A nearby television bizzed and buzzed as a channel came into life. A logo in the top right corner of the screen read 'TV1,' a news channel. As soon as a multitude of animations pyed out, the newsroom came into view on camera. A woman with long, rich brown hair, dressed in faint blue clothes, was sitting in the middle of a white counter.

  "Good morning to all who are watching State Television 1! I'm your weekday host, Amy, and welcome to a wonderful Sunday morning." The newswoman said. "Today's hot topic has been circuting all around the nation, reaching every citizen, family, worker, and serviceman. The president announced to the public this evening that the Nomural Republic is currently lost in an unknown nd. Many were confused by the statement at first, but the President's speech further described the situation."

  The screen switched to a recorded message with the President on dispy.

  "To the Nomural Republic and its citizens, good afternoon." Hart began, "I, President of the State, representative of the people, Rhineheart, am here to deliver an important message. Recently, I was informed of a terrible event. Our nation, the Nomural Republic, has been 'transported' to a different world."

  "This may come as a surprise and even confusing to you all, but when I meant 'transported,' the whole of our nd has arrived in an unknown nd, meaning we are isoted, an alien to the nds around us. Our source of food and materials has greatly diminished, and the surrounding areas have shown to be a long stretch of emptiness. Though life, in the form of wildlife and greenery, is there, outside human contact is none... Please bear with us."

  * * *

  Dark brown hair drooped down the beige face of a man as he sat down on a brown leather armchair. The man resided inside a confined room away from any crowd, with all three walls covered with decorations to fill in the emptiness of the room. Only one side of the room had a window, which was conveniently in front of the chair the man sat on. From the view, the city architecture fshed alongside the sun's rays, offering the presentation of structures of both great and small sizes. It was a wonder that showed great resembnces to the European sphere of designs, having corresponding colours that contrast with orange-brown.

  The streets themselves were full of life. Cars zipped through the roads, people ventured alongside the buildings next to the sidewalks, and birds overhead flew with the clear blue sky that stood behind them. Peace, in a sense. Calm, not in silence, but rather the relief of assurance that this world has its destined means of purpose to enjoy itself.

  The door of the silent room opened, gifting the presence of sound into it alongside the gentle being that guided it inside, Nephilia.

  "How's your health, sir?" wondered Nephilia, who had a tray with a teapot, two empty cups, and a pte full of biscuits. Chocote biscuits, Hart's favourite.

  "I'm doing fine, all thanks to you." He thanked her.

  "Gd to hear that, Mr. Hart." Nephilia returned with a joyful smile.

  "Say, did you bring these cookies out of your own choice, or did you somehow know my favourite cookies?" Hart pondered while indulging in the treats. But peering up, he saw Nephilia looking at him with a "seriously?"-like look with one of her eyebrows raised.

  After a minute or two of wondering why she was giving that look, Hart realised that he forgot one of the greatest things connecting them, telepathy.

  "Sorry," I started, "I'm still not used to the fact you have access to my memories."

  "Well, sir... I believe some adaptation to your new situation would prove quite useful in the future," replied Nephilia, who grabbed a chair nearby and started to pour tea into the two cups on the table, giving one to him and herself. Hart gdly accepted it. Sipping some tea while looking through the window, wondering how a world like this came to be. There was a deep sense of wonder in Hart's head. He looked out the window.

  "Is all of this real?"

  Nephilia stopped drinking and stared at Hart, wondering what the context of the question was.

  "I need to know if what I am looking at is real. If it's not, I don't want to lie to myself with the things I'm doing here." Hart reiterated.

  "As I've mentioned before, and again, it is real. You can taste the cookies in your mouth, correct?" responded Nephilia.

  "Yes, I can."

  "What about the smell of the fresh tea I brought?"

  "I can smell it."

  "Then what about the hot sensation on your legs being emitted by the sun's rays? Can you feel it?"

  From all of this, Hart understood that she wanted him to acknowledge the fact that all senses worked normally, meaning there was no deception in reality. His body worked normally, except for the fact he is now younger than before.

  "I see where you're going with this." Hart returned.

  Seeing that his mind was now justified, Nephilia walked near the window, looking down at the streets below. She had her left hand behind her while holding the teacup upright with her right. The light of day rained on her, highlighting the calm statue she is. The proud structure that she was built into became brighter than ever. The smile that never seemed to drop, the soft white skin that appeared to be a mispced snow in the warm summer weather, the silence that signified the deep thought she has—a genius of some kind.

  This silence in the room was filled with outside activity. Hart was perplexed about what her intentions were at the moment, as she kept her eyes fixated on something behind the window. A bit of sweat dripped down his forehead since there was barely any wind circution in the gradually heating room. But eventually Nephilia broke the silence.

  "Do you mind if I open the window, sir?" Nephilia requested.

  "I don't mind it even the slightest. You can open it if you want to."

  Nephilia nodded in response and cranked one of the window panes open, bringing in cool, fresh air. Being relieved, Hart thanked her and got a supportive smile back.

  "Where are we anyway?" He gestured, pointing his fingers around the room.

  "The Lourete Hotel, sir. Away from prying eyes, as well as a comfortable stay for any person who resides here during their stay. A safe house for our concern right now." answered Nephilia.

  "Comfortable." Hart muttered, wiping away the sweat on his face with a nearby handkerchief.

  "Sorry for the inconvenience. The hotel currently has a problem with their air conditioning. They said it would take a couple of days to get it working again, but I've sent some people to speed up the process, so it should be working again by tomorrow morning."

  "You said safehouse. Why do we even need a 'safe house'?"

  "With all due respect, sir, I think every piece of information about our situation shouldn't be questioned at all intervals. Some things should be left unknown for their own sake."

  "I asked a question. Answer me." Hart commanded, taking no liking to her arrogance.

  Nephilia folded to the request and immediately apologised for her response.

  "Forgive me for my rudeness. I only hoped for you, sir, to worry less." Nephilia remorsed, "For your question, we are expecting to meet the Defence Minister, Eudemo, due to some emergency reting to the outside world. On his side, he seemed to have made contact with some locals in the nearby areas, but I am not well informed about the details of the encounter."

  "Contact with the outside world. A starting point in our journey in this world." Hart thought.

  Soon a knock was heard from the door, and Nephilia confirmed it was Eudemo, the Defence Minister.

  The man from a meeting prior to the ideology-reted one came inside with the same military suit he wore back in the conference room, but this time he had a bck suitcase held in his right hand. He was breathing a bit heavily, indicating a rushed arrival. A chair was provided by Nephilia, who cleared the little coffee table from the tray and waved off a clerk dy to get a new batch of drinks for the new guest.

  With the room being overlooked by only the three of them, Eudemo pulled out some documents from his suitcase, revealing pictures of several fields and roads. From a quick gnce, they had visible settlements and carriages in them.

  "Firstly, I must congratute you on your success in swaying the final blocks into pce for our government structure, as well as your speech yesterday, sir." praised Eudemo.

  "Please, it was a team effort." Hart thanked while gncing at Nephilia to show some credit. She blushed at it.

  "Anyways, what's the urgence?" Hart continued.

  "Ah... yes. To quickly describe the situation, one of my reconnaissance teams spotted a single-horse carriage with a male, about 40 years old, presumably a trader by the presence of rge containers at the back of the carriage, moving down the road, which pretty much leads to the city of Bolbus. Being uncertain whether we should allow him to go through the road and let him know of our existence or eliminate him in case he tries to tell any foreign government about the discovery of our nation, we just scared him off with a grenade explosion."

  "Bolbus? Isn't that located in the north?"

  "That's correct, comrade." Said Eudemo, "And if I may." He pulled out a phone from his pocket, scrolled through it with his finger for a bit, and pced it on the table for everyone to see (the reference map is at the bottom of the chapter). On the phone there was a map, an unfinished one, which had visible separations with blocks of different pictures meshed together to make a nearly interconnected map. On the map were texts belling rge blocks that symbolised city structures:

  Soram, Avqud, Danburg, Tolpa, Muzarkh, Bolbus, and Lahar.

  All of which were key cities from the state in "Politismós". They had the same yout as he'd pced them, missing nothing from a view, and even the Great Beacon Tower was visible from its head. It was the Nomural Republic he knew. But that name, Nomural Republic, needed a change. Not now, of course, unless he needed to address the nation as a whole to the people or to foreign entities. Which he is pretty sure will not happen ANY time soon.

  "Over here, we can see that Bolbus is located near this road, which appears to be a frequently used trade route due to its densely compact dirt texture, and simirly, nearby roads have stretched across the pins with more frequent passes by traders, but none of them as close as the one next to Bolbus," pointed out Eudemo. "Another thing to point out is the presence of dragons, elven beings, dwarfs from one occurrence, and, in many cases, human-animal mixes."

  "Human-animal mixes?" Hart asked.

  "Yes, that's what the reports have stated, but I'm not sure what to cssify them. A hybrid of some sort? But anyways, apparently there were 'humans' that had cat, rabbit, or dog ears while having simir breed tails."

  "Hybrids, let's go with that for now, shall we?"

  "Whatever you prefer, sir."

  Eudemo continued. "These hybrids have been frequently spotted in captivity or used to serve the passengers of some carriages, like a butler or worse, a sve. I'm not fully convinced of a great racial segregation being in pce against hybrids, but after some contemption with Foreign Minister Myrom, the chances aren't as slim as expected; instead, it's more likely to exist than not. Regardless of these things propping up, my forces haven't experienced any problems in hiding their presence, so issues of early contact wouldn't really be a worry, in my opinion."

  "Out of curiosity, how far have the UAVs travelled across the nd?"

  "Well, quite far in my opinion. To put it into perspective, the extent of their journey is 10 times longer than the whole width of the map on my phone. They can go further, but out of security concerns, we, the defence ministry, decided not to venture deep into the unknown."

  "Understandable, but have you received any valuable information from those missions?"

  "Overhead reconnaissance isn't as effective as their field-level counterparts, but the presence of different nations in the nearby areas has become a bit more concrete. For example, several bridges were found to be present, which, upon following them, led us to several different settlements in the North. Also, a rge ke is present at the south, and reports of several ships—wooden ships with sails, to be exact—have been spotted at the horizon. I feel great concern over the effectiveness of our secrecy, as Avqud, the closest city to the harbour, is only about 10 km away from the nearest coastline. And not to mention that our dockyard is more than rge enough to be spotted from far away at sea.

  "I see." Hart wondered while looking at Nephilia, making sure she was following him through the whole ordeal, in which she gently nodded to confirm it. Soon a knock was heard from the door. It was the girl whom Nephilia sent earlier to fetch some more treats for our guest. Several whispers were traded between Nephilia and the girl, and in the end, the door was closed with Nephilia looking at them joyfully as a tray with a head-tall mountain of cookies and pudding was visible on Nephilia's hand.

  Eudemo's look changed instantly as he sat there like a child, impatiently waiting to receive a gift. His zy, slow eyes turned wide and youthful; the long, dripping noodle of a mouth turned into a small but cute smile. Pcing both his hands on his p, he locked eyes with the tray full of treats that slowly approached him. Hart saw that even the most duty-focused individual happens to be a sweet tooth for some sweets in life.

  Eudemo reached his hand to grab a piece from the stack, but it was whacked away by Nephilia, who said to be patient.

  "Wait for your turn, you gluttonous child. The master gets the first share," commanded Nephilia.

  The Defence Minister dropped his hand and eyebrows, showing protest to the predicament, but he understood that challenging authority wouldn't go well for him, so he only stood there waiting for the right time to strike.

  "I don't really see much need to do that. I already got my need for cookies before, so, Defence Minister, jump in." Hart retorted, but at a cost, because at that moment the Defence Minister used his giant hands to feast down on the tray, pushing the contents towards his mouth as he instantly devoured them. A beast with no limit but a child in its soul.

  Hart didn't tell him to stop, since Eudemo seemed to be enjoying the moment a lot, but Nephilia gave her president a dead look as if she knew this would happen, and Hart just ruined her opportunity to avoid such a mess. He shrugged his shoulders, not knowing how to go back to her. Rolling her eyes, she gave Hart a little smile in return.

  Eudemo suddenly stopped and, first, looked at the President, then at his Secretary. Seeing the mess he had made in his fit of envy, he straightened up and cleared his throat.

  "Ahem. Forgive me for the mess that I've made. I could never control my soft side for pudding. Sometimes I overdo it with my indulgence in eating." Eudemo apologised.

  Hart couldn't help but ugh as the Minister reminded him a bit of Franz, from high school, who had a problem with controlling himself over food but never in a bad way; instead, it was a way to entertain themselves. Being serious at times, but deep down, Franz was a child willing to py with others.

  From Hart's sudden spill of emotion, Nephilia looked at Eudemo, ready to put him down in case the reason was due to an unsettlement, while Eudemo himself eyed Hart with confusion about the source of his ughter. The President waved it off as something to not worry about.

  Soon the Defence Minister returned to his normal self, returning his full focus towards the topic.

  "If any more news comes up, you or your assistant, Nephilia, will be the first one to be notified. All that has been of importance till now has been covered, so I believe it would be a suitable time to end our little meeting here. And again, sorry for the mess, sir," concluded Eudemo.

  "Well, till then, I bid good luck on your work."

  As the conversation drew to an end, Eudemo got up from his chair and saluted, in which Hart gave one back. Following the guidance of Nephilia, Eudemo left the room, leaving him and Nephilia alone again.

  "What do you make of this?" Nephilia asked.

  "Not much, but a start. I'm sure you know the extent of the whole problem, correct? Since you've been here on this pnet for a longer time than me." Hart pressed.

  "As a local who has explored a small portion of the politics on this pnet, in which I initially wasn't much interested, UNTIL I got assigned to do so, I believe my knowledge would prove useful at an unaffected level," retorted Nephilia in an obviously sarcastic voice.

  "So you're useless. I guess you have to leave..."

  "Hmpff... No, that's not what I meant."

  "You mean the fact you know so little that it wouldn't help me? That's the clearest thing I got out of your words." Hart said, teasing her.

  "You brat... You should still keep in mind that I have access to your memories, even the time when you wet your-"

  "HEY, HEY." Hart rocked, trying to stop her from continuing, "Calm down; we don't need to go that deep. I was just joking around."

  "At least you realise your dependence on me," smirked Nephilia. "But aside from that, we should prepare ourselves for the upcoming introduction to the government members. It will st for about 2 days at least, and perhaps 4 days at most. So I will give you, sir, time to rest for our early departure tomorrow."

  These words made him tired. The thought of a full schedule for the next couple of days gave fshbacks to his past days in the office. Constant movement back and forth between gatherings drained the life force, but it was worse when it sted for weeks or months. Now he had to relive these memories with a higher amount of stress because now he must TRULY put in a great deal of effort to present and work as the deciding factor of millions of lives.

  Either way, Hart gently nodded to Nephilia, letting her know that he understood her assignments. With that she left the room, leaving the man to fend off the rest of the day for himself.