Re: Blood and Iron

The world was changing. Empires that had existed and expanded for centuries were beginning to become buried beneath the sands of time. The Ottoman Empire was dead and gone. Its banners burned, and its heroes forgotten.

In its place, Turkey arose from the ashes, but within borders much smaller and more insignificant than it would have held in Bruno’s past life. The Arab peoples had negotiated a united kingdom in the lands they were promised. The Levant, Syria, Palestine, the Sinai Peninsula, and Arabia proper all united under one king and one religion.

Persia had wisely watched the great powers wage war against one another, and was perhaps the only nation that was not suffering from some form of internal turmoil and thus incapable of joining for said reasons that wisely understood this was a war that would destroy the balance of power in this world.

And thus as a minor power they kept entirely to themselves, not making any serious gains, nor losing anything they currently possessed as a result. The banners of the rising sun had been waved over the lands east of the Himalayas, and mountains of bodies lie in the field from those who defended against the relentless onslaught of Japan. Your journey continues with My Virtual Library Empire

Though only the Allied colonies were attacked at this time, considering any sovereign nation in the region or any land that was controlled by another European power was not worth provoking at this time.

As previously stated, the world was changing. But Bruno was the same as he always was. With the Italian Theater having concluded before, it could truly kick off in any extravagant fashion, as he very much expected it to. Bruno was sitting in a city in Milan.

One could tell by the extravagance of his uniform, and the medals which were dangling from his neck and pinned to his chest that he considered himself in a peaceful zone. And that was most certainly true.

The peace agreement between the central powers and Italy was most fair, more fair than the Italians expected it to be. At the same time, the Italian soldiers in Milan controlled the city, while the German soldiers were using the local railways to pack up their things and ship them back to Germany.

Bruno himself decided to use this time to explore Milan a city of ancient renown, prestige, and beauty. The locals did not seem to mind the enemy general walking among them. In fact several of the women he had come across had tried to entice him, an offer he was inclined to reject.

Even his waitress, couldn’t help but flirt with the man, as she stood in front of him, asking him with a forcefully coquettish tone what was so interesting in the papers. As if to imply something far more desirable was already in front of him.

“Is the news really so interesting that you can’t take your eyes off of it for a second?”

Bruno’s eyes had not diverted in the slightest as they continued to read line after line of the article in front of him. Sure, the waitress was an attractive young woman, but he was a married man, and would not jeopardize the loving relationship he had with his wife for a single fling in some foreign country.

He was, after all, a man of supreme discipline, and thus his voice was callous and cold as he responded to her attempts to provoke a gaze at her obviously and purposefully partially unbuttoned blouse.

“I assure you, the fact that the King of England has dissolved parliament is of far more interest to me than anything else at the moment…”

After saying this, Bruno tapped his ring finger three times on the table, as if to subtly hint that he was not the least bit interested in his waitress’s advances, just in case his words did not get through her obviously thick skull.

As a result, the woman sighed heavily and filled up the man’s coffee before departing from the scene entirely. Just as she did so, Heinrich arrived and sat down in front of Bruno, handing him a newspaper that had a separate headline on it.

The headline suggested that the killings of the family of industrialists in Germany were connected to the deaths of the Rothschilds and the others who had been being murdered off by the dozen as of late. Heinrich was not the least bit pleased. In fact he was quite livid as he pointed directly at the headline and accused Bruno of being responsible for them, albeit indirectly.

“This was fucking Erich, wasn’t it? All of these mass murders that have been happening across Germany and Austria, this is what he has been up to this entire time?”

Bruno’s eyes looked up from his own article and narrowed themselves upon his friend’s accusatory stare. He did not make a single facial expression as he sipped from his coffee before answering Heinrich’s question with one of his own.

“If I were to tell you that our mutual friend has gone AWOL and I don’t have the slightest idea what he has been up to since, then would you believe me?”

The look on Heinrich’s face was one, as if he was about to physically explode from anger and take everyone else out in the little diner they were sitting in with him. He knew Bruno well enough by now to know that this was indeed his way of admitting guilt without actually saying anything criminal.

Yet he couldn’t say anything… At least not anything he truly wanted to say… No Heinrich could only sit there and calm himself for some time, fuming silently as he did so. That is until Bruno pushed a plate full of a local pastry towards him.

His words were not the slightest bit reassuring as he did so.

“You need not concern yourself with whatever that man in is up to… And if anyone asks about him you are better off stating the honest truth, and that is that you haven’t seen him in some time, and you don’t have the slightest clue where he is, or what he is doing.

Because if your accusations are true, and that little pup has slipped his leash and gone on a murder spree, well then it would be a damn good thing that you had no knowledge of this matter, none at all… Now wouldn’t it?”

Heinrich having slowly begun to think through what Bruno was saying, and how best to seek answers without saying anything that could potentially be used against him. Was quick to ask his next question when he realized how best to put it forth.

“I mean… I don’t understand… Why bankers? And why their entire family? Not just the bankers, but their wives, and children, and their grandchildren too! Why would… Anyone do this?”

Bruno then handed a slight newspaper article to Heinrich from his own paper. It would appear that the authorities finally realized the sailors who would have started the Kiel Mutiny who were ambushed in their transports were assassinated, and not a casualty of war.

Which made the headline of an article deeper in the paper. When Bruno handed this to Heinrich, he was very careful in the words he chose.

“Lots of people other than bankers are being killed these days… It’s a time of war, and chaos, and perhaps these men have all made a common enemy. Or perhaps someone is getting rid of those who are most likely to stab us in the back when we are at our nearest to total victory. And in doing so, preventing them from having the opportunity to begin with.

If this were to be the case, then it would make sense to get rid of their families, too. Because when pulling weeds from the soil, one must take out the entirety of the root. If not, it will be back before long, and with a vengeance at that…”

Heinrich stared in disbelief at Bruno’s words for a long and horrid silence. His lips quivered as he tried to voice the words stuck in the back of his throat. That is until Bruno interrupted him with a sinister smile on his face.

“I know what you’re thinking Heinrich… These men aren’t guilty of anything, let alone their families. What kind of monster could possibly judge them for sins they have yet to commit? But that’s where you’re wrong my friend. We are all guilty. Ultimately, we will all be judged for what we have done in this life.

The only difference is, these sinners have been sent to their maker ahead of schedule to receive God’s divine judgement.”

Bruno then stood up and opened his wallet, pulling out some of the local currency which he placed upon the table, along with a decent tip. He then began to walk away when Heinrich called out to him, suddenly emboldened to speak his thoughts without restraint. As if possessed by the holy spirit itself.

“And what happens the day someone thinks that you deserve to see God’s divine judgement? Huh, Bruno? What then?”

Bruno turned around when he heard this. For the first time since Heinrich began speaking to him he showed the first slight of emotion. It was a smirk, neither sinister nor conceited, but wholly frightening. The tone in Bruno’s voice however was eerily devoid of any expression as he actually stated his thoughts on the matter before walking off entirely.

“Should that day come, then all I can say is that they better not miss….”