Bruno was surprised when he received his morning paper along with his cup of coffee from his young maid, who personally ensured that he had these things every morning.
The announcement that the Ottoman lines had been thoroughly broken through as a result of a daring night raid, conducted under the orders of an Italian officer he was unfamiliar with, was indeed not the greatest news to receive in the morning.
To anyone else, this would be innocuous at worst and exciting at best, as it meant the war would be coming to a close sooner than expected. With that in mind, there would be less suffering in the world—if one were so inclined to care about the lives of strangers.
A rarity among the human species, to be sure, and frankly speaking, Bruno doubted such people actually existed. But to him, this news was more than troublesome.
The Italians were supposed to wait until reinforcements had arrived. A hundred thousand men were shipping off to Libya from the Italian fatherland for this very purpose.
And yet, the remainder of Italy’s initial push into North Africa had succeeded where it had not in his past life. This had moved up the timetables of the Italo-Turkish War by several months, at the very least.
Sure, in the past, things had been moved up in the timeline, largely as a result of Bruno’s own interference. For example, both the Boxer Rebellion and the Russo-Japanese War had ended earlier than they should have.
As for the Russian Civil War, it began in 1904 as a result of what should have normally been a swift and rather bloodless—at least by comparison—Russian Revolution of 1905.
But because of how thoroughly Bruno had crushed the Russian Army on behalf of his Japanese allies at Port Arthur and Mukden, the Revolution not only began earlier but also morphed into a full-fledged civil war much earlier than it should have.
These events had rather drastic impacts on world affairs but had more or less remained consistent with Bruno’s past life as far as the integrity of the timeline was concerned. However, the butterfly effect was now revealing itself in far less subtle ways.
If the Italo-Turkish War ended in 1911 rather than 1912, it would mean that the Balkan Wars would begin that much earlier. And should they end at the same rate as before—or, God forbid, even quicker, as most conflicts in this timeline had resolved themselves with such expediency—then the Great War would not begin in 1914 as it had in his past life.
Was Germany prepared to wage war against their enemies? Most certainly so. They could easily hold the line with their current preparations until sufficient numbers of U-boats, destroyers, panzers, armored cars, and biplanes were produced in significant enough numbers to push into Paris.
But was this the most ideal outcome he had spent the last ten years preparing for? Most certainly not. If the war began one or two years earlier, it would not be catastrophic, but German losses would be far more severe, let alone Russian and Austro-Hungarian losses, both of which were far behind Germany in terms of the necessary preparations for the upcoming global conflict.
As a result, Bruno gazed sternly at the paper, prompting a response from his maid, who was concerned by the expression he made as he read the news.
“Is something the matter, Mr. von Zehntner?”
Bruno looked over at his maid and shifted his expression, masking his concern with a carefree façade as he assured her everything was fine.
“Not in the slightest. I just have the misfortune of losing a slight sum of money on a wager. It is nothing you need to concern yourself with, my dear Freida.”
Bruno had always been especially polite to his employees, and for those who worked in his home, they were almost akin to family. He knew them each by name and was also all too aware of their family situations.
Freida had, over the years, grown to respect Bruno very much. While she initially developed some form of romantic inclination toward the man, as the years passed and she continued to serve as his maid, she had long since lost such interests, knowing that the man was already thoroughly infatuated with his wife.
Nor did she care to pursue her flights of fancy, as she respected Heidi too much to ever attempt such a foolish pursuit. Still, she always enjoyed how kind Bruno was and took this as an opportunity to lecture him on the sinful vice of gambling.
“While I hope you didn’t lose too much, you should be aware that gambling is bad for the soul, and I would urge you to stop while you’re still ahead.”
Heidi walked in about this time, while Bruno thanked the young woman for her moral lecture. Seeing this as a good time to help her husband escape such a thing, she was quick to point out to the young maid that she still had work to tend to.
“Freida, while I do appreciate your concern for my husband and our family as a whole, need I remind you that the laundry is still yet to be tended to?”
Upon realizing that she was shirking her duties while blathering on about morals for no particular reason, the young maid blushed and bowed her head in embarrassment, apologizing to her master’s wife and assuring her that the work would be done swiftly.
“Apologies, madam. I will go tend to it right this instant!”
With that said, the young woman scurried off like a frightened rabbit, while Bruno chuckled at her chipper attitude. Heidi was quick to ask the man what had really gotten him in such a sour mood to begin with, as she was all too aware of what was happening around the world and Bruno’s role in it.
“How bad is it?”
Bruno scratched his chin, now having some peace and quiet to silently think through the implications of this recent development, before looking over with as fearsome a gaze as when he first read the article in the paper.
“The timeline has been moved up. If things continue like this, we are looking at the outbreak of war by the start of 1914, if not even earlier. I did not expect the Italians to be so bold. General Caneva is not a man known for action, rather just the opposite.
Such a passive and cowardly man would not dare take such a risk until he had the overwhelming numbers to support his advance. Nor would I expect the Italians, of all people, to behave so courageously. They are, after all, not exactly a nation known for their martial prowess, or at least they haven’t been since we toppled their Empire in 476.”
Though the news was grim, far more so than Heidi expected it to be, she forced a smug smirk on her pretty face as she made a comment in response to Bruno’s final words, mocking him for how he chose to phrase it.
“We? I must say, I didn’t know you were personally involved in the downfall of Rome. Tell me, how exactly did you manage this, and yet still look so young here and now nearly a millennium and a half later?”
Bruno chuckled when he heard this quip from his wife. She knew just how to cheer him up when he was in a grim mood. He couldn’t help but make a comment in response, one that was somewhat true to an extent, all while raising his hands in a feigned admission of guilt.
“You got me, Heidi. I’m secretly a time traveler!”
Heidi laughed when she heard this, shaking her head at the absurdity of it. Contrary to what Bruno expected, she half-believed he was serious. Or she would have if she hadn’t known the man since they were both small children. It was no exaggeration to say the married couple had known each other for almost the entirety of their lives.
Although, this was the only reason she knew such a thing couldn’t be true. Nevertheless, Bruno had an almost uncanny ability to predict the future and had even acted on this perceived foresight to intervene on numerous occasions throughout the past few decades in order to gain favorable results for Germany.
Then there was the odd fact that he seemed to have some degree of knowledge about technology that seemed far too advanced to reasonably be invented in the current year. Sure, he did not know how they fully functioned and spent years of time and investment in talented scientists and engineers to figure it out.
But that did not mean that he himself was not responsible for the initial concept or the rough drafts that acted as proof that they could reasonably exist. On top of all of this, he had an almost divine sense when it came to sniffing out fortune.
His luck was too good when it came to economies, gaining a substantial degree of control over land, resources, and capital as he built a vast fortune off wise investments that always seemed to pay off in both the short term and the long term.
Because of all these things, Heidi had on more than one occasion suspected Bruno was either a literal prophet or someone who had come from the future. But the second of these suspicions was naturally not possible, as she had known him all of her life. Thus, she responded to this claim with a lighthearted retort.
“Had I met you as an adult, I would be certain you were, in fact, a time traveler, as you put it. But you and I have known each other since we were small children. And because of our shared past, I know such a thing can’t be true! But I’m onto you, and sooner or later, I will find out your secret. It’s only a matter of time before you slip up!”
After saying this, Heidi walked off. Talking to Bruno any further at the moment would disrupt his contemplation. She knew that if what he said was true, then he would need a long, silent moment to think through how to deal with this matter that was entirely out of his control.
