Chapter 18
The farm owner, who had been returning home by carriage, glanced down below.
On the wet dirt road, multiple horse hoofprints overlapped each other.
The stagecoaches traveling to and from Mollibay should have left wheel tracks as well.
“Dad, you’re back?”
“I sent someone because of the wolf hunt.”
“Yes, Jaei. He’s with Jack right now.”
As the farm owner got off the carriage, Rebecca, who had been scraping away a pile of hay, greeted him warmly.
At the mention that Jaei was with his son, the owner’s brow furrowed.
These days, his son’s adolescence had worsened, and he preferred to stay holed up alone in his room.
Even he, as a father, couldn’t remember when the boy had last eaten.
“Like this?”
“Yeah. That’s right. But you’re putting too much strength into your shoulders. No, seriously, I don’t get it. How did you even hit anything pulling it like that?”
“It just ended up that way.”
“Jeez, and only hook it with your index finger on the arrowhead. Carefully. Sometimes I apply poison, so be careful not to touch it then. If things go wrong, you could lose a finger.”
Jaei and Jack were sitting face-to-face, talking about arrows.
He had expected the boy to throw a tantrum about not taking the arrows, yet here they were.
When Jaei sensed someone’s presence and turned his head, Jack reluctantly nodded.
“You’re back.”
“······Jaei. Do you perhaps have a tail?”
The farm owner ignored his son’s greeting and asked.
A tail?
As Jaei naturally looked toward his backside, the farm owner let out a sigh.
Was that fool really the bounty hunter who had turned Mollibay upside down?
Something had gone very, very wrong.
“Not that. I’m asking if anyone followed you. You seemed quite close with Libero. Did he come all the way here with you?”
“No. Libero only helped me pack and left right away. I came alone.”
“Is that so?”
“Why do you ask?”
“It’s nothing. Rebecca! When you lock the farm gate later, put on an extra latch. Just in case, check that the guns are loaded too. I saw unfamiliar horse hoofprints nearby.”
There were only two possibilities.
Either a fool who lost his way, or a horse thief targeting horses.
Whatever it was, not a welcome guest.
At the owner’s instruction, Rebecca nodded and got up.
“Soon the sun will set, and the wolves will appear. They know very well that people can’t see well at night. They’re very clever, and many of them are pregnant, so their appetites are enormous.”
“Is it that season now?”
“That’s right. If we don’t catch them by next month, their numbers will increase drastically.”
Perhaps because they ran cutting through the wind, their growth speed was astonishing.
The farm owner tapped his cigarette pack and pointed to one side of the stable.
“Three days ago, two foals sleeping there were killed. It just happened to be the day I drank and passed out.”
What did that mean?
Was it just bad luck, or did the wolves observe the situation and strike at that moment?
Jaei lightly brushed the tip of the sharp arrowhead and imagined eyes gleaming in the dark.
‘Better be careful.’
Even if accuracy wasn’t a problem, the opponent was a beast.
Unexpected situations could happen at any time.
“I understand. Usually, how many move together?”
“Around ten.”
“That’s quite a lot.”
It was a thoughtless murmur, but the farm owner, feeling oddly pricked, added more.
“If I’m going to put 90 dollars on credit, it has to be about that much, right?”
“What? Dad, what do you mean 90 dollars on credit?”
“There’s such a thing, ahem.”
Rebecca and Jack asked with their mouths agape, but the owner avoided answering and went inside.
Jaei did the same.
He gauged the atmosphere and gathered his gun and arrows.
“Then, I’ll go take a look around the farm.”
“Ah, just in case, take some rotten meat. If the foals three days ago were their last meal, they must be quite hungry. They’ll gather quickly when they smell it. If anything happens, use the gun immediately and come back to the farm. Got it?”
Rebecca and the farm owner would wait inside the fence.
Whether the hunt failed or succeeded, something’s corpse would need to be carried.
Jaei received a pouch of meat and hung it beside Onyx’s saddle.
“Then, I’ll be off.”
“Good luck. Wolf meat is better than you’d think.”
Naturally, Jaei had never tried it.
He hadn’t even eaten dog meat.
He wondered if it would suit his taste, but in a wasteland like this, there was nothing more foolish than being picky about food.
Jaei wrapped a poncho around himself to block the night wind and mounted Onyx.
“Let’s go.”
Hiiing!
As if it had been waiting, Onyx began to run as fast as its hooves could carry it.
It instinctively understood.
Leaving behind the comfortable life until now, it was time to run wildly and freely.
“Whoa, whoa.”
Jaei smiled and calmed the horse.
There might be a situation where he would have to shake off pursuing wolves.
It would be troublesome to waste too much stamina from the start.
‘······The sunset.’
A massive sun falling beyond the horizon.
The world was entirely red with the glow of dusk, and silent.
The only sounds were his own breathing and that of the horse.
Heading west felt like walking straight into hell.
What was certain was that it was quite a romantic and beautiful moment.
Click.
Jaei pulled out the revolver tucked at his waist.
Even while loading it, his gaze remained fixed on the blazing sunset.
As if entranced, staring blankly ahead, Jaei lightly rotated the revolver’s barrel.
‘Right, left, behind, and front.’
When he pointed the barrel forward, a subtle movement occurred.
It was telling him.
That the opponent he would face was to the west.
Jaei lightly pulled the reins and slowly walked toward the sun.
***
“So, what you’re saying is that the Wells Fargo stagecoach will come down this road.”
“I’m telling you. There are only two roads from California to Mollibay, and one of them has a bridge so narrow and old that only a single horse can barely cross. If you’re moving a stagecoach, it has to be this road.”
“Good. Then what about cover?”
“Rocky hills split on both sides. Hide there, then move in once the carriage gets close.”
Priscilla exhaled cigarette smoke and looked around.
A vast, empty wasteland with nothing in sight.
According to the information, a Wells Fargo stagecoach would pass through here within the next week.
The problem was, Pinkerton agents would surely be escorting it, and even they didn’t have a proper place to hide for an ambush.
“Priscilla, this carriage doesn’t seem like it’s worth just a few hundred dollars. How many Pinkertons do you think are on it?”
“Well. If that’s true, at least thirty.”
“That’s troublesome.”
They spread out a map and examined it closely.
Among the routes marked for the Wells Fargo stagecoach, this area was the most decent, but······.
“Or should we set up a new farm?”
Priscilla muttered, flicking off cigarette ash.
She meant they could kill all the people at a farm and use it as a base for their operation.
Since it was an existing building, it would be easy to lower the guards of the stagecoach escorts, and it seemed easier to set up a plan using terrain rather than an open plain.
“Go check out that place later. This area isn’t bad, but I’ve got a bad feeling someone’s head might get blown open if we go through with it.”
Priscilla’s instincts were quite sharp.
Most operations she opposed ended in failure, and sometimes the damage was so severe that it nearly disbanded the organization.
Unable to bear it, she had stabbed a knife into the head of the foolish boss and led the subordinates, which continued until now.
“Yes, understood.”
“And······.”
Awooo—
Awoo—
The sound of wolves howling from somewhere.
Priscilla trailed off and shifted her gaze around.
“Priscilla?”
“Wait.”
“I heard wolves appear frequently nearby, but it should be fine. They don’t attack groups of humans.”
“No, that’s not it.”
Priscilla frowned irritably.
Something felt off.
It felt as though someone was watching them from somewhere.
As she raised her index finger to her lips, her subordinates held even their breath.
Click.
She loaded a sawed-off shotgun and stared into the darkness.
Her subordinates also raised their guns and followed her gaze.
In the middle of a wasteland lit only by starlight, they hadn’t even lit a lantern just in case.
From within the darkness, someone slowly revealed themselves.
“Ah.”
The moment Jaei recognized the figure flickering in the distance, he let out an exclamation.
Following the direction the revolver had indicated, and instead of wolves, he had encountered a group of suspicious strangers gathered in the dead of night.
He considered turning his horse around even now, but it was too late.
“Stop. Move and I’ll shoot.”
Thunk!
Jaei also held a revolver, but there were five of them.
Moreover, it was an open field with nowhere to hide.
To use the Sharps rifle, he needed some distance.
“What are you?”
“······I came to hunt wolves on request from the <Happy Maypy> farm. What about you?”
From now on, he would absolutely, absolutely never blindly follow where the gun pointed him.
He thought it would lead him to wolves, but it brought him to an armed group instead.
Onyx snorted heavily, pawing the ground as if ready to bolt at any moment.
“We’re the same.”
After a brief thought, Priscilla nodded along.
They had just been talking about that farm—what a coincidence.
“We were looking for wolves.”
“······I see?”
“You must be close with the <Happy Maypy> farm owner?”
“Not particularly, just······.”
“Get down.”
Her eyes gleamed even in the darkness.
In any case, this had worked out well.
He was someone worth using.
They could extract information about the farm, and if needed, tear him apart and carry his corpse back, claiming he had been killed by wolves, thus getting acquainted with the farm owner.
“Aren’t you getting down?”
“If you tell me what you want, I think we can resolve this peacefully without bloodshed. Right now, I only have a few dollars.”
The 2400 dollars in his chest pocket was something he would protect until his life was truly in danger.
If he used the fanning technique the owner of <Elens> had taught him, he could fire up to six shots per second—
‘There are five opponents.’
As Jaei hesitated, Priscilla smiled and tilted her gun slightly.
As if telling him not to think too hard.
This was a wasteland, they outnumbered him, and all of them were armed.
“We’re not interested in pocket change.”
“Yeah. Do you even know who we are? Hahaha!”
“If it’s not at least a few hundred dollars, we don’t bother.”
“Enough. Quiet.”
Priscilla shut her subordinates up.
Listening quietly, Jaei was particularly bothered by the mention of “a few hundred dollars.”
They were clearly a band of robbers.
Even though all sorts of people came and went in Mollibay, there weren’t many groups carrying hundreds of dollars.
At most, government institutions like the sheriff’s office, city hall, and banks.
‘A road connected to the west.’
Suddenly, Jaei realized something and muttered.
“······Is it because of the Wells Fargo bank?”
“What?”
Priscilla’s lips curved upward.
Well now?
Now she definitely couldn’t let him go so easily.
And the same went for Jaei.
‘My money, damn it.’
Now that he realized these bastards were after his hard-earned money, he couldn’t let it slide.
Still, the situation was unfavorable, so he had no choice but to look for an opportunity.
Awooo—!
The sound of wolves began to approach from nearby.