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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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“We invite our guests to freely explore the exhibition. If you have any questions, the staff with red armbands will be happy to assist you.”
With Count Ferdinand’s welcoming address, the military exhibition at his estate officially began. As befitted a military exhibition hosted by a count who was a pillar of the empire, there were hundreds of guests.
Although there were some civilians in formal attire and suits, most, including us, were in military uniforms.
‘Perhaps because it’s a military exhibition.’
Of course, since it was an event held in their own country, most of the personnel were from the Reinhardt Empire army, but it wasn’t difficult to find military uniforms from other countries. Among them, naturally, were our adversaries.
“…Captain, isn’t that the Soviet Empire?”
“It seems so. As a fellow empire, Count Ferdinand must have invited them.”
“It’s a little awkward.”
“Let’s try to avoid them as much as possible.”
I whispered to Lumia, who looked slightly displeased. The silver-haired lieutenant colonel who had faced me at the Lymansk Armory had surely escaped the facility.
There was no way a facility where inhumane experiments were being conducted wouldn’t have a secret passage to evacuate key personnel first.
‘I don’t know what that bastard reported to his superiors, but…’
For now, it was obvious that encountering the Soviet Empire would be a headache in many ways. I just had to avoid them. And they probably wanted the same. This was the nature of the international stage.
Even if you were awkward with someone, you were forced to face them. But there was no reason to be intimidated. They were the ones who had made the first mistake, and they had been hit with a proper counterpunch by an army they had underestimated, so their imperial pride must have been quite hurt.
If anything, we were the ones who should be walking around with our shoulders held high.
“Let’s go over there. I saw a locomotive earlier.”
I took Lumia’s hand and led her to a place where the guests from the Soviet Empire wouldn’t be seen. Sony Zeppelin had disappeared to meet another Archmage belonging to the Reinhardt Empire, so at least for today, Lumia and I had to wander around by ourselves.
“There’s no need to get entangled in complicated diplomatic issues already.”
“Y-Y-Y-Yes!”
“…? What’s wrong?”
“N-Nothing!”
And so we arrived at the left exhibition hall. There, an armored train painted black was on display.
“What’s this? A locomotive?”
“It’s called a Moldau armored train.”
It was a very early model without any cannons, but in a few more years, it would evolve into a mobile fortress bristling with all sorts of cannons and machine guns.
“They made a train into a weapon…? I haven’t even ridden a real train yet.”
“Carriages were also originally made as weapons. How would a train be any different?”
“…It means they’re serious about war.”
Lumia replied with a bitter look in her eyes. As a soldier, she knew better than anyone how many lives this train would devour if it were actually deployed in a war. And that was a fact.
I knew all too well how outstandingly this weapon performed from the early to the mid-to-late stages of the war. But that was just a romantic thought.
If we were to drive the armored train and blow up the heads of all the traitors, it would just be bitter, but if the enemy were to drive the armored train and slaughter our allies, we could never tell such a fanciful story.
With bloodshot eyes, we would argue that we had to buy those weapons and crush them.
I looked at Lumia, whose face was a mixture of complex emotions, and added, “Of course. From now on, all countries will have no choice but to be serious about war.”
“Yes, I agree.”
“?”
I turned my head at the unfamiliar voice that naturally chimed in, and there stood a young man in the uniform of the Reinhardt Empire army. Red hair like the sun, and sharp, sparkling amber eyes that complemented it. I instinctively checked his epaulets.
Three iron crosses with no other insignia. It was the rank of captain in the Reinhardt Empire army.
“Nice to meet you, Captain Enoch Levandal. I’ve heard a lot about you from Count Ferdinand.”
The captain extended his hand for a friendly handshake. I took it and shook it lightly, greeting him. Seeing the red sash across his shoulder, he seemed to be the person in charge of explaining this armored train.
“Nice to meet you.”
“I am Captain Johannes Weissenberg of the Reinhardt Empire cavalry (Rittmeister).”
“Johannes Weissenberg…?”
“Oh, do you know me?”
“Ah, no. I must have been mistaken.”
I was momentarily flustered by the familiar name. ‘Johannes von Weissenberg.’ He was the name of an artillery-specialized general that could be used in the Reinhardt Empire army.
‘Is it a different person? No… he’s a general who can be used in the second year after the start of the war, so if he’s a captain now, the timing might be about right.’
Indeed, his red hair and amber eyes were very similar to what I had seen in his portrait. I was certain that he was a very competent artillery general in the future.
It seemed he was in the cavalry branch during his commissioned officer days.
“My name is actually quite common, so I hear that often.”
Johannes brushed it off casually and continued the conversation.
“But seeing as you’re here, you seem to have some knowledge of armored trains?”
“Ah… I heard a little from the Count. And I’m personally interested in the potential of trains.”
“As expected of a promising officer who will lead the next generation.”
Captain Johannes Weissenberg showed a very favorable reaction, as if he thought I had a similar opinion to his.
“In future battlefields, railways will be very important. They are a swift means of transportation that allows for rapid deployment of troops and is almost unaffected by terrain and climate.”
Johannes excitedly talked about the tactical significance of trains and their future development. Count Ferdinand’s beaming face as he showed off the airship a little while ago overlapped. As they say, birds of a feather flock together, and that was exactly right.
“Isn’t it amazing!? A more powerful armored train is what I’m talking about, everyone─!!”
“Ah, ahaha… I see.”
In the end, it was Lumia’s role to mark the Speedwagon-possessed Johannes. I already knew all of this, so what. But the important thing was that this was an exhibition, not a military parade.
The fact that they had dispatched a cavalry captain to a mere count’s weapons exhibition meant that the Reinhardt Empire also had other intentions besides just a new weapon demonstration.
There were only two reasons for holding a military exhibition like this to unveil a new weapon.
First, it was to show off their military power, as in, ‘Look at these magnificent weapons, your country doesn’t have these, right?’.
Second, it was to advertise to other countries, as in, ‘Don’t you want this? If you sign a contract or invest in its development, we’ll give it to you at a cheap price.’
A new weapon wasn’t something that just appeared out of thin air, and realizing a concept that had never existed in the world before required a tremendous amount of capital. So, they held an exhibition like this to make the soldiers go crazy over the new weapons.
They would induce investment from allied nations by amplifying their envy, and induce investment from potential enemy nations by amplifying their fear.
After all, the things they sold to foreign countries would be lower-end versions, downgraded by 2-3 stages from the products they actually used. It was an essential virtue that all military contractors and weapons companies had to have, from the early modern era to the modern era.
And in that situation, if they had displayed an armored train that was still a prototype, it showed that the Reinhardt side was also seeking direct or indirect investment in this armored train.
‘I do need a few armored trains. It would be easier to deploy them along the northeastern axis where long-term troop maintenance is impossible.’
The armored train was used quite well in the original history. In HOI, you had to build an armored train at least once. Especially for countries with relatively weak supply capabilities or troop deployment abilities, the armored train could often be used as a game changer.
The air force was still in its primitive form, and the infantry’s fire support was provided by mages, who were essentially infantry, and short-range field guns. If about two armored trains were stationed on the eastern axis?
There would be no more reliable force. It would be enough firepower for Ukraine, which was inevitably a weak nation, to crush the Soviet Empire’s first offensive and solidify the front line.
‘But the problem is that there’s no money.’
Ironically, the Ukrainian army probably didn’t have enough money to buy an armored train yet. And now, it was too much of a prototype.
It was also questionable whether they could provide the appropriate investment for development. Currently, most of the equipment and airship maintenance for our 8th Assault Magic Infantry Battalion was being paid for by Sony Zeppelin’s personal funds.
The airship was a joint development with Count Ferdinand, so it was understandable that Sony Zeppelin had a stake in it, but the armored train was a different matter.
I started to get a little greedy.
“Captain Johannes.”
“Yes, Captain Enoch.”
“Are you the person in charge of this armored train project, Captain?”
There was no need to beat around the bush. We were all soldiers, weren’t we? Beating around the bush was the way of politicians; soldiers had their own way of talking.
“For what reason are you asking…?”
“This is just my personal opinion, but I think the Moldau armored train has a few fatal flaws.”
“Flaws, you say?”
Johannes’s gaze changed.
“You’re not thinking of arming the armored train with just rifles, are you…? In the end, you have to mount cannons on it, don’t you?”
“Th-That’s right.”
I pulled out the still-vivid information. Information from the memory of playing HOI as the Reinhardt Empire, and as an artilleryman at that.
“But with the cannons currently possessed by the Reinhardt Empire, you won’t be able to meet the firepower requirements of the armored train.”
If Sony Zeppelin was involved in the development of the Graf Ferdinand, there was no reason why I couldn’t be involved in the improvement of the Moldau armored train.
Come to think of it, the project I had been hinting at to the Central Technology Research Department since last time could serve as a kind of bait.
“Then, would you like to hear my idea?”
I grinned at Johannes.
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