Chapter 6: Let’s Talk Politics

 

Day 2- Spring - Outside of Starlight Palace - Lunama Kingdom

 

Sergeant Maxim P.O.V

 

The shock resonated with everyone in the crowd of foreign countries as the magical steel contraptions movements and loud noise slowly ceased. The rotary blades coming to a stop after it’s final few spins.

 

And then came the silence.

 

“.....”

 

“.....”

 

Maxim looked left and right at the seemingly frozen people, scratching his head as even the beasts had stopped making noise after the spectacle. He turned around to look at his squad, who were making their way out of the helicopter.

 

“Uh….did I do something?”

 

Simon facepalmed, sighing

 

“No offense sir, most of the time you’re a very good leader but you do lack some common sense. If a giant metal machine packed with weapons came out of nowhere to greet you how would you react?”

 

“It’d be cool I guess.”

 

Simon looked pointedly at James, who shrugged his shoulders.

 

The king walked forwards to meet them, with the soldiers shuffling to the side to clear a path for him.

 

“Nice of you to join us, forgive us for being a bit surprised. We truly thought you may have been bluffing about your air units but….”

 

The king looked at the two now motionless helicopters, still disbelievingly. How many suits of armor could the steel used on this thing make? 

 

The VROOM of the humvee engine pulled both of them from their thoughts, while laughing awkwardly. During this exchange the other representatives were also admiring the vehicle, this was clearly no small deal. 

 

“I’ll need to ask you to keep your...er troops outside, you are only allowed to bring honor guards and advisors.”

 

Maxim nodded, it would be troublesome if all countries got to bring their troops into a confined space. If any of them were to attempt an attack at any moment it would be a slaughter on both sides. 

 

“James, come in after setting up a perimeter for the soldiers, also please make sure that they don’t bother the other’s. Best behaviour please.”

 

“Yessir”

 

James walked off while giving commands to the troops, the humvee moving to the center of the group and the .50 BMG turret being reassembled on the top of the humvee.

 

The other troops were looking at them uncertainly. They carried no bladed weapons nor any bow and arrows, but they held strange looking weapons in their hands. 

 

In this world, magical weapons were fairly normal in the army. Meaning that it wasn’t exactly a rare sight, but that didn’t mean everyone could have one. They were extremely expensive, being only produced by the elder magicians in the Ancient Magi kingdom. Having a magical tool didn’t mean you knew magic, it was the act of borrowing the power of the elder magicians in battle. This meant that magical weapons had limited uses unlike a magician, wizard, or witch who had, theoretically, infinitely generating power. They came in many shapes, which could also be what was in those soldiers' hands.

 

Wyvern Captain Vance walked to the king and bowed 

 

“Apologies sire, the sun was starting to set so my wyvern flew at a slower rate due to exhaustion”

 

“I should be sorry to you and your wyvern, you were supposed to have a break today. You can take tomorrow off. Now, how about we welcome our last guests in and officially begin the feast.”

 

At the king's words, the palace guards pushed open the gates to allow all of them back inside, with the delegations heading back into the palace. The rest of the soldiers and guards went back to their regular duties.

 

Maxim was going to go in as well, before remembering something.

 

“Right! Ben, bring the gifts over here I almost forgot about them.”

 

Ben walked up to Maxim clutching two boxes under one arm and a large roll of laminated paper in the other. 

 

“Sarge, I know this is necessary and all but why’d I have to do it?”

 

Maxim just took the boxes away from him, leaving him with just the roll of laminated paper. 

 

“Well, everyone had assigned jobs except you so I gave you a job. Are you complaining?”

 

Ben shook his head violently, accidentally moving so rapidly that it made his cap fall off of his head. He didn’t want to know what punishment would possibly await him. 200 push ups wasn’t fun after all.

 

“Ah balls!”

 

Jesus christ, maybe don’t say that in front of half a dozen delegations.

 

Sometimes, just sometimes, Maxim was glad that they didn’t understand what his teammates said.

 

“Anyways, c’mon we don’t want to keep them waiting now do we.”

 

Maxim, Simon, and Ben headed on through the large wooden gate, James in tow after he had given all the necessary orders for the troops to organize themselves.

 

The moment they went through, the guards shut the gates with a loud THUD, which also signalled the beginning of the feast and meeting.

Day 2- Spring - Throne room - Starlight Palace - Lunama Kingdom

 

Sergeant Maxim P.O.V

 

The servants ran around the long table serving the many dishes that were prepared to the guests. Different types of meat, fish, and vegetables mostly grilled, mashed, and otherwise served in many other ways. To Maxim, even in modern times these things would have been considered a lavish feast, but even among all of this none of the delegations had moved towards the food yet.

 

“My lord, I believe that we should give you our gifts before we tuck in. I believe that it would only be appropriate this way.”

 

Maxim swore that he saw the king wince a bit, but he nonetheless waved the minister forwards to present their gifts.

 

The armored guards of the minister brought forwards a small box and a sword with a sheath. The guards knelt before the king with the box and opened it, to reveal…

 

“The finest spices in the known world my lord, the peppers that were scorched black from the desert serpents and the cinnamon stolen from a lesser phoenix’s nest”

 

“Hmmmm”

 

The king, of course, had heard this many times. In fact, the spices that they were using in the kitchen were directly imported from their kingdom. The minister had not been the one who represented their republic everytime, but everytime they had brought a native spice from their country. These spices were extremely rare in their country, and thus only royalty had access to most of these spices. Though, through war time even royalty has begun to miss out, leading to only the main royal family having access. 

 

The minister then motioned for the sword to be brought forward, the sword had a ruby encrusted golden hilt with a slightly curved edge. It was clearly made with masterful craftsmanship and was most definitely suited for a king, the king nodded slightly.

 

Is it just me, or does the king seem very disappointed?

 

As the minister and his guards bowed and moved back to the table, King Morkath motioned towards his servants to take the spices away, while one of his majesty’s personal guards received the sword from the soldier with both hands. The guard then delicately placed the sword on a piece of cloth to be displayed.

 

The other delegations presented their own presents. Swords, gold, spices, those were generally items that were meant as tribute to the king. The delegation sent from the Midnight Forest had offered the king a silver container, in which they had captured multiple glowing and shimmering faeries, said to bring luck to whatever place they were kept. 

 

Then came the last two countries, the United Elven Federation and the United States of America. 

 

These were the two most secretive countries in the room. The Elves, who tend to hide away from humans and had powers that were indecipherable to humans, and the United States, a country that had seemingly popped out of nowhere with incredible wealth and firepower.

 

Taurin of the Elves stepped forwards, with a wooden box. The engravings were incredible and indefinitely unachievable by human standards. Taurin opened the box to show many peculiar yellowish orange fruits with slightly curved tops. 

 

“King Morkath, these are fruits that are native to the Elven country. Their names are -”

 

“Are those Mangos? Oop-”

 

Ben couldn’t help himself as he saw the fruit being presented, this earned him a smack on the head courtesy of James.

 

None of the other’s present could understand what he said, as he hadn’t been given translation skills or a translation scroll. However, Taurin looked extremely curious as to what Ben had said.

 

“Sir, could you repeat what was said? I couldn’t quite catch it.”

 

Maxim sighed, he knew something like this would happen

 

“He asked if what was in the box were mangos”

 

The elf hadn’t been too expressive during his whole time here, but at this his eyes widened ever so slightly at this remark.

 

“He is quite correct, these are indeed known as Mangos. How did your friend there know what they were though? I am quite sure there are very few humans who have had contact with anything elven made, other than on a battlefield.”

 

Ohhh boy

 

“Perhaps we could tell you during the feast, I’m sure everyone doesn’t want any delay for food”

 

The elf looked at him quizzically, but didn’t push the matter any further.

 

“I’m sure these fruits would suit his majesties palate, other than the fruits we have one more gift”

 

The king and the others at the table waited, but there was no action from the elves to bring anything else out.

 

The king raised his eyebrow in confusion.

 

“Do we have permission to perform magic in these halls?”

 

Maxim leaned forwards at this, before looking to the sides of him. He had thought magic was pretty common so this action might have been weird but to his surprise, the others that were seated around the table had also done the same. They leaned forwards eagerly, as the elves that were with Taurin were silent the whole time.

 

The king nodded at this, while he himself for the first time since the feast had started, gave them his full attention.

 

The eyes of a monarch were always terrifying, the power radiating off of them was generally enough to cause a normal person to fall over from the pressure. Luckily, King Morkath didn’t hold that pressure in his stare, at least not completely. 

 

The rest of Taurins delegation got up from their seats, heading towards the front where Taurin stood. Flickers of green light left them as they headed forwards, while the mild scent of pine protruded from the lights. The pupils of the elves had started to glow an emerald green, while the hall started to be filled with similar light.

 

Many people started to look at their surroundings, which were changing rapidly. The stone walls of the castle started having phantom trees and bushes sprout from them, swaying to the sides almost as if there was a slight breeze blowing through the interior of the castle. The slight sound of chirping filled the room as transparent birds took to the ceiling of the throne room, gliding across and perching on the various areas of the room. 

 

Bluish phantom deer, similar to the ones that the elves had rode on, roamed at the sides of the hall, peacefully grazing on the phantom greenery that had been created. The throne room had been turned into something truly otherworldly.

 

Clap

Clap

Clap

 

Maxim had started to clap along with the rest of his group while smiling at the scene that had unfolded in front of them. There was a bit of delay, but the rest of the delegations had soon started clapping and cheering as well. The stunning display that had taken place was undeniably amazing, this was something that nobody could dispute.

 

The king also had a smile plastered on his face, a rare sight.

 

“Bravo sir Taurin, bravo! In my many years of being king I have yet to see such a display of magic before.”

 

Taurin breathed out a bit before smiling, the rest of his group seemed quite tired. Most of them fell back on their chairs, exhausted. He was the only one who seemed mostly unfazed, though he did still have some sweat dripping down from his forehead.

 

“We only borrow the power of the goddess of nature. Her goal is for nature to exist everywhere, for the beauty of it to never cease from this planet. Thus, we were granted the powers to fulfill this wish. Do not worry, these mirages will disappear by tomorrow.”

 

After another round of applause, the only country left was the U.S.A. Maxim was slightly nervous about what they were going to gift, since it felt miles away from what the Elves had shown them.

 

Maxim stepped forwards with the laminated roll, which confused many of the members of the delegation. Sure, paper was indeed expensive, but it wasn’t so expensive that it could be gifted to a king of a nation.

 

Maxim was panicking on the inside, but on the outside nobody could have guessed this from just his facial expression.

 

“Ben, James, give me a hand here “

 

Ben and James (Almost wrote Ben & Jerry) stood up from their seats. They grabbed the corners of the paper and pulled.

 

“Wha- what is this sorcery!”

 

“By the gods!”

 

“Unbelievable!”

 

In front of the whole delegation, they held the map of the entire region that they were on. Not one of those vaguely marked maps but a large scale map that showed the various towns and cities as well as military encampments among other things. This was essentially the entirety of the Lunama kingdom.

 

Through satellite images, James and Simon realised that most of the continent was the same size as North America, though the shape differed significantly.

 

By taking a picture of the area closest to them, they were able to include multiple territories that looked like countries, which was taken in a general picture with some zoom-in shots of important locations that were found. They had been able to make the maps out since the territories of the kingdom were actually quite a bit smaller than an average country, even compared to the smaller ones in Europe. 

 

The fact that they could make out all of the mountains and rivers, it was absolutely unthinkable. No magic, ancient or modern, could create such a thing.

 

Maxim coughed,

 

“We hope you appreciate this, many of our men worked very tireless nights to create this.”

 

As in I forced them to make this but I don’t have to mention that.

 

King Morkath stood up and walked towards the map, using his finger to trace around the general area of the Starlight palace, where they were standing right now. 

 

“...unbelievable. Hahaha! Truly remarkable. Hey Vance, go get Jeanne she’s going to absolutely freak out.”

 

“Understood”

 

As Vance headed through the winding halls of the Starlight palace, Ben and James stuck the map onto the stone walls with the tape they had brought, so it could be put on display for all the delegations.

 

If the people at the table weren’t cautious of them before from their helicopter spectacle, they were definitely cautious now. Although a map wasn’t like gold, or like the amazing magical spectacle from the elves, it was in an entire league of its own in terms of military tactics and infrastructure and international relations. The amount of work that would need to be put into this would be unimaginable.

 

This also sent a chilling message to all the countries present.

 

We Are Watching.

 

Maxim held up the two boxes that they had brought with them. 

 

“Well, that’s our first gift. Our second gift was meant for sharing with everyone, if you don’t mind King Morkath.”

 

The king was still transfixed for a while before turning towards Maxim with a small smile.

 

“I don’t see why not. So many new and exciting things have happened today, it would be a shame if everyone doesn’t experience it”

 

At this, Maxim pulled two bottles out from one of the boxes and some wine glasses out of the other. 

 

Good ol’ Eddie is still helping me, even here.

 

Eddie was actually the one who suggested he bring the cabernet that was the top seller from his pub. Even in the past, alcohol was the most important drink in the world. He knew that no matter what culture, they would still be able to appreciate the drink.

 

The wine glasses were from Eddie as well, who had more than enough to spare. In fact, these glasses had crystal glass engravings which threw off his customers since he was running a pub, so they were collecting dust before they cleaned them and brought them here.

 

The rest of the delegations except the elves were confused at what it was. They hadn’t seen drinks in glass bottles, or glass bottles at all. 

 

The king was also a bit confused, before opening his mouth to ask what it wasTaurin answered first.

 

“That seems to be wine, an alcoholic beverage that elves and the eastern tribes make. It’s made through the pressing and fermentation of grapes, another fruit from the Elven country but also existing elsewhere, however I have yet to see a wine in that color.”

 

“Oh hoh, more liquor? I guess we could use a change in drinks and the cups look very interesting as well. Servants, give everybody a cup and pour some out would you?”

 

The servants took the wine glasses and started handing everybody one but they were a bit miffed on how to open what looked to be a completely shut container without smashing it.

 

“Oh, of course! Give me a moment.”

 

He reached into his pocket before grabbing a corkscrew, which made everybody tense up for a moment since it looked slightly like a weapon. He jammed it into the cork and twisted, making the bottle let out a small pop! Before handing it over to the servants.

 

“Oh, but please let me pour a glass for sir Taurin for providing us this magical background” While saying this he motioned around to the serene nature that was created around them.

 

Generally, it was disrespectful to serve someone else other than the king in this situation but king Morkath could understand where Maxim was coming from.

 

“I’ll allow it, go ahead”

 

Maxim walked up to Taurin while holding the bottle and poured him a glass, while whispering to him.

 

“Fantastic display sir Taurin, I hope this wine could compete with your home country but it might be a far stretch.”

 

He turned around before Taurin had a chance to respond, and the king raised his glass followed by the rest of the people at the table.

 

The king tilted the glass back towards his lips as the rest of them did the same.

 

GULP

 

As they drank, Maxim suddenly had a very important question.

 

Why didn’t the king use a poison tester?

 

Surely he didn’t trust him so much to have no security against such instances?

 

“...Brilliant”

 

It was Taurin who had said it after one sip, while the others were still taking a moment to process what they were tasting.

 

Mead and ale weren’t meant for the strong flavour or taste, but to provide some alcohol with a bit of sugar to quench their thirst. It was good, but it didn't have a sharp taste like red wine did. For both peasants and royalty, this was the truth. To the south where the elves lived, it was the staple alcoholic drink. However, almost everybody here was from the north or east, where no grapes grew.

 

He took another gulp while closing his eyes, savouring the taste. The sharp notes of the alcohol played along with the bittersweetness of the fermented grape, truly creating a perfect pair.

 

The king nodded, while the others slowly downed the drink.

 

“Can your country produce this regularly?”

 

Maxim had made wine before, so he knew that the process was not inherently difficult. It was much simpler than whiskey or any other spirit. In all seriousness it had simpler steps than mead or ale.

 

“We can if we acquire the ingredients, which the elves can provide us with. Is that possible sir Taurin?”

 

Taurin didn’t want to admit it, he really didn’t. Elves held themselves in higher regard than any other creatures, even humans, so it was natural that they wanted to be better at everything. 

 

“.....I’ll go talk with the council”

 

The king set down his glass, sighing.

 

“Let’s let the feast begin!”

A/N: Perhaps you thought I was an alcohol fanatic. Perhaps the vivid descriptions of the delectable flavour and smoothness of wine gave you that message, or was it perhaps my knowledge of it’s history that has convinced you?

 

Well I am here to tell you I have utterly juked you, bamboozled you, swindled you, 

 

FOR I HAVE NEVER HAD ALCOHOL.

 

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

 

*Cough* I’m okay, don't worry. Just had to get that out of my system.

No but seriously I haven’t had a drink before, I’m just imagining what it would be like positively. Also, expect vivid descriptions of drinks and food because I’m about that life you know?

 

Yeahhh side stories are probably going to contain foodstuff, actually I might make a spinoff with the drinks and food served to the locals by Eddie and his wife, among others.