The president's office was a mess of fire and debris. His estate had been raided, the girl his son said he was in love with was kidnapped and of the other prisoners in his personal dungeon three managed to escape.
All three were political enemies of his that knew things about him that couldn't be spread to the general populace. He had to take care of this immediately but at the same time, there was still the issue of the escaped prisoners and the complete technological breakdown.
He really wanted to send the military to take care of it but there was no target for his rage. His political enemies had immediately gone into hiding and technology couldn't be killed. And the escaped prisoners were presumably in some lower realm where a whole unit had disappeared to.
There was nothing he could do. He was out in the open while his enemies lurked in the shadows.
After calming down a bit he gave the order to send another, larger unit into the lower realm. It was the only move he could make in the open. Simultaneously, he sent word to his secret force to search for his political enemies. Finally, his anger abated and he once again returned to his usual tasks.
Only to be interrupted when Ken, his son stormed in, demanding to know where Aia was. The president scrambled to shut Ken up before he could say anything stupid. If he blurted out anything regarding the private dungeon Aia had been kept in there would definitely be an investigation.
"Ken, I understand that you are worried about your former co-worker but you can't shield her from the consequences of her actions. Her disappearance from the MILITARY PRISON must be those six escaped prisoners saving her. This proves her guilt! I'll immediately have her put on every wanted list and investigate her family."
The whole thing was useless but he had to keep up appearances.
Meanwhile, at the foot of the alpine mountains in the commanding military base. Maine and Kate were sitting in her office drinking coffee.
"So you really lost contact with the entire unit?"
"Yes, all ways we have to communicate with are unresponsive. The last messenger bird we received held the message that they reached the gate and were about to enter. We even got a divination mage to look for them but he couldn't see past the gate."
"Since when do you use messenger birds?"
"Since your goons managed to make all technology turn into a possible liability we had to improvise."
"No need to get angry, we didn't know how bad it was until it was already too late."
"Why are you really here Maine? You can't tell me you came just to spectate us sending people to their deaths. The president has already ordered us to send in another unit with more strength this time."
"Is this room secure?"
"Oh, wait a minute."
Kate waved her hand and a powerful barrier of wind wrapped around them drowning out all sounds made inside.
"Thanks, Kate. What I'm about to say can be considered treason but I think it is unavoidable for the continuing existence of this country. Based on what Roy told me this group of escaped prisoners is far above what we can handle and the reason they left is Ken."
"Ken? Do you mean the president's son?"
"Exactly. In all his years the president has never abused his power or led us astray but now to save his son he started this whole madness. He needs to be stopped!"
"Not considering how he handled the cover-up of his son's failure I can't think of anything better to do than what he does. They are criminals that broke out of their prison, we need to capture them."
"Do we? They only broke out because someone provoked them and they didn't do anything to harm us until we sent a battle-ready unit at them. I mean, what crime did they even commit to get imprisoned? We can't fault someone for a crime we don't know of."
"Then what would you have done better?"
"Sent Roy after them and have him talk to them."
"And what do you intend to do now?"
"Impeach the president..."
"That is treason!"
Kate sprung up from the table and pulled both her pistols pointing them at Maine.
"Calm down Kate. There is no other way but to do this. If the president continues to antagonize them things might get worse."
"So you propose to throw our whole country into a civil war just because of some criminals?"
"Would you rather see Roy get executed or tortured in some secret dungeon? Do you really think the president won't come after him once people start asking questions?"
Kate's expression became rigid. She seemed to be having an internal struggle but ultimately put away her weapons and sat back down.
"Saying this is a low blow even for you. How did you know?"
"Did you really think that no one would know if you broke into our room back in school and stole some of Roy's shirts? You even smelled them while you were still in the room!"
"You were there?!"
"I use golemancy! Obviously I'd have a functioning golem in my room!"
"Did you tell him?!!!!"
"Do you think he could hide knowing this from you? I told him nothing."
"That's good then."
"Now that we have settled your little love affair can we return to treason talks? How much influence can you wield in the military?"
"Not nearly enough for this to work. I'm confident that I can sway the units here but the coastal, navy, and plane units are out of my reach."
"That's good actually! I've made some inquiries inside the police force and most of them will stand with me. Can you reach out to any of the other military branches and try to convince them?"
"I can try but it will take time. And I won't get anywhere before sending out the next unit to the lower realm."
"Try to delay the next unit's departure then. Say you want people from all other branches in case the terrain on the other side of the gate is different."
"You know, that idea isn't half bad. Thanks, Maine, I think I'll do just that.