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‘Ah,’ said Garovel. ‘What can I say? Talking is kind of all we’ve got goin’ for us, so yeah, reapers tend to “overdevelop” our conversational skills a bit. It’s one of the reasons why I said we’re good liars. We get a lot of practice in.’

‘Hmm.’

‘In fact, that’s a good rule of thumb for you: whenever you meet new reapers, expect them to talk a lot, and be wary of those who don’t. There are really only three types of reapers who don’t talk much. The young, the crazy, and the ones with a lot to hide.’

‘Huh...’

‘At our age, if you don’t talk, the inevitable boredom will drive you crazy. And that may sound like an exaggeration, but it’s not. Talking is an important coping mechanism for us.’

‘That... explains a few things, I guess.’

‘Someone like Tenebrach, though--he’s an example of the third type. Of course, I only met him the one time, but he didn’t talk much. As expected. A guy like that SHOULD have a lot to hide. It’d be weird if he didn’t.’

‘Wait, who are you talking about?’

‘Tenebrach. Sermung’s reaper.’

‘Oh. Right.’

‘But anyway, I’ve digressed from what I was talking about before.’

‘Abolish’s religions.’

‘Right. The variation in Abolish’s beliefs has been growing rather rapidly in recent years. According to the Rainlords, it’s even gotten to the point where Abolish has become this weird melting pot of personality cults.’

‘You mean for more than just Morgunov and Dozer?’

‘Yes. Apparently, there’s also been some very divisive rhetoric going around within their ranks. There’ve even been rumblings about a secret group of Abolish reformists. Though, maybe they’re not so secret anymore, if we’re hearing about them now.’

‘Is that... good? Because it sounds kinda good.’

‘Possibly. I mean, it sure would be nice if Abolish stopped going around trying to kill as many people as they can. But I don’t have confirmation that this reformist faction is actually trying to achieve that. And honestly, I doubt it is. More than likely, all this reformist stuff is just the result of a simple power struggle.’

‘Hmm. Politics isn’t exactly my strong suit...’

‘Well, you’re a lord now, so you better learn quickly.’

‘Ugh...’

‘A power struggle would also be pretty insane, though--especially now. Maybe not as "simple" a matter as I just suggested, now that I think about it.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Morgunov and Dozer have been in power for close to three hundred years. And it’s not like no one’s been trying to take it from them. The gap in strength between them and everyone else is gigantic. So how would you go about trying to bridge that gap?’

‘Uh...’

‘At this point, if you’re a member of Abolish, and you want to seize control of it for yourself, the most obvious plan is to just wait for the Vanguard to kill one of them for you.’

‘I guess so. But if your plan is obvious, then it probably sucks.’

‘Exactly.’