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‘That’s just what I’ve heard,’ said Garovel. ‘Gohvis is famous for lots of things, but I don’t know how much is true, if any. Still, I think it’s pretty safe to say that he’s someone we never want to meet.’

‘But... punching a hole into a--I mean, like, with his FIST?’

‘I guess so. Dunno.’

‘That’s ridiculous. I feel like I would’ve heard about someone doing something like that.’

‘Yeah, well, I’m pretty sure it happened before television was invented. Might be newspapers about it, though. That’d be an interesting headline. But I’m not surprised you haven’t heard about it. I don’t think it’s the type of thing they’d teach in school.’

‘If they had, I probably would’ve paid more attention. That’s awesome.’

Garovel’s skeletal brow twisted somewhat. ‘...You did hear the part about genocide and him being a member of Abolish, right?’

‘Oh, yeah... Fuck, man, why couldn’t he be a good guy?’

Garovel laughed.

‘Are there any cool stories about good guys doing insane shit like that?’

Still chuckling, the reaper said, ‘I think we’re getting a little off topic.’

‘Are we? I forgot what we were talking about.’

‘Wow, Hector.’

‘Hey, it’s late. I’m tired.’

‘We were talking about my sister.’

‘Right... uh...’

‘Chergoa.’

‘I knew that.’

Garovel shook his head. ‘Anyway, like I was saying before, I treated Chergoa and her servant poorly. My most recent servant had betrayed me, so I was... upset. And unreasonable. We parted ways without making plans to meet up again, and now, apparently, I’ve found her in Sair all these years later. And I would quite like to see her again.’

‘So you think we should go to Rheinhal with Lord Asad.’

‘Yeah. If I don’t see Chergoa now, it could be fucking ages before I get another opportunity to. But with that said, I won’t force you to go. Because it DOES sound incredibly dangerous.’

Hector scratched his forehead. ‘When does it not?’

‘I’m serious, Hector. These warriors aren’t like the ones we fought in Atreya. The Sandlords and the Rainlords are the real deal, and the Vanguard won’t be taking them lightly. We’ll almost assuredly encounter people both AT and ABOVE Harper’s level. So don’t just go with the flow on this one, alright? Understand what you’d be getting yourself into.’

The prospect gave him pause. More people like Harper? And stronger? Hector’s face scrunched up a little as he thought about that. He was starting to miss Warrenhold right about now.