Summoning the Union of South East Asia (USEA)

Chapter 19: The Die is Cast

...

Village, Qua-Toyne countryside

August 10, 1640

The afternoon sun shined high above the countryside of the Qua-Toyne principality as two men were seen entering a village before heading towards the village Inn. The wooden door creaked open, an indication that this was an old but not well-maintained building. The two men approached the counter that was manned by a young elven lady with blonde hair donned in a traditional dress, their footsteps caused creaking noises due to the wooden floorboards.

The female elf smiled at the two men before bowing.

"Welcome to the Daya Inn! How can I help you?"

One of the men rests his right elbow on the counter before leaning towards the female elf, causing her to blush while smiling.

"Yes, you can. You see, me and my friend here have been going on adventures around Rodenius for quite some time now and we're in need of a place to rest before going anywhere else. We're hoping you have by any chance a single room that has two single beds."

The elf pulled a worn looking leather book from underneath the counter and started flipping through the pages. Meanwhile, the two men looked at each other, before either one could say anything, the female elf spoke, causing both to turn their gaze towards her.

"Ah, you both are in luck, we have one spare room with three single beds. But since you all are adventurers, I'll just charge you both as though you were staying in a room with only two beds. Consider it a thank you for touring my lovely country."

The two men looked at each other before nodding. The man that had rested his elbow on the counter smiled at the female elf.

"Thanks a bunch darling, so how much for the room?"

...

The two men were now seated on opposite beds facing each other as the room was lit by two magic lamps above each bed. Without wasting time, one of them spoke.

"Alright Donovan, what's the plan now?"

Donovan could only look to the wooden floorboards before slowly nodding his head as he made up his mind as to what to do now.

"We'll stick to our original plan. We make our way to the border with occupied Louria, then head towards the port at Jin-Hark and get ourselves transportation back to Parpaldia. From there, we can hitch a ride on one of our submarines and head back to the mainland with the intel."

The other man only shook his head.

"We should've gone to that Antonio Luna Base and try to at least figure out what happened to Charlotte. For all we know her radio was busted, and she can't reach either of us to give an update."

"Look Thompson, I can try to understand your feelings, but right now top priority is to get whatever intel we have back home. You and I know damn well what this mission entailed and that if anything were to happen to any of us, we are to assume we've been compromised and hightail it out of this side of the world. We can't take this nation for an inferior one like how we did Mu. Command believes this USEA is at least 30-years ahead of us."

Thompson looked to Donovan with the same straight face. "And you believe that?"

Donovan turned his head to the closed windows before responding to his colleague's question.

"No, I do not."

"Then?"

"They're more than 30-years ahead of us. Don't you see the technology that's slowly trickling into Rodenius? Its safe to assume that's mostly older or cheaper tech they'd willingly give to prop up Qua-Toyne. The aircraft they have easily outpace any of our own fighters. The only consolation is the fact their warships have only 1 deck gun but even that worries me because in 30-years who knows what deck guns will be replaced by."