III The Village Soldiers

Now that you're this far into the novel; the comment attached here has a map! 

( * )

"Auferstehen, huh?"

Hierd was so befuddled over Auferstehen. The concept itself wasn't something he knew; he (walking with Alrife) then questioned him. "What's… What's this Auferstehen thing?" 

"Sir, that's uhm…" Alrife turned to him his face rather confused. "You've no clue what it is?"

"Not a single clue." They both stopped walking. 

Then, with a stern face; "Auferstehen is… Is an event. Much like a festival; but so gravely less festival-like." His eyes were looking before the present, "it's when the monsters of Auferstan rise, it's when; as i've heard, 'when death takes a break.'" He chuckled weakily and awkwardly.

"But, to have someone from around here not knowing what Auferstan is… It's, very… it's makes someone like me ponder." He continued. Pressed, Hierd thought of a response.

"I am from Europe." He stated.

"Europe. What foreign sounding name." His grin was weak. "Guess that solves the fact that you, sir, are not from around here."

He nodded.

"Tell me more about that, Auferstehen," they started to walk, albeit slower. "Are they like us? Humanoid in anyway?"

"Not that I recall. What these monsters are, are practically the… Monstrous versions of our everyday run-of-the-mill farm animals. But they're more bigger, they're more stronger, they're more… Horrific. To say the least."

"I don't… I don't think I'm following." Hierd chuckled a little.

"See," -he pointed at a pair of children playing with a dog- "that's a dog, of course, but monsters of Auferstehen like… That dog, look bigger, a tree's height in difference, and is aggresive. So much more than it's normal counterpart.

"A bulldog the size of a tree." Hierd muttered in his breath. "One of three things I never thought would be fear of mine. Among woman and drivers being the two others."

"Drivers?" Questioned Alrife, "they are courtman are they not?"

"In a way... Yes."

The path winded behind the chief's house. Not really far, just a couple steps and you'd make it there yourself; the backyard was fashioned like an old fashioned barrack. There was this big empty plain devoid of grass, two blocks of target wood at one end, and a hut where (as Alrife said) where they keep the bows, arrows, and swords. 

The trees round the barrack was so ridden with cuts and bruises, it's obvious these were the grounds wherein the villager's soldiers train in. The wood-fashioned scabbards, and some plates of leather thrown about secured that resolve.

They had stopped, finally at their destination; "I'll leave you to it, sir. I'm sorry, but I'll need to go back to the chief, please enjoy your stay in the village." He bowed.

Hierd nodded, waving goodbye to the fleeting Alrife.

It was this old shack, the roof having been built with stacks of log rather than wooden shingles are some ilk of roofing. The walls were thankfully a more conventional plank; but the way these were made were so crude and swiftly built that there were still some gaps large enough to be able to see inside. 

He opened the door, the two hinges squeaking loudly. It was… Small, but it was a start to a house. The bed was fashioned out of hay then laid with this soft cloth, he couldn't make heads or tails about whether it was wool or cotton made. He sat, noting the cusion, got rid of his two black boots; and laid comfortably and sighing deep reliefs to the air. 

( * )

The day after, there was this boom of people gathering just off of the village's field. Swarming the treeline as they washed tentatively at their footsoldiers aligned in formation, wearing their leather gear; sheathed within their belts were blades cleansed by the families and maintained by the local blacksmith. 

Fifty men of the village. Shrunk down from the sixty or so from the last Auferstehen. They faces had seen better days, yet it was a relief that they were muscular enough, that they had obviously been training hard enough to be able to count as soldiers by Hierd's modern degree of thinking. 

There, head to feet in black, his blonde hair flowing in the air, the only remaining contrast of color in his formal, black military wear. "This man is 'our' military aid," was posted on the only wooden post board. "This man is 'our' hope," laid just right next to it. With big expectations; they awaited. The loud mount of people soon died down, as Hierd's voice trailed the land.

"I am Hierd Die Grace." His stature was so statue-still that the footmen were forced, almost as if ordered to try and do the same. "I am the man your chief have brought to bring amends to your village's strength, for all we know; Auferstehen is just right next door." 

His statement, so bold, left them grim. Auferstehen wasn't the topic of the day, but they knew that it was only months, weeks away, before the first monsters crawl out and bite them to bits. Their faces turned stern, and Hierd became an image they had to follow. 

"We will, in the following days; be practicing how to use my technology. Guns. To be able to fire back, shoot back, to kill your enemies." The crowd was confused; "I believe I have not been throughly introduced by the words of your post board; so I will dedicate as well this introduction of mine;"

"I come from a faraway land, I've brought with me my men of which will supply me with everything I need. That includes the technology I have," -he unbuckled the luger from his hip- "including this, the luger."

The thing was puny. In their eyes; it was insignificant. What could a small metal club be of help to their cause? But then, nudging Naturvege to bring a target for him to shoot at; could he offer it's advantage. "Watch."

They observed Hierd, the target, and the luger. They were waiting for something magical to happen. Hierd's eyes were trained at the big red dot at the middle of the target, putting his breath to a halt,

Firing! 

"What was that!?" The people and the footmen were utterly aweshook! And, to make them even more suprised, he had hit the target, dead center! The hole was small; but it had burnt the surrounding wood, and it's penetrated all the way to the other side of the target! 

The footsoldiers ran to the target, confirming the hole, confirming the damage. Even Naturvege and Alrife looked at it; "that's amazing." All of them commented. 

Back to their formation, Hierd continued; "that, and more. I will be giving each and every one of you a Kar98k as a start, we move up in the ladder of weapons I posses, and within a week, I expect you all within my standards."

Then, Naturvege jostled through the crowd of footmen; "may we see what the Kar98k is?" 

The gun had already been saddled behind him; as it had been mentioned, he quickly set the strap and laid the butt of the stock on his shoulder. The footmen and surrounding observers admiring from a distance. The Kar98k, to them, looked like a overly detailed medium length spear. 

And that was because of the attached bayonet at the barrel; "with the simple addition of the bayonet fitted to this; it functions as a spear as well as a 'gun.'" Seeing his audience of onlookers sqiurm in wait for him to shoot it; he swiftly trained the sights onto the target, putting weight in, and shooting! 

A more powerful sounding boom, his audience, even more impressed. Just like the luger had done, the Kar98k had hit the target's center once again. This time, the hole was a bit larger as it had caused the wood to flake and break. 

After a long silence, letting his footmen stir in the power of his guns, he finally spoke. "We start training today, and I wish for you all to cooperate."

Weakily, yet with manly prowess a resounding, "Yes, sir!" Powered through the footmen.

After twenty or so minutes, and with the help of the footmen; he was able to make a small practice area. The same size as a football field almost, at one end of the rectangle, he set up targets (varying in distance) and at the other was a small post done up by using two trunks from a tree they found lying nearby the grounds. 

Quickly, he set the men to a formation of fifty.

"With them being a little malnourished, they should eat up a little. After that, I'll need to get their thirst quenched enough so we could hold a running excersize round the whole field. Then; I should think about the first actual military lessons I should teach them." HIs footmen were waiting, looking at him intently yet not so sharp as to draw attention to themselves. 

"Guns are a must need, that'll be first in line. Then their command, they should be split in squads instead, and then maybe things like making sandbags or those foxholes? Or something like that. But that's stupid, right? Foxholes are useless when your enemy uses bows with curved trajectory… Eh! I'll see where this goes."