A New Weapon

The next day, at the Upper Lowlands black market.

“Here’s sixty-five million krona.”

Solomon held out the bag. The moment Maya saw the stacks of cash inside, her mouth fell open.

“Thirty million is for the crossbow. With the rest, get me gear that fits the price.”

“Wait. Where did you get that much money overnight?”

“That hog bastard caused a massive, spectacular disaster. A real big one.”

Solomon said calmly.

“And things got tangled, so it looks like I’ll have to stop by Ghost Town.”

“Ghost Town… Don’t tell me you’re trying to go to Hotel Snark?!”

“Yeah.”

“…”

Maya fell silent for a moment. She didn’t tell him to stop or reconsider. She just sank into thought, then spoke.

“Wait here.”

With that, Maya vanished. After a while, she returned with an armful of items and laid them out, explaining them one by one.

“This is a Ghost Whale bone blade.”

[Ghost Whales are apex predators that drift through the Sea of the Dead, devouring lost spirits….]

Even without that grand-sounding name, the blade’s specialness was obvious the instant he saw it.

“It’s an excellent weapon on its own, and it cuts immaterial things too, like the spirit bodies in Ghost Town. It’s expensive.”

Without a word, Solomon took the Ghost Whale blade she offered. A chill he couldn’t place ran down his spine.

[This is not the edge of a cheap metal blade. Like a whale swimming along the deep-sea currents, you can feel a deep, dark flow cutting through black waters….]

It felt like meeting an indescribably enormous predator at the bottom of an endless abyss.

[A masterpiece that has anchored ghost bone that should not exist, no less than a whale’s bone, into the material world.]

“…It looks expensive.”

“One hundred million krona.”

“Did you already forget how much I brought?”

Solomon said it in disbelief, and Maya shrugged like it was ridiculous too.

“Even all together, there’s only sixty-five million.”

And thirty million of that was the crossbow debt he had to pay right away.

“Did you forget how generous I was, too?”

“…”

“And since you’re a big shot big enough to get called to Hotel Snark, an investment like this is nothing.”

Solomon stayed silent. Setting the grand description aside, he needed to know how this weapon worked in game terms.

At minimum, it was a magic weapon, and most likely not ordinary magic.

‘A unique weapon… could it be legendary? No. No matter what, it can’t be that level.’

There was no rarity glow like purple or gold.

With no item description floating in front of him, even figuring out its performance would take work.

“Next. These. Well, they’re nothing compared to the Ghost Whale bone blade.”

And Maya’s lineup wasn’t over.

“A gas mask to resist Ghost Town’s miasma. And a new outfit.”

“A new outfit?”

“WearTech Guild’s latest tactical coat. Model name, Nightweaver Coat.”

[WearTech Guild started as an underwear company. Now, there is no ‘clothing’ they don’t handle, from industrial gear to military-grade armor.
And let’s set aside the fact that their top-selling product is still underwear that lights the fire on a hot night between a man and a woman.]

She carefully handed over the mask and the black coat. It was light, and yet a steel-like heft that didn’t match its weight tugged at the hem.

“The outer layer is a composite weave with a blade-resistant coating and double-layer shock-absorbing material. The inner lining is arcane fiber inscribed with spells. It even has .”

“Blessing of Stealth?”

“It’s a cantrip¹ that triggers automatically in sync with the wearer’s movements. Nothing flashy, but it helps. Less noise, less presence, lighter steps.”

Blade resistance and shock absorption, plus arcane fiber. Just hearing it, it sounded like anything but ordinary workwear.

“…Thanks.”

“Heh. Keep using our market from now on too, Mr. Big Shot.”

Maya, in her leather jacket, said with a smile.

“Among the guilds and workshops in Downtown District 20, there isn’t a single item I, Lady Maya, can’t get my hands on!”

Solomon nodded quietly. Someone he could trust. Even if she was just a black-market trade partner, talking with Maya made his chest feel strangely lighter.

“I’ll come again.”

“Yeah. I’ll be waiting.”

With that, Solomon gathered the gear Maya gave him and turned away. After leaving the black market with a lighter heart, it was time to go see the heavier side.

The heavy man was there.

“Mm, nom nom… you’re here.”

Seeing the hog out on the street in broad daylight was unpleasant. He had two double cheeseburgers in each hand… meaning he was eating four at once, two per hand.

“You said you were doing that one-meal-a-day diet. Are you already shoving down that one meal?”

“No, this is just because I was peckish, like a little snack… And they say fries are what really makes you fat, not the burgers! I held back on the fries!”

Roach opened wide and stuffed in two double cheeseburgers at the same time.

“Yeah, I’m tearing up. Shut up and let’s go see the medium.”

“Y-You packed everything we need, right?”

“Everything except fries.”

Solomon answered, resigned.

A weapon that could hit spirit bodies, and a gas mask that could resist Ghost Town’s miasma. He was ready.

“Nom nom, yeah, let’s go. Since I’m dieting for once…”

“Didn’t you say it was right up ahead?”

“Hey, at this weight, even walking is hard work!”

Grumbling like that, Roach led him across the Lowlands streets, past the slum housing, to a place called the Crossroads of the Dead.

It was the cemetery district.

Even if it was called a cemetery, it was nothing like the quiet, solemn scene people imagined. It was practically a dump. The only difference was the garbage was human corpses.

“Huff, huff…”

They hadn’t even walked far, but the hog was already drenched in sweat. Watching him, Solomon asked in disbelief.

“I’m just genuinely curious. When you die, what happens to your replacement?”

“What?! Huff, y-you bastard… huff!”

“No, I’m not saying it out of malice. I’m genuinely curious…”

No matter how you looked at it, he didn’t seem long for this world. Or maybe his pancreas still holding out proved he was strong in the wrong direction.

“T-There!”

Roach pointed at a shop standing alone at the cemetery’s edge. Blackout curtains hung all around it, not letting a trace of light inside.

“Huff, huff… g-go on, partner. I’ll… rest a bit here and follow…”

A death flag he’d seen plenty of times.

“If you die, your replacement… No. Let’s meet later, alive.”

Resigned, Solomon headed for the shop. The sign at the entrance read HILL HOUSE.

“Excuse me.”

Solomon eased the door open and stepped inside. The interior was pitch-dark, yet so neatly arranged it was hard to believe it sat in the Lowlands slums.

“Welcome.”

A voice came from deeper within. A young woman’s.

“You’re the contractor Solomon the hog told me about, right?”

“Yeah.”

Solomon nodded and moved forward. In the center of the darkness sat a woman before a crystal ball, like a fortune-teller in a divination shop.

“I heard you want to enter Ghost Town.”

“I have business at Hotel Snark.”

“Ah, Hotel Snark? Sounds like you’ve really made it.”

Made it. That again.

[Hotel Snark is like the major leagues that countless fixers and contractors in this city yearn for.]

The woman giggled, amused. Solomon looked at her without a word. Even in the dark, he could see her clearly enough.

“Take care of me, mister future big shot. I’m the medium, Adina.”

Most striking of all was her corpse-pale, dark skin. Even with the hood up, she couldn’t hide her other distinct feature. Sharply pointed ears.

‘So she’s a dark elf.’

That didn’t matter to Solomon right now.

“Oh my.”

It was then.

“You’ve got quite a vicious-looking weapon tucked at your waist.”

As she said it, Adina’s gaze dropped to his belt. Solomon drew the Ghost Whale bone blade and showed it to her. For an instant, an odd light flickered in her eyes.

An odd light…?

[Analysis Failed!]

At the same time, the voice in his head offered nothing more.

“Is there a problem?”

“Not really.”

Adina shook her head.

“You do know what it means to enter Ghost Town, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m saying this just in case. I’m not talking about Ghost Town itself.”

“Then what?”

“The hotel, of course.”

She continued.

“Honestly, passing through Ghost Town itself isn’t hard. But the moment you step into that hotel…”

Her voice held both mystery and warning, perfectly fitting a medium.

“A lot of things become irreversible.”

“…”

Solomon fell silent. He was prepared, to an extent.

“I know.”

“Then that makes things simple. And you’re lucky”

“Lucky?”

“Because the most capable guide is back, for once.”

“Capable guide?”

“One so capable that even Uptown’s Five Great Houses would personally take him in.”

Solomon stared, disbelief creeping in. Downtown, sure, but Uptown’s Five Great Houses had weight. A different scale.

No, in a sense, Solomon might be the one who knew that weight better than anyone.

“Now then, follow me.”

Adina rose. She lifted a floor hatch hidden beneath a carpet and slipped into a passage leading underground, into darkness without a single candle.

Solomon followed. In that attic-like space filled with shadow, a faintly glowing silhouette came into view.

“It’s a fairy of the Morning Lake from Avalon.”

There was an iron-bar structure far smaller than a birdcage, and inside it, a light.

What he’d taken for light, up close, was a creature emitting its own glow.

Not just a creature, either, but a tiny, human-shaped one with wings.

‘A fairy?’

“What the fuck are you looking at?!”

The tiny light spoke. The voice wasn’t beautiful, and it wasn’t female. It was thick and male. Looking closer, he had long hair and a shaggy beard like a hippie.

“You looking down on me because I’m a fairy?”

“…”

Solomon didn’t say anything. No, he couldn’t.

“This is why you mortal bastards who still smell like your mom’s milk…”

The fairy pulled something out. Even by fairy standards it was tiny, so small it was hard to see, like a packet of powder.

He pinched some between his fingertips, brought it under his nose, and snorted it. Like he’d done it plenty of times.

“Gah, now this is fucking magic. What else is magic.”

His wings trembled, then drooped and sagged. His eyes went vacant.

“Goddamn Five Great Houses! Ancient Council! King Arthur, Nimue, go to hell together, carpe diem!”

Then, as if his breath snapped back into place, he sprang up and started gulping air.

“Among the guides who can get you through Ghost Town, he’s the most reliable one.”

“…This druggie fairy?”

“He looks like that, but his skill is the best.”

“Yeah, well said. And as you know, the best deserves the best treatment.”

“…”

Without a word, Solomon recalled the narrator’s explanation.

Ghost Town was a realm on the boundary between life and death. Ordinary logic and physical laws didn’t apply there, so he needed a guide who could understand a world outside reason and keep him from getting lost.

In that sense, a fairy was the perfect fit.

[Since ancient times, fairies have been guides at the boundary. Countless fairy tales and stories tell us that.
A kind-hearted fairy opens a path forward for the lost,
but a spiteful fairy leads them into an endless maze.
Depending on what is in the fairy’s heart, even the same road becomes an irreversible fork in the path.]

That much he could understand. He’d seen it in the rulebook too.

But the drugged-up hippie fairy in front of him felt like it was smashing Solomon’s common sense to pieces with a hammer.

“We’re going right now, yeah? The fee’s 0.2 grams of ‘Titania’s Breath.’ Oberon’s Breath is low-grade trash only cowards snort.”

The fairy answered from inside the bars, sounding so freewheeling he didn’t even seem imprisoned.

“The hog already paid. That includes the drug money and the ritual cost to enter Ghost Town.”

Watching him, Adina added.

“Should I prepare the ritual right away?”

“Please.”

“Then sit in that chair and soak your feet in the basin.”

Sure enough, a chair sat alone in the dark, and at his feet was a washbasin filled with water.

‘This is the ritual?’

He’d expected there to be grand chanting, or even a shamanistic ritual. Then the narrator’s voice rang out in his head.

[Since ancient times, water has symbolized boundaries. The world within water, the world outside water. In magic, like a thin membrane dividing the living world from the world of the dead….]

“Right. Now take off your shoes and put both feet into the water.”

“They’re in.”

Solomon sat, took off his shoes, and placed both feet into the basin like he was doing a foot bath.

[And putting your feet into water means you are standing at the threshold of the other world. In other words, it means you are no longer standing in this world.]

The TMI kept coming on its own. Still, it sounded more plausible than he expected.

So for now, he had no choice but to believe it.

Going with that hippie druggie fairy into the Shadow World, where matter and flesh didn’t apply.

Because what made it possible was the power of a medium, an intermediary bridging the living and the dead.

“What’s next?”

“We need a cat. A very feisty one.”

Adina said.

[Cats have been regarded since ancient times as spiritual animals that travel between life and the underworld.]

‘So next is a cat. Does she keep one here?’

At first, he wondered if this was a scam, but after hearing the narrator, it felt oddly plausible.

“Look into my eyes for a moment.”

Adina had leaned in close to Solomon’s face. Close enough that he could feel her breath.

‘But where’s the cat?’

As he was about to ask, she spoke in a voice sharper and feistier than ever.

“Meow.”

“?”

The instant she said it, the world under him flipped. His vision rolled and spun like a runaway carnival ride.

When he came to, Adina was gone. He wasn’t even in the shop’s secret basement.

A wasteland stretched endlessly beyond the horizon.

The sky, which should have been midday-bright, hung darker and more depressed than ever. Because the sun was black.

‘A black sun….’

The moment he saw it, he understood. Death filled the air, even through the gas mask.

‘I’m in Ghost Town.’

He had stepped onto the boundary between life and death.