"It wasn't the best," Hierd got out of bed; "but atleast I had it."
At morning; the cabin was deadly cold. He had prepared a blanket, yet his nose was stuffy and he was shivering still. Summoning a woolen great coat; he made himself comfy as he stepped outdoors whilst holding a briefcase on his right hand.
—
Stepping forth, he knocked on the door.
"Good Morning, sir." Naturvege answered,
"Good Morning," Hierd stepped inside, "are they here?"
"They are not, sir."
"Alright." Hierd walked over to the dining room while Naturvege went towards the kitchen, brewing something with two cups. "What is that, you're making?" He questioned.
"Halion tea," he answered; bringing his creation and laying it for Hierd onto the table.
Hierd grabbed and took a sip, it was rather sweet. "I did not expect for Halion tea to be this sweet. Tea is meant to calm, not to overbare a mind with sugar."
"I… Apologize, I have others-"
"No, no." Hierd stopped him, "it would be a waste to throw it away."
Naturvege sat directly opposite his seat, he looked as if he wanted to say something; so Hierd urged him to say what he wanted to say.
"The book, sir." Naturvege released it from his lap, laying the big book onto the table. "Was very. Very insightful."
"I'm glad you find it that way-"
"To think," Naturvege interjected. "Your country controlled just about two continents is beyond my imagination."
Gushing out of his mouth; Hierd spilled the tea he drunk.
"Nazis! They were a part of the book! Well of course they would've been, it's a history book; but I had not foresaw this."
"Lord? What seems to be the problem?"
"Sorry, it was nothing." He formulated a response, "But yes, my country is powerful, more so than any country in our history. But even the greatest of countries can fumble and be defeated."
"Ah," Naturvege blurted, "please don't be so humble before me."
A knock.
"I'll get it." Naturvege said, "Enjoy your tea."
Hierd heard the door open and a stampede of footsteps enter.
"Great, they are all here." Hier thought, seeing the four of his squad leaders standing before him."
"Good Morning, Lord." The group of four had said like it was rehearesed just last night.
"Good Morning, please, have a seat..." Hierd replied with a forced smile.
The four awkwardly made their way opposite where Hierd sat.
The four of them had worn their best clothes, which was not as fashionable as a normal T-shirt but it was not as torn and worn as what they wore yesterday.
"Sir, if I may be direct, what is the reason of our debriefing?" Heduc said.
"Honestly I do… Not… Know… I'm ripping myself a new ass here..." Hierd chuckled internally.
"The concept of a leader is not new to you all." Hierd laid the suitcase he brought, letting it fall on the wooden table. "So the concept of squad leader should not be so hard to grasp. Basically, you are the helms of your own group of people. You will guide under my guidance. You may make your own professional decisions in battle, however my word takes priority over anything else."
"Excuse... Me, sir," This time it was Jeane, "But what... Is a sq-uad...?"
"A group of ten armed footmen, soldiers, knights, just that there are ten men in it."
She nodded slowly.
"I have a question... Lord..." Asked Vedal.
"Ask away."
"What is… That box for?"
Hierd smirked, opening the box slowly and dramatically; drumming up the suspense. And they were throughly suprised at the reveal.
"These pistols are the Mauser C96," -he grabbed one- "semi-automatic, stripper-clip fed pistols that differ from the Luger I had showed the day prior."
Heduc and Naturvege ogled the metal and the great-looking machinery. "Entirely perfect," added Heduc, "I myself am I blacksmith, and the fact that the ones who made this had perfected their craftsmanship to such an amount makes me… Truly humbled."
Hierd chortled, seeing the others not 'as' pronounced in their admiring over the weapons. "I will give you these pistols for your daily carry. It is your duty as leader to maintain your troops, as it is also to maintain your weapons. Like a blade, wipe it and maintain it daily; and make sure it stays functioning. Here. A manual too."
They troubled themselves with reading the manual, finding it rather easy to understand, expecially with the easily readable drawn pictures. They processed the information's fine print without a hitch.
He put his hand under the table again.
"Give me four... Whatchamacallit? Ah! Four pistol holsters for the Luger."
[request granted]
"And these, are holsters." He picked up his own Luger which was on his holster. "You insert your pistol inside it. Carry it at all times. Ah, you place the holster onto your belt and not anywhere else, particularly on the same place you lace your scabbard."
"We are swordsmen; our drawing time would be greatly reduced if our non-dominant hand unsheathed it; and then swashed it over then to our dominant!"
"Ah, but you miss one thing." Hierd mused; "a sword is considered dead weight in a sword-to-gun battle!"
They thought deeply. "I've been thinking too shallow," thought Heduc, "these are not bows, not minature bows either. These are… Guns. I've observed it from the start of Hierd's training, when he was just introducing himself. It was a simple click. And what did he say? 'Semi-Automatic?' If it is true that it is, automatic; in-some-way, then… These are truly what he says they are. Dead weight."
Naturvege stared under the table, questioning to himself how and where did Hierd get such things without his noticing, he didn't even bring a bag or something for that stuff, was it hidden? A compartment he hadn't known for years!?
Seeing Hierd do it, they copied his movements. The four stood up and inserted it into their belts. They unbuckled the button on the holster and put inside the Mausers.
"Alright…" Hierd finished his cup of tea, "gather your squads, head to their houses to wake them and then readily march them onward to the field. This shall be your first assignment."
"Yes, lord!"
"Stop!" Hierd yelled, making them freeze in their place, "reply to me now in my current position. Captain, and say that too to your subordinates."
While the rest were unsure, Heduc decided to take lead. "Yes, Captain!"
Hierd smiled, "Now go!"
They all ran towards the door, and as soon as the last was out, Hierd saw the chief eyeing out Hierd. "Captain! Can I get something like what you wear?" He jokingly put it.
"My uniform?" Hierd questioned. "If I can, I'll get one for you."
"Don't you need my measurements Captain?"
"There's no need, my country's magical."
Naturvege nodded, turned back and smiled with a fist pump to the air he mumbled to himself; "I finally got it!"
Ten minutes had passed since that previous encounter, and his squad leaders and the footmen were all doodling about the grassy field.
The footmen were in five columns, the four squad leaders up front, waiting for the captain. They were lenient at the point that they could talk to each other but not too lenient where they could move around the formation. When suddenly, Hierd appeared over by the distance where the trees and village were.
"Get back to formation! Captain Hierd is here!"
They all stood ready and stiff, with stern faces. But within all were excited to witness and to hold the Kar98ks.
Hierd had a graceful, strong stride, slowing into a walk as he soon neared the front of the platoon. Stopping with a stomp; "Today!" He paused to take a look at the formation; "Today you will finally hold the Kar98k!"
"Has everyone ate today?!" Alrife exclaimed.
"Yes, captain!" They all shouted, and most certainly did they look energetic enough.
The crowd looked unexcited, but their eyes and minds had all the excitement contained. Hierd, like yesterday, flicked his finger. Like magic, Alrife came moving in the box from yesterday.
Carried within; were the Kar98ks. As Alrife reached the front and near Hierd, he stopped and Hierd continued; "I shall distribute everyone their Kar98k by every squad starting from the first one. You shall be given a manual on how to use these and a clip..." But, he recollected that this is the middle ages. "A clip is what powers the fire within."
The crowd had a hidden; "Ahhh..."
"As I said, you are to keep and to make sure it gets the upmost care. You are to carry these around like these were a bracelet given to by your child." He took a deep breath before, "However, the footmen who are not as strong as the ones who shall recieve it will not be able to participate in the firing practice and instead be trained for using the gun's bayonet. You shall recieve my word if you are fit or not fit enough to wield the weapon. Once you recieve your gun, you will put the strap on as if it were a shoulder bag, mind you, the barrel should face up. Now I shall start giving it to you."
Heduc started to move forward and directed his men towards Hierd's direction. He then walked all the way to the back of his squad's line. To the first footman and to all; Hierd gave them the Kar98k with it vertical (the barrel facing up) a fully loaded magazine and a small manual. From the first at did the last, they all strapped it first without having their inner jovialness intrude in the 'ceremony.'
It took an hour for the 'ceremony' to finish.
Hierd had just finished the last man, the sun was still acute with the earth but Hierd knew that he had to hurry. "To all the men unfit to train please go to Alrife, to all the men fit the handle the weapon come to me."
"Here comes the thing I've prepared. I gave and I trained Alrife the day before about bayonets... (If you can even call it a training its more like a demonstration). Now, I don't know anything about guns but if the internet's taught me anything, guns are beautiful."
"Footmen!" Hierd shouted. "You need to remember the golden rules about shooting any gun, not just that one. Treat it as if it can fire anytime, do not, I repeat, do not point these guns to anyone who is not an enemy! Second! Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire! Lastly! When not in a combat situation, keep your guns unloaded, what I mean by this is that you should not ever have your clips, or so case, rounds, into your gun. Do you hear me men?!"
"Yes, Captain!" A resounding cry from them all.
-SWITCHING TO ALRIFE HERE FOR A SECOND-
Alrife and three townsfolk who wanted to help set up ten wooden dummies for training, Alrife set his own near him, the three set up two for each column of men (there being three columns, with each having five men in it).
"Alright men, since you are not yet fit to fire the Kar98k, you first will need to beefen-up and first things first is for you to train."
Alrife had his own Kar98k strapped onto his back, he equipped the gun and set his figure on guard. They copied his movement with some struggle with the exact positioning of Alrife's feet. "Put your dominant hand onto the stock, where it is near this small metal looking lever." Alrife demonstrated it just because he knew that they wouldn't know what a stock was.
With some struggle, they got it. "Now!" Alrife shouted, "When landing an attack, you want to thrust, like a spear! And not to slash! Like this!"
*Hmp!
Alrife impaled the wooden dummy that was infront of him, leaving a wound akin to a normal blade's. "Now!" Alrife kept the bayonet fixed in the same position. "At this point, you have punctured your enemy, the monsters, twist your kar98k like this!" He began to squirm and rotate his gun in counter then counterclockwise action, repeating only two times. "As you can see, the small wound now turned into a bigger wound, turning into, in this case, a wider hole.
*Ahhh...
The crowd seemed to understand as their eyes widened in response. "I want you to repeat as I did! If you struggle, please come to me!"
-GOING BACK TO HIERD-
The previous day's metered targets still stood and Hierd wanted to test off his shooting skills with the rest of the crowd that stood watching him. "Let me demonstrate to you all how to aim and shoot the Kar98k!" He stayed standing straight, with a deep breath he then looked down the iron sights. His target was only a mere thirty meters and he didn't need to adjust his sight ladder at all. He pulled the bolt towards him then put a single round into it, after, pushing the bolt then back towards.
"Then fail me now..."
He took a deep breath, the crowd anxiously awaiting the thunder by the covering their ears. He put his finger on the trigger;
*Boom!
A succesful shot! "There! Who wants to try first?" The onlookers were suprised once more by the crackle, it was heard all throughout, the footmen, the men with bayonets, and even the chief who was soundly sleeping in his home.
"Me! Me!" Hierd looked toward the small audience, suprised, it was Jeane! "I wish to try Captain!"
"Then come on here!" He said, jovial.
As Jeane neared with her own Kar98k, she asked; "Will shooting it, hurt my shoulder?"
"You'll feel like a person's knudging you on the shoulder, but all've you will get used to it. Oh and, let me cover your ears for you..."
"Thank you, Captain..."
"I should really actually give them earplugs or something, but I don't think there was anything like that in the second world war... Looks like they're gonna need to get used to it..."
Jeane had 'copied' Hierd's actions, but had first some trouble with aiming straight at the dummy. "Concentrate, close your left eye and look at your target." Hierd says, "Breathe slowly, then when you confident enough to fire, exhale then stop breathing, now your aim should be better than before..."
"I see, thank you Captain." She replies.
She breathed slowly, observing the target infront of her, feeling the surroundings, the grass that seems to swirl in the wind. As she points it directly at the middle of the target, she exhales and stops breathing.
*Boom!
It hit the target yet it was more to the side than at the middle. "Good Job, leader." Hierd comments.
"Thank you, Captain." She reddened.
"Please eject the gun by pulling the bolt back out again."
She pulled back the bolt, the fresh-hot round landing on the ground.
"Alright everyone! Who wants to go next?"