The Sacramento Security Force wasn’t too far away, so we arrived quickly.
“Hey, we’re here to drop off some outlaw corpses.”
“…Who’s being so rude with their words? You gotta bring the corpses inside.”
When I didn’t show proper manners, the sheriff inside frowned and got annoyed.
I just pointed outside at him.
“There are too many corpses to bring inside.”
“…What? How many corpses are we talking about?”
And then…
“…!!”
The sheriff froze when he saw the line of outlaw corpses outside the window.
I chuckled and handed him a stack of bounty posters.
“The outlaws not on the bounty posters have gang markings on them. You can check.”
“…What the hell. Wait, this is a first for me.”
Seeing the flustered Sacramento sheriff reminded me of Sheriff Jet’s reaction when I first arrived in Justice Town.
In the past, I had led a procession of outlaw corpses all the way from San Francisco to Justice Town.
‘…What the hell is this.’
Back then, Jet had looked at me and said:
“A lunatic has arrived in our city (town).”
The Sacramento sheriff seemed to be cut from the same cloth as Justice Town’s Sheriff Jet.
“Still, they’re all small fries, so the money won’t be much. Please process them as quickly as possible.”
Even though there were dozens of outlaws, they were all just small fry.
All together, it wouldn’t even amount to $2,000.
But regardless of the money, the sheriff looked troubled, as if this was the first time he’d dealt with so many outlaws.
“…Well, we still need to check everything properly. It’ll probably take a while. You seem like an outsider—have you found a place to stay yet?”
“No, not yet.”
Then the sheriff pointed to a rather clean-looking building in the distance.
“How about staying at the inn over there while you wait? …Actually, it’s my inn, and I can confidently say the facilities are quite good.”
“Oh.”
Truth be told, it’s common for sheriffs in the West to have side gigs like this, though Jet just found it bothersome.
Since I was looking for a place to stay in Sacramento anyway, I nodded readily.
“Stay at my inn, and I’ll have the bounty sorted out and delivered to you soon.”
“Thank you. I’ll do that.”
“Alright, seems like we’ll be seeing each other often, so let’s introduce ourselves. I’m Samuel.”
“I’m Noah, and this is Emma.”
“Noah and Emma. I’ll remember that.”
I know.
Even though the Sacramento sheriff, Samuel, might call me Noah now…
It won’t be long before he starts calling me Kid.
‘I’ll quit this game before he starts calling me Kid.’
With that goal in mind…
“Well, we’re tired, so we’ll head to the inn first. Thanks for your hard work.”
We headed to Samuel’s inn.
One of the good things about Samuel’s inn was that there was a Wells Fargo bank nearby.
Emma and I stopped by the bank before heading to the inn.
Since I hadn’t found a single bank from Justice Town to here, I finally cashed in my promissory notes.
“Here’s $5,000.”
A whopping $5,000.
“Emma, go ahead to the inn.”
“Yes, understood.”
I sent Emma to the inn first and stuffed all the money into the logout window.
[Logout unavailable]
[Amount remaining until logout: $968,231 / $1,000,000]
Adding the bounty from the outlaws I just handed over to the security force, I’d break $970,000.
Now I only need $30,000 more…! Just $30,000…!
‘Ah, damn it, if only I had properly squeezed money out of William back then, I’d have been home by now.’
Over the past 17 years, I’ve tried to live solely for money, but there were a few times I let my emotions get the better of me and messed things up.
‘No… I can do better from now on. From now on.’
I swallowed my regrets and headed up to the inn.
Samuel wasn’t lying—his inn was quite well-equipped.
It was very clean, likely cleaned regularly, and the prices were reasonable.
Feeling somewhat satisfied, I headed up to our room.
Our assigned room was on the third floor, with good sunlight and a wide window.
Creak.
“Emma, I’m here.”
“Welcome back.”
“Oh, is this our room? It’s pretty spacious. But…”
Perhaps because Samuel had mentioned us, the inn staff gave us a really nice room.
But…
“…Why is there only one bed in this nice room?”
There was only one bed.
“Turns out this room is for newlyweds.”
“Hmm…”
Seeing Emma’s shameless gaze, it seemed like she had planned this.
‘Well, it’s fine, I guess.’
Maybe because of guilt, my immunity to Emma’s advances was growing.
Last time, I slept hugging Emma, and nothing happened.
Now that I’m so close to going home, nothing will probably go wrong.
Plop.
I lay down on the bed with a somewhat light heart.
…Actually, my heart wasn’t that light.
Once I gather the remaining $30,000, I’ll finally return to my original world.
But what about Emma then?
‘…What about her?’
…Of course, there’s nothing I can do.
She’s an NPC. A resident of this world.
I have no choice but to leave her behind.
‘…It’s not my fault.’
But I decided that even if I leave Emma behind, it’s not my fault.
My goal from the start was to leave this world…
And in the meantime…
Emma liked me on her own accord, so… it’s not my responsibility.
That’s what I kept telling myself back then.
“Why are you acting like this?”
“…Huh?”
For a moment, I thought Emma was about to read my mind and scold me as she looked at me with a blank face and spoke.
I flinched for a second but…
Swoosh.
What Emma pointed at was outside the window.
Outside the window was the Sacramento Security Force we had just visited.
It seemed they hadn’t finished cleaning up yet, as the bodies of outlaws were still piled up outside the Security Force.
“Honestly, these outlaws aren’t even the big-money kind, but the Boss deliberately captured a bunch of them.”
“Ah… so that’s what you were talking about.”
I let out a sigh of relief and replied to Emma.
“We caught them because they were outlaws. Do we need a special reason to catch outlaws?”
“But transporting those outlaw bodies delayed our arrival here. It would’ve been more profitable to get to the city as quickly as possible and find work.”
Taking down one big job is way more profitable than catching dozens of small-time outlaws.
Emma, who had been my secretary for the past few years, knew that all too well.
But there was a reason I deliberately took on such inefficient tasks.
“To grab people’s attention.”
“Grab people’s attention…?”
As Emma tilted her head in confusion, I pointed somewhere with my hand.
There, a crowd of citizens had gathered in front of the Security Force to witness the spectacle of dozens of outlaw bodies piled up.
“We were only famous in Justice Town. Here, we’re nobodies.”
“Ah…”
First, get famous. Then, even if you take a dump, people will applaud.
The key word in that saying isn’t ‘dump’—it’s ‘get famous.’
Why would the rich folks of Sacramento trust me with a big job if they’ve never seen me before?
To land high-paying jobs, becoming famous was essential.
So, I deliberately did something flashy to grab people’s attention.
“In a few days, word about us will spread throughout the city. If we just wait here, the rich will come to us with money.”
And that attempt was quite effective.
“You’re absolutely right—I came here to hand you money!”
“…!”
Western inns aren’t exactly soundproof.
At the sudden voice outside the door, I shot up from the bed, and Emma flinched.
Creak.
As the inn door opened, standing outside was…
“I had a hunch when I saw the horses in the stable, but it really is you!”
“Mr. Lloyd!”
It was Mr. Lloyd, the wealthy railroad tycoon who had helped us out significantly back in San Francisco.
It had been about 8 or 9 months since we last met.
The main reason I came to Sacramento was to meet him, so I couldn’t help but be thrilled by his visit.
Above all…
‘Money’s here!’
He was one of the richest men in this world and my last lifeline to get out of here.
Lloyd wasn’t alone when he visited my room.
Behind him was a young man who seemed to be his secretary and…
“Sheriff, thanks for guiding us.”
“Not at all, Mr. Lloyd.”
…Samuel, the Sheriff of Sacramento.
Lloyd’s Railroad Company, which owned the most railroads in the West, had its headquarters here in Sacramento.
It seemed Lloyd held considerable power in Sacramento.
“Now, I’d like to have a word with my friends here, so if you two could step out for a moment?”
“Of course.”
At Lloyd’s word, his secretary and Samuel immediately left the room.
After seeing them out, Lloyd smiled warmly and extended his hand to shake mine and Emma’s.
“I can’t even remember how long it’s been. Miss Emma and… Jet? Or should I say Noah?”
“Ah… Mr. Lloyd, that’s…”
“No worries. Jet’s your alias, and Noah’s your real name, right? I’ll call you Noah from now on.”
“Haha, I’d appreciate that.”
Lloyd was as kind as ever.
And then…
“I have a job for you. I’m offering $30,000 as the fee.”
“…!”
…He was generous.
Before I could even sit down, Lloyd’s words made me flinch.
$30,000.
That was exactly the amount of money I needed right now.
‘This might be…’
I could go home much sooner than I expected.
‘No way…’
Finally, I could see the door leading back home.
…Wait, no. I just grabbed the doorknob of that door.
The excitement made me forget everything—Emma, James, Justice Town, TKK, the South Brotherhood—and focus only on what was right in front of me.
Unable to calm my pounding heart, I said to Lloyd,
“If you give me $30,000 upfront as a deposit, I’ll take on whatever job you have, no questions asked.”
