“Interesting.” King Calvin the I said, sipping his tea. He was met with his adviser.
"Sir, this doesn’t look quite right. On one hand, there’s a possibility that Emberwood Coast cut their military funding, and Setzna has somehow found the obligation to reinforce their military. That’s the best case scenario.
“But the worst case scenario is that after Emberwood Coast cut their military funding, Setzna used that opportunity to occupy Emberwood Coast. More likely they conspired, and arranged a deal in which Emberwood Coast cut their funding, and allowed permission for what I would call mercenaries to be stationed - but I don’t see how that would be cheaper than funding it fully.” Explained SEPC adviser Mario Capuzzi.
“I see.” King Calvin said. “What has been the reaction by other SEPC members?”
“Well, we don’t know about that. We suspect Tretrid, which have strong alliances militarily with Emberwood Coast, disagrees with it. Stratarin, which is Setzna’s neighbor, quite possibly may disagree with them. We don’t know.”
“Has the FPA responded to it?”
“We don’t believe so.” Mario responded. "The embassy with the FPA has not responded to it, but I personally suspect they would take advantage of Setzna’s ‘occupation.’ "
“What about non-SEPC members?”
“I can’t say for certain, but it’s possible that the ACA is going to be very angry with Setzna. I wouldn’t be surprised, either. Would you want a foreign state station troops in your neighbor? It’d be strange. But that’s not all.”
Capuzzi pushed forward flight paths and satellite imagery. “A non-commercial private plane came from South Hills to Emberwood Coast. They landed on Aura Liara International. And luckily for us, we have pictures.”
Capuzzi pushed printed copies of posts on social media. “These tourists, who happened to be participating in the cultural exchange, happened to take a selfie. And if you see, that’s the jet in the right corner through the window. It’s not a regular plane, and it’s with the South Hills presidential seal on it.”
Calvin gripped the sides of his chair. “You mean…South Hills brought its president?”
“Yes, and maybe more. They might’ve brought their secretaries, aides, or ambassadors. And this timing is awfully strange. This is during or possibly after the Tano ceremony. It doesn’t seem like much of coincidence.”
King Calvin considered this. “Why would Emberwood Coast defund their military in the first place?”
“Perhaps they got tired of war. They needn’t use it in many situations, and you know how much they suffered during the Four Day’s War. Now, on K-SPAN, you can see Nimona Poole speaking to the Emberitan Parliament about this.”
They used a tape recorder to listen to speech. They heard Nimona petition to divert military funding.
“Interesting.” Calvin said. “Isn’t this a security risk for Emberwood Coast?”
“For them? I doubt it. Unlike Setzna, South Hills must have asked permission to go to Emberwood Coast to possibly discuss this. And Setzna is a SEPC ally. But for the rest of Urth, this is shocking.”
Calvin made his decision. “Let’s wait and see. But we shall semi-prepare our military.”
Capuzzi bowed. “As you wish, sir. I will keep you updated, and I will provide a SEPC complaint form if necessary.”
