Wishmaster

When they left the Molesworth family’s villa, a steady rain was falling. The sheets of rain showed no sign of stopping.

“What shitty weather.”
“Oh, what a shame. I rather like it.”
“So, what are we doing now?”
“Isn’t what we need to do obvious?”

The troll, pressing his clerical hat down, spoke without any thought of avoiding the heavy rain.

“Finding the Saintess.”
“……A saintess.”

Find the saintess. Solomon let out a hollow laugh. A living sacrifice, a scapegoat, either way nothing changed.

「As a little service, I’ll tell you this. That child isn’t here.」
「What do you mean?」
「To be precise, the only thing here is Marie Molesworth’s body.」
「!」

A body possessed by an evil spirit. There had been no “contents” in there from the start.

“So the caged saintess abandoned her own body and flew off somewhere.”

Marie Molesworth. At the very least, where she was wasn’t Director William Molesworth’s two-story mansion. What was there was the thirteenth-floor VIP evil spirit he never wanted to face again.

“Where do we even start?”
“You don’t need to worry about that.”
“Do you have any leads?”
“No. There’s simply a method.”
As he said that, Jean Baudri moved without hesitation.

“Let’s return to the hotel. It’s about time the ‘door’ opens.”

───
Rule 7. When going out, you may exit to any location within Downtown District 20 via the 「Door Room」.
Rule 8. When returning, you may return to the 「Door Room」 at a specific time, specific place.
───

Hotel Snark in Ghost Town, the boundary between life and death. Unlike the 「Door Room」 that lets you easily go out to Downtown District 20 at any time, returning to the hotel was different.
Doors that appeared only briefly at a specific time, in a specific place within Downtown District 20. Like a René Magritte painting, a lone door hung in empty air.
Projecting the interior scene washed in soft light onto the rain-soaked street.
When Solomon stepped through the door without hesitation, the surrounding scenery twisted, and the interior of Hotel Snark welcomed him.
Then Jean Baudri also passed through a door that looked impossible for a troll’s build to fit through and entered the hotel. Shaking the water from his wet hat, Jean Baudri said.

“Please wait in the lobby for a moment. There’s something I need to pick up from my room.”
“Fine.”

Saying that, Jean Baudri headed for the hotel elevator. Solomon also sat in the lobby and thought about what came next. How long had it been?

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
“Don’t worry about it.”

Solomon answered flatly.

“So, what are we doing now?”
“This.”

At that question, Jean Baudri pulled something out. A shimmering gold medal.

“It’s a Wishmaster Medal.”
“!”

A medal that granted wishes. More precisely, a kind of promissory note that said the hotel would make a desired wish come true.

“With this, I’ll ask the hotel for the ‘wish’ of tracking down the whereabouts of Miss Marie Molesworth, the 14th saintess.”
“……I see.”

A special reward provided for commissions above a certain level. It was oddly ironic to spend that reward to carry out another commission, but in a crisis like this, they couldn’t afford to be picky.

“So how do you actually use that medal?”
“Follow me.”

What Jean Baudri pointed to was a corner seat in the hotel lobby. Beneath a chandelier glowing like dusk, a luxurious marble table covered in red velvet stood out.
On the table was a sign that read Reserved, but Solomon had never seen anyone sit there until now.

Always empty even as plenty of guests passed by daily, and yet always kept suspiciously clean.

And now, for the first time, Solomon saw someone sit there. A huge troll whose weight made him seriously worry whether the chair would hold.

“Come over and sit with me.”
“……Me too?”
“Oh, of course. Did you think this was someone else’s problem?”
“As if.”

The troll had an unexpected knack for sarcasm. And since that troll’s ass easily took up three seats, Solomon barely managed to cram himself into the edge of the table. Creeeak, the already cramped table screamed.

In that state, Jean Baudri’s massive hand rang the bell on the table. Ding. A clear metallic sound rang out.

“You called.”

A voice answered that sound. Without even a presence, the owner of the voice was sitting right in front of them and replying calmly. When had she appeared? He couldn’t tell.

“!”

Seeing who that voice belonged to, Solomon swallowed silently. He had no choice not to.

“Yuria……?”
“Oh, you know her.”
“How could I not?”

The troll clergyman Jean Baudri beside him added as if it was nothing to be surprised about. Solomon shrugged and asked back. Toward the quack elf in front of him, wearing a business suit and shining a monocle.

“So the Wishmaster who grants the hotel’s wishes is…….”
“Not me.”

Even so, a razor-sharp answer came back.

“As I told you, my role is only that of an agent.”
“An agent for who/”
“The Wishmaster.”

At those words, Solomon fell silent for a moment. Like the name Shaman Priestess of the Lake, were the wishes the hotel’s guests prayed for to the Wishmaster also relayed through her.

“State the wish you desire.”

Yuria continued calmly, her monocle gleaming as always. Jean Baudri answered as he took out several medals from his coat.

“Daughter of William Molesworth, Director of the City Council Public Health and Quarantine Bureau. Marie Molesworth, sixteen.”

Clink. Several gold-shining medals spilled from the troll’s huge hand.

“I want to know her whereabouts.”
“……”

A brief silence.

“One Wishmaster Medal. Will you pay?”
“Oh, that is quite reasonable.”
“Then…….”

Right then, one Wishmaster Medal placed on the table vanished. Like a fade-out video losing its shape as it became transparent. Jean Baudri gathered the remaining medals and put them back into his coat.

“Miss Marie Molesworth is in the deepest place beneath Ghost Town.”
“!”

Beneath Ghost Town. The deepest place. Jean Baudri stopped halfway through putting the medals away and placed them back on the table.

“That’s not a very good place for a young girl’s soul to wander.”
“Two medals. Additionally, the fee for a guide who will lead us to where her soul is.”
“A guide…….”

At those words, Solomon thought of a hippie fairy he didn’t want to imagine.

“Someone like Oberon.”
“No.”

The monocled elf, Yuria, shook her head calmly.

“To hire Lord Oberon in the form of a wish, it depends on the situation, but it would consume at least eighty medals.”
“……What?”

Solomon blinked in disbelief. He was more expensive than expected. No, it wasn’t just “expensive.” Solomon knew at a glance he wasn’t a normal fairy, but hearing it like this was still ridiculous.

“I’ll pay two medals.”
“Accepted.”

Jean Baudri answered calmly, and Yuria nodded silently as well. Before long, the two medals spread out on the table became transparent again and vanished.

“With that, Jean Baudri’s wish has been granted. And the Wishmaster says—.”

Yuria stopped and looked at Solomon. After a brief silence, she added.

“They say it’s a small service.”
“—.”

A voice rang out at the same time. As Solomon was about to say something.
A falling sensation hit him, like the ground beneath his feet was collapsing.

When he realized it, coldness flowed out from his mouth. White and hazy.

The chandelier light that should have been illuminating the hotel interior just a moment ago faded, and a skin-cutting cold seeped into the dark room. Hotel Snark wasn’t the kind of place crowded with people like an ordinary hotel, but there was still enough liveliness to call it a hotel.
This wasn’t.

In the blink of an eye, Solomon was left alone in a cold, dark interior with no light and no people.
And at the same time, a sound rang out.

Shaaah……
It was the sound of waves. Waves swelling and breaking in the distance. It wasn’t even that far. Like it had been built right next to the shore from the beginning.

‘Waves?’

That was when it happened.

“—ry.”
“!”

A voice came without any presence. He thought he wasn’t fated to be scared of ghosts after coming this far, but at that sudden voice, Solomon felt like his heart dropped.
Fortunately, like most cheap jump scares, the identity of the voice was ridiculously trivial.
The troll clergyman Jean Baudri was at his side.

“Sorry I’m late. Since I’m a troll, it seems there’s a bit of a time lag when it comes to ‘entering.’”
“……”

Before long, he pressed down his clerical hat, his cappello romano, and offered a refined salute.

“Freedom, freeeeeedoooomm!!”

Beside him, along with a small winged creature shouting excitedly. It was a fairy flapping golden wings. One he’d seen before……

‘The hell-hag, no, the designer fairy from the tailor’s room.’

Those fish-like eyes from then looked like a lie now, a face overflowing with life after finding freedom. Not caring about this utterly ominous place at all.

“Phew! Travel’s always fun and thrilling!”

Those fish eyes from then were overflowing with life like a lie. As if she were blasting endless positive energy around her.

“Yoo-hoo! What’s more fun in the world than heading toward the unknown where you don’t know what might be there!! Right?”
“Strictly speaking, it’s not the unknown. It’s finding Miss Marie Molesworth’s soul.”
“So she’s here.”

Before long, he pressed down his clerical hat, his cappello romano, and offered a refined salute.

“More precisely, deeper.”

Deeper.

“Alright then, shall we set off!”

The fairy shouted with gusto.

“Hold tight. This side still isn’t fully ‘stitched’!”

After shouting, she pulled something from her chest. A golden needle like the one from then. The fairy jabbed that needle into empty air.

“Good, now that I’ve threaded the needle…… let’s pull, pull!”

After stabbing it, she pulled. Like she was stitching fabric with that golden needle. Then an unbelievable sight unfolded. The cold and darkness of that empty hotel, that ruin-like place, began to crumple. Like fabric folding and bunching into wrinkles.

The surroundings swayed and spun so hard it was difficult just to stay on his feet. The scenery wobbled as it compressed, shrank, and stretched. Like crumpling and spreading fabric.

“It’s stitching spatial coordinates. Fairy magic.”
“Stitching…….”
“Whee-ho! This is the destination!”

When Solomon barely steadied his wobbling legs and looked around, it was no longer an empty ruin of a hotel.

The city’s depths, the very bottom of Ghost Town, had opened its mouth.

Uuuwoong.
The sound of heavy machinery moving with massive weight. Pillars hundreds of meters tall stood in solemn rows, supporting the structure. Rusted pipes and steel frames wound densely along the countless pillars like blood vessels.
And along the bottom several kilometers below, countless streams of water were rushing.
Streams. Looking closely at that floodwater rushing like rapids, it wasn’t just liquid. It was something black and sticky like tar.

“It’s down there.”

Solomon moved toward the swirling pitch-black filth below. An elevator was out of the question. All there was, along that absurd several-kilometer height like a sheer cliff, was a ladder soaked in time and grime, rattling ominously.

‘…….’

Solomon glanced at the troll beside him. He had no idea what kind of disaster would happen if that burden of a troll climbed the ladder. Then he noticed the sign attached behind the troll.

[ CAUTION ]
[ Public Combined Underground Drainage Tunnel ]
[ 9th Deep Layer End-Processing Zone: Angra Mainyu ]

“Angra Mainyu…….”

He let out a hollow laugh at that ridiculously grand name.

“What the hell is this place?”
“Exactly what it says.”

Jean Baudri answered as if it was nothing surprising.

“Not Uptown, not Downtown, but something that can only be handled here in ‘Ghost Town’…… the point where all this city’s pollutants finally end up.”
“Ghost Town, my ass. This is physically…….”
“That’s why it is.”

At Jean Baudri’s answer, the fairy added.

“Like stuffing trash into a wardrobe!”
“Well, depending on how you look at it, you could say it’s better than a wardrobe.”
“Don’t tell me what Director Molesworth called the saintess purification filter is also…….”
“That’s right.”

[All kinds of pollutants and waste this city can’t handle, even up to ancient evil itself……. It isn’t easy to handle that in an ordinary physical domain.
In that sense, Ghost Town is the perfect ‘wardrobe’ from Guild City’s perspective.]

Marie Molesworth’s soul had come here. Without even formally becoming a saintess, and even praying something to an evil spirit. Even so, why had she come here. He didn’t know. He had to know.

Solomon steeled himself and stepped forward.
To face the most nauseating den of evil in the world.