Chapter 2: The Capital
The Empire
5 June, Unified Year 1921
In many literary works in which someone is trapped in the past, or in another world more backward of his own, the protagonist always has some ability that allows him to make easy money. For example, in the manga Jin, by Motoka Murakami, the protagonist was a surgeon who, trapped in medieval Japan, found a way to use his exceptional skills to create the first national health system in history. Another example was the series of books 1632, who was talking about an entire American town that ended up right in the middle of the Hundred Years' War. There, the protagonists had all the qualities and useful knowledge that allowed them to transform their town into a great federation that was economically and militarily powerful.
Unfortunately, neither Tanya nor I had useful knowledge for the time and place where we were. Human Resources management was not a requested profession in this period, as neither was Informatics Support. In a world without computers and without the Internet, the knowledge of our previous lives was worth nothing, which meant we would have to learn new ones.
However, none of us knew the kind of works of this world. And without some minimum data, it was impossible to outline a strategy.
The opportunity came one day that the nuns of the orphanage had to go to the capital to buying provisions for some things. For the sisters it was only a small journey, but for Tanya and me it represented an incredible opportunity. If we were able to join them for the trip, we would have seen the capital (which we had heard about so far, but which we had never seen) and maybe we could get the information we needed first hand.
The biggest obstacle was to convincing the nuns to take us with them.
"Impossible" said Sister Greta as soon as we asked for permission to join them "You cannot bring children to the capital!"
"But, sister" said Sister Helene, the youngest nun of the orphanage "They just want to see the city. And I'm sure they will not try and run away!"
Sister Greta grunted, and then she turned towards us, looking at us with hard eyes "Tell me, children: why do you want to go to the city?"
Tanya and I had prepared for such an eventuality. And we had a secret weapon available.
"We just want to see the beautiful city," I said stiffening and turning my puppy-dog eyes on "We have always lived here; we would like to see other places."
Next to me, Tanya also had big puppy eyes and looked imploring Sister Greta "We want to see the big-big city. We will not make any trouble. We promise!"
It was a tactic that Tanya had been using successfully for a long time, and that she had taught me in the last days. Taking advantage of our cuteness to push others to do or not do certain things, simply by "acting" the age that people expected us to be. It was a bastard trick; it was heartless and even a bit humiliating (for us of course).
And it worked.
In less than a minute, Sister Greta turned to Sister Helene "Sister, please make some space for these little children. Inform the Mother Superior than we will take little Tanya and little Frederick with us. I would not want her to be scared, not seeing them."
"Yay!" both Tanya and I squeaked in our child voices.
"But let's get one thing straight," she said, coming back to us "I will not accept any form of unruly behavior: I do not want to see you running, jumping, screaming or grimacing. You will always remain in our field of vision, and we will hold hands. Moreover, if one of you commit some prank, you can forget about other tours in the city. Have I been clear?"
For a moment, I was tempted to laugh. Threatened with being put in detention: it was a long time since it happened to me. However, if the nun had realized this, our journey would have ended even before we started. Therefore, I kept all my satisfaction inside and tried to appear gloomy.
"Yes" "Yes" Tanya and I said almost at the same time.
And with these words, Sister Greta returned to taking care of the preparations for the trip.
Unseen by her, Tanya and I were smiling.
The journey to the capital was not long, in terms of distance. It was longer in terms of time taken to get there. This is because the vehicle we were traveling with was more like a cart pulled by oxen than a pickup truck. I quickly realized that it must have been a very old model, both because its paint was all peeling, and because the engine emitted choked sobs rather than a rumble.
In the driver's seat of the battered vehicle was Sister Greta, who was watching the road ahead of her carefully. Sister Helene occupied the seat of the front passenger. Behind, two other nuns (whose name now escape me) tried to speak above the noise of the engine. Tanya and I were in front, each of us sitting on one of Sister Helene's legs, and tried to distract ourselves by looking at the landscape around us.
The latter changed as we proceeded along the road: little by little, the forests and meadows were replaced by cultivated fields, farms, wind or water mills, stables with cattle and small villages. And in the same way, the fields and farms were increasingly replaced by houses and industrial buildings.
At one point, the vehicle stopped. Tanya and I looked up, and we saw that on the road in front of us was a sort of armored car, and some soldiers in dark green uniforms. One of the soldiers, a mustachioed man with grades on shoulder pads, asked Sister Greta for documents, while another blond-haired soldier passed on the right and peered into the vehicle. When his eyes rested on Tanya and me, his jaw contracted in a friendly smile. Did seeing some children make him think of his children? I would have never known.
After the checkpoint, we entered the city itself. Tanya and I marveled at the huge expanse of houses and buildings that made up the Imperial capital Berun.
For a few moments, I tried to make a comparison between Berun and the Berlin of my world. Berlin had also been a large city, but compared to Berun, it was like a boat next to a yacht. There were buildings I had never seen, not even in photography, and whose dimensions gave a total idea of power. With a fleeting thought, I wondered if even the Berlin of my world had had a similar appearance in the years before WW1.
Suddenly, the vehicle stopped. Sister Greta stepped out of her driving position, and so, the other nuns.
"So, children" said Sister Helene "We have arrived. Please do not go away even for a few seconds".
We nodded, so Sister Helene took us off her legs and put us outside.
"Ok children" said Sister Greta as soon as we were ready "Try to always stay with us. We do not want you two to get into trouble!"
Our little group was proceeding along the sidewalk of one of the city's streets. At first it was Sister Greta, who walked with great pace, almost as if to do it faster. After she came Sister Helene, in whose hands we were attached, Tanya and I. I admit it, being held by the hand like a small child was still quite humiliating to me, but I had long become accustomed to the way others treated me because of my physical appearance. Finally, the last two sisters (Ah! Maria and Gertrude, that was it!) followed us a couple of feet away, rounding out the group.
We proceeded along the road, following Sister Greta (who apparently knew the city best) as she led us through the district. Tanya and I wanted to go a little slower so that we could see the places around us more clearly, but we had no choice about it. We could only take quick glances, trying not to miss a single detail
Suddenly, we passed a shop that showed a cut off pig's head as a sign. From the sign, but even more from the noise from the smell that came from inside it, I sensed that he must have been a butcher. Meat was an expensive product in any world. The few times it was offered to us at the orphanage, they used it more than anything else as a flavoring in the soup to exploit its aroma as much as possible.
The Sisters did not plan on buying meat, and neither Tanya nor I intended to throw ourselves into such a trade, so we did not give the shop more than a look.
After the butcher, we passed a clothes shop where a young clerk, whose age was close to twenty, was putting out a series of suits for men. They were all refined and expensive clothes, and it was evident that his clients were mainly wealthy men willing to pay a lot just to look elegant. I started to wonder how I could go about applying to work there as an apprentice.
... Better not. After all, I had never even learned how to sew.
Finally, we reached the greengrocer. Here, hundreds of vegetables of various shapes and colors were waiting only to be sold to men and women who would peel and cut them and turn them into food. Next to the counter, a plump man with a mustache looked at the road before him, waiting for it to bring him hungry customers.
"Mister Jahn" said Sister Greta calling to the man.
"Sister Greta!" said the man straightening himself and standing up "What a beautiful sight! Are you here to buy your supplies?"
"Yes" Sister Greta said in her firm tone
"And who are these young people?" said Mr. Jahn as he looked down to us.
"These are the little Tanya and Frederick. They are two children from the orphanage" Sister Helene said "Since they wanted to come and look at the city we've decided of take them with us."
Mister Jahn smiled, before patting myself and Tanya on the head with his dirt-covered hands. If I were still an adult, I would have shouted at him for doing something like that. However, now I was in the body of a child, and as a child I had to behave, if I did not want to get into trouble.
"Hello, Mister Jahn" I said chirping in my little voice "I'm pleased to meet you!"
"But they are lovely" said the greengrocer "I've never seen two such cute children. Where did you get them from?"
"We do not know. We found them abandoned at the door of our orphanage on a night five years ago. Probably, they were the children of someone who, not being able to take care of them personally left them in our hands and God's"
I tried to smile as much as possible while, inside me, an indescribable rage was looking for a way to let off steam. And apparently, Tanya was in the same situation. But getting angry would not have been in our interest, so we still tried to make the best of a bad moment
"So lucky" Mr. Jahn was now enjoying the view and touch of Tanya's blond and soft hairs "I must confess, if it were not that I already have three children at home, I would be tempted by the thought of adopting them myself!"
"Oh do not worry," said Sister Helen as she started to collect the vegetables to buy "I'm sure that…"
"Death to the enemies of our beloved motherland!" someone yelled along the road.
Instinctively, I turned to see what was happening, and with me Tanya, the nuns and Mr. Jahn
The road, which until a few minutes ago was so calm and empty, suddenly no longer was. A large procession of men dressed in civilian clothes and with large signs was making its way, screaming at the top of their lungs. It was impossible to determine from which way they had arrived: in all likelihood, he had entered one of the back roads while we were all too busy to notice it.
"What's happening?" said Sister Maria pointing to the crowd.
"I had completely forgotten about it," said Mr. Jahn "They are demonstrating in favor of the war" said Mr. Jahn with a grimace of disgust. It seemed clear that if he could, he would add his personal ideas on the idea of war, but he did not. He did not feel so confident to do so with so many enthusiasts a few meters from his shop
"Good Lord" said Sister Greta making the sign of the cross.
Tanya and I did not say anything. We were too busy watching the crowd. The men seemed anxious to throw themselves into battle to "take revenge on the enemies of the Fatherland". For this reason, most of the people present did not give them the chance to get involved in a fight.
However, every village had its idiot. And every great city, as it was logical, must have had more than one.
The parade was passing noisily but without too many incidents when, from a secondary alley, another group of demonstrators emerged. A much smaller and smaller group, which carried placards for peace.
It took three seconds for the members of the first procession to notice. Another five seconds to identify them as enemies. And less than ten seconds to spark violence.
I did not see who of the two groups threw the first stone. Perhaps they had been the pro-war, in response to the obvious provocation, or had been the pacifists, in a desperate attempt to defend themselves. In any case, the "battle" was too one-sided to avoid giving rise to an obvious result.
The "hawks" hit the "doves". They hit them hard. I remember seeing the small pacifist demonstration attack with stones and fists. I remember seeing people fall. I remember seeing the blood.
At one time, I thought I knew what violence was. I had played many video games in my previous life: Call of Duty, Battlefield, Far Cry, and I had seen a lot of virtual blood. I had come to believe that I was used to seeing a man fall to the ground spraying blood.
Now, I understood how ignorant I was. No video game had prepared me to see a man torn to pieces by the crowd, or to witness real lynching.
I was so stunned that I did not realize I was snatched up until I understood that the nuns had interrupted their shopping and had taken refuge in a small dark alley. From there, we hid from the murderous rage of the crowd.
I saw nothing more, as one of the nuns had covered my eyes with her fingers. But I heard. I heard the noise of the beating, kicking, of the bones breaking. I heard angry screams singing the words "traitor" and "defeatist". I heard shouts of victory. Then nothing more.
We did not go out immediately to see what had happened. We remained hidden, for another five minutes, waiting. We waited to make sure the massacre was over. Only when it was super-safe, we went out.
What a horror scene we saw before us! The road was full of papers and garbage, as if a hurricane had passed. The windows were closed, and in some cases, the glass had been broken. And where the pacifists had appeared, blood colored the road with red-brown stains.
However, this was not the most disturbing thing. A man had been hanged from one of the street lamps. His coat was torn in several places, and around his neck hung a sign with 'Traitor' written on it.
I looked at his face. He was not more than twenty years old. In all likelihood, he was a university student, who had been smart enough to realize the unproductiveness of war, but also stupid enough to expose himself in such a manner. If this had happened in my world, it would have won at least a Darwin Award. Here, his prize was a rope around his neck, and a pine coffin.
Tanya was by my side, and looked at the corpse with big eyes.
She stood still and staring at the body for several seconds, then did something that I (knowing who was actually in her body) I never expected to see.
She ran way, crying.
Now I was confused. Tanya was certainly not a fragile person: he was a HR manager in our old lives, and his (or her?) main job was to lay off employees regardless of their tragic excuses. And that job required a heart as hard as a rock and no empathy at all.
Being killed by a train, and born again as a poor orphan girl, was able to change him? I was more sensitive, yet my reincarnation had not moved me. On the contrary, probably now I saw everything in a more cynical way.
Determined to discover the significance of the situation, I ran with long strides behind her.
I found Tanya a little further along the road. She was hidden just behind a table in a cafe overlooking the street. The guests were nowhere to be seen. They had probably escaped as soon as the mob had appeared in sight. The cafe door was actually locked, to support my hypothesis.
"T-Tanya" I said looking at her with concern.
She didn't say anything. However, she looked at me, and that's when I saw that her eyes were full of tears.
"Tanya!" I exclaimed with shock "Are you OK?"
"No, I'm not Ok!" she practically screamed at me "Have you not realized what kind of world we are living in?"
"Well, yes!" I screamed back "We live in a world where war is a constant, we are two children, we are orphans, we are poor and without love! Maybe you forgot, but you're not the only one who has been reincarnated!"
She kept looking at me, so I sat down in front of her and tried to keep myself calm.
"Listen, I know the weight of the emotions you are carrying, but ..."
"No, you don't" she hissed.
I knew immediately that something was wrong. Something must have touched a sore spot. And it was necessary that I understood what.
"Please" I said, trying to get close "I understand that something must have made you uncomfortable, and I would like to help you. However, I can't read your mind, so I would like to know what happened. Explain it to me."
She looked at me, her moist eyes almost dried out.
"Listen" I said again "you know that nobody in this world will ever understand you as much as I do. So, if you need to vent yourself in some way, it's best if you do it with someone who can understand your situation."
She looked away, before saying:
"It was... it was that student. It was very similar to someone I knew..."
"Who?" I asked "Sir?"
"My little brother".
I looked at her amazed. In our previous lives, I never knew that he had a family, let alone someone close to him.
"Your… brother? I never knew you had a family..."
"Yes, because we managers are always greedy soulless monsters who enjoys to see low level employees suffer!" she almost screamed.
I was touched. For the first time in years, I had the impression to see someone else's soul.
"I know!" she continued "My job was to fire employees who did not reached the minimum job efficiency, but I did not do it out of pure cruelty. I did it because it was my job, the means by which I could earn enough to improve my well-being. Is it a crime to want the best for oneself?"
"Well, you were a little cold in doing that..."
She glared at me "Do you think I liked having to hear whining and apologizing every time one of those idiots lost their jobs because of their own mistakes? The company gave me orders and I followed them! I did them as efficiently as possible in order to distinguish myself and be promoted. I hoped that if I continued to do my job in the cleanest and most efficient way, I could help myself and, with me, my other relatives!"
It was then that I realized it: my manager was not a monster. He was just one doing another person's dirty work.
"I believed that, If I kept following the rules, I could have rode the rails right into the department chief's chair. And then… my life would have become nice and easy!"
I tried once again to get closer to her, but she realized it and moved her body. It was clear that she did not want any body contact with me.
"Tell me about your family. About your little brother. How was he?"
She sighed, "He always was a clumsy one. Never realized how the world worked. But I loved him. Since our parents divorced, we never had anyone to talk but each other. And when I assumed my position as HR manager, one of the first thing I did was to recommend him for a job in another company."
My brain immediately went to a thousand, trying to assimilate this information.
"I could not protect him as if we were children, but I always gave him hints and suggestion about how being the more efficient in his job. I tried to teach him how to be more aggressive. How to be a winner. But now..."
Tanya's little fist clenched.
"Now, because of a miserable employee who did not know how to do his job, and that damned, bigot Being X, I can't help him any more. Now I am here, in this world cursed by war, in the body of a child, without any means to go back and cursed to lose my soul should I die again. And I'll never be able to see my little brother again..." she said with a saddened tone.
She straightened herself up, clenching her fist to the sky.
"But I'll have my revenge, Being X. I will survive whatever you throw at me. And I'll..."
She stopped. Not because something else caught her attention. But more because I put my hand over her shoulder.
"Tanya, please stop. I know how great you rage is. I know it because I am that angry too. Being killed and resurrected in the body of a baby, in a world with no family, no wealth and no way to escape the incoming storm of the war was not exactly my kind of fantasy. However, now we are here. And we must survive!"
Tanya did not said anything, so I kept speaking.
"Cursing the sky and Being X will not help ourselves. There is only one way to do it: cooperate. If we want to survive the war and the curse that Being X put on us, we have to planning what to do next together. To avoid the chance of dying young, and maybe have a decent life. One where we do not have to eat Kommissbrot all the time, where we do not have to sleep under the bridges and where we can still have hope of improving our social position. I know it will be hard, given the situation we are actually in, but we have to do it."
I walked on her, took her little hand and held it.
"I agree with you about Being X: If you want to have revenge on him, I'll gladly give you all my support. However, for now our priority must be survive and find a way to get him. Then we will get him!"
Tanya looked at me. Right into my eyes. Boy, they were beautiful.
But we were not in love, and we were not in the mood for kisses.
"So" she asked, "What is your proposal?"
I thought about it "Well, I suggest going back to the orphanage and start defining our strategy for the future. Find the best way to get away with the coming war and our ... err, poverty. And of course, on the best way to take revenge on Being X"
"Can we skip to that part?"
"Yes, but first we have to go back to the nuns. They…"
"Frederick, Tanya! Where have you been?" said a loud voice which I recognized coming from Sister Greta.
We looked up. She was coming, along with Sister Helene and the other nuns. And she did not look happy.
"Do not worry, we were just…" I tried to say, but it was too late.
She slapped me. Hard, on my cheeks. Then Tanya too.
Sister Greta was very angry. Moreover, she did not wanted to listen to us. Apparently, "trying to comfort your traumatized friend" is the same as "running away without supervision"
Moral of the story? Once we got back to the orphanage, Tanya and I were informed that we would not be allowed to join another trip for at least three months, and to crown it all we were deprived of our dinner.
An empty stomach is terrible to bear. Especially if you add to it the humiliation caused by the slap and the punishment.
Another child in my place would have been angry, and not just a little bit.
Not me.
It was true: I had caught a slap, a punishment and I would not have any more chance of freedom for a long time.
But it was worth it.
Fortunately, the nuns' punishment did not include separating us, so Tanya and I had all night to talk, chat and discuss how to take revenge on the Being X.
I knew it was not the end of my suffering. I knew it was not even the beginning of the end.
But it was the end of the beginning.
Little explanatory note
Since I think that this piece is difficult to understand, I would like to illustrate it with a small note to explain what really happened.
Tanya is still the same as the canon, ruthlessly pragmatic and relentlessly driven. The outburst she had shown in this episode was an elaborate ruse to emotionally manipulate Frederick and turn him into his willing ally-minion. However, since the chapter is from Frederick POV, there were no way for me to show it. As a result, the chapter can easily be misinterpreted.
I apologize and I will try to improve myself.
