Chapter 38 — Burning Embers

Eldriel, contested city of the Third Reich.

The city had gone through fierce fighting for the past two hours. The defenders tried their best with surprisingly high determination to resist but with the silencing of most anti-aircraft guns, they were soon overwhelmed by the paratroopers.

Honestly, what the defenders lacked was military literacy in urban combat. Theoretically, they could've dragged the fighting on for much longer. It was very hard to acquire such knowledge as well, as the systems of the country were all paralysed by the unstoppable advance of the Third Reich. In fact, if it wasn't for the prestige of the Emperor and the pride of being the capital city, Eldriel would have surrendered long ago.

In the untouched palace, the Emperor was with his ministers. It was untouched as there were no guns mounted there and the People's Army was pre-occupied with the rest of the city. However, that would change as they started re-organising into a frontal assault on the building.

In front of the Emperor and his ministers, a Chinese teenager stood wearing a neat modern suit and a giant gold necklace smiling lazily. The Emperor scrutinised him, then gestured to the side. A group of royal guards carried in a large pile of gold.

The pile of gold, which any banker from the Third Reich would estimate to be worth hundreds of millions of marks, pixelated, blurred then disappeared. In its place materialised several giant military crates the size of humans. They bore the symbol of the Third Reich, and upon opening them, showed neat rows and rows of dynamite. The Chinese teenager glanced off into empty space and smiled.

[Thank you for your purchase! So, what do you think? Stolen straight from the factory!]

The Emperor sighed, shaking his head.

[I don't know how you got these, but it's too little, too late]

[Hehe… It wasn't hard! I just redirected some stock for the recent deals with the Holy Church]

Through the extravagant spending of source energy and an iron fist, the Third Reich had achieved what could only be called an economic miracle. In the extremely short period of several months, they had gone from an agriculture-based society to a modern 20th-century industrial society.

The only reason it could succeed, apart from the massive number of resources and manufacturing equipment generated from source energy, was government officials generated with source energy who essentially formed the entirety of government and leadership roles. They were the perfect officials, infinitely loyal, hardworking and able to solve issues using modern knowledge.

However, such rapid expansion and industrialisation had made the foundations of the Third Reich unstable and many cracks had formed. The solution? Simple; the Third Reich pressed these problems down with overwhelming force. The people were heavily regulated, monitored and secret police "dealt with" (disposed) any troublemakers.

Right now, as the country continued to grow and kept winning wars, no serious problems would emerge and their shaky foundations would stabilise with time and accumulation.

However, if the Third Reich ever started to decline and lose power, these seams would burst open and collapse the country from the inside out. After all, Konrad had artificially compressed hundreds of years of development into a matter of months. No amount of source points he possessed could solve the problems that came out.

And that was where this Chinese teenager came in. His name was Liu Jian and he had been sent into this world several months ago, and to his shock, he found himself with a "Business Empire System" just like all those online novels he read! Slowly building his business empire in the Canary Kingdom, he was overjoyed to see the country be taken over by the Third Reich, a modern economy full of opportunities, one lacking many service industries that had yet to be filled in!

[The start of a new empire… is filled with opportunity! It means no ingrained systems of power! Loopholes everywhere!]

That was the only reason the Emperor would buy outrageously overpriced weapons from him even though he knew it wasn't enough to turn the tide of war. He could tell that Liu Jian only cared about profits and would gladly even sell out his own country to achieve them, and wished to use his wealth to plant one last blow right in the centre of his enemy.

Little did the Emperor know how great Liu Jian's ambition truly was.

[As the Third Reich grows up, I will be at the centre. I will control the industry, I will control the companies, I will control the people, I will be THE invisible hand!]

Despite thinking these thoughts, Liu Jian still smiled and slowly disappeared. If anything could be seen on his face, it would be regret, regret that such an excellent trading partner was about to be gone. And even though he had left a lot of evidence of his crimes, he was confident that his system would remove those clues and leave him untraceable.

The Emperor stood still, looking at the space Liu Jian left in a daze. It was unsure what he was thinking. Was it anger, despair or was it regret? He had tried to make the most rational decision given the circumstances, but there were so many things he could have done so much better, so many things which had turned out badly. Perhaps if he never provoked the Third Reich, all would be, ok? Maybe if he had been a bit firmer with Daiki, or he had never allowed him to join the Imperial fleet, or maybe assigned some Spectre Knights to follow him, or-

[Your majesty, they are preparing to storm the palace]

A royal guard politely entered the room, snapping out of his thoughts. He shook his head, it was no use thinking about it. Regardless, the hundred-year legacy of the Elsass Empire would come to an end in his hands.

[Is the child ready?]

The Emperor was referring to a woman pregnant with the child of Daiki. With his death, the child had inherited a part of his talent and was the final hope of the country. Forbidden magic had been used to accelerate her growth to the body of a four-year-old, however, her mind was still undeveloped and was not even capable of speech.

With a wave of his hand, the Emperor changed into civilian clothing. He walked out of the room and carried the child that was just brought in in his arms.

[Ha… Never would I have thought I would ever be an ordinary person]

The royal guard immediately opened his mouth in protest. He normally would never have dared to respond, but perhaps he was stimulated by the intense atmosphere of incoming doom.

[That's not true, you will always be our Emperor! As long as you are alive, the Elsass Empire will never fall!]

The Emperor only walked in silence but gave off a slight atmosphere of pride at the guard's words. After a long, extravagant hallway, he entered a room where a group of ordinary-dressed civilians stood. They packed light and had several horses that carried supplies. In public, they could be easily mistaken for a group of travelling traders, but the gleam in their eyes and their bearing leaked their elite training.

[Your majesty!]

The group knelt down in one synchronised motion. Nodding, the Emperor addressed them.

[You are all my elite soldiers, and you, no, WE will carry the last hope of the Empire. This is the child of Mr Daiki, and she has inherited the terrifying talent of her predecessor. Our duty is to protect her, raise her well and take back the Empire! We may retreat for now, but we will never forget this humiliation!]

The soldiers were silent, but their eyes gleamed with excitement. They had originally been prepared to die with the palace, but they had been assigned a secret project, a plan which would carry the embers of their beloved Empire!

And so, the secret entrance opened, and the hope of the Elsass Empire disappeared into the dark. Royal Guards buried the recently bought dynamite and levelled the entire area to hide its existence.