ASAHI NO NISHISEI - Rising Sun Goes West (1)

Holy Rovance Papal State 1

October 31, 2029

Sea south of Juperia Continent

Four huge ships, the Shimakaze, Kaede, Sawagiri, and Jintsū, sailed over the sea. The four ships belonging to the 13th Escort Squadron were making their way over the open ocean. Originally stationed in Sasebo, the 13th Escort Squadron had been moved to this location a year before the reinforcement of the port city of Lucinia in the Elmstacia Empire and the construction of a base were completed by the Japanese government's ODA. The Elmstacian government had granted the Japanese government the right to station and build a base in this port city in return for the Leviathan Subjugation Operation conducted about two and a half years earlier, with the main objectives of maintaining security in the sea lanes and developing undersea resources.

In some of the friendly countries and the outer territories that Japan acquired after the transference, trading ports and bases have been built and maintained by the Japanese government for use by Japanese-flagged vessels. Among them, those that are large and largely Japanese-owned, such as the base in Lucinia (of course, Japan has full usage rights for trading ports and bases built on Japanese territory outside Japan), are numbered from 0 to 6 in order of their construction.

Furthermore, in some of the port cities where these seven trading ports and bases are located, the Maritime Self-Defense Force's regional deployment units, which were moved to Japan, are stationed. These are Makuteru in the outer Yawa Peninsula, Zion in the Seiren Kingdom, Pais in the Tomino Kingdom, and Lucinia in the Elmstacia Empire. Of course, ships belonging to the JMSDF sometimes arrive in port cities other than these four cities, but unlike the four cities, no specific units are assigned to them.

And this time, the 13th Escort Squadron, which moved its home front from Sasebo to Lucinia, is headed for the Holy Rovance Papal State of the Seven Dragons, with which there are still no diplomatic relations. It is the smallest of the Seven Dragons, and its territory is small even on a global scale. Its standing military strength is also small, reaching only a few tens of thousands of troops.

The reason why this country is one of the Seven Dragons is because it is the center of the world religion called Irulanism, which is widely spread on the Juperia Continent. The religion has under its control the heads of state of all nations, including the emperor of the Crossnellyard Empire, who is called the strongest of the Seven Dragons. Therefore, although the Holy Rovance Papal State are weak in terms of standing forces, they have virtually the largest military force in the world that can be called upon in case of emergency.

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Shimakaze Officer's Quarters

"...that concludes the description of the Holy Rovance Papal State, where we are currently headed."

Jingo Osawa, one of the foreign affairs bureaucrats, bowed to the seated senior SDF officers and foreign affairs bureaucrats as he finished explaining their destination, the Holy Rovance Papal State. Their purpose is to formally 'protest' to the Papal government about the 'attempted intrusion of the Imperial Palace,' including the illegal entry into the country until now.

The Japanese public has not yet been informed of the incident, with them only being told that three foreign nationals broke into the outer moat of the Imperial Palace and were arrested, partly out of concern that it could reignite the demonstrations by right-wing groups, which have been gaining momentum since the military conflict off the Senkaku Islands.

However, there is a great deal of anger within the government over this incident, which clearly crosses a line that should not be crossed, and the decision to go to this country, which is believed to be the mastermind behind this incident, to protest was quickly made, and a delegation was quickly organized and a schedule arranged for this purpose. It would be all right if the meeting resulted in an apology and the matter was settled. If they failed to apologize and declares war on Japan...