Chapter 90 - The Dog and The Dog Trader

At first, there were 3 of us.

We earned money by carrying out various miscellaneous requests as three people.

But we were too young then.

Above all...

We couldn't make the large sum of $1 million with just 3 people.

So we gradually gathered more people.

For money, for revenge, because they were indebted to us, and so on.

Many people started gathering around us for various reasons.

The organization created like that was TKK.

"...Why did you abandon us?"

"..."

"Were we not very precious to you?"

"Yeah, not really."

I could say it proudly.

TKK was just something necessary to get home early.

I didn't feel like I had built up much affection or thought it was precious.

"...Were we just a means of making money to you?"

"Yeah, that's right. I created the organization to make a lot of money."

This was correct too.

TKK was just a means of making money to me.

Step.

It seemed Liese wasn't confident in a head-on fight with me, so she was trying to unsettle me first.

This was also a method I usually enjoyed.

Could I possibly fall for my own method?

Step, step.

I moved forward without the slightest shake from Liese's psychological warfare.

I planned to subdue her before she could do anything by narrowing the distance.

But...

"...Don't you regret killing the Deputy Leader?"

"..."

At Liese's last question...

"...Was the Deputy Leader just a means of making money to you too?"

I had to stop in my tracks.

Jenny James.

3 years ago.

She died.

By my bullet.

— Traitor.

— This inhuman monster.

Various memories that suddenly come to mind take root in my head and refuse to leave.

Do I not regret killing Jenny?

Was Jenny just a means of making money to me too?

— Kid, I like you.

— Kid, do more.

...

I answered Liese's question.

"...Yeah."

The answer that came out of my mouth sounded extremely awkward even to me.

Whoosh.

At that moment, Liese burst out from between the rocks, noticing that I was shaken.

...Damn it.

I guess I wasn’t a pro yet either.

17 years since entering this damn Western game and shooting my abusive father.

I should be unshakeable in any situation by now, but I had been thoroughly shaken just now.

Whoosh, click.

The one fortunate thing was that my instincts were still alive, I suppose.

Before I could even feel the emotion of being caught off guard, my hand holding the gun automatically raised to aim at Liese.

Now who lived and who died was no longer up to us.

0.001 seconds.

That instant would determine our fate... huh?

The gun muzzle was already raised and my finger on the trigger at that moment.

I could belatedly see Liese's expression.

"..."

She who always had an expressionless face...

Drip, drip.

Was shedding tears.

Ah....

TKK was my farm.

I raised dogs on the TKK farm.

Dogs that obeyed me and faithfully followed my orders.

I sent those dogs out to hunt and make money...

And I sold dogs whose value increased to collect bounties.

I was a dog trader.

To a dog trader, dogs were just a means of business.

A businessman wouldn't feel compassion for his business means.

But this thought occurred to me.

I wonder...

Even at the moment of selling a dog to the butcher shop, did the dog trader not feel compassion?

Seeing the dog whimpering at him, not knowing it faced death...

What emotion did the dog trader feel?

I, too, was a dog trader.

I...

...

The thought didn't continue.

It couldn't continue.

Because my hand moved faster than my head.

Before my head could finish thinking, my hand...

Bang.

Instinctively pulled the trigger.

Liese, who had bared her teeth at me, ultimately couldn't bite me.

Thud.

Liese, who couldn't pull the trigger in the end, collapsed just like that.

All of this happened in an instant.

Originally, all major events in the West happened in an instant.

"...Ah."

...But the aftereffects didn't disappear until death.

"..."

Step, step.

I approached Liese as soon as I pulled the trigger.

Tap tap tap tap—!

I went from walking to running.

"...Cough."

Liese was still alive.

To be precise, she was barely alive.

Even in that urgent situation, my marksmanship was amazing.

The bullet I fired hit Liese's heart precisely.

A pool of blood had already formed where Liese fell, and blood was continuously flowing from Liese's chest.

...Even if an excellent doctor rushed here within 10 seconds, she couldn't be saved.

Liese was facing death.

"..."

I had no intention of shedding tears or showing regret in a melodramatic display after doing this to her.

I just looked down at Liese.

Liese was the first to speak, "...With eyes like that, I can't shoot you."

"..."

What kind of eyes am I making?

I'm just looking at one dying NPC.

Even though I didn't give any answer, Liese continued speaking.

"...The organization found out the Boss' location… Cough, Gonzales will soon send a bunch of executioners here."

"..."

"Before that... run away."

I usually didn't make an effort to memorize the names of TKK members.

I thought there was no need to memorize names.

But Gonzales was a name I couldn't forget even if I wanted to.

He was the head of TKK's San Francisco branch.

Above all, he... was personally recruited into the organization by Jenny.

With his deep loyalty and affection for Jenny, he definitely wouldn't forgive me.

It was as I expected.

But...

"A-and... Cough."

"..."

"T-the little Deputy Leader... will soon come into the world."

Liese's next words were something even I hadn't expected at all.

At this, I asked without realizing, "...How?"

"Cough... I-I don't know how. But... D-day is coming soon.... W-when the little Deputy Leader comes out... Cough...."

"I know."

What would happen when that one came out...

I knew all too well.

"Since I know, you can stop talking now."

"..."

When I said she could stop talking, Liese immediately closed her mouth.

Because she forcibly closed her mouth...

"C-Cough...!"

Blood was on the verge of flowing back.

Only then could I realize why Liese was going this far.

TKK's second rule.

Absolutely obey orders from above.

Liese was truly TKK to the bone.

Noticing this, I grabbed my forehead and said, "...From now on, if you have anything you've kept in your heart, say it all, execute."

"...Ah."

She was going to die soon, anyway.

I could listen to any criticism, whether she cursed at me freely or condemned me.

But...

"...Ah, ah."

"..."

"...Ah."

Even at my order to say what she had kept in her heart... Liese couldn't easily speak.

***

Liese had never disobeyed an order given by her superiors until now.

"...From now on, if you have anything you've kept in your heart, say it all, execute."

At Kid's order, Liese immediately opened her tightly closed mouth.

...She had so many things kept in her heart, things she wanted to say to Kid.

"...Ah, ah."

"..."

"...Ah."

She wasn't stuttering.

She just couldn't continue.

Dad.

She wanted to call him Dad.

Even though Kid was too young and Liese was too old to be Kid's daughter... it didn't matter.

Because Kid was the one who saved her life... and gave her a name.

To her, Kid was Dad.

So she wanted to call him that.

But...

"..."

"Why are you just stuttering? I said say everything you want to say?"

In the end, Liese couldn't call Kid that.

It wasn't because she lacked courage even while dying.

It was for Kid's sake.

Kid probably didn't know what kind of face he was making right now, but...

Liese could see it.

His face that looked like it would crumble at any moment.

Liese could tell.

That Kid was already carrying an enormous burden she could hardly imagine.

If she selfishly called him Dad here...

It would be giving him an even greater burden.

So instead of being selfish...

"...Live, Boss."

"..."

...She told him her other wish.

"...For a long time, happily."

"..."

"...Thanks to you, Boss, I lived a life like a gift..."

Liese still couldn't forget the taste of that bread then.

The nameless girl who was destined to starve to death in that back alley then got the name Liese and lived 6 more long years.

That was like a gift to Liese.

Even if Kid had some purpose behind saving Liese...

Even if Liese was an insignificant existence to Kid...

Even if Liese was just a means of making money to Kid...

Liese was always grateful to Kid who gave her a new life.

But Liese couldn't convey all those words in the end.

"Liv… e... Cough..."

Thud.

Liese's hand that lost strength fell from midair.

Grab.

Kid caught it.

Squeeze.

His warmth was transmitted to Liese through their joined hands.

This is enough... This is...

Liese closed her eyes after seeing that sight last.

9 years without a name, 6 years as Liese James.

In the last moment of her 15 years of always living with an expressionless face...

Smile.

There was a small smile.

***

"..."

"..."

I held Liese's small hand for a long time.

And soon...

Swish.

I lifted her small body and returned her to her original place, putting her next to Joe's corpse.

"..."

Joe and Liese.

For Zodiac and a TKK member, the two were too innocent and young.

I looked down at those two for a long time.

That was when it happened.

Clop clop clop clop—

Through my sensitive ears, I could hear the sound of horse hooves coming this way.

My arduous night wasn't over yet.

Now it was time to clean up.