Port of Lelystad, Paganda
29 September 2019
21 February 1639
Port of Lelystad is one of the two largest ports on the island of Paganda. It was the main port used to transport goods and resources from and to the industrial sectors on the western part of the island. Although it was common to see warships lying anchored in here, seeing many of them at the same time was rather uncommon.
"So many people's gathering here," Jonathan said while looking at the harbor.
"Yeah, you could say that again, sir," Corporal André Patou said while looking at his phone, increasing the brightness level before tapping the camera icon and starting taking photos and videos.
Jonathan, who looked at his supposed guardian, who was busy taking photos and videos in the middle of his work can only sigh before asking, "Have you not taken any pictures before?" He asked with a confused face.
Patou, who was just taking a video of their surroundings which was full of goods from another part of the world, surprisingly was also confused with the question. Although, for sure he had taken some photos from the time when they started to lay anchor in this harbor into this time, he still thought it was not enough, just like any young crews and soldiers on this Diplomatic Fleet. But, when he started to think again, Jonathan is kind of an old man, and he was born in a time when phones with cameras weren't even a thing yet, even cameras were rather rare due to the fact that Erusea at that time was so busy taking more territories rather than improving the economy. So then, he kind of understood why this Diplomat didn't like to take many photos.
But the question now is, how to explain it to him?
Yet, he wouldn't need to think about it even further because an aide of Leiforian special delegates will approach them soon and say, "The ceremony will start soon. Please follow me into the location now, sir," the aide said with a hand gesture signaling to follow him, translated by a special device that Jonathan used to translate it from Belkan to Erusean.
Jonathan nodded as a sign of understanding what he just said and then followed him soon, followed by Patou on his behind.
On the ocean, it was just the same as usual. Some birds were flying above the ocean, accompanied by some dolphins who were jumping on the surface of the water, making it look like that both of those different species were on a race or something. Not far away from there, a fish that looked like a whale was shooting water from its nose.
Yet, starting from this day, the usual life on this ocean would starting to be different than before as some metallic ships were on their ways. It was a large fleet consisted mostly by warships from different countries, at least three when taking a look at those warships. One of it, who was flying a flag with rays on it can be immediately identified as a Milishian warship. And on the deck, two persons can be seen talking about something.
"I see, so your kid now is in Runepolis Magic Academy, just like his father, " said a person.
"Yeah, although he was quite hesitate at first, but now he seems to really enjoy RMA, " the father of the said kid answered with a smile on his face.
"So then, what do you think about this, Groza?" A person asked while watching the Erusean and Leiforian ships in front of theirs. Since he doesn't wear any militaristic uniform, it can be said that he must be one of the Milishian delegation group.
The person that he asked didn't immediately answer his questions since he didn't understand what he was actually asking.
"What do you mean Eoin?" He asked with a confused face.
The person that was now identified as Eoin, now looking at him with a flat expression before then closed his eyes and began to explain it.
"Well, you see, the whole world was just calm enough until suddenly, this country popped up out of nowhere and caused this chaos before-...holy shit!"
Eoin was taken aback by some steps after his eyes caught something in his vision. His face was full of shock and cannot say even a single word even if he really wanted to.
"Hey, what's happening?"
Eoin doesn't answer his questions by words, but instead raises his right hand and points it out into something on the horizon. When Groza took a look at it, now he could see it, a tall structure like a tower was standing straight from the ground into the sky.
"What in the name of Azgroz is that thing!?"
That was exactly what Eoin wanted to say. That tower, if he took it right, was situated on the ground of this country that they would be visited soon enough. But, why would this country that according to the Leiforian to be such a backward nation back into the middle ages could build such a huge and complex structure?
Sure, some civilizations back in the past could build some amazing and wonderful sites just like that triangle shaped building in Louria but, it didn't help when they learned from Leiforian that the mysterious unidentified flying object who caused chaos over the whole western section of the Mu continent was originated from this country.
Yet, still, they don't understand what that giant structure actually is, and for what purpose?
Suddenly a sound disrupted his mind, when he heard a person rushing into their location by the sound of footsteps on this Orichalcum deck. And it wouldn't take even a minute before he can see who is that person is,
"Ernest, what caused you to go in here?" Eoin asked with one of his eyebrows raised since his aide wasn't supposed to awake yet.
The person he asked didn't immediately answer his questions, but instead took a deep breath before answering it by saying, "I heard that there was something interesting on the surface so, I decided to rush here."
"Something that was interesting eh, I believe what you mean is that thing, " Eoin pointed his finger into the horizon where that giant structure lies.
When Ernest took a look at the point that Eoin had directed to, he was immediately taken aback by surprise.
"Woah... wha... What in the name of Azgroz is that structure!? "
Three of them now were stunned by the structure that was lying so high and yet still stands straight and firmly on the ground without tilting even a bit. Groza, the Technical Officer for this mission began to take his binoculars and take a look.
"So, there were some structures on the bottom that seems to support the main structure to not fall but still, I don't understand how they can keep the upper structure to still stand firm, " he said after taking a look for a moment.
Eoin was silent for a moment and closed his eyes before he said, "Magic? "
Groza meanwhile, only can sigh before he said, "That's actually possible but, even with magic that structure should be a bit larger than its current size, or it's just because we look at it from afar that makes it look smaller. Still, let's just say we will take a look later."
"Understood."
"Yeah but still, I'm really curious about the purpose of that structure..." He said with a curious face while playing with his fingers on a fence in the ship.
"Maybe that is a stair to the sky?" Ernest guessed while still looking at the tall structure.
Eoin was chuckling after hearing it since it sounds so absurd, but not for Groza.
"Hmm, if that was truly a stair to the sky, it seems that this country called... What is this country's name again? Kingdom..." Groza tried to remember that country's name and put his right hands in chin.
"Kingdom of Terusan?" Ernest chirped with an enthusiastic face.
"Ah yes, that's, Terusan!"
Eoin then stopped chuckling and started to pay attention to what Groza would say soon.
"So, if that was truly a stair to the sky, then the Kingdom of Terusan actually is civilized enough by the information we got so far. They got metal ships, an unmanned aerial vehicle, a giant airship if we could say it like that, and now a stair into the sky which we don't know yet about its purpose. I would say that their, quote, unmanned aerial vehicle should be taken seriously since...uh..." Strangely, he stopped explaining to them, making both Eoin and Ernest very curious about what's actually happening.
"What? " Eoin asked.
Groza looked very confused, this first class and one of the best in his division in the Minister of Ancient Sorcerous Empire Countermeasures closed both of his eyes and took a deep breath before then sat down on a box in behind him. His behavior makes both of his colleagues notice that something is wrong.
"Is it..." Eoin wanted to continue his sentence, but he decided to stop it to not make it like a pressure.
"Well, this is a secret. But, I believe both of you so come here!"
Hearing that, both of them then move closer until it looks close enough. Then, the technical officer began to whisper information to them.
"Just a quite secret information, actually the Ancient Sorcerers Empire also had that, quote, unmanned aerial vehicle. But, we couldn't reverse engineering it since the technology behind it is way beyond of our capabilities. Having the Terusan understand it and can reverse engineer this vehicle, or maybe even produce it is just one of the signals that they may be on par with us, or even..."
Hearing that, the three of them now began to think about the worst possibilities that may happen if the Erusean do something bad. And now, they understand why the government needs to send a Technical Officer from the MOASEC for this visit.
Not wanting to stay too long in this gloomy atmosphere, Eoin then opened a document that contained basic information about the country they would visit soon, and was surprised when he read its name.
"So... this country name is actually Erusea and not Terusan!?" He was scratching his head when he realized his mistake, and wondered how it could go from Erusea to Terusan.
Meanwhile at the same time, Groza, who took a device from his bag and pressed some buttons on it, was scratching his head while looking at his device. His face that was full of confusion attracted an attention of the Milisihian Diplomat who then asked,
"Is there any problem, technical officer?"
Groza then turned his eyes from the device onto the Eion. Then, he replied shortly with, "Yes."
"Hmm, what is the problem?" He asked.
"Ah, as you already know, this is a device to detect any magic equipment but..." The Technical Officer sounded so confused, and couldn't explain it to him.
"But?"
"Simply to say, I do not see any dots aside from our ships."
The answers made him raise his eyebrow, signifying that he was also curious about this.
"Are you sure that the device is not broken?"
"No, totally not. I tried to check it and it's not broken at all. I also restarted it multiple times but it's not working." He said with a very frustrated face.
The diplomat's face looked like he's not believe a single word he just said.
"Sigh. Well, you can uhh...try it by yourself if you do not believe me," he said while offering the device.
The diplomat then took it and clearly saw the Mirishial ships on the left. He then turned on the back, and now they were on the right. Proving that the device was not broken at all. And of course, it was so mind blowing for the three of them.
"Strange, how can the Erusean possess this technology while not using magic on their equipment?" He said while giving the device back to Groza.
"It's uhh, it only means one thing, right?" His hands were scratching his head as this seemed to offend him.
"What is it?" Ernest asked.
"The Erusean...actually...weren't using magic at all!" He said clearly and a bit loudly, resulting in some of the sailors turning their head to the source of the sound that they just heard.
"So then, that only means one thing, the Erusean were like Mu, a mecha-woooaaa, hold a second!"
The surprised and confused face of Groza was making both Eoin and Ernest wonder about what he just saw.
"What, what happened!?"
"Well, it seems that the device captured something on the west, coming from behind that thing! " Groza said while pointing his finger at the strange tall structure.
"From... behind?" Eoin asked with one of his eyebrows raised, and his face expression clearly signified that he was so confused at this moment.
"Yes, and it's moving at a high speed!"
"So...does the Erusean actually possess magic?"
Groza then looked at the diplomat. He then wanted to express his opinion but, when he wanted to say it, he heard something from the sky, a sound of engine accompanied by something like, "A song," he said.
"What?"
"A song! Have you not heard of it?"
The question forced the diplomat to sharpen his hearings. What he could hear was the sound of the sea and ship engine. But seconds later, he could hear it, a song, which the lyrics seemingly wrote in a language he knew.
"Muan," he said.
"I think it would be far more similar to Parpaldian though," Groza said.
"Probably, but I don't know much regarding Parpaldia so, let's leave it and look at the source of the magic, and this song too."
"Understood!"
Both of them then looked again at the giant tower that seemed like it could reach the top of the sky or even beyond it. And from behind it, they could see a dark point becoming more closer and bigger, and it was flying in their direction.
"A... plane?" Ernest asked.
"Yeah, so it was a plane then. Seems acceptable as making an engine for a plane wasn't easy after all," Groza said with a pleasant face. Now he could write something in his reports to the Ministry.
"Hmm, but why is the song also getting louder?" The diplomat asked.
"Wait..." Groza said as he noticed something.
As the plane got closer, the song was also getting louder and clearer. Not long after, they could see the plane was climbing down to the ground. And after it was only some meters before it crashed into the sea, the plane then, highly possibly a jet fighter, took a sharp turn and back to its former position.
"How is that even possible!?"
Groza and probably all the other Otrilians who just watched the jet taking a sharp turn just can't accept it. Even though they watched it with their own eyes, something like that shouldn't even be possible to happen.
"Wait, why is it slowly getting lower and lower?"
The jet fighter that just previously did unacceptable things, was flying lower on the surface of the sea. And then, it was slowly getting lower until the jet was partially submerged on the sea. And somehow, the plane didn't explode nor the engine going down.
"Ho...hold on, how-"
Before he could finish his sentence, the jet fighter took a sharp turn and flew into the sky in a vertical line. Thus, leaving Groza and the other Otrilians frozen in their confusion, shock, and amazes.
"Co-could you explain it to me why..."
The diplomat wanted to finish his sentence but oddly, his mouth couldn't do it. Groza, who knew what he wanted to ask, answered it with a trembling voice.
"I... I don't know exactly. That was for sure wouldn't be achieved by a simple mechanical engine but... for what kind of magic they used to do that, I... I don't know..."
Then, what they did was just watch the aircraft flying in the sky. While it was taking a turn and flying back to the north, suddenly another jet popped in and joined it, before then flying to the south and disappeared.
"That jet also had magic on it so... " Groza closed his eyes in confusion. Simply, he didn't understand why the Erusean aircraft had magic while their ship didn't.
While they were still trying to process the event that had just happened in front of them, another dot appeared on the device.
"It's from the east... huh?"
They know very well that there was nothing on the east before since this fleet was coming from there. But, for the sake of curiosity, they decided to just walk to the starboard side.
"There's nothing on here."
They had arrived, but there was nothing there, almost nothing but sea and cloudy sky.
"What are all of you doing here?" Asked someone with a high tone.
When the three of them looked at the source of sound, they could see an officer standing there while the fresh sea winds blew his long hair. Looking from the clothes he used, this man was a naval officer.
"Hmm?" The Naval Officer was murmuring with a curious face, especially when he noticed the device that was held by the Technical Officer.
"Is the device broken or-wait a minute...what sound is that?"
The Naval Officer felt something was wrong with the sound. He never heard any sound like this before, not even like the one who was just played out of nowhere and it was more like a music and no one was playing it right now, the closest one was in the lobby room, and with all of this sound nearby, they shouldn't be able to hear it. But more importantly, this music he heard right now wasn't like any other, it's making him think that there's no hope to fight and any resistance is futile, although he didn't know what is the thing that makes him feel so weak right now.
He then turned his eyes to look at Groza, Ernest and Eoin. Somehow, they were looking at the sky with a trembling body. Feeling curious and noticing that something is wrong, he decided to take a look at the sky, and just when he looked there, something was coming from the cloud. A giant flying wing with a white paint almost everywhere. He seems to remember what that thing was, but he couldn't figure it out right now. Yet, when that giant flying wing slowly drops some smaller plane from its wings, a flashback of papers comes out in its mind.
By that Groza, the Technical Officer knew clearly what that thing was.
"I... isn't that...the one who attacked Mu and Leifor before?" He said with a trembling voice.
Soon, the other crews would start to notice it as well. And then, the all Otrilians on the fleet also started to see the magnificent flying wing aircraft.
"So... that was the thing who had caused havoc across the entirety of our western states.. huh?"
The Leiforian diplomat, Erik von Haufenstein said while standing straight and dashing while looking at the thing with both of his eyes. He then turn his gazed onto his aide like trying to gave him some codes before then decided to abandon it and say,
"Stay strong and don't be afraid!"
Despite that, the entire diplomatic fleet could only stand on their position while watching those small unmanned planes and their carrier flying away from them. While their eyes were locked at the plane's formation, they could also take a glimpse of their destination, the port city of Selatapura.
"Is this a welcome greet or..." Groza couldn't finish his sentence as he doesn't understand what just happened actually.
"Probably yes, but it didn't look like a greeting at all, more like intimidating," Eoin said, which both Groza and Ernest agreed to.
"Well then, time to prepare our things. Excuse me then," Groza said before leaving..
Meanwhile on the coastal city of Selatapura, a beautiful young woman could be seen standing proudly and elegantly on the near side of the totally normal container truck and not a secret drone launcher. Her hair color was brown, with a white accessories used on her head that made her look kinda cute. With a lively and cheerful face, also all white dress from top to bottom and a rose brooch on her top left dress, it could be said that she was the princess of Erusea, Rosa Cosette D'Elise. And as usual, she was accompanied by her doggo on the right side aside from the other Erusean official, the famously adult Golden Retriever, JPEG Dog.
Her eyes were focused on watching the arrival of the so called Otrilians diplomatic fleets, including a portion of Erusean reserve fleet that were on there bringing back the Erusean diplomats. Aside from his doggo, a military officer and some soldiers were standing behind her as a guard. After some time, the military officer then walked into her and said, "Your Highness, it's time for you to attend the final meeting in preparation to greet them! " He said with a bit of pressure to make sure the princess attended it soon.
"I understand, then shall we go now? " She answered with a bit of relief after watching that the diplomatic fleet was about to enter Selatapura.
These encounters would be really interesting and the results would be decisive for the future of Erusea, at least according to her.
Notes
In Strangereal universe, whenever enemy aces or bosses appears, their theme song would be played immediately, resulting in something like "The Sky Is Speaking Latin"