I came back but the world is still a fantasy!? – Garesto Academy – Exam Arc: Chapter I – Those Who Take Advantage of the Test – 04-15: The True Power Balance of the Two Worlds (2/3)

“No one ever talked about it in the academy, so I thought it was strange. Prejudices are really scary, aren’t they? I would’ve never even dreamed it – That Garesto wouldn’t have WMDs or strategic-class weapons.”

Was it because of his prejudice or was it simply because he couldn’t imagine a world that didn’t have such weapons?

When he said those words, he seemed to be talking himself, and a fed-up expression appeared on his face as he shook his head.

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s more unbelievable that someone would actually make a weapon as inhumane as those,” Frire said.

If tactical weapons were meant to ‘fight directly’ on the battlefield, then strategic weapons were meant to destroy the important facilities of an enemy nation – in other words, a weapon to ‘incapacitate’.

Broadly speaking, weapons of mass destruction were strategic weapons.

It is because they are able to extinguish vast amounts of human lives and destroy many structures that biological weapons, chemical weapons, and nuclear weapons are said to be humanity’s strongest and most vicious weapons.

Just the summary or examples of the times when they were used were enough to disgust Frire.

“I understand how you feel, I share your sentiments, in fact, but I suppose it’s precisely because those extremists of yours found out about these weapons and they became terrified of the Earthlings – the same Earthlings who created such vicious things and used them against their own kind.”

That’s why the extremists were born and have existed until now.

They believe that the spear of the Earthlings would one day be pointed at them, so it was best to remove their power before it was too late.

“Personally, I think the way Earthlings fight is scarier than just that,” Frire said. “The way they fight is too different, it doesn’t make sense. Their battlefields are full of cruelty and misery, and yet… Who would’ve thought that at the end of that bloody road would be a weapon with unprecedented range and power.”

The development of the exoskeletons(power suits) and their mass adoption made casualties rare in Garesto’s battlefields.

But the battlefields of Earth were always littered with corpses. In Earth, soldier lives were measured by the thousands, but in Garesto, every soldier was painstakingly trained from the ground up, every one of them was precious.

Soldiers who could protect the lives of many people were worth much more than other lives.

Of course, battlefields were always dangerous, but they couldn’t allow their soldiers to die needlessly.

That’s why they’ve always been developing their armor to ensure their lives.

Unfortunately, Earth didn’t share Garesto’s thoughts, and they hadn’t bothered to develop their soldiers’ armor at all. At least, that’s how Frire saw it.

“Truer words haven’t been spoken. I guess are worlds really are incompatible. When you think about it, it’s really simple – why was the exoskeleton developed?(・・・・・・)

From Earth’s perspective, it’s just a lump of overly high-tech stuff, something that’s not even a strategic-class weapon, an armor meant just to defeat enemies within one’s reach.

Earth is technologically inferior, and yet they have the ability to attack their enemies from across continents.”

Even if Garesto was able to control the battlefield, if the cities they were meant to protect were destroyed, it would all be for naught.

In fact, just having such those weapons pointed at them would be enough to keep them from moving.

They’ve never actually had such a weapon pointed at them, so they had no experience intercepting it.

It was kind of stupid, but Garesto’s military had weakness.

A weakness they didn’t realize until they learned of Earth’s technology. After all…

“The armies of Garesto are meant to protect the territories they are affiliated with. And that’s not just a rule, that’s a limit. No one would even entertain the thought of attacking someone from such an long distance since no one has the resources to spare for it. It’s already remarkable that we’re somehow holding on despite having to subjugate monsters and defend the city at the same time. And besides, a weapon that’s too powerful will just hurt the city we’re meant to protect, that or the natural resources around it,” Frire said. “Garesto is starving enough for resources as is. Losing our precious resources would be fatal. Even if someone did come up with a missile-type weapon at one point, a weapon like that that’s used just once would have just been seen as a waste of resources.”

Since there was no need for it, they never tried to make it. After all, their enemies were limited to just the raybeasts near them or the terrorists that used the same equipment and employed the same strategies they did.

But even those terrorists numbered too little compared to the raybeasts. Frire, who had been tasked to hunt raybeasts countless times, could vouch for that.

Garesto’s technology might appear unbalanced to Earth, but that’s because they had to focus on the enemy in front of them. Their technology was born out of necessity – the need to defeat the enemy in front and the need to protect their resources.

That’s why there were no such weapons in Garesto – weapons like WMDs that were too strong and prone to collateral damage and ICBMs that were designed to reach enemies from long distances.

What they needed was not a weapon to wreak mass havoc, but a weapon to defeat the raybeasts around them without danger.

What came first has already been lost in the ebbs of history, but it was precisely because the exoskeleton was the most suitable weapon to that end that it was developed.

“And just like that, we now have two worlds that couldn’t be more incompatible militarily speaking. Garesto doesn’t have any way to defend against Earth’s strategic weapons, while Earth shouldn’t know how to deal with Garesto’s human-sized weapons.”

Neither side has experience dealing with each other’s kind, and so both sides have no idea how to fight.

Garesto’s defensive wall and barriers can’t stand up to Earth’s strategic weapons, while the rest of Earth’s weapons are unable to get past the defenses of the exoskeletons. Their strategic weapons naturally can’t be used to intercept small forces either.

With the board like that, it’s highly likely that the first side to retreat into a defensive position will be disadvantaged.

That was the reason why Shinichi put so much importance on who could take the initiative.

In that regard, Garesto and Earth’s military were equal.

Comments

12 responses to “I came back but the world is still a fantasy!? – Garesto Academy – Exam Arc: Chapter I – Those Who Take Advantage of the Test – 04-15: The True Power Balance of the Two Worlds (2/3)”

  1. AE Avatar
    AE

    And then there’s Shinichi, who experienced a world with magic like Garesto but with a violent history similar to earth.

    I wonder what kind of dangerous magic based strategic class weapons he knows about.

    1. Countrymage Avatar

      The difference is that Falandia isn’t a 2d game board, they have the room to really “strategize” against their enemies. Plus they recognize it as magic, instead of mysterious energy phenomena.

      1. Dancer Avatar
        Dancer

        For the researcher the only difference is terminology.

        As long as they can assemble and use consistent rules for how things work,scientific method can be applied to magic.

        Astrology led to astronomy
        Alchemy led to chemistry
        Folk medicine led to Western medicine

        All that changed was the creation and application of a set of rules that defined how things work. Research could then use “does it fit the rules we have?” to filter new ideas and theories. Math developed independently and gets dragged in because it is a useful tool.

  2. cryum Avatar
    cryum

    It’s not exactly cheap or quick to make a modern soldier. They’re loaded up with more electronics than a full-plated knight in sheer weight.

    1. Guy Avatar
      Guy

      And then there’s the modern garesto soldier that’s a full plated knight wired with fantasy technology that makes most MBTs push their tail between their legs.

  3. Decaf Avatar

    Ugh more science fantasy instead of science fiction. Garesto must’ve really been a backwards bottle world to have technology that can break the laws of physics and portable quantum computers, but never apply it towards space exploration or mass terraforming, instead opting for an outdated feudal system backed by personal power over industrialized technology.

    That or its an artificially controlled environment and there’s a puppet master that culls research towards matter transformation and harnessing condensed exothermic reactions to maintain a grand facade of resource shortage.

    ….uhhh I mean…. Magic should solve problems. Lol. Me thinking more convenient.

    1. Owl Avatar

      It’s also their ruling structure. People don’t “choose” feudal systems, it is the first form of government a civilization develops. Only after a lot of little “kingdoms” form do Federations and Unions start taking place. Things like a space race requires a lot of resources at the start, so it’s not a surprise that the little kingdoms can’t afford it if they did not combine into a superpower, not to mention with an existentialist threat hanging over their heads all the time, resources for other things will be lacking.

    2. Thex Avatar
      Thex

      Terraforming makes sense, and they might already be doing it at that time, but it was mentioned before that Garesto is a lone continent with no oceans nor outer space, hence why space exploration for them is impossible.
      Garesto’s abundance (or lack thereof) in resources was never really specified yet, but they could mean that they lack enough resources for centuries or millenia to come, hence their efforts to look for parallel worlds.
      Earth meanwhile, is itself not only very abundant in resources, but the universe itself is like a wet dream for Garestonians; a place of unfathomable size with massively more resources than their single Africa-sized continent.

  4. St.George Avatar
    St.George

    Thanks for the chapter!

  5. Mikan Avatar

    [With the board like that, it’s highly likely that the first side to retreat into a defensive position will be disadvantaged.

    That was the reason why Shinichi put so much importance on who could take the initiative.

    In that regard, Garesto and Earth’s military were equal.]

    nah, I disagree, the moment, they don’t have how to defend against the WMD and ICBM they lost, because if you don’t surrender, then bye bye

  6. Fud Avatar
    Fud

    In my opinion I think the armies aren’t equal as us, Earthlings have hundreds of thousands of missiles and probably a few thousand nukes laying around. If they went into a war they could just launch hundreds of nukes and missiles, probably sending them through the weird dimensional gate things while sitting and watching destruction happen from a room without barely any Earthling casualties at all while basically with some coding here and there Earthlings can create missiles with their abundant resources to only target the smaller amount of high-tech Garestonian soldiers.

  7. doombloom101 Avatar
    doombloom101

    Tftc

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