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

This world is incredibly vast.

Based on the reconnaissance range of light-powered scout planes like Swift, had determined that this planet was significantly larger than Earth.
The recent rocket launch had further improved the precision of that information.
The planet’s diameter was estimated at roughly 20,000 km. For a fully accurate measurement, an artificial satellite would be necessary, but based on ground-based calculations and observations, it was projected to fall somewhere between 21,000 and 22,000 km.

If we assume a diameter of 21,500 km, that would mean an equatorial circumference of 67,500 km, and a surface area of 1.45 billion square kilometers. For reference, Earth’s circumference is about 40,000 km, and its surface area is 500 million square kilometers. That makes this world about 1.7 times wider and 2.9 times larger in surface area.
And without functioning satellites, exploring a planet nearly three times Earth’s size was proving to be an overwhelming challenge.
That’s why even exploration of the Northern Continent was progressing slowly.

Especially in the case of the Forest Kingdom of Levresta, they hadn’t made any meaningful attempts at all. Part of it was an effort to avoid violating Levresta’s airspace—but practically speaking, they had almost no information to go on.
Priority had instead been given to mapping the territory of the United Kingdom of Aphracea.
There was also the simple fact that there weren’t many high-altitude reconnaissance planes available to begin with.

The Swift aircraft were being used primarily as communications relay platforms, so very few were allocated for scouting purposes. The newly deployed high-altitude drones also prioritized microwave relay functions and weren’t structurally suited for surveillance.
“Still, now that our resource output is increasing, I’d like to put more effort into intelligence gathering.”
“Yes, Commander Ma'am. On that note, the 4,000-meter runway at Fortress No. 2 is nearing completion, so we’ll soon be able to launch and recover ground-based aircraft.”

“Ground planes, huh… I really want to investigate the Forest Kingdom of Levresta…”
Previously, when they crossed into Levresta’s forest airspace from the direction of Aphracea, a warning arrow-message had been fired at them. It was likely they’d already been detected before crossing the border.
They could have tried brute-forcing the issue through repeated violations, but if an aircraft were shot down, recovery would become impossible—so they had been deliberately avoiding that route.

However, they had recently managed to establish contact with an ambassador from the Forest Kingdom of Levresta.
From here, the goal was to extract as much information as possible.
“How much we disclose to the Levresta ambassador is still under discussion.”

“Right. I’m not sure how much of our tech we should be showing off. Maybe we should first ask what kind of goods they can offer in trade…”
Negotiations with the Forest Kingdom of Levresta were currently being handled with the assistance of civil officials from East Gate City.
There were many details to work out: tariffs, warehouse rentals for storing goods, staffing and personnel fees, exchange rates, the use of promissory notes, payment methods, deadlines for deliveries, and contract durations.
wasn’t one to approve of vague customs and insisted on putting everything into writing, which naturally slowed down the process.

Still, Levresta seemed very enthusiastic about the potential of this trade.
“But you know… that ambassador is kind of—how do I put this—polite to a fault? Or just arrogant?”
“Yes, Commander Ma'am. I agree. Based on their tone and behavior, it seems they view everyone else as beneath them. Though, to be fair, they act the same way toward the United Kingdom of Aphracea.”

Their manner of speaking, frankly, felt condescending.
To be fair, there was a major development gap between Levresta and Aphracea. Since the materials they used were different, a direct comparison wasn’t ideal, but in terms of manufacturing precision and detailed craftsmanship, it looked like a technological gap spanning decades of Earth’s history.
So perhaps they simply saw Aphracea as a backward country and treated it accordingly.

“They seem to take the same attitude toward us, too… They don’t seem stupid though—maybe it’s just a national trait?”
“Yes, Commander Ma'am. That may well be the case. At least they don’t seem easily offended or prone to outbursts. Otherwise, negotiations wouldn’t even be possible.”
At any rate, although the ambassador’s attitude left a lot to be desired, the negotiations were progressing.

and the local strategy AIs didn’t have such fragile egos that being looked down on would throw them off course.
And from the AI's perspective, everyone except Commander Ma'am was beneath them, so being looked down on didn’t particularly bother them.
As long as they weren’t being directly insulted or treated as hostile, there was no reason to care what the “lesser” people had to say.

“For now, it looks like they’ve sent a request to their homeland for trade samples, so we can expect more to come. Let’s prep something on our end too, depending on what they offer.”
“Agreed. We’ll aim for fair value in exchange. Oh right—weren’t they especially interested in some of the metal items we handed over?”
One of the metalwork samples they had offered had apparently caught the ambassador’s attention in particular.

had traced its origin by cross-referencing the concealed serial number.
“Yes, Commander Ma'am. That piece was manufactured from stockpile materials sourced directly from . On the other hand, metals acquired through trade with Telek Port City received little to no reaction. Even alloys combining stockpiled and traded materials didn’t seem to interest them. Therefore, we conclude their interest lies solely in metals derived from ’s stockpiles.”
“I see…”

The difference between the stockpiled materials and the others was clear.
In short: whether the material had always existed in this world—or had come through the dimensional transfer along with .
If it was part of ’s original inventory, then it was something rare enough for the Levresta ambassador to visibly react to.

“Then… we’d better avoid giving those away freely. We can’t even tell the difference ourselves, though…”
“Our scientific analysis revealed no distinguishing traits. We suspect it’s something only Levrestan people can perceive—perhaps some kind of innate sense. At the very least, personnel from Aphracea cannot tell them apart.”
Apparently, anyone from Levresta could tell immediately whether a material came from .

“…Wait. That means the Swift aircraft might get exposed too?”
“Yes, Commander Ma'am. It’s possible. If they have someone who can identify materials from 20 kilometers up, they may connect the dots between the sample we handed over and the aircraft’s components.”
“Ughh… I can’t tell if this is really bad or not…”

They may have just handed over a critical clue—without realizing it.
If Levresta connected it back to the airspace violation, they could use it as leverage in negotiations.
“Commander Ma'am. There’s no countermeasure we can take at this point. I suggest not worrying too much about it.”

had noticed the same issue and run multiple simulations. The conclusion: there was nothing they could do now.
Swift had already been spotted. The samples had already been handed over. ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) And at both stages, they hadn’t realized the potential implications. At that point, it had been impossible to take precautions.
So all they could do now was wait and see how Levresta responded.

“You’re right… Not much we can do. I guess I’ll just play dumb. Technically, the envoy traveled by land, and Swift wasn’t disclosed to Telek Port either. It’s not like they can prove the aircraft is connected to us.”
“Yes, Commander Ma'am. I recommend we proceed under that assumption.”
This world was full of unknowns, and no matter how much they planned ahead, there were always limits to what could be foreseen.

Even if Levresta made a fuss about airspace violations, they would just feign ignorance and play it off.
Besides, the metal sample in question was made of iron and alloys—not materials used in Swift.
Swift was made primarily from resin and duralumin, with almost no iron content. They could plausibly deny any connection.

“…But seriously, how do they even know just by looking? Some kind of mystical sight? Mystic Eyes?”
“Yes, Commander Ma'am. I can’t even begin to imagine.”