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"Aha," said Sermung, his voice hardly muffled by his gleaming helmet. "Indeed, I know the feeling. Might I ask your name, young man?"

"Hector Goffe of Atreya." It seemed a bit unnecessary to return the question, and yet it also seemed impolite not to do so. "And yours, sir?"

"Sermung. A pleasure to meet you. I've not seen armor such as yours in a very long time." He paused. "Oh, and my apologies for waltzing up to you unannounced like that. The sight of you was just making me all manner of nostalgic, and I couldn't help wanting to ask you a few questions."

What a remarkable aura this guy had. So warm and welcoming. Calm and friendly as could be. Utterly confident, too. Perhaps even to the point of... not arrogance, no. What was that?

Boredom? Huh? No, his sense was probably off. Still too new to this whole thing. But--hmm--wasn't there also something deeper? Something... terribly familiar, actually? No, there wasn't--

"You've an interesting aura about you, too," said Sermung, tilting his head ever so slightly. "But I'd ask you to stop probing, please. That's impolite."

Hector paused. He felt at once apologetic for accidentally prying--but also suddenly quite certain about that slightest hint that he'd picked up on. Which felt rather ironic, because if Sermung hadn't said anything just now, then Hector knew that he would've just chalked it up to his own misinterpretation.

Still, it wasn't exactly something to comment on, now was it? Especially when they'd only just met. Of all things, Hector knew that only too well.

Hector elected to remain silent. If it wasn't a subject to be spoken aloud, then even an apology would be too much, wouldn't it? Especially when he could already tell that his own aura would get that feeling across just fine.

And indeed, after another moment, he sensed a shift in the emperor's aura. It was apologetic, as well.

Ah. Hector understood. The man had also picked up on that same familiar feeling, hadn't he? Of course he had.

Hector found himself wondering how many people would have been able to. He'd have to be more careful in the future around fellow aura-sensitive people.

"Seems you caught me in a moment of weakness," said Sermung. His aura was more rigid now, and Hector couldn't sense that familiar feeling any longer. "Unfortunate. I hope that doesn't become a burden to you, someday."

"...If it lightens the one on your shoulders by even a little, then I won't mind carrying it."

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Hector noticed that the reaper was using his public voice now and so decided to do the same. "Well, it's definitely safer than what was about to happen. Did you see that shit?"

'I did. Tentacle monsters. Yigorosks, most likely. I told you they were real.'

"You already did the whole told-you-so bit with that, you know."

'Well, everyone loves a sequel. Anyway, I didn't realize they could appear in such numbers. That's not good news.'

"Where did they even come from?" said Hector. "It looked like they came from underground, but I didn't sense their auras down there. It felt more like they just... appeared out of thin air--or, out of thin rock, I guess. Those weird mini-volcanoes. It was like they spawned in there."

'Yeah, Yigorosks are pretty fucking strange. I don't think they're all necessarily--' The reaper cut himself off, and it didn't take Hector long to understand why.

That aura was back. The overwhelming one.

Sermung's.

And it was close. Right beside him, in fact. And in the next moment, the Scarf of Amordiin confirmed that for him.

A few months ago, Hector probably would've jumped out of his own skin in a situation like this. Such an incredible, oppressive presence just instantly appearing. Hell, even with the benefit of his aura sense telling him that this man meant him no harm, a part of Hector still wanted to do that on pure impulse.

But today, here and now, Hector Goffe of Atreya remained steady. "Hello," he said, quite calmly, as he turned around to finally lay eyes on this man that he'd heard so much about.

And indeed, there he was. Just floating right there next to Hector's platform.

But it wasn't just a dude. It was a fellow dude in plated armor.

"Hello," said the most powerful servant in the world, as casually as could be. The man's armor shone so brilliantly that it almost seemed to be glowing.

It was a little hard on the eyes to be honest, but Hector was just so enraptured by the sight of it that he didn't much care. He'd never seen anyone else in medieval armor--excepting those whom he'd put in there himself, of course. Thankfully, his own faceguard was covering his gawking.

"Interesting armor you've got there," said the Crystal Titan. "Is that Late-Mohssian inspired?"

Hector needed a moment. "...Probably a little bit, yeah. I tried not to get too fancy with it, but, uh... well..."

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