Page 1530

((Double Monday -- Page 2 of 2))
‘If he IS lying, he’s doing it pretty well,’ said Garovel. ‘If we assume that Malast forced everyone else into this tournament along with us, then that means there are eleven combatants total--unless Malast himself is participating, which would be weird. And since eleven is an uneven number, it’s very possible that Mr. Sheridan here was the odd man out and got a free pass for the first round.’

‘Hmm.’

Mr. Sheridan seemed to be having a hard time pulling his eyes away from the treasure. “Agh, if only this damn suit had more than one pocket! Talk about a design flaw!”

Hector could hardly blame him for being so preoccupied with it. As far as distractions went, it was maybe the best Hector had ever seen. He’d wanted to examine the hoard in the last room, but he’d been too concerned about a fight breaking out. He hadn’t wanted to underestimate any of the Hun’Kui, not while they had weapons that could hurt Garovel.

‘Well, you just keep an eye on him,’ said Garovel, ‘and I’ll look over the treasure! Man, what a great plan!’

Hector frowned but didn’t look away from Mr. Sheridan. It was unfair but also probably the most sensible thing to do. He wouldn’t even know what he was looking at, really, aside from just a bunch of really expensive shit.

That golden glimmer was really itching at his peripheral vision, though.

Dammit.

Mr. Sheridan was digging through another pile, scooping coins and gems out of his way as if they were dirt.

Hector persevered. He spared a few quick glances around the chamber as well, wanting to make sure treasure wasn’t distracting them from anything else that might’ve otherwise been obvious.

But no. It was just more rocks and lava.

Garovel was being suspiciously quiet, so Hector decided to prod him for some answers.

‘Where do you think all this treasure came from?’ said Hector.

‘Seyos, presumably.’

‘Okay, but I mean, where did he get it all?’

‘Good question, especially because a lot of this stuff does not appear to be from the Undercrust.’

Hector’s gaze hardened. ‘Are you serious?’

‘Sure am. Which means Seyos, or someone else, has been to the surface. And fairly recently, too, from the looks of it. This thing here is the Egg of Prosperity.’

Hector chanced a look at where the reaper was pointing and, indeed, saw a gold-and-silver egg inlaid with red gemstones.

‘This friggin’ thing is probably worth a cool mil all by itself,’ said Garovel. ‘Maybe more.’

‘Holy shit. In troas?’

‘Mmhmm. But yeah, I heard about it going missing from Yena Maria around two hundred years ago, which is not nearly as long as the Hun’Sho have been in Himmekel.’

‘Hmm.’

‘And I’d just like to point out that this almost certainly means I’m right about Torveis having been to the surface, too. God of Fire, my ass.’