After rescuing Jacob Branson, Max tried to get out of the town with Sheriff Samuel Jones at the front.And as they were moving toward the northern dock on the Kansas River, John Brown and his men, who had come up from the south, arrived in Wyandotte.Instead of charging in at once, John Brown gave his son Owen an order.“Go take a look at the situation in town and report back.”“Yes, sir.”With around sixty Jayhawkers under him, John Brown dug in south of the town and waited for news. Some men scouted the surrounding area just in case.Judging by how quiet it is, they may have failed—or maybe they haven’t even tried yet.Even if they’d arrived, he saw no way that short window had been enough for the Oriental sheriff to accomplish anything. Not everyone thought that way, of course.Especially not someone who’d been watching Max in Lawrence all this time.“If Sheriff Max has already rescued Jacob Branson, what will you do?”Samuel Newitt Wood, who had joined the force on Lane’s orders, asked John Brown.In the original history, he was the man who led the rescue of Jacob Branson.“Even if he has, we still have work to do. As long as the slave power’s errand boys are alive, they have to be dealt with.”“You mean Sheriff Jones?”The rescue was important, but what truly enraged John Brown was the sheriff who stood in for the defenders of slavery.Jones, who blocked the road toward making Kansas a free state, was a target that had to be eliminated.Seeing John Brown’s resolute expression, Wood asked nothing further.A little later, Owen returned with his brothers and delivered his report.“Looks like the Oriental succeeded in the rescue.”“Already?”People gasped, and John Brown’s eyes widened.“And the sheriff?”“Well, he’s taking Sheriff Samuel Jones as a hostage and leaving town.”Short exclamations rose from the men nearby.“Where are they heading now?”“They’re moving toward the northern dock.”“Using the boat?”Most of the ferry owners on the Kansas River were pro-slavery men from Missouri. With their capital, they had dominated the river traffic since before Kansas became a territory.Yet somehow, the Oriental had found a way to use the boats.Seems I underestimated him after all.Now he could see why there were rumors about the sheriff of Lawrence, and why Lane rated him so highly.In any case, with Jacob rescued and Samuel Jones taken hostage, there was no reason to linger here.John Brown had to decide.Just then,the scouts who had gone out around them came running back, shouting.“Border Ruffians from Missouri are closing in!”“They’ve got the whole area surrounded!”John Brown’s face twisted.He had sixty men with him.Riding north from the south, they couldn’t help but be seen. That had given the Border Ruffians converging on Wyandotte the chance to plan.“How many of them?”“At least three hundred, from the looks of it!”John Brown’s eyebrow twitched. He pointed in one direction and spoke.“We’ll break west and head for Lawrence.”“You can’t do that.”The inn’s Bouncer Colin, who’d been silent until now, stepped up.Everyone’s puzzled eyes went to him.“You really think they won’t know where we’re going? If we head west or south, we’ll get wiped out under a rain of bullets.”“But we can’t go east with Missouri right in front of our noses.”At John Brown’s words, Bouncer Colin tilted his head toward another side and spoke.“We’ve still got the north.”“The north?”The Kansas River blocked that way, and beyond that, they’d be dragging enemies right to their own men as they tried to escape.John Brown shook his head hard.“That’s just asking to die with them.”“Die? No, it’s the only way. Once we join up, our numbers go up too. And above all, that Oriental has the ability to deal with this.”In that urgent moment, what flashed through Bouncer Colin’s mind was Max’s overwhelming combat ability.He’ll figure something out somehow.It was a vague expectation, but in the current situation, it was the only thing they had to lean on.And there wasn’t time to weigh options. As the Border Ruffians tightened the noose, they could already hear hoofbeats and the men’s shouts.“Jayhawkers!”“Kill the slave-abolition bastards!”BANG!The gunshot made John Brown decide faster.Leaving the Oriental’s abilities aside, combining their forces would obviously be an advantage.And if they used a ferry to cross the river, they could shake off pursuit.John Brown chose to follow Colin’s suggestion.“We’ll circle around the town and head north!”As the horses kicked up dust, a small sigh slipped from Colin’s mouth.He’d spoken up, but he had no idea how Max would react.Given his nature, if you dragged enemies right to him, he would absolutely not take it well. Colin’s chest was already tightening.He wouldn’t just pretend he doesn’t know us… right?Colin fingered the two bullets in his pocket, the ones with “MJ” carved into their noses. ****On the way to the dock, the sound of gunfire from beyond the town of Wyandotte froze Max and his men in their tracks.While everyone’s attention was drawn that way, Max spoke with a grim face.“Fitch, keep an eye on the situation from the rear. Everyone else ignores it and heads for the dock.”If John Brown had clashed with a small number of men still in the town, there should be no problem.The bigger problem was the Border Ruffians crossing over from Missouri.They were the reason Max had rushed the operation in the first place.And his bad feeling had not missed the mark.Just as they reached the dock, Fitch and her squad came running to report.The Jayhawkers were being driven this way by the Border Ruffians.“Is he trying to get us all killed?”Max’s face twisted in a grimace. Then he looked at Jones, who was grinning to himself.Will a hostage like him even matter to the Border Ruffians?They might actually prefer to see Jones dead.Unlike Max, Samuel Jones was a man legally appointed by the governor. If he died, it would be like handing the pro-slavery camp the knife by the handle.They might even kill him on purpose.And even if they didn’t, John Brown, whom they would soon meet, was more than capable of killing Jones himself.Max leaned toward the smiling Jones and whispered in his ear.“I’ll let you go. Run.”“...... What?”Jones’s eyes shook as he stared at Max.“Pass a message along from our legitimately appointed sheriff, will you?”“What?”“Don’t make me say it twice. Put him on a horse and send him back.”The squad members tilted their heads but had no choice except to follow orders and hand Jones a horse.Even Samuel Jones himself growled in confusion.“What the hell are you thinking?”“Think hard about who really wants you dead. Then you run in the opposite direction.”SMACK.WHINNY!Max slapped the horse’s rump, and it neighed and bolted.Mulling over Max’s words, Jones kept glancing back, half expecting a bullet in his back at any moment.“Jacob Branson and Eighth Squad will cross the river in the flatboat and stand by on the opposite bank. Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Squads board the steamboat. Everyone else holds a line and waits for our men.”Following Max’s orders, the squads moved like a single organism.There were two kinds of boats at the docks.One was the steamboat ferry; the other was the flatboat used for crossing the river.Stretched between the two banks, a thick rope pulled the flatboat that carried men and horses. It was flat and broad, and the dock that served it was low.Once Jacob Branson and his squad had crossed and the flatboat was on its way back, the ground began to rumble with hoofbeats.Max took out his spyglass and checked the lead rider.Deep-set, fierce eyes and a big, hard mouth.It was John Brown, the symbolic figure of slave emancipation.So this is how we meet.Meeting a historical figure was always exciting. But the sight of him dragging a line of enemies behind him made Max’s brow crease all on its own.Does he have a brain or not?Then, suddenly, he caught a familiar face, half-visible behind John Brown.The inn’s Bouncer Colin.The thought—no, the certainty—came at once that this stupid plan had originated with Bouncer Colin.Racing toward the dock, Colin could see the line of men drawn up in formation.And at the center of it, he saw Max, looking back at him with a bitter half-smile for some reason.Feeling like a thief with guilty feet, he ground his lips between his teeth.Then Max shouted.“Everyone, open fire!”Shit, he’s not going to shoot us, is he?As Colin’s face went white—BANG! BANG!The muzzles of Max’s men on the steamboat and on land spat flame.The bullets arced past John Brown and Colin’s line and tore into the Border Ruffians.WHINNY!“Gah!”Horses hit by bullets collapsed, and their riders, the Border Ruffians, went tumbling headfirst into the dirt.“Enemy reinforcements!”“Did they lure us in?”“Everyone, slow down!”Following their leader’s orders, the Border Ruffians ground to a halt.What the hell is going on…Seeing the Jayhawkers holding the dock, the leader went pale like a man who had walked right into a trap.On top of that, the fact that he couldn’t get a clear read on the enemy’s numbers only made his anxiety worse.Meanwhile, John Brown, who had linked up with Max, had no time for introductions.Owen had been shot.Max gave orders to his men.“Put all the wounded on the steamboat.”“Yes, sir!”After assigning tasks to the other squads, Max spoke to John Brown.“Leave the horses. Twenty men on the flatboat, the rest on the steamboat.”“Ah… understood.”John Brown nodded awkwardly.He’d barged in late and gotten in the way of an already successful operation. If he felt no embarrassment or guilt, he wouldn’t be human.On top of that, seeing how precisely Max placed his orders and how sharply his men moved made him look back on himself.Following Max’s instructions, the men at the dock split up between the flatboat and the steamboat.As the boats pulled away, the Border Ruffians charged in, but shots from the decks kept them from getting close.In the end, they chose to turn back toward the town of Wyandotte.Once the crisis had passed, John Brown went to see Owen, who was groaning with a gunshot wound in his shoulder. His brothers were gathered around him, faces full of grief.With a heavy heart, John Brown approached Max.“Is it far to the town?”“We’ll disembark on the way and switch back to horses.”“Hmm.”Watching his expression, Max asked,“You seem uneasy.”“My mind’s not at ease enough to exchange proper greetings with you. If we don’t treat that gunshot soon, it will only get worse.”Max put strength into his voice.“There could have been a lot more casualties. If he’d died after a successful operation, that would have been a damn unjust way to go, don’t you think?”John Brown’s face flushed red.“I’m aware my judgment was wrong. I apologize for causing trouble to you and your men.”Maybe because he was a historical figure, the weight behind his apology felt different.Finding himself intrigued, Max opened his mouth.“We’ll be able to do emergency treatment before we reach ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ town.”“Oh?”Max looked back and called out,“Dudley. How long are you going to just prepare?”“I—I’m coming!”Dudley suddenly popped out from somewhere, wearing a gray apron. Hugging his bag to his chest, he ran to Owen.John Brown asked in surprise,“You have a field doctor in your unit as well?”“You need that to be a proper organization, don’t you?”He said it like it was obvious, but truthfully, Max was worried about Dudley’s actual skill.Owen and his brothers felt the same. The gaunt, somewhat dopey-looking Dudley was not someone they found easy to trust.“Maybe… it’d be better to wait and have another doctor in Lawrence treat him.”“S-still, it’s best to at least do emergency care first.”Max and John Brown watched Dudley work.As he tore the clothes and wiped around the wound with alcohol, Max asked casually,“Do we have to cut the arm off?”“!”Owen jolted and shuddered.After studying the wound closely, Dudley thankfully shook his head.“I don’t think we’ll have to amputate. Considering the range, the bullet didn’t sink in that deep, and from the angle, it looks like it hit muscle tissue rather than bone. We have to get it out before it goes in deeper, so I’ll give him a shot of morphine first.”Dudley’s voice suddenly sounded colder. If anything, he seemed calmer.Please don’t tell me he’s one of those people who go crazy when they see blood…The “just emergency care” Dudley had mentioned didn’t stop there.Either way, as long as the result is good, he’s our field doctor for sure.Smiling, Max turned his back on Dudley.Then his eyes began searching busily for something.And at last—You’ve got to be kidding me.He spotted Colin hiding in a corner of the boat.Max walked toward him with a hard expression.

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