Chapter 173 - 173: A Red Summer

During the year 1913, in much of the world—and in Germany most of all—the summer month of July passed in comfort and leisure.

Schools were closed. Offices slowed. Factories shortened their hours. The nation slipped into its annual exhale: a long, warm pause in which time felt generous and the future secure.

Across the Reich, summer settled gently. The rains stayed away. Roads shimmered beneath the heat as Muscle Motors' cars and motorcycles rolled toward the countryside, engines humming with the quiet confidence of prosperity. Buses followed, packed with families chasing the same promise—water. Inland lakes with smooth, welcoming shores. The coast beyond, where sand met sky and worries were left behind with shoes and coats.

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