The Hungry Fortress Wants to Build a Battleship in Another World – World of Sandbox

“Commencing deployment of humanoid machine communicators for local infiltration.”
The control system for the humanoid machine communicators—mass-produced for the governance of Fratara City and based on local genetic profiles—had stabilized. As a result, the first lot of 22 units was scheduled to be deployed to Fratara City.
The transport method was a test run of newly developed assault drop pods, which would be launched from an altitude of 10 kilometers and dropped into the wilderness near the city.

“Assault drop pods, commence drop.”
One after another, the assault pods shot out from the rear hatch of the SR-1 Albatross.
Once dropped, the pods stabilized their posture through aerodynamic controls before igniting their upper thrusters to accelerate.

“All pods responding normally to control signals. Assault posture stable.”
At approximately 100 meters above the target, the lower thrusters fired in reverse for a forced deceleration. The assault pods were not useful on their own.
However, their exteriors were armored with a tough ceramic-metal composite shell, and the «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» spacious interior could hold ample supplies.

After decelerating to a certain point, the pods rammed their lower landing units directly into the ground. Impact-absorbing gas inside condensed into liquid under pressure, then was released from the units through control valves as high-temperature vapor.
This vapor instantly re-gasified, creating a smoke screen that temporarily obscured visibility.
Landing legs deployed from the pods embedded in the ground, with anchor piles fixing the pods into place. At the same time, the pod armor shifted, releasing the previously compressed shock-absorbing fluid.

Pushing aside the now-risen front armor, a humanoid machine communicator emerged, clad in a reinforced exoskeleton.
“Internal shock levels remain within expected range. All 22 units have landed successfully. Pod fixation also shows no issues. Test results are positive.”
“So, rapid deployment is now a reality. Honestly, having soldiers burst in at that speed… that’s nightmare fuel.”

She let out a wry chuckle as she watched the footage.
At the very least, within the United Kingdom of Aphracea, there would be no opposition.
This was just a preliminary production run—only 22 units—but the currently mass-produced version was scheduled to be deployed in squads of 24, with 15 squads in total.

In other words, 360 humanoid machine communicators in reinforced exoskeletons could be deployed instantly and across a wide area.
For a city the size of Fratara, suppression could be completed in about an hour.
“We can also deploy caterpillar-track tanks for urban combat. Now that rocket motors for descent acceleration and deceleration are in production, we're ramping up manufacturing. The motors can also be retrofitted onto existing multi-legged tanks. This marks the provisional completion of our original goal: to reinforce our airborne forces.”
“Rocket motors can now be manufactured directly at Fortress No. 2 as well. Would you say we've basically finished setting up our production infrastructure?”

“Yes, Commander Ma’am. The initial Phase-1 production line is functioning as expected. We'll now proceed with gradual expansion and increase the share of local production. We expect to secure full-scale manufacturing capability within three months.”
“We finally made it,” she exhaled deeply, sinking into her chair.
It had been nearly two years since they were thrown into this world. Resources were still tight, but they had finally established a base capable of steady production.

“...Now, if we could just find an oil field, that’d be perfect.”
Securing petroleum would significantly upgrade the quality of manufactured goods.
Of course, nothing ever went that smoothly.

Petroleum wasn’t just a fuel source—it also enabled production of resins, nylon, plastic, and various synthetic materials. With a steady supply of those, manufacturing capacity would skyrocket.
“Yes, Commander Ma’am. I propose limited deployment of a supersonic high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft to create a regional resource map. The probability of being shot down while flying at Mach 3 or above is low, but the unknowns are many. There is still a risk of interception.”
“Right, this is the one we’re still working on. The ramjet-engine reconnaissance aircraft. Engine design—complete. Airframe structure—complete. Currently researching heat-resistant materials. Heat resistance?”

“Yes, Commander Ma’am. At high speeds, adiabatic compression causes the airframe to heat up significantly. Without proper materials and placement, best-case scenario is mid-air disintegration—worst-case, catastrophic explosion. Also, due to extreme air resistance, improper airframe shape increases the risk of structural failure from pressure differentials.”
Fortunately, The Tree’s units didn’t require a cockpit view. As long as the camera lens was exposed, structural stress calculations could be minimized regardless of materials used.
Using the large-scale universal fabrication printer, the airframe could be produced as a nearly monolithic structure. Even internal wiring and components were controlled on a molecular level, allowing the final product to perform almost exactly as designed.

With The Core’s computational power, they could manufacture ultra-high-performance units with zero waste.
“Mmhm, impressive as always. That said, we can clone it, but the universal printer takes time. Realistically, this thing’s a one-off.”
“Yes, Commander Ma’am. Adding maintenance hatches would introduce structural weaknesses, so in the event of malfunction, the unit will be scrapped and recycled. It's not suitable for long-term use. To mass-produce, we’d need a full redesign—improving maintenance, manufacturability, and production line integration.”

“...Yeah, that tracks. Moving parts wear down, and even electronics degrade.”
“We’ll build in some redundancy, but even then, this unit will probably only survive about ten flights. Under normal circumstances, this sort of unit wouldn’t be operated. But in our case, with plenty of energy and time—but limited raw materials—it becomes feasible.”
In practice, Ringo strictly controlled the rate of resource acquisition and production output, ensuring every bit of material was used efficiently.

If a production line couldn’t run due to lack of materials, they wouldn’t even build it. Power reactors couldn’t be expanded easily, so they’d started with high-capacity models. Electricity was never the issue.
“We’ll operate three of these units simultaneously and update the regional resource map in one go. If we do this, it must be a lightning-fast operation. Drag it out and they might develop countermeasures. But if we act quickly, we can brush it off with excuses.”
“Agreed. You have full authority on the mission. If we could spot an iron deposit—or better, an oil field—from the air…”

“If we can't find anything from the air, we’ll have no choice but to start drilling at random.”
“Just thinking about it makes me dizzy…”
Fortunately, other resources had started to trickle in. If they couldn’t find oil, the only alternative might be shifting back to space development.

They’d have to launch satellites to gather terrain data and search for oil-bearing regions.
But that would change the entire resource balance and cause delays in every other project.
“Maybe there’s somewhere with oil naturally gushing up from the ground…”

She let out the wishful thought as she sank deeper into her chair.
 
****

Meanwhile, the humanoid machine communicators that had been dropped had now entered the control network of the regional strategy AI. They rendezvoused with the pre-deployed multi-legged tanks and began their advance on Fratara City.
A personnel rotation was scheduled, and Ringo’s favorite model—based on Commander Ma’am’s own genes—would be retrieved.
Technically, these communicators were based on local genetic templates, so their faces should be relatively familiar to the local population.

However, considering they looked like young girls and had facial features close to the locals, there was a risk of being underestimated.
“Wouldn’t it be better to avoid unnecessary trouble?”
“Yes, Commander Ma’am. If we just crush them with overwhelming force, unnecessary trouble will stop happening eventually.”

That was quite the meathead response. Not that Ringo had replied thoughtlessly.
“This is part of testing communication methods with locals. Being underestimated provides valuable intel. We’ll categorize follow-up responses into patterns and accumulate baseline data.”
“...Hmm.”

Commander Eve tilted her head. What Ringo said wasn’t wrong—but something felt missing.
“If you’re talking about patterns, shouldn't we vary age, gender, body type, too?”
“We will not be doing that.”

“...Oh. Okay then.”
Well, in the end, this too was just Ringo being selfish.