CH 20

The port town Ie Catvania. Right in front of its main gate. 

Standing there, Ieneko Chief Decacat XII was convinced that his plan was working. 

“Bunyaah! Any closer and I’ll kill all the half-humans!” 

He was the only one to step out from the city walls to confront the Yamato Imperial Army with a young girl― Miike as a hostage. 

Miike is an animal-eared race that the Beastkin call ‘Half-human’ and the Humans of this world call them ‘Half-beastkin’. Her appearance is almost human, with the only differences being her cat ears and tails. 

The Yamato Imperial Army, wondering what to do in the face of the human-looking hostages, decided to observe the situation for a while. 

At this moment, a rather strange situation was created by an old cat beastkin who stood in front of an army of 10,000 equipped with modern weapons. 

“Fuhyahya! Humans! Look how helpless you are in front of a hostage!” 

“N-noo… Let me go…” 

Miike weakly resists with teary eyes. 

He said to her, “Shut up! You lowlife!” As he beats her to silence, Decacat XII confident of his victory, he laughs loudly. 

I thought they were just fucking useless half-human slaves, but they were surprisingly useful when you put them out and hold them hostage. 

I laughed and smirked at the idea of using a filthy human-looking creature. 

“Uuooo! Follow the Chief! We’ll take the slaves hostage, too!” 

Then, as if following the Decacat XII, the Beastkins jump out from within the walls of the city. Naturally, they took hostages of the Half-beastkin who were slaves. 

About a hundred people or so? 

They gather Half-beastkins slaves from all over the city, and the Beastkins stand in line at the front of the city, holding them hostage. It’s just like a barricade incident. 

“Fucking Humans! If you move even slightly, this half-human will be dead!” 

“Hyahaha! Get out of the Beastkins territory!” 

The Beastkins were shouting in unison. 

The moment the hostages were taken, the Yamato Imperial Army armed with modern weapons stopped their offensive. When the Beastkins saw this, they believed that this was the best way for them to survive. 

But for the Yamato Empire, it is detrimental to be thought of that way. 

That is why Eryutheia ordered all the units under her command to commence a heavy barrage of fire. 

To teach them with blood and iron that taking ‘hostage’ is not the best option for them. 

“1200… All right, it’s time. Listen, this is an order from our Führer, there is no need for mercy. The target is the enemy city, main gun, commence firing.” 

“Target enemy city, distance 6,200, begin firing.” 

Approximately 6 km off the coast of Ie Catvania. 

The six battleships of the Imperial Navy, the 1st and 2nd Fleet anchored there point their main guns at Ie Catvania. 

2 D-class battleships and 4 pre-D-class battleships. 

A total of 32 31-centimeter cannons open fire one after another. 

Moreover, that’s not all. 6 armored cruisers, 2 protected cruisers, and 8 destroyers also belonging to the fleet fired all of their guns into Ie Catvania. 

“Well, didn’t I told you first officer. If you persevere, you can fight under the Führer’s banner.” 

“Haa… However, I am somewhat dissatisfied with the city bombardment. After all, our Navy’s primary mission is to destroy the enemy fleet…” 

“You idiot, you can’t have a naval battle without an enemy fleet. Besides, city bombardment wasn’t bad either. Doesn’t it sound cool when you say ‘strategic attack’?” 

“No, not at all.” 

On the bridge of the protected cruiser Chiyoda, one of the ships participating in the bombardment, Captain Samejima is talking nonsense with his First Officer… 

Well, that has nothing to do with this battle. 

Incidentally, the Yamato Imperial Navy has a principle of ardent fleet engagement. 

The Navy wasn’t the only one that conducted the bombardment. 

“Don’t lose to the Navy! Show them what the Army is made of! All regiment’s artillery, rapid fire!” 

“A rapid-fire, sir? B-but, regimental commander! Then the accuracy will be…” 

“Just hit it somewhere in the city, don’t worry about a slight drop in accuracy!” 

Artillery positions near Ie Catvania. 

There, an artillery regiment belonging to the 1st Marine Division was about to open fire. 

Twenty-four 75mm field guns and twelve 105mm light-weight howitzers. A total of 36 cannons are pointed at Ie Catvania. 

Additionally… 

“It’s called the Manchuria Continental Dispatch, and these days only Marine Divisions are active.” 

“Now, we have to show that we, the General Division, are capable of fighting.” 

Alongside the 1st Marine Division, a unit dedicated to assault landings, was another division, the Army’s 3rd Division, also deployed for the Ieneko Island capture campaign. 

They didn’t have much of a special feature to show off as a general division, but they were about to fire a rapid-fire salvo with 32 artillery regiments under the command of the division. 

By the way, ‘rapid fire’ is in a unit of artillery firing speed. 

It means firing one shot every ten seconds, or about six or seven shots per minute per gun. 

It is almost at the limit of the cannon performance, moreover, the recoil of the continuous fire greatly reduces its accuracy. 

However, since the target this time is a city, it does not seem to be a problem. 

Army, and Navy. 

The main and secondary guns of warships. 

Division artillery, Regimental artillery, and Battalion artillery. 

Nearly 200 cannons, both large and small, were aimed at Ie Catvania… 

Then, at 1200 hours, as ordered by the Führer, they all started bombarding the city at once. 

The number of rounds fired by the Army alone is about 600 per minute and then add to this the Navy bombardment. 

In total, nearly 1,000 shells from the army and navy were fired in just one minute into Ie Catvania, a small town of only about 1,000 inhabitants. 

Ie Catvania is not an unprotected city. As in a fantasy world, it is a small but fortified city with walls. 

However, the medieval level of city walls would be of no use in the face of this massive bombardment from the main guns of the battleship. 

The 31-centimeter shells that penetrate even the thickest battleship armor can shatter any building when hit, while the army’s field artillery shells rain down steel in shrapnel. 

“Fu, funyaa! W-what in the world is this, what kind of great magic is this nyaa!” 

“H-help me! The house broke down! My wife was buried alive!” 

“My arms… My arm is missing… where is it?” 

“Run for it!  We have to run!” 

The screams of those trapped under collapsed buildings echoed through the city, the lamentations of those whose arms were blown off by fragments of shrapnel. 

In just one minute from the start of the bombardment, every structure in the city was destroyed, turning the interior of Ie Catvania into a screaming inferno. 

“Bu…  Bunyaa! W-what the hell! What’s going on! What is this!” 

In an instant, the city was obliterated. Decacat XII eyes widened in disbelief at the onslaught of artillery fire that could have been described as such. 

In a fantasy world where not even gunpowder exists yet. 

They don’t understand the concept of ‘bombardment’. They don’t even know that such an attack exists. 

But still, they understood that this was an attack devastating enough to exterminate them. 

This is what a soldier who fought in World War I once said. 

“The pride of a soldier is blown away before the hell of the battlefield.” 

Modern warfare boasts an overwhelming amount of iron. 

The fierce onslaught of heavy artillery fire, slammed the possibility of ‘extinction’ into the minds of the Beastkin and shattered their pride that they were Beastkin and a superior race to Humans. 

And in an instant, it made them understand the current situation. 

They have no means to resist themselves. The hostages are completely meaningless. 

A single 31-centimeter shell hits the walls of Ie Catvania. 

The pride of Ie Catvania is its thick and sturdy walls for a rural town, which have easily repelled the attacks of goblins and other monsters. 

It was blown away completely at the same time the shell exploded. 

A sense of impending death that cannot be avoided. 

There is no victory no matter how you try. 

In just one minute from the start of the bombardment. 

In just one minute, Ieneko Chief Decacat XII sees it all and makes a decision. 

“Hic! Release the hostages! We’re finished.” 

“Chief!” 

“Surrender to humans! Beg them to spare your life! I don’t care if you make me a slave! It’s better than being dead!” 

Pride and everything else were obliterated, and what remained at the end was a thirst for life. 

The Beastkins who had been engaged in the hostage plan looked at each other in unison. And they reach the same conclusion as the Chief. 

It is better to survive, even if it means sipping sludge than to die here with no chance to do anything about it. 

They release the Half-beastkins they have been holding hostage and raise their hands and surrender en masse. 

This was the moment when the Yamato Imperial Army completely captured the island of Ieneko. 

=====

Additional supplementary explanation,

‘the current Yamato Imperial Navy’ edition

The fleets deployed in the war against Beastvania are the 1st Fleet and the 2nd Fleet, each consisting of… 

First Fleet

1st Squadron Fuji-class battleship Fuji and Yashima.

4th Squadron Izumo-class armored cruiser Izumo, Bande, Yakumo, and Zuigumo.

1st Mine Squadron, 4 destroyers under the protection cruiser Izumi.

Second Fleet　

2nd Squadron, Shikishima-class battleship Shikishima, Asahi, Mikasa, and Hatsuse.

5th Squadron, Kasuga-class armored cruiser Kasuga and Nisshin.

2nd Mine Squadron, 4 destroyers under the protection cruiser Chiyoda.

This is the current situation. 

The Navy as a whole also included the 3rd Fleet for home defense, which was led by Shikishima-class battleships like the 2nd Fleet. 

A reconnaissance fleet equipped with protected cruisers. 

There are also regional units equipped with small obsolete destroyers. 

In addition, there are still some vessels that have not been repaired yet, so once those repairs are completed, another fleet will be added to the main fleet, bringing the total number of the main fleet to four.