Closure

When Solomon followed the quack fortune-teller Yuria into the tea lounge, an unexpected face was there.

An impeccable business suit, flawless down to the tie. Three swords fixed to a mechanical sword rack, and sunglasses. And on top of that, even a pink streak in her hair.

Someone who looked like a swordsman at a glance.

“…Huh?”

“Seeing you again, crow-brain.”

Back when Solomon received a job from the ‘Fly King’ wearing Lord Bernier’s face, she was the partner who supported the job and fought alongside him against the Uptown’s mage, Violet.

The fact that she showed up at this exact moment suggested a lot.

“Why the hell are you here?”

Solomon asked back, dumbfounded. Hotel Snark was a place you could call the most illegal in Guild City.

And yet a swordsman from the Sword Watch, the police organization that should be guarding this city’s order most of all, had appeared there.

“Why do you think I came?”

“Did you find someone you want to punch a sword hole into from behind?”

Solomon said like it was nothing.

The Sword Watch, which aimed for the light, and Hotel Snark’s guests might look like oil and water, but in reality, it wasn’t always that simple.

“A job? Do I look like someone who’d ask you to stab someone in the back for me?”

“Hm. Now that I think about it, I wouldn’t need to ask in the first place.”

“For the record, I punch holes from the front, fair and square.”

“……”

Solomon glanced toward the elf Yuria sitting beside Violet.

“So, what does she here have to do with our…”

The moment he opened his mouth, Solomon hesitated over how much of it he should reveal in front of a third party.

“You may speak in front of Lady Violet. She will be of help to you.”

“…Help?”

“More precisely, she’ll be provided as the job’s compensation.”

Violet said, pulling out a bundle of documents from inside her jacket.

‘So you did come for a job after all.’

“Thought you said you didn’t come to punch sword holes?”

“Did I? Just listen to the rest.”

Without caring about Solomon’s words, Violet continued.

“The moment you complete this job, the City Council will promise your protection under a Gias vow.”

Violet added in a low voice.

“Even if the source of that threat is… the Black Museum’s Curator.”

After hearing that, Solomon frowned.

‘Wasn’t that threat already solved by becoming Lord Bowery’s disciple?’

─ The surest way out of that situation is to become Lord Bowery’s disciple.

Was that not enough? That was when.

V.

With absurd confidence, out of Violet’s sight, Yuria casually spread two fingers. A victory V. The instant he saw it, Solomon’s blood rushed backward.

‘Who the hell are you screwing with right now. You caused that massive disaster, and what are you so proud of, throwing up a V…’

Solomon nearly lost it, then realized what it meant. It wasn’t a V. It was the number 2.

‘Don’t tell me the new threat is…’

Those bastards again?

[Insight Success!]

“Ah.”

A sound he really didn’t want to hear rang out. And it didn’t even stop there.

[Oh, this person has high Insight enough to satisfy even Shakyamuni himself. Thanks to Insight triggering everywhere you go like it’s a daily meal, you have acquired the trait ‘Insightful’ before you knew it!]

───
Trait 「Insightful」
: Grants a favorable modifier to Insight rolls
───

‘…’

A trait that couldn’t hurt to have, a trait he should have been grateful for, and yet Solomon had a hard time holding back bad thoughts.

The fact that he’d gotten death flags planted on him twice by the Black Museum’s Curator went beyond ‘bad luck.’ And on top of that, his irreparable drop in favor with Uptown.

In the city aboveground, his position was no different from standing on the tip of a blade. Practically his own doing, in the end.

“I feel like I’m going to get cancer.”

“Don’t worry. Cancer treatment is included in Gias’s protection clause as well.”

“Wow. What a hell of a service.”

Solomon grumbled calmly.

“So, what’s the job?”

After grumbling, he focused on the agenda. Nothing would change. As a contract killer of Hotel Snark, he had work to do.

“It’s the ‘closure’ for what we should have done that day.”

“…Closure?”

“Read the documents.”

Without a word, Solomon took the documents she handed him. After taking them, he frowned in silence.

“This is insane.”

“Like I said, I didn’t lie.”

Violet snickered.

“If things go well, no one will get a hole punched in the back of their head… it’s a very peaceful job.”

“I’m hearing a dog barking somewhere. You’ve got a surprising taste.”

“You caught me. How embarrassing.”

Solomon thought, dumbfounded. He couldn’t help it.

───
City Council Type-A Classified: Covert Infiltration and Asset Retrieval
Issuer: (Removed)

Retrieval Target: The soul of corpse fuser Dr. O’Neill
If unavoidable, substitute with at least two parts among the following ‘brain tissues’ responsible for memory storage:
Hippocampus, temporal lobe, prefrontal cortex (PFC)
───

The finishing touch to what Solomon should have wrapped up that day. “Coincidental” wasn’t even enough to describe it.

Still, up to this point, it wasn’t content so shocking.

───
Retrieval Location: Uptown, Ancient Moon Street, a secret grand mansion owned by the Haunting House
───

‘The Five Great Houses…’

And the Haunting House at that, the Spirit Binders’ secret mansion. He could roughly guess why that name was coming up.

That day, Solomon killed Dr. O’Neill. But in this world, death didn’t mean it was over. If death meant it was over, places like ‘Ghost Town’ wouldn’t exist, and neither would jobs like mediums.

And now they wanted him to go into that Ghost Town and screw over a great house again. At this rate, it wasn’t enough that his favor with the Uptown faction had hit rock bottom, it was about to drill all the way into the underground. But at this point, it wasn’t the time to worry about favor.

Given how dangerous the place he was going was, he had to consider whether he’d even come back alive.

Solomon fell silent for a moment. Up to this point, he could say it was possible, but the problem was what came next.

“Sounds great, but where’s the guarantee you won’t stab me in the back the moment I finish?”

“……”

He’d seen this a lot in spy movies, and this was exactly that situation.

“Separate from the job reward, I’ll demand a separate Gias vow.”

“Oh. You’ve got a better head on you than you look.”

“Why, were you actually planning to stab me in the back?”

“No. I simply liked your eye for things.”

Violet smiled coldly like it was nothing.

“Many in this city, even those who claimed to be the wisest… tend to trust Gias too much.”

Solomon didn’t care.

“For example, the surest way to carry out Gias’s ‘absolute protection’ is to remove the person being protected.”

“……”

“If there’s no one left to kill in the first place, isn’t that the best protection?”

[The best way to solve a problem… isn’t to fix it, but to remove the problem itself.]

Now it was a little his business.

“Well, there’s no need to worry too much. As for that point, the shaman priestess at my side will guarantee it.”

“This quack?”

“Ahem. Ahem.”

“Watch your mouth, crow-brain.”

Violet snapped with unusual heat for her.

“This person is the proud Golden Apple Isle’s Shaman Priestess of the Lake, and…”

“That’s enough, Lady Violet.”

At that moment, the elf Yuria cut in with a cough.

“Because it’s all an old story now.”

“But, Shaman Priestess…”

“I’m grateful just for that sentiment.”

Judging by how her ears were oddly red, it seemed she did have some sense of shame.

“As promised, as the mediator and witness of this job, I will guarantee the trust between both sides.”

“There’s no one in the world more trustworthy than her.”

Seeing Violet add that so confidently, Solomon couldn’t bring himself to speak.

‘No, she looks like the least trustworthy person in the world.’

“And be happy. You’re lucky.”

“What now?”

“Because for this job, another person, the most trustworthy in the world, will help you.”

“…What?”

With more unbelievable words, Violet stood up. Solomon glanced at Yuria sitting beside him, then followed behind Violet at Yuria’s signal.

“Wow, I don’t know who it is, but I already trust them. Trustworthy, just like the person here.”

“Exactly as you say.”

“…Ahem. Ahem.”

Leaving behind the elf whose ears turned redder and redder, like a carrot, every time the words trust and belief came up.

The cemetery district beyond the Lowlands slum housing area─ the Crossroads of the Dead.

“Oh my, we meet again. Mr. Future Big Shot.”

“…So we meet again.”

“What? You know each other?”

Hillhouse, the occult shop that helped Solomon back when he first entered Ghost Town.

“You can drop the ‘future’ now. Since he’s become a big shot properly.”

There, the medium Adina sat before a crystal ball and smiled leisurely.

Skin pale and dark like a corpse. And one more feature she couldn’t hide even under a hood like a diviner’s, pointed ears.

“I hear Yuria, that kid, caused a huge disaster?”

The dark elf medium, Adina, giggled as if amused. Violet tilted her head, not understanding the words. But not Solomon.

“Yeah. She caused a huge disaster.”

“That kid sees too well, and that’s the problem.”

Adina smiled meaningfully, speaking casually like she knew that elf well.

“Eyes of foresight are better off a little blurred.”

“I don’t know what you mean, but I’ll keep it in mind.”

Solomon gave a fitting response, and Violet cut in.

“…Excuse me, Shaman Priestess of the Lake.”

‘That again.’

[Clue Acquired! Shaman Priestess of the Lake]

“There’s no need to explain every detail, Lady Violet. I already know why you came.”

“I see.”

“And seeing that the ‘guide’ came back right on time, you’re really lucky.”

Guide. The dark elf medium added. Hearing it, Solomon’s back went cold and he asked back.

“A guide, don’t tell me for this job…”

“Don’t tell me you were planning to break into the Haunting House’s mansion on your own two feet? Well, I won’t stop you.”

Medium Adina asked back like it was ridiculous. Of course. Solomon understood right away. It was just that, separate from understanding, the guide’s identity itself was stressful.

At that time, beside him, Violet frowned and added, with unusual heat for her.

“…By ‘guide,’ don’t tell me you mean that trash bastard.”

“He may look like that, but skill-wise, he’s top-class.”

And as if he’d been waiting, a voice was heard.

“What, who called me a trash bastard?”

Two small glowing wings, within radiance scattering beautifully like a fairy’s… long hair and a beard grown out like a hippie’s, and a man’s low voice that left everyone who heard it dumbfounded.

“Yeah, you said that real well. Let’s see the face of which cute little mortal brat was running their mouth. I’m a manly fairy who can take insults at my mom, but not at me.”

“Who else? I mean a trash fairy like you.”

Violet snapped, and the fairy didn’t look like the type to let it slide either.

‘They say the next best thing after watching a fire is watching a fight.’

Solomon watched their exchange, leisurely getting ready to eat popcorn or something.

“…Gasp, aren’t you big sis?”

“Yeah, it is, you trash bastard.”

Even so, Solomon’s expectation missed spectacularly.

Because that druggie fairy answered more politely than ever.