[ Hello fellas, hope you guys are enjoying the fic.
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And don't forget the Powerstones. Flood the fic with them. They actually help a lot with motivation. Who knows, if the support is good I might even drop some extra chapters lol 😁.
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Chapter 68: A Wild Springfield Rifle
Night shrouded the land, and all was silent.
Arthur and Charles rode side by side, the sound of hooves echoing in the silent night.
Arthur's steed walked steadily, carrying a powerful Cougar on its back.
Although the Cougar was no longer alive, the aura it exuded was still heart-pounding.
Meanwhile, Charles's horse carried a magnificent buck; the heavy body of the buck made Charles's taima's pace seem slightly strained.
Finally, they arrived at the camp. The two dismounted and, carrying their respective prey, strode toward where Pearson was.
They dropped their trophies heavily onto the table in front of Pearson with a dull thud.
Afterward, Arthur and Charles returned to their own tents.
Just then, Arthur discovered a note. After reading it, he frowned thoughtfully and turned to find Johnny for a chat.
When he found Johnny, he was sitting by the campfire, the light illuminating his slightly weary face. Arthur walked over, sat down beside Johnny, and asked:
"Johnny, how is the debt collection going?" As he spoke, a complex expression appeared on Arthur's face, his gaze fixed on Johnny.
Johnny naturally understood what Arthur was thinking at that moment.
On one hand, facing those impoverished debtors, Arthur felt pity and truly couldn't bear to pressure them further;
But on the other hand, these debts were linked to the livelihoods of the women in the Gang; if they weren't collected, everyone would face hardship. This psychological conflict caused Arthur immense pain.
Seeing Arthur so conflicted, Johnny couldn't help but tease:
"Do you feel like we claim to care about the poor, yet we're forced to lend money to and collect debts from these poor souls?"
Hearing this, Arthur nodded repeatedly as if he had found a kindred spirit, expressing his deep agreement.
"But Arthur, you have to understand, this is a legal business. In other words, even if Mr. Strauss didn't do it, someone else would. If they didn't come to us, they'd go to someone else."
"This is a problem with society as a whole."
"Arthur, I'm also thinking about a plan for making money legally, and this plan is about to be realized."
Although Arthur was very tolerant of this younger brother he usually traded insults with, the other man simply loved talking about 'plans' too much.
Arthur always felt a bit like he was facing Dutch—it was as if you treated him like a brother, but he wanted to be your father.
He didn't know much about making money legally, so he awkwardly changed the subject, saying he hadn't caught much prey today, but on the way back to camp, he encountered a Cougar attacking a passerby.
So he picked up his Carcano and took it down with a single headshot.
Johnny understood Arthur's mental state well, but there was nothing to be done; Arthur himself was actually somewhat resistant to civilization.
You had to lay the facts plainly before him for him to believe everything that had been said.
The night passed in silence.
...Early the next morning, Hosea went out to the Valentine Police Department to discuss relevant matters.
Johnny's face was written with a lack of desire to work, so he called Kieran to go to the small river next to the camp to happily be fishermen together.
The two used boiled corn kernels as bait, which was both cheap and easy to prepare.
In no time, Kieran caught many fish thanks to his superb fishing skills.
Meanwhile, Johnny repeatedly suppressed the urge to perform a 'miracle through sheer force' and just yank the fishing line back.
In the end, he didn't catch many.
As they were preparing to return to camp, a faint cry for help came from the distance~
"Help me! Is anyone there?"
"Oh! My God! Help me!"
"I've been bitten by a snake! Can you help me suck out the venom?"
Johnny looked closely at the person calling for help and immediately found him very familiar.
This was Norbert, a resident of Valentine who was jokingly called the 'Mobile Springfield Rifle' by players in the game.
While Kieran was still hesitating over whether to help suck out the venom, Johnny reached into his satchel and handed the man a bottle of Health Cure.
Seeing this, the man said no more, unscrewed the cap, and downed it in one go.
After finishing it, he thanked Johnny repeatedly and said he would definitely repay him.
Johnny originally wanted to ride him back to Valentine, but considering Kieran didn't have his own horse yet, it would be pure idiocy if he were left alone and captured by the ODriscoll Gang again.
So he let the man leave and brought Kieran safely back to camp.
As soon as Pearson saw there were fresh fish to eat today, his eyes lit up instantly, and he became as excited as a child who had received their favorite toy.
He gestured excitedly, declaring he would make a sumptuous and mouth-watering all-fish feast.
Although everyone knew that Pearson's cooking skills were actually quite mediocre, there was no choice; as the saying goes, 'choosing a tall one among dwarves.'
In this camp, when it came to the level of cooking, Pearson really was the most skilled!
While everyone was waiting expectantly to taste the all-fish feast, time slipped away until it was noon.
A rapid sound of hooves approached from afar; it was Hosea, riding back like the wind.
He looked full of excitement, and even his movements to dismount seemed hurried. As soon as he stood steady, he couldn't wait to announce loudly:
"Good news, everyone! Not only did the Sheriff agree to all our requests, but he also generously offered to ask a good friend of his in Saint Denis to help us apply for a Prestigious Bounty Hunter License!"
Hearing this, everyone present couldn't help but cheer and jump for joy.
You see, with such a license, no matter where Johnny went, he could easily take on those extremely well-paying bounty missions!
Not only that, but with this license, he could also obtain various confidential internal intelligence related to wanted criminals for free!
More importantly, even if he needed to cross different states to carry out an arrest, as long as he showed that precious license and the corresponding bounty poster, he could save himself a lot of trouble.
There was a lot of room for maneuvering to consider here.
It must be said that Hosea still had it; he could still easily secure the maximum benefit.
Hosea also mentioned that the Sheriff's press interview day was set for tomorrow noon at the gallows, but in the morning, they would have to hand over Little Edmond and the information on his hideout to Sheriff Malloy.
One truly can't find a moment of leisure these days.
After lunch, Johnny walked over to John and, without drawing attention, pulled him aside and said:
"Have you thought it through? John, how are you going to face your wife and child?"
John had also been very conflicted these past few days. He even spent his spare time pretending to go out looking for opportunities, while actually running to the clinic in Valentine to ask about symptoms of malnutrition in children.
After receiving an affirmative answer, the heavy stone in his heart was finally lifted.
But following that was a deep sense of guilt; he hadn't participated in anything in Little Jack's past five years.
And now Little Jack would still care for him even when he was being given the cold shoulder.
Piece by piece, memories lingered in John's mind, unable to dissipate for a long time.
However, John still said firmly to Johnny:
"I think what you said makes a lot of sense. I want to be a real man."
"But now that my injuries are healed, I have no way to make money. And you know how it is between Arthur and me—there's some friction. Last time, when he and Charles went to catch Bounty Hunters, he didn't want to take me along."
Learning of John's lack of funds, Johnny confidently showed John a piece of paper he had previously obtained from Micah.
John immediately understood what he meant, but since he was clumsy with words, he could only keep smoking with Johnny.
He almost made Johnny quit smoking from all that puffing!