At the beginning of the year, the Royal Army launched its invasion campaign into the Solar System.

The formation consisted of Fortress Kerviel, 1,125,000 Israfel crafts, 10 Royal Army fleets, and 15 Aristocratic fleets. The aristocratic fleet, which was required to carry its own weight, kept the number of ships within the specified limit, but the ratio of battleships and fortress ships was unusually high.

In terms of strength rating, the Israfels are equivalent to 150,000 Tenka ships, the Royal Army fleet is equivalent to 7,000 Tenka ships, and the aristocratic fleet is equivalent to 14,000 Tenka ships, for a total of 171,000 ships.

Tenka, on the other hand, has a fleet of 144,000 ships that broke away from the Athena System, and 20,000 ships each in the defense fleets of the Solar System and the Hercules System. Therefore, it was thought that a minimum of 20,000 ships and a maximum of 164,000 ships were stationed in the Solar System.

“If the largest number of ships were stationed in the area, there is a possibility of retreat.”

If a ship’s magic engine is shut down, it will not be picked up even by the reconnaissance ship’s Multidimensional Magic Conversion Observation Waves, so the stationed forces of the Solar System are unclear.

A fierce battle would be fought if the largest fleet was stationed, but Hart had a policy of avoiding fighting in the Solar System if their force evaluation was more disadvantageous to his army than 100:70.

It would be insane to grind out the fleet’s soldiers, who are difficult to train, allow the deaths of precious high magic powered aristocrats, or risk the destruction of Fortress Kerviel.

If the strength of the Solar System is large, moving to the Hercules System at the speed of the fleet contracted with the spirits, and destroying only the stationed fleet of the Hercules System one by one should satisfy the people.

The officers and troops, who were informed of the operation in advance and knew they could win the battle if fought, were highly motivated.

“It’s a must-win battle, a chance to get a promotion and a Medal of Honor.”

“It’s easier than taking a promotion exam because you get a promotion for your performance.”

The soldiers were advancing with great enthusiasm, but Hart himself, who was leading them, did not see the inevitability of the invasion of the Solar System, the goal of the attack, and was not very enthusiastic.

The birthplace of mankind is undoubtedly Earth.

Although the definition of humanity itself varies from era to era, one of the most distinguishing features of the division between humans and monkey humans is upright bipedalism.

The onset of upright walking can be traced back to the species called Ardipithecus ramidus, which existed about 4.4 million years ago in Africa.

The ancestors of humans who came to walk on two legs continued to live a life of running and chasing prey, which led to the thinning of their body hair to prevent their body temperature from rising too high, and the development of their brains through a nutritious meat diet.

After a long passage of time, about 400,000 years ago, some of them who had made inroads into Europe evolved into Neanderthals. Then, the ones that remained in Africa evolved into Homo sapiens about 200,000 years ago.

Although Homo sapiens is considered the direct ancestor of humans, it has also been confirmed that modern human genes were mixed with Neanderthal genes, and both are now considered ancestors of humans.

The common denominator in all of these theories is that the birthplace of mankind is Africa.

However, the Japanese, who are Hart’s roots, were able to trace their descendants living in Africa. In light of the history of the Japanese people who were able to live their lives without issue even after the isolation of Japan during the Edo period, the birthplace of mankind is not indispensable for the survival of mankind today.

“The cradle of humanity is Africa, but the Japanese were able to live even in seclusion. On the planet, Earth is the birthplace, but the Royal people of Diete could live without Earth. For modern humans, the Solar System and Earth are not essential for survival.”

Hart sees no irreplaceable value in the Solar System.

He believes that the value of the system as a habitable star system is reasonably high.

Of the star systems of the Monarchy of Diete, only Fukashiro and Diete can be considered to surpass the Solar System as planetary environments inhabited by interstellar civilizations, and the others are equal or lesser.

On the other hand, from a political point of view, Earth, which is inhabited by 1 billion former Coalition people, who recognize the Royal citizens as bitter enemies, and 4 billion non-members of the Coalition, who demand guarantees from Diete, would be the worst of the living environment for the Royal people.

Therefore, for the Royal people, the Solar System has value for conquest in terms of the history of the founding of the nation, and its value in terms of biology and other studies is also recognized, but as a habitable star system, the conclusion is that it is “unnecessary”.

On the other hand, how much value does the Tenka side find in the Solar System and Earth?

The Tenka Federation, now consisting of three nations, has 30.3 billion people living in Ten-to, 12.5 billion people in Ōizumi, and 11.2 billion people in Honyō. As an inhabitable star system, only Ten-to has a value comparable to that of the Solar System, and the other two are definitely inferior to the Solar System.

Therefore, if Tenka can eliminate the Monarchy, it will certainly emigrate to the Solar System. However, according to information from Kyūyama, Tenka has a force of 20,000 ships deployed in the Solar System, and as long as the Monarchy exists, immigration is not an option.

After reaching the outer edge of the Solar System, the Tenka fleet, which was investigated by a thorough search, was as per the information from Kyūyama and was the minimum expected by the Royal Army.

“Enemy search results for the Solar System are now available. There are about 20,000 ships in enemy fleet.”

Upon receiving the report from Bertrand, Hart nodded lightly.

If only 10 Royal Army fleets and 15 Aristocratic fleets were to invade, the defensive force would be evenly matched. And with Fortress Kerviel and the fighter crafts, it will be an overwhelming victory.

Hart checked with Guō FēngKaku Hō, a former General of the Kyūyama army sent by Liú Hào, who received the rank of Lieutenant General in the Royal Army.

“Lieutenant General Guō, state your personal opinion. The strength of the enemy’s Solar System Sector forces, which was deprived of information by the Monarchy during the recapture of Fukashiro, hasn’t changed at all. Is there an ambush waiting in the surrounding sector? Or do they not have enough strength to deploy in the Solar System?”

When asked, Fēng responded immediately.

“By my opinion. This is the limit that can reasonably be deployed under the current circumstances. The three nations that were deprived of MacLir and Fukashiro must defend their home nations, which could be invaded directly. We cannot allocate more defensive forces to the Solar System than to our home country.”

After witnessing the destruction of Shinkyō and Kyūyama, Tenka cannot afford to neglect the defense of its own country against Hart, who is directly boarded at Fortress Kerviel.

Imagining himself in Tenka’s camp, Hart was convinced, and after determining that the enemy had 20,000 ships, he had his Chief of Staff evaluate the difference in strength. The difference in strength was 8 times, and the force evaluation was 100:12.

The Royal Army, which had planned to fight if the force evaluation was more favorable than 100:70, was delighted with the analysis, which showed that they could win a crushing victory.

The aristocratic fleet, which brought many battleships and fortress ships, can overrun the enemy from outside their range.

In fleet warfare, without suffering damage from long-range artillery fire, after sending in the Israfel large fighter crafts, they would use violence of numbers to overrun the enemy in close combat.

Hart, without being eccentricBuddah, ordered an advance that would take full advantage of the difference in force.

[To all forces, the enemy fleet has 20,000 ships. The difference in strength between us is 8 times, and the force evaluation is 100:12. The whole army will advance as a wall, and after a firefight, Israfel will rush in and annihilate the enemy. In other words, trample them down en masse. That is all. Advance.]

After issuing a straightforward order that could be understood by anyone, the Solar System invasion army increased the output of their magic engines and began to advance, divided into three forces, the central and the left and right.

The central army was centered on Fortress Kerviel with four fleets around it. The central army was followed by the aristocrats of Diete and Athen, who were assigned to the center because they suffered the greatest losses from past battles.

The three fleets on the right wing were commanded by General Adolf Meyer, who had been promoted after the Battle of the Fukashiro Star System, and were staffed by the aristocratic armies of Artemis and Podalley.

The three fleets on the left wing were commanded by General Fonzell Wagner, also newly promoted, and staffed by the aristocratic armies of Apollo and Machaon.

Launched from Fortress Kerviel, Israfels increased the thickness of the three armies and rushed from outside the star system into the interior.

We’ve won… although he didn’t bother to declare it out loud, Hart was confident of victory. In the vastness of outer space, fighting head-on with an overwhelming force difference of 8 to 1, no matter how great the opponent is, there is no possibility of defeat.

The enemy would probably break away to avoid damage.

Hart’s expectations were completely betrayed.

The one who took the unexpected action was General Wáng WěiOuie , who had been dispatched to the Solar System after seeing the Deamons in the Hercules system with Yúnlán. Yúnlán. His sole purpose was to stall the Monarchy’s forces in the Solar System and buy time for Yúnlán to operate.

To this end, Wěi chose to arrange celestial objects in plain sight around Earth’s satellite orbit, bury fusion munitions in various places like mines, and threaten to attack Earth if the Royal Army advances.

[Inform the army of the Monarchy of Diete. If they advance, we will destroy Earth by remote control. Large-scale food production facilities on Earth and Mars have also been planted with fusion munitions. They will not have Earth. If they don’t want to kill Earthers for nothing, abandon the invasion and withdraw.]

Wěi didn’t expect the Royal Army to back down under such threats.

His plan was to force billions of people in the Solar System, who had lost their ability to produce food, onto the Monarchy to buy time as they get busy with restoration and post-processing.

Tenka’s forces stationed in the Solar System were preparing to attack Earth and Mars with some remote control ships, while the main force flees in the opposite direction from which the Hart was invading.

In addition, from Earth and Mars, protests against the Monarchy have been sent in real time from both the former Coalition and non-members via communications that have not been intercepted by Tenka.

Hart, who was simultaneously bombarded with insane threats and unreasonable protests, replied to the former in dismay after blocking the helpless latter’s communications.

“This is Fleet Admiral Amakawa of the Monarchy. I have heard similar threats in Fukashiro, but hostages are meaningless against the Monarchy. Even if our star system is destroyed, we will either retaliate with the surviving Royal people, or flee and try to recover our losses. Moreover, there are no Royal subjects in the Solar System. They are not even hostages.”

Hearing Hart’s conclusions, the people of the Solar System protested in unison. Although the information had not been delivered to Hart, the communications officers who screened them were stunned at the barrage of abuse.

In response to the protests of the people of the Solar System, Hart mentally retorted that they should say all that to the Tenka side that declared the attack.

The Monarchy’s sentiment towards the former Coalition, who will attack the Royal people if they set foot on Earth, and the non-members, who have only unilaterally asserted their rights, are the worst. Common sense tells that there is no reason why the Royal people would want to help them even if forced to do so.

However, it makes sense for Tenka to attack them.

If the buried fusion munitions continue to explode at monthly intervals, the post-occupation Monarchy will be forced to spend its efforts on never-ending rescue and restoration work.

And if large-scale food production facilities are destroyed, the food crisis for billions of people will have to be dealt with, and a semi-permanent solution will have to bring in the appropriate equipment from the home country.

If the purpose of Tenka’s presence in the Solar System is to buy time before the invasion of Tenka, then the action of Wěi, the local commander, is the best solution.

“How dare he choose such an unprincipled means.”

The five Tenka nations denounced the “Monarchy’s killing of 20 billion former Coalition people in the war” as inhumane and launched a war demanding the extradition of the former Coalition territories and people. Now they are declaring that they will drop celestial bodies and fusion projectiles on Earth.

It was clear that Tenka’s war objective had shifted from the original securing inhabited star systems to self-defense from the Monarchy, but Hart couldn’t help but be dismayed that they had forgotten their cause.

After disconnecting communication with Wěi, he asked Lieutenant General Guō, a former general on the Tenka side from Kyūyama, about the situation that Tenka had threatened to take place.

“There are no Royal people living in the Solar System, and we can’t use the same method of bringing in an entire nation as we did to Kyūyama in Fukashiro. Is it impossible to get General Wěi to halt the attack?”

Turning to Hart, who didn’t seem to be expecting much, Fēng replied without hesitation.

“The Tenka people think about profit on a clan-by-clan basis. If there is nothing to negotiate that will benefit the entire clan, they will not be taken seriously even if you urge them to change their minds. In the case of General Wěi, he will not respond unless it is in the interests of Ōizumi as a whole.”

Briefed, Hart declares that it is impossible to persuade Wěi to change his mind.

“Ōizumi is impossible.”

If you do not destroy Earth, we will give only Ōizumi autonomy after the war… if that is the proposal, Wěi may agree to negotiate.

That way, Ōizumi, who was left halfway through, will continue to increase the number of national mages after the war, and will one day become a threat to the Monarchy again.

In addition, in the Second Battle of the Diete Star System, it was Ōizumi’s Yúnlán who killed 3 billion people, including former Sovereign Valfrete.

Queen Yuna, whose father was killed, cannot succumb to Ōizumi’s threats. The vast majority of the Royal people will not agree to let Yúnlán off in order to save the people of the Solar System.

Hart connected the communication he had blocked and told Wěi.

“I have reached a conclusion. There is no room for negotiation. We will remove you and retake the Solar System.”

[Very well. Then, witness the fate of the Earthers, who the Monarchy has decided to kill, as you advance.]

Hart made a natural counter-argument to the one-sided accusation, as if Hart was responsible for killing the people, instead of attacking them himself.

“Don’t be ridiculous. It is you, the three nations of Tenka, who are trying to kill the Earthers. If you don’t want them to die, you just have to not attack Earth.’

[Then, the Monarchy should stop its advance.]

“It seems that Ōizumi and I are not on speaking terms. Cut off communication. We will not be connected to him from now on.”

Expressing his displeasure at Wěi’s mocking remarks, Hart ordered the communications officer in disgust. He issued a new order to the entire army.

[The Commander-in-Chief, Fleet Admiral Amakawa to the entire fleet. It is extremely likely that Tenka will attack Earth with celestial rushes and fusion munitions. Prepare fighter crafts with shipping containers to evacuate the Earthers to Mars.]

Such a foolish situation was something that Hart had never anticipated. Nevertheless, Fortress Kerviel has numerous transport containers, as well as a large number of large ships brought in by the aristocrats.

As the advance continued without slowing down, the General staff of each fleet began to move in a flurry, raising various problems in rapid succession and solving them themselves in cooperation with other fleets.

As preparations were underway to respond to the attack on Earth, only problems that could not be solved by the invading army were reported to Hart through Bertrand, the Chief of Staff of the General Command.

“Your Excellency, Mars is not suitable as a habitable planet and is unsuitable for long-term evacuation. Also, Mars has food production capacity to be self-sufficient but cannot support Earth’s population.”

I guess so… Hart agreed inwardly.

As Bertrand pointed out, Mars, the earliest planet terraformed by humans, is a defective planet with only about one-third the gravity of Earth.

On low-gravity planets, the heart has less power to pump blood throughout the body, and human cardiac function deteriorates. The muscles also weaken, and calcium is lost.

This can be solved by biological adjustment, but because they cannot operate under the same gravity as other humans, they will be cut off from human society.

There are humans living on Mars, but Mars is self-contained from food production to its economy, and because it does not export food to Earth, it has no power to support its surplus population.

Now that Tenka has made it clear that the large-scale food production facilities on Mars are also targets for fusion munition, Martian food is also in jeopardy.

“How much food has our army brought in?”

Hart expressed bitterness and reluctance because he knew that the Royal Army did not carry large amounts of food.

Due to the long history of interstellar travel, the Royal Army has food plants on board its ships. The food supply capacity is about twice the number of crew members, and it can continue to be produced semi-permanently.

Each star system in the Monarchy also has large storage food depots and production plants hidden in celestial objects in the outer reaches of the system in case the planets are destroyed.

The Monarchy is able to make its fleet self-sufficient and each star system has a tolerance for food crises. Therefore, the Royal Army does not carry large quantities of food in its fleet.

“Very little. If we don’t dispatch a large fleet of food and production plants from home, billions of people will surely starve to death sooner or later.”

Imagining the transportation of food for billions of people, Hart sighed involuntarily.

A single transport ship can carry the grain that 4 million people consume in a year. Thus, 250 transport ships could carry enough food for one billion people.

But can humans survive on water and grain alone for a year? Considering the nutritional requirements of the same amount of side dishes, about 60% of main dishes, about 40% of dairy products and other nutritional requirements, the number of transport ships would have to be tripled.

Since there are 100 transport ships deployed per fleet, if food is to be carried, eight transport fleets are required.

Furthermore, in order for human beings to survive, food alone is not enough. How much housing and necessities will be needed to add to Mars?

The large containers that the Monarchy uses for immigrants can accommodate 40,000 people each.

A billion people would require 25,000 units, and with 25,000 on each transport ship, 250 fleets worth of ships would be needed. And there aren’t that many transports in the Royal Army.

Moreover, 1 billion people is only the number of the former Coalition people, and if you combine the 4 billion people of the non-members, the total number of Earthers who are considered to be irregular populations, and the Martians who also have an unknown total number, at least 6 times to 10 times at most will be necessary.

Hart, who understood the troubles that the Monarchy had to deal with, slammed his fist into the armrest of his seat and vented his anger.

“Contact the home country and ask for the transport of food and production plants. The transport ships are not strong enough. Reach out to the Lords who came along and ask them to send a large ship from a rear system to transport them.”

If this is to help the Royal people, Hart would not consider it a loan or borrowing, but rather it’s an aristocratic duty, so he even thinks they should take the initiative.

However, in a situation that was not for the benefit of the royal people, he was reluctant to ask for the dispatch of a large ship that would reduce the defense capabilities of their star system and their food stockpile.

[The two-winged forces of General Meyer and General Wagner, along with one million Israfel crafts, destroy the Tenka fleet of the Solar System. General Carneus, use the central army and the rest of Israfel to conquer Earth and Mars.]

As the Royal Army led by an angry Hart thrust into the center of the Solar System, the Tenka side also launched an attack on Earth and Mars.

Explosions of fusion munitions, which were eventually modified for their own use or to increase the number of refugees, raged on each continent.

“The Tenka fleet is attacking Earth. Numerous explosions on the surface of the planet.”

On the screen of the advancing Royal Army, there were flashes of light scattered all over the surface, as well as dust that blew up the atmosphere and covered Earth.

Many flashes of light were also shining on the surface of Mars, and it was speculated that the large food production facilities were being obliterated.

Supporting 5 billion people semi-permanently is a burden even for the Monarchy.

The invasion of the Solar System was a result of a rising tide of public opinion in the Monarchy, but such an outcome would not have been desired by any of the Royal people.

“Evacuate the Earthers to Mars. I will report the situation to the home country.”

Considering that the same strategy as the Solar System might be used, it will not be possible to proceed to the Hercules Star System at this rate. And if the Solar System is retaken, it should not be easily retaken. Although it is necessary to transport goods from the home country, future policies need to be reconsidered.

When Hart connected a communication to the home country for clarification, he was informed that in the Frodi System, a devastation surpassing that of the Solar System had occurred.