Chapter 168: Returning to the Land of the Rising Sun

Chapter 168: Returning to the Land of the Rising Sun



After dealing with his rather useless twat of an elder brother and celebrating his daughter's birthday appropriately, Bruno would finally open the letter sent to him by Emperor Meiji. It was as he suspected-a letter of invitation to visit the land of the Rising Sun to witness the prototype machine gun they had developed as per the recommendations he had made in passing.

Even if the machine gun turned out to be relatively crude, the mere idea that it would be using an air-cooled quick-change barrel, along with a built-in bipod, stock, and pistol group, meant it was leagues ahead of what was currently being fielded by all nations other than the Reich.

Because of this, Bruno was quite interested, as if his recommendations were followed to the letter. Then it was entirely possible that a new machine gun had been developed, one that only existed because of his interference in the timeline.

With this in mind, he said a brief farewell to his wife and children, assuring them that he would be back in a few months. He then took the first available railcar to Hamburg, where he set off on a ship to the Eastern World.

Technically speaking, with the fastest ships of the era, traveling from Germany to Japan was itself a month-and-a-half-long journey. Aircraft were currently in their infancy, and there were still many decades to go before commercial aircraft were invented, let alone used as the primary means of passenger travel internationally.

Because of this, one either had to travel by train or by ship across the world's treacherous seas. With this in mind, Bruno had opted for the latter, as it was more expedient to do so rather than take a train across all of Europe and Russia until arriving in their far eastern territories, where he would then have to cross the sea into Japan proper.

The journey itself was a rather dull affair, with nothing of note occurring during the month- and-a-half time it took for him to arrive on the Japanese mainland. Since this was technically a "diplomatic meeting," he merely treated the journey aboard the luxurious ocean liner as a luxury cruise.

Relaxing as well as he could until he finally arrived at his destination, upon stepping foot in the capital of Japan, Bruno was once more welcomed by state officials, who quickly escorted him to the Emperor's palace.

It had more or less been five years since he last visited this place, and things had not changed in the slightest. Well, perhaps there were a few minor changes, as the uniforms worn by the Japanese military personnel around the Imperial Palace were of a more khaki or tan color rather than the old blue and red uniforms they wore during his last visit.

After all, this was a time when many nations were transitioning to more earthy tones in their uniforms, along with more modern weaponry. And that had largely been a result of Bruno's interference in the timeline. Sure, such a change would naturally be occurring about this time, but these new uniforms had been adopted much earlier than they otherwise should have.

Considering there was a medal pinned to Bruno's chest that belonged to the Order of the Rising Sun, any Japanese soldier who saw Bruno was quick to salute the man, despite his foreign appearance and uniform.

During the Second World War and the years leading up to it, they had either made exceptional pieces of engineering, like the Type 96 light machine gun, which this was based upon, or had made absolute pieces of garbage that were either unreliable or, frankly speaking, a bigger detriment to the operator than the enemy they were aiming at, such as the scarcely produced Type 100 submachine gun, the Type 14 Nambu pistol, and the Type 95 Nambu pistol. Considering this weapon was merely a prototype and would need to go under substantial testing and improvement, Bruno was already impressed that the Japanese engineers had created something that was not only semi-functional but also had great potential. Because of this, he slowly began dismantling the weapon, as if he already knew how it functioned, merely by spending less than a minute observing it. After field-stripping and examining each and every component carefully, Bruno had a few recommendations on how to improve it.

"You see this? This component has already begun to warp in shape; you need to increase the hardness of the steel and make it consistent across the board. But other than that, you are on the right path. So keep up the good work."

Emperor Meiji nodded his head in satisfaction; he had neglected to notice such a minute detail, but the fact that Bruno had even bothered to point it out would save the Japanese arsenal many hours of experimentation and problem-solving.

Because of this, the Japanese Emperor was quick to thank Bruno for his insight and his approval before dragging him back to the palace.

"I'm sorry for making such an invitation solely for this purpose, but I wanted to see whether or not your words of wisdom had borne proper fruit or merely a spoiled product. Please enjoy yourself within my home for the next week or two. I'll make sure you are given a proper tour of the city as an honored guest from the German Reich. How does that sound?"

Bruno nodded his head with a polite smile on his face, thanking the Japanese Emperor for his hospitality as he did so.

"Your generosity is truly exemplary of your character, your majesty. I will gladly take you up on your offer. And while I am staying here, perhaps I can give you a few other words of wisdom, as you put it. Our nations are allies, after all, and I get the feeling that soon we may need to honor that allegiance.

Which means, as far as I am concerned, the better armed my allies are, the worse off my enemies would be when that day finally arrives, won't you agree?"

Emperor Meiji smirked upon hearing Bruno's words, nodding his head as he led the man into

his home once more, assuring him that they would be the "best of allies" when the Great War

finally broke out.

"Oh, you can count on that!"