Chapter 2

While William did made this place but it's really been quite a while since the last time he looking up this place, the Eagle Palace is one of the first place he has made and since then he has done a lot of things such as city planning, a dozen or so bases, labs and various types of facilities.

Like you can't expect a guy to remember all that he has done! So now William is lost on his own palace.

He wonders a bit trying to explore the place and get himself familiar with the place.

'Was it really this big?' William wondered as its one thing to look at it from high above while designing it but it's a totally different feel when you explore it from a first person view.

William wonders a until he eventually reaches a library.

'Let's take a look' William thought as he pushes open a giant double door and went inside the library.

The library is quite spacious and very well decorated in a Racoco/Baroque fashion, it has heigh ceiling with sculpted panels that ran along its edges. One could only imagine how long it took to sculpt all of the panels that ran along the walls.

William walks around before finally getting to the history section, William is naturally quite curious what the history is like in game world.

He has written several key points which by his assumption is solid fact but what about the parts he hasn't written? Those are the parts he is curious about.

He arrives at the history section

'Well shit' William thought as just staring at the cover of these books are already making him sleepy.

Suffice to say as this is a private library the books are are naturally not the kind you find in any public library, so no books with glossy colourful cover or colourful pictures books. Instead the have these brown backed books filled with dense line of words and if you're lucky you'll see a well drawn illustration.

'If only I could just search it on the web' William thought frustrated as he takes out a phone from an unfamiliar brand.

He turns it on and William curses 'got damn it how do you use this thing!'

You know it's like when an IPhone user suddenly uses an Android phone, it's like that.

'Like why the hell are there 2 main screens! Which one is the real main screen!…' William endless complain in his mind as he tries to navigate the terrible user interface.

After awhile he eventually gives up as even if he find the internet he still wouldn't be able to use it as just like Viktoria said there's no connection.

William sighs 'such inconvenience' he thought as he began looking through the books.

…

Later

"Your highness…"

"Huh? Oh!" William who fell asleep while reading suddenly got up.

"What is it?" William turns to look at Viktoria who has awoken him.

"I came to bring you your meal" she said as she brings out a silver platter before lifting the lid presenting some sort of meatloaf, seemingly hot judging the hot steam coming out of it.

William who was still groggy unconsciously take a fork and took a small chunk out before placing it in his mouth.

As soon as he placed the food in his mouth, William's eyes immediately widens as coughs out the food he just placed in his mouth.

"Are you alright you highness?" Viktoria asked

"What that hell is that god awful thing!" William said displeasingly.

"It's the standard rations, due to our current situation it's the only food we have" Viktoria explains

"What about Anna has she returned yet?" William asked

"She has retuned after scouting the coast and found nothing "

"What about the fish I ordered her to capture?" William asked seemingly displeased

"It have already been sent to Medical officer Lieutenant Marie for analysis" Viktoria replied seemingly not getting what William is trying to get at.

A bulges on William's head seemingly irritated but he calms himself 'no use in yelling at the messenger' he thought

"alright take me to Marie" William said standing up from his seat "oh and you can have the rest of that" pointing the meatloaf looking thing.

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Marie's lab

"Greets your highness what brings you here?" Marie asked

"Have you received the fishes that Anna sent?"

"Why yes, they're truly fascinate did you know that…." She then goes on a little rant as he takes William to the dissection room to point out the various peculiarities on the fishes.

William listened for a bit before he cuts her off

"Yes, I'm sure this is all fascinate but I just want to know is this safe for human consumption? "

Marie then stares at William before saying "while there a bit of oddities in these finishes but preliminary scans shows they are indeed safe for human consumption"

At this moment William's stomach grumbles

"Great job, as you're very busy I won't disturbed you any more" William then turns to Viktoria before pointing at one of the undirected fishes "Victoria get one of those fishes, that's what I'm eating tonight"

"Sir I do believe it's unwise…"

William cuts Viktoria off as he would rather alien fish then eat meatloaf with whole rats mixed in.

"I believe in the good doctor's findings and that'll be the end of that" William said as he leaves to room.

William know what he wrote in the setting and there's no way in hell he's eating that crap! There was even a scene planned where human corpses and dead abominations from project Sin are thrown in to a giant food processor for making the rations. William is most definitely not eating that crap.

This situation kinda made William remember of those would you rather moment games that was very popular in YouTube a few years back.

Would you rather eat an aliens fish that a all tests shows that it's ok to eat or eat a meatloaf made out of a mix of whole rats (a joke on the whole grain nonsense, so manufacturers decided to cut cost and put unprocessed grain in their food and yet they have the galls to brag about it!?), roaches and pineapple that's 100% you're it's safe to eat but taste terrible, which one would you choose?

For William he chose the Alien fish.

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At the mess hall

William then looks at steaming hot fish before him.

William smiles before taking a sniff of the freshly cooked fish.

'Ahhh now this is the stuff' William thought as he picks up his fork before taking a bite.

'Hmm… taste a bit bland but that's to be expected as it isn't seasoned, probably should add that to the list of things that Marie should be working on' William thought

"Emmm…. Victoria"

"What is it your highness?" Viktoria all though subtly it seems she is displeased with his reckless action of eating alien fish.

"next time can you fillet the fish" William said as he gestures to the bones of the fish.

"As you command your highness" she replies coldly

You know the feeling when looking at a pompous spoiled brat? Like when even eating oranges he needs someone to peel the skin for them.

William suddenly got that vide that Victoria is looking at him like that.

William ignores it as isn't he a noble now? So why does he still need to deal with fish bones! If he's a noble then he should live like one.

"Also please send someone to guard me tomorrow as I plan to go exploring the city tomorrow, while there doesn't seem to be anyone it's better to be safe than sorry" William said as he's kinda embarrassed to say "I'm afraid of getting lost like a lost little child so please send someone over to guide me around" William can't obviously say that.

"Understand" Victoria replies

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The next day

"Greetings Sir I'm Storm Trooper (an actual German rank) Sophia Sieben (7) Epsilon reporting for duty" a girl who looks to be 15~14 years old stood before William.

The Epsilons was made 8 years after the Deltas when Eagle Reich's high up begins to worry about the astonishing growth rate of the Deltas.

"Good now take me to Medical officer Marie as I have matters of great importance to talk to her"

"Understood Sir" Sophia salutes

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Marie's lab

"Greetings your highness what brings you here" Marie in a lab coat asked.

"I'm here to update you on your mission, I want you to also recreate the following plants as well"

William then reads out the list of fruits and vegetables that he thought of last night.

"Potatoes, Apples, Tomatoes, Blueberries, Wheat, Pepper Corn, Carolina Reaper Pepper, Barely, Garlic, Onions…" William listed them no particular order.

After listing all them William turns his head to look at Marie who still retain her smiling face and asked "did you get all that?"

"Yes your highness" she replies which impresses William as she didn't even take any notes when he listed all the stuff he wants.

'Such remarkable memory' William thought impressed with the Deltas.

"Good because your mission is of utmost importance to the survival of our once glorious Reich, our food stores would eventually ran out so we need to begin to have a stable source of food supply as soon as possible…" William then gave a grand speech of how important her job is and stressing the urgency of not having a stable food supply.

"So do you know now how important your mission is?" William

"Yes your highness" Marie replies

"Good then I won't disturb your work anymore" After his lengthy speech William then leaves her with Sophia following behind him, leaving behind the still smiling Marie.

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"Where to now Sir?" Sophia asked

"Has Anna headed out yet?"

Sophia the pulls out her communicator and spoke a bunch military lingo that William doesn't understand.

After a short Sophia turns back to William and said "No sir, she is still preparing to leave"

"Relay a message telling her to catch more fish and send them all to Marie, send some to the kitchen to serve as rations"

"Understood Sir" Sophia said before turning her coms back on and saying another string of military lingo.

After she finishes relaying his orders William then said "Next let's got to Bamberg's Palaeontology Museum"

"understood Sir, wait here while I go get a car" Sophia then heads off to get a car as Bamberg is a settlement located on the other side of the island.

Besides the cinema even though they are very scarce there are other forms of entertainment in the Eagle Reich.

One of those other form of entertainment is visiting a Museum. The Eagle Reich has 3 museums one is located at the capital Vedfolnir, it's main theme is cantered around the muskets and 16~18th century warfare.

Second one is on Hamberg a settlement built on a mountain near the centre of the island, it is built around a Spanish fortress back when the Spanish own the Island. Anyways the museum at Hamberg's main theme is the Middle Ages with a section dedicated to the Romans and Greeks. Cuz Greek and Rome is the bedrock of western civilisation.

And the last one is on Bamberg which is located on the other side of the island. There are a few more settlements on the island but those are irrelevant right now. Anyways so the main theme of Bamberg is Dinosaurs!

William always wanted to visit a dinosaur museum but his parents only brought him to a crappy science museum.

Like science is cool and all but you know what's even cooler? DINOSAURS! Giant reptiles that walked the Earth millions of years ago. You can't get cooler than that.

Now that he has a lot of free time William decided to fulfil one one of his childhood dreams of going to a dinosaur museum.

It didn't take long before Sophia eventually returns with a car

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30 minutes later at Bamberg's Palaeontology Museum

(30 minutes seems fast? But you have to consider that due to the disappearance of the population there's no traffic )

The building is built in a neoclassical based on Mora Ferenc Museum.

It was relatively easy to find build models of a museum online, William of course did change the internals a bit because he wanted to make a certain scene of knights riding atop large horse size raptors lined up at the entrance and at the end of the line there's a giant Tyrannosaurus standing majestically roaring.

"Come now Sophia " William said as he looks at the stunned Sophia who probably never been to a museum all he life, he stood there in awe of the majestic posture of the T-Rex.

"Yes Sir" Sophia snaps out of it and quickly follows William.

"Now then how about we start with the aquatic animals" William said as he heads to the aquatic section.

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At the Aquatic section

William is quite excited like a kid at a candy store.

"Leedsichthys the largest fish to have ever existed, the largest specimen found is over 16 meters long" William looks at the giant fish that lived in the same era as the dinosaurs.

"Galeaspida is an extinct taxon of jawless marine and freshwater fish. The name is derived from galea, the Latin word for helmet, and refers to their massive bone shield on the head." William reads as he looks at a family of bazaar looking armoured fishes species.

"Placodermi, a class of armoured prehistoric fish, this is also the ancestor of all land animals" William looks at a menacing looking armoured fish.

"Plesiosaur, a clade of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles…. Extinct?" William is not to sure about the extinct part as he heard that the Loch Ness Monster is a Plesiosaur.

While most people would have dismissed it but there's plenty living examples of species that are thought to be extinct are still around, like the Coelacanth for example.

That fish has been around for 400 Million years, that much older than the dinosaurs, in fact that fish has been around before there are land animals.

Just as William was enjoying his time Sophia suddenly spoke out as a situation suddenly develops

"Sorry to interrupt Sir but a situation has developed that requires your attention"

'What now' William then begrudgingly asked "What is it?"

"Sir Lieutenant Anna who was scouting the waters was attack by a "large sea creature""

William frowns

"After being attacked Lieutenant Anna, decided to fall back and await further instructions"

"Is Anna ok? Is anyone injured?" William asked

"No one was injured in the altercation but the speed boats are lightly damaged" she said

"Alright take me to Anna and call Marie in too"

"On it Sir" She swiftly replies

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On the way to where Anna is at William meet Marie along the way.

"Greetings your highness what requires my attention?" Marie asked

"Anna was attack by a "large sea creature" which damaged her craft and forced her to retreat, as you're the top most biological expert we have I require your insight on this matter."

"Understood your Highness" Marie replies

They eventually arrived at the port where Anna was at.

"Greetings Sir" Anna said as she and her minions that stood behind her salutes him.

"It's fine let's skip the pleasantries and get to the heart of the matter, what's this about sea monsters" William said as he stares at the damaged dome to the boat.

There were claw marks that ran across the sides of the ship, the damaged wasn't heavy but every impressive non the less especially for a biological creature.

"I'm assuming that it's not done a whale or the like" William said

"No Sir it was a made by a creature resembling a squid" Anna replies

At this time Marie puts on a glove before stepping closer to the damaged boat to examine the damaged "indeed the damaged to the hull plating is too deep for a mere giant squid"

"Alright tell me what happened"

"Sir I was 10 km off the coast scouting and acquiring fish samples when the Sonar suddenly detected something strange.

At first I though it was a whale but the image in the Sonar seems to suggests it isn't one massive solid object, the Sonar image seems suggest something less dense.

I had assumed it was just another school of fishes and so I ignored it. It was careless on my part but that I had let it get close thinking it would be a great chance to acquire Fish samples, but I was greatly mistaken as more than a dozen tentacles emerges out of the water and grabs onto the ship."

"More then as dozen?" Marie asked for confirmation as squids only have 8 arms

"Yes, there's more than a dozen with each as thick as a humans arm, and it slowly tries to drag the ship under water. It is at this point that I gave the signal to the helmsman to start the engine and tries to fight against its pull.

It was at this moment when the creature emerges to the surface revealing it's large body, By my estimation not including it's arms the main body is 10 meters long and 3 meters wide.

Seeing the main body I took out a high explosive grenade in an attempt to neutralise the large creature, but due the shaky platform my grenade didn't land on its face instead it went a little higher and landed near the fins.

The resulting explosion didn't kill the creature but was heavily wounded and cried out at me as it's massive eyes focuses on me"

"It cried out and stared at you? Hmm…" Marie mutters as obviously squid being an aquatic creature doesn't have vocal cord, with it crying out it would mean it's not a squid at all but a squid like creature, the other thing that it stared at Anna witch demonstrated a near human like intelligence which is definitely something to worry about.

"Yes, the creature released a loud low pitched cry." Anna affirms before continuing on "after getting wounded it eventually loosens it's gripped on the ship before disappearing back into the waters. With such an unknown factor involved I then decided to suspend all current missions and reports back for further instructions" Anna finishes her story.

"Good, I'm satisfied with your action and future deep sea exploration should be done by using U-boats."

The U-boats being 76 meters long and weighing more than 1,000 tons. That should provide ample protection against that super giant squid, besides tonnage and size a U boat has torpedos.

"Understood Sir" Anna replies

Alright around this time Marie pulls out one of the squid's tentacle hook that got stuck in the ships hull.

"I've secured a genetic sample, with this it should tell us a lot about the creature, given time we could even splice the genes for our own use" Marie shows the finger size hook claw all the while there's a gleam in here eyes as if she just found a treasure trove.

"Emm… Marie while I do appreciate your enthusiasm and while project Sin is important but let's leave splicing genes after you've complete your current tasks and we have a stable food source" William said a bit unsettled as one could only imagine what sort of abomination she'll come up with those genes.

Marie then recomposes herself and replies with a smile but the glint while visibly suppressed is still there "But of course your highness I'll be sure to complete your given task first"

"Well… as long as you understand" William will trust her for now, William doesn't really care what she does with the squid DNA what he really cares is the herbs and spices he has ordered!

While they may be able to stomach the Eagle Reich's standard rations, William himself can't! He is a modern civilised man so it is natural that he has high requirements for his food.