———Principality Of Urestan, Royal Palace———
Urestan's Royal Palace generally has the common layout, but the main difference was Adele herself, particularly her less frequent stay on the throne, she tends to walk around or deal with things in her office rather than on the throne, mostly because she is young, prone to boredom upon remaining in one place.
As of now she remained by her Office where she dealt with current reports over in Sancerya, it was visibly going well. If you didn't count for the fact she had to deal with one of the housed imperial nobles, a Count.
"-So Those were the current statistics of the invasion, we have been-"
*bam*
"Just give it back!" A girl yelled as another simply held what appears to be a book up high.
"No." The other girl bluntly stated. "The more I leave you alone, the faster you will be wiping the term 'book' of the face of the world."
"Could you two stop that." Adele sent a glare to the two of her Royal Elites.
""Sorry, Your Highness.""
Urestan's Royal Elites were all in all, just that. They excel in their own specified fields of combat or logistics, all due to them being so-called 'Witches.' A type of magic-user that has either become nominally unstable in terms of handling it due to the levels of power, or their increased power comes at a cost.
All seven of them had the same cost, they tend to be cursed with a side-effect which harms all those around them, they were shunned and harassed. That all changed when they were taken in by Adele.
In the span of three years, several changes would alter that, something they never thought would be achieved. Their loyalty to Adele is supposedly greater than most. And their overall capabilities supplement that.
"Anyways, as I was saying..." the Count prepared to continue his report.
"Your Highness." A messenger enters Adele's office.
""Hm?"" Both of them uttered
"Yes?" Adele responded
"..." the man just stepped aside and let one of the Elites in, the 2nd assassin to participate in the interception operation.
"Yvonne?! What happened to you?!" Adele yelled in shock standing up from her seat and walking over, passing the Count.
"I-I... I..."
"Speak up... please." Adele said
"I'm sorry, your majesty. The interception has failed." She responded.
"What...?" Adele uttered
"I don't know how they... They... They were so few... Yet they managed to kill so many soldiers, e-even our steam-tanks..."
"What?! How?! Those Sand-huggers would never be able to destroy a steam-tank!" The count yelled
"Not. Them." Yvonne retorted
"...Who?"
"...I don't know... All I remembered were people in Greenish-Grey and Yellow uniforms, they all had black staves that fired and reloaded faster than our Needle Guns, and those foot soldiers alone managed to destroy a couple of steam-tanks I don't know how but at-least only two were enough to destroy a steam-tank."
"Impossible... That can't be..." The count uttered
"...Where's Edith?"
"...I..." Yvonne uttered before tearing up "I couldn't save her in time... She was captured..."
Adele went silent, as she took in that information.
...
"*muffled* Edith..." Adele said covering her face with both hands. She immediately dropped her arms to her sides, before turning around to stare at everyone in the room, before looking back at Yvonne still on the floor on her knees.
"Did... You see any symbol or crest?"
"All I remembered were small rectangles on their Uniforms seemingly depicting a flag, White up-top, Blue down-below, and an inverted triangle at its centre."
"We all know what country uses such an emblem right...?"
""""Yes, Your highness."""" They said with determined tones.
"...Aurelia will pay for this... Girls, I want you to coerce the housed nobels to increase production, and use the resources taken within our swaths of territory gained from Sancerya, I want enough forces to kick Aurelia to the curb, immediately!"
"Yes!"
Adele suffering from the loss of an old friend, Elora, was further pained at the loss of Edith, one of her subordinates whom she deemed as an acquaintance. She refused to wait as they will be sent to horrendous fates.
'...Edith, Hold on... We're coming.'
The count stared at the scene as a faint smile was plastered on his face.
'Heh... Such weaklings, crying over a simple whore? Pathetic excuse for a leader and elites... Ah whatever, we are gaining influence day by day, we shall be able to topple the princess, and take over. Then Aurelia shall be put in its place.'
—~~—~~—Kingdom Of Altesa, Capital—~~—~~—
"Your Majesty." A messenger to the King Of Altesa said.
"You may speak."
"Our observers have confirmed that a skirmish has taken place between Principality and Directorate Forces. We have taken note that both nations have begun preparing their forces, or at-least it is most likely both countries are doing so, as we haven't been able to take a closer look in Aurelia."
"Ah, So a War is now brewing. It will be a perfect opportunity to determine the Directorate's capability through our observers."
"...But, Your Majesty, Haven't our diplomats stated that?"
"Preposterous." The king arrogantly said "There is no possible way that is true, they were simply delusional and unfit to be diplomats with such descriptions, Aurelia is But a primitive nation that just got lucky, nothing more." He haughtily said
"Once we determine their strength, we can sufficiently amass the perfect and overwhelming force to put them back in their place. Now, send this order."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
—~~—Desmur Asylum—~~—
Matthew and Kara stepped onto the port of the prison island and stared at the updated Prison just up ahead.
"A pleasure to meet you, Director & SecDef." One of the Defence personnel walked up to them
""A pleasure to meet you too."" They returned in almost perfect unison, which prompted them to balance at each-other briefly before walking down the steps.
They eventually walked over and entered a black-coloured vehicle. Upon entering they were soon being driven off to the Facility Entrance.
The entire main facility had the aura akin to the of a large Mall or Airport in terms of appearance despite being a prison, combining the elements of halden prison to other architectural sites and normal prisons.
They stopped under a supported roof over the main entrance's Roadway, and both of them exited. Soon being escorted by several assigned guards.
Since the displacement of the SES for the purpose of the upcoming war against Urestan, had pretty much removed all of them. Which Matthew felt a bit apprehensive about, considering many inmates here were reichians, Bandits, Criminals, or other individuals.
He secondarily blamed himself for not taking note of the prison's internal status, due to being busy with other endeavours for his nation. He often thought of developing cloning technology but there are a sufficient number of reasons why that's not feasible, especially with their current technological capacity, and reasons would only increase if cloning himself was part.
"Ah greetings!" The warden walked up to him, a folder in her hands.
"You Two have come just in-time, The inmates are this way please follow me."
She said before leading the way to the designated interrogation area. Matthew took the time to carefully observe the facility's inmates. They all appeared... Quite what he had hoped for, very few appeared to be rebellious, aggressive, or haughty.
However a sense of apprehension sparked a bit as a few of the inmates, upon sighting him, suddenly bowed or kneeled, the most notable were the ones wearing Nun or religious uniforms (which was allowed as so far, in this continent religion dominated in influence, So stripping away such beliefs would only spark unnecessary problems.)
It didn't take long until they cleared the area where they could be observed, and eventually continued down the hallway with several personnel passing by dealing with their own assignments.
"They're here, Director." She said opening the Hardened Bullet-proof glass Door to the room, only she, Matthew, Kara, and a single guard entered.
They eventually walked to an area where three of the inmates were contained in small separate cells.
...All wore similar uniforms, which were the nun uniforms.
Matthew was then given the folder which contained detailed descriptions of all three.
"...W-...Wait." Matthew uttered as he darted his gaze from the folder to Dominic who stood in 'his' cell swaying a bit in an almost daydreaming manner.
"Kara." Matthew uttered a bit handing her Dominic's profile.
"...Male?" She said looking at the warden.
"Y-Y-Yes... SecDef... We Umm..." The warden stammered.
"We haven't updated the information for that one." She finished.
"...May you explain what has transpired?" Matthew asked.
"We aren't exactly sure, however what we have confirmed is that inmate Dominic had lost his... Kadinkadonk? Less than a week after when he was transferred here. Several mental changes have been noted, and 'he' has started to act less masculine and more feminine. And... It is most likely caused by the other religious individuals here."
"Why have you not informed me beforehand?" Matthew asked
"...We couldn't... Director." She said staring at one of the nuns.
"Jesus... Forget that for now, please send them to the room." Kara interjected
—~~———~~—
Matthew entered the room after some time of preparation, he felt apprehensive as all three of them simply locked their gazes on him, he swore he noticed faint hearts just obscured in their retinas.
Elora sat with her hands together on the table in a formal manner, while Adley had her hands off and by her lower torso in a non-confrontational manner, and Dominic leaned forward a bit, both hands by either cheek, and he mildly swung his legs back & forth alternatively.
"I assume all three of you understand the circumstances as of the moment?" He asked, sitting down and placing a report paper on the table
"Of course, My Lord~" Elora said
"Right..." Matthew uttered, internally feeling disturbed, he simply brushed off their usage of 'Lord' assuming it was their form respect. "Now firstly, I request clarification regarding your association or affiliation pre-incarceration."
"It shall be done; This is Adley Durand one of my loyal and devoted companions, and this is Dominic a former Imperial Noble and one of your new followers. And lastly, I'am Elora Matlock, I was a former priestess of... The Azure Lux Society... Before Came here. Me and Adley know all about the Princess Of Urestan. I should know... Because I was her closest acquaintance."
"A close acquaintance, you say?"
"Indeed, I have gained quite a lot of information in a span of time. While I don't have much information about the number of soldiers, or strategic points, I'am aware of the geography of the country and... At-least some of the weaponry."
"What do you mean by... Some of the weaponry?" Matthew asked, Dominic soon raised his hand.
"I know the other half of the details, My Lord~." 'He' said
"Upon the destruction of my blasphemous country, many of us have resorted to fleeing to the peninsular country of Urestan, being one of the major nobles, I have been given a lot of information. We have planned to provide Urestan with our weaponry and control them in-order to fight against Aurelia." Dominic said
"They still wish to fight? I could've sworn the speed and catastrophic level of their demise would provide significant clout."
"Yes, My Lord. The reichians are extremely stubborn until exposed to... Much more Impactful experiences." Adley said sending a hinting glance to Dominic, who smiled and nodded. "Which is why we are providing this much information in-order to end their obstruction for good." She finished
"Though firstly... Specifically you two *points at the two Urestanese nuns*... and especially you Ms. Elora. While this is unnecessary, I just wish to know; Why have you decided to provide assistance to us through such means, instead of remaining loyal to your country, or... Close Friend for that matter."
"...It's because we have been disillusioned, My Lord. Urestan has been quite belligerent against its neighbour, and Adele has been very stubborn like the past leaders... I just... I just wish for her to stop being a repeat of our past... Perhaps even be like me~ Pledging obedience to your holiness. In essence I wish to help both of you."
"..."
———Nauthyr Continent, The Holy Semtidia Union———
The Holy Semtidia Union, Full Formal Name being; The Covenanted Union Of Greater Semtidia, was without a doubt the most powerful nation on the Nauthyr Continent. Revered as powerful due to being blessed by the Gods, Haughty and prideful because of that belief.
Despite harnessing both Magic and Science, technology has often been dismissed compared to magic which is what primarily powered and lifted their military, domestic, and experimental equipment, Science barely even got passed the renaissance level in a sense, as magic is viewed as supreme.
The Leader Of The Union a man in his late-30s sat in his office, much different to a throne room like most other countries.
*knock*
"Come in." He said
Another individual entered.
"Good day, Your blessed majesty." The young man said, despite not being a monarchy, 'Blessed Majesty' or just 'Majesty' were the colloquial terms used to refer to the Premier Of The Union.
"What is it? He bluntly asked.
"Well, these are the reports compiled. For now it's still incomplete but we expect the intel gathering to boost once we actually send agents directly into Atochia."
"Aurelia... Lets see if the rumours were true." He said
The Premier eventually scrutinized the detailed reports without much care, but gradually his expression slowly shifted into one of Confusion. His expression constantly changed for every paragraph he read, several feats achieved primarily in their military. The Premier eventually closed it shut, and placed it aside.
"...Is this a joke your pulling on me?" The Premier asked.
"Of course not, Your Majesty, That will be disastrously rude."
"...Well how are they even possible?! I first saw aurelia as a pretty powerful magical nation for managing to defeat Reichia and Pluvimia Combined, But this stating they are almost entirely Mechanical?! That's preposterous, There is no possible way that could reach such levels!"
"But that's what has been reported your majesty."
"Then our scouts are insufficient, so imprecise!"
"you even said it yourself, your majesty, only the best of the best, all of them wrote this while following their given objective without hesitation or blindness..."
"...Kh!" He clicked his tongue as he got up from his seat and walked over to the window receiving a good view of his capital city.
"...To be capable of such things... Impossible..." the Premier was a prime believer that magic was supreme and nothing can stand above it. Hearing a nation that doesn't use magic at all for its military, let alone that nation coming from Atochia, to defeat two superpowers that had numbers on their side with such speed. He was incredulous.
"What do you suggest we do, your majesty?" The man asked, the Premier looked back at the folder, and recalled one of the paragraphs stating the current boiling tensions between Aurelia and Urestan, a Nation supplied with advanced technology, Well... Technology considered Advanced in Atochia, but weak and outdated in Nauthyr.
"Urestan. That nation is practically neighbouring Aurelia, with what's been stated, War is inevitable... I want you to send observers to that nation equipped with our latest Mana-powered Cameras, once they get an opportunity have them record the capabilities of Aurelia in action."
'I hope the capabilities are wrong, magic would never be weaker...'
———
'Oh it already is. You guys just have been dumber than most countries to even grasp the basics of science.' Aurora commented.