Summoning Our Country - NHS Kai

Chapter 14: Donnerschlag Part 1

The king and his advisors nodded. Since the Great War ended, the military had been neglected for the better part. However, given that they are a small island, mobilizing the necessary manpower and equipment for an effective defense should be easier. Since the Gra Valkans may be coming in from the west, they thought of putting emphasis on reinforcing the west coast. However, everyone knew that this wouldn't be enough to completely stop the Gra Valkans, who they assumed to be on the same level as Leifor. The senior officer continued.

"Since we couldn't possibly stop a Leifor-level force from completely taking over Paganda, we have concluded that assistance from Leifor is paramount to victory."

The other military officers sweated bullets. The prospect of Paganda being toppled wasn't a comfortable idea to mention to the king and his advisors. However, the king instead nodded in affirmation, agreeing to the point that without Leifor, Paganda would fall. He then offered his thoughts.

"I'm assuming then that we should emphasize delaying the Gra Valkan advance long enough for Leifor to respond in force? I think that's a sound strategy. We must then concentrate on stopping their landings if possible."

The officers from the navy then stepped in.

"We have put up an initial deployment plan for our ships to conduct delaying actions on Gra Valkan landing forces. There's also the prospect of deploying some of the naval mines we bought from Leifor to the west since our existing minefields are only found to the east where we used to fear a Muish invasion might come from."

The officers then presented a map of Paganda complete with its naval districts and a map of existing and planned minefields. The king and the advisors examined the map before an advisor asked an important question.

"How long before this is realized?"

"Two... maybe three weeks at the earliest."

Hearing the time frame, the advisors looked at one another. If Gra Valkas were to be on the same level as Leifor, then they could mobilize a decently sized force in about two weeks. This meant that they may not get the entire plan realized before the Gra Valkans attack, given that they won't attack earlier. The king then looked back to the other officers.

"Then how about the time needed to completely mobilize our forces and reinforce our western defenses?"

"We're looking at two weeks for the mobilization. The defenses would take longer."

The king pondered on how to buy more time. He could only think of pressuring Leifor and possibly Irnetia to declare war earlier. The addition of more nations to deal with would likely push back the Gra Valkans' time frame for an attack since they would need more manpower, equipment, and supplies to launch attacks on the three nations. Other than that, he sees no other options. Their navy is not in shape to mobilize and fight a delaying action in the oceans to the west. Their wyverns, if they are indeed ready to fight, could only fly a limited distance away from Paganda. They'd also be disadvantageous against Leifor-level ships since those vessels are designed to defend against even more potent aerial adversaries than wyverns. All in all, there was little else he could do.

"Speaking of which..."

One of the navy officers spoke up. Everyone looked at him. However, before the officer could speak, they heard a deep exploding sound reverberating within the palace. The sound unsettled everyone, prompting them to begin looking for its source. It was reminiscent of the explosions they heard from last night, but it was audibly much, much more powerful.

"What was that?!"

"We should have cleared the headquarters of mines by now!"

"Then what wa-"