Franz's secretary, Mia Arties, placed a document on Franz's desk.
"Your Majesty, the Church has seconded a battalion of jägers from Sassandra Fortress."
Sassandra Fortress, the secondary capital of the Ivory Coast colony in Africa, was an important port city linking the Sassandra River and the Voda River.
Franz nodded, waiting for her to continue. After all, the colonies were unlike the homeland. It was nothing unusual for some wastrel from one of the Austrian Empire's great families to take several hundred soldiers into the colonies to hunt wild beasts.
Could it be that some bishop of the Church had gone mad again? Did he want to conduct armed missionary work?
Franz allowed the Church to use missionary methods to win over the upper ranks of the natives, but that was merely a diplomatic measure. It did not mean Franz truly wanted those black chieftains to join the Austrian Empire.
But if that were all, there would have been no need for Mia Arties to personally report it to Franz. The dozens of secretaries under her were not fools either; they would not bother Franz so heedlessly over such a matter.
Moreover, armed missionary work involved the Church. Such matters would most likely only be marked with a red circle on paper, left for Franz himself to notice.
"Unfortunately, all 250 officers and men of the 5th Ivory Coast Jäger Battalion have completely lost contact with us. Also missing is an expedition organized by the Church. They vanished while traveling toward the inland Dubaya Kingdom."
In truth, "missing" was merely a euphemism for being wiped out to the last man. On the African continent at this time, going missing was practically synonymous with death.
"Was it a natural disaster, or man-made?"
Franz finally spoke.
"It is presumed to be man-made."