Two months have passed since representatives from the Kingdom of Astra came to the United states on an official visit. To say the least, many things have been done over these past two months. Although the average US citizen is not really informed on international relations with other countries, dialogue is always happening. Whether they know it or not, immense work is happening when concerning international relations. The embassy in Iraq at the height of the Bush administrations invasion employed over a thousand employees to keep it staffed. The work required to constantly make revisions over and over is immense.

The situation with the Kingdom of Astra is no different. When the US decided to create a new treaty organization to manage and further ensure the spread of democracy and security, the only problem laid in the fact that the US is the only known democracy in the New World. That means with only two members in DATO, half are democratic at this point. To ensure that Astra would move towards opening up their democratic processes, there has been frequent dialogue between the two countries. Or in other words, pressuring the kingdom to change through agreements which may or may not be cancelled. The US learned the hard way in the past that liberalizing a nation's economy does not always lead to democratized countries.

NATO back on Earth had a system where there would be a council to determine whether potential members can be admitted into the organization. DATO would essentially be doing the same thing. It's just that the US at this point is the only member of that council. The kingdom of Astra at this point could only try and make reforms. The US has since built a huge embassy in the main capital of Astra. Staffed with over 700 personnel, the embassy building is built with the resemblance of a prison. Intelligence agencies have deemed Astra to be somewhat dangerous with its current development and safety, and thus the embassy was built with security in mind.

Tall iron fences with US marines posted at the gate, the embassy in the middle of the capital looked daunting. Although the really daunting part was installing the lighting and plumbing in the building. To current knowledge, the United States embassy is the only building in the kingdom with plumbing and lighting. In addition, it has full communication abilities with its own built in network towers. Although from the outside it looked like a prison, it was far from it. It served as a means to communicate between the two governments.

In addition to the embassy, many American contractors were brought out to renovate essential infrastructure. This was to modernize their port while also improving facilities in the royal palace, parliament, and other government buildings. Much work was being done to try modernize the capital. However, it would be decades before the kingdom would see infrastructure and an economy on the levels of the US.

The democratization of the kingdom was occurring at a snail's pace. The fact that aristocratic families still control most of the power is still a fact in the kingdom. There exists a parliament, however only the most powerful are to actually vote. Two houses. One made up of mostly male wealthy merchants and the other is entirely made up of noble dukes, barons, viscounts, earls, and other titles. The lower house of merchants and upper house of nobles. The lower house would often propose measures while the upper would examine them and reject them when necessary. As you can probably tell, they are not elected. Although the merchants were elected among wealthy individuals to represent themselves.

Now, the US just had to open up the elections without destroying the ruling powers.... Although that is easier said than done. Of the total Astra population, the US came to the conclusion that some 5% of the population can read or write. The 5% being nobles, merchants, or scribes. The US not only had to advise changes in government, but their entire society as a whole. To say the least, the kingdom had a ton of work to do. However, democracies were never made in a day.

On this day, nearly two months after the official visit, a carriage pulled up in front of the US embassy with the prime minister and prince Damion stepping out. They entered the embassy without a problem and went to meet the head ambassador of the diplomatic mission. No matter how many times they enter, they are never dulled by the lights and air conditioning within the building. The hallways were always filled with officials moving about with papers and other documents. Since the computer or even type writers were not a thing yet, most work was done by paper. Although they were figuring out a program to teach Astra officials to use the computer. One must remember that even people back on Earth had trouble using technology. The US officials could only imagine the problems of trying to teach people who didn't even see the industrial revolution in this world.

The two eventually make it to the ambassador's office. They would usually do a slight nod whenever they visited in the past, but they eventually found it unnecessary. "Ambassador Jeffery, nice to see you today." Gerald spoke gleefully. "Its nice to see you two again. Now, you wanted to go over the information regarding the Tillerian Fall Festival?"

"Yes"

The fall festival they spoke about was the annual gathering of many diplomats, important nobles, and wealthy merchants around the continent. At least the ones around Borth Sea. The main internal sea which is connected to the ocean through Ong channel. The only channel which leads to the ocean. This sea is akin to the Mediterranean sea back on Earth.

"Your cartographers and our GIS agency was able to get this fine beauty here." Jeffery pulled out a map of the Borth sea.

"Wow, this turned out better than I thought it would. Sorry if I sound strange, its just rare to get something so accurate."

"Don't worry, I don't know how that agency does it either. Anyways, could you go over who will be attending the Fall festival?"

"We are just going off of past information, but most of the kingdoms surrounding the Borth sea will be attending. This includes the Onleng Empire."

"Are there any important countries to look for?"

"Besides the Onleng empire, possibly the Alenari, some of the smaller countries near the Borth sea, and possibly the Waloa and Quenlari kingdoms."

"The reasoning?"

"The Alenari have historically been important for safeguarding the trade going through their territory. Since its a desert, its harder to attack and raid caravans, however its hard to traverse without proper guides."

"Is it the only land trade route available?"

"Its the only one going west. Going north of the desert would force you to traverse the western mountain range, however going a bit more south would mean traversing through Devil land."

"Err, Devil land?"

"Its a common phrase used to describe those intelligent people that aren't human."

"Wait, your telling me there are other intelligent species other than humans? Do they speak a language? Do they have their own settlements?"

"Yeah, from what we could put together from the diplomats that came from the Quenlari and Waloa kingdoms, they got their own civilization and everything. Although.... no trader wants to go through that region."

"Why?"

"Because of stories from merchants who lost friends and colleagues after they wanted to find a different land trade route. Its just not safe. Many merchants just are not willing to go through that region. There is a reason why those two kingdoms have well fortified western borders."

"Okay, so the two kingdoms in question are special because of their geopolitical security for the rest of the countries as a whole?"

"Exactly. If the two were to fall, then the other kingdoms would have to deal with a possible incursion of hostile magical creatures. So the two kingdoms naturally have more influence. Furthermore, the Onleng empire support the two in their security."

"Interesting, anything else I should know before we head off a week from now?"

"If you see diplomats from the Malacan empire, then I think they are also people to keep an eye on. Since they are the main providers of Macana wood to the Human realm as a whole, they have a ton of influence in regards to monetary wealth and military endeavors. And another thing, we still don't know which noble backed the western dukes rebellion."

Although it would have been easy to just say that the Tillerian empire colluded with the western regions duchy, the noble from the empire could have been acting independently from the Tillerian emperor. It wouldn't be weird considering how decentralized the power is when governing over such a vast area. Although the US could just blame the imperial family, it would be a nightmare to clean up any military conflict when dealing with a country the size of China.

"Has your side found anything?"

"We narrowed down the list to some of these nobles. Only so many within the empire are able to afford such a skilled mana user."

"Got it."

The three then prepared for the festival. They would be arriving the day the festival started.

Although it was called a festival, it was far from it. It would serve as the start of important connections and possible familial ties. It was also a hub for sharing the latest gossip or information. It really was an important event for many kingdoms around the Borth sea.

For such an annual event, the main port for the capital of Tillian is always the busiest as many ships from other kingdoms dock. As land travel takes the longest, traveling by boat is the much safer and faster. Large galleons line the dock area, with trade wares being unloaded as well. Many nations take the opportunity to show their kingdoms best trades. Food, clothing, precious metals and jewels, and some boasted some Mana tools and artifacts from the smaller nations.

The usually quieter port of the Tillian capital city was now full of bustling traders and important people from all over the inner Borth sea. However, today many saw something peculiar. Messengers and gossip spread throughout the city after such an intriguing discovery.

"Did you guys hear about those Malacan fellas? I hear they brought down some blood sucking vampires to the festival. Two in fact."

"Are they trying to sell them? What the hell for? No one ain't going to buy those suckers."

"I hear they are quite the beauties. The conflict up north in their empire made them vampire slaves more common."

"I hear that the Waloa kingdom and Quenlari kingdom brought over some demon beast slaves as well. I hear they caught them at the border. Apparently them green and furry types."

"Well, I got news for you fellas, I hear the Alenari caught some Elf woman outside their realm apparently. Auctioning the elf off at the slave market today I hear."

"That ain't nothing, you should hear what I saw today. I was at the port, and this huge fuckin metal ship came out of nowhere."

"Oh c'mon, you've been drinking too much."

"I'm serious, the whole port was in awe. They never saw anything like it. A grey ship with no sails. It was unbelievable. I myself thought the demon beasts were coming for us. The guards didn't want to do anything rash though since it was just one ship. But they were visibly on guard."

"Then what happened?"

"The ship was apparently from the kingdom of Astra. I saw them officials with the Astra insignia and colors. But I could figure out the other flags and insignia."

"When did those guys get a ship like that?"

"I don't know. Go ask those guys. That is only if they don't cut you down on the spot. But what's strange were those other guys."

"Other guys?"

"They wore weird black and white suits. They followed those Astra envoys to the inner city. Some wore some weird glasses, but they were blackened. Couldn't even see their eyes."

"Them Astra people brought some weird people. But i'm surprised they came considering the news I heard from their kingdom."

"The one about the civil war and stuff? I heard. I also heard that they tried to use some weird ass crops I haven't seen before to fulfill their tribute thing."

"Honestly, I think the advisor was too harsh. They should of just kept the things."

"Actually, I stole one of the products."

"Your kidding!"

"No. I stole one bag, opened it up to see what was inside. I was curious, and I found some weird yellow stuff."

"Did it taste good?"

"Yeah, it did. Even raw, it tasted good."

"I wanna try them now."

"I ate them all. Never felt fuller"

"You...."

The tavern was filled with gossip and information. The lack of information in this world only made information that much more scarce and important. In a city with over 200,000 people, information was everywhere. One only had to search carefully.