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‘Why are you only telling me about this now?’ said Garovel.

‘Well, I--uh. I was still figuring it out. And I didn’t even think it was related to Rasalased’s blessing until I heard Malast mention it.’

‘Huh...’

‘And, I guess, uh... I guess I kinda thought it was just natural. Er, uh, I mean, I thought it was because of all the meditating I do...’

‘Hmm. That’s reasonable enough, I suppose. And your meditation should be improving your concentration, too. But yeah, maybe not to THAT extent.’

‘Ah...’

‘Still. Your concentration was pretty good already. I’ve always thought you were a little absurd when it came to meditation. So if you got a boost ON TOP of that, then... Hmm. Hey, wait a minute. Is that why you’re able to just “tune me out,” sometimes? Like I’m some kind of friggin’ radio broadcast?’

‘Uh... I don’t know...’

‘It’s really obnoxious when you do that, by the way. Dunno if I mentioned that earlier.’

‘Ah. Sorry. But, I mean, it’s not like I do it for no reason.’

‘You could just ask me to be quiet. Y’know, politely. Believe it or not, I AM capable of that.’

‘...I find that hard to believe.’

‘And here comes the sass. Alright, fine. Maybe I do OCCASIONALLY talk a little too much, but c’mon, if we’re in a life and death situation, and you need to concentrate, then just say so!’

‘Oh, you mean like when a worm is trying to eat us?’

‘What? Oh. Hey. Look. You managed just fine, didn’t you? And sometimes--MOST times, even--I have insightful things to say. Which is my job, by the way. As a reaper, that is. I’m tasked with imparting all manner of mind-blowing wisdom.’

‘Uh-huh...’

‘I am a waterfall of knowledge, Hector. Trying to stem the tide of information that flows out of me is quite frankly impossible.’

‘So in other words, I should just ignore you, sometimes.’

‘...Yeah, probably.’

Hector let a breath of laughter slip out, but the others didn’t seem to notice, no doubt because of the howling wind rushing past as they traversed the top of the forest.

Hector had added a guardrail, of sorts, to the platform, as well as a ridged grip for the floor so that everyone didn’t have to worry so much about sliding around.

‘If we’re being completely serious, though,’ said Garovel, ‘then you really shouldn’t make a habit out of ignoring me during battle. I can provide observational support, which could very well save our asses, someday. Granted, now that you’ve got that spiffy Scarf, you might not actually need all that much observational support, but the basic principle that two heads are better than one still applies, I think.’

‘That’s... true.’

‘I’m glad you think so.’

‘We should probably work on that, though. I feel like we’re, maybe, not working together in combat as... efficiently as we could be.’

‘...Maybe so,’ said Garovel. ‘And I’ve certainly been feeling a bit useless, lately. It would be nice to change that.’

Hector blinked, because it didn’t sound like the reaper was joking. ‘What? You’re not useless.’

Garovel made no response.