Jin-Hark, Kingdom of Louria
Emperor Hark's Palace
Central Calendar 1637, March 11th, 10:00

"Ah, what another beautiful day in this glorious Kingdom of Louria," The Lourian King, Hark Louria the 34th, said as he woke up at a late time of the day.

The royal chambers of where he was sleeping were covered in magnificent colors of red, yellow, white, and purple. His own bed structure was made of pure 24 karat gold mined from a local Lourian mine.

"The kingdom is standing strong, expanding our borders. It will only be in short time we will reach the holy city of Vetus Hark," He continued to talk to himself.

The king clenched his fists.

"Those sub-humans occupied our holy city, naming it 'Qua Toyne'. Pfft, pathetic. A race of elves and humans mingled in, a most horrifying sight to see. Sigh. When will these sub-humans learn to respect powers above them, instead of resisting? We are bringing civilization! They should be thanking us!"

A knock on the door could be heard as he finished ranting to himself.

"Come in," Hark Louria 34th said.

Opening the door, an advisor hurriedly headed in.

"Your majesty, the most recent spy group that was sent into the country that just appeared were subdued by the local military force."

The King sighed again at the bad news.

"Do we have any information on this unknown country?"

"Unfortunately, no, Your Majesty. We have attempted two spy infiltrations to conduct intelligence on this new country, however every time their military seems to be able to contain them within a matter of hours."

"Strange...what's their level compared to the superpowers?"

"I can only assume for now, Your Majesty. But if I were to use my knowledge and glimpses from my travels in Qua Toyne, this country will be able to rival our allies, the Parpaldian Empire."

His eyebrows and mouth turned into a frown as grunts of frustration could be heard; the King looked like he was about to explode in a rage of fury that could engulf the whole continent.

"Additionally, when I was in Qua Toyne in the trade city of Maihark, I saw an unknown object that traveled much faster than their wyverns. With the amount of wyverns we have currently, I think we do not have enough wyverns to counter this threat, as I have deduced that the unknown flying object was most likely coming from the unknown country we have yet to know about."

"Urgh...even more sub-humans. Just what we needed in our glorious liberation of this holy land. It will be pure joy when we defeat them. Enslave them perhaps, and then obtain their technology! Amazing!"

He turned a complete 180 from what he was a few moments ago.

"Now, find out more about this unknown country. Use whatever you can use, wyvern reconnaissance, spy groups, anything that can get past those...barbarians of sub-humans."

"That is understood, Your Majesty. I will inform the council prior to your meeting today to discuss war strategies."

The advisor bowed before closing the door behind him, leaving a perplexed king behind to deal with the aftermath.

"I will let the council decide on the fate of this so-called "nation" of sub-humans. They cannot possibly be as powerful as the Parpaldians. Hah! Such bold claims!"

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Jin-Hark, Kingdom of Louria
Kingdom of Louria Supreme Council

"Your Majesty, from one of our spies near their border, we have gathered slightly more information than we have known previously." One of the councilmen began his turn.

"And that is?" The King questioned his councilman.

"That this country...is unlike the Parpaldians."

A silence filled the room.

"Explain further," The King said.

"From what our spy told us, they seem to be on par with the Mu and the Holy Millishal Empire. Their "border guards" have magic staffs, what the superpower countries would call 'guns'."

The faces of the other council members darkened as they heard the news, while the King nodded in agreement, as he got his shock in the morning.

"Then we are in a predicament, gentlemen. What are your options?" The King asked his council.

"We should continue our invasion as planned! That way this new enemy won't have time to gather their forces!"

"No! We must take time and consideration in our approach! This so-called "barbarian" nation might be able to bite our bottoms before we even have a chance to attack! It is imperative that we prepare! Preparation is key to victory!"

"But so is a quick attack! Giving time for our enemies will also give them more of a chance to prepare their defenses and have their spies be able to survey how much our forces are building up. Once they realize that we are assembling a larger invasion force from before, it would only be a matter of time before they are able to mount a defense so overwhelming, it will drive us back to where we started, even potentially back into Jin-Hark ourselves!"

The Councilmen argued with each other, which almost certainly would have turned into one of the rare chaotic meetings that the King had, had it not been for the timely arrival of one of his top generals, General Minimel.

"Your Majesty, I have something to say regarding today's meeting. I do apologize for interrupting the Supreme Council. " The general began.

"You may speak, General Minimei."

The King trusted his generals as they time and time again knew the situation that unfolded in front of them and crafted masterful strategies to deal with their opponents. This was how some of the dominions inside the Lourian kingdom were swiftly conquered.

"Ahem. Your Majesty, I believe it would be best to give our army time to prepare in light of the revelation, as well as give our air units more wyverns and our navy more ships to combat this seemingly new threat. Otherwise we risk the extinction of our forces from the moment we start the invasion in a week from now," General Minimei said.

"And how long do you want to extend our preparation?" The King asked the General.

"I believe until the end of this year."

"And why is that?"

"It is simple really. Our forces are not yet prepared to undertake an invasion into the holy land on this much of a massive scale. We may have built our forces, but to put it bluntly, most of the troops are not as well disciplined as you like them, your Majesty."

"That is...very concerning."

"Yes, your Majesty, it is. The ground troops are mostly lazy in their duties, doing the bare minimum they can when it comes to these important duties. Wyvern riders spend most of their day playing cards instead of training like the Muians, and the navy is everywhere at all times, not coordinating with each other as a functional navy. Time needs to be put aside for them to be trained properly in being an invasion force, that is in the span of the next nine months, giving us sufficient time. I hope you consider that recommendation."

The General bowed in front of the King as he finished.

"Very well. Gentlemen of the Supreme Council, I would like to return now to our meeting." The King began his words.

There was a short pause before he continued.

"In light of the circumstances, it is my own personal suggestion that we follow what General Minimei has offered us. We cannot allow our masterfully planned liberation of the holy land to fail before us, even with the threat this new country presents to us. Our Parpaldian allies have supported us since we crafted this out, and we will continue to receive the support they have given us, especially from Emperor Ludius of the Parpaldian Imperial Family.

Two thirds of the council seem to agree, however...

"Your Majesty, we wait here and the Qua Toyians will eventually get more powerful allies of their own. This unknown country may as well be allied with them and already supplying them, the next thing we may have to contend with is with the other superpowers. Mu and the Holy Millishal Empire will possibly not allow us to expand any further than we currently are for the sake of "stability" of the superpowers. The Qua Toyians and Quilans must be exterminated quickly before the other nations view us with suspicion, including our ally, the Parpaldian Empire. That is my view." One of the opposition councilmen was a notorious person who always pushed Louria into war, which helped them conquer the smaller nations currently under their submission.

"That is understood, yes. But General Minimei is one of our best generals. He is one chosen out of his bravery for the Kingdom. Less his suggestion goes unheard, we may be walking into a trap planned by those sub-human elves and mixed humans. With them roaming the landscape, yes, I do agree, we must exterminate them. However, the state of the army is already abysmal. The Qua Toyian defenders will have a boost of morale, a disastrous outcome for our glorious army."

The opposition Councilmen eventually relented to the King and postponed the Liberation (invasion) of the holy land (Qua Toyne Principality) by nine months.

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Esthirant, Parpaldian Empire
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Central Calendar 1637, March 23rd, 11:00

Parpaldian Imperial Princess Remille was working on her reports as usual, after all, it was her job as the head of the audit office. When she finished with a paper noting the state of the Parpaldian economy, which was to say, well, although she was skeptical herself on the official source since she worked on the inside, the Princess stumbled on something revealing, one that could change politics in the near future.

"Lourian Kingdom buying more of our wyverns..? When did we get this news?" Remille asked the Director of the First Foreign Affairs Office, Elt.

"Your Highness, you are the first to receive this."

Remille sighed and shook her head in disbelief.

"When is the announcement to be made?" Remille asked Elt.

"In three hours in the Estates-General."

"Then I am in more of a predicament...Ludius is trying to outplay me."

Elt nodded her head in agreement.

"Call Kaios here, I want to know why Louria is suddenly stockpiling wyverns while postponing their invasion by nine months."

"Understood, Remille." Elt left Remille's side and went to call Kaios to Remille's office. Whenever Elt and Remille were alone, Elt had permission to call Remille by name, rather than by title, due to them being close friends.

Remille sat thinking of her next move. She should have breathed a sigh of relief knowing that an invasion of a more inferior wasn't going to happen in a few days, however she didn't. Instead she felt more unease, because of the looming sense of the unknown country that she was informed more than one week ago. She asked for some advisors to go survey the unknown country, however whenever the advisor approached their border from Qua Toyne, they always seemed to be turned back, with their border guards saying they are currently not accepting any kind of unofficial diplomacy. That would mean either she would have to go in a delegation of her own, or use spies, rather hesitantly, to get the information she so desperately needed.

"Guess I have to go the spy route first...since I have no information on if the option will fail or not..." Her fingers crossed as she was thinking.

As she thought more, she looked closer at the number of wyverns they wanted.

"Close to 500...are they planning on making our breeders collapse from exhaustion? This can't happen within nine months! Are they crazy?!" The Princess said to herself in an uneasy mood.

Just as things couldn't get any worse, Director Kaios of the Third Foreign Affairs Office is called in.

"Your Highness, I have been summoned again." Kaios began.

"Yes you have. And it's about..." Remille raised the paper of the Lourian postponement in front of him.

"Ah yes, I just received that this morning and gave it to you as of now."

"Yes, that's what happened. But I want to know the situation, since you deal with the "barbarian" countries. Explain in detail what happened."

Kaios bowed before raising his head.

"Yes, Your Highness. As of this morning, the Lourian Supreme Council at Jin-Hark 12 days ago discussed about the matter."

"And their decision was this?" Remille pondered.

"Yes, their decision was to postpone the invasion by nine months."

"That I know, but why is the question?"

"From rumors spreading about the Supreme Council, I gathered that their spies have all been contained once they set foot into the unknown country. This unknown country has opened up to official channels, but spies who have returned, which is to say for example in a group of 20, only one returned, speak of a mighty country that can take on our empire and the Gra Valkas Empire.

"So it seems my assumptions are close to correct. Spies are having a difficult time infiltrating into this country. Even the Gra Valkas Empire is not as hard as this. Strange."

"Correct, Your Highness. I believe it's best we first gain intelligence about this...barbaric country."

"Well from the description I got it seems to contradict your point of a barbaric country. If they can capture spies this easily then it seems like your views are getting less and less effective at conveying the situation. We now need to look at this more impartially and not just reckless diplomacy."

"I...understand, Your Highness."

"Now your goal is to send only one spy group to gather intelligence on their country. It is risky, that much I know, and I expect it to fail. Hence I will go there personally if the spy mission fails to open formal diplomatic negotiations."

"But Your Highness, you're under risk of more surveillance from the war faction!" Kaios cautioned her.

"And who said I wasn't already? This country could be the key to forcing the war faction to stand down on their relentless pursuit of war. We may be an 'Empire' in name, but our dignity is already being questioned at the Superpower Conferences. We continue waging war and our country will eventually fall further into the debt of the Holy Millishal Empire. Just look at how much money we borrowed from them and tell me if I'm wrong or not."

Remille looked dead serious, one that could stare into the souls of people and scare them to infinity, as she was proving her point to Kaios.

"Elt, do you agree with what I said?" The Princess turned to the First Foreign Affairs Director.

Elt nodded her head slightly.

"Yes, Your Highness, as we discussed this morning, I do share your sentiment."

"Exactly my point. Kaios, you were supposed to be responsible for this. Instead you let the Lourians run wild and now we could be on the verge of bankruptcy within the next ten years with the amount of borrowing we are doing to sustain the Lourian wyvern force. Not a healthy path of an Empire if I should say myself. Our vassals will will most definitely question the central government in its fullest capacity and will harbor distrust towards us." Remille pointed her finger on the desk to emphasize more of the seriousness.

Kaios sighed before bowing his head towards Remille.

"I apologize, Your Highness. I shall call the spy group and re-organize my efforts in this sector."

"Good, tell me as soon as possible if you get any information or the worst case scenario, the spy group getting cut off. I will deal with the fallout."

"Yes, Your Highness, I understand."

"Now, get going. We do not have all day."

Stepping off the highly decorated carpet that lie in the office, Kaios closed the door to head back to the branch of the Third Foreign Affairs Office. As for Remille and Elt...

"What am I going to do, Elt..?" Remille put her hands on her face.

"Remille, you should not be so worked up. I am getting concerned about your stress."

"Unfortunately that is the least of my worries. It is the meeting with the Estates-General I'm more concerned about."

"And why is that?"

"You know what I mean."

"Ah...the corrupt politicians."

Most, if not all the politicians on the war faction side, which constituted a majority of the Estates-General, were using some form of bribes from some of the war industries in the country to further their agenda and standing. Reminiscent of eventual modern politics, Parpaldian politics were, to put it mildly, just as messy. As for a certain Parpaldian Imperial Princess, she was in a comically "dead inside" state.

"This job is hard..." Remille looked as if a ghost had come out of her mouth as she put her head on the table.

"Remille, please ease up. I understand it is hard for you, but you are the only choice the central government has."

"I know, I know." The Princess gave up on sulking about her misery.

"Plus...you're a genius."

"I get told that many times and I can assure you that it's frankly annoying. I am a normal human being after all, not some super human."

"Sigh. Some things never change."

"I know."

Remille and Elt continued their conversation until 30 minutes before the Estates-General session.

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Esthirant, Parpaldian Empire
Estates-General

"-You should have stayed at home!" A Parpaldian Senator from the war faction threw a paper ball at one of the opposition Senators.

"Sigh. As chaotic as usual, just an average day in the Estates-General." Remille, along with Elt were outside the halls, ready to enter the chambers. A guardsman opened the door for them.

"Your Imperial Family's Highness Remille has arrived, please stand!" The Speaker asked the Senators as they all stood up.

Remille in turn, bowed as a sign of courtesy, before she and Elt took the first two seats designated for them.

"Now we continue. We have recently received news of an unknown country that has appeared on the edge of the Rodenius continent, next to the Qua Toyne Principality and Quila Kingdom."

Jeers were heard from the war faction.

"That must be a barbarian country, the Lourians or we should exterminate them immediately!" A Parpaldian War Faction Senator rose from his seat.

"I agree! We can gather resources from them as well!" Another screamed.

The opposition were all silent as the war faction kept on being the majority with the loudest voice. Remille took out the piece of paper Kaios gave her as she stood up.

"Order, Your Imperial Highness takes her stand!" The Speaker said as he struck down his gavel.

Remille stood up from her seat as Elt nodded to her.

"Ahem. It seems as if the war faction is being unreasonable again. Yes, you are all correct about the unknown country being transferred. However, they are not the "barbarians" that you are led to believe. I am not sure if you all heard from those daily reports you get, but this country has already subjugated at least 20 Lourian spy groups within the 12 days."

Murmurs sprung from the war faction as they listened to Remille.

"The Lourian spy network is very complicated as is and for those groups to fail in such little time can give us the impression of how strong this country is. Furthermore, Lourian covert soldiers told us as they reached the border, they were stopped by men wielding "magic staffs", which is another term for firearms."

The opposition were talking to themselves about the continued information that the Princess provided them.

"Let me ask the war faction this question: What if this country was stronger than the Muian Kingdom or the Holy Millishal Empire? What would you do? Would you charge our soldiers into certain death, or analyze the country further? Considering your past actions, I would say the former applies. Just like the Lourian military, our soldiers are, to put it bluntly, just as lazy if not worse. The corruption that lies in the higher ranks leads the lower ranks to do the same in their lust for political power. Nepotism provides for these officers' relatives to have the same rank as they are holding. If you have any objections, speak now."

Remille didn't have to wait long until she got a response from the war faction.

"Your Majesty Emperor Ludius has already blessed us with a fine, well-standing army. Why should we, even if the person objecting is from the Imperial Family, dare oppose the visions of Your Majesty? What do you know about internal politics? You are an audit director in charge of dealing with those 'barbarians' and superpowers. Should you be dealing with them instead of lecturing us on such...childish views?" A Senator rose up to ask Remille.

"Then you are gravely mistaken. It is not such childish views. I am simply speaking the truth. You overestimate our military capabilities. While we are still relying on wyverns as a mode of air power, as well as a meager force of biplanes, the Holy Millishal Empire has already developed planes with engines. Our Empire is far behind the the first three superpowers by a long stretch. Of course, I am not in command of the military, as it is Your Majesty's role. This is just my view of the situation unfolding. What you fail to see will be your downfall. That is all." Remille replied back harshly before sitting back down.

"Just you wait, Your Highness. You will soon witness our Empire's full might put on that barbaric nation!" The Senator who objected to her sat back down.

Remille sighed as she turned to Elt, who gave her a sympathetic look.

"It seems like that speech wore you," Elt said.

"Yes, yes it did. Especially if it involves the war faction. Sigh." Remille hung her head down.

And so the meeting continued, with the final result being the war faction continuing on with their agenda regardless of Remille's precautions.

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Hà Nội, Socialist Republic of Vietnam
308th Division New Headquarters, Ba Đình District
Central Calendar 1637 (2028), March 22th, 10:00 Hà Nội Time

The whole capital was operating on its normal basis as usual. However, with the martial law in effect, more soldiers poured into the streets to act as temporary policemen. The soldiers were still getting used to their new jobs, as most didn't expect that it would have come to this. Officers and enlisted alike stood side by side on the street, patrolling their areas of responsibility. Cars and motorcycles on the streets continued contributing to daily traffic as people got to their workplaces, went out shopping or on leisure activities, and shipping for food or other items. The martial law helped to quell any dissent on that the military was there to suppress the people, when in reality, the extra security measure helped to keep the capital safe from any new terrorist attacks that may have popped out as a result of increased attempted spy infiltration.

In a white colored room in an office building, the 308th Division Commander received a new report about spies in the general vicinity of his forces.

"Lương, how are these spies different from the others?" Senior Colonel Cường looked through the photos of these new suspected spies.

"They seem to be of a different nationality. Normally the spies we caught are all from the same place, Louria. However, look at their necks in the photos." Captain Lương pointed to the tattoos on their necks.

"The tattoos are written in French...and the only other nation in this world that uses French as a language is the Parpaldian Empire." Cường spoke some French himself as he took French and Russian in school, as well as some little Chinese on the side.

He never thought that the French would come in handy at a time like this.

"What do they mean?" Lương asked.

"Pour la gloire, "For glory". My theory is that it is some codeword or slogan of their nation." Cường noted as he took a pencil and circled the tattoos.

"Do we have their location?" Cường continued.

"Yes we do. Apparently they're staying in a hotel on Giáng Võ street. Geolocators who had nothing else better to do helped us." Lương confirmed the location to where the spies were staying.

"Close to where we are. Alright then, time for the CSCĐ to get the green light."

And so, the young Vietnamese Senior Colonel stamped the paper, along with writing his signature, initiating the raid that would start Vietnamese-Parpaldian relations.

A/N: Chapter 4 is finished. Hope you enjoyed!

No featured equipment this chapter.