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"Which was?" said Hector.

'As I said, their image is very important to them. But that might've been quite the understatement, if the rumors I heard are true. Supposedly, there was another sect that the Fellowship was feuding with. I know not what it was called--and perhaps nor does anyone else, now. Because the Freemen annihilated it to a man. Wiped it off the face of Eleg.'

Hector cocked an eyebrow at that information, but not because it was all that hard to believe. Abolish in-fighting was easy enough to imagine. The ruthlessness that Grigozo was describing, however--that did seem a bit contrary to how the Freeman Fellowship portrayed itself.

'It was certainly a strange rumor of questionable veracity,' the reaper went on. 'Among the other sects of Abolish, the Freemen are not well respected. People talk badly and openly about them all the time. And as a result, there are many sects which you could describe as "feuding" with them. But to my knowledge, they never seek retribution or violence of any kind based on those things. Except, apparently, in this one, debatable instance.'

"Sounds like there's not much reason to believe it, then," said Hector.

'I would agree, if not for the fact that in this instance, the feuding had been of a different sort compared to the norm. The reason the Freemen are not respected is because they are viewed as weak and cowardly. Or disloyal to the greater cause of Abolish, perhaps. These things, I suspect, do not bother the Freemen. But in this case, the talk had been virtually the opposite: that they were not the gentle, peaceful creatures they claimed to be. That instead, they were two-faced, vile, backstabbing, and violent.' Grigozo allowed a beat to pass. 'I do not think they appreciated that.'

"...So you think that in order to prove they aren't a bunch of violent psychopaths, they decided to murder everyone who was saying that about them?"

'Yes. Hence my one bit of trepidation. I must admit, however, that for me, such a rumor being proved true would not have been a dealbreaker in the slightest. When compared against all of my other peers, I would have probably still considered them saints.'

Huh.

'Perhaps you would feel differently, though.'

Tough to say without more context, Hector felt. It was hard to blame anyone for killing members of Abolish when so many of them were evil sons of bitches.

It did make him a bit uneasy, however. If they weren't truly as peaceful as they appeared to be, then that was not something that he should just ignore.