Armed Enlightenment Book 1 (Practice Story [My other stories are better])

How to go home while at another country? Google: Buy a plane ticket. Bing:

Blasphemers, demon sympathizers, HERETICS; you name it. Those were the slanderous words chanted by the devout people of the Ilian Orthodoxy protesting around the Weissenheer embassy as dusk settles in. As they gather piles of wood on spots scattered around the embassy, it was clear they weren't moving. The gate was barricaded, the vehicles were put inside Ilia's inventory, and both mobile task force units and medical personnel were setting up defenses with the Prussians. Now, one might wonder why the embassy endangered themselves to provide safety for the Terran expeditionary, but as stated before, the healing of the Pope was publicly broadcasted around the continent.

With a L/N in danger, it was a great risk for the Kaiser himself to make his decision to at least repay some of their debt for saving Erich. And if Weissenheer was to be subjected to a crusade in their sorry state, the Federation would still be honor-bound to come to the rescue; and if that didn't work, even if it was a shameful thing for a father to think about with the stakes too high, Erika would know what to do.

"Mister Speaker, your Holiness." Inside the dimly lit office of the Weissenheer ambassador, Ilia was facing a choppy image of both the top representatives of the Orthodoxy to resolve their current issue. The Pope sat down on his humble chair while the Speaker stood diagonally behind him. Both had an apologetic look at how they were treated after lifting the curse.

"Miss L/N, although you have lifted thy curse, for you to be treated like this... words cannot express my most sincere apologies." The Pope and the Speaker sincerely bowed to the image of Ilia on their end.

"Apology accepted." she brushes off. "Now let's get to the important part." They quietly nodded. "Now, a little dove told me that the Orthodoxy is suffering a 'succession' crisis ever since his holiness fell ill from the curse."

They were silent. Ilia continued to give the outline of their exit strategy. The Pope's eyes went wide in shock, the Speaker, although masked, was visibly trembling from hearing her plan. The Federation's prestige, image, and the following public outcry against them all for the sake of escaping would destroy their image in the Orthodoxy and aligned kingdoms. Ilia continued to proceed in-depth about the strategy until they had enough.

"P–Please... wait." He cut her off. "Even if we both secretly approved your flying vehicles to enter our airspace to escape, the whole church and our people will admonish you! Y–You cannot, especially after saving his Holiness, there must be another way, right?! It doesn't matter how strong you are when the whole faith will be after you for retribution, not even the kingdoms will dare to go against their own people. They will be pushed back to a corner and make a choice."

Similar to some of the religions of the old world, the Ilian Orthodoxy is one of the major religion in the Valence Continent with the power to influence nations regardless if they are within their sphere or not. From the days of old, the religion may be different but the methods were the same. It shares similar flaws of theocracies and state religions of the old world. The worshippers crusade, the non-worshippers are either forced into slavery, converted, or killed in the name of Ilia. Despite knowing that, Ilia's determined gaze didn't falter.

"... Mister Speaker, your Holiness, it is not that we don't care. In fact, we yearn for peace, but in this delicate situation we are all in, it is the 'what should' that should be done to prevent a war." She reasoned. The Speaker was reminded of but a fraction of the Terran war machine blitzing through Weissenheer ruthlessly and without mercy that led to a total victory in two months.

"We never fully intend to walk the path of righteousness nor the path of evil. We have recorded the rise and fall of empires, kingdoms, language, animals, race, and religion as our world became harsher for the common man in two thousand years. We are only an imperfect empirical result of those lessons. Gather all heresy and sins for us to bear, and bear it we shall. It changes nothing. We will continue on with our lives. Please lend us your support for one last time. We will handle the deterrence." After their meeting, the night of a new moon begins and the operation was now underway.