Chapter 11 : The Day After

Jerry slept like a rock for the next few hours. As soon as he entered his room, he collapsed onto his bed, and slept for what seemed to be minutes, but in reality had been hours.

There was a knock on his door that awoke Jerry from his slumber.

“What?” Jerry asked with his face still buried in his pillow.

“It is time to wake up now. It’s 10 AM” The voice behind the door said.

“Really?”

The door opened and in came a familiar butler.

“Yes, Jerry. I have brought new clothing and have been told to tell you the schedule for today.”

Jerry got up from his bed, and looked towards the butler. It was Klein Harren. The butler that had escorted him to his room from before, and made him participate in a drinking game without his consent.

“Yea? Lay the clothes on the table, and tell me the schedule for today when I leave the room.” Jerry said.

“As you wish.” Klein put the new clothing on the table that was near the door, and left the room.

Jerry got up from his bed and yawned. 10 AM is it? Jerry took out his phone and set the time.

‘This’ll be useful’ Jerry thought.

Jerry went towards the table to find fancy clothing on the table in front of him. He quickly undressed, taking off the holster, but left the thigh strap that was strapped to his ankle alone and looked at the clothing he was provided. It was made of wool, and had a golden color to it. He quickly got dressed and found it surprising comfortable.

He quickly put the holster on and headed towards the door. As he exited, he as greeted by Klein.

“I see that you are dressed. Is it to you liking?” Klein asked.

“It’s quite comfortable. So, what’s the plan for today?”

“The plan today is to have you both meet with different party members that will accompany you both on the trip to defeat the Demon Lord.”

“Sounds fun”

“Indeed it will be. Be aware however, all of them are women.”

“I’m sorry?”

‘Am I in some shitty harem anime? Is Larmen supposed to be the protagonist and I’m just a companion?’

“Yes, they come from the Elven Faction, Imperial Kingdom, and The Dark Elf Forest” Klein explained. Is there something wrong?”

“N-No, just surprised me. But, let me guess. The Empire and Imperial Kingdom hate each other, and the Dark Elves and the Elven Faction also hate each other?”

“Precisely so. How do you know this?”

“Just a hunch. Well, let’s go. Can’t keep them waiting.”

“As you wish. Please follow me to the Throne Room”

Jerry sighed. As Jerry and Klein walked down the halls, Klein broke the silence first.

“Why’d you hit Larmen in the head?” Klein asked.

Jerry sighed again.

“It was the only choice I had.”

“What do you mean?”

“I fight to win. That or to entertain myself. If that battle had been drawn out, I might’ve died.”

“What do you mean? It was a duel to find who was stronger. Not to kill each other! If a threat was found they would’ve disqualified the other.”

“Sure, a magical move that could turn steel into a liquid in a matter of seconds isn’t lethal but a strike to the head with a pommel is lethal”

“You could’ve made him tired or maybe pin him down”

“I couldn’t make that man tired if I even tried. That man is a beast. He’s human for sure, but he has limitless stamina. If I tried to pin him down, he’d just strike me and he’d be up on his feet. Come, tell me what you would’ve done”

“I-I would’ve…”

“See, you can’t think of anything.”

Klein sighed.

“I guess you’re right. Anyway, we’re near the Throne Room. Make yourself look sharp.”

“I’m as sharp as I care about meeting these new people.”

As they arrived outside the Throne Room, Klein stood straight.

“Ready?” Klein asked.

“As I care to be”

Klein put his hand on the knob on the door, and twisted it. As Klein opened the door, a scene was developing.

“You’re so big, Larmen” A seductive voice could be heard saying. A female with sharp ears, and tan skin could be seen mounting Larmen that was on the floor in the armor that he wore in the Arena. She wore skimpy clothing that exposed her large cleavage, legs, arms, and belly. It had a thick black lining and a dark purple color on the inside. She had a large chest, sharp golden eyes, and short gray hair. In her right hand seemed to hold a staff while her left hand was inching closer to Larmen’s crotch

“No fair! You can’t make moves on him this early! We just met!” A more innocent voice could be heard saying. The voice can be seen coming from someone standing over the tan skinned female. She had a modest chest size and acted somewhat like a child. She wore less revealing clothing consisting of a green shirt, and pants. Her pants went down to her knees, and her sleeves went down to her elbow. The clothing was skin tight, making her chest size known to any observer. She had long blond hair that fell behind her stomach, and blue eyes. A bow can be seen in her left hand, and a quiver full of arrows could be seen dangling from the right side of her hip.

‘The whole harem set up is here! We’re just missing the tsundere, and we’ll be set.’

“H-How indecent!” An embarrassed voice could be heard standing 3 feet away from what was unfolding. She wore armor that covered a bit of her body. Her chest piece covered her chest, but not her stomach. Under her chest piece was a white shirt that were sleeveless. Her gauntlets covered her hands, and went up to her elbows. She wore feet, and shinguards and had a skirt. By her right side, she had a sword in a sheath that seemed to be two-handed. She had long red hair that fell down to her hip, and a small chest size.

‘There she is. Now, let’s see what we have. The god complex princess. The seductive dark-elf, Maybe large chested klutz elf? And a tsundere knight. I’m gonna enjoy my time here am I?’

“J-Jerry, help me out here please.” Larmen pleaded.

Jerry sighed and looked at Klein who was looking away in shame.

The King soon rose from his throne.

“Now, we have all gathered. Klein, you can resume your previous duties.”

“Yes, Your Majesty” Klein bowed, then left the room.

The tanned skinned woman then dismounted Larmen and allowed Larmen to stand up.

“Everyone, please reintroduce yourselves to each other just to make sure everyone knows who’s who.” The King said.

The tanned woman was the first to break the silence.

“Of course, my name is Scharla Jakel. I hail from Halef Forest, or known the everyone else, the Dark Elf Forest. I am 233 years old, and single” She said as she eyed Larmen seductively. Larmen could only laugh nervously.

The next to speak was the other elf.

“M-My name is Janice Kalet. I come from the Elven Nation and I’m 184.” She said nervously.

“It’s nice to meet all of you” Janice said as she bowed.

Janice then raised her head and looked around nervously.

The next to introduce themselves would be the knight.

“I am Elizabeth Grey, 20 years old and it is nice to meet everyone here. I am a knight of the Imperial Kingdom. I hope that we can set aside our hostilities for now, and work together to defeat the Demon Lord.” She said proudly. She then turned and faced Larmen.

“A-And after we defeat the Demon Lord, y-you and I will duel and the loser will do whatever the winner wants!” Elizabeth declared as she was pointing at Larmen.

The next one to introduce themselves was Larmen.

“I am Larmen, Hero of the Empire. I was summoned from my home world known as Alpoe. It is similar to this world here, and I wish to adjust quickly to this new world to defeat the Demon Lord. I am 24 years old”

“So young!” Scharla exclaimed

“Really?” Janice asked

“A little older than I am” Elizabeth could be heard whispering.

“Really? I’m young?” Larmen asked.

“Yes! Very young!” Janice replied.

The four of them soon quickly went into a conversation, leaving Jerry out. Jerry looked at the King who nodded and stood up.

“I believe we still have one more to introduce.” The King said.

The four broke apart from their little conversation and looked at Jerry.

“Do we really have to?” Scharla asked.

“I do not wish to know the name of a coward that breaks rules!” Declared Elizabeth.

Janice looked away from Jerry.

“But you must. It is vital for the party of hero to know each other so to reduce the chances any infighting” The King said.

“I’ll make it quick” Jerry said as he straightened himself

“My name is Jerry. If you find me with these in my ears,” Jerry then held out his headphones

“It means I’m not listening and if you would like to talk, just tap me, or scream really really loud. Maybe I’ll be around.” Jerry then put his headphones away, and looked at the King.

“Well, I guess that’s that. We must quickly send you to the frontlines. We cannot delay any longer than we have. The Deomn Lord’s army has taken a large portion of our and other’s as well land and will soon reach us. We would request for support, but the other three nations are doing their best as well.” The King said as he looked over the party until he examined Jerry closer.

“Jerry, where is your equipment?” The King asked.

“Hmm?” Jerry then looked at himself. But then remembered about the drop.

“It’s in the forest around the Royal Palace pathway somewhere. I forgot” Jerry replied.

“What? We must quickly fetch it. I’ll organize a search party” The King said.

“No, it’s fine. I can find it again.” Jerry insisted.

“No, we have no time delay, we must find it quickly!”

Jerry didn’t want the King to know about the drop as it would cause more problems for Jerry being him having to explain it, and stuff like that.

“It’s fine. It’s on the pathway out. I can find it again.” Jerry said.

“Besides, if you find it, you have to bring it here which will consume more time than me just going to it and continuing our journey to the frontlines.” Jerry said.

The King stood there for a while, thinking about what to do.

“F-Fine. You may go now. Please, stay safe.” He then pointed to one of the Royal Guards

“You, escort the Hero’s party out of the Palace, and through the residential district. Make sure they have a nice exit.” The King said.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” The Royal Guard then fell out of formation and stood at the door.

“If you all will follow me, I can escort you to the residential district of the Empire.”

All of them except Jerry nodded and they would soon follow the Guard down the dirt pathway that Jerry took last night.

Jerry took out his phone to find the number 300, and the arrow pointing between the left, and in front of him.

“Ah, can you guys wait here, my equipment is nearby” Jerry asked.

“Yea, just make it quick. I don’t want to wait for you.” Scharla said.

“Yea yea, just give me time.” Jerry then went off the path, and followed the tracker back to where the drop was. It took him about five minutes to get here, so he should hurry up.

He looked around with the sun shining down on the forest. Eventually, he found a box with strings and large bits of red cloth attached to them on each corner of the box.

He put the PIN into the keypad, and opened it up. Inside, were neatly organized equipment that had been requested, On the top were black combat fatigues . On the interior roof of the drop, was the rifle in a foam padded slot with magazines also in slot and an empty pistol slot where he took the 1911 from. There was also 3 pistol magazine slots empty from where he had taken them.

He quickly swapped out of the clothes he currently had, and put on the fatigues. He took the thigh strap on his ankle, and put it in it’s proper place, his right thigh. It seemed to be made of a soft, flexible, and durable material, the fatigues that was in the drop. Under the fatigues, was the tactical plate carrier hybrid. He picked up the tactical vest he was provided. The vest was black, and had a front, and back plate holder. There were a magazine pouch on the sides of the vest, two double stack magazine pouches in the front. It was a little bit heavy, maybe 35 pounds with the plates in.

He adjusted the vest, and then placed the empty rifle magazines in the slots, and then put the other thigh strap on his left thigh, and put the rest of the empty pistol magazines in there. Jerry then picked up the helmet. It was covered with metal, save for the visor that was made of what seemed to be ballistic glass, and was fairly light. The mouth area came off, and seemed to act as a gas mask when needed.

The design of the helmet seemed futuristic and was black. The visor seemed to be an inch thick, tinted red, and covered 1/4th of the helmet and was placed where the eyes would be. The mouth piece wrapped the chin, and the mouth and could come loose when a latch was released. It locked the helmet on the users head, and acted as a gas mask but had the option to allow unrestricted airflow into the helmet for an easier time breathing.

Jerry put the helmet on to be greeted with a message from the helmet.

Identifying…

Identification: Jerry Harren

Welcome, Foxtrot Nine-One

Calibrating…

Calibration Complete

Loading Vital Signs

Loading Sonar Map

Syncing with Weapons

Complete

Soon, Jerry could see a circle with a compass with three smaller circles around it. There was a line bridging North and South, and West and East.

Jerry then took out the rifle. It weighed about 6 pounds in his estimate.

CER-M6C:S

EMPTY

Jerry was surprised at what he was seeing. The helmet would be very handy as it will help him make calls. The rifle had a bullpup design and took the magazine at the rear of the rifle. It also had a scope that had the ability to cycle through a reflex sight, and a 4x magnified sight, and everything in-between on top of the rifle. The cocking handle was in the front of the gun along with the fore-grip bipod. There was a strap that connected to the barrel, and at the buttstock and rotated freely.

Jerry then looked back into the drop to find nothing else other than a black backpack. took the backpack out of the drop, and it was very heavy. Maybe about 150 pounds in his estimate.

Jerry looked at it, and it was fairly large. There it went from his hip, and extended 2 inches above his head. It was wider than him by 6 inches as well! He looked around inside and took out a box of 9x39mm Ball, and then looked at the backpack some more. It said that it had a rifle holder, so he looked at the sides of the backpack. On the left side, there was a black metal circle. When he put his rifle on it, it immediately latched on, and turned it. The gun was facing down towards the ground, and the stock was facing up.

After looking around inside the backpack for a while, he found what he could assume was the pulse scanner. It seemed to attach to the wrist of Jerry as it was swapped like a watch and had two buttons on the side of it. He put it on his right hand, and adjusted it. He pressed both buttons once, and it seemed to activate as a virtual orange line seemed to move away from Jerry.

No Hostiles Detected

Jerry looked into the backpack to find 9x39mm Ball that had 50 each box. He opened the box of 9x39mm Ball and started to load the extra magazine. It took him one minute to fill the magazine, and found that 20 more rounds were left in the box. He took out six more boxes and put two in his pockets, one in each. Taking the loose .45 ACP ammo in one of his thigh pockets and putting them in what ever free room was left in his pockets, he tucked the two more 9x39mm boxes in the thigh straps, one each. He then tucked the last four in his shirt’s sleeves.

He put on the backpack, and started to walk back to the party, while also loading his empty magazines.