Summoning Our Country - NHS Kai

Chapter 6: A Rock and a Hard Place

Note: This is rose. Kai has its own Discord server! Well, it actually shares it with the canon Nihonkoku Shoukan Discord server but I digress! Link: https://discord.gg/p7NJppEjza

As of April 25, 2022, this chapter has been revised

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Cent. Calendar 10/05/1639, Jin-Hark, Kingdom of Louria, 19:30

"O great king..."

Patagene kneeled down on one knee, offering his respect to his superior.

Following his actions were chief royal mage Yamirei and lord Maus behind him.

Their superior, king Hark Louria XXXIV, sat gracefully on the throne five steps up from the floor where his three subjects kneeled. His handsome, well-built face and stern expression commanded authority, reinforced by his unwavering posture and only contradicted by his bathrobes–a sign that he had recently come out of the royal baths. Giving only a mere "hmmm" in response, his less-than-friendly expression exposed his impatience at his subjects, urging them to get to the point.

Patagene stood up, followed by the other two, before coughing and continuing to speak.

"Just before noon, we met with a delegation from the country of Japan..."

The name of the country invoked no special reaction from Hark, who continued to stare blankly at them.

"We have ascertained their motives and so turned them back. They have made their point clear that they are not willing to back off from their relationship with Qua-Toyne."

The king closed his eyes, probably out of pity for the country that decided to side with the undesirables.

"Regrettable. As much as we are on the lookout for allies, I don't think we need to lament on the fact that we gained a new enemy."

Hearing Hark's alarming lack of urgency on the matter, Patagene started sweating profusely.

"But great king! They may be a country we have never heard of before, but all information we have on them suggests that their ships are at least on par with Parpaldia's! Did you not see their ship at the harbor?"

As a matter of fact, Hark did see their ship from the harbor.

While spending his late morning in the baths, he caught a glimpse of the clean, white ship stopped just outside of Jin-Hark's harbor. The vessel stood out with its long, sleek, white hull, presumably made of iron or even better materials. The design philosophy baffled him, as the singular mast in the middle of the ship would have hardly caught enough power from the wind to get the ship moving, leading him to assume that the ship was just like Parpaldia's more advanced models and didn't travel by sail. The single cannon, albeit tiny, mounted on the ship's front reminded him of the gun turrets in the ships of Mu's possession, which Parpaldia itself was still struggling to develop. All in all, the ship's design and manufacture screamed 'advanced', leading him to assume that the new country, Japan, may have been in possession of equally advanced technologies elsewhere.

Entertaining Patagene's cry for urgency, Hark broke his posture, leaning in and joining his hands as he asked Patagene.

"Do we know more about them?"

"Not much more, unfortunately..."

Patagene looked down, hoping to avoid Hark's probing stare. Backing him up, Yamirei spoke up.

"What has been clear to us from our spies in Qua-Toyne is that their military presence there is limited, if not non-existent. While ships that seemed to be used for merchant and construction purposes have been spotted to be continuously stopping by their ports, we have only spotted 1 or 2 military vessels, ones which look armed, in the span of 3 weeks."