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~~((National Rescue Dog Day - page 9 of 20))~~
Diego gave a second laugh. "Your Mohssian is very good, by the way."

"Thank you."

"Are all RPMP officers as fluent as you?" said Diego.

"Being multilingual is a prerequisite for the job, yes."

"Ah, because of all the tourists Ridgemark gets?"

"Indeed. In truth, I speak six languages."

"Oho! Impressive. I only know a bit of Valgan, myself. Trying to learn more, you know. What are all the languages you speak?"

"Valgan, Mohssian, Lhugian, Vaelish, Yenish, and Ghisi."

"And which is your native tongue?"

"Ghisi, technically, but I spoke Valgan for most of my adolescent life, so my accent probably sounds more akin to that."

"Aha. You, sir, sound like you've had an interesting life."

"And you, sir, sound like you are buttering me up in order to ask another question. You can simply ask. I shall answer to the best of my ability."

Diego snickered.

Evangelina merely listened, but she was hardly surprised by the initiative Diego was taking here. He'd always been a bit of a conversationalist, and while this might've seemed like an inappropriate time to be engaging in small talk, Officer Brand was clearly a valuable source of information.

"You got me," Diego admitted. "I suppose what I'd really like to know is who those people who were bothering us were. Do you know?"

"I'm not at liberty to say, I'm afraid. My apologies."

"I figured as much. Shame. Then can you at least tell us if there are any other people we should watch out for while we're in Ridgemark?"

Officer Brand was quiet a moment as he met Diego's gaze, perhaps trying to take the measure of him in some way. "As I said, Ridgemark is safe. You don't need to 'watch out' for anyone while you are here. The RPMP will protect you perfectly."

Diego nodded. "Of course. I did not mean to imply otherwise."

"I'm sure you didn't." Brand's sky blue eyes drifted between everyone. "However, there are a few names you may wish to be mindful of. In the off chance you hear of any of them."

"Oh?"