Steampunk Era: Mad Abield

Rhodes woke up to the sound of artillery, and as the young man opened his eyes, he saw his cousin already by the campfire, applying new gun oil to his firearm.

Pulling out the pocket watch in his chest—this was a prize Rhodes had won the last time he excelled in fixed target shooting: "Have I only slept for four hours?"

Upon saying this, the young man let out a mournful yawn, threw off his blanket, shook his legs, and then sat down next to his cousin: "Has everyone else gone?"

"Rest time is only five hours, they left an hour before us, they’ve long gone. After we leave, this place will be ventilated for ten minutes, and then new people will come to sleep," Sudel said while reassembling the parts of the firearm one by one.

Rhodes glanced at the two opened canned goods by the campfire, the scent of meat emanating from them whetted his appetite, he took out his spoon and then tried a can: "It’s hot."

"Cool it down before eating, don’t act like an immature child," Sudel shook his head as he fixed the last part in place, set the firearm aside, then took a sip from a flask a bit away from the campfire: "Today, the Chaos offensive hasn’t stopped, mages have already rotated twice, you better put your bayonette and Holy Water in the most convenient position, without the support of the mages, we can only rely on ourselves."

"I’m not worried about that. As Lord Malin rightly said, we infantry can only outrun ourselves, we are naturally surrounded," Rhodes took up his firearm, familiarly disassembled the parts and arranged them neatly, then began the daily maintenance.

"Yes, we are naturally surrounded, any Chaos creature can outrun us, on this terrain, we definitely can’t outrun any creature, we can only form a defensive line for self-protection," Rhodes’ cousin said while watching him, which made the young man curious: "Why are you looking at me?"

"I’m watching you care for the parts. I really can’t learn how you do all this without looking at the parts."

"I don’t know myself, Lord Malin says it might be a talent, but I feel if I have a talent, then I’d rather have a better shooting talent," Rhodes said somewhat unwillingly, which made his cousin smile, Sudel sat aside, took up the meat can, and scooped a delicious piece made of beans and meat with his spoon. The fatty meat was very thick and had been cooked soft before canning, coupled with preservatives spices, although the taste couldn’t match that of fresh meat, without such cans, even the King probably wouldn’t be able to eat meat in such circumstances.

And now, these young people who have come from towns could eat meat under such harsh conditions.

After caring for his firearm, Rhodes starts eating his own can of food, which wasn’t too hot after moving it away from the fire, the young man quickly finished the can, and packed it back into his bag.