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That look on her face was even more confusing, Hector thought. And what was that aura saying? He'd never seen the like before.

Which wasn't saying much, he supposed in the back of his mind. He was still very new to this whole aura reading business, after all.

Selena still elected not to say anything, though, and simply turned back to the stranger seated in front of her. But she didn't do exactly as Voreese had asked, either. She got close to the man, but she didn't actually touch him.

Instead, she gave a quick wave of her hand, right next to the guy's face. Close enough, in fact, that from Hector's perspective behind her, he might've thought she touched him, if not for the Scarf of Amordiin informing him of the precise distance between her and the stranger.

As well as the disturbance in the air currents around her. She'd used her materialization power over oxygen, Hector realized.

A gentle wind swirled around the stranger, tousling his hair and clothes a bit but otherwise doing nothing else.

And it had certainly given the man a start. Hector easily sensed it, both in the fellow's aura and in the subtle flinch of his body. There was a flash of surprise and fear there, but then it was gone, replaced again by the previous sense of blankness that the guy's aura had.

Hmm.

'That's not what I told you to do, girlie.'

"My name is Selena, thank you very much."

'Oho. While I can respect the sudden spine you're demonstrating, you shouldn't go revealing your name so carelessly like that. Never know who might be listening.'

"It's my name. I'll reveal it whenever I please."

Voreese snickered. 'Alright, now that might be a little TOO much spine.'

Selena pointed at Roman. "Also, he already revealed your name aloud, so where's his lecture?"

'Y'know, you make an excellent point,' said Voreese as she rounded her own servant. 'Why you gotta be such a dumbass, huh? What happened to operational security? You're supposed to be better than this.'

"I can only apologize," said Roman. "I must've been unconsciously hoping that it would help someone track you down and free me from this living hell."

Voreese ignored him and moved on to Hector. 'So? Any of that prove helpful?'

Weirdly enough, it had. But Hector wasn't sure he should say so and reinforce the reaper's behavior.

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From everything he'd seen so far, the mass manipulation didn't seem like it would be all that strong, since it was obviously spread so thin. Plus, Hector didn't feel any pressure on his own thought processes, nor did he notice any odd behavior from the others in his party here.

So... maybe this guy here... was just pretending to be manipulated like everyone else? Trying to fly under the radar?

Which would be very suspicious, if so.

Like something that an undercover agent of Abolish might be trying to do, for example.

But that was only one possibility, of course. The guy could just be unrelated to this whole mess and wanting to avoid getting involved. Not to mention, it was unlikely that someone from Abolish would've infiltrated Andeyal so deeply like this. This was supposed to be the heart of Vanguardian territory, wasn't it?

Then again, Hector hadn't technically encountered any Vanguardians yet, himself. They were probably watching him, but he didn't actually know that for sure.

"...Sir, I promise you that I mean no harm," he tried. "I'd just like some answers, and then I'll be on my way."

Silence.

'...Are you sure this guy can hear you?' asked Voreese.

"No," said Hector. "It's just... a hunch."

For some reason, that made her snicker. 'I gotcha.' Then she turned to Selena Cortes who was standing toward the back of their troupe. 'Hey, girlie, c'mere a sec.'

Now Hector was curious. He watched Selena walk forward, still clad in the armor that he'd made for her, of course.

'Take off your helmet,' said Voreese. 'The gauntlets, too.' Then she turned to Hector. 'In fact, just remove the whole thing for her.'

Hector did no such thing. "...Why?"

'Oh, c'mon, just trust me.'

That was not good enough, but when Hector looked at Selena, he found her already doing as she'd been asked. "You don't have to listen to her," he said.

'Yes, she does.'

"It's okay," said Selena, smiling. "Whatever it is, I wanna help."

Hector frowned inside his helmet, still not dematerializing the armor for her.

'Good girl,' said Voreese. 'Now, go touch the stinky bum.'

Roman stepped in now. "Oh my goddess, Voreese. Stop."

'Don't be such a white-knighting pussy. Relax.'

Selena hadn't even hesitated and was already about to do it.

Hector felt compelled to intervene and put a hand on her shoulder. "Y-you really don't have to do that..."

Rather than answering him, however, Selena just eyed his hand, which made him retract it.

Next page on the 16th

Thanks for reading, everybody.