Chapter 7
Being a trickster is a lot of work, and for only 50,000 yen. And the worst part is there are worst things out there.
Let me guess, a mutated gator.
How'd you know?
Florida is full of em. I saw them all the time, even owned one as a pet.
Wait, you saw them all the time?
That means you lived here back then?
Was born here actually. Most of my crimes were committed in Florida. Glad I still live here, since when I'm done with our deal I intend to do whatever I can to make up for what I did here centuries ago.
Pretty big goal.
Yeah, say what do you plan to do once your samurai anyway?
Me? Well I will go back to Japan and rub it in everyone's face. Maybe buy me a gold toilet to sit on.
Truly the height of asperation for us all.
Damn straight.
The two laughed like they were good friends. They got along quite well despite being born in different centuries and different cultures.
However Anna had to cut this short, now she had free time and she wanted to use it.
Man, this guild stuff is real weird. I mean the mutated animals don't creep me out, neither the fact that the country got blown up.
What really is bothering me is what happened the last 200 years. I need to read up on history if I plan to find williams and rescue my friend. Also not knowing things about the past is gonna make people suspicious if I don't learn quick.
I'll go to the library. No better place for knowledge than that. I know I can look it up on the internet but I'm used to books so I'll stick to books.
Entering the door of the library she finds it mostly dirty and empty. The only person besides herself was the librarian. And he didn't come off as friendly and helpful, but tired, angry and annoyed. He had that look like he was asking himself what was he doing here?
Hi, do you work here?
Slouching over he says, what do you think sweetheart? You see anybody else here?
Well now that you mention it I'm wondering who is that?
She points toward a tv screen with an anime girl on it?
Are you screwing with me right now?
No, she says nervously, quickly composing herself.
Anyway, Why is this place so empty?
Thank the internet.
The internet?
I'm just going to assume your an idiot. The internet allows people to read from home with buying books. So nobody comes here. But I get paid just to watch the place so I can't complain about easy money.
Okay, do you know where the history books are?
Right over there in the back, aisle f.
Thanks.
Looking around she finds the history books she's looking for. And immediately began catching up on what she missed.
Going through America's expansion, world war 1 and 2, Hiroshima and nagasaki, Japan's economic miracle, the cold war and the rise of china. Finally reaching the part she wanted to read. The second American civil war and world war 3.
The book doesn't say why the war began, apparently those pages are missing and when I asked the guy says some idiots checked it out and ruined them. It will be 2 months before the replacements come in.
The war began in 2021, and since America was the number 1 economy most of the world's economies were affected negatively. Stocks crashed, people picked sides and the war began.
Shortly after this, once America recalled all troops on foreign soil to return in order to deal with this crisis.
Then china declared war on Japan, Taiwan, and most of Asia and would have won had all these smaller nations not teamed up and pulled their resources together.
At the same time China started a proxy war in America, supporting one side in the civil war while Russia supported the other starting a cold war between the 2 nations.
China had the numbers and resources, but their leadership was terrible and had little experience. On top of that the Asia alliance as they called themselves through propaganda turned many Chinese people against the government.
In 2030, the US nuked itself, causing entire economies to crumble from all the debt they accumulated supporting factions in the war and starting more civil wars all over the world.
Europe fought with itself between anti Eu and pro Eu forces and Russia conquered some of eastern Europe.
Israel survived by nuking its enemies and forcing the survivors to surrender. And south America devolved into a bloodbath.
The world war lasted lasted till 2035 and ended with the battle of Beijing, where the government, realizing all hope was lost, escaped the country but were captured shortly afterword.
They stood trial and were almost all executed for their war crimes. Taiwan got control of china and agreed to pay some war debts as a "reward" for everyone working together to beat china.
After china fell many economies were in shambles all over the world, some wars were still going but the world was no longer in danger of being destroyed in nuclear Armageddon.
Russia and Israel were the only 2 nations that managed to survive with their economies mostly intact.
Some Americans had survived, but the ones that tried to flee the US wasteland were forced to go back by the rest of the world.
World wide policy was to not let any Americans into other countries for fear that they might blow up other countries. The ones who refused to go back were shot, which numbered in the millions.
For over a year they tried to get into other countries but eventually gave up. As if that wasn't bad enough, many people in the world blamed democracies and republics for letting the wars happen.
Many called representative government history's greatest failure and revolutions and civil wars broke out all over the world to remove them.
Monarchies and empires returned, old rules were restored and new ones were made. The world had decided to go back to the time before the enlightenment.
As for Japan, it's economy was in shambles and the government was ineffective in fixing it, so many hungry people started rioting, the riots turned to political assassinations, then to widescale terror attacks, and finally civil war.
It lasted until 2040, with the return of the emperor to power and the reestablishment of the feudal system. But they still needed money, until one political advisor created the wastelanders guild, scavenging the US to save their economy which worked.
Of course there were problems. They couldn't get in the west coast since it was heavily irradiated so they had to go through Mexico.
Of course they couldn't just let people pass through their country until Mexico was promised 10 % of the spoils.
They were able to pass through the gulf of Mexico and establish a small colony. Annexing territory and killing mutated animals.
What surprised Japan most was that some Americans were still alive. Just barely surviving and struggling to make ends meet.
Most welcomed annexation with little resistance, but there were raiders and all sorts of criminals that gave them a tough time.
Thanks to the new territory, Japan was able to make new farms in Florida, and find lost technology from the civil war, making their economy boom.
Soon, Japan become the number one economy in the world. Of course some other nations wanted what Japan was getting, since Japan had a monopoly on the American wasteland.
To avoid war since Japan lost too many of it's population, a compromise was made with the treaty of new edo.
Other nations were allowed to carve up territory. Japan got the east coast of the US, Russia got the north west, Mexico took the south west and China got the mid west.
As of right now all the nations are in the process of annexing territory and solidifying their hold on them.
Japan still holds the number 1 economy in the world, but tensions between all these nations remains high.
Greed runs rampant and all these nations are desperately building up their military tp prepare for the inevitable war.
Wow, quite the page turner.
There you are Anna!
Tatsuya came in, looking for me. How cute.
Come on, it's time to go shopping. We need supplies if your going to train me.
Alright already.
