February 14, Evening
Near the village of Bran, Imperial Domain
On the second day after the start of the march, the Juperia Continent Dispatch Force had passed the border between the territory of the Miket Knighthood and that of the Imperial Domain. Having passed through one of the villages, they were proceeding through a seemingly peaceful plain. However, disturbing figures were watching them from a grassy meadow, as they were unfurling a grand procession of 222 vehicles.
'Are we going to launch a surprise attack on that huge force!?'
'We can't just let them head for the capital city like this! Engage them with the resolve to give your lives!'
'No way...!'
Three soldiers, consisting of one superior officer and two subordinates, were watching the march of the Japanese troops with their guns at the ready. The distance between them and the road on which the dispatched troops were advancing was about 700 meters, and the three soldiers probably had no idea that they had been spotted. However, their movements were being detected by drones flying overhead, and one Type 96 self-propelled 120 mm mortar, under the order of Major General Takizawa, who was checking the drone's images from inside the Type 82 command vehicle, broke off from the advancing column, stopped on the shoulder, and began to turn its gun toward their position.
"We know there are three of you lurking there! If you don't drop your weapons and surrender within twenty seconds, we'll open fire with mortars! Twenty, nineteen, eighteen..."
'!?'
The three soldiers looked at each other with shocked expressions as they are suddenly warned to surrender and the countdown of their lives suddenly begins.
'How did they find us!? We're a league (0,7 km) away!?'
The superior officer can't hide his surprise that they had been discovered before he knew it.
'And... let's surrender! I hear that the Japanese army never treats prisoners with cruelty!'
'Bah... how can we do such a thing!?'
The superior officer scolded his subordinate, who is upset and insisted on surrendering. However, his face was also covered with a large amount of cold sweat. Meanwhile, the countdown continues, finally reaching 10 seconds remaining.
"Nine, eight, seven, six five four three two one! FIRE!"
"Eh! Wait a minute...!"
The countdown suddenly sped up, and the superior officer blurted. But it is already too late, and a mortar round is fired from the Type 96 self-propelled 120 mm mortar.
"AAAAGH!"
The sound of the shell echoed across the grassy field, and the three soldiers quickly bend down. The shell passed over the three men's heads, landed about 220 meters behind them, and exploded. Around the point of impact, the grass had been knocked down like a crater, and the ground was scorched. Seeing this, a chill went down the three soldiers' spine.
"Next time we won't miss... This is your last chance, come out within ten seconds!"
A voice announcing the ultimatum rang out. Peering through the bushes, the Type 96 self-propelled 120 mm mortar could be seen pointing toward them.
'Captain...!'
'...Alright.'
One of his subordinates pleaded with a feeble voice and tear-stained eyes to surrender. The superior officer, who had been shamelessly exposed in front of two of his men, had already lost the will to resist. The three men then emerged from the bushes, threw away their guns and swords, and approached the Type 96 mortar with their hands raised. The SDF, wary of a suicide attack from the three who surrendered, conducted a physical examination of them at a location away from the street and found one belief shell, two daggers, and one cooking knife among their possessions.
The shells, daggers, and the sword and gun that had just been thrown away were destroyed on the spot, and the three soldiers, who were given back one of the cooking knives as a gesture of mercy, were released on the spot. The SDF could not afford to let the POWs burden them on their march.
"If only all guerilla fighters are this dumb..."
Rei Nomura, the commander of the Type 96 self-propelled 120 mm mortar, who was returning to the march, looked blankly as he stuck his upper body out of the hatch at the three soldiers who were looking away from the column, and muttered something about an attack that had occurred during the day.
. . .
5 hours ago on the same day, noon
Near the village of Milou, Miket Knighthood
A Type 73 heavy truck with a flat left rear tire was parked on the left shoulder. Off the road where the unit was continuing its progress, three soldiers were replacing the tire. After lifting the vehicle with a jack, the bolts holding the wheel to the hub bearing were removed with an electric wrench, and the tire was removed. Then, when one of the soldiers brought the spare tire, an incident occurred.
Clank!
"...?"
There was a sound of something hitting the stopped truck. When the three men working on the truck looked in the direction of the sound, they saw a fist-sized ball that emitted faint smoke and the smell of gunpowder.
"...GRENADE!"
"!?"
A soldier shouted when he sensed what it is. The three men, who were changing tires, reacted to his voice and quickly evacuated the area. Immediately afterward, a small explosion occurred, and shards of pottery covering the gunpowder ball scattered and struck the three soldiers.
"GAAH...!"
The three troopers bent down at the same time as the explosion, but some of the shrapnel injured their legs. As for the truck, it was not badly damaged, only scorched, but the canopy covering the bed had several holes in it. Other soldiers heard the explosion and leaned out of their vehicles to take a look at the scene. One of the vehicles, an AAV7, broke off from the march and appeared near the three men cowering on the ground.
"What happened!?"
So saying, the one who emerged from the hatch of the AAV7 was Captain Sawanori Shido, commander of the 2nd Infantry Regiment. The vehicle in which he was riding was about to pass through a place where the tire change was taking place just as the explosion occurred.
"Grenade, sir! It was probably thrown from inside that house!"
One of the tire-changing soldiers reported the situation to Shido. He pointed to a small hut located a few dozen meters away from the street. The fact that the grenade had hit the left door of the truck and its location made it clear that someone who had committed the attack against the SDF was hiding in the hut he pointed to.
"Okay... you take cover behind the truck! We'll take care of this!"
"Y-yes, sir!"
The three soldiers, under Shido's order, took shelter in a safe place on the shoulders of the medics who had disembarked from the AAV7 and received medical attention. At the same time, infantrymen in combat gear also disembarked from the AAV7 under Shido's direction. When they were all ready, Shido called out to the enemy soldiers who were likely to be among them to surrender.
"Attention enemy soldiers, this hut is completely surrounded by us! Surrender quietly!"
Shido gave the warning using a loudspeaker through the hatch of the AAV7. Beside him, the personnel who had disembarked from the transport vehicle pointed their muzzle and Type 06 rifle grenades at the hut. The distance between them and the hut was about 20 meters. All of them focused their attention on the hut to deal with any situation.
"If you do not show yourself within the next twenty seconds, we will assume that you have no intention of surrendering and will fire a volley!"
Shido gave the ultimatum to the enemy soldiers who have not made a move. At that moment...
Krieee...
"!!"
The door finally opened. The men all turned their guns on the figure coming out of the hut. However, the one who came out of the hut was a man dressed in an unattractive manner. If he hadn't been throwing the grenade, they wouldn't have recognized him as a soldier. But the man's first words were unexpected.
"F-forgive me, sirs! I was just threatened! The soldiers of the Imperial Domain took my wife and child hostage... they said they would let me go if I could kill even one Japanese soldier. I am just a humble farmer, believe me!"
"...!"
The man, who claimed to be a civilian non-combatant, was approaching them with tears in his eyes.
"I get it, I get it, now stop!"
Captain Shido ordered the man, who was most likely a soldier in uniform, to stop. However, the man did not stop walking and continued to approach the infantrymen, who were holding their guns.
"You are Japanese soldiers, aren't you...? Please, save my wife and child...!"
The men who heard the man's pleas became lost, and their hands loosened as they held up their guns. Meanwhile, the man was closing the distance between him and the column still on the march. Soon after, Shido gave an order to his men, who are still hesitating.
"Open fire!"
"But sir...!"
The sudden order by the superior officer to shoot and kill the target left the men in a state of bewilderment. There was no guarantee that the man in front of them was not a civilian. However, Shido had reason to believe the man was the enemy. He pointed through the hatch of the AAV7 to the man's waistband and exclaimed.
"Can't you see the grenades he has strapped around his waist!?"
"!"
The men's faces were filled with surprise at their captain's words. Although it was difficult to see because of the rags wrapped around the man's waist, there was a small amount of smoke emanating from it. The smoke was no doubt coming from a lit fuse.
"Oh... shit!"
The man, having been exposed as a rabid liar, exposed the five or six grenades he had hidden around his waist and started running toward the group.
"I AM WITH THE GOD THIAM!"
'...Suicide bomber!?'
The enemy soldier cried. Watching his words and actions, Captain Shido realized the plan of the man who had pretended to be a farmer. At that moment...
BANG!
One of the soldiers, regaining his concentration, shot the soldier between the eyes. Naturally, he died instantly and fell to the ground. At the same time, some of the grenades he had wrapped around himself tumbled to the ground.
"TAKE COVER!"
The soldiers, seeing the grenades rolling toward them, immediately hid behind the parked truck, just like the three who had just been wounded. Captain Shido also immediately tucked himself inside the AAV7 and closed the hatch. Immediately thereafter, multiple explosions echoed across the tranquil plain. After the smoke cleared, they saw the body of a man who had been torn to pieces by a self-destructive explosion. The explosion itself was not powerful enough to cause any damage to the men who hid behind the Type 73 truck, but they could not hide their emotional turmoil.
"What fanaticism does to a man... I had assumed that the enemy soldiers had little faith... but there are some like this..."
As he looked at the cruelly torn enemy soldier, Captain Shido muttered to himself. This incident, which fortunately resulted in no fatalities, although three men were wounded and a truck was damaged, was immediately brought to the attention of Major General Takizawa, the commander of the entire unit.
. . .
'It was a simple disguised soldier, but the most dangerous time is when we pass through a village. We need to be careful...'
Corporal Nomura, who happened to be watching the suicide bomber from the Type 96 self-propelled 120 mm mortar, thought back to that moment and mulled it over in his mind. Thus, the Juperia Continental Dispatch Force continued its march, eliminating small enemy units deployed here and there along the roads, with the occasional casualty.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
February 15, Morning
Koyov Plain, Imperial Domain
On the third day after the start of the march, the Juperia Continental Dispatch Force finally reached the morning of the final day of the march. Compared to the Miket Knighthood, where the terrain was generally flat, the terrain became a bit steeper after entering the Imperial Domain, which was under the direct rule of the emperor. The Type 82 command vehicle leading the troops through the territory received a report from the Amagi anchored in the port of Miket Tirith.
"The RQ-21 Blackjack spotted a group of people hiding in the forest 28 kilometers ahead of our current location. The number of people hiding in the forest is not in the thousands or tens of thousands, but in considerable numbers."
The commander of the communications unit, Major Fujii, relayed this report to Major General Takizawa, who is in command of the entire force. It was reported that an unmanned aerial vehicle had discovered a large force hiding in the forest.
"Shall we go around the forest?"
Fujii asked him to change the route. Takizawa, however, shook his head left and right.
"Detour? Even if we do that and reach the capital, we'll have to fight them anyway."
"Then... prepare for a jungle warfare?" Fujii asked again.
"No need."
Takizawa again dismissed his suggestion.
"Then how, sir?"
"It's obvious, isn't it?"
"...?"
Fuji could not understand what was in the commander's mind when he said, "It's obvious." Takizawa gave him one order.
"Make the artillery unit ready for battle. And contact the flagship. We're going to obliterate that forest!"
"EEEH!?"