CCXLII. | Ch. 242: 'The forest's reflection...' (Patreon)

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Chapter Two Hundred Forty-Two: 'The forest's reflection...'

Hector talked to the Queen over the phone again. As the reapers had predicted, she at least sounded very understanding of his decision to take the land offer from the Lorentians. He of course made sure to explain that he'd found a very valuable artifact on the land and that it wasn't his intention to slight her or the Atreyan government in any way.

Whether or not she was actually cool with it, only time would tell, he felt.

His stay in Lorent had ended up being extended yet again, as the Lorentians wanted a few more days with him to go over various things in order to finalize the deal. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as simple as just signing his name on a dotted line or being handed a land deed. He had meetings with a number of leading figures from the lower Jagwa territory, including mayors, secretaries, real estate CEOs, and bankers.

Those latter ones were decidedly less hospitable than the others. While everyone else seemed pleased to work with the famous "hero" from Atreya, the bankers acted like they didn't even want to be in the same room with him.

Hector wasn't exactly surprised, but still. They could've been a little more polite about it.

"Yes, they are a bit of a surly bunch, aren't they?" said Ravi Zaman as they were having dinner together again. "Not that I can entirely blame them. Your Darksteel National Bank may still be an Atreyan operation at the moment, but would I be incorrect in assuming that you intend to expand into Lorent?"

Hector tilted his head as he slipped a chunk of grilled salmon into his mouth. This wasn't the first time that particular question had popped up over the last few days. Far from it, in fact. It seemed like every businessperson he talked to wanted to know his answer to that, even when it wasn't relevant to the land deal that was supposedly the purpose of their meetings.

And he'd already talked to Amelia Carthrace about it, too. And Garovel, of course.

The Bank only had been meant for Atreya--hence the word "National" in the name. Not to mention, the primary objective of the Bank was to prevent Atreya from being flooded with foreign money and losing financial independence.

And yet now, it seemed like the Bank itself might become another avenue through which foreign money might arrive in Atreya.

That was a big point of concern for him--and for Madame Carthrace, though she seemed to think that there were preventative measures that could be taken.

Hector still felt quite a bit out of his depth on this one. But if it really was true that expansion into Lorent could be conducted safely, then... well, that was a lot of money on the table.

Moreover, he'd been learning in his conversations with Amelia that, while the Bank was doing well in terms of both customer growth and stabilization of the national economy, the Bank itself still wasn't making much of a profit yet.

Part of the problem, she said, were old governmental regulations that were specifically designed to limit the growth of banks. There were several she'd mentioned, but the one she took particular issue with was the law that forced newly formed banks to keep up to two hundred thousand troa in "reserve" for every customer they took on.

According to Amelia, the reason this was such a problem was because "reserve," in this case, was a legally binding term that meant the Bank could not invest that money into anything else--which severely limited the profitability of their entire operation. Therefore, the only way to recoup their costs was to burden their customers with some rather hefty service fees.

Right now, because of all the uncertainty in the economy and abroad, their customers were putting up with it--presumably for the sense of security that the Bank provided--but Amelia believed that it was only a matter of time before this began to threaten the Bank more dramatically.

For a while now, she had been trying to convince the Queen to repeal some of these regulations. In the beginning, she had thought that it wouldn't be an issue, due to their good relationship with her and the rather extreme state of financial affairs facing the nation.

But apparently, it was an issue.

After reading up a little more on the laws in question, Hector learned that they had originated about sixty years ago, after a series of new banks had collapsed, all within two years of each other. It turned out to be an elaborate scheme to "store" people's money and "invest" it in legitimate-seeming companies; and then when those companies declared bankruptcy, the investing banks would follow suit, ridding themselves of any responsibility to pay back their customers.

Tens of thousands of Atreyan citizens had lost their life savings, and millions of troa had essentially been stolen without hard evidence of any legal wrongdoing, because the bank owners supposedly didn't have access to the money, anymore. It had been "lost" in some tragic fire--or similarly destructive accident--that had befallen one of the companies that they had invested in.

It was widely believed that the money had really been used to buy huge volumes of products that were illegal or otherwise lacking a paper trail, in order to avoid the attentive gaze of auditors and insurance companies.

Multiple attempts had been made to find the culprits over the years, but they never resurfaced, probably for fear of facing the wrath of the newly crowned King Martinus. Even if they had technically not broken any laws, the King had made his displeasure over the situation quite widely known, and it would've certainly been within his power to change the laws retroactively just to punish the involved parties. The public probably would've been on his side, too.

When he'd read about all that, Hector had gained a modicum of appreciation for the regulations--or what they had been attempting to accomplish, at least.

It still seemed clear to him that the problems facing the nation now trumped any concerns over something like that happening again, but according to the Madame Carthrace, Queen Helen wasn't quite in agreement on that point. Or at least, not yet.

The Queen seemed to think that it was "not the right time" to remove those regulations--which implied, at least, that she intended to remove them in the future.

But Amelia was apparently starting to think that perhaps the Queen liked the current situation just fine. The economy was still recovering, after all. The Bank would continue to help with that, even if its profit margins were minimized.

Or in other words, perhaps the Queen simply didn't want the Darksteel National Bank growing too powerful.

When Hector had heard the Madame Carthrace float that idea to him, he hadn't been sure what to think. And now that he'd had a few days to let it stew in his mind, he was uncomfortable with how much sense it made. He didn't want to imagine that Queen Helen was being so mistrustful of his intentions or that she might care more about some political power game than about the hundreds of thousands of Atreyans who were still struggling financially, right now.

There must've been more to her reasoning than what Amelia had inferred. There must've been.

But if Amelia was right, then that would mean the Queen had been thinking this way for months now--not just as a result of this business with Lorent. And if that was the case, then he had even more reason to think that she was displeased by his land acquisition.

He honestly didn't know what he would do if his relationship with the Queen ever truly soured. She was one of the people he trusted most, out of everyone he'd ever met. The notion that she might start working against him? He didn't even want to humor that possibility.

And yet, here he now was, doing exactly that.

Because if Atreya wouldn't lift its regulations on the Bank, then... wasn't that even more motivation to expand their operations into Lorent? Where the rules might be more lenient?

Hector had his own investors to think of, too. Meeting with all those Atreyan lords, asking for their financial backing--if he didn't start turning a profit soon, they wouldn't be very happy with him.

Not to mention, his own friends had helped him out, too. Roman had just fucking GIVEN him ten million troa. If that wasn't the ultimate bro-move, then Hector didn't know what was.

And of course, the Rainlords had put their faith in him, as well.

The last thing he wanted was to let all that trust and generosity go unrewarded. Honestly, he was still a little shocked that they had decided to invest any money in him to begin with, much less twenty-five million troa. Sure, they hadn't seemed very pleased by the idea when he and Garovel had asked for their help, but that number spoke for itself.

Their faith in him was... well, it was mind boggling, quite frankly. Heck, he felt like the Rainlords probably wouldn't even get that mad at him if he couldn't deliver.

Yet somehow, imagining that outcome made him feel even worse.

Like he'd be kicking them when they were down. After all they had been through, the last thing they needed now was to take a huge financial hit because of his incompetence.

And so, with all of that in mind, Hector decided to just keep on chewing his salmon. It was perfectly cooked and melted in his mouth, but he kept chewing it for a while longer, anyway.

Ravi's question--of whether or not he intended to expand into Lorent--was not something that Hector wanted to answer, right now. Giving voice to his thoughts didn't feel like the smart move here.

Even if he'd pretty much made up his mind, already.

Ravi might have grown on him a bit in the past few days, but Hector wasn't so comfortable with the guy as to tell him things that he hadn't even finished discussing with Garovel and Amelia yet.

After persistent silence, Ravi seemed to understand that Hector wasn't going to answer him and decided to change the subject. "Have you heard about the developments in Hoss?"

Hector shook his head.

"Apparently, Jercash has been causing the Vanguard no end of difficulty up there," said Ravi. "They've had to deploy three separate marshals in order to contain him, and even then, he's still proving problematic for them."

"...Is that the kind of intel that you should be sharing with me?" said Hector.

The man gave a dismissive shrug. "Why wouldn't it be? You're not with the Vanguard, are you?"

Hector breathed half a laugh. "So your superiors wouldn't be upset if they found out what you just said to me?"

Ravi's smile was a mischievous one. "Mm, that would depend on which superiors you're talking about, I imagine. Just don't mention it to anyone outside the Freeman Fellowship--unless you secretly hate me, which I sincerely hope is not the case."

"I won't," said Hector with another small laugh.

Ravi had a way of making people like him. That much was obvious by now--and not just because of his own interactions with him, either. Nearly everyone the guy spoke to seemed to be exceptionally courteous or otherwise pleased to see him. Doormen, waitresses, receptionists, janitors, cooks, staff members working for other politicians--it didn't seem to matter who they were or what they did. They all liked him. Hell, even when he and Hector ventured out onto the town for lunch, random passersby would stop and say hello with big smiles on their faces or little anecdotes to share about their lives, as if speaking to an old friend.

Of course, a lot of them also stopped to stare or greet Hector, wanting to get a picture with him, but that was beside the point.

It was simply impressive, Hector thought. Ravi might not have been a Lorent native, but Riverton P.J. certainly didn't seem to mind having him around.

Hector felt like he could learn a few things just by observing this guy, the way he conducted himself. Maybe such natural charisma wasn't possible to replicate, but there had to be some technique involved, he figured. He had wondered if maybe just asking him about it directly was a good idea. Would Ravi be willing to share some of his social wisdom?

Probably. The dude seemed pretty damn agreeable about most things. Man, if the rest of the Freeman Fellowship was like Ravi, then Hector wouldn't mind meeting more of its members.

...And yet.

Despite his growing affection for Ravi Zaman, a part of Hector was very discomforted by him. This was the man's job, after all--to make people like him. Just because he was good at his job didn't mean he was good as a person. When it came down to it, Hector still barely even knew that guy.

And perhaps most of all, Rasalased's words were lingering in Hector's mind.

"Be wary of pretenders," he'd said.

Hector didn't want to believe that warning was referring to Ravi Zaman, but he also couldn't afford to ignore the possibility.

He had to stay alert. Vigilant. And at times, it felt like Riverton Hall was trying its best to prevent him from doing that, what with its fancy meals, welcoming faces, spacious rooms, comfortable beds, and beautiful views of the city and the greater Imara Forest that encompassed it.

It was such a weird feeling. He liked it here. And he didn't like how much he liked it.

With each passing day, he became more eager to get back to Warrenhold. According to Ms. Rogers, the reconstruction work on the Bell Tower was coming along quite well.

Most of the Rainlords had already returned to Warrenhold, leaving only Matteo and a handful of lesser known members of the various Houses. It had been a bit of a pain to convince them to go back, especially Salvador, Mevox, and Zeff; but Hector was sure that this was for the best. They couldn't even get near him anymore because of all the attention he was drawing here. Better to have them back at Warrenhold, making sure everything was safe.

He had also finally received word from the treasure hunting teams--word which was filled with both relief and worry.

The good news was that the Vantalayan team had successfully recovered the Blackburn Triplets and routed Abolish from the town of Miro.

The bad news was that even after days of fighting, the so-called Killer of Krohin was still at large and actively harassing them, hindering them at every turn without actually engaging them in another direct fight.  

It seemed he was a bit of a sore loser.

Also, they had found the treasure that the Triplets had originally gone there to find: the Sword of Unso.

Unfortunately, it was currently being used against them by the Killer of Krohin.

Hector would've been fine with it if they decided to simply return to Warrenhold, but they were apparently quite determined to complete their mission. If they left now, then not only would they be giving up on the Sword, but the Killer would almost certainly retake Miro. Hector told them that they could bring the Miroans back to Warrenhold, too, if necessary, but they decided not to resort to that just yet.

Hence Hector's continuing worries.

But he had to admire them, too. And if he were the one on the mission, he would probably feel similarly. Letting the Killer get away and enslave more hapless villages--that wasn't a very appealing notion. Especially after hearing more of the details about the human trafficking going on over there.

It was sometimes difficult to wrap his head around how horrible things were in other parts of the world, right now. Before meeting Garovel and becoming a servant, he'd always just had a vague feeling that, yes, of course terrible stuff was happening out there. That was just how it was. That was life. That was humanity.

But now, it was a bit different. More and more, he was finding himself in positions where he might be able to do something about that horrible shit--some of it, at least.

He didn't want to get a big head about it, of course, or start thinking he could solve all the world's problems; but it was still a pretty fucking surreal feeling to him, this notion that... well, he was holding quite a bit of power at his fingertips. And not just in terms of physical strength, either.

This sense of responsibility in the back of his mind was beginning to feel quite heavy.

But also exciting.

If things kept on like this, how much more would he be able to do? How much farther down this road would he be able to travel? He had no idea, and at times, it seemed like this path would either come to a screeching halt or send him sailing off a cliff--but still, he very much wanted to keep going. Because there were plenty of reasons to think that it might not all end in absolute disaster.

The other two treasure hunting teams, for instance--they'd both reported in, as well. And their news was much less troubling than that of the Vantalayan team.

They had been dispatched to completely different continents, though--Qenghis and Ardora--so there was little reason to worry that they might get caught up in this Eloan war going on.

The team that had been sent to Qenghis was looking for the Sun Hat of Amordiin.

Given how useful the Scarf of Amordiin had turned out to be, Hector was intensely curious to know what the Sun Hat might be capable of. He was trying to keep his expectations relatively low, though. According to Garovel, Amordiin had worn the Scarf at all times, even in the bath, but that was not the case for the Sun Hat. And while Emiliana Elroy had told him about it last being seen in Qenghis, she also mentioned that the book she'd read that in was written over 240 years ago.

Which, sadly, was still more recent than Garovel or any of the other reapers had seen it.

For that reason, he and Garovel had almost decided against sending a team after it. The only thing that changed their minds was the fact that Emiliana had managed to provide quite specific details regarding its location.

"A kingly prison, northwest of the great city of Jeruda."

Considering Jeruda was one of the largest cities in the world, that was an easy starting point for a search. And a "kingly prison"--while sounding slightly oxymoronic--also sounded like it might be a pretty good landmark.

And he and Garovel figured that if the team couldn't find any leads, that was fine, too. They would be able to return soon and be sent after some other item. No big deal.

But apparently, the hunters had found a new lead. The "kingly prison" turned out to be a castle called Dagracourt.

Needless to say, Hector's interest had been piqued even more than before.

Dagracourt had, in ancient times, been the place where the rulers of Jeruda sent all of their political prisoners. At first, it was a nice place, meant to appease an angry peasantry that was threatening rebellion after having seen justice not done countless times. High-ranking officials would go there for a time, enjoy a spa-like "imprisonment," and then be given a new title and powers elsewhere, after their scandal had passed.

Then the peasantry really did rebel, overthrew the government entirely, and Dagracourt became a place where the previous ruling class was sent to be tortured for the rest of their days.

As such, Dagracourt's prestigious reputation turned into one of absolute dread and horror, and it was eventually abandoned. Nowadays, it was regarded as a spooky ruin that even the locals avoided.

It took the team several days to explore it, but they found a records room in which a "peculiar hat" was listed as having been removed by someone named Remi Viviloro. There was a chance the name was just an alias, of course, but it was another lead, at least; and now the team was looking for more clues in Jeruda.

Their search could still reach a dead end, but hell, as long as they weren't being attacked, Hector considered that enough of a win so far.

The Ardoran team was similar. He'd sent them after the Mask of Amordiin, which according to Emiliana Elroy, was last seen in the Gettira Plains--though, again, she mentioned that her information was quite out of date, in this case over 330 years old.

Despite that fact, the team had already discovered that the Mask had at one time been in the possession of a local lord. Apparently, it had been stolen by a thief and caused all sorts of commotion when the lord started executing suspects without trial. As a result, the new king of the land came down upon the lord's head and had him executed, which historians say probably avoided a revolt.

But the Gettira Plains were incredibly vast, and the team was following up on famous thieves who had lived in the region during that time period. By all accounts, they sounded optimistic, but again, Hector wasn't holding out hope.

There was one more team, as well. Not a treasure hunting team like the other three, but a scouting party in deep cover.

A team that they had sent to Sair.

Hector was more worried for them than even the Vantalayan team, but as of yet, they had not reported anything too troubling. The Vanguard and the Sandlords were apparently getting along with only minor disputes between them, as the aid that the Sandlords had given the Rainlords had apparently not yet come to light.

If it did, though... Hector didn't even want to think about what kind of problems that might bring. Frankly, he'd been against the idea of sending that team into Sair in the first place, but the Rainlords were adamant about the need for trustworthy intel from the region. Which he understood, of course. It was their land. If he was in their position, and it was Atreya that was at risk, then he would probably feel the same way.

But it was nerve-racking, all the same. He was expecting to receive terrible news any day now--or to simply stop receiving reports altogether.

He had therefore been incredibly tempted over the last few days to to ask Ravi if he knew anything about the conflict in Sair. The guy had been a little loose with information from other war zones, so it wasn't inconceivable that he might be willing to share details from that one, too.

But that would be extending quite a bit of trust Ravi's way, Hector felt. Too much, perhaps.

It was one thing for Ravi to volunteer such information without being prompted. It was another thing for Hector to ask about it. Doing so would immediately reveal to Ravi that Hector had some kind of interest in the region--and that might be enough for the man to look deeper and start connecting all sorts of dots that Hector didn't want him to.

And no matter how Ravi might contextualize things, he was still a member of Abolish at the end of the day.

Hector had to keep that in mind.

Additionally, there was still the dangling thread of Chort, the so-called Beast of Lorent.

Hector hadn't forgotten what he'd seen in that vision Pauline showed him.

Chort had been brought here and experimented on. Which left the question of who had done it and why? Hector had the impression that the earliest events from that vision had occurred many years ago, but the facility that Chort had been kept in seemed to be government run.

So how trustworthy was the Lorentian government, really? Could Abolish have been involved in that whole mess? Could Ravi have? Or maybe Carl and the Vanguard?

He'd already talked to Garovel about this at length, and ultimately, the reaper came to the conclusion that, even if the government here was shady, the land in Jagwa was still too valuable of an opportunity for them to pass up.

And reluctantly, Hector agreed, but that didn't mean he intended to let the issue drop, either.

He'd tried looking into the name Lozaro more--the person who Chort claimed had "brought him into this world"--but thus far, Hector hadn't found any mention of him here in Lorent. According to Garovel, the man was some kind of internationally famous mad scientist, but his current whereabouts weren't widely known, it seemed.

He wanted to find out more, but another part of Hector wondered if searching harder for such a person would be a good idea. It would obviously be a big problem if the guy was in Lorent, and Hector would rather know about his presence here than not, but what would a confrontation with a mad scientist look like?

Nothing good, Hector suspected.

He supposed, right now, the wisest course of action was simply to prepare. For whatever came next.

He'd been trying to talk to Rasalased again, too, because if anyone knew what was really going on in Sair right now, it would probably be him. Two of the four Shards were with Asad, after all.

But unfortunately, it had been radio silence so far.

It didn't help that Hector still had no idea how he'd managed to do it that first night. Rasalased had mentioned something about his blessings interacting with each other, hadn't he? How the hell was he supposed to replicate that? Because normal meditation wasn't cutting it.

He had started to think that it wasn't even up to him. Maybe it was actually Rasalased controlling when they could speak. Rasalased had made it sound like Hector was the one in control, but it just seemed more sensible that the ancient warrior god would have that power, not him.

And if that were the case, then surely, Rasalased would warn him if anything truly dire were to happen over in Sair. So maybe he could just relax a little. Ease his mind.

No.

It would be at this very dinner with Ravi Zaman that Hector would realize just how mistaken that assumption was.

The first indication that something was amiss was simply the look on Ravi's face. Visibly tensed jawline. Hard, wide eyes staring at his phone while the color drained from his face.

"...Something wrong?" asked Hector, having just about finished his plate.

Ravi didn't seem to hear him. Nor did his reaper, whose name they had since learned was Beldorix. They were both just staring at his phone.

"Mr. Zaman," Hector pushed, drawing a few blinks out of the man. "What's the matter?"

"...It appears that Sair has just been conquered," the man said.

'What?!' said Garovel.

Hector didn't know what to say. He wasn't even sure he'd heard that correctly.

"A report just came in," Ravi went on. "Perhaps it is mistaken, or perhaps it is too early to be using a term like 'conquered,' but... it seems that the Sairi forces have just lost a decisive battle in the Uego Desert. The Calthosi are moving in now, unimpeded."

Hector pulled out his own phone, but he couldn't find anything to corroborate Ravi's information. No news on the internet. No messages from the Rainlords back at Warrenhold.

Until about twenty minutes later.

Hector could hardly believe what he was reading. A stream of texts were coming in from Gina back at Warrenhold, bringing him up to speed on intel from the Sairi team. Apparently, she was receiving constant updates from them.

The Vanguardian and Sandlord forces had been broken through and were now in a scattered retreat. Abolish had already entered Kuros and was seemingly headed for the Golden Fort, the seat of Sandlord power.

People were fleeing the city. Average citizens were being slain in broad daylight or rounded up. The undercover team had defended themselves from hostiles twice already and were now pulling back.

No confirmation yet on any high-ranking casualties, but rumors were spreading that Lamont and Jackson had both been killed.

By the Mad Demon himself.

It was too much to take in all at once. Ravi excused himself from the table, and Hector hardly even noticed.  

For a while, he just sat there, reading and rereading while he waited for more news to arrive.

It couldn't be true. It couldn't. Rasalased would have warned him that something like this was going to happen. And the Vanguard... and the Sandlords... they were too strong to be defeated so abruptly like this...

It made no kind of sense.

'We need to keep a level head,' came Garovel's private words, finally drawing Hector's gaze away from his phone.

'...Lamont AND Jackson?'

'It's just a rumor, for now. One that greatly benefits Abolish by being spread around, I might add. I highly doubt that they have both been killed.'

'It says Morgunov was there, though...'

The reaper gave a grim nod. 'Yes. It does.'

Hector leaned back in his chair. A waiter dropped off a dessert entree with a smile. A chocolate sundae. He just sat there for a moment, blinking at it. 'Garovel, what the hell am I doing here...?'

 'Hector...'

He already knew what the reaper probably wanted to say--that there was nothing he could have done to prevent this. That whatever had gone down in the Uego Desert had been entirely beyond him.

And he knew the reaper would be right, too. There was no sense in agonizing over it.

If only he could be entirely sensible.

He sighed and rubbed his forehead, trying to find his concentration again. Suddenly, his multiple thought processes all felt like one, big useless one.

'Let's head back to Warrenhold,' said Garovel.

He didn't look back up yet. 'But we still have a few more meetings here...'

'Eh, fuck 'em. The Rainlords need us, right now. We can take care of the rest of this later. Or better yet, have Ms. Rogers do it for us.'

Hector found it hard to disagree.

He took a deep breath and stood.

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