ASAHI NO NISHISEI - Rising Sun Goes West (1)

Part 5: Amazing Grace | Triumph 1

The following additions and corrections have been made to the previous chapter in the following respects.

Participation of the US Marine Corps, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, 12nd Marine Aircraft Group, and the accompanying entry of the Akagi into the battle. As a result, the number of participating carrier-based fighters has been revised to approximately double.

The dates, distances, and other figures in the work have been corrected because there were parts where it was physically impossible or the settings had changed.

Sorry it took so long to post. The battle for the capital was supposed to be skimmed over, but I decided to describe what happened.

- Bokutotsu Zen'u

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February 15

Imperial Palace Auditorium, Lithianburg, Imperial Domain

A few minutes after Alphon was informed of the results of the Battle of Mesto, the Imperial Guards, which protected the capital and the Imperial Palace, were assembled in the auditorium. Most of the Imperial Guard had been dispatched to the Mesto Forest with the Imperial Domain Army under the command of Widerick Ezzo, an Imperial Domain Army general, and since they had been almost completely wiped out in the Mesto Forest along with other troops, the Imperial Guard now had only the minimum number of men left to maintain security. Even if all the soldiers were mobilized, the number would not reach 1.500.

With such a state of forces stationed in the capital, it is no longer possible to maintain martial law in the capital city, which had been declared the day after the proclamation of the establishment of the government-in-exile by Jettis. The government of the Imperial Domain is no longer able to suppress the capital citizens who are rebelling against the usurper, the current Emperor Alphon I.

The soldiers were wondering why they have been summoned under such circumstances, when Alphon appeared from offstage. Standing on the stage of the auditorium, he looked around at the soldiers who are paying attention to him, then he brought his face close to the voice echo shell, a magic tool that amplified sound, and spoke.

"I've asked you all to gather here, and I'm going to be blunt... Just a few moments ago, we received word that the last of our 125.000 troops that were massing in the Mesto Forest had been defeated."

!!!

The Emperor's words were followed by a stir among the soldiers. After that, Alphon confirmed that the murmurs had calmed down a little, and he continued.

"And... as some of you may know, at about the same time, the Holy War was withdrawn by the Papal State. This means that this war no longer has the blessing of the Head Temple..."

The news of the withdrawal of the Holy War by the Pope... the news that traveled across the Juperia Continent naturally reached the ears of the Imperial Guard.

"I killed my brother... together with you. But I did it for the sake of the Papal State, I did it at the will of the Pope! And yet I cannot forgive the Pope for yielding to the strength of his enemies and betraying us!"

"!!"

The soldiers' murmurs grow stronger again as Alphon I, a devout Irulan, spoke out against Pope Innocent III, the head of the Irulan religion, in defiance. "The Pope has given in to the heathens," were words he would never have uttered under normal circumstances. At the same time, however, his words were the very dissatisfaction that the Imperial Guard, who had been complicit in the assassination of the former Emperor Fasta III and his family, as the perpetrators of the assassination, so to speak, had been harboring. The soldiers felt a kind of catharsis when Alphon said what they themselves could not say out loud. Alphon, who was winning the hearts of the Guardsmen, continued his speech.