***

--- Italica, Countess Palace ---

May 11th, 2025

Princess Piña Co Lada is walking down the palace hallway later that night. After yelling at her friend Bozes after failing her a second time within a day, she decided the only way to form any peace is to take matters in her own hands.

She is terrified that Major Sharpe will go back to his people and tell them she broke the treaty. When that happens, she knows they will come back to Italica and kill everyone. Any good grace that was achieved will be lost.

She cannot believe it was only two days ago that she was plotting on betraying them after the battle was over. Now she needs try anything she can to please them. She prefers to do it through reason however, he is a man.

She gets to the door that Myui put the Other Worlders in. She sees two Italic Knights standing there on guard. She is not worried that they will stop her, being an Imperial Princess.

She has only known Sharpe for a short period of time, but the warrior language crosses all species lines, in our world and hopefully in their world. That is what Grey told her during the Rose Academy.

She decided to dress in her armor, wanting to try to connect on what they have in common, being a warrior. Then, if she needs to, seduce him if all else fails. All her life she has seen some of the most respectable men in Sadera fall to their knees after seeing a little cleavage.

To her surprise, Rory opens the door.

“Oh, hello there…. What are you doing here?” Rory asked, smirking at her. “Princess.”

That left an uneasy feeling in her body. “I am here to see… ahh…”

“Sharpe?” Rory finished for her, chuckling. Clearly, she can see how nervous she is.

“Yes, him. The Major. I want to talk to him about the treaty.” She said, making sure the Princess understands that she is in control and in authority here.

There is a short pause from the conversation as Rory thinks. She then gives this big smirk. “Oh… he is not happy about that. After what happened.” She glanced up, placing a figure on her chin. “I have to say, assassination by slipper, very creative. Not that effective but creative. And I was wondering when you were going to show up.”

“What do you mean?” She asked, confused.

“Countess Myui was here,” Rory said. “She came and thanked them for saving her city. And that they are welcome guests and under her protection. Clearly she is doing a better job than you.”

Rory then chuckles, not caring about her title. “Also, If your Knights try anything you will have to face Countess Myui Formal maids. We all know what they are capable of. They are under their protection. Just don’t forget that last part.” She reaches out and pokes Pina on the noise.

Hearing that she becomes scared but would do her best not to show it. Do they believe she just tried to assassinate him? She cannot believe that she is negotiating with an Apostle, an Apostle that is protecting the enemy. “I understand, can I please see him?”

Rory stands there thinking, toying with the Princess. “Nnnno… sure. He is on the balcony.”

She let out a small relief. This has turned out to be harder than she ever thought.

As she walks into the room, she sees everyone is asleep. Either laying on the floor, on a chair, the kid on the bed. It seems that they had fun. They all must be tired after a hard day of fighting and their interaction with her Rose Knights.

She then sees Hamilton. She sent her here to apologize and try to make amends. She sees her servant laying on one of the sleeping Americans arm asleep. She believes the soldier is named Andrew, but she is not sure.

As she looks around, she can tell that they all had fun.

As she follows behind Rory, she sees Sharpe on the balcony. Rory lets her in the room and as she walks outside, she notices Rory shooting her a scary glare. A warning not to do anything funny.

Seeing that look annoyed her. That Rory would assume she has no honor. But it was her own Knights who broke the treaty and attacked him so she cannot get angry.

She watches Rory walk away and then she stands there, looking at him. “Hello Sir, Major Sharpe.” She sticks out her hand, as a greeting. Her people do not shake hands, but she has seen these people do that and decided to use their greeting.

Sharpe takes her hand and shakes, a bit weak hand though. Understanding though. “Major is just my military rank. Can call me Sharpe.”

She nods, feeling a little embarrassed by that mistake.

“I did not know your kind had the same greeting as us,” Sharpe said, surprised.

“Actually no,” she replied. “I saw your people do it before you left the city.”

She notices that left an impression on him for some reason. “Anyway, are you ok? I apologize for what happened.”

Sharpe waves his hand. “No worry, Lelei was able to use her magic to help smooth the pain. Magic, remarkably interesting.”

What Sharpe just said confused her. “You don’t have magic on your world?”

“No, we don’t. Everything we have, we invented, built. Magic only exists stories, never in reality. Until now.” Sharpe explains, still not sure on how to think on the subject.

She found that interesting. Magic has been a normal part of her world since forever. A world where magic does not exist is just…. weird. That is when she realizes that they are just as confused as she is. What she witnessed, their metal machines, are so foreign to her. While Magic is so foreign to them. They are so different, can there be peace with such a difference?

“What do you mean no worry? Are you not angry?” She asked him.

She sees him think, clearly, he is not happy.

“Why are you here?” Sharpe asked.

That question confuses her. She wonders what that even means? “Ahh…,” She stands back up straight, she is the Princess of the Empire who takes pride. “I am here to personally apologize to you.”

“No… why are ‘you’ here?” He said again, choking a little while talking from the chest pain. But the look in his grey eyes tells her that he means business, that he will not accept a weak response.

She never has been asked that question like that before. “I’m here to represent the Empire, to protect my nation. To keep the Empire strong today, tomorrow and the future.”

“I am here to protect my country, our values, our planet from another attack,” He said to her.

That is when she realizes what he meant before. The biggest issue so far for her, and apparently for them too, is the lack of understanding from each other.

What confuses her about his answer is that he did not mention anything about honor and glory. She wonders if he is just assuming, she already knows about those two things. In Sadera, warriors always talk about gaining glory for themselves on the battlefield. Going off on these military campaigns and coming back as a proud warrior. He is a fellow warrior after all and what is more important than gaining honor and glory? The romance of war? However, his answer was based on protecting his people and nothing for him to gain and that is what is bothering her.

What she wants is to gain personal glory and be able to talk into the Imperial Senate Chamber respectfully. That she did her duty and helped save the Empire, standing among all the great Men of the Empire who served, equally.

She nods her head, feeling somewhat more relaxed. “I came because I want to talk about the treaty.”

Sharpe seems confused now, looking at her. “What about it?”

“I know we broke the terms of the treaty,” She said.

“Yeah… that was interesting. But…,” Sharpe said.

“If you wish, we can discuss a new treaty or something,” she said, interrupting him.

She then leans a little bit forward, allowing her breasts to perk out. It is well known that men are visual, and they cannot resist the female body and will become dumb because of it. In other words, she intends to seduce him to save the treaty.

Sharpe leans back, confused what she is doing. “Ahh… yeah…. The treaty is fine as it is. I do not have the authorization to change it, only my superiors can.”

She tilts her head. “Are you sure you can’t?” She then winks her eye.

He places his hand on her shoulder and lightly pushes her back a little. “Yeah, the treaty is fine for now. At least until a formal one can happen. No need to do more paperwork.”

She takes a step back and thinks. “Hmm… why do you people want another treaty?”

“Let me ask you this, why did you attack our country?” Sharpe asked, trying to change the subject.

She is starting to feel she is being tested but failing. She tried flirting with him but that did not seem to do anything. Honestly, she has never been good at flirting or other feminine manners.

“Glory to myself and the Empire. To bring riches, new talents, and knowledge. Either we wait for our enemies to attack or we attack them first. To show strength, for survival. To show we are everlasting.” She regrets saying that last part. In the past she believed that but now, expansion might lead to the Empire destruction, not survival.

She sees that he is about to say something, but she continues speaking, hoping to fix this. “But I personally want to bring stability to our lands. To prevent attacks like what we just went through. To have my people live with pride.”

Sharpe nods and smiles. “I respect that. I want this treaty because it might lead to peace. We don’t need to be at war. But we will fight.”

She leans against the balcony and thinks. If he represents his people, all he seems to want is peace. With so much power in their hands, it seems that they are not interested in more. That Colonel from before, he could have asked for anything but everything he asked would just protect their people and allow a way for them to communicate.

“Maybe there is more,” She mumbles.

“Ahh what?” Sharpe asked, confused.

She blushes a little, not realizing that she spoke out loud. “Oh nothing… So, now what? Won’t your leaders be angry for what happened.”

She shrugs, thinking about that question. They might be upset but will probably listen to any of his recommendations. She is trying to flirt with him again, wanting to seal the deal. Hoping to gain influence over him.

“I am not worried,” Sharpe said. He takes a step back to get away from her. “According to someone on my team, I probably deserved this in some matters. Karma…”

“Karma?”

“Karma is… ahh…. If you do something bad to someone, life will punish you. Same if you do good to someone. It is just a saying.” Sharpe explains.

The sun begins to peak over the mountains, which are far in the distance.

“I better go,” she said, thinking about what happened that night. She then realizes that her second attempt of flirting with him failed.

Pina does not understand why her flirting has failed. She has seen men fall over backwards before like this. She has even seen the most noble of men falter to their basic instinct. She is starting to wonder if Sharpe prefers men or that he finds her unattractive.

However, she can see that Sharpe is confused on what she is doing. She wonders if flirting or attracting a mate is different in his world.

“We will be leaving soon,” Sharpe said. “First thing.”

They shake hands again. Both of their people are enemies but even enemies can show respect and understanding to each other.

***

--- Roma Highway ---

May 11th, 2025

As Vanguard-7 drives away from Italica for the second time, Sharpe is looking out the window. Over the radio the team is another argument, this time over who was the hotter lady from last night. Who embarrassed themselves more and how Andrew lost a poker game with that Rose Knight called Hamilton.

This time, he stays out of it, just tired of everything. He knows that he risked a lot and his Rangers provided themselves. He wants to make sure he keeps them alive in this mess of a war.

Barely getting any sleep for the last two days, pretending to be a diplomatic on these situations. One wrong move and everything goes to hell. He can only hope that he is making the right choices, part of the time does not believe he is though.

That is when he feels a pull on his jacket.

He looks to his left, wondering what is going on. Hoping it is nothing bad again. “What’s up?”

Sharpe did not see anyone that was in range, being a little confused though on who pulled his jacket. He then notices Rory smirking and he has learned that is never a good sign. He has grown to like her quirky attitude but right now, not in the mood.

That is when he sees Selina sitting there, looking away shyly. She seems to be confused or in deep thought or something else. Truth is that this whole experience must have been hard on her.

“Hey kid, feeling alright?” He asked.

Selina looks up at him, trying to decide on what to say.

He shrugs, struggling to figure out what to say. “Ahh well. Just to let you know, I am proud of you kid. I heard you took control back there and helped the team out while I was away.” He was informed of what happened. Charles had it under control. Every leader need someone to push back a bit. That is how you get the best plan. He is just trying to figure out what to say to cheer her up.

He leans back in his chair, wanting to take a nap. That is when she leans between both the driver and his chair.

“I have something I wanted to show you. I found it,” Selina will say nervously.

He looks at her confused. Before he could say anything, he saw her pull out this wooden human figure. It will look high quality, great details. He will take it, analyzing it. He is impressed that a society like this can make figures this detailed.

“His name is Kaeso Sura,” Selina said.

She looks back to Lelei and after getting approval she looks back to him.

“Lelei told me that legend said that he once formed an alliance of species against a demon invasion of this land. He united everyone to fight a common enemy. He was highly respected and brought peace for generations. And… well… yeah.” That part of what she was saying started to crackle and go quiet, getting scared.

She quickly receives back into her back seat, getting hyper nervous.

He looks at it at her and smiles. He knows nothing about this legend or this man. But it did turn a really bad day into a great one.

He thinks and then leans back again. “Thanks kid.” He holds out a fist so she can fist bump it. She will do that and smile when he winks back. “I officially promote you from kid to brat.”

“Is brat a good thing?” Rory askes. “It sounds negative.”

“Nope,” Alicia said as she works on her radio station. “It is a negative term meaning you're annoying.”

He then leans back, adjusting his helmet. “And that is why it is great.” He then gives the ‘girls’ a wink with a chuckle.

“That makes no sense,” Lelei said.

“All great things make no sense Lelei,” he responds.

“But I like it,” Selina mumbles.

He then goes back to his chair and leans back. “Alright, I’m taking my nap. Don’t wake me unless we're already dead.” He will put his cap over his eyes. “Also, I got a new mission planned once we get back to base.”

“What?” Alicia states with confused anger. “Another, after all this. You kidding?”

“Yup,” he replied. “Codenamed, Operation ICE CREAM!”