The Mighty Divine Dragon Ilx

Operation Leifor Liberation: The Sunset of Leiforia (Part 2)

Day 1 Month 4 Year 1643 Central Calendar

One week before the uproar involving Lars Filmina.

Off the western coast of the Territory of Leifor, under a clear blue sky with not a single cloud, a fleet was seen conducting operations in the calm sea with minimal waves. The fleet had a sleek, low-profile design, and those who were familiar might mistake it for a stealth ship. This fleet was dispatched by the Holy Mirishial Empire.

"They've surfaced!"

"Initiate the detonation."

Following the path of one of the ships, a mysterious object emerged. It had a shape resembling a sphere covered with countless spikes—namely, a naval mine. Immediately after revealing itself, the mine was pierced by a burst of light projectiles launched from the ship and exploded, leaving behind a massive column of water. Scenes like these were unfolding here and there.

Yes, what was happening in this area was a large-scale minesweeping operation conducted by the Holy Mirishial Empire. Having learned about the existence of a weapon called "mines" from information obtained from prisoners during the First Naval Battle of Irnetia, Mirishial had been devising countermeasures. And at this moment— a new weapon designed for mine-clearing as part of Operation Leifor Liberation was being deployed for the first time.

That weapon was the Tonelico-class magic minesweeper. To prevent the activation of magnetic mines, the ship's hull was constructed using Tonelico wood, which had a relatively high magical conductivity. Additionally, to prevent acoustic mines from activating, a water jet propulsion system using the Mermaid's Song instead of screws was adopted for this small 75-meter-long vessel.

This ship used a device called a "Paravane" for mine clearance. Resembling a torpedo, the Paravane was dropped into the sea, connected by a wire, and towed through the water. The type of mines predominantly used by the Gra Valkas Empire was a type called "tethered mines," where the mine body was anchored underwater by a wire. The Paravane would cut this wire. The surfaced mines were then detonated using machine guns. This was the procedure for minesweeping.

Furthermore, the role of the minesweeper fleet in this area was not limited to mine clearance.

"Magic detector contact! 11 o'clock ahead, distance 9 nautical miles!"

"Head there at once!"

Navigating the cleared area at a leisurely pace was the Reed-class magic small ship. On its bridge, a radar operator detected something. What he saw was not the magic electromagnetic radar that Mirishial mass-produced but the conventional magic detector. However, the target was not in the air or on the sea surface but underwater. The ship headed towards the sensed target underwater and used a certain new weapon.

"Prepare for anti-submarine attack!"

"Ready to launch the anti-submarine magic depth charge. Left 32 degrees, elevation 35 degrees, distance 240, fire!!"

With those words, the new weapon mounted on the bow—the 25-round anti-submarine magic depth charge launcher—rotated and fired successively. The fired projectiles landed at the target's location—

BOOOOOM!!

—A massive column of water rose. Subsequently, along with black smoke, fragments and oil surfaced on the water, revealing that there was some artificial object there.

This weapon is similar to the anti-submarine weapon "Hedgehog" that was once used on Earth, works by firing numerous depth charges to destroy submarines in the sea. The advantage of this weapon is that it does not explode unless it hits the target, preventing unnecessary water columns from hindering anti-submarine operations. Along with the depth charge with higher accuracy and efficiency than regular depth charges and underwater magic detector, which has a much wider range than sonar, Mirishial developed these weapons based on information obtained from prisoners during the First Naval Battle of Irnetia—although Japanese data was also used. With these two groundbreaking new weapons, Mirishial continued to hunt submarines like fish in water.