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'Well, we already know something is here, so maybe we should cut this expedition short and take the deal,' said Hector. 'Then we can come back later to investigate it when we don't have a tail.'

'I'm still not convinced that whatever this thing is would make the deal worth pissing off the Queen,' the reaper said. 'And honestly, I was hoping that we could use what we find here in order to temper her anger. Our relationship with her is one of the most important things we have, you know. If this fuckin' thing turns out to be a big pile of shit, then I don't think it'll help us convince her of how much we still love her.'

Hector gave a muted sigh. 'Alright, well, maybe we could cut the expedition short, tell them we haven't made up our minds yet, and then sneak back out here later on our own.'

The reaper was quiet a moment. 'Heh, yeah, we could do that.' The tone of his voice, however, was implying something else. Something unsaid.

And Hector waited for elaboration that never arrived. His eyes went to Carl and Ravi, who were steadily drawing closer. 'But?' he pushed.

'But... I'm kinda curious to know what these nosy buggers following us will have to say about this thing, too.'

'Garovel, are you fucking serious?'

'What?'

'You're playing with fire. What if they tell their bosses about this place, and then a whole bunch of super strong servants show up to check it out?'

'Eh, there's no risk of that when we can just wipe all their memories.'

Hector's jaw clenched as he glared at the reaper. 'The Sparrows' memory wipes don't always work, remember? One of them could resist it.'

'That's highly unlikely.'

'Yeah, and knowing our luck, that means it's a virtual certainty!'

'You're being a real drama king, right now, y'know that?'

'Garovel!'