Page 1624 (Patreon)

“Oh,” said Mr. Sheridan, “well, you’re too kind. I am pretty exhausted, now that you mention it. Not as young as I used to be, unfortunately. If I could trouble you for a meal as well, I would be eternally grateful. Even more than I already am, I mean!”

“Of course,” said Hector. “Just give us a minute.” He pulled Mr. Easton aside in order to keep his next words just between the two of them. “Keep a close eye on this guy for me while I’m away. Be nice to him, but I don’t want him wandering around on his own. I don’t know if I trust him, yet.”

Mr. Easton just stared at him for a second.

“...What’s the matter?” said Hector. Shit. Had he said something weird just now? Or stupid?

The man blinked. “Nothing at all, sir. I’ll take care of it.”

“...Thanks.” That was a relief. Hector was about to break away from him until he suddenly remembered something. “Oh, and here.” He pulled out the Shifting Spear of Logante from the back of his waistband. “I want you to take this. Careful with it.”

Mr. Easton took it. “...What is it?”

Hector took a couple minutes to explain its basic functionality, going over the voice commands that Garovel had told him about earlier. Hector suspected that there were more commands that he didn’t know about yet, but Garovel was busy talking to the two new Najirs at the moment.

By the end of the explanation, Mr. Easton looked a bit overwhelmed.

“...You don’t have to actually use it, if you don’t want to,” said Hector. “I know it’s kinda weird, uh... so...”

“No, ah--thank you. I will give it a try.”

And again, he was about to let Mr. Easton go, until he remembered another thing. “Oh, and uh, please make sure that Mr. Sheridan knows about Warrenhold’s weird, ah... psychological effects on people. I can’t remember if I ever told him about that or not, so...”

“Yes, sir.”

“Ah--thanks. Again.” And finally, he released Mr. Easton.

Hector breathed another sigh. There were so many things to take care of. And now there was some sort of financial crisis to worry about on top of everything else?

He was feeling pretty exhausted himself, now that he was allowing himself to relax a little. And he really would’ve liked to sit down and have a nice meal, too. He hadn’t eaten very frequently in the Undercrust, partly because of the food shortage in Babbadelo and partly because it wasn’t particularly to his tastes--especially after the numbing of pain wore off and he felt like he’d eaten a bowl of lava. Even Carver’s biosphere had only had vegetables.

The more Hector allowed himself to think about it, the more he began to crave a hearty meal. Or two. Or five.

Maybe it was better to just not think about it, then.

He observed the Najirs again. Asad had sent them here in order to open the door to the Undercrust for them, which was a bit unnecessary now of course, but as Hector recalled, Asad had also ordered Jada to go with them.

And yet she had ended up staying with Asad and everyone else, instead.

Hector wondered why. He also remembered Garovel mentioning something strange with them as well. Some sort of family difficulties, perhaps.

He empathized.