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Hector struggled for another plant-related question, wanting to keep up theconversational momentum, but no further ideas were coming to him besidesjust being amazed by all the fruits and vegetables.

Dammit, weren’t there a bunch of other questions that he’d wanted to ask Garovel just a little while ago? There absolutely were. What the hell were they?

Hold on.

Garovel was being suspiciously quiet all of a sudden, Hector felt.

“...Something wrong?” Hector asked aloud since it was just the two of them.

The reaper did not answer him, only floated slowly through a cluster of green corn stalks.

“Garovel? Are you... are you sulking over what happened? I thought you’d just keep complaining, not get all weird on me.”

‘What? Oh, no, that’s not it. Sure, Zeff acted like a horse’s ass, but if you don’t care, then I don’t care. I’m over that already.’

“Oh,” said Hector, a bit taken aback, because it didn’t sound like thereaper was being sarcastic. “Well, uh... Really? I mean, I wouldn’t mind if you were still a little not over it.”

Garovel floated closer and kept his voice private. ‘Hector, um.Before we rejoin the others, there’s something we should discuss. And I’m sorry if this seems like it’s coming out of nowhere.’

Hector took the hint to stop talking aloud. ‘...What is it?’

‘Remember the Sosho’Diyu? That treasure everyone was going on about back in Babbadelo?’

‘Of course.’

‘There is an almost one hundred percent chance that it is somewhere here in Himmikel.’

Hector paused to acknowledge that thought. ‘That... would make sense, I guess.’

‘And also... I need to tell you about one of the oldest mysteries in the history of the planet.’

Hector blinked. ‘Uh. Okay?’

‘It’s most commonly referred to as Rathmore’s Materials.’

‘Oh, yeah. I wanted to ask about that before, but there wasn’t time. Why does the name “Rathmore” sound so familiar?’

‘Do you remember Rathmore’s Gate?’

‘Uh...’

‘Where you, Roman, Harper, and the Queen fought Abolish back in Atreya?’

‘Oh! Yeah, it was a rock formation! Rathmore’s Gate.’ Hector tilted his head as he tried to remember in greater detail. ‘Cometo think of it... YOU were the one who first mentioned it, weren’t you?You asked if Voreese knew of it so that we could regroup there.’

‘Good memory. Do you happen to remember anything else about that particular rock formation?’

‘Um... no, should I?’

‘I suppose not. Curious as you are, I remember waiting for you to ask me more about it, but you never did.’

‘Why would I have asked you more about a seemingly random rock formation?’

‘You didn’t notice? Ah, I guess you were pretty busy at the time, weren’t you?’

‘Notice what?’

‘That, despite how brutal and devastating to the local environment that battle was, Rathmore’s Gate was still standing after it was over.’