Chapter 112
"Quite a lot gathered in such a short time..."
"Peace Town is small. It seems all the men in the village have gathered."
If dozens of able-bodied men in front of me all fired their guns at once, even I would have no way out.
I wonder if this is going to end anticlimactically at the end.
I raised my hands high along with Vogue, who was carrying Joshua's corpse, and slowly moved forward.
Then...
"Stop!"
An old voice was heard from the direction of the village hall where the villagers were gathered.
"Don't come any closer and speak from there! If you come closer, we'll pull the trigger!"
"Yes! We'll stand still here and speak!"
It was a face I had seen once before.
Surely... wasn't he the village chief of Peace Town?
At his words not to come any closer, Vogue and I stopped walking.
And then...
Thud.
Vogue, who was carrying Joshua's corpse behind, threw it down right in front.
Murmur.
When we brought Joshua's corpse, the villagers holding guns were startled and stirred.
"T-that guy..."
"He's the one who shot Mr. Michael!"
Among them were some who recognized Joshua.
The village chief also quickly grasped who the Joshua we brought was and asked us, "Isn't that the gunslinger who killed our villager? He must be your companion... who killed him?"
"Before that, let me apologize first!"
I bowed my head deeply towards the villagers.
When I bowed my head first, Vogue behind me followed and bowed his head, too.
It was quite an excessive expression of apology for America.
"We absolutely had no intention of killing anyone! And this bastard is not our companion!"
"..."
"We also realized very belatedly that this bastard was an outlaw! We're sorry!"
"...What? An outlaw?"
At the word outlaw, there was a stir among the villagers.
"An outlaw came to our village?"
"I wonder if the others are outlaws too..."
"We might all end up like Mr. Michael at this rate..."
I continued speaking, "But I can promise you. Now there are no outlaws among us! We will only proceed with the demolition according to legal procedures and won't harm your lives!"
"..."
"We'd like to exchange this bastard's corpse for the bounty later and give it to the bereaved family! That's all, and we'll be going back now."
Shuffle.
Vogue and I left Joshua's corpse right there and slowly backed away one step at a time.
"..."
"..."
Through my eyes, I could see the villagers glaring at us from afar as if they would kill us.
But in the end, they didn't shoot, and we were able to safely escape from the place.
"Phew...."
"Wow... I thought we were going to die."
When we finally reached a safe place, Vogue stroked his chest and asked me, "Y-Youngest.... Will it be okay now? This roughly resolves things, right?"
"...I don't know."
"What?"
Vogue flinched when I, who had been acting as the practical leader until now, showed weakness for the first time.
But now, truly no one knew what would happen from here on.
The villagers who felt a sense of crisis from this incident might raid the inn where we were staying tonight, or they might fall for my persuasion just now and bury this incident.
"From now on, the choice is up to the villagers."
"...T-then what should we do now?"
"What else? We should stay quiet as a mouse in the inn without provoking the villagers unnecessarily."
If we resumed work in this situation, the angered villagers would take up guns again.
...Damn, things have gone strange because of Joshua's foolish act.
I could sense that demolishing the village would take longer than the one month I had initially planned.
We need to drive out the Indians too... Should we go there first instead?
But Joshua was dead too, so we only have 6 people left.
Face an Indian tribe that might have several warriors with just 6 people?
...Even with me there, it wouldn't be an easy task.
"...Ah, this is really shitty."
I grabbed my throbbing head and returned to the inn with Vogue.
"H-how did it go!?"
"Boss."
The other gunslingers and Emma welcomed us.
"It seems we've roughly cleaned things up for now... but I'm not sure yet. Let's just stay quiet here for today."
"Huh? Ah, okay...."
Even at my words that we roughly cleaned things up, everyone's expressions were dark.
That was because...
Now the relationship between the villagers and us had reversed.
Until now, we were in a position to devour the villagers, but now they were holding our lifeline.
Moreover, that wasn't the only problem.
"...Shouldn't we inform the company about this fact too?"
"..."
We came here to earn money.
But we ended up violating the company's policy of not killing people.
The company might use that as an excuse not to pay us.
...If Lloyd doesn't give the rest of the money, I can't go home.
The other gunslingers must have reasons why they absolutely need to earn money too.
"Let's send one person to inform the company about what happened in the village today. We'll leave it to the company on how to proceed from now on."
"Yeah, that's a good idea… But who will go to the company?"
"Emma."
To the question of who would go to the company, I looked at Emma without hesitation.
Emma was smart and had a connection with Lloyd.
If Emma went, she should be able to talk well with the company too.
But...
"I don't want to."
"..."
"I have no intention of leaving this village unless it's together with you, Boss."
Emma, who had become much more feisty than before, immediately refused my order.
"T-then I'll go."
In the end, another gunslinger took on the task of going to the company.
It only took 5 hours to Sacramento, so without wasting more time, he finished simple preparations and immediately departed for the company.
After seeing him off, Vogue asked me, "Hey, Youngest.... Then what should we do now?"
"I told you, let's stay quiet as a mouse. Let's just stay in the saloon and drink."
"Ah, o-okay."
Somehow there was a sense of impending war in the village.
Because of this, we couldn't drink recklessly even while drinking the alcohol we liked.
We even took turns standing guard at night in case the villagers might secretly attack.
After such a tense night passed...
When morning came, the gunslinger who went to inform the company about this incident returned.
The company's answer he brought was...
We'll pay the money, so continue the demolition work.
***
Several days after that.
We didn't start working and continued to spend time holed up in the inn and saloon.
But contrary to our concerns, no particular problems arose... and the angry villagers didn't attack us.
As days continued just like usual, the gunslingers' hearts gradually relaxed, and there were even some who said we should quickly start working again.
But...
"..."
Somehow I couldn't shake off an uneasy feeling.
Just as dawn was breaking.
As I was watching the streets that somehow felt cold...
"Boss."
"Ah, Emma. You're up?"
Emma approached me, wearing pajamas with a coat over them.
"You woke up early."
"Somehow I couldn't sleep."
"..."
As I was looking at the street with somewhat anxious eyes, Emma followed my gaze to the street for a moment and then said, "You have very good intuition, Boss… Since you're feeling uneasy, somehow I'm feeling uneasy too."
"..."
"Boss. It's still not too late. Can't we just leave?"
Squeeze.
Emma gently held my hand and spoke as if pleading, "Even if it's for money, it bothers me to drive out residents who have been living in this village originally. Let's not bother innocent people unnecessarily and just..."
"Innocent? And people who have been living here originally? Emma, you still don't know about the West."
I removed her hand somewhat roughly and said, "This was originally Shoshone territory. Peace Town? It's a village built by pioneers who arbitrarily took the Indians' land."
"..."
"And innocent my ass. If those people were really innocent, they would have all died already."
There was no sheriff or circuit judge here.
It was truly a lawless zone outside the order of law.
The people of this village who survived in the middle of a lawless zone where Indians and robbers run rampant could be called masters of survival.
That was why I couldn't help but feel uneasy.
They would do anything to survive.
"Since we crossed the line first, those people will cross the line once too. So stay alert. If necessary..."
It was then.
Clop clop clop clop.
"...!!!"
Through my sensitive ears, I heard the sound of hooves shaking the earth from beyond the horizon.
"Boss...?"
"...Wait, be quiet for a moment."
I quieted Emma and concentrated my hearing to gauge that sound.
Clop clop clop clop—!
Clop clop clop clop clop—!
It's fast.
And...
There were many.
There was only one being that could move so quickly in groups on this rough plain.
"Shit. Speak of the devil and he shall appear."
"...What."
No... what was coming this way now were beasts incomparable to mere tigers.
Formidable enemies that even I couldn't easily handle in my reckless days.
Masters of horseback riding and excellent marksmen.
And...
The original rulers of this land who were defeated by the times.
"...It's the Indians."
They were rushing here now.