I'm the President of my Newly Created Country: Volume 2

Rising Problems and Mcdonalds

United States of Harthom, Date January 6, 1565.

In the White House, Thomas Harrier was sipping his coffee while reading today’s report in his left hand.

He nodded slightly at the perfect remarks done by all of his trusted cabinet members.

The modernization plan hosted by the United States is going well accordingly. Though there is a huge investment in this project and the Congress is hard to convince. He felt relieved that everything was going well.

“Mr. President, your new political advisor is here.” Mike who was standing on guard at the door said to him with a subtle voice.

Thomas immediately put down the coffee and the reports on his desk and beckoned him to let the new applicant enter.

He was waiting for this moment, after a year of service as a president of the world’s strongest country. He needed something that would look upon his political agenda. Congress was hard to convince even though they are programmed to be loyal to him, the constitution that was once established the moment he chooses democracy gave the people the right to do anything according to the constitution, even if it means speaking to the president.

Then a girl entered the room. A beautiful maiden with long white hair that droops all the way to her waist and wearing a formal suit bowed to him with respect.

“Good morning, Mr. President. I’m your new political advisor as of today.”

She said with a soothing voice and approached him. She extended her hands offering a handshake and Thomas responded by giving her a handshake.

“So you’re the one who was referred by my chief of staff and the vice-president? Hmm,”

He grabbed something on his desk, it was a file that contained her portfolio. He perused the contents and his eyes opened widely.

“So, your name is Illustrious? Is that your real name?” He said half-dubious and half-jokingly as if he didn't want to believe it to be true.

“It was given by you Mr. President” She replied straightforwardly with a soothing voice that sounds like a mother carrying her son.

Now to think of it, it’s true that he’s the one why her name is weird. It’s all computer-generated by the way.

He cannot singlehandedly name all the individuals as it will take him 1000 years to do so. But her name is unique which gives him a quite genuine smile on his face.

“Now tell me Illustrious. Why do I need a political advisor?”

It was a straight question, Illustrious needed to convince him that he needed a political advisor.

“Mr. President, what do you want to do in your country?”

She replied it was a question that he already answered more and more when he was sworn in as a president.

“I want my country to be the best in this world. To prove to my people that I can give them a life that they deserved, the life that I promised when I was sworn as the president of this country. I needed to fulfill my role as the father of this country.”

He said fluidly without stuttering, it feels like he meant all of his words from the bottom of his heart.

“That’s quite an idealistic wish for someone exalted as you. True that all the president needs to fulfill their role and responsibilities to their constituents but all things cannot be done by good heart but with a good play of politics.” She replied to him as if he was correcting him.

“Tell me, Mr. President. Without this system that connects each of us that you summoned to be loyal to you. Do you think you can achieve your wish?”

She questioned Thomas that pierced his heart. It feels to him that she gave him a wake-up call in reality. He got her point by saying that. It’s true that without this system, no one will put their trust in him who was just a failed cabinet member that was about to be replaced by the former administration and gave him an ambassadorship.

“...”

Thomas was speechless, he can’t believe that he can’t respond to this question thrown at him.

But that silence gave Illustrious an answer. She smiled and placed her hand onto his shoulder.

“Now that you know, I am glad to be your new political advisor as of today. Don’t worry about your political agenda as I will take care of them smoothly and I will make you look good in this world. You can count on me, Mr. President”

She assured and removed her hand from his shoulder.

“You’re quite good huh? Then, as of today, you will be my political advisor!”

He declared and went back to his desk to do his usual routine. Checking files. Signing, et cetera.

Thomas was in his work mode and no one must disturb him when he was on work mode unless it was an emergency.

Illustrious who was watching him perform his constitutional duties made her happy as she witnessed her president, her new boss hardworking and is serious about taking care of this country.

“Then, I will take my leave now Mr. President” She bowed reverently and began to walk out of the Oval Office.

Mike who was on duty to guard the president gentlemanly opened the door for her but someone immediately rushed in!

This alerted Mike which activated his guard role, but the moment he saw the man, he immediately held back with a sigh of relief. It was a high-ranking person.

“Mr. President, we may have a problem”

It was his chief of staff, Aaron who was drenched in sweat, and his voice gave an obvious hint of emergency.

“What the hell is happening?” Thomas replied back urging him to spill out the details.

Illustrious who was about to leave decided to stay put and listened to what Aaron had to say.

Holding a newspaper in his right hand, Aaron gave it to Thomas and pointed his finger to the main headline.

“A cruise vessel on its way to the United States never arrived at the port. Families of the passengers boarded in the vessel were worried and demanded the Regirenth Empire to take action to find the missing ships.”

Thomas who was reading the headline began to tremble slightly, his hand clenched and made the newspaper crumble slightly.

“So, it’s been spilled? I know that we can hide this so much further.”

“Mr. President, this is really bad!” A girl's voice intruded and made her way to his desk.

“Illustrious?” He exclaimed.

“Sir, if they found out that we’re keeping this to them, then our allegiance to the Regirenth and the other nations might fall. Also, if they found out that the reason why the ships were missing was due to an attack then…”

“It’s another war Mr. President, all of our efforts on recognizing the witches will fall as well. People will not believe the witches so much longer. We’re playing hot potato here, Mr. President.” Aaron added.

“Hot potato?” Thomas tilted his head to the side.

“Whoever has the potato will suffer great damage. If we just pointed this to Sovereignty then they will take the fall and the Regirenth Empire will declare war on them dragging us, and if they found out that we kept this information to Regirenth, then they will deem our allegiance as ineffective and might secede to the United Nation.”

“Even so, they recognized our power, they cannot wage war upon us. Even if Congress agreed on giving them modern weapons, it’s still in the world war 2 era. They are no match to our modern weaponry.” Illustrious added.

“Calm down, the Regirent Empire will not use this as a basis of war. But…”

“They might use it to their own advantage, pinning us on the corner by demanding something in return.” Illustrious assumed.

“How long can we cover this up?” Thomas asked.

“Less than three days sir.”

“Also we must not forget that the envoy of the Sovereignty will come in three days. If Regirenth found out that we’re meeting a country’s envoy responsible for the hundred deaths of the Regirenth Empire. It will be devastating to both parties.”

“Don’t worry, Mr. President, as your political advisor, I will assure you to my 100% ability that I will not let the country do any more damage.”

Illustrious said. Thomas seems to know where this heading.

“You mean?”

“We lie, Mr. President! If we just tell the Regirent Empire that we fought a sea monster on the sea from where the cruise vessel was sailing. Then we can just tell them that they were caught in a battle and the sea monster got them.”

Thomas just heard the first absurd suggestion coming from his new political advisor.

“We are going to lie to them? I can’t accept this, this is not the truth. I mean there is still another way that we can fix this right?”

Unfortunately, Illustrious shook her head.

“There are no other options Mr. President, the truth will eventually rise up and it will deal a lot of damage to Sovereignty and to us. Sir, this is how politics works to protect the country’s interest.”

Judging from her tone it was a serious suggestion, Thomas can just deny this suggestion and look for more but coming from the political advisor who knows so much in her field and told him that there is no option, then there is no option.

“Then, how can we answer their question if they asked why it took so long to tell them about this?”

“It’s easy, Mr. President, we can just tell them that we’re doing an investigation and must report based on facts. I’m sure that they will understand that.”

Thomas sighed deeply knowing that he must take her suggestion. He sipped his coffee again to think once more but it was blank. Illustrious and Aaron were eager to hear his decision now.

“Okay, I want you to invite the ambassador of the Empire to talk about this issue. I will consider Illustrious suggestion and will do it accordingly.”

Hearing that, Illustrious sighed and was delighted that the president considered her suggestion.

“I’m sorry Mr. President if there’s another choice I can…”

“No need to be hard on yourself on your first day. If something is impossible then it’s impossible. I know that you’re doing this to our country and with just that I’m happy that you’re in service.”

“I can’t believe that I’m being praised by the President, I cannot ask for more reward other than this!” He said in a soothing voice while placing her hands together.

“I will contact the ambassador of the Empire,” Aaron said and left the White House to carry out his duties.

“I will also take my leave now Mr. President to prepare you for your meeting.”

She left as well, leaving Thomas behind in the Oval Office, and began to continue his duties as well.

Meanwhile, in the Capital of Regirenth Empire, there is a bustling of people gathering in the business district where there seems to be a new shop that is attracting the locals.

It was a food establishment that existed in the United States of Harthom and in the former world.

Mcdonalds!

The Mcdonald's flyers were given to all locals to let them know that the new fast food restaurant from the United States is having a grand opening.

They were a kilometer-long queue from outside the big Mcdonald's branch ever built. It can serve up to 10,000 customers a day.

It looked extremely alien when compared to the surroundings. The Harthomians have changed the Empire a lot. The most obvious were the street lights, paved roads, alien carriages, and so on.

There was a tower with a yellow M on the top. This was the first foreign branch of the Mcdonalds here in this world. There was this man who was lining up to take his first taste of delicacies brought by the United States. There were a lot of people inside. Anyone who just left the establishment has this wonderment in their eyes. As if they felt satisfied. Looking at their reaction, the people who were still in the line were now more excited.

Finally, after one hour of waiting in this line, he took his order at the counter. At first, he noticed that the floor is made of marble, and the dining table, instead of brown wood that he was once used to, everything was clean white. The table and the chair are not made of wood but something called plastic. It seemed like a place that only the rich can afford to eat at. At once he waited in the line it was now his turn to order. He stared around in confusion looking at the weird-looking poster mounted in the wall full of food options. The cashier who was behind the counter immediately spoke.

“Welcome to Mcdonalds! Is this your first time here?” She said in Japanese, this world language is largely influenced more similarly to Japanese.

“Uhm... I can speak English” He said.

“Oww, Okay, that’s good.” The counter rubbed her head in embarrassment.

“So um, how does this work?”

The cashier took her casual stance after that embarrassment and pointed towards a wall of the list behind her. Some of the screens were changing in intervals, he would have probably called it witchcraft if the Empire didn’t have something similar. There were a few screens that stayed static and had words and pictures.

“You can select your order from the options listed above. Pay the price indicated on the food and we will give you a receipt, you can go find a table after you ordered and when we call the number on the receipt or was shown on that screen, you can come up and pick it up and bring it back to your seat.”

The options looked surprisingly cheap when compared to the aesthetics of the building. It was half the price of a full meal at a cheap tavern.

“Ummm..what’s a Big Mac?”

“It’s a burger. Sauce, vegetables, and a slice of meat in between two soft pieces of bread. A big mac is a larger one. It’s basically two burgers on top of one another.”

It seemed interesting and was within his budget. The price was not that expensive and even a commoner can afford it.

“Ok, I’ll get that!”

“Anything else?”

He continued looking on the wall.

“What’s this Coca-Cola and French Fries?”

“It’s a very sweet fizzing drink. The french fries are deep-fried small slices of potatoes and have this salt taste. I can assure that it’s good,”

“Okay, I will have that both in medium sizes!”

“I see, if you’re doing that, why not order a big mac meal where you can have those three items in less than 30 small copper of the original price.”

“Sounds like a very good deal! I’ll take those”

He paid the price, found a seat, sat down, and waited. He still felt hesitant. It just felt too cheap. It wasn’t long before his number was called. It now felt too fast. He hoped they didn’t undercook it. He didn’t want to deal with a stomach ache he usually haves when eating at the tavern. He walked up, grabbed the tray, a different worker was there and handed him some small multiple packets.

“These packets are called ketchup, you can open it and squeeze it over to your french fries.”

He carefully carried his tray back on his table. A delicious aroma rose up from the Big Mac box.

He walked out of the store with a heavenly satisfied look on his face. The Big Mac felt unexplainably good. The entire meal was heavenly and at a cheap price too. The materials packed in the packets seemed to be of high value. He took the bag of empty containers along with him.

Mcdonald's was the first few companies allowed to begin operations overseas. This was the result of backroom deals that happened just right after the declaration of the United Nation. The economic relationship between each of the countries is now interconnected thanks to the United States' modern economic flow charts. The establishments are powered with electricity coming from the very first power plant built near the lake of the Empire of Regirenth. The Capital was the first place in this world to have electricity and most of its cities are still under construction.

As a result, many foreign dignitaries are coming all the way from their country just to visit the results of the commitment of the United States to their allies, militarily and economically.

They were enjoying the modern world right in the center of the Empire. The reason why the Empire has the first to develop is because of their huge treasury that is heavily invested in infrastructures and military. The Empire is also buying weapons from the United States similar to a World War 2 era. Though they can learn the sciences and engineering from the books. The shipbuilders in the country believe that they can have a thorough look at how modern warships work if they bought a world war 2 era warship. This serves as a foundation of the modern military in their nation to protect the country's interest.

The night has come and the night is similar to modern cities just like in the United States. The streetlights are shining brightly, modern cars are roaming in the paved roads, establishments with electricity shined brightly from the inside, and so on.

For the locals of this country, this signifies a rapid change in their customs. Even though placed in front of the modern equipment, the versatility of the people cannot be underestimated.

The guy who just bought a meal in Mcdonald's earlier was backed again in the establishment and was backed again at the establishment to buy his dinner. He was completely satisfied with the meal he had before, now he ordered a fried chicken with a big mac on its side. He was spending his daily allowance on this meal. Though it’s affordable and cheaper than the tavern. He feels like he can go all day eating this addicting food.

“The United States must be a heaven in this world!” He said while crunching the fried chicken’s skin and the skin crackled and let him taste the savor of the chicken.