Presidential Office, Arden.

  May 9th, 1427.

  President Irwin groaned as he buried his face in his hand after taking a look at the economic report. “What the fuck, God?...”

  Looking at the report again, he analyzed the state of the economy. Without oil imports from old allies, energy prices are climbing higher and higher, necessitating the rationing of home energy consumption in many less important districts. Many major industrial and financial firms as well as businesses have already sent him numerous messages, clamoring about the lack of resources to work with and loss of overseas assets. People have also been panicking, unable to contact their relatives or partners in other countries, with some spreading false rumors about how they haven’t been teleported to another world at all, and that the information being announced on the FNN was fake, to the point that Irwin had to order elements of the Army and riot police to keep order but refused to declare martial law. Arden wasn’t affected too badly by this sudden surge of political instability though, that helped ease his worries a bit since tomatoes and eggs aren’t being thrown at him by the crowds, for now.

  How did this happen? Why did this happen? Surely whatever power did this also has the ability to teleport at least a few more countries from our world, right? At least there was something to be happy about: the first encounter between the transferred Elysians and the denizens of this planet bore no ill circumstances. This was a peculiar surprise that no such transference of disease occurred between the natives and the people sent to greet them. Even the language barrier didn’t exist, with reports by the Marines in Azuria having no problem conversing and reading local text even if the writing was a bit strange in some parts. New humanoid species were discovered, with reports coming from once again, the Marines, that they met many animal-human hybrids, or just straight up humanoid animals with intelligence far surpassing their animalistic counterparts with speech capabilities equal that of a human.

  President Irwin’s contemplations were cut short as someone lightly kicked on the slightly open door. “Mister President?” Another one of his secretaries came through, holding a heavy box of documents in both his arms.

  “Oh, Loyd.” He stood up. “Tell me that the emergency rationing bill went through.”

  His assistant put down the document box on the guest table. “It just passed. Your approval ratings have gone up 3%, but this is still lower than your peak before the transfer. Most people have started to accept that we’re in another world right now.

  “I see. Dear God, how are we supposed to fix the economy? Lucius must’ve been some sort of psychic, after that stunt he pulled a few years ago…”

  “Mister President, I assure you that your predecessor was no psychic. Even with the housing crisis he solved with his radical housing plan and the manufacturing jobs he brought, it still won’t be enough to satisfy the shortages of goods, primarily electronic components.”

  “Please tell me you’ve got good news.”

  “That, we do have Mister President.”

  Irwin immediately shot up from his seat. “Continue,” he said, leaning forward anxiously.

  “The equipment we sent to Anzuri, Azuria’s capital city, has helped tremendously in the survey. The Kingdom of Azuria has remarkably fertile land, capable of producing any type of food we need. The coffee seeds we gave them to plant grew perfectly healthy in just hours with the help of their mages and something they called Magical Gems. If we can get them on our side, I expect no shortages in exotic foodstuffs and even traditional crops like wheat.”

  President Irwin nodded. “That’s very good. Is there more?”

  “Uhh…” Loyd scratched his head as he read among the report. “About that fertile land, the Azurians said that it was blessed by a goddess named Miritta a few hundred years back, so the land has never had a crop failure. The locals said that their land is also capable of self-healing itself after a short period of about three days to a week, though we have yet to verify the validity of the claim.”

  “Interesting… usually I would’ve dismissed such a child-like story, but we’re in another world. Send it to the Rural Development Agency, maybe they can figure out something.”

  “They’re already working on it, Mister President.”

  “Already?”

  “I know you’d task them personally, so I preemptively request them first on your behalf to save you valuable time. I’m sorry if that bothers you, Mister President.”

  Irwin lets out a sigh. “It’s fine. You’re just doing your job.”

  “You can trust me with matters like this, Mister President, don’t overwork yourself with little matters like this.”

  “This is the second time you’ve said that to me.” Irwin chuckles.

  “And I’ll continue to say so to you if you’re committed to doing everything personally.”

  “As you will.”

  Irwin grabs another report file containing a different country this time. “What’s this? The Principality of Lior?” He checks the red note stuck on the folder. “Why did you mark this as a high priority entity, Loyd?”

  “The Principality of Lior, east of Azuria, has a lot of barren fields filled with what the locals have deemed as ‘burning water’ or ‘black water’.” Loyd gave out a light smirk to the President. “You know what this means, don’t you sir?”

  “Oil…” Irwin flipped the pages, reading through the reports on resource discovery. “That’s… excellent news for the economy!” he sat down on his chair, clapping as he gave out a loud laugh, barely containing his excitement. “Woo! Finally! We can stop using the emergency wartime reserves that were meant to be used against the Socialists!”

  Loyd interrupts him. “However Mister President, it seems like we’re not the only ones who might be interested in those lands.”

  “...What?” Irwin turns his head around slowly.

  “There’s another entity we might have to worry about.” Loyd put down a stack of pictures pulled from the document box. “To Azuria’s western border is the Yarian Empire. Our attempt to communicate with them has failed as they do not accept outsiders. From information that I can gather from both Ambassador Anderson and Ambassador Reiker, assigned to the Kingdom of Azuria and the Principality of Lior respectively, the people living in those countries feared living under the Yarians as they are known to treat those under them with extreme prejudice. Their human population is relatively low however, and they mostly use what the Azurians described as ‘goblins’ to attack in waves to devour the men and use their women to repopulate after conquest. A few neighboring kingdoms have already fallen just a few years prior according to the Azurian, with a prominent one being the Elvish Kingdom.”

  “I have more photos of evidence from reconnaissance flights, Mister President.” Loyd held out a folder in his hand, but he pulled it back. “However, I’m not sure if you’d want to see that kind of stuff. The pilots who took those pictures have to have a few days off after spending hours taking these detailed pictures and films.”

  “I see…” Irwin leaned back into the headrest, contemplating his next course of actions.

  If these Yarian barbarians get their way then all hope of an economic recovery would be lost, not to mention the millions of lives that would be lost and/or placed in a situation worse than Hell. Azuria and Lior are currently representing the United Federation’s potential breadbasket and goldmine respectively, losing them would also mean that this country would descend into chaos without importation of food and raw resources. Chaos would break out, wartime military stockpiles would’ve been looted, and even worse things that Irwin couldn’t bring himself to imagine happening to his country.

  Knowing what needs to be done, President Irwin lifted his head up. “What can we spare?”

  “Luckily, the 7th Carrier Task Force is already near Azuria and a company of 5th Mechanized Marines is already in Anzuri itself. We can send the rest of the 5th Marine Mechanized Infantry Brigade along with their equipment as they are already ready for emergency deployment, being one of the high-readiness brigades, thanks to the Socialists for that. The Seventh Task Force and Ninth Expeditionary Task Force can provide covering fire and logistics for the brigade.”

  “Prepare them for deployment, I want assets on the ground by next week.” Irwin said with a strong determination in his voice, not wanting to compromise on the cost of such a large military deployment in a precarious time like this. The United Federation’s existence depends on what Azuria and Lior offered. “What else is there?”

  “About what we’ve discovered, Mister President.” Loyd turned the page again, showing Irwin several pictures. “We’ve detected traces of chemical pollutants from some of the landmass far west. In particular, there are two landmasses to the west which produce a lot of chemical and light pollution, as identified by our satellites. There is a small land gap connecting the two landmass together, we’ve spotted quite a lot of what we assumed to be military buildups.” Loyd puts down a picture of a naval fleet. “Further investigation by our secret digital spy satellites discovered the presence of warships similar to the Imperial era, around 60 years ago, albeit quite smaller in comparison to our ship. This is only one of the continents, however. We’re still trying to scout out the other landmass to the north and the far west, they looked quite a bit larger.”

  “That is… interesting. Have our satellites take a closer look next time they pass by that area and keep on scouting. What is our relation with the Principality of Lior and the Kingdom of Azuria currently?”

  “Ambassador Reiker is still negotiating with the Liori about terms to secure mining rights in exchange for protection, while Ambassador Anderson has already returned to Arden an hour ago with a small Azurian delegation.” Loyd flipped over to the next page of the report, his eyes twitching slightly in confusion at the strange picture attached along with the page. “One of the many new minerals we found were Magical Gems, as the people of this world called them.”

  “Magical gems?” Irwin asked, intrigued about the mentioning of unknown materials.

  “Yes, Mister President. We have discovered several new types of ores, especially magical gems.” Loyd explained. “Apparently, these gems have the capability to store and discharge energy much like the lithium ion batteries that we produced. What makes them different however is that they have different properties depending on what type of gems they are, some produce fire while others produce water when applied with small amounts of energy from the outside. Some Azurians and Liories use these gems as an energy source for daily activities and needs, since they have the capability to use ‘mana’ as they described.”

  “We might want to investigate that, contact the Resource Development Agency to look into ways to utilize the magical gems, perhaps we can use them for ourselves to stop having to import so much oil for energy. If we can prove they are safe to use, we'll release it to the market.”

  “I already did so, sir.”

  “You know me too well, Loyd…”

  “As always, Mister President. The Azurian delegation will be arriving in fifteen minutes, you may want to freshen up for the meeting.” Loyd gives out a farewell nod and exits the office.

  – –

  A pair of anachronistically dressed individuals entered the room. President Irwin easily identified them as Azurian delegates thanks to the brochure sent by the Department of State, his eyes darting around in fascination at their outfits and facial features.

  “Mister President,” Ambassador Anderson greeted.

  President Irwin stood up. “Welcome back, Ambassador.” He greeted, turning to the Azurians. “And you two must be the delegates from the Kingdom of Azuria. I’m President Irwin Patris. Welcome to the United Federation of Elysia!”

  The pair bowed, with Ruprecht stepping forward to address him. “Thank you for your endless hospitality, President Irwin Patris of the United Federation of Elysia.”

  “Please, no need for such long titles.” Irwin shook hands with the delegates. “You may refer to me as President Irwin, or Mister President if you so please, even Irwin is fine.”

  Ruprecht was taken back by the lack of formality from their leader, who treated him and Evatyr more like house guests rather than delegates. Coming from the leader of such a technologically advanced and powerful country, the warm welcome was certainly a surprise for Ruprecht. Even the Celestials wouldn’t treat Azuria like a close equal like how the Elysian President is right now.”

  After exchanging pleasantries, President Lee led the delegation to a conference room, where his cabinet was already present. Taking their seats, the Azurians felt their hearts pounding in nervousness and anticipation.

  “The first topic we’ll be discussing is trade,” Anderson began, giving Ruprecht and Evatyr a detailed list of imports.

  President Irwin spoke. “On Elysia, our home world, we used to import exotic food from all over the planet, which could only be grown only in certain environments.” He gave Ruprecht a list. “For starters, we’re interested in importing about 120 to 150 million tons of these food products each year.”

  Ruprecht read through the list. Some items were familiar to him, such as wheat and coffee beans since his people grow wheat for food as well as for export and coffee beans, due to having seen Anderson and his guards using them to make drinks which had a strange rejuvenating effect much like tea. Other items were much more alien to him such as bananas, durians, lychee, grapes and peppers. “Hmmm, I don’t know what most of the items on this list are, but I assure you that Azuria can produce these items in sufficient quantities thanks to Goddess Miritta’s blessings.”

  Ruprecht let out a defeat sigh. “However… The Kingdom of Azuria does not have the capability to export such massive amounts of food overseas, as most of our trade is done over land to the Principality of Lior in exchange for minerals. We would’ve exported such an amount if we could, but our ports would be overwhelmed quickly by the amount of goods.”

  President Irwin looked at the Secretary of State, who was already writing down notes for the Office of Foreign Affairs. “You needn’t worry about that, Sir Ruprecht. We can provide the necessary infrastructural modifications for the kingdom through foreign investments and a trade agreement. From the development of a railroad system to the expansion of your ports, even the construction of airports could be done. You may also view our agricultural machines and we can discuss corporate investments later on, would that be fine?”

  Ruprecht’s worries were lifted, finding President Irwin’s incredible offerings extremely lucrative. “Your generosity knows no bounds,” he bowed his head slightly and gave the list to Evatyr to read and make notes. “The Kingdom of Azuria will happily accept your offering.”

  Irwin smiled, giving the Azurian delegation a small stack of papers about trade terms and the sharing of knowledge. “About the trade and cooperative agreements we’re proposing,” He said, flipping the page for Ruprecht personally. “The United Federation of Elysia believed in the free market and the free exchange of goods, so there would be no tariffs or taxes levied on any goods coming into and exporting out of our country. We would like the Kingdom of Azuria to do the same, to accept and embrace a free trade treaty with the United Federation.”

  Ruprecht thought about it for a moment. A free trade treaty meant that the Kingdom would lose out on income from tariffs, as well as power stemming from the ability to cut food off to pressure others like how the Duke did with the Liories. But Azuria has no leverage this time as militarily, Azuria is inferior in every way, not to mention they’re already busy preparing for the Yarian barbarians to make their move.

  The United Federation may mostly depend on the importation of food from the outside, and only Azuria could provide such an amount needed to feed their population, but they are militarily powerful. If he doesn’t accept this politically and economically unfavorable term, then it may force the Elysian’s hand into more radical options, perhaps even direct invasion to secure a source of food for themselves.

  Either way, he only has two options: One is to deny the free trade treaty to preserve Azuria’s power, turning the Elysians away and may force them into becoming an enemy that Azuria could never possibly beat. Two is to accept the free trade treaty, allowing the free exchange of goods as well as extensive investments of Elysian-owned businesses into the Kingdom but accepting giving away the ability to sanction as a diplomatic tool. The answer seemed too simple, laughably so, even.

  Ruprecht leaned forward, crossing his fingers on the table. “The Kingdom of Azuria will accept,” he paused, letting the weight of his upcoming demand come in. “under some additional agreements.”

  Irwin smiled. “It’s about security guarantee, isn’t it?”

  “How did you know?” Ruprecht raised an eyebrow, surprised by how this distant ruler even knows about Azuria’s current threat of Yarian barbarians on their western border.

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  Anderson joined in, aiding the President. “We have superior spying capabilities, sir Ruprecht. The more information you can gather before arriving at the negotiating table, the more leverages and advantages you’d have.” he said confidently.

  “A security guarantee is a must for us, sir Ruprecht, if we were to commit to protecting our only source of food import. That goes for the Liories too, for their mineral wealth. Even if we didn’t have any investments put into Azuria and Lior, it would still be a terrific loss for us economically and politically if the Yarians took everything for themselves and burned the entire kingdom down.”

  Relieved by the guarantee, Evatyr asked the Elysians. “But how quickly can you deploy reinforcement? The Yarian’s attack is but a week or two away, how can you be sure that you could assist in time?”

  “Don’t worry about that Miss Evatyr,” President Irwin said, giving a reassuring smile. “Our 5th Mechanized Marine Brigade is already preparing for deployment, give them several days and they will arrive in Azuria with armored support.”

  A single brigade is only around four to five thousand men, Ruprecht thought. A small number for sure, but he couldn’t complain. “Azuria is still in the process of drafting additional levies, so we have around twenty five to thirty thousand men prepared for war. The United Federation’s aid would’ve been a good increase in manpower, we wholeheartedly thank you, Mister President. With this, Duke Kalush will most likely look past the windfall of the free trade agreements.”

  “The Duke needn’t worry much, sir Ruprecht. The investment we’d be making would turn everyone wealthy, as long we keep the barbarians under control. Isn’t that right, Mister Raynard?” Irwin turned to the Secretary of the Department of War.

  “It seems that, since we’re already on the topic of military interventionism, there are a few other things we would need you to agree to.” The man in a modestly decorated military uniform said, his voice maintaining a firm tone as he spoke. “The United Federation would like to offer Azuria payments in exchange for establishing an Elysian military presence in the country via bases under our jurisdictions, not only to deter potential threats to Azuria but to train alongside Azurian military personnel for future joint operations to share the burden of security.”

  The offer was a surprise to Ruprecht and Evatyr, who found themselves divided on the implications of the offerings. Multiple military bases and outposts within the kingdom itself, while they would secure Azuria’s existence, would also give the Elysians further logistic capability to spread their influence elsewhere beyond, virtually guaranteeing their dominance within the Eastern Continent without bloodshed. But the Duke’s wishes were clear the moment they left for the United Federation: He wanted security guarantees, everything else was secondary. Besides, the Principality of Lior would’ve accepted this offering, as long as they’re getting paid handsomely for their mineral wealth just as Azuria would be for the crops they would be exporting.

  At least the Elysians would be paying the Kingdom for the rights to establish bases, Ruprecht thought. “That would be most beneficial for both. The Kingdom of Azuria accepts this agreement.”

  “Next up is about the exchange of knowledge and technology.” Anderson announced.

  The Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Marvin Archer, turned to Evatyr to begin a series of requests. “Miss Evatyr. We would like to know more about this world, what it holds and any other knowledge your people may know. It would be most beneficial for both parties if we work together in this regard; most knowledge in the United Federation would be available for access by Azurian scholars, and we would like to have complete access to any archive your kingdom may have. We would also like to have complete access to your educational institutions, if there are any, in order to help with institutional building.”

  Evatyr turns to Ruprecht, confirming his go-ahead nod. “Currently, Azuria has bountiful knowledge of the Eastern Continent within our archives, including geography, biology, history and tales of our beloved Goddess. Sharing it for vast amounts of knowledge and technology with an advanced mechanical country would drastically change our way of life.” She paused, feeling a divide in her mind. “I do not know how to feel about this.”

  “I understand your conflict, Miss Evatyr. We were also faced with a difficult decision when it comes to the sharing of knowledge, many within these halls are against sharing knowledge and technology with anyone outside the United Federation. But I have the final say, and I believe that the free exchange of knowledge would benefit us all in the long term, and that it is better for the Kingdom of Azuria to have access to advanced technology to better not only for themselves, but also for the benefit of the United Federation.” Marvin explained his reasoning.

  “Perhaps you are correct, sir Marvin.” She turned back to Ruprecht, who gave her a smile before turning to President Irwin. “The Kingdom of Azuria accepts this agreement as well.”

  “That closes it then.” Irwin stood up, offering Ruprecht and Evatyr each a handshake. “To the future.”

  Ruprecht reaches out, shaking the President’s hand. “To the future.”

  – –

  The pair sat on a bench outside the small garden of the Presidential Complex, observing the stream of people and trains moving in the distance under towering complexes, each painted in different colors and styles, yet all were functional in appearance.

  Ruprecht sat on the bench, deep in thought. This is the Elysian’s capital, the symbol of their pride and their ingenuity, but also a display of what they are capable of. He wonders if Azuria would look like this one day, when the simple daily lives of farmers are replaced by… this. Old wooden houses replaced by towering complexes of steel and concrete, cart wagons dragged by horses replaced with trains dragged by locomotives, and the farmer’s sickle replaced by agricultural machines that could harvest in one day what an entire village would be able to do in a week.

  “Would you be fine with this, Lady Miritta?” He said, leaning back on the wooden bench as he let out a sigh.

  Evatyr sat next to him, closing a copy of the treaty that they had just signed. “I think the Goddess would have approved of this. Afterall, all she wanted was for us to prosper by any way we saw fit with her gift of everlasting bountiful harvests. She didn’t want to rule over us unlike the other Gods, letting us choose our own paths instead.”

  He looked over to his right, staring into her eyes. “You really think this will work, Evatyr?”

  “I have hope.” She answered with a reassuring smile.

  Oh how bright her smile was, Ruprecht’s mind raced as if he had fallen in love again, with the same person he always did, no less. If only they weren’t on the most important job in Azuria’s history, he would’ve taken her to bed at that moment to give her as much love as he could’ve.

  “Maybe we can settle down, focus on our lives together instead of working endlessly like this.” Ruprecht said, his hand fiddling around with Evatyr’s smaller hand, wrapping his fingers around hers.

  Taking a deep breath, Evatyr leaned on his shoulder after taking in a deep breath and closed her eyes. “After this is over, I promise.”

  Presidential Office, Arden. United Federation of Elysia.

  Two weeks later. May 24th, 1427.

  President Irwin twirled a pen around his fingers as he listened to Loyd’s detailed report, processing the information being read to him.

  “... and with the approval of the Department of Health as well as the Department of State, we’ve issued permits for our companies to start sending construction workers and additional surveyors over to Azuria and Liori.” His assistant said.

  Irwin let out a relief sigh. “That’s great. We can begin our economic recovery, probably even ending the emergency rationing in a month and helping us stabilize the economy.” He turned on the TV in the office, switching to the Arden Daily channel.

  Live footage of what remained of the former border with the Socialist Republic of Yarik appeared, slightly choppy due to bad signal but watchable nonetheless. The border fences, walls and guard towers, symbols of Socialist resolve and commitment to walling in their own people now stood without purpose, with some part of the wall being dismantled by confused but overall cheerful citizens of the United Federation who were happy that their old threat was now gone.

  “Good afternoon sir. What are you celebrating here?” A blonde reporter asked an old man in a greying Marine uniform, his chest pinned with many ribbons from wars long ago, but still within Irwin’s living memory.

  “The Reds are gone! I can’t believe it!” He exclaimed. “I don’t know how this happened, but thank God for this!”

  “Now that the government has announced the shocking news that we’re in another world now, what do you make of this?” She asked him.

  “I don’t know… but I’m sure not gonna fight another war abroad for nothing!”

  “Many people have shared your sentiment as well, sir. They said that since we’re in a new world, we could start anew. The delegation from the Kingdom of Azuria have expressed their cooperation with the current administration recently, what do you think of this?”

  “People who want to work with us are rare, so I think the deal that President Irwin made with them is a good show of faith for both sides. While I don’t like his decision to push for troop deployment to Azuria and the so-called ‘Eastern Continent’, I do see the reasoning. Young lady, we’re in precarious times, hard decisions had to be taken.”

  “Aren’t you concerned by the recent rationing and government crackdown on protests, sir?”

  The old veteran chuckled. “Not. one. Bit. Ha! I’ve seen worse… much worse. I lived on cans upon cans of C-ration for weeks on end back then with the Rostislavs before they joined us, not being able to have meat for a few days is nothing. Here’s what I have to say: Those so-called protestors should just get a job, it keeps y’all out of trouble.”

  “Thank you for the interview sir.” The reporter said, turning to face the camera. “We’ll be back momentarily to bring you the newest informati-”

  Irwin turns the TV off, finding the general opinion to be relatively positive even if the population has mixed feelings about his administration, sipping on his cup of coffee.

  He turned to Loyd, thinking of the issues with the economy. “Did Secretary Lyn get my message?” Irwin asked. “I need her help to increase the funds available to construction companies. A lot of them are still wary about the circumstances, so we need to be able to reassure them with federal backings.”

  “Yes, she’s agreed to help out and is currently pushing for additional funding, but she’s struggling to justify your cause. Everyone else is fighting for the money, declaring their plans to be the most important, Mister President.” His assistant described the situation, slightly disappointed at the pointless bickering within the Federal Parliament.

  “What, two trillion Credits ain’t enough? We need to construct at least two hundred billion, but preferably two-fifty or three hundred billions Credits worth of infrastructure into Azuria to ensure that they can export to us what we need.” Irwin said, frustrated by the lack of focus with people under him at the most inconvenient times. “I’m gonna contact the Azurian embassy later to make sure that Azuria can and could make a proper case for our investments. Wait, we aren’t spending on foreign aid right now, why can’t we just siphon the funds from that for loans to Azuria?”

  Loyd scratched his head, “Uhhh… Secretary Yosef Yechezkel in the Department of Treasury had already removed almost everything related to foreign affairs since Azuria doesn’t seem to be a good case for investments. Saying something along the lines of ‘too little infrastructure present’ or ‘too uneducated to operate heavy machineries.’ something like that as justification. He thought it would be better for us to be self-sufficient by investing in our own agriculture due to new technologies emerging as well as new GMOs (Genetically Modified Organism, in this context is referring to crops) which yield much better results.”

  “God damn it…! Doesn’t he realize that we’re in no position to be self-sufficient right now?! Oh, for fuck sake... Remind me to give him a call later. The emergency wartime grain stockpile won’t last more than a year if we can’t get food imports.” Irwin calms down, putting his hand on the work desk. “Now, anything else?”

  Loyd flipped through the report. “The Department of War have reported large troop concentrations along Azuria’s border, estimation range between 85 to 100 thousand strong, mostly consisting of Goblins but there’s also wyverns and larger beasts we have yet to identify as well as horse cavalry.”

  “We knew they’d come, eventually.” Irwin comments. “How is the construction of our base in Azuria going?”

  “Almost completed sir, all thanks to the shipments of pre-built kits, but we still need another week to finish establishing the hangars and infrastructure for the Air Force’s F-27 fighter aircrafts, while LA-12 light attackers and LF-54 light fighters have been deployed in theater already and is currenting engaging in surveillance and intelligence gathering since those don’t need long runways.”

  “I see why Azuria was so desperate for a defense treaty. How many troops does Azuria have? 50 thousand?”

  Loyd flipped through the report, sighing. “Only around twenty-five to thirty thousand in their standing army currently. That figure takes in their war time militias as well, who may not be well trained nor trained at all. They mostly use spears, swords and bows as well as a few mages for rear line support but they aren’t confident that they can hold out for long as even the goblins they’re facing can use basic hand weapons, not to mention the Yarian’s wyverns which they have few defenses against but to use their own wyverns to counter.”

  “So just by pure numbers, they’re overwhelmed…” Irwin comments, burying his face into his hands. Azuria was already at a huge disadvantage before the fight even began, even if they managed to hold it by themselves, there’s no guarantee that they wouldn’t be overwhelmed. The situation honestly reminded Irwin of the situation that the United Federation faced just beyond the northern border before the Transference. The massive combined Socialist armies had nearly a hundred thousand tanks ready to flood the free world with their degenerate red banners, while the United Federation can only muster fifteen thousands at most when mobilized. An uphill battle, he must admit.

  “That’s just the first wave sir, they have bred enough goblins from previously conquered territories to send at least two more waves of similar scale.” Loyd said, his expression suddenly changed to be more cheerful. “But don’t worry, Mister President. The ammunition stockpile will come in handy, the Socialists are gone but that doesn’t mean we have nothing to shoot at. It’ll be a spectacle for the FNC (Federal News Corporation). The people would probably agree with this war, seeing how barbaric the Yarians are to others after they finish with their coverage of the war and the upcoming trade boom between us and the two countries.”

  Irwin lifts his face up. “How’d they breed so quickly? Those uhhh… goblins and orcs that these so-called barbarians had. They have like what, a twenty to thirty percent increase in number in a week? How’s that possible?”

  “You haven’t read it, Mister President?” Loyd asked.

  Irwin tilted his head, puzzled by his assistant’s question. “Read what?

  Loyd reached down to the stacks of paper next to the President, picking the one with satellite photos included in the intelligence report. “This one, sir. But I’m not sure you’d want to see the detailed report. It made me a bit nauseous to just look through, but I can summarize for you.”

  Irwin sighs, he had seen enough throughout his time as a politician, and as an FSS (Federal Security Service) officer before that, to bear witness to all the gruesome details of the war crimes committed all over the United Federation’s homeworld. Massacres, bombings, unspeakable crimes. Perhaps his assistant just didn’t know what kind of things he had seen, he thought. “No need this time, Loyd. Give it to me.”

  He opens the document. The file is short, but enough for a quick read. This one in particular is about what kind of threats that they’d be facing, detailing traits and studies of captured goblins and dark orcs within Azurian dungeons by hired adventurers and mercenaries.

  According to historical documentation which dates back to hundreds of years, goblins and dark orcs were among the worst among the so-called ‘dark races’, found in mostly the Eastern Continent. Different from the demi-humans of the Eastern Continent - who had intelligence on par with their human counterpart as well as animalistic appearance, the dark races often display hyper-aggression to anyone who doesn’t belong to their group of species.

  Dark orcs are mostly low-intelligent species, focusing more on brute force and much larger size to over-power and kill anything in their way, while goblins are far smaller but attack in groups of a dozen or more. The only thing that made these dark races is that they can only reproduce through other humanoid species, whether they are human or demi-humans. Rape is a common theme of investigation during Irwin’s time as an FSS officer working abroad investigating fascists and socialists, so he was already accustomed to the brutality involved, this time was worse though, much worse.

  Irwin recalled a biology class he had taken a long time ago in high school, before he had joined the Army as a conscript, something about genetics that determine what racial traits a child inherits from their parents. Whatever these dark races contain genetically, clearly is not normal. No orc and goblin children born from their rape victims has any sembalance of human nor demi-human traits, both in intelligence and behavior, only the base traits of dark races.

  “How’d these Yarians control these dark races? I thought they all attacked humans.” Irwin asked his assistant.

  “The dark races might be more muscle than brain, but they’re not completely so sir. Their behaviors could be compared to domestic animals like cats or dogs, and the Yarians could train them from birth to follow their command if you reward them with what they want, Mister President.”

  Irwin facepalms again. “Let me guess… women as breeders and male as food.”

  “...”

  Loyd nods. “That’s correct, sir.”

  “Well shit.” He stood upward, pacing around the room. “I’ll submit a proposal to the Federal Parliament to designate these so-called ‘dark races’ as a threat to humanity, probably shouldn’t be too hard to pass though as Azuria has plenty of evidence in their archives and libraries, plus the FNC (Federal News Channel) would probably paint these dark races in a bad light to justify their eventual eradication.”

  “That’s good, Loyd. So what’s the expected outcome if they do attack?”

  “Complete victory within a week sir, the Yarian territories are about the same size as Azuria and their formations are often highly concentrated. Easy target for cluster and chemical strikes. Having superior strategic mobility than the Azurian on foot and horses, the 5th Mechanized Marine Brigade can arrive at the Yarian’s capital in around a week from the Azurian border on foot or around three days on trucks. The Department of War have also provided additional trucks and radio equipment for the Azurians to move them along with the 5th Marine. I’m impressed though, some of them learn to drive vehicles relatively quickly.”

  “Well, my old man threw me into his truck’s driver seat and I learned to drive in a week.” Irwin chuckles. “You should be the spokesperson for the Department of War, working for me like this seems like a waste.”

  “Trust me, Mister President. You would miss me if I did.” Loyd smiles in return.

  He continues, flipping pages on the report given to the President. “Also, the Department of War have requested additional funding to put up new satellites and procure new equipment. Because this world is far larger than Elysium, we needed more satellites to compensate for the increased surface area.”

  “I guess they’re not wrong…” Irwin reflected about the fact, putting his pen down. “I’ll contact the Secretary of War later. See to it that Evalyn Aerospace gets what they need to build more COMSATs and SPYSATs.”

  “You got it, Mister President. I’ll see you later once I get something new.” Loyd closes the folder and exits the office.