AYKRR Chapter 16

The Devil in St. Petersburg

6th September 1942, 10:41am

Moskva,

"Cyka блядь!" Sergei Kruglov threw the newspaper out of the window. This could not get any worse. The response from OZEV had been unlike anything they had expected. His spies in OZEV had reported back that most citizens in Central Europa merely wanted peace to be maintained. Furthermore, OZEV had finished demobilising, and their economies had shifted away from wartime manufacturing. It should have taken OZEV at least a month to marshal this level of response. He had intended to take most of the territory of the Russy Tsardom in a lightning quick fashion, including St. Petersburg, before reinforcing his newly claimed territory once OZEV reinforcement arrived. By then, his forces would be too well defended for OZEV to flush them out, resulting in a victory for Kruglov.

But he had underestimated the Devil's bloodthirstiness and popularity in OZEV. To think that she would drop everything at home to rush to a battlefield at the earliest convenience. The announcement of her participation in the defence of that damnable Russy Tsardom alone had caused a frenzy in OZEV. According to his agents, the Devil's popularity in OZEV was strong, but in Germania it has reached the level of a personality cult. Whenever something went wrong, they would blame anyone but Degurechaff herself. Whenever something went right, they would always find a way to credit Degurechaff. Ardent supporters of hers had bought war bonds in droves while the voices of peace advocates had been drowned out. Even the peace protests that his NKVD agents had organised had barely garnered more than a couple dozen participants each.

There was absolutely no way he could take St. Petersburg or even the oblasts of Pskov and Leningrad now. The mages that came to reinforce the Russy Tsardom would surely be most heavily concentrated there to defend against his raids.

He cursed. He could no longer use skirmishes to weaken the Russy Tsardom anymore either. With so many mages at hand, the Russy Tsardom could now quickly respond to his lightning assaults. Furthermore, he was aware that OZEV mages were all equipped with dual-core orbs, with some Germanian battalions even equipped with improved versions of the Type 97. That parity of magical technology, along with their superior guns, would easily cut down his mages.

Of course, he still had numerical superiority when it came to mages. He could call up to eight mage battalions while the coalition forces only had six battalions plus one squadron. However, he was not naïve. Only a quarter of his mages were veterans, while the rest were green rookies with less than three months of training. Moreover, all of his new mages were chosen based on their loyalty rather than competence. He understood the difference of quality between his mages and OZEV mages, particularly Germanian ones. His spies in the Russy Tsardom couldn't identify which mages had arrived in the Russy Tsardom, but Kruglov bet his favourite vodka that there were many Named mages that arrived in St. Petersburg. The rookie mages would be mere speedbumps for them.

And of course, there was THE ace of aces herself. While ace of aces were units that impacted a war on the tactical level, only the Devil of the Rhine could claim to be someone that influenced warfare on the strategic level. There were numerous battles and operations during the First Great War that had been won for the Empire simply because of her sheer presence alone.

There was also the issue of morale amongst his own mages. Everyone knew of how fearsome the Devil of the Rhine was during the First Great War. And that was when she was a teenager. He was under no illusion that she had let her skills rusted. If anything, the Devil would only hone and refine her craft even while serving as Chancellor. She was surely in her prime. Any section of the border that she decided to station herself at – the Russy Tsardom will not have the gall to order her to do anything – would be practically impenetrable. His own mages would be scared shitless if he ordered them to attack her section; he might even face desertion. This wasn't even considering the numerous mages that would be hovering around her to act as bodyguards.

Kruglov didn't delude himself into thinking that his forces could capture or kill her. She was clearly setting herself up as bait. If he fell for it, his mages would be decimated and he would lose the war. Kruglov was not going to repeat the Francois Republic's mistake.

He sighed. With his loss of air superiority, it would be much harder to take territory from the Russy Tsardom now. He needed to change his strategy.

First, he needed to amend the quality difference between his mages and OZEV mages. He couldn't retrain them, but he could provide them with better equipment.

He called his Chief Foreign Relations Officer, Adrian over. The thin moustached man saluted when he entered.

"How is TATO's progress with their computation orb advancement?" He asked.

"Their single-core computation orb is the best of its kind in the world. But they still don't have a dual-core computation orb yet." Adrian reported.

Kruglov scoffed. Having the best single-core orb in a world with dual-core orbs was like being the fastest walker while everyone around you ran.

"How is their process with cracking dual-core orb technology?" He asked.

"Our spies have reported that they still haven't solved the synchronisation process. They should still be at least two years from making a viable prototype."

Kruglov thought for a second. If he waited any longer, the dual-core computation orb technology that he held would lose its value to TATO. If he wanted to get the best deal out of them, he needed to do so now.

"Contact TATO. Offer them our dual-core computation orb technology in exchange for selling us three million RK-42 rifles at half price. Tell them that we're also willing to buy other supplies at full price." He ordered. While TATO was a capitalist alliance like OZEV, they were not an immediate threat like OZEV and did not share a border with the Russy Federation. As they say: an enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Adrian confirmed his order and went to contact TATO, saluting again before leaving the office.

Kruglov examined a map of the Russy Federation hanging on his wall to decide how to change his vector of attack. The OZEV mages will likely be spread around the borders of Pskov and Leningrad oblasts, as that was where his mages had been assaulting the most often. Those oblasts were now no longer viable targets.

Kruglov started eyeing Vologda. Last month, general Mikhailov, who was in charge of the sole faction reigning over Kostroma, had already sworn loyalty to him. Kruglov could now consider an attack targeting Vologda's southeastern borders. Also working to his advantage was that no one knew Kostroma belonged to him now; general Mikhailov was still pretending he was independent from the Moskva faction. Kruglov could have a squadron of rookie mages perform a perfunctory bombardment of Pskov's borders to draw the Devil towards the Russy Tsardom's west, buying time for the real assault coming from the east.

He then made an order to have an order to assemble his two most seasoned battalions of mages along with 600,000 soldiers, supported by 2000 tanks, to attack Vologda's southeastern border tomorrow morning. The soldiers and tanks were either under vegetation or pretending to be part of Mikhailov's forces and would assemble into position during the night, the Russy Tsardom would not suspect a thing. Southeastern Vologda should fall quickly. According to his spies in the Russy Tsardom, the border there was lightly defended and the soldiers stationed there were inexperienced. Once southeastern Vologda was taken, he could have his men dig in and hold the territory. That would be the last bit of territory that they would take before trying to hold until winter.

If he could just stall OZEV until then, they would be unable to sustain combat operations during the freezing cold. Successfully taking any territory from an OZEV ally like that was as good as a victory. The news of the Moskva faction's strength should inspire the rest of the factions in the Europa Rus to rally under his banner. It was human nature to rally around the strongest.

Kruglov also ordered all of his anti-air weapons to be stationed in the north. If the attack on Vologda somehow failed, Kruglov intended to switch to a defensive strategy to defend his territorial gains in Novgorod. He couldn't rely on reinforcement from Qin or North Bharat right now, they were dealing with civil wars of their own.

6th September 1942, 5:24pm

St. Petersburg,

My first impression of St. Petersburg when we landed at the airfield could be summed up in one word. Cold. Despite it still being September, a simple breeze made me shiver despite the military uniform over the flight suit I wore. It sure didn't help that I was small either; my body simply didn't make enough body heat. Thankfully, I was a mage, and a simple spell dispelled the chilling cold of the Russy city.

I glanced back at the six transport and troop carrier planes that had arrived with me. Already, my Germanian mages were marching down the ramp of their transport planes. A whole three battalions of them, two of which were equipped with the Type 99. The other three OZEV mage battalions were equipped with the Type 97.

Ludwig and Walther's idea was brilliant. By announcing that I would be going to the Russy Tsardom myself and heading to the front lines, support for the war has increased dramatically.

There was another reason behind why I had come to this frozen city. Popularity. While at this point, I was sure that Ludwig wasn't going to backstab me and try to crown himself or his mother, that didn't mean that others thought the same. Many pro-monarchists and aristocrats in Germania must be furious at the fact that a former royal like Ludwig was working for me, an orphan who only had a non-heritable noble title.

In hindsight, my going to the frontlines against the Francois during the Second Great War might have been a miscalculation on my part. Now, if I avoided going to the frontlines during this war, people would start asking questions. I might even be accused of becoming a coward by the people who wanted to re-elevate the old imperial family to the throne back home. They would then try to increase Ludwig's popularity to surpass mine, depose me, then bring the old imperial family back to the throne even if Ludwig was unwilling.

As such, by declaring that I was going to war with orb and rifle in hand, I would further increase my popularity and re-assert my reputation as a vaunted war hero.

However, before going to the Russy Tsardom, I had to abide by Visha's conditions in exchange for her doing my work for me while I was gone. Firstly, I could not engage the enemy unless I had my private security detail of a squadron of mages with me. Secondly, I would not engage in a battle if I was outnumbered by a factor higher than three. Thirdly, I had to return to Berun within a month or Visha would personally come to drag me back by the ear. Finally, I had to help her with a personal favour when I got there.

I had assured her that my presence was just a token gesture to increase morale and public support. There was a high chance I wouldn't have to engage with any hostiles at all during my stay. At most, I was going to survey a relatively peaceful part of the Russy Tsardom's borders, then go back to St. Petersburg to warm my hand by the hearth. This schedule would then be repeated for a week. Only after that would I go spectate OZEV operations against the Moskva faction from a safe observation point. There was no need for me to actively participate on the battlefield. A washed-up mage like me would just be a distraction at best and a liability at worst for my allies. The six mage battalions that I brought would be the ones doing the fighting.

Furthermore, I also wanted to talk to Tsar Aleksei Romanov, who I was sure to be a fraud. The entire family of Nicholas II had been summarily executed; it was impossible for the dead Tsar to have a living grandson. In my world, many imposters of the Romanov family had appeared after the family's execution, claiming that they survived the murder of the Russian royal family. This world was surely no different in that regard. Many people were willing to lie for recognition and money. Although in this case for the fake Tsar, it was lying for power and prestige. If this whole country was riding on a conman's shoulders, I need to determine whether he would just abandon it to save his own hide.

On the airfield, concentrated around my cargo plane was a gaggle of Russy citizens, whose mouths gaped at my appearance. Amongst them were journalists, who were snapping opportune photos of me, likely to print them on tomorrow's first page.

Suddenly, I heard an announcer shout. "His Imperial Majesty, Tsar Aleksei I of the Russy Tsardom!" The crowd to parted like the Red Sea in front of Moses, revealing an approaching group of people who obviously were important.

Front and centre of them was a tall man with strawberry-blonde hair in a decorated dress uniform. He was approaching on foot with a group of generals, many of whom had dozens of medals on their breasts. I also immediately noticed the presence of Millicent Caldwell, the American journalist sticking out like a sore thumb from the group of Russy men. How does she always manage to be at important places?

I didn't come alone either of course. My own group that had just deboarded from the plane after me included my squadron of security mages headed by Neumann. Several OZEV generals including Lehrgen and Weiss had also come to assess the Russy Tsardom's defensive capabilities and form a strategy to defeat the Moskva faction. The only unexpected addition was Ludwig, who had insisted on coming with me for just a week.

The request had confused me at first. After all, Ludwig was going to be busy handling our international relationship with Lothiern. Why would he suddenly want to leave for the Russy Tsardom?

Then I understood when I did a bit of digging into the relationship between the Hohenzollern family and the Romanov family. The former Kaiser Wilhelm II and Nicholas II were third cousins and were known to be close. Apparently, they even referred to each other in private correspondence as Willy and Nicky. It made sense that Ludwig would be concerned for a relative of his that he thought was long dead. His grandfather was likely even more concerned and may have even asked Ludwig to go to the Russy Tsardom for him to verify the truth. However, I had a sinking feeling that he should be prepared to be disappointed.

The Tsar came within reach of me, a friendly smile plastered on his face. He was young, perhaps in his late twenties, with a strong jawline covered with light stubble and high cheekbones. His brown eyes sparkled with joy as they fell upon me. I failed to see much familial resemblance between him and Ludwig. But then again, they would only be fifth cousins if the Tsar was really who he claimed he was.

I held my right hand out for a shake. But instead of shaking my hand, the Tsar took the hand and kissed it gingerly on the finger. I raised an eyebrow at the gesture. This action invited the surrounding journalists, including Milly Caldwell, to snap a picture. He was really playing up this whole aristocrat thing for the crowd and media.

"Greetings, fair Chancellor Degurechaff!" Aleksei Romanov bellowed in Russy, which I had studied to a conversational level, courtesy of Visha tutoring me. The sheer volume of his voice made me wince. "I knew that OZEV would back up their own words. Your presence here is a godsend for my nation, Chancellor!"

"Of course I would be here, promises from OZEV are as good as gold." I replied.

"Unlike promises from the Albish, which is worth even less than toilet paper, da?" The Tsar joked. I laughed at his joke, along with several of my party and most of the crowd. That was good, it seemed that the Tsar and his people already looked down on the Albish's perfidy. At least I could be assured that he would not suddenly ally with TATO.

The Tsar looked past me at the battalions of OZEV mages that I had brought, optimism blooming on his face.

"These are the mages that we brought." I said. "The main body of infantry soldiers will be arriving later by ship, along with supplies and vehicles." The Tsar's smile had widened even further at that. I was afraid that his face might even split open like a Kuchisake-onna.

The Tsar's attention was then directed at Ludwig when my President cleared his throat. "Ah, this must be Ludwig! It is great to welcome you here to my country, cousin!" The Tsar clasped Ludwig's arm in a familial manner. What a conman, he was likely banking on his confidence to convince Ludwig of his fake identity.

"Of course. My grandfather was worried that your grandfather's family had all been exterminated by the communists." Ludwig smiled politely yet stiffly. "It is good that the communists has failed in doing that."

"Right, before my mother saved me and sent me away, she gave this to me as proof of my identity." The fraudulent Tsar pulled out something that looked like an old letter, shaking it so that the entire crowd could see it and gave it to Ludwig, who raised an eyebrow at the gesture. "Let all who doubted my identity witness this confirmation right here." He bellowed.

What was the Tsar doing? Didn't he know that if Ludwig declared him a fake, he would be ousted from power and be strung up by the angry citizenry? One must not forget that St. Petersburg was where the communist revolution started, back when it was still called Petrograd.

Ludwig took the letter from the Tsar and started reading it right there in front of the expectant crowd.

As he read, Ludwig's face became more complicated, his eyebrows scrunching up. After a moment, Ludwig looked up at the Tsar with an amazed expression on his face. "The letter is authentic; the contents couldn't possibly be faked. It has secrets that only members of the Hohenzollern and the Romanov families know. You're… but that's impossible. Do you have the birthmark? Show me." Ludwig looked incredulous, before his voice became firm when he demanded from the Tsar.

The Tsar nonchalantly unbuttoned the sleeve of the right arm of his dress shirt and rolled it back. On his wrist was a birthmark that looked roughly like a spearhead.

Ludwig was speechless for a moment, blinking rapidly. "It's you. You're… the grandson of Nicholas II. The real Aleksei Romanov."

"Of course I am, was there ever any doubt?" The Tsar spoke, before giving Ludwig a friendly hug, which was reciprocated in turn.

"My grandfather will be glad to hear of this." Ludwig said with a smile, no longer stiff. "Let all here know that the Hohenzollern recognises Aleksei Romanov as the rightful living heir of the Russy throne!" He announced to the crowd, who cheered and hollered. A round of camera snaps followed.

I looked at Ludwig in confusion. I had thought that Aleksei Romanov was a fake. An ordinary person with a knack for leadership who bore a passing familiarity to the Romanov family and had taken advantage of it to form a stable Russy faction. In my world, there was no one named Aleksei Romanov who was a grandson of Nicholas II. There was the Tsar's son, Alexei Romanov, but he would be thirty-eight years old now if he had survived, not as young as Aleksei Romanov. As far as I'm aware, none of the Tsar's daughters ever given birth. But then I started reading through the lines and saw the truth.

The letter likely wasn't written by a daughter of Tsar Nicholas II at all. It was artificially aged and written by Aleksei Romanov – if that was truly his name – begging Ludwig to play along with the farce. Ludwig knew that it was in OZEV's interest to have Aleksei Romanov in a firm place of power and had decided to lie and pretend that the Tsar was legitimate. If a former royal like Ludwig declared Alexei Romanov's legitimacy in front of the public, it would dispel any doubt of Aleksei Romanov's heritage amongst sceptics. The theatric with the birthmark was spectacularly executed. After all, most people had birthmarks. What brilliant acting and improvisation from Ludwig to play along with this conman for the sake of OZEV. My successor was truly maturing well.

Honestly, Ludwig's performance alone deserved an Oscar award. The genuine-looking expressions on his face, the change in the inflection of his voice as his fake incredulity grew. If I didn't know the truth, I would have been fooled like anyone else.

Just as I thought, most of the generals that the Tsar had brought with him nodded nonchalantly at the announcement, while some breathed a sigh of relief. Others looked flabbergasted. It seemed that the Tsar had a small faction among his military that doubted his claim as the Tsar but had followed along anyways. With Ludwig's confirmation, there was no more doubt.

"Ah, where are my manners?" The Tsar slapped his forehead in embarrassment. "You must all be freezing standing here. The Russy weather is unforgiving. Let's all hold our talk once we're inside and comfortable."

After that initial reception, several cars arrived that would take the Tsar, me and our coteries to the Winter Palace. The Russy Imperial residence was truly massive, spanning an area larger than even city blocks and having an untold number of rooms. No wonder the Bolsheviks had been so spiteful of the Tsar's family. It was impossible to not spawn feelings of jealousy when you have to see a building as grand as this everyday when you yourself lived in squalor.

As we headed through the gate, guarded by four soldiers, and into the Winter Palace, I could not help but notice the signs of damage caused by the storming and subsequent pillaging of the Winter Palace during the October Revolution. Most of the signs had been hidden quite well of course, as the Palace had undergone repairs. But many of the rooms we walked past were empty and unoccupied. The walls of the hallways were bare when it normally would have priceless paintings hung on it. The Winter Palace likely looked even less flattering in Ludwig's eyes.

Eventually, Aleksei Romanov's generals separated from us to go with the OZEV generals to a stateroom. There, they would be briefed on the overall situation of the war, and devise a strategy against the Moskva faction.

Me, Ludwig and the Tsar went to our own room to have our own private discussion. I signalled for my security detail to stand guard outside.

The room that the Tsar led us to be a homely living room with an already blazing hearth. Set before the hearth were three cushy armchairs and a coffee table where three steaming cups of tea sat. The Tsar told us to make ourselves at home before plopping himself into one and making himself comfortable. Ludwig and I did likewise. I'd noticed that for a Tsar, his sense of decoration and luxury was quite austere. He would need to fix that if he wanted people to believe he's a real Tsar.

"I apologise for not being able to serve coffee or even hot chocolate." The Tsar apologised. "It's hard to get a hold of tropical beans here in the Tsardom. To be honest with you, our food situation has not been the best. We already had to instate rationing. People aren't happy with it." The man visibly deflated when he mentioned his nation's woes.

My initial impression of the Tsar had been a boisterous, optimistic and confident man. I could see now that part of that had been a façade. He was likely weighted down both by the combined weight of his young country and the great lie that he was living under. That was good, even if he's a fraud, he's a fraud with a sense of responsibility. I could trust that he wouldn't sell away the Tsardom for his own safety. Even though it was just me, Ludwig and Alexei Romanov in the room now, I decided to not call him out on his fraudulence. There was no need to agitate an ally. Like Ludwig, I intended to corroborate his claim as the rightful Tsar.

"Is the food situation in the Russy Tsardom really that desperate?" Ludwig asked.

"Yes. We have to import nearly all our food as it is too cold here. The Moskva faction has been using their mages to attack our shipments to starve us. We have been forced to permanently station four of the Legadonian mages to protect our cargo ships." Romanov said.

"I will make a request to OZEV to send you more food supplies instead of just military rations. The shipments will be sent on warships for security purposes." I promised. The Tsar looked so grateful that I thought that he might cry. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I wasn't doing it out of my bleeding heart. Food scarcity leads to internal instability and dissatisfaction with the ruling regime. I needed the Russy Tsardom to have stability.

"Thank you, Chancellor. You have no idea the number of children you have just saved from starvation. The people of the Russy Tsardom owe you the greatest debt. Not only have you volunteered to go to the frontlines despite being the leader of a mighty nation, but you have also shown that your bravery is only eclipsed by your generosity."

I had no idea if the Tsar had a thing for compliments or if he was backhandedly calling me brash and gullible fir coming here and then donating him so much food. I had no desire to find out. But I did need to correct a misunderstanding of his.

"I'd like to correct a misconception of yours, Tsar Aleksei. I'm only going to survey your border defences, not actively participate in defending against the Moskavite skirmishes. The OZEV mage battalions will be responsible for that." That seemed to knock away some wind off his sail.

He frowned. "That was… disappointing. I thought that I would get to witness the legendary Argent Silver in action." Never mind, he definitely just liked to compliment people.

The Tsar then turned to Ludwig. "Cousin, will you also be surveying our border defences? I can arrange a guide and private transport for you." Wow, he was acting chummy with Ludwig already. I guessed the Tsar knew he needed to be in Ludwig's good graces, else he would lose his position.

Ludwig nodded. "I do intend to survey your border, but I don't want to survey the same section as the Chancellor. No need to risk putting both of us at the same place and risk a leadership crisis in Germania if something unfortunate happens."

The Tsar muttered an agreement and said that when we were ready, he could have a couple of his colonels show us the most peaceful sections of the border and its defences tomorrow. Afterwards, he could show us the frontlines from an observation post, far from the actual fighting.

We asked the Tsar how he managed to unite the Russy factions into the Russy Tsardom. Instead of being honest with us and starting his story from a few months ago, he then made up a tale of how he went into exile as a child in Legadonia after barely escaping the Bolshevik revolution. When I asked who he was the son of, he told us that he was the son of Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, the eldest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II. Apparently, she had gotten pregnant as a teenager with a secret boyfriend and gave birth to Aleksei in 1913. Due to him being born out of wedlock, Nicholas II had hidden his birth away from the public eye. His existence was only ever known to the following Houses: the Romanovs, the Hohenzollerns and the Windsors.

He said the secrecy of his birth had saved him, as the communists had neglected to round him up for execution. Before being taken away by the communists, his mother had given him the letter that Ludwig read earlier, as well as other trinkets that would help him prove his identity. He had had to sell most of them to escape the country.

After twenty-three years of living in Legadonia and building his own influence there amongst politicians and the military, he returned to St. Petersburg in 1941 to start an anti-communist revolution. He had started an underground movement that slowly gained traction through the war as the communists lost their control and influence.

Tsar Aleksei then described how after the Russy Federation fell, St. Petersburg was left a lawless place full of infighting. With his charisma and his underground revolution, he'd managed to unite the city under his banner. It was then that he was contacted by an underground society of nobles who had survived the communists' purge. One of their members had met him as a child and had recognised him through his unique birthmark.

After some convincing by the noble who had recognised him, he'd decided to reveal his former royalty status to obtain the underground society's support. This revelation actually had a rallying effect amongst the people of St. Petersburg. Not because the monarchy was ever popular, but because they viewed the communist regime as being so horrendous that going back to the monarchy could not possibly be worse. Nostalgia tends to make people view the past with rosy lenses.

After obtaining the full support of St. Petersburg, he'd branch out to neighbouring oblasts. Unlike with St. Petersburg, he had employed a diplomatic strategy, offering stability compared to the rest of the Russy Federation's chaos. This tactic had actually worked wonders, uniting many oblasts under the Russy Tsardom. The generals that had followed Aleksei earlier were either leaders of those oblasts that had allied with the Russy Tsardom, or old loyalist generals from the era of Nicholas II. Every single one of them tacitly accepted his claim as the Tsar, if only because it would stabilise the Russy Tsardom.

Aleksei Romanov was never officially crowned of course, but it was common knowledge that he was the de-facto monarch of the Russy Tsardom. While an illegitimate child was not supposed to be able to inherit the throne, given that Tsar Nicholas II's entire family and his siblings had all been executed by the communists, Aleksei Romanov was the only living person with any sort of claim to the Russy throne.

While he told his story. I had been trying not to laugh at how ridiculous he sounded the whole time. It sounded like the plot of a mediocre fanfiction written by an author with sleep deprivation. I could poke holes in it all day. Seriously, a secret illegitimate baby, and an underground organisation of nobles? Recognising him through his birthmark? Who was he trying to fool?

I did believe the part where he claimed he used to live in Legadonia and had some important connections there. Likely, he was a Russy-born Legadonian who saw an opportunity to gain influence over St. Petersburg and took it. It also made sense why Legadonia had so readily sent him a squadron of mages. It would benefit Legadonia to have someone who had an emotional attachment to the country be the head of the Russy Tsardom.

Ludwig had a complete poker face and looked like he was listening to the fraud's tale with rapt attention, but I would bet good money that he was cackling like a hyena internally.

But not wanting to be seen as rude, we thanked Aleksei Romanov for telling us so much about himself. I exchanged a knowing glance with Ludwig, confirming that this would be the story that we would echo whenever someone asks us of the Tsar's backstory in the future, as ridiculous as it was.

Just before we left for dinner, I asked the Tsar for a favour. "Your Majesty, if it wouldn't trouble you too much, would it be possible for you to help locate these people in this picture? The ones with circled faces. They're Vice Chancellor Serebryakov's family. She asked me to find out what happened to them." I handed him a family picture of twenty or so people. Circled were the faces of Visha's family members that had not managed to escape the revolution but were also never confirmed to be killed.

Visha had lost much of her childhood memories when she escaped the Russy Federation with her parents. However, according to her, many of her cousins and a couple of her siblings were unable to escape. As her lover/girlfriend/soon-to-be wife, I felt it was my responsibility to help find her missing family. And the best contact I had to do that was standing right in front of me.

"Of course, Chancellor. It would be the least the Russy Tsardom could do to repay our debt." He took the picture carefully and scanned the faces. "The Serebryakov family, right? I think I've heard of them. A mid-ranking noble family from St. Petersburg. If any of them are still alive and didn't escape the country, they should still be living either here or in the neighbouring oblasts. I'll ask some of my soldiers and the nobles I'm acquainted with to search for them."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, my gir-Vice Chancellor will be glad to hear of it."

Before dinner, the OZEV generals had finally discussed their strategy to bring down the Moskva faction with the Russy Tsardom's generals. They had also finalised the allocation of OZEV mages across the frontlines. The plan was delivered to me and would also be given to other OZEV leaders to be approved. I read through the plan, raising my eyebrow at the audacity of it, before giving it my seal of approval.

There was no large dinner with the Tsar and his generals. Apparently, the Tsar didn't see fit to have ostentatious meals when his people were starving. At least Aleksei Romanov wasn't the type of person to bury his head in the sand. He understood the importance of solidarity and would not make the same mistakes as his predecessor.

My dinner had simply been delivered to my suite by a maid. It was… disappointing. I was aware the food situation in the Russy Tsardom was bad, but I didn't know it was this dire. Obviously, I didn't expect some type of feast but had still expected to eat better than a soldier on the field. A bowl of vegetarian borscht and a loaf of bread with a small cube of cheese along with water was all that was served to me in my private suite. The maid who delivered me the meal had told me that the Tsar gave an order to serve him and everyone in the palace the same meal as was available to the common people. I sighed in relief; I had thought that the common citizen was starving if the food for the top brass was this frugal.

The situation in the Russy Tsardom was more precarious than I had thought. The Tsar's influence and popularity had hinged on his legitimacy, which had only been proven by Ludwig. If not for the food that OZEV would soon be delivering, the Russy Tsardom would have starved. If not for OZEV troops coming here, led by me, morale would have collapsed. Never mind, let alone until winter, I doubted the Russy Tsardom would have lasted until the next month without OZEV intervention.

I finished up my meal quickly without complaint. After the maid came back to clean up for me, I went and opened up my steel-reinforced suitcase.

Inside, hidden beneath the stack of paperwork that I had brought along, was the Elenium Type 95 computation orb. The likelihood of me needing to use it was low, but I didn't want to take any chances. After all, my battle senses have dulled from so many years of desk work. A single slip up was all that was needed to end up as another name on the casualty list. The Type 95 would be my safety net.

I took a small stack of paperwork from the suitcase and started working my way through them before retiring for the night.

Tomorrow, Ludwig and I would go and inspect different sections of the Russy Tsardom's border defences. Both were sections that almost never see any action. Ludwig would oversee eastern Arkhangelsk, facing a faction with a favourable impression of the Russy Tsardom. I would go to the southeastern border of Vologda, which was facing the neutral Kostroma oblast.

Knowing that it would likely be an uneventful day for me tomorrow, I peacefully drifted to sleep.