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——

September 25, 1639

Foreign Affairs Audit Bureau

Ever since Parpaldia’s first encounter with the United States one month ago, Remille and her staff have been utterly confounded at the appearance of this mysterious nation. Throwing a wrench in their plans for domination, this new nation showed up almost out of nowhere, fielding fleets that are at least on par with those of Mu’s ships. For the past several weeks, the Mu delegates have continued to deny any involvement with the Americans, only claiming that they too have recently found out about them. Worryingly, the Muans seem to hold these newcomers with interest; they think American technology is superior to their own. 

If Remille had heard this from some commoner, she might’ve dismissed it as propaganda. However, these opinions came from the Muans themselves. After studying the properties of the aircraft they saw last month, even her analysts were convinced that the American planes are better than whatever Mu currently has in active service. Because of the overall lack of information and the general concern among her subordinates, Remille decided to play cautiously. Despite their geographic location being in barbarian territory, she couldn’t deny that they were indeed civilized. 

However, as the premier superpower of the Third Civilized Region, the Parpaldian Empire cannot be pushed around. As such, Remille invited the American diplomat, Ambassador Anders, to visit her office. She placed a crystal ball on her desk, which was connected to magical recording equipment in Fenn. The American diplomat would not only be able to see their advanced magical capabilities as demonstrated by the crystal ball itself, but also realize how powerful the Parpaldian Empire is once they conduct a demonstration for the festival. 

Her original desire was to intimidate Fenn into submission by attacking the festival and striking fear into the hearts of the barbarians. However, with the knowledge that many civilized countries were also attending, she discarded the idea, unwilling to create a diplomat incident should her forces accidentally harm someone from a civilized country. Instead, she resorted to a simple demonstration. By targeting a fleet of decommissioned vessels, she should be able to cement Parpaldian influence over the Third Civilized Region. Additionally, such pressure could help Fenn come to a decision regarding Kaios’ generous land-lease program. She sighed, leaning her head on the top of her cushioned chair as she waited for the Military Festival to begin.

——

Amanoki, Fenn Kingdom

The capital city of Fenn bustled with activity as its citizens prepared for the day’s festivities. Many were excited to see the new military hardware that the participants were sure to flaunt, while others were worried — worried about how Parpaldia would exercise its power. Everyone, from ordinary Fenn citizens to representatives from the other barbarian nations to the Sword King himself, were surprised to see the civilized nations taking an interest in the event. 

As the sun rose higher in the distance, the citizens gathered along the docks, gawking at arriving ships. The first to arrive were those of the uncivilized countries. As constant participants, these nations’ ships were nothing out of the ordinary. Still, they remained awe-inspiring as those outside of the civilized regions found something to be proud of. 

The next set of ships to arrive were those from the civilized nations. Boasting cannons, these vessels garnered several ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’. Their mighty warships were considerably larger than the other docked vessels, armed with their primitive, barbarian ballistae. Everywhere their disembarked personnel went, restrained atmospheres soon followed. Prior to this military festival, none of the participants were treated unfairly or with disgust. However, this changed with the arrival of the pompous citizens of Riem and the other ‘civilized’ nations. 

Although distasteful, the disrespect thrown by these ‘civilized’ men failed to match up to the sheer arrogance radiated by the Parpaldians. Arriving with a grand oversight fleet bolstered by wyvern lords, they were without a doubt the epitome of gunboat diplomats in the eyes of the Fennese. Settling their fleet outside of the small bay, they pushed many of the other vessels away and ate up an egregiously luxurious amount of room. Whereas the Riemians exhibited some form of courtesy, the Parpaldians showed none, sometimes bullying the locals and even some of the participants from the other ‘barbarian’ nations. Interestingly enough, they dared not bully the Americans. 

——

Parpaldian Imperial Oversight Army, Eastern Fleet

Amanoki, Fenn Kingdom

On the docks beside a Parpaldian landing craft, Director Kaios and Admiral Poktoar looked out toward the small bay, watching a coordinated wyvern lord airshow with pride. The 20 wyvern lords of the Eastern Fleet performed aerial maneuvers in groups of four, demonstrating the expertise of not only their knights, but also the wyvern lords who were able to perform banks and turns that were way beyond the capabilities of standard wyverns. They flew over the Sword King’s palace, subtly reminding the Fennese of Parpaldia’s reach and power. Meanwhile, the rest of the fleet set up the target ships for the demonstration later. 

“Fascinating turn of events,” Poktoar commented. “The time I see wyvern lords flying over Fenn… I had always expected it to be due to conquest, not diplomacy.”

Kaios chuckled. “I once thought the same, but ever since the arrival of these Americans, our world has been flipped upside down. And then when you also consider the appearance of this… Gra Valkas Empire to the east, you start to wonder how true the ancient stories of transferences are.”

“Hmm, yes. These instances do lend credibility to these tales, but… Poktoar trailed off; he didn’t know what to conclude with. 

“If you think about the Holy Milishial Empire and Mu, even they recognize transferences as possible, if not real. Mu, the land of science and logic and the Holy Milishial Empire, the land of ultimate magic.”

“Yes, but hmm… I suppose you do make a fair point there. Perhaps we’ve just been too complacent in our part of the world. Still: although some parts of the tales might be genuine, others are much too unrealistic. A flying magical pillar that can decimate an entire city? That’s got to be an exaggeration of what truly happened, such as a magically generated storm that happened to destroy poorly constructed buildings.”

Kaios shrugged, thinking of a response. He looked out to sea and before he could reply, he noticed several large vessels in the distance — the same ones he had seen in Esthirant. “My, they’re even larger the second time!” 

Admiral Poktoar, who wasn’t in Esthirant at the time, was shocked. He immediately thought of Mu's vessels, much like his comrades one month ago. Their approach toward the shore was heralded by dozens of red, white, and blue fireworks. Soon after, the Americans conducted their own airshow, which was much more dazzling than the one performed by the Parpaldian wyvern lords. 

Shrill shrieks emanated from the aircraft as they pierced through the air, leaving behind colorful trails. In the distance, music blasted from the ships; Kaios was able to identify it as the same music he heard during his first meeting with Anders and Rodriguez. This music was their national anthem. Already aware of how well the Americans had outdone them, he sighed inwardly. Looking to the docks, he noticed crowds of people cheering as the aircraft made another flyby over them, gracing them with a mighty gale and a light drizzle of seawater. This action further excited the crowd, causing them to cheer louder. 

Kaios frowned at the thought of these barbarians’ support for the United States. Over the past month, the Americans cultivated relationships with the barbarian nations of the Third Civilized Region, from the Kingdom of Altaras, to Sios, and even Topa. Securing generous trade deals with the Americans, these regions simply gave away precious resources such as oil and rare metals — items that they didn’t even know the worth of. In exchange, they were brought into the American sphere of influence and given access to the American market and even some of their technology, although only for civilian purposes. Understandably, just like the Parpaldian Empire, the United States was wary about giving away any advanced technologies. However, one outlier seemed to be firearm technology. 

Several barbarian nations with desirable resources, such as the Altaras, were able to trade magic gems for guns. Due to the sophistication of American firearms over even those from Parpaldia, they were able to dictate overwhelmingly favorable trade terms, exchanging only several hundred of these weapons for tons upon tons of magic gems. A few spies in Altaras and other nations were able to gather intelligence on these new weapons. Their functionality seemed to be lever-action and boasted a greater fire rate and magazine capacity than Parpaldian muskets, which were single-shot guns and were reloaded comparatively slowly. Although these weapons obviously outstripped the capabilities of Parpaldian guns, Kaios knew that these weren’t the full potential of American technology — they wouldn’t give away their latest weapons, so these rifles and revolvers must be antiquated technology. These deals were similar to how Parpaldia conducted their own deals: selling old technology that was decades behind and buying slaves and other precious resources from the barbarian nations that they had not yet subjugated. 

The simple fact that the United States had no slavery — and thus bought no slaves — was already preferable to the nations of the Third Civilization Region. They pulled away from Parpaldia, cutting ties and refusing to provide slaves, claiming that the technology provided by the United States was ahead of the old tech sold by the Parpaldian Empire. With the living conditions of the Rodenius continent drastically improved, and the knowledge of such an improvement spread to the corners of the world by merchants, many nations sought to establish ties with this mysterious, advanced nation that appeared out of nowhere. 

Even some of the civilized countries’ representatives were visibly admiring the American demonstrations. He noticed a few officials from Riem, not too far away along the docks, pointing and giving impressed nods at the aircraft overhead. Already, Kaios could see the Parpaldian Empire’s grip loosening, their fingers being pried away by American influence. He racked his mind, trying to think of a way to maintain Parpaldian influence, but came up with nothing. The Parpaldian Empire had nothing over the United States, except for magic, if their claims of magical ineptitude were true. But even then, their technology was so advanced that they wouldn’t even need magic. Just what could the Parpaldian Empire do to maintain its glory and prestige?

——

Foreign Affairs Audit Bureau

Ambassador Anders walked through the building’s halls as he navigated toward Remille’s office. He and Rodriguez had just been summoned for a small demonstration regarding the military festival in Fenn, with Remille rudely requesting his immediate presence. Wondering what surprises she may have in store for him, he stood outside her door in contemplation before knocking. 

“Ah,” Remille said. “Ambassadors Anders and Rodriguez, you know it is rude to keep a lady waiting.”

Anders ignored her snarky remark. “What have you called us for, Miss Remille?” He noticed the crystal ball on her desk and his thoughts ran wild with the idea of fortune telling and magic. Is Remille a psychic?

Remille answered Anders’ question with evident annoyance and slight disdain. “What you see before your barbarian eyes is a magical viewer. This marvel is technology straight from the Holy Milishial Empire and allows for anyone to view events from far away in the current time. No longer is a magician required for such feats. Now,” she gestured at the device, which flared up and began to form an image, “Witness the power of the Parpaldian Empire!”

On the crystal ball, a scene from the military festival materialized. Although blurry, the colored images were of decent quality for such a small device. One Parpaldian ship could be seen, roughly two kilometers away from a static fleet of ten target vessels. Then, light and smoke erupted from the ship as it unleashed a broadside of 40 cannons upon the target vessels. The tightly packed ships were annihilated by the bombardment of cannonballs. 

Remille looked away from the display of power and analyzed Anders’ and Rodriguez’ bewildered faces. “Hmph, so have you finally come to realize the extent of our power?”

“Why, we sure have Miss Remille.” Anders looked away from the ball. “Just a little surprised that y’all have this kind of tech despite the overall level of your empire’s technology. Granted, the video quality is a bit bad, but still, it was a bit impressive.” Anders’ expression easily turned from bewilderment to mild surprise. 

Remille, confused about Anders’ expressions, recognized that he wasn’t shocked by the might of Parpaldia. Rather, he was surprised about his original expectations, but overall unfazed by their displays. She gave Anders a curious look, not knowing how to respond. 

Anders broke the awkward silence and continued to explain. “Did Director Kaios not tell you of our devices?”

“What devices?”

Anders pulled out his laptop, showing Remille a livestream from Fenn. “This is what a good quality video looks like. Yeah, we sure did grasp the power of Parpaldia. Turns out it’s about two hundred years behind us, with some of your little trinkets being pretty advanced, but nonetheless primitive.”

Remille’s face turned red with anger as she sought to counter Anders’ insult, but she couldn’t deny how advanced the device was compared to her crystal ball. The video on the screen was displayed in much higher detail, with the entire scene indistinguishable from reality. She remained silent as she watched the lone American ship in the video approach a set of four target vessels, positioned 6 kilometers away. Then, while continuing to move at a speed faster than possible with Tears, the vessel fired four consecutive shots, each finding their marks. 

The target vessels were essentially cut in half by the force of the attacks, becoming driftwood in a matter of seconds. Simulations played throughout Remille’s mind as she analyzed the video, remembering what the Muan ambassador had said about American technology. Fraught with disbelief and denial, Remille simply stared blankly at the screen as Anders talked in the background. 

“... Are you even listening? Miss Remille?”

Remille snapped out of her daze and looked up at the tall American ambassador, wondering how long he had been talking for. “Ambassador… I…” She sighed, taking a breath as she figured out her next move. She could continue applying pressure, as was the case with Parpaldian-barbarian diplomacy for the past few decades, or she could take an approach more in line with those of civilized countries. With the seconds drawing out like hours, she eventually settled with a neutral response, beckoned by a voice in the back of her head, warning of calamity. 

“Ambassador, that was an interesting display. Still, you have many more miles to go before you prove yourselves. Officially, you are still barbarians, but this may change depending on the course of action you take. As such, I am offering you an exclusive deal: in exchange for your technology, you will receive the blessing of the Parpaldian Empire and an elevation to the status of ‘civilized country’.”

Anders and Rodriguez looked at each other, dumbfounded. Their expressions were enough to convey what they wanted to say out loud: “What the fuck?” Anders turned back to Remille and politely declined her offer. “Miss Remille, while this is likely a generous offer for the relatively primitive nations under your thumb, we are not such a nation.”

Remille steeled her tone, lacing it with a cold harshness as she responded. “What a shame. I recommend you reconsider; you wouldn’t want to displease the Emperor.”

“If there’s nothing else you’d like to discuss, we intend on excusing ourselves.”

“Very well,” Remille said, her mind still running wildly.