Chapter 11

In a blink of an eye, my long day away from the front line finally came to an end. The dreaded day is finally upon me, as if cattle are waiting to be slaughtered, I dragged my legs towards the briefing area for my platoon.

I walk inside the room and it looks like everyone is here except the second lieutenant. Javi realized that it was me entering the room quickly wave his hand and show an empty space beside him. I just smile and slowly walk towards him.

"Hyun-woo how's the injuries? Feeling good now?"

"As you can see I am fit as a fiddle right now. But I just don't feel good to be sent back in."

"Hah! That is just like you."

He laughed as he hit my shoulder multiple times.

"Ow! That hurts."

"Oh and by the way, thanks man for saving my ass back then."

"Come on don't sweat it, if it happened to me, you would do the same right."

Javi just smiles as he looks at me.

"Sure thing."

"Looks like everyone has arrived."

Second Lieutenant Rafzan finally arrived with a thick file. As he slowly scanned the room his eyes finally stopped on both me and Javi.

"Hyun-woo, Javier, glad to see both of you survived the last mission..."

The Second Lieutenant's smiling face slowly distorted into a strained tired face.

"... unfortunately some of us lost their lives in the last mission."

While I'm not close with the other members in my platoon, it's still depressing to lose people you know.

"But we must continue to keep our heads high and continue this fight to honor the lives that they have given us. Some of you are new here, so how about introducing yourself first."

Three people stand up. The first one to introduce himself is a massive man with a lot of facial hair covering his face making him look like a bear.

"Ivan Petrov, recently transferred from the southern sector garrison to here. I'm still new here hope you can show the ropes here."

The next one is a man who looks like the typical Hollywood action packed movie hero. Clean shaved chiseled face, blue eyes and dark brown hair. If someone were to tell me he is an actor I would believe them.

"Scott Ingram, my last platoon were wiped out and I was the last survivor. I got transferred to this new platoon and I will kill those Imperial bastards for what they did."

Yup if this was a movie he would definitely be one of those main characters alright. And finally... A girl?

A girl with blonde short hair, white porcelain skin with a cute face that makes men want to protect them from danger. Her small frame and short stature make her look fragile and will break when hit. She gave a stiff salute as she introduced herself.

"Luka Horvat, I'm still fresh from training and this is my first time on the front, hope you can teach me a thing or two."

"Very well have a seat. Now let's look at the screen."

The screen starts to show maps of Rostov Valley with multiple boxes indicating where the Federal Army is located.

"As everyone here already knows from the news that there is a large gathering of the Imperial army near Rostov Valley. The higher ups planned to increase our defenses and hold out for as long as we can while the Valkyries will be sent behind enemies' lines and cause as much chaos as they can, so we will have much easier times to push these Imperial bastards back to where they came. Any questions?"

Everyone including me just sits without any questions. The Second Lieutenant nod.

"Very well, prepare your equipment and supplies. The battalion will move out in a few days, so rest well. Dismissed."

I stand up and look back at Luka, the blonde haired woman. It's rare to see women in the infantry. A lot of them usually went to the Valkyries Corp. That Scott guy is the one that leaves first, looks like he is not one to make friends then followed by Ivan the bear, he looks like he has somewhere to go leaving me, Javier and Luka behind.

"Hyun-woo, do you want to grab some lunch. I heard the cafeteria has this delicious meat curry for lunch."

As I stood up to leave, I looked back again at Luka.

"Hey, Luka do you want to join us?"

Luka looked at me with a surprise face as she pointed her finger towards herself.

"Yes you. Do you want to join us?"

Luka hesitates for a moment and starts to open her mouth.

"Can I join you? I mean I don't want to disturb you and your friend."

"Well I don't think it's a problem for you to join us. What about you Javi?"

"Sure, the more the merrier. Plus one more person to hear about my cute daughter, the better I feel."

"So you want to join us?"

Luka looked at both of us and gave a bright smile as she bowed her head.

"Yes and please take care of me."

***

"Here, Luka look, this is my daughter as she tries to walk for the first time."

"Wow~ she is so cute!"

"And this is the video when she first called me daddy!"

Looks like Javi managed to find someone that can appreciate her daughter's cuteness. Both of them have been talking non-stop since we arrived.

"Ah Senior Hyun-woo, sorry that I have left you out in our conversation!"

"Don't worry about it, Javi has hardly anyone that wants to hear his daughter's stories. With you here to keep him busy at least I can finally eat in peace."

"Hey, You bastard. You know what, I'm going to tell you my daughter's stories now specifically for you."

"Luka grabbed this daughter's loving father away from me. I don't want to get infected with his doting father's illness."

"Hahahaha both of you are quite a funny bunch."

Luka who has been witnessing me wrestling with Javi, gives a cheery laugh. She's still pretty even when laughing.

"Sarge!!!"

While still headlocked by Javi, I can hear a familiar voice calling for me. I tried to turn my head and saw a glimpse of red hair from my peripheral.

"Rio help me get away from this maniac!"

"Sergeant Javier can please let go of my commanding officer?"

"Rio, it's been a while. Ah don't worry about him. We are just messing around."

Javi let go of his headlock as I massaged the area of my neck where held me. Rio takes a seat at my side and her eyes stop at Luka sitting in front right beside Javi.

"Hello there, I'm Rio Sarge's second in command. Are you the new android for Sergeant Javier's squad?"

"Rio that girl is not an android. She is the new squad leader for our platoon."

"Really! I'm sorry, I thought you were an android. You see it is quite rare to see a lady in the Infantry unless you're an android."

Rio held out her hands towards Luka.

"I'm sorry, let me reintroduce myself. I am Rio from Sergeant Hyun-woo's squad."

Luka then slowly moves her hand and grasps Rio's hand.

"Luka Horvat, new squad leader for this platoon. I am still a fresh recruit. I hope that both Sergeant Hyun-woo and Sergeant Javier can teach me more in the field."

Looks like both of them have started to get along well with one another. My mouth slowly forms into a smile looking at both the new squad leader and my squad member.

"And...um..."

"Yes?"

"Um... I'm actually not a girl..."

"... Wait what?"

Luka looks at us with an awkward smile as he scratches his head.

"You mean to tell us you are a man?"

"I know my looks can be quite deceiving but I can tell you with certainty that I am a man."

If I were to be honest it's really hard to believe him but since he has been insisting, that means he really is a man. Well this world used to be a gacha game so I can somewhat accept it.

"It's weird aren't it? I understand if you don't want to be my friend anymore."

I can see small tears forming at the edge of Luka's eyes as he turned and tried to leave.

"Sigh~ don't worry about it, that is just how you look. It's not like you want to deceive us. Just because you look like a girl does not mean we cannot be friends."

Luk stopped and turn back towards me as I held out my hand.

"Well then let us reintroduce ourselves. Kim Hyun-woo, nice to meet you."

A bright smile forms on Luka's face as he grabs my hand, forming a firm handshake.

"Luka Horvat, I hope we can continue to be friends."

As we are smiling towards each other, Javi from the back puts his arms around both me and Luka's neck.

"What kind of atmosphere is this are both of you falling in love or something? Come on let us continue our meals. Rio can you help grab some beer from the fridge."

"Yes Sir."

*Luka Horvat*