]"This is war!"
The Gefra military observer watched the battle erupt without warning, shattering the peace.
The people from the other countries all wore the same expression. Some were sorrowful, some sighed, but more than anything, they were wary.
They had all been affected by the First World War. Every country had participated in it, willingly or otherwise, so they understood the reality of war better than the Federation did.
When they saw the Federation still trying to protect civilians, their first reaction was ridicule.
They remembered all too clearly the final battle of the Seven Great Campaigns of the First World War. The two sides had committed more than five million troops in total.
In a war involving five million people, life on the front lines had been cheaper than the cheapest commodity.
Many people died every second. There was never any good news. The front lines always reported things like, "We've lost such-and-such a position," or "We need supplies." There was no rescue, no retreat—only constant advances.
Some of the military observers had taken part in that war. Even now, one of them still remembered standing on the battlefield after it ended. It had been like walking across the bottom of a swimming pool that had gone untended for a very long time.
Moss, algae, and all kinds of other things had grown everywhere. Stepping on them gave a slick, damp sensation, as though he could slip and fall at any moment.
He knew that what lay beneath his feet was not moss or algae. It was human flesh and blood.
The soil had already been saturated to the point that it could absorb no more. Every time he stepped down, blood was squeezed from the earth, forming a bright-red pool around his foot.
War had never been