Fractured God

After seeing how easy it was to surround himself with his own mana he couldn't help but feel bad for Ezekiel. He had an ability that could be trouble for 99.9% of people yet through no fault of his own it was essentially worthless against anyone with magic. That must absolutely suck.

While Tibaut was thinking about how it must feel to have magic that can be countered by anyone with a pulse Elizabeth looked she had decided it was time to leave. Before she got away he quickly put his hand on her shoulder and asked her

"Actually there's been something that's bothering me for a while now."

She looked at him slightly annoyed but made no attempt to leave. "And what might that be?" She responded.

"Why can your sword and Ezekiel's just straight up cut through my magic? Like how can they just get rid of my magic like they were popping a balloon?" He asked, wondering if all swords could do this.

She took a good look and responded

"I'm kinda amazed that someone with your talents has absolutely no idea about these sorts of things. From the guild to our equipment, it really does seem like you lived in your own little world and only emerged recently. Were you perhaps the discipline of some hermit that recently passed away?"

"No, just travelling." He said, looking a bit irritated by her statement.

"Just travelling?" she then briefly considered his words more deeply than usual. "Wait, only travelling? No visiting the local guilds, no finding work, no solo missions, no nothing?" She asked, shocked. How did someone of his level go unnoticed? While his strength was above average for an adventurer, there was no noble or merchant who would scoff at the idea of buying his services. In fact, a young magician who had never worked before seemed like the perfect fit for them if they wanted to cheap out.

"If I'm being honest with you I kinda just walked through the wilderness to get here, I occasionally saw villages and stuff but I usually avoided them. Not because I was in trouble or anything, just preference." He said while hastily adding the last sentence.

Elizabeth was trying her best to understand the boy in front of her. He'd never interacted with any adventurer-related before he met her, he was living his life entirely in the wild for four years yet he was more competent than the average adventurer in the parish. The thought of him being in the cult flashed in her mind yet based on how he acted he was either a damn good actor or the more likely option of him being an unrelated idiot. She decided to ask him a question to confirm something to herself.

"Who tutored you in magic," she asked, hoping he didn't say anything too outrageous.

"Uh, if we're talking about the fire stuff then I guess… no one, though I was taught a form of magic."

"What do you mean no one taught you fire magic?"

"It's just like I said. Ever since I was little I was able to generate flames though it wasn't until a few years ago that I actually started to use it for offence."

Elizabeth's thoughts were flooded with questions "Using magic despite not being taught? Is he a noble, maybe he's a trainee of the royal guard, still his red hair is quite unusual so I would at least have heard of him? Is this related to that being my lady said was troublesome, could he be a vessel of some higher being or maybe he could be…" She was diving into her thoughts until

"Um Elizabeth, is that weird or something?" He asked without the slightest hint of deception.

"No, it surprised me how disappointing you are, considering the potential you have."

Tibaut twisted his face in response to this insult and decided he was going to leave before she hurt his feelings any further. Before he left she told him "By the way, don't worry about the swords me and Ezekiel use. They're pretty expensive so you don't see them around here too much."

"Ah, well that's good to know at least. By the way, the spell I was taught was a curing spell. So uh, if you ever get sick or poisoned, I can probably help you out." He said before waving and leaving.

Standing there Elizabeth thought to herself "My lady it seems as though I've hit the jackpot with this. The speed at which he learns techniques is incredible. He did what took me several hours of trial and error in mere moments. The technique he developed in a day would take others weeks. If I'm able to train him correctly, his power in addition to mine when my body can finally handle magic again." A smile crept on her face. "I might be able to do it. It just might be possible to achieve." She whispered to herself. For the first time since she created her guild, she truly believed that she would be able to make her dream come through.

Tibaut lay on the floor of mansion's the first floor quite tired. While he had gotten quicker at cleaning that didn't lessen the work he had to do in the slightest. Instead of collapsing from 5 hours of work he now collapsed from 1 hour of intensive work.

While he was laying there Elizabeth showed up. "(Oh give me a break, just let me rest for a few minutes)" He thought to himself.

"You have a commission to do today." She said while lifting him off the floor.

"Finally, it took long enough," he said while hanging from her hand like a kitten being grabbed by the neck by its mother.