Chapter 13 : Corpse Cleanup
“Ugh, lift!”
“Hey, hold the ankle properly. Otherwise it’ll snap.”
“So what if it snaps a bit? It’s already dead anyway.”
“If you’re the one handling the aftermath, do as you please.”
“Ah, should I grab it here?”
In front of the sheriff’s office. Large and small wagons were double-parked.
The bounty hunters had brought out all the corpses that had been stored in the basement.
From those roughly tied together to those carefully wrapped in cloth, nearly thirty bodies were strewn across the street.
“This isn’t an office, it’s a morgue.”
“Sheriff, you’re here.”
“Those confirmed on the wanted posters, bury them together with the Void and Woodburn bastards. Since you’re digging a pit anyway, dig it a bit deeper.”
“Yes. Understood.”
The sheriff frowned at the unpleasant smell as he flipped through the papers.
The hunter who had arrived first handed him the poster.
“A guy who killed a farm owner at a farm in Norman, Oklahoma and ran away. Came from far. Name’s Cather, twenty-three. His child was also wanted?”
“We lost the child. The terrain was too rough.”
“Hm. Alright. I’ll process it.”
The sheriff compared the corpse’s face with the poster and issued him a certificate.
Among the documents was a 150-dollar bill of exchange entrusted to a bank.
Without having to wait for subsidies, he could go to a nearby bank and receive the money immediately.
“Thank you.”
“Take this away, next.”
The hunters who received their bills stepped aside and lit cigars.
Since the corpses had gathered from all over, there was some entertainment in watching, but more than anything, they were waiting to have a drink together.
On a day like today, they believed even if they ate themselves to death, Jesus would send them back.
“That’s quite a lot?”
“Three in total, here are the posters.”
It was the owner’s turn.
The sheriff skimmed through the posters, then examined not the corpses, but the owner’s face.
“It’s a bit late to ask, but I think this is the first time I’ve seen you. Have you been to Mollibay before?”
“I live in Turtle Rock, so I’ve come often, but this is my first time at the office.”
“And him too?”
‘Him’ referred to Jaei.
Jaei nodded slightly.
“Probably.”
If he had been here, then he had; if not, then not—what kind of answer was “probably”?
Then again, if he had known Mollibay’s situation well, he wouldn’t have taken such a request from Woodburn.
Jaei had actually moved with a sharper grasp of the situation than anyone, but the sheriff couldn’t even begin to guess that.
“Anyway, kids these days can’t even answer properly. Let’s see, one is 70 dollars, two are 50 each. Correct?”
As the sheriff issued the certificate and asked, the bounty hunters listening from behind whistled.
They had roughly heard what happened at <Elens>, but this amount far exceeded expectations.
“Oh ho, boss. You got lucky.”
“Seriously. With 170 dollars, your wife’s family will treat you well. Shame Lux died.”
The owner waved his hand, telling them to refrain from such talk.
It seemed the corpses had a different owner, but the sheriff didn’t care and turned away.
Regardless of the process, the one who came to the office and received the certificate was the owner.
“Next, is it you?”
Jaei had a total of five corpses.
Even at just 30 dollars per body, that was 150 dollars.
A tremendous amount for a child to earn.
The hunters chattered with interest, and even the owner pricked up his ears in curiosity.
“The posters.”
“There’s only one poster.”
“What?”
The sheriff’s expression hardened.
Understandably so—without posters, there were too many cases where identities couldn’t be confirmed.
The office would try to investigate, but until then, the corpses couldn’t be processed, and exchanging information with other regions was quite complicated.
“What are their names?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you kidding me? You crazy bastard. No posters, and you don’t know their names? Then how are we supposed to know if they’re wanted criminals or if you just killed innocent people?”
The atmosphere instantly turned cold.
The deputies glared at Jaei with icy eyes, and the watching hunters exchanged uneasy glances.
Not having posters was a problem, but the bigger issue was that Jaei didn’t know their identities at all.
“Jaei, you really don’t know?”
“This won’t do. At least you need names. You can’t tell anything just from faces.”
The sheriff’s eyes narrowed.
This bastard had already been getting on his nerves—should he just throw him in for murder while he was at it?
As his mustache twitched, the owner stepped in front of Jaei.
“Sheriff. Whatever else, Jaei did not kill innocent people. I will testify. It was an incident where a bounty hunter named Lux and wanted criminals clashed at my establishment, <Elens>.”
“You, shut it. First—”
Checking even the single poster came first.
The sheriff unfolded the neatly folded paper and slowly read its contents.
His eyes, buried in flesh, gradually widened.
As his mouth opened too, a deputy behind him asked worriedly.
“Sheriff, are you alright?”
“······C-cover it, cover it.”
“Pardon?”
“I said uncover the cloth so I can check the faces!”
At the sheriff’s irritation, the deputy hurriedly moved.
The corpses sleeping beneath the white cloth revealed themselves.
The hunters stepped back and carefully examined the five bodies.
All appeared to have died instantly from gunshots to the head.
As expected, they had thought he was no ordinary kid, but this was truly impressive.
“Good skills. Impressive.”
“Wait, the one on the far right.”
“The far right? The curly hair?”
“Doesn’t he look familiar?”
At someone’s question, they fixed their gaze.
He did look very familiar.
Who was it?
“Uh, so…”
“Th-that, ah! You know! The train robbers!”
“Max! It’s Roldiori Max!”
“What?!”
As the hunters shouted in shock, murmurs spread among the deputies as well.
A dreaded, inevitable presence feared by trains crossing the East and West—the train robbers.
Among them, a few were especially infamous, and Roldiori Max was one of them.
“Wow, unbelievable. Seeing Roldiori here.”
“Those Jackaria guys will love this.”
“Aren’t they still on bad terms? I heard they made up.”
“Made up my ass. You know the Happily train incident to Arkansas? There’s talk that Jackaria lost an arm because this guy betrayed him.”
Jaei understood none of it.
He simply stood still, waiting for the excitement to die down.
Not just the hunters, but even the sheriff and deputies whispered among themselves.
“How much was he worth again?”
“I-if I remember correctly—”
“2000 dollars.”
“What?! Jaei, you’re insane! You’re really insane!”
An amount an ordinary person couldn’t save even in ten years without spending a penny.
The bounty hunters shouted as if they might faint, and the sheriff waved his hand as if to stop them.
“Quiet down, all of you! If you’re going to make a scene, go to the bar over there instead of the office!”
“We were about to anyway, but now we definitely have to! Jaei, treat us! No, treat us twice! Let’s eat like crazy today and die!”
The sheriff grumbled irritably as he issued the certificate for Roldiori Max.
But before handing it over, he added a suggestion to Jaei.
“If they were with Roldiori Max, they definitely weren’t ordinary people. But Jaei, as you can see, there are no posters, and we don’t even know if the government has identified Max’s gang members yet. Understand?”
“Yes. I understand.”
“So I’ll value them at 100 dollars each. How about transferring ownership to the Mollibay office? You won’t waste time, and we might earn a bit for our trouble.”
The leader was worth 2000 dollars, and he was asking to sell his subordinates for 100 each?
Jaei frowned, but the owner and the bounty hunters subtly grabbed his arm and whispered.
“Jaei, it feels like a loss, but take it. If you at least knew their names, you might manage somehow, but you know nothing. If things go wrong, the sheriff could charge you with murder.”
“Yeah. Even if you contact the government, it takes months to get a reply. The sheriff might skim off the top too. Better not get involved.”
“I agree. Taking 100 dollars and getting out seems wise.”
Everyone tried to persuade Jaei in unison.
In short, it felt like avoiding filth because it was dirty.
Jaei decided to accept their advice and took the certificate the sheriff handed over.
“Then, a total of 2400 dollars in bills, please.”
“Good choice. The branch manager’s going to flip out.”
Jaei carefully examined the bill marked 2400 dollars.
At last, the burden of survival seemed to melt away.
With this, he could buy a house, buy clothes, rest for a while, and plan what to do next.
“Move Roldiori and his gang’s bodies to the back. Bury the rest.”
“Yes, Sheriff.”
“Jaei, by the way, was there anything special among Roldiori’s belongings?”
As Jaei was about to leave with the hunters, the sheriff called him.
“Something special?”
“No, I mean, as a sheriff, is there anything I should know?”
There had been a letter enclosed with the poster.
But Jaei hesitated for a moment, then answered vaguely.
“I’m not sure.”
If it had value, he judged it wasn’t something to hand over to the sheriff here.
The sheriff narrowed his eyes as if he had noticed something, but there was no way to act on it.
As if telling him to hurry along, he turned away.
“Let’s go, Jaei! Buy us the most expensive drinks!”
“Let’s eat lots of meat too!”
“You pay, mister.”
“What? Me? Why?”
“Thanks to me, you won money last time. When you dueled Libero. Didn’t you make a decent amount then?”
“······I only bet 3 dollars.”
When Jaei looked at him in disbelief, the owner avoided his gaze.
At that moment, in the distance, Libero approached with his sisters.
“Jaei! Did it go well?”
“Thanks to you.”
“These are my sisters, Emmerlin and Rosanna.”
“I heard from Libero. Thank you so much for helping!”
“I could tell back then too, but you’re really something!”
The sisters planted grateful kisses on Jaei’s cheeks one after another, and the owner and hunters glanced enviously.
When Jaei pushed them away, telling them to stop, Libero gestured for them to follow and took the lead.
“I found a bar. Let’s go have some fun.”
“Before that, I want to stop by the bank. Is there one nearby?”
“A bank? There is one in Mollibay, but it’s small. It’ll be hard for everyone to withdraw at once. How much is it in total?”
At Libero’s question, the bounty hunters hesitated and looked at each other.
100 dollars, 300 dollars, 150 dollars… and 2400 dollars.
If Jaei went first to withdraw, he might end up empty-handed.
“Jaei! We’ll go ahead! See you at the bar!”
“Move! Let’s go in order of the smallest amounts!”
“What kind of rule is that? It’s whoever’s fastest!”
Jaei only watched as the hunters dashed off.
He looked confused about what was going on.
Soon, the owner also quietly tapped Jaei’s shoulder and followed them.
“Sorry, Jaei. I’ll go ahead too.”
“Mister?”
It was still a bank.
Wouldn’t it obviously have at least a few thousand dollars in cash?
As Jaei slowly started walking, Libero chuckled.
“These people are ridiculous. Overreacting! It’s not even over 2000 dollars.”
“······What happens if it’s over 2000 dollars?”
Jaei paused and asked, and Libero answered, puzzled.
“No matter how much, it’s usually around 100 dollars per corpse, right? The Mollibay bank should be enough.”
“So what happens?”
“What else? You can’t get it here. You’d have to go to the neighboring town, Ractover. But I heard even there got robbed by bank bandits, so they probably don’t have money either.”