Page 1551 -- CLXVII.

((Double Saturday -- Page 1 of 2))
Chapter One Hundred Sixty-Seven: ‘Bolster thine insight...’
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After the one called Manuel, his next opponent was his own companion through all of this, Lenos.

Royo did not know whether that was a relief or not, but he tried to take advantage of the opportunity.

And even now, he was reluctant to simply swap intel with Lenos in an entirely candid manner. He knew that Malast was listening, at least, and while Royo didn’t think that the so-called Idle God would care about anything surreptitious they might say, he didn’t know who else might be listening. He could quite easily imagine a scenario in which Malast was allowing the defeated combatants to observe the proceedings with him.

Somehow.

Without any clear definitions regarding the extent of Malast’s power, Royo could only rely on his imagination to protect him from making any missteps in these delicate circumstances. Hopefully, it would suffice.

So he and Lenos attempted to communicate in code, as they had done two days ago and all during their time in Himmekel. They had never quite been sure that someone wasn’t just around the corner, listening. The ghosts had been of particular concern there. The goggles allowed Royo to see them, sure, but he didn’t know the extent of their capabilities or how easy it was for them to eavesdrop over large distances.

As soon as he made it out of this place, he fully intended to learn everything he could about those troublesome beings. He had a feeling that his next encounter with them wouldn’t be nearly so amicable as this one had thus far been.

“Do you really think you can become a god?” said Lenos in Hunese.

Royo paused at that question. “To be honest... no, I do not. But if there is even the slightest possibility that Malast is telling the truth, then I believe the risk is worth it.”

“What if you become someone else, like he said?”

“That would be--” Royo stopped himself and squinted at Lenos. “You understood what Malast was saying? You speak--?” And he stopped himself again, because he’d been about to say “Mohssian,” but as he thought about it, that wasn’t quite right, was it?

“What are you talking about?” said Lenos. “Of course I understood him. He spoke perfect Hunese.”

Royo met the other man’s gaze evenly. “...Did he, though?”

“Yeah, I...” Lenos seemed to be realizing what Royo just had.

At first, it had been exactly as Lenos had just said. Royo remembered getting the impression that Malast had been speaking Hunese. But when the others started talking to him as well and listening to everything he was saying, Royo somehow began thinking that he was speaking Mohssian.

But Malast hadn’t been. The Idle God hadn’t spoken either language.

Yet they had all understood him without even noticing it.

Was it some sort of telepathy? Royo didn’t think so. He distinctly recalled seeing the man’s mouth move when he spoke. But the words. What were the exact words that Malast spoke? What were the sounds that they made?

Royo genuinely didn’t know. He recalled the meaning of Malast’s words just fine, but the words themselves? They were a blur.