Chapter 35

The sun shined in Jerry’s eyes and blinded him temporarily as he covered his face from the sun with his hands, similar to how it was before at home. Except, instead of being in bed, he laid in a different world.

“How are you feeling, Jerry?” A voice asked. It was the voice of a middle-aged man that seemed to be somewhat curious but for all the wrong reasons.

“I’m doing fine, doc” Jerry responded as he sat up and rubbed his eyes.

“Excellent. The treatment worked well” The doctor responded.

“Treatment?”

“Well, if the poison was for Larmen, how do you think your frail body would handle it?”

“Right. What did you do for the treatment?”

“Some things here and there with a few cuts and some magic. Don’t worry about it. You’re alive! Be happy about that. Most of my sub- I mean patients don’t live”

“Should I be worried for any after effects?”

“Not that I know of”

Jerry stared at the doctor for a moment thinking about what he just said.

“Doc”

“Jerry”

“Is there a possibility of a negative side effect?”

“Negative? More like positive, Jerry! Imagine having a third arm!”

“Doc, if I get a third arm, I will personally hunt you down”

“I’m joking, I’m joking. There are no expected side effects. Besides, the treatment is done”

“Right. Where’s my stuff?”

“In the corner there. Leaving soon?”

The doctor then pointed to a desk where Jerry’s formal clothing was and his pistol.

“I plan to, Doc. Thanks for your treatment, but I don’t like being around people that work with the government or Larmen”

“Ha, I understand your circumstances and don’t plan to stop you. But, if any side effects pop up, do contact me with a letter” The doctor said with a smile.

“Yea, where do I send it to?”

“Just ‘The Doctor’ as I am known in the Imperial Nation”

“Got it, Doc. Well, I guess I should be on my way then?”

“If you so desire, Jerry”

As Jerry got off the bed, his stomach unleashed an unholy growl. The Doctor chuckled as he gave a soft smile to Jerry.

“Perhaps I can treat you to lunch first before you go?”

“Why?”

“Well, it would be a waste of the treatment if you starve to death as you leave, wouldn’t it?”

“Well, I guess I’ll have to take you up on that offer, Doc”

“Excellent. Any specific types of food you would like?”

“What about, something filling like a meat dish”

“I think I can get something nice. In the meantime, please rest for a bit longer before I bring the food here. While I am away, the ladies here will take care of you”

The Doctor then stepped to the side, revealing a duo of nurses who bowed in sync with each other with their tiny and petite stature.

“Nice to meet you” The both said in sync as well.

“You too”Jerry responded.

With that, The Doctor left the room leaving Jerry and the nurses together.

Jerry stared at the nurses for a moment as they stood there stoically staring back.

“So uh, how are you guys doing?”

“We are fine, Jerry”

“Right”

Jerry just sat there as an awkward air started to fill the room as Jerry looked around for something to stare at but to no avail. Jerry decided that he wanted to do a bit of a stretch for his legs and make sure that they still function properly after not being used for 4 days. However, as Jerry tried to get out of bed, he was promptly pushed back into bed by the nurses.

“If there’s something you would like, please ask one of us,” One of the nurses said.

“Uhh, what do I call you?”

“Just call us how you would like”

“Well, I would like to stretch my legs a bit. Is that okay?”

The nurses looked at each other for a moment before nodding in harmony.

Jerry placed his feet on the floor and rose with unstable legs. It would take a bit getting used to and get his legs working properly again so he did a few things to warm his legs up.

First, he did some jumps with his legs, shrinking his profile by crouching down before extending it quickly, launching him into the air for a bit before landing on the ground.

The nurses stared at Jerry while he was doing this, following with their head as he leaped into the air. It was quite embarrassing and awkward for Jerry, but he ignored it as best as he could.

Then, Jerry walked around a bit, finally getting his legs to how they were before without a tingly sensation in his legs. His legs finally having proper blood flow again, for now, Jerry did a few stretches to get his body back. Jerry bent his back, arms, upper and lower chest before he went over to his pistol. He picked it up and started to operate on his pistol.

Jerry pulled the pistol out and performed a reload and chambered a round before placing it back in his holster.

“Jerry, if I may ask, what was that?” One of the nurses asked prompting the other to tug at the other.

“It’s my special thing that goes ‘bang bang’ and makes people sleep forever” Jerry responded as he climbed back to bed.

“I see” The nurse said with curing mixed in.

“Forgive her, Jerry. She has the curiosity like our master when it comes to outsiders” The other nurse said with a sincere bow.

“And what’s her name?” Jerry said while he looked at the nurse currently bowing.

“Nadia”

“And yours?”

“Natalie”

“Well, Natalie. It’s fine to ask questions. I’m going to be gone soon anyway”

As Jerry finished, the door was soon opened by a maid who held a tray of food with the Doctor soon following behind her.

“Keeper Nadia, Keeper Natalie” the Maid said as she did a small curtsy with the tray still in her hands.

“Maid” the Twins responded with a nod.

“Well, Jerry. Here’s your meat dish made from beef and some herbs. It’s something simple but you should eat slowly since you’ve not eaten for a while” the Doctor said.

“Thanks, Doc”

“No worries. Get well soon. You can leave when you would like. Keep the clothes.” the Doctor said as he exited the room as the Maid handed the tray to Natalie and promptly left the room. Jerry looked down to find himself wearing simple comfortable clothing with no design.

Jerry was confused to why Natalie was handed the tray but not him but that was soon answered.

“Say ‘ahh’, Jerry” Natalie said.

The spoon poked Jerry’s lips multiple times, making light impacts on Jerry’s teeth as he stared at Natalie with a disappointed look.

“Sister, I don’t think he likes that” Nadia said as she stepped forward.

“I told you not to address me as ‘sister’ while we are working” Natalie responded as she kept trying.

“So strict, dear sister”

At this point, Natalie placed the food down on the bed before turning to face Nadia. Jerry placed the tray on his lap and looked down to find it to be a beef patty with some herbs on top with some light sauce poured over it. Jerry picked up a spoon and was able to cut through the patty with relative ease and decided to eat it while watching the Twins fight each other.

“Nadia, for the last time, don’t call me ‘sister’ when we’re working” Natalie said.

“Why not, dear sister?” Nadia responded.

“It’s unprofessional for me and you. So please address me as Natalie on duty”

“But you are my older sister, and I must address you as so”

“But not on duty”

Jerry watched them bicker back and forth and enjoyed his meal bit by bit. However, it was sadly soon over when Nadia pointed out that Jerry was eating the meal and was almost done.

“Ah! Jerry! If you wanted to eat so badly, you should’ve told me and I could’ve fed you!” Natalie said.

“You take your job too seriously” Jerry responded as he finished off his meal.

“But if I don’t, why else would I be here?”

Jerry sighed before getting up.

“If that’s what you want out of life, go for it. But now, Natalie, Nadia, I will take my leave” Jerry said as he opened the door.

“Come back soon” Nadia said.

“Mhmm” Jerry responded as he left the room.

Jerry met two armed guards outside his door waiting for him.

“Jerry? Ready to go?” A guard asked. It was quite muffled as he wore full plate armor with a helmet that covered his entire head save for a small slit.

“Yea, take me away, guard” Jerry responded.

“Follow me” the guard said.

The three of them walked down the hall and stopped outside a room.

“Here’s a changing room. Please slip into something for outside wear” the Guard said.

Jerry nodded and entered the room and found simple tunics and pants that Jerry would find regular people would wearing on the street.

Jerry quickly changed into a simple brown shirt and pants and left the extra set of clothing on the floor. As Jerry exited, he found Natalie and Nadia Standing outside with Jerry’s fancy clothing that he wore to the party and his knife laid on top.

“You left this” Natalie said as she extended her hands out to Jerry with the clothing.

“Thanks” Jerry said as he picked received the clothing and concealed the blade in his pants

Jerry then nodded to the guards who then walked down the hall with Jerry following suit.

“Goodbye, Jerry” The Twins said.

“Bye” Jerry responded.

Jerry walked down the hall silently with the guard and quickly found himself outside with fresh air.

“If you would like, you can wait for your friends” the Guard said.

“Nah, I’m fine. Tell Janice I said thanks though” Jerry responded as he walked down towards the streets. He walked down the streets admiring the view of adventurers setting off to adventures wearing their armor and the laughing emitting from taverns where adventurers were.

However, that’s not where Jerry wanted to be. Jerry wanted to be working without break so he couldn’t be left alone with his thoughts. The more he thought, the more he felt like he was going to go insane. So, in whatever free time he had, he thought about improving himself to be better than before. It was that or empty his mind and admire the views that came by. This was so he would still work to some degree and not think about his future and beyond that.

Jerry eventually came to where he needed to be and was at the marked alley. Jerry walked down it cautiously and found his stuff still where he touched it. As he bent over to pick it up, the sunlight that shined on him was then blocked out.

Jerry looked up to find 3 men blocking his path and standing over him.

“Looks like me nose was right, boys. If we wait here, someone’ll come back and pick it up and lead us to more gold!” The man in the front said with a built body.

“Yea, Boss!” The skinny man on the left said as he drew a dagger.

“When’re you ever wrong, Boss” the man on the right side said.

Jerry gave a sly smile thinking this would be a good time to get back into the groove of things.

“I think you’re biting off more than you can chew” Jerry said as he rose from crouching down. The three bandits wore light, leather armor and while the men on the side held one-handed swords, the man in the middle held a longsword.

“Nonsense. Five of us, One of you” The built man said

‘Five?’

As Jerry finished that thought, the sound of a wood rubbing against each other could be heard from above.

“Five” Jerry whispered.

Jerry then looked up to find two archers above him taking aim at him. They both parallel from each other making it harder for Jerry to escape. Jerry looked at the built man and tried to negotiate.

“Maybe we can come to an agreement? Leave now, save your lives?”

“Ha! You really are fucking dumb. You’re gonna lead us to that royal treasure of yours and fuck off” The built man said as he pointed the clothing.

“What if I don’t?” Jerry asked

“If you don’t, I swear, I will leave your pathetic rotting corpse on the ground”

“That's not nice” Jerry responded as he looked up and blinked behind one of the archers.

The archers were confused at what they had just saw but one was unable to react Jerry plunged a blade into the back of his skull.

“What the fuck?” The other archer said to himself as he positioned himself to take aim at Jerry. However, he was too late as Jerry was no longer there.

Instead, Jerry was behind the second archer already. Jerry put the second archer’s head into a tight embrace before twisting it violently, ending the archer’s life.

Jerry then pushed the archer’s corpse down below to the rest of the bandits.

Multiple short screams could be heard from below as Jerry looked over. The final 3 bandits looked up to find Jerry staring down upon them.

One of the bandits fell down and started to panic and tried to calm down by taking deep breaths. The leader of the bandits could be seen looking down at the archer’s corpse while the final one could be seen running down the alley.

“You guys want to follow your friends or friends?” Jerry said as he squatted down.

The panicking bandit, no longer able to calm himself down got up and followed the fleeing bandit, leaving the leader behind who drew his sword and pointed it towards Jerry.

“Fight me, you coward!” The bandit leader said.

Jerry sighed and took his pistol out. Jerry racked the slide and retrieved a bullet and clenched it with his left fist and held his knife in his right hand.

“Your loss” Jerry said as he blinked down.

The bandit leader then took an offensive stance, resting the blade on his shoulder. Jerry, however, adopted a stance used to counter-attack, placing his left hand in front and held his knife towards his hip, ready to stab. Jerry’s left foot was in front and his right foot was ready to make an advance.

Jerry waited for the bandit leader to make a move so he could work on his defensive play.

The bandit leader then made his move, by clenching the handle of his sword with both of his hands, and brung a swing down towards Jerry.

Jerry reacted quickly and blinked to the side of the bandit, and giving a quick stab into the side of the bandit. The knife penetrated through the leather armor and found that it was quite thin on the side. Jerry capitalized on this and plunged his left fist into the opening just made and released the bullet into him.

The bandit leader then turned to face Jerry who quickly backed away. Unfortunately, because of the restricting space, Jerry jumped back into a wall. The bandit leader then quickly smacked Jerry with the pommel of his blade, launching Jerry towards the ground.

“Any last words, bastard?” The bandit leader said before spitting on Jerry’s face.

“Abracadabra!” Jerry shouted with a twisted smile as he snapped his fingers.

An explosion could be heard as the bandit’s lower side was then blown into smaller chunks that splattered over the alley walls.

“W-What?” The bandit leader said in confusion as he dropped his longsword.

“Just shut up” Jerry said as he delivered a kick to the bandit’s head.

The bandit quickly fell down onto the ground with a thud with a blood pool that slowly spread.

Jerry stared at the body for a small while before continuing down the alley to retrieve his equipment. Jerry found it the same way he left it and quickly got dressed. He placed his extra clothes in his makeshift backpack and placed it on his back as his rifle slung around his shoulder.

Jerry held his helmet in his hand as he thought about his future. Did he want to continue to live a lie as Larry? Or did he want to live as himself and do what he pleased? What would be his end-goal? Life is dull without a goal after all.

Jerry thought about it for a while. He wanted to do something that was impossible for him in his old world. Jerry wanted to take advantage of this new world that he was in, and spread his name around the world in a positive light with his name to be heard for centuries beyond.

Jerry thought about what he wanted to do as he started to walk to the exit of the alley.

Jerry eventually settled on something simple, yet difficult as he stood at the exit of the alley.

He slid his helmet onto himself. It was a small while since he put it on, but it still fits snugly on his head with his headset.

‘Let’s be a legend’ Jerry said as he stepped into the light and exited the alley.