Chapter 46 — Military Parade

The bright sun shined down on the wide cobblestone streets of the city. A reviewing platform allowed both Konrad's and the Archbishop's entourage to witness the parade. Hand-cranked cameras were set up all along the road to record this historical scene.

A huge crowd stood on either side of the wide street. Just at a glance, there were thousands of civilians, consisting of both migrants from the Third Reich's home territory and citizens of Eldriel.

Security was top-notch, magic detectors scanned the crowd and professionals were barred from even attending. The reviewing platform was protected by thick bullet-proof glass and countless barrier spells.

Several infantry companies made up the outer ring of protection, sifting through the crowd and holding the perimeter. The inner defence was manned by source soldiers with 21st-century heavy weaponry, Konrad's so-called secret army. Ever since the inception of the People's Army, this army had been under the strictest secrecy. Aside from protecting Konrad himself, it had participated in virtually zero combat missions and was on standby in secret military bases across the country.

And finally, in the innermost line of defence were the Space Marines. Unlike the secret army, the Space Marines had participated in not few combat missions. They primarily performed beheading missions, their speciality. They would be directly dropped in behind enemy lines, usually at night. From there, they would massacre a line straight to the headquarters of the enemy, washing it in blood and crippling their command system.

After that, they would find a pre-designated location to extract from, disappearing back into the night. It couldn't be helped; their night vision was crushing against the medieval-level technology they found themselves faced against. Their strikes left entire armies confused and panicked, if not dead.

Utmost importance was placed on protecting the secrets of Space Marines. Apart from the incident with Ichigo, they had a record of zero casualties and zero leaked technology. At worst, there would be some gouges on their armour.

Every enemy that ever saw a Space Marine was dead. The only survivors were fleeing soldiers with only a glimpse of them, through the dark and in terror. As such, the only thing other Empires knew was that the Third Reich fielded an incredibly powerful squadron of "Steel Devils". Although hard to piece together, through rumours and spies they deduced that they must be a golem of some kind, judging by the weight shown by their tracks and their inhumanly large figure.

They were hidden around Konrad and were therefore not seen by the Archbishop and his men. And they would not be detected by him either. The Archbishop's passive detection spells only searched for magic concentration since that was what strengthened humans into superhumans. After all, that was the only way to gain power! No one was exempt, even barbarians who primarily relied on their superhuman muscles to fight would still emit large amounts of mana!

This parade was not just to celebrate the Third Reich's recent victory, it was primarily to show off their might to the world. Below the reviewing platform were the representatives from almost every country. After all, the whole world was watching this rising Empire. Watching what they had, what they would do next.

[I must say, I am very interested to see your legendary mortal army who has broken so many records!]

Typical military parades by Empires would showcase powerful warriors and magicians, superhumans to show their might. An army entirely consisting of mortals was unheard of, only existing in backwards Kingdoms.

Yet this was exactly what the Third Reich's army was. No long years or even decades of training and accumulation, no magic users, just… ordinary humans. However, no one dared to look at this army with disdain. Despite their physical weakness, they had proven their name in blood! Sweeping through the Elsass Empire, annihilating the Spectre Knights, eliminating the Imperial Army… 

But the People's Army didn't exist when the Imperial Army first invaded, so how were they defeated? Although they could speculate, no one knew. They could only assume there was something hidden below the surface. A hidden army? A legendary mage? This mystery only heightened the danger of the Third Reich.

Accompanied by a patriotic symphony of trumpets, horns and drums, an announcer stood up on a pedestal to introduce the soldiers as the parade started. Being the ones to take the city, Eldriel, the Paratroopers had earned the honour of being first in the parade.

[First to come is the 1st Paratrooper Battalion! They are an elite force that has partaken in most major battles! Made up of elite infantry, they fearlessly fall from the sky behind enemy lines, right on top of their targets! The worst nightmare of their enemies, they determine where the front line is!]

Lines of troops passed neatly, past the reviewing platform. They marched in perfect order, heroically holding their head up high. Equipped very lightly, they carried the advanced MP 18 submachine gun and several stick grenades. Their whole bodies gave off a sense of determination, determination to fearlessly dive head-first into the enemy.

In fact, this was due to in this unique world, paratroopers had developed wrongly, completely different to how they were used on Earth. Historically, from WW2 and onwards, paratroopers mostly operated in small, independent units behind enemy lines to cause chaos, disrupting enemy communications, securing key objectives and forcing the enemy to divert troops to them from the front line.

However, here in this world, paratroopers found themselves being used more like rapid-deployed infantry. Due to the crushing technological gap between a country with and without firearms, the enemies they faced simply weren't anywhere near strong enough to warrant such guerrilla tactics.

Instead, they found themselves most effective being deployed directly on the enemy in the event that the main battleship guns couldn't fire, which was more common than expected. This normally happened when taking a city with defenders, where an intact city with its population was preferable to a destroyed one, the only thing stopping the Third Reich's battleships from just excavating every patch of land suspected to hold resistance.

[Next to pass is the 1st Infantry Division! The backbone of the Third Reich's ground forces, they have fought and won every battle, they are undefeated! With a spirit of steel, none have withstood their attack! Countless enemies have met their end at their barrels!]

Shortly behind the Paratroopers marched the infantry with noticeably heavier weaponry and uniforms. Most of them carried the Gewehr 98 bolt-action rifle. Their shiny bayonets shined in the sunlight. Every 50 infantry on average, there was a machine-gun squad. A machine gun squad consisted of 4 people carrying an MG 08 machine gun, meaning 1 gunner, 1 assistant gunner and 2 ammunition bearers.

Having been in combat until just recently, it was unknown how many lives the shiny machine guns shown on parade had taken.

[Next is the 1st Stormtrooper Battalion! The most elite shock infantry, they lead the assaults, breaking through enemy lines with devastating effect! The hardest-hitting force, they have destroyed countless enemies, mortal or otherwise with their heavy weaponry!]

Behind the paratroopers marched the Stormtroopers with their sharp uniforms and spiked helmets with terrifying momentum. In their hands, they carried a variety of weaponry, the most varied out of them all. There were submachine guns, flamethrowers, rifles, anti-tank guns and machine guns. Predominantly heavy weaponry.

Once again, Stormtroopers had developed slightly differently in this world. Traditionally used to exploit weaknesses in enemy lines with an emphasis on speed, surprise, and infiltration in history, they found themselves often just using overwhelming violence to brute force the enemy open.

However, it wasn't like the infantry wasn't already doing this as well, and the stormtroopers found their significance being less than they expected. They were simply designed to face an enemy that didn't exist yet. Still, maybe this would change as the enemies they fought agaisnt adapted and became more advanced…