Cinderella’s Magic

The Tailor’s work had just been completed. In the end, after the innocent designer fairies had worked through the night, it meant that ‘Cinderella’s Magic’ had been cast on Solomon. Fairy magic that would turn him into a princess.

Solomon immediately moved the equipment the ghost hotelier had brought on a cart into his room. After that, he closed the door and began carefully inspecting his gear.

Fortunately, there was a short note attached on top of the equipment.

───
Oh, my beloved honey! I attached an explanation so you can understand the ‘magic’ cast on you properly!
With this, enjoy the midnight ball that never ends to your heart’s content!
───

‘A midnight ball.’

Solomon let out a hollow laugh and continued reading the contents attached to the note. The first thing listed was the knife that could be called his main weapon.

──
「Hungry」 Ghost Whale Bone Blade
「Blazing」 Sun Ruby Blade
──

‘Hungry? Blazing?’

The two blades Solomon favored. Unknown prefixes had been attached right in front of their names. That was the entirety of the explanation. Even so, as a TRPG player, and because he had already read about it in the rulebook, Solomon wasn’t flustered. He simply gripped both knives in a reverse grip in silence as a test.

Sreung.

The sensation sank into his fingertips. The Sun Ruby Blade was one thing, but the Ghost Whale Bone Blade was a treasured weapon he had gripped beyond count and used to punch knife-holes through his targets. There was no way he would not know the feel of that handle, that grip, having held it countless times.

The sensation was different.

Even by just gripping the handle, he could tell the feeling was subtly different. Specifically, what was it?

‘I can feel… hunger.’

An endless hunger, the sensation of bottomless gluttony craving flesh, blood, and bone in search of prey, was surging through the Ghost Whale Bone Blade.

Compared to that, the Sun Ruby Blade was much easier to understand.

Fwoosh!

The moment he gripped the handle, the blade burst into flame. And not an ordinary flame, but blazing demonic fire infused with magical power. Just by looking at it, its attack power seemed different.

‘It’ll be hard to carry this around openly from the outset.’

In any case, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they had effectively become ‘different weapons’ from before. And Solomon knew what they were.

‘Enchantment.’

The two prefixes attached to the weapons were what one would call enchantments. This was not some trivial thing like the <Cantrip> that had been imbued into Solomon’s first piece of equipment in the past, but weapons carrying literal ‘real magical power.’

Depending on the situation, it was possible to directly activate the spells imbued in the equipment, but in principle they were mainly activated in ways that drew out the item’s potential or strengthened its abilities.

──
「Hitchcock」 Black Bird Spirit Bracelet
「Bioelectric Detection」 Ghost Shark Bone Necklace
「Versatile」 Quick Loader Belt
──

Besides that, Solomon’s accessories and Quick Loader Belt had also each been enchanted with their own prefixes.

Hitchcock, Bioelectric Detection, Versatile.

Solomon briefly set down the two knives and began putting on the accessories one by one.

‘!’

As a test, when he equipped the Black Bird Spirit Bracelet with the 「Hitchcock」 prefix, a light shock struck him, as though an electric current crackled and raced through his body. In that state, Solomon tried creating a Black Bird Spirit as a test.

It was only meant as a test. He had only intended to summon three or four.

‘Huh?’

─ Cawwwk, caw, caw!
─ Cawwwk, caw!
─ Caw! Caw!

What was summoned was not the three or four that should have been summoned as a light test. It was over a dozen. There were so many that it was hard to count them one by one.

‘This goes beyond the maximum number I can summon….’

He immediately understood what that meant. It had increased the number he could summon. So Solomon steadied himself again and focused his consciousness.

Then.

He staggered.

The view beneath his feet flipped, and a splitting headache assaulted him as though his head would crack open. He heard crows.

The crows were there.

Caw, cawwwk, caw!

Like 「Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds」, they filled the hotel room so completely it seemed ready to burst apart. There were too many to count one by one.

‘No, just how many are there?’

Dozens? A hundred? It might have been even more.

His eyes and ears were even being shared with every single one of them, and all kinds of information poured in as though his consciousness were splintering apart. The number itself was not the issue. There were so many that handling them was nearly impossible. Even so, the fact that the number was not small was painfully obvious.

After sending the flock of crows away, Solomon equipped the 「Bioelectric Detection」 Ghost Shark Bone Necklace and the 「Versatile」 Quick Loader Belt in succession.

It was the same sensation as before, but sharper and more electric as it raced through him. Before long, he realized it.

It felt uncanny, as though a new sense that had not existed before was being opened.

‘Magnetic fields….’

Of course, he could only sense them to a degree. Come to think of it, he had read that before. That sharks could detect magnetic fields underwater and hunt by tracking bioelectric currents.

In other words, this necklace had given Solomon a level of ‘detection ability’ comparable to that of a shark.

Even in darkness where neither light nor sound could reach, he could detect the biological signals racing through blood.

For an assassin, it was truly an incomparable sixth sense.

As for the Quick Loader Belt with 「Versatile」 attached, it was much easier to understand. When he tried storing the Nightfall automatic crossbow as a test, it literally clicked neatly into place. The moment Solomon willed it, it was as if telekinesis activated on its own, streamlining his cumbersome movements severalfold.

‘Good, next is the equipment.’

──
「Shy」 stealth coat Mk-II
「Self-Repair」 integrated armor layer
──

Shy, self-repair. He could roughly guess the latter, but what did shy mean?

In any case, the moment he put on the integrated armor layer.

‘!’

The clothing began to wriggle as it seeped over Solomon’s skin like a living organism. As if it were trying to merge into one with him.

If Solomon were to suffer wounds, fractures, or similar damage, perhaps it would immediately activate the 「Self-Repair」 function and heal him. He didn’t know how effective it would be, but it was better than not having it.

Lastly, the 「Shy」 stealth coat. When he put on the pitch-black coat, there was no immediate sensation. So as a test, Solomon activated the <Hide> spell.

His body melted into the empty air.

At the same time─.

The world slowed down.

‘!’

He soon realized it. The world hadn’t slowed down. Solomon had simply become faster.

‘Acceleration!’

The moment he canceled his invisibility as a test, the world began regaining its normal speed again.

When entering an invisible state, it additionally granted acceleration.

At that moment, an idea casually flashed across Solomon’s mind.

“<Bloodflow Acceleration>, <Hide>.”

He used a Level 2 spell to enhance the speed of his body, and in that state activated the invisibility spell of the 「Shy」 stealth coat. Acceleration on top of acceleration.

It was not merely that the world slowed down. Literally, the entire world felt almost as though it had stopped.

‘It can even be stacked on top of <Bloodflow Acceleration>.’

Canceling invisibility and Bloodflow Acceleration in succession, Solomon sat down on the bed in his room.

The magic cast for Cinderella. The name was no exaggeration. He had not even properly ‘tested’ the performance of the weapons yet. The high-ranking Black Bird Spirit Bracelet was no exception. In other words, Solomon had still only grasped an extremely small portion of the magical potential now imbued in his gear.

On top of that, there were even the shadow bolts and Shadow Mark imbued into the Nightfall automatic crossbow.

‘Preparations are complete.’

Quite literally, from this point on, Solomon’s world would be different. Because he was no longer dealing with some mediocre guild or contractor, but was now carrying out requests for Wallachia Co. as a seasoned hand employed by a mega guild..

Accordingly, the threats blocking his path would also be unlike anything he had faced until now.

That was why, even for the sake of tomorrow, now was the time to get some more rest.

He dreamed.

In the dream, the silhouette of a woman was looking at Solomon.

Her figure was faint, so he couldn’t see it clearly. Even so, Solomon approached her wordlessly, wanting to see her more closely.

The moment he tried to approach, the distance widened. It was strange. Solomon was clearly moving toward her, yet the surrounding distance was physically stretching away. As if the scenery around them were being pulled and stretched like rubber.

So he tried to approach more. The closer he moved, the farther the distance became.

“Do not forgive me, child.”

As the distance widened, the woman spoke. Before long, Solomon realized it.

That she was crying.

He heard a knock. His eyes opened. Solomon jerked his upper body up in a rush like a spring snapping upright and looked around. He was in Room 319 of the hotel. His room, where he had properly become a guest staying on the third floor.

‘A dream….’

It had been a dream. Even so, it left behind an oddly unforgettable aftertaste in the haze of something he could barely remember.

Even so, this was not the time to be leisurely reminiscing about a dream.

“What is it?”

After a short silence, Solomon asked back. Then a voice came from outside the room.

“There is someone in the lounge asking for you, Mr. Solomon.”

Someone seeking a guest of Hotel Snark. There was no need to say what that meant.

Solomon put on the new armament that would turn him into a princess, rose to his feet without even thinking deeply about last night’s dream, and got ready. To do what had to be done.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you for the first time, Mr. Solomon.”

A man in a suit was sitting in the tea lounge.

“I hear you’re the ‘cleaner’ with the highest stock in this city.”
“……”
“Our guild’s upper management has also taken quite an interest in that remarkable reputation of yours.”

Solomon didn’t bother answering and silently took a seat. A smooth business smile rested on the man’s face, but to Solomon it looked strange, like a wax mask forcibly fixed in place.

“Did you come about a request?”
“Oh, indeed.”

As he said that, the man pulled something out from inside his coat. It was a business card.

───
Dr. Alaric Faustus
Contract Executive
PROMETHEUS GENETICS & CHIMERA DIV.
“Flesh is raw material. Thought is architecture.”
───

“Forgive my late introduction. I am Dr. Alaric Faustus of the Prometheus Genetics Guild, Chimera Division.”

As he said that, the man smiled amiably.

‘Flesh is raw material, and thought is architecture.’

Leaving behind that deeply ominous corporate motto of theirs.