August 7, 1639

Jin Hark, Louria

Maus, Patagene, and Yamirei walked through the hallways of the castle. Several groups of workers were scattered about, cleaning blood off the walls and repairing the broken windows. Some of the groups had American contractors, who brought with them electrical tools and strange devices. Others brought long wires, placing them around the castle for an unknown purpose.

The trio headed for the throne room, where they were to meet with a group of nobles that the Americans had gathered. As they walked, they discussed the recent events. Maus broke the silence, “Say, where is General Miminel and General Pandor?”

Patagene answered, “They are still being held by the Americans and Qua Toynians. It appears their questioning is longer than ours, on account of them having more involvement on the battlefield.”

“Unfortunate. I do hope they return soon; they are good men,” Yamirei said.

“A lot of our men are being tried for something they call ‘war crimes’ or ‘human rights violations’. Many of those involved with Gim have already been transferred to Qua Toynian authorities,” Patagene explained.

Maus tilted his head, recalling something, “Oh, that reminds me, what happened to that creepy man, what was his name…”

“Adem?”

“Yes, yes.”

Patagene shrugged, “I heard he was caught hiding out with a local lord. The lord turned on him after discovering his identity, and he was immediately sent over to Qua Toyne. I’m fairly certain he is being tortured by the survivors of Gim as we speak.”

“I see no loss there,” Yamirei said. “That man was quite unsettling.”

“Yes, indeed,” Patagene agreed. “On the bright side, as these Americans say, Admiral Sharkun and the surviving sailors from the Great Fleet are currently on their way back here. We still have a hundred thousand sailors and three thousand warships, so we need not worry about instability or piracy.”

Maus let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank the heavens! I would have resigned if I had to manage such a crisis. King Louria barely did any of the work himself! He pushed his duties onto me while he spent his days with women, or in his bath. Goodness, why is he always naked anyway?”

Patagene and Yamirei laughed. They felt free as they loosened up and complained about their previous king. However, without a designated ruler, they now had to hold a conference with the other nobles and high-ranking leaders of Louria. Guided by the Americans, the conference’s purpose will be to produce a plan for Lourian governance moving forward. As they entered the throne room, they found it completely filled with tables and chairs. The tabletops were covered with wine glasses and alien, but fancy looking foods.

“I wonder what happened to that Wileman fellow,” Yamirei wondered.

“Oh, I’m still here. I’ll be heading out to Parpaldia in a couple weeks though. Just need to wrap some stuff up down here,” a voice said behind them.

They turned around, slightly startled. “Well then, I wish you well on your endeavors. And let me say,” Yamirei added, “I had my suspicions that you were a spy from the beginning.”

“Oh?” Wileman asked.

“I detected no mana from you. Whereas the average person, even in this part of the world, will have at least some mana signature, you have none at all. If you are going to engage in such activities, I suggest you resolve that issue. Perhaps a small magical charm might help?”

“That’s… interesting. Thanks for the advice, Sir Yamirei. I hope I’ll see y’all again sometime, but I’m quite busy. Maybe in a few months when I’m on vacation, I’ll visit Jin Hark.”

“That would be nice,” he replied.

As Wileman left to continue serving food, they lamented about how they would miss his cooking. They found their reserved seats and began to enjoy their food while sharing gossip about the planned Republic.

——

August 8, 1639

Washington D.C.

“So how’d the conference go?” President Lee asked, his hands busy scrolling through a tablet.

Steven stood by his desk, giving his daily report. “Sir, the conference went off without a hitch; we came to an agreement with the local nobility to form a republic, with the nobles holding temporary positions until the first election.”

“Election? How would that even work? In a medieval society like that, isn’t like ninety percent of the population illiterate and uneducated?”

“Yes, that’s true. We came to an agreement to allow only the educated, property-holding population vote. They must pass a literacy test before being given a ballot.”

Lee rubbed his chin. “That seems a bit… unconstitutional.”

“Considering the constitutionality of this proposal centuries ago, along with the stability of the region, the governing body deemed it necessary to go with this plan. I’m reading off one of the reports they sent us.”

“Ah,” Lee said, searching for the keyword ‘Louria’. “Okay, I found it. Yeah, this does make sense. We’ll need to get a school system set up before we expand voting privileges… We need to make sure the population knows who they’re voting for and why, lest a demagogue come up and persuade the masses. What else do we have?”

“We’ve continued to work with the contact we met during our first visit to Esthirant. We now have promising relations with Mu and are planning a diplomatic mission to their homeland within a few weeks.”

Lee nodded, looking up from his tablet. “Hmm, that’s excellent news. And what about the Parpaldians?”

Steven sighed and read off his tablet. “Unfortunately, we seem to have hit a roadblock. A week ago, Director Kaios was forced to cancel his trip to the United States. He informed us that his superiors and coworkers all doubt the existence of our nation as it truly is, instead believing that we are some force or barbarian nation supplied by Mu.”

“Supplied by Mu?”

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“He explained that Mu is the only mechanical civilization on Elysia, and so the upper echelons of Parpaldia’s leadership deduced that the Seventh Fleet was a ‘force sent by Mu, meant to wage a proxy war against the Parpaldian Empire’. We’ve given some communications equipment to Kaios and sent him some agents to monitor the situation, but it seems that the Parpaldians are quite… arrogant. Almost blindly arrogant to the point of ignorance.”

“What a shame,” Lee said. “I just can’t believe the fleet and airshow wasn’t enough. Just how blind can these people be?”

“According to several agents, the fleet and airshow did have the intended effect on the residents and merchants, who are willing and eager to visit the United States. Their large companies are also hoping to engage in trade with us.”

Something clicked in Lee’s head as he realized the implications of such a relationship. “So, we’ve got support from the general public? Let’s continue to build on that. If there ever comes a time where their arrogant leaders prove to be less than ideal for us, we can just set their own people against them. Introduce high quality goods to their market, but refrain from flooding it with cheap goods; we don’t want the local craftsmen to hate us. We want people to slowly love us; maybe some shipments of our sugary stuff will do the trick? Coca Cola, and so on.”

“I’ll write that down, Mister President,” Steven said as he jotted down notes on his tablet. “Aside from Parpaldia, we’ve also made some progress with Fenn and Gahara, the yin and yang countries.”

“Ohh, yes I remember those two. Quite a strange shape,” he said.

“Both nations have approved our scientific surveys. Also, a new interesting detail has come up with Gahara.”

“Hm?”

“Our ships detected electromagnetic waves from their Wind Dragons.”

“Wind Dragons? Not wyverns?”

“No, sir. These are actual dragons, and are far more powerful than wyverns. We found them to be communicating via electromagnetic waves, and are likely capable of radar detection.”

“All the more reason to continue our stealth programs, as if the threat of this Ravernal Empire isn’t enough…”

“We have also been informed by the Sword King of Fenn that Parpaldia has, out of nowhere, decided to attend their military festival. This is apparently quite unusual for a civilized nation, let alone a superpower, and thus many other civilized nations have decided to attend as well. This could be a great opportunity for meeting new nations.”

Lee raised his eyebrow. “Could be. I wonder what Parpaldia is planning…”

“I’m not sure, but it would be a bad idea for them to assault Fenn while the other civilized nations are watching. I expect they intend to hold a demonstration, likely test their new weapons against some targets as a show of force.”

“Haha, two can play at that game,” Lee grinned. “They’re trying to take a page from our book; let’s show them who the authors are.” President Lee planned to one-up the Parpaldians by hosting a more extravagant demonstration.

“Well said, Mister President. Continuing the reports on international relations, we’ve also made contact with the Kingdom of Topa, situated between the continents of Phillades and Grameus, north of Alaska.” He showed the map of Topa on his tablet.

“Looks like a land bridge.”

“Indeed, sir. The people of Topa claim that the Grameus continent is filled with demons and monsters, and that they are the guardians of the world.”

“Is it really?”

Steven played footage of a reconnaissance plane over Grameus, flipping his tablet to show President Lee. On screen, untouched fertile plains could be seen, stretching as far as the eye can see. The plane then flew over a forest, where smoke rose from within. As the aircraft reached the site of the fire, a camp came into view, populated by goblins and pig-like orcs. Hovering over the fire were several bodies, which looked very human-like. “What in God’s name… Are those people?!” President Lee pointed at the figures roasting above the fire.

“We believe so, sir,” Steven said solemnly.

“Looks like we found the perfect place to conduct weapon testing. What else has Topa said?”

“Currently, they’re preparing another defense against the ‘Demon Army’ and their leader, Nosgorath. They have sent an envoy to request aid from Parpaldia.”

“I see. Keep an eye on the situation.”

“I will relay that to Ambassador Hendricks and his team. Also, to the west, we’ve made contact with the Kingdom of Altaras. Ambassador Reiker will be having talks with their representatives shortly.”

“Alright. Anything else?”

“Sir, our facilities in Qua Toyne and Quila are now mostly operational. We are expecting the first shipment of oil from Quila by next week, along with rare metals from the mountains separating Qua Toyne and Quila. Seeds for exotic crops are somehow growing well in Qua Toyne, as if the soil is perfect for crops of all climates. We’re currently teaching the locals crop rotation methods. Some of our experts thought about introducing fertilizer, but it really seems like the soil has built-in fertilizer.”

“Interesting. Can we get some samples of their soil?”

“We have, last week. It’s currently being studied, although not much progress has been made. I doubt we’ll be able to replicate it.”

“Shame. How about Louria’s economy? Once we get the republic up and running, I wonder what they’ll be good for.”

“We may consider their large population, sir.”

President Lee experienced a moment of realization. “Ah! They can be China! Their land isn’t as special as Qua Toyne or Quila, but their population is! Millions of unskilled laborers working in factories… This will free up more of our people for more high-tech industries.”

“Good idea, Mister President. I’ll write a note.”

“Anything else for Rodenius?”

“We found a suitable launch site for our rockets, but we’re holding off because there are several islands to the south, closer to the equator. We’re currently sending diplomats and survey teams to the small island nations south of Rodenius.”

“Excellent.”

“Finally, we have detected strange radio signals coming from Louria. The CIA is dispatching Agent Wileman and his men to investigate.”

——

Somewhere in Jin Hark

Under the evening moonlight, several men clad in dark outfits crept through the shadows. Their target: the small house in one of the residential districts. Seemingly indistinguishable and insignificant, the house was unique in one way: the presence of radio signals. The CIA operatives moved up, stopping when they heard a door open. They hid behind a row of bushes, perfectly out of sight from the house’s stairway leading into the street. A man walked past them, unaware of the figures blending into the darkness. One of them began to follow him.

Wileman trailed the man as he walked into a local pub called Ye Dragon’s Ale. He followed the man inside, who took up a spot by the bar and ordered a beer. Wileman grabbed the seat next to him. “I’ll have what this guy’s getting,” he said in a southern drawl, pointing his thumb to the right.

The man beside Wileman spoke. “Interesting accent; you must be one of those new American folks.”

“I sure am, bud. Name’s Wileman.”

“You can call me Vin.”

“Well, Vin. I hope the noise of the machines hasn’t bothered you too much. We’re working hard to build this place up to American standards, you see.”

“Ah I haven’t been too aware of that.”

“I take it you’re a local? Or perhaps a traveling merchant?”

“Merchant, actually. I came from Riem, a Kingdom in the Third Civilized Region.”

“Interesting… what do you trade?”

“Ah, we trade some of our technologies in exchange for resources, similar to how Parpaldia does its business.”

Two beers were placed in front of Wileman and Vin, and they took sips. “So,” Wileman said. “Y’all selling radios or something?”

Vin began exhibiting signs of nervousness, such as palpitation and erratic breathing. Wileman, a trained operative, sensed success. “N-no, radio? What’s that?” Vin tried to feign ignorance.

“Beats me,” Wileman shrugged. “Say, you reckon that this beer tastes funny?”

“W-what?” Vin felt his vision turning to black. “You—” Vin fainted and was caught by Wileman.

“Oh, buddy. I think you’ve gotta lay off the drinks there. C’mon, let’s get you home.”