Royal Citadel, Kingdom of Azuria.
May 8th, 1427.
8:12AM
Foreign Minister Ruprecht looked to the skies as he heard a peculiar chopping noise, as if a hundred wyverns were flapping their wings simultaneously. As the sounds grew louder, he squinted, identifying the source of the chopping noises: the ‘helicopters’. Six of them appeared over the horizon, approaching the Citadel. He stepped back as they hovered above, carefully touching down in the courtyard. Leaves from nearby trees and bushes flew in every direction, only settling down when the blades of the helicopters ceased their activities.
A man in his 50s in camouflage uniform stepped out of the lead helicopter, this particular one is far larger than the others, having four 'rotors' as the Elysians called them while the others only have one. The man was flanked by several other guards holding their weapons which they called an ‘assault rifle’. “Foreign Minister Ruprecht?” He called out.
“Yes, I take it you’re Colonel Stanford? Mister Ambassador told me you would come to transport us to your country.”
“That is correct, Mister Ruprecht.” Stanford replied, giving the man a salute. “Please follow me inside.”
The Azurian delegation steps inside the massive helicopter, the inside was comparatively fancy to the luxurious wagons he was used to being transported by. Yellow-tinted lights illuminated the long cabin which highlighted the smooth wooden interiors. Decorated with soft seating, table and even a small bar for drinks. Ruprecht felt like this is more of a guesthouse in the wealthier district of Anzuri rather than something that could fly.
"Oh the heavens!" Evatyr, the female assistant accidentally let her emotions slip out at the beautifully decorated interior.
“I must say, your flying wagon is truly impressive to behold!” Ruprecht’s eyes lit up, taking in the luxurious view of the machine that he now finds himself inside which looked more like a fancy guest house than a flying machine.
“This is not everything we have, Mister Ruprecht. We’ll fly you to the Seventh Fleet anchoring off your settlement of Sunsettia, after that we will take you to Arden City where we can move you to our capital, Arlette.” Ambassador Anderson explained, climbing on the massive custom made UH-48 quadrotors and taking a seat in front of Foreign Minister Ruprecht.
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8:20 AM
Ruprecht stretched his legs, letting his body sink into the soft, comfortable chair. Looking outside the window, he saw the rotor blades spin up slowly as the turbine engines pick up speed, finally ceasing to accelerate once they've spun fast enough.
“Oh!” He exclaimed as the aircraft turbines and rotors sped up, lifting into the air. The sensation was quite unlike the feeling of being pulled into the sky upon the back of a wyvern. Helicopter flight had much less buckling than wyvern flight and the seats were much more elegant and comfortable. In addition, the aircraft had a pressurized cabin, so Ruprecht felt more like he was on a boat rather than something that could fly.
After the initial takeoff, the rumbling subsided as the aircraft rotors tilted to transition away from vertical lift to forward flight. The aircraft pick up speed, only encountering a few patches of turbulence here and there. Indulging into a cut of steak and a cup of wine onboard the aircraft, Ruprecht felt like a king. He pondered the wealth these Elysians had; how much money they could possibly have in order to build such an elegant flying machine? Even the Holy Celestial Empire's flying ships couldn’t match up to these aircrafts in terms of speed and performance, he thought. Caught on the topic of aircraft, he remembered what he had seen earlier.
“Say, Ambassador Anderson, those iron dragonflies we saw that escorted this machine… would it be possible for us to purchase one?” He asked Colonel Stanford who was sitting on the opposite table.
Anderson looked puzzled by the question at first, but he eventually understand what Ruprecht was coming from. “I apologize, but they’re not for sale anymore.”
“Anymore? Did we miss the opportunity?” Ruprecht was aghast, a million simulations running through his head. The opportunity to have the Royal Army equipped with flying chariots, expeditions to areas inaccessible even to wyverns, etc. Now those dreams seem distant.
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Anderson set his can of Cola down. “Ah, I’m sorry, it’s nothing like that. We used to sell weapons to our few allies back in our world, but we decided to cancel such opportunities in this world. Our Senate decided that since we do not know anything about this world as of right now, allowing our technologies to be exported without control is a dangerous situation, especially those that are related to military hardware. Besides, it is extremely hard to pilot one of these and you’d need a very extensive education and training regiment. This simply isn’t available on this planet, except for in Elysia.”
Anderson took another sip. “You can bring this topic up with the President once you and your assistant meet him, Mister Ruprecht. I only know so much.”
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Arden Class Aircraft Carrier FES Aletha, The Seventh Fleet, 20km off from Sunsettia.
12:15 AM
Ruprecht and his assistance looked out the windows, marveling at the fleet of metal ships down below them. Their sizes are massive, as large or even larger than those of the Florence Republic ’s in the Southern Continent. He stared at the massive flat top ship in awe, its deck filled with dozens of metal birds laying rest.
“By the heavens, how large is that ship?” Ruprecht mumbles to himself.
The aircraft touched down on the flight deck, sailors running about as they folded the aircraft’s wings and blades in preparation for storage in the hangar deck. Ruprecht walked out of the helicopter, stepping on the steel flight deck, he took in the scenery around him. A dozen metal ships moving along with the flat top vessel, making sure nothing can reach the massive floating construct that he now stood atop.
“Enjoying the scenery, Mister Ruprecht?” A voice behind him said.
Ruprecht turned around. “Greetings there, who might you be?”
“I am Admiral Chester Isaac, I’m in charge of the fleet.” The man responded, offering a handshake.
Ruprecht and his female assistant shook the Admiral’s hands, quickly adopting the gesture during meeting Ambassador Anderson’s delegation. “Pleasure to meet you, Admiral.”
The three walked together to the inner upper deck of the carriers, passing through busy sailors who momentarily stopped their activity to give the Admiral a salute before continuing their work, but some sailors momentarily look back at Ruprecht's female assistance who has peculiar pointy ears. Upon reaching the second floor, Admiral Chester ordered the security personnel to open the metal door, revealing a modest but luxurious room in comparison to the stale metallic environment and drab paint covering the rest of the ship’s interior. Soft sofas, chairs and a work desk decorated the interior while a bunk bed is tucked neatly in the corner of the room, artificial lighting integrated into the ceiling brightens up the interior as well, providing a strange but certainly very cozy atmosphere to rest for the night.
“This will be where you will be staying for the night.” Admiral Chester explained. “We still have problems with cleaning up the airbase after the storm, but there will be another aircraft from Arlette to pick you up by tomorrow morning.”
The Azurians nod. “We understand, Admiral.”
“Then, I’ll leave you be. If there’s anything you’d need, you can call one of our guards outside the room.” He assures the delegation.
As Admiral Chester finished closing the door, allowing silence to set it, The Azurians let out a sigh of relief. “That was so stressful!” Evatyr let out her breath.
“By the way, what’s an ‘airport’ that the Admiral mentioned?” she asked.
“I do not know… it’s probably like one of the many skyports in the Holy Celestial Empire.” Ruprecht answers, terrifying thoughts running through his mind. If these Elysians have metal ships, metal wagons and infrastructure on par with the two distant superpowers in the Central Continent: the Holy Celestial Empire, the land of the ultimate magic and the Florence Republic, the land of ultimate science then nothing could stop them from conquering the world, but he stopped that thought. If they’re blood thirsty conquerors, they wouldn’t have sent such a polite diplomat despite having powers and strength unknown to him and his people, Ruprecht was certain that they understood the importance of information and a technologically superior nation no doubt will have superior spying capability over the lesser ones. They already knew of the technological disparity between Azuria and themselves, yet they approached his people with respect, save for the metal bird incident.
“Let’s compose ourselves, Evatyr. You must be tired from the ride on that…-” Ruprecht stuttered, trying to remember the term. “-helicopter.”
“I’ll try to document everything.” Evatyr reassures her superior, taking advantage of the small work desk in the room as she notes down and sketches up what happened during the trip thus far.