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The longer they stayed, the more antsy the reapers seemed to become about an accidental encounter with this Vanguardian servant. Whoever it was would have a fair chance of recognizing Salvador, Carlos, or any of the reapers.

And so, after the meal, they decided to depart under the cover of darkness.

It seemed like Fidel Blackburn didn't need to go with them, but he decided to anyway, because they thought that his copper materialization would make it easier to slip away undetected.

Matteo Delaguna, however, remained with Hector as usual while Ernivoc did not. His reaper would be able to instantly warn the other Rainlords of any new dangers that arose around Hector so long as Matteo was with him.

Roman and Voreese decided to stick around, but they were giving the impression that they would soon disappear, too. Roman was less concerned about being recognized by the Vanguard than he was about being caught on camera in Hector's company, and his ability to fly would make it all but trivial for him to escape this place.

The remaining members of the group, having all gotten plenty of sleep during the day, decided to take an impromptu nighttime tour of Riverton Hall.

Hector used the opportunity to finally bring Garovel up to speed on all the crazy things that Chort had told him. Hector was interested in hearing Garovel's opinion, but for the most part, the reaper just listened quietly, apparently wanting to hear it all first. And then, the conversation just kind of bled seamlessly into Pauline and Sparrows and aura and whatever the hell 'geographic resonance' was.

By the time Hector was done, Garovel's open eye sockets were looking a bit wider than usual.

'...Wow,' the reaper said privately. 'I mean, I'm surprised, and yet I'm not.'

'Say what?'

'That all sounds in equal parts absurd and horrible to me, but at the same time, I knew shit must've gotten pretty weird and fucked up when reapers started getting teleported out of the country.'