The Mechanical Era

It was another hot day on the docks, with the only sounds present being the river flowing by, a bunch of horses carrying caravans to come and collect cargo, and the footsteps and chatter of the people working there.

However, unlike any other normal day, soldiers, wearing their blue uniforms and carrying their matchlock rifles were stationed at the dock, apparently waiting for the shipment from Hoverdam to arrive. From what they were told, a shipment of guns was headed over to the city, all belonging to the Aceaton Imperial Army.

Ever since the FLM-18 production line was set up, a letter was sent to Vallina of its completion. As a result, the queen ordered Kant to help arm her soldiers as quickly as they can, for a price that it. And hence, the queen had reserved an order for 2000 rifles to arrive by the end of this month, which was only 12 days away, to all garrisons guarding the borders to the north, with another 15,000 guns by the end of the year.

The soldiers were to make sure that the workers, which consisted of a few local dock workers, don't steal any of the 150 muskets being sent their way, and safely load them into the caravans they brought along. Along with the firearms, there were also expected to be 5 barrels of gunpowder and a barrel of metal projectiles.

They were then tasked to escort the caravan back to the barracks, where soldiers will be able to train with their new weapons. The FLM-18s, as they called it, was to be given to the veterans of the war, while the previous matchlocks were to be handed down to the rookies.

Soon, one of them spots another large boat coming in from the north, and informs the man in charge. To make sure that it was the correct boat, he took a spyglass from a satchel bag and examined the flag, representing where it came from. The navy blue flag of the ship contained a black circle in the middle, with the center of it possessing a vertical rectangle, illustrating an old coin.

Behind the coin, there were two odd swords behind, meant to represent some mythical weapons used by the monarchs of Hoverdam to kill demons. The soldier puts down the spyglass and turns to his fellow comrades and workers.

"Get ready everyone. The guns are coming," the soldier proclaimed. Upon hearing the news, the workers did a few stretches, to help them carry the crates down, the soldiers, taking out a matchbox, lit the fuse of their guns.

As the sailboat docks in port, the soldiers whispered to each other, wondering how this new weapon would work, and which one of them specifically would get to use it. The thought of getting their hands on a newer, better weapon than the rest exited them.

The sailboat soon docks in the port, and the bridge is placed. The peasant workers walk up the bridge and enter the cargo hold. There, they spot rectangular wooden crates, with a gun painted on top of them in black paint. Assuming that it was what they were looking for, they started to lift the crates, and bring them out of the ship.

They place them on the wooden tables and open them up with the help of a crowbar. Inside the crates, the workers found a lot of hay and hay dust in between the guns. The hay acted as sort of a protective packaging material, cushioning and absorbing shock experienced while on the way.

Other than the hay, the guns were covered inside a hemp bag, meant to prevent anything that could jam the gun from entering. This was mainly protection from the hay dust. The soldier commander, upon seeing that the guns were inside a hemp bag, issued a command.

"Give me one of them. I want to see what this weapon looks like."

The workers happily complied and handed out one. While they started counting, the commander opens up the bag and looks at the musket. The fine wood stock, coupled with the polished wrought iron of the weapon, turned out to be a beauty in his eye.

"Now this..." he presents it to his soldiers.

"This is beautiful," he comments before throwing the weapon back at the worker. However, unbeknownst to him and the soldiers, the worker secretly examines the weapon for a hot minute, before putting it back into the bag. His associates, who see what he was going, keep their mouths shut. Once they were finished counting, the peasant workers yelled the number of guns in each crate.

"We count 25 guns in this crate, sir!"

"Same here, sir! 25 muskets!" The workers all agree that each crate possesses 25 guns, meaning 150 guns in total. With that information in mind, the commander issues another order.

"Good. Now go get the barrels of gunpowder, and see if they are filled." The workers complied and went back inside the ship, and brings the barrels. As they bring the barrels, the commander gets a long pointy stick, to check if they are filled.

Once the barrels are all brought over and open, the commander walks up to the barrels and pokes them into the barrel, and then swivels them around. He does this for every barrel, before giving a comment.

"All of them are full! Looks like those people are trustworthy after all!" he comments. He then orders the workers to put the lids back on and load them up into the cargo hold. Once again, a worker, with the help of others, scrapes a little bit of gunpowder off them, filling it up in a little help bag, before closing the barrel.

They then bring the final barrels, containing the metal projectiles, and load them up into the lone caravan. The barrels of gunpowder and bullets went in first, with the wooden crates with the FLM-18s on top of them. Once the caravan is loaded up, the commander tips the men a few copper coins, before leaving the docks with the cargo.

Once the soldiers leave their line of sight, the workers leave the docks and to a nearby compound where a hooded figure waited for them. It was the same spot that he waited in last time, ever since the arrival of the garrison force.

"You all got something for me?" the hooded figure asks. The men then present the black powder to the hooded figure.

"That is all we manage to get. Is that enough?"

"Hm... it is good. Now tell me, what about the gun?" the hooded figure asks.

"It was like one of those that the soldiers carried, but different. It had this... piece of flint stuck on a hammer. I think that is meant to his this... place on there to cause a spark to fire. At least, that is what I am guessing," a worker replied. The hooded figure then looks at the others.

"What about where the gun came from? Did anyone manage to hear that?"

"Yes! We did. It came from a place called Hoverdam. We are not sure whether that is a city or kingdom though."

"Hoverdam... hm... Alright then. Thank you for the information. This will be very helpful to our cause." The workers smiled.

"Glad we can help," they replied. With that, the hooded figure hands them a few coins for the trouble, before leaving into the darkness.