Winter Vacation

The trio arrives in Germania half a day after leaving Albion, almost immediately feeling the winter weather change as they fly over palm trees and other tropical-looking plants decorating the beach of Germania.

The group had to shed their thick clothing halfway through the ride simply because of how drastic the change in temperature was. To Michael it felt as if he'd stepped from Russia and into the Middle East.

They eventually land a few miles into the country, hiding within some sort of tropical forest that sat beside a huge, seemingly never-ending desert. No one had seen a town as of yet, not even a small village to indicate that civilization actually existed in this land.

Upon hearing Michael's question, Ralf goes on to explain that most of Germania's settlements were positioned behind 'The Endless Dunes', which just so happens to be the desert they see before them now.

Apparently, in the early days of Halkegenia, Germania's wealth of salt, spices, gold, and other commodities drew the ire of the other countries, causing them to send raiding parties and sometimes even armies to take wealth from them. Noone wanted Germania's land, as most wouldn't survive it without decades of experience, but their wealth couldn't be understated.

As such, Germania decided to put the Endless Dunes between them and their enemies, this strategy ending almost all hostility in an instant. After all, you couldn't march an army through a desert and still expect your men to fight dehydrated, underfed, and suffering from heatstroke.

With the other countries now fighting amongst themselves instead of bothering Germania, it let the country slowly develop without opposition, which is why they were now the most militarily powerful country in the world... Perhaps barring the Elven countries, who possessed magic and technology unknown to most.

"So... we'll be fine chilling in the area then?" Michael asks, and Ralf nods.

"No one has any reason to pass through this area unless it's for trading. I remember hearing about an Airship port south of here, but I doubt they will bother us at all."

"Yeah, we could 'borrow' supplies from them as well... I'm fine staying here for now, consider this a vacation," Michael says with a grin, walking over to fall into the sand, but stops when he hears a strange rumbling sound. "Do you guys hear that?"

...

Tiffania and Ralf glance around for a moment before they both pause, indeed hearing the strange sound. Ralf doesn't know what it is either, but Tiffania's ears twitch as she turns towards the desert. "Something is coming." she says, and they all drop into stances to intercept whatever it is.

And not a moment later.

*Crash!*

*Screeeeee!*

A huge yellow worm bursts out of the ground, its maw filled with an uncountable number of teeth. It lacked eyes but was still able to locate the group somehow, it truly looked like a monster, but...

"Wall of Ash!"

"Shock!"

"Incineration Spear!"

Each of them cast their respective spells, covering the worm is burning ash, lightning, and flames, utterly decimating it in an instant. A thud sounds out, and once the cloud of ash clears the group is left with a giant cooked worm corpse..

"Well, that was easy." Michael mutters but gets palmed in the back of the head by Ralf.

"Don't ever say tha-" he starts but is unsurprisingly interrupted.

*Ruuuuumble!*

Three more worms burst from the desert sand and start rapidly making their way towards the group. Tiffania casts a few more Walls of Ash while Ralf summons his dragon again. And once they were able, they hopped onto the beast and flew away as five more worms burst from the sand.

"Huh, that's probably why no one tried to invade Germania." Michael mutters as Ralf stares at him from over his shoulder. "Never do that again."

...

Huh, apparently Ralf was one of those types.

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Two more weeks pass, and while the trio was temporarily living on the coast of Germania, things were beginning to pick up in other countries.

Romalia had officially sent out some priest emissaries to try and negotiate peace between Gallia, Tristain, Albion, and Germania. Attempting to nip this problem in the bud before things could really get started.

Unfortunately, while most countries were on board with this, Gallia refused and had the priests escorted out, claiming that they were spies sent by Romalia to assist their enemies. As Gallia was the main cause of tension between the counties, peace was a long way away.

Indeed, things only got worse when Gallia released rather dire information about Tristain interfering in Albion's internal conflicts. Particularly, a squad of Muskateer Knights was sent to assist the loyalists against the Reconquista, and were instrumental in securing a victory for Prince Wales.

There were laws that needed to be followed by all who followed the Brimiric faith, and a foreign country interfering in the politics of another to serve their own purposes was indeed a breach of them.

As such, Gallia used this breach of the law as a pretence to begin making plays against Albion, specifically taking full control of La Rochelle and forcing any foreign element out of it before beginning to have their own forces begin massing there.

As Antomiers had been destroyed by 'terrorists', Tristain had no way to send forces to assist Albion,. meaning Prince Wales was on his own for now, which is likely what Gallia planned for in the first place.

Once this news spread however, Germania also began massing troops at their own Airship port, not wishing for Gallia to control the momentum of this conflict, and potentially even subjugate Albion. With two of the largest and most powerful countries readying for a war on Albion soil, things were quickly looking dire for Albion's continued independence. Right now, it'd only take a spark to ignite a full-blown world war, something everyone was aware of.