"How did I get so strong? That's quite the long story." Secessus replies, trying to again shrug off the question.
"We have drinks and the night is young." Kir says, not hiding his fascination.
The shade demon thinks for a small while. Not sure how to reply.
"It's a lot of things, you know. A part of it is I guess talent. But I've also had good teachers and had the right environment to grow." Secessus says strangely, reminiscing about a place and a time he so eagerly left behind.
"Who trained you?"
"There were several individuals. I won't be giving names." Secessus replies, putting a finger in front of his mouth and acting coy.
"Well, what did they teach you and what type of people were they? My only teacher was my father. So I'm curious." Alessia asks in a cautious manner. Probably thinking that she's intruding on quite the personal subject. This question has even caught Cornelius's attention.
Secessus once again takes his time answering this question, recalling memories he had even forgotten for a while.
"When my first teacher came, I was in a rough spot. I lost everything one day, my family, my home. I was suddenly thrown into darkness. That darkness, lasted… quite some time."
"It must have been hard. How did you feel?" Kir asks once again, acting like he's looking at a hurt puppy.
"In the beginning, I felt a lot of things. Anger, sadness, and sometimes even hope. But the thing is… I… I guess you grow numb to it after a while. The days pass, but you don't really live anymore. A broken shell." Secessus is so deep in thought and struggling so hard to speak. It had to be true, or at least aspects of it.
The shade demon takes a short break and drinks some more of the local wine. The strong grape is the only real thing you can taste.
"Then my first teacher came. A talkative and especially strange man. He hides things and likes to disappear. A man that knows me, but I don't know him."
Cornelius diverts his gaze from the conversation. His uneasy appearance is quite the unique sight for a man who runs his mouth so much.
"But most importantly, he pulled me out of that darkness. He taught me how to live again. He saved me. So even if he has secrets, or he isn't honest with me. Who cares, really? I owe him that, and perhaps once he's ready. We can be completely honest."
"What about your other teachers? How were they?" Alessia tries to move the conversation along, seeing the man named Sol before her struggle with his past.
"In one word. Rich. I met them after my first teacher disappeared somewhere, and they saw promise in me. I guess you could see they were 2 rich nobles with quite the attitudes. Officially, it was purely contractual. But when I spent time there, I created bonds. Something I honestly didn't expect, I was and felt like an outsider. But I adapted so easily to their ways."
"Is this Chawbore?" Kir asks, probably trying to gather a proper picture.
"Have either of you been there?"
"No." They both luckily reply.
"Yes, it is. A brutal place with tough people and yet so fitting for me. It scared me, to be honest."
"I guess they are mostly ex-military. They probably have kept quite some traditions from their time there." Kir explains in an attempt to soothe the shade demon.
"What about your magic, who trained that and how did you get it?"
"That was mostly talent. Speaking of which." Secessus looks at Alessia, scanning her frail body with his emerald-colored eyes.
"Why is your mana so sloppy?" He asks, either intrigued or critiquing her.
"I don't have mana."
"Yes, you do. Quite a lot of it." The shade demon replies with no hesitation.
"How do you know?" She asks, this new information taking her by surprise.
"How to compare it? I guess for a mage, sensing mana is the same thing as a warrior determining how hard someone has trained. It becomes quite natural once you got an eye for it." Secessus says nonchalantly as if it's no big deal.
"If I may be so rude to intervene." Cornelius intervenes, asking permission to intervene whilst intervening.
"One's mana and general health are connected with one and another. It's basically a second life force. Now if you have mana and this has never been awakened then it also doesn't have to be maintained. Even if you have little mana that is "awakened," it also doesn't matter, since your natural health will be able to deal with it. However, this is different for people with a lot of magic that are "awakened" and for some reason not maintained properly. Your second life force "the mana" is then detrimental to your health to such an extent that it will result in premature death and other inconveniences." Cornelius explains like a professor reading straight out of a textbook, his monotone tone not helping.
"So, I have a lot of magic, but it's badly maintained. That can't be right, my father was a swordsman without magic. How can I have a large amount of magic?" She asks, her hands in her hair as she's clearly overwhelmed.
"We can't answer that. But if you wondered how I got so strong. Well, I trained my magic as well as my fighting skills. If you have both, you can't abandon one. Besides, you must have used it before if it is awakened." Secessus explains calmly, seeing that the woman before him is overwhelmed.
"That's… That's brilliant!" Kir yells in a very loud and cheerful tone. Causing all the heads in this tavern to momentarily turn to their table.
"Wh-"
"Alessia, we now know why you are so frail and weak. You have your answer, someone just has to teach you how to use your mana! And you will be so much more powerful than you can imagine!"
"I have another question." Alessia says toward Cornelius, who seems to be the most knowledgeable about the subject.
"You called it another life force. What does that mean?"
"Like said before, it is another form of life. Some beings are entirely made out of mana and are also living creatures, hence the term "life force." For a human, who has a natural lifespan and this "life force," they combine."
"…"
"In more understandable terms for what you're trying to understand. A human with well maintained magical essence will live faaaaaaaaaaaaar longer than a normal human without. A human where the magical essence is large, but badly maintained, will die an early death."
Too stunned to speak. The silence from the 2 not familiar with magic is only disrupted by the eating and drinking sounds of the 2 who are familiar.