Reincarnated as Nikolai II

Chapter 299: Chess of Giants (7)

Adolf Hitler.

Born in 1889 in Austria, he spent seven years as a stateless person from 1925 before rising to the position of Führer, which means "Leader and Reich Chancellor," after Hindenburg's death.

When I faced him directly, not as the dynamic black-and-white photograph with a frowning expression waving his hands that I'd seen in newspapers, my first impression was:

'Forty-six... He's young.'

That he was exceedingly young.

People often talk about the gap between generations. How different his era was from mine was flowing from his every attitude.

The driving force moving that body would still be confidence and conviction, and the basis for his judgments would be limited experience and shallow knowledge.

If one's personal experience and knowledge are lacking, one naturally relies on those around them. His advisors, steeped in Nazi ideology, would surround the Führer and run the country.

In other words, no matter how proactive Adolf tries to be, the limitations of a young national leader would be clear.

"In 1923, when I was thirty-four, I went to prison. The reason was laughable. Just because a few Nazi Party members ran out of a pub, I was charged with attempted coup—it was absurd."

He can never surpass the Nazi I know.

Certainly, I was convinced of this until our conversation began.

"They say I wanted to become Mussolini. The Duce of Italy who seized power through the March on Rome during the country's chaos."

"I remember the newspapers described you as an imitator of the Duce, wasn't that right?"

"Of course not. One shouldn't grasp power through such illegal and unjust methods. If you truly want to change a country, shouldn't you start by obeying the law?"

But as the conversation continued:

"I didn't want to become the Duce. To put it simply, yes, I should say I hoped our conspiracy would fail."

"...So you became a celebrity thanks to that failure."

The more his cocky smile showed confidence and conviction, with his lip corners rising:

"And exactly ten years after my name became known for the coup charges, the canvas was spread, and I gained color."

"Color..."

"Now I'm in the process of painting this country, the German Republic, with that color. This is my story."

I felt he wasn't talking to me while looking at me, but rather pouring out to an illusion behind me.

Like an interviewee confidently presenting a self-introduction to an interviewer.

Adolf's explanation ended there.

Now it was my turn to respond.

"Hmm..."

How should I answer?

Should I just agree appropriately and send back this young national leader full of confidence, or should I properly give him my evaluation?

After briefly contemplating, I decided to answer him with a bit of packaging.

"How do I put this? I find the Führer's life truly difficult to empathize with."

His biographical life story speaks as if hardships are over, and only a bright future remains where he can freely wield the power he holds.

"For me, difficulty has always been not about personal crisis but about the survival of the state."

Moreover, as Director Bronstein interpreted, he might be trying to transpose his life onto mine, confronting and comparing, and ultimately trying to stand superior.

"Similarly, color? Leading a country isn't like the concerns of an adolescent boy realizing his self-identity and seeking life's answers. It's something more profound and difficult."

"But the national leader and the nation's destiny are on the same line in that they pursue 'perfection.'"

"No. If I kill someone I dislike, the state can't be punished for murder, can it? Don't go into ideology, just look at reality. No matter how outstanding a leader is, as a human, they're bound to die. But the state must continue living after their death."

He came to me and boasted about how thorough and perfect his life was.

Ten years of waiting. A long, long design. And then the seizure of power and a country running according to his taste.

But if there's something our Führer misunderstands:

"We are merely bodies that will rot and become dirt someday. Just no different from any passerby on the street, just human."

The fact that he and I are ultimately just humans made of blood and flesh.

I wonder what part of my answer touched his sensitive spot.

"Then... what reason is there for the Romanov family to rule this country?"

Finally, the Führer began to show emotion.

Indeed, perhaps because he was young, he was utterly imperfect.

==

There was a time, though shamefully, when I couldn't deny my admiration.

'Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov.'

The imperial family of noble lineage that Junkers wouldn't dare to compare themselves to.

A man who had, through sheer force of will and brilliance, proven his individual ability with such undeniable authority that it made his already illustrious bloodline seem pale and inadequate in comparison. His personal achievements towered over the accumulated prestige of generations.

Describing him as Homo sapiens like the masses fails to explain the gap, like that between ancient Neanderthals and modern Homo sapiens.

The emperor named Nicholas is such a human.

A machine-like human whose mind and capabilities encompass all fields of endeavor and knowledge, a singular person who has, through actions rather than inheritance, personally demonstrated the extraordinary extent to which an individual can reverse the seemingly immutable fate of an entire country and all those souls belonging to it. Where others saw inevitability, he created possibility; where others accepted decline, he forged renewal.

But:

"As your senior by about thirty years, I say this, so don't take it too personally."

The man who runs at the end of the direction one seeks to advance says:

"Now that I think about it, I wonder if committing acts that future generations cannot handle is not a sin. Regardless of my achievements, the country has a capacity, and the same applies to individuals. The way to surpass that? I'd like to call it arrogance and gambling."

"Aren't you educating your successor? Isn't that because you don't trust the public's choice?"

"What are you saying? The public will elect those who will rule them through the Duma's election, and they will take responsibility for it physically. There will be trial and error, and they'll repeat mistakes, forgetting the past, but... well, they'll grow."