Summoning America

Chapter 21: Military Festival

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

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Parpaldian Imperial Oversight Army, Eastern Fleet
Amanoki, Fenn Kingdom

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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