The Hungry Fortress Wants to Build a Battleship in Another World – World of Sandbox-Chapter 14Vol 3. : Drafting the Five-Year Plan

“Uuuuuuuuuuugh...”

Commander Eve was troubled.

Should they invade or not?

Oil was an incredibly tempting resource. They had managed to supply themselves with most metals despite the scarcity. But oil... oil was what they lacked now.

“But starting a war of aggression, huh...”

The potential target was, for all intents and purposes, a civilized nation. Not particularly hostile, and no conflict had broken out between them. There was no intelligence suggesting they posed a future threat to The Tree, nor were they involved in any existing disputes.

Was it really okay to invade a reasonable country like that just because they had resources?

“I mean, yes, I do want an oil field of our own... but it’s not like importing is impossible.”

If they could secure oil through fair trade, that wouldn’t be a bad outcome. They could extend their operational lifespan with imported fuel while searching for another oil source by other means.

Ideally, a subsea oil field.

That way, in this continent where deep-sea navigation technology was underdeveloped, no one could complain. Even if they did complain, they could easily be brushed off—or spun with enough excuses.

But land was a different story.

Seizing territory that someone else had already claimed would undoubtedly lead to war. Yes, they could suppress resistance with overwhelming firepower, but they'd still have to fight at least once.

“If this were a maritime nation, we could just rely on gunboat diplomacy...”

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Even though the Forest Kingdom of Levresta had ports, its nature was clearly that of a landlocked nation. It was hard to imagine them possessing a real navy. They weren’t dependent on maritime trade either, so even a naval blockade wouldn’t do much damage.

Then again...

“What if we build a land battleship and force them to back down...”

Practical? Not really. But in terms of intimidation? Absolutely.

Still, the effectiveness was completely untested. Even after digging through the library, she couldn’t find any diplomatic precedents involving land battleships.

“Wait, but even if we went that route... what would we demand with gunboat diplomacy? Cede the oil field? Or maybe lease the land as a dependency?”

They could try to lead the oil field development themselves—but if the demand involved military pressure, bad blood would be inevitable.

She wasn’t keen on making enemies. But she also couldn’t think of any peaceful way to secure the oil.

If only the other side desperately wanted something, they could propose an exchange. But so far, no such leverage had presented itself.

“It’s not going to go as smoothly as with Telek Port City, is it...”

In the first place, the United Kingdom of Aphracea wasn’t even functioning as a proper state. That’s why they’d been able to do as they pleased—establishing Paraiso without facing any real opposition.

Fortress No. 2 had also been built in completely untouched territory.

Sure, the surrounding countries technically recognized it as Aphracean land, but the kingdom itself had no control over it.

Most likely, it was a place no human had ever set foot in. As long as they maintained effective control for a few years, they could argue their case with a straight face.

Not that Aphracea’s chaos would settle anytime soon. Even in the best-case scenario, they’d need ten years. But ten years would be more than enough to complete a fully fortified city.

“What should I do...? Ringo, do you have any thoughts?”

“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. First, I believe we should clarify our objective.”

“Our objective?”

“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Establish a goal, then choose the means to achieve it. At present, the only goal I can recommend is the expansion of The Tree’s influence. If that’s the case, war may be inevitable.”

Hearing that, Eve nodded thoughtfully.

Ringo’s entire raison d’être was to protect her, serve her, and expand their domain.

And to expand that domain, they needed a vast amount of resources. Oil had become the top priority—no exaggeration.

It had to be extracted by their own hands. An unstable import arrangement just wouldn’t do.

“Hmm. Well, I guess if I had to name an ultimate goal... it would be to live a peaceful, carefree life without ever fearing for my life...”

Of course, she added, with Ringo and everyone else alongside her.

To live peacefully, without fear.

It sounded simple—but was incredibly difficult. Even Ringo couldn’t define what “without fear” meant.

In the extreme, if they wiped out every intelligent being not aligned with The Tree, then yes, there’d be no more assassination threats.

But even then, nature’s threats wouldn’t vanish. Storms, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes. Environmental destruction by meteorites couldn’t be ignored either. Nor could long-term climate shifts—ice ages, scorched landscapes, magnetic pole reversals.

And on top of all that: alien invaders.

Ringo had originally come from a game called World of Space, or WoS. It was a game about developing planets and reaching the stars. Naturally, she had knowledge of spaceflight technologies, and her internal database included entries on such matters.

So it wouldn’t make sense to ignore the possibility of intelligent life in other star systems.

How far would they have to go to eliminate all threats to their lives?

“Well, /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ I guess that part will always be subjective. You don’t have to take it too seriously, Ringo.”

“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. I will try. Let us set aside the ultimate objective for now and revisit it later.”

“You’re totally taking it seriously though.”

When it came to the Commander, Ringo didn’t understand the concept of compromise. Eve had expected as much—and chuckled dryly before shelving the topic for now.

“Well then. A short-term goal—or rather, maybe a medium-term one. What should it be... We’ve secured a good amount of iron, so things have kind of... settled down a bit. I do want to secure oil within a year, but we’ll need a bigger goal than that, won’t we?”

“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Ideally, we should consider a five-year horizon.”

“Five years, huh...” she muttered.

“I’ve never thought that far ahead...”

“....”

Even when Eve admitted that, Ringo unfortunately had no advice to offer.

“Hmmmm. Hmmm. Huh? Oh—right!”

After a good bit of groaning, Eve clapped her hands.

“Battleships! We talked about building one, right? Let’s go all the way and make a fleet! Yeah... Five fleets, each with a battleship as the flagship. And then one super-battleship to oversee everything. That should give us solid defense capabilities, right? We can always adjust once we know more about the world.”

“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Understood. I will begin drafting the plan. If we intend to complete everything in five years, then we can deploy one fleet each year. As for the super-flagship, we should aim to launch it within three years at the latest.”

“Oooh. That’s my Ringo. Jumped straight into specifics, huh...”

“Within one year, we’ll launch our first battleship.

Let’s say, to keep things neat, we define any combat vessel over 300 meters in length as a battleship.

These will serve as flagships for the fleets.

Each fleet will consist of battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and various support ships.

Aircraft, support craft—and if possible, satellite systems.

Also, landing craft and suppression units. With this setup, we can call it a functional fleet.”

The ships and equipment Ringo listed didn’t all need to be completed within a year.

But if they aimed to be fully operational in five years, it was important to at least establish the framework early and start accumulating operational experience.

Simply building a lot of ships wouldn’t mean anything if they couldn’t use them effectively.

“Commander Ma’am. To run all this at full capacity, oil is absolutely essential. There is no easily manageable energy source that can match oil’s energy density.

Microwave power transmission is useful—but as the number of targets increases, the power density drops, and so do transmission efficiency rates.

The number of relay drones needed for microwave coverage also increases exponentially.

Additionally, for remote deployments, a separate energy source will be necessary—making oil fuel all the more attractive.”

“...Mmh. So it all connects back to oil, huh...”

With Ringo’s statement, Commander Eve found herself clutching her head once again.