Ch.910The Airship and the Dragon

Using the airship to defeat a dragon?

“We’re dedicated to finding and developing countermeasures… but for now, I must say it’s difficult.”

Leopold’s answer was immediate and definitive, suggesting he had been pondering this problem extensively.

For now, it’s difficult. That was the conclusion Leopold had reached after discussions with Floheta.

If they loaded the airship’s mana cannons with shells coated in dragon scales, they could potentially damage a dragon.

If they stationed numerous priests or mages aboard the airship to deploy defensive barriers, they could likely defend against a dragon’s magic.

They were confident about these aspects.

The problem was…

“The dragon’s breath. There’s simply no way to block that.”

A dragon’s most powerful offensive capability. The elemental breath that incinerates everything it touches. They had concluded there was no way to counter it.

Even against Nidhogg, who wasn’t a complete dragon, Lacy had to expend all her power just to block a single breath attack.

And even then, she couldn’t fully block it, resulting in severe damage to the island.

So how could anyone possibly block the breath of a true dragon?

Even I was only able to endure it because of my flame resistance. If Amitamir’s breath had been ice or lightning, I wouldn’t have even attempted the madness of taking it head-on.

A dragon’s breath was not something that could be withstood through pure defensive power, unless one could avoid the damage entirely through a Tale of Heros or divine power.

An unstoppable attack. In other words, one must either prevent the dragon from breathing altogether or avoid it rather than trying to block it…

That’s impossible with an airship.

While an airship’s maximum speed easily surpasses that of a racehorse, it’s not enough to evade a dragon’s breath.

An airship is called a “ship” because of its massive size, and due to its design structure and flight mechanics, sharp directional changes are inherently difficult.

Before it could change direction to evade, a dragon’s breath would sweep across the hull and bring it down with ease.

Such an outcome would result in losses for the Empire that would be not just enormous but sacrilegious.

Not only would the airship itself be lost, but the mages and priests aboard would all perish in the breath attack and subsequent crash.

“…That’s troublesome.”

“Nevertheless, we’re researching ways to improve these shortcomings. The Archbishop Elmaine’s advice was particularly valuable.”

When I sighed and shook my head as if the future looked bleak, Leopold smiled faintly, his forehead gleaming, suggesting there was still hope.

“Lacy’s advice?”

“Yes. The Archbishop suggested…”

A solution to overcome the airship’s limitations, particularly its inability to evade a dragon’s breath.

Leopold straightened his crooked wig and began a detailed explanation.

“If the problem is that it’s too large to evade the breath, then wouldn’t the solution be to miniaturize the airship itself? To the point where it could hardly be called an ‘air-ship’ anymore.”

In short, they were enthusiastically developing small one or two-person airships.

The plan was to operate a squadron of small airships, each equipped with a miniaturized mana cannon and a mana engine reduced to the smallest size possible without risk of overload.

That was the conclusion Leopold and Floheta had reached based on Lacy’s advice.

Indeed, Lacy had mentioned something like this before. She had suggested that small airships might be necessary to counter the approach of winged Dragonborn.

While Lacy had conceived this idea with the war against the Dragonic Kingdom of Jin in mind, Leopold and Floheta saw it as the key strategy to overcome a dragon’s breath.

“We’re facing challenges in miniaturizing the mana engines, but once completed, we should be able to stand against dragons.”

If they could miniaturize airships to that extent, the disadvantages of having a large target area and slow directional changes would naturally be resolved.

By operating them in squadrons, even if three or four were destroyed by a breath attack, the remaining forces could continue the battle, thus minimizing the damage from a dragon’s breath.

“The strategy is to have large airships armed with large-caliber, long-range mana cannons, carrying squadrons of small airships for coordinated attacks.”

Leopold explained the airship operation strategy they had devised after lengthy discussions.

“The large airships maintain maximum firing distance for artillery combat, while the small airships approach the dragon for close-quarters maneuvering. Like trebuchets and cavalry.”

The main combat role would fall to the small airship squadrons.

The plan was to deploy elite soldiers in one or two-person airships, approaching the dragon and engaging in combat using the small vessels’ inherent maneuverability.

Since each small airship would be equipped with one mana cannon, they could at least inflict pinprick wounds, if not fatal damage.

Additionally, if they stationed high-ranking mages or hero-class knights aboard, aerial combat that would otherwise be impossible for anyone but me or Demian would become feasible.

For example, if Joshua were aboard a small airship, he could unleash “Giant Slayer’s Sword” against the dragon.

While there would be a risk of dying if shot down, as long as they avoided being shot down, they would pose a threat that even a dragon couldn’t ignore.

If they could destroy the wings by any means necessary and force the dragon to crash, it would be trapped in a war of attrition with ground forces, unable to escape.

With ground forces swarming like ants, deploying cavalry, ballistas, and catapults in relentless assault, a dragon would have to prepare for death if things reached that point.

After launching the small airships, the large vessels would maintain maximum firing distance while conducting artillery combat.

They would also replenish the mana stones for small airships that returned due to depleted fuel.

The strategy was designed to focus the dragon’s attention on the small airships, minimizing the chance of breath attacks directed at the large vessels.

From a dragon’s perspective, the small ships darting about and delivering pinprick attacks up close would be far more irritating than occasional artillery fire from a distance.

Therefore, the likelihood of the dragon ignoring the small ships to prioritize the large ones would be low.

“Even if a breath attack does come our way… by maintaining maximum firing distance, we might barely be able to evade it before it reaches us. Though I can’t say that with certainty…”

Leopold’s tone revealed some doubt even as he spoke, but to me, it was a truly impressive concept.

A massive vessel carrying smaller flying craft.

This is an aircraft carrier.

Though only a few months had passed since they developed the airship, Leopold, Floheta, and Lacy had already arrived at the concept of aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft.

Of course, for now it remained just a concept, and whether they could actually implement it was an entirely different matter.

“For now, I plan to seek cooperation from other countries as much as possible. Alvheim won’t be willing to cooperate, and we can’t expect much from the Dragonic Kingdom either…”

Leopold trailed off, shifting his gaze slightly and letting out a faint sigh.

What, why, what?

Is he suggesting it’s become difficult to get cooperation from the Dragonic Kingdom because of the trouble I caused? That’s an unfounded accusation.

If I hadn’t been there, Amitamir would still be flying around alive and well. If that were the case, the situation would have worsened, not improved.

Whether Persiella died at Amitamir’s hands or successfully defeated Amitamir, either outcome would have been problematic.

Cylude might have resorted to extreme measures to annihilate the opposing faction after losing his sister, or Persiella, transformed into a dragon lord, might have gone on a massacre spree according to her brother Bernard’s wishes.

Either way, the country would have been in complete chaos, leaving no room to assist the Empire.

So I bear no responsibility. Having no responsibility, I could be confident.

No, if anything, I’m the Dragonic Kingdom’s benefactor. I prevented their country from falling into chaos with minimal casualties. Isn’t that right?

“Their king ordered his sister to massacre his own citizens, and that sister was thoroughly manipulated by an apostle of an ancient god. Even if we requested cooperation, we’d be lucky not to get stabbed in the back.”

Therefore, I countered with an utterly confident tone.

Even if I hadn’t caused diplomatic conflict, the Dragonic Kingdom was inherently untrustworthy—or rather, a country that should never be trusted.

“Hmm… yes, let’s set that aside for now.”

Leopold cleared his throat and nodded. As if pursuing the matter would only harm himself since it was already over.

“…Anyway, while we can’t expect much from elves and Dragonborn, the Dwarfs might be different. Himmel must also be on high alert about the dragon’s revival. If we seek their cooperation, they might not refuse.”

Technical cooperation with the Dwarfs. Two years ago, this would have been unthinkable, but now it was at least worth considering.

One of the great Dwarf houses, the Red Copper Clan, had been developing formal economic and friendly relations with the Empire for nearly a year, using Asha as their public face.

While they firmly refused to share state secrets like gunpowder formulas or cutting-edge technology, they were willing to provide some support for basic engineering techniques.

The core power source of airships, the mana engine, and even the mana cannons would have been impossible to complete without the Dwarfs’ technical cooperation.

Unlike in the past when technology sharing was strictly prohibited, now that exceptions had begun to emerge one by one… perhaps someday we could expect full-scale cooperation.

Even the Dwarfs, who had insisted on handling matters themselves rather than cooperating with elves, would find it difficult to maintain such stubbornness against dragons.

Probably.