The Imperial legionaries were orderly retreating through the Gate, back in their ancient world, carefully watched by the men and women of the Saderan Law Enforcement, led by Calasta.
Most legionaries were skeptical about the fact that the world they had just invaded was the future version of their own, and they believed they had just contacted a new kind of civilization, while the more educated people realized that it actually was the future and speculated of what it could mean for them.
On the other side of the gate, they found the Italican divisions already camping.
The leaders met to discuss what to do next.
"That retarded Herm Fule Maio and most of his men got themselves arrested by the law enforcement of that city, or so i heard". A nobleman said to Calasta.
"Stupid idiot. We'll try to get him back when it will be possible. He's not one of our priorities, for now. That dickhead deserves it." Calasta said.
"By the way, i think we can consider our invasion plan cancelled, right?" The nobleman asked.
"Yeah, obviously. That city is literally Sadera. It's inhabited by Saderans. Do you want to invade our capital and kill our fellow countrymen?"
"No, no, obviously not. It's just so strange… to think that… Yeah, that is the future. Like, with just few steps, we can skip forward in 2000 years of history, and we walk straight from Imperial Year 687 to Imperial Year 3022…"
"Yeah… The future… But oh well, enough adventures for today. Let's sleep, tomorrow we'll have to start the long march back to our own Sadera to report what we found." Calasta said.
Few days later:
On the way home, Count Colt Formal had stopped by his own city, Italica, while the rest of the army marched to the Imperial Capital of Sadera.
As they entered the city, many citizens were surprised they were already back, because they imagined that an invasion of another world would have lasted months, not days.
Marquis Calasta went straight to the Main Imperial Palace to speak with the Emperor.
"My Imperial Majesty, we have to talk, it's about the expedition, i need to talk you about a very important matt-"
"WELL DONE MARQUIS, TO SUBJUGATE AN ENTIRE CIVILIZATION IN ANOTHER WORLD IN LESS THAN A WEEK AND COME BACK! WHAT A MASTER STRATEGIST! IF IT'S ABOUT GETTING NEW TITLES OR LANDS IN THE NEW WORLD, OR JUST A WELL-DESERVED REWARD YOU AUTOMATICALLY HAVE MY PERMISSION!" Emperor Sol Moltus enthusiastically said.
"Sir, that's not the point at all. The point is that we did not invade the new world at all."
"You what? Why?"
"Beyond the Gate, it lays our future."
"Come on, don't be philosophical, we already have enough philosophers in Rondel! Was the enemy too strong? Did you lose too many men?"
"We literally did not fight even a single time, because as i said, beyond the Gate there is the future. There is LITERALLY the future. Beyond the Gate there is the EMPIRE OF SADERA, there are our citizens, our city, our army, except they're all 2000 years in the future."
"Oooh, i got it! You conquered the other civilization in such a complete way, that it's like they're already part of our Empire!"
"NO! YOUR MAJESTY! YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND ME! BEYOND THE GATE THERE IS OUR WORLD, EXCEPT ITS SET 2000 YEARS IN THE FUTURE. THE GATE ITSELF OPENS IN THE MIDDLE OF SADERA, RIGHT IN FRONT OF THIS PALACE, IN THAT CITY CENTER YOU CAN SEE FROM OUTSIDE THE WINDOWS! WAIT, LOOK AT THE TRIUMPHAL GATE RIGHT THERE THAT IS STILL BEING BUILT! WE CAME OUT EXACTLY FROM THAT THING! WHEN I SAY THAT WE CAME OUT IN SADERA, I REALLY MEAN IT, LIKE, WE WERE EXACTLY IN THIS CITY WE ARE NOW, EXCEPT 2000 YEARS IN THE FUTURE, IT'S SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND? I EVEN BROUGHT SOME SOUVENIRS WITH ME!" As Calasta said that, he opened his bag and showed to the Emperor some things he managed to steal around the stands of the event.
He had even managed to "borrow" the old backup smartphone of Modern Rory while he was in her house.
"Let me take a look then" The Emperor said.
"Servants, bring us a small table to put the objects on!"
Calasta put on the table an airsoft gun, a bobblehead figurine of Emperor Sol Moltus and one of himself, some postcards showing Modern Sadera, a modern magic portable battery and the phone.
"Well, funny toys, but let's look at these pictures you gave me. They're so realistic and life-like, not even a master artist could paint so well. And look at these other pictures! I recognize these ruins, this is the city center of Sadera, but it lacks walls, and everything looks so old and ruined…"
"My Imperial Majesty, now you see? These pictures aren't painted, they are called photos. In the future, they use advanced handheld magical or electric devices to take life-like pictures of things. Magic and technology are so advanced they became nearly unrecognizable from the current forms we have. Now, look at this smartphone. This model isn't even magical, it's a less powerful electric powered model. Look. The people of the future can access music, information, and entertainment just with this little thing! They even have the so called 'videos', they can record moments of life and save them forever or create animations for entertainment purpose" Marquis Calasta said, as he turned on the phone, showing to the Emperor some videos he found in the gallery of Rory.
Emperor Sol Moltus was astonished.
"A device that small that can do so many things. To save moments of your life forever in the form of videos… To take life-like pictures without effort…"
"And that's not all, Your Majesty. When we were in the city, this device was able to be connected to the so- called internet, a form of telecommunication that let people talk to each other in real time and access any kind of information they want, at any time. It makes physical books and physical letters obsolete!"
As Calasta showed him more postcards showing the Modern Main Imperial Palace, the modern Saderan flag and other proofs that the world beyond the Gate, was indeed the future version of their city, Emperor Sol Moltus concluded that he had to definitively make official contact with the government of the futuristic Sadera.
"These proofs are undeniable. This is so… unreal, it doesn't feel real. I knew that magic was able to break the laws of physics and logic… but this… this is just beyond every expectation. We need to arrange a meeting with the authorities of that world. Just imagine how much our society will benefit from technology and magic that is 2000 years more advanced…" The Emperor said
"Not only that, but we could also look at their history books, and know in advance when natural catastrophes will happen, and prevent casualties." Marquis Calasta added
"Calasta, do you think we could use their history books to predict such things as political or military moves to beat our rivals more easily?"
"My liege, I don't think so. Such actions are too small and unpredictable. Especially now that our two timelines clearly diverged."
"Mmh… well, it's still too early to accurately think about such plans anyways. First, let's think about arranging the meeting."
Meanwhile, in Modern Sadera:
Rory Mercury had spent the last days talking with the Penitus Oculatus agent, codename "SDR-1", about what she learnt from Marquis Calasta.
In addition, she was called from the local police to help dealing with the jailed nobles, as Rory was more or less 3000 years old and she had also lived through the classical age.
To get additional help, Rory had called her friend Cicero de Moltose, an undead Imperial politician from the same era as the captured cavalrymen and Giselle, a fellow ex-demigod.
Inside the station, they found some more undead policemen that had experiences from the same era as the jailed nobles.
"Viscount Herm Fule Maio? Is that really you? I'm Hamilton Uno Ror, of the original Rose Order of Knights, and an esteemed leader of its modern, mechanized iteration. I'm one of the last surviving members of the original old guard. I see that you're exactly as i remembered you! A pretentious cunt!" An undead woman said, her zombified face looking at the prisoner.
"My colleagues already told me about the situation. You and your soldiers are from a parallel dimension, you came out the Triumphal Gate to invade us, but it failed, and now you're here. In the main prison of the capital city of Sadera, soon to be transferred to the max security room. Unfortunately, in 3022, we do not treat nobles in a much different way than peasants."
"GO AWAY YOU FUCKING ZOMBIE, YOU'RE NOT HAMILTON, HAMILTON IS CUTE AND YOUNG, YOU'RE A DISGUSTING AND ROTTEN PIECE OF WALKING MEAT! HOW ARE YOU EVEN ABLE TO SPEAK AND THINK?" Herm Fule Maio said, as he spit in the pale face of Hamilton.
"FUCK, YOUR SPIT WENT RIGHT INTO MY NASAL CAVITY, HOW DISGUSTING" Hamilton said, for she lacked a nose and had a hole in her face where the appendage used to be.
"Calm yourself down kiddo!" Rory said as she approached them.
"APOSTLE OF EMROY! GLAD YOU'RE HERE! EMROY BE PRAISED, THESE PEOPLE ARE MISTREATING ME, A NOBLEMAN! TELL THEM SOMETHING APOSTLE OF EMROY!" Herm Fule said.
"First of all, calm down, apologize to officer Uno Ror and start to use your brain. You're 23, and you're from the late classical age. A 23yo in that period was objectively a mature man, comparable to a 40yo this day! Act like your age, don't be a child!" Rory said in an authoritative voice, fruit of her millennia long experiences and interactions.
The Penitus Oculatus agent also stepped in:
"As a matter of fact, dear Viscount, you're now in the future. We're in the year 3022, and this is Sadera. In this world, the state called "The Empire" has fallen thousands of years ago. Ms. Mercury is NOT the Apostle of Emroy, she has infact, DEFEATED Emroy ages ago. We already contacted the Government of the modern Imperial State of Sadera, and you and your friends are going to be indefinitely detained, and since you all own citizenships of the Saderan Kingdom subdivision of The Empire, and the Saderan Kingdom is legally the same political entity as the modern Saderan State, you're going to be considered a domestic criminal.
We believe that we must make official contact with the Imperial Government from beyond the Gate as soon as possible, and YOU are going to help us in doing so."
"IM NOT HELPING SOME FILTHY BARBARIANS PRETENDING TO BE SADERANS!"
"We're offering you a chance to redeem yourself and possibly get freedom. If you refuse, enjoy your 50 years of prison for terrorism, multiple attempted murders, assaults on law enforcement agents, possession of illegal magic-arms and unjustified assault."
"IM AN ESTEEMED NOBLEMAN OF THE EMPIRE! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY DEARLY! I'LL PRESSURE THE EMPEROR TO SWARM OUR LEGION ON YOUR WORTHLESS COPY OF SADERA!"
"We'll see once we'll actually meet with your Emperor."
Modern Saderan Government
Empress Pina De Lada XVIII, Prime Minister Agrippa Alba and most of the important Saderan politicians had been covertly informed about the existence of the Gate that connected past and future. For now, the Triumphal Gate incident had been covered to the normal population as a feat of the organization of the Classical Reenactment Week.
After much discussion, it was decided, that in secret, it should have been Empress Pina De Lada to meet and speak with the government of The Empire, as it would have been much more likely that the late classical age Imperials would have paid respect to an Empress than a PM.
First, the government of Sadera, decided to send a small military expedition on the other side, to set up the meeting properly and make sure everything was safe and ready.
Reports of scouting units said that the Gate opened on the top of Alnus Hill.
In the modern world, Alnus was a territory of the nation of Formalia, and since Formalia was both a member of the Falmartian Union and the military Blue Sea Alliance, they technically already had the legal authorization to station troops on their territories. Using this diplomatic exploit, they deemed appropriate to send an expedition on Ancient Alnus Hill.
Obviously, they wouldn't do something as primitive and stupid as crossing back the Triumphal Gate into its opening in the other world.
Thanks to modern magitech, all they needed were the magic coordinates and data taken from the Gate, and they would have been able to use magic energy to spawn in with instant warping gates or just open wider, not-physical gates from a military base, where much more space could be used, away from the peeping eyes of civilians.
That night, the Empress, along with the Foreign Affairs Minister and some diplomats, were escorted to the military base of Proptor, and there, a whole Centuria was waiting for her, along with some important people, such as Rory Mercury and Giselle, former Apostles of the ancient Falmartian Pagan Gods.
Detachments of the Legio IV "Proptoriana" and the 1nd Mechanized Cavalry Regiment "Rose Order" were reading up for the mission.
The Empress gave an inspiring speech about the nation and its history, the past and the future, before the Magic Amplifier of the base fired up, and everyone spawned right on the top of Alnus Hill, about 2000 years in the past.
Ancient Imperial POV
It was night at Alnus Hill. The local border guards were bored. Nothing ever happened there, Alnus wasn't very populated, the only people who passed were usually pilgrims, as Alnus was a holy site for many religions.
"This Mudwanian beer is very good, nutty and flavorful, want some?"
"Yeah, let me try… mmh… delicious… Man, this is blissful, drinking beer with friends… yeah, we're all friends in this small garrison… looking at this big green hill every night, with a sweet breeze… so peacef- PFFFFFFFF" the man spit the beer in a fit of shock and surprise.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, an entire small army had appeared out of nothing, on the top of the Holy Hill of Alnus, and a wyvern covered with strange black body armor appeared in sky, flying around, then landing close to the soldiers.
Leading them there was an old lady dressed up like a very high rank noble, and… It wasn't possible… The Apostles of Emroy and Hardy where with them!
"DID YOU SPIKE THE BEER WITH SOMETHING? AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO SAW THAT?"
"I ALSO SAW THAT, RAISE THE ALARM, WAKE UP THE OTHERS"
"WHAT IF THEY ARE INVADERS?"
The local Imperial garrison was ready to confront the newcomers, but… Oh Gods!
Another group appeared out of nothing on the Hill, and they had terrible beasts of metal that produced trembling sounds.
An Imperial scout identified two iron elephants and some horseless carriages made of metal, using a primitive telescope.
"Frumentarius, what do you see?" one of the guards asked
"The two elephants have symbols on them, give me a second to identify it"
"…dear La and Elange! That's the symbol of the Rose Order of Knights, they're friendly!"
"What about the soldiers? Do they have symbols or flags?"
"…they have armbands… tricolored armbands, dark purple, gold, and light purple"
"Wow, just like our flag!"
"…I can see it, there's the Imperial Dragon in the middle of the armband, they're also allies… OH MY EMROY, THERE'S ALSO RORY MERCURY!"
"Rory Mercury? The Apostle of Emroy? What is she doing here?"
"Don't know, let's meet them and ask them"
The scout got on his horse and went to greet the newcomers.
As he approached the group, the soldiers pointed black staffs against him.
"HALT! IDENTIFY YOURSELF! WE'RE ESCORTING EMPRESS PINA DE MOLTUSIDI XVIII IN A DIPLOMATIC MISSION!"
The scout immediately got off his horse and bowed: he had foreign royalty, an EMPRESS, before him.
"Ave Imperator, amicus! Put down those staff things, I'm a garrison guard of Alnus, don't you recognize me? You have the Dragon symbol on your armbands, I assume you're an Imperial like me, we're allies."
"Well… if we put it that way… yes, technically yes" The foreign legionary said, pointing down his staff, and making sign to the other soldiers to put their weapons down as well
"What's your business here? What's your legion?" the scout asked
"Legio IV Proptoriana, along with elements from the 1st Mechanized Cavalry Division Rose Order."
"Wait, the Legio Proptoriana is supposed to be away from here, to fight the Warrior Bunnies"
"It's a bit difficult to explain… put it in this way, we're a special detachment with a different special mission, which is to escort the Empress I mentioned before to meet with the Emperor in Sadera."
"Oh, I see, got it. Good luck with your mission"
As the scout was preparing to ride away, having confirmed the soldiers were not a threat, one of those strange legionaries came running to the commander he just spoke with.
"SIR, SIR, THERE'S A HUGE PROBLEM! THE DRAGON LADY TOLD US THERE'S A FLAME DRAGON AROUND HERE!"
Modern Saderan POV
"WHAT? GISELLE ARE YOU SURE?" shouted Rory Mercury.
"Yes, i'm sure. 687 IC was the year i had woken up Enryu, my pet flame dragon. He's probably flying around Coda and Koan right now, but if he feels my presence here, he might come to see me. The expedition is not safe."
"Will this 'Enryu' attack us at sight?" Rory asked.
"Well, he was specifically trained to beat the hell out of you, but luckily if this Enryu is exactly like the one i had in the past, i can communicate with him mentally and gave it orders. If the soldiers lend me something to amplify my magic, i could try to localize him immediately. By the way, you should know about Enryu, since you're the one who defeated him."
"I defeated countless enemies and creatures in the last two thousand years, can't remember every single one of them"
"If you just go back in our own world, wouldn't this Enryu ignore us?" the commanding Centurion asked Giselle
"There's still my counterpart in this world around. She's not going to be cooperative, and maybe she could unleash him against this expedition on purpose"
"Do you have any suggestions about how to deal with him?"
"We could set up the magic-amplification structure, so I could try making mental contact with the flame dragon from afar, calm him down and tell him you are friends. The amplification from modern technology is essential to prevent my ancient counterpart to fight back my influence on Enryu."
That morning, the soldiers rushed to assemble the magic-amplification structure: it had a big antenna and a disc, like a radar station, and it was usually both used as a conventional and a magic radar. The pieces were already ready for assemble in the military trucks they had with them.
Thanks to this structure, Giselle managed to make mental contact with her flame dragon easily, and the amplification provided by the device have let her easily outcompete any interference her counterpart in that world could have tried to do.
Enryu was currently flying over the elven town of Koan, and it was about to attack in, but Giselle managed to order it to stay calm and stand down, just minutes before he rampaged. She also communicated him that the group she was escorting was friendly and to come and fly to her position
"I told him to come here, if we have him under our eyesight, it will be easier to control him, also I think researchers will enjoy the possibility of studying a species that is long extinct in our world" Giselle said
Strong foreign magic interferences were detected, and the two ex-apostles identified them as the attempts of disrupting the signal from either their counterparts from this world or the Gods themselves.
There was just one thing that was clear: they had to hurry up.
Giselle kept communicating with the Flame Dragon, while Rory was giving tips to the modern saderan soldiers to fight back a possible assault from her own counterpart of this world or even a God himself.
The leader of the Legion went out with the sapient undead Cicero de Moltose, who used his magic to look like he was still alive, to tell the local ancient Imperial garrison about the incoming Flame Dragon, to prevent them from freaking out.
Ancient Imperial Garrison POV
"Centurion Marius Hadrianus right? I understand your rank but… Are you really telling us that a FLAME DRAGON is coming here and we should stay calm and don't react? ARE YOU MAD?" the guard couldn't believe what he heard. A Centurion wearing a never seen before uniform, from the same group of legionaries that had appeared on Alnus Hill, had just told him that a FLAME DRAGON was approaching and they didn't have to worry or do anything about it.
"Citizen, calm down. I'm an Imperial nobleman, member of the Dove Party. My name is Cicero La Moltose. We have a plan, everything it's under control. Have faith in the Empire!"
"Famous politician and Senator Cicero La Moltose? N-noble s-sir.. I didn't recognize you… I'm sorry, i didn't want to sound like i had no faith in the Empire… I'll tell my commander to not react if the Flame Dragon is sighted."
Elf Village of Koan POV
It was huge.
It was a monster.
All the town was crawling in fear, ready to fight back.
But then, the huge red monster just stood there, hovering in the sky, and flew away, in the direction of Alnus.
"Father! Father what happened? Is the dragon fleeing?" A young blonde elf asked.
"It's all ok Tuka… For now, it's all ok… Get yourself some rest…"
All the elf watched, as the Flame Dragon flew away, they remained in fighting positions, ready to defend themselves if the monster changed his mind and came back. But he didn't. He disappeared in the horizon.
Modern Saderan HQ in Alnus.
"We can spot the Flame Dragon on the radar. With this speed i expect him to be here in about a day. Let's go to sleep now." A radar operator said.
"What's our plan for the meeting though?" Another soldier asked.
"First of all, we need to settle the Flame Dragon problem, then, I'm going to need volunteers to test if our magitech teleport system still works here. If it works, since everything is already mapped out, we could teleport into Ancient Sadera, if it doesn't, we must go there the old way, marching and with vehicles. The issue is that since our devices are set for our own Falmart, the warping gate could either bring us back into our own Sadera or disintegrate the people and objects who use it."
"We brought here the Empress and the politicians while knowing about this risk?"
"It's an urgent matter, and the Empress asked to rush this operation herself, with the approval of the politicians."
"What if we just bring them there manually?"
"We are in the classical age, there's no modern roads, and the paths are full of criminals, raiders and bandits, and unknown dangers, it's even riskier and it would take even more effort than just testing the warping system."
All the people in the base then went to sleep. Tomorrow it was going to be a hard day.
Ancient Coda Village POV
A Flame Dragon had been sighted, coming from the Koan Forest.
He was probably done with burning down the elven city of Koan and eating everyone there and was now eager for more blood.
A travelling citizen had told the Village Elder that the Legio IV Proptoriana and the Rose Order Knights had been sighted the previous day on Alnus Hill by a local scout, thus he was suggesting to the villagers to send someone to Alnus to ask for the protection of the Imperial Legionaries.
Meanwhile, in a house on the borders of the town, an old man with a long white beard and a young girl with blue hair were studying magic.
"Lelei, i feel a disturbance in the Magic. It's not just the Flame Dragon. I don't know how to describe it." The old man said.
"Master, we have no time for this. Pack your things, we must be ready to flee if the Imperial Legions are unable to help us. Have you checked if your staff works? Do you need help with it?"
"Hehehe, Lelei, my 'staff' would surely work if you checked it for me, but i'd rather have your well-developed older sister check it… hehehehe…"
Lelei hit her master with an ice ball.
"Old pervert…"
While they were preparing their stuff, the Elder had chosen two young boys to ride on horseback to Alnus to ask for help to the Legionaries spotted there.
Modern Saderan Alnus HQ
The Flame Dragon nearly there. In just 8 hours he would have been able to be seen in the sky.
Giselle and Rory had spent the entire night communicating with him mentally to prevent his from berserkering or falling prey to their counterparts of this world.
Meanwhile, the rest of the army was building a nice base of operation to accommodate the Empress and the other politicians and the military leaders.
From the countryside, an increasing number of ancient folks was coming to see what was happening.
Most of these people spoke Vulgar Italican or Vulgar Codan: they were the ancestors of the Formalians.
Unsurprisingly, the modern soldiers were able to talk with them just fine anyway thanks to modern magitech translation devices, while some Formalian descent soldiers were able to understand them anyway due to language similarities.
"Look at this hill. Right now, it's completely green, no buildings in sight except out small base. In about 120 years from now, the city of Alnus would be founded, and it would grow to be one of the biggest cities in the Falmartian continent in the next centuries" A soldier said to his friend.
"I honestly still can't believe we're in the past!"
Some soldiers were practicing their marksmanship in the range, while others were practicing close combat.
The modern Saderan soldier had obviously the basic magical knowledge that was mandatory since the first grade of primary school until the end of high school, plus some more advanced and specialized magic techniques to help in survival or fighting.
Every single soldier, was basically as capable as a medieval expert magician.
Magic illiteracy, along with standard illiteracy, were both extremely low in the modern Falmartian society.
It was esteemed that 98% of Western Falmartians were able to read, write and understand and use basic magic.
Some medieval folks were watching the training.
"I didn't know that every soldier of the Legio IV Proptoriana was a magician!"
A soldier guarding the post heard him.
"We are not. We do have some dedicated battlemages that specialize with mass spell casting and magic countermeasures but the rest of us are just normal soldiers."
A muffled voice was heard in the radio of the soldier.
"We have a problem, some boys on horseback are making a fuss on the entrance of the HQ. They mistook us for their own Legio IV Proptoriana and are asking us to help evacuate their town as they've sighted the flame dragon. Come here to help handling them."
"I'm sorry citizens, i have to do something" The soldier said to the medieval people he was talking to.
He went to the location of the incident, and he was welcomed by two boys on horseback, most likely 16 to 20yo, arguing with the guards.
"You're the Imperial Legion! You HAVE to help us evacuate! There is a FLAME DRAGON coming this way!"
"We're not who you think we are. YES, we are the Legio IV Proptoriana, but we're NOT THE Legio IV Proptoriana you are thinking of. Also, WE are the ones who summoned the dragon SPECIFICALLY to control it, we have everything under control. We have two specialists, Ms. Giselle and Ms. Mercury dealing with it. Go away and don't bother us! We're on a tight schedule!"
"WHAT? YOU SUMMONED IT? DON'T FEED US BULLSHIT! I KNEW THAT YOU WOULDN'T HELP! YOU SOLDIERS AND KNIGHTS THINK SO HIGHLY OF YOURSELF AND YOUR CHIVALRIC CODE BUT YOU NEVER ACTUALLY FOLLOW YOUR OWN RULES! FUCK YOU! FUCK THE EMPIRE! I HOPE IT COLLAPSES!"
"Woah, calm down everyone! What's happening?" The soldier that came from the other guarding post asked.
"THERE IS A GIANT DRAGON COMING HERE, READY TO INCINERATE US ALL, AND YOUR FRIENDS TOLD ME THEY HAVE EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL! WE HAVE TO FLEE! You are legionaries, it's your job to put your lives at risk to protect us citizens!"
The soldier made a gesture to his companions, as to tell them to let him finish before speaking again themselves.
"Well, why don't you explain your situation to the commanding officer? Maybe we can try to solve the situation. Where are you from?"
"Coda. We are from the village of Coda."
"Oh cool, my grandma was Formalian too, she was from Koan though. Well, follow me, i'll accompany you to our bosses."
The boys dismounted, and they were brought to the makeshift command center.
"Sir, we have a problem. Two locals Codans got scared by the Flame Dragon we're summoning here. The entire village of Coda is apparently fleeing, they want our help."
As he opened the door, he was welcomed by the sight of Rory, Giselle, the Empress, the diplomats and the leading officers and generals drinking coffee and chatting.
"APOSTLE OF EMROY! APOSTLE OF HARDY! YOU'RE HERE!" The two boys said bowing to the two ex-apostles.
"Why aren't you dressing your religious outfit? And why does Giselle look like she suddenly became an old lady?" the other boy asked.
Rory immediately stopped drinking her coffee.
She used her extremely long experience as a middle school and high school teacher and life experience in general, to handle the situation and calm down the boys. She had no time to explain everything now, so she just told them she and Giselle had a magic duel and they fell in the dirt, so their uniforms were dirty, and that they were summoning a dragon to please the Gods and the legionaries looked different because they were special legionaries trained to handle dragons.
Then she spoke with the military leaders.
The leaders all understood the importance of calming down the civilians as they all understood the kind of impact they were having on this world, and they agreed to send a little group of some soldiers to calm down the citizens of Coda.
"You told us the dragon is coming here at Alnus in about 5/6 hours, the travel time between Alnus and Coda is 5/6 hours on horse, how are you going to come there in time? Do you have wyverns?" One of the boys asked.
"Yes, we have wyverns and vehicles, it'll take one hour at most to come to Coda, follow me, I'll show you." Said a general.
The boys were brought to an open field, where 12 expert soldiers were already lined up, with two trucks and a wyvern, outfitted with a modern ballistic armor and a small magic deflector shield generator
"Woah, we're going to ride on the horseless carriages?"
"That's right boys, hop on"
The wyvern rider sat on the back of the beast, which was visibly bigger and more muscular than the ancient wyvern species, fruit of thousands of years of selective breeding. The modern battle-wyvern had a seat for the pilot on the ballistic armor it wore, and an aerodynamic glass canopy closed, to ensure safety even at very high speeds or during combat situations. On the creature's belly armor, flares and chaff launchers were mounted. The little cockpit on the top provided the pilot control to the defensive systems. For offense, the wyvern was able to spit white hot flames, which was helpful in close air support situations. The biggest assault wyverns were also armed with miniguns and rockets, and acted like living helicopters, but this one was a smaller, more agile one, meant for scouting.
The wyvern started to run, and then made a leap in the sky, opening its wings and flying fast. The pilot was to precede the ground team, to tell them if the path was safe and if they were taking the right direction, as the modern maps differed from the ancient landscape.
The boys on the truck watched mesmerized: they had never seen an Imperial wyvern rider up close.
After some minutes, the trucks, loaded with the men, also roared their engines, and started their brief journey to Ancient Coda.
Count Colt Formal POV
The Count had received the news from his scouts that the Emperor Sol Moltus wanted to officially establish diplomatic relations with Modern Sadera, and there were voices among the travelers that since yesterday, a "strange" Legio IV Proptoriana was spotted on Alnus. He knew that wasn't a strange legion at all, they were just the modern Saderans. And he was not amused by this news. Not amused at all. He had planned to surprise this world with modern technology and ideals and use them to establish his utopia. If "The Empire" contacted the modern world, technological development would have spread in a balanced way through his world anyway, making his efforts useless.
He also had received reports that a Flame Dragon was sighted flying from Koan to Alnus.
Count Colt had to be quick, he had to at least manage to seize full control over his fief before the modern people started to get too involved.
Thanks to a secret Gate he had built in a special underground bunker under his palace, hidden from the world at large, he had been able for the past week and half, to sneak the policeman he had "kidnapped", or better said, employed, along with some of his men, in modern Sadera during the night to buy smartphones, magic-based PCs and books and downloaded countless internet articles about history, technology, politics and such.
One of the things from the future that intrigued him the most was the idea of "Totalitarian Regime".
A regime that had absolute complete control over the ideology, lifestyle, culture, and aspect of the citizens.
If he was to establish a "Totalitarian Regime", he would be able to create the absolutely equal utopian nation he always dreamed of, where every sentient and sapient citizen was truly equal and the society was truly meritocratic and democratic, yet authoritarian, lawful and orderly.
The history books said that he was one of the first people in history to convert to Deusism, and as he studied Deusism, he understood why his own counterpart of the other world choose that religion. Deusism simply made more sense than Falmartian Paganism. It was simply objectively a better religion from a political and logical point of view.
The Deusist theology was based upon the Devilish theology of the Dimoniak people, it worshipped a single metaphysical God, whose existence was only proven by the existence of Deusist magic, just like there was Emroy-based magic or Hardy-based magic or Elange-based magic.
As Deus wasn't a physical individual and he didn't directly intervene on the world, he was automatically a concept superior to everything, something unlimited. Under Deus, every physical being was equally worthless, as Deus's power was just out of comprehension for every physical being, thus it couldn't even be compared.
From what he could gather from the texts and documents he studied, the Pagan Gods actively despised progress, and kept curbing the progress of civilizations, fearing they could rival theirs.
On the other hand, Deusism and its derivates were the perfect religion for an equal society.
In the other world, the prophets of Deusism spread ideals of peace, equality and tolerance, and Deusism was actually the thing that put an end to the ancient practice of slavery, that slowly evolved to serfdom and then disappeared completely. Without Deusism, the modern western liberal falmartian society couldn't exist.
Thus, Count Colt Formal had already decided to use it in his new ideal regime.
He also planned to incorporate the concept of "political militias" and political polarization. He had planned to describe all of his possible political rivals as "Feudalists", opposed to his own fledging ideology: "National Coltism". He was already training and indoctrinating a special militia made of the most loyal people he knew: the Yellowshirts.
Colt was also studying all the speeches of the most charismatic dictators that existed through the history of the other Falmart to create the best speech ever out of them.
He had studied the industrial revolution and the birth of the internet, and he was already making plans to build secret underground facilities to slowly start industrialization in Italica.
He had given the blueprints and the theories behind modern weaponry and modern spells to his most loyal court magicians and technicians, while he gave his daughter Myui to read, the wyvern-fighter-ace manual and some other books that the Myui of the other world had written, as he planned to put Myui in charge of his air squadrons when she was older
Studying the books from the future he had discovered that magic wasn't a gift at all. In Modern Falmart, every single kid 6yo and older was able to use magic because it was a mandatory subject at school just like reading, thus Colt had decided to implement education reforms to make school mandatory too in his current medieval domain.
He himself had learnt how to use magic thanks to the modern manuals, and he already became several times more powerful in a week than some of the Archmages of Rondel became in years, thanks to his knowledge of modern magic theories and techniques.
His plan for modernization was going to be slow and difficult already without the direct interference from the future world governments. He had to stop the Emperor from making deals with the future in order to make his plans work, or at least, make it so that he would have got the edge anyway.
Maybe he could start his own diplomatic mission with the future in secret.
While Italica was technically a city of The Empire, The Empire was quite decentralized, and the Imperial Dynasty only held direct control over Sadera and some other cities around it. Everything else was de-facto independent: The Empire was formed by thousands of cities, lords and princes, everyone with its own land.
Some other nations like Mudwan, Elbe, League and Toumaren were classified as vassals to The Empire but were actually just vassals of the lords of Sadera.
This meant that he was basically the leader of his own nation and had every right to make deals with other political entities.
That day he had summoned his Council to discuss about his plans.
The Italican Council was mostly made up by the politicians that were most loyal to the Count, but there were also people who were there just for their influence, just as Colt's two oldest daughters husbands and their own henchmen.
Count Colt Formal sat down and started his speech.
"I have decided to implement some drastic changed to the organization of the State. First and most revolutionary of all, the feudal system is abolished." He spoke.
Everyone gasped.
"WHAT?"
"MY COUNT, YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!"
"FEUDALISM IS THE BASIC FOUNDATION OF OUR SOCIETY; WE CAN'T ABOLISH IT!"
"Everyone, calm down. I will obviously not drastically change the system overnight. But my plan is to destroy this weak system of loyalty and command chains. Instead, i want to focus on building loyalty to the Nation itself, to the State. Every lord, every citizen, every soldier, will not be anymore loyal to another lord, but to the Italican State. I will accompany this transition with a focus on building up an Italican national identity and culture."
"Economically, feudalism will be replaced with a more state-owned system accompanied with few private business and industries. You can be the owners of these businesses and keep working and profiting off the lands you already have if you want. Former feudal lords will become government officials instead."
"To make these changes become long-lasting, i also decided to make an education reform. I want school to be mandatory. My dream would be a primary, secondary, and high school system, with universities at the top, but for now we'll just focus on fighting illiteracy and providing basic education."
Count Colt Formal smiled as he finished his declarations.
Everyone except his loyal collaborators was horrified.
They were nobles, without the feudal system, their rights and positions would suddenly become meaningless.
They couldn't even conceive a society that wasn't based on feudalism.
Even the merchant republics, the guild-states and the mage government city of Rondel had systems that somehow resembled feudalism.
"Anyone has complains about my plans? Raise your hands if you're opposed to my plan please." Count Formal said.
Many high-ranking noblemen raised their hands.
"I was expecting this to happen. That's why i had already prepared a powerful argument to change your minds." Colt Formal said, clapping his hands,
The doors of the room opened, and several people wearing dark yellow linen shirts, armed with batons walked in.
"Dear, fellow noblemen, i want to introduce you to the Yellowshirts. They are both noblemen, men of the clergy, merchants, and poor people. They are men and women. They are both humans, catfolk, warrior bunnies, orcs or wolfmen. I organized them secretly during the last weeks. They are all different, but they all share one thing. A dream. A dream of a better society. A better society that i can offer. They'll escort you in some special places where you'll be able to uhm… think about it…"
Count Roen, the husband of Elle, one of Colt's daughters, recognized Persia and Mamina, two of Colt's demihuman maids, in the ranks of the Yellowshirts.
"WHAT? YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO US! WE MARRIED YOUR DAUGHTERS! OUR CLANS WILL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS! TRAITOR! MADMAN!" The two main nobles screamed as they were brought away by the Yellowshirts militia.
"DICTATOR! TYRANT!" another man was shouted, while the Yellowshirts tied his hands.
The Count remained alone in the room with his most trusted councilors.
Count Colt I Formal had successfully lead the coup d'etat against his own government.
Meanwhile, in the town of Coda:
The column of carts and wagons that was being prepared for the evacuation of the city suddenly stopped, as an Imperial wyvern rider had landed right in the middle of the city.
A glass container enclosed the strange knight that was riding the animal, and as soon as the reptile stopped flying, it opened, letting the Imperial out.
The peasants cautiously approached him, they were reluctant and confused. Just about thirty seconds after the wyvern landed, they heard roars in the distance. Not roars of animals, it was more like a mechanical, continuous roaring.
Soon enough, they could spot two horseless metal carriages, sporting the Imperial dragon symbol.
"It's the Imperial legionaries, we're saved!" The Elder shouted cheerfully.