Summoning Japan: Flights of the Fancy

Part 1: Strait of Iron and Blood | Chapter 1

Escort Flotilla 0

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The port authority of the city of Cartalpas was extremely busy.

"The delegation from the Kingdom of Torquia of the First Civilization Area has arrived with 7 ships of the line and 1 delegation ship for a total of 8 ships."

"The delegation from the Kingdom of Agartha of the First Civilization Area has arrived with 6 magic ships and 2 civilian ships for a total of 8 ships."

"...It doesn't change much around here."

Bronto, an official of the port authority, looked out the office window while listening to the exchange over the manacomms. As an enthusiast for fighting ships, he loved the biennial Eleven Countries Leadership Conference held in Cartalpas. Countries from around the world sent their state-of-the-art fleets under the pretext of "escorting delegates" to showcase their national prestige. For him, the job of a port manager was more like a hobby, and during this time, his hobby took up about 90% of his attention.

"If only we had the 0th Magic Fleet here, the fleets of other countries would look poor."

The Holy Mirishial Empire's cutting-edge 0th Magic Fleet is usually trained in the Magdola Archipelago west of Cartalpas during the conference due to various reasons.

He had high expectations for two countries that would be arriving: One was the Gra Valkas Empire, which had defeated the powerful Leifor from the Second Civilization Area. The other was Japan, which had dismantled the powerful Parpaldia Empire in the Third Civilization Area. Both were emerging nations from outside the civilization areas. It was unheard of for a peripheral country to defeat powerful nations. As a naval enthusiast, there was no way he wouldn't be interested in the fleets they possessed.

"The delegation from Japan of the Third Civilization Area has arrived with the Maritime Self-Defense Force Escort Flotilla 0, comprising of 7 cruisers and 1 aircraft carrier for a total of 8 ships."

"They're here."

Bronto leaned forward and peered through binoculars.

Eight gray-colored ships were visible through the lenses. Judging by the ship types, one was clearly an aircraft carrier. The remaining seven were determined by the size to be cruisers by the on-site workers. Even so, compared to the battleship La Kasami from Mu, moored in the adjacent space, the larger ones were about the same size.

"Come to think of it, this allocation of space was based on Mu's request."

Bronto remembered that Mu had requested to have the Japanese fleet docked next to their own fleet. It seemed that Mu was also interested in Japan. They were the first among the powerful nations to establish diplomatic relations with Japan. He didn't know, but the Kingdom of Emor also had a great interest in Japan. Some of the reasons for this were expected to be revealed during this conference.

"But did they call their fleet Escort Flotilla Zero...? Did they want to imitate our 0th Magic Fleet? That small cruiser doesn't look too unlike the Mithril-class magic battleship, to be fair."

If that were the case, it was undoubtedly Japan's latest model. Considering stealth, Bronto muttered while observing the hull of the Akizuki through binoculars, which extensively used inclined planes. If he had heard that they were all destroyers – small ships in the Mirishial Empire where submarines and torpedoes did not exist – he might have widened his eyes in surprise.

. . .

"Honestly, almost every country is bringing warships... I've never seen a gunboat diplomacy this naked before."