The two men were outside the cabin saying their goodbyes.
"I have to say, I'm surprised you know how to cook," Tibaut said in jest.
"With those slackers, if I wasn't the one cooking they'd starve to death." He responded having an irritated look on his face.
Just as he was about to leave he turned back to Ezekiel.
"I know this is a long shot but do you know anything about ki?"
"I know a guy who uses but that old bastard lives in the capital so it'd be a trip to go and ask him anything about it. Why?"
"That so, huh." He said before groaning. "Truth is I've been wanting to try it out but I can't seem to summon any."
"I mean I could send him a letter."
Tibaut soon pounced forward and then grabbed both of Ezekiel's hands.
"REALLY!?" Tibaut said with excitement.
"Yeah I could, I'm not sure how useful I'd be but it's definitely something I can do."
Tibaut vigorously shook Ezekiel's hands.
"I shouldn't have expected less out of you. You're the most reliable guy I know." Said Tibaut to the only guy he regularly talked to.
After deciding to leave, he started walking into the forest. But he stopped yet again. Though this time it was Ezekiel who decided to stop him.
"Wait here for a moment." He told him.
He then ran into the house and came back a solid five minutes later. As he left the cabin he held a pouch in his hand. He threw it to Tibaut.
"That's for everything from when we fought the kobolds to me bringing Elizabeth along. I'd recommend you give it to Elizabeth unless you want a pummeling in the distant future."
"(My days are already filled with pummeling) I'm surprised we get paid for stuff like that."
"I guess you wouldn't know, but for every action the guild itself orders us to do, we have to get paid for it. Though it doesn't really happen that much around here."
Tibaut then tried to fit the pouch in his pocket, realized it wouldn't fit and then walked back to the mansion in a sour mood, with the pouch in hand.
"Ugh, my hand's all sweaty." He complained as he opened the door.
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It was now later in the afternoon and as always Tibaut was on the ground.
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("Are my afternoons destined to end with me bruised and abused on the floor? One win, one fucking win is all I ask for. Is that so much? I don't care if I go on a 100-lose streak after, I don't think my ego can take this anymore.") Tibaut lamented to himself.
Elizabeth approached and as usual, started healing him. Though now she had two burned areas on her clothes instead of being spotless.
"I can't tell if I'm getting more careless or if you're genuinely improving."
"Are we finished for the day?" Asked Tibaut.
"No, I'm thinking of trying some more of the weight training."
A bitter expression took over Tibaut's face. He didn't bother saying anything about it as he knew his pleas would fall on deaf ears. As he was mentally preparing himself for what was about to happen he noticed the burns on Elizabeth and a question entered his mind.
"Hey Elizabeth, you say you can't use magic right now but does that mean you have a specific magic for attack?"
Elizabeth was doing some stretches and responded to him.
"Yup, over a year ago I was using wind magic."
"Alright fire and wind I get but what's up with Ezekiel's magic?"
"You never had a formal education in magic, correct?"
"Yup, I learned most of what I learned by watching someone else."
"Were they a relative?" she quickly responded.
"Uh, yeah how'd you know?"
"If that's the case then I suppose it isn't that implausible (though the fact his magic was even this useful in the first place is amazing)"
Tibaut looked at her for an explanation and it soon came.
"When it comes to magic…honestly it's kind of a roulette. For most regular people there is no telling what magic they'd be good at or not based purely on instincts. Though, like you, I never had to figure out what magic I was good at, that isn't the case for most people. The first year of learning magic for most people is figuring out what magic they're even good at in the first place."
"And how would they do that exactly?"
"Say for instance if," she then groaned and continued "someone used magic that covered their body in metal. Now this isn't a hundred percent accurate but it usually goes like this. They'd first try to use one of the four basic magics (earth, wind, fire, air) and if they aren't particularly amazing at one, they then try to split it into various categories. So for the metal user, he may have, at first, used earth magic but decided it wasn't worth it due to some factor. After, he would then try to separate it into various categories such as controlling sand or trying to use mud. Eventually, the bastard settles on metal. Then after settling on it, he decides projectiles are either too hard because he's dumbass or too lazy so he focuses solely on what he's good at. Covering his body in metal, because he is probably too poor to buy armour or has an exhibition fetish and likes everyone seeing how fat he is." Elizabeth said with a hint of disdain in her voice.
"(Oh she's still mad about that guy she fought the other day) Wait a minute then how would someone like Ezekiel develop their magic?"
"I mean it's probably best to ask him but I'd assume it was wind."
"Why that specifically?"
"This may not be right, but it makes the most sense to me since wind magic is effectively just moving the air and his magic in essence, just moves things. Though I have seen a person who started with fire magic being able to use magnetism magic and move around metal so I may be wrong."
While the explanation was appreciated, Tibaut couldn't help but feel this way of developing magic seemed kind of loose. What if a person developed a magic that produced a love pheromone? How would you go about it? None of the elements seemed particularly related to that. He decided to ask her.
"Pheromones… animals produce those right? Then it would probably be earth magic since magic involving nature is an offshoot of earth magic."
She didn't look too confident with her answer but Tibaut accepted it.
"Now that I think about it, magic's weird."
"Well, the only ones bothered by it being like that are academia. As long as I can use it to defeat my enemies, how dubious it is isn't my concern." She responded as she went to a nearby bush and pulled out the weight she had used on Tibaut days earlier.