The Greatest Madman

That night, after receiving the commission to eliminate Baron Gould.
Solomon thought first of the 1 billion krona reward he had received from Dr. Faustus’s commission, and the things he had obtained from Barbatos, the Demon of the Hunt.

─ Please swallow these.

That day, the token of sincerity shown before Solomon in bewilderment, as though he had seen something he absolutely should never have seen.
The Demon of the Hunt’s eyes. Those two demon eyes.

At least for now, they showed no immediate use. So Solomon, likewise keeping silent, decided to leave them, together with the sleeping heart in the jar, for another day. It was then.

Knock knock.
A cautious knock was heard.

“Excuse me, Mr. Solomon. Your ballroom outfit has been mended.”

Ballroom outfit, huh. Letting out a hollow laugh, Solomon opened the door, and there on a cart were his pieces of equipment, neatly repaired by the fairies’ little magic.

“And before tomorrow’s midnight commission, I will prepare your room service in advance.”

Soon, the zombie hotelier pushed in a room-service trolley and began arranging it carefully.
He spread a pure white tablecloth, then placed a dish covered with a silver cloche, the sort commonly used in French cuisine, in the center. In front of it, he set a cutlery set of silver fork and knife, along with a small plate.

‘The same damn nonsense as always.’

So what meaning there was in this idiotic routine, Solomon still couldn’t understand. Nor did he particularly want to. The moment the hotelier withdrew, he lifted the silver cover.

As always, the things Solomon needed to carry out his commission had been placed there.

──
Target Elimination Request and Evidence Acquisition

Client: (Removed)
Target for elimination: Baron Patrick Gould
──

‘Evidence acquisition?’

It was not just a matter of killing him. Even the client had been removed. That meant even Mihail Cromwell, the Second-Grade Bladesman, was not the direct party behind the commission. Solomon silently scanned the rest.

──
(Omitted) Baron Gould is suspected of having forgotten his position as a bourgeois member of the City Minor Council and of colluding with the Five Great Houses of Uptown, the 「Ancient Council」……
Baron Gould’s mansion is located in the center of 「Sun Street」 in Downtown District 10, and for the internal structure and floor plans of the mansion, refer to the attached materials……
──

‘So in the end, it’s a political struggle.’

No matter how many reasons they attached about him deserving to die, in the end it came down to one thing. A fight over interests. The sin for which he truly deserved to die was not evil.
Officially, together with the bourgeoisie, the rising force ruling the city through innovation, and their 「City Council」─.
It was nothing more than a A fight over interests between them and the Five Great Houses, who had reigned as rulers of this country for generations, along with the 「Ancient Council」.

Though for the moment he had badly damaged his favorability with the Five Great Houses, that didn’t mean Solomon was loyal to the bourgeoisie either. In this city, for the sake of one’s goal, today’s enemy became tomorrow’s ally, and today’s ally became tomorrow’s enemy.

‘Well, it’s three days from now. I can think about it at my leisure.’

Knock knock.
Just then, another knock was heard. Had the hotelier brought some other business again? The moment Solomon heaved his heavy body up and opened the room door─.

“……!”

An unexpected face was there.

“Violet?”

A beautiful woman in a business suit, with black hair highlighted by pink streaks. Her tie was tied impeccably, and a mechanical sword belt held no fewer than three swords. On top of that, she still had on the sunglasses she had no intention of removing even indoors.
Officially, she was a First-Grade Bladesman of the Sword Watch, and unofficially one of the seven so-called Special-Grade Bladesmen.

“What business brings you here this late at night?”

Why had she come looking for Solomon this late at night?

“You received a commission to eliminate Baron Gould.”
“……I’m under no obligation to say.”

Even if they had once risked their lives together fighting a mage of House Arrowhead, business was business. So Solomon did not let his guard down and asked back coldly.

“You don’t particularly need to answer.”

Violet shrugged as she spoke.

“Rather than that, shall we go inside and talk?”
“That’s not difficult.”

Solomon replied.

“By the way, can you prove that you’re really the ‘Violet’ I know?”

Even so, Solomon didn’t relax his guard. What were the chances the woman before him was really the one he knew? In this city, nothing could be trusted. Wasn’t the world of TRPG one where you tested even a stone bridge before teleporting over it?

“For a crow-head, that’s a pretty decent insight.”

Violet nodded calmly and continued.

“And there was no one there.”
“What?”

At those words, Solomon tilted his head in confusion.

“It’s a code between us. For the record, I just came up with it.”
“……What nonsense are you spouting?”
“Just as you said, there’ll be plenty of occasions going forward where we’ll need to ‘prove’ each other.”

A short silence fell. At the end of it, Solomon let out a hollow laugh and answered.

“……Come in.”

The moment Violet entered Solomon’s room, she sat down on the bed and loosened her tie. Seeing that, Solomon showed a flicker of bewilderment. Violet shot back as if she found it absurd.

“Hmm, judging by the look of you, there’s probably a rosy future unfolding in your head right now where we get married and even have children. By now, we’re probably preparing to marry off our second daughter and planning for retirement.”
“Right now, we’re already surrounded by grandchildren and enjoying a peaceful retirement.”
“That’s not a bad future either.”

When Solomon answered as if it were someone else’s business, Violet let out a small laugh.

“I came to see you on two matters.”

After laughing, she resumed speaking with her usual poker face.

“Two?”
“Let’s start with the commission regarding Baron Gould. There’s an order to things.”

Violet said this as though she did not have the slightest doubt that Solomon had already received the commission. After all, it seemed that the bladesman, Mihail, had come to commission Solomon to eliminate Baron Gould in accordance with her will to begin with.

“Baron Gould is already aware of this commission.”
“What?”
“The information leaked.”
“The information leaked? Don’t tell me……”

At that point, a name surfaced in Solomon’s mind without thinking. Baron Gould had been placed on the elimination list on suspicion of colluding with Uptown’s Five Great Houses, the 「Ancient Council」. At the same time, he thought of the surname of Mihail, the one who had brought him the commission.
House Cromwell, the Ironblood Carnivores. One branch of Uptown’s Five Great Houses.

“No, it wasn’t that parrot-head.”
“……So it wasn’t.”

As if she had read Solomon’s mind, Violet immediately added that. She had not even heard the name, yet the image that came to mind was anything but ordinary.

“At least as far as that parrot fellow goes, you don’t need to worry. He’s more trustworthy than he looks.”

Hearing it again made it even more ridiculous.

‘So my head’s a crow, and his is a parrot?’

At least it was better than being called arrow-head, so perhaps that was something to be thankful for. Either way, the woman before him certainly seemed to be the ‘Violet’ Solomon knew.

“In any case, three days from now Baron Gould will be waiting for you after laying a trap. Your bird-heads will be chopped up nicely together and stuffed as decorations for his mansion.”
“……”

Hearing that, Solomon frowned. It really was a place where not a single thing could be trusted.

“So you personally came all the way here just to warn me of that?”
“You could see it that way, or not.”
“……Did you eat something weird too?”
“Whether to accept the warning or not is entirely for you to decide, not me.”

Violet added it as if it were somebody else’s problem.

“For reference, that parrot-head intends to carry out the mission even knowing it’s a trap.”
“What?”
“─Something about that being justice, or whatever.”
“……Crazy bastard.”
“I agree.”

He had given off an unusual vibe at first glance, but Solomon had never imagined he was that far gone.

“Still, he has no intention of walking into it meekly, so he says he’ll infiltrate tonight at dawn.”

Ignoring Solomon’s bewilderment, Violet went on.

“If you have any intention of joining him, he says he’ll wait a little longer, so come to the rendezvous point.”
“……No, what?”
“For reference, you have 30 minutes left.”

Solomon was beyond mere disbelief. He felt like he might just fly up into the sky at this point.

“You probably already know this, but information leaking from the client’s side qualifies as grounds for forfeiting the commission under the hotel’s guarantee, so giving it up is entirely your choice. There’s no reason for you to force yourself to get involved.”

By then, Violet had retied the loosened tie and risen to her feet.

“The reason I stopped by the hotel was also to report that fact officially.”
“Thanks.”

As if that were the end of her business.

“……There’s something I want to ask.”
“Ask.”

Solomon was not finished.

“That parrot-head, is he really from ‘House Cromwell’?”
“He is.”
“Then doesn’t that mean Baron Gould can’t just lay a hand on him in the first place?”

Even if things took the worst possible turn, the gap between some gold-spoon heir who knew nothing of the world and Solomon’s own position would be the difference between heaven and earth.

“You don’t need to worry about that point.”

Even so, Violet gave a bitter smile and shrugged.

“The day House Cromwell learns that that fellow’s parrot-head has been stuffed as a decoration in the mansion will probably be designated a family holiday. They’ll likely even hand out a handsome reward.”
“……”

So there was some sort of circumstance behind it. Whatever the case, no matter how much he could trust her words, at least Solomon’s ‘Insight roll’ didn’t pick up any particular sign that something was off.

“Besides, think about it. Do you think a bladesman infiltrating a bourgeois mansion at that hour before dawn would walk around with ‘bladesman’ written on his face?”
“So even the baron doesn’t know exactly who’ll be carrying out the commission.”
“Right. The only thing the baron knows is that ‘Sword Watch commissioned Hotel Snark for an assassination.’”

In other words, the trap he had laid and prepared was ultimately a trap laid for the hotel’s contractors.

“As I said, the decision is yours.”
“Unless I’m insane, why would I crawl in there to die of my own accord?”
“Ordinarily, that would be true unless you were insane.”

At Solomon’s words, Violet shrugged.

“By the way, I’ve seen a lot of lunatics in my time…… but let me tell you about the most insane bastard among them.”
“What, a bladesman who walks to his own death in the name of justice?”
“That one isn’t normal either. Still, he doesn’t compare to that guy.”

Violet shook her head.

“What, worse than that?”
“Yeah.”

Just how bad was he? Violet continued calmly.

“He was an assassin who, without even a single invisibility spell, thought first of walking up behind a mage of the Five Great Houses and punching a knife-hole through him.”
“……”
“In a desperate situation where anyone could see it would only end in a dog’s death, he still didn’t choose to run.”

And the greatest madman Violet had ever seen was not very far away.