Guests

Eruchea, Year: 3040:-

In the years that had passed, Eruchea's development had skyrocketed.

Due to everyone's constant efforts along with a lot of doping from Harry's system, the country had grown exponentially both in size and development.

This could be easily seen by the massive high-quality walls that surrounded 1.5 times the country's previous area.

In the past, Eruchea had been the largest mortal country, a size that other nations in the Wastelands couldn't even think of competing with.

Now, its current size made it comparable to many of the medium-sized territories in Wangxiu and Malonia.

One needs to understand that with the sort of monsters that roamed Etheldor, it was very difficult to manage large countries.

The mystic energy users, with their superpowers and other cheats, could easily defeat many of such beasts and could expand their territories a lot.

Normal humans, on the other hand, were forced to keep their territories on the smaller side.

Make it too big and the various monsters would flatten the extra areas before the military or any similar help could arrive.

In Eruchea's case, Harry's system had provided a cloaking mechanism to hide the country from monsters for about 2 years.

Once it seemed that the country was sufficiently developed to deal with the surrounding threats, the shield was disabled.

The military had to launch several expeditions to rescue people and exterminate the monstrous beasts.

The thing was, once the beasts were allowed to detect the country, they came with increased force.

This was the price for the protection provided by the system.

But once everyone got used to this, the load on everyone decreased.

People started paying more attention to not get abducted or killed by wild animals. And this decreased the pressure on the military who could cut down on the number of rescue missions.

Today, Harry was seen driving through the streets in his sports car.

It had a matte black colour along with two small Eruchean flags sticking out on either side of the hood, similar to presidential cars back on Earth. The flags were to differential between normal vehicles and royal vehicles.

In the future, one of the two flags would be of foreign nations that came to visit as per the Flag protocol from Earth.

Harry's car was a slightly armoured version of what looked like a cross between a Ferrari and a Bugatti.

This was Harry's personal car.

He did have an official royal car as well, which came with much higher levels of armour along with an entire motorcade consisting of several military vehicles, police vehicles and two decoy royal cars that moved with him.

As for the reason why he was driving, he had received a message from Brittney, his foreign affairs minister.

Today was supposed to be the day of the trade with Mo Loeng, so Brittney had gone over to perform the transaction as always.

Harry had long stopped going and had started focussing on his government work and inventing new things instead.

But today, he had received a message that Mo Loeng had demanded to meet him personally.

That's why Harry had to drop his work, pick up his car keys and rush off to the old estate-turned-warehouse.

"Damn…

I hope I didn't get too late…", Harry said to himself as he came close to his destination.

Since the building was located in the military area, which was closed off to the normal public, there was barely anyone on the road.

So, once Harry entered the military zone, he doubled his speed and started driving like Dom Torreto from the Fast and the Furious series.

The last thing he wanted was a pissed-off demon ripping through his country.

Because in the off chance that he did manage to subdue her, it might attract the wrath of other, more powerful demons.

Seeing the old building come up in front, Harry did some quick mental calculations before spinning his steering, slamming the breaks and pushing his door open. (He naturally shifted the gear stick to "park" as well. Otherwise, the car would go flying.)

He jumped out and dashed towards the door as his car spun around before coming to a halt at the parking area.

He was wearing an expensive-looking formal dark blue suit along with a red tie.

Since he had hurriedly changed and driven over in a similar hurry, Harry's clothes did get a bit messy.

But he chose to ignore that for the time being.

Reaching right before the door, Harry stopped, fixed his wardrobe and walked inside.

Inside, he was greeted by the same old surroundings that had been there ever since he came to this country all those years back.

Since this was where they conducted foreign trade, Harry had decided to not make any changes to the building.

He wanted no chances of any bit of attracting unwanted attention other than the absolute bare minimum which he couldn't avoid.

Walking in, he was greeted by Brittney, her secretary and Mo Loeng, all of whom were sitting at the table in the middle of the building.

"Long time no see, Your Majesty.

Also, nice clothes.", said Mo Loeng when Harry came near the table.

"Yes, yes. I know.

I haven't exactly been enjoying all the work.

But thanks for the compliment, L…

Can I call you 'L'?", replied Harry with a laugh.

"Yeah, sure, why not.

If that makes you visit an old friend a little more, then go right ahead.", said Mo Loeng in a mocking depressed voice.

"Okay, okay, I get it!

But why'd you suddenly call me over?

Feeling lonely? I hope I don't have to fire my foreign affairs minister though…"

Brittney and her secretary suddenly looked a bit nervous.

"No, no. I'm a long-living demon lord.

I don't feel lonely so easily.

The reason I called you, you see, was that I have these two people-"

"Honey, you know I don't want anything to do with slavery, right?", Harry cut into Mo Loeng's words.

"Let. Me. Finish.", Mo Loeng said with an annoyed expression.

"Uhh… Go right ahead."

"Okay, so before you jump to any premature conclusions, hear me out.

I've found two members of a royal family who were living in hiding.

They aren't enslaved or anything. Nor are there any plans of enslaving them in the future.

I just figured it'd be better to let them shift here instead of their previous residence.

You never know when the humans might decide to attack there and capture the two as slaves."

"You sure?

I mean, this place isn't exactly the richest in terms of any of those natural energies, right?

You can surely find a better place than literal 'wastelands'."

Human royalty meant high-level mana or qi users.

And letting them stay in the area famous for its scarcity of all three types of energies (mana, qi and miasma) felt a bit confusing to Harry.

"That is precisely the reason why I chose this place, you dumb king!

No one will bother looking here!

Plus, you have those two cultivators living here, don't you?", came a quick reply from Mo Loeng.

"Ah, right…

Well, my palace has a lot of empty rooms, so I guess they can easily be accommodated there."

"So, all good then!

I'll just call them over.", said Mo Loeng as she pulled out a small amulet sort of thing from thin air.

She spoke into the trinket and looked back towards the door.

Following her gaze, the other three also looked as they saw a mother and daughter scurry out from the portal-connected door.

"Oh my! Such a beautiful mother and daughter!", said Brittney's secretary.

Brittney also nodded in agreement.

Harry too stared at the sight in awe before speaking.

"Elves!?

OMFG! REAL-LIFE ELVES!

Wow!!!

I'm so ex-", Harry started jumping with joy before noticing the awkward environment in the room.

"Uhh…

I hope you can ignore that bit.

It's just that I haven't seen IRL elves…

I mean to say, I haven't seen elves in real life. So I got a bit too excited…"

"No, no. That part of your reaction's pretty normal.

It's just that, how can you tell they're elves?", asked Mo Loeng.

"Um, was I not supposed to see those pointy ears or something?"

"You two, what do you see?", Mo Loeng asked Brittney and her secretary.

"Um, humans, ma'am…

We see humans, not elves or anything like that.", Brittne spoke up as her secretary nodded along.

"These two had put spells on themselves for disguise.

But I guess that those things don't work on you, do they?"

Harry thought for a moment.

'System, you did something?'

[No, host.

This system has nothing to do with it.

The spell used uses the onlooker's memories to fabricate a fake appearance around the two.

For the other two, their memories didn't have any record of real elves, so the spell worked perfectly.

But the host had seen enough realistic-looking fake elves in movies and TV back on the previous planet and there was also large popularity of such content back on the host's original world.

That's why there was enough content to stop the effects of the spell on the host's mind before it could properly stabilise itself.

The fact that the host's soul comes from another world might also have played a role in this event.]

'Ah, so if I hadn't come, they would appear human to me as well?'

[That is correct, host.

According to my analysis of their current thoughts, they planned on getting an appearance based on the onlookers' thoughts and cast other magic to completely hide their original appearance.]

"Yeah, I guess…

I don't know much myself…", Harry replied after two seconds of conversation with the system.

This was the thing with his system.

When in public, their conversations could be sped up to not attract any attention. This was done by injecting all the words directly into Harry's head instead of having to read or hear it.

So, the majority of the time taken was for Harry to think up his two thoughts while the system's replies were instantaneous.

"Okay, then.

Anyways, meet Her Majesty Mzia Jaqeli and her daughter, Eteri.", said Mo Loeng as the duo came forward.

'The two look pretty dazed. Probably since I unknowingly ripped through their spell…'

"Greetings, Your Majesty and your highness…

I, Harry Scallon, welcome you to my humble country of Eruchea.", said Harry with a courteous bow as per royal etiquette.

The two bowed in return.

"Please to meet you, King Scallon.

We hope that we didn't trouble Your Majesty too much with our unannounced visit.", said the mother.

"Oh, no, no!

We don't get any guests in the first place!

And since the royal palace is pretty much empty, you guys can happily stay there if you want.

Also, no need to be so formal with me. I'm not one of those ultra-strict rulers.

Even my citizens are allowed to be informal when meeting me outside of official work.

I'm also not someone who blindly discriminates against people. Unless they've purposefully harmed me, my family or my citizens of course!

But I'm sure that anyone with a couple of points of IQ would do the same.", said Harry as he started off with his usual lightening of the mood.

"We get it.

We won't bother you with excessive formalities.", said Mzia as she snapped her finger and created chairs from the stone flooring and sat down.

"Also, considering how old you guys are compared to me, no offence, I don't have any issues with you calling me by my name or some nickname even.

I mean, by elven standards, Ms Mzia would be about my mother's age, am I right? Again, I hope my words aren't too offensive since I'm talking about your ages and stuff."

"None taken.

Eteri keeps reminding me of my old age more than enough anyway.

Also, we elves are pretty used to the difference in the lifespans of humans and elves.

In elf years, I'd probably be in my late forties while my daughter would be about 15-ish, I suppose.", replied Mzia with a laugh.

"In that case, I must say that you have some great skincare habits! Since both you and your daughter have quite healthy and clean skins."

"Why, thank you, young man.

The secret would probably be mana."

"Oi, are you guys done chit-chatting?

Because I too plan on spending some time in your country."

Mo Loeng made this somewhat sudden announcement.

"Wait, you?"

"Yes, me.

These guys are shifting over.

I got some free time.

So I figured that I could take a short holiday. Unless you're not accepting tourists…"

"What?

Of course, you're welcome.

Anytime!

I wouldn't want you to flatten my country in anger…", Harry started joking around.

"What!

Do you think of me as some sort of dem-

Oh, wait. I am a demon.

But even so, I have manners, you know!"

"Okay, okay.

But, on that matter, is that door important?

Like, can I knock it down and replace it?", asked Harry while pointing to the door connected to the demon realm.

"Oh, that?

That was just there for theatrics.

That thing leads nowhere.

It was just put there since one of the old kings felt like it.

So, yeah, you can happily knock it down. You don't even need to replace it."

"I think I'll keep the door.

But before we leave, I think I'll make some calls first.", said Harry as he pulled out his smartphone from his pocket.

They still hadn't made satellites yet.

But that didn't stop Harry from using a MAN network to create a modern society.

Since the tech stayed within the country, he didn't need satellites to transfer signals.

Even a pseudo-internet had been set up without satellites since there was no need for signals to travel too large distances.

That said, research was currently ongoing for space exploration and Harry would be seeing the results in about a week.

That's right.

Humanity's first satellite launch was just a few weeks away.

That was because the majority of the work had already been done by Harry. All the researchers had to do was basically to go through his notes and assemble the components.

There were still things that Harry let others have complete control over. But he liked to play a significant role in the development of important things like satellites or computers.

Anyway, Harry made a few calls and texted a few people before keeping his phone back.

"What was that thing?

Some sort of mortal communication device?", asked Mo Loeng, thoroughly confused by Harry's actions, the design of the smartphone and the voices coming out of the phone.

She had sharp ears so she did hear the conversation Harry was having but only a bit since she didn't like unnecessarily invading someone's privacy.

"Oh, yeah.

You can think of it like that.

But currently, it only works within the country.

You can't take it away.

Also, I don't plan on trading most of the things you're about to see.

National defence reasons.

I'm sure you'll understand why when you see it.", replied Harry, feeling somewhat smug after seeing the dumbfounded expressions the three women had on seeing a simple smartphone.

A few minutes later, a knock was heard on the human side door.

Mo Loeng quickly transformed into a human while Mzia applied spells on herself and her daughter.

Harry walked up to the door and took in some items from a construction worker who had come along.

After instructing the man, he walked back carrying a few goggles, some baggy suits and some tightly wrapped packages.

He handed some of the things to Brittney and her secretary while he wore the suit and the goggles over his clothes.

"I hope that you guys won't mind a bit of commotion here."

"Commotion?"

"Yes.

You see, this building is basically the oldest one left in the country.

I had been putting off renovating this place since I didn't really understand the concept of your portal thingy.

But since that seems to be solved. I figured that now's the best time to clean this place up.

Because we've got all the parts pre-fabricated and gathering dust.

The majority of the work will be done within a few hours.

All that's left is to dismantle this building and assemble the new one."

"Woah there!

I can't understand a word of what you're saying!

What do you mean 'dismantle this building and assemble the new one'?

And how the hell do you plan on doing that in a few hours!?", Mo Loeng had a horrible time understanding what was being told.

Construction always took time. Even if the things were pre-made, it took hours to days or even months at the very least to make buildings.

And here was this guy saying that it'll be done in a few minutes.

"I'd explain but the construction team's already assembled outside.

And since your squad of workers has left long back, I suggest you just close the portal first.

That wall will be knocked down and I don't want any unnecessary damage.

On that note, you guys might want to put some light defence measures on. Or just wear one of these.

I got pillars to blow.", said Harry as he handed them three of those baggy suits and three goggles.

Mo Loeng turned off the portal.

But since the suit seemed too complicated the women decided to use defensive spells instead.

In the meantime, Harry proceeded to attach small rod-like things to the base of all the pillars.

When he returned, Mzia asked, "So, you're saying that those rods things will explode and destroy the pillars."

"Yes ma'am.

They're top-quality Linear-shaped-charges or LSCs designed to pulverise those pillars with minimal collateral damage. Though some amount of damage is unavoidable.

Hence the protective measures."

Harry took out a small remote from his pocket.

"Charges set.

Ready for activation in 3… 2… 1…

Fire!", said Harry as he pressed the button.

The LSCs, which had been shoved into the pillars using Harry's brute strength instantly proceeded to detonate and turn the bases of every pillar in the building along with the surrounding floor and scattering a lot of dust everywhere.

Just a second after the initial round of explosions, another bigger round followed which broke the edges of the walls.

The walls were then quickly pulled back while the ceiling was lifted up.

At the same time, several loud sounds were heard after which the large amount of dust generated by the explosions began being cleared very fast.

In the midst of all this, several people came forward to escort everyone away from the site as the new walls were hauled up.

Getting away from the commotion, everyone looked back as the flooring was blown up by several workers and new wet concrete was poured in after which huge cranes came together to join pre-fabricated pieces of walls together on the still wet flooring.

"Your Majesty!!

I get that you wanted to show off in front of your guests!

But please don't do something this dangerous and dumb again!

I understand watching the construction from a distance. But literally being in the very middle of the construction site is way beyond just violating the rules regarding demolition of buildings!

And you even dared to keep your guests without any protective gear! That's a clear criminal act, Your Majesty!"

The leader of the construction team was blowing his head off on Harry.

The guy looked like he'd murder his king!

"I know, I know!

No one was being harmed.

That's why I asked for blast-proof suits, no?

And as for my three guests, they can use mana and stuff.

I offered them the suits but they preferred using their own spells.

And yes, I won't repeat such dumbness again.", said Harry trying to calm the man down.

"Dude!

That's like the fifth time I'm hearing His Majesty say something like that!", shouted a nearby worker while laughing.

"But this time's a promise!", Harry quickly said as he ushered everyone towards their cars, trying to get away from the angry worker.

Their vehicles had been covered with a protective cover while the large-scale vacuum machines cleaned up the surrounding air.

"You two can return to your normal work.

I'll be taking care of these three.", said Harry as he removed his now dust-covered suit, revealing a clean but now slightly crumpled suit from underneath.

Hearing him, Brittney and her secretary proceeded to drive away in their car as Harry ushered his new guests into his.

Looking outside, Mo Loeng asked Harry, "What sort of a vehicle is that!?

Why is everything moving on its own without any mana!?"

This was a completely new experience for the three women.

They were used to magic and qi and all that.

And looking at Eruchean technology made them feel like how a normal Earthling would react on seeing magic.

For the residents of this world, the lack of magic was magical.

"These sleek ones would be called cars while the large ones over there are the construction vehicles.

And as for how they work, they've got engines and other components placed inside that use fuel to make them move.

I suppose that it should be somewhat similar to mana-artefact type vehicles that the Malonians use, right?", Harry explained.

"Yeah, but what sort of engine can do that without mana and magic circles!?"

"Honey, you're overdoing it with your reactions.

You're reacting as if you don't know basic science.

Unfortunately, the exact schematics and stuff for these technologies are classified for guests.

Those things definitely cannot be sold to anyone outside the country for now."

"Oh, I get it.

Considering how even we demons use energy detection as our main method of enemy detection, using even one of your normal 'cars' or whatever would completely bypass the initial line of security!

I mean, you would need to be without any of the three natural energies to completely bypass it but still."

"True.

And mortals aren't much of a threat to demons or any other race. Otherwise, everyone would have used them as cannon fodder more often."

This time it was Eteri who chipped in.

Her mother seemed to be too distracted staring at all the luxurious features of the car.

"Say, you two.

Since It's my first time meeting elves, I wanted to ask, do you guys or other races also get mortals?

I'm not too well versed with non-homo sapiens... I mean, non-humans."

Hearing a question aimed at them, Mzia looked up.

"Oh, us?

Yeah, we do get some but we've developed enough ways to artificially plant mana manipulating abilities in them.

Even so, the so-called mortal elves are born only like once in a few centuries or something according to human standards.", said Mzia as she played with the car's windows buttons, making the windows go up and down.

"As for us, we demons have a brutal enough society that none of those creatures can possibly survive even their first day.

And as far as I know, the beastkin don't have such people born according to all the records that I have seen. But those people are pretty accepting of others anyhow.", added Mo Loeng with a laugh.

"Ah, so it's the humans who are hypocrites.

We say that we are righteous and better than demons but those energy users' behaviour is most similar to demons only.

Lol...", Harry laughed as he pulled up near the exit check post for the military district.

And after a few mandatory checks along with stares from three pairs of really curious eyes, the group finally left the military area and moved towards the flashy part of the country.

"Alright, everyone.

We are now arriving in the main public region of the country. The earlier place was for the military.

Be prepared to have your mind blown sky high!", announced Harry.

As for the three sitting around him, their minds were already blown enough by the various sights in the previous district.

Even the very road they drove on just looked way too good to be true!

This quality of roads was good enough for royalty to sleep on... maybe...

That's why they barely registered Harry's words before being bombarded by new things to marvel at.

They were now close to what Harry said was the "Times Square".

The place lived up to its name and was filled with large to medium-sized buildings, shops, flashy billboards and all that fancy stuff just like back on Earth.

There was also a huge crowd moving on the pavements along with several cars on the roads.

"Are we still on Etheldor…?", asked Mo Loeng in a dazed voice.

"I didn't know elves were so backwards…", said Eteri in a depressed voice as she drew circles on her seat with a finger. Her seat seemed to have turned a shade darker for some reason too.

Mzia, on the other hand, was drooling as she looked at the huge advertisements for various products.

This was the sort of place that would give her the many new experiences that she had set out to find and so much more!

Harry looked at the three.

'That lady must be quite a character…'

"You guys!

We're still on Etheldor only! No worries!

And it's only my country that's this developed. That's why we've got so many restrictions on trade.

No other nation, in my knowledge, has achieved this level of development yet."

Harry tried reassuring the two women about their newfound insecurities.

"Wait! Why are we moving away from Heaven!?", Mzia cried out.

"Uhh…

It's called the 'Times Square' actually…

And I thought we should get you guys settled in the palace and get these two registered as official citizens and stuff first, you know.

I mean, we do have the rest of the day and more to go touring the country, no?", replied Harry as he drove away from the flashy billboards and towards his palace.

"The pala-", Eteri had just started saying when the Eruchean palace's picture showed up on a roadside signboard.

It looked like a cross between the Palace of Versailles and the British Buckingham Palace.

"Uhh… Was that… the 'Palace'?", asked Eteri.

"Oh, yeah.

That's our destination.

I can assure you, it looks better in real life.", replied Harry.

The others had unfortunately missed it since the car was moving pretty fast.

But looking at Eteri's face, a mixture of excitement and shock could be seen.

After a few more minutes of driving, the majestic palace gates finally should up. The main building was still deep inside the campus.

Still, the main gates were a sight to behold as of themselves.

A short white marble wall lined the bottom while golden-coloured metal fencing lined most of the top.

This was an almost on-point recreation of one of the fanciest and flashiest gates Harry had seen back on Earth.

That's why he had based the gates on the famous Golden Gates of the Palace of Versailles.

Looking at everyone's expression, Harry knew that his fun little idea had worked wonders.

'Oh boy, I just can't wait to show these guys the rest of the country!'