Manegia

Year 14??

"Aah! Evil Mad Scientist Lady is there!"

Voice, the short red-haired, palm-sized pixie in a red one-piece thrust her tiny finger onto Amelia Rickens with her red butterfly wings flapping violently as her master, Alicia Bell, the young woman with long red hair like fire and contrasting bright blue eyes wearing a red businesswoman getup along with a necklace Catalyst Amelia made for her containing disloyal maneg as she possessed none herself around her neck entered the main archive room with the huge holographic screen.

"Oh, hey, Alicia!" Amelia greeted her, turning the swivel chair she sat on, ignoring the little pixie who may or may not be Alicia's true nature's jab at this point. "What brings you here to these still-wrecked data servers?"

"Hello, Amelia." Alicia waved at her, going for the other swivel chair in the room. "I was looking into Erdale and I noticed the United Races of Terra does not have a Bell Branch when all the other major countries do. I figured I should find out why that is before I try to install one if the archives still have it that is."

"Well, have you been very busy, Alicia," Amelia chuckled, turning her chair so that she could rest her arms and chin on the headrest. "Don't you think you should slow down on the Bell Branches right about now? It'll be a nightmare to maintain all of them."

"Really?" Alicia tilted her head in confusion as she welcomed herself to the other swivel chair in the room. "I have not encountered any problems with it as of yet, not when the communication Catalysts you had improved a while back made it easier for the managers to send their reports without sending down one of us to fetch them."

"Right... I did that," Amelia realized, slacking her shoulders.

"Hah! Jokes on you, missy!"

But seriously though, the fourth leader of Bell Conglomerate has been expanding her company's reach to every known world to the Otherworldly Court ever since she's taken the rear support as she did. Amelia wondered if Bell Conglomerate could even be trust-busted being inter-world at this point. The Court sure can't when the Conglomerate's the one giving Court Wizards their paycheck.

"Anyway," Amelia continued from where they left off. "Well, you're in luck cause I'm in the last phases of restoring the pre-Incident files on URT and oh boy, there's a lot to talk about it."

"You are?" Alicia looked at the sheer coincidence right now.

"Yep," Amelia smiled lazily, her head resting on her arms. "The specific dates and whatnots are totally corrupted, so I'm gonna have to visit URT for a history book, and there are also other things that we can only speculate. But other than that, we still got the big picture."

"Then can you tell us about it?" Alicia requested.

"Yeah! Like why the heck is there a modern country sticking out in a medieval fantasy world like a sore thumb!?"

"Woah! Relax Voice, we got time. Why not?" Amelia calmed the pixie down before she began, straightening her head. "So once upon a time, Maneg Users barged into Erdale in the middle of their Great War."

"...Wait, What!?"

Incidentally, 'Maneg Users' was the name Court Wizards used in place of Soul Weavers as Maneg Souls fused with Court Wizards' souls nowadays wired even Alicia's brain to turn hostile hearing the S and W words together. The maneg scientist herself had to compromise with crossing them out and writing the safer version after them in the archives.

"Oh?" Alicia raised her eyebrow. "So Erdale was affected by the Eleven-Century War?"

Amelia nodded, "Oh yeah, and we don't even need an accurate report to know where this is going. With a war going on, it's the perfect time for a bunch of Maneg Users with their Mother Souls to recruit more Maneg Users to one-up each other as they have always done for millennia! Also, really should've called it 'Eleven Centuries War'."

"I know what you mean, Amelia," Alicia smiled wryly. "Anyway, with an existing war already going on, I imagine the Maneg Users' arrival did nothing but escalate it further."

"Yeah," Amelia confirmed. "From what I can gather, these guys helped kingdoms massacre armies in record time, destroyed other kingdoms overnight, and just caused a huge racket while dragging the locals into their fold; general stuff that's constant in other worlds clapped by Maneg Users without getting into the gritty details. It's a miracle none of the sapient species there went extinct, according to all known Erdale species in the archives."

That was also why the First Guardians made it a rule to always hold back. The sheer destruction Court Wizards can still do even after the Mothers Souls were damaged, thereby decreasing the quality of Maneg Souls' reserves and strength they produce, was something they didn't want to happen again. That and being a sort of world-keeping force would demand that sort of thing. In fact, much of the Rules of Engagement has its basis from the Eleven-Century War.

"Then after all of that's said and done," Amelia continued. "The Maneg Users left Erdale just like that, taking all the fresh recruits with them whether they like it or not since that's what they signed up for."

"And have anyone tried to refute that?" Alicia asked.

"There's got to be some, but after screwing up their own homeworld, I don't think they'd last on their own against their former world-ers if they lagged behind. There's really no escaping your faction of Maneg Users," Amelia shrugged. "Also, there's pretty damning evidence I recovered that Maneg Users can transfer on their own, hence why other records say we used to be Wanderers.

"But to make sure they don't ditch their Mother Soul, they'll lose all their disloyal maneg to the conservation of maneg without the final safety step provided only by the Mother Soul. In other words, us losing our disloyal maneg, except you Alicia, if we transfer without the Transporter Room is most likely a failsafe by the Mother Souls. That's probably how the two rooms were made, using the functions of the Mother Souls."

"Truly?" Alicia piqued her interest. "If you can rediscover how the Transporter Rooms were made then perhaps we can build more of them. It would make transferring more efficient with the load increased."

"Yeah!"

"Somehow, I don't think your reason is entirely altruistic," Amelia deadpanned. "Now where were we? Oh yeah, when the Maneg Users transferred out of Erdale, they left a good number of their modern to high-tech stuff they've got to miss after salvaging them."

"Oh, I guess that would happen," Alicia supposed. One of the First Guardians was a cyborg, so Maneg Users weren't all medieval fantasy types.

"Yeah, and it really threw Erdale's technological progress out of whack," Amelia continued. "A lot of worlds affected by the Eleven-Century War do, actually. Speaking of which, you've mostly been to worlds that didn't have Maneg Users on their doorsteps, right Alicia? You're gonna need to see worlds that do. It's really weird seeing stuff that should've been invented centuries later being used, even in a fantasy world."

"Is that so?" Alicia smiled wryly. "And I suppose that is why we have that rule then?"

"Yeah," Amelia nodded. "When you're at war for the better part of the millennia, most of the things you bring are obviously weapons. And when you're helping a kingdom to sic on another faction, you'd lend some of your toys to that kingdom's grunts before taking them back.

"And even though the Maneg Users took back their weapons, that the Erdale locals later call them 'Forbidden Artifacts' which is a story for another time, that doesn't stop that kingdom from trying to emulate it. As it happens, the Holy Erdal Empire got the novel idea of enchanting their weapons and armor by sticking magic crystals called Magic Ores when it's usually just on staves and lamps. Presumably, Erdal saw a laser sword with a core like a Magic Ore to get the idea or something. It's kinda a stretch, but it still made Erdal the superpower of Erdale."

And that's the other rule. The First Guardians saw how destructive throwing off a world's pacing of development by introducing advanced technology was and decided that a world should develop its advancements naturally lest an Erdal empire happen.

"Were there any other enchanted weapons before that?" Alicia asked.

"Just a few weapons blessed by the local deities, according to legends, and they don't have Magic Ores on them. You'd be surprised just how many worlds with magic stones, which is a notable exception in Object Modules in terms of compatibility, never thought of placing them on weapons other than a long stick right from the get-go." Amelia shrugged. "It really shows how much of an influence Maneg Users can bring to a world, so if you're going into a world affected by the Eleven-Century War, Alicia, you're gonna need to watch out for sudden technology, unless it's already that world's shtick from the start."

"I see. Well, it is quite the shame the First Guardians never see the benefits bringing technology to less-developed worlds would bring though," Alicia remarked, cupping her cheek.

"True, the First Guardians focused more on how it would make an Erdal empire than how many lives could be saved with things like modern medicine which would be in line with our goals. That said, the next generations do see things differently," Amelia smirked. All the Catalysts in the Bell Branches should explain it enough. "And that brings to how URT started."

"Ah yes, that." Alicia almost forgot the whole reason she was here in the first place, except she still needed to hear the story of the country's founding. "And does everything we have discussed so far have to do with URT being a modern country in the middle of a pre-modern world?"

"Yeah! Kinda like that one isekai novel!"

"Yes, it's as you imagined," Amelia nodded. "Basically, in the last throes of the Great War, groups of humans, elves, dwarves, half-animals, and dragon-morphs all tried to escape from all of that bloodshed. And because of all that chaos, they all came to the desperate conclusion that the only safe place is to seek refuge past the Dark Forest they called the Forest of Demons where they all ran into each other. Something about the leaders of the groups getting messages from their respective deities to assure them."

"So Erdale's deities guided them," Alicia guessed.

"Well, that's the story anyway," Amelia shrugged. "And before they had a Mexican standoff, they noticed there's like, a lot of books lying around the grass not far off and they're not just any books, they're modern Earth books and neatly stacked too."

"So they read it out!?"

"Exactly!" Amelia praised the little pixie, much to her realization and dismay. "Add the whole divination thingy and being sick of fighting after a world war they're trying to avoid, that's pretty much what they did."

Amelia turned her back and fiddled with the screen. With a CLICK, the screen now showed a painting where a human noble, an elf scholar, a dwarf craftsman, a lion half-animal king, and a red-scaled dragon-morph prince surrounded a pile of books with the ones on top open with a glow as if it were divine along with people from those respective races watching.

"Whether or not the deities saw some good in the Maneg Users, they must have seen how modern knowledge could fix things. And with a hero summoning system already existing in Erdale, they used it to summon not a hero nor a smart guy, but modern books from Erdale Earth." Amelia pointed a laser pointer she pulled out from somewhere and directed the red dot on the books though it went through it as it was a hologram. "At least, that's what URT says which I'm inclined to believe. It's not like a Maneg User is carrying a lot of modern books with them, probably just one to start it all."

"So they isekai'd books!?"

"Yep, and they're all translated too," Amelia snapped her fingers in affirmation. "So, after presumably making camp and then reading the books for a while." Amelia circled the red dot around the five founders of URT, presumably. "These guys basically attained enlightenment."

"I guess that is not exaggerating, is it not?" Alicia chuckled softly from her seat.

"Well yeah, those books contain virtually everything in modern society we take for granted," Amelia shrugged her hands. "But to these guys, they were revolutionary. Also when I said those books have everything in modern society, I mean everything: science, history, technology, culture, politics, economy, medicine, geography, education, religion, and even fiction were up for grabs. By the way, this includes books published in pre-modern times and language books modified for Erdalians to learn.

"Heck, it's not shown here, but there were also CDs, cassette tapes with their players, and even a databank of the internet in all of its meme-ing glory! Don't ask me how the deities know what the internet is, let alone have a server big enough to store all that data! Hah...!"

"A-Are you alright?" Alicia was at the edge of her seat concerned for the maneg scientists panting after talking too boisterously.

"Hah... Sorry," Amelia huffed, clutching her chest. "Hah... Need to catch my breath. Hah..."

CLICK CLICK

After taking a big gulp from a thermos before putting it back on the floor beside her chair, Amelia calmed down and then changed the screen into a painting that could no less be described as the founding of a nation with five white stars above an open book with a green cover resting on two sets of green olive branches intertwined with each other all in a blue background as its national flag.

"As I was saying," Amelia calmly continued. "While all of the scientific knowledge of modern Earth was good and all, it's the concept of equality and ideology that got these soon-to-be founders. And some of these guys were blue-blooded!"

"Come to think of it, some of the founders in the paintings were wearing noble clothing," Alicia realized. "That is quite impressive of them."

It's the vices of Court Wizards to look down on nobles in general.

"Yeah, the history books of Earth's medieval ages gave them retrospect of the Great War and found parallels of imperialism, intolerance, religion in politics, and other factors causing all of that suffering - the Maneg Users simply amplified it. That disillusioned the founders of what they thought was good," Amelia said dryly. "But what really struck the chord was when they read up one country common in many versions of Earth: Indonesia." With that, she clicked the remote that was there to show the screen the red and white Indonesian flag.

"Oh?" Alicia piqued her interest hearing the largest archipelago nation mentioned. Her father had once flown there on a business trip and was inspired by the local super app to create his version, BellDe, which operated even in Manegia. Kinda ironic her father didn't get the inspiration from his home country which started it.

"They were already having ideas of forming a nation that's gonna unite all sapient species equally on Erdale and the blue-bloods were all prepared to give up their titles for it. But even with divine will, they weren't sure it was going to work when Erdale is deeply rooted in countries segregated by race where its sub-races are only really united by religion and close similarities and must still have some cracks. It's probably one of the catalysts for the Great War, really," Amelia explained. "And it's something our homeworlds are struggling with even though all of us are humans, as much as we want to deny it; so it didn't give the founders much confidence when they have multiple species.

"But when they found out that the other world has a nation with six official religions and many more unofficial ones with several times more ethnic groups than their own all together under the ideals of unity in diversity, they got their answer. Sure, it got some rough edges and tumultuous history, as all countries do, but it showed the founders that it can be done, to set aside their differences and live together in harmony. It's a stretch, but it was the push they needed to start a country where all races are equal.

"And besides, our worlds at large are making great progress breaking those barriers, not in just a single country and even with the reasons I stated before, some of the races on Erdale are a collection of multiple races called 'sub-races' nowadays. Makes for confusing terminologies, but it means they were already united in some way, so they shouldn't sell themselves so short."

"Wow... That is, quite inspiring." Alicia gasped in awe.

"Very awesome!"

Erdale was a world with a history deeply rooted with nations separated by race, and to a small extent among sub-races, similar to the factions of Elements in the Maneg Users days. Even the only known time these races were united was only to be against another race invading, so the idea of unifying all of them was not something that one come up easily let alone push through it. In fact, Alicia's father had regaled stories of the hard-fought struggles he and Alicia's grandfather had installing Bell Branches in non-human kingdoms which got her interested in looking at Erdale in the first place. Even human countries were difficult for that one other reason.

It was even more so when three out of the five founders were used to living with a silver spoon. It still took resolve for them to cast their privileges and titles aside for a country where everyone was equal.

Switching the screen to a close-up on the early URT flag, Amelia continued, "And so, the United Races of Terra was born - the founders decided to name their country after the many versions of our homeworld, probably not to copy Erdal. Each star represents each major race, sub-races all included, in URT which is remotely similar to the states of the US, the first obvious nation that got the founders the concept of URT in the first place even though it's not the one that sold the idea."

Alicia nodded to go on.

"And with modern books being their guidebooks, URT speedran through civilization," Amelia continued. "Which is what everyone would think, but it's more complicated than that."

"Of course it is!"

"Pretty much," Amelia smirked. "And fortunately, the founders of URT conveniently just so to happen to be some of the most level-headed and well-educated people of their time because one, they had caught on pretty early that since Erdale's sister world only has humans as a sapient race, not everything in Earth books is gonna apply to Erdale like the solar system, and magic's just fiction there. However, it still gives them the push to find Erdale's version of those subjects and further the research on magic with fiction as their unreliable inspiration.

"Two, not even the founders understood the books fully. Even though all URT citizens get free access to the books, it's not like they, people from the middle ages, are gonna latch on to modern knowledge immediately. Also, low literacy rates."

Amelia then switched the screen to a map of a part of URT's territory, the peninsula. "And finally, at the time URT was founded, the country's only just this peninsula split from the rest of the continent by a low-chlorophyll forest which is the 'Dark Forest.' It's not a place with many resources to work with, so development was mostly getting URT's government and constitution up and running until after a generation or so when the First Guardians of the Otherworldly Court found out it exists."

"Oh?" Alicia piqued her interest again. After all...

"Finally! We're getting to why heck there isn't a Bell Branch on URT!?"

"Be patient, geez!" Amelia frowned as she changed the screen again, that you have to wonder if she had always prepared these in advance, to a painting of some of the First Guardians and a few Court Wizards with the first five races of URT - only the elf, dwarf, and dragon-morph founder were there. The most striking part of this illustration, however, was the addition of two adult fairies, a man and woman, and a mature red-haired woman with two long horns on her head.

"At first, the First Guardians were getting red flags seeing the few technologies early URT was able to replicate from the Erdale Earth books and then finding said books." Amelia pointed the laser around the Guardians before moving it to the URT founders. "On the other side, the people of URT were panicking seeing the Maneg Users seemingly returning."

"But there was no hostile confrontation," Alicia suspected.

"Yeah," Amelia nodded. "The First Guardians realized early on when going into a world affected by the Maneg User's war, they should go in a group consisting of two or more Elements to show the formerly competitive factions together like a house on fire. So they did just that and managed to reduce tensions with URT."

"And I guess it was... very successful," Alicia remarked, looking at the painting showing the end result.

"Yes," Amelia smiled wryly. "It's a long story, but thanks to one of the First Guardians being an Erdale fairy in addition to a demon Court Wizard also from Erdale, one thing leads to another and the fairies and demons joined URT."

"And what about the books?" Alicia asked.

"Dunno, can't restore those records." Amelia shrugged in resignation. "But looking at everything that happened afterwards, it seems the First Guardians for whatever reason backed off from burning those books and just let URT have them," she speculated. "Well, whatever it was, methinks it's definitely where our interpretation of the fourth rule started," which was only Court Wizards have to follow that rule and do largely nothing against any outside force spreading technology.

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"Is that so?" Alicia chuckled. Also, as long as the public doesn't know, all the Catalysts can stay in the Bell Branches.

Then, the maneg scientist changed the screen back to the URT flag, but this time there were eight stars. "And so," Amelia continued. "With the inclusion of the demons and fairies, URT added two more stars to its flag. While they're at it, an eighth star is slotted in to represent the mixed races that are steadily rising in population just in case someone gets into any ideas," she muttered grimly.

"I get the notion," Alicia nodded in understanding.

Then, the maneg scientist fiddled the screen to show the map of URT once again, this time showing a large island off the coast of the peninsula. "URT inherits the Demon Island belonging to the defunct demon kingdom," Amelia switched back to the painting and focused on the red-haired female demon, "barely led by the current demon lord whose father once invaded the world, and even relocate the capital to the former demon kingdom's.

"The fairies," she then pointed at the two fairy couple, "led by the fairy king and queen, Oberon and Titania, meanwhile, finally get a permanent residence to plant their Fairy Tree in the Demon Island after running around Erdale with it from virtually everyone wanting their grubby hands on it. Just so you know, the Fairy Tree allows the fairies to infinitely resurrect from and reincarnate when they truly die from old age - the fairy monarchs are truly immortal, by the way, and are considered deities in their own right."

"I see," Alicia nodded in understanding of the abbreviated story. "And what is the standing between us and URT then?"

"Well, after the whole thing, it looks like we and the people of URT became awkward friends," Amelia stated. "They're giving us the benefit of the doubt seeing as we've reformed and became united similar to them, but they're still pretty damn suspicious of us. The demons have no problem with us as they weren't involved in the Great War and by extension the Maneg Users. The fairies, on the other hand, were really grateful for helping them find a safe place to live - it helps one of the First Guardians was their kind. They've mostly swept their grievances of us under the rug since we're just another group among basically everyone going after them."

And it showed the inextricable link between the Otherworldly Court and the United Races of Terra. Not just from one of the First Guardians belonging to the fairies of Erdale, but also how the chance encounter shaped the Otherworldly Court afterwards. And to the first rule, the Otherworldly Court was forever intertwined with the United Races of Terra aligned with the Court's goals, showing that the Court Wizards do belong there.

"So then, the reason why there is not a Bell Branch in URT is...?" Alicia began suspecting, but not like the notion.

"Well, obviously, the URT government ain't gonna let a bunch of capitalist Court Wizards whose predecessors once ravaged Erdale put their grubby hands on the country, especially with the ulterior motive of spying on the place, even if it's nothing classified," Amelia bluntly stated.

"Erk!" A figurative arrow struck a bullseye on Alicia with additional damage with the same usage of words.

"Hey! Don't badmouth my Alicia like that, Evil Mad Scientist Lady!"

But there was the answer. A long and winded discussion of the history of a nation in a different world culminated in a simple answer of that said nation not wanting a visible foothold by the Court Wizards on its soil. That said, there's no reason to stop now that Alicia got her answer, not when it was sidelined despite being the catalyst for this long story at this point.

"Anyway," Amelia continued with a grin as if it was nothing, earning a scowl from the pixie. "With the acquisition of the former demon kingdom's territory, URT finally took off. The Demon Island is in the equator, meaning it's warm year-round and can produce lots of food to feed a growing population, especially after they started planting rice taken from northern areas after the Dark Forest." She then popped a picture of rice fields on the screen.

"There was no rice cultivated on there before?" Alicia tilted her head. Normally, you would see rice in places around the equator, so this was strange.

"Yeah. For whatever reason, the demons have been trying to grow wheat on tropical land, never mind how a crop not suitable to a tropical climate even managed to get there in the first place. Probably one of the reasons why the previous demon lord invaded in the first place," Amelia shook her head in disbelief herself. "The old archives really seem to emphasize this fact and recent files show a lot of URT propaganda about it. Well, the switching of staple food does allow the demons to recover its relatively low population presumably after the previous demon lord's invasion at a better rate now that food became more abundant."

"I see," Alicia nodded at the thought. The scale of a population does depend on its food supply. You need fewer acres for rice compared to wheat to sustain a family as it's more caloric which meant a larger population can be sustained. Sure, there're a lot of factors for population growth, but you can't dismiss the simplest factor that has the most tremendous effect.

"The founders really did their homework on that one, and there's a lot more coming." Amelia then switched the screen's picture to that of what was presumably a shot of a part of the Demon Island. "'Cause it's not just the land that's great for agriculture, it's also chocked full of resources untapped by a civilization not advanced enough to make use of them until URT with all of its modern knowledge from Earth."

Then, Amelia changed the screen again to show what was basically a montage of newer and newer technology being built except it was not by just humans, but together with the other races of Terra. Also, some of the devices were clearly fueled with magic.

"After securing food, URT began replicating technology from Earth, or Erdale Earth if you wanna be specific. The founders, of course, already gave people free access to knowledge of Earth to get more thinkers barring the very dangerous ones like WMD blueprints, naturally, but it's the gain in territory that allowed them to finally start their own scientific revolution," Amelia continued in eagerness. "And since there's a Magic System Module in full use on Erdale, URT founded a magic institute to promote magic research along with other institutions down the line to research on topics Earth versions don't apply."

Then the screen changed again, showing a vial filled with glowing liquid and a magic rock, a Magic Ore of Erdale. The maneg scientist continued, "While the magic institute made many discoveries, its crowning achievement is the discovery of the technique to condense ambient mana into liquid form and then subsequently into solid, effectively creating artificial Magic Ores. The technique itself got refined over time to the point where it's commercially sustainable."

"Oh?" the merchant raised her eyebrow. "So URT no longer has to mine for Magic Ores then?" she asked. Magic Ore has 'Ore' in its name, so it was natural for anyone to assumed they were mined from the earth.

"Yeah, URT really advertised this according to recent files that they studied how Magic Ores were formed in mines, to begin with, and then becoming independent from them," Amelia explained. "The whole propaganda's probably got to do with the Erdal empire being really obsessed with the mines since their power stems from Magic Ores and the liquid form of mana is also a good battery to refuel Magic Ores running out of juice too."

Then, Amelia showed from the screen even more technology mixed with magic. "And with inspiration from Erdale Earth's fictional depiction of magic, URT also began churning out lots of magitech expediting the more complicated pieces. Oh, but ever since someone in the magic institute discovered anti-magic, which is a story for another time, they try to hybridize the tech they make so it can run with or without magic for obvious reasons."

"Ooh! Cool!"

"I see. But it is not just scientific discoveries they are replicating, is it?" Alicia suspected. Earths' similar revolution was not just scientific discoveries, after all.

"Yeah," Amelia nodded. "Along with science, other aspects of civilization got a makeover as you'd expect. For example," she displayed a picture of a church with architecture similar to a Catholic Church in Earth, a similarity shared by countless other fantasy worlds' churches for no particular reason even though the deities those churches serve were all different from one another.

"URT did its version of the Protestant Revolution on the Eria Faith primarily followed by humans, filtering out all the nonsense by the Eria theocracy for the higher-ups' benefit and going back to her actual teachings." Looking at Alicia, Amelia continued, "most notably for you, the 'Reformed Eria Faith' got rid of the whole 'red-haired people are secretly demons' lie by the theocracy which probably doesn't even matter anymore for obvious reasons just because red is a common hair color for horned demons which URT determined to only have been propagated to take down a kingdom with red-haired royalty, a story for another day."

"Oh, well good riddance to that," Alicia quipped with a hint of smile Amelia did not fail to notice.

"...You got harrassed down there, didn't you?" Amelia rhetorically asked, putting the obvious two and two together.

"...Yes," Alicia admitted, hanging her head down. "It was an awful experience."

"Yeah! Some bastard clergy started calling Alica 'demon' in a bad way out of nowhere and tried to get her burned on a stake! That old fart is still grinding my gears!"

"Well, it was a good thing Owen was with me to get me out of that situation," Alicia sighed. She hasn't really been putting her self-defense lessons her father squeezed into her growing ages' schedule into practice a whole lot with the lack of fighting early on.

It was what got Alicia interested in Erdale in the first place, actually. The hostile encounter of some priest calling her a demon not as a name of a race, a name that happened to carry negative connotations on Earth, but in a derogatory sense, a sense that Alicia understood. From that simple visit to Erdale's Bell Branches for the first time, it got her to talk about it with her father who then regale the great difficulty he and Alicia's grandfather went through installing all those Bell Branches on Erdale; they had to find someone fine with a human boss in non-human kingdoms and in human kingdoms, someone who would tolerate their red hair. Both were like finding a needle in a haystack.

Because of the hatred of one particular hair color, both senior Bells still had to wear wigs whenever they go to Erdale. It was just Alicia's luck that her father forgot about the whole thing when she told him she was going to Erdale - only he didn't get a lasting impression of Erdale. After that, Alicia got into digging on Erdale's Bell Branches on the surface where she noticed URT's lack of thereof which led her here.

"Right, let's just move on then," Amelia uneasily looked to the screen before switching its display to another painting, this time depicting fish half-animals joining URT. "After half a Court generation or so, the fish half-animals, anthropomorphic fishes, and other sapient sea species collectively called the 'seafolk' joined URT thanks to, you guessed it, a seafolk Court Wizard."

"Why am I not surprised!?"

Amelia then showed the screen the map of URT again, this time focusing on the sea channel separating the peninsula and island. "While they can live on land since seafolks live under, well, the sea, they took residence in the waters between the two land territories, making an underwater province, a special one at that."

"Special?" Alicia tilted her head.

Amelia clicked the remote to show what was essentially a mermaid queen sitting on a coral throne. "Well, the seafolks that joined URT came from a seafolk kingdom that got destroyed a rivaling sea kingdom with the help of land dwellers, presumably the empire going by the trend... supposedly - I'm still restoring the part why it happened specifically, something about makeshift depth charges using Magic Ores. But long story short, the seafolks still like their monarch and voted to keep her as the hereditary ruler of their underwater province, three-fifth the founders, the fairy monarchs, and demon lord giving up their ruling titles be damned."

"And I am guessing it went through?" Alicia assumed. Thinking about it, she does remember one province in Indonesia having that same kind of special status after looking up the country in her spare time once.

"Well, despite the bad outlook on absolute monarchies nowadays, URT knows constitutional monarchies are a thing that allowed the seafolk monarch to rule the province on that condition," Amelia said. "Also, practically, the government really wants to up their maritime tech and secure the sea channel with the help of the seafolk which did happen. Ideally, it also wants to add the last star to the URT flag, uniting all races on Erdale."

"I see," Alicia nodded in understanding. "And how did the Otherworldly Court respond to that at the time?" She'd imagine the Court didn't expect the special province either.

"This mermaid queen you see here?" Amelia immediately answered, pointing at the illustration. "That's the mermaid Court Wizard."

"Oh," Alicia muttered.

"Bruh!"

"Yeah, pretty obvious what happened," Amelia smirked.

"Is that so?" Alicia chuckled. "At any rate, the seafolk is the last race to join URT, then?" she asked, judging by how Amelia stated it.

"But why are there ten stars when you only mention nine!?"

Alicia did a preliminary check on URT on the fire chamber's computer before deciding to go to the main source.

"You're right, Voice," Amelia nodded. "Because then, alien plant people from outer space descended into URT," she replied.

"...What!?" the pixie did her best impression of a certain red monster.

"..." Alicia herself was wide-eyed. That came out of nowhere.

SNAP

"Pfft! You should've seen the look on your faces!" Amelia giggled as she pulled out her smartphone and pointed the camera to capture the girl and pixie's priceless reaction. "Now where was I?"

"Hey! Delete that photo!"

"Forget it, Voice," Alicia calmed the pixie down. "It is pointless to stop her."

"But daddy can!"

"Erk!" Amelia cringed, recalling Alicia's father who once beat her up for getting overboard with her tests on his daughter's unique Maneg Soul. "A-Anyway," Amelia clicked the remote that's also the laser pointer to show, this time, a low-quality photograph of a plant-themed spaceship with its ramp open letting out light-green humans with plant parts sticking out.

"The data here is intact, actually, recorded after the 1246 Incident," Amelia pointed out. Just because the past data were corrupted since the 1246 Incident doesn't mean the Court would stop adding more to the archives altogether. "But still poorly written. Moving on, out of nowhere URT got visited by alien plant people who call themselves 'Aurorans' from the planet, well, Aurora."

"And why would the Aurorans visit Erdale then?" Alicia asked.

"Well, turns out Aurora's a dead world and those Aurorans were like the last few of their kind making the last-ditch effort to survive by jumping into another world in the old fashion way," Amelia explained. "We never discovered their world to know their plight."

"Oh," Alicia uttered in a somber tone. "My condolences to them."

"Yeah, really sucks for them," Amelia nodded in agreement. "Fortunately, the Aurorans had taken the easiest hunch that URT having every intelligent species all together would be the least hostile to them, and the United Races with its ideals undoubtedly welcomed them."

"Hooray!"

"And that's not to mention all the sci-fi tech the Aurorans have propelling URT even further," Amelia added.

"Hearing that makes it sound... utilitarian," Alicia smiled wryly.

"Well, that's pretty much the state of the secret nation," Amelia shrugged.

"Hmm!? Why do I hear another elaboration!?"

"Secret nation..." And suddenly, it all made sense to Alicia.

"Yeah, that's right." Amelia fixed her swivel chair's orientation and her posture. "From the founding of the nation to the present, not once has URT been known to the rest of Erdale. Not when all the fairies seemingly vanished without a trace, not when a destroyed underwater kingdom's people disappeared into the unknown, not even when a spaceship descended. Not ever."

Then, Amelia changed the screen again, showing a scanned copy of a URT law called 'The Concealment Act' along with its year. "When the founders founded URT, they realized they can't let other countries know its existence. It's not just being isolationists, it's making the world think they don't exist, that the peninsula is still uninhabited and the Demon Island is still the demon kingdom's domain."

"Was it necessary?" Alicia asked. She could already imagine a couple of reasons, but she figured to hear it from the expert.

"Well, URT to the Erdale powers is more or less what France in the French Revolution is to the rest of Europe, minus the violence," Amelia stated the analogy. "To make things simple, let's take the Erdal empire. When the emperor and nobles hear five races banded together to form a country, they'll probably scoff at it first, thinking it'll soon fall from bickering or from the demons, especially when this country is still keeping those races' cultural identities and religion, I forgot to tell you about that, it's important in URT. Not only that, this country champions equality and rejects the ideas of nobility, instead electing someone among the rabble, reinforcing their thinking.

"But contrary to their belief, URT stuck around, able to function without hereditary rulers and even bringing in the fairies and the aforementioned demons to its union. Add all of the technological progress borderline Forbidden Artifacts thanks to the books, the empire, the emperor and the nobility, would feel threatened."

"So the empire would try to attack URT to put it down before it becomes a bigger threat," Alicia concluded.

"And there's no reason other kingdoms regardless of race wouldn't feel threatened. They're just like the empire but less powerful," Amelia added. "Heck, with the demons on the table, they might even get an excuse to form a coalition against URT with the empire as the ringleader, just as they did to the demons, and not to mention once they found out our relationship with the United Races. And just because the empire's the one that got inspired by Maneg Users doesn't mean other countries wouldn't or even try to copy empire tech."

"So URT pulled a camouflage so they wouldn't have to deal with all of that!?"

"Yep, the founders think URT's gonna be this shining beacon that's gonna change the world, with the whole divination thing, but only if it's allowed to grow, so their conclusion is to make the rest of the world oblivious to URT steadily building its power," Amelia explained. "I said 'steadily' because the founders knew actually speedrunning up the civilization ladder isn't a good thing. It's still going fast, but not too fast which all the more reason for the concealment."

"But how were they able to conceal URT for so long?" Alicia asked. "At least, from the beginning. I would imagine the demon kingdom would have been watched from the peninsula in case they invaded again."

"There were soldiers from multiple countries keeping an eye out on the demon kingdom, a semblance of unity because of a common enemy," Amelia stated. "But then the Great War happened and seeing the demons aren't doing anything, those soldiers were recalled. That's probably why the founders went into the peninsula in the first place.

"After the Great War it wasn't the aftermath of the World War, again despite the Maneg Users making things worse, the surviving kingdoms couldn't get along to restation the peninsula, not when each other seemed to be the bigger threat than demons. Add the superstition on the Dark Forest, URT's border guards would barely have to deal with anyone more curious than a cat."

"Oh," Alicia understood.

"At least, that's the oversimplification of things," Amelia shrugged. "But hey, thanks to that, the Eria theocracy never heard a peep on the Eria Reformation in URT to put up a hissy fit."

"However, if URT was to not interact with the rest of the world, that means it needs to be self-sufficient," Alicia pointed out the moot point. "Is URT capable of that?"

"Spoken like a true businesswoman," Amelia smiled wryly. "Yeah, you're right. There are some things URT doesn't have in its backyard like, well, wheat, so it does need imports." Once again, the maneg scientist changed the screen again, showing a logo of a blue dove guiding a smaller one. "And so the government started a merchant guild called the 'Blue Doves' to do exactly that."

"And then it gets more complicated!"

"Yes," Alicia nodded to the pixie's remark. "I have a feeling a simple merchant guild to cover URT's imports has expanded to be much more than that."

"Doesn't that sum up just about every idea?" Amelia asked rhetorically. She continued, "basically, since URT's gonna be a country that gets its wealth from its citizens, it obviously wants people outside to come over 'cause it can't force its own people to be an overworked baby machine. But since URT's hiding itself, it can't do that exactly."

"So the Blue Doves discreetly invites people to immigrate into URT," Alicia guessed.

"Yep, the Blue Doves merchants mostly whisper to any potential immigrants about URT vaguely and help them get there, but it's not effective," Amelia explained. "Instead, they found a better solution: slaves."

"Hm?" Alicia raised her eyebrow.

Before Alicia could react further, Amelia continued, "URT's constitution naturally outlaws slavery, but one of the specifics is that any slaves setting foot on URT are free. So basically, the government puts up a law that gives the exception to the Blue Doves that then buys slaves, bringing them into URT where they would be free by law. And so far, the statistics say the operation is very successful."

"Huh, that is... very creative," Alicia remarked.

"Very original!"

"It doesn't stop there," Amelia continued. She changed the screen again, showing a photo of two elves both with silver hair in a tearful reunion subtitled 'Project Reunite.' "Project Reunite is basically a program that allows former slaves to submit information of their relatives and friends who are still enslaved outside URT to the URT Immigration Center. The Blue Doves will then keep an eye out on these 'headhunt targets' and prioritize on getting them to URT when they see them."

"Oh, that is wonderful!" Alicia smiled.

"Yep, a real humanitarian effort and good propaganda machine," Amelia smirked.

"Oi! Don't ruin the mood!"

"Hey, URT only gives a small fund to Blue Doves and told it to make a profit out of it outside for its operations," Amelia snarked at the pixie. "No way the government wants to give its money to all the slaving countries, especially the empire, it'd sooner bust the slaves out than paying for them. But since that would risk exposure, it's better to use the gold already circulating in their markets. Besides, URT uses paper money that's not gonna get accepted anyway."

"Is that so?" Alicia smiled wryly. "But URT cannot hide forever, right? You said the founders wanted URT to be a force of change to Erdale, it would need to be revealed to do that, correct?"

"You're right," Amelia nodded. "But as you know, no country is perfect. If we are looking at things now, URT seems very comfortable tucking behind the Dark Forest, long used to missing out on the benefits of opening up the country.

"The secrecy itself is no better, causing a bunch of iffy complications. URT is a republic, yes, but the secrecy law meant its citizens can't just leave the country, only trained personnel like the Blue Doves merchants can."

"Hm, I suppose that is problematic," Alicia said. Sure, there may be no reason for someone to go back into the medieval world, and it's the Blue Doves' job to bring their loved ones into URT and was doing a great job at it, but the principle remained. Also, it mirrored a certain country on the many versions of Earth, not a good thought.

"Yeah, the URT government is a bit on the authoritarian side," Amelia nodded. "But it is necessary, in my opinion, considering the country needs to conceal itself while constantly advancing its society. Also, not gonna tell the details about URT politics, but it is because the founders are afraid of some idiot getting elected to ruin it all."

"I can see that," Alicia frowned. Despite her father's efforts, that still...

"And setting aside how the concealment made Terra hide technology like us," Amelia continued. "It seems that it also gives way to a growing number of ultranationalists that the government is pretty concerned about, surprisingly, even though URT is united through nationality." The screen then showed a bunch of infographics chief among them against hating the empire. "If some of the posters are to go by, but the other propaganda URT made didn't exactly help with that. But well, you and I know how bad that could get."

"...Well, it does make sense," Alicia suggested. "The founders intended URT to be a beacon of good, it cannot do that if its citizens act hostile other nations."

"Yeah, you're right," Amelia closed her eyes. "URT knows the good and bad of our society. It knows Earth is not a utopia, and neither is Terra. But just like our world, the people of Terra strive to make the world a better place, picking up from the ashes of a Great War one step at a time. Of course, they will and have fought, no country has a spotless history, but they'll keep on going.

"But, I wonder how URT will fare when it eventually reveals itself to the rest of the world?"

"Hm?" Alicia raised her eyebrow, noticing the sudden drop in Amelia's otherwise hopeful conclusion.

"Uh oh!"

"Well, for one, the Blue Doves would have to be suspended for its safety, and Project Reunite targets would then have to be busted out," Amelia immediately listed off. "After that, URT will have to prepare to be invaded back to back, the nearby vassal kingdoms striking first before the empire showing how it's done most likely. Also, URT freeing the empire's slaves is another reason for it to attack."

"But URT will win, right?" Alicia asked more or less rhetorically. URT definitely has magic guns, and its anti-magic technology would render any medieval fantasy armies just medieval.

"Against any rando' kingdom? Obviously," Amelia deadpanned. "Against the empire? Well, for centuries, the empire is thought to be invincible, so people in URT especially immigrants would be nervous. But URT has prepared for centuries to break that notion while the empire did nothing to reinforce it, so Terra will knock Erdal off its pedestal.

"Doesn't help the empire is particularly fond of keeping knowledge and technology to the upper class for control - other kingdoms are a bit better, but not any relevant when even empire tech's under stagnation. The theocracy got in on the action too, spreading whatever idea that's lost to history that ended up in the deities starting the Forbidden Artifact thing, at least that's what URT says just to hit the irony if the deities really did forbade Maneg User tech."

"Then what's the problem!?"

"It'll be what happens after," Amelia simply replied.

"How so?" Alicia asked in concern.

"When you stare at the abyss, the abyss stares back at you," Amelia started. "If URT is going to change Erdale, it's got to be careful to not be corrupted by Erdale, like one ancient country on Earth in particular. Every. Freaking. Time."

"So you are worried about URT's people's unity," Alicia realized.

To that end, Amelia rotated her swivel chair, turning her back on Alicia and Voice, and turned off the screen. "The people never fought for URT's independence," she stated, eyeing behind her. "URT was only created and stood by the virtue of no oppositions knowing it, its people united under convenience and never had to fight any independence war or anything similar, just pulling a big curtain.

"The wars when URT is revealed will be too easy, it will not be a desperate struggle against all odds, never suffering defeat after defeat until the decisive victory, and will end as soon as the empire gets its butt kicked. As you said, Alicia, the real 'independence war' will be a war for their unity after Erdale is brought low only thanks to bigger guns."

Alicia listened. "Go on..."

"There's a reason why the empire will think URT should've fallen from internal bickering and will try to exploit that," Amelia continued. "What are URT's strengths: freedom, equality, and unity, will be perceived as weaknesses to be taken advantaged of."

"So divide and conquer," Alicia concluded.

"URT will open itself after the reveal. After all, it can no longer rely on the Blue Doves for its limited trade," Amelia stated, swirling her chair to face Alicia. "As you said, Alicia, as URT spreads itself to the world, the world will break out of its stagnation yet try its hardest to keep its old ways by attacking URT's unity, its people's unity."

Looking up to the ceiling, Amelia concluded, "URT may have read and made countermeasures against divide and conquer, but it may as well be useless if its people never experienced it. There will be those who will bring up the shape of the people's ears to form cracks between them starting from those who were just brought to their new home.

"And with the Erdal empire's humiliating defeat, it will sharpen its blade, and even dig up the Forbidden Artifacts it once suppressed for its sovereignty. The empire will come back to become a threat to the United Races and when that time comes, can the people, in their ups and downs, set aside their outward differences to protect their unity?

"When that day comes, the United Races of Terra will have to make its stand in the world of Erdale."

----------------------------------------

"Wow! I didn't peg you for being so philosophical! Are you sure you're a mad scientist, Evil Mad Scientist Lady!?"

"Voice, do not ruin it."