Argentina.
"Breaking news, the identity of the young men killed by Parlpadian soldiers is confirmed." A journalist from Channel 9 was giving the news. "At this moment the president is demanding answers from the Parlpadian government."
"Who are the Parlpadians? Our correspondents in Rodenius will ask the natives their opinions about this so-called superpower." Spoke the Telefe panelist. The opinion of the natives was very bad, even in Louria they had a negative opinion.
"They are savages! Savages!" Said the Cronica tv headline as part of Cristobal's speech was played, and yes, they did make a reference to pocahontas in the midst of the chaos. Although it's not by far the most controversial thing Cronica has done in the past, in fact some viewers were a bit disappointed that they didn't do something as infamous as they are used to.
"All the channels are on the same topic." Said the police officer changing the channel. "It seems you were saved by the bell, now the voices calling for your resignation and imprisonment are minimal."
"This has given me a little more time, but still the senate should be about to impeach me by now." Cristobal was drinking a hot mate.
"Actually, that was suspended. I think they are waiting for this diplomatic crisis to pass to remove you from power, after all they don't want to be responsible for starting or fighting a war."
"Are you saying it would be best for me to start a war to stay in power?"
"Well someone must rule, however I wouldn't count on you being able to stay in power for long. Due to the technological difference between Parlpadia and our country a victory will not win you an election." Said the officer.
"If that is the case, why would no politician dare to replace me?" Cristobal did not understand, with the technological difference anyone in charge of the country could easily win.
"So as not to compromise their reputation, most of the population would expect a quick victory in the event of a war, but the military doesn't know much about Parlpadia's magical capabilities except that they are able to outwit our radar technology, so there is a chance that a war might not go as well as most of the population thinks." Replied the uniformed one.
"I understand, if one of them takes the reins of the country but takes too long to win the war or has more casualties than expected he or she will be labeled incompetent and probably ruin they political career... Exactly the same thing when I was given the presidency." The president sighed, he was the safe choice, if he won quickly and decisively it didn't change the fact that he was still very unpopular and would be impeached. On the other hand if he met with more resistance than expected he would take all the criticism for having problems winning against a Victorian era country.
"Are you sure there is no one willing to take the risk?" Even with the reasons given the president found it strange that no one wants power now.
"The truth is there are two people willing to take their place and fight the war, yet no one in the senate trusts them." Replied the officer as he searched for something on his cell phone. "Juan José Gomez Centurión from NOS and Alejandro Biondini from Frente Patriota are the ones willing to take your place."
"I understand why I'm still here. Gomez Centurion, who participated in the carapintadas uprisings and is quite popular in the army, can make the population abandon the malaise they have against the military if he is successful," Cristóbal said. "Politicians will not allow the military to regain civilian support and make them regain political influence; they will not take the risk of letting the military regain power."
"Indeed, it was precisely the discontent that the population holds against the armed forces that prevented them from taking control of the country at the time of the transfer. Doing so would have triggered a civil war."
"And the Senate doesn't trust Biondini either because, well, he's a neo-Nazi. They're not going to take the risk of putting a neo-Nazi as president, knowing that I won't be in the Casa Rosada for much longer." The president could rest assured that he could remain in power until the crisis with Parlpadia comes to an end.
"However, I wouldn't be surprised if the nationalist ideas of NOS or Biondini's neo-Nazism gain more popularity. Now that the population is aware of how hostile this world is and its technological lag, ideas of subjugation or isolation could become more popular."
"Time will tell."
Esthirant, Parlpadian Empire.
In the imperial palace, Emperor Ludius was furious.
"How is it possible that those Argentinians demand reparations from us?! It was their responsibility for send their spies! This is ridiculous!"
"Your Majesty, someone has exposed the summary execution carried out by our soldiers. Spies or not, the problem is that we're risking a new enemy entering the war. I humbly recommend that we pay what they are asking for." Kaios took the risk of angering the emperor for the sake of the empire's security.
"Pay?! Pay for killing spies?!" Arde was furious upon hearing that. "We should expel the Argentine diplomat for demanding such nonsense!"
"While I also want to avoid a war with the Argentinians..." Elto took a moment before continuing. "They also demanded public apologies... If they had discreetly asked for reparations, I would be willing to support Kaios' idea, but the Argentinians were quite vocal about the situation... We cannot accept the Argentine demands."
"Exactly! They want to tell the world that they were able to trample over us!" said Arde.
The reason for these problems was that if Parlpadia were to accept, the whole world would witness a superpower humiliating itself before a nation from beyond the civilized regions, apologizing for killing spies. It would be a severe blow to their reputation and would increase Argentina's diplomatic influence.
"I will not pay a single gold coin, and I will not apologize for defending the interests of my empire!" The emperor exploded in anger. "I want diplomatic relations with Argentina to be severed! I want their delegation expelled, and I want Argentinians to be considered persona non grata on imperial soil!"
The Argentine delegation was getting ready to leave; they had been given 48 hours to board a ship and depart.
Agustín was packing his bags when he heard someone knocking on the door of his room.
He didn't answer the first knock on the door, he was deep in thought.
"I can't believe they didn't even deign to apologize. This will make the whole country hate Parlpadia, I wonder if Cristobal is capable of starting a war to save his own ass."
Agustin did not want a war, he believed Argentina should concentrate its efforts on developing and recovering from the crises caused by the transfer. That is why Argentina's demands did not include such things as handing over those responsible, knowing that they would totally refuse to hand over top military commanders in the middle of a war.
Mistaking the students for spies is not hard to understand, so compensation to the families of the victims and a public apology admitting they were wrong would have been enough to de-escalate the situation. However, the Parlpadians doubled the bet and not only refused to apologize, they also declared the Argentines persona non grata and broke any communication channel.
"It will be very difficult to convince the population not to go to war. Especially because they think it will be easy. Maybe it will be, maybe it won't, but even if the war lasts a week mobilizations are costly and we will need to mobilize a lot."
At that moment there is another knock at the door and this time Agustin hears it.
"One moment!" He quickly went to answer the door, when he opened it he found a demi-human with deer-like features.
"My name is Sem Mulder, Leiforian ambassador to Parlpadia. You must be Agustin from Argentina." The deer man introduced himself. "I would like to speak with you if it wouldn't be too much trouble."
Sitting across from each other as they drank a cup of tea. The ambassador was silent.
"And... what would you like to talk about?" Several minutes had passed and Agustin did not understand what was going on.
"Wait a minute, it's not the time yet" He said taking a sip of his tea.
"..."
It was several minutes of uncomfortable silence,, the ambassador occasionally checked his pocket watch made of gold.
"Mr. Ambassador, I need to finish packing my things. Perhaps another time we can-"
"And now it's time to talk." He said interrupting him. " Sorry about that, but my mens were casting a spell so that no Parlpadian agents would overhear our talk." He said putting away his watch. "I'll get straight to the point, in case of a war with Parlpadia, Leiforia is willing to support Argentina."
This completely surprised Agustín. He knew that other powers would try to undermine Parlpadia through this war but he did not expect them to be so direct.
"... In what way is your country willing to help us and in exchange for what?" Asked the Argentine diplomat, he knew it would not be something simple.
"It is not much, simply that you allow us to bring military observers and carry out joint operations... And of course, a sphere of influence division in Philiades once the war is over." Spoke the Leiforian ambassador pulling out a map, marking the zone of influence that Argentina would gain which was the east coast of Parlpadia.
"I understand, this is not just to weaken Parlpadia further. They also want to make sure we don't expand too far into the continent and become direct competition to their military power." Augustine mused. Although Altaras and the British have given difficulties to the superpower these are not able to defeat them definitively, but if Argentina joins and defeats a superpower the whole world will be turned upside down, on the other hand if Leiforia joins and takes most of the spoils of war then the story changes.
In the eyes of the world it will be one superpower defeating another, rather than an uncivilized country defeating a superpower, even if Argentina has a greater share of the war most of the credit would go to them.
However, there was still something that did not add up for Agustin. This was supposed to mean that Leifor knows that Argentina is going to win the war with or without his help, however such thinking is quite unusual for a superpower. Sure Parlpadia was having a hard time with Altaras but no one in their right mind believes that Altaras can win. The same they should think about Argentina.
"I need to take this to my superiors." Replied Augustin.
"Of course, we will be in contact." The ambassador replied, getting up and then shaking Agustín's hand.
Leiforia, imperial palace.
The Leiforian Emperor Pieter Visser was at a meeting with Prince Hilas of the Gra Valkas Empire, both were playing Checkers. The relationship between the two countries had improved a lot and, since the battleship Atlastar appeared on the shores of the capital, no one in the Leiforian government dared to see the Gra Valkians as inferior.
"I didn't think you guys were that interested in Argentina."Said the king as he moved a piece at random. "We were counting on a war to be fought in the third civilization, but not so soon."
"Argentina is... an interesting country, we don't know much about them except that they came from another world like us, it's normal that we are interested in them." He said moving a piece.
The truth is that both did not know how to play, both were very bad at board games like this or chess, however when they were both part of royalty they were expected to play this type of strategic games as a sign of their martial intelligence... However, in their games they simply limited themselves to pretending an aura of dignity and pretending that they were methodically thinking about the next move while neither of them knew what they were doing.
"Do you want to know if Argentina is a threat to you?" The emperor asked.
"Yes, partly."
"Well, if you guys plan to help us too even a little bit it's sure that Parlpadia will be defeated,"
"We will send some volunteers, however we must watch yor back in case Mu decides to attack you." Hilas replied.
"After seeing that monstrosity that is the Atlastar I doubt they will start a war." He said laughing slightly, remembering the chill he felt when he got on that boat. "Can I ask you something, my friend?"
"Of course."
"What are they planning to do with us?" Asked Emperor Pieter, making them both stop playing. "With that battleship they could simply blow the capital to pieces and subjugate us, however they decided to be diplomatic, which I appreciate but now they want to interfere in a war on the other side of the world. I do not know if Gra Valkas is looking for peace or if they are preparing the ground for a large-scale conquest."
Prince Hilas is silent for a few moments, looking for the words to respond. "It's a complicated thing, my country still doesn't know what it wants."
"I understand, factionalism,"
"Exactly, there are those who want the empire to expand as of place and others who are tired of the war."
"However, it seems that both groups are in favor of intervening in Philiades."
"For completely different reasons, the pro-war ones want to know what wars between superpowers are like and prepare the war machine, while the pacifists want to show the empire that, even if we are more technologically advanced, it would not be worth plunging into another war."
If magic becomes very dangerous, the pro-peacemakers will argue that another war will only cause more suffering to the country, and if magic is not a threat, they will say that it is simply not worth keeping military spending so high since no one is a threat to national security.
"So, what role would my empire play in the event of war and peace?" asked the Leiforian emperor. He knew perfectly well that he could not oppose this Behemoth called Gra Valkas and his options were to be destroyed or to be basically an unofficial vassal state, although the only ones who know about this situation are the Leiforian emperor himself and prince Hilas.
However, this situation also had its advantages for Leiforia.
"If the warlike and militaristic factions win it is possible that they will try to get your country to join us. But in truth it is unlikely that we will get to that point, most likely our countries will be nothing more than trading partners."
Hearing this, the emperor showed an expression of relief. Despite being at a clear disadvantage when it came to negotiating he had a plan in mind, a plan that would allow him to bridge the technology gap, be the equal with Gra Valkas and be one step closer to Mirishial. These summoned super advanced countries are not going to stop their ambition to become the world's first superpower.
Mu Republic, Otahei.
"And that's Mugei's report in Parlpadia, it seems that it is inevitable that Argentina will enter the war." Responded the head of the foreign affairs department.
"Thank you for explaining the situation Mr. Audigs. Officer Lassan, do you think this will tip the balance in favor of Parlpadia's enemies?"
"Of course Mr. President, we must support Parlpadia if we want to prevent Leiforia from gaining more influence in the third civilization."
"I don't think that would be wise." Interrupted Myrus Leclerc, the chief tenological officer of the army's research and analysis department. "The naval superiority of the Argentine ships seen at Fenn are undeniable, if we wanted to prevent the entire Parlpadian fleet from sinking at sea then we would have to send our own fleet, which would be a declaration of war."
"However, if Leiforia sees that we are willing to fight they will avoid interfering in the region." Officer Lassan replied.
"That or you could start a full scale war all over the world." Counter argued Commander McGale.
"We can't let Leiforia set foot on the third civilization either, that would cause them to have the resources to overtake us." Said the Mu president.
"We could try to get closer to Argentina and that way we will have influence on Philiades as well." Leclerc proposed.
"Nothing guarantees that they will alienate us after the war."
"Nor can we declare a war just because, public opinion will be furious if we do."
Opinions went back and forth, until Audigs spoke again.
"I propose that, if Leiforia intervenes directly in the conflict, we support both Parlpadia and Argentina. To Parlpadia we will help them with leases and send a military attaché to Argentina at the same time. This way Parlpadia will be able to resist against the Leiforians and we maintain good relations with the Argentinians while calling for dialogue and peace."
"That's ridiculous! If Leiforia attacks Parlpadia we should go to war!" Lassan said indignantly.
"No one wants a full scale war, if Leiforia attacks they will be seen as the aggressor by the international community and we will have a strong case against them during the world conference. We will be able to get Mirishial on our side and force them to withdraw from Philiades." Audigs replied.
That strategy made sense, the lend-lease would allow Parlpadia to resist very well against the coalition allowing them to hold out until it was time for the world conference. On the other hand sending a military attaché to Argentina would tell them that they were not looking to be hostile against them and that they were looking for a friendly relationship once the war was over. At the same time Mu remains as a promoter of peace in the eyes of the international community.
"Alright, then this will be the strategy to follow. Gentlemen, prepare because the events that will come in the future will change the world forever." The president said ending the meeting.
