Page 1841 (Patreon)

‘Well, firstly, the time and place are incredibly strange for someone trying to commit suicide,’ said Garovel. ‘Out in the middle of the street? And after a vaguely clandestine meeting with someone?’

‘Yeah, I guess that would be a hell of a coincidence...’

‘And secondly, the method. Cyanide? That would be a profoundly strange choice.’

‘Why? Is it super painful or something?’

‘I don’t think it’s very pleasant, but then again, I can’t really attest to that, personally. Accessibility would be an issue, though. Getting your hands on cyanide, while certainly not impossible, would be inconvenient. So why choose that over something more widely available? Or something painless, perhaps?’

That was another good point, Hector thought. But he couldn’t help relating everything the reaper was saying back to his own death. He was a little surprised that Garovel hadn’t brought it up yet.

‘Plus, it’s all just a little too shady,’ the reaper went on. ‘Poison in the drink? If you were going to knowingly ingest poison, why would you bother mixing it with something?’

‘Er. Maybe he was worried about the taste?’

‘Yeah, sure he was. As far as I’m concerned, the presence of the drink really suggests murderous intent by some as yet unknown third party.’

‘Well, uh... okay. What should we do about it?’

‘We can probably just let the police handle it for now.’

‘Wait, what? Really?’

‘Sure. As far as we know, no one is immediate danger now. There’s an attempted murder out there who still needs to be brought to justice, of course, but that’s what the police are for. I’ll be keeping an eye on their investigation, though.’

‘What happened to all that shit about this being our second case together?’

The reaper laughed. ‘Are you disappointed?’

‘Well, you kinda built up like it a big deal...’

‘I was just screwing around, Hector. Having fun. You know what that is, right?’

‘Garovel...’

‘Relax. And you should actually be hoping that I don’t ask you to do anything else on this case. Because if I do, then that’ll mean that the police can’t handle it on their own.

‘Ah...’

‘You’re like a fire extinguisher, Hector. We only want to break you out for emergencies.’

‘I... uh... hmm.’

‘You did good work tonight, though. You should be proud of yourself.’

Pride wasn’t a feeling that Hector was particularly familiar with, but he appreciated Garovel saying so, at least. ‘Thanks...’

‘How does it feel to go around protecting normal people again?’

‘It’s, uh. It’s pretty nice, actually.’

‘How does it compare to fighting giant worms in Hell?’

‘...I like it a lot better.’

‘Me, too.’

Soon, they made it back to Warrenhold, and Hector went straight to his room. He’d been getting good sleep the past few days, but he was still feeling consistently exhausted. Eight hours never quite seemed like enough, but Garovel said that feeling would go away in a week or so, as long as he kept to a healthy schedule.