Chapter 74
Zodiac.
More precisely, the Zodiac Killer.
It was the nickname of a serial killer who was active in the United States in the late 1960s.
What was important to note here was that it was the 1960s, not the 1860s.
In reality, Zodiac was a criminal who became known about 100 years after the Wild West era, not during it.
So if one asked why Zodiac appeared 100 years early out of nowhere...
It was because the <Catch the Outlaws> developers included an episode in the game inspired by the real Zodiac case.
<Catch the Outlaws> Chapter 8 [Zodiac Serial Killings].
Unlike other chapters where the protagonist character must go to a specific area for the episode to start...
Chapter 8 [Zodiac Serial Killings] started randomly when the protagonist character went to a high-population city or town after clearing Chapter 7.
So this meant...
This bitch has come to Justice Town.
It meant that the <Catch the Outlaws> protagonist character was at least near Justice Town.
The fact that the protagonist character came to Justice Town wasn't that surprising.
Originally, the protagonist character had to come to Justice Town once for chapter progression anyway.
What I was concerned about now was Zodiac rather than the protagonist.
"Zodiac... Hmm..."
"Why? Is it a name you know?"
"No, it's not that..."
Actually, as a <Catch the Outlaws> veteran, I knew quite a bit about Zodiac.
That was because Chapter 8 [Zodiac Serial Killings] was the trickiest episode in <Catch the Outlaws>.
Every time I played the game, Zodiac changed, so I had to find a new Zodiac each time.
In [Zodiac Serial Killings], Zodiac wasn't predetermined, but randomly chosen from one of the NPCs in villages near the protagonist.
Veterans who played <Catch the Outlaws> dozens of times had to gather new clues each time to find and kill Zodiac.
It was bound to be tricky since the strategy to catch Zodiac changed each time.
...It'll be even harder to find with so many immigrants coming to Justice Town.
Justice Town's population has increased several times in 6 months.
Maybe Zodiac was among those numerous immigrants.
So after pondering for a moment, I made a plan internally.
My plan was to do nothing for now.
The protagonist would find Zodiac anyway.
I could just wait until then and snatch Zodiac at the end to cleanly pocket the money.
So I just need to lay low a bit until the protagonist finds Zodiac.
Actually, I had some connection with the <Catch the Outlaws> protagonist.
Of course, she didn’t know my face, but...
She's a bitch with terrifyingly good intuition.
There was nothing good about hanging around in front of her eyes unnecessarily.
I made a plan to stop outlaw hunting for a while and just hole up in the Deaf Man's Bar and my office.
"If you get any new information about Zodiac, please let me know. I'll help if I can."
"Alright, it would be reassuring if you could lend a hand."
So Jett and I finished our conversation after agreeing to cooperate if Zodiac appeared.
"Well then, I'll be going. For receiving the bounty... Miss Emma will do it again, right?"
Remembering Emma's cold appearance just now, Jett asked with a slight tremble.
Emma, who was clearing the cups on the table, answered immediately, "Yes, I'll go."
"Emma says she'll go. Emma. Take Bonnie and go."
"No, I'll just catch a ride on the sheriff's carriage and come back."
"Hmm?"
Then you'll have to walk back?
I didn't understand, but if Emma said she'd do that, there was no need for me to say anything.
"Alright, go then."
"Yes, I'll be back."
Swish.
Before leaving, Emma didn't forget to grab my hand firmly.
At this, I pulled my hand away as if burned, and Emma smiled and followed Jett.
"Well then, I'll be going, Kid. See you next time."
"...Yes."
Even as Jett waved his hand and gave his final greeting to me, Emma smiled mischievously while looking at me.
I blankly watched all of this until the office door closed and then...
"...Ah, I should have told Jett not to call me Kid."
...soon realized my mistake.
If it was true that the protagonist had come to Justice Town, there was a high chance she'd meet Jett, the sheriff.
If the protagonist heard Jett calling me Kid, she'd definitely pounce like a ghost, so I was originally planning to ask him to be careful.
But I forgot because of Emma.
Damn... I can't cut that out either...
I clicked my tongue and went back to lie down on the bed.
"But what could happen? It's not like there's evidence that I'm Kid."
Even in the Wild West era, one couldn't arrest someone on suspicion alone.
How could they catch me when there was no physical evidence left that I was “that Kid”?
I decided to stop worrying needlessly and just sleep.
Maybe because I drank all night at the Deaf Man's Bar, I was very sleepy.
"Yawn... oh this is nice."
It felt good to sleep during the bright daytime when everyone else was working.
Sleep quickly overtook me, who had been lacking sleep.
But...
— ...If it's with you, Boss, I'm okay with doing even more.
"...!"
Just as I was about to fall completely asleep, Emma's vivid voice woke me up.
Flash.
When I opened my eyes, not only Emma's voice but also a soft sensation began to be felt from the hand that had held Emma's earlier.
Thump.
My heart beated a little faster than usual.
Only then did I realize...
It wasn't just Emma who was disappointed when Jett interrupted earlier.
"...This is really dangerous."
With less than $50,000 left until I could go home.
The concern I had when saving Emma 6 months ago was gradually becoming a reality.
I felt an ominous premonition that the biggest obstacle to my return home...
Could be none other than Emma, and...
— Boss, I like you.
I barely closed my eyes and fell asleep.
***
Clop clop, clop clop.
Jett, like most middle-aged men, found it difficult to deal with young women in their 10s-20s.
Not understanding what women of that age talk about, Jett just quietly drove the carriage.
Emma was also not talkative, so neither of them spoke first.
The silence was broken when the carriage reached the front of the sheriff's office.
"Sheriff."
"Hmm? What is it, Miss Emma."
"I was wondering if you looked into what I asked last time."
"What you asked? Ah..."
Jett had forgotten for a moment what Emma had asked, but soon recalled.
Emma had clearly asked Jett a few months ago...
"You definitely asked me to find an outlaw, right?"
She had asked him to find one outlaw.
The name of that outlaw was...
"Yes, I asked you to find an outlaw named Jenny James."
Jenny James.
Emma remembered clearly.
Seeing a girl carrying dynamite on the train heading to San Francisco...
— Jenny James?
Noah mentioned the name Jenny James.
And when they went to the villa in San Francisco, there were lots of letters to Noah under the name “JJ”.
Probably the identity of “JJ” who sent those letters would be Jenny James.
Emma was very curious about Noah's past.
So she was digging into Jenny James, who was expected to have had a close relationship with Noah...
And since she was also expected to be an outlaw, Emma had asked Sheriff Jett for help.
But...
"I'm sorry. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find an outlaw named Jenny James."
Jett, who had arrived at the destination, stopped the carriage and gave Emma a disappointing answer.
"After hearing your request, I looked through wanted posters of female outlaws for the past 10 years, but there was no name Jenny James."
"...Ah."
As Sheriff Jett arrived, deputies who came out to greet him moved efficiently to unload the corpses loaded in the back of the carriage.
Jett briefly directed them and then went into the office with Emma.
Emma followed behind Jett, eagerly questioning him even during that time.
And...
"She's probably not from Utah. That person Jenny James... There's a high chance she's from California, specifically San Francisco."
"But Miss Emma. I checked all the California wanted posters too..."
"Could the person you're looking for be Jamie James?"
The one who answered Emma's question wasn't Jett but from somewhere else.
A voice suddenly joining the conversation startled both Emma and Jett, and they turned their heads...
"I know an outlaw named Jamie James."
A woman wearing a women's suit was standing crookedly in a corner of the sheriff's office, smiling slightly.
Though her clothes weren't that luxurious, she exuded an air of nobility and a sense of incongruity that was hard to see in a backwater, a young woman.
"...Who are you? Who said you could come in? This is the sheriff's office. You can't come in alone without permission..."
"Shh, just a moment, Sheriff."
Jett frowned, seemingly displeased that an uninvited guest was alone in the office, but the woman approached looking only at Emma as if such things didn't matter.
And then...
Swish.
"...This is."
"It's one of the wanted posters I usually carry around, take a look."
She took out a very old wanted poster from her bag and handed it to Emma.
[Name: Unknown]
[Age: Early 20s estimated]
[Dead or alive $98,000]
[Characteristics: TKK Secret Society Deputy Leader and 'Angel of San Francisco']
"..."
Seeing the part about TKK Deputy Leader, Emma instinctively knew that the owner of this wanted poster was the person she wanted to know about.
But why does it say “Angel of San Francisco” in the characteristics... Ah...
Emma could see why the person on the poster was called the Angel of San Francisco when she saw the crimes listed next.
[Crimes: Assault, arson, robbery, looting and countless murders]
Usually, the crimes section of a wanted poster listed the outlaw's detailed crimes.
But countless...?
Above all, what was also surprising was the bounty.
$98,000.
This was overwhelmingly high except for the undisputed joint first place among outlaw bounties Emma knew.
Emma was a bit flustered seeing the wanted poster in front of her, but soon regained her composure and asked the woman in front of her, pretending to be nonchalant:
"It's a wanted poster for a faceless outlaw. Why are you showing this to me?"
"This faceless outlaw was caught 3 years ago."
"...!"
"Her name was revealed when she was caught. Jamie James."
Jamie James...?
Not Jenny James?
Could it be an alias or nickname?
If not that, then...
At that moment, all sorts of possibilities ran through Emma's mind.
What woke Emma from her pondering was...
Grab.
"So? Is this person the one you're looking for?"
The woman in front of her, gripped Emma's shoulder a bit strongly and questioned obsessively, "Could it be that you were mistaken? Not Jenny James but Jamie James. Ah, where did you hear this name in the first place? Why are you looking for that outlaw? I'm looking for a man who was close to Jamie James. Perhaps..."
The woman's eyes contained not just obsession towards something, but even a subtle madness.
Emma could immediately tell who that obsession and madness were directed at.