Ch.67Duel at Sunset
by fnovelpia
Our purpose for visiting the Cotton Tail Trading Post is to investigate an unexplored ancient ruin in the Evernight Mountains.
By “unexplored,” I mean we would be the first.
Of course, since the ruins were built by human hands, strictly speaking they can’t be called “unexplored,” but rather ruins that no one has investigated since the settlers arrived.
Anyway, at this crucial moment when we’re about to leave the first footprints in these unknown ruins, we don’t have time to waste on pointless quarrels.
So even if someone picks a fight with us at the Cotton Tail Trading Post, let’s try to ignore it as much as possible.
“I also had a time when I thought that way.”
“That was just this morning!”
I walk out of the restaurant, letting Mina’s jab from behind go in one ear and out the other.
Behind me follows a large man in shabby clothes who looks like a gang boss.
This man had picked a fight with us while we were quietly enjoying our meal.
I tolerated it when he called me a scrawny youngster and started flirting with the women in our party.
I even endured when he leaned on my shoulder and breathed his foul breath toward Jessica and Phyllis.
But when that stinking mouth of his blurted out:
“Look at those red lips. They’re absolutely top-tier.”
“What color is a night cat’s flesh inside?”
I think I had shown enough patience by that point.
Having reached the limit of my patience, I swung a beer bottle at his head with quick-draw speed, challenged him to a duel, and ended up in a one-on-one gunfight on the main street in front of the restaurant under the setting sun… That’s the whole story of this incident.
“If you get down flat and lick my shoes now, I might spare your life. What do you say?”
“What’s this? You’re a pervert who gets off on men licking your feet? Sorry, but I’m normal.”
“Wahahahaha!”
The spectators surrounding us, standing about ten paces apart, burst into raucous laughter.
Residents who noticed the duel had cleared the road in front of and behind us and were controlling passersby.
I’d heard that disputes and duels between visitors were common at the Cotton Tail Trading Post, and it seems the residents and regulars are quite accustomed to it.
“That’s enough talk…”
As I say this, timing it with the fading laughter of the spectators, the boisterous atmosphere around us instantly subsides.
The large man, my duel opponent, must have realized it was no longer time for verbal sparring, as he took a tense stance in preparation.
“You draw first.”
At those words from my mouth, the big man’s eyebrows twitched and contorted.
The format of duels in Western films varies by medium, but I think there’s no more impressive way than saying “you draw first” while facing each other.
I’ll win even if you draw first.
It’s a way to mock your opponent, suggesting they’re no match for you, while applying psychological pressure.
If they fall for the provocation and draw first, it feels like admitting inferiority, but if they hesitate, they appear intimidated by their opponent’s confidence.
And if they counter with “No, you draw first,” they might die without even getting to draw their gun.
In other words, this foul-breathed man was already at a psychological disadvantage from the moment I made him hear the line “you draw first.”
“What’s wrong? Scared? I’m letting you draw first.”
“Y-you bastard!! Fine, I’ll grant your death wish!!”
‘Bang! Bang!’
The moment the large man, unable to withstand the repeated provocation, moved his hand in anger, two gunshots echoed on the main street in front of the restaurant under the setting sun.
The large man drew first, but only I was able to fire.
Hitting the gun drawn by such a slow pig doesn’t even require my Crisis Detection skill.
The pistol the large man had been holding was now lying on the ground some distance away, without having fired a single magic bullet.
One of my shots had knocked away his gun. Where did the other shot go?
Naturally, I invested it in neutering an aroused dog.
“Ugh… AAAAARGH!!”
The man, shot in a rather unfortunate place, screams and writhes on the ground, clutching his groin.
The spectators around us laugh at the big man’s disgrace, but their expressions are somewhat stiff, and some men are covering their own groins in empathy with his pain, as if they had been shot themselves.
After convulsing and foaming at the mouth, the unconscious giant was eventually taken to the hospital by Baekto tribe guards.
Isekai eunuch western bastard.
Tags would be #Western #Misery #Regret #TS or something like that.
Just as I was about to return to the restaurant to continue our dinner after concluding the duel, I sensed an ominous killing intent from among the spectators.
My Crisis Detection skill didn’t activate, but it felt like it was teetering on the edge of triggering.
Startled by this chilling sensation I’d never felt before, I looked up and met eyes with a slovenly man dressed in a black coat and pants.
He appears to be in his mid-thirties.
Messy shoulder-length hair pressed under a wide-brimmed hat, and a beard that looks about three days unshaven.
He somehow evoked the image of a homeless person, yet exuded an undeniable intimidating presence.
‘Clap. Clap. Clap.’
“Bravo. Excellent. Gunmanship that could silence a crying child.”
The black-clothed man walking toward me while giving perfunctory applause seemed of a completely different caliber from the third-rate thug from earlier.
My entire body’s cells seemed to be warning me with a sense of danger I hadn’t felt even when facing a Tyrant Worm.
I knew instinctively. This man was “the real deal.”
“Is that a good gun? No, that wasn’t about the gun just now. Hmm… good, very good.”
“…Who are you?”
“Me? Just a drifting gunslinger living day to day. I saw your gunmanship and have a favor to ask.”
“A favor?”
“A duel. Let’s have a match, you and me.”
The black-clothed man saying this drew a sawed-off double-barrel shotgun from his waist, pointed it in my direction, and grinned.
“Isn’t a double-barrel shotgun a bit much for a duel?”
“Ah, don’t worry. I’ll use magic bullets that don’t spread. It just looks like this, but it’s no different from a pistol or rifle.”
“Why challenge me to a duel? Are you the brother of that sexual cripple who was just carried away?”
“Ha! Like I’d know such trash. Anyway, a reason to fight, a reason to fight… what would be good…”
The black-clothed man tapped his shoulder with the barrel of his sawed-off shotgun while lost in thought, then snapped his fingers as if he’d had a good idea and pointed the shotgun at Jessica.
“I want to sleep with that red-haired woman, so hand her over to me. How’s that for a reason?”
“What the hell…?”
“No, Will. Don’t engage with someone like him.”
Jessica hurriedly grabbed my arm to stop me as my expression soured.
What this black-clothed man was after was the duel itself. Using Jessica as bait was merely a means to provoke my anger and ensure the duel would happen.
He’s what you’d call a battle maniac.
“What do you say, gunslinger? Shouldn’t you deliver righteous punishment to the rogue who just insulted your woman right in front of you?”
“Fight! Fight!”
“Blow him away, young man!”
The spectators who had been about to disperse began gathering again because of this sudden challenger.
A duel for the sake of dueling, without reason or context.
They wanted to see the outcome between the young gunman who had demonstrated lightning-fast gunmanship and the black-clothed challenger exuding an ominous pressure.
“What’s this? You don’t even bat an eye when your beloved woman’s virtue is threatened? Heartless… well, can’t be helped then.”
‘Click’
Seemingly annoyed by my reluctance to accept the duel, the black-clothed man cocked his shotgun and casually put pressure on the trigger finger.
“!!”
‘BANG!’
“…Heh. Fast hands indeed.”
Using quick-draw technique, I struck upward at the barrel of the double-barrel shotgun, causing the heavy magic bullet fired from the left barrel to fly over Jessica’s head and into the sky.
If I had remained still, it would have hit Jessica’s head.
Jessica seemed to realize this too, as her legs gave out and she collapsed on the spot.
“You bastard…!!”
“Now you’re in the mood for a duel? Good, take your stance.”
I was certain. This man is insane.
If I continued to hesitate, this man would kill the women one by one, starting with Jessica, to force me into a duel.
To protect the women I care about, I had no choice but to duel this man.
“OK, I’ll face you. Set the terms of the duel.”
“Will, no!”
“He’s not going to let us leave anyway. We have to settle this here…”
As I was about to accept the duel, ready to fight the black-clothed man to the death, a group of uniformed Baekto tribe men entered my field of vision.
“There he is! He shot at a woman without even issuing a duel challenge!”
“Catch him! Catch him and throw him in the jail cell!”
The men, who appeared to be guards, began running toward us with weapons drawn. Seeing this, the black-clothed man clicked his tongue and tucked his shotgun back into his waist.
“Damn, I forgot you get screwed if you fire before the duel is established. Hey, you! Let’s postpone the duel to next time!”
“You pick a fight for a pathetic reason and now you’re running away?”
“I can’t duel if I’m locked up, can I? My name is Crow, remember it!”
The black-clothed man who revealed his name as “Crow” didn’t even give me time to tell him mine before diving into the crowd of spectators, mounting a horse tied to a tree, and fleeing at breakneck speed.
No matter how fast the Baekto tribe guards could run, they didn’t seem likely to catch that man.
“…Phew. Jessica, are you hurt anywhere?”
“No. Thanks to you, Will… but I thought I was going to die back there.”
After wiping the cold sweat from my forehead with my sleeve, I take Jessica’s hand and help her to her feet.
Jessica still seems unable to maintain her balance properly, her legs trembling, but after taking a few deep breaths, she was able to walk on her own.
“That was quite a scare, having such a strange fellow latch onto us. I’m sorry, Jessica.”
“It’s not your fault. More importantly, that man from earlier…”
“You mean Crow?”
“If the duel had started right then, do you think you could have won?”
“Well… I can’t say for sure.”
The black-clothed man, Crow, had seen me take down the large man who was harassing women, yet still challenged me.
He must have been confident he could surpass my quick draw, or at least thought he had a chance.
Meanwhile, I knew nothing about Crow’s capabilities.
Honestly, even excluding the unusual pressure emanating from his entire body, I think he was an opponent whose defeat I couldn’t guarantee.
“Anyway, I’m glad nothing serious happened. That man Crow gave off a rather ominous aura.”
“You felt it too, Phyllis?”
“Probably everyone here felt it. I hope we never cross paths with him again.”
“I agree. I don’t want to get involved with a madman who shoots a shotgun at a woman he’s never met before just because he wants a duel, when we have no grudge or anything.”
Though I say this, I have a feeling that my connection with the black-clothed man Crow won’t end here.
If he was willing to reveal his name and postpone the interrupted duel to “next time” even as the guards were rushing in, he’ll probably appear before me someday to finish our duel.
I need to acquire the skills to decisively defeat a man like Crow before that time comes, I thought, as I led my companions away from the restaurant district.
The food left on the table didn’t seem like it would go down my throat anyway.
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