German Kaiserreich in Nihonkoku Shoukan

World Superpower! The Papaldia Empire!

Holy Mirishial Empire, port town Cartalpas, a certain bar

Everyone in the Central World considered the Holy Mirishial Empire the strongest country in the entire world. The port town Cartalpas, the center of trade here, was where merchants from many different countries gathered and spoke candidly about the goings-on in their countries. It was also an extremely important information hub, given how each country also mixed spies in with their merchants.

Within the civilized areas, the Holy Mirishial Empire was known for its excellence in the development of magic technology. Just by walking in the streets, a visitor could see magic streetlamps and other examples of sophisticated magical tools in use.

At a certain bar, drunk merchants were exchanging information. A man who looked like a beer barrel with a white beard started gossiping excitedly.

"The craziest story in recent times has gotta be the how the Eighth Empire, that emerging country, destroyed the Second Civilization superpower Leifor. Who here knows anything about the Eighth Empire?"

A man in a robe with his face hidden responded.

"'The Eighth Empire' is just what they were called in the rumors, their actual name is the Gra Valkas Empire or something like that. I was in Leifor's capital Leiforia selling spices when it happened, but I'll never forget it. They had suddenly ramped up security in the capital; before, they just had the one magic cannon battery, but one day a huge number of technicians came to install a second one in just a few hours. Not only that, wyvern lords from all over the country were recalled to the capital. There were a lot of rumors being thrown around among the merchants about what was going on. Even if you asked a soldier about it, they'd just say 'we can't talk about that now,' so naturally a lot of people assumed the Eighth Empire was gonna come knocking. But, even though people may have thought that, at the same time they also believed Leifor would never lose, so no one was actually worried.

Everything changed one night. Earlier that day around noon, all the wyvern lords formed up into squadrons and flew off towards the sea... and they didn't come back. Thinking back on it now, this was when we should have realized something weird was going on.

A huge warship came. It was like a small mountain, and it had gigantic cannons that were so big we could see them from the city. I'd never seen a boat as big as that one in my entire life. This ship was off the coast about six kilometers, completely out of range of the cannon batteries. Then, the cannon fire started.

There was only one ship, so we didn't think much of it, but the firepower of that thing, it was so destructive we thought that even a god of fire couldn't make something as strong as this. The cannon batteries were demolished in a single volley. Then they just randomly bombed the entire city, it was terrifying. We ran and ran and ran. Those guys were just way too strong. They laid waste to the capital of a superpower with just one ship!!! I bet even Mu would lose them. The world belongs to Gra Valkas now, if you ask me."

"Wait a minute. Obviously, if they beat Leifor, that means they're strong, but they've got nothing on Mirishial's super-advanced magic. They're just on completely different levels."

"Mu, the land of machines, also isn't too far behind Mirishial. I don't think they'd stand a chance against Mu either. No matter what you say, Mu wouldn't lose to some barbarian country outside the civilized areas."

"Leifor just lost to one of those barbarian countries, you know."

"As one of the superpowers, Leifor was, you know... I feel bad saying it, but they were the weakest one, weren't they? Sure, they were really strong compared to other countries, but if you only look at the other superpowers, they don't really measure up..."