Chapter Summaries

Morin woke up in Seville as a Saxon second lieutenant captured and tortured alongside Lieutenant General August von Mackensen, while an intelligence system revealed fragments of his new world and circumstances. Mackensen defended the delegation’s diplomatic mission and challenged the Britannian officer about his troops’ presence in Andalusia.

• Morin awoke bound in a cellar, was beaten by a white officer, and discovered an intelligence system that identified Seville and the Saxon Empire.
• The system revealed that Morin was a prisoner from a Saxon military observer delegation attacked in Seville, and his recovered memories identified him as a newly commissioned second lieutenant.
• When Morin refused to answer questions about the delegation’s mission, the white officer beat him and then attacked the elderly Saxon officer beside him.
• A senior Britannian officer identified the elderly prisoner as Lieutenant General August von Mackensen and questioned why the Saxons had appeared in Andalusia.
• Mackensen asserted the delegation’s diplomatic immunity and said it had come at Fernando VII’s invitation, then demanded to know why Britannian troops were in Andalusia.

Morin and Lieutenant General Mackensen were beaten and interrogated by Holy Britannian officers, who mistook Morin for a source of military intelligence. Before they could move the prisoners, armed soldiers in plate armor stormed the cellar and killed the Britannians.

• Mackensen mocked the Holy Britannian Empire, and the officers beat him and Morin while demanding details about Saxon plans in the Kingdom of Aragon.
• Morin told the officers he was only a second lieutenant, but they insisted his rank and place in the delegation made him suspicious.
• A young officer reported that Saxon troops and unidentified armed men were attacking the Britannian perimeter, prompting the major to order the prisoners moved.
• An armored attacker entered the cellar, killed the young officer, and led a swift assault that killed the remaining Britannian officers.
• Morin recognized the attackers' Field Grey uniforms and urged them to help Lieutenant General Mackensen first.

Morin was rescued from captivity with Lieutenant General Mackensen by Saxon troops and their heavily armored allies, then fled as artillery destroyed the town behind them. He learned that the mismatched armed group aiding the Saxons was called the International Brigades, leaving him bewildered by the world’s apparent historical contradictions.

• Morin collected the captured Britannian officers’ identification documents and a document bag before leaving the cellar with the rescue force.
• Morin saw the Saxon soldiers, heavily armored troops, and an irregular armed group preparing to withdraw as Britannian forces approached.
• The rescue column hurried through the alleys while artillery shells first ranged toward the town and then devastated it with repeated salvos.
• The captain thanked the irregulars and identified them as the International Brigades, shocking Morin with the implication that Saxons were fighting alongside a left-wing force.

Morin and the Saxon forces withdrew from Seville to a forward camp, where Lieutenant General Mackensen revealed that a powerful noblewoman had tried to keep Morin away from the front. After Morin turned over captured British intelligence documents, he learned more about his past and why he had been sent south into the Kingdom of Aragon.

• Morin and Lieutenant General Mackensen escaped Seville with Saxon soldiers and International Brigades fighters, traveling to a forward assembly area.
• Mackensen told Morin that a noblewoman had asked him to transfer Morin to a safe rear post, but he had refused and intended to send him to the front.
• At the camp, Morin examined identification papers taken from captured Holy Britannian officers and triggered new intelligence entries in his system.
• Morin delivered the documents to Mackensen's tent and recovered memories of his Junker family, his grandfather's friendship with Mackensen, and Mackensen's support for his education.
• Morin learned that he had been assigned to the 33rd Infantry Regiment and that his brigade had been ordered south into the Kingdom of Aragon.

Morin joined Lieutenant General Mackensen’s observer group after arriving in the Kingdom of Aragon, survived an ambush, and was finally escorted to his assigned battalion. On the way, Schmidt’s explanation of the Saxon Empire’s aims helped Morin connect the Aragon conflict to the struggle over magitech resources, and he reached the 1st Battalion’s camp.

• The Saxon Empire sent six infantry brigades into the Kingdom of Aragon to support the National Army as the Royal Army advanced with Britannian backing.
• Lieutenant General Mackensen took Morin into his observer group, and Morin was captured with him after their group was ambushed near Seville.
• A messenger named Schmidt brought Morin orders to report to the 1st Battalion of the 33rd Infantry Regiment and escorted him from the brigade camp.
• Morin asked Schmidt why the Saxons had come to Aragon, and Schmidt said they aimed to break Britannia’s energy monopoly and share industrial advances.
• Morin reflected on the world’s magitech powers, scarce magic crystal ore, and the Saxon Empire’s reliance on conventional technology and luminescence crystal ore.
• Schmidt interrupted Morin’s thoughts when they arrived at the 1st Battalion’s temporary camp.

Albert II learned that Britannian forces had attacked a Saxon military delegation in the Kingdom of Aragon, where a vast luminescence crystal deposit had intensified the civil war. He authorized military operations against Britannia alongside the National Army and International Brigades, and ordered General Maximilian von Prittwitz to replace Mackensen as commander.

• Albert II read a telegram confirming that the captured Saxon lieutenant general had been rescued after Britannian forces ambushed the military observer delegation.
• Moltke the Younger and Hollweg urged Albert II to respond to Britannia’s attack and warned that the newly discovered luminescence crystal deposit could shift Europa’s balance of power.
• Moltke the Younger reported that seven brigades of International Brigades volunteers were in the Kingdom of Aragon, while Hollweg cautioned that the Social Democratic Party’s growing influence posed a domestic threat.
• Albert II authorized Saxon troops in the Kingdom of Aragon to conduct military operations with the National Army and International Brigades against Britannia.
• Albert II ordered Mackensen to return home and recuperate, then appointed Maximilian von Prittwitz to replace him as commander of the expeditionary force.

Morin joined the 33rd Infantry Regiment's 3rd Company as the new commander of 3rd Platoon, met his men, and began learning the unit's condition. Just as he prepared to sleep, orders arrived for the company to assemble and move out in two hours.

• Schmidt escorted Morin to Major Thomas, who assigned him to command 3rd Platoon despite his injuries because the regiment might soon move out.
• Captain Karl Hauser welcomed Morin to 3rd Company and explained that the previous platoon commander had died, leaving the platoon without a commander for nearly a month.
• Morin met the company officers and staff, then assembled 3rd Platoon and introduced himself to its soldiers.
• Morin spoke with Platoon Sergeant Klaus and the four corporals, learned that the platoon was basically combat-ready, and revealed that he came from Dresden.
• Morin ate bread and tried to rest in his tent, but Klaus brought urgent orders for everyone to assemble and move out in two hours.

Morin prepared his platoon to march after the assembly whistle woke the camp, while Lieutenant General Mackensen planned a possible attack on Seville as the Saxon forces awaited authorization. The General Staff’s reply finally arrived, but its contents were not revealed.

• Morin ordered Klaus to assemble the platoon, strike the tents, and send bulky supplies to the company Supply Train.
• Morin armed himself with his predecessor’s Gew.98 and P08, then joined the troops assembling for the march.
• Mackensen’s staff assessed the Royal Army’s defenses at Seville and warned that Britannian mages and Armored Knights could pose a serious threat.
• Mackensen ordered the 16th Infantry Brigade to prepare its assault positions and said the Teutonic Order’s Armored Knights should join the battle once they arrived.
• After nearly three hours of planning and waiting, an officer brought Mackensen a reply from the General Staff.

Mackensen received orders authorizing an attack in Aragon while ordering him home, but he resolved to begin the offensive before Prittwitz took command. Morin's battalion reached its assembly area near San Isidro, where he learned his company was held in reserve and recognized that the planned assault relied on dangerously outdated massed formations.

• Mackensen read the General Staff's order to undertake necessary military action and return home, then decided to launch the attack before Prittwitz arrived.
• Morin marched with the 1st Battalion of the 33rd Infantry Regiment to its concealed assembly area near San Isidro.
• Captain Hauser told Morin that the 1st and 2nd Companies would lead a frontal assault on San Isidro while the 3rd Company remained in reserve.
• Morin studied the attack plan and realized the army intended to advance in dense skirmish lines and follow with a bayonet charge.

Morin learned that his company would attack the village of San Isidro after an artillery bombardment, while Captain Hauser assured him the Aragonese Army would quickly flee. Morin used his system map to inspect the enemy and Saxon forces, but the village remained obscured by fog of war as the attack approached.

• Captain Hauser told Morin that scouts had spotted the Aragonese Army in San Isidro but had not determined its strength, and that artillery would fire three salvos before the attack at 5:07.
• Hauser gave Morin his old pocket watch and said the enemy conscripts would likely break after one charge.
• Morin returned to his platoon, and Sergeant Klaus promised to check the soldiers' equipment and help command them.
• Morin inspected his system map and found only one unknown Aragonese unit marker in San Isidro.
• Morin examined the nearby artillery battalion's twelve 77mm field guns and saw that their planned bombardment covered a broad area of the village.

Morin led the 3rd Platoon into position as the Saxon companies began their attack on San Isidro. The advance initially met little resistance, but defenders opened fire, and Morin spotted a newly revealed Aragonese Vickers machine-gun position on his map.

• Morin assembled the 3rd Platoon and discovered he could keep a semitransparent battlefield minimap visible while moving.
• Captain Hauser led the 3rd Company to its assembly area as the 1st and 2nd Companies prepared to attack San Isidro.
• The Saxon artillery bombarded the village, then the 1st Company advanced in skirmish lines with the 2nd Company following in column.
• Aragonese defenders opened fire as the 1st Company neared the village, killing several soldiers before the Saxons returned volleys and continued advancing.
• Morin noticed a new map icon identifying an Aragonese Army Vickers Machine Gun Position outside San Isidro.

Morin witnessed a Vickers machine gun devastate the Saxon attack and realized that a frontal assault would be suicidal. Ordered to commit the 3rd Company, he proposed leading his platoon around the left flank to attack the gun position, leaving Captain Hauser to decide whether to approve the maneuver.

• A Vickers machine gun in a farmhouse wiped out the front platoon of the 1st Company and inflicted heavy losses on the 2nd Company.
• Morin spotted the machine gun's farmhouse position and its field of fire with his binoculars.
• Major Thomas ordered the 3rd Company to enter the battle and advance from the front.
• Captain Hauser ordered his platoons to spread into skirmish lines and advance with covering fire.
• Morin asked to lead the 3rd Platoon around the left flank, using a dry riverbed and bushes to approach the machine gun position.
• Captain Hauser questioned Morin's plan and studied him without yet giving an answer.

Morin led the 3rd Platoon around the village’s left flank to attack the farmhouse holding the enemy machine gun. His soldiers silenced the gun with grenades, leaving the assault’s outcome unresolved.

• Captain Hauser approved Morin’s plan and ordered him to flank the village with the 3rd Platoon.
• Morin split his force, sending the 1st Squad to cover the advance while Sergeant Klaus and the 2nd Squad held a strongpoint by the riverbed.
• Corporal Jonah’s 4th Squad pinned down defenders in the farmhouse as Klaus’s force fired on enemy soldiers rushing from nearby buildings.
• Morin led the 6th Section to the farmhouse and ordered grenades thrown through its upstairs windows, including the machine-gun firing window.
• Several grenades exploded inside the farmhouse, and the enemy machine gun fell silent.

Morin’s squad silenced the farmhouse machine gun with grenades, cleared the building, and captured the Vickers Machine Gun. Meanwhile, Saxon troops renewed their assault on the village, and Morin regrouped his scattered squads outside the farmhouse.

• Captain Hauser ordered his men forward after the machine gun fell silent, and Saxon soldiers charged toward the village in a loose skirmish line.
• Morin sent a messenger to bring Sergeant Klaus and the other squads from the riverbed, then stopped his men from rushing the farmhouse.
• Morin and two grenadiers threw grenades through the farmhouse door, and his soldiers stormed inside and killed the surviving Royal Army troops.
• Morin inspected the Vickers Machine Gun upstairs, found it largely undamaged, and ordered soldiers to carry it and its ammunition downstairs.
• The messenger returned with Sergeant Klaus’s three squads, and Morin watched the crowded, celebrating soldiers gather around the farmhouse.

The Saxons captured San Isidro, but the assault cost the 1st and 2nd Companies heavily while Morin’s 3rd Platoon suffered almost no combat losses. Morin organized defenses on the village’s left flank as Major Thomas warned that the advance on Seville would bring fiercer fighting.

• The Saxons cleared San Isidro, killing or capturing the Royal Army soldiers who remained and driving some defenders to flee.
• Casualty reports showed severe losses in the 1st and 2nd Companies, while Morin’s 3rd Platoon had suffered no combat casualties and claimed at least forty enemy dead.
• Captain Hauser congratulated Morin, and the 3rd Company took responsibility for defending the village.
• Morin directed his platoon to build interlocking firing positions around a captured Vickers machine gun and establish observation posts and sentries.
• Major Thomas praised Morin and told Hauser and the 3rd Company to prepare for further fighting as the Saxons advanced toward Seville.

After eating field rations, Morin led his platoon’s first combat debrief and gathered feedback on the morning’s battle. As he spoke with Platoon Sergeant Klaus afterward, a messenger arrived with a summons from Major Thomas.

• Morin followed the soldiers to the 3rd Company kitchen, where he ate Erbwurst soup with black bread.
• After the platoon finished eating, Morin summoned Sergeant Klaus, the corporals, and the squad leaders for a combat debrief.
• A squad leader said the sprint through the riverbed had exhausted some of his men, and Morin acknowledged that fitness affected their tactics.
• A corporal and another squad leader said the separated squads were difficult to control and lacked clear orders when they could not see Morin.
• Morin urged the squad leaders to ask their men about their concerns, then spoke with Klaus, who praised what he had learned from him.
• A messenger told Morin that Major Thomas wanted to see him.

Morin received orders to lead a small detachment on a high-risk reconnaissance mission ahead of the battalion’s advance toward Seville. He chose five men and prepared to scout the route by bicycle, insisting that concealment take priority.

• Major Thomas told Morin that the battalion would soon advance toward Seville and ordered him to reconnoiter the route and the surrounding area.
• Morin accepted the assignment and requested bicycles so his detachment could travel quickly before continuing on foot.
• Morin returned to 3rd Platoon and asked Sergeant Klaus to help choose five capable men for the mission.
• Klaus recommended Corporal Baumann and other proven soldiers, and Morin selected the detachment.
• Morin instructed the men to avoid firing unless the enemy discovered them and escape was impossible.

Morin arranged for Sergeant Klaus to command the troops while he led a reconnaissance party to obtain bicycles. At the supply camp, he saw two Teutonic Order Siegfried-type Armored Knights, then set off with his men after drinking Hans’s terrible coffee.

• Morin left Sergeant Klaus in charge of the troops and warned him to watch for an enemy counterattack.
• Morin led Corporal Baumann and four soldiers to the Battalion Baggage Train to collect bicycles for their mission.
• The Quartermaster gave Morin’s party six bicycles and explained that two Siegfried-type Armored Knights had arrived as reinforcements.
• Hans caught up with Morin carrying coffee, and Morin complained that it tasted awful before drinking it and ordering his men to move out.

Morin led his scouting team to Alcolea, where he discovered that hundreds of Royal Army soldiers had passed through heading toward Seville. He unexpectedly understood and spoke Aragonese, then decided to continue scouting to learn whether the enemy had returned to Seville or planned an ambush.

• Morin and his five companions rode toward Alcolea while he used his System Map to track the surrounding terrain.
• Morin hid the bicycles outside the village and led the men inside, warning them to keep their fingers off their rifle triggers.
• Morin questioned an old farmer, and his words were suddenly translated for Morin, who answered fluently in Aragonese.
• The farmer told Morin that hundreds of soldiers in black had passed the village an hour earlier and headed toward Seville.
• Morin gave the farmer some bread, returned to the bicycles, and told his companions they needed to scout farther ahead.

Morin’s six-man reconnaissance team followed the Royal Army toward Seville and discovered a fortified enemy position equipped with unfamiliar Magic Crystal Cannons. Surrounded deep inside the enemy perimeter, Morin chose to keep observing rather than retreat immediately.

• Morin and his men followed the Royal Army’s trail south toward Seville, finding discarded equipment and signs of a poorly disciplined march.
• Morin spotted a resting Royal Army unit near Seville and used his binoculars to inspect its defenses and unfamiliar cannons.
• Morin’s system identified the weapons as Britannian Comet Mark I Magic Crystal Cannons with a range of 4,500 meters.
• Morin noticed additional enemy forces on his System Map and realized his team was deep inside a broad defensive perimeter.
• Morin led his men into cover, considered retreating, and decided to risk gathering more intelligence.