Seeing several armed ghouls standing outside Himin’s house, Kano stopped to conceal herself before they spotted her. Had Eomonsa’s minions gotten here before her? After observing them for a little while, Kano decided that their movements were too natural for them to have been taken over by the slime. She stepped out, and there was a moment where they tensed, but none of them did anything stupid like try to stop her.

“Is Himin here?” she asked the one closest to the door.

“Yeah.”

“Then bring me to her.”

The ghoul showed her to a room on the upper levels before Kano dismissed them and pushed the door open. To Kano’s surprise, Himin was sitting with Sherp. The detective was still here? Kano thought she would’ve gotten clear of all this the moment she had a chance.

“Oh, hi, Kano,” Himin said, standing up. “Good to see you’re still alive.”

Kano pointed at Sherp. “What’s she doing here?”

“Just helping out with a few things,” Himin replied before Sherp had a chance to speak.

“And what things would they be? I see you made some new friends.”

“I’d love to tell you about it, but first I need to know something.”

Kano sighed. Did other people derive some secret pleasure from annoying her like this? “And what’s that?”

“Are you working with the necromancers?”

Kano didn’t even need to think about it. “Of course not. Whatever gave you that idea?”

“Well, you’ve been spending a lot of time in the citadel with them. Surely you can imagine how one might think you were on their side.”

“I’m not on anyone’s side. Besides, it’s not like you even have a side. You may have a few ghouls working for you now, but don’t delude yourself into thinking you have any chance.”

Kano expected her reminder of the ghoul’s place in the world to give Himin pause and rethink whatever plans she was making, but she seemed unfazed. Was Himin that out of touch with reality? Or was it possible she really did have a chance despite her seemingly hopeless position?

“You’re right that I don’t have much of a chance if I fight the necromancers, but that was never the plan.”

“And what is it, then?”

“It’s quite simple, really. I don’t care if the necromancers are alive or what they do, so long as they leave Shorinstown and the citadel to me. And since the only reason they’re here at all is the reactor, all I have to do is get rid of it, and I get rid of the necromancers.”

“How do you know they’re here for the reactor?” If the necromancers hadn’t told her themselves, Kano would have had no idea what drew them here. Was it possible Himin knew something she didn’t?

“I have my sources. Anyway, what do you think? It’s a perfect plan, right?” Himin grinned at her, radiating confidence.

“It’s not bad.” She’d heard plenty of far stupider ideas. In fact, she’d come up with many herself, and normally she’d have resentfully agreed to go along with it. “But I can’t allow that.”

Blanching, Himin backed away. “Um, and why is that? I thought you’d be all for getting rid of the necromancers.”

“I am, or at least I’m not really against it, but I need the reactor to stay the way it is. Though I might be willing to make a deal. Do you still have that orb?”

“I do, though I’m kind of using it right now. Why?”

“I need it to test something. If it works, you can do whatever you want with the reactor.”

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“How long will you need it for?”

“Assuming it goes as I hope, I’ll need it indefinitely.”

Tapping her foot, Himin glanced over at Sherp before replying. “Fine. If that’s what it takes to get your help, then I guess it’s worth it.”

“What are you doing with it, anyway?” She had trouble imagining it being of much use to most people, particularly to a mere ghoul.

“I’ll show you.”

They went down a floor, and after passing by a few ghouls on guard, they entered a large room that took up most of the level. Two long rows of ghouls sat on either side of the room, each staring vacantly ahead.

“What’re you doing in here?” She’d expected something odd or downright nonsensical, but this struck her as much more in the purview of necromancers.

“Turns out the orb can do more than just give people souls. You can also use it to give people instructions and stuff. I was hoping I might be able to stop the slime from taking them over, but there’s no guarantee that would actually have worked.”

Kano shrugged. She could see how that would be useful, but none of it mattered anymore. “Neat. Anyway, give me the orb, and I’ll get out of here.”

“Um, it’s not really as simple as that. First, I have to disconnect all the ghouls.”

She’d missed it when she first entered, but now that Himin mentioned it, she saw each one was connected to the orb by a thin cable not much thicker than a strand of hair, attached to their head. Breaking the lot of them and taking the orb seemed unlikely to damage it, though she couldn’t say the same for the ghouls.

“How long will that take?”

“I don’t know, maybe an hour? I’ll try to be quick, but it’s delicate work.”

Tempting as it was to save herself the time, she could afford to wait, so there was no reason to damage Himin’s property unnecessarily. Even if the ghoul and her allies would likely not be much use to Kano, it didn’t feel right to spoil whatever plans she had.

“Fine, hurry up, then.” As Himin went to work, Kano walked over to Sherp, who was waiting by the door. “I’m surprised you’re still with Himin.”

Sherp glanced in Kano’s general direction, then looked down at the floor. “Should I not be?”

“Doesn’t matter to me. I just assumed you’d prefer to be somewhere safer.” She’d only put herself in danger in the past because of Kano’s threats. Was Himin employing the same strategy?

“I don’t really have anywhere else to go, not anymore.” She sounded terribly distraught, to the point where Kano almost felt bad for her. “Besides, there’s nowhere that’s really safe these days. Not with all the necromancers around.”

Kano could certainly agree with that. Things were far from predictable these days. And if she noticed it, it must be even worse for ghouls who had so little impact on what happened. “So you want to get rid of the necromancers?”

Tugging on the sleeve of her coat, Sherp shifted her feet. “Oh no, not me. I don’t want anything to do with them, but I guess it might be nice if they were gone. At least there’d be less to worry about then.”

Kano had never thought about the concerns ghouls might have about the necromancers, so it was strange to see it from such a relatively helpless perspective. “So you don’t care about what good the necromancers might do?”

Sherp shook her head. “I think things were fine before.”

Her chances of dying had probably been a lot lower before. Was that all Sherp cared about? Probably. She didn’t seem like someone who thought about much other than herself. Now that Kano thought about it, the same probably went for every ghoul she’d ever met. Well, except maybe for Thirty-Six. “So you think everyone dying out sooner or later is fine?”

Sherp just fidgeted without replying, leaving Kano feeling foolish for even asking. Of course the ghoul wouldn’t have anything worthwhile to contribute on the subject. Despite Sherp largely echoing her own concerns about the necromancers, albeit from a much more fearful perspective, it did little to convince Kano.

If anything, it only increased her doubts. Was it possible the necromancers were actually right after all? She didn’t agree with their methods or think they were anything close to a safe bet, and she probably never would, but there was some merit to what they were doing.

Maybe supporting them to a certain extent wouldn’t be such a bad idea. She could always explore other alternatives in the meantime. Then again, if the necromancers proceeded with their plans, there may very well be nothing Kano could do past a certain point. Perhaps such as when they were able to harness almost limitless energy to their will?

Maybe destroying the reactor wasn’t a bad idea. They’d still be able to work without it. There was also the option of cutting down on the number of necromancers roaming about. She trusted An a lot more than she did Werisah. Not even a lunatic would trust Eomonsa. And yet, Werisah apparently had? He must have had some degree of trust for him if they’d been working together, which only increased Kano’s distrust. The association really didn’t speak well for either of them.

Kano poked around the building while she waited but found little of interest and eventually returned to find Himin had nearly finished disconnecting all her ghouls. There was something funny about seeing a ghoul working with other ghouls like this. It made her wonder what a necromancer would think of it. Would they think Himin had no place doing such things, or would such a relatively independent ghoul seem very valuable to them? If it was the latter, Himin might have a chance of working with the necromancers if her current bid for dominance failed.

Carefully removing the last cable, Himin got up and presented the orb to Kano. “Here.”

Kano took it. “I’ll let you know how it goes with the orb. If it works, then you can go ahead with your plan. Any problem with me taking Sherp with me?” She was as good a choice as messenger as any.

“Are you okay with that, Sherp?”

“I guess,” Sherp replied, frowning.

“Then off you go.”