第１６２９堀： 医療と軍 (Part1)
Chapter 1629: Medicine and the Military
Side: Steve
“……And so, as far as Roschur is concerned, aerial reconnaissance of the waters near Litea shouldn’t be a problem.”
“I see. Well, there aren’t any massive mountains nearby, so I’m glad we didn’t run into any dragons.”
““Phew.””
As the Boss said that, I let out a sigh of relief right along with him. After all, that was the thing I’d been most worried about.
“To be honest, since we already managed to spot the enemy, was there really any need to keep up the aerial reconnaissance?” I asked, sipping the tea Orelia had brought me.
That’s right—the reason we’d originally attached an airbase to the naval port was to quickly determine if the Dark Guild was deploying any dungeons. Fortunately, Kirika’s intelligence unit had already caught up to the enemy and was tracking them by land. That was several days ago, and when I asked why we were still flying sorties, the Boss had simply said…
*“Keep it up.”*
And so, we’d been keeping the aircraft running. But at high altitudes, all you see is the blue of the sky, the blue of the sea, or a sea of clouds.
“Steve, if you’re serious about that, should I hand the general’s duties over to John, Surakichi-san, or Mino-chan?”
“That would be nice. Asking me to plan operations while also being out in the field—no other world does that, you know. But while we’re at it, I suppose the goal is perimeter security for Roschur and Litea, terrain mapping, and immediate strikes if a dungeon is deployed? That’s about the extent of it, right?”
“That’s the gist of it. I’m glad you understand.”
“Since we’ve already launched them, I guess you’re just looking to figure out how to use them? If we’re not careful, we might provoke some unexpected monsters. How do you feel about that?”
Right—the reason the Boss hadn’t touched the skies originally was because we didn’t know what kind of threats might be lurking up there. Well, we have that mini-Godzilla thing called Ground Zero that Alfin keeps in our home, so it wouldn’t be strange if other incomprehensible monsters existed. It would be an act of pure stupidity to provoke them before we even had a way to repel them. Since he’d flipped that decision, it was only natural for me to have questions.
“Part of the investigation is for that very reason. There are things that look like Leviathans, so it wouldn’t be strange if something similar existed in the sky. If we’re using the Old Testament as a reference, maybe Ziz? And Behemoth on land?”
“Ugh, I’d really rather not tangle with something like that.”
“Still, it’s strange that I feel like they’d be more manageable than Godz***.”
“Well, that one is the King of Monsters, after all.”
I have to agree—it feels like they’d be more manageable than *him*. Our magic and weaponry would likely be effective against them. But against *that* thing? It just feels impossible.
“Even so, we have to be prepared to fight even if the opponent is on par with Godz***. Now that we’ve ventured out to sea for the sake of intercontinental exchange, if there’s a way to identify threats beforehand, we need to do it. Especially since we never know when we might be attacked from the sky.”
“I understand the logic. If we encounter that kind of monster, should we go for an all-out interception?”
“No, report first. If they can communicate, then we talk. I don’t want to start a war with a preemptive strike just because we didn’t try to engage in dialogue.”
“If there were any sky-faring folks that sociable and capable of conversation, I’d imagine they would have already made contact with the various nations by now.”
“True. Which is to say, we can assume the skies—at least over Rogari—are safe.”
“Ah, I suppose that’s one way to look at it.”
The fact that there had been no talk of aerial threats until now was proof enough that there were no hostile monsters in the sky. Of course, there were dragons in the mountains, but Gau-san and Coral, who spent their time in Weed, hadn’t mentioned anything flying higher than that. In that sense, perhaps there weren’t any major threats around the Rogari continent. And if something of that caliber did show up, it would be a matter of negotiation—or, if things went south, an all-out interception.
As we were talking, something suddenly crossed my mind.
“The sky is one thing, but what about the sea? Any new discoveries there?”
That was the area we were currently putting the most effort into—the investigation of the waters near Rogari, specifically around Roschur and Litea. I hadn’t heard any updates. Then again, if there hadn’t been a report, there probably wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.
“If you’re asking about new discoveries, we get reports of new species every day. Well, it’s our first time out on the open sea, so that’s to be expected.”
“That’s true. What about high-threat monsters?”
“They exist, but it’s mostly the shark-like ones or the long-necked ones we’ve already reported.”
“Ah, those.”
I’d already checked the data. They were larger than land monsters, which made them stronger, but the real issue was that they were underwater. We couldn’t move freely in that environment, which increased the difficulty. Still, if they were monsters we’d already reported, we could take them down without issue as long as we were at full strength. Well, to an outsider, they’d look like monsters from a disaster movie, but the fact that I can say we could defeat them in our spare time… I guess I’ve grown in some rather strange ways.
As we were discussing the future movements of the military, a knock at the door interrupted us, and Rurua-ane-san walked in.
“Sorry to interrupt your work.”
“No, it’s fine. My talk with Steve is mostly finished.”
“Yeah, we’re done, so it’s no problem. It’s rare to see you come by the military sector, Rurua-ane-san. Did something happen?”
It was very unusual for Rurua-ane-san to show her face at the military headquarters during working hours. After all, the military had its own medical corps. As for medical training and practical experience, we usually went to her, so there was no reason for her to come here. There was no point in the military monopolizing medical achievements, after all.
Seeing her here, I braced myself for some kind of trouble.
“Yes. I wanted to consult with you about the hospital in the port town.”
““The hospital?””
Why would she be talking to the Boss about that? Well, he had some medical knowledge, but compared to the experts in Weed, he was nothing—other than the fact that he possessed the cheat-like recovery magic known as *Extra Heal*. Though, having magic that could heal anything was a bit of a rule-breaker.
“As you know, we are planning to build a hospital in the port town as well.”
“Right, since the town is growing, it’ll need medical facilities.”
“It does. We can’t exactly return to Weed every time someone gets sick or injured. Though, I suppose for serious injuries or cases that are difficult to treat, we’d have to bring them to the hospital in Weed, right?”
“That depends on the equipment, doesn’t it? Is that what you wanted to discuss?”
“Yes. That is part of it.”
Hmm, it sounded like there was a lot to consider.