Chapter 422: Wild Wild West
In every Sector of the Nebulous Bazaar, neighborhoods and avenues of homes existed. Squeezed between guilds or stores or administrative buildings, lengthy stretches of homes were where the people lived. Across from the Sun Mall was the Isa Shrine Neighbourhood, known to be predominately a Japanese neighbourhood that hosted many of the owners and workers at the Sun Mall.
Given that the Wild Wild West was not a formal guild, its members lived in one of these neighbourhoods in the Guild Sector. Situated between the Maccabees HQ and the Orthodox Sect Temple, the Frontier was among the largest in the Nebulous Bazaar. Tens of thousands of men hailing from the Old West took shop here.
The Frontier was like stepping back into a different world, one with dusty streets, the faint whiff of tobacco and leather. The streets were lined with saloons, gunsmith shops, stables for horses—and mechanical mounts for those who couldn’t find real ones—and even a small outdoor stage where a banjo player strummed under a string of flickering lanterns. There was a range of accents and styles on display, from Texan drawls to the clipped tones of frontier Californians, with some unmistakably out-of-place accents that suggested opportunistic newcomers trying to blend in.
Even the homes here were true to the theme: clapboard houses with sloped roofs and wraparound porches, complete with rocking chairs and the occasional harmonica-wielding cowboy leaning against a post. The Nebulous Bazaar’s surreal, interconnected architecture still made its mark, with some houses bizarrely stacked on top of one another or tilted at odd angles and others belonging to the Indigenous of the American West.
Booker calmly adjusted the cuffs of his sharp navy-blue suit as he and Kazi strolled down the dusty street. "Was I right or was I right?"
"Wallahi, I knew it was called the Wild West but this seriously looks like we’re in a movie set."
"Where’s my silver?"
Kazi casually handed it over. "Looks like a John Wayne set, only turned up to eleven. I swear, if someone challenges me to a duel at high noon, I’ll HAVE to accept."
Booker and Kazi earned some eyes and he presumed it was because of the suit of the latter. Then Kazi paid closer attention. No, it wasn’t the suit...
"Yep, it’s the gun," Booker said. "You don’t have a gun. They think it’s weird."
"So suits and cowboys aren’t as important as guns."