Chapter 59 059: Bounties

The station was built in the same manner as every other building he has been in, it was larger on the inside that it looked outside. Deputy Dawson pointed him in the direction of a massive bulletin board that had dozens of posters pasted onto it.

The act of picking a bounty wasn't so convoluted or stressful all Cole had to do was pick a bounty and it would be registered as a quest. All bounties could be submitted to any police station or mayor's office in any town or settlement to get the required rewards. Never the less all of the bounties had ranks from bronze all the way up to diamond ranked bounties.

Cole didn't want to stress too much, he would be on the road for a while and would have to go through quite a few towns on his was to the frontier, he did not want to be taken out of the way too much, with bounty Hunts. At least not until he gets to his destination.

Cole took a closer look at all of the bounties that had been placed up, he knew this world challenged him a bit more per rank than the norm, but he as still going to look for a challenge regardless. He needed something strong enough to give more lucrative rewards and would expose him to a little bit more action than he'd expect.

Since this was a marathon rather than a sprint there was no need to rush forwards in an attempt to hurry to the next floor. But at the same time he couldn't take bounties that would take way too much of his time and leave him stranded on this floor while it broke to pieces in two weeks time, he had to be smart about this.

So it was in keeping those factors in mind that he picked three bounties to take care of, two of them happen to be in the same town that was on his way to his destination while the other would break a little of his path, but still close enough to the frontier where he has to look for Izanagi. They were tough, but not so hard that he would be unable to finish them in time.

[Bounty 02/10<Iron>: Search the depths of Titus Boris's Cursed Orchard and retrieve 10 apples from a Jukiki Apple tree. Rewards: 200 Silvers, 2000 Exp]

[Bounty 03/10<Iron>: A group of Mechanoid horse thieves have stowed away in Titus Boris's cursed Orchard. Intercept them and retrieve the three Mechanoid horses they have stolen./ Condition: The thieves can be caught, dead or alive(preferably alive)/ Rewards: 500 Silvers, 5000 Exp, 1500 Exp Per thief captured (alive)]

[Bounty 04/10<Silver>: The mining settlement of Red Salvation has been under the harsh grips of a powerful family of bandits. Free the settlement from the grips of the bandit/ Condition: This Bandit can be completed with a party or team/ Rewards: 50 Gold, 7000 Exp, +3000 Exp to largest contributor, +500 Silver per bandit killed.]

The cursed Orchard was roughly a day away from his current position. There was a small settlement close to it that Cole could rest, but it was last mid day by now so he would probably have to camp for the night then continue his journey in the morning.

After double checking his bounties, Cole took one long look at the police station then left the building. He had no intention of coming back here if he could help it, so there wasn't really a reason to remember what the building looked like. But he was able catch a few looks from Deputy Dawson and his cronies, so he was a bit worried about them coming after him, but even if they did… Cole would ensure that it was the last thing they did.

He mounted Morgan and began to ride out of the town, once again at the back of his head an acoustic guitar started playing the theme song to ancient cowboy classic The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Cole shook his head, wondering if perhaps this floor was driving him crazy or something, either way he rode on, focused on his next move and hoping that perhaps this time, he would get to enjoy his adventure.

Wishful thinking, that was all there is to thinking he would finally have a moment of peace without any kind of conflict. The landscape outside of San Louisa was an almost endless expanse of plains and small hills. In the distance the beginning of small mountain range could be see to the north west, and further west was a canyon that he would have to cross to get into the frontier proper.

He and Morgan had been going at a steady pace, more like a center than a full on gallop or sprint. It was not as fast as Cole would have preferred, but he was getting used to riding, and he wanted to take it easy for a bit while he explored the sights. And then there was a third reason, one that saw itself fruition all too son just after and hour and half on the road.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

"Stop! Stop in the name of the law!" Cole turned around and cursed out loud, at least twelve mounted men where chasing after him, and they were drawing closer by the second.

​ "Fuck! Morgan would you look at that, it's the 'officiant of the God Damn law' speed up, but keep it steady. If it's a fight they're looking for, it's a fight they'll get.

Get off the main path too, running towards the mountains, let's use those hills over there as cover, we'll see how much damage we can cause once we have the higher ground."

*Bang!*

"Fuck! Get a move on Morgan!* Cole called out as the last shot actually ricocheted off Morgan's rump. The AI was a Mechanoid on this floor. He hasn't really taken a look at Morgan's stats to be able to see just how capable he was. But that would be an oversight that he would taking care of as soon as he was done with this fight. He turned around to see that they had picked up speed and we're roughly a 100 meters away from their pursuers.

That wad just lose enough for him to get a little familiar with his rifle. And if anyone of them can get closer, then it would be a lot more worse as Cole knew he was more dangerous up close than at range. Plus with his new weapons, he now had an assortment of new skills to put to good use.

He leveled the rifle behind him and looked through the scope, he didn't have a skill for riding, but Morgan was a starship that wad changed to a mount on this floor. So perhaps that was still being taken into consideration as Cole's body seemed fused to the back of Morgan, and their movements were completely in sync.

[Eagle Sight]

Cole's vision got even more powerful as he was able to aim and home in on his first target. Then he smiled as he squeezed the trigger, utilizing another skill in the process as he felt the drain of energy. [Double Tap]

*Bang! Bang!*

One shot, one bullet, but two impacts. Cole watched as his chosen Target's body was blasted off his half horse half Mechanoid mount, his body crashing to the ground, head of heels as bones and his neck were broken from the fall. But all that extra damage was of no use as the deputy was already dead before he got the ground.

[You Have Slain Iron Deputy Dawson! +2500 Exp]

Cole had gone after the ring leader, or rather the second ring leader to see if or not they would still be chasing after him. They paused, slowing down a bit to see that he had indeed taken the life of their leader, and then they kept on with the chase. It seems Morgan was way to valuable a prize to let go off, but beyond that the Iron Deputy was just a puppet being strung along by the aspirant, so in the end he was Cole's next target.

*Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!* "Fuck!"

One of the bullets took Cole in the middle of his back, and while it didn't Pierce through his defense, the impact was not accounted for as it was enough to not just bruise his skin, but also his ribs, cracking a few of them in the process as he turned and leveled his Rifle, ready to make sure that he took another life.

[Eagle Sight] [Homing Shot]

There was a deputy riding at the back, right behind the aspirant. Since there were eleven of them left, even if they were spread out, they were still clustered enough that he did not have a good enough sight on them all. Judging by the name of the skill, it did exactly just that as the bullet streaked forth, leaving a trail or bluish purple energy that curved round the bodies of a few other deputies before slamming into the skull of his target, shocking the aspirant as blood, bone and brain matter splattered all over his face.

[You Have Slain Bronze Deputy Tutu! +1200 Exp]

Cole raised an eyebrow at the name, but he shook his head and turned to look ahead Morgan was coming up to the first hill now, and they were going up at an incline. He had taken out two of them…. There was 10 left to go…. He was going to kill them all.