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.
This was a sign of respect, which he returned to these servicemen before ultimately being led into a chamber within the palace where Emperor Meiji waited for him. Though his armed forces had transitioned to khaki uniforms, he still wore the blue, red, and gold uniforms of the preceding era.
It was not hard to understand why; sure, they were more practical in the field, but they were also far more majestic in overall design. Hence why, to this day, many monarchs still chose to wear the older and more stylish uniforms.
Either way, Bruno stared firmly in front of the Japanese Emperor while all of his subjects bowed before him. Afterward, he quickly greeted Bruno, mentioning how the man had barely aged since the last time he saw him.
“I would have thought with all the stress you have been under these past few years, you would have doubled your age, and yet here you stand, not a day older than the last time we met. Care to tell me your secret?”
Bruno chuckled in response to this praise, quickly returning it with a joke that the legendary Japanese Emperor found humorous.
“You praise me too much; everyone knows that it is the people of the Orient who age better than anyone else in this world. I merely am slightly better than the rest of my kind. Now, tell me, your majesty, why did you invite me across the world to your home? Your letter was very vague about the details of my visit.”
This was more or less true, as one was required to read through the lines and have a proper understanding of what Bruno had said to Emperor Meiji during his past visit to fully understand what the words written in the letter truly described.
Upon seeing that Bruno was not one to stand on ceremony, Emperor Meiji smirked before leading the way to the testing facility. There, Bruno gazed upon a machine gun that most certainly caught his interest.
As previously described, it was a brand new machine gun, one that he had never read about or seen pictures of in his past life. It was vaguely similar to the BSA GPMG prototype from his past life, but with many design choices carried over from the Type 96, such as the fully finned barrel, the conical flash suppressor, and the distinctive carrying handle, stock, and pistol grip.
Where its similarities to the BSA GPMG lay was in regards to its feeding mechanism and the belt holder. Bruno was honestly rather impressed as he gazed upon the distinctive prototype, quickly asking a question of the Emperor as he examined its features.
“May I?”
The Emperor of Japan quickly assured Bruno that he could handle the firearm, as Bruno was the one who had made the suggestions that resulted in such a machine gun design. The Empire of Japan was rather hit or miss when it came to firearms development during his past life.
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!”