Volu 4 of Blood and Steel begins with Hitler returning to the Nazi Party after his ti in prison and launching full-scale election campaigns.
He had previously attempted a coup, modeling himself after Mussolini, but after that failed, he decided to seize power legally.
However, that was only the surface. Behind the scenes, he engaged in all sorts of corruption, including the use of political thugs.
Of course, considering the state of society at the ti, violence and corruption were seen as sothing you had to do—if you didn’t, you were seen as a fool.
It was a sign of how broken the Weimar Republic truly was.
[Democracy and elections? A society where everyone gets to vote?]
[Is this like the commoners’ parliant in the Kingdom of Teres?]
[No, it’s a more advanced system—one where people choose their leader regardless of status.]
And when talking about elections, democracy naturally cos up.
Readers, encountering this political system for the first ti, began to question it.
A system where all people, regardless of status, have sovereignty and voting rights—it’s not easy to grasp just from that explanation alone.
So I went into more detail, starting with how democracy first ca to be.
In 1688, England’s Glorious Revolution led to the passing of the Bill of Rights.
In 1776, the Arican Revolution gave the world its first “president.”
And in 1789, the French Revolution saw the beheading of the king and nobility, bringing democracy to reality.
However, it’s important to clarify that democracy is not the sa as liberalism.
[A system where everyone gets to vote and elect a king sounds idealistic, romantic, even peaceful. But what if a king elected by 51% oppresses the other 49%? Can we still call that ‘freedom’?]
This critique ca from none other than Count Kamar of the Kingdom of Teres—a noble who subtly helped during my trial.
In fact, a scholar in my past life once made a similar remark when criticizing democracy.
That quote, in particular, clearly highlights the distinction between liberalism and democracy.
Without that understanding, ideologies like socialism or communism might never have erged.
Most importantly, the one who exploited democracy to its extre was the protagonist of Blood and Steel, Hitler himself.
After the failed Munich Putsch, he thoroughly used democracy as a tool to suppress freedom completely.
In a way, Count Kamar’s criticism was an eerie foreshadowing of Hitler’s future.
[Nothing is perfect. Democracy is just another political system being adapted into the world of Blood and Steel.]
[Honestly, giving soone like Zenon the sa one vote as everyone else is a form of discrimination!]
[The majority’s choice isn’t always the right one.]
Because of this, several scholars—especially philosophers—criticized democracy.
It wasn’t unexpected, so I wasn’t particularly disappointed.
[Granting all ‘citizens’ the right to vote could actually lead to national developnt.]
[Even if the majority isn’t always right, the fact that their voices are heard is a huge rit.]
[Perhaps a truly talented person capable of advancing the country might erge. Everyone holds equal power, after all.]
Of course, not every scholar was blindly critical. So viewed democracy positively—including not only scholars from humble backgrounds but even nobles.
Even if it ant giving up their own power, they believed democracy was necessary for national developnt.
So, while there was endless debate about democracy, in the end, one question erged:
[Is it really necessary right now?]
Indeed, while there were many argunts for and against, scholars generally agreed on one point: Do we really need it now?
There’s a saying that democracy grows by feeding on the blood of dictators and citizens.
And in this world, the Zeros Revolution laid so groundwork for it.
The Zeros Revolution resembled the French Revolution but also had similarities to the Glorious Revolution with the ergence of a “Bill of Rights.”
In other words, unless another major revolution happens, democracy is unlikely to take root.
Count Kamar’s criticism was especially influential in holding things back.
Even in the Kingdom of Teres, which has a commoners’ parliant, people are very sensitive when it cos to freedom.
[This isn’t sothing I can control.]
All I can do is show that such an option exists.
As I’ve said many tis, this world is fundantally different from Earth.
So it’s possible that a similar yet entirely new political system might erge—or maybe sothing no one’s ever heard of before.
On top of that, democracy has a very serious flaw: it makes long-term policymaking nearly impossible.
That’s why it’s not a very efficient system from the perspective of long-lived races like demons or elves.
[The Kingdom of Teres is one thing, but if you think about it, the dwarves are probably the closest to being democratic.]
Dwarves are inherently focused on creativity and invention.
They respect others while also striving for their own growth.
While their country, Machina, nominally has a monarchy, it’s basically just for show.
They only regulate things that pose a serious threat to the nation, and leave the rest up to the people.
Now that they’re accelerating the invention of magic-powered locomotives, it’s possible a fascinating political system might erge there.
[Once the Industrial Revolution begins, democracy will naturally take hold.]
Science and culture are deeply interconnected.
If you closely examine history, you’ll see the conditions are already there for it to appear.
Democracy will erge eventually, even if in a bizarre form.
When the Industrial Revolution hits, the world will grow far more complex.
Of course, who knows if I’ll even be alive by then?
Even if I can extend my life with holy power, there’s a limit.
For now, all I can do is keep writing.
Whether they fight over democracy or not, that’s their decision to make.
[Hitler and Goebbels’ tearful struggle. But their actual vote count is… disappointingly low.]
[I don’t know what a general election is, but 2.6%? That’s tiny. Can they really seize power like that?]
So let’s first look at Hitler and Goebbels’ desperate and humiliating antics.
Before the Great Depression, the Nazi Party was nothing but a minor nuisance.
Though Hitler beca an overnight star after the Munich Putsch, the Weimar Republic at the ti was still receiving aid from the U.S.
Despite hyperinflation, Germans were managing to survive, so they didn’t take the Nazi Party seriously.
That is, until the Great Depression hit—a global economic collapse that no one could respond to, either because they didn’t understand it or because there were too many causes to tackle.
[If the last world war was hell, the Great Depression was purgatory.]
[There was no work, no food—purgatory, plain and simple.]
I described the U.S., where the Depression began, not as a hell filled with suffering, but as a purgatory full of despair.
Stock prices crashed repeatedly, investors and businessn threw themselves from rooftops, and unemploynt soared.
Holessness increased, and fathers struggled desperately to feed their children.
[Was it an unavoidable disaster? Or could it have been prevented?]
[The world shaped by the machine revolution is drastically different from ours…]
[If a machine revolution were to happen in this world too, such a catastrophe could very well occur.]
[If a machine revolution were to break out in this world as well, it could truly bring about such a catastrophe.]
However, people only focused on the purgatory-like situation, and found it difficult to grasp the Great Depression itself.
That’s understandable, since the Industrial Revolution had made the economy and finance more complex—it was only natural that it was hard to comprehend.
Of course, in this world, concepts like economy, finance, stocks, and bonds do exist.
It’s just that applying those to the context of the Great Depression is extrely difficult.
Still, because people treated blood and steel as “fantasy,” they focused more on the story than trying to understand it.
[What kind of war was the Great War, that such a purgatory followed in its wake?]
[All of this happened because of the Great War. If not for that, the collapse of not just a single country but the entire world wouldn’t have happened.]
[Perhaps the Weimar Republic’s reckless printing of money triggered the collapse of the European economy…]
As a result, the First World War—the true culprit—began to draw attention.
I described it not as the “First World War” but as the “Great War.”
So readers picked up on this and questioned why I used “Great War” instead of “First World War,” but only a few noticed, so it was largely ignored.
In any case, Blood and Steel Volu 4 ends with a portrayal of a United States devastated by the Great Depression.
From Volu 5 onward, I plan to depict the Weimar Republic, similarly ruined by the Great Depression, and how Hitler cos to power by riding that wave.
‘Now they must be starting to feel uneasy.’
Already, Count Kamar’s criticisms had raised doubts: Is democracy truly the right path?
Naturally, people would begin to feel anxious seeing Hitler—who gains power through democracy.
But readers tried hard to look away.
Even if Hitler harbored so odd ideas, his love for Germany seed genuine.
By now, readers had firmly lodged the image of Hitler in their minds as a “patriot” and a “hero in the making.”
‘After the Night of the Long Knives, I’ll have to depict Stalin’s Great Purge too.’
The reason the Soviet Union was completely overwheld during the early stages of the German-Soviet War—was the Great Purge.
That single purge wiped out capable officers en masse, a result clearly experienced during the Winter War with Finland.
It was so bad that Hitler, seeing it, said, “Huh? These guys are hollow on the inside,” and launched his invasion.
Despite the stir caused by democracy appearing in Volu 4 of Blood and Steel, I quietly began preparing.
Preparing for what?
[Anirs. Deeply interested in the democracy depicted in Blood and Steel…]
[Great Chief Zinai Krotchuk. If we act only according to the logic of strength, then we are no different from savages.]
What else? I was preparing to be criticized unfairly.
The seeds I had sown through Leona had taken an entirely unexpected turn.
‘Don’t tell … is this guy making up excuses because he doesn’t want to beco Great Chief?’
I think I’ll need to look into that in detail later.
★★★
As Volu 4 of Blood and Steel ca out, sparking many discussions about democracy, the series evolved into sothing far beyond the scope of Zenon’s Chronicles.
Not just readers, but experts were now gathering to review and evaluate it.
A world with no mana or magic.
A world populated only by humans, one of the weakest races.
A world where the existence of gods was unclear.
In such a world, people struggled to survive—until the “Machine Revolution” spurred explosive growth.
Most people treated this world like fantasy, but a few did not.
Instead, they predicted it as a vision of the future and focused intently on studying “science.”
“Any progress?”
“We can barely even get close to Zenon. Unless he approaches us first, there’s no way we’ll et him.”
“Even if we sohow get the chance, the Minerva Empire would reject it anyway.”
“Hmm…”
With sun-bronzed skin, silver eyes, and a tattoo-like pattern under their eyes.
Though their hair colors differed, they all had one clear identifying trait.
Each of them was engaged in conversation.
A man who seed to be the leader listened to everyone’s opinions with a troubled look on his face.
What were they hoping to achieve by eting Zenon?
“Do we really need to be so fixated on that weapon called a gun? Wouldn’t it be better to focus on sothing else?”
A delicate woman cautiously asked the hesitant man.
She had deep silver hair, just like her silver eyes.
To that question, the man—Asala Vand Saera—sighed and answered:
“What do you an, ‘sothing else’? Like training warriors?”
“Yes.”
“Do you really think our people, with just nimble hands, can defeat the Empire’s knights?”
“…..”
At Asala’s response, the woman fell silent, having nothing to say.
Still, she didn’t seem entirely convinced and didn’t give up completely.
Seeing this, Asala sighed again and spoke in a heavy voice:
“The Empire has too many talented people. So many that they could completely crush our Starvik region.”
“Then why…”
“Because the Empire is bleeding, too. Besides, they currently need to pay more attention to the northern region than to us.”
The Starvik region was originally annexed by the Minerva Empire, but at so point developed strong ambitions for independence.
So claid this was due to demon-worshippers; others blad the Empire’s oppression.
But the root cause was discrimination.
The Starvik people were historically known for being second only to dwarves in craftsmanship.
To the Minerva Empire, they were essentially an excellent “weapon manufacturing plant.”
At first, the Empire promised them generous treatnt, but as ti went on, discrimination began to seep in.
Worse yet, after the Racial War, when the Empire established favorable diplomatic ties with the Machina… well, the rest needs no explanation.
Still, the Empire couldn’t afford to give up the Starvik region.
As Isaac explained, the Starvik region was a peninsula—geographically similar to South Korea in a previous life.
“In the anti, we have to invent sothing like a ‘gun’. eting Zenon is essential for that, but…”
“But it’s impossible.”
“Yeah… you’re right.”
The residents of the Starvik region were in a truly difficult situation.
To the left and north was the Minerva Empire.
To the right and south lay the Kingdom of Teres.
If they were to ekly return to the Empire now, the Kingdom of Teres would pressure them.
But if they sought support from Teres, the situation could worsen even more.
For now, their only option was to sohow build up their military strength.
To the Minerva Empire, the Starvik region was a “chicken rib”—sothing too valuable to throw away, yet too troubleso to keep.
They needed a justification to make a clean break.
“Anyway, are we making progress? Even sothing similar would do.”
“We’re currently using gunpowder, like a cannon, but it’ll take ti.”
“It doesn’t have to be exactly like what was shown in Blood and Steel. As long as even one shot surpasses the power of a crossbow.”
What Starvik needed right now:
“Firepower. Only firepower that an individual can wield will save us.”
What they needed was strength.
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