Ruger smiled, took out a beautiful sun coin, tossed it in his hand, and flicked it with a finger. The pretty little thing spun through an arc and landed squarely on the long-eared man's forehead. He instinctively raised a hand to cover the spot, catching the sun coin in his palm.
"Heh heh heh..."
The long-eared man rubbed the coin eagerly between his fingers and laughed.
His comical expression, coupled with his single long ear, made him quite an amusing sight.
"My lord, you must be esteemed God-Gifted! Whatever you need, I'll certainly-" he said with a smile.
"Aren't you God-Gifted too?"
Ruger smiled as well, cutting him off.
The man froze for a moment, then stood up rather awkwardly. As he rose, he absently touched his ear, while the sun coin disappeared into his pocket almost unnoticed.
"I'm actually a fake..." the man said quietly.
"No, you're real."
Ruger smiled and spoke with absolute certainty.
The long-eared man paused, looking at Ruger's smiling yet utterly serious face, then at the two even taller figures beside him.
"Which god's embrace do you come from?" Ruger asked softly. "Don't try to deceive me."
The man still seemed dazed. He blinked, apparently unable to understand what Ruger was saying.
"Is it some god who makes people laugh?"
Ruger spoke casually. He had little reverence for any of the gods here.
At last, Ruger's words brought a change to the long-eared man's eyes.
Perhaps the sun coin had worked, showing that Ruger meant no harm, or perhaps he knew he could no longer keep hiding.
The comical long-eared man sighed.
"Making people laugh is a fair guess, but that isn't my god's creed. My god's ideal is to help people accept tragedy and calamity through laughter. We never bring calamity; we merely help