A Red Dead Redemption Story

Chapter 110: Remnants of the Old Era (You can skip if you want to subscribe)
After finishing work, Arthur wandered the streets of Rhodes Town.

When he walked to one of the small parks surrounded by fences, a large clock placed in the middle successfully attracted Arthur's attention.

Although Arthur has seen this clock when passing by many times, but at this time there are two drunk men who seem to have drunk too much, standing in front of this clock, one of them He still had a gun in his hand, and he was gesturing with it at the clock unsteadily.

Arthur didn't know if it was because he recalled what Malloy had said to him.

He'd told Arthur that if anyone ever hit a church bell with a gun again, he'd count it as a hang.

Arthur looked at the children who were still playing behind the big clock. He finally put on his police badge, came to the two drunkards, and snatched the gun from the man holding the gun. Finally, he said:

"Bastards, you'd better disappear from here before I change my mind, or I'll throw you both into jail."

The two people originally wanted to make a fuss with Arthur under the influence of alcohol, but after hearing what Arthur said and seeing the police badge he wore on his chest, the two people finally left in embarrassment.

Arthur didn't embarrass them either. Seeing that they were obedient, he returned the gun to them. After all, it's not cheap to buy a new one. Then, just as Arthur was about to leave, a voice came from beside him:
"Cough cough cough..."

Arthur followed the coughing sound and saw an old man with a gray beard curled up on a bench in the park, holding an empty wine bottle in his arms.

Maybe it was because he had just done a good deed. With the mentality of doing more of a good deed, Arthur stepped forward and asked:

"Hi, how are you?"

"Hehe... Hahahaha, do I look okay?" The old man heard someone talking to him, opened his eyes and said with a smile.

Looking at the dirt all over the old man's body, Arthur replied seriously:

"No, you don't look good, you even look bad?"

"Oops... Hey, look at me, don't I look like a good-for-nothing? But I wasn't born like this, and I shouldn't be here!" said the old man, sitting up from the bench, He held the empty wine bottle, and his emotions gradually became excited as he spoke.

"I was once a gentleman, Jeremiah Compson... Compson Manor..." The old man tried to recall those glorious moments in the past from these words.

Arthur sighed, sat down next to the old man, and then he said in compliment:
"Sounds like you have a great past and a history to brag about?"

The old man said emotionally:

"That's right! But...but they took everything from me!"

"Who did it?"

"them!"

Listening to the old man's vague answer, Arthur was not sure whether the old man was still awake at this time, but now that he had struck up a conversation, Arthur continued to ask:
"Okay, so what did they take from you?"

"My whole life, my whole life, my...career!" the old man replied seriously.

Well, it sounds like he is another poor man who has been defeated by the times. With sympathy, Arthur said comfortingly:
"I stole a lot of things in the first half of my life, but what you said, wow, it's really a lot."

The old man lowered his head. He originally wanted to take another sip of wine, but found that the bottle was already empty. He had to put the bottle down and continued:

"Look at my miserable state now, I'm living in a quagmire... Ugh!"

Arthur originally thought that the old man kept his head down because he was too sad, but he didn't expect that he would vomit like this. Arthur stood up quickly and stood to the side.

After waiting for a long time, the old man seemed to finally vomit cleanly. I really don’t know how much he drank, but it seems that he is more sober now. The old man continued to say:

"My old house was built by my grandfather. Now it is completely abandoned. The bank, the bank took it away..."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that," said Arthur.

The old man didn't know if it had been too long since no one had spoken to him. Hearing Arthur's comfort, he cried out and said:

"I shouldn't have lived like this!"

Arthur said mockingly:
"A lot of people shouldn't be living the way they are."

"If...if I could get back some of my old things, personal souvenirs, a watch..." the old man recalled while continuing:
"An old pistol, my ledger..."

"Okay, tell me, where is this house? If I pass by and remember, I will do this for you." Arthur interrupted.

After asking the old man in front of him about the location of the so-called Compson Manor, Arthur agreed with the old man that when he got the things, he would go to the old man's current place - the Ellis Cemetery to find him.

After Arthur left, he originally wanted to wait until he had time to help the old man with things, but then he thought about it and decided to go now. Who knows what will happen tomorrow?

So, Arthur rode to the north of Scarlett Meadows based on the address mentioned by the old man.

Here, Arthur found an old house that had been sealed up. There were repossession notices on the front and rear doors. The notice roughly stated that according to the judgment of the judge and the state court, the bank had repossessed the property in about four weeks. Years ago.

Although I don’t know why, this old house is still abandoned here. In theory, such a long time should be enough for the bank to resell the property, but no matter what, this does not affect Arthur’s ability to enter the house and find Those things.

"Ahem." Arthur choked on the dust that hit his face as soon as he entered the room. All he saw were broken furniture and empty wine bottles scattered everywhere.

Watches, guns, and ledgers, because he didn't know where they were placed, Arthur could only search from the beginning. He carefully checked every drawer of the cabinet and searched on every shelf.

The house is not small. During the search, Arthur also found a painting that should have been given to him by the old man's son when he was a child. On the back, there were words saying that he wanted to be like him when he grew up. It can be seen that the old man The son really admired his father at that time.

Among them, what interested Arthur was another family photo found. The words written on the back of it showed that it was a gift from Colonel Joshua Nixon to thank Compson for helping him recover his assets. .

It seems that what the old man said before was not entirely a boast. Before he fell to this point, he seemed to be a promising gentleman?

Soon, Arthur found another letter. Judging from the time it was signed, it should have happened 20 years after the family photo just now. The letter was still written by Colonel Nixon, and the content was that the Colonel’s plantation was no longer There is a job available for Compson. The above also mentions his gratitude to Compson’s father and grandfather.

It looks like all three generations of Compson are doing the same job?And then still serving the plantation?

Arthur thought about it, could it be that the Compson family's business is spinning cotton products?No, if so, how could Compson lose his job, and how could he be reduced to a poor old man boarding in a cemetery?

Just when Arthur was about to search again to see if there were other letters that could explain this doubt for him, Arthur found an old pocket watch on the fireplace that no longer moved. Judging from its appearance and condition, it should be Old Compson is looking for an old pocket watch.

Now all that's left is the pistol and the ledger.

Arthur continued to search, and soon he found a note on a box full of documents. The content on it was that Bill told the old Compson that there was nothing of value here, and then he was right. It should be the death of old Compson's wife who expressed greetings and emphasized that life up there will definitely be easier.

Indeed, looking at the appearance of old Compson now, Arthur felt that what this unknown Bill said was indeed a kind of comfort. "Damn it, where are the remaining two things?" Arthur couldn't help complaining after searching a few more rooms to no avail.

Fortunately, after untying it next to a toy, Arthur found another letter, which promptly relieved Arthur's irritability of not being able to find anything for a long time. This was a letter written to him by old Compson's son.

I'm shocked. Old Compson's son is not dead after all?So why is he living on the streets?Originally, Arthur thought it was old Compson's son who passed away...

When Arthur quickly read the contents of the letter, the brows on his face couldn't help but frown.

"Unfilial son..."

The content of the letter made people angry after reading it. Arthur didn’t know how to summarize it for a while. The original text is as follows:
"Dad, damn it! I told you to stay away from my son, he doesn't want this! God! Nobody wants anything to do with you."

Arthur took a look at the old photo that was also placed next to him. It should be an old photo of old Compson. On it, he was very high-spirited. It can be seen just from the decoration of the house behind him that old Compson lived a good life at that time. not bad.

It's really sad. After living a long time, it's fine for my son not to support his homeless old father, but he doesn't even let him see his grandson.

It's really sad.

Just when Arthur was still filled with emotion, footsteps suddenly came from behind him. When Arthur turned around, he saw a sloppy middle-aged man smiling strangely. He said to Arthur:
"Hey, what are you doing here?"

Arthur looked at the man holding a broken gun in his hand, and behind him was another fat man who was also sloppy. Obviously, these two people were not the owners of this house. The tramp continued:

"We discovered this place first."

"Okay, don't get excited. I'm not interested in this place. I'm just here to pick up a few things that were left here. There's no need to cause harm to people? What do you think?" Arthur comforted the two of them and took some things from his pocket. Pulled out two one dollar bills.

"Hey, this guy is quite generous?" The homeless man with a gun said to his fat companion with a smile, and then continued to point the broken gun in his hand at Arthur and said:
"Hand over all the money you have! Otherwise, I will destroy you."

When Arthur heard this, he immediately became happy. Let's not talk about whether the broken gun in his hand could be used. It seemed that the style was still a flintlock gun?Hmm...wait a minute, Arthur seemed to realize something, and asked the man with the gun:
"Is this gun yours?"

"Hey, it belongs to whoever finds it."

Okay, found another one, Arthur walked towards this person.

"boom!"

"Damn it! Trash—ah!" The homeless man with the gun cursed as he looked at the misfired gun, and was knocked down to the ground by Arthur who was walking towards him.

As for the 'bang' just now, it was purely the artificial dubbing of the tramp.

Seeing that the gun was taken away by Arthur and his companion was knocked down with one punch, the other fat homeless man turned around and ran away leaving his companion behind.

"Okay, now all that's left is the ledger," Arthur said to himself to the homeless man who had fainted. He thoughtfully stuffed a dollar into the homeless man's coat. At this moment, Arthur I found a circular tab next to the floor where the homeless man was lying, which seemed to be the entrance to the basement.

After opening it, he went down the wooden stairs, and the scene below made Arthur finally understand why old Compson ended up like this.

Chains, cages, collars, and whips...

slave trade?

No, when Arthur found Old Compson's old account book on the table nearby, the contents inside made him understand that Old Compson was in the business of capturing escaped slaves from the plantation.

It turns out that this is what the colonel meant by 'recovering assets'.

In the ledger, Compson listed the name and price of each escaped slave. After a brief look, Arthur discovered that there were also mother and son escaped slaves.

finally,
Arthur silently put the account book away and left here.

……

Arthur came to the place where old Compson said as agreed.

"They forgot about us... After using us, they abandoned us, just like... like shaking off the shit from their boots..." Old Compson said drunkenly and sat crookedly on the ground.

Arthur came to Old Camp and said:
"old man."

"Old guy?! You...you should have some respect for me!" Old Compson said excitedly, then climbed up from the ground unsteadily, and continued:
"I was respected! I had a job!"

Arthur said coldly:
"Do you remember? You asked me to help you find what you want..."

"I can't get what I want back," Old Compson interrupted.

Old Compson shouted:

"I want my job, my pride! The respect that a gentleman deserves!"

Arthur didn't say anything, he just took out an old pocket watch and an old pistol from his bag, and handed them to him.

After seeing these things, Old Compson seemed to wake up briefly. He held these things tightly, looked at Arthur and said:

"My stuff...don't you understand? Those bastards, they changed everything. I was a good worker and I was proud of my work! They, they took it all away! They Humiliating my achievements..."

Arthur interrupted Old Compson forcefully and said:

"Old guy, a lot of things are in the past. Some jobs and lifestyles are not worth remembering!"

Arthur looked at the old account book in his hand, and for some reason, he thought of Dutch in his mind. He continued:
"And some achievements are destined to only be used to humiliate the world."

After saying that, Arthur threw the account book into the fire in front of him, then turned and left here.

Ignoring Compson, who was holding an old pistol behind him and howling to kill him, Arthur's mind suddenly recalled the newspaper clipping he had placed by his bedside in the camp, the newspaper clipping of his first bank robbery.

It's really ridiculous. What's the difference between the self that can't let go of the past and this miserable Compson?

And Dutch...

　Originally there was no such chapter, but because it will be used in the subsequent plot, there is this chapter. The title reminds you that you can dance and don’t criticize me.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)