The Ballad of the Red King: Chapter 1 - A Golden Opprounity

 

Chapter 1 – A Golden Opportunity

Never let an opportunity pass you by is the saying that I live by. Well, the biggest opportunity of my life is here. The Red King is here in this casino. He’s one of the best bounty hunters on the hunt for one of the biggest bounties on a man called Black Jack. He was an old outlaw who faked his death and recently remerged for more fame and glory. If I can help the Red King, then I’ll be loaded with cash because the bounty on Black Jack’s head is sixty million dollars. It doesn’t matter if the Red King takes most of it. With even a portion of it combined with my current funds, I’ll be set for life.

All I need to do now is find a way for the Red King to notice me. He’s a stoic kind of guy that rarely teams up with people. This room is full of people with bounties on their heads. It’s the rule of the West to hide your identity if you have a bounty on your head otherwise the law won’t step in to save you. The country is pretty much ruled by gangs who have opposing agendas and will take any excuse to make the other side look evil. If you ask me, it’s just politics like any other country. People ally themselves with political parties and gangs for protection. What’s impressive about the Red King is that he isn’t allied with any political party or gang unless you count the Church, where he gets his guns blessed and for confession.

I could talk to him when he goes there, but he’s been on the move for a while and not every town has a church in it. I could also call him over to my table to play cards. It’s a common way that people offer deals to others incognito. These are a few of the options I have, but I think I’ll take a dangerous one. Snitches get riches in the West and I’ve snitched on every person who has a bounty here. Even though people may hide their primary features, they can’t hide their fashion sense and the subtle details about them like the little marks on their faces, their way of walking, and tone of voice all of which can be found on the bounty’s description. Normal people don’t take these into account when going after a bounty unless they’re really itching for money.

The management in the casino is locking the doors right now and I’m just waiting for the first shot to go-there it is! The casino owners and guards open fire on their bounties. Other people in joining in the fight as I assume that they either overheard our conversation or they have connections to the casino. While this fight is happening, the people who don’t know what’s happening are either running to find an exit, hiding, or firing back thinking that the casino has gone crazy. A musical band is playing music that can be heard over the gunfire while being protected by bulletproof barriers. Most gunfights like this have bands playing music over the fighting since bounty hunting is more or less a sport. It’s illegal to kill anyone in the band even if they are playing terrible music and automatically places a bounty of a million dollars on your head.

Meanwhile, the Red King is taking cover while drinking a glass of red wine. He’s on the lookout for anyone who might have it out for him and there appears to be some. As he defends himself, a group of people try to attack him from his blind spots while he’s distracted. It’s a simple but effective tactic for targets as famous as him. I know he has bulletproof armor that should mostly protect him from their bullets, but I need him in my debt. This is my opportunity, so I shoot them and get his attention. He looks my way and I wink and smile at him. I then help him by covering the places he isn’t looking until all the bounties have been taken and the casino calms down.

The Red King will have to at least thank me, and he does. He’s at least seven feet tall if I could measure. To most people, he’s an imposing man, but to me, he’s just another business opportunity.

“Thank you,” he says with a tip of his hat, “I’ll buy you a drink for saving me.”

“Thank you, but I want something more than a drink for helping you.”

“What would you like?”

“Red King, my name is Sargrantina, and I want to help you with your next bounty, Black Jack.”

“…no. He’s too much for you to handle.”

“I-ah!” A man was playing dead and was about to shoot the Red King in the face, but I quickly stab him with one of my bunny ear blades before the Red King gets a shot off. He’s a bit quicker than I thought. “Gotta watch out for the ones who play dead.”

“I know.”

“Come on, this at least proves I’m competent,” I say while cleaning my bunny ear blade.

“There’s no doubt that you are, but you aren’t ready to face a man like Black Jack.”

“How about this if you don’t mind looking?” I say as I unzip my shirt to show all the guns, ammo, and pouches for money that I hide.

“Useful, but the answer is still no.”

“Consider this then. I set all this up. I knew all the bounties here and told the casino managers about it so they could start this gunfight so you could see my ability.”

“You started this massacre?”

“Yes-ow!” He slapped me across the face! “What was that for?”

“Does the value of life mean nothing to you?”

“No, I know the price and I got paid in advance-ow!”

“I’m not working with someone as money-hungry as you. I’ll buy you a drink or two for saving me from being shot, but that’s it.”

“Wait, wait! How about this? You’re a God-fearing man, aren’t you? How about you take me to confession after this so I can confess my sins and then you take me as your help and teach me how to live correctly as part of my penance?”

“God doesn’t forgive people who aren’t sorry for their sins.”

“But I do fear Hell and it’s not like an imperfect contrition isn’t forgive in the confessional. Think about it. You don’t want to see a sinner like me go to Hell, do you? I’ll probably do worse things until my evil deeds catch up to me and that’ll be it.”

“…okay, fine.” We go to sit at the bar where people are already drinking and cleaning and reloading their guns. The whole casino goes back to normal while the bodies are being cleaned up. Before they can take some of the bodies, I snatch up some of the belongings on their corpses. “You really have no respect for the dead, do you?”

“People don’t know that the real rewards are found on the dead bodies of their bounties. It’s how I survive. What? Is it something else I have to repent of?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, I’ll just add it to the long list.”

“Don’t take it so lightly. So, I’m assuming you want a fair share of the bounty?”

“Yes! How much are you willing to split? Thirty percent? Twenty-five?”

“You can have it all as far as I care.”

“What?! Are you serious?!”

“Yes. This is a personal bounty for me. As long as Black Jack dies, I’ll be fine, so you can have the whole sixty million.”

“Oh, you are so generous! You truly are a saint sent by God!”

“I’m far from it.”

The Red King orders a red wine and I order the same. He pays for both upfront. He quickly drinks his wine and turns to leave.

“What’s the rush?”

“I don’t like drinking with corpses around me. Besides, the church is closing soon so you need to hurry to confession.”

“Let me enjoy my drink before-hey!”

He pulls me away before I can finish my wine.

“Let’s go.”

“I thought you were supposed to be a gentleman!”

“Saving your soul is part of being a gentleman.”

I grunt in response. I can worry about saving my soul when I’m comfortable with money to waste. Anyways, I can have the whole sixty million dollar reward! I didn’t expect this, and it feels like a dream, but it’s real! Sixty million dollars all for me! This is more than enough for me to do whatever I want for the rest of my life. I’ll have enough to live in a place far away from all this death and treachery up in the North.  It’ll definitely prove my parents wrong.

The Red King takes me to the church he goes to and makes me recite prayers over and over again until he thinks I’m ready for confession. I feel like I’m being belittled by my parents when he talks to me about my mistakes. He goes over the list of sins and I write them down and tell them to the confessor. What is this a therapy session or something? I get people want to not feel guilty for what they did, but this is a bit much. Anyways, after that, I…I feel strange. Maybe it’s just because I confessed everything I did. It feels like a weight fell off me and now I feel light and my eyes seem to see clearer now. I can hardly describe it. The priest tells me to say a set amount of prayers every morning and night while listening to what the Red King has to teach me for a penance. Okay, I guess that’s simple enough especially since the priest tells the Red King what I’m supposed to do so he’s going to bother me about it until we part ways.

This may be annoying to deal with, but I’ve dealt with worse. Besides, it’ll all be worth it in the end.

“Are you ready to go?” I ask the Red King.

“No, I want to stay for adoration.”

“Okay. I guess I’ll sit here with you. What should I be doing?”

“Praying in silence,” the Red King says while kneeling.

“Okay…”

Sitting in here in silence should be easy enough. Kind of boring though. So, God is supposed to be in front of me in that little wafer, huh? That’s neat. It’s more boring than I thought it would be. So boring that I’m falling asleep…