Chapter 170 - Explanations 3 – Europa Universalis (Patreon)

"Not a whole bunch,” John freely admitted, “I don’t even know how exactly the borders look or who is in charge where. All I know is that the majority of the divided gates reside in Europe.” Lydia fell into thoughtful silence following that. “I cannot have that. Explaining the how and why’s for everything would take too long but I can give you basic rundown. Aclysia, would you clean the table?” The princess requested as if the artificial guardian had been her servant for years now. Aclysia obeyed and stacked the few plates there were. 

When Aclysia reached for the tea set Lydia stopped her. “Leave this here,” the princess commanded, “and take this with you too, please,” Lydia said and let the ball of metal she had created hover towards her. During the short flight it unfolded and reformed into the utensils it originally was made out off. ‘That probably is a lot harder than it looks,’ John thought with an eye on the princess’ outward composure. The forks and knives landed on the plates and Aclysia bowed in gratitude.

“I’ll start washing immediately, please call me if you need anything,” she said. “You don’t need to,” Lydia told her, “the kitchen has a dishwasher, just place the plates and stuff in there.” “Oh,” Aclysia blinked a few times, her face staying blank otherwise, “In that case I will be right back.” “You fine now?” Mono asked the stone elemental in her arms. “Y-yeah,” Gnome said, turned around took a strong stance, her eyes still a bit watery, then she returned to the table. 

She shot Sylph the meanest glare she could. It wasn’t all that threatening. “Naw, don’t be like that Gnome!” Sylph blabbered, “here, for justice sake I too shall disrobe and show the world my best side!” John sighed and gave a mental command. Half a minute and the combined efforts of everyone to catch Sylph later the tempest elemental sat on the table inside a small prison. 

“You know, this actually isn’t that bad!” she kept going and poked the water wall that spanned between the bars of earth. “It is nice and warm in here. I feel like I am in some sort of kinky role play. UH! Can we try that? Kinky role-playing? I feel like that’d be fun. I would be former princess of a faraway fairy court and you the brutish conquerer and then we could do…” Sylph got lost in her thoughts for a moment, “Uh, hihihihihi, yeah, that would work, I mean, that sounds great, doesn’t it? My idea is that we-“ Undine made the water wall several times thicker and closed whatever holes had allowed Sylph’s voice to escape. 

“Sorry about that,” John sighed, “she talks…always.” “Yes, Salamander already said that earlier and I have no doubt that it is a truth…in fact, is she still taking?” Lydia said with eyes on the tempest elemental gesturing inside the prison. “Yup,” Rave answered. 

“Well, perhaps it is best we keep her there for the remainder of this talk,” the princess stated and loosened her rapier from its belt and then placed it on the table. ‘And how is that supposed to help me with understanding the European Abyss?’ John thought and used Observe on the item.

“Uhm, a stupid question,” John said, “but the Frederik the Great that leads Germany right now cannot possibly be the same as the Frederik the Great of Prussia, right?” Back when he had read the name in Magoi’s newspaper he had just thought that it was the usual lack of creativity regarding names that ran amok in noble houses. Now however he had an item in front of him that told him otherwise. “You would be wrong, he is one and the same,” Lydia stated. 

“Uhu,” John mumbled, “two more questions: Doesn’t that mean he is like 300 years old?” “That’s actually not unusual,” Rave chimed in, “strong people in the Abyss get stunningly old, Romulus himself is murmured to be around ten thousand.” “Yeah, but I thought he was ultra-special in that regard! Like Thana!” John’s voice was a bit louder than it needed to be, “300 years, geezus, will I turn that old if I keep becoming stronger?” “Don’t be ridiculous,” Lydia said, “a person with an ability like yours has the potential to become much older. Your second question?” John shook his head to get it clear, he learnt way too much today, “Ehem, yes, why would you have his rapier?” 

Lydia’s finger danced over the table, creating a cascade of soft noises. “So, you can see information about items as well,” she said and stared him down, “I read that in the High Fateweaver’s report but you left it out earlier. Keep your reports precise in the future.” “Understood, but could you answer the question?” John kept at it. “Why would I have it? I am his granddaughter of course.” John wheezed, “Don’t say ‘of course’ like that, princess,” he pleaded on an empty lung. 

“Well, to be exact I am his grand-grand-grand-granddaughter,” Lydia nodded to herself, “but I am heiress-apparent of the majority of his lands anyhow and the candidate for the throne of Germania.” She looked at John with a wide, proud smile. For a moment John could peek behind the iron facade and saw the 19-year-old girl behind, a girl proud of her achievements but wanting for more. Stunning, incorruptible and absolutely bent on advancing further. “Impressive?” John carefully said, feeling that it was somehow expected of him. 

Lydia’s smile grew a bit cocky, then she realized what she was doing, and cleared her throat to regain her composure. “Anyhow,” she said, her iron-demeanour back in place, “Let us look at the European situation.” The weapon on the table became liquid and spread over the table as a thin sheet. The sheet then turned into a 3d map of Europe. 

“Impressive,” John said with certainty this time. The map was cut into the hundreds of provinces, all of them grey. The only thing slightly out of place was the tea set, but it was sitting of the Spanish west coast, and as such wasn’t anything that obscured his overview. “I will colour the areas of interest as I explain,” Lydia said, “you may notice some shared provinces or minor mistakes, this is either down to me not remembering exactly, fights over that area or an agreement to share it. Let’s start with an overview of Romulus Empire.”

“That is…actually not as big as I expected,” John said, he had thought he would be presented with the full Roman Empire in its glory days. Rave nodded, “I saw bigger maps, like, France used to be in there, as well as way more of the Balkans and Turkey.” The princess raised an eyebrow, “the last time Romulus held control over Anatolian areas is several hundred years back. After Pompeii he started to lose interest in keeping the outskirts of his empire together. For France, well, the Illuminati happened.” 

“The what now?” John asked, surely, he had misheard. “The Illuminati, they were a strong underground organization that used the chaos that swept into even the Abyss during the French Revolution to establish a wide-spread movement that eventually got rid of Romulus rule. Their goals are knowledge, morality and freedom,” Lydia explained. Aclysia looked at John, “Aren’t the Illuminati often referred to in internet conspiracy memes, master?” she asked. “Yup,” John said, “but it seems they are also one of the strongest magical organizations on the planet.” Rave giggled, “man, I totally forgot that, I only ever remember what the Greeks are called.” “Prometheus,” Lydia nodded, “close allies with similar values,” 

“Oh hey, they got Constantinople back, good for them,” John mused, “also Crimea is in their hands for some reason?” “Those are not actually their lands but territories controlled by daughter organizations that declared independence from their overlord. Constantinople separated from the Great Sultanat.”

“and Crimea got independence from the Blood of the Proleteriat,” John guessed. “Correct,” Lydia said and added yet more changes to the map.

“Geez, those borders are hideous,” Rave said. “Yeah, bordergore galore,” John agreed, “they must be doing pretty badly if they look that fucked up.” Lydia shook her head, “those are just the provinces they publicly control, they have sleeper cells just about everywhere and what’s worse,” she pointed at the areas in the Balkans and the areas that squirmed towards polish heartland, “they are growing. Thankfully there is a power in the north that absolutely hates them.”

“So…you share that northern bit with them, princess?” “It is called Schleswig-Holstein,” Lydia said, “and yes, due to an ancient treaty that land is partially reigned over by both sides.” She pointed at the map, “all provinces that remain grey are not controlled by anyone important or it changes too quickly to really call it control.” 

John pondered over that for a moment, “that is a lot of land, especially the entirety of Britain is a surprise.” Lydia sighed, “that vacuum is troublesome indeed. A lot of strong people are on the British Isles but until somebody unifies them they remain a wild card. However, now that you have an idea about Europe at large, let us move on to Germany in detail, this part is important to our immediate situation.” The map was cleared and then rebuild itself with only central Europe at the view. 

“Even more border gore,” John lamented as he looked at the carved-up version of Germany, ‘…and the Czech’s…and the Netherlands…and the Swiss…also Hungary, Slovakia, parts of Romania and Croatia. Probably some other Balkan countries. Those Germans really conquered a whole lot.’

“What do N.T.C. and H.T.C. stand for?” He asked out loud. “Netherland Trading Company and Hanseatic Trading Company,” Lydia answered. “Okay…so what is up with colour coding?” “The green countries are the ones that whose leaders have a vote. Maximillian has one as well. Finally, Romulus has two.” “Wait…you do not have a vote yourself?” Lydia shook her head, “the current emperor’s country is denied its vote in the following.” “That sounds pretty dumb,” Rave said, “then again letting only seven to eight people vote is dumb in the first place.” 

Lydia just kept quiet, whether she agreed or not was not apparent. Instead she pointed at the brown area that marked her area of regency and the Protectorate of Prussia right next to it. “This is the land that is mine, as well as the one that will be mine once my grandfather dies,” she explained. “The light blue provinces are the free cities, they have special rights and autonomy. The three countries in the west are conglomerates of smaller organizations that banded together to resist outside influence more effectively. Germany is united in name only…and I aim to keep it that way.” 

“Wait, you don’t want to unify all of this into some Fourth Reich?” John asked and cashed in an angry glare in response. “No,” the princess sharply said, “I want to modernize it into a federal system where everyone has as much autonomy as they need and only turns to the top when there are affairs between states or outside threats. There is no reason for a central government to rule over all of this with an iron fist.” Her hard tone contrasted these words, as did the glint of steel in her blue eyes, “the Rex Germaniae has been in a decline for hundreds of years,” she stated, “help me put it to rest, John Newman, and your debts are repaid.”

That didn’t sound too bad, but John had another question, “Which reminds me, I want to know…

Why me?”