CH 7

It has been a year and 3 months since Hart and his colleagues entered the Military Academy.

Since the 2nd year students were given permission to go out, information about the Magic Academy, which had been out of contact until now, began to come in, mainly through Colette.

The Magic Academy has 100 students per grade in middle school and 300 students per grade in high school.

The 200 students who joined in high school were mainly external students with high magic power values.

In fact, The Magic Academy is a matchmaking scene to find marriage candidates whose family background and magical power match.

The purpose of enrolling high magic powered individuals below quasi-aristocracy is to attract quasi-aristocrats who want status, honor, wealth, etc., with aristocrats who desire the bloodline of high magic power holders.

It can be said that the Academy itself was a matchmaking scene as if it were a stage for a maiden game.

Hart’s grade included the Grandson of His Majesty the Sovereign, the son of the Prime Minister and The Secretary of Magic, son of a Huge Business Conglomerate Proprietor, and the High Magic Power Holder who emerged in the Marquis family.

There were too many candidates with excellent qualifications that the female students were always on the lookout.

Only the Villainess, Digitalis, aimed solely for the Sovereign’s grandchild from the beginning. However, the plundering of magic power from the surroundings was not realized, and it became impossible for her to become the crown princess.

In addition, unlike the Maiden game, she was not in the same class as the Sovereign’s grandchild.

The cause of the deviation from the original plotline was mostly attributed to Hart.

Because he complained of Digitalis’ bullying in front of the military police and the principal did not deny any of it, it was judged that Digitalis was unsuitable as a concubine, not to mention the future queen, and was secretly excluded from the venue of the mass marriage interview for His Highness.

Thanks to that, Digitalis was rampaging against her classmates.

However, the problem with her thought process was not her fault, but the responsibility of the adults around her. She was only raised by her family with the expectation of becoming the Crown Princess.

Hart hopes that the Duke will accept the status quo and face reality. After all, the Monarchy has a mighty foreign enemy.

In the year 439 of Monarchy’s history, humanity is roughly divided into three powers.

A is a state independent from Earth, B is a collection of countries that moved their bases from the Earth, and C is a republic fortunate enough to achieve independence after the war.

In addition to the three major powers, there are also the descendants of Hercules and Myrna, whose home planet was taken over by B, Earth states that did not join B, and those who headed to other star systems. Moreover, it is expected that the irregular population, which does appear on the family register, will reach billions.

However, the vast majority of humanity belongs to the forces of A to C.

ABC’s population ratio is 10:7:4, and the difference in strength is 10:14:4.

The reason for the imbalance between the population and the war potential is that a part of the B nation group mass-produces the high magic power holders through artificial insemination.

However, the average magic power inherited from parents to children at that time was 0.9 times that of A, while the B nation group was about half the size of A.

With the magic power decreasing by half with each generation, the B nations felt a growing sense of crisis.

After the inheritance of magic between parents and children who were together was confirmed, some of the B nations began to manage their high magic power holders, and decided their marriage partners based on magic power value.

Inhumane opinions were naturally raised, but the following threat silenced the more sensible people.

“Do you want our home planet to be blown up again by those vicious Dietes, who dropped a swarm of meteorites on Earth?”

A magic power holder’s personal taste for the opposite sex and the survival of all.

From the beginning, arguing which one should be emphasized was unnecessary.

The success stories of couples who were forcibly attached by the state were frequently promoted, and as a result of the continuation of the system, the ratio of high-powered couples in B increased several times higher than that of A.

A, feeling threatened by the B nation group, were devising countermeasures assuming various situations.

One of them is mobile training that assumes that B suddenly invades C, and the 2nd grade of the Military Academy are sent to the main planet of C for space flight drill.

“The Frodi Republic is an independent state, so the Royal military has restrictions on entry. Therefore, on paper, this is a transport ship troupe. The fleet consists of 24 transport ships, 16 escort ships, 5 destroyers, and 2 light cruisers for the instructors, for a total of 47 ships. By the time we reach the next stop, organize teams of 4 people.”

Cadets responded in unison with “Yes, sir”.

To the public, this would be a school trip for the 2nd year high school students. At the Magic Academy, there must be many plans to improve the relationship between men and women throughout the academy.

However, in the case of the Military Academy, it is a harsh training that lasts 70 days over 360 light-years round trip.

The instructors shout abuse at the students as they prepare navigation plans, operate the ship, command the crew, and write the space logbook entry.

Even so, as long as each person receives a monthly allowance, they have no choice but to silently accept it.

After the supervisor left, Philine, who was sitting next to Hart, grabbed his finger and operated the terminal without permission, and made Hart a candidate for team leader.

Then, when she operated her own terminal and applied to be a member of Hart’s team, she manipulated Hart’s finger again to approve the application.

Philine, who absolutely wants to take the initiative, tried to control her behavior by putting on the act of indulging Hart.

At that time, Philine, who only valued Hart’s magic power value, had the luxury of being the young lady of a Marquis family. Without power, there was a limit to what he could do, and he thought that he would have to rely on Philine in times of trouble.

However, after she learned that he had a monopoly on all the shares of Second System Co. Ltd., the manufacturer and seller of spirit crystals, she became impatient.

The number of spirit crystals already sold is in millions.

Since spirit crystals can be mass-produced as easily as “producing sweets in a candy factory”, they sell out once a buyer is found.

Currently, the largest seller is the Marquis of Carneus.

The Marquis noted ‘the ability to support the wearer automatically’ and ‘the ability to raise the level by tuning the magic power’. Out of the 800 million people in his territory, he ordered spirit crystals for 20 million civil servants, including the lord’s army and police.

If senior aristocrats make extreme moves, other aristocrats and government administrations will also take notice.

Orders have already begun to be placed by other senior aristocrats, and once they understand the unparalleled performance and overly-low price tag, each aristocratic household is expected to imitate the Marquis of Carneus.

Once the Royal Army also grasps the situation, it will join the purchase, the civilian fleets will follow suit, which would cause a big stir throughout the system.

Hart’s influence, with his 100% monopoly of the company’s private shares, will eventually surpass that of the Marquis of Carneus, as it is obvious that the entire system will use the expansion function of Second Systems’ information terminals.

Hart did not resist Philine’s impatience and unconscious indulgence.

Anyway, the team will be formed by the two, and if it is so, there is no point in complaining about the process of the default route.

Then, Colette, who was watching the situation, submitted an application to Hart’s team along with Yuna, and, in the same way, grabbed Hart’s finger and pushed for approval.

And the moment the application passed, Colette casually threw away Hart’s hand, which she had grasped.

“Um, look. At the very least, isn’t there a more graceful way, such as holding my hand with both of yours or showing a little shyness? Lady of Viscount Listner.”

“Oh, why didn’t you ask the Lady of Marquis Carneus to do that?”

“Deep down, Philine gets seriously embarrassed… ouch.”

Hart, who was poked by the young lady in question, is probably the least authoritative team leader.

“Sure sure, thanks for the treat”

The supervisor ordered teams to be organized, but such a team should be unexpected.

However, Hart’s team, who had skipped the entire process and completed the formation as fast as possible, received the highest evaluation in terms of organization speed, and were automatically assigned the newest destroyer.

It is no use saying anything at all.

Hurt shrugged his shoulders and accepted the self-imposed team.

The matter between Hart and Philine was considered only natural by the people around them.

As long as each agrees with the other on a one-on-one basis, it is tasteless to interject. Up to that point, it was within the category of common sense and their tolerance.

However, when it comes to Yuna and Colette, Hart was at the receiving resentful looks.

The main reason the other cadets turned demonic is the ratio of men and women in the Military Academy being 99:1.

Like the stage in the maiden game, out of 100 girls there is 1 real beauty, and they have a 1 in 100 chance of attending the Military Academy. In other words, among the 30,000 students in the 1st grade, there were only three: Philine, Yuna, and Colette.

Even if it is understood that Colette’s motive was to protect herself by consolidating with her classmates from middle school, the men around his age couldn’t help looking at Hart as if telling him to do something about it.

“Let’s take a look at the destroyer we’ll be assigned to.”

Hart, who dared to pretend not to notice the gaze of the surroundings, confirmed the information entered in the terminal.

The destroyer they were assigned seems to be the DD422Vel-04319, commonly known as the Velociraptor-class destroyer, adopted from 422 of the Diete calendar.

The Royal Army’s destroyers are often named after small dinosaurs.

In recent years, in order of generation, they have been named the Buitreraptor class, Velociraptor class, Piloraptor class, Graciliraptor class, Atrociraptor class, and Utahraptor class.

If it has ‘Raptor’ in its model name, it is a Royal Army Destroyer.

The destroyer has a total length of 1200 meters and a crew of 150 as well as a large number of Androids.

About half of the 4,750 crew members on the 45 training vessels are cadets from the Commandant Department.

In addition to the four on Hart’s team, they also came from the Carrier Ship department, Battlecruiser department, and Auxiliary ship department, as well as other non-commissioned officers who have the necessary skills to operate the ship.

The main armament of the ship is the Mass Wave AgglomerationEnergy Laser. With magic power, dark energy, magic engines, and conversion devices, you can continue to use them for decades unless fired too much.

In addition, the Protective MembraneShield and Multidimensional Magic ConversRadar etc. remain as standard military equipment.

The Velociraptor-class is a new destroyer, only one generation down from the latest model, which began deployment last year, and its overall performance has been highly evaluated by the military. As a ship that cadets can use in space flight drills, it is one of the most advanced.

“This one’s not bad.”

It was a modest assessment, but a smile was spilling from his expression.

“That’s right. Judging from the ship registration number, it doesn’t appear to be the oldest ship of that series.”

“Good thing we applied right away. There only ones left are two Pilo-class ships, a Gracila-class ship and an Atroci-class ship.”

“Destroyers are upgraded to newer models every 16 years, aren’t they? The Pilo-class is no problem, the Gracila-class is 34 years old even in its latest version, and the Atroci-class is over 50 years old. No matter how you think about it, it’s to punish the team that is late to organize.”

Philine and the others continue to express their approval one after another.

Because it is training that requires the formation of ships of various capabilities, even if you’re late, it doesn’t mean you’ll be left behind. In addition, destroyers are much faster than escort ships and transport ships.

However, it is obvious that it will be a struggle to operate a ship from half a century ago. To top it off, the instructor would yell at them and they wouldn’t get a high evaluation.

The surrounding cadets, who had been listening to the conversation between Hart and his team, hurriedly began to organize themselves.

“Mr. Hart should consult with the other four destroyer captains to draft the fleet formation and the actual battle plan. We will create a route plan and an operational plan.”

“Understood. I’m afraid we’ll have to increase the burden on the new ship to compensate for the difference in performance.”

“I’ll leave that to your judgment, Captain.”

Hart, whose fingers were repeatedly manipulated, reviewed the composition table, and found that Philine was the Executive Officer, Yuna was the Chief Accountant, and Colette was the Chief of Aviation.

The formation of the other teams was halfway through, and now the captains of the transport ship began voting for the fleet names.

The Republic of Frodi is also aware of Space Flight Drill, but on the paperwork it is a Transport Troupe, with 24 of the 47 ships being transported. The name of the fleet must also be something like a troupe.

Looking at the candidates, there were names of well-organized transport troupes, such as the Silk Road Troupe and the Gold Rush Troupe, and in opposition to these, the Catcher’s Den Troupe and the Overnight Gold Troupe were mentioned.

Of course, all were rejected.

These were the team names that the Royal Army would register as a transport troupe on the paperwork. It’s obvious that the instructor would reprimand them later for attracting too much attention.

“This name should be safe……. Aladdin Troupe?”

Hart, who was looking at the candidates, read out the name of one of the troupes, not simply in a reading tone, but in a tone that made it seem unacceptable and suspicious.

Then a look of heartfelt disgust appeared on his face.

Based on the play through knowledge that unexpectedly came back to him, the Aladdin troupe was the team used as a pretext for the start of the interstellar war that would suddenly break out between the Monarchy of Diete and the Coalition of Humanity.

The Human Coalition, knowing that the Aladdin Troupe was a fleet of the Diete Monarchy, attempted to conduct an inspection in the outer rim of the Nephthys system.

However, the Diete Monarchy could not give any jurisdiction to the Human Coalition.

If they were caught, they would be taken away, so legally and practically, the only option was to resist.

And if they resist, they will capture or destroy all the ships, using a preemptive strike by the Monarchy of Diete as an excuse.

The Coalition of Humanity wanted an excuse for open domestic war due to the long natural ceasefire period.

It never occurred to Hart that it was a ship that was performing Space Flight Drills.

However, when he thought about it again, it seemed natural for the opponent to target a ship that is undergoing flight training.

As long as the reason for the start of the war is not scrutinized, it is a reasonable decision to aim for trainees who cannot take adequate initial response to troubles. In addition, if you can destroy or capture more than 2,000 high magic holders belonging to the Commandant department, the result will be equivalent to destroying a whole fleet.

From his recollection, the Human Coalition side should have about twice their own war potential.

The Coalition cannot send a large force to the region around the Republic of Frodi, but two units joined as a working force to form a force of 4 light cruisers, 12 destroyers, and 32 escort ships, are waiting to surround them.

Surrounded by a double the force difference, the opponent also has overwhelming high magic power compared to their ships. Outside such an active force, there are also support vessels waiting in case of emergency.

On the other hand, the magic power that can be manipulated by allies is a group of newly licensed 2nd year cadets of the Military Academy who are far inferior to new recruits.

No matter where they run away, it becomes a one-sided massacre, and they will be kicked to the curb without being able to resist.

“Why do you look so disgusted?”

Hart was reminded again that this world was in hard mode.