Summoning Our Country - NHS Kai

Chapter 30: Battle of Menda Point Part 1

"I'm afraid that is not the case, Your Majesty. They are still very much a threat to the kingdom."

Taara scratched his head, but even to them, he was clearly holding back his temper.

"Alright, alright. Let's dial back the question: have we dealt them a blow powerful enough to force them on the defensive?"

Gucer Nizam promptly swayed his head from side to side.

"No, Your Majesty, it is just as we reported to you in our daily report yesterday morning: His Imperial Majesty's Navy still retains much of its strength and is actively spreading its forces out, presumably to prevent a decisive battle with our qualitatively superior task forces."

Taara's eyelids twitched, and his lips spasmed, details which everyone had by that point learned were signs of him going past his breaking point; sure enough, the long-awaited roar came surging from his mouth.

"And why is it still that way a month since Messina?!"

The king slammed his fist onto the brick wall of the chamber with enough force to crush some of the mortar into bits. Blood came gushing out of his fist, but the king was angered to the point he barely flinched in pain.

The chamber was frozen in shock, utterly afraid by the king's ruthless display of fury—even more so than they were concerned for his well-being in forcefully slamming his fist into what was essentially a stone-hard wall. Even Gucer Nizam couldn't help but quiver slightly at the sight.

"Your Majesty..."

Before the conversation could continue, the king suddenly leaned against the wall as his eyes, once bloodshot and filled with rage, began swelling with tears. He gripped the fist he had used to punch the wall and was on the verge of yelling in pain. At this point, everyone in the chamber scrambled to call for medical aid.

・・・

With the two separated by the Altaras Strait, it was a no-brainer to anyone, whether they be military men or uninvested civilian onlookers, that a scuffle between the Parpaldian Empire and the Kingdom of Altaras would inevitably involve their navies. If one wished to threaten an invasion of the other, they would have to first secure command of the seas, which would mean mauling or breaking the other's navy from posing a significant threat to a landing.

Both sides understood this, but due to varying circumstances, such as historical ties with the great powers, geographical position, immediate strategic necessities, and so on, Parpaldia and Altaras had developed their naval doctrines—as such, their naval forces—differently: the Altarans, thanks to their smaller population, necessity to secure their trade routes and greater wealth devoted to the navy, have a smaller navy and are leaning to a doctrine focused on decisive engagements, which is helped by their qualitatively superior vessels, a boon of their closer relationship with Mu and the Mirishials; the Parpaldians, owing to their history of continental expansion and greater population and resources, have a much larger navy, but have a significant share of it dedicated to riverine operations with the ocean-sailing fleets operating underneath a "fleet-in-being" doctrine. While the Altarans have better equipment, training, and experience (this will be Parpaldia's first major naval operation outside of riverine and coastal environments), the Parpaldians have the advantage in numbers and, as time goes on, resources, too.

Since the start of the war, they have been probing Parpaldian formations to try and force decisive engagements, but the Parpaldians knew better than to try and engage them in terms unfavorable to their own. This was also not helped by the fact that the Parpaldians enjoy a larger wyvern corps with better wyvern breeds for long endurance missions, which allows them a greater situational awareness; they also use their greater numbers and better-trained riders to actively harass Altaran recon wyverns, which are only numerous enough to deny the Parpaldians from getting too close to the Altaran mainland. However, situational awareness alone is not enough to offset their warships' better weaponry, which has proven their superiority in range and lethality in the few encounters between both navies.