The American In Another World
Chapter 13: Adem’s Retreat

July 21, 1639

Washington DC

"Robert, please sit." President Lee pointed towards an empty sofa.

The rugged-looking secretary nodded, her gray hair complementing her attitude. “Happy to be here, Mr. President.”

"How is progress with the Lourians?"

“The first part of Operation Surprise was successful, and we managed to eliminate the Lourian troops near Ejei. We even caught some — witches who we are now interrogating — and one of their nobles.”

Lee nodded. "good. And Marines?”

“Three of our Marine group have successfully completed their assigned objectives; no fatalities. The fourth was currently in the process of freeing the slave caravan, and they were expected to be finished soon. Recording of the mission is ready to use; we are transferring data to your press team now.”

"That's great. And the special forces team?”

Robert put a series of reports on a small coffee table between them. “DEVGRU is preparing an assault on the capital Lourian. We have several Delta Force and Green Beret teams working with the CIA, helping the rebel rulers with local objectives. So far, Lourian's logistics have been scrambled all-out. With the local lords beginning to realize how defeated they were, they had restrained their forces. We do not need to worry about a massive invasion of Qua Toyne for now.”

Lee sighed, “Wah. I hope we don't have to destroy their army. That would be very detrimental to our future plans after Louria gives up.”

“Don't joke, sir. I doubt the locals will like us after setting aside a significant percentage of their workforce, fathers, sons, and brothers.”

"Yes. Making Operation Awe even more important. By the way, how's it going? When is Hawthorne scheduled to arrive in Jin Hark?”

Robert flipped through some papers from the Navy. “Hmm... It looks like they will be there in about a week. They are reloading ammunition now and expanding their amphibious assault units. I'm sure this will work.”

"It should. I just hope we don't need to completely invade the city.”

“Hmm, I think the possibility of it being needed is very small. The Lourians would be too worried about the beachhead and our fleet of warships to even think about consolidating their forces in the castle. Don't worry about it, Mr. President. This will all be finished in a week or two.”

"Yes." Yeah." Lee sipped water. Say, did you get that file in Ravernal Empire?

“Ahh, I'm not sure. From whom?”

“Should be filed under uh.. 'Lienan Vasquez' with Seventh Fleet. One of the observers sent from Qua Toyne brought it up during the conversation, and it turns out we may not be the only advancing force on the planet.”

"Oh? So I assume that's where all the radio waves and industrial pollutants come from, ”saran Robert.

"actually no. The radio waves and 2nd World War era ships we saw in the satellite images came from the 'Gra Valkas Empire' and 'Mu'. We managed to retrieve some of their radio waves and isolate a large number of these references, along with references to the 'Mirishial Holy Empire' and 'Civilized Region'.”

"Huh. Attractively. So, who are these Ravernals?”

"Not sure; the report wasn't so informative, but we got the point. It turns out they're the great criminals of this world: genocide, slavery, all of it. I am not sure how real these stories are, but the general consensus seems to be that the Ancient Sorcerous Kingdom is undeniably real. To be honest, I don't think we can think of this as a fairy tale; I mean, look at us! We transferred. It won't be too difficult for others to move before us.”

"alright. I'll see the file after I get back to my office. What do you think we should do with this intel?”

“I think we need to take this threat seriously. They are reported to have used a small light arrow to annihilate an entire city before... sounds familiar?”.

Robert's eyes turned away. "Nuclear?"

President Lee nodded. "Yes. I hope the Reagan Star Wars Program becomes a reality. That would be a huge relief.”

“Heh, maybe not too far away, Mr President,” Robert smiled. “This time, we have magic. We have the potential to get it done, but it depends on whatever progress we can make, and if we can make this move before this 'Ravernal Empire' returns as foretold.”

"Yes." Yeah." Lee checked his watch. “OK, I don't want to keep you here too long. Let me know if anything important happens with the Lourians. I have to check things out with Steven anyway.

“Good Mr. President. We can continue this after I read about Ravernals.” Robert got up and walked out the door.

A few minutes later, Lee heard a knock. He looked towards the open door. “Ah, Steven. Any updates?”

"Yes sir. Doctor Pollan has found several areas of interest. The ocean to the east seems to have constant stormy weather and certain regions of the world seem to always be enveloped by uh. We can't see what's below.”

“Interesting word choice, Steven. Continue."

“Ambassador Anders accepted your request about the Ravernal Empire, and he will meet Qua Toynian after they have completed their emergency meeting. On that note, our intellectual exchange has developed well, but Qua Toynian wants to buy some of our books.”

“Hmm... I will let the Ministry of Education and the Department of Commerce give you something that makes sense. I still think it is best if we, as much as possible, maintain our scientific and technological superiority. Is there anything else?"

Steven scrolled the tablet. “Umm.. It looks like Ambassador Nathan has managed to establish relations with two kingdoms in northern Alaska: Kingdom of Fenn and Gahara Thearcy.”

“Ambassador Nathan..?”

“Our former ambassador to Japan, Sir.”

“Oh, correct. Continues."

"Oh, it's only a few months away."

“True, Sir. And you might want to see this, ” Steven said, flipping his tablet to show Fenn and Gahara satellite imagery.

President Lee smiled in surprise. “Why, it looks like yin and yang!”

"Indeed. NASA was quite curious as to why it looked like this, and it turned out that there was a dense formation in the middle, right between Fenn and Gahara. We should expand our relationship with them before launching any expedition or sending research team.”

“Sial, let's move this higher on the list. I wonder what's down there, except of course it's Godzilla or something.”

“I doubt it Sir. There's also one last update: several Gallup polls released today on handling your transference and international trade. More than 95% of the surveyed citizens approved your decision so far, and more than 70% are eager to see the outside world.”

Lee smiled. “Sial, 95%? Okay!" He clenched both his hands. “Umm, before you leave, schedule some appointments with the CEO of the shipping company and the CEO of the airline. We can do some cruises to Maihark for now, and then flights after we set up the airport. Oh wait. Have we made tourist rules?

"No sir."

“Alright let's finish first. I don't want any American to accidentally run into a wild wyvern or a chimaera and then get eaten.”.

"I understand, Sir."

——

Somewhere Between Ejei and Gim

Knight Wyvern Muller analyzed the ground below as he scanned through the gaps in the clouds. “It really became cloudy all of a sudden..”

"Enough" replied his partner.

"Hey, wait, I think I saw something." Muller tilted his mount to a dark patch of land. As he approached the anomaly, his heart fell.

The bodies of the dead, burned and torn to shreds beyond recognition, were scattered on the gouged ground. Hundreds of crows and vultures swarmed, sifting through the flesh that survived the terrible catastrophe. He decides to land near a group of trees, where he finds an intact tent. He went down to investigate and entered the tent. There was nothing in it, except an upturned table and some quill pens and empty sheets on the floor. "What's going on here?"

Even before he could come up with any hypothesis, the sound of screams pierced his ears. It was like the sound of an arrow being produced while flying through the air, but it was much louder. He pushed the tent cover with his arm and looked up, trying to identify the source. A few small dots appeared outside the cluster of clouds, quickly closing the distance between them and their allies that were still in the air. The small dots became larger as they approached, revealing the artificial shape of — metal dragons.

A bright object slipped from the plane's wing, leaving a trail of smoke as it shot rapidly into the clouds. Muller could not see his allies through the thick weather, but that did not mean the enemy could not. Several explosions rang out, illuminating the nearby clouds with an orange glow. Muller waited anxiously, hoping for the arrow of light to magically miss, but his terrifying hope was confirmed when he saw a red lump falling from the sky.

He was crushed, falling to his knees. He wanted to cry for the loss of his comrades, but kept his mouth shut for the sake of remaining hidden. After a few minutes of wailing and grieving, he moved towards his wyvern, bringing it into the forest. He gripped a protective talisman around his neck, realizing that he was avoiding death and vowing to go home to his family.

——

“That followed me! I can't shake—” Transmission disconnected to static. Inside the headquarters of the Eastern Conquest Army, high-ranking officers crowded around manacomm. After hearing the latest message, they fell silent.

“It was the fourth or fifth time we heard about this magical light arrow tracker.” General Pandor muttered, worried by the consistency and frequency of this report. "Magician Tallon, please all wyvern knights be punished until further notice."

"Sir?"

“Too risky to hold them in the air. Have them land, but be ready to take off at that very moment.

"As you wish, my lord." The magician relayed Pandor's orders to the wyvern knights, who immediately began to descend and return to their headquarters.

“General Adem,” Pandor pointing towards the door. "Let's go out."

Adem follows Pandor to the park manor, where they speak privately. “I have received many reports of delays,” Pandor started. "Our reinforcements won't be arriving for a while, if at all."

"If at all?"

“There are rumors of local rulers deliberately sabotaging the deployment of their troops or causing delays.”

“Hmph, soon someone will find out. For their sake, I hope nothing is true,” Adem sneered sarcastically.

“Now, Adem. Let's focus on the war. What do you think of this American?”

Adem's evil grin is gone. “I think they are a force that we greatly underestimated at the start of the war. I don't know why they helped those dirty demihumans, even though it was just a human country. I... I think I should go back to Jin Hark to ask for reinforcements.”

Pandor raised an eyebrow. "Oh? It was an unexpected surprise from the aggressive Adem.”.

"Yes. I see the situation as it is. I will send runners, but our request for accelerated reinforcements may not be met. However, if I ask myself, then HQ will recognize the seriousness of our difficulties.

“Wise analysis, General Adem. Then you should hurry. ”

Adem nodded and went to the stables to take his horse. While walking alone, he tried to calm himself down. He needed to pass on this new information to the cunning Parpaldian envoy.

;)