The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound

As Randidly calmly moved around the dining room table in the Moss’s apartment, Delilah sat in her seat with her arms crossed and glared at him. Randidly could sense her violently kicking her legs under the table, but didn’t say anything. The conversation that he had to have with the Mosses would be easier if she wasn’t so antagonistic, but he couldn’t figure out a simple solution. Even he felt somewhat helpless before the headstrong child of Annie and Dozer.

Not that he thought that he had helped his chances by using his images to capture her; yet at the same time, some of the ways that he had seen Annie treat her daughter had shocked Randidly. But… Delilah was a bit special. She was the first child born into the System. Her development speed was informative, if only just because it might indicate that other children born with the System would mature more quickly.

Of course, this child might just be a singular aberration. But Randidly wanted to keep an eye on the issue, so he approached the current situation diplomatically.

He set the plate of ‘lamb’ and carrot risotto that he had thrown together in the last hour in front of Delilah and she grumbled up at him. “Heh, just you wait. Someday I’m going to be stronger than you and I’ll pay you back for this…”

Randidly couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He supposed the one thing that the girl didn’t lack was motivation. But Randidly ignored her for now and proceeded around the table, dropping plates he had balanced on his interim, multi-jointed root arm in front of the waiting Derek and Tim. Then Randidly sat down in his own chair and glanced around with a smile. “Dig in. I’m honestly pretty confident in my cooking ability.”

Derek Moss forced a chuckle. “Really, there was no need for you to stay for dinner and actually cook it… but since you did… don’t mind if I do…”

Of the three individuals that Randidly had cooked for, honestly, Tim was the least awkward with the situation. Delilah had her simmering ambition to trounce him while Derek seemed to be juggling Randidly’s identities as the leader of the Order Ducis and therefore his boss, the most powerful man in the world, the creator of Kharon, as well as the man who had effortlessly captured Delilah within his hallway. Derek also didn’t seem to be managing the mental gymnastics well, perhaps on account of his rigid military background.

Tim had remained silent, seemingly relieved and awed by Randidly’s arrival. He had talked quietly with Delilah while Randidly and Derek had spoken over a drink earlier, but he was mostly there to listen to Delilah’s litany of complaints about the situation. But Tim had snuck several glances at Randidly, indicating his interest.

Slowly, Randidly began developing an impression of Tim. Young, but not immature. Likely because he grew up with the chaos of the System around him. A strong sense of justice, because one of the few times Tim spoke, he had carefully defended Randidly when Delilah had claimed she had been viciously attacked by the Ghosthound.

Pausing in his thoughts, Randidly glanced around the dining room table with a helpless smile. They all seemed to be waiting for another person to start eating. “I mean, if no one else is, I’ll take the first bite.”

He scooped up a spoonful of the risotto and popped it into his mouth. The mellow muskiness of the Level 66 Hellion Ram that Randidly had used for the meat combined well with the carrots. Plus, nothing could rival the creamy smoothness of a good risotto; the butter harvested from Kharon’s farms was no joke. Randidly didn’t have the time to make the stock from scratch and transfer the stock in small batches into the rice, so the texture was a bit inconsistent. But he was pretty confident in the result.

Under his expectant smile, everyone took a bite of his risotto. Watching their individual reactions was somewhat gratifying.

“What!” Delilah sat bolt upright like she had received an electric shock. Then she rapidly began shoveling food into her mouth. “Why is such a good food such an ugly sandy color…?”

Derek’s expression brightened. “Mmm! This is dam- dang good.”

Tim closed his eyes and revealed an expression of pure bliss after he took his first bite. While Delilah raced to devour her plate like someone was going to steal it and even Derek hasten the pace of his chewing, Tim savored every bite.

Somehow, the very purposeful manner of eating broke Randidly’s heart. Haven’t had the chance to have many good meals, huh…?

Yet there were other encouraging signs that Randidly noticed as he spent time with the Mosses. First, it only now occurred to Randidly that the energy source of the city was called moss spirits. Because ever since Randidly had arrived at the apartment, the emerald spirits had been circling the building excitedly. They liked that Randidly, Tim, and Derek were in the same place at the same time. Randidly could feel how much the energy lifeforms adored them in their rapidly escalating numbers.

Moss spirits even began to seep under the door and through the window to join the party, but Randidly quietly willed them away. The situation was already complicated enough as it was. I wonder, if I truly teach Tim how to do this, someday the Moss family name will seem to be more than a coincidence to the people of Kharon…

Secondly, Randidly felt how Derek Moss’s image was an offshoot of his own. He was the Bombardier of the Sacred Grove. Although Randidly could tell that Derek hadn’t yet quite uncovered the core of his own image, his ability to use images was rapidly growing under the tutelage of the Order Ducis. Now, it was only a matter of time.

Finally, Randidly touched both of their images more directly with Grim Intuition. It was a much easier prospect with Derek, but Tim seemed to possess a Skill that was naturally teaching him how to use images. It was likely the same Skill that made the moss spirits so enthusiastic about him. With that simple brush, Randidly had some insight into their desires. Both seemed… if not content in Kharon, heading toward that direction.

For now, at least, their desires stayed with the Wandering City.

After a few more messy compliments for the risotto from a full-mouthed Delilah, the meal proceeded in peace. Each person asked for seconds. Which was fine until Delilah noticed that Randidly was filling his plate for the third time and announced that she could eat more. Watching her struggle through the third plate was slightly amusing, but Randidly didn’t bother serving himself a fourth plate from the pot despite the fact that he was still a bit peckish; he just stored it away in his interspatial ring for later.

Our physical baseline is just too different, Randidly thought with amusement. Even in terms of hunger, you aren’t my match Delilah. Hehe, I’ll eat you under the table anytime you want.

Derek looked over at Randidly hesitantly as he cleared the plates and rinsed them off in the sink. “So, Mr. Ghosthound. You said you were over here for business…?”

“Yea, I am. I was hoping… I could ask for your son’s help, Mr. Moss.” Randidly said slowly. Tim twitched and looked up with wide eyes. “There is a project that I plan on working on in the upcoming weeks… and I want an assistant. Someone who would learn to perform that task for Kharon after I’m gone. Tim was the candidate I had in mind.”

Derek rubbed his chin as he sat down again at the table. Then he stood back up to return the to the cabinet and poured himself another scotch. When he sat down at the table again, he looked at Randidly with serious eyes. “This is just a request?”

Randidly heard the tension in Derek Moss’s voice. Some part of him winced at the helpless feeling in Derek’s voice, but Randidly didn’t flinch. “Just a request. I do come as the leader of Kharon… but I come to speak to you as Tim’s father. And to Tim, individually. I won’t force you to accept my offer. I want someone… who assists me of their own free will.”

While he was speaking to Derek, Randidly’s attention wandered to the two children sitting at the other end of the table. He looked at Tim to gauge his reaction, but he also kept a little bit of focus on Delilah because of her antagonistic earlier statements. But to his surprise, both children looked contemplatively at Randidly as he spoke. Huh, looks like there is more depth to her than I expected, too…

...although maybe she just has a stomach ache from eating too much…

“What’s the job?” Derek asked into the serious silence.

“Engraving,” Randidly responded. “A specific type of Engraving. Most people can manage it well enough already to make floating platforms, but I want someone to help me make more floating pieces of land, like my island. At that scale, the requirements for uniformity and shape are much higher.”

Derek Moss hummed to himself. Then he looked at Tim. “...and he’s uniquely suited for it because of his relationship with the moss spirits, right? Well, what do you think, Tim? Do you want to help Mr. Ghosthound to make floating islands?”

Tim opened his mouth to speak, but Delilah interrupted. “Heh, that? Even I can do that. And if you beg me, maybe-”

“I don’t want a floating platform that needs to be renewed every 24 hours,” Randidly rolled his eyes. When Delilah abruptly went white, Randidly couldn’t help but chuckle. “I mean, I truthfully haven’t been able to find out how you do it by looking at the remains. But did you really think that I didn’t understand the limitation of the methods you were using…?”

With Delilah silenced, Randidly focused on Tim. “This will help a lot of people. But I want to say upfront that learning this Skill will be a lot of responsibility. And responsibility is hard. When people learn you can do this, people will want you to give them special treatment. You will need to be able to know when to use this Skill for the good of Kharon.”

Randidly felt somewhat awkward, speaking about responsibility. It was only in the battle against Kaan that he suddenly realized the scope of consequences that surrounded each of his actions. But perhaps for that reason, he felt compelled to stress those factors to Tim. So he spoke, even if Randidly wasn’t sure that Tim would understand.

Tim stared at the table for a long time. But finally, he raised his head and nodded. “I want to help, Mr. Ghosthound. I want… I want to learn the Engraving Skill.”

“It will be a lot of work, Tim,” Derek said softly.

Tim nodded again. “But it will help people, right? I can help people.”

Randidly and Derek shared a glance. Randidly could see the hesitation in his eyes, but Derek Moss ultimately nodded slowly. “...alright then. But you can’t let it interfere with your grades, alright?”

“Ugh, dad,” Tim rolled his eyes. “You know that school here is super easy. It won’t be a problem, I promise.”

And to that, Randidly couldn’t help but reveal a predatory smile. “To be honest, I haven’t heard many first-hand accounts about how Kharon handles education right now. Since we are on the subject, can you give me some of the details of what is expected of you…?”

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