Kramovskiy, Reslania, 10/9/1702 It's the day that every Reslanis and other of the Free State citizens had been waiting for, a day of national liberation and victory against all odds.

After the relatively bloody war for such a short one, the Reslanian People's Front have reunified the Yevlosk and Enmars region into Eastern Reslania and Western Reslania respectively and forced the occupying forces to pull out with the help of Esterria with its army and Flashia with its weapons.

Upon having the news broke out, Reslanians have poured out the street to celebrate, which included getting absolutely drunk. However, there exists a concern, a concern of whether they'd be able to bring what were destroyed back to its previous state.

"So let me reiterate this..." said Taras, the head-of-state of the newborn Free State as a meeting is ongoing in the government building "The recovery process will take decades to complete and will costs us many?"

"That is correct sir"

A sigh was let out afterwards, and a facepalm was exhibited from the Free State's leading figure, the tips of the finger slowly moves from the forehead downward.

"...Tell me, do we have some form of outside help?" while Tara's hand is still covering his mouth.

"For our reconstruction effort, yes, we do have the Esterrians and Flash willing to help us out"

"Oh... good then, I was afraid we might not be able to get this country back together economically"

The same official then took a quick glance at the paper he's holding again.

"Ah right, one more thing, Naeslagtland is also going to help"

It was this news that raised the most eyebrows in the room just with the mere mention of the Naeslagt Kingdom even remotely lending a hand to them.

"Why them?" said one of the other officials in the room "Why of all countries, it's one Kingdoms Union Gestrae nation helping us?"

"They aren't KUG anymore I believe" said another.

"...What?"

"According to my sources, Naeslagtland and KUG had suddenly fallen out, so there is no more Kingdoms Union hand on that country anymore"

"If that's true..." said Taras as he thought through the flowing information "...Then it must be a good sign for us, that those bastards at Greater Ye-fer-mai or something is losing grip over this continent"

[Keep in mind that the J is pronounced like 'yuh' in Reslania]

All the other participants had a little chatter, and as far as anyone could tell, there was a little excitement exerted from their tones.

"But let's not forget the core issue here" Taras spoke again "We still have a long way to go, especially in terms of money, which we basically have none for the time being..." he then turns to a certain field commander of their relatively small but mighty armed group "Yehor, my friend, how are things going?"

"The war's maybe over, but we're still receiving recruits" said the field commander of the RPF "In terms of manpower, those lost in combat are expected to be replaced very soon. We also have a parade scheduled to celebrate the newfound victory"

The Reslanian head-of-state nodded to Yehor's word.

"Hmm... I just want to say that you're no longer RPF"

"Wha... What do you mean by this?" said Yehor betraying a tone of shock.

"...You're the Confederation Army now"

Yehor took a deep breath afterwards, then crack a chuckle afterwards.

"Damn it, Taras, you always scare me for no reason eh?"

"First of all, it's President Taras for you, second of all, yes"

The now newly appointed commander-in-chief of the new Confederation Army shook his head while maintaining a smile on his face.

"Seriously though, what's with the con-fe-de-ra-shun and president thing?"

"You haven't heard?" one of the officials spoke up.

"No? I was a tad too busy over recent times"

"Fine then, I'll fill you in. Basically we held a meeting in the government building the other day, and it was decided after the war is over, the Free State of Reslania would become the Reslanian Confederation with Mr. Taras here slated to become the first president of the Confederation"

"Ah, thank you... so is this announced to the public?"

"No, Yehor, we haven't done that just yet" said Taras once again "I still have to deliver a speech to the people later on... But anyways, all of you guys have done well in the national liberation campaign, in reclaiming our rightful lands, and for that, we shall celebrate"

Taras stood up, Yehor stood up, everybody stood up, each have a shot of Horilka, an alcohol beverage of their own origin, in their hand.

"It will be difficult, I cannot lie about that, but I can assure you, our future would be bright" the Reslanian president then holds up his shot "Glory to freedom"

"GLORY TO RESLANIA!"

The toast would end with all of the ones here gulping in said Horilka shot in a quick motion. They then put them down on the table, some having a bit of a laughter afterwards, including the President himself.

"Woo, it's certainly been awhile I had Horilka..." said Taras "Anyways, all of you have been dismissed, you can leave the room now"

...

"...After more than 2 weeks of war, the conflict in Enmars and Yelovsk had finally ended. The Reslanian War of Independence may have been short, but that doesn't mean it wasn't relatively as bloody as some other longer wars in history, as the death tolls stood in the tens of thousands, a vast majority being those of the Kingdoms Union Gestrae.

In light of their newfound victory, and subsequently their national liberation, the people of the Reslanian Confederation, as they now formally refer to themselves as such, have resorted to make the most of this as they can and celebrate.

It is often said in the Commonwealth of Esterria that the victory was unprecedented, even those in the Senate have said that it was against all odds and they did not expect such a thing to happen, let alone in 2 weeks.

After this has settled down, Reslania appointed Taras Feodosijovych Lytvynenko as its first head-of-state, as the president of Reslania, a step up from his previous interim leadership of the Free State.

We are also expecting a military parade of the Reslanian People's Front that will take place in Kramovskiy tomorrow. The parade will be set in the former Vassal Square of Yevlosk, now named Ruslan Ishchenko Square in honor of the man who killed General Luchok Yegorovich of the Tsar Army, who was then executed on the very same square that lit the fire of Reslanian liberation.

The parade will also be joined by the Heerschaar*, who stepped in to directly help their allies in taking Eastern Reslania, formerly Eastern Yevlosk. It should be noted that the announcement of victory coincides with the official name changing of our news station, which brings us to the next topic..." - Esterrian Voice of News

Barminde, Tilenogtyve, Flashia, 10/9/2017 In the embassy of the Geschnokean Dominion in this surprisingly vast country, Janos had been attentively listening to the news broadcasted from the radio for quite some time. Unlike most of the news he had heard back home, this series of event is just simply astonishing.

'By the gods, the war just ended and it was only more than 2 weeks in?!?' he thought to himself 'What kind of weapons were they employing...?! Oh... right' as he realized how actually destructive Flashia's equipment and those from their original world can be.

It should be noted again that this ambassador actually previously visited a museum nearby, where he saw the military history of Flashia and the evolution of their equipment over the years.

Janos now just sat there, as the radio is still speaking, thinking. The war in Reslania passed through his minds, then the historical wars that Flashia found itself in, before his eyes turned to a map stuck onto a wall in his office.

It was a map of Flashia, showing its regions and 'states' that made it look like it's actually 11 countries functioning as one instead of a centralized authority. He looked at the state of Tilenogtyve, the one where his foot is right now, then Kiralsia.

"Tilenogtyve has a shockingly similar name to Tilenoland of the legends..." mumbled the ambassador "Kiralsia where I visited the other day spoke an unintelligble but also shockingly similar language to my mother's tongue..."

He looked to the ceiling afterwards, the thoughts still running through his mind. He then looked down, his hands taking out a decrepit but still readable map of their previous world. Along with ancient Geschnokea, there lies Tilenoland and a certain rival country further North.

"Could it be that Tilenogtyveans are descendents of Tilenoland and Kiralsians descending from the Northern Geschnokeans?"

Northern Geschnokea, otherwise known as the lost land in Geschnokea was said to be Geschnokean territory in a continent just North of the mainland, hence the name. Looking at the map of Flashia again then back to his, he quickly sees the similarity of Kiralsia's geographical location to the lost land although being half the size of the territory, leaning more to the North.

"No... it can't be right?"

Knock-Knock

A knock on the door interrupt Jano's moment, as he broke out of his thoughts, turned off the radio and put away the old map.

"Come in" his voice's volume returned to normal this time around, before a staff member would open the door a bit and peek his head outside.

"Sir, the Flash have sent back words of some of the technology transfer deal we brought up before" said the man.

"Ah, so what did they say?"

"They agreed to transfer some of the technology of their 1970s and prior era, which included the cameras and color TV, but no engines or anything else we could use for military purposes"

"That's a shame then, but still very kind of them... anyways you can leave now"

The staff would shut the door close, and Janos was left alone with his thoughts once again, looking at the map of Flashia for the last time before he let out a sigh.

"...What am I doing? Just save those thoughts for later... I need to focus on my work"

...

Kingdoms Union Gestrae Headquarters, Greater Jefermai, La Ferdina The meeting room of KUG's heads of states, representing their own respective country, becomes a lot more chaotic than ever before.

"ORDER!" shouted a certain La Ferdinan empress in the middle of the loud chatters "ORDER I SAY!"

The war in Enmars and Yevlosk have been quite a hot topic for everybody else in the room. With the rise of the Reslanian Confederation, a country they don't recognize, concerns have been flowing through every single king and queens here.

"IF THIS RESLANIA GETS THEIR INDEPENDENCE" shouted the King of Hendrolis "WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO OUR COLONIES?!?"

"WHAT IF WE ARE GOING TO DEAL WITH SUCH FORCES?!" spoke out the Enselsland king "WOULDN'T OUR ARMY BE SO HOPELESS AT THAT POINT?!?"

"QUIET I SAY!" a fist to the table with the combination of a very angry voice would finally force the room to quiet, the loud chatter that was going would gradually die down. Empress Reine Bethune would clear her throat as she then held up a paper before standing up.

"To begin with, I am sure all of you present here may have already know the situation in our region to the North-West. In there, barbarian invaders had stepped foot onto the region of Enmars and Yevlosk of the Varikan Empire. They kicked our people out and took our cities for their own, to which I say is absolutely unforgivable. We suspect that the ones behind these forces are Flashia, Esterria, and Naeslagtland"

The mention of Naeslagtland seems to have bothered some of the royalties here. After their fallout with the pitched accent language-speaking country, KUG lost a portion of their strength in terms of military power.

"What do we do then? It's not like their army is now on our side or anything" said Pires X of Saogaulia.

"Then we shall make them be on our side again or at least demoralize them enough so as to deter them from being against us"

"So what are you perhaps suggesting?" said the Gošbanian king, Savić.

"That... we shall discuss further"

...

North-Eastern Esterria "...On other news, the Royal Army has announced that they have received new equipment for their troops. Chief among this are 10 Pasi APCs formerly in Flash service. The Pasis are said to be even simpler than that of the current Ijzerwagen in Esterrian service, being wheeled instead of tracked while also having a superior amphibious capability. And yes, the Ijzerwagen can swim, just not that good according to the troops that operate such vehicles..."

The radio is then turned off as an Esterrian nobleman would continue enjoy the sea, sitting on a chair with a table next to him, the one the aforementioned radio is on.

"...Many things had changed while I'm gone huh?" he mumbled to himself.

The noble had been listening to the news while on the beach for quite a while, ever since he got his own radio after the man was out of the army. For him, it's the only viable way to take in information of the ever-changing world, with the wave crashes serving as a distractor from his past.

The nobleman stared into the sea, thinking about something, before his hand would reach into his pocket, grabbing a picture then bring it over to his face.

The picture is in color, not really that high of a quality but still clearer than previous ones. It shows soldiers of the Royal Army donning different equipment, most significantly the helmet, and different black rifles. The background would show a 6-wheeled vehicle with the same tricolor located on the right of the vehicle's front.

'...Must be one of those Pasis' he thought to himself.

He then flipped the image around, and a writing on the white back is seen.

"From Piet and Konink, growing stronger than ever"

The noble smiled before putting the picture away, back into his pocket. He then stood up from his chair before turning around to go towards a stairway leading to his rather modest home that he's just happy with as is.

...

"...And so that concludes the war in Reslania, am I correct?"

"Errr... not exactly your majesty"

Einskirka, Esterria At the Royal Castle stood 2 of the most important figures of the current Commonwealth government and history.

"How so?" said the still young queen Marie III.

"According to our news sources, the RPF... no, the Confederation Army is still facing some resistance from loyalists of Varika and La Ferdina" said Gessel, the Commonwealth's prime minister "They're minor at best, but I can assure it's still something to take note of, your majesty"

"I see..."

The queen then turned to look out the window, seemingly contemplating at something else. She then let out a sigh before turning her head back to Gessel.

"On other topic, do you mind telling me the status of our effort to acquire those jets for our military?"

"Our personnel is in Flashia training to use and take care of such aircrafts" said the Esterrian minister "But Barminde is still saying no... and even though the president himself seemed to be more willing, their Parliament is still not convinced"

"As expected..." as she then turned to look at the scenery outside the window again, her tone suggesting a small glint of disappointment "I cannot blame them, they're such valuable and powerful asset after all... at least from what I have heard"

"Fret not, your majesty, I'm sure they will do it eventually. After all, they were kind enough to send us their propeller fighter planes"

"...I suppose you are right, they will do it, eventually"

...

Barminde, Flashia "We have hit rock bottom in terms of relation with the Kingdoms Union isn't it?"

As President Simon Thomasen finished his words, the Foreign and Defense Minister present in his office would give out a singular slow nod.

"To be fair, it has been like this since Gevaka" said Anton Dam, the Defense Minister "I think they've made their position about us very clear, ain't that right Magovac?"

"Well, I mean Naeslagtland that was in KUG pretty much confirms it even further" replied Oliver Magovac, the Foreign Minister "They intend to conquer us by any mean just because we're a republic"

"Like that's going to happen..." spoke Anton again before the president would then clear out his throat.

"Anyways, let's just focus on our next course of action shall we? So gentlemen, I'm all ears to your suggestion if you have any"

Of the 2 different head of their respective ministers present, Anton Dam would be the first to speak.

"Well, I believe the best for our Defense Forces right now is more frequent exercises as well as bringing back the old ones"

"Such as...?"

"The annual multinational Horizon, if given the chance of course..."

"Right... What about you Magovac?"

"You know... I'm actually considering working with our Geschnokean counterparts even further as they're the only KU member that has a relatively alright relation with us..."

"Oh right, I forgot about them" mumbled the Defense Minister.

"...Maybe that will help us get closer with other nations belonging to the so-called Civilized Regions, which I frankly find ridiculous"

"We all do, Magovac..." spoke President Simon

"Heh... Oh, and also, our diplomatic ties with Naeslagtland should be reinforced too now that they have sided with us in these changing time as well as Reslania"

"Oh, and another thing" spoke out Anton again "How are we doing with the whole Esterria fighter jet ordeal?"

"More than half of the Parliament is still saying 'Nej'" the President answered "It's going to be a lot longer until we get two-third majority for 'Ja'"

"I'd suggest just give them some time, while we handle the training for the Esterrians-"

"Wait, the Esterrians are training on fighter jets?" said Magovac in a tone of surprise.

"Yep"

"How come have I not heard of this?"

"I mean..." said the President "You were busy that very day it began so..."

"Huh... interesting..."

"Anyways, where was I again...?" said Anton "Oh right, Mr. President, just have some patient, they'd say yes later on. Those Esterrians will have a chance to get their jet eventually"

"I will... Anyways, you are all dismissed, you can leave the office now"

Both Magovac and Dam would stand up from their respective seats, then turned around to a door which they would use to exit the room. Dam went out first, followed by Magovac who shut the door after.

...

Aveland, Naeslagtland In Aveland, the capital city of the Kingdom, Madsen IV himself has gone out of his palace for an inspection of a certain military unit. Walking past the soldiers standing shoulder-to-shoulder, still donning the old uniform of dark blue, with a general near, he took good looks upon their equipment.

What seems stood out the most for him is the fact that they are now armed with a new kind of gun. It seems to be a bit of a smaller stature compared to their previous musket with a smaller bore. The King turned to the general that is with him.

"I see they have been issued new weapons?"

"Yes, your majesty" said the general.

"Can you tell me more about it?"

"Well, they are named Berntsen-Kaasa as I've been told it was referred as such. Those are second hand refurbished rifles from Flashia, as it was used by their Ageværan Havjegere from the 1880s to 1940s according to their calendar"

So they're Flash rifles, he had thought to himself.



"What kind of capability it has?" the King asked again

"Based on feedback from the very same soldiers standing before you now, they found their weapon to be relatively simple to operate. Reloading isn't as much of a hassle, and hitting targets is just a matter of aiming down the sight and firing compared to the previous muskets"

"So I take it that the rifles are very accurate?"

"That is correct, your majesty. They also have the capacity of 5 bullets before needing to reload, plus one in the chamber if there's any"

The word of confirmation would place it on par, if not superior to the the fabled repeater rifles of La Ferdina and Varika. And while it's not better than the rifles that he had heard the Reslanians been using, it's still a step up nonetheless.

"How many of these rifles do we have?"

"So far we have received 5,000 of such examples"

5,000 is still a relatively low number, but that's just enough for the Naeslagt King for such a time that his country found itself in, not to mention the timing (it took 2 weeks for the weapons to end up in the Naeslagtlandic hands).

'I have made the right choice then' he thought to himself, with his eyes seemingly gleaming with hope, although no one else would be able to tell.

Madsen IV would continue on to inspect his troops with their own set of self-propelled carriages that are still the same as ever.

...

While the La Ferdinan and Varikan forces have officially been defeated, the fighting isn't over just yet. Groups of the vassal government loyalists gathered up for last ditch resistance against the newly formed Reslanian Confederation.

Saint-Boudet, Reslania, early morning 11/9/1702 A group of two Verdecanan elves had rushed over to one of the scenes of fighting between the Confederation Army, the crowd of people and a few La Ferdinan snipers, who exactly they don't know just yet.

Using a rather special camera, they recorded the scene, with the men in dark green with strange guns firing their weapons in each trigger pulls being the center of attention while the background shows a lot of civilians seemingly aiding some to get to said snipers.

"What interesting guns..." said one of the elves "They don't even need to pull the bolt back..."

The weapons is a lot different than anything these Verdecanans could think of, and while there is texture of familiar wood, the design profile itself is just out of the question.

Some soldiers, or rather militiamen as indicated by their lack of uniform, wearing their normal clothing instead with red cloth tied around their arms would also be filmed running over to the snipers' position under fire, holding on to more traditional firearms.

"Kimon, let's go!" said the same elf as he would then move with the cameraman following close behind. The two elves would run towards where the militiamen while keeping their heads as low as possible.

They'd reach the place right outside of the building that the soldiers from the back had been firing at. Taking some cover and aiming up their weapons, the militamen would stay outside while someone is already in as indicated by the open door.

"Слідкуйте за ним, вони можуть з'являтися з будь-якого вікна"

"Знаю, Не треба мені цього казати"

The two Verdecanans approached one with a really short gun, focused on the building itself.



"Excuse me, do you have a moment?" asked the one without the camera.

"Hah?" as the man turned around in confusion. It was the moment that he then glanced at the camera did he realized he's being recorded for the news, after which he would lower his gun while nodding.

"Thank you" said the elf again "Anyways, I want to ask who are shooting up there?"

"...Terrorists" said the man in a thick accent "Uhh... La Ferdinan Assassins"

"So there's Assassins up there?"

"Yes"

"How many?"

The Reslanian turned his eyes away for a bit, thinking for a short while before getting back with his right hand with two fingers, then three fingers up raised to the elf.

"Two or three assassins?"

"Yes"

"Are your friends going up there to you know... kill them?"

The militiaman nodded "Correct"

"Right, thank you very much, good sir"

The Reslanian nodded again with a smile. After that, a gunshot was heard in the building, and judging by the fact it wasn't muffled, it must have been directed outside which caused the same man to direct his attention back.

"Вони стріляють з другого вікна! П'ятий поверх!" yelled out another militiaman which prompted the same man to push the right side lever of his short gun down, shouldering his stock while the elf quickly signals his cameraman to move out before then attempting covering his ears.

What happened next is a very peculiar case of full-auto firing being recorded before shortly forcing the camera lens to point downward as the cameraman flinched. The other turned around in surprise, his face seemed like he had never seen such a thing before.

"Just go, Kimon! I'll be behind you!" shouted the elf in the middle of the chaos. The cameraman would turn off the camera for the time being as he would now be solely focusing on running out with his head kept low. His companion would follow as they crossed the street, avoiding being in the crossfire as much as possible.

...

Eastern Reslania At the less developed side of Reslania, a company of Esterrian troops found themselves to be fighting the mountains with a few Varikan loyalists situated above them.

"I thought this was fucking done with?!"

"Apparently not for them"

"Why don't these cunts just give up already?"

Using what they have at hand, such as the three Ijzerwagens and two Defenders with machine guns, the Esterrians gave them all they have for the resisting forces.

BANG-BANG-BANG

Went three shots in semi-auto of the standard Geweer 2.

"Ahhhh, I can't see shit with these irons!"

"Neither do the Flash most of the times, even though those motherfuckers have scopes!"

The soldier lowered his weapon and turned to the one that said it in surprise.

"Really?"

"I'm serious"

The soldier then looked back at the mountain he was shooting at.

"I call bullshit" as he then shoulder his rifle again.

"Just ask those that fought in some shitty desert or something, they'd say the same thing"

"Yeah, right"

BANG-BANG

The Esterrian mechanized company kept on firing upon the mountain, sending over tens of bullets at supposedly a few Varikan loyalists who did return fire as made apparent by some cracks.

"The hell is Tijl doing?"

Tijl refers to a machine gunner of their 2nd Platoon, 3rd squad, who is just hipfiring his machine gun in short bursts.

"Oi, you ain't hitting shit doing that!"

"Neither do you either so what's the fucking point otherwise?!"

At this point, no one at the mountains are moving, mainly because the Variks just knew that they're going to get hit by the sideway rain of bullets if they move even an inch. The Esterrians essentially has them pinned, but they don't really move either, particularly because no one's in the mood of climbing up there.

"This is Bord-1, what's the status on that bird we called?"

Fortunately, they had called in some help.

"Bord-1, air support ETA 1 minute"

"Roger" as the RTO then turned to the leader of his squad "You heard him"

The SL then quickly turned to his fellow Royal Army soldiers.

"1 minute lads!" he shouted "They're coming in 1!"

The firing of the Esterrian guns are still as intense as when the engagement began. From your average infantryman to the Ijzerwagen's machine gun, they spewed out as much lead as possible in order to make sure the opposition could only stay put, even though they're burning through ammo fast.

A distant buzz is then heard, unfamiliar to those new to combat as a whole, and a blessing for those who have been in the rough for quite some time. The buzzing would gradually and surely becomes louder, with a white figure emerging from the skies behind them.

The white bird would go on a descent, aiming its nose towards the mountain, in particular where those loyalists are. As the bird would go above the Esterrian heads, flames of yellow were shot out to the front and back under the wings, with the projectiles briefly seen before they slammed itself into the face of the mountain, ending in explosions.

"Observer reporting, good hits on target, they're gone now"

Laughter erupted amongst the Esterrian soldiers, as a sign of relief from their entire ordeal as the bird would fly away.

Boxes of .50 CAL would lie down on the side of the road along with a crap loads of spent casing everywhere would serve as an indication of what they spent and how long have they been.

"Fuck, man I thought we're going to be empty by the time they came around..."

"We were close, and I'm just glad we didn't reach that point"

"May I ask what was that thing earlier?"

"It was a Mustang"

"Since when did horses fly-"

"It's just a name private..."

...

"...With all things considered, should we delay the parade for later date?" said an officer of the newly formed Confederation Army.

"No, just keep it that way" said Yehor, the Commander-in-Chief of the proper Reslanian military.

"But sir, what about the insurrections in the West and East?"

"The resistance is negligible at best, and from what I heard the fighting often ends in a very short time, either from the angry people not having any of it, or it's just us, and the Esterrians, hilariously overwhelming them even with just a few"

"I see... So we're keeping it as is?"

"What did I just tell you then?"

"Ah, I apologize for that!"

"It's fine, it's fine... just hoping that it will turn out the way we wanted it to be"

"Well... it will, I can assure you that"

...

Last chapter of the year let's gooooooooooo

As of publishing, it's 23:49 here in the long S-shaped land aka the Chile of SEA (sort of). 11 minutes later it will be 2024 so godt nytår lads!

CHÚC MỪNG NĂM MỚI!

*Heerschaar is the domestic name of the Esterrian Royal Army. Should also note that it's a shorter form of 'Koninklijke Heerschaar'

Patchnotes (13/1/2024): Added the note that should have been added earlier