Staying in a luxury penthouse room is great, but sleeping as an invisible snake is a little weird. Once Suzy blew out the candles and went to sleep, the whole room went totally dark and quiet. I lay on the soft velvet cushion at the edge of the bed for a couple of hours, but my new snake brain was wide awake. The massive dose of royal potion fluid was still buzzing through my system, making me feel completely restless.
’Hey, System,’ I thought, uncoiling my new, thin, silk-like body. ’Since I’m permanently invisible now, let’s look around. A good manager always double-checks the store layout after closing hours.’
[System: Oho! Midnight inspections? You’re just looking for an excuse to slack off or find some hidden snacks, aren’t you? Go on then. Just don’t knock anything over with your tail.]
I glided off the bed without making a single sound. My new scales felt like smooth, cool satin sliding over the polished wood floor. I moved around the room, checking the corners. There was an expensive wardrobe filled with her leather rogue gear, a small table with some fresh mint leaves in a cup, and a large mirror near the wall. I slithered right in front of the glass, but nothing showed up—not even a blur. It was perfect.
I slithered back toward the big bed. Suzy was sleeping soundly, curled up under the silk sheets, her long black-and-silver hair spread across the white pillows. Even while fast asleep, she looked like an absolute goddess.
As I crawled near the wooden baseboards of the frame, my nose bumped into something slightly stiff sticking out from right under the corner of the mattress. It looked like the edge of an old, leather-bound book.
A secret stash under the mattress? My human curiosity instantly flared up. In the grocery business, finding hidden logs under a counter usually meant someone was fixing the books.
I slid my thin, ribbon-like body right between the wooden frame and the underside of the mattress, using my spine to gently pry the book outward until it dropped quietly onto the rug. I turned my head down, using my slitted eyes to read the dark ink on the cover in the moonlight. It was a personal record book, but it didn’t look like a standard guild ledger.
[Target Identified: Suzy’s Private Journal (Personal Log)]
[Danger Level: Low (Unless she catches you reading her performance reviews)]
"Let’s see what the director really thinks about the company operations," I thought, flipping the cover open with a quick nudge of my nose.
The first few pages were just boring notes about grain taxes, import fees, and complaints about how annoying Director Jared was during board meetings. But as I flipped further in, a passage written in neat, elegant ink from just a few days ago caught my eye.
"The tracking squad failed. The Calamity core is gone, and the guild is facing massive pressure. I hired Barnaby and the Captain to fix it, but they are complete fools. My position as director is slipping, and the capital union is looking for any excuse to remove me. If I don’t find a miracle vendor or a serious edge soon, I might lose everything my family built."
I paused, my tongue flicking out in the dark. So the ice-cold boss lady was actually completely stressed out and cornered before I showed up.
I nudged the page again, looking at the very last entry written late last night, right after she got back from the riverbank. The ink was fresh, and the writing looked a bit frantic.
’Today, I met something impossible. A small, matte-black viper that can write text, use shadow magic, and rob grown men blind. It called itself Barry. It actually bartered with me while I was trapped in the water. It was completely shameless, greedy, and looked at me like a total pervert... but it actually recovered my family’s daggers and saved my life. For the first time in years, I feel like I have an asset that the other directors can’t predict. I need to keep this snake close, no matter how much gold or monster crystals it demands. Even if it drives me completely insane with its ridiculous antics.’
[System: Oho! A performance review! Look at that, Barry. She called you a shameless, greedy pervert. Truly, the system accuracy is one hundred percent. You made a huge impression on the boss.]
’Hey, she also called me an unpredictable asset,’ I thought, a smug smile forming inside my invisible snake head. ’That means my market value just went way up.’
Suddenly, the silk sheets above me rustled heavily. I froze instantly, flattening my body against the rug. Suzy turned over in her sleep, her arm dropping over the side of the mattress, her soft, warm fingers landing right next to my tail. She let out a low, sleepy sigh, murmuring something muffled into her pillow.
"Stupid... greedy snake..." she whispered in her sleep, her brow furrowing slightly before she settled back into a deep, quiet breath.
I slowly pulled the journal back under the mattress with my tail, ensuring it was hidden exactly the way I found it. I slithered back onto my velvet cushion at the foot of the bed, coiling up neatly as the first light of dawn began to creep through the penthouse window.
The corporate layout was clear now. She needed me just as much as I needed her. Tomorrow morning, the real partnership was going to begin, and I was going to make sure the profit margins were entirely in my favor.