Chapter 12 : Bandits

Jerry around the forest, still filling his magazines. He had just completed his 5th one and was moving on the final 6th one. As he was loading, a ping popped up on his map. Soon, there were 2, then 3, then 4, then 5. The amount of pings steadied at 5 and as he finished up his 6th magazine and inserted it into the last magazine pouch, he used his left hand and grabbed the front of his rifle, and brought it out and then held the grip with his right hand in one swift and fluid motion.

CER-M6C:S

30 Rounds

Jerry used his pulse scanner and saw the orange line move away from him. As it passed through the forest, red outlines could be seen hiding behind trees.

5 Hostiles Detected.

Weapons: 2x 2 Foot Sword, 2x 2 meter spear, 1x 1 meter Longsword

Just then, all 5 of them stepped out of cover. They seemed to be about 50 meters away.

“That’s some nice looking gear you got there. If you leave it now, along with your purse, we might let you live.” The one with the Longsword said.

“Really? You’re gonna mug a guy that has weapons and armor you’ve never seen before. Is this really the smartest move you can think of?” Jerry asked

“Hey, it looks like good money. We don’t cower at the sight of the unknown. Now, what’s it gonna be. Your belongings, or your life?” He asked.

Jerry looked at his gun, then at the bandit.

“When you’re ready” Jerry said as he readied his gun, pointing it towards the bandit with the longsword.

“You asked for it, get’em boys” The bandit said. After that, all 5 of them charged at Jerry.

Jerry took a deep breath before taking aim at the target before firing. As he pulled the trigger, the one with the long sword fell after a bullet entered his head, and out the other side. He fell with a thud. By now, the other four were in a confused state, and slowed down their charge. Jerry capitalized on their mistake and took fire at another one.

“Gah!” One of them with the spears yelled as he collapsed on his stomach.

Jerry then quickly snapped onto another one.

“W-Wait!” He begged.

“Yes?”

“I yield! I-I yield!” He said

“Do you now?” Jerry said.

“Yes! I do!”

“Sweet, drop your purse, and get out of here.”

“Y-Yes!”

The bandit reached into his pocket and dropped his purse and started to turn tails. However, the other two kept charging.

“Coward! We’ll kill you after we’re done with this one!” one of them yelled.

Jerry quickly ended the lives of the other two with two quick trigger pulls.

‘Well, that was interesting.’

Jerry checked the remaining ammunition in his magazine

CER-M6C:S

20 Rounds

Jerry quickly replaced his old magazine, replacing it with a new one on his vest. He put the gun back into the holster that the backpack provided and decided to loot a bit. Jerry set down his backpack, and drop the empty ammo boxes back in, leaving him with one more full one. He put that box into his pocket and checked the pockets of the dead bandits and found a total of 5 purses in total, including the runner.

He emptied all the coins into one bag and pocketed it without giving it much thought. He returned onto the original path and refilled the used magazine.

He eventually found his way back onto the road and met up with the Larmen and the rest of the party.

“Who’re you?” Scharla asked.

“Aww, you forgot about me already? That’s mean Scharla.” Jerry replied sarcastically.

“Jerry? Where were you? And what’s with that equipment? I’ve seen nothing like it.”

“Well, I ran into some bandits, and don’t worry about it.”

“Bandits? What’d you do with them?”

“Well, I shot four and let the other one go.”

“You let one go? Why? He’ll only return to a life of banditry!”

“Yea, but what’s one lowly bandit going to do?”

“Tsk, I guess you’re right. Let’s continue our journey”

The group followed the path down to find a large gate guarded by 2 soldiers on duty.

“Stop, can I see some Identif-” The guard stopped mid sentence as he saw Larmen.

“Larmen! Please forgive my rudeness. Please, come through.” The guard said as he welcomed him.

“Thank you” Larmen replied.

As they passed through the gates, they were greeted by a busy street filled with food stands, shops, and peddlers.

As Jerry walked down the street, his stomach growled.

“Ha, you haven’t even eaten yet? Poor poor you. Guess you’ll have to starve.” Scharla said.

“Maybe I will have to” Jerry replied.

As he was walking down the street, a food stand caught his eye. It was beef on a stick. It looked good, and when he loosened the helmet, it definitely smelled good. He approached the stand and looked at the stand owner.

“How much are each stick?” Jerry asked.

“5 Copper Coins each.”

Jerry took out the purse he took from the bandits and looked around inside. He could find 2 Silver Coins, and 5 Copper Coins. He took a Silver Coin out and handed it to the owner, having a hunch that it was 10 Copper for 1 Silver. The Stand Owner than handed Jerry two sticks of beef. His hunch was correct, and it had paid off.

“Thank you for your purchase. Please come again” He said unenthusiastically.

Jerry returned to the group that was a bit more ahead than they were previously. Jerry taking a bite of the beef stick caught Scharla’s attention.

“How’d you get that?” She asked

“I bought it” Jerry responded.

“How? You have no money.”

“Yes I do. I nabbed it off the bandits”

“Resorting to looting the dead now are we?”

“Looting the dead is normal as long as they’re not in a grave.”

Scharla looked at Jerry with utter disgust at what he had done as he ate his beefsticks.

“Now now, leave him alone. It’s his food, don’t bother him. He hasn’t ate since this morning while we had a large breakfast did we not?” Larmen said.

“Yea, listen to Larmen” Jerry said.

As they approached the city’s entrance, there was a large carriage near the entrance. Then, the Royal Guard that was escorting the party turned around and faced Larmen.

“This is as far as I can take you. Take the carriage, and it will take you to the frontlines. There, you will be given an army to command. Good luck, and god bless you all.” The Royal Guard then proceeded to walk back to the Royal Palace, leaving Larmen and the party alone.

“Well, let’s get in the carriage shall we?” Jerry said, walking towards the carriage.

Jerry opened the door to the carriage, tossing I his backpack and then sitting in the front seat. The seats were big enough to fit 4 people per row, and that’s what happened. As the other 4 got into the carriage, they sat on the adjacent seat next to Jerry. Jerry took off his helmet and put on his earbuds and listened to some music, zoning in and out of reality as time passed. Larmen and the others had a lively conversation between each other, not even batting an eye towards Jerry.

Jerry laid down on his seat and closed his eyes, trying to drown out the conversation by turning the music louder and louder than before. All of a sudden, the carriage stopped along with the conversation. Jerry took out his headphones for the first time, and sat up.

Before Larmen could stand up, Jerry gestured towards Larmen to stop.

“I’ll check it out. You sit here and enjoy yourself.” Jerry said as he stepped out.

Jerry walked towards the driver of the carriage to see 10 bandits on the road.

“So, this the problem?” Jerry asked the driver.

“Quite so. Can you deal with it?” The driver asked.

“Yea, get inside the carriage though.”

“As you command.”

The driver then got off the driver seat and got inside the carriage. Jerry walked forward and took his rifle out, analyzing his opponents and each breath he took was labored. He was nervous as this could be dangerous with 10 people instead of the 5 that he had dispatched earlier.

CER:M6C:S

30 + 1 Rounds

“Ha! You guys are a fool for traveling in a carriage like that with no guard! Now, leave your belongings and scram, or we’ll kill ya!” The bandit screamed.

“Sorry for deceving you, but I am the guard” Jerry said wittingly.

“Then we’ll break ya!”

Jerry activated his pulse scanner with his left hand. Watching the orange line pass through the bandits, marking them in a red outline, he found that there were some in the forest as well.

15 Hostiles Detected

5x Bow and Arrow, 3x 1 ft Dagger, 2x 1 meter Long Sword, 5x 2 meter Spears.

Jerry saw two red outline in trees to his left, and 3 more in trees to his right.

Jerry quickly ran to the forest to his left.

Before the bandits could follow Jerry, the leader could be heard.

“Ignore him! Attack the carriage and take everyone inside!”

As they ran towards the carriage, Jerry took aim at the approaching bandits that were grouped together, and emptied his entire magazine into them, dropping all 10 of them. A surge of adrenaline coursed through Jerry’s body at that point.

Jerry quickly swapped out his used magazine for a new one and moved to find the two bandits in his side of the forest.

He quickly found them thanks to the red outline, and quickly dispatched of them with 3 shots each. He looked at the other side of the forest to see one of them running towards the carriage with a knife.

Jerry left his forest to intercept the one running towards the carriage only to be met with an arrow that struck his helmet, and deflected off.

Jerry ran to the carriage and opened the door, and readied his gun, training it at the other door.

“What’re you doing?” Scharla asked

“Have the bandits been dispatched yet?” The driver asked.

“Ah, Jerry, what’re you doing?” Larmen asked.

Just then, the other door opened and Jerry made eye contact with the other bandit before squeezing the trigger, dumping 5 rounds into his chest.

“Close the door” Jerry said as he shut his side of the door.

Jerry could not find the remaining hostiles and tried to pulse scan again.

Error: Not enough energy

Try again in 60 seconds

‘Really?’ Jerry thought.

Jerry ran into the other side of the forest where the bandit that ran towards the carriage originally came from, and waited behind a tree. As he waited, he could hear footsteps rumbling through grass, coming closer towards him. He readied his gun and peeked to find a familiar bandit.

It was the bandit from before in the original 5 that tried to mug him.

“Hey” Jerry said

The bandit turned and faced Jerry to be met with 2 shots in the chest, then 1 in the head.

Jerry tried to pulse scan again to be met with an orange line moving out away from him.

1 Enemy Detected

Weapon: Bow

Jerry looked around to find the red outline running towards the carriage driver seat and was mounting it.

Jerry set up on the forest’s tree line and took aim with his pistol as his rifle had the chance to overshoot and hit someone inside.

Colt .45 UT1

As the bandit got seated, Jerry pulled the trigger and hit the bandit in the chest, immobilizing him.

Jerry reloaded his pistol and walked towards the remaining bandit.

“D-Damn you!” The bandit said, struggling to stay alive.

Jerry looked at the bandit for a moment. In his eyes, he could see fear and hatred.

Jerry then went to the carriage and opened the door.

“The deed is done. The bandits have been disposed of. Be careful, theres a body on the driver seat and on the road ahead.

“I understand.” The driver then got off and got onto the driver seat while Jerry mounted the carriage.

“What was that?” Larmen asked.

“It was me.” Jerry responded.

“No you dimwit, what were the loud bangs!” Scharla snapped.

“The sounds of bandits dying” Jerry said as he laid back down on his seat.

Jerry took off his helmet and laid it beside him and took out the box of ammo from his put in his earbuds and played some music. Jerry could hear muffled voices however, and could not drown them out enough.

“Hey! Are you listening to me” Scharla snapped.

“Now now, calm down.” Larmen said in an attempt to calm Scharla.

“The way his weapon worked, seemed ranged. It’s nice to have another ranged person other than me” said a cheerful voice.

“He seemed to be able to dispatch those bandits with quick ease. Good for when we’re on the frontlines. At least he’ll be useful to us.” Elizabeth said.

After that, they four seemed to then go back into their conversation and Jerry went back and tried to fall asleep. However, he couldn’t fall asleep. He tossed and turned while the image of the bandit’s eyes of fear and hatred filled his mind.

The next several days on the trip, nothing eventful happened. Bandits didn’t appear, and the party kept chatting, leaving Jerry alone.

Jerry soon was awoken by a kick from someone. Jerry opened his eyes and looked up to see Scharla’s feet on his shoulder.

“We’re here” She said as she disembarked the carriage, leaving Jerry alone. Jerry had arrived to the frontlines however, leaving Jerry with no time to sleep. Jerry check his phone to find that it was 10 P.M. He quickly put his backpack on and put on his helmet, as it wrapped against his head. He then left the carriage with a thud as his feet touched the ground from jumping out.

On his way out, the carriage called out to him.

“Thanks for the guard, Jerry. I’ll see you when you defeat the Demon Lord.” The driver said.

Jerry looked at the driver to find that it was the same driver that took him outside the Royal Palace.

“Hey, it’s you!” Jerry said.

“Rude, I have a name. It’s Alfred Jual. Nice to see you again.” The driver said.

“Nice to see you as well.”

“Well, I must go now. Can’t keep you waiting too long. Do your best!” The driver said as he turned the carriage around and left Jerry alone.

He looked around the front line to find tents of different shapes and sizes with a flag of a fire-breathing lion on top of them.

“Jerry! Over here!” Larmen could be heard and seen gesturing to Jerry to come over while Larmen stood in front of a what seemed to be a command tent.

‘Yea yea.’ Jerry thought as he walked over to Larmen.