BERUN COUNTRYSIDE

FRAU LEA ORPHANAGE

UNIFIED YEAR 1919

"What an excellent Aptitude! This child has a future in the skies of our Fatherland!"

Despite the ecstatic declaration from the white robed man in the military uniform before me, and the erratic soaring of the objects around me as the strange instrument strapped to my head glowed, there was really only one word that came to mind.

"Fuck…"

I'm dead. I had my suspicions beforehand, reading through the newspapers and listening to the rambling of the nuns as they scurried around for the past few years, but now I am truly appalled. This is possibly one of the worst places I could have found myself in after such an embarrassing demise in my last life.

I wasn't much then, just a corporate worker struggling to get by in the United States, using my free time to entertain myself with anime and manga, novels if I was bored. I didn't have a hard life, I had no enemies, and there were a few people I could even call friends. Though I never found love, I was confident that with years of stable pay, I'd be able to find a significant other. However, a simple slip of my leathered shoes sent me flailing into a sewer hole, and the rest was history. Oh, The humiliation!

From my comfortable life in the modern world to this nightmare here in an aggressively growing 'Germany' early in the 20th century, I obviously felt wronged. Someone must have it out for me, to put me in such dire straits. However, my mewing that didn't mean anything beforehand might have turned out to be true, as with the scratch of the paper that the man in front of me mercilessly recorded, I've become shocked to find that I know exactly where I've reincarnated too. I was reborn in The Saga of Tanya the Evil! I loved the anime, its manga, and by circumstance the well written novel penned by that Carlo Zen, but what I liked was watching it, not living it! What kind of shitty fate is this?

I guess I was right to think that there was someone who had it out for me, it must be that insufferable wannabe Creator, Being X, as that blonde devil scolds. Sure, I was never ever so religious in my previous life, but does that mean that every atheist has to be sent to such a worryingly broken world? I'm doomed. Whether I like it or not, I have been condemned to a quick death as an Aerial Mage of the Empire. Though I was never able to know the ending of this series, I know for sure that the nation I will be forced to serve is going to be the enemy of the world. Even more unfortunate, I am not the main character, if that wasn't so obvious already.

I do not know tactics or strategy, and I wasn't the best at mathematics either, a gift magnificently handed to me by the education system of my previous homeland. I'm fine with paperwork, innate I would say as my job on the corporate ladder called for it. But a soldier? I couldn't even kill a fly, much less a human being. I am not a Sociopath or whatever like Tanya, I'm just an ordinary person. If there was one thing that enigma was right about though, it was to volunteer. Since I have been observed for conscription, I might as well join early before the war erupts and grab myself a commission before being doomed to fight on the frontlines as a poor Enlisted. Looking at the current year, the favorite of this timeline should have been born five or so years ago. I still have time.

I pulled the medical officer to the side after the testing and made my aspirations clear. I knew that the Empire had no age limit to who could volunteer, that girl being a distinct symbol of such a fact. I must steel myself and remember that this is to make sure that I survive the next decade or more. There would be a war of senseless proportions soon enough, and I would be stuck in the middle along with millions of others. I must mask myself as a patriotic and nationalistic soldier, young as I am, and join with my Imperial brethren. Most important on my list, is to meet with the one this period of time was created for, that Tanya Degurechaff. If I find a way to show my worth, and at least make an acquaintance with that efficiency driven creature, maybe I'll be able to gather the luck of the protagonist, however misfortunate that luck may be.

"Are you sure about this Franz Bermanst? You are nine and malnourished." The Doctor questioned in doubt. I understood his uncertainty however, for my short stature was unappealing at most. I even felt a pang of sympathy for Tanya, as I understood that though it may have been funny to view, this lack of height was extremely damaging to serious relationships and authority.

"My body will not stop me from giving my life to the Fatherland. I must fight, for it is the only thing I can give to pay for the graces of the Kaiser." I said, as convincingly as I could muster. I had no idea how I looked to the man standing in front of me, but it must have been credible, as he immediately nodded with a look of… admiration? Interesting, I thought, as another point of his pen seared my future once more. I would train to become an officer of this Empire and take to its enemies in the clouds. I guess I should follow after the prayers of my predecessor in such a situation. Clasping my hands together, I cleared my thoughts to grovel wholeheartedly in the way I felt would certainly reach the mind of the unreasonable deity that cursed me to this life.

"Damn you Being X! I'll make you pay for this!"

MEANWHILE

BEYOND THE REALM OF PERCEPTION

UNDETERMINED TIME AND PLACE

"How brazen."

"Another faithless, lost from the rightful path."

Being X seemed to lament, standing in the void of space as it stared into what seemed to be nothing.

"However, this one shall provide due assistance in this experiment."

The words of curse that rang quiet throughout the space seemed to bother the figure as the voice quickly stopped, the hazy silhouette flickering.

"You shall believe."

A golden light amassed over a vague picture of a small blonde boy. His eyes were Green, piercing with an unmistakable maturity. His pale skin and petite stature reveal his lack of nurture, but do not take away from the clear eyes of the young child.

"Then you shall make her believe."

The pupils of the portrait ever so slightly turned golden, and a fanatical smile soon followed. The figure once more shimmered, more so than before.

"I will it so."