The Red Bear Is in Nihonkoku Shoukan

Eve of The Great Eastern War

'The Air feels strange, War is looming.Titans Are marching the men of Europe to an early grave, But As God as my witness, I shall Defend the free will of mankind'- Vasily, eve of operation Barbarossa

Papaldia Empire, Esthirant, 1st foreign affairs department, November 9th 1639

A lot of information was gathered on The Russian Union after Department Head Elto's gave the orders.

First, they concluded that the Gra Valkas Empire was uninvolved. The country that drove away the oversight army flew a weird Flag that was white flag with a red star and hammer and sickle, which more or less confirmed that Russia was the culprit. They had gotten this information by merchants bragging about the 'Red Fleet' and they even told them the numbers, 100, making them quite weak. It was still unclear why the oversight army's wyvern lord squadron didn't return, though.

From the merchants.They knew that the enemy ship only had one cannon, but they didn't know why; maybe it was because it had such high accuracy? Still, they didn't think it could overcome the pure brute force of a 100-gun ship-of-the-line. It seemed clear that single ship was very advanced, but was that enough to cause such a devastating defeat in their attack? Did they even attack them in the first place? that was the real question, They just couldn't believe it was possible.

There was the extreme case of the Gra Valkas magic ship, the Scorpion, taking down Leiforia all by itself, but they were certain that there was some mistake in the intelligence; that information had to have been exaggerated to some degree. However, it was still true that Gra Valkas had the power to defeat Leifor, so they would have to be careful with them in the future.

According to the report from the Merchants and their plotters in The Kingdom of Papaldia told them.described a cannon that fired 100 times and hit 100 times. They asked a military research group about this and were told "Even if we had another hundred years, it would be impossible for us to achieve that." So, they concluded that it was unrealistic for a country outside the civilized areas to be more than 100 years more advanced than the empire. There was also Varhal's fantastical report about the war between Lauria and Russia, but everyone agreed that his report was not trustworthy.He said so many things that were Impossible that not even the central world could do, hence no nation would be able to beat the central world.

They gathered some interesting information about Russia from countries in the Third Civilization's sphere of influence, Notably Fenn. Apparently, Russia only spends about 4% of its wealth on armaments. Knowing that, even if they had some equipment that was superior, they would quickly fall behind another strong country in the long term.

The 1st foreign affairs department thus came to two conclusions: first, while Russia should not be underestimated, at the same time they should not be feared and second, they should attack them soon, before they have time to accrue more armaments.

Papaldia knew they had heavy influence in Rodenuis, They needed to hit Fenn and The Kingdom of Papaldia before Rodenuis, Years of planning were to bear fruit and eliminate Their sole rivals in the zones before their will take Lauria from Russia.

Papaldia Empire, Esthirant, imperial palace, Same day

The empire's statesmen lay prostrated on the floor, the air in the room strained. The most important meeting in the country, with Emperor Ludius in attendance, was about to begin.

"The Emperor's Assembly shall now commence," declared the chairman.

"Are we in control of Altarus?" the emperor suddenly asked the army's Supreme Commander Arde.

"Yes, the Kingdom of Altarus has been completely subdued. The main army is currently preparing to withdraw.Some 40 000 will stay behind"

"What should we have them do now... 2nd foreign affairs department head Rius, do you have any suggestions?"