Coasts of Leforia, Convoy of the diplomat of Gra Valkas July 18, 1639.
"We were finally able to get out of that cesspool of filth that is Paganda, I had a feeling that at any moment they were going to attack us." Commented a diplomat.
"That wouldn't have happened if we had taken a warship instead of a tourist cruiser." Complained one of Prince Hilas' escorts.
"That would only put Leifor on alert making coexistence more complicated." Replied the prince as he sipped a cup of tea, looking out over the city of Leiforia. A somewhat rustic city with the sky covered with thick black smoke coming from the multiple factories that burned coal in large quantities.
Your highness, I don't understand why you keep so much caution on the natives of this world, Paganda used wooden sailing ships and muskets. They are no threat."
"Their technology is not the problem, magic is my main concern." Hilas replied. "You were not in the campaign against the sylvan elves of Charcas."
"Nor can I know, the Imperial Office has not communicated anything regarding the conquest of the elven forest... yet it took two months for an invasion that should have lasted a week."
"Of course you haven't heard anything about that, it would have been a scandal."
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Gra Valkas Military Camp, Kingdom of Charcas. April 17, 1639.
The prince had come to visit the front in order to encourage the troops and to function as imperial propaganda, however what he found was something he did not expect.
"Why haven't they made any progress? It's been almost a month since we made those elves flee to the forest."
In front of the camp, a vast forest of no less than 100,000 km2 stretched out, however the forest was not lush enough to prevent tanks and supply trucks from entering.
"Your Highness HIlas." The one who was in charge of the situation approaches him giving a military salute.
"General Frederick, the emperor has many questions for you, for example why haven't you driven those pointy ears out of the forest!"
"Sir, the situation has become complicated for us since the enemy abandoned the cities and villages, we have established some bases in the interior but we are under continuous attack from saboteurs and guerrillas."
"They use bloody swords and bows! We have tanks for god's sake!"
"About that..."
The general led him to the warehouses where the tanks were stored.
Technicians were removing the tank plates to expose the engine, which horrified the prince. The wires inside the tank were all cut.
"What the fuck happened here?!"
"Rats sir, no matter how many precautions, traps or cats there are in the camp, rats always break down our vehicles and contaminate our supplies." The general reaches out his hand to grab a rat that died electrified from the tail and pull it out of the broken tank.
"This is bad." Hilas felt disgust at the sight of that rodent carcass. "How many tanks have we lost?"
"The 200 tanks that were ordered for this campaign... all of them."
"What?! You're telling me you lost them all because of the rats!"
"Not just tanks, about 120 trucks, 15 mechanized and 30 planes were what the rats broke down. They're a fucking plague!"
"And what about the foot troops? Why not have the infantry advance?" Questioned the royal family member.
"We know nothing about this forest, although tanks can enter the forest the treetops are so thick it makes aerial reconnaissance useless, we don't know where the remnants of the elven army are hiding."
"They can tried to throw firebombs to get them to come out."
"We did, however every time we tried a deep fog covers the forest and the humidity prevents the fire from spreading. According to the locals it is because that forest is blessed by the god of hunting and nature so it is a sacred place for the elves."
"I can see why it's taking so long, relying on foot and horseback reconnaissance in a forest where you can't see sunlight is tricky." The prince looked more sympathetic to the situation.
"There's still a problem..." The general was speaking, Hilas was now trying to imagine what he was going to be told about next.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
The general was accompanying him to the field hospital, as he entered a strong smell hit the prince's nose that almost made him vomit from disgust, but what he saw left him paralyzed.
Hundreds of stretchers occupied by people whose hands, noses, lips and feet were dark with gangrene and buboes coming out of their bodies.
"This is... bubonic plague." Hilas could barely speak. The tenth army of the Gra Valkas Empire that had proudly defeated all the native armies with ease was defeated not by the enemy but by natural circumstances.
"Infected chants are there?"
"800 confirmed, but we don't know how many more were infected.
This was a real disaster, if the situation continued in this way it would mean that there would be no choice but to withdraw in order to treat all the soldiers.
"How did it happen this way? I thought the imperial office had approved the dispatch of cats and dogs when they were informed of a rat problem..."
"The cats aren't hunting, the dogs don't detect the elves' scents so we fall into ambush after ambush, the horses refuse to enter the forest and the wild animals attack us... it's like this place is cursed."
After his visit to the hospital, Hilas went to the hut the army had prepared for him, on the way he could see the haggard faces of the Gra Valkas soldiers.
"Sir, I suggest that you return to Ragna tomorrow and have yourself checked by a doctor in case the bubonic plague has infected you."
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Present.
"I understand, because of this logistical oversight we suffered more casualties than expected, it would be a real scandal if this became known when so much emphasis has been placed on how easy it would be to conquer a primitive race"
"But we could still take steps to prevent something like this from happening again"
"Oh, but I don't get to the interesting part. It is true that if this were nature punishing those who did not prepare in advance we could take measures, but this was not the case."The prince would continue the story.
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Past.
Hilas was about to get on the plane that would return him to the capital, he had stayed a while longer than he should because they were making sure that no rat had eaten any cable. When he was about to leave he heard a couple of shots in the hood.
"What the hell is going on?!"
"Sir, apparently one of the plague patients has escaped and tried to shoot one of the dogs."
"What? Why?"
"According to the doctors the soldier was delirious since he claims that before that dog was a horse."
Hilas saw how the pilot was ready to leave, he gives her a signal to wait a moment.
"I want to go and see him."
"But your highness! The poor man is delirious!"
"It doesn't matter, this situation is very strange. I want you to bring the dog in question as well."
On the way to the hospital room a soldier told him how the events had happened, the man had started screaming and chasing the dog with a machete, at first no one wanted to knock him down for fear of getting infected but once the man took a gun and shot the dog they had to reduce him.
"S-your highness!"You have to believe me! i saw how a horse changed its shape to that dog's! "The man was screaming pointing to the dog while he was handcuffed.
For his part the dog was quite nervous to be in that room, he tried to get off the leash as he could giving dog whining while a soldier tried to control him.
"Calm down, you're delirious because of the plague ." One of the doctors was trying to give him some morphine.
"No no, I know what I saw, that horse was the same one with which Corporal Berenger went to explore before he was devoured by wolves, and it is the same dog that led Heidrich into a trap where he lost his leg! Elves control animals and transform into them! They use fucking magic for God's sake!"
"Don't be stupid, the wizards of the other kingdoms we defeated never used anything like animal control or transformations."
"Those enemies weren't the tree lovers these bastards are!"
While the doctor and the ombre were arguing, Hilas seemed to be thinking the words of the patient, he again observed the dog trying to escape.
"I thought these dogs were trained, why is he so scared?"The prince asked the soldier holding the dog, it is assumed that these were dogs trained for war and should not behave in this way.
"It's because he's not a fucking dog! I'm right and he wants to run away, he's an elf!" The patient did not let the soldier answer
"May you be silent!"
"I tell the truth!"
Between the screams of the patient and the doctor and the barking of the dog, Hilas draws his gun to aim at the dog, leaving everyone silent, including the dog that seemed to have frozen.
"Your Highness! What are you doing?"
"If the gentleman here is right then we will have found the reason why we have suffered so much torment, and if he is wrong... Well, such a scary dog wouldn't do us any good anyway."He put his finger on the trigger being ready to fire.
What happened next left everyone even more surprised, the dog began to cry, to cry quite hard as if he were begging for his life, as if he were a person begging for his life.
"... If you reveal yourself now I promise I won't kill you."The prince until a few moments ago was determined to pull the trigger, but now his hand did not move.
The dog began to nod his head, soon the dog's body began to transmute in front of the gaze of those present, revealing an elf child crying to seas.
"I'm sorry! He told the truth! It's all true!"
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Present.
"Sylvan elf children have a great connection with nature, which allows them to control and transform into animals. Sylvan elves lose this ability when they grow up... The Charcas soldiers who had fled to the forest recruited many boys and girls from the villages to force them to infiltrate our camp and carry out sabotage activities."I was just finishing explaining Hilas.
"Did the Charcas soldiers use child soldiers?! Fucking savages!" Those listening to the story were completely disgusted and outraged after hearing what happened.
"We still don't know anything about magic in this world, much less the magical abilities of the superpowers. We may be able to defeat them in open combat, but we don't know what the potential of magic would be if we talk about asymmetric warfare. That is why I believe that a cautious foreign policy is the best thing for the empire."
After this, the diplomats understood the importance of being careful in this new world.
"So what are our real goals with Leifor?"
"The main objective is to get an alliance with them, the second is to see how the superpowers fight and how they use magic to create effective countermeasures. To increase our influence in the country by showing our technology and, if everything goes well, to expand using Leifor as our squires."
"Why Leifor and not another power?"
"Leifor is classified as the weakest superpower, in other words they will be looking for a way to ascend. If we move our cards well we can involve them in proxy wars with other powers and measure the strength of these, whether Leifor wins or not is irrelevant for us."