Chapter 6 - The Reason People Should Drink

"Well, I'll be going now."

"You're leaving already?"

"Do you think I'm an idler like you? I have work to attend to."

Actually, if I wasn't looking down on him, Jett was quite a high-ranking person with ten deputies under his command.

Having no time to dawdle, he handed me the new wanted posters and got up as soon as he finished his coffee.

"Ah, you said you'd receive the bounty through Miss Emma, right? Miss Emma, are you coming along now?"

"Yes, if it's alright with you, I'll go to the sheriff's office with you."

Emma tidied up our coffee cups and immediately prepared to go out.

Meanwhile, Jett and I loaded the outlaws' bodies and Marv Murchins into the wagon.

"Mmph-! Mmmmph—!!"

"Sheriff, when did you say the circuit judge is coming?"

"He should be here by next week at the latest."

Marv Murchins had an aggravated charge for fleeing and ignoring the court's ruling, in addition to stealing 58 cattle.

"He'll be hanging at the town entrance by next week..."

"Mmmmph—!!!"

"May you be born a better person in your next life."

Marv was screaming through his gag, seemingly not wanting to die, but Jett and I paid him no attention.

"Sheriff, I'm ready."

"Ah, Miss Emma. Come sit here next to me."

"Alright."

"I'll help you up."

I escorted Emma, who had come out in her outdoor clothes, and helped her into the seat.

Emma hesitated at first but then took my hand and climbed into the wagon.

Sitting demurely in the wagon, Emma looked like a young lady from a noble family.

Of course...

"Ah, Emma. Do some laundry when you get back. I don't have any clean clothes to wear."

"..."

To me, she was just an employee.

Jett, who overheard my order to Emma, frowned and asked, "...Does Miss Emma do that kind of work in your office too…? She's not a maid, you know."

"A maid? This is all the work Emma agreed to do when she first joined our office."

"So Emma does housework, secretarial work, everything? How much do you pay her?"

"Come on, do you think I'm some evil boss? I even raised Emma's salary this year."

I proudly spread out all ten fingers and said.

"A whole 10 dollars."

"You raised her salary by 10 dollars?"

"No, her salary is 10 dollars."

"..."

It used to be 8 dollars, but I raised it to 10 dollars starting this year, her third year.

A 25% salary increase after 3 years—isn't that a dream company?

But Jett didn't seem to think so.

"...Miss Emma. If that guy is blackmailing you somehow, please tell me. As the town sheriff, I'll definitely rescue you..."

"But our office has me as a welfare benefit. Emma likes me, you know."

Emma's workload was quite heavy, doing both housework and secretarial duties.

The money I gave her wasn't that much in comparison.

Despite this, Emma has been working stubbornly in my office for 3 years.

Even though men in the area have been lining up to propose to her because of her pretty looks, she was been rejecting them all.

The answer seems pretty clear, doesn't it?

I thought Emma was just playing hard to get but actually liked me.

But...

"..."

"..."

Maybe not...

Emma glared at me with eyes as cold as the depths of winter when she heard me say she liked me.

Seeing Emma's cold gaze, Jett spoke to me as if I was pathetic, "You know I'm the one who gave you the nickname 'Kid', right? Do you know why?"

"...Because I'm childish?"

"If you know that, please grow up a bit."

"...What a nag, old man."

"You little—!"

After Jett's scolding, Emma, still with cold eyes, asked me, "What are you planning to do while I go collect the bounty?"

"Me? I was thinking of going to the Deaf Man's Bar for a drink."

"..."

Emma's eyes grew even colder when she heard I was going to drink “again”.

"...You've been drinking all week, and you're going again?"

"...Being at the bar all week was a kind of stakeout duty..."

"Please grow up, as the sheriff said. Do I have to nag you every day like this? 'Kid' Boss."

"..."

Emma's tone rose when she said the word “Kid”.

Usually, Emma was under my control, but when she got angry like this, the roles reversed.

As I hesitated for a moment, Jett clicked his tongue and pulled the horse's reins.

"Tsk tsk, immature men are naturally unpopular. We'll be going now. See you next time, Kid."

"Neigh~"

Jett's brown horse, true to its military breed, quickly pulled the wagon that must have been heavy with five outlaws.

Thanks to that, the wagon moved away before I could even wave goodbye.

But there was someone who did say farewell to me.

"Kid, you bastard!!! I'll be waiting for you in hell!!!! Kid—!!!"

The gag in Marv's mouth must have come loose as he was being loaded, and he shouted at me with a voice full of resentment.

"...Really, everyone and their dog calls me Kid."

Jett and the townspeople have been calling me Kid since I settled here three years ago, saying I was like a child.

But the reason I was called Kid wasn't simply because of that, but because I set my nickname as “Noah the Kid” when I first started the game.

Even though my full name wasn't Noah the Kid, people have been calling me Kid for various reasons since I fell into this world.

As if... it was programmed that way.

This was also why I couldn't get attached to this world.

Every time people called me Kid, I was reminded that this world was inside a game.

So I would definitely get out of this game.

To a place where people call me not Noah or Kid, but...

— Young-ah, are you sure you don't want mom to come pick you up?

— Come on, it's only a 2-hour bus ride from the military base to home. Just wait for me at home.

— Alright, Young-ah. Your military service is ending in a few days. You've done well all this time!

...To a place where people call me by my name, Dokgo Young.

Of course, for that...

[Unable to log out]

[Remaining amount until logout: $894,556 / $1,000,000]

There was still quite a bit left.

"...This is troubling."

Seeing the amount left until logout, I felt as gloomy as when I saw my remaining military service as a sergeant.

"...When you're troubled, it's time for a drink."

The good thing was, unlike in the military, I could drink as I pleased here.

"No Name, let's go!"

"Neigh~"

I rode No Name towards the Deaf Man's Bar to soothe my troubled mind.

The hangover from yesterday's drinking was still lingering, but...

Thump.

My liver started pounding with excitement at the thought of drinking again.

***

Clop... clop.

"Oh come on, run a bit, you bastard."

"Neigh..."

This No Name was quite a willful horse.

Sometimes smart for a horse, sometimes stupid.

Sometimes running fast like a fine steed...

"Huh? Now you're stopping on your own? Haha."

And sometimes, like now, its butt was very heavy.

"Hey, you! Let's go! We're almost there."

"Neigh...!"

When I grabbed its reins and shook them, it whinnied in complaint.

"Should I just turn you into horse soup?"

"Neigh...."

"If you keep acting like this, I'll just get a No Name 2, you know?"

"Neigh..."

Only after my continued threats did No Name start moving again, albeit slowly.

"This one's getting more disobedient with age. Is it going through puberty?"

"Neigh..."

So I arrived at the Deaf Man's Bar with No Name's grumbling.

Seeing that the sun wasn't directly overhead yet, it must be just before noon.

That means most of the townspeople were out working, and the bar should be almost empty.

I was planning to leisurely enjoy a drink alone in the empty bar.

But...

"Hmm...?"

Surprisingly, there was an unfamiliar wagon and several horses tied up in front of the Deaf Man's Bar.

They definitely weren't wagons and horses I'd seen around Justice Town.

Then...

Outsiders...

I tied up the still grumbling No Name in front of the bar and went inside.

"Bob—!"

What greeted me was...

"Oh, Kid! You're here? I'm busy, so just sit down for a bit!"

Bob, who looked busy serving food despite it being morning hours, and...

"..."

"..."

A group of men silently eating and smoking.

"Hmm..."

As soon as I entered the bar, the men looked at me with wary eyes.

I had only one thought upon seeing them.

Have outlaws respawned already?

There were seven of them.

Dirty appearance as if they hadn't washed for a long time due to travel, hollow eyes, tired expressions, and...

Guns in holsters, hidden but not well enough.

No rifles. Are they in the wagon outside?

If they brought rifles, Bob would have made them leave them by the door.

At least in this space, they didn't have rifles.

My Single Action Army has 6 bullets in the magazine, but there are 7 enemies.

The number of enemies was more than the number of loaded bullets.

This is completely...

Perfect?

Today's my lucky day for money.

I inwardly rejoiced while trying to recall who these guys might be.

Though not as good as Emma, I had a pretty good memory too.

If I looked at their faces carefully, I should be able to figure out who they were.

If they're not on wanted posters, there's nothing I can do, but their faces seem familiar...

Who were they again?

If I showed too much that I was thinking hard here, they might notice.

I approached Bob with a big smile, pretending nothing was wrong.

"Where's Mary? Why are you working alone?"

"Huh? What? Speak up."

"I asked where Mary went!"

Bob apparently became hard of hearing after a high fever when he was young.

When I shouted loudly for him to hear, he laughed and answered, "Mary went to sleep. She'll be back in the afternoon."

"Is that so? Well then, I'll have a drink for now. Whiskey."

"Sorry, Kid. Those customers came first, you see. They ordered a large amount of alcohol and bread, so it'll take some time to prepare that."

A large order of alcohol and bread.

That means they were planning to leave Justice Town and travel further.

At that moment, I pretended to take out a cigarette while turning around to look at their faces once more.

And then...

Ah.

I could finally recognize one of their faces.

— How much is their bounty?

— The boss is $1,500, and the other well-known executives are about $200 to $500.

Among them was one of the Red Beard Gang's executives.

[You failed to catch the Red Beard Gang. They disappeared with the setting sun.]

The guys who were supposed to be uncatchable once one failed to catch them in the game have appeared before me with the setting sun.

The Red Beard Gang robbed the Wells Fargo Bank in Lexio County and then fled.

And they did so with a large amount of cash.

"Ahaha... hahah..."

"..."

I burst out laughing, not caring that they were staring at me.

People really should drink alcohol.

When I came to drink, look at this windfall that had fallen into my lap.

Seeing the Red Beard Gang members suddenly appear before me, I felt like I'd encountered treasure goblins.