War Breaks Out!

World Era 1912, January 7.

While the whole world was celebrating the arrival of a new year, the border region of the Leman Federation remained locked in a tense standoff.

The weather in January was quite cold. Though snow hadn’t fallen, the temperature had dropped below freezing, and everyone silently endured the chill as they focused on their assigned duties.

Thud! Clang-clang! Thud! Clang-clang!

Soldiers were striking the frozen ground with pickaxes and then moving piles of dirt with shovels. All of them belonged to the Leman Federation military. This situation had persisted for months, and by now, the trenches were quite solidly constructed.

Currently, they were digging secondary trenches in case the frontline broke. The progress was already at 90%, and just a little more work would make them a fully functional second line of defense.

“Take a break!”

At the words of a man who appeared to be the platoon leader, the soldiers who had been striking with pickaxes and shoveling dirt stopped their work. After nearly two hours of labor, everyone looked exhausted. Seeing this, the platoon leader pulled out a cigarette and said,

“Everyone take a smoke break.”

“Wow, thank you, sir!”

“Just what I needed. I’ve been craving one.”

“Let’s take a break, everyone.”

They each muttered something as they settled in for rest. Some began to smoke, and among them, a young soldier stretched his back with a loud crack. The pop from his spine made him groan involuntarily.

“Ah, my back.”

“Hey, you okay? If your back’s gone, you’re done for.”

“I’m fine. Haha.”

Rubbing his back and finding it manageable, the young soldier took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, stuck one in his mouth, and struck a match. With a hiss, the flame lit, and he inhaled deeply, feeling like he could finally breathe.

‘Damn it, how long are we gonna keep digging? I came to fight, not dig ditches.’

He grumbled internally but didn’t say it aloud. Even the part about coming to fight was mostly just frustration from all the digging. As he smoked, a strange sound reached his ears.

“What’s that noise?”

It sounded like a flute. As he looked up, realizing it was coming from above, he saw something approaching. His expression turned blank—BOOM! A huge explosion erupted nearby. The shockwave from the blast knocked him flat to the ground.

“Ugh!?”

He tried to scramble up, but couldn’t find his balance. His body wasn’t responding. As he felt a stiffness, his eyes caught sight of a massive crater—and scattered all around it were the corpses of his comrades.

“Wh-what the hell!”

In a daze, unable to grasp reality, the young soldier vomited. Then, someone grabbed his arm—distorted with panic, yelling something he couldn’t make out. But as his hearing returned, the voice became clear.

“You idiot! This isn’t the time to puke—we’ve got to get in the trench!”

That voice snapped him out of it. Just then, the flute-like sound returned—BOOM BOOM! More explosions followed in succession, shaking the ground. Barely suppressing his nausea, he dove into the trench and saw his fellow soldiers crouched down in fear.

“Wh-what’s happening?”

“What do you think? The Imperial Army started shelling us. It’s war now.”

“War?”

“Yeah. A real war has begun!”

Fear began to settle on the young soldier’s face. At the same time, he wondered why shells were landing even this far back. This was supposed to be the second line of defense. For shells to reach here—how could their range be so long?

“Idiots miscalculated the Empire’s artillery range. It’s longer than we thought!”

“W-what do you mean?”

“What do you think I mean?! The first trench line is fully within range and getting pounded! This place is dangerous too!”

The young soldier’s face turned ghostly pale. The others nearby were no different—all visibly shaken. They were a generation that had never experienced real war. Naturally, the reality of being on the battlefield terrified them. Even now, each explosion made them flinch.

“Everyone stay sharp! Luckily, the trenches are doing their job. Not too many are dying. So get to your posts and gear up!”

Hearing the platoon leader’s words, the soldiers couldn’t understand how he could be so calm. Then they recalled something he had said before: a few years ago, he had served as a mercenary in a foreign war and experienced trench warfare back then.

It was believed that the battle took place in the Polia Kingdom’s colonial lands. He had fought against the Doicheun Empire then too—and now they were fighting Doicheun again. It felt like fate playing a cruel trick.

As shells rained down everywhere, the faces of the Leman Federation soldiers hiding in the trench were filled with fear and dread. Yet the number of casualties remained surprisingly low—because the trenches absorbed much of the blast impact.

Amid the barrage, the moment finally came: the Doicheun Imperial Army began their advance. As their figures charged forward, the Leman soldiers—dazed until now—snapped back to reality and began to pull their triggers in retaliation.

Bang! Bang-bang! Bang-bang! Bang! Bang-bang-bang! Bang! Ratatatat-bang-bang-!

With the flare of machine guns, the charging Doicheun soldiers fell one after another in a spray of blood. Ironically, it was the very same Amule machine guns sold by the Polia Kingdom a few years prior that were now producing such carnage.

Other soldiers wielded what had once been Polia’s standard rifle—the single-shot ‘Retina.’ Though it couldn’t fire multiple rounds quickly, it was more than deadly enough to kill a man.

Beyond that, imported artillery owned by the Leman Federation began to roar. With that, a great war had begun.

That afternoon.

Inside the Royal Palace conference room of the Polia Kingdom.

“Now that the Doicheun Empire has finally struck the Leman Federation, we can say the war has officially begun.”

Prince Ian announced the outbreak of war to the ministers gathered in the council chamber. The war had commenced with artillery fire around 10:30 AM that morning. The realization made Ian’s heart pound. At the same time, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of guilt.

‘So many lives will be lost. And here I am, thinking of profiting off it… I really am disgusting.’

Everyone’s expressions hardened upon hearing the news of war. Yet part of them wondered if it was truly something to take so seriously. After all, the King had declared neutrality, so the war between the empires was, in theory, none of their concern.

“The Moria Empire will likely soon send a large force to aid the Leman Federation. Then, the Noma Empire will probably dispatch troops of its own. I estimate a movement of at least a million soldiers.”

The ministers nodded in agreement with Ian’s words. The Leman Federation had already mobilized 200,000 troops. The Moria Empire had 100,000 soldiers on standby at the border, and once they were dispatched, the total could reach 300,000 to 400,000.

If the Noma Empire joined as well, nearly a million soldiers would be clashing in the same region.

“If the empires keep escalating like in the past, it could become a war involving several million troops.”

“It certainly seems like it will be a massive war.”

“But it should end within this year.”

“Even with the combined strength of the two empires, the Doicheun Empire won’t be able to easily conquer the Leman Federation. If the casualties keep mounting, they may choose to stop.”

“Is that truly what everyone believes?”

At Ian’s question, the ministers tilted their heads. What was he getting at? Ian continued,

“I believe the war will last at least three years.”

In truth, even three years was a conservative estimate. Still, the ministers found that hard to believe. There had been wars lasting over three years in the past, but that was in the era of swords, spears, and arrows—where battles couldn’t be concluded quickly.

Nowadays, with guns and artillery, the casualty rate would be much higher, and so many assumed the war would end swiftly. The last war against the Doicheun Empire had taken some time, but it hadn’t reached three years. So most doubted this one would either.

‘They all have that “as if it’ll last three years” look.’

Because Ian knew the scale of the general mobilization in play, he could speak with confidence. In the current era, everyone knew that the moment you lost, everything was over—so every nation would fight with everything they had.

Naturally, the Doicheun Empire would throw all its resources into battling the two empires.

‘Will the war end with just the Leman Federation?’

Right now, the fight was over Leman Federation territory. But once someone advanced too far, it would be a point of no return. And by that point, the casualties would be so enormous that no side could afford to stop the war.

‘It’s a war that won’t end until someone is defeated.’

“Anyway, our task is to gain as much as we can from this war. Have we received any purchase orders for military supplies yet?”

At Ian’s question, Chancellor Norwen shook his head. No nation had yet shown intent to purchase the stockpiled munitions. The war had only just begun, and most countries still had their own military production and supplies.

“No, Your Highness, no special requests yet.”

“Then we’ll have to sit on them for about a year. After that, someone is bound to come looking.”

“Your Highness. Even now, our converted military factories are flooding us with munitions. Are we really going to be all right at this rate?”

“You worry too much, Chancellor. Didn’t I already say this? Eventually, the empires will come to buy from us. Later, they’ll be begging for more.”

Despite Ian’s confident tone, many ministers still wore worried expressions. The conversion of so many factories to military production was taking its toll. The drop in exports of consumer goods was already creating economic losses.

But Ian understood that once the war wore on, demand for military supplies would skyrocket. That’s why he had pushed for early conversion. Soon, the factories would be in full swing, pumping out vast quantities of goods.

‘No matter how much we produce and stockpile, everything will be consumed within a year. We’ll need even more military supplies moving forward.’

Having said enough on that topic, Ian decided to shift the conversation to another issue: the newly expanded military force.

“More importantly, how is the training of the 100,000 troops we’ve recently added?”

“They’ve completed seven weeks of training at the recruitment centers and are now being deployed to their units.”

“Then, are the rifles for them already distributed?”

“Of course, Your Highness. We’ve had a steady supply of firearms, so we won’t face any shortages. Even if we plan to expand the army further, we’ll be able to fully equip them.”

“At the moment, we don’t need more troops than we already have.”

“True, but given the war between the empires, wouldn’t it be wise to expand our forces a bit further? Especially for deployment in the colonies.”

“There’s no need to send more troops to the colonies. Maintaining them with our current forces will be sufficient.”

“Understood, Your Highness.”

With that, the chancellor refrained from pressing the issue. Was it just his imagination, or was he growing more accustomed to Ian?

In any case, the conversation shifted to how they would assign the newly completed cruisers and destroyers to the various fleets. They also discussed the construction of new reservoirs and plans to increase agricultural output—focusing on domestic development.

Although the empires had begun a war, for the Polia Kingdom, it was not a crisis but an opportunity—and they intended to make the most of it.