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((The 17 pages of St. Patrick's Day + Triple Saturday -- Page 12 of 20))
“Why, uh...? Why was I was going insane, though?”

“Your blessings are conflicting with one another.”

“Oh. So... it’s kind of your fault that I was going insane in the first place, then...”

“That is true, yes. I might have warned you against this, but I did not think that you would ever acquire a second blessing--and certainly not so quickly.”

“Yeah, me too...”

“But there is no cause for concern. Though I am the problem, I am also the solution.”

“Ah... yeah. Thanks again, by the way. And not just for what you’re doing, now. Ivan would’ve killed everyone in Dunehall, if you hadn’t helped me the way you did.”

“That is also true, yes. But so too would they have died, if you had done nothing. If you must thank me for my help, then I must thank you for yours.”

Hector didn’t know what to say to that.

Rasalased pitched a different subject at him. “Who is it that granted you this new blessing, Young Hector?”

“Ah... you mean, you don’t already know?”

“Hmm? Perhaps I do. I would like you to tell me, nonetheless.”

“Uh. Alright. It was Malast.”

“Ah. Indeed. So it is the God of the Underworld who is holding one of my Shards, then.”

Hector might’ve blinked. That was right, wasn’t it? The Shard had been in his armor, along with the other items he’d stored there. So when his armor had been destroyed... right in front of Malast...

“...Is that gonna be a problem?” said Hector.

“I do not think so. It seems as though he does not sense my presence. I am still dormant within the Shards, after all. Only here, in your mind, am I awake.”

“...Hmm.” Hector wasn’t sure he understood, but that was nothing new when it came to Rasalased, he supposed.

“It is a pity,” said the Dry God. “I might have enjoyed speaking to him. He is far older than me.”

That, Hector had a hard time believing. “Really? He’s older?”

“Very much so.”

“But, uh... I mean, compared to you, he struck me as kinda... childish, in some ways.”

“Indeed? How curious. Now I would like to speak to him even more.”

Hector couldn’t even imagine what that encounter would be like. He didn’t entirely want to imagine it, either. “...Are you sure that wouldn’t, like, bring about the end of the world or something?”

Rasalased laughed again. “I am quite certain that it would not.”

“Hmm.” That brought another question to mind, something that he’d wanted to ask Malast about but hadn’t gotten the chance to. “Do you, uh... do you know anything about Ettol?”

“The God of Impulse?”

“Yeah.”

“I am afraid I do not. Why? Do you?”

Hector wasn’t expecting a reversal like that. “Uh... no, it’s just. I’ve been hearing his name a lot, lately.”