I, transformed into a vampire girl, sparked the Industrial Revolution.

Chapter 121 Frontline Friction

The earth was once again tinged with white. On the eastern border of Brittany, wisps of smoke rose from the trenches. Soldiers in olive-green uniforms and M35 helmets picked up their steel mess kits. Today's breakfast was a typical pasta meal, but it was called Southern Pasta.

Hot coffee and hot food were a rare treat for soldiers who had been eating bread in the trenches for half a month. The Brittany front was not as well-off as the northern front, and supplies were all by sea, so naturally they wouldn't receive much more. However, compared to the Republican army, at least they could have three meals a day.

Today's meal is a special one for the New Year.

"Give me one, Best, I know you've got a Lucky Strike hidden in there!"

A soldier glanced at his friend and patted his pocket, where an irregular square protruded—a treat that was common, at least in the Amerlane army.

"Alright, Case, stop yelling. Do you want the whole world to know how many your good buddies are hiding?"

The soldier named Best handed a stick to his friend from his pocket, who then put down his lunchbox and began twirling noodles with tomato sauce and chicken with his knife and fork.

At least he wouldn't have to eat unpalatable canned meat. He thought to himself that having hot food in such cold weather was a rare treat, but he still had a bad feeling. In addition to uniforms, cotton-padded coats had been issued to them. Many people in his battalion were wrapped in thick olive-green cotton-padded coats, while he hadn't seen any on the other side for a long time.

A commotion arose, and he put down his lunchbox, which he had already finished eating, and looked toward the source of the noise. The patrol team had returned, but they looked disheveled. He asked his comrade next to him.

"Hey friend, what's going on?"

"The Southerners attacked our patrols, and they were badly beaten."

"Depend on."

Suddenly he heard something mixed with the wind and snow, a unique roar, but whatever it was, it grew louder and louder, and someone shouted—"Artillery fire!"

"Damn!!!"

He lunged towards the nearby foxhole. The strange whistling sound turned into an explosion—enemy artillery had bombarded their position! What was happening? His mouth gaped open, his hands covered his ears, and he curled up on the ground.

The shelling ended quickly. Case peeked out of the bunker where his Carcano rifle lay in the trench. He grabbed it and the officer shouted for them to take their firing positions. Like everyone else, he straightened his helmet. A roar began behind them—the sound of their own artillery firing.

"Enemy attack——"

The Southerners attacked, a sparse skirmish line. In the woods, those blurry figures gradually approached, bullets flying everywhere. He heard machine guns firing. There were many machine guns on their positions, MG3s for squads and water-cooled Maxims, using the same type of ammunition as the rifle in his hand.

"Fire!"

He pulled the trigger, not caring where the bullets went, since a machine gun was enough—he had seen an entire battalion turn into a pile of corpses under a single machine gun. As long as those ugly behemoths were still firing, the position would not be breached, not to mention he had thousands of brothers by his side.

This was a probe, or a reconnaissance mission. He didn't understand these terms; he was just a private. His platoon leader shouted, "Cease fire!" followed by his squad. Then he let out a long sigh.

Today was definitely not an ordinary day, he thought. He pulled back the bolt and fired three bullets. He then loaded three more bullets into the rifle to make sure he had enough ammunition.

The Southern Army's actions were becoming more and more frequent. Alice stood inside the Western Command headquarters. After the Monarchy destroyed the pirate port, it arrived at Caro Port, which was now the Western Command headquarters.

The Western Theater Command had three offensive directions: the Fourth Army would advance north to break through the enemy lines along the Gyalamandi line and join forces with the Northern Theater Command; the Fifth Army would advance east to attack from the capital and divide the battlefield; and the Sixth Army would advance south to attack the coastline of the Ruvatu region.

Whether it's the Garlemandi front, the eastern front, or the Ruvatu region, the southern army has launched nearly a hundred probing attacks in the past month.

"Hmph, we're not stupid. They're trying to find a weak point in our defense."

Alice thought to herself that the Southern army commander was no fool. He was testing the waters. The troop deployment along the Garlean Di line in the north was decreasing from west to east. They also knew that once the war started, that area would be impossible to hold.

But that was a point that had to be taken. Alice pondered this, turning her gaze southward—where exactly had the enemy deployed their main force? That was the question.

She suddenly looked eastward, towards the south where the Balkan Empire bordered. He quickly realized that the area around the capital was actually the area they should be defending most, since most of their supplies came from abroad.

The first wave of attack should not have come from Brittany, but from the Kosoya region, where the 12th Army of the Eastern Theater is stationed. However, it is not capable of offensive operations; it is a force stationed in Las Vegas and should not be moved at this time.

"Send my order to the Joint Operations Command, and tell the Central Theater Command to transfer their two army groups to the Kosoya region. After all, they are heading straight for the Auvers-Provence area and will control our eastern border!"

"Yes!"

The communications officer accepted the order and left. Alice looked south again. To the southeast of Brittany was an inland sea running southwest to northeast. The Demon Kingdom's capital was built on one side of the inland sea. South of the inland sea, the land where the capital was located was covered with a network of rivers. Each river here could accommodate ships of nearly 10,000 tons. This is why the capital, despite being located inland, had a natural harbor. The recessed inland sea was like a giant natural shelter.

Further south, the southern border of the entire country is actually a front line that stretches hundreds of kilometers from north to south and thousands of kilometers from east to west. The Church has been operating on the border between the Rorma Peninsula and the mainland for hundreds of years. During these hundreds of years of war between the demons and the Church, they built a powerful defensive fortification called the Holy Wall.

The demon troops stationed here have never been involved in internal affairs since ancient times. Alice doesn't know the situation of the border garrison, but she knows that Ekvich will most likely use them as a pretext. In short, the southern offensive is not just a military issue, but also a political one.

This is not a good situation, she thought.