The American In Another World
Chapter 10: The Star God

Elf Refugee Caravan, Somewhere East of the Gym

Under the scorching sun, a line of refugees marched forward, hoping to reach Ejei. This caravan came from a small Elf village, isolated from the events of the outside world and thus included the last to escape. After receiving news of the fall of Gim a few days after the Lourian invasion, they were evacuated as quickly as possible; no one knew how close behind the Louria family was.

Most of the refugees are children, women, and the elderly; those people were called to war a few months ago. One of these refugees, Parun, is fortunately still too young to be summoned by the Qua Toynian military. Now approaching adulthood, it is his duty to serve as a guard and protect the caravan from any approaching Lourians. She was accompanied by several other teenagers, along with her younger sister. Equipped with spades and bows, they definitely had no chance against the attacking Louria.

They walked for hours, limping through the silence until Parun's sister complained about the trip. “Parun, can we stop here for a moment? I'm tired."

He gave a warm smile. “Asha, we're not too far from Ejei. We just need to keep going, and in no time you will be able to get all the rest you want.” He then pointed into the distance. "Look, we're almost there!"

For a short moment, the couple felt a sense of hope, looking at the promised land in the distance. This fleeting optimism faded as someone from the back row shouted a warning. “The Lourians are here! Louria family is here!”

A crippling sensation pierced through the Elf refugees as they turned around to see a cloud of dust forming in the distance. It seemed that their number was close to a hundred, and even though the distance was over three kilometers, they closed the distance in record speed. The slow caravans were jammed by the cargo and the villagers had no horses.

As they quickly approached the panicked refugees, Parun braced himself, turning to face the incoming horde. He gripped his shovel tightly and stood up straight. Meanwhile, her younger sister Asha knelt down with tears streaming down her cheeks. Thinking back to the Demon King Tale that he and Parun had heard as children, he prayed, "Please, O Star God, save us!"

As if his prayer was granted, the ground in front of him erupted into a fierce explosion, shining brightly like a star. Then, a similar magic occurred among the ranks of the Lourian cavalry troops, completely destroying them and sending chunks of charred flesh and metal into the air. Parun carried him away from the explosion as an arrow of light flew towards Lourian who was now scattered and panicked. He heaved a sigh of relief at the irony of their fate, and the blessings resulting from his prayers.

Looking up, he saw several sand-colored planes appear on the horizon. He did not understand the design of the object or the blade that was rapidly spinning on it. All he saw was a white star plastered on the hull of the machine. "Stellar God's Messenger!" He grinned happily.

The panting of the elves and the shrieks of the dying Lourians were both drowned out by the continuous rain of light bullets from above. Weapons designed primarily for armored vehicles hit the Lourian cavalry with ease, and within minutes, the lost men were cleared.

Recovering from the chaos, the Elf refugees looked up at the sky, wondering what had just happened. Several metal dragons roared past, causing many elves to cover their ears, while the machines from before continued to swirl. Then, from behind Ejei, they saw several rotor-bladed engines appear; this plane had two sets instead of one.

The newcomer landed, releasing dozens of men in mottled and dirty-looking uniforms from his stomach. The elves were cowering in fear, confused and fascinated by those flying machines. Then, two of them walked towards the elves while the others formed a circle around the group. In response, the elf village elder stepped forward.

A very large man introduced himself, speaking with a slight Southern accent. “I'm Corporal Baker of the United States Marine Corps. You guys okay?”

"Yes, thank you, savior from the sky."

Behind the village elder, several elves made a ruckus, muttering about the 'Star God'. They pointed to the emblem painted on the helicopter. The village elder, feeling the feeling of his people rising, continued, "Are you, perhaps, the Star God Envoy?"

Baker looked in the direction the villagers pointed to, his eyes fixed on the white star in Chinook. “Uh...” He looked at one of his friends, who just shrugged. "certain."

Hearing this word, the elves began to act happily, kneeling and praising them.

“Alright, come on now, let's get out of here. Please take the flying train..”

“But, riding the messenger god vessel was unheard of! We are not worthy!” The village elder protested.

"Oh, my gosh," Baker murmured to himself.

His friend chuckles, “Sial, man. They really take worship seriously. Maybe God apologized for moving you naked in front of the Colonel? You have some good elves that give you googly eyes, man.

Baker rolled his eyes at the childish banter. "Nakamoto, you're a real jerk." He then glanced at the elven women. “Sial, you might have a point too. All right, whatever, let's get these guys up in the air. Turning his attention back to the elves, he displayed his best authoritative voice. “Elf Subject! At the will of the Star God, you must take the flying carriage and be escorted to Ejei! The envoy was extremely busy, and could not indulge himself in this plains! Our people will take care of your stuff and bring it back after you arrive!”

The elves, unwilling to refuse the will of the Star God, complied and entered Chinook.

——

Lourian FOB Gym

After establishing their headquarters inside the local noble house, the officers of the rank of the Lourian East Conquest Army reaped the spoils of victory. Despite the luxurious luxuries available to them, none of the attendants were in a good mood. The newly promoted Lieutenant General Adem sits near a magic detector, accompanied by their top magician, Washner, the leader of the eastern vassal army, Duke Jean-Philia, and several nobles.

“Maybe they are busy having fun? They did report that they met with a lone Elf refugee caravan. I would not be surprised if the robbers and criminals in Hawk Knights leave their duty to satisfy their ultimate passion, ” Jean-Philia said. "I don't even know why we employ such a cowardly group."

“Because they give results,” says Adem. “They may consist of Louria's absolute garbage, but even they won't leave a direct order to report back. Something must have happened.”.

Jean-Philia nodded. “For that, I agree. Something's not right. We should be fighting a demihuman lower than Qua Toyne, right? We shouldn't have suffered such setbacks!”

Washner lowered his head as Jean-Philip said that.

Then, a door opened. "Sorry to interrupt, sir!" A messenger hurriedly reported.

"Speak," Adem orders, giving everyone goosebumps.

The envoy trembled as he started the report. “Additional scouts have identified the location where Hawk Knights disappeared. They found the burnt corpses of our knights, along with the scars on the plains. His scars and craters are very similar to those created by blast magic or wyvern fireballs, ” he said.

"Blowout magic?" Adem recurrent. "Washner, the detector's not responding at all, is it?"

Washner stared at the ball detector. "No sir. The detectors at the magical guard post also did not respond. If Qua Toynian ambushed the Knights with wyverns, we would have already detected them a long time ago.”

"Then what happened? They can't just disappear, such a force can't destroy the terrain without us noticing!” jean-philia.

"Oh! Jesus, ”Washner suddenly said, his eyes widened.

"What's wrong?" ask Adem.

“I—” Washner stuttered, “I've heard rumors, but I don't know how valid it is. Explosion without magic..”

"Please get straight to the point" Adem said, crossing his arms.

"Yes" said Washner. “I heard from some friends from the Academy.These friends are in charge of monitoring the state of our navy and wyverns are sent to support them, but all they see is our magical signature blinking, extinguishing! So like I said, it's just a rumor, with not much validity, but we lost our entire fleet and all the wyverns. A thousand ships and hundreds of wyverns were annihilated, with the rest of our large fleet surrendering to the enemy.”

“Why, the great fleet that is said to be able to conquer Qua Toyne by itself? The same fleet that could invade the Parpaldian Empire? Not just that, but the same fleet of four thousand ships, powered by hundreds of wyverns?! It was just...impossible!” Jean-Philia placed her hands on her throbbing head. Dizzied due to the claims being thrown out, he sat down and gulped down some water.

Adem paced back and forth, a frown plastered on his face. “Surely, there must be an error?”

Washner shrugged. "Maybe. As I've said, this is just a rumor, but we haven't seen wyvern back or heard any response from the fleet.”

Jean-Philip still maintained a shocked expression. “No matter what, they should have rolled Qua Toyne and immediately reported back. What could possibly happen?”

"Well, enemy ship—"

"NO!" Jean-Philip interrupts. “I already know what you said before. All I want to know is what changed; qua Toyne doesn't even have the ability to take down a single percent of that large fleet, either, nor does it have the ability to do something so drastic that no wyvern has ever returned.”

Washer nodded. “Hmm, there are rumors of rebellion, that perhaps the leader of the fleet, Vice Admiral Sharkun, is secretly a demihuman sympathizer. I don't think this is true. There are also other rumors about a new country joining the war – the United States of America – boasts a very powerful weapon, almost on the scale of the Ancient Sorcerous Kingdom. ”

The atmosphere in the room decreased as a cold wave enveloped the officers and nobles within, causing them to shiver. “Haha,” Adem laughs nervously, “That's impossible. We will see the sky darken!”

“Despite that, it is also said that their weapons do not give magical marks, at least nothing can be detected. Even if their ship was full of archmages, 'Light Arrows' and other explosive magic they used were considered far beyond the magical abilities of any known human or demihuman. The only explanation is the light winged ones, but even so we will detect magic.” Washner stopped. “I, um, I'm really lost in this matter. I'm sorry."

Adem recalled the orders the Eastern Conquest Army had received earlier. Giving some validity to the rumors Washner suggested, 50 of the 150 wyvern knights bound to the army were recalled. Putting this thought aside, he focused on the task at hand. “It's okay, Washer. These rumors are of no use to us at this time. We should focus on the command I gave earlier; there will be no change of plan.”

Already trapped by the terrible rumors, the nobles in the room felt as if the diversion of Adem's meeting was like adding salt to their wounds. Despite seeing evidence of large-scale explosive magic, they were ordered to set up camp near Ejei and begin their operation. What if the Qua Toynians release their wyverns on them? The air support was nearly half an hour away, and at that time the wyvern Qua Toynian could easily retreat back to the safe Ejei after destroying half of the vanguard troops.

With great reluctance, the officers of the East Lord Division obeyed Adem's orders, fearing impending retaliation if they refused. Assigned to counter the numerically superior force entrenched behind the fortress, the 20,000-strong Eastern Ruler Division represented the spear of the Lourian Army. The only relief for these commanders was the fact that reinforcements were about to arrive, once the hundreds of thousands of people in their ranks had finished gathering at Gim. Despite this certainty, the shadow of doubt looms over them like a ghost; the reaper on one's deathbed. What horrors could the United States bring, if the rumors were true?