This suggestion he gave only lasted a few moments but it was enough for Furor to change the tides. He spared no effort with his punches and left both boys on the floor clutching their stomachs in pain.
“Should have listened to me, you stupid bastards.” He said while rubbing his boot against Kevin's head. “And you, do you have shit for brains or are you just retarded? I said no magic!”
“It's… not… magic” He weakly responded.
“Oh yeah, then what the hell was it, huh? What gave you the ability to work so in sync with that bastard even though it's the first time you two have fought together, huh fuckhead?”
“It's just intuition, honest. I don't even have magic.” He responded.
“Bullshit, you fu-”
He threw another punch aimed towards his stomach but Tibaut caught it before it landed.
Furor looked down to the annoyance beside him and took his foot off Kevin.
“Isn't this enough?” Tibaut asked.
Furor looked insulted but he let Kevin go without issue.
“(Fighting without magic is stupid anyway.) Screw it, there's no point fighting in such an unrealistic way, anyway. You two fuckers better fight me with all you got.”
----------------------------------------
After barely finishing what Furor considered acceptable, they only had to jog for about 15 minutes before they caught up to their carriage. On their way to it, Tina laughed at Tibaut while giving a nasty glare to Furor.
They were back in and Kevin almost immediately fell asleep.
(“Tch, I don't know what it is but it has to be magic. But maybe there's more to it. He only experienced my magic but he was hounding me like I owed him money during our second session and kept going for my mouth each time I spoke.”) Furor was deep in contemplation looking at the now sleeping Kevin before him.
Tibaut didn't think much of it and recoiled back when he got a sniff of his clothes. (“Ugh, when are we gonna stop at a nearby river.”)
Ruby made sure to keep both boys at her side after being forced to bear with Nigel for the time they weren't present. After Furor came back, the man decided to ‘behave’ himself and kept sizing up Furor and would move suspiciously like bouncing into Furor whenever there was a bump in the road.
“Hey, old woman, what's that kid's magic?” He asked.
She shrugged her shoulders and started playing with his hair.
“How should I know? I think I remember hearing he doesn't have any. Guys like them are rare amongst us.”
“Wha- bullshit, not after what he did today.”
Tibaut had more than his fill of Furor for today and decided to sit this conversation out though he kept a keen ear. (“What's so strange about it? He's probably just good at teamwork.”)
“What did he do exactly?” She asked.
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He then explained their training session and she stared at him more closely.
“Well isn't that something? I'm kinda interested now.”
She began tickling and poking his face but his eyes remained shut and he would let out mumbling from his dreams.
“Wow, you must have tired him out.”
“He's a slippery little bastard but his stamina is atrocious. The only reason he lasted as long as he did against me was because had that bastard covering for him.” He said while pointing to Tibaut.
Tibaut made extra sure to turn his face away but Furor paid him no mind.
“So do you know then?” She asked. She got closer to Tibaut and wrapped her arm around him while bringing her face close to his. She giggled when she felt his heart rate immediately start increasing.
“I, uh, uhhh, I have no idea.” He said meekly.
“Babe leave the kid alone, there's only one person man enough in this carriage for you.” Nigel confidently remarked while puffing out his chest.
“...”
“...”
“...”
“ZzzZzzzzz.”
“Well, if you're having a hard time figuring it out, imagine how our enemies are going to feel?” Ruby continued.
“Tch, he's just the human equivalent of a carrot on a stick. As soon as they realise they can't hurt him but he can't do anything meaningful to them, they'll stop wasting their time and focus on other people.”
“Really? It sounded like his work with Tibaut put you in quite the doozy.”
“Shut up, the brat over there did most of the work while that bastard kept aiming for my mouth. If I had another guy they'd be able to keep him busy while I took care of the redhead. And as you know we're gonna be fighting against a slew of people so being outnumbered shouldn't be surprising.”
“Well, if what you're saying about their teamwork is true then that's false. Come on, Furor don't try to downplay them like that.” She said as she hugged Tibaut further.
The carriage continued moving and the two had their conversations (with the occasional interruptions from Nigel) until they stopped for the night.
Tibaut soon made his way back to his own carriage and found some of the occupants sleeping.
Lily was sleeping next to a girl he wasn't familiar with.
“That's Nora, in case you're wondering,” Elizabeth commented when she noticed where his stare was directed.
“(Holy shit, I didn't know she was there!) Almost didn't see you in the dark.”
“So how were the two of them?”
“I can confidently they probably won't try to fuck me over.”
“Well, I suppose that's better than what I was thinking. How were the others?”
“Huh?” Tibaut seemed taken aback by this question. “I mean Kevin seemed alright.”
“What about Ruby?”
Although nothing had happened between them, Tibaut felt his heart sink when she asked that question.
“Uh, she's a, uh, alright?”
His uncertainty left a smirk on Elizabeth's face.
“How's she doing?”
He noticed Tina turn around when she asked. With both of their gazes piercing through him, he felt like he had been put on trial for adultery.
“What's this about?” He asked with sweat forming on his brow. “I swear nothing happened.”
Tina looked annoyed when he said this and scoffed at him.
“Tibaut just tell us how she's doing?”
“F-fine, very fine. A bit too friendly if I had to say.”
“Well, that's good.” Elizabeth dropped it there and left the carriage soon after.
Tibaut looked dumbfounded but he noticed an annoyed expression on Tina's.
“Hmph, you seem to have a trait for getting the attention of unbearable women.” She said bitterly.
(“Is there some beef between those two?”) He thought to himself.