Chapter 2

In Valentine, in a small saloon.

A man in his 40s sat eating his oatmeal as usual, though it seemed a bit thicker than usual today. After finishing his meal, he got up and approached the bartender, a friend of his who had seen him come and go from his establishment countless times.

"How much do I owe you, you old bastard?"

The bartender turned around to see his old friend.

"You owe me three dollars, Scott," he replied.

Scott's eyes widened in shock as if he had just heard the news that his wife had been cheating on him for over two years, not as if it were a lie.

"What do you mean three? Good God, Martin, are you half-Jewish or something? You keep raising the prices all the time."

Martin, observing the performance of this shameless old man, raised his voice a bit.

"You know damn well it's been three dollars for 5 years, and don't bother me, you idiot."

Scott reluctantly took out 3 dollars from his pocket and slammed them onto the table, before turning on his heel and heading towards the exit without even giving Martin a second glance, fearing that this damn greedy man would dare to suddenly raise the price.

"Keep the change," Scott said as he pushed the door.

"See you tomorrow, you bastard," Martin shouted after him.

"Not if I see you first, you miserable sack of bones," Scott shouted back with a slight smile.

After leaving the saloon, Scott leaned on the railing for a few seconds before pulling out a cigarette, putting it in his mouth, and lighting it. Just then, he heard a voice calling out to him.

"Hey Scott, how have you been?"

Scott turned his head slightly towards the familiar voice. "What do you want, drunk? I won't give you another dollar to satisfy your thirst for alcohol."

The man, now recognized as the 'drunk', smiled slightly, embarrassed, before responding.

"Come on, Scott, this time I'll pay you back, buddy. I promise you in the name of Quelonia."

Scott frowned, emphasizing his already wrinkled face. He clenched the cigarette between his teeth as he replied.

"Get out of here before I shove Quelonia up your ass."

The "drunk" was a bit annoyed to hear this old Greenhorn's response.

"Damn stingy bastard, you won't even give a penny to the needy. I hope a horse r***s you once you're dead."

Scott, hearing the unimaginative insults from this 'drunk', took the cigarette out of his mouth before throwing it at the man while yelling.

"Get out of here, you damn drunk, before I fill you with holes."

After watching the drunkard run off, cursing at him, Scott took a small breath as he was thinking about the insult directed at him earlier. After all, if he was already dead, he wouldn't feel it if a horse violated him; at most, it would be considered desecration of his corpse.

Shaking his head slightly to clear his mind of the drunken nonsense, he fixed his gaze on a seemingly young man, dressed in strange clothes, entering the town.

Raising an eyebrow at the somewhat odd clothes of the young man, he looked around, realizing that some other people had also noticed this young man.

After contemplating for a moment, he refrained from approaching the young man despite his curiosity about his strange clothes.

Seeing that he was quite clean, and his clothes looked rather good, he could be from a wealthy family despite the lack of any protector or servant. Getting involved with someone from a wealthy family could lead to serious consequences, especially since he had a family to consider.

However, a merchant, clearly bolder than the others, approached the young man with a smile partially filled with teeth, clearly missing some. Whether he removed them himself, or it was the result of a fight, is unknown.

The merchant quickly approached the young man before starting to speak.

"Hello, young man! Welcome to the town of Valentine, the best town in all of New Hanover and Ambarino. I'm John, a great merchant who travels around the world. Whatever you need, I'll have it."

The merchant finished speaking before extending a hand in greeting to the young man.

The young man, somewhat surprised by the sudden conversation from the slightly overweight man named John, instinctively raised his hand to return the man's greeting.

"I'm Alex," Alex replied briefly.

John's smile widened a bit before he swept Alex up and down with his eyes.

The young man certainly wore some peculiar clothes. He wore what seemed like a black shirt, with a small 'CJ' symbol on the left side of the chest. Additionally, he wore white 'pants' made of a fabric he didn't recognize, along with black 'shoes' full of small holes with text that said 'Croacs', equally odd.

Although he didn't recognize the fabrics or shoes the young man had, he assumed they were expensive. Considering the fact that he had never seen anything similar even as a merchant, this strengthened the idea that this young man belonged to a wealthy family.

Thinking about this, the old merchant couldn't help but get a little excited, moving his large belly a bit, creating small ripples in it. It seemed like he could already see the dollars in his hands that he would suck out of this young man.

Putting on the best smile he could, he tried to persuade the young man, ignoring the fact that his toothless smile wasn't exactly captivating.

"I see you're not from around here, young man. You can easily get lost in this big town. Let me guide you."

The merchant boldly declared that this was a big town, even though you could walk through it entirely in a few minutes and see it all if you stepped a few meters outside the town.

Scott, still leaning on the railing, watched all this "spectacle" unfold.

After seeing that the young man was about to be deceived and swindled out of all his money, he let out his second sigh of the day before pushing away from the railing and walking calmly towards the duo of 'actors'.

Although he initially didn't want to associate with this young man because of his possible background, he had seen this fat man swindle several people in this town. Seeing that the sheriff wasn't doing anything, he decided to bother this small-time scammer a bit.

After helping the young man, he might even get something in return thanks to his 'great kindness'. Thinking about this, he quickened his pace until he was a meter away from the two men.

Watching the fat man continue babbling all sorts of nonsense, Scott quickly interrupted his little chatter.

"Hey folk"