Galleria Degli Uffizi, Florence, Day 2 of Delegation - 9:49 AM

Remille had always been a self-proclaimed connoisseur of art. Mostly because her status as a Parpaldian royal meant her opinion was higher above others. Regardless, she enjoyed the craft like any other person would. But her mind wasn't able to bask in the details of the sculptures in the hall due to her nightmare last night.

Jana, being her lifetime maid, knew what was going on. Being hired in her 20s when Remille was only a child, she's come to raise the young imperial woman as her own. Even if she wasn't allowed to display anything beyond professional behavior with her. But she still had immense concern for Remille. With that, she spoke. "Miss Remille, are you alright?"

Remille returned to reality, realising she's only been staring at a simple bust of some unknown man before she sighed. "Yes, I'm okay...."

Jana knew what this mean. "Did you have... that nightmare again?" She asked with concern as she kept her concerned look to Remille.

Jana knew, Remille knew. Aside from Ludius, the only person she's been comfortable with was her maid. Which was ironic. Jana at some points knew Remille better than she knew herself. With that the young woman confessed. "Okay, yes... Indeed I have.... Nothing too serious, I fell asleep watching those magical moving displays." She said with a little sigh.

"Hmm.... Did it happen the same way?" Jana gently asked as she kept her hands clasped in front of her.

Remille gulped as she shook her head. "No, not at all... It ended differently this time.... Everything started exploding near the end... turns out when I woke up, that magical display was showing off Italian cannons..."

The maid then frowned a bit. "Oh.... I'm sorry you dreamt of that, miss Remille..."

"I...." Remille gulped once more as she huffed. "I'm... afraid. I'm afraid of their power... Because what if Parpaldia..." She hesitated further before she scoffed. "I'm worrying over nothing... but thank you for calming me, Jana."

"Well, umm..." Jana could do lots of things. But being able to let Remille open up has been challenging. She nodded. "You're welcome, miss Remille. Now we better get going, the rest of the delegation is quite ahead."

Remille nodded as she sighed and eyed the statue. It was only now did she appreciate the details of the sculpture.

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Train to Rome, 1:15 PM

Antonio gripped his suitcase as he looked out the window of the train, watching the passing buildings as they were nearing the central station of Rome. While the Parpaldians had a look of wonder and curiosity, Antonio was more on contemplation. So far he's been successful in making sure to let the Parpaldians know that they were a cultured, developed nation not to be messed with. But what bothered him was his conversation with one of the aides.

"Emperor Ludius has built his entire life on making sure the glorious Parpaldian Empire will expand... With our superior magic, I reckon that they're quite the force against your machinery. Well, at least I think so, so far."

That was the reason why he gave them videos displaying Italian military power. But Antonio damn well knew that an actual show is better than a couple pixels on a screen. He needed to convince them that Parpaldia wasn't powerful. That even so called 'barbarians' can topple a great empire.

As Antonio sat there, he gripped the handle of the suitcase. Oddly enough, he was most excited for tomorrow. It was a day of exploring Rome and showing off their military equipment.

And any person would know at least a little bit of what Rome was over two thousand years ago.

For now, Antonio had to make sure that everything was prepared for later. He received a text not too long ago that the Quirinal Palace was ready to receive the Parpaldian delegation. He then eyed the news of the government announcing of contact with the vast empire.

It was enough to distract the protesters at least. After all, news of an entirely nigh-alien medieval country was very significant. At least it will keep the masses at bay enough for them to leave the palace alone.

As the train pulled into the station, Antonio immediately saw that he would rather be back at Milan. Flashing lights from the cameras of Italy's news outlets, down to even the smallest amateur sites, were there to try and get a glimpse of the delegation. If it weren't for the police blocking them, they would've definitely be swarmed.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Remille and Kaios were spooked about all the flashing lights to which the man spoke to Antonio. "Ambassador? What's going on? What's with the lights?"

Antonio looked back as he lead the delegation through the sea of journalists and spoke through the chatter. "They're journalists, sir Kaios! They're dying to know more about your nation!" He said as he called upon a few guards to help them into the limousine.

Remille sneered at all the cameras, unaware of the lasting effect that will give as she was helped into the limousine, this time with Antonio as they quickly drove off.

The imperial woman huffed as she brushed a stray hair aside. "Goodness... they're worse than a bunch of pigeons fighting over bread." Remille said with a frown.

Antonio watched the journalists try to follow only to then give up once they were too far. "Well miss Remille, it's only natural. After all, our nation being brought into this new world is very historic... so of course the people would like to know more."

"Hmph...." Remille sighed as she leaned against her seat while she looked out the window.

Kaios did the same as they drove out of the station proper. But as they got onto the road, he noticed a brick building looking half collapsed. He sat there, confused as he wondered what that structure was.

It wasn't a long drive to the palace and once the facade of the structure was seen, Antonio then spoke. "Here it is, Quirinal Palace where our president lives."

Remille eyed the structure. Looked to be three stories before turning to four it seemed. But then the walls continued going on and on and on. She gripped her skirt, not even halfway the length of the palace before she looked to Antonio. "How big is this palace?"

"Hm? Oh. Umm about 110 thousand square meters? I believe." Antonio said casually.

Remille's heart dropped at that. The Imperial Palace wasn't even close to that size. She sighed as the car finally turned. There were more journalists and policemen as the limo came to a stop.

Kaios and Remille eyed the flags flying above the gate of the palace. There was an unrecognized one, the Italian flag, and some sort of flag with a blue background and circling stars. They both eyed the palace guards, both sporting grand uniforms with swords which contrasted with those with rifles and army and police uniforms.

More flashes from the cameras came though luckily they were far as Antonio hopped out along with the two. He smiled as he spoke. "Welcome to the Quirinal Palace."

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The Parpaldians were brought through the courtyard of the palace as there was a small military band playing their same old diplomatic tune. There were Italian flags standing all over the courtyard.

Two men stood by the flags. President Roberto Sotto, with fair skin and brown greying slick back hair had a little excited smile as Prime Minister Giovanni Canessa stood beside him sporting short blond hair and sharp blue eyes.

Antonio looked to the Parpaldians as they focused on the two men. "Honored delegates of Parpaldia, His Excellency President Roberto Sotto and Prime Minister Giovanni Canessa."

Roberto smiled brightly as he offered his hand to shake which Kaios took. "It's nice to finally meet you all. This is an exciting day in history for us." He said with a smile.

Kaios meanwhile eyed Remille who simply had a neutral look before he looked back to Roberto and smiled as he shook his hand. "Nice to meet you as well, your highness."

"Ah, please just call me mister president." Roberto said with a soft chuckle. "I'm the head of state for Italy. And here is my prime minister, head of the government." He said as he directed to the blond man beside him.

"Pleasured to meet you all. We have a lot to discuss." Giovanni said with a smile. "Well then, let's head inside."

As they were guided into the palace, the Parpaldians were enamored by the intricate details of the interior but of course, Remille simply felt jealousy in her heart.

As they walked past the expensive belongings of the palace to the conference room, Kaios looked to Remille and spoke with somewhat of an excited look. "This palace is rather amazing, don't you think so miss Remille?" He asked, with a tone that he rarely ever shows around the young woman.

"Hmph....... I suppose..." Remille simply looked away from Kaios as she observed the various paintings on the walls.

They then reached a set of double doors and with that, Roberto and Giovanni beckoned the delegates to enter the room. It wasn't at all too different to the one in the Imperial Palace, if anything were the flags to be Parpaldian instead of Italian, Remille would have felt right at home. She then sat down in one of the seats as so did Kaios and the others with Antonio and his superiors at the other side.

With that, a fairly lengthy meeting then started.

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Parpaldian delegates meet with Italian gov't, "a historic chapter for our nation" — Sotto

Delegates from the nigh-alien nation of Parpaldia have come to Italy to meet with President Roberto Sotto and Prime Minister Giovanni Canessa at the Quirinal Palace around 2 PM.

This comes a few days after the Italian Peninsula was transferred from Earth into the New World as after a period of panic, the government has assured the public that the "nation will prevail through these tough times".

In the post delegation meeting speech given by Canessa, the PM has talked with positivity "Italy's new Parpaldian allies" as they reportedly struck a deal to import foods, crude oil, and even metals from the nation.

With this, the government has assured both citizens and stranded tourists of Italy that stability will soon be reached and that the nation will find its new place in the world.

—Excerpt from La Repubblica newspaper

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After such a long day, Remille had done nothing but sit by the window in her room within the palace. She sighed as she eyed the lights of Rome, seeing the buildings stretch towards the mountains.

It was hard to admit but Italy is at least worthy of being a minor power within the region. Parpaldia will always be the one lone superpower of Philades but...

There's doubt within her heart if that would last any longer.