"Was that demonic dragon the one from Texas?"
Upon receiving the Russian captain's transmission, Petrov's expression darkened further. "Are you sure you didn't see wrong?"
"I'm sure!"
The captain's reply was exceedingly firm. "The English newspapers described that demonic dragon's appearance in detail: crown-like horns, red-black scales, lava-like markings. Everything matches. There can be no mistake."
The adjutant beside him also reminded him, "Major General Nevelskoy once served as envoy to Texas. He shouldn't have mistaken it."
Petrov's heart sank sharply, and he muttered, "With the war in Europe still undecided, would Giuliano of Texas, who was so adept at playing both sides, join the war now and stand with the Anglo-German Alliance?"
The adjutant spoke gravely. "Perhaps precisely because the war remains undecided, they stand to gain the most by entering it now."
The Republic of Texas-Rio Grande was universally recognized as the only secondary power in the Americas to possess true autonomy.
But in reality, even with investments from European powers such as Germany and France, as well as years of secret support from numerous Apennine werewolf families, barely more than a decade was not enough for Texas to build a complete industrial system from nothing and rise into the ranks of secondary powers.
At the very least, if Texas and the Teutonic Order State had traded places, then even with its vastly larger territory and greater strategic depth, it would certainly have long since been crushed to pieces beneath the Russian steamroller of Europe.
The true reason Texas earned the respect of the European great powers, who had always looked down their noses at others, was still the war of independence it had won by trampling on Britain's pride more than a decade ago.
That had been a crushing defeat suffered by the world's acknowledged foremost power