("Man the sky's looking beautiful today.") Tibaut thought to himself.

He saw what looked to be some bats-looking things flying through the air and wondered if they were just regular bats or something unique to this world. Elizabeth soon appeared in his vision.

"So how was it?" She asked him.

"(I think I was a bit too confident in this) I think I broke some ribs." He weakly muttered.

He was currently in his new armour. On his chest plate was the vague outline of a fist made from blood.

Elizabeth looked at her hand and clicked her tongue.

"I didn't even hit you that hard, why is it broken again?"

In a move any sane person would question, Tibaut had asked her to punch him as hard as possible with the chestplate on. Unfortunately, he seemed to have forgotten the concept of blunt-force trauma. He coughed up a bit of blood before Elizabeth decided to heal him.

"Well, I'm pretty sure you would have penetrated me if I wasn't wearing this, so at least I've confirmed it doesn't just look good."

"Alright now, take it off."

"Huh?" he asked her, tilting his head.

"Have you ever seen me train with my armour on?"

"Come on, I need this handicap!"

She then tore his chest plate off (ripping the leather straps that held it in place) and looked him in the face.

"Are you saying you want me to treat this like a real battle?"

He quickly took the rest of his armour off like a seasoned courtesan and got into a fighting stance.

"What are you talking about, let's train!"

While the wall between was still massive, Tibaut at least got comfortable with her movements to use his magic. And shockingly enough this made them equal in skill (at least when Elizabeth didn't use her sword.)

("Huh, now that I think about it, the only reason I haven't used my magic in any of the spars is because it didn't work when she put that heavy plate on me. What kind of shitty teacher puts a student in a scenario where they can't use one of their best tools?")

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For the first time he could recall, this training session had left Elizabeth sweating. This didn't mean he won but he felt satisfaction from it nonetheless.

His lips formed a cruel smile and he optimistically imagined the future.

("Soon it's going to be me delivering the ass whoopings you blonde asshole.")

He was on the ground, bruised but not bad enough that he needed medical attention. Regardless, Elizabeth healed him and held out her hand to help him off the floor.

"It's nice to see you're not totally hopeless."

"Whatever, I'll take the compliment." He said as he got up off the floor.

"By the way"

"?"

"Since for the time being this cult business has been wrapped up, I'm going to request some work for us so be prepared for the future." She said as she tried to neaten her hair.

"Finally we're gonna actually do some adventuring." He said as he pumped his fist.

"Well, optimism isn't bad but try to think realistically so you aren't caught off guard when the time comes."

"I'm not sure anywhere would disappoint me more than this place." He said with a dead look in his eyes.

"I know what you mean," she said with her eyes looking lifeless as well.

They soon entered the mansion and were greeted by an unexpected guest or rather two.

Ezekiel was leaving from the basement with a short girl with a hoodie held under his arm. She looked completely out of it and had to cover her mouth a few times when Ezekiel walked over to them.

"Yo, it's been a while since I've seen either of you." He then looked at Elizabeth's arm.

"I know you said you had a healing potion but are you sure you don't want me to give you another one?"

"I just injured it in some practice, it's nothing to worry about."

He shrugged his shoulders and turned to Tibaut.

"You don't mind me borrowing him, right Liz?"

"Shouldn't you ask him?" she responded.

"It's not like he'll say no."

Tibaut felt briefly offended. ("I know I'd say yes but at least ask me, you bastard!")

"Alright, kid let's head out to my place."

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After an hour or so of jogging, Ezekiel eventually slowed down. The area around his place seemed to be a forest as well but it was substantially less dense than the one around Elizabeth's mansion. Even though they were a hundred or so meters away he could make out the silhouette and color of it.

"So why'd you invite me out here anyway?" Tibaut asked as he looked at Lily flop each time Ezekiel took a step.

"Eh, do I really need a reason to invite a friend over?"

They continued walking until Tibaut got a clear view of his base. It seemed to be a two-story cabin. While it wasn't as big as Elizabeth's Mansion, it was still a decent amount of space—more than comfortable for five people living together.

"Oh yeah, by the way, how many members does your guild have?"

"Including me and this little runt," he said while pointing his other hand at Lily, "about four."

"About four?"

"I mean I do take in adventurers sometimes when they can't make a living through what they make but I don't have anyone there right now so it's four."

("Ehhh, I never took him for the charitable type.") Tibaut thought to himself.

Ezekiel then set Lily on her feet.

"Come on, surely you should be good enough to walk by yourself at this point."

In response, she stumbled to a nearby bush and vomited into it. After finishing she unsteadily walked up to Tibaut and mumbled "help me out here."

Since they were just a few steps away he thought "Why not?" and gave her a piggyback ride back to the cabin.