Chapter 325 Phantoms, Part ②
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
While the Phantoms of Harmond and Olbranche were busy discussing the hit on Broome Pelant back at the frontier settlement¹, the man himself was in high spirits, nursing a glass of top-shelf liquor in his quiet estate.
”Heh heh heh… Count Atmiras is even greener than I thought. To think he’d actually burn through resources to protect his heir over a mere rumor.”
The rumor currently buzzing through the frontier settlement—that Broome had hired assassins—had been planted by Broome himself, exactly as Neil’s crew had guessed.
The play was simple: force the frontier settlement and the House of Count Atmiras to bleed money and manpower. It was a classic move of Imperial noble harassment—grinding down the enemy with the absolute minimum effort.
(The frustration I’ve been sitting on has finally started to lift. There’s no sign the Count or that ‘Prodigy of Atmiras’ will take the bait anyway. There isn’t much profit left in squeezing a kid who hasn’t even stepped into his father’s shoes… I suppose this is a good place to wrap things up.)
To an outsider, Broome Pelant’s arrogance and his habit of ignoring his subjects’ well-being made him look like an incompetent hack. However, if you looked at him as a shark who’d do anything to feed his own greed, the evaluation changed completely.
He had an uncanny sense of balance, knowing exactly how to skirt the line of a counterattack while making enemies in every direction. He was a master of psychological warfare, convincing his opponents that it was less painful to let him rot than to try and cut him out.
He knew the world laughed at him as a fool, and he used that very joke to bait them into letting their guards down. No matter how people mocked him, the reality remained: Broome was a predator who had survived the Empire’s cutthroat politics for decades.
Judging that further meddling with the frontier settlement wouldn’t turn a profit, Broome downed his drink and stood up. He walked toward a wall that looked completely unremarkable to the naked eye.
But when Broome ran his palm across the surface, a sharp, needle-like sting pricked his skin. Seconds later, the wall ground open, revealing a hidden staircase descending into the dark.
”Heeeey… so thaaa-t’s… where you were hi~ding it…”
”!!”
In a mansion where he should have been the only living soul, a bizarre, dragging voice drifted from behind him. Before Broome could even snap his head around, a column of fire roared up from the floorboards, aiming to turn the intruder into ash.
”Whoo~ps.”
By the time Broome finished his turn, the intruder had already skipped back with a light, effortless hop, clearing the flames entirely. The man started to clap, a mocking, greasy smirk plastered across his face.
”Re~action time is… so fa~st.”
”You—how did you—” Broome started.
Mid-sentence, a spear of stone thundered out from the wall right next to the intruder’s head. The man just leaned back, dodging the jagged rock with terrifying ease. In the next heartbeat, a blinding flash scorched the ceiling, and a bolt of lightning crashed down toward the intruder.
”…Tch. Those useless hacks outside. To think they let someone slip this far in,” Broome spat.
”Is that so~?” the voice drawled.
Before the sound even hit his ears, Broome felt a heavy arm drape over his shoulder. The intruder’s face was inches from his own.
”What!?” Broome gasped.
”Since you’re up agai~nst me… it’s not really… their fau~lt, you know?” the man said.
”You…!” Broome hissed.
”That was a really gooo~d attack, though. You tried to bait me by attacking in the gaps between my moves, didn’t you~?” the intruder teased.
It was a lethal sequence: faking a turn while pre-firing magic, drawing focus forward with a question while flanking, and then dropping lightning the moment the target’s balance broke.
Normally, if the fire didn’t get them, the stone spear did. If they survived that, the lightning finished the job. Unfortunately for Broome, he’d run into a monster.
At this range, any more magic would kill Broome just as easily as the intruder. Seething with a rage that felt like it was boiling his blood, Broome glared at the smirking man.
”Drop that disgusting voice! Who the hell are you!?” Broome demanded.
”I’m… Vi~scount Ruracard,” the man replied.
”What?”
Broome couldn’t hide his shock. “Don’t tell me you’re that Ruracard bra—Guh!?”
”I don’t really… li~ke that word… ‘Phantom’…” the man whispered. The man’s voice turned razor-sharp as he tightened his grip around Broome’s windpipe.
”Watch… what you say, okay? You ne~ver know… what your la~st words might be~…”
”Cough—! …Hormick… Ruracard,” Broome wheezed.
”Corre~ct~,” Hormick chirped.
Hormick Ruracard—the former heir to the dissolved House of Viscount Ruracard, the man the streets called the “Ghost of Ruracard.”
(Hormick Ruracard… he’s just as batshit as the rumors say. A ghost wandering the world because he can’t accept his house is dead. Calling himself a ‘Viscount’ is all the proof of madness I need.)
It was humiliating, but Broome knew he had to play ball. He wouldn’t get anywhere by pushing a lunatic.
”Viscount Ruracard, what’s with the theatrics? It’s hard to follow you. If you can speak normally, do it,” Broome ordered.
”Tha~t’s a bit tough. I’m actually… try~ing my best to be heard. You see, because of the ‘rig’ burie~d in my head… time flows a lot slo~wer for me than it does for you. You know it too, don’t you? The… ‘Curtio’²?”
A Curtio was a piece of neural-ware originally designed to fix broken bodies. But people eventually started using them for illegal ‘overclocking’³—implanting them into healthy brains to blow past human limits.
The one in Hormick’s head accelerated his thoughts to a frantic degree, letting him react to attacks “after seeing them” in slow motion. The catch was the lag. If he spoke at his natural speed, he’d be a high-pitched blur of noise. To be understood, he had to manually drag out every syllable, resulting in that creepy, lethargic drawl.
(An overclocking Curtio. A brain-implant model, no less. Someone like him couldn’t afford the tech or the black-market surgery alone. There’s someone with real weight backing this ghost.)
”What’s the play? If you wanted me dead, you’d have taken my head the second you got behind me,” Broome said.
”Aha~… rumors really are worthle~ss. You’re much more ratio~nal than I heard. You’re right. I’m here to make a… propo~sal,” Hormick said.
”A proposal? You mean a shake-down,” Broome countered.
”Well… if I didn’t play it this way… you wouldn’t have liste~ned, would you? Though you seem… calm enough now,” Hormick noted.
Realizing that Hormick wasn’t here on a whim, but as a finger on the hand of a shadow player, Broome knew killing him wouldn’t fix the problem. Hormick, sensing Broome had finally caught on, let go and stepped back.
”Well then—now that we’ve got the tension out of the way, shall we talk?” Hormick asked.
”!?” Broome flinched. The voice was suddenly smooth, the drawl gone. He realized what happened instantly.
”You cut the power to the Curtio?” Broome asked.
”Yeah. I don’t have to worry about you trying to kill me anymore, right? No reason to keep my brain frying if it just makes talking a chore,” Hormick replied.
”Hmph… fine. Let’s hear this proposal,” Broome said.
”You’re an impatient man, Viscount Pelant. I thought as fellow Viscounts, we might want to get to know each other first?” Hormick teased.
(Fellow Viscounts? You little prick, you haven’t even inherited a grave, let alone a title!)
Broome kept the insults behind his teeth. He knew that was a landmine he couldn’t afford to step on.
”I’ve survived this long by shoving my will down the world’s throat without anyone’s help. I’m not like those other spineless cowards,” Broome declared.
”Ahaha! Spoken like a man who’s actually managed to survive this Empire… but not everything has gone your way lately, has it?” Hormick asked.
”Hmph. You mean the fact that I let you in here?” Broome countered.
”Oh, no. Not me. I’m talking about your little frontier game,” Hormick said.
”If you mean the frontier settlement, things didn’t go perfectly, but I sent a clear enough message,” Broome said.
”And you’re telling me the great Viscount Pelant is happy without stripping a single asset from the Atmiras family?” Hormick pushed.
”The one who picked this fight was the Count’s heir. No matter how hard I squeeze a kid, I won’t get the kind of payouts I actually want. If the Count himself had stepped into the ring, it would have been easy, but he stayed in the shadows, blocking me at every turn without leaving a single opening. Continuing that would just be throwing good money after bad,” Broome explained.
”So you just gave a ‘warning’ to make sure the Prodigy of Atmiras doesn’t touch the Dhru Wheat trade? What a waste,” Hormick said.
”‘A waste’?” Broome repeated.
”Exactly. What if I told you that by teaming up with me, you could take everything the House of Atmiras owns?” Hormick asked.
”That’s a bad joke. I don’t recall the House of Ruracard having that kind of muscle,” Broome said.
It was a direct slap in the face—Broome testing the leash. He wasn’t being stupid; he knew this wasn’t the ‘landmine.’ To Hormick, the reality that his house was dead was the only lie. As long as he drew breath, the House of Ruracard lived; it was just in a slump. Broome’s jab was a sore spot, but it didn’t cause a break. Hormick just kept that shark-like grin.
”You’re right. But there are things you can only do once you’ve lost everything you were supposed to protect. That’s how I managed to find such a… ‘reliable’ ally,” Hormick said.
”…Assassination, then? I’d heard you were trying to buy your way back into the club by doing the wet-work for other nobles. I see. So that’s the pitch. You heard I was in the market for killers and came to sell yourself,” Broome said.
”Bingo,” Hormick replied.
”Haa… I wondered what kind of proposal you had in mind, but this is just drivel,” Broome said. “What do I possibly have to gain by killing a single brat? If anything, if that boy is killed and the real power of the frontier settlement falls into someone else’s hands, there’s a chance it would actually work against my interests.”
Broome had applied pressure to the frontier settlement⁴ many times, but Neil had only ever reacted; he never launched a counter-offensive.
Based on these results, Broome judged that the possibility of Neil taking hostile action was effectively zero.
As long as Neil managed the frontier settlement, Broome was confident that Dhru Wheat⁵ would not leak to the outside world.
If Neil were assassinated and someone else seized control of the settlement, that successor would surely realize the immense value of a commodity like Dhru Wheat, which would only make things more difficult for Broome.
”You really shouldn’t jump to conclusions. When did I ever say anything about killing the Prodigy of Atmiras⁶?” Hormick asked.
”What?” said Broome.
”I told you, didn’t I? I’m going to strip the House of Count Atmiras of everything they own.”
”Were you actually serious?” Broome asked.
”Naturally. I’m not so idle that I’d break into a place like this just to share a joke,” Hormick replied.
”……How?” Broome asked.
”Aha, it seems I’ve piqued your interest. But before I tell you how, let me share an amusing story. It seems the Prodigy of Atmiras is quite the naive idealist; they say he believes in the inherent goodness of people.”
”The goodness of people?” Broome asked.
”That’s right. That’s why he chooses to trust his opponents first instead of doubting them,” Hormick said.
”Hmph. That is certainly the height of naivety. To pull a stunt like that in this Empire——”
”Ah, did you just realize it?” Hormick asked.
Seeing the color drain from Broome’s face, Hormick’s predatory smirk widened even further.
”No matter how much you try to deceive him or skim profits while he’s not the head of the house, there’s a limit to what you can take. But if we can install him as the current head of the House of Count Atmiras right now…”
”I see. Your target is the assassination of the current head, Atmiras Dirac…!” Broome said.
”Bullseye. Because you’ve been hinting at an assassination attempt on the Prodigy of Atmiras, the security personnel will be diverted to the frontier settlement in three days. The Count’s personal guard will be thinner than usual. That’s the opening I’ll take,” Hormick said.
”Three days… You’ve mapped out the logistics that far in advance?” Broome asked.
While some parts of Hormick’s plan now made sense, there were still things Broome couldn’t accept.
”Why bring this proposal to me? A Curtio⁷ embedded in your body, detailed intelligence… these aren’t things an individual could obtain. Someone is backing you. Why doesn’t that benefactor just take everything from the House of Count Atmiras for themselves?” Broome asked.
”In order to take everything from the House of Atmiras, one must first sit at the negotiating table. Unfortunately, among the people behind me, there is no one who can sit at a table with an Imperial Noble,” Hormick replied.
(No one who can negotiate with an Imperial Noble? I was certain his backers were fellow nobles… Could it be foreign nobility?)
”Hmph. I see. I just happened to be the one feuding with the Prodigy of Atmiras, so you reached out to me as a convenient contact,” Broome said.
”Well, to be blunt, yes. On my end, it didn’t really matter who it was, so long as they were capable of seizing the concessions from the Atmiras family,” Hormick said.
As he spoke, Hormick pulled a single sheet of paper from his coat and held it out to Broome.
”And this is?” Broome asked.
”A contract. I don’t trust verbal promises from Imperial Nobles. Once I’ve successfully assassinated the Count, you will transfer half of the rights seized from the House of Atmiras to the House of Viscount Ruracard,” Hormick said.
”Half? You’re greedy. I’m the one doing the negotiating,” Broome said.
”But I’m the one taking the ultimate risk—the assassination itself. If I don’t get at least that much, it’s not worth the effort,” Hormick replied.
”To think, after killing dozens of nobles, you’d worry about risk now——” Broome started.
Broome began to scan the contents of the contract as he spoke, but his expression changed halfway through.
”This contract… did you prepare this yourself?” Broome asked.
”No. I had the person helping me restore the House of Viscount Ruracard prepare it. My father died before he could teach me the political duplicity required of a noble. I don’t like admitting it, but I’d likely be cheated by a peer of the realm. So, I relied on my collaborator,” Hormick said.
”I see… a wise choice. Given these terms, I have no choice but to accept. You’ve secured a formidable ally,” Broome said.
Broome signed and applied his thumbprint to the contract before returning it.
Hormick, confirming both the signature and the print were present, tucked it into his coat with a look of satisfaction.
”Now then, my business here is concluded. I’ll take my leave. If I don’t depart immediately, I won’t make it in time for the three-day deadline,” Hormick said.
”Is there even a path that leads to the Atmiras territory in three days during this season?” Broome asked.
”No need to worry. It’s not just my thoughts that I can accelerate——well then, if you’ll ex…cu…se… me…” Hormick said.
Hormick’s voice dragged out and distorted. The moment he finished his farewell, his body seemed to glitch and blur for a fraction of a second before vanishing from Broome’s sight.
(He had a physical-acceleration Curtio installed as well? With that, he could likely reach the Atmiras territory in three days even if he takes the long way around. However——)
”A clown. A truly pitiful man,” Broome muttered to the empty air where Hormick had stood.
—
Summary:
Broome Pelant attempts to secure his position through psychological warfare but is interrupted by Hormick Ruracard. Hormick demonstrates extreme combat capability using a neural implant that alters his perception of time. The two transition from a lethal magical exchange to a tense political negotiation involving a shadowy ally
Hormick presents a daring plot to Broome involving the assassination of Count Dirac Atmiras. By taking advantage of redirected security, Hormick intends to install the naive heir Neil as the new head of the house. Broome reluctantly signs a contract to split the family’s assets, while Hormick departs at supernatural speed toward the Atmiras lands
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Trivia:
- Broome’s mansion has a blood-authenticated or pain-sensored hidden passage
- Dhru Wheat is a significant economic asset that Broome intends to protect
- Broome’s evaluation of Neil’s passive behavior as a lack of hostility
- Hormick’s admission of his own political incompetence due to his father’s early death
- The fact that Marquis Rubal previously considered this exact assassination pla
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Character Insight:
Broome shifts from confident arrogance to cautious cooperation after realizing Hormick has external backing.
Hormick shows a mix of vulnerability and ruthlessness; he openly admits his inability to handle ‘noble duplicity’ while simultaneously showing off high-level illegal physical augmentations and a willingness to commit regicide.
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TL Notes:
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Glossary:
Notes:
• Harmond – Harmond, the eldest son and heir of House Viscount Pelant, vanished and lived as a commoner named Harmon. As Harmon he is an experienced hunter and guard, part of the hunting group with Demar, Dominic, Jott, Victor and Kilk, knows Nick and Lewya, and discusses business ideas with Nick. He harbors a deep grudge against his father, Broome Pelant, and first appears in Chapter 220.
• Phantom – A legendary assassin known as ‘The Dream of the Eternal End’ (Somnil). Revealed to be the child of Duke Olbranche, having killed their own father and brother.
• Broome – A portly viscount in his sixties, ruler of the Empire’s northernmost territory, whose selfish, tyrannical nature and knack for psychological manipulation make him the aristocrat peers most dread.
• Harmon – Harmond, the eldest son and heir of House Viscount Pelant, vanished and lived as a commoner named Harmon. As Harmon he is an experienced hunter and guard, part of the hunting group with Demar, Dominic, Jott, Victor and Kilk, knows Nick and Lewya, and discusses business ideas with Nick. He harbors a deep grudge against his father, Broome Pelant, and first appears in Chapter 220.
• Pelant – The Pelant family name, carried by Broome. The lineage is associated with the rank of Viscount within the Empire.
• Count Atmiras – MC’s family
• Atmiras – The Atmiras family name, a high-ranking lineage of Counts currently headed by Dirac and featuring the heir Neil.
• Neil – A young Empire noble managing the frontier settlement.
• Ruracard – The Ruracard family name, belonging to an abolished Viscount house. The lineage is currently represented by Hormick, who wanders as a ‘phantom’ and he is attempting to restore after the death of his father.
• Hormick – The former eldest son of the abolished House of Viscount Ruracard, known as the Ghost of Ruracard. He has a ‘rig’ or Curtio implanted in his head that accelerates his thought processes, and he carries a shark-like grin. A young man seeking to restore the Lulacard Viscount family name. He has a dangerous, predatory smirk and possesses physical and cognitive augmentations known as Curtio, allowing him to move with incredible speed.
• Dirac – The current head of the House of Count Atmiras and the primary target of Holmick’s assassination plot.
• Marquis Rubal – Another noble, who is famous as gourmet.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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