Chapter 28: Klopm Village Jerry rode down the road on the horse he was still borrowing. He had his backpack on but left a large chunk of ammo back at his room along with the fabricator. There were several reasons for this. Since he was going on an extended travel to complete all the tasks at once, there was a good chance for good loot to be there.He took the observation drone since he was going to a bandit infested village and needed to do some reconnaissance if he wanted to get the hostage back safely. He also packed regular medication but brought one nano shot just in case.He has a map of the current area and it led him to Klopm village and then to Jeis Ruins. There was a bounty as well for the head of the bandits of Klopm village and the Jeis Ruin Bandits were also called “Thorned Bandits” and also had a bounty on their leader. When Jerry heard the news, he almost felt like breaking into a dance as he left the Imperial Nation. The closest place was Klopm Village so he decided to go there first. It was about half a days out by horse so Jerry’s ass was sore when he arrived. Jerry did a few stretches and jumping jacks to feel normal again and grabbed his gun. Jerry tied the horse to a tree and left it there. He wasn’t going to be gone for long so he decided to leave him for now. Jerry took out his observation drone and started it up and watched the drone ascend into the open sky. It flew over the village and Jerry started to take notes as he sat down and leaned against the tree. For one, the village didn’t have a forest surrounding it. Instead, it was a flat open field that stretched for 50 meters. Jerry could go guns blazing, but there was a risk of the hostage and he couldn’t blink that far.. Jerry wanted to be super careful about this one since it is a relative of Scharla. Even though Scharla is a bitch, Jerry was getting paid for this. Jerry noticed that a building had lots of flow for the bandits. Even more disturbingly, each time someone left, they pulled their pants up. ‘That’s a big oof’ The building was in the center of the town and thus caused Jerry some problems. Since it was in the center, sneaking into it was a bit hard. Jerry looked at his gun and thought of a tactic. Guns are not known here and people being people will investigate new things if it isn’t super scary. Jerry went into the forest that was near Klopm village and went 200 meters away from it and sat down until nightfall. Jerry pointed his gun into the forest and let out small bursts until his gun clicked. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Max sat at the outskirts of the village, tending to his posts while making some food. “Hey yo Max, that new girl you got is the fucking best!” Alex exclaimed. “Glad you enjoyed her as much as I did. You still owe me 5 gold coins” Max said with a laugh as Alex sat down at his post. “Fuck off, I saved your ass from that Adventurer Party” “True, but you still owe me” They both gave out a small snicker. “Where happened to that party after we took the lead hostage?” “We tossed the girls in the pit and executed the dudes like we usually” “God, I wish we could just make them fight each other” “The dudes?” “Yea man, it gets boring just selling and using the products. I wanna see some action” “Good idea! I’ll pitch it to the boss next time” Just then, cracks from the forest emitted. “The fuck was that?” Max said. Alex sat up quickly and looked towards the noise. “Alex, go get the Boss. I’m gonna investigate” Max said. “What? You go in alone?” Alex asked. “Look, if I don’t come back, my shit’s yours. Now go tell the boss” “Got it” Alex then sprinted back towards the main building and Max went towards the forest. The forest was silent excluding the sound of the grass as Max stepped it. He had his sword drawn and looked around his surroundings. The forest was usually not like this. He would usually travel with his other friends but this time, he was alone. He regretted his decision coming alone as the forest around him stood eerily still. Before he noticed, his back was on the ground and a man sat on him. Max tried to scream as he raised his hand but was silenced mid way as a knife came plunging into his face. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Jerry got off the bandit and took his blade out of his face and wiped the knife on his body. Jerry put the knife away and changed his clothing into the bandits. The bandit mostly wore fur clothing and had a sword in his hand. There was a sheath that was on him that was at the bandit’s side. Jerry took a look at the observation drone to find that the bandit’s were sending groups of them into the forest and established a security perimeter around the village. Jerry gave a smile and thought about hunting the bandit groups but found an even better way to have fun. Jerry took the body of the bandit and hoisted him over his shoulder and blinked onto a tree and went around the forest, blinking tree to tree. He found a bunch of bandits walking down the forest and Jerry planned his next move. He would use the body to bait the bandits all in one place before ending them. Jerry dropped the body of the bandit he had killed in front of a bandit causing him to scream. “The fuck is this!?” The bandit screamed as he recoiled back. “What is it, Alex?” Another bandit said. Soon, everyone went to investigate the body and in total, 6 of them huddled over the body. Jerry took aim at them and squeezed the trigger, letting out one long, uninterrupted burst of bullets that caused them to drop like a sack of potatoes. Jerry then moved towards Klopm Village now. Now that he had killed a group, the others might want to feel the need to retreat to a safe place. However, he would allow no such tactic. Jerry approached the village, blinking towards the village with the cover of the dark night as he laid down on the ground. Jerry did a pulse scan to find that there were 10 guards as they were painted with a red outline. They stood on the outside of the village, ready with a arrow ready to be pulled back and shot. Jerry blinked past them and took a high vantage point. He then thought of a way to kill a lot of bandits at once and remembered something he could use. Jerry went towards the center of the village to where the high traffic building was. It was closed at this time but it seemed that it was used as storage before. It was a barn house and the smell of semen was leaking from it. Jerry raised his visor and covered his nose with his fatigue before entering the building. ‘This isn’t PG-13’ Jerry said in his mind, trying to make the situation less dark than it already was. Along the walls were women and children tied and on the ground. Many seemed to have the thousand yard stare with the occasional cry that came out. “W-Who’s that?” A voice broke. “My name is Larry. Anything you wanna tell me?” “Larry… is it” “Yea. It is” No response came back from the voice after that, leaving Jerry to his own devices. Jerry looked around at the hostage's body to find bruises, cuts, and what seemed to be broken bones as their bodies bent in ways that should not bend. “I’ll be here for a while. Please wait for a bit before I can free you” Jerry said as he blinked near the top of the barn. No response came back from the voice but Jerry however had other plans. He would free them but he had to take care of the bandits before taking care of the hostages. Most of the people in this room couldn’t move on their own or were unresponsive. Time passed as Jerry sat on the support beams that stretched across the room. Eventually, he could hear the Bandits coming back. “Fucking hell. What happened to those guys?” “Dunno. But they got screwed, that’s for sure” The doors flung open now, and 20 bandits came into the room. Jerry got his gun ready and prepared to drop down. He quickly swapped his magazine for AP to score collateral hits so he could hit more with one bullet. “Where could that fucker have gone?” A bandit asked. The rest of the bandits stretched their arms and legs near the front of the entrance. Jerry put his visor down and dropped to the ground. “Right here” He said as he shot into the group of Bandits. Many of them dropped, but some were still alive, but wounded. “The fuck was that?” A voice could be heard outside. It was a bandit that had heard the commotion and peeked inside. Jerry quickly dropped his magazine and inserted a new one. The bandit quickly ran away, causing Jerry to make a pulse scan. The bandit could be seen running away, but Jerry wouldn’t let it slide. Since the barn was made of wood, Jerry took aim at the red outline and shot a burst of bullets at him. The outline then collapsed and then no longer made a movement. The women at this point broke from their normally dead state and stared at Jerry. “Okay, who can walk and who can drive a horse?” Jerry asked. “W-Who are you?” The voice asked. But this time, it seemed that the voice was alive now. “I told you already. It’s Foxtrot “F-Fox, can you help us?” The voice asked. The room then burst into cries for help to Jerry and Jerry felt locked in place. It was an unfamiliar scene to Jerry, being called on for help. However, the trance Jerry was locked in was soon shattered as someone else came in. “Who the fuck are you and what have you done to my men?!” A big burly voice said. “My name’s Foxtrot. And well, I killed all your men” Jerry said before he raised his rifle and shot the man in the heart, causing him to back up slowly before collapsing. Jerry then noticed that there were no other red outline in the area, signifying that everyone hostile had been killed. The room was silent as they stared at the corpse of the man Jerry had just shot. “So, who can drive a carriage?” Jerry asked. “I-I can” A voice said, breaking the silence. “Good. You have a name I can call you by?” Jerry said as he went over to the body of the burly man. “M-My name is Nadia the voice said. “Well, Nadia. How’re you?” Jerry said as he picked up a set of keys from the corpse. “It’s fine. I can walk” “Is anything broken?” Jerry walked over to Nadia with the keys, trying each key on the lock. “N-Not that I can feel” Jerry soon found the key and it unlocked, throwing Nadia to the ground who quickly got up. “Well, find yourself a carriage and get your ass out of here on a carriage with the others. There’s likely some clothes around here… somewhere. Oh, and tell the Guild that Larry sent you” Jerry said as he handed the keys to Nadia. “Y-Yes” She said before she went to the others. Jerry then went and checked the pockets of each of the bandits, finding rings, jewels, coins, purses, and checked each of the houses. Each of the houses looked the same on the inside and found assortments of clothing and valuables. As he left the final building, he found Nadia waiting for him. “Foxtrot, Sir” She said. “Yes, Nadia, Ma’am?” Jerry responded sarcastically. “The ladies and I would like to thank you. And the person that you came for, Jessica Jakel thanks you especially. It’s a first for me, hearing a Dark Elf thank someone” “Tell her that her sister is to be in the Imperial Nation. Actually, can you drive there?” Jerry said, now thinking on how the guild would know if he rescues Jessica or not. “As you wish” Nadia said timidly. “Thanks. Now, off you go” Jerry said. “Goodbye, Jerry. Safe travels” Jerry watched Nadia go before sitting down and started reloading his magazines. He picked up the one from the barn house but felt repulsed to use it as it fell onto a pile of semen. Jerry washed the magazine with clothing from the bandits but still felt he needed to submerge it in water to clean it. Jerry took out a cigarette and lit it up, puffing on it into the deep night. He started to think with his downtime. ‘Highest Medal, huh?’ Jerry thought about Larmen getting medals that he deserved. He thought about what he was going to do that night, pondering his next move after. He wanted to do something fun, but not feel like he was running around in a circle, pursuing nothing. Then an idea hit him. He wanted to explore this world, examining the world that he was in, doing things that piqued his interest. But what would he do after? What was he doing with his time? What is he doing? What would be his end goal? Jerry thought more and more about what he was doing before he stopped. The more he thought about things, the more depressed he would be. ‘I’ll deal with things as they come. No need to stress about the future now’ Jerry then remembered that he had to clear out the Ruins. Thinking that the Ruins were likely castle ruins and would likely have more Bandits, what type of bandits would he face? This thought excited Jerry, thinking that he would have some more fun. Jerry got up from the floor and went towards the road where his horse was. Jerry got on his horse, laying the backpack on the back of his horse, and continued the road to the Ruins.