Chapter Two Hundred Eight: 'Go forth, and preside...!'

By most standards, the trip south to Loxeville from Gray Rock didn't take much time at all, but it was still long enough for Hector's feeling of dread to build up over the course of it. As he sat in the back of the black SUV with Roman Fullister, Diego Redwater, and Melchor Blackburn, Hector couldn't help imagining the variety of ways that this meeting with Leo could potentially go wrong.

Aside from the four of them, there was also Matteo Delaguna, their driver and Hector's recent shadow. The young man hadn't said two words to Hector, but whenever he left Warrenhold, Matteo followed him as the Rainlords' designated bodyguard.

The reapers were all present as well, but they soon wouldn't be, apart from Melchor's reaper, Orric. No one wanted them around if a fight ended up breaking out. Hector was trying to convince himself that it wouldn't, but as they got closer and closer to Loxeville, he found himself resisting those attempts.

Leo just wanted a meaningful job. He just needed guidance. From someone he could believe in. And Hector had to be that person.

Oh, god.

Loxeville was a quaint little town. Hector had researched it a bit online, just wanting to get a sense of the place. It had a population of about eight thousand, and it was quite a young community. Its founding mayor was even still alive. Its primary tourist attraction was the so-called "largest egg on the continent," which sounded quite weird to Hector's mind, though it did pique his curiosity a bit. Apparently, it was a fossilized "titanosaur" egg.

Hector didn't know much about dinosaurs, but he kind of wanted to go see it. Maybe some other time. When the fate of the nation wasn't hanging in the balance.

The agreed upon location was technically not in Loxeville itself, but rather on the outskirts of town. They were hoping to avoid a fight, of course, but Voreese and Garovel had thankfully still picked a place where they wouldn't have to worry about innocent bystanders.

If all went according to plan, however, they would not be staying here for long.

The vehicle came to a stop at a dead end in front of an empty lot. There was a warehouse on one side of the street, but on the other was just an endless landscape of tall, lush grass. It wasn't raining, but the scent in the air was that of recent showers, and the dark clouds hanging low in the sky certainly looked like they might start watering the ground again at any moment.

Hector saw the man sitting there on the bench by the road, but it took him a second to recognize that it was Leo. The guy looked almost like a different person.

Leo was cleanly shaven, wearing a black suit and tie, and his black hair was perfectly coiffed. Gone were the dreadlocks and scraggly beard.

When Leo saw him approaching, the man smiled and stood up. He hardly even glanced at the four other men following closely behind Hector.

"Whew!" Leo shuffled quickly closer and offered Hector a handshake. "You're not late, but all the same, I was beginning to worry you wouldn't show!"

Hector saw no reason to be impolite. He took the handshake. "You clean up well, Leo."

"Oh! Aha! Yeah, thanks! Figured I should try 'n make myself presentable, y'know. Demonstrate my conviction 'n whatnot."

"I appreciate it," said Hector. He motioned to the men behind him. "I believe you've already encountered almost everyone here, but... I suppose introductions are in order. Matteo, Roman, Diego, and Melchor."

Melchor stepped up next to Hector but said nothing, only folded his arms. Orric clung to his back.

"Heh, yeah, uh." Leo offered Melchor a handshake now.

Melchor just looked at it, then at Hector.

Hector gave the man a small nod.

Thankfully, Melchor decided to take the handshake.

They had all discussed at length how they should conduct themselves in front of Leo. Everyone here had agreed to play along with the tale of Hector being the leader of the Rainlords.

Hector had been surprised when Melchor volunteered to join him for this meeting. He'd wanted to ask the man to come along anyway, but he hadn't expected such enthusiasm from him. It had worried Hector, at first, because he thought Melchor might be hoping to enact some manner of revenge on Leo, but as they'd discussed their plans more, it seemed like Melchor was mostly just concerned with ensuring Hector's safety.

Which was flattering, to say the least--not to mention comforting. Having Darktide, of all people, watching out for him? That was arguably the main reason why Hector was able to feel relatively calm, right now.

"Listen," said Leo, "about before, I'm real sorry about attackin' you like I did."

"You sucker punched me," said Melchor.

"Well, yeah, I kinda had to, dude. Knew you'd be a big problem if I didn't take you out first. I was outnumbered like a hundred to one 'r somethin', y'know."

"In that case, I suppose I can just consider myself flattered," said Melchor. "And you should consider yourself lucky that the Lord Goffe here wasn't present at that time." He flashed Hector a quick smile.

Holy shit, Melchor, seriously?

Hector's face just tightened up. He couldn't really say anything, but he wanted to tell him to relax. That kind of heavy-handed praise wasn't necessary.

Leo laughed. "You're right, man! Things could be a lot worse for me, couldn't they?!"

"Indeed. But I look forward to working together with you as comrades-in-arms under Darksteel's guidance." Melchor gave another smile.

"Oh, ah, me too, dude!"

Wait a minute. Was Melchor enjoying this? What the hell was going through his head, right now?!

"Have you already heard about his encounter with the so-called 'God of the Underworld?'"

"Oh, yeah, Roman over there told me a bit about that, but he skimped on the details. You wouldn't--"

Hector felt compelled to intervene. "Ah--that's enough of that. Save the small talk for later, please."

"Look, he's getting embarrassed!" said Melchor.

"Oh, wow! I think you're right!"

The two men chortled in unison this time.

Hector just stared at them, wondering if this meeting was already spiraling out of his control. He half-expected Roman to jump in as well, but when he looked over at him, the man looked more flabbergasted than anything.

When their laughter settled, however, silence arrived and threatened to become awkward.

Hector maintained his focus, though. He didn't intend to let it get to him this time. If anything, he wanted to use this awkwardness to his advantage.

Part of Hector's plan here today was minimizing how much he spoke--if at all possible. He didn't want to be needlessly rude or obtuse, but at the same time, he wanted to avoid saying anything that might accidentally give away his true age or lack of leadership qualities.

So even though he wanted to prod Leo about where his reaper, Ericoros, was, Hector chose to hold his tongue for the time being. Ideally, the man would realize what Hector was waiting for on his own, as meeting Ericoros was one of the primary purposes of this rendezvous.

And it required a bit more staring, but Leo did indeed figure it out.

"Oh! Um!" Leo reached behind him toward the bench that he'd been sitting on and retrieved a black box, about the size of house cat. "Here you go! As requested!"

Hector received the box with both hands.

"Just, er, be careful with that," Leo added, taking a few steps back and raising his hands a bit. "I'm sure you wanna check to make sure he's really in there, so... eh, you ready?"

Hector understood what he was getting at. He glanced at the others, then gave Leo a nod.

Leo flicked his wrist, and the box of solid boron annihilated itself from the top down.

Immediately, the reaper within bolted out of it, but Hector was ready with a soul-empowered hand and caught Ericoros in his grip.

The reaper struggled, wriggling like an eel, but without a physical body to work with, there was really no hope of getting away.

Ericoros remained quiet, though, which Hector found surprising. Given all prior experience with reapers, he fully expected this one to complain loudly and often about his current circumstances, but that didn't appear to be the case.

Hector looked to Leo again. "Have you already explained the situation to Ericoros?"

"Ah--yeah. More or less."

Hector and Garovel had discussed the problem of Ericoros at length in private. Without a doubt, this was the most difficult obstacle for achieving any kind of long-term solution with Leo here in Atreya. Ideally, they would be able to win the reaper's loyalty, but they both doubted that would be easy. In fact, if it was easy, then that would be ridiculously suspicious. How were they to ever arrive at a point where they could trust Ericoros?

Baby steps, was what they'd decided on. It would be very slow going, and the first thing to do was simply get to know the reaper better. Any attempt at convincing a reaper to change allegiances was bound to fail without first acquiring knowledge about them.

And of course, it could all still be for naught. The notion that Ericoros simply could not be convinced to join them, no matter what they said or did--that concerned Hector and Garovel greatly.

What would they do in that case? Keep the reaper prisoner indefinitely?

Or, of course... they could just let Ericoros release Leo.

That was far from the ideal outcome, certainly, but it would at least neutralize the threat that Leo might pose to them.

And there was still the matter of Sai-hee's hatred of the Rainlords. If they simply let Ericoros go free, who knows what he might tell her? What if Ericoros' freedom somehow ended up causing Sai-hee to attack Warrenhold?

Perhaps that was unlikely, but given their current knowledge of the situation, they weren't yet prepared to take that chance.

As Hector eyed the helpless reaper in his grasp, he knew how careful he had to be with everything that he said now. Impulsively, he wanted to apologize to Ericoros for the circumstances, but Garovel had warned him against doing that.

If he was supposed to be playing the part of an emperor-class servant, then he should not act so apologetic or accommodating. He should do as he had done with Leo himself. He should project both power and understanding.

"It is good to finally make your acquaintance," said Hector.

Ericoros merely held his gaze and said nothing.

Well, that was fine. "I look forward to getting to know you." Hector went back to Leo. "In the meantime, you wanted me to give you a job, no?"

Leo perked up a little. "Er--yeah, dude! You already have something in mind for me?!"

"How does working for a homeless shelter sound?" said Hector.

Leo blinked a couple times. "Uh..."

It seemed like the man was giving him a window to elaborate, but Hector just waited for his full reaction.

"That's, er... not exactly what I was expecting," said Leo. "It's not really 'servant' work, is it?"

"It's 'human' work," said Hector. "And important, too."

"Yeah, man, I mean, sure. I'm just kind of wondering what you are getting out of it. Do you own this homeless shelter?"

"No, I don't. And it wouldn't just be one shelter. It would be multiple shelters, all over Gray Rock. We've made arrangements for you." Hector nodded toward Roman. "Or rather, he has."

Roman gave a small wave and a flat smile. Oddly enough, he was actually dressed like a normal businessman today.

"Ah..." Leo still seemed confused, though. "But, er, how does me working at a homeless shelter contribute to your overall plans for the future?"

Hector found that question somewhat surprising. He'd expected Leo to only care about whether the job sounded enjoyable to him personally, but after a moment, he supposed this response made sense, too. Leo seemed to be a rather skeptical guy by nature.

"For now," said Hector, "it probably won't contribute much at all. Placing you somewhere you appreciate is all that matters."

"Huh..."

Hector felt like he should give the man a bit more. "However... it's my hope that you might be able to foster a network of reliable contacts during your time in these places."

Leo's expression shifted with sudden understanding. "I see..."

Hector watched him closely. A lot depended on how Leo felt about this job offer.

Leo's nose twitched, and he gave an audible sniff. "Maybe I'm just bein' paranoid here, but y'know... to me, it sounds a bit like you plan on exploitin' the underprivileged for your own political gain." And he stared at Hector straight on.

Hector didn't look away. "Why would you think that?"

"Well. Mainly just a gut feeling. A worry, I guess. I may not know all that much about this little country of yours, but I know that it's had some political trouble recently, no?"

"That's putting it mildly," said Hector with a bob of his head.

"Mmhmm. Then I guess I'm just concerned that you--a guy who seems to have come out on top after that whole mess--might be lookin' to exploit some less fortunate folks with your newfound influence. Know what I'm sayin'?"

"Sure, but how would a network of homeless informants be considered exploitation?" said Hector.

"Depends on the nature of the 'informing' being done," said Leo. "Seen this type o' thing before, daddy-o. Sometimes, when you invest so much effort into buildin' something, you end up forgettin' the human cost. You end up trappin' your own builders inside, ya feel me?"

Hector squinted at him and took a moment to consider his words. He felt like he understood what the man was getting at, but he wasn't sure. "Are you worried that... such a network would make the problem of homelessness worse?"

"Mm, pretty much, yeah. When you've got power, you can throw someone who's drowning a lifeline, right? Seems like a good and noble thing to do, yeah? But then, if you feel like it, you can decide not to reel 'em into safety. 'Cuz maybe, for whatever reason, it's more beneficial for you if they stay out there in the brutal sea, while relying on you forever, unable to escape."

Hector deliberated on what Leo had just said for a bit. And then, despite how much he was trying to maintain his composure, he couldn't help allowing a smile to creep onto his face, and a small laugh escaped his lips. "You know," said Hector, "I was a bit worried about offering you a position like this. Granting you responsibility over civilians. But now, after hearing that... I think you might just be perfect for it."

Leo seemed confused again and blinked a few more times.

"It sounds like you really will have their best interests at heart," said Hector. "That's exactly what I'm looking for."