Chapter 36
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Translator: Silver Dragon
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Normalization of Corrupt Forces (5)
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Sheriff Barrett's office was like a scene straight out of hell.
"Damn it! Goddamn it!"
The noise from outside—whether it was the townsfolk cheering or mocking him, he couldn't tell.
It was just the usual everyday clamor, but to Barrett, it sounded exactly like that.
'We're screwed! Totally screwed!'
The reports flooding into his office one after another were just too horrific.
Each one felt like a death sentence for their little kingdom.
The first report had come from the routed survivors returning from the canyon.
"M-Monster!"
He was so terrified he could barely string words together as he vomited out the nightmare they'd endured.
"What the hell! What happened! What about the others?"
"That guy's not human! He rained death from the sky! Jackal and most of the brothers... all cut down by his gun!"
Barrett couldn't believe that more than half his main force had been wiped out by a single man.
He grabbed his babbling subordinate by the collar and shook him like a madman.
"Cut the bullshit! You expect me to believe one goddamn gunslinger took you all down?!"
But before his rage could even subside, the second disaster struck.
One of the men he'd assigned to guide the Federation's transport unit staggered in, covered in blood.
"Sh-Sheriff! It's bad! The Federation transport... it's been annihilated!"
"What?!"
"Some unidentified armed group! They fired these unheard-of blue guns, and we didn't stand a chance..."
Barrett collapsed into his chair.
"..."
His mind went completely blank.
An unidentified Eastern gunslinger.
And now an unidentified armed group.
'No way this is all coincidence!'
Invisible nooses were tightening around his throat all at once.
The men he'd scraped together—half his forces—had been unilaterally wiped out.
Even the transport carrying the crystals.
Even if they caught that wanted gunslinger now, things were already too complicated.
"Send a messenger! Right now!"
"To where, sir?"
"Anywhere! Sandpole, Rocky Green! Round up every mercenary and gunslinger you can find! Offer whatever it takes!"
Barrett, in full panic, bellowed whatever came to mind.
A few of his loyal underlings hurriedly mounted up and galloped out of town.
That was the Cobra Gang's last hope.
But that hope returned the next morning as horrific despair.
"A-Arghhh!"
Barrett caught sight of the scene at the town entrance and screamed in terror.
The massive stone pillars at the entrance.
All the messengers who'd left last night hung there as corpses.
Pinned to each of their chests with daggers were notes.
[You're next]
'That bastard! He hasn't left yet?!'
The monster—the man—was still lurking around the town.
He'd turned the entire place into a massive prison.
He was slowly strangling the security force from within.
Twin Lax had become a perfect isolated fortress.
After that day, the nights in Twin Lax were never the same.
A subtle tapping on the rooftops every night.
And every morning, another body hung up in the square.
"Wh-What the hell is that?!"
Barrett's wail echoed through the town.
When night fell, the townsfolk bolted their doors like it was a ritual, keeping rusty shotguns by their bedsides and holding their breath.
"Don't go out at night! Lock your doors tight!"
At first, it was pure fear of the invisible killer.
But as time passed, the nature of that fear began to twist in strange ways.
"Hey, you hear? Someone saw a huge bird shadow leaping across the rooftops last night."
"Bird? Nah, they said it walked on two legs, like a man striding."
The miners whispered in low voices from the corner of the saloon.
Now their conversations revolved around the ghost terrorizing the town.
The ghost appeared every night, picking off only the Cobra Gang's most notorious thugs.
So lately, the talk among the townsfolk was who would turn up dead the next morning.
Three days ago, Martin—the guy who'd beaten an old merchant while collecting protection money—was found in his own bed with a hole drilled through his forehead.
Edgar, infamous for skimming the miners' wages, turned up hanged from his own roof.
And beside every body was always the same message.
[Justice Executed]
The townsfolk started out just afraid.
But they realized all the ones dying were the same scum who'd tormented them.
Their fear gradually morphed into something else.
Vicarious satisfaction!
"That Martin bastard who beat old man Charlie next door to death—he's the one who got it! Serves him right!"
"Last night it was Edgar hanging! Don't know who did it, but it has to be divine judgment!"
"What if it's some righteous outlaw picking off just the ones who mess with us?"
Hatred for the Cobra Gang mixed with a strange anticipation for the nameless ghost.
Those two emotions set the town's sentiments boiling.
The Cobra Gang members no longer strutted openly through the streets.
"Damn it! Lock it up tight! He might come!"
Terror spread like a plague.
Fearing the shadow that might slit their throats at any moment, they only ventured out in groups of three or five.
At night, they huddled by bonfires near the sheriff's office, staying up wide-eyed till dawn.
Jinwoo, at the center of all this chaos, smirked as he watched.
'The defenses are shattered.'
With the self-proclaimed security patrols gone, Jinwoo could even wander the town openly during the day.
And at night, he became the black-cloaked ghost, riding Falcon across the rooftops.
The reason was simple.
'Take out half, and the rest have to be picked off one by one.'
It wasn't time to storm the front yet.
Above all, Barrett needed to be kept alive until the very end.
'Kill him now, and it's all for nothing.'
So he'd chosen assassination.
Cutting off Barrett's hands and feet one by one, driving his mind to the brink.
He glanced at the sheriff's office through binoculars. Barrett's pale face flashed between the curtains.
'Halfway to madness already.'
Word was, he was having fits from the screams of his men echoing every night.
"So he won't even step outside the office?"
"That's right. Too scared of the ghost to come out!"
The info, bought from a townsfolk with a single coin, matched Jinwoo's expectations perfectly.
Then, suddenly, a bizarre noise rang out from the office.
Tssssshhh!
Jinwoo tilted his head at the shrill sound.
'Trade Federation megaphone?'
A broadcast blared abruptly from the sheriff's office.
It was Barrett's desperate thrashing, holed up in terror.
His cowardly, frantic voice echoed across all of Twin Lax.
"Townsfolk! Listen up! An unidentified ruthless outlaw is murdering our brave security officers and eyeing your precious crystals—earned from your blood and sweat!"
As his voice boomed, the surviving gang members plastered wanted posters all over town.
They depicted the black-masked outlaw's description alongside absurd charges.
"Any resident who helps capture this vile criminal will get a full year's tax exemption and a huge reward! He's a dangerous threat to our town's peace! Let's all unite to bring about justice!"
Jinwoo's eyes widened.
'Pulling out the public authority card, huh?'
The town's reaction was ice-cold, of course.
"Criminal? More like a folk hero!"
"Reward? You gonna actually pay up?"
The residents either ignored the megaphone as mere noise or shot contemptuous glares at the posters on the walls.
Watching the whole spectacle, Jinwoo let out a chuckle.
'Idiot. People love outlaws like this as long as they don't get personally hurt. Especially not words from a corrupt gang boss like you.'
Confirming Barrett's desperate ploy had failed, Jinwoo stood up.
'Time to start the final phase.'
He pulled on his hood and vanished into the alleys again.
That night, a shadow appeared silently before Kellogg, waiting on the outskirts.
It was Ghost.
"Y-You!"
Before Kellogg could utter a word laced with awe,
Ghost raised a hand.
A low voice reached the silent Kellogg first.
"Soon, I'll take the head of the leader inside. When I stir up the chaos, come in after it's all over and establish a new order in this town."
"A n-new order?"
"Yes. I won't say it twice."
With that, Jinwoo melted into the darkness without waiting for a reply.
Jinwoo's thinking was utterly pragmatic.
'This town needs guardians, and for the quest's best ending, these guys are perfect.'
Left alone, Kellogg blankly mulled over the final words.
"A new order..."
Then emotion surged through him.
"That's liberation for sure!"
His fist clenched on its own.
"As expected! He's a true hero fighting for the people's freedom!"
Kellogg renewed his resolve.
As he burned with fresh determination and respect, Jinwoo was already circling around to the back of town on Falcon.
The place where Barrett would make his last stand.
'He's heading to the crystal mine!'