Inside my private chamber, the moment the door closed, I slumped into my chair with a deep exhale. The air was thick with tension, and the Guardian Screen's red blinking alert hadn't stopped pulsing since this morning.
"Time to stop playing town-builder," I muttered. "Time to bring out the big guns—literally."
With a swipe of my hand, I accessed the [Black Market Supply – Earth Armament Tier II] from the Guardian Screen. A dizzying catalogue unfolded before my eyes: M4 rifles, tactical gear, armour vests, frag grenades, Claymore mines, night vision goggles, two-way encrypted radios, and even modular towers that could double as sniper nests.
I barely blinked before hitting "select."
[Please confirm purchase: 10,000 gold coins from town treasury.]
What the heck? That expensive?
I breathed in heavily and then pretended I didn't see the gold coins as I tapped "Confirm."
The screen buzzed for a moment, then golden letters filled the screen:
[Purchase Complete.]
[Delivery Arrival: Five minutes. Coordinates marked.]
Just then, a knock came at the door.
"Enter," I said.
Miss Agness stepped in, carrying her usual ledger scroll. "I've withdrawn the funds from the Adventurer's Guild vault. Ten thousand gold coins, exactly. I placed the seal—just in case anyone questions the transaction."
"Perfect timing," I said. "Get Kael, Felix, and Karl. Tell them to meet me at the west gate. Bring a cart team and an extra storage carriage. We're going shopping."
She blinked, then gave me a small smirk. "You mean war shopping."
"Exactly."
*****
West Gate – Five Minutes Later
The air shimmered where I marked the coordinates, and with a mechanical hiss, several large supply crates materialised, along with two more HUMVEEs, fresh from the Earth import dimension.
Kael was the first to speak. "Holly hell! My lord these are weapons," he muttered, his eyes wide. "Bigger than before?"
"Yes, it's for the monster."
Felix whistled as he lifted the tarp covering a stack of crates marked M67 Frag Grenades and Mk19 Grenade Launcher.
Karl, on the other hand, was more practical. "Are we trained to use these?"
"We will be," I said, already unsealing another crate. "Night vision goggles for night patrols. Tactical body armour for squad leaders. Radio headsets. And more of these—" I patted the HUMVEE's reinforced hood. "High-mobility multipurpose vehicles. Fast, tough, and ready for a fight."
Raymond arrived just in time, adjusting his gloves as he examined the gear with quiet precision. "What is this vest made of?"
"Kevlar," I said. "Bulletproof. Or in our case—claw-resistant."
"Saints preserve us," Raymond murmured, almost reverently. "These are tools of a world at constant war. They were covered by mana. It was thick."
"Exactly," I said grimly. "Which is what we're now facing."
Kael unlatched a long crate, revealing several matte-black M4 carbines with under-barrel attachments.
"I take it you'll train us to use these?" he asked.
"Not just train. We'll establish squads. One per district. Elite strike units, rotating patrols, and mobile teams for fast response. If a demon sneaks in through the woods or uses illusion magic—we'll pin it before it reaches the gate."
Felix opened a case full of flashbangs and claymores. Thank God, I played so many video games that sometimes my knowledge of wars was still surprising.
"Can I play with this one?" he grinned.
"After training," I said, smirking. "And only in the field. No blowing up your forge."
"Damn."
Karl was already loading crates into the extra waggon. "We'll need a secure place to store all of this."
"Build an armoury beneath the new barracks," I ordered. "Stone-reinforced, runes on the doors. I'll set security parameters through the Guardian Screen."
Raymond nodded. "I'll begin draughting a rotation for trusted guards. Only those with magical oaths will be allowed near the weapons."
"Good. No loose ends."
*****
Hours Later – Training Ground Behind the Barracks
The town's first combat squad stood in formation: a mix of human, dwarf, and beastkin veterans—all volunteers, all loyal. Most still wore leather and chain mail, but their expressions had changed the moment I passed out the new gear.
I handed one squad leader a radio headset.
"This is called a comm unit headphone; it's way more advanced than the two-way radio," I explained. "Put this on your ear. Hold this button and speak. You'll be heard by your team. No more yelling across the fields."
He tested it—and his voice echoed through the rest.
"Whoa."
"Exactly," I said. "Welcome to modern warfare."
Sylphy smirked and looked at her own unit with pride.
Elvie appeared near the training yard's edge, arms crossed. "So... This is what your world fights with."
I looked at her and nodded. "My world doesn't have magic. But we learnt to adapt. We built tools to match the impossible. And now, those tools will help protect this home."
She gave a small smile. "Then let's turn this town into a fortress. One no demon can touch."
Felix slung an M4 over his shoulder and grinned. "Can we give these babies names?"
Kael shook his head, muttering, "We're doomed."
I couldn't help but laugh. Despite the looming threat, in that moment—surrounded by friends, modern weapons, and a rising fire in my chest—I felt ready.
The demons were coming.
But this town? We were more than ready to fight back.
The next few hours, the sky was just beginning to lighten, a pale hue washing over the fields outside the barracks. I stood at the centre of the freshly cleared training grounds with a whistle in my mouth, clipboard in one hand, and a radio strapped to my chest.
"Alright, maggots!" I shouted, grinning. "This ain't your fancy sword-dancing lesson from the Sylpgy and Felix training lesson. This is war prep. If you're here to impress a noble lady, go home now!"
Ha! I've been meaning to say that before, and here I am, pretending to be an expert on war.
Felix, standing beside me with a smug grin, raised an M4 rifle over his head. "The baron says I'm in charge of screaming at people today. So prepare to suffer," he smugly added.
A few beastkin groaned.
Kael just muttered, "Why do I feel like I'm back at the academy, but worse?"
We had split the volunteers into three squads: Alpha, Bravo, and Echo. Each squad had a mix—dwarves who knew tunnelling and siege defence, beastkin scouts with enhanced senses, and humans trained with blades and bows. But none of them had handled automatic weapons before.
"Squad Alpha," I called. "With me. You're learning cover tactics and suppression fire. Squad Bravo, Kael's teaching squad formations and breach manoeuvres. Echo squad, head to the range with Felix for your marksmanship drill."
Felix clapped his hands. "Time to see if your hands can aim as well as they steal!"
An hour later, Echo Squad lined up behind sandbags, nervously holding M4s. I showed them how to hold it, sight down the barrel, and squeeze—not jerk—the trigger.
"Keep your elbows loose," I told a young beastkin woman. "You're not wrestling the weapon. Let it do the work. Just guide it."
She took a breath and fired.
The target exploded into splinters.
The squad gasped.
"Hot damn," Felix muttered. "She just married that rifle."
The beastkin woman turned, ears twitching in pride. "What do I name her?"
"Something terrifying," I said. "You just became our top sniper."
Meanwhile, Kael was explaining breach formation at the old barn we repurposed.
"Door breaches come fast," he said, holding a grenade-shaped training flashbang. "This stuns enemies inside for two seconds. You enter fast, clear corners and confirm targets. This isn't a duel—it's a kill zone."
A dwarf raised his hand. "What if the room has a mage inside?"
"Then you shoot first," Kael said flatly.
"Seems brutal," the dwarf muttered.
"That's war," Raymond said, stepping up with a clipboard and his usual pristine suit. "And you'd rather be brutal than dead."
Then Elvie joined me halfway through the training.
"You're teaching tactics from Earth," she said, watching as Alpha Squad moved behind crates and signalled each other silently. "But they're reacting faster than I thought."
"Magic helps," I said, showing her my modified Guardian Screen. "I assigned support runes to each squad leader. They can now cast short-term detection wards, mana shields, and dispel zones while moving. It's like blending special forces with battle mages."
She looked impressed. "And you trained them all in a day?"
I grinned. "No, but I made the right people trainable."
She tilted her head, smirking. "And modest too."
At lunchtime. I popped open one of the Earth rations—spicy chicken rice and a cookie.
"This is real?" asked Karl, biting into the cookie. "Where was this when I nearly starved on patrol last winter?"
I tossed a ration box at him. "Welcome to the future."
Butler Raymond sniffed the food and looked at the label. "Packed with protein, calories balanced… Dirk, this could replace field kitchens."
"Already planned it," I said. "We'll rotate rations for the elite squads—portable, long shelf life, and mana- and morale-boosting."
Kael, wiping sweat from his brow, leaned back under a tree. "Alright, I admit it—your world's fighting style? Brutal. But efficient."
Felix was sprawled in the grass. "I just love the boomsticks. When can I shoot more stuff?"
"After you clean the latrines," I said dryly.
By sunset, I stood on a crate addressing all three squads.
"You fought well," I said, my voice loud over the quiet buzz of the evening insects. "Today wasn't about winning. It was about learning. You've just tasted my homeland's tactics—and you'll get better. Stronger."
I looked each squad in the eye.
"The demons that come won't show you mercy. So don't give them a chance. Watch each other's backs. Move together. And when the time comes—you'll be the sword that carves our safety."
They cheered. Loud. Determined.
I turned to Kael, Karl, Elvie, Sylphy and Felix.
"Tomorrow," I said, "we start scenario training. Forest ambush. Tunnel collapse. Town infiltration."
Kael groaned. "You don't stop, do you?"
"Nope," I smirked. "The enemy sure won't."
A few days later, the valley a few miles from my territory was silent. Too silent.
The kind that hums in your ears and makes your instincts itch. I crouched behind a camouflaged rock ledge, my night-vision goggles pulled over my eyes. All around me, the ridge was packed with hidden snipers, mages, and riflemen, dug in with trenches and natural cover. Mana-fuelled claymores were buried along the lower paths. Trip wires gleamed faintly with magical runes, invisible to normal sight.
Elvie's voice crackled in my two-way radio earpiece.
"My lord, movement confirmed. South ridge. Two hundred, maybe more."
I frowned, "Monsters or demons?"
"Both. Mostly low-grade. Imps, goblins, orcs, a few giant two-headed lions, a few shadow beasts." Perfect. "Felix, you in position?"
"Locked and loaded," came his voice. "Gods, I love when things go boom."
I grinned. "All squads—Operation Wolftrap is go. No one fires until my signal."
"Okay, boss," came their reply.