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Hector's next few meetings went a bit more smoothly, perhaps because the Madame Carthrace was present for them. She didn't speak all that much, but when she did, it usually served to point the conversation in a helpful direction.

The meeting with Domitrus Vollier left perhaps the biggest impression on Hector. The wealthiest man in the country certainly did not carry himself like everyone else, but Hector wouldn't go so far as to call him arrogant, either. The man was very collected and polite, and his relationship with Amelia seemed somehow both affectionate and hostile, though maybe that was just some trick of the aristocracy that he didn't quite understand yet.

Oddly enough, Hector ended up kind of liking Domitrus, but he didn't exactly know why.

"He would be a very good ally to have," said Amelia in between meetings. "The Volliers are probably the second most influential family in the nation, at the moment."

Hector wanted to ask about her history with him, but there wasn't much time, and it seemed like there would be a lot to tell.

As the evening drew on, with meeting following meeting following still more meetings, Hector gradually began to feel less like a guest of royalty and more like a prisoner being interrogated.

'How many are left?' he asked Garovel.

'A mere fifty-seven,' the reaper said dryly.

He tried not to sigh audibly. 'Garovel, if I asked you to release my soul right now, would you do it?'

'Maybe if I got to go with you.'

Each meeting was only five to ten minutes, but with so many to get through, it quickly became clear that they were simply not going to be able to finish them all tonight.