High School Soldier
Pick-up 2

Royal soldiers Arevelk and Yekirnovo do not need jackets to protect themselves from the cold at the end of winter this month. Usually, there will be a festival at the end of winter to celebrate the end of the bone-chilling air. People on the Andzrev Continent will start growing a few weeks after winter, and that will last for nine months. This is the shortest winter in history, and slightly favors the other ‘world’ warriors who live in tropical climates.

Throughout their winters in this world, the Indonesian contingent has tasted the so-called ‘medan frozen’ in fact. They hope to never feel the torture of practicing in the freezing temperatures, even though they can eat as much free shaved ice as the snow that accumulates throughout the fort. It does seem like a child, but it is one way for them to slightly reduce the annoyance of the first winter that torments the body and soul.

According to some Indonesian soldiers involved in making large amounts of shaved ice by utilizing the snow that accumulates confess if the taste of the world's snow is quite different. Although without the addition of flavoring in the form of cocoa flavored syrup and from famous brands, the snow of the world is sweet. They did not care about the nagging of the superiors who warned them not to play around, unfortunately the majority of the soldiers sent to this world were still in the early adult phase, and the aura of teenagers who want freedom is still in them.

In addition, the end of winter makes the temperature slightly warm, although in the implementation of the mission troops are still required to wear jackets. All for the safety and health of TNI soldiers who are the majority of the first time to feel the winter. The warmers began to be stored back in the warehouse, as the soldiers were supposed to be able to survive at a temperature of nine degrees centigrade during the day.

“It looks like they are planning something.”

Sigiz – recently arrived at the Peacekeeping Forces fortress to close things up with some of the Guild officers. He was in this place accompanied by Ilhiya and some of the soldiers of the elite air force forces of the Kingdom of Arevelk that he was proud of, although not comparable to the fighter jets belonging to the contingent of ‘otherworld’.

“As there will be an attack in the near future, and they are preparing to face the enemy.”

“Attack?” sigiz's expression changed after hearing Ilhiya's opinion, which was between annoyance and uneasiness. The technology of his troops is only limited to an increase in the shield made of material ‘magical’ steel that is able to withstand the lesion of assault rifle bullets from a distance of one hundred meters. Although it had quite a number of cannons, it did not make the country's military stronger than the Yekirnovo Kingdom.

Although still a new country not even a year and a half old, Yekirnovo was quickly able to match the military strength of Arevelk. That was because they continued to develop a technology called a submissive rifle called ‘hand cannon’ since it was still a vassal territory of the Luan Empire. Although the resulting impact is slightly weaker than a cannonball, if facing the enemy using a shoulder rifle in large quantities the resulting impact is believed to exceed the cannon itself.

That's why Arevelk was interested in the Yekirnovo production of the shoulder rifle. Unfortunately, just as the Indonesian Ministry of Defense rejected cooperation in the purchase of several SS20 G2s, Yekirnovo refused to sell their sniper rifles to Arevelk after a meeting a few weeks ago.

Sigiz did feel sad after getting an unsatisfactory result. However, the queen of Yekirnovo, Sheyn, agreed to the cooperation of technology exchange between the two countries. Arevelk has many weapons craftsmen and such, while Yekirnovo is in need of manpower to produce a sniper rifle. Sheyn, as queen and commander-in-chief of the country's military, felt the need to disseminate the weapon to the entire army so that their defense power was comparable to the Alliance. The deal includes the delivery of capital to produce large-scale rifles.

“If that's true, and Mr. Nio is in danger, we should meet with the officers immediately.”

After Sigiz and Ilhiya made their way to the designated meeting room, a battalion of artillery dispatched as aid moved to the point designated as the meeting point. The distance of the fort to the point in question will only take half a day if the troops move non-stop in full fuel conditions. In addition to an artillery battalion, the troops also sent a supply battalion as a complement.

The relief force came out from the north gate of the fort, and Shyen's entourage saw that. Dozens of towed and self-propelled artillery pieces looked like they had been taken somewhere, with the soldiers wearing full combat equipment. Of course it made Sheyn want to quickly attend the meeting to question what happened.

He was accompanied by Kambana, Jonathan, Uto and Gozoa. While Seish has to take care of something at the Yekirnovo contingent camp.

“I feel there will be a battle,” muttered Jonathan who was too loud until Kambana could hear him.

“Don't worry, believe me they can win if the battle really happens.”

Jonathan smiled slightly after hearing the soothing words from Kambana. It can reduce the burden of his mind that keeps on remembering Nio who seems to have another side when dealing with enemies. Uto and Gozoa looked at them with flat expressions, but inwardly still felt envy.

**

The officers of ‘otherworld’ began to communicate using the language of this world, although they still needed a dictionary because they were not yet really fluent. At least, using a few everyday sentences using the language of this world facilitates their work as well as communicating with the contingent officers of the Kingdom of Yekirnovo and Arevelk. That's why they can carry out meetings smoothly, although a translator is still needed just in case.

Today's meeting was a follow-up to the information the 12th Team sent regarding the movement of tens of thousands of Alliance troops towards the Black Fort.

“They don't lie. Our UAV squadron is also monitoring the camp near the city where Team 12 is carrying out infiltration and reconnaissance missions,” Major Teguh said.

(olog note: UAVs can be likened to unmanned aircraft. Peacekeepers in this story use UAVs for patrol operations, or it could be bombers in very high-risk missions)

“They are really something, other than not having any intention to reconcile with us,” one of the Russian officers connect.

This is not the first time Angga is in a situation that puts his army under threat from the enemy. At least, during the war against other world nations before, this man had won the war against the enemy who controlled Bangka Island.

“What forces defending Black Fortress have devised a plan to confront them?”

To respond to Angga's questions, Deska searched a page in her stack of reports about the situation they were in. As a communication staff personnel, Deska is trusted to stay connected with all troops stationed in several areas, including Black Fort and some areas on the border.

“They started moving into the orange zone, following the strategy laid out by Lieutenant Nio. One battalion of field artillery was also preparing to move to a predetermined point.”

Sigiz spliced up the conversation, “Will the battle be fine done in the orange zone? Wouldn't it be better for them to keep fighting while defending Black Fortress?”

“Your Highness Sigiz, the enemy always attacks with large numbers. They always take advantage of these advantages, and we must take advantage of what can give us victory,” explained Angga, as well as saying some proposals that Nio said if the enemy attacked at any time. One of them did order the troops occupying the Black Fort to retreat to the orange zone, then sent the troops in the fort to catch up and help them.

That will make the delivery time of aid can be faster, which means the fuel and power spent is not too much. Troops can rest while crafting tactics while waiting for the enemy, or even they can attack the enemy without having to wait for them to attack first. Artillery can cover a distance of at least ten kilometers and a maximum of one hundred kilometers. While the enemy is estimated to be about ninety kilometers from the Black Fort.

“It looks like it's a good tactic, but it doesn't give our troops a chance to show their strength,” Sheyn lamented approved by Sigiz.

“What is needed in this war is to finish it quickly, so we are the ones who are suitable in this operation. However, the contingent of Arevelk and Yekirnovo can serve as the last supervisor or defense,” replied Baek-Ho who made the two queens more moody, and made him not understand if there was anything wrong with his remarks.

“I understand. So you guys want to finish this war quickly, and decide not to prolong the conflict with the Alliance, so?”

“Not so, however we will continue to fight until the enemy wants to make peace with us. Every time they attack, we will serve them with pleasure, that is what the people of our country want.”

The people pay taxes, and the armies of this world use only those funds as best they can. The people also need protection, and the Alliance is a real and worthy enemy to fight. It was their basis to be able to continue fighting to protect the world and their respective countries through this world.

However, it was not the main thing that Sigiz and Sheyn wanted to hear.

“Omong-by the way, where did Mr Nio carry out his mission?” sheyn asked curiously. Normally, field officers like Nio would be ordered to attend the meeting as it was done at the moment. Nio's existence was completely invisible, and just like Sheyn had expected…

“... He is conducting an infiltration and reconnaissance mission in Tanoe City, Luan Empire territory. He and his team will be back two days, sooner after they find out if the enemy is gathering there,” Lee Baek-Ho replied which made Sigiz and Sheyn look uneasy.

Enemies planning attacks are unavoidable, even if it means having to spend people's money to prevent the enemy from continuing their actions as planned. The Peace Forces and the Guild have declared themselves to end the war as quickly as possible, even if it has to sacrifice a lot of things. The troops of the three countries accepted the fact that there were many who hated them because the government had enough money to equip them. The parties said that Indonesia, North Korea and Russia would make the country poor slowly if they continued the war. So, they decided to be very careful in deciding something.

North Korea, Indonesia, and Russia brought thousands of their soldiers who introduced new ideas and things to Arevelk and Yekirnovo. So, they can show if their goals and tasks are not just to survive and serve every challenge of the enemy.

“We can only hope that the tactics made by Lieutenant Nio will bring us victory.”

“General Angga, from your words, it seems like Mr Nio is indeed something, huh?”

“In other words, he's one of the soldiers we hope to provide his abilities for the Guild, His Highness Sigiz”

All the officers of the Russian, Indonesian, and North Korean contingents nodded in agreement to Angga's words. As one of the veterans who managed to survive the Alliance's first major assault on the Expeditionary Force, the man hopes the Peacekeeping Forces people can take a good example from Nio.

Nio had once survived a terrifying battle during the assault of three hundred thousand human soldiers and the monsters of the Alliance Army. Once knowing that the one-week war had cost the TNI a lot of casualties, the entire Guild soldiers quickly fell into disquiet.

“The Gods turned out to be not wrong in pointing at ‘people predicted’.”

“Your Highness Sigiz, what do you mean by ‘people foretold’?”

“General Angga, in short he will change this war alone in the future with his own strength.”

Indeed this world is filled with various things that only exist in fantasy-themed novels or move to other worlds, but the majority of Indonesian, North Korean, officers, and Russians are over thirty years old without ever reading fantasy comics and novels. Some of them may have read dongens to their respective children, but it is only a result of the imagination of the people of their home world. Unfortunately, they are struggling in the world of imagination, the difference is everything in this world is the imagination that becomes real.

On the other hand, they had heard of some prophecies, and some of those prophecies had become real. One of them contains about the existence of a large army from ‘world lain’ that will help one of the world's groups to fight other groups who plan to fight the ‘world lain’.

They concluded that the Alliance is a group that foretold has plans to fight the world of origin contingent ‘other world’. However, some just assume that it is just a prophecy, and the fact that there are strong forces (contingent Indonesia, North Korea, and Russia) in this world is a coincidence.

“ ‘people foreseen’ appointed directly by the Gods. That means there will really be major events in the future that will involve him.”

“Your Highness Sigiz, the prophecy only illustrates if we will continue to fight with the Alliance until an undetermined time. Our country does not want this war to last for years.”

“The Gods said through the prophecy they lowered if this world will enter ‘Great War Period’. Don't you realize something, General Angga?”

Angga ‘forced’ thought if the prophecy might actually happen, but in a time not yet known. On the other hand, even though he claimed to be an officer who had never studied officer education, Nio did have brilliant military potential and career. If future circumstances remain fraught with armed conflict, Angga plans to take advantage of every tactic Nio devises.

In addition, it could have been Nio's remarks about ‘The real First World War’ is really happening. That means, ‘World War’ involving military forces in both worlds is underway when this meeting takes place. Thinking about it, almost all the officers muttered this with a restless expression accompanied by cold sweat on the forehead even though this room was equipped with AC.

“What that means will there be powers other than the Guilds and Alliances involved in the war you are referring to, Your Highness Sigiz.”

Sheyn then connects, “Most likely, yes. Besides us, surely in the future there will be more countries involved in this war. Because the Great War Period will restore both worlds like the beginning of civilization, and it is an absolute thing that will happen in the future.”

“That Queen Sheyn said is entirely correct,” Sigiz said.

“It was like an end-time war only,” said Angga in an uneasy tone despite a calm expression full of the dignity of a general.

“Why are we involved with this war?! Why don't we just attack them with full force until we surrender, instead of getting involved in the Great War Period or something?!”

“If it's a real prophecy, why don't your gods and goddesses come down to help the good army like us?”

“We are assigned to this world to find the mastermind who started the war, then ended this war as quickly as possible. The prophecy may only be made by someone who fantasizes as a god or goddess!”

Sigiz was seen showing an expression of disbelief in what he heard the four officers say. He was unable to compose the right fitting words to reply to their words, but the sound of a hand slapping the table rang out echoed throughout the room and shocked the whole person. When caught in a situation that leaves him in a corner, Sigiz cannot speak properly and chooses silence for now.

Suddenly Sheyn spoke in a high tone like the four previous officers, “Don't speak as if the Gods are the ones who will fool mankind! You do have a weapon capable of destroying enemies within minutes. And the Gods created the Great Warring Period so that both worlds would have a balanced power. What is different about war and politics? Aren't the two things basically the same, where several people or groups compete for something?”

“In addition, ‘people predicted’ really dropped down among the Indonesian troops, namely your best soldier named Nio. I can guarantee that he can end this war with the power he has, and the Masterpiece will help him achieve his goals. If the prophecy is just a story that someone imagines, Arevelk will be the guarantee and you can have if it's all a lie,” Sigiz can finally speak even with a nervous feeling. That way, they can both make those who doubt the prophecy about the ‘Great Warfare Period’ dumbfounded, and ‘forced’ believes irrational things in their world but is believed by the people of this world. The words of Sigiz and Sheyn made it clear to Indonesia, Russia and North Korea that they must prepare for the worst possible war.

While trying to contain their embarrassment and resentment after getting unexpected answers from Sheyn and Sigiz, they, the four officers pleaded to leave the meeting room on the grounds that they would perform tasks that must be submitted in time as soon as possible. They did not expect this meeting to have a debate.

Then, the remaining loyal officers waiting for the results of the meeting from Angga looked with curious expressions Sigiz and Sheyn who said that in the future there will be events that will change both worlds. They hoped that the event would not happen in the near future, and provided an opportunity to resolve the issue first with the Alliance. That means, they feel curious if ‘people predicted’ is a real figure.

Meanwhile, despite looking young, Sheyn and Sigiz both have the aura of a leader who has high self-esteem like a male king. Both of them are worthy of respect, but seem to keep something.

The treat at this meeting is mineral water with a perfect ph, and some snacks. All the Peacekeeping officers saw the two queens devouring every available treat, and they looked delighted that the two queens looked ordinary while eating all the treats. Meanwhile, Angga kept a question that made him feel very curious.

“Sorry if this question is impolite, Your Highness Sigiz and His Highness Sheyn. In my opinion, the two of you seem to be close to Nio.”

They both spouted water simultaneously – with a reddened face – and made Angga and the whole audience surprised.

**

“(Bersin ten times), it looks like someone is talking about me.”

Nio muttered as he dodged every attack of the goat-headed monster whose name was not yet known. This was his first time fighting a type of beast-headed monster other than a minotaur or orc, and hoping that the fight this time around was not too troublesome. He felt that there were really some people outside of the Labyrinth talking about him, be it a good thing or a bad thing about him.

“Master, I'm glad you're alive..!” Hevaz flew at high speed towards him, and landed and ran very fast towards him and then lunged at him until he fell backwards violently.

Hevaz's action towards Nio made some girls stare at the two of them with piercingly cold expressions, and let Hassan struggle alone against the endless rush of dozens of goat-headed monsters. The man thought that the number of such monsters was far more than the number of tens, perhaps hundreds. It was the worst possible, but even worse was Nio who did not dwell on the deadly embrace of Hevaz.

After feeling that Nio was not thrashing anymore, Hevaz released his embrace and sat down next to Nio's body. However, Nio looked motionless for a moment, but both of his eyes opened with a blank look.

“Letnan, I hope you're not dead now!”

“Who said I was dead, huh?!” Nio suddenly responded to Hassan's words with a shout as well, then stood up with some sick body parts after receiving a painful warm hug from Hevaz.

Nio immediately took out a few chopsticks from his vest bag, then put them into the cavity of the bamboo-like plant. Since the plant has bamboo-like characteristics in its world, Nio considers it to be bamboo rather than arguing with himself about the mention of the plant. He had to take out a little bullet maybe, even though he had gotten help. However, that does not mean he can return with Hevaz and Hassan now.

Because it's…

“... Sorry sir, I can't use teleportation magic for now. It took me about a day until my magical energy was fully charged.”

Nio could not bear Hevaz who spoke with an adorable face. As she looked at the cute face of Hevaz – whose age she did not want to know, Nio saw a goat-headed monster running quickly towards them. Nio quickly raised his chopsticks barrel, then a chopsticks child shot out at high speed after Nio blew as hard as he could.

The chopsticks stuck on the shoulder of a goat-headed monster that was about to attack Hevaz from behind, and made the monster sound in great pain. He grabbed the chopsticks twenty centimeters long, and tried to pull them out. When she almost managed to pull out the chopsticks that stuck in her body, Kardas slashed twice the monster's body. The girl did so with a feeling of fear, yet she managed to suppress those feelings.

It seemed, they entered the tenth floor deepening, and made them meet the goat-headed monster.

“Why are these cabrites endless?”

“Kabrit? These monsters are called kabrit?” Nio responded to Nefe's words with a slight smile.

“That's a funny name know!” Hassan who heard him laughed a little while continuing to paralyze one by one the cabrites who tried to attack him.

“Their horns are quite expensive if sold,” Sayf said while slashing a cabrit stuck by a chopstick child from Nio on his body.

The fighting ability of the monster race called the cabrit was equivalent to an ordinary warrior, and that was what made their ‘head’ quite valuable. Because the horns of the cabrit is believed to be able to increase the stamina of the soldiers, and make them able to fight long enough when fighting. However, since it was quite expensive, only knights or noble warriors could afford it.

Like a wave of three-times-a-day attacks by the Alliance that raided the Expeditionary Force fortress, the cabrites lunged at them nonstop.

Sabole and Nefe ran up a rock to release their magic to reduce the number of cabrites that actually numbered in the hundreds instead of tens. From the top of the four-meter-high rock, the two of them could see Sakuya slashing down each of the cabrites until they turned into ashes. Katana the girl was red smoldering with a slight spark, then each slash made each cabrite return to ashes and flew in the wind caused by her footsteps.

Although the sound of gunfire was quite disturbing to hearing, Sabole and Nefe calmly stringed together the words of the magic spell they were about to unleash. They aimed at the dozens of cabrites who ran close to the battleground, they would shower the monsters with their specialist fire magic.

But.

“?!”

“What?!”

When Nefe and Sabole were about to complete their spell, a chopstick boy darted over the heads of the two of them. The lifeless body of a cabrite fell behind them, with the chopsticks sticking right in his eyes. A cabrit had previously jumped up to attack the two of them, but Nio's wider range of vision allowed him to prevent the two of them from getting hurt.

“Sorry!”

Nio apologized for the surprise attack from him.

A moment later, a circle decorated with geometric patterns appeared above some of the cabrites, then fire arrows rained down on them, giving rise to the smell-disrupting smell. It was an attack the result of the cooperation of Nefe and Sabole for the first time since they became Explorers, and the resulting effects exceeded expectations. Dozens of cabrites were able to kill them in a single strike, but that did not stop the monsters from attacking them.

Hevaz flew low above the dozens of cabrites and let some of them move forward towards Sakuya. Then, he started the slaughter of those monsters easily. Like having no weight at all, Hevaz looks very easy to swing his large scythe to split each body of the cabrit. Whether the cabrit's body is easy to split or the Hevaz's sickle is never blunt, even Nio can't blink when Hevaz does every action.

Hevaz's lightning strike killed each of the cabrites painlessly and without giving them a chance to retaliate.

Hevaz smiled half-heartedly when he found out that he had to cooperate with the Hero of Sadness and the Maze Explorer who came from the Duiwel Empire. He felt unable to completely surrender this fight to the enemy side.

The crew screams as Kardas and Sayf slash their bodies in an easy fight. The two warrior-class Explorers continued to advance forward and attacked every single one of the cabrites that was blocking them.

They continued moving in a messy formation, and were killed easily by the humans they were fighting. Monsters usually have no concept of a leader, and will attack anyone they think is a weaker opponent. Unfortunately, the cabrites were not a comparable opponent to human warriors like Nio. a cabrit struck the tree trunk very hard after Nio kicked it very strongly.

He held the barrel of chopsticks in his left hand, while his right hand held the carambit to face every cabrit that challenged him. He dodged every horizontal and vertical attack from the cabrites armed with metal and stone axes. Nio still did not understand why monsters like them were able to make such weapons, but he thought that what needed to be done now was to continue fighting until the monsters retreated.

He slashed the neck of a cabrite with his sharp carambit eyes, and a fountain of blood was created from the incision area. He did the same to some of the cabrits, accompanied by a kick to get rid of the enemy's body that was blocking him.

There was no way Nio would not learn from his precious experience with the Expeditionary Force.

Nio slightly smiled as he recalled his fight against the monster army that was involved in the Alliance's first assault on the Expeditionary Force.

They were the opponents that made Nio feel a satisfying fight and he had never done before. Despite only fighting the cabrit, Nio felt they had the ability to fight like trained monsters.

To the opponent who was a few meters away from him, Nio crippled them with his chopstick eyes. Although it did not cause death for some of the cabrites affected by his attack, Nio handed the final attack on Sayf and Kardas. Hassan protected him by shooting at any cabrit that was not within his reach.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrggghh!”

There was another scream that made them stop what they were doing, and it was heard again. Nio remained standing in place after hearing a shout that made an uncomfortable feeling, yet a cabrit snatched quickly the barrel of chopsticks from his hand and broke it in front of him. Nio could not respond to the provocation from them, and second-guessed the source of the shouting voice he heard.

A moment later, the sound of heavy footsteps made the ground they were treading vibrate. They were sure something big was approaching, like a big monster or something. The cabrites were seen fleeing and the battleground and moving towards the sound of screaming.

“?!”

Both Nio and Hassan – who are from another world – were too surprised to say a word after seeing what appeared near them. While the girls reacted by putting on a clear expression of fear, except for Sakuya and Hevaz.

“Monster what is it?” Nio asked in a soft voice.

“King minotaur,” says Nefe, Kardas, Sabole, and Sayf along with a frightened face.

“Looks like he's a bit strong to deal with,” Nio said in a joking tone as he stared straight at the two-meter-and-a-half-tall minotaur that appeared.

**

(self-propelled artillery, image source pinterest)