Chapter 52 - Humans Naturally Change

Rattle rattle—

After passing Luke, everything went smoothly.

I passed through the South Brotherhood's barricades scattered throughout the streets and headed toward the outskirts of San Francisco.

"Uwaaah!"

"It's Kid!!"

Ordinary South Brotherhood members without Luke couldn't stop me.

Everything seemed like it would go well.

But there was one problem.

"Phew... puff... phew..."

"Oh my, you're tired, aren't you?"

Maybe because it had been galloping like crazy for hours, the railroad-rich uncle's beloved horse was visibly exhausted.

Its steps seemed to have dulled a bit too, and it looked like I needed to switch horses.

"There's Kid!"

"Stop him!"

That was when I saw South Brotherhood members lined up at the last path leading to the outskirts.

It was strange that they were quite numerous and organized even without Luke, so I looked closely and...

"Oh? That's..."

There was a familiar face among them.

"This works out well. Let's ask to switch horses."

So I grinned and charged towards the barricade.

***

"Secretary! They say Kid has left the center and is running towards here now."

"..."

If this place was breached, there were only the state government troops blocking the land route behind.

This was essentially the last stronghold the South Brotherhood could handle with their own hands.

So Billie's hands, who was in charge of commanding the barricade, started to tremble.

Her body was instinctively feeling it.

...The fact that death would soon befall her.

"What are our members' casualties so far?"

"It's still unconfirmed!"

Kid wasn't originally someone who engaged in such conspicuous activities.

In the past, he was someone who specialized in assassinations, moving only stealthily at night.

That was why that incident happened at night too.

Billie still remembered that night.

4 years ago.

When 20-year-old Billie wasn't part of the South Brotherhood yet.

Billie, who had lost her parents in the Civil War and migrated to San Francisco, had an older brother who was the only family she could rely on.

Her brother had gained recognition for his abilities and held an important position in the South Brotherhood despite his young age.

Even if some might curse that being a gang member wasn't an honorable job...

— Are you folks from the South?

Only the South Brotherhood took in the war orphan siblings from the South.

Billie was proud of the South Brotherhood and had a close relationship with her brother who belonged to it.

— Ah, brother forgot his lunchbox again...!

Knowing her brother working overtime had forgotten his late-night snack, Billie set out with plenty of food for other members too.

She went to her brother's office with a sandwich lunchbox she made herself.

— ...!!

There was already blood splattered everywhere.

But Billie couldn't even scream at seeing the corpses of her brother and his subordinates.

A man wearing a white mask covering his face and white clothes covered in blood.

Click.

— Miss, South Brotherhood? Is there a bounty by any chance?

— ...

Billie didn't have a gun then and couldn't do anything due to the overwhelming sense of fear the man gave off.

— Hmm...

Then the man looked Billie up and down like a butcher judging the grade of meat.

— Searching your pockets would probably only yield coins... What's this? A sandwich?

— P-please spare...

— Why would I kill some useless? Even bullets cost money.

— …!

The man passed by Billie as if he had finished his business.

Only then did Billie, overcome with grief at the realization her brother was dead, shout at the man.

— You...! I'll definitely kill you...!

— ...

But the man dismissed Billie's final cry with a sneer too.

— Talking shit, NPC bitch. If the quest is over, just get lost on your own.

Luke, the leader of the South Brotherhood's words that he used to say habitually came to mind.

Kid didn't see humans as humans.

And...

"Here he comes-!"

That Kid was now running here.

Wearing the white mask and white clothes that symbolized his past.

Tremble.

Her hands were shaking, but Billie wasn't that girl who only cried back then.

She was now the field commander here, and unlike then, she had a gun in her hand.

She hid her trembling hands and ordered her subordinates.

"...Fire all at once when I signal."

"Yes!"

Perhaps this could be an opportunity.

An opportunity to avenge her brother's killer and settle her past.

"Ready to fire!"

So she somehow overcame her fear and aimed her gun at Kid running towards them with her comrades.

Not yet... not yet. Closer...

To increase the probability of hitting Kid even a little, she had to wait until he came to close range.

Billie waited leisurely for Kid without signaling her comrades.

But...

"...Eek!"

Bang—!

Someone pulled the trigger before she signaled.

The fear of Kid wasn't just in her.

One of the members couldn't overcome their fear.

And fear was contagious.

Bang—!

Bang bang bang bang—!

Bang bang bang—!

"Ah, no! Everyone stop—" Billie shouted belatedly, but it was already too late.

Ping ping ping ping—!

Kid blocked the bullets fired from the edge of the range too easily.

And...

Bang bang bang bang bang bang—!!

"Aaaagh!"

Unlike the South Brotherhood's bullets, Kid's bullets hit the members too accurately.

Even as her comrades fell, Billie was waiting to fire.

And the moment Kid pulled the reins to jump over the barricade...

...Now!

Click.

Bang—!

She pulled the trigger aiming precisely at Kid's heart.

Since her brother's death, she had never neglected shooting practice.

If gunslingers saw it, they would have evaluated Billie's posture and shooting timing now as textbook perfect for a rifleman.

But...

Bang—!

Kid easily blocked Billie's best shot too.

Ah...

A huge shadow loomed over Billie whose final attack was blocked.

Kid was coming towards her.

Billie closed her eyes.

When the final moment came, it wasn't that scary.

It was just going to where her family was.

But...

"..."

No matter how long she waited, death didn't come to her.

So when she opened her eyes...

"Oh hey, Billie! I'm gonna borrow your horse!"

...Kid was calling her and switching horses.

As Billie just stared blankly at this, Kid seemed to find it frustrating and briefly took off his mask to show his face.

"Ah, don't you know who I am? I'm Noah, Noah."

"..."

"It was a short meeting for a few days, but thanks. Thanks to you, I got to sleep in a suite room. I'll abandon the horse somewhere on the outskirts of San Francisco, so find it yourself."

The face under the mask was indeed Noah.

Noah, who had seemed like such a childish kid... whom Billie had been monitoring for the past few days.

Noah and Kid.

The same person, but so different.

So Billie muttered a question to Kid who was about to leave.

"...Why me."

"Hmm?"

"...Why don't you kill me?"

At Billie's question, Kid answered with an expression as if it was bothersome:

"Billie, are you an outlaw? And how would I receive a bounty in this situation?"

"..."

"And you know, I'm not a butcher who just kills everyone indiscriminately."

"Bullshit."

Billie, agitated at Kid's following words, shouted at him with tears:

"You killed everyone indiscriminately a few years ago! That's why you killed my brother too!"

"..."

"So stop pretending to be nice and kill me too! Like you did before!!"

"Billie Rooster."

"...!"

Unlike the screaming Billie, Kid's voice was still full of laughter.

But the laughter soon disappeared from that voice.

"Humans naturally change. You NPCs probably don't know that."

"...!"

"And Eddie Rooster wasn't just anyone, he was a bastard who deserved to die."

"...!"

"You knew too, right? What your brother was doing."

"..."

Leaving Billie momentarily speechless, Kid left.

Billie watched Kid's retreating figure and shouted one last time.

"I'll kill you! Definitely!!"

Kid's voice responding to this was full of playfulness again, "There are too many kids who want to kill me! Draw a number and wait!"

Kid left the outskirts of San Francisco like that.

***

Eddie Rooster.

I remember him because he had such a high bounty and was such a vicious guy.

He was definitely the bastard who took people who couldn't pay their debts and sold them to Hawaii, right?

When I raided that bastard's office and was coming out, I ran into a woman.

So that was Billie back then.

Only then could I understand why Billie flinched every time she saw me.

"I really have bad connections all over San Francisco."

I needed to leave this fucking city quickly.

Fortunately, Billie's horse was quite fast.

Following the railroad tracks, the rear end of the train where Emma was waiting started to come into view.

And the train was running at low speed as I requested.

I increased my speed to catch up with the train.

But...

Thud thud thud thud.

"...Hmm?"

Suddenly hearing horse hooves, I looked back and...

"Oh fuck, what's that now."

There was a group of mounted bandits running towards me.

South Brotherhood bastards who didn't want to lose me were following on horseback.

"Damn it, Billie's horse. I'll bestow upon you the name No Name."

"Neigh?"

"No Name II! Run-!!"

Thanks to No Name II’s performance, I was able to quickly catch up to the train.

"Hey! Jett!"

I could see Lloyd and Emma waving their hands far away at the very end of the train.

I just needed to get on there now.

But the problem was...

The train's speed is too slow. At this rate, even if I safely get on the train, we'll be caught up to.

The train's speed was too slow.

So I frantically rode the horse and shouted to Lloyd:

"Uncle! Go tell the conductor to increase the speed more!"

"What?! But then you might not be able to get on?"

"It's fine, so hurry!"

"Ah, alright!"

Not long after Lloyd left, the train's speed started to increase little by little.

No Name II was already running so crazily that its feet were almost invisible.

I have to jump.

I took my feet off the stirrups and prepared to jump.

"Boss! What are you—!"

"There's no other way!"

Emma was shocked seeing this, but there was no other way to get on the train.

Thud thud thud thud.

Even now, the South Brotherhood was chasing behind.

"Thanks, No Name II. Go back to your owner."

"Neigh."

After taking a deep breath and saying goodbye to No Name II, I...

Whoosh.

Jumped from No Name II’s back and flew towards the train.

But...

"...Huh?"

...It's short?

Contrary to expectations, I couldn't get on top of the train right away.

I'm falling.

Down.

Whoosh.

So I reached out my hand as if grasping at straws.

...Ah.

Come to think of it, I had always reached out my hand asking for help since entering this damn Western game.

The first time I reached out was to my biological father.

That bastard, my only guardian, hit me when I reached out as a child.

So I killed that bastard.

The next time I reached out was to a young girl.

That kind-hearted girl willingly took my outstretched hand.

But I ruined her with my own hands that she had taken.

Everyone related to me in this world all had bad endings.

So sometimes I thought.

My existence might be a disaster to the NPCs of this Western game who were living peacefully.

One of the reasons I wanted to get out of here quickly was because I was certain I'd never be able to mix in with this world.

I'd always be lonely in this Western game.

I'd always... be alone.

I'd always get blood on my hands from someone.

I was thinking that when.

Grab.

There was someone who took my hand.

"Boss...! Hurry...!"

It was Emma.

She was holding my hand with her body leaning forward.

I, who had been dazed for a moment, quickly came to my senses and used her arm like a rope to grab the railing beside me.

Crash bang—!

"Oh fuck that hurts!"

My legs were scraped against the railroad tracks for a moment and it hurt like hell, but there was no time to feel the pain.

I raised my body like doing a pull-up and...

Thud.

Barely managed to get on the train.

Because I got on the train so violently, Emma and I laid on the floor from the recoil.

I needed to get up, but I didn't have the strength, so I said to Emma while lying down, "...Emma, let's never come to this damn San Francisco again."

"...Pfft."

Emma laughed at my words and answered:

"...The trip was certainly enjoyable, but now I miss Justice Town."

"Yeah, let's quickly go back to our vill..."

For a moment, I was about to say "our" to Emma but stopped.

But...

"Yes, let's quickly go back to our village."

Emma continued my words as if there was nothing strange about it at all.

"..."

"..."

At that moment, Emma looked a bit different somehow.

Emma also looked at me intently with eyes different from usual.

...The atmosphere was strange.

Just as the atmosphere was getting so strange that it was starting to feel itchy somewhere.

"Jett! I told them to increase the train's speed! Are you oka...!"

Thud.

The railroad-rich uncle Lloyd opened the door and came out to the balcony where we were lying.

Lloyd discovered us two lying on the floor and asked, tilting his head:

"Whew, thankfully you got on the train. But why are you lying there?"

"...We had our reasons."

I belatedly got up and checked on the South Brotherhood bastards following us.

They were falling behind, unable to keep up with the increasing train speed.

No matter how good those guys were, they wouldn't be able to catch up to a train running at top speed.

This was goodbye to the South Brotherhood with whom I had deep bad connections.

As I was watching this contentedly, Lloyd asked again, "By the way, Jett. What happened to my beloved horse..."

"...Ah."

...Lloyd's horse.

I had switched to No Name II midway because Lloyd's horse got tired.

"It's doing well in downtown San Francisco…Probably?"

"..."

"...I'm sorry."

As I bowed my head, Lloyd answered with a smile, "My horse is smart, so it probably went back to my stable on its own."

Lloyd's answer was really my style.

"I think Uncle Lloyd and I really get along well."

"Yes, come visit again next time you're in San Francisco."

"I don't think I'll ever come to San Francisco again."

The view of San Francisco is getting farther away.

When I left San Francisco 3 years ago, I vowed never to come to this city again.

I was making that vow again now.

"I really won't come to San Francisco again, never again."

"...I have a feeling you'll come back here someday though."

As I was glaring at San Francisco with gritted teeth, Emma quietly approached my side.

"What are you talking about, Emma? Do you know how much we suffered here?"

"Still, it was fun in its own way."

"..."

At that moment, there was a sincere smile on Emma's face.

I stared blankly at that sight and then turned my head.

"...What fun. It's getting windy, so let's go inside now."

"Will you go on a trip with me again next time?"

"Trip? What are you talking about? Do you know how much I lost this time? I'm just going to work for a while now."

In the end, I ended up leaving San Francisco without succeeding in the request and only suffering.

But why?

Even though I came up empty-handed, I didn't feel that bad leaving San Francisco now.

"Mr. Lloyd, did you get us first-class cabins?"

"Of course. I specially got you a room with a narrow bed, so have a hot night."

"..."

"Hmm? Jett, your ears are red. Are you perhaps embarrassed?"

Humans changed.

That applied to me too.

This San Francisco trip became a time when I could feel that I had changed.

[Unable to log out]

[Remaining amount until logout: $905,586 / $1,000,000]

Of course, how this change in me would affect me was something to be seen in the future.