Octer and Lynol both stepped out of the room in which they were tested, upset over different reasons. They both finished rather quickly, since Octer’s test was quite straightforward as well. After all, him being a shield bearer, the only thing that had to be tested was his ability to wield his shield. And since he could very easily move his tower shield around as if it was made of paper to block any incoming attack, it became clear to the testers that he was skilled enough to be a member of the martial alliance.

But even so, he wasn’t particularly happy about how things went down after the fact, or even during it. After Lynol’s fight with Liam, Octer was practically completely ignored, since everyone was shocked at the idea that Liam was damaged by a rookie.

“Seriously, they could’ve at least pretended to care about my test at all…” Octer groaned loudly, before Lynol looked at his friend, placing his hand on his shoulder, “Don’t worry, all that matters is that you did well. We’re properly a part of the martial alliance now, so that will hopefully be helpful. Now, all that we have to do is find someone that could answer our questions about your martial skill.”

.

“Oh, right, we did have to do that too.” Octer let out, as if he had forgotten all about it, even though that was his greatest worry until just earlier, “We can take our time asking around, it doubt that Foster and Kyla will be here anytime soon.”

“Right. But let’s hope that they didn’t get into some sort of trouble.” Octer explained, “When you joked about Foster revealing his… magic earlier, I kinda freaked out. Obviously he wouldn’t do something like that, but he also told total strangers about where he’s from… twice. And the first time around, they turned out to want to kill him for it.”

Lynol scoffed and shook his head, “Seriously, don’t worry, he would never.”

— 

“You did what?!” Lynol yelled out with his eyes wide open, staring at his friend who was sitting on his bed. But Foster simply shrugged in response, “I told them I can use necromancy.”

“Why the fuck would you do something like that? Are you a complete moron or something?” Octer groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose, before turning toward Kyla, “And why are you so relaxed about it? You’re a cleric, you know just as well as we do that necromancy is-“

Shaking her head, Kyla quickly replied to the question, “Trust me, I was worried about it as well, but this was the right choice as far as I’m concerned. Because fact is, it’s not illegal. Frowned upon, sure, but Foster clearly doesn’t care about doing things that are frowned upon, even publicly.”

“Wait, what? What do you mean, it’s not illegal?” Lynol asked confused, and before Kyla could respond, Foster explained the situation to them, as well as all the things that they learned in the Mage Tower from Samria. Both Lynol and Octer were just perplexed about this information, since it seemed simply illogical to them.

“I mean… I guess the empire is pretty open and progressive about these sorts of things… and if the Mage Tower has its own Necromancy division, then it must be true.” Lynol pointed out, even though he was still quite nervous about this, “But even then, the fact that you revealed this information without consulting us is sort of…”

“Yeah… I’m sorry about that. In retrospect, I figured that it was pretty risky. But well, it’s not like I would’ve given you guys up.”

Octer sighed, “That’s not what it’s about. Just, before you make big decisions like that, let’s talk about it, alright?”

“Right. I’ll talk to you guys about this stuff from now on. But yeah, I now have a deal with this Samria guy, and he’s going to give me magic tools to test out, as well as some magic scrolls. So as soon as I can figure them out, I’ll have more spells in my repertoire.” Foster explained, and Octer thought about it for a moment, “Yeah, but you’re not really a spellcaster. The only sort of spells on scrolls are the kind that need actual casting, in the form of magic circles and such. The ones you have right now are raw energy-based spells, so I got no clue how useful they’ll actually be.”

Foster stared at Octer silently. This continued for a few moments of eery silence. And then, Foster slightly tilted his head to the side, “There’s a difference?”

“Gods fucking dammit…” Octer groaned, in response to which Kyla sent him a deep glare which he swiftly ignored, “But even then…” He said, trying to move on quickly, “The fact that you can openly use the spells that you do have is really useful. Especially once we enter the dungeon where we mostly don’t have to worry about harvesting materials from the monsters, those spells’re really gonna help out.”

Foster grinned slightly in response, “Yeah, I’m super excited about it too. I kinda want to try out my new spell, Siphoning Touch. It’s a life-steal kinda thing.”

“…That sounds sort of eery, but alright.” Lynol pointed out, “For now, we should look into finding Foster either a magic tutor, or a proper mage for our party that can help him out while we are not out and about.”

Kyla scoffed immediately, “A magic tutor? You know how expensive those are? Buying some books about magic theory would be better. The mage tower sells them at a reduced price to members. If he was somehow chosen by a calamity to take on his legacy, then he must be able to handle it, right?”

“Well, let’s hope so.” Foster replied bluntly, “Either way, everything worked out. And, we figured out how to help Octer so that the skill doesn’t get stuck again.”

“…That is true as well.” Lynol replied with a sigh, “Maybe he should try to study up on magic together with you, Foster.” 

Instantly, the martial artist in question jumped up from the edge of his bed, “Right, sure, but before then… I wanna go shopping.”

Perplexed at the sudden topic change, the whole party looked at Foster, who quickly explained, “I have my date tomorrow, so I have to look nice. And also… the only reason why I’m wearing this Gi all the time is because I don’t have anything else to wear, and it’s like a magical thing so it doesn’t really get dirty and shit. But I’d still prefer something more… causal for everyday stuff.”

“Now that you mention it… I haven’t seen you wear anything beside that this whole time.”

“Me neither…” Octer added, agreeing with Kyla immediately.

Clapping his hands together, Foster then quickly approached the door, “Right, good to know that we’re all in agreement that I need new clothes. Soo… come on, seriously, I want to get going, I have no idea how long it’s gonna take to find anything good in this city.”

Lynol shrugged, not really seeing the importance of clothes, “Just wear whatever. The only thing that needs proper cleaning is your shirt, the rest of the Gi is fully clean when you run a bit of water over it. So why do you need anything else?”

“…Because I look like a weirdo only wearing a Gi all the time?” Foster pointed out bluntly, “Honestly, you should try and pick something for yourself as well. You look sort of… well, boring is a good way to call it.”

“…I look boring?” Lynol asked, looking down at his body. He was wearing a beige shirt and some slightly darker beige pants, and the most basic thin brown shoes imaginable. And most of the time, Lynol was wearing a cloak above these clothes as well, so the answer was rather clear. Although, the only ones that seemed to even think about things like fashion before this were Kyla and Foster, since Octer didn’t particularly understand the topic either.

“Then I guess it’s settled.” Kyla said with an excited expression on her face, “We’re all going shopping for some new clothes!” 

With that, the party of four made their way out of the room and Foster locked the door behind them, before they all left the Red Riverside Inn to head to the shopping district.