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What was worse, from what Garovel was telling him, there was plenty of ardor in the rocks all over Himmekel, blocking his sight.

And all of that was assuming that the trick of it would be something as simple as a hidden room. Hector wasn’t so sure it would be, not after hearing about someone being pulled into a mirror. It seemed plausible to him that the only way to get wherever they were trying to go was through another mirror.

But what was the Kag for, in that case?

He tried to focus on his task, though. Diego had gone to inspect any other mirrors he could find, which meant entering more Hun’Sho quarters without alerting any of the other Hun’Sho. And Hector didn’t envy that job. He’d never really been one for stealth. Maybe he could ask Roman to give him a few pointers, if they ever actually managed to meet up with the guy again.

And so, as they conducted their meandering search, Hector decided to make use of the downtime as he often did.

‘Hey, Garovel.’

‘What?’ the reaper said privately.

‘Is there anything else about the Undercrust you haven’t told me?’

‘Oh yeah. Tons.’

‘No, I mean, like, any really important stuff that you’ve maybe not mentioned yet? Of the same caliber as lava people existing, for example?’

‘Hey, I already told you that I thought they’d gone extinct.’

‘Yeah, but even if you’d known they hadn’t, would you have told me about them?’

‘Of course.’

‘You wouldn’t have tried to keep it as another one of your surprises?’

Garovel paused. ‘Well, who can really say for sure?’

‘Garovel.’

‘What?!’

‘Are there any other big things left to tell me like that?!’

‘Probably! The Undercrust has a lot of stuff in it, okay?!’

‘Okay, so tell me some of them!’

‘Agh! Don’t just put it all on me! How about you ask a more specific question instead of making me think of everything, huh?!’

‘Just fuckin’... tell me something, Garovel. I don’t care what it is.’

‘Oh, no, we’re not doing that. I see that trap for what it is. I come up with something I think is super neat and cool. You end up incredibly bored and unimpressed. I end up feeling like a complete tool.’

‘I wouldn’t--’

‘Uh-huh, sure. Now you listen here, Hector. You’re my servant, alright? And this an order. Exercise those critical thinking skills of yours and come up with something good.’

‘What the hell? You NEVER give me orders. You give instructions and advice, not orders.’

‘Yeah, because I’m such a nice guy. You’re welcome, by the way. But this time, it’s an order. Go on. Consider it a new type of mental training. Critical thinking is hugely important, y’know.’

‘Ugh, fine. Where do you think the Hun’Sho came from?’

‘Well, I--hey, you came up with that way too quickly.’

‘Well, I already had it in mind.’

‘You were supposed to think long and hard before asking something. That’s why it’s called critical thinking. You’re supposed to think about it as if your life depends on it.’

‘But my life DOESN’T depend on it.’

‘That’s beside the point.’

‘Would you please just answer the question, already? You’re being even more obnoxious than usual.’