Chapter 73
Just as I unknowingly moved my hand like that, that was when it happened.
Clop clop clop.
It wasn't that I had no experience, but forming a relationship with Emma was special from the start.
To hear such a loud heartbeat as if shaking the earth, this is almost like...
Clop clop clop clop—!
Horse hooves...? Hmm?
"Kidddddd!!!!"
"...!"
"...!"
What woke me and Emma, who had dazed eyes as if drunk, was a familiar voice.
Justice Town Sheriff Jett.
He was coming here pulling his carriage.
Fuck, what was I about to do...!
I had endured well for the past 6 months, but I almost crumbled in an instant at Emma's seductive temptation.
Hearing Jett's voice and coming to my senses, I pushed away Emma's face which was just about to touch my body with my palm.
Then I kicked back the chair, got up, and went outside.
Slam.
"Kid!!! You bastard! I heard you shot again? I clearly told you to be careful..."
"Oh my! Sheriff!! Welcome! Come quickly!!"
Seeing Jett, with all his hair gone and muscles full of male hormones, after looking at Emma, I felt like cold water had been poured on me and my foggy mind cleared.
"You came at a good time. I almost fell, but I survived thanks to you, Sheriff."
"...What? What do you mean?"
Jett, who had rushed over full of anger because I had shot in the town again, tilted his head seeing me welcoming his visit unlike usual.
And soon Jett got off the carriage and approached me, but...
"Kid, did something happen in the office... W-ahat...! A-aah...!! Miss Emma...!"
"You've come."
He was startled and flinched seeing Emma's eyes as she came out of the office after me.
Emma was glaring at Jett with a harsh gaze that seemed like it would bring about another ice age in this already cold winter.
"...D-did I surprise you, Miss Emma...? W-why are you glaring so scarily? D-did I make a mistake or something...?"
"No. I'm just happy to see the sheriff after a long time."
"B-but Miss Emma...! I-is that a k-knife in your hand?"
"Ah."
This is crazy.
I didn't know when she got it, but Emma had a kitchen knife in her hand.
Emma also seemed surprised, as if she didn't know there was a knife in her hand, and muttered, "...I was going to peel an apple since we have a guest after a long time."
"...Are there any apples left in this midwinter?"
"...Come to think of it, there are no apples. I should put this back."
Whoosh—
Emma's appearance as she turned around saying that was as cold as a biting wind.
Jett, flustered at seeing this unfamiliar side of Emma, asked me, "K-Kid... D-did I do something wrong? W-why is Miss Emma like that…?"
"Hmm.... To explain it simply, the goalkeeper briefly left the goal so Emma took a shot, but Sheriff, the center back, suddenly ran in and cleared the ball."
"W-what are you saying? Explain it more simply..."
"Hmm... So it's like in the bottom of the 9th inning, one out, bases loaded, one run difference, Sheriff came up to bat and hit into a double play."
"...Did you play baseball with Emma in the office?"
"We almost did more than that. Anyway, you came at a good time. Let's talk about money inside."
I led the dumbfounded Jett inside the office.
Even then, Jett was just flustered, not grasping the situation at all.
***
"$100!"
"No, $50."
As soon as we finished identifying the outlaws, Jett and I fought over money.
Except for the $347 one among the five outlaws I caught last night at the Deaf Man's Bar, the rest didn't have wanted posters.
"No! Are you trying to force this after killing people without wanted posters!? You should be grateful I'm not sending you to jail!"
"What do you mean not sending me to jail!? They were guys openly wearing gang tattoos on their arms!"
Killing people without wanted posters was taboo in the West.
But there was one special case...
It was the case of guys like yesterday who openly showed their gang tattoos and claimed to be gang members.
Usually in such cases, if one handed over the corpses to the sheriff, the sheriff found their wanted posters himself and handled it.
However, since I didn't bring the wanted posters from the start, in these cases I had to negotiate the price of the corpses with the sheriff.
"The Remember Me Gang is such a vicious gang in Texas. I should get at least $100!"
"You even got the gang name wrong! It's the Lee Axio Gang! How long has it been since rumors spread that this gang disbanded... $50!"
"Why are you being so picky today…? Then $80. I can't give more than that."
By the way, the difference here went into the sheriff's pocket.
"$80... You're being generous unlike usual? Normally you would have insisted it's absolutely not possible."
"The sheriff needs to make a living too."
"That's very kind of you. Alright! $80."
With this, the negotiation was settled.
Adding $347 for Broadman Gang member Pike McGarfintoo and $320 for four Lee Axio Gang members, my earnings yesterday became $647.
With this, I surpassed $950,000 in total money collected.
Less than $50,000 left until I can go home.
"I'll pay the money at the sheriff's office. As you know, that's the regulation."
"Yes, Emma will go. Before that, shall we have something to drink?"
"Sure."
As we finished negotiating quite warmly, Emma soon brought drinks.
She refilled the coffee I had been drinking earlier for me and for Jett...
Thud.
"..."
"..."
She placed a glass full of ice-cold water in front of him.
"...Miss Emma, if I did something wrong."
"What could the sheriff have done wrong?"
"..."
Emma's tone was colder than the ice-cold water with thin ice floating in it.
Jett looked at Emma cautiously and then downed the cold water.
"...Haa."
"..."
Only after Jett drank all the water in the cup did Emma seem to cool down and bring hot coffee for Jett's share.
"T-thank you."
I clicked my tongue watching Jett drink the hot coffee with his nose running, and asked, "By the way Sheriff, are there any hot outlaws these days? Ones worth some money."
Justice Town's Sheriff Jett was essentially my informant.
The reason I bothered having tea time with this bald old man was to get information on new outlaws.
Jett took another sip of coffee and answered, "There are so many outlaws. Given the current situation."
Saying that, Jett took something out of his briefcase and handed it to me.
"It's today's newspaper."
"Newspaper? Why this... Ah."
I tilted my head at the newspaper he suddenly handed over, but looking at the headlines, I could see why he took this out.
[California State Government Declares 'No Confidence in Federal Government', Countdown to Secession]
[San Francisco Mayor Says "Must Follow Great Founding Father Thomas Jefferson's Anti-Federalist Ideology..."]
[Arizona State Government, Even Nevada State Government Show Signs of Agreement...]
"As you know, the atmosphere here these days is not just unsettling, but hostile. I wonder if California is really going to secede from the Union at this rate."
Secession from the Union.
That meant war.
Luke must have gone crazy.
Of course, the ones leading the current atmosphere were San Francisco's South Brotherhood and their leader Luke.
Originally, the final episode of <Catch the Outlaws> didn't start this quickly...
I didn't know what kind of stimulus my visit to San Francisco 6 months ago was, but since then, Luke had shown radical political moves.
"But surely there won't be a war, right?"
"You were probably too young to remember well, but... It was exactly like this before the Civil War broke out. At first, we thought, 'Surely war won't break out…?' but soon the Southern states seceded and war began."
Jett shook his head with a terrible expression as if recalling the situation at that time.
Hmm... Certainly, with the current atmosphere, something could happen.
Originally in <Catch the Outlaws>, the protagonist prevented the South Brotherhood's plans in the final episode and California's secession from the Union didn't happen.
But now that the original <Catch the Outlaws> development had already been broken... Honestly, I couldn't dare predict what would happen from now on.
"Haa... With California in this state, people are flocking to Justice Town too... I heard from the village chief yesterday that over 800 immigrants came to our Justice Town last month saying they want to live here."
"That's crazy."
The reason Justice Town was developing wasn't just because of the Rush and Gold gang's money.
As the crisis in California intensified, many people were leaving there and heading east.
Thanks to that, the current Justice Town had incomparably more floating population and immigrants compared to the past.
And many people coming and going... meant the number of outlaws increased as well.
"The number of outlaws has increased several times recently. It was already a neighborhood with many outlaws, but haa..."
"Thanks to that, I've made a lot of money."
With many outlaws appearing, I was able to handle quite a lot of money over the past 6 months.
But I was still hungry.
"But even so, only small fry have appeared."
"..."
I originally tended to like making big scores.
But recently, only outlaws with small bounty amounts have been swarming like locusts.
"I want to make a big score. Aren't there any guys with bounties over $10,000 instead of small fry?"
Actually, I didn't have high expectations even as I asked.
Outlaws with bounties over $10,000 weren't common.
But hearing my question, Jett answered with an ominous expression, "...Actually, there is. An outlaw with over $10,000."
"...Huh? Really?"
"To be exact, $12,000. He's a guy making a name for himself across Utah recently, and it seems he's come to this area. There was a victim of his in Lincoln County."
Lincoln County was only a day's distance from here.
I immediately jumped up from my chair.
"I'll catch him. Give me the wanted poster."
With less than $50,000 left until I could go home if $12,000 was added, the speed of going home would increase dramatically.
So I resolved to definitely catch him, but Jett frowned and shook his head.
"Well... Even if you go to Lincoln County, you won't be able to catch him right away. He's a faceless outlaw."
"...A faceless outlaw?"
Swish.
At the words “faceless outlaw”, Emma subtly looked at me and then shook her head.
I glared at Emma once and then asked Jett, "What’s with the sudden faceless outlaw?"
It wasn't common for faceless outlaws to appear.
It was foolish to put a bounty on someone whose identity was unknown.
Even looking across the West, there weren't many faceless outlaws.
"He's quite a bizarre guy. He sends letters to the sheriff's office in advance to announce murders or leaves traces at murder scenes blatantly showing he killed."
"He's crazy."
"Yeah, he's crazy. Usually, outlaws kill people for money, but he doesn't even touch the victims' money."
...If not for money, why does he kill people?
Honestly, it didn't make sense with my common sense.
This seemed to be the same for Jett, as he sighed repeatedly as if frustrated and continued, "Even though he leaves traces showing he killed as if taunting, he's not caught at all, so the sheriffs chasing him were very frustrated. I hope such a guy doesn't come to Justice Town..."
Jett said he hoped the guy wouldn't come to Justice Town, but honestly, I hoped he would come.
Because I could get $12,000 if I caught him.
Hmm... But being a faceless outlaw, it would certainly be tricky.
For now, to grasp as many clues as possible about him, I asked Jett, "If he's a faceless outlaw, there's probably no known information at all. Like gender, age, or name."
"Ah, of course, it's probably an alias, but he did reveal his name."
"An outlaw reveals his name...?"
Even if it was an alias, for an outlaw to reveal his name first, he seemed to like attention.
Jett nodded and told me the guy's known name.
And...
"How can we understand the thoughts of a crazy person? In every letter announcing a murder, the guy asked to be called 'Zodiac'."
"...Zodiac?"
Hearing the guy's name, I couldn't help but flinch.