Chapter 237 (2): Master’s Master
Ostarrichi.
Ostarrichi, the nation where the Church of Nature’s headquarters was located, was situated in the heart of the Chosen Land. It was also known as the Land of Music, the Green Kingdom, and the Nation of Forest.
Its capital, Wien, was the biggest city in Ostarrichi with a prosperous culture, lauded as the City of Music.
Now, Wien was no longer Ostarrichi’s capital, and Ostarrichi was no longer an independent country. Last March, Prussia tore up the treaty and deployed her army to annex it by force.
The Ostarrichians didn’t put up much of a resistance. For one, they couldn’t win, and for another, there was no point in doing that. They originated from the same country, and many of them actually went out to welcome the army. Flags of black and red stripes filled the streets amid boisterous percussion for a grand greeting.
The minority who didn’t welcome Prussia needed not be heartbroken. Ostarrichi wasn’t alone. Prussia had a big appetite and would tear up another treaty sooner rather than later, turning another neighbor of Ostarrichi into a part of Prussian territory.
Yes, it would happen soon. March of 1939 was on the horizon, and the blitzkrieg would make any resisting forces raise their hands in surrender.
Then... well, they wouldn’t even struggle.
On February twenty-sixth, a commercial flight from Londan reached Wien, Ostarrichi. As Windsor’s candidates for the Holy Maiden selection, Wayne and Veronica were under tight protection. The Windsorian escorts completed their mission at the airport, handing them over to the church’s headquarters for protection.
It was very much warranted. If a lunatic shot the candidates, such as someone from the Church of Death or Church of Darkness, and it happened in Ostarrichi, where the Church of Nature’s headquarters were based, the headquarters would be faulted for their negligence. It would be a great scandal.
Again, it was likely to happen since this was Ostarrichi, and there was a precedent of a certain couple being assassinated, triggering a world war[1].
The headquarters had sent three members of the Order of Nature to escort them from the airport, all of them tall and good-looking with great proportions.