The guard finished giving his report on the pirate raid at Allure port. Everyone in the room was shocked. Especially the U.S diplomats for some reason. Usually it would not be uncommon for a country to try and taut their military might in front of us as an intimidation tactic, but these diplomats are quite reserved. In fact, they seemed to look apologetic towards us.

"Sorry your majesty, it seems our navy did something that could cause friction between our two countries. We hope this won't jeopardize negotiations in the future."

These diplomats are truly weird. Not only are they not touting their strength, they are apologizing? Why? They just defeated the enemy with little to no casualties, this is a great victory for us. Even the best case scenario would have at least a hundred deaths on our side. It was the inevitability of combat these days. And yet from their report, they took out an entire fleet with one ship? This is simply too baffling for me to comprehend. Too many things are happening at once.

Not to mention that half of our kingdoms fleet was docked in the port for "maintenance". If the pirates continued their raid, a good half of our kingdoms fleet would have been destroyed on the spot. We owe a great deal of debt to the United States.

"No, I apologize that we had to have another kingdom's ship defend our home port."

"Our military didn't even get permission to attack, so its partly our fault too."

"Anyways, we owe a great deal of debt to you for defending our port from pirates. They have been increasing as of late, so its a relief that we have a trading partner who is so capable."

"How frequent have these pirate attacks been?" Ambassador Jeffery Koch asked.

"Our major ports have been targeted as of late by pirates in the last couple of months. At least one raid per month. This has devastated most of our ports. Due to hard times, most of our fleet has been docked for indefinite repairs, but this made them vulnerable to attacks.

"Are these attacks sanctioned by another country perhaps?"

"We haven't investigated enough, but from what we can tell, its probably done by either the Tillerian empire or the Onleng empire if the pirates are indeed being sanctioned."

"These two countries are?"

His majesty took out the map the United States envoy gave us earlier.

"The Tillerian empire is a vast empire a little north west from us. They control a vast amount of arable land and have a strong military presence along the Borthern sea and Ong channel. However, its usually balanced out with the Onleng Empire to its south, a kingdom which may not have a large military, but definitely has an elite fighting force. Then there is our kingdom who basically controls the mouth of this channel. We mostly specialize in our navy."

"So it could be either of these countries then?

His majesty looked towards me.

"Yes, both countries have strong motivations for weakening our kingdom. Its quite difficult to point out which though."

However, at that moment, another guard rushed into the meeting room. He looked a bit scared and was sweating.

"Your majesty, her highness's fleet spotted a huge pirate fleet that is trying to engage as we speak!"

Since the last attack, our escort fleet has been increased to nearly 30 ships. Quite overprotective in my opinion since most are around 10 to 15. Although with the recent attack, I feel a bit nervous.

"How many have been spotted?"

The guard stood there silent for a moment. "Nearly 50 ships have been spotted with more in pursuit to cut off their escape. They are requesting immediate assistance from our navy."

What? Where did this fleet even appear from? The channel? The Empire? Or maybe even the northern islands? But more importantly, I felt the rooms atmosphere tense up for a moment. I had to continue. "Do you know their position?"

"They are approximately north of Astra. They said its been a couple of days since they passed through the northern tip of the kingdom to stock for supplies."

If that its the case, we will not make it in time if we dispatched any ships on the western side of the kingdom. Not to mention that a fleet of that size would destroy any ports on the way to minimize reinforcements. This is problematic.

"Send messages to all western fleets to mobilize and assist the northern fleet as soon as possible."

"Yes minister!"

The guard ran out, however the problem he gave us still sit in the room. His majesty was quite perturbed at the development. Since things were going so well today, it was unfortunate something like this had to happen. His majesty knew as well as I did that we did not have the same naval capabilities of the past. Engaging a fleet like that is simply impossible with minimal reinforcements.

Even for the United States, their ships cannot reach our fleet in time in order to attack the pirate fleet threatening her highness. The fleet is simply too far away for assistance. If the large pirate fleet has faster ships to slow down our fleet, its only a matter of minutes before the battle starts.

For the first time, I saw his majesty become furious with rage. He didn't act it out, but everyone in the room could see it in his eyes. His only daughter now might either get captured and defiled or killed by the pirates. Its only a matter of time.

However, the U.S ambassador sensing the situation began to speak slowly. "Your majesty, forgive me if this sounds presumptuous, but would you like the assistance of our military to aid your fleet?"

Is he mad? Its simple impossible, even for their ships. I don't know how battles were done on their previous world, but this situation is just impossible to repair.

"Ambassador, I don't know the capabilities of your ships, but the situation is simply irreparable at this point. Nothing can reach our fleet before battle ensues. Its unfortunate but."

Her highness... to meet such a fate.

However, the envoy continued.

"It won't be our navy, but air force prime minister. I cannot make any guarantees right now, but if I can get permission from the president, then it might be possible to aid your fleet in time. I just need to ask you if its worth a shot."

What? They have an air force? Typically only very wealthy and powerful kingdoms, no, empires have an air force of Wyverns or other similar species, but that can't be possible for the United States. If their world had no magic whatsoever, then they have other means to fly in the air? Without any creature? No, its possible they had other species.

While I was thinking of the possibilities, his majesty spoke with only one thing on his mind at that moment.

"Ambassador Jeffery, if what you say is true. I ask of you, no, I beg of you to save my daughter."

Me and the other officials were surprised by what his majesty said. To beg or ask something of another country of this scale would mean lowering themselves. Since our neighbors were not exactly friendly, it was rare for his majesty to ask another country to do something. So lowering himself to this extent was surprising. However, it wasn't unwarranted in my opinion.

If they can truly mobilize a force and rescue our fleet in such a short amount of time, then we truly will be in their debt.

The ambassador spoke. "We will do everything in our power. However, that will be left to the president to decide." He looked towards John Stuart and he nodded. He stood up and left the meeting room with a few of his guards."

We sat there silent for a couple of minutes before John came back into the meeting room. Everyone was anticipating his answer.

"The president gave the green light. We will mobilize our air forces from our first aircraft carrier strike group to engage the pirates north of Astra kingdom. It will be a couple of minutes before they mobilize but I assure you, our air force is one of the finest. We will rescue your daughter and eliminate the pirates."

Gasps and disbelief were heard throughout the room. The kingdom officials, including myself have never dealt or led an air force before, but even having one in the first place can exert tremendous prestige and power. However, I still suspect that its impossible to mobilize such a force in a couple of minutes.

I looked towards his majesty and found that he had a bit more hope and relief in his eyes. If the United States does indeed stave off the pirates, then we will be in their debt. However, that can also backfire if they fail to do so. Surely their ambassador must know what would happen if they were to fail in front of his majesty.

However, the guard came back.

"Prime minister! I received a message that the fleet is under attack!"

And so the battle begins.