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<"Very well, then. But who was it that attacked you, exactly? Did you get their names?">

"Banda Toro was their leader."

There arrived a rustling sound. <"You fought Banda Toro?!">

"Yeah." Briefly, Hector considered mentioning the Magician of Light, too. It might be fun to hear Carl's reaction to that. He decided against it, though. He didn't know if Xander would appreciate having his name thrown around for shits and giggles. "He brought a party of twenty-seven."

<"Twen--?!">

Not all of them had escaped or been killed. Some, Pauline had managed to capture with her psychic powers. What to do with them, Hector still had to decide. Thankfully, Warrenhold was not lacking space for prisoners, and he would likely have plenty more time to mull his decision over. Joana Cortes had taken point on handling them. He'd have to talk to her soon.

As for this conversation, however, Hector wasn't totally comfortable telling all of the details to Carl--specifically, the fact that he had captured Banda Toro's reaper. He knew only too well now that Carl was reporting on him back to his superiors in the Vanguard.

He could still tell Carl one more thing, though. "Banda Toro is dead."

<"You... you slew the Raptor of Kortan?">

Egh. Technically, no. But he didn't want Carl to ask about the reaper. So he decided to ignore the question and move on. "With their scouting mission a failure, I'm not sure what Bloodeye's next move will be. If he doesn't invade Lorent soon, then he may not do it at all, now."

<"Ah... yes, perhaps. His attention is no doubt divided numerous ways. But a scouting party of twenty-seven seems quite a large commitment of resources. Were they all servants?">

"...I'm not sure," Hector admitted. The thought that some of them might have been normal human beings hadn't even entered his mind, but he supposed it was possible.

He felt a bit worse about shredding some of them to pieces with iron. And considering it was Abolish, could some of them have been forced into that mission against their will?

Maybe he would ask Grigozo about that later.

Those were all thoughts for background thought processes, though.

"You should talk to Ravi again. Ask him for an update from whoever his source is."

Carl groaned. <"Fine.">

The Vanguardian had a few more questions for him, but Hector couldn't provide any answers. They soon ended their call, and Hector moved on to his next task.

Finding Pauline.