Trench Bolts and Magic

Chapter 5 A Different Early 20th Century
According to the original owner's vague memories, the Kingdom of Aragon was probably embroiled in a 'Spanish Civil War in another world' that happened decades earlier than expected, due to issues of royal succession and national development strategy.

Meanwhile, the 'National Army' supported by the Saxon Empire was no match for the 'Kingdom Army' backed by the Holy Britannian Empire in the civil war, and suffered repeated defeats.

Increasing intelligence indicates that the Holy Britannian Empire's army has also landed by sea in areas controlled by the "Kingdom Army," preparing to personally intervene and end the civil war.
Seeing that his interests in the Kingdom of Aragon were about to be jeopardized, Emperor Albert II of the Saxon Empire could no longer sit idly by.

He immediately ordered the General Staff to select six brigades, totaling twelve infantry regiments, from various units under the pretext of 'assisting allies in stabilizing the situation,' and send them into the Kingdom of Aragon.
Meanwhile, more division-level troops began to be partially mobilized, ready to enter the Kingdom of Aragon at any time to provide a safety net for the National Army.

In this world, the Kingdom of Aragon has a much larger territory near the Mediterranean Sea than the Spain in Morin's memory.

It was precisely because of this extra territory that the Saxon Empire and the Kingdom of Aragon successfully formed a border.
Morin was assigned to the 16th Infantry Brigade, and its two subordinate infantry regiments were among the units drawn from the General Staff.

So by the time Morin received the transfer order, the 33rd Infantry Regiment, to which he was to report, had already boarded a military train and left.

In the end, Morin could only follow the advice of the station staff and wait for the next military train to go directly to the Kingdom of Aragon.

Fate, amazing.

The military train carrying the military observer group led by Lieutenant General Mackensen was on board.

What's even more remarkable is that when the old man saw Morin's familiar figure boarding the train at the window, he still had the telegram that had been delivered to his desk the day before, requesting that Morin be taken care of and transferred to the rear.

Perhaps he was thinking of his deceased best friend, or perhaps he wanted to carry on his best friend's legacy and raise his descendants to be 'iron-blooded soldiers' with Saxon tradition.

Lieutenant General Mackensen immediately decided to give Morin a good workout.

After the military train arrived at its destination, he took Morin directly to the observation group and made him follow the group as a 'senior serviceman' until the end, after which he would report to his unit.

Morin was not surprised by the Saxon Empire's intelligence capabilities.
There are significant problems with understanding the movements of the Holy Britannian Empire's landing forces and the 'Kingdom Army'.

So, by a twist of fate, Morin was ambushed outside Seville in a raid targeting the military observer group, and was captured along with Lieutenant General Mackensen.
As for why a lieutenant general would lead such a large group of officers to conduct observations in a foreign land with unknown conditions...
This can only be described as a kind of military tradition of the Saxon Empire.

This empire, brimming with martial spirit, was built almost entirely through a series of continuous wars.

In this empire's many reckless military traditions, it is considered relatively normal for high-ranking generals to personally conduct reconnaissance at the front lines.

Moreover, Lieutenant General Mackensen intended to conduct, in his own words, a "quick and flexible" covert reconnaissance operation on the front lines without alerting the enemy.
He didn't even bring those 'General's Guards' that seemed a bit cumbersome to him—the same Superman cans that had rushed into the cellar to rescue people earlier.

However, what puzzled Morin was that a military observation group of this level and mode of operation should have its movements strictly confidential and, theoretically, should not have been subjected to a well-prepared ambush.
Therefore, he had reason to suspect that there was likely a mole within the Empire who had leaked the military observation group's intelligence in advance!
As for the possibility that the Holy Britannian Empire was better at intelligence work...
Maureen was skeptical of this country, which was clearly "inherited from the British."

However, before Morin could figure out why Albert II was in such a hurry to bail out the National Army, this relatively leisurely period came to an end.

He saw more than a dozen soldiers, carrying leather briefcases slung across their shoulders, who looked like messengers, jogging into Mackensen's tent.

Not long after, the soldiers left the tent again and ran towards the outskirts of the camp at an even faster pace.

Upon seeing Morin's solitary figure, one of the messengers ran straight up to him, stopped, and saluted him.

"Excuse me, are you Lieutenant Morin?"

"Yes, it's me."

Morin nodded, looking at the obviously young messenger in front of him with some doubt, and finally gave him a polite smile.

Seeing his expression, the young messenger also gave a somewhat awkward smile.

"Lieutenant Morin, please come with me. I need to go to the encampment of the 1st Battalion of the 33rd Infantry Regiment to deliver orders from the regimental headquarters. The general instructed me to take you there to report for duty."

The 16th Infantry Brigade has not yet officially entered combat, and this area is also under the control of the 'National Army', so the brigade's encampment is relatively concentrated.

The headquarters of the two subordinate infantry regiments, along with the headquarters of the 16th Brigade, as well as an artillery regiment and a cavalry regiment reinforced to this brigade, were all stationed in the camp just now.

The two regiments, comprising a total of six infantry battalions, which were the main combat force, were arranged in a semi-circular line facing Seville from this large camp, forming a protective barrier.

At present, it appears that regimental units in the Saxon Empire are not equipped with wired telephones, so orders from regimental headquarters are delivered by messengers in person.

After Morin followed the young messenger out of the brigade headquarters' camp area, he could only make his way to the location of the 1st Battalion of the 33rd Infantry Regiment under the cover of darkness.

"Second Lieutenant, after you got off the train, you were supposed to report to the regimental headquarters and then go directly to your assigned company."

"But who knew you'd be taken away by the military observation group on the same train and run into this mess. Thank goodness you came back safe and sound!"

"People at the regimental headquarters are saying that you, Second Lieutenant, are a relative of General Mackensen, which is why they sent you, a Second Lieutenant, to join the military observer group."

"Was General Mackensen really your adoptive father?"

The young messenger named Schmidt was clearly a talkative fellow, and he exuded the vigor and energy unique to young people.

So when Morin chatted with him for a bit and he discovered that this 'miracle-surviving' lieutenant was down-to-earth, the messenger immediately started talking.

However, as the other person's gossip became increasingly outrageous, Morin promptly interrupted him. "Ahem... You're getting more and more absurd. If Lieutenant General Mackensen were really my adoptive father, how could I still be here?"

“What you say makes sense, but why did the general send you, Second Lieutenant, to travel with the military observation group?” the messenger Schmidt asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Well, General, we do indeed have some connection."

"See! I knew you weren't an ordinary person."

Schmidt excitedly pumped his fist, as if he had discovered something incredible.

Morin could only look at the back of the other person's head and smile helplessly. After thinking for a moment, he asked with some curiosity:
"Schmidt, have you ever thought about why we came to the Kingdom of Aragon in the first place?"

"Of course I know! We are here to break the energy monopoly imposed by the Brittany, so that all countries can share the progress of industrial technology!"

Schmidt's unwavering answer surprised Morin, who was momentarily taken aback.

Listen to what this low-ranking soldier in an imperial country could say?

Morin had assumed that the young messenger would only give answers like "obey orders" or "it's a soldier's duty."

But the other party's response clearly exceeded the expectations of a messenger.
This indicates that the Saxon Empire must have conducted propaganda in this regard, at least extending it to the rank and file within the military.

"Break the energy monopoly and share technological progress."

Morin pondered the key parts of the young messenger's words, feeling as if he had grasped a thread about why groups like the 'International Brigades' existed in this strange worldview.
[Current information collection rate: 15%]

As the 'golden finger' continuously improves its information gathering capabilities, Morin's understanding of the world begins to become clearer and clearer.

This world, which is remarkably similar to the early 20th century of my previous life, is currently at a critical historical juncture.

Unlike the world that Morin knew, this world truly had 'magic,' or rather, magical technology.

Previously, when those canned 'General's Guards' rushed into the cellar to rescue people, they were able to block bullets at close range thanks to the 'enchantments' on their armor and shields.

The Saxon Empire, to some extent, is not a long-established power in magical technology; it has a greater advantage in the mechanical and conventional heavy industries that Morin is familiar with.

Based on information gathered from intelligence, the true superpowers in magical technology in this world are primarily the Holy Britannian Empire, which possesses vast colonies worldwide, and the Gallic Republic, which has consistently competed with the former for colonies.

It's essentially an alternate world version of the 'century-old feud between England and France'.
This is because the magical technology in this world is all based on 'magic crystal mines'.

The 'magic crystal ore' is actually extraterrestrial meteorites that hit this planet multiple times in ancient times, and its distribution is not concentrated.

Therefore, Brittany and Gaul, two old colonial empires, took advantage of the world's mining resources to quickly rise to become hegemonic countries.

To make matters worse for the Saxon Empire, most of the 'magic crystal mines' in Europe were located in the territories of Britannia and Gaul, with only a few scattered deposits within the Saxon Empire itself.

This also resulted in a natural disadvantage for the development of magical technology in this other world, 'De'er'.

Fortunately, the ridiculous rule that "Germany is the best in science and technology" seems to apply in this world as well.

So the Saxons, through sheer willpower, carved out a thorny path from the conventional techniques that Morin was more familiar with.

However, unlike the fuel technology route that Morin was familiar with, the 'diesel' in this world is not refined from underground oil.

Instead, it is another mineral unique to this world—pyroxene.

Although Morin didn't know how the Saxons turned ore into fuel, he only needed to know that scintillans was equivalent to oil in this world.

Perhaps it was fate, but within the Saxon Empire, as well as in Lorraine and Alsace, which were acquired from the Gallo-Baltic Republic, there are large deposits of sapphire crystal.

This is also one of the important reasons why the Saxon Empire was far ahead in this technological route.

Over the years, although the countries represented by these two technology lines have had constant conflicts, no large-scale conflicts have occurred.

Unfortunately, in the year that Morin's soul transmigrated, the situation changed 'slightly'.
"Lieutenant Morin, we've arrived!"

"what?"

Just as Morin was immersed in his own world and contemplating the crucial moment, the messenger Schmidt interrupted him.

When Morin came to his senses, he looked up and saw a large expanse of tents stretching across the open ground in the distance.

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

(End of this chapter)