Chapter 5: A Different Early 20th Century

According to the original owner’s vague memories, the Kingdom of Aragon had fallen into an ‘Other-world Spanish Civil War,’ decades ahead of schedule, due to issues of royal succession and national development strategy.

The National Army, supported by the Saxon Empire, was being steadily defeated in the civil war by the Royal Army, which had the backing of the Holy Britannian Empire. Increasing intelligence also showed that Holy Britannian Empire troops were landing by sea in the Royal Army’s controlled areas, preparing to intervene directly and end the civil war.

Seeing his interests in the Kingdom of Aragon about to be harmed, Albert II, Emperor of the Saxon Empire, could no longer sit still.

He immediately ordered the General Staff to pull six brigades, totaling twelve infantry regiments, from various units to enter the Kingdom of Aragon first, under the pretext of ‘assisting an ally to stabilize the situation.’ More division-level units also began to mobilize in parts, ready to follow into the Kingdom of Aragon at any time to provide a ‘safety net’ for the National Army.

The Kingdom of Aragon in this world possessed a large chunk of additional territory near the Mediterranean Sea compared to the Spain Morin remembered. It was precisely this extra territory that allowed the Saxon Empire to successfully border the Kingdom of Aragon.

The 16th Infantry Brigade, to which Morin was assigned, and its two subordinate infantry regiments, were among these units pulled out by the General Staff. Thus, by the time Morin received his transfer order, the 33rd Infantry Regiment he was supposed to report to had already left by military train.

Fate, in its strange and wonderful way.

The military train he eventually boarded happened to be carrying the Military Observation Group led by Lieutenant General Mackensen. Even more wonderfully strange was that when the old general saw Morin’s familiar figure boarding the train from his window, the telegram requesting special care for Morin and a transfer to a rear position, which had been delivered to his desk the day before, was still in his pocket.

Perhaps remembering his deceased close friend, or perhaps wishing to inherit his friend’s legacy and train his descendant to become a ‘Blood-and-Iron Soldier’ of Saxon tradition. Lieutenant General Mackensen immediately decided to give Morin a proper ‘training.’

After the military train reached its destination, he directly pulled Morin into the Observation Group, having him accompany them as a ‘Senior Orderly’ until the mission was over, after which he was to report to his unit.

The Saxon Empire’s competence in intelligence work also didn’t surprise Morin. There was a major failure in tracking the movements of the Holy Britannian Empire’s landing forces and the Royal Army. And so, by a strange twist of fate, Morin was ambushed outside Seville, an attack targeting the Military Observation Group, and was captured alongside Lieutenant General Mackensen.

As for why a Lieutenant General would lead such a large group of officers into an unfamiliar foreign territory for observation… this could only be attributed to a certain military tradition of the Saxon Empire. This fiercely militaristic empire was practically built upon continuous wars. ‘Senior Generals personally scouting the front line’ was considered one of the more ‘normal’ practices among the empire’s numerous reckless military traditions.

Moreover, because Lieutenant General Mackensen intended to conduct a covert reconnaissance mission—which in his own words was to be “quick, flexible, and without alarming the enemy”—he had even neglected to bring what he considered his somewhat cumbersome ‘General’s Guards’—the superhuman ‘Iron Cans’ who had rushed into the cellar to save them earlier.

However, what confused Morin was that the movements of a Military Observation Group of this caliber and operational style should have been highly classified; theoretically, they shouldn’t have been hit by a well-prepared ambush. He therefore had reason to suspect that there was likely a mole within the Empire who had leaked the Military Observation Group’s information in advance! As for the possibility that the Holy Britannian Empire was simply superior in intelligence work, Morin was skeptical of that for this nation that was clearly ‘Great Britain Reborn.’

However, before Morin could figure out why Albert II was so desperate to provide a safety net for the National Army, his relatively peaceful time came to an end.

This was because he saw over a dozen soldiers, clearly messengers, jogging into Mackensen’s tent, each with a leather satchel slung across their chest. Shortly after, these soldiers left the tent again and ran toward the camp’s perimeter at an even quicker pace.

One of the messengers, spotting Morin’s solitary figure, ran directly over, stopped in front of him, and saluted.

“Excuse me, are you Second Lieutenant Morin?”

“That’s right, that’s me.” Morin nodded, looking at the clearly young messenger with some confusion, and finally gave him a polite smile.

Seeing his expression, the young messenger offered a somewhat shy smile in return.

“Second Lieutenant Morin, please come with me. I’m going to the encampment of the 1st Battalion, 33rd Infantry Regiment, to deliver the Regimental Command’s orders. The General instructed me to take you to report there on the way.”

The 16th Infantry Brigade had not yet officially entered combat, and since this area was within the control of the National Army, the entire brigade’s encampment was relatively concentrated. The Regimental Commands of the two subordinate infantry regiments, along with the 16th Brigade Command and the attached Artillery and Cavalry Regiments, were all stationed in the camp they had just arrived at. The two regiments, totaling six infantry battalions, which were the main combat force, were lined up in a semi-circular formation, serving as a protective screen, facing Seville from this large camp.

It seemed that regimental-level units in the Saxon Empire were not yet equipped with landline telephones, so regimental orders were still physically delivered by messengers. After leaving the Brigade Command’s camp perimeter, Morin could only follow the young messenger through the darkness, relying on the moonlight to reach the 1st Battalion, 33rd Infantry Regiment’s position.

“Second Lieutenant, you were supposed to report to Regimental Command after getting off the train, and then proceed directly to your assigned company… But who knew you’d be taken away by the Military Observation Group on the same train, and then run into all this trouble? Thank goodness you’ve returned safe and sound!”

“Everyone at Regimental Command is talking. They say you’re a relative of General Mackensen, which is why he allowed a Second Lieutenant like you to join the Military Observation Group mission.”

“Is General Mackensen truly your adoptive father?”

The young messenger, named Schmidt, was clearly talkative and full of the unique vigor and energy of youth. So, after Morin chatted with him for a few minutes and Schmidt discovered that the Second Lieutenant who had ‘survived the disaster’ had no airs about him, the messenger immediately opened up.

However, when the ‘gossip’ he was sharing started to become increasingly outlandish, Morin timely interrupted him.

“Ahem… You’re going way off track. If Lieutenant General Mackensen really were my adoptive father, how could I still be here…”

“You do have a point. But why would the General allow a Second Lieutenant like you to accompany the Military Observation Group?” Messenger Schmidt asked, looking confused.

“Well, His Excellency the General does indeed have some connection with me…”

“See! I knew you weren’t an ordinary person!” Schmidt excitedly pumped his fist, as if he had uncovered a major secret.

Morin could only smile helplessly at the back of the young man’s head. After a moment’s thought, he asked with a touch of curiosity:

“Schmidt, have you ever thought about why we’ve come to the Kingdom of Aragon?”

“Of course! We are here to break the energy monopoly brought about by the Britannians and allow all nations to share in the progress of industrial technology!”

Schmidt’s unhesitating answer caught Morin by surprise, making him pause. Listen to that. Is that something a low-ranking soldier in an imperial state should be saying? Morin had expected the young messenger to give a boilerplate answer, but the young man’s actual reply clearly exceeded what was expected of a mere messenger’s scope. This indicated that the Saxon Empire must have engaged in propaganda on this issue, and had disseminated it to rank-and-file soldiers within the military.

“Break the energy monopoly, share technological progress…” Morin mulled over the key phrases in the young messenger’s words. He felt as if he had grasped a ‘thread’ explaining why a group like the International Brigades existed in this strange world…

[Current Information Collection: 15%]

As the ‘Cheat Code’ continuously increased the information collection status, Morin’s understanding of this world became increasingly clear. This world, which closely resembled the early 20th century of his previous life, was currently at a seemingly critical historical juncture.

Unlike the world Morin knew, this world genuinely possessed ‘magic,’ or rather, Magitek. When the ‘General’s Guards,’ looking like Iron Cans, rushed into the cellar to save them, they relied on ‘enchantments’ on their armor and shields to block the close-range bullets.

The Saxon Empire, in some respects, was not considered an old, powerful state in Magitek. This nation had a greater advantage in mechanical and conventional heavy industries, which Morin was familiar with. The true powerhouse nations in Magitek, according to the information gathered so far, were primarily the Holy Britannian Empire, which held vast colonies worldwide, and the Gallic Republic (the other-world ‘UK and France’ rivalry), which constantly rivaled the former in colonial competition.

It was because Magitek in this world was entirely built upon ‘Aetherium Crystals.’ These Aetherium Crystals were, in fact, extraterrestrial meteorites that had struck the planet multiple times in ancient history, and their distribution was not concentrated. Therefore, the Britannia and Gallic empires, the two old colonial powers, utilized their advantage in global mining to quickly rise and become dominant nations.

Adding insult to injury for the Saxon Empire, most of the Aetherium Crystals in Europa were located in the territories of Britannia and Gaul, with only scattered traces within the Saxon Empire itself. This gave this other-world ‘German Second Empire’ a natural disadvantage in the development of Magitek.

Fortunately, the amusing law of ‘German Technology is the World’s Best’ seemed to apply in this world too. Thus, the Saxons managed to carve out a difficult path in conventional technology, which Morin was more familiar with.

However, unlike the fuel technology route Morin knew, the ‘Diesel Fuel’ of this world was not refined from subterranean petroleum. Instead, it came from another unique ore found only in this world: Luminite Ore. Although Morin wasn’t sure how the Saxons converted ore into fuel, all he needed to know was that Luminite Ore was the equivalent of this world’s petroleum.

Perhaps by some divine providence, large reserves of Luminite Ore were buried within the Saxon Empire’s territory, as well as in the Lorraine and Alsace regions acquired from the Gallic Republic. This was one of the major reasons why the Saxon Empire had surged ahead on this particular technological route.

Over the years, the nations representing these two technological pathways had continuous friction but hadn’t devolved into any large-scale conflicts.

Unfortunately, in the year Morin’s soul transmigrated, the situation had undergone a ‘slight’ change…

“Second Lieutenant Morin, we’ve arrived!”

“Huh?”

Just as Morin was immersed in his own thoughts and reaching a critical point, Messenger Schmidt interrupted him. Snapping back to reality, Morin looked up to see a vast expanse of continuous tents in the distance.

This was the temporary encampment of the 1st Battalion, 33rd Infantry Regiment.