After the meeting Chloe would find herself walking around the village. Thanks to Amanda and her classes she learned that the village is actually the site where a keep is intended to start construction. Hence the name, Greyscale keep. The village was temporary.

  Another thing she noticed was there was only about 20 people in total here, and only a couple kids. So it was probably supposed to start small before the keep is built. Makes sense, less resources needed to keep everyone fed and happy.

  She also learned a bit about magic, having decided to sit in for the lessons since it fell in between learning the language and their math, and Lady Soska insisted Chloe sit in for both until she can speak, read, and write well enough to prove she doesn't need the math lessons. Not that she minded. It was pretty basic so after learning about 'babies first fireball' she got to turn her brain off.

  To be honest Chloe was more worried about the training she was about to put up with involving swords. Nothing wrong with learning to fight with a blade, but swords required special skills and stuff. She preferred guns in all fairness, and even got her G3 a knife. Maybe she could convince them that she could use it kinda like a spear. That might work.

  Then she froze in her tracks. "Fuck. I might have to explain what a gun is and why I would rather just use that." Then she had a thought. What kind of threats did these people face to warrant active guards. Might be a good idea to ask about that. She then went back to her hut. "Ideally it'll only be regular animals and people who are threats."

  Chloe would spend the remainder of her afternoon going through a toolbox full of gun parts. Just one of the many things she put together for the trip. It had mostly internal parts but she also packed a small number of extra Scopes and suppressors. This way she had the parts to fix whatever broke. But eventually she would have to find a way to manufacture more. That means a lathe and drill press.

  She would get out a laptop and start going through blueprints and schematics. "This... Is very complicated." She said aloud, and promptly shut it off. She wasn't an engineer, she was just pretty smart and pretty good at solving a problem.

  She then looked at the parts that made up her personal reloading press. "At least I have a functional example of about half a drill press. Just not the drill part... How am I under prepared for this? I spend five years and within a week I find out I'm missing something that's critical to my maintenance needs." And she falls back into her bed defeated already.

  As the sun falls she finds herself unable to sleep, too busy overthinking her problem.

  As morning comes she finds herself asleep on her feet. She didn't get any the past night but she got a few hours of anxiety. She would splash some water on her face to wake up and after breakfast she finds herself in the training field. The lessons being taught today pertaining mostly to history in the area and Chloe fealt that if she needed to know that she could just ask someone later.

  Edmond would soon arrive and greet her in a friendly tone. "Ah. Hello Chloe. How did you sleep?" To which Chloe would answer with a resounding yawn. "Didn't. To many worrie. Forget important thing."

  Edmond would sit down next to her. "Ah. Well maybe we have something that could replace it. What did you forget to bring from home?" He asked, genuinely curious.

  "Big machine. You not have word for it. Lathe?"

  He would furrow his brow when she told him, thinking a bit. "No. I don't think we have that. What does it do?" He was interested in hearing how something she knew of worked, as maybe it could improve life here.

  "Spin metal real fast. Can use to make perfectly round. Good for small thing like pin or other small thing. Also do wood if careful. Perfect arrow shaft." Chloe said. Blinking away the sleep. Could be useful to give an example of something they use when explaining what somethings used for.

  "Hmm. Something that can make perfectly straight arrow shafts." He said contemplating the uses for such a machine. Better rivets for armor. Posts for a fence. "Hmm. Sounds useful. Can you make one?"

  "Maybe. Not machine designer. Not familiar to me. Maybe can figure out something. But takes time, and need metal. Steel and iron mostly." Chloe said. The gears turning as she actually starts to figure something out that might work. "For now. Training?"

  "Yes. You can use a sword or spear right?" He asked. He needed to know where she was before seeing where she was gonna be.

  "Spear kinda. Train with rifle bayonet. I show. Be back soon." And Chloe would rush back to her hut and grab her gear, going with green camo today and grabbing her G3, usp .45, and the rifle bayonet and returning fully kitted. She then mounted the bayonet on the G3 in front of him and handed it over, not loaded of course.

  "Huh." Was all he said before trying for himself. Jamming the blade into a practice dummy and slashing. "Works like a spear but it's short. This is a, what was the word you used? A rifle bayonet?"

  Stolen story; please report.

  "Yes, bayonet go on rifle. But rifle alone also good." She stated proudly.

  "Is it a type of club?" He asked, holding it by the stock like a bat.

  "No. It like crossbow but much better." She said as she took it from him, taking the bayonet off and loading a mag. How dare he think of swinging it like a bat.

  "Well you need to learn the sword and spear as well. Maybe even get you fitted for some armor." He said as he circled her, looking over her gear.

  "I prefer light gear. Have vest and helmet. Too much more and get too heavy." She said. "Have idea actually. If need more armor, you have Smith? And tailor?"

  "Oh we have both, but it's one person. You might like him. He can make almost anything, and his daughter, when not hunting, helps him with tailoring."

  That was good. Having both on hand was gonna be handy. "I meet at some point. Until then, you say you show swords and spears?"

  "Yes. Over here are the training weapons. Try them out and see what you like." And Edmond led her to a table that had war axes, battle axes, hammers, swords, spears, halberds, shields, and daggers.

  Chloe would spend about twenty minutes just trying things out and finding that she favored the battle axe of all things. Something about hitting hard and being guaranteed to lop something off was comforting. It was definitely heavy but that meant the power in a swing was gonna hurt. The blade was rounded and dulled, along with every point on the weapon, which told Chloe that the blade wasn't the only danger point. The pommels at the top and bottom were also effective. Good.

  Being lightly armored with a big weapon means she won't be lugging a hundred pounds of steel, whereas every other guard seems to prefer spears, swords, shields, and at least medium armor.

  She of course put on shin guards and gauntlets for a bit of extra protection. And they spent the morning going over forms and stances, how to move, things like that. They didn't do anything head to head, just walking through scripted motions and experiencing how the weapon moves. As noon neared people were starting to gather around and watch.

  After a while the entire village was watching, probably because nobody had anything better to do. Not that Chloe minded, she wasn't shy around a small crowd. At least that was until Moira waved her over.

  "Chloe. It's my understanding you brought your own weapons here. Is that true?" She asked. It seems Edmond had told her at some point.

  "Yes. I bring guns from home. Very useful." She'd answer honestly after putting the axe down.

  "I see. And you intend to use them to defend our home?" She asked. 'What are you getting at?' Chloe thought as she answered. "Yes. Use guns to keep people safe."

  "Show me how. If you claim it's better then a bow I wanna see how you shoot with them." She all but ordered. Chloe did not like the idea of just breaking the guns out to just for show.

  "But lady Soska, guns loud. And ammo." Chloe tried to protest. Both very reasonable arguments for why it's not a good idea to just shoot guns.

  "I'm sure ammo can be made. As for loud, I don't care. I would rather see what you can do before my people have to save you." She said plainly. So it seems the decision was made.

  'She wants a show? Fine.' Chloe thought. "Need targets. I get guns if set up targets." And with that Chloe grabbed the G3 and USP .45 as the range was set up. Chloe had set them aside for training, she didn't want to risk any accidents.

  After a few minutes there were ten targets set up, five up at 25 meters. Three at about 50. And two put at 75, apparently out past maximum accurate bow range for a non experienced archer.

  With that Chloe set the magnification on her scope to no magnification, and sighed. She looked over the crowd and decided to get started. Each target was a straw target with a scrap plate strapped to it.

  Chloe gave herself a mental countdown before starting. It may as well be a two gun shoot. 'Three... two... one... Mark.' And her gun was up, as she brought the rifle up she walked three shots into the closest target, two in the chest, one where the neck was. She swept the rifle across the second target and put two into its chest without stopping. The third and fourth targets were given three each, all around their hearts. The fifth was shot once in its head. The five point blank targets were a show of speed.

  She then took a knee and hit the middle three each with a single accurate shot, two headshots, one to the stomach area. She then fell prone in the dirt and actually took her time to aim, about two seconds and one shot to the head for both longer range targets. Then she got up and walked up to a target and put her last three shots into it for fun. Ten targets, twenty rounds of .308. Realistically she only needed ten to prove she could hit but they wanted to see how she fought, so Chloe obliged. "How that?" She asked.

  Moira and Edmond would walk up and check each target. The ones hit in the chest were most interesting to them because the neat little holes in the scrap armor they had used. Guess they didn't expect the bullets to just punch through so casually. But that's why Chloe liked her .308, it pretty reliably beat most armor.

  ----------

  "Ma'am. The plates stood no chance. Whatever her guns shoot just passed right through. It might even take mithril to stop. And the noise, not to mention the speed she's able to shoot." Edmond says as he and lady Soska checked the targets.

  "The fact that that easily went through the armor concerns me Edmond. But if she stays on our side then there is very little in the world that will be able to take us out. Train her well so she can use a blade. But make sure she stays friendly. That is crucial." Moira would state plainly. It was critical that Chloe stayed with the village at this point. For thier own sakes.

  ----------

  'Well it seems I impressed them so not a total waste.' Chloe thought as everyone started to walk up and bombard her with questions faster then she could process. But when Moira walked up they got quiet again.

  "Chloe. You've proven that your weapons are indeed effective. And we need more active guards. So I'm moving you to full time guard duty. You'll be added to the rotation, training will be scheduled so you can keep learning how to fight like us. Hopefully one day you'll show us how to fight like you. But your ability to speak and understand our language has progressed rapidly. So I'm gonna have Amanda continue teaching you one on one for a few more weeks during your downtime. This evening I want you to meet with Marcus Ana, our blacksmith. He can make you any armor you need and will provide you a sword and axe to carry. If you bring him a sample he can probably also replicate any armor you have. But before that we will be having a feast, you should join us. It's the celebration of the summer solstice."

  "I'll be there." Chloe responded, excited to officially get to work.