LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 83
* * *
It’s about that time.
I called back some of the ones like Beria, except for the Okhrana unit dispatched to America.
They said they couldn’t find Trotsky.
Well, finding Trotsky was really only if “we can find him.”
It’s not surprising that we couldn’t locate Trotsky, who crossed the Atlantic early, thanks to the whims of history.
“Did you not find Trotsky?”
“Yes. We could not find him. I apologize.”
Beria hung his head.
What a truly insincere little brat. Of course, he might have genuinely tried to find Trotsky, but he’s being so obvious about acting in front of me.
Yeah, he must want to ride my coattails that much.
“This guy’s been working really hard. He even nearly captured some communists in America.”
“Were there any suspicious points? Didn’t anyone resemble him?”
This is Trotsky, who fled to survive, whether willingly or unwillingly, from Petrograd.
He must have disguised himself to avoid the Okhrana.
Then we should have at least found someone similar.
“I did see someone who looked like Trotsky, but I didn’t meet him directly.”
What does that even mean?
You saw someone who looked like Trotsky but didn’t meet him face to face.
Did he just see a photo or something?
I wouldn’t need to make excuses; I would let it slide, but it’s kind of annoying.
“You didn’t meet him directly?”
“There was a model of an old man frying chicken, and it did look somewhat like Trotsky. I even heard him say he wanted to meet that guy in person.”
An Okhrana agent standing next to Beria handed me a photo.
It was a model in front of some fast-food joint.
What the heck, it looks just like the KFC guy!
Trotsky plump and smiling, holding a chicken leg is exactly this!
Isn’t KFC supposed to come out decades later than this?
“Hmm. This is definitely a model of that KFC old man.”
“Excuse me?”
Oh, it slipped out before I realized.
It really looked just like that old man, so I momentarily mistook it.
It’s not even time for KFC to be around yet, so this can’t be KFC.
“No? You didn’t actually meet this guy?”
He probably didn’t meet him.
Looking at what Beria is doing, he seems to have seen Trotsky from a distance a lot.
I don’t know if he learned it from pushing the people around while the Bolsheviks were bumbling, but if he had met him directly, he would have recognized him immediately.
“Yes. Is this guy Trotsky?”
Beria asked me as if I had some special foresight.
Yeah, that’s gotta be Trotsky.
Unless Colonel Sanders, the founder of KFC, reverted back in time like me and said, “I’m going to fry chickens faster!” and tried to create chicken decades earlier, that’s probably Trotsky.
Could it be that the revolutionary Trotsky is frying chicken?
He might be doing something from behind the scenes, though.
Is this dude really frying chicken?
Fried chicken. Honestly, I can’t help but crave it.
Isn’t there a theory that fried chicken has roots in Black slavery?
During this time, Black people are still facing racial discrimination and are treated poorly.
For some reason, I can’t shake the feeling that Trotsky is probably rallying the Black folks while frying chicken and planning something.
Hmm.
If my hypothesis holds water, this could be a money-making opportunity.
Imagine Trotsky stirring up the Blacks and starting a revolution. Sure, the American class structure wouldn’t crumble overnight, but if he managed to rally Blacks and Communists, he could lead us to a Civil War.
Rather than capture this guy, if I just keep an eye on him, something’s bound to break.
If I can cleverly intervene,
maybe I can milk some money from the Yankees?
With Patton around, we could send him back.
If other agents hadn’t stopped him, Beria would have eventually managed to find Trotsky.
So, is there really a need to capture him now?
America is an ally of modern Korea and the Land of the Free, but I don’t need to resolve that side of things for the sake of my past life right now.
Instead, I could let this Trotsky grow a little more and intervene later.
“I wouldn’t know what to do. If I dig around too long and get found out as Okhrana, it might turn into a diplomatic issue, so let’s just establish a branch in America.”
Let’s create an Okhrana branch and report periodically. Hmm, for now, let’s casually call it TFC.
I should keep an eye on Trotsky’s TFC.
It feels like TFC could really blow up in America.
“So, what should I do now?”
In the brief moment of thought, Beria carefully asked, looking at me.
Ah, I see. He’s definitely got that slave mentality ingrained in him.
That’s a good attitude.
He must be afraid I’ll punish him for not catching Trotsky, so he throws the ball to me first as in “What should I do? I’m Tsarina’s slave.”
For now, keeping him as an Okhrana agent wouldn’t be a bad idea.
“Beria, I’ll formally appoint you as an Okhrana agent. For now, keep an eye on the movements of Grand Duke Kirill in Finland.”
He’s not even a Grand Duke anymore. But for the sake of mocking him, I should call him this much.
No matter what he does in Finland, in the end, I’m still the Tsar! Besides, I need to keep some pressure on him so he can’t do anything unnecessary.
“What if he does something suspicious?”
“For example?”
This guy’s eyes are shining dangerously.
Let’s see if he can say something interesting.
If he opens his mouth, it could be worth listening to.
“Isn’t it possible that he could declare himself the true heir to the Tsar and infringe upon your authority?”
This guy’s quite sharp for a named character.
He’s right about claiming to be the Tsar. It’s not wrong.
Beria sure knows how to work that brain of his.
“That’s not going to happen, but hmm. Yeah. If he really did, just give him a warning. I can’t kill him; after all, he is Vladimir’s father.”
No matter how much he backstabs me, I can’t kill him.
Even if he claims to be the Tsar now, he was treated like an idiot among the Romanov royals in the original history.
If he suddenly claims to be Tsar now, wouldn’t people just think he’s lost his marbles?
I did rough him up, but Kirill doesn’t lack the sense to realize that.
There’s a clear hierarchy when there’s this kind of relationship.
“I understand. Your Majesty.”
Beria and the Okhrana retreated.
I hope KFC doesn’t vanish from existence.
It’d be great if a Civil War among the Blacks breaks out.
I stood up from my seat and stood by the window.
As spring arrives, the weather has warmed up quite a bit, and it’s a nice sunny day.
It’s been a long time since there’s been a day without grading, so let me think.
Alright, let’s draw a future.
I need to be careful and think through various variables.
For starters, Germany can use Poland as a hunting dog to bite at things while they continue weapons development.
Things are progressing here according to plan. Then, ultimately, it comes down to America.
How will Trotsky act?
Let’s say my guess is right and he stirs up the Blacks and other people of color.
It’s hard to spark a Communist revolution in America right away, so Trotsky will definitely try to incorporate the Blacks who are discriminated against in American society.
If Trotsky is lucky enough to rally the Blacks and Communists and stir things up to incite a Civil War,
The second American Civil War will be a Black vs. White conflict.
A Civil War between Blacks and Whites. How the war will split America like the North and South, no one knows.
For now, when Trotsky observes the situation, the Great Depression will likely hit, and that’s when things could go south.
If the Civil War truly breaks out, America will have no choice but to seek foreign help.
France, having suffered the costs of the Great War, is out of the question,
And England, considering the original history, surely has a lot to worry about, so they might not be willing to intervene. I doubt they’d even have the troops to help.
Neither Communist Germany nor Communist Italy are worth mentioning.
The only choice left would be Russia, which despises Communists and has a large army of soldiers born from the blood of Communists.
It’s obvious who they’ll lean on, isn’t it?
Of course, the world won’t just roll along as I expect.
America is a big place.
Trotsky could suddenly die, or it might just turn into Trotsky’s Black Chicken Club.
Trotsky could end up going off the rails and start even an organization devoted to Black rights or something.
What if things go according to my predictions?
How about we get Alaska returned?
Depending on how the Civil War plays out, I could even dream of reclaiming all the former Russian territory in America. So then I’d take all the way up to Northern California.
When Russia was expanding into America, the Spaniards freaked out upon seeing Russians come to hunt near their colonies in California.
I remember hearing they even built a fortress near San Francisco.
They advanced to even some parts of Hawaii and were building fortifications until they faced protests.
Of course, these ideas only hold if things go exceptionally well.
If all this fails,
Just having the chicken man Trotsky under surveillance for when I want to catch him wouldn’t be bad either.
If he’s unable to start a Communist revolution, leaving him alive wouldn’t be such a bad option.
If it gets out that the Okhrana has infiltrated America, it could become a nuisance at the White House.
Then if the chance to rake in cash disappears,
Well, then I’ll have to rely entirely on Russian resources and hoard that money.
I’d have to seize the opportunity and make at least one nuclear weapon with Russian capital.
Just one for experimentation. One to shoot at Germany, that sort of thing.
Let’s sketch out some blueprints.
I’d sell resources to Japan,
Chen Zhongming’s theory of autonomous governance in China might not hold up against Japan as it did in original history, but Japan is bound to engage in a fierce fight against China and the US while being supported a bit.
Oh, wait a second.
What if I sell oil and they don’t go to war against America?
The reason behind the attack on America is complex, but I don’t know how the snowball I’ve started will roll.
Moreover, it’s uncertain whether the Axis powers will come to fruition, and I must watch the situation for now.
I can’t predict if the Pearl Harbor attack will actually happen.
Then I’d just need to carefully keep my hands in the pockets.
It’d be nice if the US, China, and Japan could force each other into excessive bleed-out. For now, let’s leave it at this level.
Look outside that window. The reconstruction of Moscow has now progressed to a considerable extent.
It’s not perfect, but at least it’s been developed well enough that when the German army charges in and bombs, I won’t have to lament about “Oh my city!” while pounding the ground in tears.
The damage from the Civil War has mostly passed now. So, should we decide on the capital issue?
More precisely, as I officially resolve the capital issue, I’m thinking about dealing with the remains of the Tsar family that are carelessly left in the Yekaterinburg graveyard.
To do that, I need to present some opinions in the National Duma.
After all, I’m the grading teacher.
At the very least, I believe this issue should be solved by Tsarina Anastasia, the daughter of Nicholas II.
By now, Georgy Lvov would be educating Vladimir, right?
I’ll call on him.
* * *
“Did you call for me?”
Georgy Lvov arrived really quickly.
He seems to have just taught Vladimir and returned.
“Is Vladimir learning well?”
“He’s still young, so the future is uncertain, but he’s quite intelligent now. At least, he doesn’t seem inclined to follow the same path as Grand Duke Kirill.”
That’s good. It’d be a problem if he turns out to be a greedy opportunist like Grand Duke Kirill.
I thank heaven that I had him attached to Lvov from an early age.
“That’s a relief.”
“Are you perhaps dreaming of absolute rule again, Your Majesty?”
Of course not.
There’s no way I would dream of absolute rule.
“The royal house must remain the focal point for Russians, and power must solely arise from the National Duma and the hands of the citizens supporting the Duma.”
“I see.”
This hasn’t changed even now.
I’m a free person and not a fool.
I was originally Korean, and though I have my biases against monarchy, it can work with constitutional monarchy.
In any case, for this Romanov family to maintain itself after my death, it must be sustained by the National Duma.
If I were to dream of absolute rule, there would be those even in the White Army who would think otherwise.
So I absolutely do not entertain such thoughts.
“After he turns mid-teens, I plan to have him try a soldier’s life under the White Army.”
At least if I raise supporting factions after me, they’ll treat him like a Tsar in the National Duma.
“Hmm, since there’s a position for the Tsar, you’re considering the support of the military.”
As Georgy Lvov stroked his bearded chin, he spoke like that.
Yeah, usually that’s how it would be perceived.