Seeing her friend back down, Xio nearly covered her face. She was touched, too, and almost offered Fors the material herself to honor that friendship...
But after thinking it over, she realized it would accomplish nothing except waste the materials for the Sacrifice ritual and give Abner something to laugh at. She let the idea go.
More importantly, it would be disrespectful to Mr. Fool.
When no one else spoke, Abner turned to the Hanged Man, Alger, beside him. After choosing his words, he said, "Thank you for your help with that matter... I hadn't thought it through. Looking back, it really wouldn't have been appropriate for you to collect that man's bounty."
Did Mr. Tower and Mr. Hanged Man do something big in private again? At his words, Justice, Judgment, and Magician all perked up their ears.
"It's all right... Besides, those three alone brought me over a thousand pounds," the Hanged Man, Alger, said, shaking his head. More than the bounties, he now valued his relationship with the Tower.
The Tower was knowledgeable, capable, well-connected, and had a powerful background. He also seemed to have become one of Mr. Fool's Blessed. For both personal and practical reasons, Alger wanted to stay on good terms with him.
Taking a small loss now could bring far greater returns later.
After a few seconds of thought, Abner said, "Even so, I did put you at some risk... How about this? I'll give you a piece of information in place of Silvertongue's share of the bounty."
Alger had been about to refuse, but the Tower sounded so serious that he swallowed the words and asked instead, "What information?"
Abner gathered his thoughts. "You should know that taking a Sequence 5 Potion requires a corresponding ritual..." Seeing everyone but Miss Magician nod, he