If You're Going to Sell Yourself, Sell It to Me - Side Story 10

Once the boss declared surrender, the subordinates were quickly subdued.

Fortunately, the situation was resolved fast, so aside from the area around the broken vent, the passenger compartments suffered no major damage.

Still, it would take a full day to repair the ruined tracks, so they had to remain there.

After dawn, while the conductor and mechanics worked on fixing the tracks, Locke and his party personally interrogated the gang leader.

There was a lot of information they needed to extract from them.

“So there are five gangs in the vicinity?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

The gang leader, who introduced himself as Huxler, answered with a mild expression.

He said he had once served in the military and had seen Locke from afar.

It was unclear why he looked so frightened while recalling those days.

Seeing this, Georgiana tilted her head in confusion—why would he be scared of someone who had been on the same side?

Henry, noticing this, burst out laughing. “When you were thought to have died, Lady Leona, Lord Locke went absolutely berserk and tore through the battlefield. Back then, even our own troops were afraid of the Vice President.”

“He was that scary?”

To Georgiana, who had only ever known Locke to be polite and gentle, it was hard to imagine such a rampage.

“Scary doesn’t even cover it. And to top it off, he always carried around a cat doll with that face of his, so everyone said Lord Locke was a cat-god worshipper and avoided him.”

Knowing the true identity of that cat doll, Georgiana barely managed to suppress her laughter for the sake of Locke’s dignity.

The doll Locke had supposedly worshipped was now safely displayed in the cabinet of their bedroom.

“Ahem. Let’s stop with that story. Are you sure the other gangs have the same amount of gunpowder as you?” Locke cleared his throat to shift the mood.

“Yes. Since everyone’s equally matched, we’re all avoiding full-blown conflict. If one side were stronger, the hierarchy would’ve been sorted out by now.”

At Huxler’s words, everyone nodded.

“Then lead us to the nearest gang base.”

“What?”

Huxler widened his eyes.

Seeing such a fierce-looking man make that expression, Georgiana had to stifle another laugh.

“It was unfavorable for us since we were trying to retake the train, but going against the ones in their home base won’t be so easy.”

At Huxler’s firm shake of the head, Anthony stepped in to answer.

“We’re not here to fight.”

“T-then what?”

“We’re here to negotiate. We can’t keep letting the trains be stopped like this.”

“Well, I’m a special case, but those guys… you won’t be able to reason with them.”

Huxler boasted that he was the smartest of the bunch around here.

“There’s got to be a reason they turned to gangs, right?”

“That’s just because there’s nothing to do and no way to make a living.”

Huxler let out a deep sigh.

Strictly speaking, they were criminal groups, but most of the gangs were made up of people who turned to minor crime out of necessity rather than being truly vicious.

Most of Huxler’s men were like that too.

“Exactly. We want to give them that ‘something to do.’”

“…Huh?”

At Anthony’s words, Huxler and his men widened their eyes.

Instead of being arrested, they were being offered work?

“If they go to the police, they’ll just be released and do this all over again, right? Then it’s better to give them a chance now and help them change. After this first train trip, it’s clear we need quite a few people to protect and maintain the tracks. We’d like to give them that job—what do you think?”

“Y-you’re serious? If we can work legally, we’d welcome it. We’d be able to face our families again.”

In truth, the proposal came from Locke and Georgiana.

They had stayed up all night discussing it.

Treating the gangs as mere criminals was only a temporary solution.

Since the railroad would be a constant source of trouble as long as the tracks were vulnerable, they agreed it would be better to both eliminate the cause and assign the people to guard the railway instead.

Anthony, being most familiar with life in the West, happily accepted and decided to offer them the jobs.

“So take the lead. And before we negotiate, you’ll go in first.”

“A lot of those guys don’t like me…”

“Then I’ll make you the manager.”

Seeing Huxler trying to weasel out, Anthony promised to make him the representative to oversee them all.

At that, Huxler’s eyes sparkled with exaggerated enthusiasm.

“L-let’s go right now. We should start with the Jerome gang. He’s the second smartest after me, so he’ll be easiest to talk to. I’ll do what I can to persuade the others, too. If they don’t want to get shot, they’ll listen.”

As Huxler and his men eagerly took the lead, Georgiana and Locke exchanged quiet glances, silently agreeing that the New World would need even more job creation efforts going forward.

***

“You sent me to the West to get some rest, and yet you put my granddaughter in danger again.”

Angus clicked his tongue exaggeratedly as he looked at Locke reporting back after the trip.

Then he held out the newspaper he had been reading.

On the front page was an article about how most of the Western gangs had surrendered and were now employed.

The article was full of praise for the Vice President and his wife for resolving the issue, but upon learning that it all started with gangs trying to attack the train, Angus wore a disgruntled expression.

Of course, he knew better than anyone how capable Locke was, so he wasn’t too worried.

He was just concerned because his granddaughter had been looking more fatigued lately.

“How’s Leona?”

“She’s resting.”

“It’ll take some time to recover from the travel. She seemed quite run-down even before the trip. How about calling a physician?”

He was cautious, not wanting to seem meddlesome, but the sight of his increasingly sleepy and tired granddaughter always worried him.

“I’ve already made an appointment for tomorrow. She’ll be examined in the morning.”

“Good. That was wise. Work is important, but above all, you must take care of your family.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“By the way, I saw you submitted an agenda for discussion as soon as you returned…”

Angus nodded as he listened to Locke’s proposal regarding job creation.

***

The next afternoon, while Angus was relaxing at the estate with no appointments, a long-awaited visitor arrived.

“Grandfather.”

“Leona, come in.”

Angus set aside the book he had been reading and welcomed Georgiana.

His lovely granddaughter had her blonde hair tied high like his daughter once did, making her look all the more like her mother at that age.

But in the sunlight pouring through the window frame, her face still looked tired.

He looked at her with concern and asked, “Did the examination go well? What did the physician say?”

“You already knew?”

“Of course. Locke told me yesterday.”

At Angus’s reply, Georgiana fidgeted with her fingers a little nervously.

“Grandfather, I have something to tell you.”

Seeing her awkward expression, Angus furrowed his brow.

“Why? Is something wrong? Are you ill?”

“No.”

She shook her head and smiled.

“Actually… it’s not that…”

After a moment of hesitation, she took a deep breath and began to speak slowly.

“I… I’m going to be a mother.”

At her words, Angus’s mouth fell open and he was at a loss for words.

He stayed frozen with the same expression for several seconds before finally speaking.

“What did you say? Did you just say you’re going to be a mother?”

She nodded shyly. “It’s still early, so I was hesitant to say anything… but I wanted to tell you first, Grandfather.”

Angus jumped up from his seat. His face was filled with joy and elation.

“I’m going to be a great-grandfather? Is that true?”

Georgiana nodded again with a bashful smile. Angus laughed heartily and opened his arms wide.

“This is truly something to celebrate, dear. I can’t believe this day has come!”

He was so moved by the news that his eyes welled with tears.

Seeing his overwhelming reaction, Georgiana beamed, glad she had told him.

Once the initial surprise faded, Angus smiled warmly and gently patted her shoulder.

“So that’s why you’ve been so tired and sleeping more lately. It was because you’re expecting.”

“Yes. I didn’t even realize it myself at first, and I was worried something might be wrong.”

Even now, speaking with her grandfather, Georgiana still found it hard to believe. Though she wore a fairly thick dress, her belly was still flat, and it was strange to think that a baby was growing there.

Angus wrapped her in a tight hug and said, “Don’t worry about anything else from now on. Just stay healthy. Whether it’s a boy or a girl, if it’s your and Locke’s child, they’ll be absolutely lovely.”

He smiled contentedly, imagining children running around the garden.

“Oh, by the way, does Locke not know yet? I wouldn’t think he’d let you come here alone if he did.”

At that, Georgiana gave a small nod. “I’m planning to tell him when he comes home this evening.”

“Good. He’ll be over the moon when he hears. If he doesn’t faint from joy, that’ll be the real miracle.”

***

That night.

Just as Angus had predicted, Locke looked as though he might faint upon hearing the news of the pregnancy.

“I—I—I’m going to be a father?”

He clutched his head with both hands and paced around the room in disbelief, torn between joy and panic.

Then, after pacing back and forth for a while, he suddenly stopped and turned to her.

“What—what should I do first? Should I teach swordsmanship? Or shooting? Even if it’s a girl, hunting’s probably a good skill, right?”

Watching Locke leap so far ahead, as if the baby had already been born, Georgiana could only shake her head with a laugh.