Fenn Royal Palace, Amanoki, Fenn Kingdom, 6:28 AM

Inside the tea room of the palace, King Shihan of Fenn poured his tea into his cup with gentle grace. Despite his age and apparent hand injury from his sparring, the old king's movements flowed along slowly and gently without any fault.

As he grabbed his tea, Shihan gently placed it onto his lips. He took a sip before he sighed softly. He looked out towards the opened sliding doors as he gazed towards the sea view of Amanoki. Ships lined up still on the dock, and for a strange purpose.

It has been two weeks since Parpaldia demanded their regular shipment of timber. At first it wasn't such a strange occurrence. There was a time where Parpaldia was three weeks late in their demand for timber.

But these days there wasn't even a message. No Parpaldian ships have been seen, and not even their mana comm was coming to life.

Shihan narrowed his eyes before he placed his tea cup. Down. He then huffed as he called out for his servant, "Kitako?"

Another sliding door opened. A young woman dressed in a traditional kimono peeked in, "Yes, your majesty?"

Shihan looked to Kitako with a smile, "Please assemble my ministers. I'd like to have a chat with them."

Kitako nodded before she bowed. As she left, Shihan looked back out towards the water in contemplation.

...

Shihan kneeled onto his zabuton as he looked around. Gathered around him were the fiercest lords of Fenn and his closest advisers that were promoted to his advisory body. The Fenn Ministers all bowed at Shihan before they too kneeled onto their zabutons.

"Good morning all of you," Shihan said with a friendly smile. "I've been wanting to discuss something with you all. But first, question... Have we received any new communications from Parpaldia?"

The swordsmen all looked at each other before one shook his head. Motamu spoke up, "No, your majesty. It has been two weeks since their last message. We're not quite sure why."

"I see... Do we have any assumptions at least? That shipment of lumber has been sitting in the docks now. We can't have merchants start sailing unless Parpaldia allows us to," Shihan said with a frown.

Another middle aged man spoke, "We believe that Parpaldia may very well be focused on the invasion of Altaras, your majesty. That's the only reason we can think of."

"Has there been news of an invasion?" Shihan asked in skepticism.

The man shrugged, "There have been rumours of the invasion of Altaras. But we haven't received any news from our embassy in Le Brias. It's quiet. Not worryingly quiet, just... Normal quiet."

"Huh... This is strange behaviour from Parpaldia. Are they perhaps trying to prepare for a surprise attack?"

Another swordsman then spoke up, "Surprise attacks are done to try and confuse a stronger enemy... We've yielded to Parpaldia before, I don't see why they would try a surprise attack," he said with a somewhat solemn tone. He hated to admit that Fenn was too weak against Parpaldia.

Shihan rubbed his chin in contemplation. He stared at the table for a moment before he looked up, "Right... I believe we should send a delegation over to Parpaldia."

The swordsmen looked to each other before Motamu spoke, "Are you sure, your majesty?"

Shihan nodded, "I'm certain. It's obvious they won't be replying to our mana comms and right now our economy is taking a hit from our merchant vessels not being given the go ahead to sail into Parpaldia. Just a simple diplomatic message to clear things up, that is all."

The men looked to each other again before they murmured to themselves in agreement. Soon enough they nodded and bowed to Shihan who smiled.

Athenall Castle, Le Brias, Altaras

King Taara XXIV of Altaras has been on edge. His usual calm and wise demeanour was being blocked by his anxiety.

Out on the beach of Le Brias, rows of men were camping out. Soldier after soldier from swordsmen to crossbowmen and even cavalry and naval ships accompanied by wyverns were at the ready on the coast for a defence from an invasion.

An invasion that has not come.

Taara recalled the demands from Parpaldia. To surrender the southern gem mines and hand over his daughter as a slave. Immoral, appalling, and just plain disgusting; Taara of course rejected this. And now Parpaldia threatened to invade them in the soonest time possible.

But nothing came for the next two weeks. No ships, no wyverns, no nothing. Taara could see the men on the beach. The first few days, his Royal Altarasian Soldiers were on edge like him. But as time passed they all sat around in boredom and simply socialising and playing games to pass the time.

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What on Elysia was going on? Or rather, not going on? Why hasn't Parpaldia invaded yet?

Taara then looked back as he heard the double doors open. Princess Lumies smiled at her father as she kissed his cheek, "You're out here again, huh?"

The older man smiled as he wrapped an arm around his daughter before he looked to the army below. He then nodded, "Of course. It's been two weeks now since that disgusting ultimatum from Parpaldia. But nothing still has arrived to our shores."

Lumies looked to the beach as well as she gripped the sandstone balustrades of the balcony. She frowned somewhat before she looked to Taara, "What did the advisers say?"

Taara frowned as he eyed the men, "They've been saying that the men have been waiting for too long. Maybe an invasion will never come. But I just... I do not trust Parpaldia, not for one moment. Knowing them, they may be intentionally putting off the invasion as a form of psychological warfare."

Lumies gazed at her father for a moment before she looked back to the beach, "The Parpaldian Ambassador already left two weeks ago too... That is a certain sign of war but nothing is happening," she said. "What do you think is happening in Parpaldia, father?"

Taara looked to Lumies. As much as he wanted to give an educated and wise answer, all he could do was shrug.

Four days later, Palazzo Chigi

It had been a week since the Rimini Incident. While the country tried to move on and the rebuilding of the city was now underway, Giovanni's troubles tugged at the back of his mind.

It was another early morning for him. His usual work schedule had mostly gone back to normal. Instead of the crisis centre he was now back in his office within the palace. But even so, Giovanni still had a heavy heart regarding the incident. The Armed Forces' reputation was at a concerning low and Moretti was now certain he will be resigning once Rimini's reconstruction has completed.

Giovanni sighed. He placed down his files onto his table. He had been reading the reports of the effect of the sanctions on Parpaldia. They seemed to be largely successful but the economic downturn of the empire was evident.

The prime minister shook his head. Things seemed to be calming down so far. Or he hoped at least. He grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.

"... I've lost my business, I cannot just rebuild this place. This will rui-"

Depressing.

"... After two months of negotiations, McDonald's Italy will be bought out by Selex Gruppo and will be rebranding as-"

Boring.

"... We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks not just from the doctors and nurses of Italy, but from the city of Rimini to all the volunteers that turned up to help. And we would like to specially thank the Qua-Toynian healer elves for their hard work with their magic." The sounds of applause could be heard as on the screen were a group of healer Qua-Toynians being given medallions.

Well at least it wasn't all bad news. But that might not be true as Giovanni looked to his ringing phone and read the contact.

ROMANO — INFRASTRUTTURE

Giovanni then answered the call, "What do you got for me, misses Romano?" He asked as he lowered the volume of the TV as he stared at the footage of Qua-Toynians healing the injured and sick.

"Prime minister, I just received word from the Coast Guard. They've intercepted an unknown fleet of vessels with an unknown ensign. They say they're from the Kingdom of Fenn? They were headed to Parpaldia," Sarah said.

"Fenn...? Oh! I believe that's one of the island nations we were set to meet with until Rimini happened," Giovanni said.

"Ah, that makes sense. Well this is our first contact with the nation and we would like to ask what to do? This is technically diplomacy after all."

"Right right. Tell them they're free to travel through our waters to Parpaldia under the Coast Guard's watch. BUT, also tell them they're very much free to land and meet up for an impromptu diplomatic meeting. Since they're here anyway," Giovanni said.

"Very well, prime minister. I'll update you on it," Romano said before she dropped the call.

Giovanni then sighed deeply, "... I should really catch up with Bianca."

Imperial Armed Regiments Headquarters, Esthirant

Arde sat in his armchair as his office was illuminated by nothing but the shaky lights of his fireplace. The curtains were shut and the office was silent. In his hands were two files; older looking ones that clashed with the modern Italian folders on his table. Arde read the labels.

War Plan Dagger and War Plan Pickaxe. Two of his latest war plans commissioned by Ludius for the invasion of Fenn and Altaras.

Now they were nothing more than paperweight. Arde sneered in frustration before he dropped the folders onto his desk. On his table was a bottle of Parpaldian rum. He poured a bit into his glass as he drank it down.

"... Nghh- dammit," Arde said with a harsh tone. He didn't remember Parpaldian rum being this bad compared to Italian ones.

Italians. Those damned Italians. Arde realised sooner than others that relying on Italy for their luxury goods was a honey trap. And yet even he couldn't help but indulge in their products. Now the aristocracy and nobility were dependent on the wines and chocolates of Italy to the point it became a major player in local politics.

The sanction hurt more than the aristocrat's addiction. It hurt their resources: the mines and plantations have been missing slaves for workers and their shipments for just about everything slowed to a trickle. It hurt their industry: workers that were mere slaves to assemble muskets, cannons, and the likes had to be emancipated. Thus it hurt their military: Shipments and maintenance for just about everything was close to grinding to a halt and nobody else was willing to do the job. And finally their economic prestige. Parpaldia was the centre of trade for Philades. Caravans and merchant ships swarmed the capital of Esthirant in desperation for Parpaldian riches. Now almost all of them instead were in the ports of Trieste or the border crossings of Lombardy.

The man sighed deeply. Ludius. That damn kid fell right into the Italian's hands. He had more respect for his late father than the current emperor. He was right, he knew such an immature child wasn't fit to be emperor. And that little brat Remille only served to enable his so called intellect.

Arde slowly looked to his alcohol cabinet. He stood up and eyed the bottle of a half finished Italian Don Picco Rum. He opened the cabinet as he took the bottle in his hand before he frowned deeply. Slowly, he stepped to his desk and grabbed the two war plan folders as he eyed them one last time.

The man then tossed the files into the fireplace before he poured the remaining rum onto it, strengthening the flame. He stared at it for a moment before he grit his teeth. Arde then went to his desk.

He opened his drawer and pulled out his copy of the map of Italy. Arde scanned its contents before he then pulled out a fresh new folder. Instead of the modern manila folder Italy gave them, he opted to use the traditional Parpaldian ones instead.

Arde grabbed his pen. He stared at the map of Italy before he wrote onto the paper label of the folder.

War Plan Pike