Dinner table discussion

Muki scowled as she sat at a table in the hotel restaurant along with Machiko, DaVinci, Ikebukuro, Mizata, Jenna, and a man with a blonde military cut clad in a US army uniform.

"Why's he here?" Muki grumbled as she turned towards the military man.

"I believe he caught wind of the talks and wanted to check them out," Jenna whispered.

"But now everyone's gonna know about our secret weapon."

One notable thing about Ohana was that it was home to an American military base on it's north west corner. Housing missiles, fighter jets, and whatever else the Americans had stockpiled there, Muki considered the base the town's secret weapon for facing threats from this new world, which was why Ikebukuro was the last person she wanted to be aware of their existence. The man representing the base was Col Quinn Thorwall, one of the base's top brass. In his younger years, he had served in Iraq and was an accomplished fighter pilot. He was also far more level-headed than the base's top general, making him more ideal for talks and mediation.

"If I'm to understand things correctly, Mizata was tasked to broker a trade deal with the dwarves, drachmas in exchange for some of the minerals that grow in their mine, yes?" Machiko asked.

"That's correct. Buvaria can grow numerous crystals with many of it's residents skilled at mineral magic."

"Magic?"

Ikebukuro began to get nervous. "Shit! I got too drunk on love and forgot about all the lies I spun! If she finds out I lied big on magic, it could give Mu an opening and then I'd be torn apart from Machiko! Damn that Evendale whore, at this point I just want to spend my time at Machiko's side, I care not about the ways of conquest any longer!" she thought.

"Hmm, I guess the dwear never got the chance to tell you, and considering that elf by your side comes from an extremely primitive, and need I add stupid tribe, it's understandable that she'd grow up completely oblivious of magic," Mizata huffed.

Ikebukuro let out a sigh of relief. She had covered her tracks just well enough to avoid her big lie being exposed. Now she just had to avoid contact with her true tribemates and prevent the others from learning of Bisento and her paradise with Machiko would be a long-term thing.

"You say there's different elf tribes? How many?" Muki asked.

"Quite a few. Us eventyde elves reside in the north, while the west was home to the mogura elf tribe, at least before Hougen showed up 1,000 years ago. In the plains area, there reside three tribes, the worst is the Aarlord, which are the disgrace of the elven race, barbaric conquerors that have rid the land of humans, animals, even fellow elf. They even serve under Hougen and are headed by one of his minions after their top warriors failed to best him in combat. Next there's the Casius tribe. They tend to live near rivers. Finally, the Stanpelegrino. They're cave-dwelling buffoons that make me question how they've failed to evolve for 2,000 years straight."

"And what about this "Hougen"?"

"He's one of the most fearsome warlocks in the land. He's a giant man of stone, but he can shoot lightning from afar. He's so powerful, he tamed the great sky puma and blockaded the north with a wall of lightning, preventing us from flying any path, but the one straight through the great sky puma."

"There's flying pumas in this world?" Thorwall scowled.

"I guess in a sense they can fly," DaVinci chuckled.

"Getting back to the topic at hand, I'm curious as to what resources each settlement has up for trade. Currently, our town has a stockpile of goods, but once they run low, we'll likely be turning to the land for substitutes until we can replenish things naturally. Thanks to my policies in the past, we have a sustainable fish farm system in town, so no need to worry about sushi, aside from some of the more gourmet options, but that doesn't matter when survival and sustainability are the main concerns. The reports on the soil and water from this land do indicate we should be able to grow our produce here and not have to worry about running out of water. The only bad news is we can't replenish all the food we make, notably coffee, and that we only have so much raw metals for building and repairing things," Machiko frowned.

"What is coffee?" Mizata asked.

Muki scowled as Machiko snapped her fingers and the waiters delivered cups of coffee to everyone. "You idiot, you're showing everyone our full deck! If others know you're weakened, they'll take advantage of you, especially when it comes to trade. You may think I'm just some edgelord that streams and plays video games, but I keep up to date with business trends and economics, need I add tech. We've also been in this world for about a day, so we can't make any long-term assumptions about the PRIMITIVE data we're getting about the soil. We do still have swaths of our own soil that should be fine for growing, but still," she angrily thought.

"We don't have any coffee beans to grow, or no places they can grow?" Thorwall asked as he sipped his coffee.

"We have seeds, but a place to grow them? Not really. We'd need a better climate for growing them."

"Hmm, this does bear a taste similar to a drink we brew in Evendale, Hahftee is what we call it. My apologies, but I don't have any on me," Mizata frowned.

"Don't worry, we establish relations, we can get trade going easy. But first, since you're en route to the dwarves south of us, it makes sense that we should also try to focus on festering a deal with them first."

"It would be a fantastic action. A buvarian dwarf would be in paradise just by walking around this city and seeing all the transportation mechanisms like cars and trains, the trains especially. Buvaria is the manufacturing capitol of the continent and should they be able to replicate the craftsmanship of your vehicles, that alone would bring great prosperity to all. Travel can be quite difficult if you can't tunnel like a dwarf, so having those cars and trains to traverse the continent in would foster greater relations and quality of life for all," DaVinci nodded.

"Hmm, we have new cars, but no car manufacturing plant... Alright, we'll give them a car or two. They'll fit in a plane, right?" Machiko smiled.

"A plain? Well yes, the "car" I rode in should fit on a plain," Mizata mumbled.

"Oh not that plain, dear. I'm talking about a plane that flies above the clouds."

"Like Da Vinci's aerial screw?" DaVinci asked.

"Guess so, if that makes it easier to grasp," Muki grumbled.

"Mu! Watch your attitude! I'll kick you out if you keep grumbling and scowling."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll make myself scarce once this is over."

"I still have yet to punish you for your earlier rudeness- Ah, forgive me everyone. My firstborn daughter is the more difficult of my children."

Everyone wearily nodded.

Muki's attitude aside, the meeting went rather smoothly henceforth. All that remained after was selecting a delegation from the town to go to Buvaria. With her duties tying her up, plus Ikebukuro's insistence, Machiko regretfully decided to remain behind. Muki also refused to go, but was quick to volunteer Jenna with the intention of having her serve as proxy for her. Thorwall also volunteered to go on the mission as did DaVinci to act as mediator, yet despite the lineup, Machiko felt there needed to be more people, thus she called up some of her aides and acquaintances to see if anyone was around.

As that was going on, Rosa nervously peeked into the restaurant, watching everyone from a distance. 

"Do you want to join in?" Sana asked as she popped up behind her. 

"No... But, the discussion... I was just drawn to it." 

"Wanna be a diplomat?" 

"Where's this coming from?" 

Sana smiled warmly and patted Rosa on the head. "You've always had a fascination with politics and diplomacy. What better chance than now to try and pursue it?" 

Rosa frowned and stared at the floor. "After failing so bad in high school that I became a shut-in, my confidence is shattered."

"No it's not, if it were, you wouldn't have eavesdropped on the entire discussion. I saw how serious your face was. Go on, do it. You'd be with DaVinci too, so he could always help you out if needed." 

Rosa scowled and let out a sigh, but ended up walking into the restaurant and approaching Machiko. 

"Hmm? Do you need something?"

"Yes, I'd like to represent this town as part of the delegation to Buvaria. Please allow me to do so."