Chapter 14

During the era of pioneering in the West, in the land of America, harpies were made into targets by those taking on the appearance of gunmen.

Originally, Christianity persecuted the harpies. They saw them as ugly imitations of angels, and made them out to be underlings of the devil that tried to cheat humans. They were thought of as ominous harbingers of calamity that summoned raging storms and tornadoes. Sailors in particular were so afraid of the harpies that brought storms with them that theyd have a heart attack just from the sight of them.

The persistent attacks from the deeply superstitious humans caused the harpies to mostly disappear from the eyes of the Christian church by the 15th century, but the new continent was different. As long as you looked up at the sky, you were bound to see at least one of them.Follow current novels on novelb((in).(com)

A bounty was placed on the harpies, and all of the gunmen tried to hunt and shoot them down in order to bring up their reputations.

As harpies possessed the ability to manipulate the wind, a sharp sense of intuition, and they could fly quickly in the sky, it was not easy to hit them with a bullet. A trend was started in the new continent where being able to take down a harpy for the first time was a sign that you could be counted as a first-class gunman.

Amongst the gunmen whose names were well-known, there was not a single one that didnt have any experience in hunting a harpy.

And then in the West appeared rumours of a dreadful divine gunman who would challenge such renowned gunmen, bringing defeat to every single one of them.

That gunman was Calamity Hal Jane.

A famed female gunman who represented the age of pioneering in the West.

In the years following her active period, Jane (or the women who said they were Janes blood relatives that looked just like her) had a bounty placed on her and was chased around due to it.

She openly defended the harpies whom Christianity had declared to be demons, and shot skilled gunmen to death one after the other. Such barbaric acts were seen as intolerable.

All of Janes pursuers were completely repelled. Jane was generous, and since she was a kind and lovely young maiden to anyone other than the gunmen, those with ulterior motives and those who owed her a debt of gratitude helped her escape. Thus, Jane managed to dodge the pursuit from the authorities over the course of eighteen years. According to a number of letters exchanged with the woman who is thought to be Jane, she had been enjoying this grand escape drama that went through all of the states in America.

However, apparently in the end the authorities managed to corner Jane and get rid of her.

It was apparently so because on November 3rd, 1900, the place where Jane was cornered in Salt Lake City was flattened by a sudden giant tornado. Whether it be the house, the people, or the livestock, not a single one of them was left behind.

Ever since the annihilation of Salt Lake City, Calamity Hal Jane disappeared. The authorities deemed her as dead due to the tornado, and the wanted posters that had been posted for eighteen long years were finally taken down.

Together with Jane, the gunmen also disappeared, as did the harpies. They were simply being hunted down, and as such stopped appearing in front of humans. They became rare existences that could seldomly be seen flying inside high altitude clouds during large stormy days where bullets cannot physically reach them.

By the 21st century, the harpies were only confirmed to be found in ravines that had strong winds blowing through them, or high mountains without human settlements. Alternatively, they were found in lands such as Patagonia, where there were strong winds present all year round.

As expected, the harpy could be said to be the symbol that made up the era of pioneering in the West.