Ch.107CROW
by fnovelpia
The Wildcat Tribe village in the northern forest of Riverside.
This place, which was also Seti’s hometown, was filled with a tense atmosphere due to the outlaw attack that had occurred the previous night.
It wasn’t unusual for natives to be targeted by outlaws involved in slave trafficking, but the perpetrator who attacked the Wildcat Tribe this time was a pleasure killer whose goal was the attack itself rather than kidnapping or plundering.
The suspected perpetrator’s name was Crow.
He was a psychopath who had suddenly interrupted a duel with bandits at the Cotton Tail Trading Post, firing a shotgun at Jessica’s head and forcing a confrontation.
Although a proper duel hadn’t taken place at the time because the trading post’s security guards had rushed in to arrest Crow, I couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling that the consequences had ultimately led to the attack on the Wildcat Tribe village.
“My schedule’s already packed with fighting monsters and uncovering dungeon secrets, and now I have to deal with a deranged outlaw too… give me a break.”
“I know. I never imagined I’d meet that man again like this.”
Having visited the village at such an unfortunate time, we had holed up in Seti’s family home until sunset.
Despite Seti finally obtaining the emblem of a blessed warrior, there was no mood for a celebration party, and the fact that his parents were victims of the attack had put Seti’s nerves on edge like never before.
“I’ll never forgive him. He must be taken down.”
“Hmm~ If Will defeats Crow in a duel, there won’t be any need for Seti to step in, right?”
“That’s the plan. I don’t want that madman pointing his gun at Seti after Jessica wasn’t enough for him.”
“I agree with that, but are you sure we’ll be fine without the help of this village’s warriors?”
Phyllis suggested getting the cooperation of the young Wildcat Tribe members to ensure Crow’s defeat, but I rejected her proposal on the grounds that it could increase casualties.
I believed that no matter how many people participated, they wouldn’t affect the outcome of tonight’s confrontation if they couldn’t even defeat someone who wasn’t seriously fighting and just caused trouble before running away.
Moreover, considering Crow’s character, having multiple warriors ready for an all-out battle would be the worst strategy.
Seeing such a sight, Crow would become excited, run wild, and shoot indiscriminately, making it impossible to predict how many Wildcat Tribe members would be sacrificed in such chaos.
But if I, his previously postponed opponent, were to face him, perhaps the situation could be resolved with a one-on-one duel.
That was the plan I proposed in anticipation of Crow’s attack.
“It’s almost time. I’ll wait for Crow at the village entrance. Everyone, get to your positions and prepare for Plan B.”
“…I wish I could fight if possible.”
“I understand how you feel, Seti. But if this turns into a chaotic battle instead of a duel, you’ll need to command the Wildcat warriors.”
“Yes. I’ll trust you and wait, Will.”
If I were to lose the duel, Crow wouldn’t be satisfied with just that and leave.
He would most likely charge into the village to massacre the Wildcat Tribe, so I asked Jessica and the other three to prepare for such a scenario.
Seti, as the warrior of the guiding feather, would command the Wildcat Tribe in place of his injured father, Phyllis would support them with sniper fire, and Jessica would heal any injured with her healing magic to minimize casualties.
Of course, I had no intention of letting things escalate to that point.
‘It’s better for everyone if settlers clean up their own mess.’
To the Wildcat Tribe, both adventurers and outlaws are the same—settlers.
If settlers with powerful weapons engaged in a large-scale slaughter with the Wildcat Tribe, it would severely worsen the tribe’s feelings toward all settlers.
In this situation, it would be best for me, a fellow settler and gunslinger, to take down Crow.
“…He’s here.”
After waiting at the village entrance with Jessica for about 10 minutes, footsteps overlaid the sound of insects in the forest, revealing tonight’s special guest.
A wide-brimmed black hat, a tattered black coat, and a sawed-off shotgun forcibly stuffed into a holster.
It was unmistakably Crow, the same man we had encountered at the Cotton Tail Trading Post.
“Hey there.”
“…Hmm? Am I seeing things?”
Crow, who had been trudging along pulling his horse’s reins, tilted his head in confusion, apparently not expecting to encounter me at the entrance of the Wildcat Tribe village.
“I wish I were an illusion too, but unfortunately, I’m not.”
“Wow! Really? What a surprise! I waited for days on the road to Riverside, and when you didn’t pass by, I thought you might have died somewhere.”
“You were waiting for us?”
“We couldn’t duel at the trading post because of the guards. And a wanted man can’t exactly lurk around a western town looking for someone, so the only option was to ambush you on the road.”
So if we had returned to Cotton Tail Trading Post after investigating Mount Evernight and then headed to Riverside, we would have been ambushed by Crow who was lying in wait.
Good thing we took the direct route to Riverside.
“Sorry to have wasted your time. To make up for it, let’s finish the duel we couldn’t complete before.”
“Oh? What’s this? You refused to fight back then saying you had no reason to, but today you’re all fired up.”
“The Wildcat who got hurt trying to stop you yesterday happens to be my future father-in-law. I need to take you down and score some points.”
“Haha! Thanks to that annoying native, I get to fight a worthy opponent! Alright, lead me to the dueling spot.”
“No need to go far, right? Let’s do it right here.”
“Huh? You must be joking. What kind of duel happens in a shabby place like this without even a gallery?”
“There’s your gallery right there.”
As I said this, my raised fingertip pointed to the moon rising in the eastern sky.
“My elven companion Phyllis told me that long ago, fairies who lived in Grantis crossed over to that moon and established a new country. Isn’t that a decent-sized audience?”
“Haha, you’re more of a romantic than you look. I don’t… dislike that.”
“Then the duel is on.”
Crow tied his horse’s reins to a suitable tree trunk and slowly walked out under the moonlight.
The area in front of the Wildcat Tribe village entrance was like a small clearing with an open sky above, where moonlight shone down.
With the added light from torches at the entrance, it provided sufficient illumination for a duel, albeit somewhat dim.
Standing face to face near the village entrance, Crow and I naturally assumed our stances without any prompting.
A duel between just two people usually comes down to a “game of nerves.”
Turning backs and taking ten paces, or throwing a coin and drawing when it falls—these formalities only matter when a third party is present to ensure fairness.
“Come to think of it, I haven’t heard your name yet.”
“William J. Kim. People usually call me Will.”
“My full name is Chrise Orban Winner, shortened to Crow (CrOW). Remember it in the afterlife.”
“Winner… that’s too good a surname for a psychopathic outlaw.”
“Hehehe… it’s my favorite part of my name.”
Crow fidgeted with his fingers in ready position while letting out an unpleasant laugh.
The truncated barrel protruding from beneath the leather holster looked both ridiculous and bizarre.
I wondered why he would insist on carrying such an awkwardly holstered shotgun with non-spreading slug rounds instead of a large-caliber pistol, but when a gunslinger stubbornly sticks to a specific weapon, there’s usually a reason.
‘I don’t know what secret this guy is hiding… but I’ll settle this here today.’
From our first encounter at the Cotton Tail Trading Post, I sensed an inexplicable ominousness from this man called Crow.
What was the nature of that ominousness? Where did he get the nerve to challenge someone to a quick-draw duel with a sawed-off shotgun that was much longer and heavier than a pistol?
The moment for all those secrets to be revealed had come.
“Hup!”
“!!”
The moment we both recognized as the decisive instant.
As my danger detection skill rang an alarm and slowed down the surrounding time, a murderous intent erupted from Crow’s body.
An ominous killing intent that wrapped around my body like sticky mud.
I realized this was some kind of magic or special ability that Crow was using.
‘Ugh… my body!?’
My right hand, which should have moved toward my revolver before Crow’s, was held in place by the killing intent that enveloped my entire body.
That ominous spell lasted only a moment, perhaps just 0.1 seconds, but it was more than enough time to change the course of a gunslinger’s duel.
By the time my firmly restrained right hand began to move again, Crow had already placed his hand on the grip of his sawed-off shotgun.
‘His actual drawing speed is significantly slower than mine. That spell just now must have been Crow’s hidden trump card.’
It still wasn’t too late.
No matter how much the barrel had been cut down, a sawed-off shotgun was still more than twice the length of a pistol and much heavier.
Before that long, heavy gun could fully emerge from its crude holster, my revolver’s bullet could pierce Crow’s heart.
Just as I thought that, something unexpected happened.
Instead of raising the gun by its grip, Crow’s hand moved even lower.
Using the holster fixed at his waist as a pivot point, the shotgun’s muzzle swung upward as it rotated.
It was an unexpected, irregular technique, but surely he couldn’t aim properly that way. However, Crow had prepared a solution to that problem from the beginning.
My danger detection skill predicted dozens of deadly energies about to pour from the shotgun’s muzzle.
The sensation, spreading wide enough to cover my entire upper body, made its meaning clear.
‘Buckshot!!!’
Once again, I had to shudder at this man Crow’s meticulous planning.
Why hadn’t I predicted that buckshot would be fired from that weapon with the honest appearance of a sawed-off shotgun?
Because Crow himself had said he used non-spreading magic bullets in duels.
The scene I had witnessed when he shot at Jessica, where only a single magic bullet was fired, had also created a preconception.
If all of that had been a bluff for this very moment, I could only say he had planned an impressively grand scheme.
In any case, my strategy of dodging Crow’s shot and firing a counter shot was no longer viable.
The only path left for me was to shoot and hit Crow before he pulled the trigger.
Even if I pierced Crow’s heart or head with a single shot, it would be too late after his trigger was pulled.
“Uaaaah-!!”
In the slowed time, I raised my heavy arm with all my might.
It felt like an electric current starting from the top of my head flowing through my entire body to my fingertips.
Simultaneously, I sensed something within my body rapidly disappearing.
‘Please activate!’
The miraculous six consecutive shots I had achieved in the final moments of the battle with the Minotaur—a feat I could hardly believe myself.
Reproducing that quick draw fast enough to slip through time was the only way to overturn the current crisis.
If I couldn’t solve the velocity problem of the white magic bullets, I needed to at least reduce the time it took to draw and fire.
Beyond the record of 0.1x seconds,
Beyond the instant of 0.0x seconds,
Approaching infinitely close to zero—
‘BANG!!’
Finally, a loud gunshot announcing the end of the duel echoed through the night forest.
In the night’s stillness, the moon that had been hiding behind clouds shyly revealed itself.
And the one standing on his own two feet under that moonlight was—
“Hehe… hahahahaha!”
The black-clothed outlaw, Crow, howling with joy.
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