Chapter 101
Honestly, it didn't make sense for a family living in a remote part of the West to let strangers into their home without much suspicion.
Above all, the faint scent of blood reaching my nose through the cold wind.
It probably hadn't been long since they took this house from the young couple in that photo.
"Let's not waste time between professionals and settle this quickly? The winner sleeps inside, and the loser sleeps outside."
Of course, the losers would sleep outside as corpses.
Yawn.
As I urged them while yawning, John, who had been frozen stiff, let out a hollow laugh and said, "...So, you've been aware all along. But don't you think it's already too late?"
"Pardon? What do you mean?"
"We only drugged your drink, didn't you notice? The effects should be kicking in soon."
No wonder I felt tipsy after drinking just that much.
Actually, I knew something was mixed in the alcohol. I had also noticed the family subtly drinking from a different bottle.
But still... It was alcohol after a long time, and it didn't seem poisonous, so I just gulped it down.
But to think there were drugs in it.
"That's even better, isn't it? I'll sleep very soundly tonight."
"...You're full of bravado. Even though I already have your gun in my hand like this."
"Oh."
Click.
I hadn't noticed this, but when I came to my senses, the two revolvers from my holster were already in John's hands.
Dizzy.
Whether the drug was stronger than I thought or John's sleight of hand was faster than expected, my head was spinning and I felt dizzy.
Twirl.
John put my revolver on his finger and spun it while asking me, "Now, what do you plan to do? I think you're already cornered."
Swish—click.
As soon as John finished speaking, his wife and father each pulled out guns from somewhere.
I could also see John's two sons slowly reaching out to Emma.
Did I let my guard down?
I had underestimated them because they didn't have bounties, but they seemed to be quite an experienced family of robbers.
At this, I let out a small sigh and answered.
And...
"This is quite a coincidence."
"We have no ill feelings towards you. So if you hand over anything valuable first, we might let you live..."
"I have no ill feelings either."
"What?"
Slash.
Before John could finish speaking, I pulled out the knife hidden in my clothes and slit his throat.
Splurt—!
Thud.
John fell backward, spewing blood from his neck like a fountain.
"I was grateful for the food and drink, so I was going to send you off comfortably with a gun."
The chicken soup and wine John's family served were truly delicious.
So I was going to kill John painlessly with a gun out of gratitude, but because he took my gun, I couldn't do that.
"D-Darling!!"
"...John!!!"
As soon as John collapsed, his wife and father screamed and drew their guns.
John's sons also drew their guns and aimed at Emma.
But from here on, I didn't need to step in.
Bang bang bang bang—!
Emma, who had immediately drawn her gun at my signal of cutting John, shot the four of them with fanning rapid-fire without a shred of mercy.
"Guh—!"
"Ugh—!"
Hit by bullets in vital points like the forehead and between the eyes, the rest of John's family died with short screams.
"Emma, well done. That was a very clean quick draw and fanning shot."
"...Thank you, Boss."
Emma, who had dealt with John's family with quite skillful marksmanship, blew the gunpowder smoke from her muzzle and put the gun back in her holster.
I remember the first day Emma shot and killed someone with a gun.
The train robbers we met 7-8 months ago on our way to San Francisco.
At that time, Emma showed signs of guilt, her hands trembling even as she killed those vicious outlaws.
But now Emma seemed unfazed as she shot and killed these people who, although robbers, were pretending to be a warm family on the surface.
While working as my secretary... Emma had also adapted to life in the West.
"Then Emma. Let's clean up first."
"Yes."
I threw John's family's corpses into the forest outside the house, and Emma found a rag and wiped away the bloodstains in the meantime.
After roughly tidying up the house, we headed to the barn.
"Boss, is it here?"
"Yeah."
The barn was empty, probably because they had already sold all the livestock.
But there was oddly protruding straw in the corner.
I dug through it familiarly and...
"Found them."
Soon I could find the two faces from the photo in the house.
The two corpses, seemingly shot dead, were left abandoned, frozen solid without rotting due to the midwinter.
Although they were lying here pitifully now, these two were probably the original owners of this house.
I brought the couple's corpses out along with the straw.
And poured oil on them and burned them.
After waiting about an hour, the two bodies soon turned to white ash.
Because it was winter and we couldn't dig the ground deeply, Emma and I made a small hole and buried the white ash in the ground.
Emma knelt there and offered a brief prayer.
"Go to a good place."
Usually, I wouldn't have bothered with such troublesome things.
But...
Emma asked to honor the souls of the two, so I followed her words.
"Boss, shall we go inside now?"
"Yeah. Emma, you're not hurt anywhere, are you?"
"No, I'm fine."
Since leaving Justice Town, the relationship between Emma and me had changed.
I no longer played mischievous pranks on Emma or did anything against her will.
I always followed Emma's words submissively and tried my best to treat her well.
The reason I treated her well was because of guilt.
Guilt for bringing Emma out of Justice Town without being able to take responsibility for her.
Guilt for making her have expectations towards me when I couldn't fulfill those expectations.
...Guilt for eventually abandoning her and leaving this game alone.
Maybe I was having the shallow thought that I could escape this guilt if I treated her well for a short while before returning home.
Whether she knew this feeling of mine or not, Emma had been carefully but steadily approaching me as I didn't stop her.
"Boss, you should sleep now."
"Oh, Emma. Are you tired? There were two rooms. Choose whichever you're comfortable with. I'll take the other room..."
"...It's cold, how about we sleep in one bed?"
"..."
Now Emma naturally asked me to sleep together.
"...Okay."
I didn't reject even such a bold request from Emma.
"I'll boil some water. You should wash up first, Boss."
"Okay."
Since we hadn't washed properly for the past week, we decided to indulge in the luxury of taking a bath after a long time.
Fortunately, there was enough water in the log cabin, and Emma skillfully boiled water and prepared bath water.
Pouring water on my body after a week felt quite blissful.
I took a satisfying bath first and laid down on the bed.
Emma finished bathing shortly after and came to the bed, lying down next to me.
Emma was wearing a thin slip like before, and the bed wasn't big enough for both of us to lie spread out.
Emma and I had to press our bodies together to lie on the bed together.
"Boss. Then I'll turn off the light."
"...Yeah."
In the dark room.
The narrow bed and Emma's nice body scent.
Warm temperature and smooth touch.
But...
"..."
"..."
Perhaps because of my guilt towards Emma, I didn't feel the same erotic desire as before.
Thump.
Of course, I couldn't help my heart pounding, but I could resist touching Emma.
Emma also didn't seem to want to forcibly seduce me, as she just stuck close to my side without demanding anything more.
"Boss."
"Yes?"
"Can you let me use your arm as a pillow?"
"..."
...I was wrong.
Emma soon made a somewhat mismatched cute request to use my arm as a pillow.
At this, I hesitated for a moment and then...
"..."
Swish.
I silently extended my arm to Emma.
Emma saw this and hesitated for a moment before snuggling into my arm.
I could see Emma smiling slightly in the darkness.
It seemed Emma was quite pleased just by the fact that I wasn't pushing her away.
Seeing Emma like that, I felt my chest tighten again.
Guilt.
I had killed thousands, tens of thousands of NPCs over the past 17 years, so why did I feel such immense guilt over this?
...This is annoying.
There was really not much left until I cold go home.
But I hated myself for feeling these emotions now.
The way to quickly escape this annoying situation would be to gather $30,000 as soon as possible and return home.
However, there was a problem.
[Unable to log out]
[Remaining amount until logout: $963,154 / $1,000,000]
Money wasn't coming in since leaving Justice Town, the perfect hunting ground.
Emma and I had caught several small-time outlaws while moving west, but they were all small fry whose bounties weren't even worth exchanging.
Even John and his family we just dealt with were outlaws, but they weren't ones whose wanted posters had been updated yet.
I thought I could quickly gather $30,000 even outside Justice Town... but at this rate, it would take much longer.
But then, as if sensing my impatient feelings, Emma, who was using my arm as a pillow, slightly opened her eyes and asked me, "Boss, shouldn't we decide on an exact destination?"
"...Why?"
"Isn't your goal to gather a lot of money, Boss? But if we just wander like this, we won't be able to earn money properly."
"..."
At Emma's question, I hesitated for a moment before answering.
"...You're right. I need $30,000 now. We need a plan to earn that money."
"..."
Even after hearing the specific amount of $30,000, Emma didn't ask me why I needed that money.
She just helped me think about it.
"Is there... a good way?"
"A good way... There is."
At this, I told Emma the method I had been thinking about alone.
"We can't earn big money in this countryside... so let's go to a big city in California first."
"A big city in California...? Don't tell me..."
Emma immediately opened her eyes wide and looked at me as if I was crazy.
I smiled slightly and answered, "Ah, of course not San Francisco."
"...Ah, phew, that's a relief."
"Do you think I'm crazy enough to crawl back into San Francisco?"
If I returned to San Francisco, it was clear that many people would give me a very intense(?) welcome greeting, saying they were glad to see me again.
I had absolutely no intention of returning to San Francisco until this game ended.
"Emma, you're a country girl so you might not know, but there are several cities in California besides San Francisco."
"Yes, even in this country girl's head, the names of famous cities come to mind. Then what do you plan to do to earn money in those cities?"
"One easy way to make money is to stick to rich people. I know someone who's really rich. You know him too, Emma."
"If it's a rich person both you and I know… no way?"
Emma immediately opened her eyes wide as if recalling someone in her mind.
I gently patted Emma's head and said:
"Didn't the railroad tycoon uncle say his house was in Sacramento? Let's go to Sacramento."
***
What cities would be considered the top 3 in California?
First, San Francisco, which was the center of logistics and economy in the West.
Second, Los Angeles, where many people gathered due to the early discovery of gold.
Third, Sacramento, which had the largest administrative power as the capital of California.
Especially Sacramento, although overshadowed by San Francisco, was one of California's representative cities where numerous residents and companies were settled.
Among the companies settled in Sacramento was Lloyd Railroad Company, which owned the most railroads in the West.
Lloyd Railroad Company, which was eyeing railroads in the East and North beyond the West.
But a cold wind blew on Lloyd Railroad Company, which had always been thriving...
"What do you mean!? We can't hire more gunslingers!"
Lloyd, the president of the railroad company, showed extreme anger upon hearing his secretary's words that they couldn't find more gunslingers.
Seeing him so angry when he was usually gentle, the secretary couldn't help but tremble.
"You know... Recently, many gunslingers have been recruited from San Francisco, so California has run out of gunslingers."
"Can't we just offer more money than San Francisco!"
"It seems the South Brotherhood has exerted pressure..."
"Those damn gang bastards."
One couldn't just lay railroad tracks as one pleased.
One had to buy railroad construction rights from the government and remove “obstacles” that interfered with the railroad's path.
Currently, numerous evictees and Indians were blocking Lloyd Railroad Company's railroad construction in opposition.
The company needed gunslingers to drive them out, but due to the South Brotherhood, there were restrictions on hiring gunslingers in California.
Lloyd let out a deep sigh at the situation where the company could suffer great losses if not careful.
"Haa... isn't there a skilled gunslinger somewhere?"
Lloyd momentarily recalled a young gunslinger he had briefly encountered in San Francisco.
That friend who took down dozens of train robbers with a single gun and played with the South Brotherhood in downtown San Francisco.
That sight was so impressive that Lloyd even gave him his favorite horse when they parted.
His name was Jett, wasn't it? I wonder how he's doing?
If that friend were here, he could push away those damn evictees and Indians in one go.
But that friend lived in... Utah, right? Damn, it would be difficult to recruit him.
Feeling deep regret, Lloyd pressed his secretary.
"You know what situation we're in, right? Our company's fate hangs on this. Somehow hire gunslingers. I don't care how much money you spend."
"...Yes, understood!"
At Lloyd's order, the secretary nodded hesitantly and headed out to find gunslingers.
"...Haa, we need someone without blood or tears."
To the railroad company, the evictees and Indians interfering with laying tracks were just wild animals.
Lloyd could only pray for the appearance of a rising star in the world of hired thugs who could drive out those wild animals in one breath.