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((The Mon/Wen/Fri Double -- page 2 of 2))
Once the civilians were taken care of, though, Hector was faced with a decision.

The hunt was still on, but he couldn't very well leave these people here unprotected. And at the same time, trying to take them somewhere safer was also risky.

He took his time to think it over. He brought Garovel up to speed on the situation and asked for his opinion, and the reaper told him to rely on the Rainlords for not just their strength but also their opinions.

So he did. He found a place where he could talk to Roman and the Rainlords in private while still keeping an eye on the Lorentians, and then they held an impromptu strategy meeting.

It didn't take long for the general consensus to become clear. Rather than splitting up their forces to protect the civilians and hunt the Beast separately, they believed it would be wiser to pool all of their power to ensure the Lorentians were taken to safety, and then they would go hunting afterwards.

When pressed on the subject of the potential assassination of Secretary Karr, they only had one thing to say.

"We'll protect her while she is with us, of course, but doing anything more than that would be unreasonable." It was the Lord Salvador Delaguna who actually uttered those words, but Fidel Blackburn and Carlos Sebolt both agreed.

Roman seemed less certain, though he did nod in approval.

Hector could see why they felt that way. Getting involved in Lorentian politics without any knowledge of what was really going on--that did seem like it could spiral out of control and bite them on the ass, even if their intentions were pure.

However, they were still leaving the final decision in Hector's hands. They told him that they would go along with whatever he chose to do.

Which was rather surprising, Hector felt.