New Town, New Government?

A/N: I'm not really satisfied with what I wrote for Chapter 8 last week, so I'm just writing it again. Please keep in mind that there will be multiple perspectives specifically in this chapter and the later ones. I will try my best to not make it confusing when changing views. If needed, I will provide some headers on request.

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The smokey air from the candles on the walls is rather intriguing to keep me awake this morning. The fellow aristocrats in front of me have converged here to discuss some appealing matters in Orkney.

I hear the noise coming from a pair of shoes walks over in the halls. Someone is breathing heavily, "It isn't what you expect, my sire." He babbles, looking at me.

"Hm? What do you mean?" I ask him.

"Words got out from the border magicians that there is some foreign intervention happening within that god-forsaken town south of us. Reports indicate that they have heard sounds of gods that can be heard around the world! In their opinion, the southerners are probably assaulting from the eastern side! The crown is allowing this group to move your armies to Linton!"

"What?" The people around the table are quarreling out loud.

"With what army we have!? We keep fighting these rag-tag raiding armies from the squalid southerners all the time! They cause destruction, then they run away from us! Our professional soldiers don't come out of thin air! Now, we're going to siege that damn town that no one knows!?" Someone yells in anger as it echos off the stone walls.

"Too angry, there." I try to calm him down as he's slumping back on the chair.

"It's from the orders of the crown!" The panting man retorts.

"Before you leave..." I hand him a note. "give this to the crown." I tell the messenger.

"Yes...it will be done." The courier runs back from where he came from.

I look back at the group of aristocrats and knights, "Converge your armies north of Linton. March them now. I will be getting in touch with the magicians stationed nearby."

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On top of the stone walls of the southern part of Linton, I spot some nicely dressed men in vivid colors walking down the streets. I look around for my radio, I see it under my M4 Carbine, I moved it out of the way, and I grab it.

"Frosty Two, be ready. The leaders of Linton are arriving. Sierra Niner, over."

"Wilco Sierra Niner, Frosty Two informing them, over."

"Copy, Sierra Niner out."

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"Commander, they're coming."

"Yes...continue as planned, Colonel Pearce."

"Alright."

I flip through the pages of the document. There's tons of information that I couldn't really grasp. Apparently, the Civil Affairs Specialists decided that the Mayor-Council government is the best for Linton. I approved of it, and it will be shortly implemented after the 3d BCT Headquarters gather with the new bureaucrats of the Linton government. I forgot that I packed local resources of Linton like meat, vegetables, and other things in the aid. I was deeply disappointed when it wasn't an MRE. Never mind, I can just make that!

Man...just thinking of that, it was really tough handling the battle after completely annihilating the entire Scanosian force. I almost passed out. The aid effort is still ongoing, and the invasion units are just staying here until proper infrastructure is built by the 3rd Brigade Engineer Battalion. What more is there?

"Gentlemen, they're here." I hear a soldier announcing to the room.

The whole HQ shuffles around and is preparing everything. Their laptops aren't really the old rugged ones that I see, but modern ones. This is an alternate world if they actually get the proper budget for those things. Heh. Literally. I'm just giggling in my comfy chair.

The cloth of the tent moves aside, and there I see are Lysander and the nobility of this town. They are directed to the chairs that are set up just for them to sit on. Lysander spares a glance at me before sitting down. Half of the tent is allocated for us, and half is for them for this meeting. The middle is just a big table with a large flatscreen television on the side of the tent.

"So, is this all of you?" Colonel Jacob Pearce talks to Lysander.

"Yes. It's a pleasure to be invited to this complex structure your country has." Lysander seems to be in awe of the poles inside and the laptops that spew colored light out of nowhere. Wires and lights are hanging off the ceiling.

"Thanks. This is just a tent."

"Oh, it's just a tent? What an interesting way to make a tent."

"Yes. You're here for the talks of establishing a new government to run this town of Linton. My name is Jacob Pearce. Colonel of the Unified States Army. I'd assume you're Lysander, right?"

"Ah. Yes. But, what are we really here for?" Lysander questions him.

"We will get to it later."

"I see."

"So I'm guessing that's the nobility of this town?" Pearce asks.

"Yes, Kernel Pearce. These are the nobility of this town. What makes you question that?" Lysander replies.

"It wouldn't work without them here, hm? In front of you are papers of the new government your noblemen will be leading."

They appear to seem confused but found out what he's talking about, as he's literally talking about the group of papers in front of them on the table. They're in reverence of those papers. We also have the documents.

"Such fine craftsmanship..." A person talks from the other side.

"If you're wondering, they're made of wood. Importantly, you are to read some of the things in the papers that are in front of you."

"Nice, Pearce!" A noble shouts at him.

"Address me as Colonel Pearce. Sorry for not mentioning it earlier." He laughs.

"Sorry!"

Pearce presses a button on the clicker, "Please look up at the screens," He speaks to the room.

"Woah..!" I hear murmurs from the nobles.

"What is that?"

"Is he a magician?"

He clicks again, "The reason why you are here is for the talks of the new local government for Linton. It's a Mayor-Council type of government. The mayor can enact many laws for the town. However, some codes have to be approved by the council before it becomes official. People vote for candidates to fill the positions of both mayor and the council. Any form of corruption or bribery will be dealt with by court-martial from the Unified States Military or your new judiciary system. That's just in simple terms. Details can be read in the documents."

"Colonel Pearce!" A question arises from the nobility.

"Yes?"

"Who are they?"

"If you're talking about who occupies it, the Lord is now the mayor, and the council is the nobility."

"Ah, ah, okay."

"As you've seen from the siege earlier, we've demonstrated our military capabilities, lifting soldiers onto the walls without any siege equipment to be built on-site. Capable of destroying any army formations from a distance away. We're also able to detect any enemy movement days, weeks, months beforehand. If you look back up at the screen," He clicks to recon images of the Scanosians camp. He then clicks on before and after photographs of the settlement during the siege. One looks nice, and the other looks like craters from meteors, but with dead bodies. Bleh. I don't want to see that.

"Oh my god...that drawing..." I hear chatters from the other side.

"That's what we've seen!"

The atmosphere of the other side of this tent seems to be getting scarier.

"Moving on, the laws of the Unified States will be applied here of the region of Linton. It's listed in your documents on page forty-nine. This is in the hands of us. As we've inspected your stockpiles, we will be establishing field kitchens in your town."

What a surprising transition.

"What about our cooks?"

"Getting to that, the eateries will be closed and refurbished in compliance with the new building codes and the laws. The cooks will be trained on proper cooking safety and other things. Now for education, what do you guys really do?" He looks at Lysander.

"We simply have schooling in our churches," Lysander replies.

"Mhm, what do they do in the churches?"

"Singing hymns, songs, and English grammar."

"Okay...this form of education will be a bit too much. We've planned for this a lot. There are three types of education, primary, secondary, and tertiary. Anyone can attend a grade level that relates to their age or the education that they've done. We will be bringing in our own professors and teachers. Our Civil Affairs specialists will help you in many aspects of governing before we let you administrate the town."

"How long will this take?"

"Hard to tell. We barely have a grasp on how literate the town is, so it will take years."

"Oh my. That's long." I can hear whispers coming from the crowd.

"Well, the town is in no place to bargain. We will have to go with what you're doing." Some aristocrat admits.

"Don't bother. We will help as much as we can."

"How can we trust you?" Someone asks from within the group.

"Whom you might be?" Pearce asks.

"Darren Grey. Leader of the Linton's Trading Association."

"The fact that you're alive, Darren Grey. You can trust us."

"I can't argue with that..." Darren admits.

"Speaking of trading, a new currency will be introduced, the Unified Dollar. A sample of the currency's denominators is in your documents. However, they aren't able to be used in circulation-"

"Wait! This can hurt our businesses! We won't concede!" Darren argues.

"Shh." Someone from the crowd tries to shut him up.

"Hear me out, traders and people of any kind can convert the Oyerat's unified currency into our Unified Dollar. But, we won't accept that kind of currency, only the Unified Dollar."

"Ironic, these Unified States are the only ones using the Unified Dollar," I see Darren smirking. Oh, good lord. I'm just gonna use my glass tablet or something during these short breaks.

"Haha, this world will use it...soon." If he means the paper bills, maybe. I don't know?

The looks of the men on the other side are very flush. I suppose that they knew how much power we have.

"That's enough Darren, pretty sure we all got something out of this, right?" Lysander expresses with understanding.

"In the end, we are not your aggressors. We are your friends. Be with us, and we will give you the best we've got, unlike no other country in this world." Colonel Pearce asserts that statement.

"We will also be providing menial jobs to the residents of Linton for the civil works projects. They will be earning minimum wage to help support themselves or their families. Residents can take place in our temporary housing when their homes are being demolished for the new buildings. The town guard will be disbanded, followed by a new policing unit formed locally by the Linton residents or the disbanded town guard."

Silence ensues until it's broken by the sound of the helicopters flying by.

"D-Disband our defenses? Why?" A noble is saying with stuttering.

"You've seen what we're capable of. We will be in charge of the defense of your town until proper law enforcement has been developed."

I see the noble nodding.

"That concludes the meeting. Anyone wants to say something here?" Pearce asks.

"Sir, that was very interesting." My soldier speaks.

"Thank you."

Lysander raises his right hand smoothly. It's like he's relaxing almost all the time.

"If I may,"

"Yes," Pearce replies.

"What's the trick?"

"Hm...that's a great question." Colonel Pearce looks over at me.

What? Am I suppose to answer that kind of question?

I wave my hands, hoping that he gets the message.

"Our Commander can answer that."

"Oh great," I sigh as I put down my glass tablet.

As Pearce sits back down, I look directly at the new Mayor of Linton. "Just don't be stupid." To put it bluntly, yes.

I see him smiling, "That's what I'd like to hear from you!" He laughs.

"Alright, is that everything?" I say to the aristocrats of the town while I'm leaning back on the chair.

"No, I got one more!" Some noble shouts.

"This tent! Will our houses be made like that?"

"Yes. It will obviously be made with our current technology, but not in this design. We will be doing the work."

"Inferior houses?"

"No. We will be building better houses. Colonel Pearce, show them the housing designs."

"Yes, ma'am."

He broadcasts his laptop to the screen, showing blueprints and 3D designs of the houses from the 3rd Engineer Battalion."

"Yes. Every resident will have the opportunity to live in one of these houses." I state.

Excitement is brewing from the crowd of rich men.

"Such architect this country has." Lysander states.

"Mhm, is that all?" I say again.

I hear a man coughing. Well, pretty sure that's all.

"May the new council members and the mayor rise up," I announce.

It took a while for all of them to stand. I stood up from my chair and walked in front of the new Mayor of Linton.

Facing him, "Please raise your right hand."

Lysander raises his right hand.

Seeing that he is ready for the oath, I take in a deep breath, "Now repeat after me,"

He nods.

"I solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the Unified States,"

"I solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the Unified States," He articulates in a soft, silvery voice.

"and the that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of mayor of the town of Linton,"

"and the that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of mayor of the town of Linton,"

"to the best of my ability."

"to the best of my ability."

"So help me, God."

"So help me, God."

"That's all."

"May I sit?" Lysander asks.

"Uh...yes, you can." It's rather interesting for a mayor of a thousand residents.

I look at the Council members of the town. They look kind of confused about what I'm doing. Oh well, they're gonna learn it eventually.

"The Town Council of Linton, please raise your right hand," I say to them.

Thereon, I will say the oath of office for the council members.

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I'm just relaxing! This is life! Great fucking food from the mess hall. Mm! I'm enjoying the moment right now. Their vanilla ice creams are phenomenal. On this E-3 Sentry AWACS, there's no way that there could be dragons or enemy fighters here!

After daydreaming, I look back at the screen, and there are some paints...

Is that what I think it is? No squawk. Those pinballs still appear after a scan.

"Sir, pinballs at angels 9 are flying through our airspace! It appears to be flying straight towards Linton!" I shout while looking at the two dots on the screen.

"Looks interesting, eh? Do you know what it is?" Someone speaks behind my back.

I'm confused, "I don't know, sir."

"Contact the 90th Fighter Squadron."

"Will do, sir."

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After finally catching up with the officers and the gosh darn oath, I can finally lay back on the wood of the healthy tree. It's one of the only trees that isn't riddled with craters or blood.

I pull my glass tablet out, and I create some magnificent banana milk. It's so cool just seeing things appear out of thin air! There goes in the straw, and I'm drinking it...mm! The vivid orange colors of the evening Oyerat is quite soothing.

I look down on the new base of operations in Linton. It's sprawling with tons of military vehicles and buildings from the invasion force. In fact, that base can probably rule a country if it wanted to. Heh...that's a lot of power. The southern stone walls of Linton are being crumbled down by our construction machines, which reveals the wooden houses and the people inside. With them being defended inside the walls for so long, we got them to feel safe without the stone walls. That's quite impressive!

Still, I have a lot to do...a lot...hehe...most of the work is done by the high command...um...do I still get credit? Maybe. The soaring helicopters and the dashing APCs across the grass are a common sight now. Despite being medieval, we manage to make them fit with us, at least. Looking on the right side of the base are the dreaded craters from the artillery explosions. A sign of what happens when something were to face our true powers. Muahaha! I'm just smiling within at that.

Hm...where the heck is Satomi and the others? Oh, I forgot that I appointed them to some guard duty of the aid. Hehe. At least I can have some leisure without someone looking over me.

The leaves are casting a shadow, and the delicate breeze is really amazing to feel.

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I look around in my dimension, seeing wandering souls within the white mist. I checked on the previous systems. Now, I'm going to investigate Tsutomu's system. I'm curious about what he's accomplishing currently. I made him into a different person than he was back on the Earth system. Just for my entertainment. Hm...I bet Tsutomu is taking over the fine world I've crafted for him with the Earth system's weapons that he's is fond of. Well, I did get some mentions of my name from Oyerat.

I look down on him, and it appears that he doesn't have anything amusing to do. In fact, I feel bored just by watching him. Despite the gifts I gave to him, he's still holding some form of restraint. That's quite impressive given his history. He calls himself Sayuri, interesting. Well, that's on my doing.

I will be considerably happy if he can achieve a fulfilling life that he didn't have. I might do something about this.

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I stare...at the leaves.

Somehow, the leaves and the skies are becoming darker at each second.

I hear outcries of people...my heart is pumping faster. I smell roasting...steak?

It's nighttime, and I notice that the town is aflame. Some barbarians are marching through the gate in front of me with torches and with their medieval weapons. Wait...is this Linton?

I look to my right and see that it's the same hill, but this time it's green, and it has some camp over it. It's definitely Linton. Grr, I can't see through the cloth in the distance as it's blocking the tree up there! I rise up from the ground, and I can see the dead bodies on the path leading up to the gate. What the heck is happening?

I walk up to these barbarians, and they don't seem to be noticing me. Are these...the Scanosians? Is this...what happens? They appear to be running around me but not giving me an eye.

I observe the looks on the faces of the corpses in the ditch against the stone wall. It's horrifying. Their eyes are wide open, and their mouths too. These are just the guards. Did they...fall off the wall? I look up and see guards clashing against the Scanosian's, shouting at each other.

I walk past the gate and see the whole town in flames. It feels hot. Instead of darkness with torches, the atmosphere here is all red and orange, ashes floating throughout the air. The noises of people screaming, swords clashing, and things falling. Those are the only thing my ears can catch. The same marketplace that I saw is now destroyed. Stalls are put up into flames, and some are broken. I hear some yelling coming from one of the houses. I see that there is Scanosian's inside, pulling something out. One of them is the guy who I eavesdropped on. It's the guy that can barely afford a loaf of bread. Then, he screams in agony from the sword piercing into his chest and drops dead on the stone street. His life essence oozes out onto the cold rock...

Two females are forcibly moving out by the Scanosians, and their hands are bound by some rope. One of them, I think, is the wife and the other, his young daughter...the wife sees her dead husband and cries at him, hitting on her captors. Both are yelling...this is just too far.

I look around this burning town, and I see some medieval soldiers in some designs that I've never seen. Who the heck are they?

I hate this so much. It's just reminding me of moments that I feel like I'm to blame.

I pull out my glass tablet, but there's no tablet that I've caught, and instead, it's just a brick. Don't tell me my device got bricked...

It's infuriating, "Stop!" I yell at them. These failures aren't looking at me! I run up to one of them, and I'm going to push him down. Screw you.

As I'm going to push that bastard down, I'm suddenly staring back right at the leaves. This time, under evening skies.

"Sa-yu-ri!" Someone sings with a crystal voice.

I down from the leaves, and I see both Satomi and Hans, just standing in front of me. He looks rather annoyed?

"Ma'am, are you in need of medical help? You aren't responding at all." Hans speaks to me.

"Uh...no."

Hans then pulls that serious face, "Mhm, you told us to report back to you once the aid is fulfilled. We got informed that you're coming to us, so we waited until I thought that it's a bit too long for a walk, so we came to you. With the guide of others, of course."

"Oh, f-forgot about that! Aha..." I fumble on my words.

Something on the back of my mind, why do I hear some jets?

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The twilight azures on Oyerat are kind of nice. It feels exhilarating to fly this F-22 Raptor under the vivid orange and yellow colors!

"Arizona Six, 2 Active Alpha 0-3-6, 0-4 Sweetcorn Four, you copy?"

"Copy Arizona Six, Sweetcorn Four tally two bandits, two o'clock low."

"Roger, Sweetcorn Four."

On my two, I see some weird flying red beasts. Is that a freaking dragon with a large saddle? What in gods is this world? There are even a pilot and a co-pilot riding on those two!

"Sweetcorn Four, get the camera's going."

"Aye, Arizona Six."

Get as much info as we can.

"Each tally has two occupants. Both are wearing some kind of leather gear."

"Received, Sweetcorn Four and Arizona Six. Continue keeping watch, don't engage unless it open fires. over."

"Wilco Central, out."

"You got eyes on that thing?" I say as we're turning back around behind the pursued.

"Yeah. It's crazy. Hey, at least we're up in the air now."

"Don't keep your hopes up. It might be the fantasy dragons that you aren't thinking of," I laugh in the comms.

"At least it spits fire." The receiver replies.

"You sure?"

"Maybe." He laughs.

"Alright, enough jokes for today. We will request RTB soon after this."

"M'kay."

As we fly closer towards the two dragons, the dragons commit a sluggish turn and fly straight at us.

"Hey, Arizona Six, uh...do we engage?"

"Not yet,"

I tense my grip on the yoke as we are closing both at a distance.

I observe two of the dragons opening their mouths,

"Alpha is engaging, evasive maneuvers!"

I pull back on my yoke as my body feels like I'm being pounded by some weights. Lucky for this g-suit. I look in the mirrors and see that the dragon is spewing out some tremendous fires.

"Sweetcorn Four is engaged, defending." My wingman states.

"Sweetcorn Four, Arizona Six, target trail," I say to him.

"Wilco, Arizona Six."

I fly this F-22 damn Raptor around, and the dragons are still flying in the same direction.

Apparently, this fucking dragon can be locked on. Probably because it's still spewing fire. Maybe.

"Fox two," I announce.

"Hoh? Fox two," My wingman also says. He seems to be also surprised.

I release the AIM-9's. Then, fire the M61A2 cannons.

BRRRT...BOOM.

A ball of flames that I'm seeing.

I pull back, and I observe the dragon that I've targeted seems to be whimpering before it loses in altitude. The other one suffered the same fate as the other dragon. They're cool, but what kind of country fields those dragons?

"Arizona Six, this is Central. What's your luck watch? Over."

I roll the jet slightly to observe the dragons, and they've crashed on the ground.

"Central, Arizona Six, and Sweetcorn Four splashed Alpha group. Over."

"Roger, Arizona Six. You may RTB, out."

"Wilco, Central."

"Yeah, we're going back," I say in the comms.

"Still a bigger world, even from up here." My wingman states.

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With my guards, I'm marching down with my army towards the north of Linton. The sight of carriages in a long line is astounding. Logistics for this army of size is quite large...and complicated. Men being on carriages instead of marching this distance from Orkney has shortened the travel of what takes days or weeks. My army will probably converge tomorrow as it's getting dark now.

I hear someone rushing up towards us, "Sire, we have lost contact with our two dragons." The messenger states.

"That's all?" I ask.

"I'm afraid...yes. Around a couple hours ago."

"Tell me that sooner. Keep trying to establish communications with them, send two more dragons ahead of us."

"I'm sorry-"

"Just go."

I see him nodding, and he walks away.

"Are you sure that the southerners have dragons, too? It might be too late to send in another recon." My associate asks.

"The south is in shambles. They receive no support at all, from what we know. That putrid country suffered a ton of defeats from us. I don't think they even recovered from the first one! This is not the doing of southern air." Our highly trained pilots can't break communication with us.

"What do you think about their weird tactics?"

"The one where they run away into some woods?" I jokingly respond.

"Yeah, that one."

"Hate to admit it, but it works. Now, it gets blown away when we have professional magicians on our side, covering our flanks." I say.

"They're causing more fatalities than ever on both sides. I don't really know where they are getting their men from." My associate replies.

"But, their revolutionary ideas are broken." He says it in a grating way.

"Hard to tell. It's just the beginning."

"So you believe the foreign intervention, eh?" He implies.

"It's possible. Perhaps...some unspoken aid has just arrived." I insist.

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