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Region: Commonwealth of Mankind

Imperial zulia

Vaitoria, The Heart of the Empire—Meeting with the Eastern Stranger

"And begin we shall. I'm told your country hasn't benefited as much from the invasion as Colombia has; I'm sorry to hear that. As you probably can tell from your arrival to your stay inside my room here, we've been busy reverse engineering the technology thanks to the efforts of the Azarola family and the Scarlet Catholic Church. It's certainly quite beneficial for us. But I've also heard whispers and rumors that you aren't much a fan of Martian technology." He motioned toward her hair and eyes. "I'm sorry for whatever the invaders may have done to you, and for that matter any others. But regardless, I welcome you to my home."

Valerio took a seat and motioned for the soldiers to move further away toward the door. They complied, the two carrying with them the latest issue of Heat-Ray rifle that had been developed from the alien technology. The marvels that could be reaped from the corpses of Mars. Once they were at the door, the king cleared his throat and motioned for the woman in red to hand him a small bundle of documents, neatly tied together by a leather string around a brown paper wrapping. He pulled from it a ledger on imperial affairs and one for the church as well, and lastly a large map which was folded out across the table. In reaching for a pomegranate, the woman in red stopped the king and took the task upon herself. These divine priestesses sent by the church certainly had a unique way of supplicating to the king himself as much as they did to Silvia.

"To be entirely blunt with you Elena, while I'm delighted to see your people reaching out to us, I'm not entirely certain what you want from us. Or what we would be willing to give. So, my dear, let me hand over talking to you for a while. Tell me everything you're seeking to gain from your stay here. What from the wealth of the empire could you possibly be after? And what could you possibly give in exchange which would benefit my Colombia." He paused and motioned toward the Scarlet Priestess behind him. "Hopefully it's not trouble, but this woman will also be speaking on the behalf of the church when necessary, or at least make sure I carry their concerns. Now then, speak Elena. How can the empire help you?"

My eyes had not changed a single bit, they were still locked at Valerio's. He was right, I was not a fan of this cursed technology. The overall ambience was a silent one, his voice occupying all the space. His voice was fit for a King, a very dominant one. I wasn't into people like him, but it was slightly admirable. He was lucky to not face what I faced, and as such took the cursed technology for himself without hesitation. If it wasn't for my own prejudice, I would make full use of that technology, too. But alas, what happened ended up happening. I was confused as to why he assumed that "something happened to me" - did he know? And so, I raised my eyebrow, ready to question him.

As I raised my eyebrow, and he stopped talking, what was left of actual sound left the room, replaced with the most utter silence that penetrated around everything. The silence was so predominant it was deafening, despite being, well... silence.

"Your Majesty, what brings you to say that?"

Silence permeated through again before he motioned his hand and the soldiers retreated. The bright designs of the rifles, representing Colombia taking advantage of this technology. Due to my morals, I would rather stay away from it. After that, a Priestess gave the King some documents. What they were, I didn't know. But it just made me more nervous and doubtful in an already tense environment.

I was ready to be blunt with him. "I... really don't seek anything, apart from possible economic deals between our nations. Zulia has a lot of resources that could interest Colombia, and vice-versa. Otherwise, the globe grows more tense, and I would prefer it if we could work together to preserve the security of all of our peoples."

Vaitoria

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