Summoning America

Chapter 101: The Conference (2)

Cartalpas, Holy Mirishial Empire

"And this is exactly why Mister Mopole was fired," Gesta spoke into Dallas' ear. "Had we gone through with the proposed ambush, our ships would have been pulverized from afar. Keep this lesson in mind the next time you think that using force is a good idea."

Dallas had no response. He was left to ponder as Gesta patted his shoulders and walked away toward the Conference Hall. Cielia walked up to Dallas to offer words of advice before following after Gesta, "Don't say anything stupid during the Conference."

Dallas felt his mouth twitch in anger. His superiors' condescending admonishment seeped deep into his soul, striking directly at his pride. Despite feeling his ego shatter, however, he recognized that they were right. No matter how much he disagreed, their words were backed by the Emperor himself. After all, it was Emperor Gra Lux who saw Mopole's plan as stupid.

He took a final look at the approaching American fleet, reflecting on Gesta's words. Seeing the jets maneuver in the skies, he wondered if the Gra Valkan military had any hope against this technologically advanced force. His gaze broke away from the Americans and turned toward the opulent tower in the distance as he walked toward his colleagues. He pushed past the clamoring crowd that rushed to see the American fleet up close, thinking only of strategies to maintain Gra Valkan superiority.

—-

Ambassador Anders smiled as he took in the beautiful Cartalpas cityscape, complete with ethereal spires and unique skyscrapers that truly sold the fantasy look. The architecture contained a lot of elegant curves, reflecting Elven artistic influence. The smaller structures – from homes to businesses – had a similarly special look to them; many were built in standard fashion, using a combination of European and Elven designs. Truly, Anders thought as if he could never tire of the beautiful sights, despite having lived in Runepolis for the past few months.

"Wow," Secretary Heiden said behind him. "This is what you get to see everyday?"

"Yes, sir. And the people here are lovely too. It was rough at first, with them being prideful and all that, but they've come around."

Heiden thought back to an elven woman he met not too long ago. "Yeah," he said, taking a trip down memory lane as they walked toward the city.

Anders took note of Heiden's change in expression and took a friendly jab at him, "Got someone in mind, eh?"

"That obvious?"

Anders nodded.

"Yeah," Heiden admitted, confirming Anders' suspicion. "An elf named Ephine," he explained. "She at first saw Americans in a negative light, but as you've said, she came around when I talked about our country a bit more. She knew a lot about the Ravernal Empire and wanted me to use my position to help advocate for preparations."

"Did you follow through?"

Heiden nodded, "I did. She really appreciated it."

Anders chuckled. "Well, I bet she would've given you her phone number if she even had one."

Hearing this, Heiden began to smirk, "Actually, she did give me her manacomm address."

Anders gave his friend a pat on the back, "Well look at you, adapting to Mirishial life already!"

After a few minutes of walking, they finally reached the Conference Hall, the lobby of which was packed to the brim with foreign affairs officials from various nations and press teams from a slew of media corporations. The coverage operated like C-SPAN, although due to the culture of importance that developed around the Holy Mirishial Empire, the World Leadership Conference received much more media attention. Taking advice from native Elysian companies, American  media conglomerates swarmed the event.