Chapter 3 The New World
Ahmed POV
The light from outside, which previously only came from vehicle headlights, gradually became brighter and immediately from the small window inside LAV Safir, I could see our vehicle had left the Al Jisr tunnel and appeared on a stretch of hill. After the LAV stopped, me and my squad members who were inside Safir immediately got out and took up positions making a perimeter around the Al Jisr tunnel. Some people took cover behind fallen trees and the Ghazi's vehicle while others lay down behind bushes or grass and large rocks. I myself took a position behind a big rock with Karim, I could see the Leonian tents which were about 1 Km from our position.
The Leonians who were on guard outside the tent at that time looked surprised by our arrival, who had just left Al Jisr. The encampment which was quiet is now getting busy with Leonian troops running here and there, clearly they are preparing for war. Faintly the sound of bells could be heard from the guard troops on top of the wooden tower, soon all the troops which came out from the tent immediately formed a line in front of the tent. I can estimate their number to be maybe 30 thousand people. Their camp clearly looked very spacious. From the middle of the camp, the wyverns are starting to fly and regroup in the sky, their number easily reaching dozens in a short time.
Most of our convoy are still in the process of crossing the tunnel, indicating that we are not fully prepared for an immediate encounter. Moreover, we don't have any air assets at the time since the truck which should be transporting them are yet to come. To deal with the wyverns, the only thing we can do is use our light AA vehicles such as Raad and Korkut. Fortunately, those AA vehicles just came out of the tunnel and now ready to fight. The first wave of Ghazi which was sent through the tunnel consisted of 3000 personnel in total, while the other waves would follow after we cleared this side of the tunnel. Which means, we are outnumbered ten to one at this time.
Soon, the Leonian troops seemed to have finished on forming a line. Immediately, a horn was sounded among the Leonians. Leonian troops started to line up and advance towards our perimeter. Their steps sounded steady and we can even hear their footsteps every time they're marching. Suddenly, I can feel the ground shaking around me. I look behind and see a CV-8 Mahmud Tank taking position behind me. It had a UIC flag on its turret which would be one of our morale boosters I presume.
"[bzzz] All units, commence the attack! Allahu Akbar!"
It was the sound of General Ayyub giving the order through the radio. I don't really know where his position is right now, maybe inside one of the tanks or the command vehicle behind us. It doesn't matter, as long as he gives the command, we would follow.
"""Allahu Akbar…."""
Following the General, we also shouted the takbeer while starting to rain fire on the Leonian troops. The tank behind me and the other tanks started firing their 125mm cannons, followed by the LAV Safir and Jamal which also fired its machine gun. Explosion after explosion was seen among enemy lines, many enemy troops began to die from the blast. Even though I couldn't see the look on their faces, I could tell they were starting to panic after seeing the Ghazi force's abilities. The Wyvern in the sky starts to move towards our perimeter and dive in preparation for an ambush. From our back line, I could hear a loud burst of gunfire from Raad firing his 25mm caliber. In no time, dozens of Wyverns started falling from the sky, some of them even hit their own infantry ranks on the ground.
Fortunately, we don't have to wait that long before the transport truck carrying our air assets starts to come out of the Al Jisr Tunnel. The cargo on the truck opened up, revealing H-1 Saqr Chopper which soon started to rotate their rotor and take off. These choppers hunted down the remaining wyvern which tried to flee, leaving behind the Leonians ground forces who still struggled to approach our perimeter. Some of their archers even tried to shoot their arrows, but the arrow couldn't even reach our position.
Some Leonian mages try to summon a golem to support them while others try to create an invincible barrier to protect their ranks. Every golem was destroyed with a one shot HE shell from CV-8 and CV-7 tanks while the barrier which was created and enforced by at least 10 mages only took 3 to 5 shots from the tanks before it cracked and destroyed like glass. Soon the Leonian troops started to break their lines. Our sheer power of attack finally breaks their formation and morale. Some Leonian started to flee and run back to where they came from.
"""Allahu Akbar!""" We shouted takbeer once again, getting up from our position and starting to move forward.
The tanks and other armored vehicles behind us followed and even moved past us while still firing their perspective guns at the scattered Leonian position. No matter how fast the Leonian runs, they can't compete with a motorized vehicle. Forming a crescent formation, we attempt to surround and encircle the remaining Leonian troops and cut off their route to flee. Those who tried to break our encirclement would be gunned down. Unfortunately, from 10.000 encircled Leonian troops, most of them still try to break free from the encirclement and only 2000 troops choose to surrender themself.
30 March 2029
It was our first battle in Edela and it ended in our total victory. The UIC didn't even have a single casualties while the Leonian lost at least 20.000 lives. I don't know if we can call it a battle anyway, it looks more like a massacre. They didn't stand a chance to fight our modern weaponry and their mages weren't able to give much help for their troops. One thing that I know from their magic is that their magic isn't effective over a long range. They can't even shoot their magic accurately from a distance of 50 meters.
After the battle ends, we soon start to build our FOB on this side of the tunnel, digging a trench, building a tent and barbed wire. I was given a private tent as my workplace as an officer. One of my jobs is to write a report, including the fight we had last night. I let the entrance of my tent keep open, while working on my report, I can see the Surrendered Leonian troops are rounded up and lined up. Some of their officers and mages were separated. I thought the army would question them for any information regarding Edela later.
Our new FOB looked very busy at the time, my team was also assigned to help in the building the defense of our base. The construction units work day and night to build the base facility such as command center, motor pool, armory, and barracks. The half built air strips can only be used by the helicopters at the time but I guess it's sufficient for now. When time finally reaches midday, I can hear azan from our makeshift masjid, a call to prayer. All people stop their activity and prepare for dhuhr prayer. Only those who have guard duty stay on their posts. I can see how amazed the Leonian troops seeing us performing our prayers together at that time.
After finishing our prayer, we went back to our post and continued what we were doing. Since I already finished my report, I chose to go to the trench where my units are positioned. A tap on my shoulder stop my step and makes me look back to see who is tapping me. Turns out, it was Major Nadhir who was tapping me. I salute him and he salutes back.
"Colonel Umar asks you to see him." He said.
"New mission?"
"Most likely." It makes me a little shocked. I thought we were only focusing on our defense at this time.
"You are not the only one, there are other Lieutenants who are also being called to his tent."
"I understand, I'll go to his tent right away."
Following what the major said, I changed my destination to the Command Center tent where the Colonel would wait. Apparently there were nine other Lieutenants officers who had already arrived in the tent. It seems that I'm the last officer they wait for since the Colonel starts his briefing right after I enter the tent.
"Assalamualaikum." The Colonel starts his speech with the greetings.
"""Waalaikumsalam."""
"Alright, I guess we can start the briefing now since all of the appointed officers have already gathered in this room. After the battle last night, we attempted to gather any intel about this world through search and interrogation. Not much intel can be collected from the remaining of their wrecked tent and most of the captured troops we interrogated aren't really cooperating for now, especially their so-called nobles and mages who usually spit the word 'commoner' on us. We also considered using a torture method, but I guess it's not really our style and risking for a false information if they are not cooperation in the first place."
Colonel Umar turns on a projector on a desk, viewing a map on white board behind him. The map also had some writing on it using an alien alphabet to us, though I guess it looks like a Greeks Alphabet to me. I don't really know if it's Greeks or not since I can't read the Greek alphabet either and only saw it in the Greece Museum.
"But alhamdulillah, we were able to retrieve a regional map which can still be counted as valuable information for now. As you can see, our position is pretty close to the coastline on the north 20 kliks and we are also positioned somewhere in the corner of the continent. There were also some marks on the map which we presume to be a village nearby and there is also a city in the far west about 60 kliks. The high command may plan to bring the navy in the near future and build our first naval base in the north, but that's another thing to discuss. The reason why you are being gathered here is this…"
Colonel Umar pointed to the village marking one by one.
"I want you to pack your gear, gather your men, and bring them to this village. This world is extremely new to us and we need to gather information as much as we can. Every team would be tasked with two villages. Your mission is to build a good relationship with the native civilian and show them that we are not their enemy. If you succeed, you should be able to interview the villagers for information regarding this world and its society, culture, and any important basic things regarding this world and its inhabitants. Last thing, try to gather information too about our enemy, the Leonia as they call themself."
Colonel Umar calls the Lieutenants name one by one, showing them which village they should visit and take care.
"Lieutenant Kuzey, you would be tasked with Olin and Ruma, both of them shouldn't be far to each other so it shouldn't be a problem for you to visit the two of them."
"Yes Sir."
Ahmed was the last to receive his part before Colonel Umar ended his briefing.
"Alright that's all for now. You can bring two Safir LAVs and two Jamal Jeeps. Take any weapons and supplies you need. You can radio the FOB anytime you need help or further information, may Allah be with us. Dismiss."
Me and the other officers salute Colonel Umar before we go out of the command tent to prepare for our mission. I go to the direction of one of the trench posts where my team was tasked before. They seemed already finished with their trench since they looked relaxed at this time. I see the result of their work and the trench looks deep enough indeed.
"Attention!" Sergeant Karim, my second in command, gave the order to the teams. The rest of the team followed, stood and saluted me, to which I replied their salute before I started our own briefing.
"Gentlemen… we have a new order."
I saw a change in every expression on their face. They are ready to take this mission seriously.
"We are being tasked for a reconnaissance mission, the target is a village with the names Ruma and Olin south of our position. Aryan, Rostam, Hamza, and Yusuf, I want you to prepare two Jamal and two Safir for us. The rest of you, arms yourself and lock and load. Take any necessary equipment for our mission, especially a recon mission."
""Yes Sir!""
The rest of the team soon dispersed to do their respective duty. It took thirty minutes for us to prepare. Soon the J17 teams are prepared and fully armed. Every one of them uses a balaclava to hide their face, including me. Balaclava are commonly used by the Ghazy forces as one of their standard gear with some purposes such as hiding our identity as individuals, protecting our face from dust, and giving extra warmth in the middle of the cold environment. Each Safir would carry 6 troops and positioned in the middle of the convoy while Jamal would carry 4 troops and positioned in the front and back convoy as escort since most of our equipment would be placed in Safir with a bigger space inside it.
"Let's go Osama!" I said while getting in the front Jamal, giving order to osama.
Osama start to drive and the other three vehicles follow. We passed a makeshift gate with a watch tower at the outer part of our base. There are other vehicles which also drive out of base and they drive in a different direction. Must be the other teams I thought. People chat among themself to deal with boredom and boost our morale, they even use the vehicle radio to chat with those in the different vehicles. I guess that's just what every soldier did.
"Too bad the dirt road makes it hard to drive." Said Osama who was driving beside me.
"You expect them to build an asphalt Osama?"
"No sir, it's just that you know? Even our civilization in the past built a paveway 1000 years ago, in Andalusia, Istanbul, Baghdad."
"Maybe they are just too poor."
"Too poor to build a paveway, but not poor enough to wage war on us."
"You know Osama? Corruption happens all the time. Don't you remember how Europe looked 1000 years ago? In the middle age, the corruption was waged by the feudal lord. Now in the modern age, they still get corrupted by the capitalist. Bad system won't give you good results anyway. Even without proper attention, our government could also have corrupt officials like what happened more than 100 years ago before Sultan Abdul Hamid 2nd kicked them all. Well, we are just human after all who tend to make a mistake sometime or getting tempted by the shaitan. Even a good system would go wrong if it was handled by the wrong person."
"I don't really like politics since it's pretty complicated sir, but you do have a point. Somehow I can understand most of what you said."
The view of trees and meadows gradually changes with fields of farms, meaning that we are entering a village territory. Up ahead there is a small village, judging from the farms we just passed by apparently most of the villagers work as farmers.
"Guess we are there Sir."
I nod and open the door on my side, getting out of Jamal. The village has a simple wood fence around it and there is a mark in the entrance. I scan it with my gadget, then the gadget translates the Greeks alphabet into Arabic showing the word "Ruma".
"We are there, the village of Ruma. Pull over and park the vehicles here, we'll enter the village on foot. I don't want to scare the villagers with our 'horseless carriage' yet."
Following my order, the four vehicles we brought are being pulled to the side of the road. After that the rest of my men got out of the car and followed me except the four men who would guard our vehicles. As we enter the Village, the inhabitants start noticing our presence. It looks like they are panicking with our presence, the women and children are running to their home while the men are coming over around us with makeshift weapons such as sharpened bamboo and some kind of farming fork. They point their weapons on us.
"Who are you? What do you want from us? Go away, you're not welcome here." One of the villagers spoke. Surprisingly, he speaks in English now. I thought Leonian should speak in France. This should make things easier since my English was much better than my French. I step to the front and open my balaclava to show my face.
"We came in peace here. I want to meet the one in charge here." I replied while I let my guns hanging on my back and put my hands up. The others follow my gesture, trying to show that we have no bad intentions.
The villagers looked confused and started to look at each other with murmurs, I guess they are considering my statement. But not long after that, a man in his fifties stepped forward to face me.
"My name is Walt. I'm the chief of this village. Who are you? Judging from your uniform, you must be a soldier, but I have never seen a soldier with a black uniform like you use now."
"We called ourselves Ghazi, a military force of a country called the United Islamic Caliphate or the UIC for short. We just wanted to get information about Edela and Leonia."
"You I See?"
"We came through a mysterious tunnel which brought us to this world in the northern Hill. It's a vast country across that tunnel."
The chief asked the villagers to lower their weapons and invite me to come with him to his house. I ordered my teams to stand guard outside the village while me and Karim would follow inside the chief house. We both entered the house and the chief asked the two of us to sit on a guest chair while he went inside. While waiting for the chief, I observe the interior of the house and its furniture. There is not much to be observed, only a chair and table with a fireplace not far from where I sit. The chief didn't take a long time before he joined us in the same room while holding some scrolls. He sat in front of us, opened one of the scrolls which appeared to be a map while telling a story.
"We were living in peace in this village. Any passenger or travelers would be welcome into our village. Unfortunately, it all changed when the kingdom of Leonia attacked our kingdom. Our village has lived in fear and wariness since then. Things are getting worse when we hear that our kingdom is starting to fall apart. Then, a group of Leonian Troops finally reached our village last week. We try to welcome them although we know that they are our enemy. Turns out, it's all useless, those Leonian troops are messing up our village. They even kidnapped three young girls and two men to be interrogated. Those five were never returned till now. We try to protect our village and forbid any stranger to enter our village."
While I listened to his story, something important came to my mind.
"I thought this region is a Leonian territory, including this village."
The chief was shocked when he heard what I thinked and shook his head.
"I see that you came from some kind of another world as you said earlier and have minimum basic knowledge about this world. The place where you stand now, including this village, is a part of Scotia Kingdom territory. Leonia is our neighboring Kingdom to the east of our border."
I nod in understanding after hearing the statement of the chief which turned out to be different from what we know so far. The chief points in the area around the map while continuing his explanation regarding the nation and its territory.
"This is a map of the entire Edela Continent. There are 6 kingdoms in total with the biggest kingdom in the center called 'Isylum'. This is our kingdom's territory, the Leonian started to attack our kingdom a few years ago for an expansion. I heard our capital city is the last city which is still under Scotian control. Unfortunately, there is also news about Leonian starting to lay siege on the city."
I observed the map which is shown by the chief. The map seems detailed with markings of trees, forests, and rivers. Karim, who sits next to me, took a picture from the map.
"Can I borrow this map sir?"
"You can take the map with you. It looks like you need it more than me. Just consider it as a gift from us."
"Is that so, then I have to thank you about this map and your hospitality. I guess we had enough information for now, I'll take my leave then."
Ahmed POV ends
###
Ahmed walked out of the village with Karim and met the rest of his team. He told his team about what he learned when he talked with the chief.
"So technically, the villagers here are not our enemy right?" Ask Yusuf after he listened to my explanation.
"Yes, in fact this place should belong to another kingdom which should be at war with Leonia too. This place has just experienced a hard time these last few months. They even got attacked with a small group of Leonian last week. I guess we should continue our mission with the next village. Somehow I have a bad feeling about this."
They say their farewell to the villagers of Ruma before they get back to where their vehicles are parked. Ahmed asked Karim after they arrived at where their vehicles were.
"Karim, is this a time for Asr?"
He looked up to see the sun positioned and looked down to measure our shadow, then he looked at his watch before he finally answered.
"Based on the sun position, the size of our shadow, and the estimated time of Ashr, it should be time for Asr prayer sir."
"Alright, we do our prayer here, then we go to Olin village."
They do asr prayer for a while before they pack their things and enter their respective vehicles to continue their journey. The village of Olin is 10 kilometers from the Ruma position, which means it should take about 20 to 30 minutes to get there. Ahmed opens the scroll map given by the chief while in their way. It seems like Scotia is the smallest kingdom compared to the other five. Too bad a map wouldn't be sufficient information for now. They need to figure out how far their enemy military capability is too.
One thing that Ahmed hope, is that their enemy didn't have any other weapon which is more dangerous than their magic. The magic can be a good threat for them, although it's far from accurate and takes time to chant before it can be used. Even a fireball from their magic has the same level blast with a standard grenade without a frag. It can be used to blow up a car and a less armored vehicle such as a truck and Jamal. My train of thought stopped when Jamal stopped moving. I see outside Jamal and from our position, there is smoke which came from a village that stood at the end of the road. Even from this distance, I can see clearly that some houses in that village are being burned.
"Osama, we are not moving in a wrong way are we?"
"Yes sir, I followed the map on our offline GPS and there is no way we moved on the wrong way."
"So that burning village at the end of this road is Olin?"
"Yes sir, based on our offline GPS on the Jamal Jeep, it should be the Olin village."
Ahmed steps out of the car and grabs his binocular to observe the village. There are soldiers in the village, they wear the same uniform as the army they fought before in the Gaza and after they got out of Al Jisr tunnel. Clearly they are the Leonian troops who are now plundering the village house to house. They take everything they want and burn any house they have searched. There are still a lot of houses that are yet to be burned and the Leonian still coming in and out from it. Some villagers appeared to fight back in several places, but their effort seems to be useless.
"This is your Lieutenant speaking, all units gather around me right now." Said Ahmed through his radio.
Following his order, his subordinates start getting out of the car and gathering around him, forming a half circle in front of Ahmed.
"Gentlemen, we have the worst situation right now. The Leonian troops are already controlling this area just like what the Ruma Chief said. Right now they're plundering the village that should be our destination and murdering every civilian they found in the village. It's our duty and obligation as a moslem and a Ghazi to defend and stand for those who are weak and persecuted. Just like what's written in the holy Qur'an that every time we save a human life would be just like saving the whole mankind. We will storm the village, take down any Leonians we meet, and save any civilian we find."
Ahmed now starts to mention the tasks for every member of his subordinates.
"Indra, Ismail, Hamzah, Abdul, Aryan, and Mahmud, you will stay here and guard our vehicle. Bring them to the village when I say so. Yusuf and Hendra, find the highest tree or ground you can find and give us sniper support. Karim, Orhan, Osama, Ubaidah, and Adi, you come with me, we will enter the village through the west side. The rest of you, try to enter the village from the east side."
All of Ahmed's members nodded in understanding.
"Laa Hawla Wa Laa Quwwata Illa Billah, Allahu Akbar!"
"""Allahu Akbar!"""
They then disperse and prepare themself for the upcoming battle. After fully geared up, they started to do the task they got. Ahmed and 5 of his team follow him circling the village from the west. Yusuf and Hendra seem to get to the highest position they can find, climbing a 10 meters tree with a fast speed like an ape.
After several minutes, Ahmed finally arrived at the west side of the village. He spreaded at some distance with his other companion, taking any cover they could find such as bushes and rocks. A silencer is added to their gun. They find their first contact with 4 Leonian soldiers who are now piling a dead body of the villagers in one of the house's yards.
"Team 2, do you see four hostiles that are piling a body in the west side." Ahmed is contacting Yusuf and Hendra who are acting as a sniper support.
"[bzzz] We see them very clearly, they should be dead by now if I followed my lust in the first place." The sound of Yusuf can be heard through Ahmed's radio.
"Team 2, you can take them down now."
"[bzzz] Understood. Bismillah…"
Suddenly, one the four Leonians drop down with a hole on his head. The other three start to panic, but they're getting the same fate too one by one in the fast pace before they're able to do anything. The last one attempted to run, but he was dropped too to no avail. Ahmed now gets out of his cover and runs towards one of the outer houses, followed by Orhan behind him. Karim and Ubaidah also run toward one of the outer houses, but the two get to the different house near the one chosen by Ahmed.
Ahmed and Orhan try to peep inside the house through any hole they can find. There they can find five Leonian troops who are drunk and there are two rooms inside the house. While showing his finger to Orhan, Ahmed counted down from three using his finger. Then both of them strom the wooden door and shot five Leonian inside who stood no chance against their speed. Ahmed points one of the rooms to Orhan to get prepared. Ahmed makes a counting gesture again with his finger before they storm the room with their guns pointed inside the room.
They sigh in disappointment after finding the room is empty. The two of them move to the other room and prepare to storm it too. Ahmed readied his weapon while Orhan prepared to open the door. Giving a nod, Ahmed gave the order in silence for Orhan to open it with his gun pointed inside. The two of them storm the room and this time, they find two Leonian who even hadn't time to wear their clothes properly.
TATATATA
The two Leonian drop down with no motion. Ahmed and Orhan observe the room and try to figure out what the Leonian did inside the room. It took no time for them to find out what the Leonian did after they found a young girl lying motionless on the top of a bed with blood on her genital organ. From how she looks, Ahmed can guess that the girl is in her early teens around 12 to 14.
"Astaghfirullah…"
This kind of sight shouldn't be the first time for Ahmed, but Ahmed always feels pity and sympathy for the victim who had this kind of fate, especially when the victim is considered to be a kid or a young girl. He always has a feeling of regret every time he knows that he couldn't save someone in time just like the girl in front of him. He grabs a blanket in the corner of the bed and covers the naked girl's body with the blanket.
"I didn't know that they would do this kind of vile act."
"It reminds me of what the Crusaders did in our past. They were in their dark age at that time anyway. These people in this world, I guess they're also similar with those in the European dark age, Sir."
Orhan grabs a phone from his pocket and takes a picture of the dead girl and the dead Leonians.
"What are you doing Orhan?"
"We have to report it to the high command, right? We can't just let it go." Orhan put his phone back in his pocket after he got some photos. Ahmed nodded in agreement with him.
"You brought your phone even though you know it won't work?"
"We can still use it as a Camera sir. It's a new world anyway."
Ahmed chuckled a little when he heard Orhan's reasoning. At least they can break the gloomy situation for a while.
"We should check the other houses and save any civilian we can." Ordered Ahmed as the two of them got out of the house.
They go to the nearest house which is yet to be burned by the Leonian while shooting some Leonian who are unlucky enough to meet them on their way. They are also assisted by Yusuf and Hendra from afar, shooting down any Leonian soldier who tries to sneak on them. One of the Leonian archers was aware of Ahmed's presence and aimed his bow and arrow, but he got shot on his head before he even got a chance to release his arrow on Ahmed.
Several minutes have passed. Ahmed and Orhan have searched five houses so far, but not even a single civilian can be found alive so far. Most of the civilians had the same fate as the one Ahmed found in the first house. Women raped to death and men killed on the spot. Even though there is no man's body in the house they searched, Ahmed knows exactly where the body actually is. They can only find a woman's body in every house they searched. Ahmed couldn't imagine what these women have gone through. Ahmed and Orhan walked out of the last house disappointed.
"Damn, we can't even save a single life." Said Orhan while hitting a wall with his hand.
Ahmed rubbed his face with frustration.
"All teams report, are there any civilians you found alive?"
"[bzzz] This is team 5, no survivor."
"[bzzz] This is team 3, we only found a dead body."
"[bzzz] This is team 4, I guess we are late sir."
"Alright, continue to search every house in the village. Don't miss a single one."
Ahmed can only sigh, leaning his back against a wall. He prays that he can find at least one life from this village.
Oh Allah, please let me save at least one life.
It looks quiet for a while with a silenced gunshot that can be heard faintly in some house. But, amid those sounds, Ahmed felt that he heard a different sound. It's not gunfire, not a fight sound, or a burned house, it's a scream, particularly a woman's scream that can be heard faintly from one of the houses.
"Orhan, you hear that sound?"
"What sound sir?"
"A woman's scream."
"KYAAAA…. NOO….. PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME….!"
The sound getting louder in an instant, made Orhan shocked when he heard that sound. It became clear that the sound came from a house across from them.
"That house, it hasn't been checked, Lieutenant!"
Ahmed looked at Orhan and he looked back to Ahmed. Both of them nodded to each other, then they rushed to the house and got ready on the house's door.
"Ready… GO!"
"Breaching… breaching!"
TATATATA TATATATATA
They shot any Leonian they found in the living room, then rushed to a room where the sound came from.
"NO… PLEASE STOPP… NO…"
From the place where they stand, they can even hear clothes being torn apart. It's a sign that any Leonian inside is just about to begin what they would do and it makes Ahmed and Orhan try to act faster. With a short preparation, both of them kick the door and breach through the room. The door fell backwards, making any occupants in that room shocked.
"Breaching… breaching…"
TATATATA TATATA TATATATA
Apparently there are only two Leonian inside the room. They fell soon after the door got breached from Ahmed's shots.
"Clear!" Said Orhan after making sure there are no other Leonian soldiers inside.
The girl that was making the sound before is now sitting in the corner of the bed inside the room. Both of her hands holding a blanket, try to cover her almost naked body. Her blue eyes still watered since she was on the verge of crying- no it looks like she is crying already. She has fair skin and the strange part is that her hair is colored in white and her ears have pointy shape. Ahmed can see there are a lot of clothes pieces around the bed and he can guess that those pieces belong to the girl's clothes. Her face had a resemblance to East European women. She looks young, could be a teen in her 16th year.
Ahmed gestured to Orhan to go out of the room, leaving Ahmed alone with the girl for a while so that the girl didn't get too tense because there were two mens present in that room. Ahmed opened his balaclava to show his face, put his weapon on his back and showed his empty hand trying to look as friendly as possible.
"It's okay… we are here to save you. We have no bad intentions. You are safe now. Were they able to touch you before we came?"
The girl weakly shook her head, she observed Ahmed from top to bottom. A black uniform with a strange pattern that she never knew before. And last but not least, a staff that can kill from a distance. Clearly the man in front of her now is a soldier that didn't come from any kingdom she knew.
"Who are you? Which kingdom do you belong to?"
"My name is Ahmed. We are Ghazi. A soldier from a country called the United Islamic Caliphate or you can call it UIC."
"You I See?"
"Come with us if you wanna life. Do you have any other clothes you can use?"
The girl shook her head. Looks like the clothes which are torn apart are the only clothes she has.
"Team 6, bring the vehicle to the village, we are leaving now. And somebody, bring me clothes here, I have one female survivor."
After giving the order through his radio, Ahmed put his radio back.
"Wait here, I'll get you some clothes for you to wear."
The girl nodded in reply before Ahmed stepped outside the house. One of his subordinates, Adi, brought a Ghazi Uniform with him. It's supposed to be a spare uniform they had in the vehicle.
"Can't you find a girl's clothes, Adi?"
"This is all we can find in a hurry, Sir. Most of the house is in disarray or burned and we have no time to search there."
Ahmed had no option but to accept it. Looking at the pants part, Ahmed knew that the girl wouldn't be able to wear it since it would be too big for her. Therefore, Ahmed only takes the shirt part and goes back inside the house to meet the girl who is still sitting in the corner of the bed with a look of fear in her face. Ahmed knew well if she was still traumatized with what almost happened to her. Ahmed gave the clothes to the girl.
"Use this for now. I'll be outside to wait."
The girl nodded and took the clothes with one hand while the other still held the blanket to cover her body. Ahmed waited for 5 minutes outside the room before the girl finally walked out of the room with the shirt Ahmed gave earlier. She still held the blanket to cover her lower part since she didn't have any pants and the shirt can only cover from her top side to thigh. Ahmed gestured to her to follow him, both of them walked out of the house with the girl walking beside Ahmed.
"Can you tell me your name?" Ask Ahmed while they walk.
She glanced up to Ahmed, then she turned her sight to the street in front of her where the rest of Ahmed's teams are cleaning up the rest of the village.
"It's Sylvania. Sylvania Shafiel."
Her name sounds like a character species with pointy ears in a fantasy lore. Ahmed though, apparently he didn't really notice that the girl also had pointy ears all this time since the ears were mostly covered by her silver hair, moreover he was also busy getting clothes for her.
Up ahead, the four vehicles that Ahmed's team brought finally came to view. Sylvania sees it in awe since she has never seen such a vehicle before. Four carriages made of metal lined up in front of her and each of them have a black staff on top of it. The two were bigger in size with a bigger staff. One in the middle has a red flag with a crescent and star added with some kind of writing she can't read. Apparently the flag looks similar to a symbol in Ahmed's uniform, particularly in his upper right arm.
Ahmed brought Sylvania to one of the LAV and asked her to enter it. She looked hesitant at first before Ahmed encouraged her that there is no danger inside. The carriage as she has thinked of it, has an intimidating appearance for her anyway. Ahmed looked up and saw the sun that was about to set. He turns back to get to a Jamal he was in before, but one of his hands gets holded by the girl who is named Sylvania.
"Please, don't leave me." She said, Ahmed sighs and nods. Looks like he should switch with one of his team to get to the LAV.
"All units gather in the convoy, it's getting dark soon. We will go back to Ruma village to spend the night there."
All the members of J-17 teams gathered up and entered their prospective vehicle. They turned on the engine and the four vehicles moved up in silence.
"I don't see any horse to pull the carriages. How do these carriages move by themselves?" Ask Sylvania in confusion. The other members inside LAV hardly hold their laugh seeing how Sylvania responds to their vehicle.
"We don't need horses any more to travel, Sylvania."
Sylvania sees outside through the small window in LAV, amazed by how fast it moves even without a horse or anything to pull it.