A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

"Woah, woah, whoa" the carriage driver called out urgently as he pulled hard on the reins of his horses so they pulled to a stop.

"Good," Tom the Newbie said with a smile as his other fellows came out of the cover of the trees all with rifles held up and pointed.

The Carriage driver dropped the reins and raised his arms with his eyes widened in fear.

"Get them out," Tom the newbie ordered a Gang member close to him with a head gesture to direct him toward the Carriage.

The Gang member he ordered looked like the youngest of the group. Looking like he was at most sixteen but ever eager to prove his worth. He hefted his rifle and walked around to the Carriage door which he pulled open with a smile on his face,

"Alright, get out with your hands held—" he started to say only for the rest of his sentence to be cut off by the loud *bang* of a gunshot.

Tom's eyes widened in shock at the sound as he and the others watched the eager Gang member keel backward and hit the ground with a thud and a gaping hole in his chest.

The carriage had two doors; The one the eager Gang member pulled open and the one on the other side that was kicked open as four gunmen filed out one after the other to point their guns and shoot.

"What in godsdamned hell is this?!" Tony asked in a deep voice as he and Henry watched the ensuing shootout.

"It's a trap," Henry said with a frown as he reached toward his side and grabbed a Rifle he had laid against a rock.

Tony grabbed his rifle too. He agreed with Henry's assessment. Wherever Tom the newbie had gotten his tip, it was clearly planted just for this.

"Shit!" He said but Henry could tell he was excited. Lying in wait, watching others do the robbing was boring but stepping in to save their asses with well-timed shots was certainly entertaining.

Meanwhile, down below, the Carriage driver, hands shaking in fear suddenly grabbed the reins he had dropped and spiked it to send the already scared horses racing away and taking him to safety.

The gunmen who had filed out of the Carriage before it raced away were hardly bothered. The plan was never to get away with the carriage anyway. It had done its part already.

Tom the newbie, distracted by the death of the eager Gang member and the subsequent exit of Gunmen from a carriage that should have been carrying a mark for them to rob was unable to react in time to the Carriage driver and had to leap to the side to avoid getting slammed into by the horses.

He hit the floor right when the Gunmen began to fire their guns, forcing the group of newbies to run for cover behind trees.

One gunman walked toward Tom who was laid on the floor and pointed his rifle at his head with a delighted grin as he teased the clenching of the trigger.

Tom tightened his hold on his rifle but he knew he wouldn't be able to get it up in time to shoot before a bullet punctured his head. He shook with fear and readied himself to throw all possible caution to the wind when the gunman standing in front of him arched his back with his eyes wide.

"Ack!" The gunman let out as a bullet pierced his back and he fell to the ground a foot away from Tom.

"Oh right. They were there." Tom mumbled as he looked in the direction the shot had come from and caught a glimpse of Tony, eyes keen and rifle raised.

The other gunmen hardly paid enough attention to realize one of their own had fallen. They were far more focused on those they were shooting but when Tom stood from the floor and slammed the butt of his rifle against the head of one, stunning him, before shooting him in the chest while he was on the ground, they were forced to notice.

Alas, there was hardly anything they could do at that point.

Henry cocked his rifle and, firing shot after shot, he shot down the four of them still living in a flow of kills that stunned all who saw it.

[Kill-Reward: 10 Exp]

[Kill-Reward: 10 Exp]

[Kill-Reward: 10 Exp]

[Kill-Reward: 10 Exp]

With them all dead, Henry put down the rifle with a smile.

Tony looked at him with admiration mostly buried by his discontent,

"You could have left some for me," he said.

"Next time," Henry told him with a smile and to make him feel better, he even managed to look ashamed.

"Eh, let's just get down," Tony said with a shrug.

He stood up and went to get his horse he had hitched many feet away.

Henry was already on Nyx's back by the time Tony led his horse back and together, they rode down the hill to the newbies who were now falling out of their tree covers. They had hands over wounds they had sustained.

'Shoulder, Shoulder, Torso, Torso… Nothing life-threatening. Yet.' Henry thought as his eyes roamed the four of them and he nodded, satisfied. After all, they were all precious bonus Exp.

"Thank you," Tom the newbie said when Henry and Tony got closer.

"That tip, where did you get it?" Tony asked with a frown.

Tom's brows furrowed. He had worked it out on his own too and knew that tip had been a trap and with his eyes on the body of the eager Gang member, he was all the more ashamed but even then, he answered Tom's question.

"In town."

"And you just ran with it?" Tony asked, his frown getting even deeper, "You can't give details beyond 'in town' but you thought it valid enough to rally a group for?"

Tom's lips shook. The eyes of the rest of the newbies were on him now but as his ears got red in his embarrassment, he clenched his fist and turned his hard gaze on Tony,

"What was I supposed to do? A long investigation into my sources? The tip said the carriage was coming through today, right through this road, and transporting over 500,000 Verlans…"

"That should have tipped you off!" Tony interrupted to say loudly.

"What should have?!" Tom asked just as loudly.

"The fact that a carriage traveling through a town of pig and sheep farmers who are almost steeped in penury will have that much cash!" Tony said even louder.

Henry chuckled but said,

"To be fair, Tony, it CAN happen."

"Bah!" Tony said but his eyes were still glaring at Tom whose lips were tightened defiantly as he glared right back.

"Um, excuse me," said one of the newbies, "But we're injured and really want to get away."

"Ah, right," Henry said. He had gotten sucked into the exchange between Tony and Tom the newbie that he had forgotten,

"Get to your horses. Yelena will patch you right up."

Henry wasn't sure about the smiles the newbies got as they shared looks of reverence about the mere mention of the Dionisio Gang's resident healing Witch.

"Alright," the newbies all said in almost perfect unison as they turned toward the trees to head toward the clearing where they had hitched their horses.

And just then, Nyx's ears twitched but even if Henry had not been paying attention, he would still have heard the thundering of multiple hooves toward their direction.

"Do you hear that?" Tony asked with his head angled. He turned his horse in the direction of the sound and almost immediately, they saw a group riding over.

Gunbelts, the barrels of rifles and repeaters poking above their shoulders, and an expression of focus mixed in with the delight for a chase…

"Bounty hunters!" Tony yelled out before Henry had the chance to,

"Get— Ahh!" Tony yelled out as a bullet struck him in the shoulder but he gritted his teeth and grabbed his revolver to fire a few shots as he completed his yell,

"Get to your horses. Now!"

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