Connected World's
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Pentagon, United States, February 26, 2023

"Gentlemen, thank you for being here"

A man in a black suit entered the room where several people in military uniforms were waiting for him.

"The situation in the world is quite interesting for us, the Transmission sent by Lieutenant General Norman stated that the world has a civilization that is 500 years behind our world. As you are also aware, the media seems to be suspicious of the absence of the two Aircraft Carrier Groups we sent into the world without public knowledge, until now we are still lucky because the press is still busy with the situation in Ukraine which began to commemorate one year of the Russian invasion. Is there anything else I should add, gentlemen "

The man in black suit, after he finished reading the report in his hand, began to sit on the round table chair in this room.

"Is that all you want to say here, Hamilton?"

Commander (Lieutenant General) William, a 52-year-old man who served as the highest leader in the Second Marine Expeditionary Unit, as well as Commander for the United States Marine forces of the Pacific region [U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific/Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific (COMMARFORPAC/CG FMFPAC)]

The man in a black suit named Hamilton who was under the U. S. Army Media & Press Center with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, nodded at the question of Lieutenant General William.

Across from William, the man in the black officer suit from the U. S. Navy unit started staring at the laptop on his desk.

'William, I'm sure you also have an explanation to us of Norman's actions sending two A-10s to that particular region. Can you clarify this to us here?"

Lieutenant General William saw the gazes of everyone who was looking at him with a gaze demanding an answer making him a little annoyed.

"From what Norman reported, the air assets of the navy would instead create suspicion to the public if one of the assets of the Navy were destroyed in the region, as well as, it was, the region has almost no satellite communications at all, making bomb and missile weapon systems that rely on satellites almost useless. Norman also reported that all the weapons sent were too modern for a world without communication at all, in terms of effectiveness and economy, it could be said to be too overkill"

"Secondly, the region according to the Norman report, has a lot of uncertainty starting from the situation of inter-royal and interracial warfare other than human causes to make decisions is very difficult, you must understand about that, right?"

William's statement is very reasonable, because the region has a conflict between nations that is very clear is not their concern, the decision in fielding certain military assets is very limited.

...----------------...

10 A. M., Pentagon, Lieutenant General William, Commander of the Pacific Marine Group.

When the meeting was over, Lieutenant General William began walking toward the office space he had been in since the operation to deliver troops to the world behind the anomaly confirmed as another world portal.

'A miracle of the press is still not aware of this operation'

'Hm?'

As he walked into the room, a document appeared on his desk. He began to approach his desk while glancing at the document.

It took a while for him to be able to process what was in the document, because just after he read a paragraph, his brain felt dead on the spot due to the stark report.

'This is gonna be a big deal'

The report on the document stated that five humans from Japan were forcibly brought to the foreign world.

One of the five men is the daughter of the owner of a munitions industry company, Sarashiki Riria.

'How do we deal with congressional demands if this gets into their hands'

...----------------...

Offshore, Delta Headquarters, February 27, 2023.

"Major General, an order from the Pentagon on two aircraft carriers is scheduled to return to the Pacific region on March 1. The order also says we should provide details on all supplies the base will need over the next two weeks"

"Certainly? I'm sure that's not all you want to say, is it?"

The First Class Warrant Officer then handed another document in his hands.

"Sir, from the response the Pentagon gave regarding the status of the five humans in this world"

Norman's gaze began to get serious as the topic began to be discussed.

"The Pentagon commands us to keep them in the world for a while, nor is it permissible for us to let them disclose any piece of information to our world"

'I've expected this to happen'

"Are there any more reports about our position?"

"Until now there is no sir, the Pentagon is still agreeing on the funds we give to the kingdom, the Pentagon strongly insists not to deploy any heavy weaponry to the castle area"

"Hm" Lieutenant General Norman began to retrieve the documents given by the officer.

"It seems that the Pentagon has been thinking about other agendas around Miss Rosella's castle, not Lieutenant General"

Hearing that remark that had a veiled intention, Lieutenant General Norman immediately glanced at him with a gaze full of warning.

"First Class Warrant Officer, you're too past your limits, you'd better take care of your words"

"I'm sorry, Letjend"

"No problem"

The officer then walked out of the Norman room shortly after the report was finished he gave to Norman, but what made Norman a little uneasy was the fact of the "agenda" mentioned by the officer.

'It is a lie that the Pentagon has no other agenda as to why they agreed to grant aid under UN provisions'

'If this continues, who could have guessed that what I think will happen in the near future'

...****************...

While it was far away from the densely populated urban sprawl of the kingdom precisely on the bank of the river, a man appeared to be calmly sitting by the riverbank, after the attack, and was, the government is still busy with cleaning up the mess left behind by the attack.

Lieutenant Fujiwara and Navy Seal Jad, both of whom are still in the kingdom discussing about the three heroes, seem to be speaking at length to the King in this city.

"Very calm"

I swung my legs following the sound of the river water that started to feel melodious in my ears.

'I'll bet the Lieutenant would interrogate them about why the three humans in our world could be here'

For while our team has not received any orders from the base, I'm sure that they must be arguing about what to do next.

The days went on peacefully, one by one the damage in the city was restored.

The civilian casualties were fully properly buried, and just as I expected, they did not even care much about the civilians who were victims of the incident, as if they thought it was a natural thing.

I, who happened to cross the orphaned children, saw their sobbing faces sobbing that my chest was a little tight.

'At least 56 children under the age of 14 were orphaned as a result of this incident'

I thought as I stared at the makeshift cemetery.

"Both the Humans and our race, in the end war always brings suffering"

The female figure with scarlet red hair had a pair of horns on her head, suddenly speaking as she walked closer towards me.

"The victims who suffer the most from war are those who are not involved at all in the fight"

As she approached a girl standing in front of the graves of her parents, she was probably 8 years old, too young to be orphaned.

"For them, victims like this don't really care about them as if they're cut out of the real situation"

Rosella de Voir Junois, the Demon Queen who is known in this world as the ruler of darkness, but what I see now, is, Demon Queen Rosella is far more human than any human being in the world.

What Rosella said is very true, because of backwardness in terms of civilization, cases such as indirect casualties due to war have never been made a top priority in the kingdom.

It was a fact, if the human kingdom in this city really cared, they could not just be silent to assume that everything had passed without thinking about the fate of those left behind by their dead families.

Not thinking about the fate of children after both parents died and many other things.

"I know if they consider me an inappropriate race to speak like this to humans, but at least I have more of a conscience to think about this. That's why I hate war"

For a moment Rosella in my eyes seemed very wise, she was even wiser than the politicians I knew in my world where our world was still covered in proxy wars that took a lot of casualties.

...****************...

"Jonas, are you going again?"

I can't stop getting a headache from the same question Rosella asked. We've been here a few days and the order to move has not come from Lieutenant Fujiwara and Sergeant Joseph.

For some reason since the meeting with the King of this world they were both with the leader of the Navy SEALs still not seen coming out of this royal castle.

And for us NCOs can only keep watch around the castle waiting and waiting.

But somehow Rosella just always stuck near me, and every time Rosella bored, she always showered me with thousands of questions that make me a little overwhelmed by the question.

"Don't ask me, I don't know myself"

My half-hearted-sounding nadamu may be considered an insult to the nobility, but Rosella who has been with us for a few days, I'm sure she doesn't care about formality and other things.

Not that I could casually speak like that to the squad leaders or those who rank above me.

"....."

The two of us remained silent as Rosella usually relaxed by leaning on my back while looking up at the clear blue sky.

"I'm bored! Jonas, come with me!!"

'uh!?'

Rosella suddenly stood up and her hands, which had more power than I knew, forced me to stand up.

"Let's go around for a minute!"

Eagerly, Rosella dragged me somewhere she wanted.

Meanwhile, at the royal castle, Fujiwara and the three heroes of the world are seen walking in the other direction where the Marines are gathering.

"Lieutenant Fujiwara, once again we are very grateful that you saved Tokiwaki"

Houki bowed his head in gratitude to her, Rin and Tokiwaki then lowered their heads to the smiling Fujiwara as if to say that losing was not a cause for concern.

"After all, the three of you must still not fully recover, right? Rest first, we're not going anywhere"

Fujiwara said softly to the three of them, Tokiwaki with a face full of enthusiasm immediately ran to the other direction where he seemed to want to meet someone.

Rin and Houki, both of them, take Fujiwara to a temporary camp for the Marines set up not far from the castle park.

"Oh, Fujiwara-san"

Rin began to speak as they were about to reach the Marine's gathering place.

"What's wrong?"

"uhm.... I'm sorry if I ask a lot of questions, but can you tell us, can we really go back to our world?"

Looking at the doubtful gazes of the two, he could only smile.

"Of course, you guys miss your house, right? Don't be afraid, we promise to bring you back"

The moment they reached the gathering point, all of them immediately stood up straight as Fujiwara began to greet the team.

All but one of the guys who seemed to disappear from the team.

"Sergeant, where's Corporal Jonathan?"

"Mam, Corporal Jonathan along with Miss Rosella both just left with a Humvee"

"Hhhh!?"

Tokiwaki, Rin and Houki when they heard the name Rosella began to tense up a little, they still could not accept the fact that Rosella was the Demon Queen who participated in saving this city.

"Mom, Corporal Jonathan has orders from the Lieutenant General to return to Headquarters with Miss Rosella"

"Back to base, Sergeant?"

Sergeant Joseph nodded, then explained the situation at Headquarters where the Lieutenant General seemed interested in Miss Rosella's offer to meet him.

'From what I've captured, the real intention may be that the Lieutenant General wants to form a bilateral tie-up where Rosella can open the access door to her area for further expeditions'

Joseph could only assume that that was what Lieutenant General thought, but he could not say what he was thinking clearly because it could have damaged their reputation, especially in front of 3 eyewitnesses from their world.

...****************...

On the way to Delta Headquarters, I was unceasingly thinking about when my assignment would be over.

'If I could stop right now'

I thought as I stared at the scene that was quite comfortable for my eyes. Shady trees along the eye and clear skies without pollution are an ideal world to live quietly in retirement.

"Hey, Jonas, when do we get to your royal headquarters?"

My eyes were fixed on the woman beside me, she was the ruler of the Demon continent, Rosella de Voir Junois. The figure who had a human-like stature but with both horns on his head, was inexplicably able to come with us while departing from the Demon Kingdom and now he was coming with me to Headquarters.

"Miss, first we've just half an hour away from the kingdom, which means we still have two or three hours left to get there. Both...."

I'm trying to get rid of his face that's too close to the steering wheel of this Humvee.

"... You're too close to me"

Using my left hand, I tried to get rid of his face that was too close to the steering wheel making it a little difficult for me to drive this car, not because I couldn't drive a car in this situation, but the matter of him somehow feels very attractive in my eyes, and this could be very bad for my mental health.

"Heeehs.... What does that mean?"

In a seductive tone, Rosella looked at me with a slightly mocking look. I tried to ignore it and focus on the streets but Rosella who felt unacceptable with my attitude actually began to take actions that made me have to stop the car right now.

"hip. ho"

He sat quietly on my lap as if he didn't care about gender differences, I stopped the car right then and there.

"Hey what are you doing!"

"Hee... Do you mind if I sit here?"

"Not that! It's been there move"

"Ga mau~"

"Hhhh!?"

"Ehehe~"

Rosella who really likes to piss me off sometimes I have to be extra patient to face her attitude.

Connected World'sJourney Continue

Connected World's
Journey Continue