A Journey to Blacksnake Town

Parting Ways

The yellow sand gradually obscured the bright red sunset, and the heat that had accumulated throughout the day dissipating as the sun made its way down. In the distance, a vulture was for a long time hovering under the empty blue sky before angrily flapping its pitch-black wings towards the setting sun.

"Hey! Hey kid! Watcha lookin’ at?" as Clint tied up his horse and walked up behind Mathilda. He followed her gaze but saw nothing except the yellow sands stretching into the distance.

Mathilda came to her senses and said “nothing” as smiled. Then she looked at Clint and said, "Where should we go next?"

"Huh! Of course we’re just gonna press on till we get to Los Pecados where we’ll snuff out Kane’s nest! Then we’ll make arrangements for how he’ll die..."

"Oh-wait! Wait!" Claude interrupted Clint before he could finish speaking.

"I know Kane has done a lot of evil things, but I don't want his life to end."

"We just need to eliminate his power and give him something to remember!"

Dexter sat on Claude's shoulders, crossed his arms, and nodded in agreement.

"Whaddya mean by that? Still wanna go back and be his lackey?" Clint retorted and he lifted Dexter from Claude's shoulders and threw him into the yellow sand nearby. Unexpectedly, the sand swallowed him up instantly, leaving only his crazy-wagging furry tail sticking out.

Mathilda quickly stepped in to grab Dexter’s tail to try to pull him out.

"You’re so unreasonable!"

Claude stomped the ground vigorously, and the flowing yellow sand made Dexter sink a little more. Mathilda with all her might managed to pull Dexter's buttocks partly up out of the sand.

"Same to you!"

Clint stamped his feet likewise on the ground, and Dexter, having been half pulled out, was once again swallowed whole by the yellow sand.

"Enough! You two, stop arguing!" Mathilda screamed. "Dexter’s sinking in the sand! Come and help me!”

Both gave the other a look of contempt, but they had to work together to rescue Dexter from the quicksand. As soon as Dexter was saved, all he wanted was to get his revenge against Clint. However, after having struggled in the sand for so long, he had not the strength left, and so he had to lie in Mathilda's arms and catch his breath.

"Oh...when will you two learn to get along? We’re supposed to be partners!" Complained Mathilda as she sat on the ground, gently brushing away the yellow sand on Dexter's body.

"Who could be his partner?"

"Who could be his partner?"

The two said in unison.

"Oh – looks like you both think the same way. Still think you can’t be partners? Well, it would be better if we caught Kane together. As for how to deal with him, it won't be too late if we discuss that after we catch him, will it?" Mathilda smiled and comforted them, but the two ignored her, silently staring at each other.

The three of them remained silent for a long time.

"I’m gonna kill Kane. That’s for damn sure." Clint said, grinding his teeth as he stared at Claude. Claude turned around and said, "When if you can’t get along, it’s best to go our separate ways. Let's go, Dexter!"

Hearing Claude's call, Dexter immediately jumped out of Mathilda's arms and climbed back up on to Claude's shoulders.

"Wait! Claude!" Mathilda stood up quickly, trying to catch up with Claude as he left.

"Leave him." Clint grabbed her, then continued saying loudly toward Claude's back, "Let this thief go find his father!"

Claude didn't look back. He just raised one arm, extended his middle finger, and disappeared into the night.

"We’d better get going too." Clint turned around and gestured for Mathilda to mount the horse.

"But..." said Mathilda as she climbed on to the horse, still looking at the direction Claude was leaving in.

"Don't think about it too hard. This guy ain’t on the same path as us.”

Clint led the horse and Claude faded away in the darkness from Mathilda.

Black Snake Town

In a place named Black Snake Town, two figures - one tall and one short, dressed in long robes, were leading a horse and following an old man through its narrow streets. Dust puffed up in the air with each step the horse took. Travelers walking the desert mostly dressed in robes woven with thread made of hemp, to resist the wind and sand, as well as the unforgiving heat from the sun.

The old man stopped, turned around and said to the two behind him, "This is the place..."

"Thank you," said the taller figure.

"Eh." The old man nodded slightly. With the aid of his walking stick, he cautiously made his way into the house next door, and promptly shutting it with a haunting creak.

The two removed their hats after parting from the old man, revealing themselves as Mathilda and Clint.

It had been more than a fortnight since they’d gone their separate ways from Claude. During this period, they’d disguised themselves as ordinary sand hunters, traveling through various towns in Agelta whilst inquiring about Kane in the hopes of obtaining some useful information. Along their travels, they came across some information about a “Black Snake Town.”

It was said that a mayor of Black Snake Town, Wood, had formed a band of formidable resistance fighters to challenge Kane. Over the years, he had been holding off the invasion of nearby towns by Kane’s minions, and the oppressed ordinary townsfolk gradually gathered in Black Snake Town in contribution to Wood’s cause against Kane.

On hearing this news, Mathilda and Clint immediately set off for Black Snake Town. While searching for the town, they met an old man who was willing to guide them into the town unimpeded.

Their problem now was finding Wood. In order to save time, Mathilda and Clint split up and searched for clues.

Right when Mathilda was about to ask a guard to see if he knew where Wood was, she sensed a wonderful aroma. She turned back, and found it to be that of cheese.

"Sir, how much is this?" Mathilda asked as she withdrew her purse from her pocket.

"Two Kane gold coins, or twenty Moniyan gold coins."

Mathilda was shocked when she heard this number. In other parts of Agelta, 20 Moniyan coins could buy 10 pieces of cheese.

"For one piece of cheese? Twenty Moniyan Gold Coins! Are you trying to take advantage of me because I’m an outsider?" Mathilda murmured.

"Heh..." The cheese seller looked down contemptuously at Mathilda, "Just because you’re an outsider, I’ll tell you how things are! This is what cheese costs in Black Snake Town. I haven’t sold it at any other price for many years. You can ask around if you don't believe me."

Looking at an infuriated Mathilda, he went on to say, “If we don’t sell at this price, we can’t pay our taxes. If we can’t pay taxes, then we won’t have any money to buy armaments with and we’ll have no business resisting Kane....."

"You……" Before Mathilda could offer a piece of her mind, Clint called

"Mathilda!"

At this moment, Clint returned with a tall man.

"What happened?" Clint asked.

Mathilda turned away, not wanting to answer Clint's question.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Clint, Miss Mathilda. My residents don’t understand the situation. I'm sorry for the trouble caused." The tall man behind Clint stood out and apologized to them.

"So they are Clint and Mathilda?"

"Where did Claude go? I heard he’s a handsome fellow!"

"Yes! I heard they killed Brandi together! That's amazing!"

"You should have just said you were Mathilda. Here! This cheese is for you. Take it! Think of it as my way of apologizing." The owner of the cheese shop learned of Mathilda's identity, and stuffed the cheese into her arms.

In just over a month, the story of Clint, Mathilda, and Claude defeating Brandi had spread all around Los Pecados.

"Oh, by the way, this is Mayor Wood." Clint said to Mathilda as an introduction.

Mathilda then raised her head to see Wood's appearance. He was tall, with a deep scar on his left cheek, and thick eyebrows that seemed disproportioned to his small, squinty eyes, and even though he appeared very humble, his vibe was otherwise uncomfortable.

"Hello, Miss Mathilda. My name is Wood. It’s a pleasure to meet you." Wood shook hands with Mathilda, and then said to Clint: "You must be weary from your long journey. Why don’t you come to my house and I'll give you a heroes’ welcome."

"Okay, let's go, kid." Clint led the horse and left together with Wood side by side.

Mathilda looked at Wood's back and hesitated for a while, but finally caught up with them.

However, covertly planted on a rooftop, a man and a monkey were quietly staring at Wood.

"I never thought my fortune would spread to this place." The man flicked a grape into his mouth and continued, "Finally a little fun. Let's go, Dexter, and see what happens next."

A New ally?

Clint sat down and said to his host "Mayor Wood, we came here to ask you about Kane.".

Mathilda was distracted with a dinozard ornament on Wood's table.

"Actually, there is one thing I would like your help with, and it is also something to do with Kane." Wood sat opposite Clint, took a sip of tea, and continued, "If this succeeds, even if you didn’t kill Kane, you could make him fly into a rage."

"Oh?"

On seeing Clint's interest, Wood put down his teacup, lowered his voice into a whispers of secrecy, and continued: "My spies have brought me some very reliable information: Kane is going to make a deal with Duke Vance of Moniyan . He thought about it a lot, and then bought a large amount of weapons to give away to the Duke as a way of gaining his trust.

"If this transaction can be facilitated, he will be able to open the Moniyan market through Duke Vance, thereby disrupting the internal politics of Moniyan, and he will be able to benefit from that. Their transaction will take place tomorrow. If we can intercept this batch of weapons..."

Interrupting Wood, Clint said "So... Given Duke Vance's temper, if Kane ain’t able to get those weapons for him, the Duke’ll surely feel like he’s being made a fool of, and he’ll definitely wanna get even with Kane!"

"Yes!"

"When should we do it?"

"Tonight."

"So soon?" said Mathilda, putting down the ornament and sitting next to Clint.

"It’s our only choice. Time is running out, but rest assured, I have made the proper arrangements. Even if I hadn’t met you two today, I would have bitten the bullet and gone ahead with the plan. Well, if you two can join in, then my odds of success will be much greater."

"But we only just met you today. How could we trust you so easily?" Mathilda looked at Wood suspiciously.

"Since Miss Mathilda cannot trust me, there’s nothing we can do...this is our best chance to hit Kane . If we let it slip, who knows when the next opportunity will arise..."

"But……"

"Alright. Say no more. I’m in" Clint interrupted Mathilda, stood up and extended his right hand to Wood.

Wood reciprocated with Clint, "Welcome aboard, Mr. Clint!" He paused and looked quizzingly at Mathilda, "So, Miss Mathilda..."

"Since Clint is willing to trust you, let's take a look together. I only hope you won’t let us down." Mathilda shook her head and looked at Clint helplessly. Clint let go of Wood's hand and patted Mathilda on the shoulder.

"OK! So please come over and allow me to explain to you the route tonight..." As Wood spoke, he led the two to his study, showed them the map, and explained the plan in detail.

Two hours later.

"That's it. How about it? Have you both remembered everything?" Wood asked.

Mathilda nodded: "Yes."

But Clint was not as confident as Mathilda. He put his hand on the table and sighed deeply: "I think...so...I’ll be alright, I can adapt to the circumstances."

"Well, I have prepared dinner for the two of you. We will set off again once it gets completely dark." Wood sorted the papers on his desk as he spoke.

"Okay kid, let's go to dinner!"

The two left the study one after the other. Unexpectedly, at this moment, a figure appeared beside Wood.

They only heard Wood say to him: "Good job. Here’s your reward."

"Thank you, Mr. Mayor."

He caught the money bag Wood threw to him, and as he was about to leave, a dagger suddenly appeared in Wood's hand. A silver light flashed, and the figure fell to the ground with a thud. The face that appeared was the old man who had brought Mathilda and Clint to Black Snake Town. His eyes trembled violently, as if they were about to explode from their sockets before they slipped into a lifeless gaze.

And all this was witnessed by Claude, who was watching on a rooftop not far away.

"Hey, that idiot Clint is in trouble..." Claude threw Dexter on to his shoulder, "Let's go, Dexter, It's our turn to play!"

Nothing Left

The night darkness fell. Mathilda and Clint followed Wood and his men as planned into the camp where Kane was transporting the weapons.

The defense of the transport team was much slacker than they thought it would be. The vast majority of the soldiers were lying on the ground asleep.

"How did these lazy bums survive Kane?" Clint kicked a soldier sleeping on the ground, but instead of waking up, he rolled over, changed his posture, and continued to be in a dreaming state.

"Hush—" Mathilda gave Clint a look and motioned for him to be careful.

Wood already knew the terrain of this area and the patrol routine of the transport team well. Under his command, they did not alert any soldiers before arriving at the warehouse where the arms were stored.

"This is it? That was a lot easier than I thought it’d be!" Clint took a big step and opened the tent of the warehouse with a ‘swish’. However, contrary to his expectations, there was nothing inside the warehouse. As he stood there puzzled, all the soldiers in the camp stood up in unison without a trace of sleepiness on their faces. They stood beside Wood, surrounding Clint and Mathilda in tight formation.

"Hahahaha..." The humility on Wood's face vanished and was replaced by an evil and hideous look.

"You really are a couple of hopeless idiots."

"Wood! What’s this about? Weren’t you goin’ to help us fight Kane?” Clint, who had sensed that there was a problem, immediately took out his gun and shielded Mathilda behind him. Mathilda also took out her staff, and blue light spots surrounded her body intensely, guarding her.

"You idiots really think you’ve got what it takes to fight the great Godfather?" Wood's voice suddenly rose, "I’ll take care of you for him, that's more than enough!"

"I just knew there was something wrong about you..." Mathilda said, "So, Black Snake Town is also under Kane's control?"

"So what? The Godfather anticipated early on that someone would hatch a plot. So he sent me first to find Black Snake Town. This bunch of fools who thought they were all about justice swallowed one piece of bait after another. They paid us money and worked hard for us. They really helped us a lot."

Wood snorted, "But, knowing this now is too late for you. From the moment you stepped into my territory, you became two corpses."

"You dirty rotten..." Clint said through gritted teeth.

"Go." As soon as Wood's words fell, his men launched a fierce attack on Mathilda and Clint. Mathilda flew up into the wind and burst into the enemy ranks. The blue spots of light kept passing through the air like meteors, knocking down all the enemies they touched. Clint shuttled through the rain of bullets. With his godlike marksmanship, every shot he took hit an enemy squarely between the eyes. Mathilda, with her dexterity, wouldn’t allow any soldier to close in on Clint as she divinely passed through the enemy formation to support him..

As valiant their efforts were, they realized that they were vastly outnumbered and out-gunned.

Wood triumphantly came up to the two of them and said brazenly: "Soon enough you will be hanged by the Godfather in the desert."

"Wait! Boss! Bad news! The weapons we transported are gone! " Right there during Wood’s moment of triumph, a soldier rushed out in front of Wood and prevented him from moving.

"Fool, I transported the weapons to someplace else." Wood disagreed.

"No! The... the place where the arms were put afterward has also been cleared out!" The soldier explained in a panic, and what he said shocked everyone present.

"What did you say?!" Wood grabbed the soldier by the collar and threw him to the ground harshly. He rushed to the other side of the barracks, leaving the other soldiers to guard the fallen Mathilda and Clint.

After a while, Wood rushed back with red eyes. He punched Clint in the face and in a low voice, like a desperate, hungry wolf said,

"Where did Claude go?"

"Wh…what?"

"Don't play stupid!" Wood looked crazy: "It must have been Claude who did this! Tell me, where did Claude go?"

Clint didn't know what had happened, but his instincts told him that it might have been Claude. Afterwards, Wood placed the two in a cell, and prepared himself to give Kane an explanation.

In Wood’s wishful thinking, he originally wanted to take this opportunity to hand over the weapons along with Clint and the others to get a reward from Kane. However, the sudden theft of the weapons had disrupted his plan.

"Who let you decide things for yourself!" Kane slammed the vase by his side on to Wood's head, and blood gushed from Wood’s open wounds.

"It doesn't matter, at least Clint and Mathilda are still in my hands."

"If you can't get this batch of weapons back, I’ll have you fed to the dinozards!" Kane stomped on Wood's stomach again and blood spurted from his mouth.

"Listen to me, Godfather, as long as they’re still there, I can make up for my mistake."

"Get the hell out!" A bloodied Wood was savagely kicked out of the room by Kane like a football.

"It's okay, the night is still young. Everything... there’s still time... still time...still time...still time..."

But when Wood returned to the cell, there were only two lone chains left in front of him. Clint and Mathilda had long since disappeared...

Reunion

"Huh...We’ve been running for a long time. It should be safe now. Let's take a break here." Claude sat down leaning on a huge rock.

"You. Were you following us all the whole time?" Clint took a breath and sat down.

"Yeah, Claude! Why are you back again?" Mathilda sat between the two of them, for fear that they would start quarreling again.

"Heroes should only take to the stage at the critical moment!" Claude not answering her question directly. He took out a flask from his breast pocket, handed it to Mathilda and said, "You must be thirsty. Drink."

Mathilda took the water, took a big gulp, and handed it to Clint.

"I’m not drinking this guy's water!" Clint shook his hand with a look of disdain.

"Then let him continue to be a hero!" Claude took back his flask and continued, "Don't forget, if it wasn’t for me, you’d be dead by now!"

"I didn't need you to save me, I coulda killed Wood myself!"

"You!"

Mathilda knew that they would be quarrelling again if things went on like this, so she interrupted: "Hey, Claude, did you steal the weapons too?"

"Yes!" Claude replied, "Who would have thought that the hero would be so stupid that he couldn't see what Wood was really all about."

"It’s lucky I arrived in time. Dad is bound to be overwhelmed by the theft of the weapons. Duke Vance will not look kindly upon him." As Claude spoke sighing slightly.

Mathilda lowered her head and pondered for a while, and then she replied: "But the people of Black Snake Town were still deceived by Wood. They gathered here because they obviously wanted to resist Kane, but they were used by Wood instead. I want to tell them the truth."

"D’ya think they’ll believe you?" Clint asked.

Mathilda replied firmly: "Whatever happens, I have to try!"

Claude stood up, patted the dust off his body, and then pulled up Mathilda who was sitting on the ground: "Since Mathilda has said it...that’s what we’ll do! We’re going back to Black Snake Town!"

A New Dawn

The three returned to Black Snake Town and gathered all the residents in the town square. They had something to say.

"...That's how it is. Wood was deceiving all of you the whole time. He used your hatred towards Kane to make you willing to pay high taxes, and made you contribute money and effort, but in the end, all the benefits you had were taken by them." Mathilda informed all the residents of what happened that day, and awaited their response.

The people whispered among themselves.

"I didn't expect Mayor Wood to be that kind of a person!"

"I don’t believe it! I don’t believe it!"

"But they are the heroes who defeated Brandi. What they said can’t be wrong..."

"Don’t forget! Mayor Wood is the one who has been with us for so many years. Don't believe these strangers so easily..."

"..."

Mathilda saw that the people weren’t believing her, so she continued: "I understand everyone’s feelings towards Wood. How’s this? Wood will definitely follow our tracks to come and find us soon. You might as well hide up and listen to what Wood has to say, then you can decide whether or not to believe us, okay?"

The people accepted Mathilda’s proposal, and Claude stood up again at this time. He took them to a small warehouse and distributed the weapons stolen from Wood: "You take these for now. Maybe they’ll come in handy in a while."

The moon moved inconspicuously through the night sky, and under its silvery white moonlight, Wood led his underlings to the gate of Black Snake Town, where Mathilda, Clint, and Claude had been waiting for a long time.

"I didn’t think you’d have the guts to come back." Wood saw the three of them leaning at the city gate without a care. He looked at Claude, his tone became even more gloomy.

"So it’s you... Claude... hand over my weapons!"

"Weapons? What weapons? How could the mayor of Black Snake Town be smuggling weapons!" Claude looked at Wood and said innocently. Dexter, sitting on Claude’s shoulder, spread his hands, as if to say he didn't know what had happened either.

"Ah, Mayor Wood, why are you covered in blood! Did someone beat you up? I will definitely help you teach that guy a lesson! He doesn’t know who he’s messing with!" Claude continued to crack jokes, causing Mathilda to almost laugh.

"Don't play stupid! The reason I’m all beat up is all because of you!" Wood said in a voice that almost roared, "I will catch you all and hand you over to the Godfather! This is the only way…the only way I can make up for my errors!"

"Did you hear that? He said he wants to hand us over to Kane!" Claude repeated Wood's words aloud to the empty space behind him.

Behind the three of them, hundreds of people from Black Snake Town, armed with weapons, stood up. Only now did they completely believe that the mayor they had trusted for so many years was Kane's lackey.

Seeing that the situation was not in his favor, Wood tried to escape, but was caught by Mathilda, who struck him instantaneously, "You can't run away, Mayor Wood!"

The others from Black Snake Town followed Claude and Clint and fought Wood's men. The anger of the people transformed into a powerful fighting force, and all of Wood's men were defeated and captured.

Wood was brought to the execution ground, with the townsfolk railing him the whole way, until finally, when dawn came, he met the end of his life.

When everything was over, the townsfolk gathered together to celebrate their victory over the traitorous Wood. But this brought on a new problem. Black Snake Town was now outside of Kane’s control and in desperate need of a new mayor. Mathilda, Clint, and Claude were enthusiastically surrounded by the people, who hoped they could stay and take charge of the overall situation.

However, no one wanted to stay and take on this much needed task.

"Mr. Clint! You must stay!"

"I can't!" Obviously, Clint was still brooding about what had happened to him.

"..."

While everyone was arguing, Claude snatched Clint's money bag as he walked and then slipped out of the crowd.

"Clint, I'll leave this hot potato with you!"

Together with Dexter, he turned into the back yard of Wood's house, got on the horse Clint had left here, and then hummed a little tune as he rode off happily towards the east.

When Clint discovered what Claude had done, Claude had already gone far away.

"What--! Dammit! This guy Claude, when I see him next time, I’m gonna tear him to pieces!"

In the end, it was Mathilda who temporarily took over as mayor, and Clint, riding a donkey he borrowed, driven on the path to find Claude. The three had parted ways again, but Mathilda knew that one day they would meet again.