Chapter 21
"..."
Fidget.
As soon as Emma realized the other person was an outlaw, she subtly moved her hand inside her clothes.
That was where her gun was.
There was a reason why Emma, who was merely a secretary and not a bounty hunter, carried a gun.
My secretary should be able to handle a gun well, since you never know what might happen.
It was because Noah had trained her when she was first hired.
Emma, who had received shooting instructions from Noah whenever they had time, was quite skilled with guns.
Stay calm.
Her boss Noah, who might have some character flaws and was unrivaled when it came to guns, had said, The most important thing in handling guns in the West was the quick draw.
If one didn't tremble and quickly drew their gun from the holster, one could easily subdue their opponent...
"Ma'am?"
"...!"
Just as Emma was about to put her hand inside her clothes, "You don't look well. Is something bothering you...?"
"..."
When the outlaw Jackal in front of her spoke, Emma couldn't draw her gun.
She had a pale face but slowly shook her head.
"...No, it's nothing."
"Yes, then shall I guide you to your husband now?"
"...Yes, please do that."
"This way then."
Swish.
Jackal, pretending to have a kind face, started guiding Emma to the bar.
As he turned around to guide her...
Emma knew this was the optimal timing to draw her gun, but she didn't.
No... to be precise, she couldn't draw her gun.
Tremble.
It wasn't for nothing that Noah had made her his secretary.
Emma was smart and had good judgment.
But...
She was still a girl who had never shot a person.
The first experience of anything was difficult.
Especially that first experience of shooting someone and taking a life...
It was something difficult to do rashly, even for the strongest person.
So she cowardly chose to run away.
Unlike her, who was clumsy at everything, her boss Noah was an expert at catching outlaws.
Emma planned to run behind his back and rely on him.
"Well, here behind the dining car is the bar that only first-class passengers can use."
Unaware of Emma's thoughts, the outlaw Jackal guided her to the bar where Noah was.
"Gentlemen?"
"What is it?"
The gentlemen, who seemed to be playing a card game as they each held cards in their hands, looked up at Jackal's call.
"This lady here has come looking for her husband."
"Hoho, I suppose that beautiful lady is the wife of our Young Noah here."
The gentlemen politely pointed to Noah, who was sitting at one side of the table.
Noah had his back turned...
Ah...
As soon as Emma saw Noah's back, she felt her worry and anxiety melting away like snow.
"Now that I've guided you, I'll be taking my leave."
"...Yes."
The outlaw Jackal bowed his head and left as soon as he brought Emma to the bar as if his job was done.
Emma waited until his retreating figure disappeared and then...
"Boss... I mean... honey."
She hurriedly approached Noah.
But...
"I have something urgent to say..."
"..."
"...Honey?"
Noah showed no reaction to Emma's words.
Finding this strange, Emma shook Noah's shoulder...
"Honey, honey!"
"...Ah, y-yes. E-Emma..."
Only then did Noah turn to look at Emma with a pale face.
"W-what...!"
Emma couldn't help but be surprised when she saw Noah's face.
What on earth had happened...?
How could Noah's face look worse than Emma's, who had been with an outlaw?
"L-let's go out first."
"..."
Emma pulled the still-dazed Noah outside.
After finding a place where no one was around, she asked Noah, "Boss. What happened in there?"
"..."
"Your expression looks terrible right now. What..."
Emma had never seen Noah look so dejected and like he had lost everything.
Consequently, Emma's expression also became serious.
But when Noah opened his mouth...
"I lost everything..."
"...Pardon?"
"I played Texas Hold'em with those gentlemen... and lost everything. Those gentlemen are fucking good at Hold'em..."
"..."
Emma couldn't help but be bewildered.
...No, she felt empty.
Is this all because he lost some money gambling?
Emma sighed and asked, "...How much did you lose to act like this?"
"..."
At Emma's question, Noah hesitated and then held up nine fingers.
Seeing this, Emma looked at him with disdain and said, "90 dollars? That's 9 months of my salary."
"..."
90 dollars certainly wasn't a small amount.
But what was important now wasn't that Noah had lost 90 dollars gambling, but the fact that an outlaw had infiltrated the train.
However...
"Boss, that's not what's important right now..."
"...It's not 90 dollars."
As Emma was about to reveal the fact that there was an outlaw, Noah interrupted her and said with trembling hands, "...9, 9..."
"...?"
"900 dollars..."
"..."
"I got fleeced for 900 dollars by those gentlemen..."
900 dollars.
Upon hearing the amount, Emma unconsciously raised her hand high.
And then...
Smack—!
"You fool!!"
"Aaagh!"
She mercilessly struck Noah's back.
"Are you in your right mind or not? 900 dollars? You lost 900 dollars, not 90? In such a short time?"
"I feel wronged too... Aaagh...!"
"You abandoned No Name because 70 dollars was too expensive, but you lose 900 dollars gambling? Really!"
At some point, Emma momentarily forgot about the outlaw and continued her beating.
Smack! Smack—!
From a distance, they looked exactly like a married couple.
***
30 minutes earlier.
My plan to clean out the rich gentlemen's money with Texas Hold'em was going smoothly.
"Hahah, Two Pair! I have the highest hand!"
"Hoho, Young Noah. You're quite good at Hold'em, aren't you?"
"This much is basic, hehe."
I won several hands in a row, quickly making a profit of 100 dollars.
If this keeps up, I might make a lot of money by the time we reach San Francisco?
After always losing to Emma, it felt really good to win against these rich gentlemen.
As I was getting excited about the game, that's when it happened.
"By the way, Young Noah. You look quite young, what do you do for a living?"
"...Pardon?"
"Well, it's a chance encounter, and I'm curious how such a young man is riding in this expensive first-class."
Caught off guard by the sudden question and reluctant to reveal I was a bounty hunter, I gave a vague answer.
"This and that... I just play around."
"Play around?"
"Yes, I just lounge around at home, drinking and having fun."
It wasn't exactly a lie.
Being a bounty hunter was almost like being unemployed when there were no outlaws around.
I was spending almost every day lounging around at the bar or at home, just drinking.
But... these rich gentlemen seemed to interpret my words differently.
"Hoho, I had my suspicions, but it seems Young Noah is indeed from a wealthy family."
"...?"
Did they think I was some young master from a rich family, riding first-class while just lounging around at home?
It was a complete misunderstanding, but I didn't correct their misconception.
Instead, I asked the rich gentlemen, "What about you gentlemen? What do you do?"
This was just out of curiosity.
A trivial curiosity about what these rich gentlemen's occupations might be.
And when I heard their answers...
"I own several steel factories in Indiana."
"I operate gold mines in California."
"..."
I couldn't help but gape.
Owners of steel factories and gold mines?
If that was true, these people were really filthy rich.
But the best was yet to come.
"I run a railroad company. This railroad and train... they all belong to our company."
"...Pardon?"
A railroad company president...
The hottest industry in America right now was railroads.
No wonder they didn't seem bothered even after losing over 100 dollars...!
Realizing that the gentlemen before me were much richer than I thought, I felt a strange pressure.
Whether they knew how I felt or not, the rich gentlemen looked at me with warm expressions and then...
Thud.
They each pulled out bags placed under their feet.
"Well then, shall we raise the betting amount now?"
"...Raise the betting amount even more from here?"
It was already a big game with tens of dollars going back and forth in each hand.
But...
"Actually, we were keeping the amounts low because we thought you might feel burdened, Young Noah."
"..."
"But now that we know you have money too, let's really enjoy ourselves."
Even that seemed to make these rich gentlemen feel unsatisfied.
Creak.
The rich gentlemen opened their bags filled to the brim with cash.
"How about it? You're in, right, Young Noah?"
"..."
As a much bigger game than I had expected was about to open, I couldn't help but fall into contemplation.
If I slipped up in a big game, I would clearly lose a lot of money.
Rationally thinking, it would be right to stop here.
But...
Whoosh—
Seeing the rich gentlemen's money bags, I simply couldn't walk away.
Yes... the fact that I could lose a lot of money also meant, conversely, that this was an opportunity to make a lot of money, right?
"Yes, of course I'm in!"
And so, I jumped into the rich gentlemen's game, carrying dreams of striking it rich.
***
"...So you say you just kept losing money after that?"
"...Yeah."
...After jumping into the big game, I didn't win a single hand.
The rich gentlemen, who had been pretending to be bad when the betting amounts were small, suddenly transformed when the stakes got higher.
— Haha! Full house!
— Hoho, looks like I win this time. A straight.
Recalling what had just happened, I complained to Emma:
"...I think I got played by those gentlemen."
...Damn, they say the rich are even worse.
As I kept losing and losing, before I knew it, my loss had reached 900 dollars.
Emma looked at me with disdain and then suddenly her eyes widened as if remembering something and she shouted:
"But Boss...! That's not what's important...! There's an outlaw disguised as a staff member on this train right now."
"...An outlaw? How much is the bounty?"
"Jackal Nayori. 260 dollars bounty."
"...No good. That's not enough to recoup my losses."
"...Pardon?"
What was important to me right now wasn't the outlaw.
Moreover, we didn't even have a wanted poster right now, do we?
I gently grasped Emma's shoulders and said with a serious expression, "Emma. We don't even have a wanted poster right now. He hasn't done anything yet... If we cause a commotion unnecessarily, we might end up taking the blame."
"Then..."
"Let's wait until we arrive in San Francisco for now. And when we arrive, we'll arrest him right away."
Killing someone without a wanted poster was a taboo act for bounty hunters.
When I explained this, Emma frowned but nodded.
"Now, go back to our compartment. Meanwhile, I..."
"...What are you going to do?"
"...I'm going to recoup my losses."
"Hey!"
As I tried to go back to the bar, Emma grabbed my clothes to stop me.
I coldly removed Emma's hand and said, "Emma, I'll really just recoup my losses and come back, just break even!"
"Boss! Have you really lost your mind? How much more are you going to lose this time!"
"No, this time is different."
[Unable to log out]
[Remaining amount until logout: $903,361 / $1,000,000]
Until now, I didn't know the game was this big and only tried to make a little money.
But if it was about bullets, I had as many as those rich gentlemen.
"...Wait and see. The unofficial richest man, Noah, is coming."
"Don't go!"
And so, ignoring Emma's desperate cries, I headed towards the battlefield.