✦ ✦ ✦
Flanked by Nagato and Asahina, Haruhi advanced on the bartender (who was cowering behind the bar) and ordered three glasses of milk. She plunked the sheaf of wanted posters on the counter and plopped herself down on a barstool.
The money they’d earned from these bounties alone would pay for the ranch, let alone this milk, but that didn’t matter much to Koizumi and me. We diligently made sure the robbers were properly tied up. This shoot-out was clearly a side quest at best. We should probably do what the telegram said and make haste toward the location of the feud. Tombstone, was it?
Once we stuffed the trussed-up wanted men into a wagon bound for jail, we accepted a bag full of the cash bounty. Then Koizumi came back with five horses he’d found somewhere.
“They were tied up behind the saloon. Probably belonged to the train robbers.”
Suspiciously in our favor, but now our preparations were complete.
“Let’s get going.”
I pushed through the swinging doors and found Haruhi busy eating what appeared to be chili con carne.
“Can you wait till we’re done? Oh, Kyon, pay the tab.”
I took a wad of bills out of the bag and handed it over to the proprietor, figuring the extra would make up for riddling his establishment full of holes.
“Keep the change.”
I’d always wanted to say that.
It wasn’t my money, so I could be as generous as I liked.
The girls took their time eating, then we finally mounted up and headed for the town in question. We’d never learned how to ride, but it proved as easy as any bicycle—a fact I no longer bothered questioning.
We hadn’t really asked how long it would take to reach the next town on horseback. Would we get there before nightfall? The horizon was visible in all directions, and we hadn’t even seen a map. What time was it? I looked up and found the sun orange and definitely on the decline. Evening was coming fast, and I had enough experience with these things to know it would not be light out for long.
But after a solid half hour, the sun remained where it was, showing no signs of setting. Like it was waiting for something. But what? I suppose I already knew.
Also, the view streaming past us appeared to be speeding up. Our horses were just plodding along, but it felt more like the last lap of the Mile Championship.
My internal sensors were all out of whack, but we spotted the next town maybe an hour after leaving the first.
The elderly mayor met at us at the entrance. He seemed to have been waiting for a while.
The sun appeared to agree with that sentiment, and it plunged abruptly to the horizon the moment we reached town like it was on fast-forward. We cast long shadows in the orange light as we dismounted and turned to the mayor.
He had on a black jacket over a flannel shirt, and a bowler hat on his head. We’d seen his face several times before; it was that same white-bearded old-timer.
Once a forest sage, then a galactic empire fleet commander—no surprise his wrinkled face was extra unwelcoming.
“Took you long enough! I was forced to stand here the whole time. Have a heart!”
Save your complaints for the scriptwriter.
“You seem to be ad-libbing every second of this?”
That’s what happens when Haruhi’s the star. Blame whoever cast her.
“Very well, let’s move on.”
An instant later, we were seated around a dining table.
Apparently we’d cut around the transition and picked up back here. Snappy.
“This is my home,” the mayor said. “We’re short on time, so I’ll fill you in over dinner.
The main dish was steak—red meat, but I couldn’t tell what from. It didn’t taste like anything I’d ever had before, so maybe it was bison. There were also pancakes doused in syrup, cornbread, and a stew filled with things I could not identify. There was also a dessert that was likely apple pie. Nagato silently worked her way through all of it, and I spent the bulk of my time watching Asahina’s eyes gleam with every bite, tilting her head or thoughtfully inspecting the ceiling. Meanwhile, the mayor droned on.
“Once, this was a remote area good for little besides grazing. Nothing to do but look after the herds. Cattle and other livestock put this town on the map.”
Going all the way back, huh? Weren’t we short on time?
“Kyon has a point,” Haruhi said, waving a knife stuck through a chunk of medium rare, probably bison, steak. “What do you want us to do? I heard something about a kidnapping? We just gotta rescue them, right?”
The mayor glared at me, then gave Haruhi a long stare, then studied Koizumi and Nagato elegantly enjoying their meals, smiled briefly at how Asahina was expressing delight with every bite, and finally put his fork and knife down, folding his hands on the tabletop.
“I’d like one of you to take my place in a duel,” he intoned.
According to him, a few years back, a tycoon had set his sights on this pastoral ranchland. He owned farms here and there across the states, but was a scoundrel known for employing underhanded tactics to get his way. The pushiest kind of nouveau riche, earning massive wealth by any means necessary.
This tycoon laid claim to the land around the town and brought in a lot of men to cultivate the land. When they were content to coexist with the ranchers, everything was fine—but the farmers kept expanding their fields, and this began to encroach on the rancher’s territory. Soon, they were fighting over new territory.
The ranchers insisted they had the rights to these lands, and demanded the farmers cease their expansion, but the farmers pulled out deeds of unknown origins, insisting they had legally acquired them and could do whatever they liked with their property. They soon began plowing the grasslands despite the ranchers’ protests.