109. The Consequences Begin
Rangga was still standing before the group of surrendered Bald Eagle Pioneers. His bow was still in his hands, but he was no longer aiming it at them.
He then opened regional chat.
Rangga: Major, what do we do?
Deri’s reply appeared a moment later.
Deri: Let them go.
Rangga frowned.
Rangga: But they attacked and injured Fajar, Andre, and Rian.
There was no reply for a while. Then Deri’s message appeared again.
Deri: I know.
Deri: But we’re being livestreamed right now.
Rangga glanced around.
Several Garuda Pioneers were indeed still nearby. The cameras from the Pioneer system were clearly still recording the incident.
Deri: If we do anything to them now, the problem could become much bigger.
Deri: Especially since they’re from another country.
Rangga sighed, then typed again.
Rangga: One of them is already dead.
Deri did not reply immediately.
Rangga: I didn’t kill him. My Hererasaurus killed him when he ran.
A few seconds passed before Deri’s reply appeared.
Deri: I understand.
Deri: But my decision remains the same.
Deri: Let them go.
Rangga stared at the screen for quite a while. He still wanted them to take responsibility for what they had done to his friends but then his thoughts turned toward Garuda. Toward the people on Earth and Putri.
If this escalated into a conflict between nations, he would not be the only one affected.
Rangga sighed.
“Fine...”
He put his bow away, then looked at the Bald Eagle group.
“Done.”
Arjun slowly raised his head.
“You guys, get out of here!”
Not a single one of them moved, so Rangga continued in a firm tone.
“But listen to me.”
He pointed at them one by one.
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“From now on, don’t ever touch another Garuda Pioneer again.”
Rangga glanced at Fajar, Andre, and Rian, who were still injured.
“If you or anyone from your country comes back to attack us...”
He paused, his gaze hardening behind his helmet.
“...this time, I won’t tell you to leave.”
The group quickly nodded.
“Yes.”
“We understand.”
Arjun lowered his head.
“We won’t do it again.”
“Good.”
Rangga waved his hand.
“Go.”
They immediately got to their feet and then they picked up the weapons they had dropped earlier, then the group hurried away without daring to look back.
Rangga watched them until they disappeared among the trees. After that, he immediately turned around.
“Jar.”
Fajar looked over.
“Sir?”
“Where’s the medicine?”
Siska immediately showed him the medical supplies Rangga had given them earlier.
Rangga crouched beside Fajar.
“Let’s treat your hand first.”
Siska helped clean the wound.
“How’s Rian?”
“It still hurts,” Rian replied with a grimace.
“Of course it does.”
Rangga examined his wound.
“The arrow went all the way in.”
Andre raised his hand.
“Bang, my thigh too.”
“Yeah, I see it.”
Rangga then helped Siska treat Andre’s and Rian’s wounds one by one. They applied antiseptic, cleaned the wounds, and used hemostatic medicine and antibiotics as needed.
Fajar occasionally winced as his wound was being cleaned.
“Easy, Sis.”
“If I go easy, it’ll take longer to heal.”
Andre chuckled softly despite the pain still etched across his face and Rangga finally sat down for a moment after making sure all three of them were beginning to stabilize.
He let out a sigh.
“Good thing nobody died.”
No one answered and they all fell silent for a moment.
Rangga did not know that what had just happened had spread far beyond the forest where they were.
He did not know that millions of people on Earth had just watched a group of Garuda Pioneers being attacked.
He did not know that a Bald Eagle Pioneer had just been killed in front of the cameras.
And more importantly, they did not know that back on Earth, the leaders of the two nations had just finished battling over the same issue through diplomatic channels.
On Earth, news of the embargo spread far faster than the public could process it.
Just a few hours after President Ethan of Bald Eagle delivered his statement to the public, almost every major media outlet in Garuda had already placed the news in its headlines.
GARUDA EMBARGOED BY BALD EAGLE.
BALD EAGLE HALTS TRADE WITH GARUDA.
PIONEER CONFLICT TURNS INTO INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT.
But the issue did not stop with Bald Eagle.
Not long afterward, the countries belonging to the Bald Eagle alliance began issuing statements of their own. One by one, they announced trade restrictions, the suspension of various economic partnerships, and even the halting of certain shipments to Garuda.
Within hours, the internet had turned into a battlefield.
Social media feeds were flooded with clips of the incident on Tropical Island. The video of Rangga arriving while riding a Mechanical Hererasaurus began circulating again, this time with a far more serious context.
Clips of Fajar, Andre, and Rian being struck by arrows were replayed over and over then came the footage of one of the Bald Eagle Pioneers fleeing then the Hererasaurus lunged.
Everyone saw for themselves how a Pioneer was killed in front of the cameras.
The debate exploded.
“They attacked first!”
“Then why is Garuda the one getting embargoed?”
“Because the one who died was a Bald Eagle Pioneer, idiot.”
“Watch the whole video. They were looting the Garuda Pioneers!”
“Still, Rangga let that creature kill someone.”
“Creature? That’s a mechanical dinosaur, not a human!”
“It still belongs to Rangga!”
“If some stranger broke into your house and attacked your family, and then your dog bit him to death, who would be at fault?”
The debate never truly ended.
Hashtags about Rangga, Garuda, Bald Eagle, and the embargo flooded various platforms. Some praised Rangga as the person who had saved his friends. Others accused him of causing the biggest diplomatic crisis since the Pioneer phenomenon began.
Meanwhile, international media took a different angle.
They did not talk about Fajar’s injuries. They did not talk about Andre and Rian.
The headline instead focused on a Bald Eagle Pioneer who had been killed by a mechanical creature belonging to a Garuda Pioneer.
For the markets, that headline was enough.
The next morning, the pressure began to be felt. Garuda’s stock market index opened with a sharp decline.
Within the first few minutes, shares of companies heavily dependent on exports came under immediate selling pressure. Investors began dumping their holdings because they did not know how broadly the embargo would be enforced.
Stock prices swung wildly.