Esthirant, imperial palace.

Remille was relaxing on a luxurious divan while eating a delicious cake and her personal maid was combing her hair with great delicacy, a maid of noble origin who had the honor of serving a member of the imperial family.

Despite the comfortable couch she was resting on and the delicious cake she was eating she couldn't help but think about those slave children she saw earlier. That image kept popping into her mind repeatedly.

"It's... strange. I knew perfectly well that the empire makes sacrifices, that it enslaves and treats slaves like animals and that never bothered me... So why did I feel bad to see them...why did I feel angry and disgusted to see how they treated those children?" She couldn't help but say it out loud as she stared at the golden chandelier hanging from the ceiling of the room, looking intently at the small flames of the candles.

"Lady Remille, we all like meat, but no one wants to watch the animal being slaughtered and skinned." Replied her maid without stopping combing her hair.

"Eh? what do you mean?"

"The nobility knows that war and slavery are necessary for the empire to grow stronger, even normal people know that. However very few nobles have the stomach to see the process, only the results... watching a child being ripped from their mother's arms or seeing how they break the slave's will before putting them in the marketplace is something that would break the heart of anyone not used to that, yet it is something necessary. The empire needs slavery to reach Mirishial as much as our bodies need meat for a healthy diet." She explained as if it were natural, almost emotionless. "Besides these are barbarians, like animals, and Parlpadia as a superpower has the right to do as it sees fit with them."

"As ruthless as ever, eh...with that attitude you're going to scare off all your suitors." Remille replied seeking to annoy her a little and change the topic of discussion.

"For your information Lady Remille I am already engaged."

"What?! You?! the girl with the least feelings and from an impoverished house? how?! to whom?!" She was very surprised.

"A wealthy merchant wants to become a nobleman... and I want money, the perfect match, don't you think?"

"I bet you won't last a week before you split up."

"Maybe, If I don't like him I plan to take everything in the divorce; a little aphrodisiac magic potion, a friend who owes me a favor, a little infidelity captured in a magic photograph..." She answered coldly without showing any expression.

"... Remind me not to get in your way." She said jokingly though she was actually a bit scared about how far her friend would actually go.

"I always do, my Lady." She said in a way that Remille couldn't tell if she was joking or not.

"By the way, my lady, I heard that your brother has just graduated from the academy in Torquia and will be returning to the empire next month."

"Augus is coming back?!" She asked excitedly. Her brother Augus, going against the traditions that the imperial family was supposed to study in the empire's proud magic academies, went to study abroad in one of the countries that were part of the central world.

Although many nobles had not liked that, they could understand the logic of his decision. Torquia was a neighbor of Mirishial and Emor, two of the most hermetic superpowers, however no matter how hermetic you are, there will always be some technology, doctrine, research or whatever will leak to your neighbors. So Torquia was the perfect destination if you were looking to learn something more about Mirishial beyond what the news in that country wants you to know.

Now he will come back not only with things about the two superpowers of the central world, he will also have seen first hand how a country of the first civilization works and will be able to apply everything he has learned to the benefit of the empire.

"I wonder... if he has found a way not to use slaves to make us stronger..." Is what she thought before seeing again the flames of the candles in the candelabra, making the images of what hse saw that day invade his mind again.

Nishinomiyako, interrogation room.

The interrogator was approaching one of the Argentinean prisoners in a threatening manner.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in a calm but commanding voice, indicating that he would not tolerate any insolence.

"W-we came to study Fenn society." The student knew there was no point in lying or keeping quiet.

"Study what exactly? That's something very broad."

"I w-was researching their social hierarchy, what social class or strata is in power, why, what their roles are, etc. Azul was researching their economy while Lautaro was researching gender roles and-"

"With what purpose were you conducting this investigation?"

"I-is a university work, a final work to graduate."

"A university sending someone quite far away, they must have quite a few resources, but I don't know which university would send their students to investigate such a remote territory." The interrogator reflected. "For whom are you making that report?"

"For the UNC sir, it's an Argentine university."

Upon hearing that, the interrogator was surprised and returned to meet the Argentine student, placing his hands on the table suddenly making a loud noise. " Argentina is behind this? They finance this operation?"

"Well, the state is funding the university."

"I know that idiot, what country would be so stupid to allow the education of its citizens to be taken care of by another entity? That would be allowing foreign agents to educate the population." The interrogator replied.

"You understand me, education must remain in the hands of the state."

"I heard the Muans are opening their own academies in the second and third civilisations. There are some in the government who believe that it would be a good idea to allow it in order to get some of their technologies and knowledge, but I am not fooled! They are spreading the virus of democracy into the minds of our young people little by little, churning the seeds of our glorious empire to bring instability." He said, beginning to deviate from the interrogation bit by bit.

"I know that modus operandi, they will support your ideas of democracy to provoke revolts, then they will intervene for the sake of freedom and democracy and urge a civil war to occur that destroys the country and then they will keep the natural resources while showing themselves as the heroes... And soon freedom will become debauchery!" he said much more relaxed

"That's what I say! May everyone mutually choose anyone as their leader and the politics of the nation regardless of their ancestry or education?! Not even during our chaotic era as a republic did something like this! The chaos of that era almost destroyed us!" The concept of liberal democracy was common to the questioner, who was no longer interrogating.

"They call themselves democracies but in reality normal people have neither voice nor vote in the implementation of policies, they do that to those who are elected by the people. However in the end those who are elected are not the most capable, they are the richest and the most lying and corrupt that can reach more people! Politicians who only look for their own benefit, a slow but safe path to decline forming a global elite that will seek to destroy the values of society by promoting savage individualism so that it is easier to control us!" He said displaying his Cospiranoic thought.

"It's true! Mu is sponsoring pro-barbarian demi-human rights in the countries of the second civilization."

"Oh, they will do more than, they destroy culture, movements like feminism, although one may have sympathies for it, will make the family nucleus stagger, both parents will be too busy working to care for their child so their education will be in charge of those same elite who now took over the institutions, being more susceptible to brainwashing of future generations!"

And the Argentine student continued to tell the interrogator about conspiracy theories, who seemed to listen very attentively. He talked about things like population replacement, that want them to eat insects and leave the meat, and things about globohomo.

"In the latter I must differ." the interrogator said. " The pride of anyone in the Parlpadian empire is their magical power, if anyone has worked hard and studied enough in magic illusion to make themselves seen, hear and feel like someone of the opposite sex then it is their divine right to keep it that way if they wish."

The student wanted to answer but he remembered just in time that he should not be contradicted.

"Is... is it very common in Parlpadia?" He asked, taking mental note that if one day he was going to visit the country he should be careful if he wanted to approach a girl.

"Not very common, I can only say that it is very difficult for a person to have those abilities if he does not devote himself to studying magic of illusion." The truth was that the vast majority with the ability to achieve that were part of the empire's intelligence network, especially spies. The few outside of that trade who could achieve such a thing would be pioderosos elite magicians or people who dedicated themselves to study exclusively that for any other reason, but they were not too many. To be able to transform yourself into something that you are not convincingly and for a long period of time was one of the greatest achievements of an illusory magician and would be seen as a sage in that field. "All right, this ends the interrogation. It was a pretty enjoyable one, I thank you for cooperating."

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

And with that the interrogator went to interrogate the others, although the seed of the conspiratorial far-right was already planted in his head.

Esthirant, Imperial Palace.

"Then... It is confirmed that we have Argentine spies in Fenn?" Emperor Ludius looked rather annoyed.

"That's right sir, however we have ascertained that they were not looking to spy on our operation but on Fenn, they were studying the society, politics and economy of the island." Elto replied. "We could put this situation aside and let the spies go, they do not represent a threat to the empire."

"Are you crazy?!" Arde lashed out. "They broke our treaty! We made it very clear to them that we wanted them out of our sphere of influence!"

"As dishonorable as the Argentine actions are I must agree with Elto on this. This incident would allow us to send our own agents in Rodenius, or rather it would give us an excuse if they find our spies." Kaios said.

"But letting them go would make us look weak, the Argentines must learn that we will not tolerate them trampling on the treaty with impunity." Arde counterargued.

"We could ask for redress for the grievance. We're going to need every gold coin we can get to rebuild the navy that was destroyed against Altaras." Suggested the finance minister.

"That's a good option, that or ransoming them." Elto agreed as he tucked his hair behind his ear.

"I don't think that would work, I don't know of any country that would admit that they have been spying on another. If a spy is caught he is always left to his fate by his home country because acknowledging it would damage their diplomatic reputation and, moreover, the recovered spy would be completely useless since everyone would know he was a spy. Argentina would gain nothing by admitting his transgression." Hans replied, while sipping a glass of wine.

"That's not all, we allowed them to have a presence in Gahara by making an exception but they still dare to insult us by going into Fenn! If we don't punish this insolence it will only cause them to send more agents this time to the mainland!" Arde bellowed in fury.

"However the suspects say they are students, perhaps we should discuss with the Argentine diplomat before making a decision." Kaios proposed so as not to do something rashly.

"Although they call themselves students they themselves admit to be studying Fenn in detail almost as well as if they were spies gathering information, besides being a spy and legally a student is not contradictory. They can perform espionage tasks for their nation while posing as one. It is likely that if we discuss this with the diplomat all he will do is repeat that they are students and we should release them. What we can do now is to take care of them ourselves." Hans spoke as he set aside the wine glass.

"So what do you propose?" the emperor asked quite seriously.

"We must execute them as soon as possible, that will give them the message that we will hunt down their agents." Arde replied.

"And what if they are actually students?" Elto seemed concerned that these Argentines were telling the truth and that this would cause an increase in diplomatic tensions

"In that case we simply must not make the execution public, execute them in secret, if they were really agents then the Argentines will know that we are responsible for their disappearances and will understand the message, if instead they are students and come to us asking if we know anything about the matter we can tell them that they were casualties caused by the crossfire at the time of taking the city." Hans proposed.

"Hmm..." The emperor seemed to meditate on that proposal. " Well, I want you to eliminate all the Argentines from Nishinomiyako, will it be possible to get them to give us information about that country if we torture them?"

"It's not possible, Your Majesty." Kaios spoke. "If they are really students and the Argentines demand their bodies then they might notice that they were subjected to torture if they have a forensic capable enough to notice the remains of healing magic on the corpses."

"Tsk, it's a real pity... Let's move on to other matters, how's the pacification of Fenn?"

"There was no problem subduing those barbarians after we showed their former king's head on a pike. Now Altaras and Falklands will have no way of attacking the city of Duro, and if for any reason they decide to make a suicide attack against the capital the krakens will sink all their ships!" Arde communicated the news with a joy that did not see enough.

"Even so the biggest problem will be dealing with the Falklanders' submarine." Hans commented. "That's the biggest threat our fleet has, the krakens we send after that thing don't come back."

"Even so a single submarine cannot take over everything alone, if it focuses on attacking our wyvern-carriers then our krakens will destroy the Altarian fleet and if it decides to go for our krakens then our wyvern lords will burn the Altarian ships!" Arde was convinced that they had already achieved victory, the project of the deep is decisive to recover the supremacy of the seas and destroy once and for all Altaras and the Falklanders.

Kingdom of Altaras.

King Taara was completely amazed looking in the direction of the port from the window of his royal office, not just he, everyone in the town of Le Brias was looking in that direction.

What they saw was something enormous approaching, they first believed that what was approaching was an island but soon they saw that it was something of metal, more precisely a ship.

There were no sails and no smoke to indicate that it was a steamer, the inhabitants and the king could not help but tremble at the sight of that enormous war machine approaching.

"It's beautiful, isn't it? with 133 meters of lenght, 16 of beam and with 4,900 tons I present to the HMS Lancaster. There's another one on the way, HMS Dauntless will be here in a few days" Frank smiled as he watched the warship reach the port.

"But... how is it possible?" The king was in great shock. " With these weapons... you could have easily defeated Parlpadia, why did you take so long to bring them?

"We had bigger problems than the Parlpadians."

"They are a superpower! What other major problems do you have?!" The king was completely stunned.

Soon a lot of thoughts passed through his mind. He couldn't help but remember how weak he was, how weak his kingdom was. He knew perfectly well that if it were not for the help of the Kingdom of Falklands Parlpadia would have crushed them long ago, indeed any country strong enough of the third civilization could do so, soon a fear began to seize his chest.

"Our collaboration with Falklands is circumstantial, they had the same enemy as us by chance, if the parlpadians had not offended them by killing the diplomat it is likely that they would not have helped us... If we win this war, will the kingdom and my daughter be safe?" He reflected, it didn't take many seconds to realize that the answer is no.

"Mu wants our magic gems and there is a chance that if Parlpadia fails they will try to invade us, and Falklands will not be there to save us again..."

The King gives a strong sigh, thinking what kind of life his daughter would lead if she were exiled to somewhere else, breathing deeply he turned to the English diplomat.

"Frank, my friend... I wish we could talk about the terms so that I, King Taara XIV, and my kingdom become vassals of the Falklands Kingdom."

"... What?" asked Frank after turning his head slowly, not knowing if he had heard well or if he had imagined it.

"As you heard, if we could talk about the terms so that I, King Taara XIV, and my kingdom would become vassals of the Falklands Kingdom." He repeated.

"But a-ah... This is so sudden, Why?! The diplomat was very confused, not expected at all such an offer.

Taara closed his eyes for a moment, sensing the sea breeze reaching hisface, then spoke. " The history books may remember me as the king of an uncivilized nation that, against all odds, stood up to imperialism and tyrannical Parlpadia but... The truth all this was for my daughter." He said, coming clean. " I would have given up all the natural riches of this nation, its mines and even accepted to make all my people slaves... if only they had not demanded that my daughter become a slave who would end up in a dirty brothel like a whore." He said clenching his fists. "For her I decided to go to war, even knowing that Parlpadia was going to massacre us with extreme ease... But then you appeared, and for the first time you had hope, not only hope that my daughter Lumiess would have a happy life in her land, but hope for my kingdom which I sent as a sacrifice."

The king remained silent for a few moments, watching the huge warship.

"That is why I am willing to bend my knee before you... on the sole condition that my daughter marry a member of the royal family of the Kingdom of Falklands. That's all I ask."

Frank's jaw had fallen lower than he thought could fall, he could hardly believe what came out of the king's mouth. Not only the proposal but the fact that there was no member of the royal family, the only reason why they decided to call themselves that way was a tribute to their nation, not because they had appointed a new king or queen.

Before he can recover, someone slams the door.

"Your Majesty! We have a report on the situation in Fenn from Leifor"

"Go ahead!" he replied, the messenger left a sort of envelope on the desk.

Both the King and Frank opened the envelope and saw the contents.

What they saw did not surprise them, they were photos of people being enslaved, that was the fate of the inhabitants of Fenn who were defeated.

"It seems that Leiforia wants to make us fight for our survival and wear as much as we can to Parlpadia. Useless garbage, all nations outside the civilized area know what they do." With a gesture of contempt for the obvious attempt at manipulation that the Leiforians were trying to pull the magic photographs, Frank soon took a few to see them more closely.

"This is..." Frank was very surprised, almost as much as with the king's proposal.

"There is nothing special, just a few summary executions and..." However soon Taara noticed what had caught the attention of the diplomat. " Those clothes are..."

"Yes... those clothes are not the ones they wear in Fenn... or anyone outside the civilized areas or the third civilization." Frank said swallowing some saliva.

"Shit, they executed a group of people from the central world?!" That was something big... very big.

"No... They are Argentine civilians."

In the photos you could see how several people, mostly young people, were being prepared to be executed, then another photo where the victims were already on the ground while smoke came out of the guns, after there were more photos showing the corpses more closely, enough to be able to identify the faces of the bodies.

"I have to report this!"

Port Stanley.

Governor Phillips and Ambassador Kent, who joined the emergency meeting from the British embassy in Buenos Aires, received news that Parlpadia had murdered Argentine civilians in cold blood and on the proposal of King Taara.

"A rather peculiar situation, no doubt." The governor stroked his chin.

"Hmmm... with the fall of Fenn we will not be able to reach Duro for a quick victory and now this... we must think what we will do." The ambassador seemed quite concerned.

"Have you decided a course of action, commodore?" the governor asked Commodore Lett.

"The only way to end this quickly is to launch a devastating attack on the capital Esthirant but... unless we use a nuclear bomb or decide to spend each of our missiles leaving us vulnerable to Argentina, we don't have enough firepower." Commodore Jonathan Lett recognized sadly.

"In that case... Could we leak those photographs to the Argentine press with the help of the CIA so that the people demand justice, generate a diplomatic conflict and, perhaps, make the Argentines enter the war?" Frank proposed.

"No, no, that's out of the question." Ambassador Kent opposed that plan. " We are so close to driving Medina out of power, if suddenly the media show that Parlpadia summarily executed Argentines and advocates war we run the risk of people actually believing that damn speech! The people will begin to be in his favor and he will be able to reunify the country in order to face an enemy in common! It is too risky!"

"We are in red numbers, our oil production is not going to be enough for HMS Lancaster and HMS Dauntless to remain active much longer, we have to win the war now." The commodore replied.

"Moreover, if we cannot protect Altaras, it will fall and with it our diplomatic window to this world. If we continue like this even if Medina is deposed we will be forced to yield to the next president." Frank argued, there was no alternative but to take the risk.

"Then it's decided, let's tell the Americans to do what they know how to do," The governor ordered.

"By the way... about that offer from the Altarian king..." The ambassador asked what to do with it.

"It is more than obvious that they fear that without us another power will try to invade them, that is why they seek to be protected by us." The commodore was talking.

"In that case I will tell you that the proposal was rejected." Frank said. "With all tof his in Argentina, we're probably be too busy to go and defend them, even though we don't have any royal family with us."

"No! Wait... tell him we're discussing it." the governor said to everyone's surprise.

"But... why?" the diplomat wondered.

"It would be unwise to take the risk we are taking without creating a plan B, don't you think?"