I Became a Witch and Started an Industrial Revolution

Anna brought back the wooden fighter aircraft proposal that the Aircraft Design Institute had developed for Ernesto.

After reading it, she gave it high praise.

The institute's design was exceptionally well suited to Ernesto's actual needs. It was, without question, the optimal solution.

Moreover, it gave her an entirely new idea.

This entire series of aircraft could be supplied to allied nations as military aid, allowing the Alliance to expand from the widespread distribution of muskets and artillery for total war into an era of universal aerial warfare.

Besides the H-5 fighter, she also had another wooden aircraft design that could be shared—

The Mosquito bomber.

Fighter aircraft—or rather, propeller-era fighter aircraft—were not particularly difficult from a technological standpoint.

They essentially required only four things:

A piston engine.

An airframe.

A mechanical transmission system.

And a handful of flight instruments.

That was all.

Generally speaking, metal remained the ideal material for an aircraft's airframe.

Duralumin, for example, was an excellent choice.

However, it also came with quite a few drawbacks.

Wood, on the other hand, possessed surprising advantages.

Many types of wood were not significantly weaker than common structural metals.

When laminated together, they could even achieve engineered composite structures comparable to alloys.

Its greatest weakness was simply its weight.

Ultimately, different design philosophies reflected different national requirements and technological capabilities.

Everyone wanted to design the perfect fighter aircraft.

The problem was—

That was incredibly difficult.

Even the Zero fighter currently serving in the Alliance military had made sacrifices in order to achieve its desired performance.

After all, half of its predecessor's heritage came from the infamous "Zero Lighter," whose design had compromised everything else to achieve an empty weight of only 2.3 tons and extreme low- to medium-altitude maneuverability.

To keep the aircraft as light as possible, the original Zero carried no armor whatsoever.

Neither the cockpit nor the fuel tanks had any protection.

The fuel tanks lacked self-sealing capability and even basic fire-suppression equipment.

Anything that could be simplified had been simplified.

Naturally, the aircraft caught fire the moment it was hit.

Did the designers—

Or the country—

Know about these shortcomings?

Of course they did.

But there was nothing they could do.

From the very beginning, it had been designed as a complete, finished product.

The aircraft itself had been built entirely around a single engine.

There was almost no room left for future upgrades.

So while other nations continuously improved their technology, it entered service with a 900-horsepower engine...

And remained a 900-horsepower fighter forever.

As time passed, its performance inevitably fell behind.

Apart from making increasingly desperate weight-saving compromises, there was simply no other path left.

What else could anyone possibly say?

No matter how much one argued—

That was its limit.

The Alliance's Zero fighter, however, had actually borrowed its design philosophy from the Reppu.

Its empty weight consistently hovered around three tons.

Because it had to house a significantly larger engine—one weighing roughly 300 kilograms with a diameter of approximately 1,200 millimeters—the fuselage could never be made particularly small.

That extra space, however, provided enormous room for future technological upgrades.

Beginning with a 1,000-horsepower engine and eventually evolving into the Zero-3 equipped with a 1,500-horsepower engine, the aircraft maintained roughly the same overall weight while receiving substantial improvements in power and structural strength.

Its performance increased dramatically across every measurable category.

Ultimately, a fighter aircraft's design requirements could be reduced to only three things:

Speed.

Firepower.

And protection—

Though protection always came with a question mark.

The greatest weakness of wooden fighters was that protection and weight could never be optimized simultaneously.

If the engine lacked sufficient power, the heavier wooden airframe would become sluggish and difficult to maneuver.

Their greatest strengths, however, were the simplicity of manufacturing and ease of maintenance.

The Alliance's 1,500-horsepower engine already possessed enough excess power to simply brute-force the problem.

Powering an allied nation's wooden fighter placed virtually no strain on it whatsoever.

In fact, it even allowed the aircraft to capitalize on the advantages offered by wooden construction.

Belzetsk

Although the Alliance Army had not been delayed for very long by the Church's three Super Fortresses—thanks largely to the actions of a certain unnamed lewd witch—the subsequent occupation and reconstruction proceeded far less smoothly.

The devastated transportation network, combined with the massive numbers of surrendered Church soldiers and starving civilians awaiting relief, pushed the Alliance's logistics system beyond its limits.

Maintaining public order likewise demanded enormous manpower.

Only after several months of reorganization and replenishment did conditions finally stabilize.

Taking advantage of that interval, even more tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery pieces were transported across the strait to reinforce Belzetsk.

Among them were numerous new heavy tanks and tracked self-propelled multiple rocket launchers.

The Belzetsk Front Army received substantial reinforcements in both personnel and equipment.

Its Army Commander was simultaneously promoted to Commander of the Church Front, assuming full responsibility for the entire Church campaign.

The force consisted of:

Four Tank Armies.

Six Mechanized Army Groups.

Two Frontline Air Armies.

Its total strength reached approximately 500,000 personnel.

The force fielded:

More than 3,500 tanks of various types.

Over 800 self-propelled howitzers.

1,500 152mm artillery pieces.

More than 1,600 fighter aircraft.

Over 700 bombers.

Tens of thousands of light and heavy transport vehicles.

The army assembled in Orstad State.

With the support of its waterways, logistical pressure could be greatly reduced.

Their ultimate objective was the Church Royal Capital—

Ichamein.

However, they had no intention of launching a direct assault.

Instead, the army would split into two separate forces.

Two Tank Armies and four Mechanized Army Groups would surround Ichamein with overwhelming strength, trapping every available force inside the capital and preventing them from reinforcing any other front.

The second force would execute a hook maneuver.

Using the Orstad Canal as its supply line, it would swing around the flank, severing the Royal Capital's connection with every other state and completing the encirclement.

This strategy would also greatly reduce the defensive pressure on the Suria front, allowing additional forces to reinforce the main defensive line.

The Church Nation naturally had no intention of quietly awaiting destruction.

Whether it was the Goddess of Light or the Royal Family and the great nobles—

None of them were willing to surrender their power without a fight.

During the several months in which the Alliance prepared its offensive, the Church also entered its final frenzy.

Did the Church still possess any forces capable of resisting?

The answer was—

Yes.

At the very least, it still possessed two elite formations.

Elite in reputation, at least.

Whether they truly deserved that title remained to be seen.

The first was the Royal Capital Guard.

This force numbered approximately twenty thousand troops.

It would never be deployed unless the nation itself faced extinction.

Its status roughly corresponded to the Capital Garrison stationed in Sera.

The second force was the Church's ultimate hidden weapon—

The Inquisition.

Because the Goddess genuinely existed in this world, the authority wielded by the Inquisition was terrifyingly immense.

Every member was an extremist fanatic personally nurtured by the divine power of the Goddess of Light.

The organization numbered only around ten thousand members.

Even its weakest members possessed Eighth Rank strength.

Its Grand Inquisitor stood at the same level as the Goddess after her cultivation had declined—

A Half-God.

Not only did the Inquisition possess complete independence in judgment and punishment, but it also maintained its own dedicated armed forces responsible for arresting, interrogating, and, when necessary, carrying out military suppression directly.

These two forces represented the final trump cards of both the nation and the Church.

Whether in equipment, personnel quality, or loyalty—

They represented only the very best.

At the same time, numerous powerful individuals from other races remained hidden in the shadows.

None of them intended to stand idly by while the Alliance destroyed the Church and unified the region.

Naturally, Mitia had never intended to place all of her hopes solely upon her conventional armies.

Even if they ultimately achieved victory, the casualties would far exceed what she was willing to accept.

In addition to the powerful individuals already stationed across the Alliance's major continents and various frontlines—

Nearly every Great Witch, including those stationed in the capital itself, was dispatched to the Church Front.

Whether measured by conventional military strength or high-end combat power—

The Alliance possessed overwhelming superiority.

At the same time, through the Frontline Air Force, Mitia dropped enormous quantities of surrender leaflets throughout the Royal Capital, attempting to undermine the morale of both soldiers and civilians alike.

She was not joking.

This...

Was her final act of mercy.

After all—

She had never intended to charge headlong into the desperate death struggle of an entire nation.

She had absolutely no interest in letting a dying enemy take a bite out of her.

Better to use the old method.

If artillery exists—

Then blast the hell out of them!

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