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--donation bonus (day #26, post 4/5)--
‘Yep,’ said Garovel. ‘It was a pretty long break, I suppose. Twenty years.’

‘And you weren’t, uh... afraid of not having a servant to protect you?’

‘Ah, well, reapers who don’t take on servants are generally left alone. There’s something called “the Old Law,” which is a kind of unwritten agreement that non-combatant reapers be allowed to reap souls in peace, and even Abolish tends to respect that.’ Garovel paused. ‘Or at least, they DID. Now that aberrations are running around and doing whatever the fuck they want, I feel like things have probably changed.’

‘Hmm...’

‘The Old Law is also what Sai-hee bases most of her neutrality on. As I understand it, she considers it her duty to keep the others in check, and she devotes the majority of her resources to trying to “keep the peace,” as it were. And for her part, she seems to do rather well. She keeps several territories under her protection, and they make up some of the most peaceful areas in the world.’

‘Wow. Why didn’t you join her side?’

‘Because her side is very “reactionary.” They only get involved after the fact, trying to make sure things don’t get worse. Which is certainly valuable, of course. I don’t mean to denigrate her efforts. That’s just not what I wanted to do. I wanted to get directly involved in things and save the people who were in imminent danger--y’know, try to prevent the terrible shit from happening in the first place. Which is what the Vanguard does. That’s why it’s called “the Vanguard.” It’s the first to jump in and try to stomp out the threat.’

‘Oh.’

‘Or at least, that’s what the Vanguard is SUPPOSED to do. Looking at the state Atreya is in, you’d be forgiven for doubting the validity of that claim.’

‘Did you... have a falling out with your comrades?’

‘Nah. I mostly kept my opinions to myself. The Vanguard attracts its share of crazies, so I preferred to just leave quietly. But from what Mehlsanz said to me before, it seems like the Vanguard is having problems these days.’

‘Great...’