Marco woke up that morning. The sun shined down on his face through the window by his bed. A gentle wind blew through the window across the room, slightly making the curtains float. The smell of breakfast was in the air and it made Marco's stomach growl.

He got up from his bed and stretched. Outside, a few carriages drove by the house. Marco walked into the kitchen to find a man cooking some potatoes.

"Morning Pops," Marco said. The man looked up from his cooking. He had a dirtily cut beard and white hair. There was still some oil on his elbows.

"Ah, good morning Marco," Pops said. "Want some breakfast?"

"Nah," Marco replied. "School provides food for the day anyway." Pops nodded.

"All right then," he said. Marco then walked out of the kitchen back to his room.

He grabbed a bundle of clothes and went into the bathroom. He remained in there for about five minutes before he walked out with a bundle of dirty clothes. Marco put these cloths in the laundry basket. Then grabbed another bundle of clothes as well as a bag full of other stuff. Said bag had textbooks, a pen and ink, some parchment, and a uniform inside.


Ariash City, Munzo Province…

"Hey Marco!" a voice called. Marco turned around as he walked up the slightly steep hill leading up to Ariash City's Training Academy.

"Oh. Hey Leo," Marco replied. Leo had blonde hair that was messed up, a tan shirt, pants, and sandals on. He had a bundle of clothes similar to what Marco had. Aside from the bundle Leo carried something else. A sword.

"Another day at the training academy, huh?" Leo asked. Marco nodded.

"I heard we finally get some new firearms," Marco said. "I'm kinda tired of taking thirty seconds to load the next shot."

"I know right?" Leo said. "Doesn't really matter for us officer trainees, though. We got these swords!" Marco chuckled.

"Gonna be useless against guns," he said.

"Pah," replied Leo. "No one else has guns, not even the Empire." Marco sighed.

"I hope you're right…"


"UNIT! ATTEN-HUGH!"

Snap! The soldiers all snapped into attention. All wore the new standard uniforms. A white button-down shirt with a collar and two breast pockets. A pair of white pants and leather boots. A white military cap with a black visor, yellow stripe, a shining brass star in the center of said stripe, and a black ornament on top, similar to those on the ends of expensive curtains.

"Gentlemen," the instructor began. He wore a white undershirt, brown pants, a brown cap without the wide brim, a pair of glasses, and a katana at his side.

"I am aware that you all have been training with these equipment until today," he held up a smoothbore musket, "but I believe you all have handed your muskets to the local defense guards, am I right?"

"Yes sir!" everyone replied.

"Good, because from now on your new best friend," the Instructor put his hand inside a crate, "is this!"

He pulled out a gun from the crate. It was a strange little thing, with no ramrod and some exposed metal near the breech, as well as a small rod of metal poking out of the side of said exposed metal.

The trainees were tempted to take a closer look out of curiosity, but discipline kept them at bay.

"I could tell you all want to take a close look at these," the Instructor said with a smile. "But before you all touch any of these, I will demonstrate the firing process." He walked towards a target. Near said target sat a table, with six cartridges around 8cm tall.

"Gather around, don't be shy," the Instructor said. The trainees gathered around the table as the Instructor picked up the cartridges.

"First, slide this bolt back," he said as he lifted the small rod up and then back, causing the exposed metal to retract towards the butt of the gun.

"Next, load the cartridges." He slid the individual cartridges into the gap that was created by the previous step, each one on top of the other.

"Close the bolt." He slid the bolt forward again and locked the rod back in place.

"Fomt," he called to a trainee, "time me."

"Huh? Oh, yes sir!" Fomt took out a pocket watch and opened it.

"Ready sir!"

"Good," replied the Instructor. "Start timing me… NOW!"

The Instructor fired one shot, lifted and slid the bolt back, slid the bolt back in and down, and fired another shot. He fired off six shots in this fashion in a time of ten seconds. The trainees mouths dropped in awe. So much of the annoyance of firing a shot every thirty seconds had consumed them, that they never thought a firearm could fire so fast, and so accurately.

"All the shots hit the mark, sir!" another trainee replied while shaking. The Instructor nodded.

"All right then, everyone make a line, I'm going to hand each of you a rifle." For the second time in their training career, the trainees scrambled to get into a line. The last time was when they first saw muskets in action.

"Instructor Yahagi," a voice called. Yahagi turned around and found another instructor looking at him. Yahagi ran towards him.

"Something wrong, Instructor Hashida?" Yahagi asked. Hashida wore the same things Yahagi wore, except the glasses. Hashida scratched his head.

"Well," he began, "The new weapons I'm waiting for have not arrived yet." Yahagi blinked in confusion.

"New weapons?" he asked. "But the rifles and machine guns are already here."

"I don't train infantry anymore, Yahagi," Hashida replied. "My men are now tankers." Yahagi shifted his eyebrows before his eyes widened in realization.

"Tanks!?" Hashida nodded.

"Some of your trainees are to be transferred to my class, by the way." said Hashida. Yahagi sighed.

"Tell me who they once the tanks are here," he said. Hashida nodded.

"Got it."

Instructor Yahagi walked back to the trainees. Some were trying out the new rifles. Others were examining a strange device mounted on a tripod.

"Instructor!" a trainee called. "What is this?" Yahagi walked up to the contraption.

"Ah," Yahagi began. "This is a machine gun." He then began explaining on how this Maxim machine gun worked.


Marco slowly slid the bolt of his rifle back. An empty cartridge flew out of the breach and hit the ground. He lowered his rifle and reloaded another six cartridges. A smile slowly crept across his face.


Author's notes: Hey y'all, it's Karl the Arty! Perhaps it is time that the political situation of this world we're dealing with be explained.

The main setting is Munzo, a rebellious territory of the Empire. North of Munzo is Gallada (pronounced ga-sha-da), a province that is loyal to the Empire. West of Munzo is Slavasi, another loyal province but there seems to be periodical uprisings recently. East and south of Munzo is the Felidian Empire. If the Empire is Ancient Rome, then Felidia is Ancient Greece.

Felidia wants revenge on the Empire, Munzo wants independence from the Empire, Slavasi doesn't know what the f*** to do, and the Imperial Mainland is being held at gunpoint by Japan.

Thus is the political situation.

Thanks for reading. Please follow, review, review, and review. It motivates me to write more.