Chapter 153: Reinforcements

“…What’s that?”

The whistle echoed across the sea.

When I turned toward it, there was nothing but the endless horizon. After a short while, however, black specks began to appear.

The specks slowly grew larger.

They were battleships.

“Wa!”

Battleships, cruisers, destroyers–the approaching fleet was composed of many warships, all flying the flag of Wa.

“They’re here already…?”

The fleet carrying me had been attacked by the Friez Kingdom, making it difficult for us to continue to Wa. Three days after we sent word of that situation, Wa declared war on Friez.

Originally, the declaration was supposed to come after our delegation arrived and completed the detailed arrangements for the alliance. But Wa strongly insisted upon coming to our aid at once, and so it declared war after only three days.

Wa immediately began attacking Friez colonies in Asia.

The Friez Kingdom was forced to respond.

That was one reason why the fleet now escorting the transports for the landing operation at the Suzha Canal was smaller than the fleet that had attacked Lunoa. The warships gathered from Asia had been sent back to deal with Wa.

By drawing away part of the enemy fleet, Wa had already provided us with invaluable support.

“Thank goodness…!”

Yet the country had gone even further and dispatched naval reinforcements all the way to the Middle East.

I could only voice my sincere gratitude for aid that had arrived so swiftly and in such strength.

But I couldn’t stand there staring forever. I began revising our battle plan in my head to account for the reinforcements–

“…Now?”

–only to tilt my head when the Wa navy behaved in a rather unbelievable way.

Whenever magic was activated, mana invariably rose from it. My eye could perceive that with certainty.

I had only just realized that no mana had been rising from the ships of Wa. Only now did it appear before me. In other words, the fleet had sailed all this way without using magic.

They came this far without even activating their anti-magic barriers…?

“What?”

The next instant, before I could dwell upon the question, many small shadows shot from the Wa ships and raced toward us at tremendous speed.

“…People?”

“CHESTOOOOOOOOOO!”

A thunderous battle cry answered my question.