Chapter 1709 (1/2)
There is a problem with buying one of the planets you requested, Claudette said by message.
Randidly allowed the Mana to fade from his fingers and moved away from the warehouse Engraving he had been adjusting. Even though he and Helen had installed a ventilation system, he still walked out of the underground bunker as he frowned at the message. His eyes were heavy as he considered how to respond. He had guessed this would be the case… but Randidly was rather desperate to buy this particular planet.
I don’t know if you have heard, but another ‘terrorist' attack occurred at a Swacc Family base last night. The other forces of the Nexus are moving in earnest against them now that public opinion has turned against them. Therefore… the Swacc Family is in no state to field any offers for the planet of Tellus.
Randidly’s emerald eyes burned. He pictured the broken expression that he had seen in the Fifth Cohort on Shal’s face. Randidly wasn’t sure if it would be enough, but he wanted to remove one restriction the Swacc Family had over his teacher. Hopefully, that would be enough… to get him out from under the Swacc Family’s thumb.
Of course, the reasonable part of Randidly pictured Shal’s expression and knew that it wouldn’t be so simple. But right now, Randidly Ghosthound didn’t want to be serious. He wanted to repay Shal for all of the things his teacher had done for him. He wanted to help as best as he could.
He owed Shal that much.
Besides, Tellus was admittedly important to Randidly for other reasons. A large portion of the Grim Chimera was birthed from the Spear Phantom, which originated on Tellus. It was on Tellus that Randidly’s image began to solidify and obtain its current vibe. For this long-awaited evolution to push the Rarity of the Grim Chimera Skillset upward… Tellus was significant.
Randidly flexed his hands as he looked at the message one more time. His skin tingled as a plan began to form. One of the reasons that Randidly had asked Claudette’s help with this planet, in particular, was that the Swacc Family was screening it from him his sense, somehow. And since his Philosopher’s Key was blocked, Randidly was rather helpless; he didn’t know the Nexus well enough to search for Tellus.
But if the Swacc Family was distracted by other matters…
Randidly huffed out a breath and sent a message back to Claudette. Can you find out where the planet is located?
Her response surprised Randidly. Yes. But I’m coming with you.
*****
Claudette bit her lip as the two of them floated in space. “It’s probably a trap, you know. There was a large explosion at one of the Swacc Family critical bases… but my father’s intelligence says that nothing vital was truly damaged by the blast. It is extremely likely that the Swacc Family exposed a bit of weakness purposefully, to draw out the small fries that want to profit. They will crush any attempts people make to take advantage of them and then negotiate directly with the Engraving Guild and Military High Command.”
There was something… strange about the current Randidly Ghosthound. His eyes were unnaturally luminous in the darkness of space as he peered down through the planet’s atmosphere at the surface. Already Nether was flowing out of his body and filling the surroundings, which set off warning alarms for all of Claudette’s instincts.
The volume of energy he was mobilizing made her scalp tingle.
It had been extremely difficult for her to sneak outside of the Beigon Estate to meet him, but she managed it. Of course, a part of her acknowledged that her father likely let her go purposefully… he was willing to play into the growing rumors of a romance between the flower of Beigon and the ascendant young Head Drill Sergeant. But even with the threat of the Swacc Family and her father’s observation, she had still come.
Because she was worried. Because it felt like she was suffocating to remain in her room every day. And she couldn’t decide whether she wanted the man in front of her to stoke the flames of hope or smother them.
Yet now, looking at all the Nether he could handle at once… The feeling that had convinced her to ask Randidly for his assistance had returned. Even through the depths of numbness that surrounded her, Claudette felt it again as she looked at the expression on the Ghosthound’s face: this man, impossible as though it may seem, could help the observer change her fate.
Perhaps… I’m reading too much into it, Claudette told her pounding heart. That expression… the Nether… perhaps he is just… excited to have another world’s population to toy with…
Yet her ‘insights’ into the dark truth of Randidly Ghosthound suddenly rang hollow. That genuine earnestness he displayed... Small ripples of uncertainty surrounded the observer that sat at the bottom of Don Beigon’s shadow.
“Even if that’s true…” Randidly said slowly. “I suspect we are small fries even amongst the small fries of the Nexus. From what I understand, the Swacc Family does not have any special regard for a single planet. And I have it on good authority that several groups are moving to the Swacc base world. Their powerful soldiers will head there to defend against raids.”
Claudette blinked. How does he know that…? Does he really have access to the information of Military High Command…?
But if Military High Command is supporting him, why...
Claudette shook herself and released a pulse of creeping chill. The reassuring stillness of cold helped her center herself. Then she cleared her throat. “...well anyway. Before you… begin to do whatever you came here to do, I have something to ask you: Why the hell do you want to take me to the Imperium Ball?”
Randidly’s blank look was all the answer that Claudette needed. Clicking her tongue inwardly, she produced a copy of the invitation that had been plastered all over all three entrances to the Beigon Estate yesterday, assuring that there would be no way for her father to sweep the invitation under the rug.