Along this road, there traveled a man. He wore a dark green sweater, and took great big strides. His face was lean, and contained an intrepid expression. Around his belt, a large revolver was holstered, which hung loosely from his side.
As he approached the town, a guard stopped him. He looked at the traveler warily, and waited a moment before speaking.
"From the looks of it, you must be a traveler. Have you come to visit this country?"
"Yes, my name is Rauher. If possible I would like to stay the night. I also need to purchase more supplies and ammunition."
The guard looked at Rauher for a while, but eventually began to ease up.
"Very well. I'll escort you into through the gate."
The guard signaled to one of his co-workers to open the gates, and they were soon given access through to the town. Rauher thought it odd that he was allowed inside so easily.
"Don't you have any background checks here? Every other place I've visited has at least made me sign one or two forms."
"There's no need for that here. Anyway, seeing as though you came all the way out here, you must have heard the rumours."
"Rumours?"
"Didn't you know? In this town, there is no law against stealing. People can take whatever they want - that is, if they're strong enough. If you want to keep your belongings so badly, you should at least fight for it. This also includes travelers. That is to say, we will not try to stop you if you happen to rob anyone."
"I see. Thank you for the information, but I assure you, I won't be robbing anyone while I'm here. Could you please point me to a store where I might buy some supplies? Preferably a cheap one."
The guard pointed to a building in the distance. Before leaving Rauher, he seemed to mutter something to himself.
"Maybe this time it'll be different..."
"Excuse me?"
"Don't mind me, enjoy your stay traveler."
Rauher headed straight to the store which the guard had pointed to. The streets were quiet, almost too quiet for a town of its size. There was only a small number of buildings, which meant the majority of the town was empty space. Above Rauher, a roar cracked through the air as a mass of clouds began to circle the town. A speck of rain landed directly on his forehead, followed by several more. He quickened his pace, and made it to the store before the rain began to open up.
"Good evening traveler, is there anything I can get you?"
A short, balding shopkeeper appeared behind the counter. He was elderly, and held onto an old stick for support.
"Some water, and if you have any bread, I'll take that too please."
The shopkeeper hurried over to a shelf in the corner of the store, then brought the items to the counter.
"How much?"
The shopkeeper seemed taken aback by his question, but before he was able to reply, the door swung wide open. A young man wearing tattered clothes stood in the doorway. He held a pistol which had been designed to fire 9mm rounds. The robber aimed at the shopkeeper first, before turning to Rauher.
"Are you new around here? Did you hear about our town's laws? I can see you're carrying a gun too. Why don't you help me rob this place? I'll split it fifty-fifty."
Without saying anything, Rauher calmly drew his revolver, and aimed it directly at the robber.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, please put down your weapon and leave."
A sudden look of panic shot across the robber as he instantly dropped the pistol.
"I-I didn't mean. You don't understand...!"
Leaving the gun behind, he dashed through the doorway and out of sight.
"Are you ok?" asked Rauher, who tried to reassure the shopkeeper, "I'm sure he won't bother you again. Could I pay for those supplies now?"
"Oh, yes... of course."
By the time Rauher had left the store, the rain had almost completely eased up. He couldn't locate any guards, which meant he would have to find somewhere to buy ammunition himself. Luckily, it didn't take him long. Thanks to the size of the town, he soon reached a small building which displayed different types of ammunition in the front window. Entering, he brushed back his hair and approached the counter.
"I'd like to buy some ammuniton, .45 caliber. Do you have that in stock?"
"Of course."
The shopkeeper opened a cabinet and took out a small box full of .45 caliber ammunition. He set it down in front of the desk before opening the cash register.
"That'll be ten silver coins please."
Rauher took a small coin purse out of his back and began to sort through them.
"Please excuse me for a moment, there's something I need to attend to in the storeroom, I'll hand you the ammunition when I get back."
The shopkeeper disappeared into another room, leaving Rauher completely alone. The cash register had been left unattended and was still wide open. It was almost full to the top in coins. For a town where stealing wasn't a crime, he didn't appear to be particularly careful.
When the shopkeeper returned, he took the coins from Rauher while smiling pleasantly, then handed him the box of ammunition.
"Thank you very much. Just one more thing - do you know where I can find a place to sleep for the night."
"Of course, there's only one hotel in this town. You'll find it four buildings down from here."
"Thank you."
Rauher left the store, and walked back out onto the street, towards the hotel.
―
The next day.
After a light meal, Rauher made his way out of the hotel and headed towards the gate. It was unusual for him to leave a town so soon - he would usually have invested a few more days to see what the town had to offer. But surprisingly, he had been disappointed. He expected the streets to be complete chaos, yet they were barren and empty. Well, he confessed that sometimes, peace and quiet were good too.
Before he left the town, the guard approached him with a warm smile.
"So, did you like our town?"
"Yes, thank you. It was quite peaceful, I was surprised."
"Well, the thing about that is..."
The guard was interrupted as a young, brash looking man walked into the country. He wore a thin jacket and a pair of riding pants. Around his waist, there hung a pistol and a hunting knife.
"Excuse me," said the guard, "what is your business here?"
"The rumours are true right? I can steal whatever I want?"
"That's right."
Without any hesitation, the young man suddenly drew his pistol and aimed at Rauher.
"Today is your unlucky day. That's a nice revolver you have, why don't you hand it over?"
Before Rauher could react, a deafening gunshot cracked through the air. The man instantly dropped his weapon before keeling over onto the floor. A pool of blood began to form on the damp earth. The guard holstered his pistol while shaking his head.
"Fool..."
"Thank you very much, but I thought stealing wasn't prohibited here, why did you save me?"
"We only spread that rumour to keep the town safe. You see, we have quite a close-knit community here. You must have noticed how quiet this place is. As such, we want to increase our members. The problem with that, is that there are many travelers out there who would easily take advantage of us, if all our citizens don't trust each other, then how can we keep this town in check?"
"I think I'm starting to understand. You spread these rumours so you could pick out the good from the bad, right? If anyone came along for the sole purpose of stealing and hurting others, then you would simply get rid of them. But if a traveler came along who refused to steal anything..."
"Then they'd make an excellent addition to our town. We're sorry to have deceived you. The robbery in that shop was staged of course, and it wasn't a mistake that the shopkeeper left his till wide open. But you passed, we need people like you. What do you say? Why don't you live here with us?"
"I'm thankful for the offer, but I don't intend on stopping my journey just yet. There's many more places I've yet to see, I have no intention of settling down. I'm sure you'll find someone else soon enough though."
"I see... that's a pity. If you ever change your mind, there'll always be a place for you here."
Several of the townspeople had grabbed the young man's corpse, and begun to drag it out of sight. Rauher smiled, and shook the guard's hand before leaving.
Later that same day, a young, timid man made his way along a straight path which lay in the middle of a large forest. The road had been particularly well maintained, and lead up to a town, which stood out from the rest of the forest. He carried no weapons, and had an old pack slung around his shoulder.
"Those rumours about that town... they can't possibly be true... right?"
