hand signals with each other and at once approached the door that was the source of the sound. Pressed flat against the wall, they then simultaneously swung their booted feet and kicked the door. Bang! With that sound, the door flew open.

What came into their view were Betos inside a somewhat spacious living room, surrounding two men. Seeing the soldiers enter, the men hurriedly tried to turn their gun barrels toward them. At that moment, one of the Betos lunged and bit into an arm. The man whose arm had been seized by those sharp teeth let out a scream.

“Kyaaaah!? Let go! Let go, I said!”

He tried to struggle, but the difference in strength was too great, and he could only be dragged down and thrown to the floor. Though it was only the size of a dog, the difference in strength was considerable. In truth, the order they had received had only been to find the attackers, so they had merely remained on guard and had not attacked—but the moment the men showed that they were attacking allies, it bit down on the arm like this.

Blood sprayed from the arm, and the room could not help but fill with screams. At that sight, the squad leader hurriedly made the Beto release him, then immediately arrested all those who had fired the sniper rifles. With the subdued attackers secured, their firearms were confiscated and they were immediately taken away under guard.

By openly displaying such a scene, they showed the people even more of the majesty of the biological weapon Beto. Before long, they returned to base, where they were soon given an opportunity to be photographed by press photographers.

Before long, those images and stories would surely be revealed to the entire world, and that would in turn become the occasion that announced to the whole world that the Polia Kingdom possessed biological weapons.

Meanwhile, in such circumstances, time continued to pass, and finally this day, April 20, was passing as well. The clock moved ceaselessly, and the moment it pointed to 11:59 p.m., the Polia Kingdom army assumed combat positions.

In the end, there was no surrender from the Dairam people, and amid that situation April 21 arrived. The time King Ian had set for urging surrender had completely passed. With that, the Polia Kingdom entered a full wartime footing, and this marked the moment when indiscriminate attacks on the Dairam people would begin.

The Dairam people are now the enemy. Attack the enemy!

It was the king’s order given to all military forces, and at that moment large numbers of bomb-loaded aircraft rose from the aircraft carriers at sea and immediately flew toward Dallon, the main city. At the same time, the gun barrels of the nearby battleships, cruisers, and destroyers were likewise turning toward the city center.

Though this was the moment when bombardment was being directed at the land of the Polia Kingdom itself, there was not the slightest hesitation in the soldiers’ actions. Before long, bombs fell upon the city center where 500,000 people had lived. Of course, they were dropping bombs only on areas where enemies were concentrated, not where friendly forces were stationed.

Boom-boom-boom! Boom! Boom! Boom-boom-boom!

After the continuous explosions, what followed was bombardment from the sea. In particular, naval bombardment from the modified triple-gun turrets made it possible to pour down far stronger and heavier rainstorms of shells than before.

The attack could only be one-sided. To begin with, those people, who had no proper foundation at all, possessed no weapons with which they could target aircraft or warships. But they moved their hastily assembled improvised army all at once.

Their target was the key zones occupied by the Polia Kingdom army. The most concentrated assault was directed at the city hall building, where the occupation command headquarters was located. No fewer than 30,000 troops began to descend upon that place all at once. In response, the Polia Kingdom army, having established defensive positions, began pouring machine-gun fire upon them.

Dududududududu—!

From the deployed Mag Heavy Machine Guns, 13.1 mm rounds poured out indiscriminately, cutting down the approaching Dairam people. Since defense was easier than attack, and dozens of heavy machine guns were pouring overlapping fire upon them, they could only be overwhelmed.

As blood burst continuously from the bodies of those pushing in along the main roads and they fell dead, what flew toward them were small shells fired from mortars. Boom-boom-boom! As they exploded, many bodies were blown apart and sent flying.

Sending tens of thousands charging in recklessly did not mean victory was guaranteed. Those stationed here were veterans who had been suppressing colonial rebels since last year, and they knew very well how to stop enemy charges effectively.

Waaaaaaah—!

“Charge! We have to seize city hall!”

“No matter what, we must capture city hall before dawn!”

“Go!”

They all ran forward to seize city hall, but what greeted them could only be the bullets pouring from the machine guns. The mortar shells also kept shaking up their rear lines. On top of that, the actions of soldiers firing rifles while hiding behind cover were also obstructing their advance.

They had charged in with great momentum, but what kept piling up on the ground were the corpses of Dairam people. No matter how strong their desire for independence was, and how deep their devotion to their people, they had never truly experienced war nor ever properly raised a systematic army, so they could only be defeated.

Thought and reality were different, and step by step their momentum had no choice but to fade. From the very beginning, this result had been inevitable. Naturally, Luson’s plan had been doomed to go wrong from the moment it began.

A few days later.

Inside the imperial palace in Noa, the capital of the Magnia Empire.

“So in the end, the Polia Kingdom has created biological weapons as well.”

“It appears so.”

Their gaze was fixed on a newspaper published in the Polia Kingdom. It had been brought directly by airship, and in it was an image of beast-like biological weapons standing proudly beside soldiers. Emperor Jedic’s eyes, as he looked at it, could not help but hold suspicion.

“So they are beast-shaped biological weapons.”

“Yes. I understand that our side was already researching that field as well. Their mobility and aggression may be good, but I was told they are not very good in terms of versatility.”

“Lacen, in your judgment, do you think their biological weapon technology is ahead of ours?”

“How could that be? We developed and completed ours far earlier.”

“And yet, why is it that their technology seems more advanced to me? Do you see that? Even with humans standing beside them, they remain perfectly still without any aggression.”

At those words, Lacen finally understood what the emperor meant. That was right. The biological weapons, which under any circumstances refused to obey control, were sitting calmly beside the Polia Kingdom soldiers like docile dogs. If one knew the truth about biological weapons, that should have been impossible.

“Perhaps they have discovered a way to control them. Or no—perhaps they already have.”

“That does seem to be the case. I am curious what method they are using.”

“Is there no way to steal that technology?”

“They say there is still no way to infiltrate the Zaila Research Institute complex on the outskirts of their capital. They say that once anyone enters, they are caught as though by ghosts. There is likely something being researched in secret inside the institute.”

“Hmm. I hate to admit it, but I cannot help feeling that this is something we should observe and learn from.”

They hated to admit it, but they had no choice but to admit that the Polia Kingdom’s security, at least in that regard, was airtight. At the same time, he could not help but let out a sigh over the still stagnant state of their war. Reading that mood, Lacen spoke.

“Shall I step in?”

“If you were to step in, you would surely be able to create a new situation. But since we still do not fully understand them, the risk is too great, and I cannot send you.”

“Understood. Until the moment Your Majesty requires me, I shall remain here in the imperial palace and guard Your Majesty.”

Hearing Lacen’s words, Emperor Jedic felt reassured.