Disclaimer

The Drawings and Audio works are taken without permission. All credit for the drawings should go to their creators (eg; not me) who are... Mysterious Masked Interweb People! Or the MMIP for short! Actually I haven't the foggiest who they are but the MMIP are cool!

Minasan Ohayoo! (???)?

Firstly, I would like to thank AnmesicCat for letting me post this fanfic that touches lightly on a dark period of human history.

Secondly, I want to thank all the people who read my work. That people gave it a chance to grow and read past chapter 1, letting me address the glaring issues at my own pace (like a story teller should)instead of rushing and dumping everything in one chapter... I humbly thank you all. That people created accounts just to say it was good..... I am touched (I do notice these things, I tend to proof read my work even when posted). I remembered when I had a conservative estimate of 100 readers... now its like 300 O_O unless people have been refreshing pages alot hahaha. Anyway, i thank you all again.

If people haven't noticed yet, the chapters are written with a anime style format, hell the whole thing is anime inspired, and this is the first time I have ever written in such volume just for a story. I will now from time to time, update Gerhard's stats but this tale is more about the story rather than the game. Although that doesnt mean there won't be more mayhem and bloodshed...on the contrary, expect Gerhard to be embroiled more and more into the politics of Royal Road as he truly 'starts' his journey in season 2.

And also about the first four chapters.... when they were made, it was rushed with only hrs in between... I always felt it could be better and thats why they are all now re-released with added content at the bottom in the form of Gerhard's life from the period of 1937-1943. As we were drawing closer to the end of the season, I realised that i never did expand on his wife, his life as a soldier, his family and thus I added the flashback scenes to chapter 1-4 because i was inspired by the chapter special of 5.5. Also it allowed me to clarify INTENSELY one thing that some not very...astute readers seemed keen to often overlook. The main character is NO nazi.... I do not support Nazism or its modern equivalent. The point is this, if you are born in a country that is spiraling towards hatred, but your entire family is tied to that nation, what would you do? That your family has a tradition of military service but the government has been taken over by extremists, what would you do? That you are bound by military law to follow orders or face execution what WOULD YOU DO? You can never understand what these people have been through, I CAN'T even begin to imagine it, trapped in a system to the death. Not all Germans were Nazis, just as not all Americans eat mc donalds, that not all Russians are communists, that not all British worship soccer....actually I may be wrong on that last count. Anyway....

Also Chapter 4 is a little departure from 1-3, in that it mirrored to some extent what happened in RR chapter 4 like the first 3 flashbacks did however I decided to end it on a darker note, to transition into the beginning of chapter 5. Because in real life, things will often never go your way. It seems my FF have gone from shounen to seinen after the 4th episode. :lol:

Currently the last remaining chapters will be proofread by Vindrueelsker and then their Prefix will change to match all the other episodes. Also I was slightly embarrassed by some mistakes I did in the last chapter of the season... so I will release only after Vin has proofread my work. So if its late please blame him ahahahah. So the season 2 release date is all dependent on him...feel free to lynch him ?(??´)? ?(??´)? ?(??´)? ?(??´)?

And just so everyone have a preview of the next season.....the colour is pink.

This is ShrimpSamurai signing out. (?^?)?

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Previous Afterwords and Notes;

Gerhard von Natzmer is based on a real character who served in the Großdeutschland division. A real hard ass of a character. The medals i mentioned in passing.... he really DID earn them.

Background:

Gerhard von Natzmer is actually Gerhard Konopke

Born 27 March 1911, Tirschtiegel , in the story he was born 27 March 1920. See what i did there? lol. Making him 19 years of age when World War 2 started.

And his war time decorations;

• Iron Cross (1939)

• 2nd Class (18 January 1941)

• 1st Class (1 July 1941)

• Wound Badge

• in Black

• in Silver

• in Gold

• Eastern Front Medal

• Infantry Assault Badge

• 4 Tank Destruction Badges for Individual Combatants

• Close Combat Clasp in Gold (25 June 1943)

• German Cross in Gold (9 October 1942)

• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 29 August 1943 as Oberleutnant der Reserves and commander of II. / Grenadier-Regiment "Großdeutschland"

Fought in;

• Invasion of Poland

• Battle of Belgium

• Battle of France

• Operation Barbarossa

• Battle of Smolensk (1941)

• Battle of Moscow

• Battles of Rzhev

• Battle of Voronezh (1942)

• Battle of Stalingrad

• Battle of Kursk

• Battle of Berlin

And at the time of his de-enlistment....yup he survived all those years of war from beginning to end.... his final rank was Major.

Personality:

The character is based on two ex soldiers I have known who fought in the Vietnam and Korean war. And one of them happened to belong to a long line of Prussian military men dating past the First World War, his grandfather I believe fought against the allies in WW1, his father for the allies in WW2, his brothers in Korea and he himself in Vietnam. Now his son has fought in Iraq and last I heard was in Afghanistan. All these men were in the infantry. They have seen war up close and personal. These are not desk job warriors but in your face with bayonets kind.

However both men are very humble and polite, both don't take life too seriously and both.... have traumas from their war time past. This was explored a little deeper in chapter 3... especially the winter reference... for the Korean veteran the snow reminded him too much of blood on ice, of constant gunfire and insane charges by the enemy... for the vietnam veteran... the only true safe place for him was in buildings surrounded by walls. But, like all old men they loved telling stories and I happened to love listening to them.

As for why the current character is so awesomely a chick magnet... thats based on me. :lol: Actually that came about by chance. As I was writing the fact that his clothes had become rags from battle damage in chapter 2... I thought "Heeey, wonder what happens if a girl see a gorgeous man in such a state". Instantly instead of the plain look I had planned, he transformed into super model material haha. As for the singing part... I happened to listen to German folk songs at the time of writing.... and it kinda got added to the character (-_- ;;) Originally I wanted him to be a paladin (in chapter 2 the groundwork was laid out already for it) but by chapter 3 I wanted him to have a reason to sing, and so a new class was born. Just trying to figure out the prerequisites to gain skills and stats was a major headache (2 hrs worth..) and I have to thank the guys on chat for clarifying a few things with me. And chapter 4 was basically .... hell i don't even know why I wrote a new character in lol. Don't worry, it will work out somehow by chapter 5....I hope.....(which it hadn't lol.... looking back on this i cringe haha. I will solve it eventually)

oh and for those who don't know what a Sutton Hoo helm looks like since I keep mentioning it, its this.

Sexy right?