Beiji trudged along the uneven roadbed, alternating between deep and shallow steps, pistol in hand. He was cursing Tang Mo, cursing everything he had encountered that day.
The rugged road didn't allow for horseback riding, which made Beiji extremely uncomfortable. Accustomed to a life of luxury, he naturally loathed the idea of traveling such a long distance on foot. Hence, he hated Tang Mo, hated the damned patrol team that had found his horse.
"If I get back, you'll all have to die! Die! Die!" he muttered viciously, clutching his pistol.
He felt that his tactics had been flawless, splitting up from his trusted attendant, which, no matter what, would win him more chances to escape.
If that attendant were exposed, the enemy would shift more attention to the north, giving him a better chance of getting away.
And if the attendant wasn't exposed, even if he was captured, there would be someone to carry a message back to King City. This could cause the enemy to hesitate, increasing his chances of survival. In any case, he was very satisfied with his arrangements; his steps even became a bit lighter.
Since he no longer worried about being caught, Beiji even felt like taking in the surrounding terrain, which was ideal for setting up an ambush.
The absence of troops here to block his path showed that the young man named Tang Mo really had no true skill.
He'd simply happened upon intelligence and rushed out to encircle Beiji. So, he was just a reckless young man, an easy target!
"Ha! Haha!" he snorted derisively, laughing to express his contempt—if the enemy had set up an ambush here, he reckoned it would have been tough for him to escape!
At this thought, he felt aggrieved about his horse once more, ruminating that if he'd retreated a bit more decisively back then, he wouldn't have to be trekking so miserably along this bumpy road now.
This damned Kingdom's infrastructure! Which bastard had embezzled the funds meant for road repairs? How could they turn a perfectly good roadbed into such a mess!
Just as he was cursing the Minister in charge of road maintenance, a gunshot suddenly rang out, and a man stood on the essential path before Beiji, holding a pistol and firing a shot into the air.
The sound echoed in the sky, startling the nearby birds. It was then that Beiji realized something—this crossroads from Vicious Forest to Brunas seemed a bit too quiet.
The passing merchant caravans seemed to have all been intercepted, leaving only him and a stranger he had never met before on this stretch.
"Who are you?" Beiji frowned, gun in hand, eyeing the man in civilians' clothing who was still holding his pistol.
"My name is Tagg." Tagg, pistol in hand, stared at the man in front of him and confirmed, "Beiji? Shireck's mercenary?"
"I've never seen you before! You'd better step aside!" Beiji didn't deny his identity, knowing that the other party must be waiting here for him.
"Sorry, but I have orders to take you back... and if you resist, I'll bring back your corpse," Tagg stated firmly, leveling the flintlock gun at Beiji.
Before coming here, he had prepared himself to kill, and as a mid-level commander of the Northern Ridge Legion, he was certainly not new to taking lives.
Beiji was taken aback, then a look of disdain appeared on his face. He didn't even bother to raise the flintlock gun in his hand, instead offering Tagg a friendly reminder, "You know, did you forget that you just... fired a shot into the air?"
Tagg feigned remembering, then refocused his attention on Beiji, answering seriously, "I haven't forgotten, I did fire a shot just now."
"Pointing a gun at me with no bullets? Are you joking?" Beiji's expression chilled. He had no pity in his heart; killing a fool and stepping over his body to continue his journey posed no moral burden for him.
However, just as he was about to lift the weapon in his hand and calmly shoot the man, he recalled what the beggar had said in Gis's room.
"Then, the person on that carriage fired continuously, first with a long gun, three shots, then pulled out a pistol!"
"A young man, with that pistol, fired five shots in a row! I saw it clearly, he didn't reload, nor did he switch pistols!"
"I, I really saw it with my own eyes! That young man fired five shots in one go! Although the carriage's lamp wasn't so bright, I saw everything clearly!"
"Our gang's boss, he was shot dead by that young man with two shots, right next to the carriage! It's true! I swear it!"
These words, like a series of hammer blows, struck at Beiji's heart. The flintlock gun in his hand felt like a thousand pounds, impossible to lift.
Only then did he seriously and closely examine the gun Tagg was holding. He saw the dark muzzle and the unusual shape of the gun.
The peculiar shape of the gun had chambers on either side, hidden from view—something that simply didn't exist on the standard Shireck Flintlock Gun.
It wasn't until that moment that he realized the beggar might have been telling the truth, that the man in front of him might be holding a fearsome weapon capable of firing five consecutive shots!
The next second, however, he was suddenly thrilled—if he could kill the man before him and seize this brand-new weapon, would he not… soar to great heights?
So he saw before him a glittering golden path, at the end of which lay a land heaped with gold.
The only thing that stood on this path, blocking his way to the far-off goal, was the demon before him.
Once he disposed of this demon, everything glistening with gold at the end of the road would be within his reach, all his for the taking!
He longed for these things, so he fantasized about reaching out and grabbing them all for himself.
"Bang!" A gunshot echoed in his ears, slowing down all his movements. For a moment, he was befuddled, unable to determine whether the sound was a figment of his imagination or reality.
Then he snapped back, and the golden path before his eyes vanished, leaving only a man with a gun, looking at him with an indifferent gaze.
Beiji found that his sight was tilting, everything in his eyes seeming to collapse to one side. Then he felt his body hit something, followed by a piercing pain.
He reached for his chest and touched a warm liquid. He brought his hand to his face and saw a bright red patch.
He saw a pair of leather boots walk by his side and kick the Shireck Flintlock Gun he had dropped far away.
Then he saw a familiar face drawing close to his, seemingly to confirm his identity.
"You're starting to impress me, Tagg." Wes got to his feet, looked towards Tagg with a smile full of amusement, "You really didn't hesitate to shoot."
"I owe it to Mr. Tang Mo." Tagg, lamenting the two bullets he had just wasted, looked at Beiji who was still bleeding on the ground, and asked, "Isn't killing him going to put Shireck on alert?"
"That depends on the gentlemen's subsequent actions." Wes pointed at Beiji, who was barely breathing on the ground, "After all, the order I got was to silence this guy forever."
"He definitely can't speak now." Tagg looked at Beiji, whose lungs had been pierced—an injury unhealable in this era—and shook his head, "But we should wait for him to rest in peace before leaving."
"You're right." Wes drew his pistol from his waist and aimed at Beiji, who still held a breath, "You've shown your loyalty, and I haven't completed my mission yet."
After that, he pulled the trigger: "Bang!"
"Is this what they call joining the bandits?" Tagg asked knowingly, watching Wes fire an additional shot.
"Mind your words—what do you mean 'joining the bandits'? I've found a worthy lord, okay?" Wes reholstered his gun and made a beckoning gesture, "Care to lend a hand?"
"Damn it, you've made such a ghastly mess of the body, what if it stains my trousers?" Tagg complained as he stepped forward and picked up Beiji's feet.
Wes carefully grabbed Beiji's shoulders and dragged his heavy body to the bushes beside an already dug pit.
"One, two, three!" they counted softly together and then let go simultaneously, tossing Beiji's body into the pit.
Then, each grabbed a shovel planted by the pit, and they began filling the hole with soil, one shovelful at a time.
Meanwhile, on the southern edge of the Vicious Forest, at the border of a piece of barren land that Tang Mo had just purchased, a man covered in dust was digging a large pit.
Behind him, Tang Mo was examining a deed in his hands. This was the evidence of his newly purchased land from the mayor, connecting his land to the Vicious Forest.
From now on, from the south of the Vicious Forest to the northern outskirts of Brunas, there was only one master.
The Guardian Knight, Tang Mo, was the lawful owner of this land, its master.
"I don't have time to waste on such boring things as executions." After confirming that the terms of the document were as he expected, Tang Mo rolled up the deed and said to Roger beside him, "Give him two more minutes…"
Upon hearing Tang Mo's words, Redman pulled out his pistol and aimed it at the man digging the pit.
"What comes around goes around…" Tang Mo muttered under his breath, turning away to ignore the fool in the pit, "We must start causing trouble for Shireck... Otherwise, they will definitely come looking for us!"