Alastair had to deal with jade clinging onto his arm seductively the entire time they walked through the streets earning him the envious stares of most of the cities male population. whats worse is that jade insisted they go take care of everything else in the town before speaking with the old man who gave alastair the quest in the first place. needless to say while alastair was quite attracted to the charming vixen on his arm he remained stoic faced throughout the day. after finishing the rest of their business jade was finally shown to the old man who was positively thrilled.
"Be sure to take care of your wife there young man and you'll be a happy man i'm sure hohoho~" the old man said causing both alastair and jade to both stiffen up. "y-yeah sure thing." alastair said awkwardly before leaving. "i-i wouldn't mind it." came jades voice next to him. "what?" alastair asked confused. "if we were married , i wouldn't mind it" she said seriously. alastair was taken back by this but simply shrugged. "you would have to remind me after all of this luminary stuff is over though erisa might have something to say about it."
Alastair and jade then moved to a nearby changing station were jade returned to her normal clothes. the two then went to find the rest of the group near the gate were they had decide was the meeting point were erik was already waiting patiently. "anything good?" alastair asked erik curiously. "i found a few bits and bobs that might be handy later but nothing to big , you?" erik said with a question at the end. "well besides getting sorta proposed to i got a bit closer to my next increase." alastair said with a shrug but erik was stuck on the first part.
"Proposed?" erik asked confused. "yeah jade sorta proposed earlier and i said if she was still interested to bring it up after all of this world saving stuff is over." alastair explained with a shrug. erik looked at jade who was blushing and looking away but not denying it. "erisa is gonna be unhappy about this." erik says seriously. "to be fair i didn't agree to either proposal so it is only my business after they work it out." alastair said calmly. both jade and erik looked at alastair speechless at his casual dismissal of the subject.
"What? it's true isn't it." alastair said defensively at the looks he was getting. "you do know that's not how romance works right?" erik asked seriously. "i wouldn't know since i never really had much interest in the stuff honestly." alastair explained honestly. "wait so you haven't had any interest , like at all?" erik asked astonished. jade also had an astonished look at this revelation since it was hard to believe. "i grew up in a village with only a single girl around my age and her personality was practically the exact opposite of my own so even during puberty i didn't feel anything beyond my bodies urges."
"no wonder you seem so cold towards women , you literally have no experience at all." erik said with a look of pity. "whats with that look?" alastair asked confused. "you have the misfortune of being courted by not one but two strong willed women , both of which are frankly gorgeous and both of which are extremely skilled in someway or another." erik explained honestly. "i don't understand." alastair said confused. "to put it bluntly its going to be a tug a war between both of them and you are the rope." erik said with a look of pity.
The three of them then sat at the gate waiting for the others in silence each having their own thoughts for about thirty minutes before the twins showed up and learned of the new development from erik. after which they talked with jade just out of earshot about something that must have been interesting judging from her expressions. alastair decided to do a magic control exercise while he waited by sitting in the lotus position with his eyes closed. he concentrated hard on his magical core.
He then summoned a ball of earth then a ball of water then a ball of air and finally a ball of fire , each the size of an apple. following the next step of the exercise alastair began to stretch the balls into rigs circling around him carefully making sure they don't touch. sweat began to form on his brow from the sheer concentration he needed to accomplish these actions. once he was done with this step he began the final and hardest step of having the elemental rigs begin to coil around each other still without touching each other.
This whole process was being watched by the four people from the group with the twins being the most interested. "that is certainly an interesting exercise in control if a bit impractical." veronica commented calmly. "what do you mean?" erik asked and jade also listened in. "well first you would need to have an affinity to all of the elements which is just too hard to find and then you would need to be able to actually use them all at the same time which is way harder." veronica said seriously. "but does the exercise work if you can fulfil those conditions?" jade asked curiously. "oh yes if you fulfil those conditions i would imagine this is probably the best exercise in control you could do." serena chimed in seriously.