A Race That Knows Honor

A week after the modification of the automatic crossbow at the Deadlock workshop, Room 104 of Hotel Snark.

“Kkaak, kkaak!”

Several crows flapped their wings, scattering black, dark feathers through the room.

The black birds promptly perched atop the wardrobe and along the edges of furniture, rolling their eyes as they looked around.

Solomon was there as well.

Wearing the 「Black Bird Spirit Bracelet」, focusing his awareness on the children who would become his new ‘eyes and ears.’

Then blind spots he could never see from where he sat, scenes looking down from above, began to overlay his vision.

All of them were views reflected in the crows’ dull, dark pupils.

─To survive in this city, the more eyes and ears you have, the better.

Stagger.

Right then, Solomon wobbled, feeling a light dizziness.

Countless crow eyes layered over his two eyes, to the point even his sense of where he was became faint.

A flood of visual information he could never see from this spot.

And the world seen through a crow’s eyes held far more information than what a human eye took in.

High-speed visual processing, retinal structure, field of view, and more.

It was like a world seen at 30 frames suddenly switching to 200 frames.

To make it worse, there was hearing sharp enough to precisely pick up all kinds of high-frequency sounds humans could not even hear.

Controlling the Black Bird Spirits and not losing his center in that flood of hyper-senses.

It could not even be compared to raising ordinary birds.

‘This isn’t easy.’

A week had passed since he accepted the contract from Yuria, the Elf with a monocle.

That day, Lord Bowery, master of the Sewer Mage Tower, handed him the Black Bird Spirit Bracelet, saying he would show him ‘real sincerity.’

A magic item that bound and worked dark spirits in the form of crows.

That was what was truly more valuable than bundles of cash.

And it went without saying it was hard to use in proportion to its value.

So for the past few days, after finishing the Deadlock Guild’s weapon modification, Solomon had shut himself in the hotel and immersed himself in handling the Black Bird Spirit Bracelet.

In any case, Solomon had talent for magic too.

Not just mere talent.

Bloodline of one of the Five Great Houses, the House of Bale.

So he could sense the magical power within the bracelet and draw out its power, somehow.

But even now, sharing the Black Bird Spirits’ sight and hearing was not easy.

He had managed to handle three or four of them to a usable level.

At the same time, the maximum number of dark spirits he could summon with the Black Bird Spirit Bracelet was thirteen.

In a sense, it was like bringing in thirteen 244Hz monitors and ultra high-fidelity speakers at the same time.

“Ahem, ahem.”

Solomon made a sound, clearing his throat lightly.

“Ah, mic test, ah.”

Then something astonishing happened.

“Kkaak, mic test, kkaak.”

A Black Bird Spirit perched on the coat rack began mimicking Solomon’s voice exactly.

Mixing an unmistakably human voice here and there with crow caws.

Not only could they see and hear, they could even speak.

And that was not even the end of it.

At Solomon’s command, they could become a flock that attacked people like Hitchcock’s 「The Birds」, and they could also use a few basic dark spells.

‘Without even using spell slots.’

And their power did not stop at the level of living birds swarming you.

In lethality, it was not even comparable.

Even a lesser spirit was still a spirit.

Even if all they could do was use a few basic spells, depending on how a caster used them, they had more than enough potential to serve as a joker card beyond imagination.

In addition, they weren’t just any spirits, but dark spirits infamous for being the hardest and most dangerous to handle.

Considering Solomon’s job, dark spirits and spells of that school were a perfect match.

They could scout and gather intelligence from above like drones, and attack when needed.

Solomon shared sight and sound with the Black Bird Spirits in the room, attuned to their senses, and silently extended his arm.

To test a few offensive spells.

As if responding to that motion, the flock spread their wings at once─

Knock, knock.

“Excuse me, Mr. Solomon.”

It was then. A careful knock came from outside the door.

“What is it?”

They were not trying to stop him from using magic indoors.

In the first place, the first time Solomon realized the Black Bird Spirits had ‘offensive capability’ was in this room.

Back then, it had been an unintended accident.

And after that, it had become the reason Solomon didn’t hesitate to use his abilities indoors.

Because it didn’t even get scratched.

Half-baked offensive magic wouldn’t make this hotel budge.

Not just magic. Physical impact was no exception.

‘Well, that’s why they can run a lodging business in this neighborhood.’

So there was only one reason the hotel would bother knocking on Solomon’s room.

“Room service.”

Solomon opened the door.

In the corridor stood a skeleton in a tuxedo with a name tag embroidered with the Hotel Snark logo.

Pulling a room service trolley you would usually see in high-end hotels.

“Excuse me.”

The skeleton began carefully setting things up, moving the serving tray on the trolley’s first tier.

He laid a pure white tablecloth and placed a plate in the center covered by a silver cloche, the kind often used in French cuisine.

In front of it, he set a cutlery set with a silver fork and knife, and didn’t forget a small plate.

“If you require an alcoholic beverage to accompany it, please let me know.”

As he said that, the skeleton pointed to the trolley’s lower tier.

There, alcohol bottles buried deep in an ice bucket caught his eye.

“…Something that can drop me within three seconds after drinking.”

“Then I will prepare Clair Obscur vodka.”

As he said that, the skeleton took something out.

“The proof is sufficiently high, so please savor it in small sips.”

He took out the vodka and a crystal shot glass from beneath the trolley, poured it expertly, and carefully set it beside the tableware.

“Then, have a good day.”

With that, the skeleton retreated, pulling the trolley away.

Left alone again, Solomon looked at the tableware before him and the plate covered with the silver lid.

When he lifted the cloche, what awaited inside was not steaming food….

It was a thick stack of documents.

A grand-looking load of bullshit.

Solomon let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.

It had looked like they were openly preparing an extravagant meal, so he was the idiot for briefly hoping it might actually be food.

That said, it was not particularly unexpected or sudden.

He recalled the conversation he had with Yuria, the Elf with a monocle, at the Lowlands docks that day.

There, she had brought up a contract involving her own kind.

「How much do you know about the Elven Mafias?」

The Elven Mafia.

A mafia made up solely of elves, as the name implied, a corporate-style criminal organization.

One of the most notorious criminal organizations in Guild City, people who value the organization’s code and elven honor more than their lives.

When Solomon said he would take it, she had said this.

「In one week, there will be a meeting of the Five Families. The contract will arrive right after the meeting ends.」

Today was that very one-week mark.

What was coming had simply come.

‘The automatic crossbow modification finished ages ago, and I’ve gotten roughly used to working the Black Bird Spirits.’

He was ready.

Solomon steeled himself and began scanning through the stack of documents they had delivered with such ridiculous ceremony.

The content and the format were the same as when he took the contract involving Gilbert Graham of the Biotech Guild.

On the first page were the names of the client and the one who had to be killed.

The client was one of the five Families of the Elven Mafia world, the Selene Family.

Next, his eyes went to the name of the one to be killed itself.

“…An Elf of Honor?”

As it turned out, it did not refer to a specific person.

An explanation followed in a footnote right below.

‘Of Honor’ meant exactly what it said.

「An Elf of Honor is a title given in Elven Mafia society to one who accomplishes vengeance for the organization or family, or an equally honorable deed, and….」

And therefore─

「So long as an Elf of Honor does not soil that honor themselves, the act of an Elf killing an Elf of Honor with their own hands is seen as a profound dishonor.」

And the Elven Mafia were people who valued the organization’s code and elven honor more than their lives.

At the explanation that followed, Solomon could only let out a hollow laugh.

「Therefore, if circumstances force the organization to ‘handle’ an Elf of Honor, the matter shall be contracted to a contractor of Hotel Snark (hereafter referred to as “the contractor”).」

「Additionally, as the target is restrained and has lost the ability to resist, the contractor shall visit the Selene Family estate on the designated date and carry out the execution.」

After reading it, a hollow laugh came out.

They had to kill him due to organizational circumstances, but because of “honor,” they couldn’t do it with their own hands, so they contracted it out.

‘He’s even restrained. He can’t resist.’

It wasn’t even something you could call a contract.

It was essentially the role of an executioner, chopping the neck of someone already tied up.

Just go and kill him.

All because they didn’t want to dirty their own hands.

It was the very essence of a pointless farce, plastered over with meaningless formality and ceremony.

Just like the absurdly grand cloche and table setting they had laid out under the name of room service.

Still, if they were saying they would “take care of things” so he would not have to suffer, there was no reason to refuse.

‘So you’re telling me to just put on a WWE show? Sweet.’

Thinking that, Solomon continued reading the rest with a light heart, and then.

‘─’

Solomon’s face, which should have stayed light, began to harden into a cold mask.

The contract did not end there.

No, it was only the beginning.

「After that, once the contractor safely completes the execution─

the Selene Family, under the organization’s code, has the duty to carry out vengeance for the Elf of Honor.

This is to protect the honor of the Elf of Honor and their kin, and the contractor likewise has the duty to comply.」

Vengeance. Honor.

Formal logic trapped in absurd self-contradiction, trying to justify how they were “noble” without dirtying their hands.

In two words, it was fucking bullshit.

‘They’re the ones who fucked it up, and now it’s vengeance and honor….’

It was beyond ridiculous. It was the kind of thing that stripped your mind bare.

He could see how hopeless the Elves’ rigid, stuffed-up stubbornness, so often seen in fiction, became when it merged with the world of crime.

Fortunately, it was not that the entire Selene Family had gone crazy and was coming for Solomon.

No matter what, it seemed they still had at least a speck of flexibility left.

「Finally, the Selene Family has the duty to announce in advance the ‘three executors’ who will carry out the vengeance.」

The three executors who would carry out the vengeance.

Unsurprisingly, the “room service” Solomon received included partial information on those three executors as well.

Lastly, the rules of that ‘vengeance game’ were as follows.

「Whether vengeance for our kin is carried out honorably,

whether the target survives until dawn by evading the executioners,

or whether all executioners are eliminated before daybreak,

the Selene Family shall solemnly accept the outcome in the name of the organization’s code and the race’s honor.」

From dusk to dawn.

It was a game of tag that sat somewhere between WWE and UFC.

One with his life on the line, as a bonus.