Lady Of The Tomb, Selene

That was as far as the conversation went. And the end of some stranger’s story, too.

But Solomon’s story wasn’t over yet. And somehow, he ended up accepting a new contract on the spot. The last request of the dead.

‘It doesn’t sit right to just ignore it.’

Either way, he couldn’t overlook the fact that some kind of reward was on the line.

In the end, Solomon climbed into the operator’s cabin and pulled the lever. He hauled the crane hook up to the ground and freed the tied-up dwarf.

“Puh-eoheok! Heok!”

He spewed water like he was about to faint from the pain. It was almost surreal that someone could spit up that much water. Granted, he wasn’t a human. He was a dwarf.

“Th-th-thank you! I’ll repay you with an amount you won’t find lacking…!”

The dwarf kept talking, bowing and scraping toward Solomon. At that, Solomon asked coldly.

“I think you’re mistaken about something.”

[Deception roll in progress…….]

“I came from the hotel on a job from someone you can’t even imagine.”

“!”

“My client doesn’t want that ‘relic’ to end up in their hands. Think about it. Why do you think I helped you?”

“Hiiik!”

At that word, the dwarf’s eyes visibly froze. It was a lie of course. The request had come from the Blood Moon Tribe orc who had just died back there.

“By the way, do you know the hotel I’m staying at? It’s called Ghost Town. They say there’s a kind of ‘death’ there that doesn’t end even if you die. Want to go together and have a nice and slow talk?”

[Intimidation roll in progress…….]

“Or you can just come clean about the relic.”

A brief silence.

“My job is to properly ‘recover’ the relic, after all.”

[Deception, Intimidation roll successful!]

At the end of the silence, he heard dice. A crisp sound that was almost too perfect.

“When I-I got the order from the Smugglers’ Guild to steal the Blood Moon Archipelago’s relic…”

The sailor-looking dwarf continued, trembling.

“Th-the Chairman of Megacorp Street, Chairman Vlad Tepes… wanted it…”

Downtown District 1, Megacorp Street. Home to Guild City’s most formidable corporate titans. A place so dominated by major corporations that the word “Guild” almost feels out of place.

[Clue acquired! Chairman Vlad Tepes]

“Good. That’s quick. So where’s the relic?”

“Y-yes, please wait just a moment! I’ll take it out right away…!”

The lie landed cleanly. Even in pain, the dwarf dragged his wounded body along and crossed in front of Solomon without a shred of doubt.

After passing through Pier 3’s docking terminal where they were, how long had they walked? Only then did the dwarf stop and place a hand on a cargo container.

Brass locks were fastened tight in a hexagonal pattern. He pressed a key mechanism against them, one where springs and gears meshed with precise complexity.

Click, click!

Like the opening and closing of a camera shutter, several metal blades interlocked in a full circle and opened in a mechanical structure. At last, what lay beyond came into view, and with it, the ‘relic’ inside revealed itself.

It was a red heart inside a bottle.

“So this is the Blood Moon Tribe’s relic.”

“Hehe, yes. Chairman Vlad is such a gourmet, you see…”

Beside him, the dwarf kept talking with a servile bow. Solomon crossed over in silence and stopped in front of the red heart.

Even floating inside the glass bottle, it pulsed powerfully. A heart that throbbed without rest. And he could faintly sense it too. That relic in front of him wasn’t the heart of an ordinary creature.

[Insight success!]

“How many orcs did you kill to get this?”

Solomon asked.

“Hehe, well, quite a few. Those savage orc bastards turn into honeycombs with just a few shots from an automatic crossbow!”

Even in pain, the dwarf smiled obsequiously. Seeing it, Solomon fell silent.

He hadn’t come this far to move for good and evil, or morality. Even the blood-red orc he had just fought wasn’t, strictly speaking, wasn’t one that could be easily labeled evil. And he didn’t particularly care about that fact. A job was a job.

Solomon walked forward without a word and took the red heart in its glass bottle into his hand. With that, he had secured the ‘merchandise.’ And his job wasn’t to offer this merchandise to some corporate ‘chairman.’

Relic in hand, Solomon turned around immediately. That was when it happened.

“Oh, well now.”

“Some useless mayflies have latched on.”

“……”

Men and women in black suits were standing there. Without even a trace of presence. There were at least four or five of them. And every one of them had corpse-pale skin. Had they known from the start this would happen?

“Hi, hiiik…!”

The moment he saw them, the smuggler dwarf’s face went deathly pale. He threw himself into a deep bow and started babbling.

“I-I handed the relic over to the contractor from the hotel, just like we agreed! P-please, mercy!”

“The hotel?”

Hearing that, a man in a suit asked back. He was a handsome blond young man who looked like the leader.

“That’s strange. Did we ever place a ‘request’ with the hotel?”

“……!”

Only then did the dwarf glare at Solomon.

“I received a request.”

Solomon didn’t care.

“It’s just that it’s from someone you can’t even imagine.”

He played dumb, not letting his poker face crack.

“Hooh. That’s interesting.”

Even then, the group in suits didn’t lose their composure, casually putting hands in pockets and the like. They knew they were overwhelmingly on top. And to a degree, they were right.

“To dare claim a job from someone ‘beyond imagination,’ above our lord, Chairman Vlad Tepes.”

Mockery rang out openly. And within it, sharp fangs flashed.

[Insight success!]

‘Vampires.’

It wasn’t surprising. The chairman’s name had already been a clue.

‘They’re not opponents I can beat in a fight.’

With the salt smell of the night sea and cold wind whipping around, Solomon’s mind was colder than ever.

“It’s not too late, assassin of the hotel. Hand over the relic peacefully.”

They were right. For now, handing the relic over as they said was the most rational course of action.

Even so, he didn’t want to. He didn’t want to hand it over. Why? He didn’t know. No matter how he looked at it, thinking ‘rationally,’ the right move here was to give it up. So why didn’t he want to?

‘…There was a reward.’

The reward Solomon would gain if he broke through this danger and carried out the job the employer wanted. But was that really all? No matter how much he liked gold, he couldn’t take it to the afterlife and spend it. And it wasn’t like they were close enough for him to keep faith to that extent. He had even killed him with his own hands.

It was ridiculous. The very kind of play he had despised and treated as taboo back when he was a TRPG player. A foolishness he couldn’t understand as a player who pursued only efficiency was right there. He didn’t know why. Even so, a reward was waiting.

And in his experience, rewards were always proportional to the threat. His thoughts ended there.

He had already accepted the job as an assassin of Hotel Snark. And once you accepted a job, what you had to do was obvious.

‘Shadow Mimic, Shadow Swap.’

The moment he made his decision, Solomon’s body collapsed right where it stood. A level 1 spell combo to open distance, all the way to the farthest point his eyes could reach, far beyond the harbor. He fled without looking back. In a way, it was the most bottom-tier assassin-like method there was.

“Hah, a petty trick from a mere mortal…!”

Watching Solomon flee with shadow magic, the suited man let out a scoffing laugh.

“Does he think he can escape?”

Next, a woman in a suit laughed, flashing blade-sharp nails and fangs against her corpse-pale skin.

“Want to bet who catches him first?”

Another vampire spoke. The rest bared cold fangs and agreed in unison.

Downtown District 1, Megacorp Street. A holy ground where the ultra-major guilds gathered, said to be the largest in Guild City, and yet so vast that the word “large” could never fully capture their scale. It was from there that the sound of movement from the of the ultra-major guild, Wallachia Co. was heard.

Before he knew it, Solomon was sprinting past the Lowland docks and into the slums. Running wouldn’t end it. Even as he dashed using the level 1 combo of Shadow Mimic and Shadow Swap, Solomon could tell.

They were following. At an absurd speed beyond reason, beyond anything Solomon could imagine.

‘Monster bastards!’

And this was the Lowland slums. There was no 「Door Room」 here, no way to run straight to Hotel Snark, where fights indoors were forbidden, at least.

“Kyahahahat! Shouldn’t you run harder?!”

Near Solomon as he kept parkouring across rooftops, a suited woman chased him like a shadow and shouted. Clearly mocking his movements. Solomon clicked his tongue in silence.

“We agreed! Whoever catches him first gets one point on the next performance evaluation!”

At the same time, he felt a shadow accelerate right behind his back. Killing intent surged up, chillingly. Solomon quickly re-gripped the Ghost Whale bone blade and swung.

Kaang!

The moment he thought he’d swung, a blood-red blade surging in from right behind him was knocked away. It wasn’t a blade held and swung by hand. It was a thrown blade of blood from afar. Some kind of blood magic, maybe.

Cick-clank!

Solomon pulled the Nightfall automatic crossbow from the Quick-Loader Belt and re-gripped it. He set the multi-shot slider to one bolt and drove in a silent snipe imbued with silence, without even sparing a glance.

“Petty tricks, kid.”

Of course, he didn’t expect it to hit. It was enough if it interfered with their movement, even by a little. But even that was impossible.

“Shall we end the game of tag here?”

Chwaaak!

Right then, dice sounded out. It didn’t sound positive at all.

Immediately after, in pain that felt like his bones were being sliced, blood burst from Solomon’s back like a fountain. He didn’t even realize what had hit him.

“Keoheok!”

In bone-grinding pain, Solomon’s stance collapsed. He went down and rolled miserably across the dirt.

‘Damn it, they’re fucking strong!’

The vampire group was already closing in around Solomon without a single ragged breath. Looking pale as a corpse, with emotionless eyes, and sharp fangs bared.

There was nowhere to run. Solomon bit his lip in silence. He still had level 1 spells left. With this…

In a life-or-death crisis, as Solomon’s thoughts raced faster than ever.

“─Oh my, well now.”

Under the night sky, a voice that pierced with the height of elegance rang out.

“Our ace has gotten caught up in some unexpected danger.”

It was a dark elf, filled with the pressure and dignity befitting the head of an organization.

A fur shawl draped over her shoulders, obsidian earrings gleaming in the backlight, expensive adornments wrapped from head to toe, yet none of it felt excessive.

Because an elegance that overwhelmed all of it rested in her herself.

Truly, the dignity befitting the leader of a family—.

“Mistress Selene….”

The dark elf mafia’s Godmother of the Selene Family was there.