Squatjaw's Amusent Park of Mystery (1)
"By the way, that guy I haven't seen him around these days?"
Leo's question ca out of the blue, but it was enough to energize the party, who had been getting tired of the tedious journey.
They had been trekking for two days across a barren field, with nothing to see but sand and wind.
"You an that Squatjaw?"
"Now that you say it. It always felt strange, like he was circling around us."
Leo looked back at Yan, who had been silent so far, and asked a question.
"You know sothing, don't you? About him?"
"Well, um , too"
"He was with you back then. Before you fought ."
"Well, that was because that guy impersonated one of our mbers"
"Impersonated? Really? Because he has a different identity every ti he appears."
Then Kiriko brought out the sa words that he'd repeated every ti the topic of Squatjaw had co up for discussion before.
"Isn't he a secret agent of the International Council? I can sll it."
"Isn't that just a problem with your nose? And you don't even know what secret agents do, do you?"
"I dont need to know sothing like that. You know that makes him a secret agent? The important point is that his identity changes every ti. Other than the secret agents of the International Council, who else would change their identity every ti like that? Those guys are the ones who can deceive even veteran adventurers."
"Its not even funny. Anyone who listens would think that you're one of those veteran adventurers, Mr. Kiriko. You dolt."
Despite saying sothing like that, Siana couldn't hide her smile as she looked at Kiriko.
Oddly enough, she seed to enjoy making fun of him.
"Anyway, that's not the point. Whether he is an enemy or not, is the question."
"So what if hes an enemy, he's a funny guy. Where did he go anyway?"
"Who knows. He might pop out of nowhere again soti."
Then,
"I"
Yan, who'd been hesitating, spoke up.
"Sohow, I think we'll see each other soon?"
"What?"
"What do you an?"
"How do you know?"
"It's, just at the end of this field, sohow I feel like hes waiting for us"
Yan's remarks were quite interesting. Because this kind of talk was the favourite of so veteran adventurers.
"Oh oh are you saying this as a guide?"
"I, Ive been told before that I have a good sense of direction"
At that mont,
"Oh, over there! See down there!"
Kiriko, who'd been walking a little ahead, exclaid suddenly.
His eyes, which were pointed to the front following his finger, were dyed with astonishnt.
And beyond that finger, a strange sight stretched out beyond the suddenly sunken terrain.
"Hey, what is that?"
"Castle? But how could there suddenly be a castle in a place like this"
"No, wait It looks like a castle, but those definitely look like rides in the back Is it an amusent park?"
There was a huge amusent park, right in the middle of the road.
There was nothing else around. Just it.
"What?"
"What, what?"
Only Leo had a different reaction.
"Wow! I was getting so bored, this is great! You all want to go take a look?"
"But that doesn't that look really suspicious any way you see it?"
Siana questioned carefully, but she couldn't slow down Leo's already excited footsteps.
"That's the taste of adventure! Let's go, let's go!"
That was then
Welco to Squatjaw's Amusent Park of Mystery.
A young voice ca from sowhere.
"Squatjaw?"
"Squatjaw? That Squatjaw!?"
Sothing caught Leo's eyes as he whirled around searching for the source of the voice.
"Oh, over there!"
Leo was pointing to the front entrance of the amusent park.
A little kid in a Pierrot mask stood there, holding a gaphone in one hand.
As if in response to Leo pointing, the little Pierrot spoke on the gaphone.
Go play. There are so many fun gadgets.
Leo went up to the little Pierrot and asked,
"Does Squatjaw own this amusent park?"
"Yes."
"How can I et him?"
"Squatjaw is inside the amusent park. You can et whenever you co in."
"Really? Then can I take a look?"
But as Leo was about to enter, the little Pierrot stopped him.
"Wait, there's an entrance fee. It's a million gold."
"What?"
It was an embarrassing amount to even hear.
"What's so expensive!"
"Then, 500,000 gold."
"?"
"You wont be wasting money. You can make dozens of tis that much in here. Just 500,000 gold isn't enough for you to get cold feet, right?"
" Course not!"
Leo readily took the money out of his pocket and handed it to the little Pierrot mask.
Of course, it was Siana's money.
"What about the rest of you?"
"Well, lets just go in once."
"Hmm, its suspicious, but it cant be helped."
Kiriko and Siana also handed over their entry fees following Leo's example.
"Hey, I dont have any money"
"Here's for this guy."
"Yes, thank you. Then I will let you enter."
The little Pierrot mask, receiving Yan's entry fee from Siana, quickly put all the money into his sleeves and opened the front gate.
Four guests will enter!
The amusent park stretching out beyond the gate was like a new world. Gardens that were a riot of colours filled with exotic flowers, all kinds of rides and shops scattered around, and even people running around laughing raucously.
It was a landscape in stark contrast to the desolate wilderness outside.
"Look over there! A roller coaster! Theres even a gyrodrop!"
"Are you a kid"
"Didnt you co here to et that Squatjaw?"
Besides Leo, who was openly excited, even Kiriko and Siana's faces were dyed with excitent despite their protests.
"Oh, theres even an ice cream shop Hey"
And Yan, too.
While everyone was engrossed in the new environnt
"By the way, you're lucky, sir guests."
The little Pierrot, who ca in after them, spoke quietly.
"There's a ga event running in our amusent park right now. Would you like to participate?"
"A ga event?"
"Yes, we took the most popular gas in the park and changed them into a separate event format, but it doesn't happen every day. There are a lot of different gas, and even prizes."
"Oh, really?"
"How about it? You can both enjoy the ga and earn money. Two birds, one stone."
Leo answered without hesitation.
"Lets do it!"
And,
"What're the events?"
"Can we all participate?"
Kiriko and Siana also intervened enthusiastically.
Seeing this, the little Pierrot raised his hand asking them to calm down.
"There are several events, so why not participate one by one? First off, what about this red-haired gunslinger here?"
Approaching Kiriko, he quietly gave him an offer.
"Isnt there one ga that a lot of people especially like? Shoot at the Sunset!' It's a kind of gunfight, you just have to hit a moving target. Why not try participating once? I think you'll do well."
"A gunfight?"
"Yes. Even the prize money is huge. If you beat the current champion, you'll get 100 million gold on the spot."
"100 million? 100 million in prize money?"
Looking at the surprised Kiriko, the little Pierrot continued whispering.
"Yes, but the participation fee is only one hundredth of that. One million gold."
"Huh? A million-gold participation fee?"
The little boy looked surprised at the question.
"Oh my, why are you surprised? Can't you make 100 million gold with just 1 million? Aren't you confident? Why are you even carrying those guns then? Are those just fakes? What about that handso red hair, is that fake too?"
"Hey, who said I'm not? It's no big deal to hit a few targets."
Then, once Kiriko handed over the money,
"Good for you!"
Without anyone saying anything, the little Pierrot shouted on the gaphone.
Champion! A cheeky opponent has appeared to challenge you!
And simultaneously,
"What? Challenge the champion?"
"Who is this cheeky bastard!?"
"Hey, over there!"
People from all over the amusent park gathered in an instant, as if they'd been waiting for this mont.
Putting our heroes in a really awkward situation.
"What, who are these guys?"
"Are they all one gang?"
"I told you this place was suspicious!"
While the three of them were hesitating because of the sudden crowd of onlookers,
"Uh, uh, uh, uh, over there!"
Yan pointed to a spot in the distance.
Right there, a man with a jutting chin wearing a cowboy hat was barely visible, riding a rry-go-round.
The onlookers, also becoming aware, started clamouring.
"Wow!
"Its the champion!"
"Its the gunfighting champion, Squatjaw the Cowboy!"
It was a very strange and bizarre situation.
"Do you an that Squatjaw is the current champion?"
"What's he cooking up this ti?"
Leo felt he needed to have a bout with the guy.
They hadn't seen him for a few days, and here he was already planning sothing crazy.
"Should I call him right now? Hey! Squatjaw!"
Oddly enough, despite Leo calling him a few tis, the other party pretended not to hear and kept picking his ears.
Little Pierrot sneaked in a few words from the side.
"If you want to call the champion, you have to shout out that you are going to challenge him first. That's the rule here."
"Challenge?"
"If you want to compete with him, you have to ask him first."
"Oh my gosh, its all so annoying."
Still, Kiriko ekly followed the Pierrot's words.
"Hey, Squatjaw! You call yourself a gunfighter champ? Let's have a match, you bastard!"
Then,
"Which kid dared challenge to a match?"
The Cowboy got off the rry-go-round as if he'd been waiting for this mont.
A deep smile filled his lips as he slowly trotted over.
"Alright, I accept the match."
From now on, we'll start the popular ga of Squatjaw's Amusent Park of Mystery, Shoot at the Sunset!'
The rules are simple.
All you have to do is hit the moving target.
However, guns and bullets are not provided.
The cheeky challenger will go first. It's this red-haired kid!
Along with the introduction from little Pierrot mask, the onlookers began to boo.
"Boo!"
"You cheeky little bastard!"
"You'll definitely lose!"
Leo also started cheering for his teammate.
"Kiriko! Set an example!"
"Mr. Kiriko you dolt! Can't you even do this?"
"Co on, good luck!"
Siana and Yan also joined the cheering squad.
Kiriko calmly entered the shooting range with an unconcerned gait.
"Just watch."
Whatever the planners planned, or the onlookers booed, or that there were no bullets, it didin't matter.
It made him want to laugh. Because he didn't need bullets in the first place.
The red sun was blazing beyond the shooting range.
"Good."
The scene reminded him of his youth, when he'd devoted himself to shooting practice like an ascetic.
It was as if all his nerves were on the edge and ready to fire. In this state, he couldn't miss the target even if he wanted to.
Soon, sothing dark sprung up in the distance. It looked like a human shadow, and that must've been the target.
Kiriko pulled out his revolver, giving the chamber a quick spin.
The magic bullets defaulted to the explosion' type. However, since that risked raising a large dust cloud, he imdiately changed it to penetration'.
Then, he fired a magic bullet straight at the target in the distance.
He could hit a target that size with his eyes closed. What's more, if it was that slow
That was then
"Huh?"
The number of targets he needed to hit and knock down quickly increased to dozens. Their sizes also reduced significantly, and they even started moving quickly from side to side.
"Oh, hey, hey, this is fun."
Kiriko continuously fired magic bullets as the targets popped up. Although the targets were moving faster, it was not enough for him to use rapid fire'.
And then,
"Is it over?"
The targets stopped appearing.
Every bullet had hit the bull's eye. There was no need for even an extra shot.
Kiriko tucked the revolver back at his waist and returned to his seat.
Here we are, the red-haired kid with the gun is back at his seat! Has his score been counted? Are you done? Yes! It's been counted! Now, that kid's score is!
Kiriko checked the scorecard with a confident expression on his face.
Then,
"Eh?"
He opened his mouth in embarrassnt.
12 points! That's 12 points! Did you all see that red-haired kid shoot aimlessly into the air? He really should've checked what the target was before he started shooting! All he managed was to hit it by so ricochets!
"What, what!? I got them all right! Isn't the score wrong?"
But the little Pierrot didn't even listen.
Next is the champion! It's the turn of Squatjaw the Cowboy!
"Wow!"
"Champion! Champion!"
"Show us your skills!"
Shortly thereafter, Squatjaw the Cowboy stepped into the shooting range.
"Hey, Ill see how well you can shoot."
While Kiriko was watching the scene with eyes mixed with dissatisfaction and absurdity
Out of nowhere, Squatjaw jerked his head towards him.
And,
"Do you know which of the six magic bullets has the most destructive power?"
" What?"
"It's not explosion' or penetration'. Its a combo of the two."
It was an incomprehensible statent.
"Wait, how do you know about my unique ability"
"How is that your unique ability?"
Squatjaw's following words and actions almost made Kiriko pass out from surprise.
"Its my unique ability."
He pulled out two revolvers from his waist. They looked just like Kiriko's.
"What, what"
Then, the two guns in Squatjaw's hands began to emit blue light.
It was obviously the light that'd co out when two bullet types were combined. That was a new skill that even Kiriko himself had just discovered.
"One piece of advice. Before starting a ga, its good to have a close look at the na of the ga. Especially if it's a one-opportunity ga."
Squatjaw raised both revolvers up.
However, the two guns were not aid at the dark targets that were suddenly rising up in the distance.
Rather, they were aid at nothing other than the huge sun at the horizon scattering the red light of dusk.
"No, that, that"
Soon after,
Bang! Bang!
Two magic bullets were fired from the revolvers, blazing trails of blue.
Then, the magic bullets flying into the distance suddenly collided with sothing invisible.
Claaaaannngggggg .
It seed that the real target' was hidden sowhere in the air.
""
Kiriko stared at Squatjaw, who returned to his seat with a refreshed expression.
Alright, here's the score! The champion, Squatjaw the Cowboy scored a whopping 100 points! This ti too, there was no changing of the guard! Look at that speechless redheaded kid over there! That's great!
It was a trick. It was an unfair ga.
But at that mont, winning or losing was not important to Kiriko.
There was only one thought running through his mind right now.
Sobody stole his unique ability.
"What are you?"
It was a question that had been asked many tis already. But the weight of the question this ti was different from before.
For the first ti, Kiriko was caught up in an urge to sincerely dig into Squatjaw's identity.
However, Squatjaw just turned around leisurely, leaving only a sentence behind.
"If any of you beat , then I'll let you all know."
Editor's Notes:
None for this chapter.
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