We got the final 50% boost in the green bar several days ago, so like I promised, I am pleased to present yet another novel translation from the request page.
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Thanks to russian doll for requesting this novel translation
Part 1 – I’ll Die
Prologue
Humankind is a creature steeped in karma.
People have never ceased fighting throughout the ages.
According to one historian, history is nothing more than a record of human conflicts.
From the era of swinging around stones and sticks, to today where weaponry continues to evolve without pause.
And the stage of conflict spread from the land to the seas, then underwater, and into the skies, eventually even leaving the planet humans inhabit to expand into the vast cosmos.
There have been movements trying to stop the fighting time and again, and rules made to restrain conflict as much as possible, but it all amounted to putting out a fire with oil.
And now, again, …….
Even now, two thousand years after humans left the planet of their birth…they show no intention of ceasing their battles.
In the vast history of humanity, it might be hard to believe, but just two hundred years ago, there was a peaceful era that could be considered a miracle in history.
A great empire ruled over a vast expanse of space, and for a brief moment, there was an era without wars between nations.
However, when nations were forcibly united, the resulting distortions became the seeds of future conflicts.
People gradually reverted to their original state, or perhaps became even more brutal in their struggles.
One could say that the current era should be referred to as the age of interstellar turmoil for future generations.
And even now, people around the world continue to engage in violence without ever ceasing.
Here now stands a young man,
unable to resist the era’s fate, embroiled in the turmoil of war.
And he is currently facing an extremely perilous and critical situation.
Right now, he is in the cargo hold of an antiquated military spaceship floating in space.
“Looks like it was an ambush after all.”
After muttering to himself, the youth calmly analyzed his circumstances.
The young man’s name is Nao Bruce.
Just two weeks ago he graduated from the elite military academy in the capital planet Diamond. He’s scheduled to turn twenty-one tomorrow.
That is, if he doesn’t die here.
His situation does not seem hopeful.
Currently, he holds the position of platoon leader in what the people of this country call the Coast Guard, the Capital Defense Fleet guarding the space around the capital planet.
Just earlier, he received orders from his superior, Captain Dusty, commanding officer of the space frigate [Aqueci], to suppress some space pirates.
The Coast Guard top brass in this region of space, in order to improve their disadvantageous position, made the decision to retreat backwards at what seemed like faster than light speed, and immediately acted on it.
Therefore, they ordered the space frigate [Aqueci], flagship of the fleet the top brass were aboard, to cover the fleet’s withdrawal for safety, then promptly hightailed it backwards at full speed themselves.
The captain of the space frigate [Aqueci] had absolutely no intention of being sacrificed for such irresponsible superiors, so for the sake of his own safety as well, he issued the following order to Nao, the protagonist who had just been assigned to his ship a few days ago:
[Storm the enemy ships with the landing craft and suppress the pirates].
It made no sense no matter how you looked at it, but without any hesitation Nao took about thirty subordinates with him to pilot the landing craft under his command, boarding the antiquated military spaceship – a space destroyer – closest to the enemy space pirates.
Meanwhile, most of the space pirates had already beat a hasty retreat from this region of space.
The only ones left here now besides Nao’s group were the pirates’ rearguard on the space destroyer.
Looking at the bigger picture, the space frigate [Aqueci] was still there, though now in a safely secured position quite far away where they could monitor Nao’s situation, while one pirate ship was on the opposite side, forming a pair with Nao’s group at the center.
In this situation, Nao and his unit charged into the rear cargo hold of the space destroyer serving as the pirates’ rearguard, boarding it with their landing craft.
Of course, the pirates were also lying in ambush inside the destroyer’s cargo hold to intercept Nao’s group.
The pirates Nao now faced were part of the [Hishiyama Family], famous in these parts for their considerable fighting strength, led by Capone.
The [Hishiyama Family’s] total military force was said to be half that of an empire’s regular fleet – half a fleet.
In this era, even nations with more than ordinary power could only field a maximum of two fleets.
Larger nations could have somewhat more, but many still had less.
The kingdom Nao belonged to only had two regular fleets as its military forces.
Considering that, one can grasp just how massive the pirate [Hishiyama Family’s] forces are.
Though the exact data is unknown, the [Hishiyama Family] probably boasted the largest force of any space pirates in the entire universe.
Facing the Hishiyama Family’s full strength, even the Coast Guard’s total forces would be powerless, unable to stand against even one fleet of the regular space military. But since this was just a part of them, the Coast Guard still came out to crack down on the pirates.
When the enthusiastic Coast Guard finally confronted the pirates, they realized Capone’s gang had more forces than anticipated and panicked.
Capone’s group alone was not to be taken lightly, so when the field commander saw things were disadvantageous for his side, he immediately chose to retreat at top speed.
That decision led to tragedy.
However, the opponents were pirates.
To begin with, government forces weren’t necessarily an absolute enemy they had to fight.
Space pirates are always surrounded by danger, so they tend to be extremely cowardly.
If they feel even slightly disadvantaged, they’ll flee without hesitation.
In some cases they’ll readily even sacrifice their comrades to escape.
Seeing the Coast Guard had forces on par with them, the pirates also chose to flee this time.
In short, the combat tactics of space pirates are nothing but despicable.
It seems they took the strategy of sacrificing one antiquated space destroyer as bait, then beating a hasty retreat.
Nao’s unit went to board that ship.
Seeing Nao’s group coming after them with just one landing craft, the pirates at the time thought just a little about their own safety and decided to engage Nao in order to securely escape themselves, lying in wait inside the destroyer.
You may wonder why the armed military ships in this region of space don’t battle using their weaponry like laser cannons, but it’s because this region of space has special circumstances.
I’ll explain in more detail later, but in this region all radar and the like are useless.
Laser weaponry is also unusable here.
Not only in this region of space, but energy weapons like lasers cannot be used inside the ships in this region either.
Though relatively commonplace, no matter how advanced the era, old combat tactics become effective in places like this, so in this case the battle also came down to close quarters combat after boarding the ships.
Since even personal laser guns can’t be used, it becomes a contest of physical force using axes.
The pirates are fully equipped as if going back to the Age of Sail, wearing powered suits and wielding battleaxes.
That equipment is standard in this era, and they intercepted Nao’s group armed like that.
Nao and his troops were jumping into a place with about a hundred of those roughnecks lying in ambush.
It was nothing less than certain death.
Nao’s soldiers numbered around thirty – and all women.
In a normal situation it would be hopeless, but for Nao, this was the eagerly awaited moment.
“Run! Don’t mind me, leave this place to me! I’ll hold them here. Just you get back alive. That’s an order. Now go!”
Nao was yelling without thinking in the moment he had been waiting for.
“This is where I will hold the line. Even if it’s just you all, make it out of here alive. This is my command. Now, go!”
Nao immediately ordered his subordinates to leave this place.
It was a moment when his deeply entrenched “chuunibyou” came into full bloom.
“Hah, it’s decided. This is the pinnacle, the epitome of being a hero. Risking one’s life to protect subordinates.
This is the ultimate way for a man to meet his end. Hehehe…”
///
scene transition
///
The previous lines were one of the phrases from the collection of “Last Words I Want to Say in My Life” that he had been thinking about for a year.
Nao constantly desired death due to a significant emotional scar from his past.
His decision to join the military was nothing more than a substitute for suicide, a wish for a heroic death since he couldn’t bring himself to end his own life.
As a means to that end, Nao joined the Space Navy and longed for a heroic death in the battles with the enemy. However, reality did not unfold as he had envisioned.
After various twists and turns, he had been assigned to the Coast Guard just two weeks ago.
Initially, he felt disappointed and quite depressed when he was first assigned, but the current situation had greatly deviated from what he had anticipated when he was assigned to the Coast Guard. It had quickly brought him the chance to fulfill his desire, the very wish he had longed for – to fight the enemy and die in battle.
While he had been quite down when he learned of his assignment to the Coast Guard, he had ultimately come to appreciate his fate.
The current situation had unfolded almost exactly as Nao had imagined it.
It might seem inappropriate, but he genuinely appeared to be delighted with his current circumstances.
This novel has slow pacing and includes so much details. The story’s momentum doesn’t really pick up until after the third of the book, and the volume is actually much thicker (almost double) than a regular LN. Join the membership to start reading further right now!
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Hmmm… Interesting
Nice, I will give it a try. Thanks.
I’m here because I saw the manga. I think this story is quite entertaining.
The LN is slow paced so there’s a chance that manga version will outpace my translation in the future
Quería leer esta novela, pero no se puede traducir del inglés
Google Translate is disabled because there are a sizeable number of Japanese visitors. And I don’t want them to translate the books back into Japanese instead of buying them.
Se ha deshabilitado Google Translate porque hay un número considerable de visitantes japoneses. No quiero que traduzcan los libros al japonés en lugar de comprarlos.