Red Dead Redemption: The Great Philanthropist of the West

When Henry returned to Strawberry Town, he found the streets somewhat chaotic and much quieter than when he had been there before, as if a battle had just taken place. After asking around, he learned some bad news.

Just two days ago, Micah Bell led a group to attack the Strawberry Police Department. Not only did he deal with Odrisco gang members Skinny Norman and Marty, who were imprisoned and about to be hanged, but he also shot and killed the deputy sheriff and a group of officers stationed at the police station, as well as the townspeople they encountered on the way.

According to witnesses, there were a total of three perpetrators, all of whom were thin but agile and had excellent marksmanship. They would kill anyone who appeared in their path without mercy, making them extremely ruthless.

When Henry arrived at the police station, he saw Sheriff Farley putting up reward posters featuring portraits of Micah, Joe, and Crete. Micah was offered $500, while Joe and Crete each received $100. The mayor, angered by the incident, had allocated the funds from the treasury; these men had disrupted the town's peace and needed to pay the price.

Recently, the town received a large sum of money from Henry, and the government's finances were sufficient. He was not stingy and directly multiplied the bounty on these people several times.

“Sheriff Farley, I just heard that the police department lost a lot of people this time, and I’m very sorry about that. Maybe I shouldn’t have let you release that madman Micah.”

“This has nothing to do with you, Mr. Allen. Even if you didn’t say anything, we would have found an excuse to let him go after a while. Pinkerton went through the state legislator’s channels before, saying that he was their reserve informant and asked us to let him go. But no one expected this guy to be so crazy. If I had known this would happen, I would have just hanged him. It’s all my fault.”

Sheriff Farley slammed his fist on the table and said angrily that he regretted listening to Pinkerton and letting Micah go.

"In this way, I also bear some responsibility. I will personally contribute $100 to each of the police officers and residents who were killed, and $50 to each of the injured. In addition, I will offer a $2000 reward for the three murderers. As for the specific allocation, you can decide how to distribute it."

Although the sheriff will release the man sooner or later, he was the one who brought him out, and the other officers saw it. If he doesn't make some gesture, although they won't say anything on the surface, they will harbor some resentment, which will be detrimental to his future career here. Anyway, he doesn't lack this money.

“That’s wonderful, Mr. Allen. I thank you on their behalf. I was just having a headache over the officers’ compensation. You know our town wasn’t well-funded before, and the police station was even poorer. We simply couldn’t afford that much compensation.”

After leaving the police station, Henry returned to his residence, took a nice hot bath, and pondered his upcoming travel plans.

After deciding to develop his business here, he arranged for Li Yi to buy a house by Eagle Eye Creek. After all, he was a rather traditional person, and staying in hotels all the time wasn't ideal; having a house made him feel more at ease. Compared to Valentine, he preferred the environment of Strawberry Town; at least here, the air wasn't filled with the stench of animal droppings, unlike in Valentine.

"Perhaps I should hire a maid to serve me." Henry lay in the bathtub, feeling the steam, swirling a glass of red wine in one hand, and muttered to himself, "Otherwise, I have to scrub myself every time I take a bath. What's the point of earning so much money?"

However, he only thought about it; he was always running around, and bringing a maid along would be too much trouble. He'd rather wait until they returned to the manor and then have the old butler find someone.

The tavern in Valentine is almost fully developed now, and Paul's deputy can keep an eye on the almshouse there. It's time for Paul to come to Strawberry Town to start operations. He's already laid the groundwork, so there shouldn't be any difficulties.

As for the bootlegging by the grocer, Henry didn't care about it at all, and didn't even ask Sheriff Farley to deal with him. After all, once Shrewy and Lafite became available here, no one would drink his low-quality, expensive bootlegging anymore, and it would naturally be discontinued because it wouldn't sell.

There's still a shortage of talent, and there's so much more to do. Perhaps we should have Jack Morgan or Fellowes introduce some reliable professional managers to oversee the business. Otherwise, constantly having the old steward and Paul running back and forth isn't sustainable. Let's take it one step at a time.

After I go back to Valentine to see how Sadie and Ashley are doing at Emerald Ranch, and have some fun with Arthur, it'll be about time to head back to Blackwater to prepare for my councilor campaign.

......

Valentine

Abigail was staring at the big idiot John with a displeased expression.

“Have you thought this through yet? When are we finally going to break away from the gang? I don’t want Jack to keep wandering around with us. I want him to study hard, find a stable job and live a good life in the future, instead of being a cowboy who’s constantly being chased.”

Ever since Bill was killed by the bounty hunter, Abigail has been plagued by anxiety, constantly worrying that the enemy will one day break in and kill her and Jack. This makes her very uneasy, and she even has nightmares occasionally.

So she thought about how to leave the gang and how to live after she left. But her muddled mind couldn't come up with any good ideas, so she bothered John every day.

So John was also troubled. He had no plans to leave the gang, and he did like Abigail. As for Jack, he wasn't sure what his feelings for him were. Sometimes he would think about getting closer to him, but every time he saw that head of blond hair, he would back down.

“I’m a cowboy too. All I know is shooting and robbing. Aren’t we doing well living in the camp right now? Besides, we’re wanted outside. Where can we go? What can we do outside?”

Perhaps it was Abigail's comment about being a cowboy that made John feel looked down upon, causing him to feel annoyed and respond somewhat harshly. Lately, this has been a recurring pattern; they argue whenever they get close. This isn't John's intention, but he doesn't know how to express it, leaving him in a bad mood.

He had also fantasized about whether the gang could leave for distant lands and live a peaceful life, but Dutch's recent actions had left him feeling confused. He didn't know whether he should continue to believe that Dutch would lead them away from this land full of conflict.

“Little Jack is almost 5 years old. He needs to go to school. Do you want him to live the life of a gang, robbing people day in and day out? We need to start planning for the future, John!”

“You’re more familiar with Henry, so perhaps you could ask him if he could take us in. After all, I’ve heard he’s a big boss with power and influence, so maybe he can find a way.”

Abigail remembered the gift Henry had given them and thought he was a very good person. She thought she should ask John about it; maybe they would get some unexpected information.

"I understand. I'll ask him when I have the chance."

John couldn't stand Abigail's nagging, so he just dealt with it for a bit and then left. He planned to go back to Valentine to look for 'business'. If he stayed any longer, he was afraid he would end up arguing with Abigail again and might get into a big mess, which was really not worth it.