Interlude 7 – With her inside the salon
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Some time later, after Reim brought up a fresh calming pot of tea, they continued the discussion. Linze plastered a far too sweet smile on her face as she sipped tea and watched Mister Zah and Charlotte excitedly chatted about complex concepts.
'He doesn't belong to you,' she thought to herself. 'Just because you like someone doesn't mean they have any obligation to return it.'
Like Elze complained, there were just random peasants from nowhere and as a naturally shy person she was very reluctant to express her interest. It was also quite clear to who Mister Zah belonged to.
And that was why she was DOUBLE INDIGNANT watching Mister Zah being so obvious with his fixation with the court magician with Miss Monika RIGHT THERE watching.
"So how is your knowing that we're actually crafting spells according to the Ancient Civilization's rules disadvantageous to us? I mean, it's not that much more dangerous compared to knowing that we have all-element casting," he asked.
Miss Charlotte shook her head. "Oh, no. It's purely a reward from me. You can READ and SPEAK the Lost Ancient Language. That is of incredible value to my research. Please help me with that, we will be able to help a lot of people. Knowledge should be shared for the benefit of all, not hoarded. Specially Ancient lore, they are the inheritance of all peoples."
"I hope you don't mean that it's dangerous for us to know," the Duke Ortlinde inserted himself into the discussion. "I had hoped you had more faith in us to keep your secrets than that. We won't abuse your trust or make you work if you don't want to."
Mister Zah laughed lightly. "That cat's out of the bag, we have more or less thrown our lot with you. Maybe knowing this would become dangerous for the people you don't like?"
Linze's grip on her teacup tightened. She never felt any annoyance at how so overwhelmingly overpowered Mister Zah was with his all-element casing or Miss Monika with her ability to infinitely stack spells for infinite power. They were like heroes who jumped straight off the storybooks, that was to be expected from people like that. Mysterious, powerful, charming…
Linze shivered and shook her head to clear it. She didn't feel she could stand beside him as an equal. But she could get there. She was sure of that.
But the court magician appearing out of nowhere with… that voluptuous body, that soft voice, that… that depth of knowledge to even prove Mister Zah wrong. That was just so… so unfair!
She wanted to reach over and just slap his face and shout 'Look at her! Miss Monika is just floating there now, not even looking at you anymore. She's staring at the vase, ignoring and being completely ignored.'
Linze seethed and started to get up, but felt Yae's hand on her shoulders. She turned to the other girl, who shook her head and with her kind eyes tried get Linze to calm down. Linze resented her willingness to mind her place. To be a warrior woman… does she first need to set aside her own sympathy as a woman?
"What do you research anyway? Actually, specifically, if creating new spells is supposed to be difficult how did you plan on duplicating Null abilities into elemental spells anyway?" Mister Zah asked.
"As you realized, a spell is composed of three parts. The easiest to modify is the defining chant. It would surprise you to learn that to create a new spell is actually easy. It is just that most of them fail to do anything. But if you could READ THE ANCIENT TEXTS you have many more powerful synonyms to work with," Miss Charlotte responded with a happy smile.
But it's Miss Monika that can do that? How would you even bribe someone who doesn't need money, doesn't need to eat or sleep? If she doesn't want to help, what can you do?!
Linze felt that some of the mystery and wonder of magic was being drained the more they talked about it. It shouldn't be something you just wrestle down and control.
But Mister Zah's smile was close to a smirk. He had explained to her before that while it seemed magic did not have a philosophical component, his affinities fit him perfectly. Wind, such complete and utter mastery of wind, because he wished for freedom above all things. Water, because freedom didn't mean chaos, he sought an equilibrium. Fire, because it was dynamic. Earth, least of all, because it was like quicksand pulling him down. Dark and Light in equal measure because he was only interested enough in what was in front of him.
And so Linze did wish that magic did have a philosophical component. Light being her weakest affinity could have said something about her lack of courage, her lack of willingness to sacrifice herself for others. It failed a little bit for those with only Null abilities, but if magic did work that way anyone could develop the magic best suited for them.
Mister Zah appeared out of nowhere, apparently blessed by magic itself.
And Miss Monika…
There was no justice here. How dare Mister Zah not pay attention to her at all times, when it was sure she was paying attention to him at all times! That sort of self-sacrificing love was sacred!
But she couldn't work up the nerve to say anything.
In the end, it was Sue who asked "Does this mean we can't cure mother's eyes? There's no magic for that after all…" And no one could begrudge her selfish wish at all.
"Oh! No, I'm sure there is!" Mister Zah replied.
/"There is. There are many ways, some of them worse than others,"/ Miss Monika spoke up suddenly.
/"Things break and increase entropy. Entropy is also an energy state."/ Miss Monika then turned to Sue, grinned, and wiggled her index finger. /"Observe. [Rewind]."/
Another spell circle appeared under the vase, and the shards pulled themselves back together. The again-whole vase rolled slightly to the side. The kinetic energy that would have shattered it was already spent.
Mister Zah leapt half out of his chair, startled. "Jesus Christ, Monika, what?! That's [Reparo]. That's… [Time Gem] shenanigans right there! That's ridiculously abusable. Instead of [Recovery] being able to heal all ailments, did you get the ability to repair anything non-organic instead?!"
/"I've been really thinking it over, and if we consider Time a vector that would also work,"/ Miss Monika replied softly. While Mister Zah and Miss Charlotte theorized, she was working on the problem. Like she said before, she had nothing but time and her own thoughts. Always and always she ached about being useful. /"But unfortunately I think if I applied it to Duchess Ellen, her eyes would be healed… yes. But she'd also lose five years of her memory."/
Mister Zah carefully sat back down and said "Monika... for Sue, I wouldn't say that's worth it. But you... you basically just gave people eternal youth in exchange for literally losing years of their lives."
Miss Monika looked faintly sad. She didn't even care one bit about that or how she could use that power for her own benefit.
Linze felt envious of Charlotte, but she really admired and respected Monika in a completely different way from how Yae revered her. She was not an untouchable existence. While the court magician was the exemplification of everything she wished she could be, Miss Monika was Linze's ideal – the woman she wanted to imitate, the kind of person she wanted to grow up to become. Linze was a happy student.
/"I know! This is dangerous. But to me, that's how things work! [Recovery] may be a perfect spell, but until I see it in front of me, I can't perfectly [Decompile] it. Working from all the descriptions I had, this is the best I can do. So you better work out a harmless Light spell that accomplishes the same thing instead."/
"Oh my. That really IS dangerous…" the Duke murmured.
But Miss Charlotte looked much less impressed. "I see. There are similar documented spells like [Repair], [Modeling], [Remake], and [Reshape] too. But this one works because of the strictly defined rule of time reversal instead of a command to repair itself.
"I have seen personal Null abilities that worked in a similar manner. There was this one Null spell that could just allow you to command objects to obey rules and conditions, as long as it was even vaguely possible..." She suddenly slapped her left hand over her right arm that began to twitch uncontrollably. She shivered, not because she was cold, but it was like she was afraid?
She shook her head and began to lightly slap her own face to wake up from a fugue. "Pardon me, I was… a little distracted there."
But now Mister Zah ignored her discomfort. "I can't just chkdsk and fixboot brains like boot sectors, Monika! If only [Cure Heal] was a specialist spell instead of two general purpose medical spells jammed together. Actually I think that for intent-based magic, Sue's good intentions with strong understanding and visualization of what needs to heal would be stronger than just throwing more magic at it."
/"So are you just going to be content being a tutor. Here. In the capital?"/ Monika asked, with a tight note to her voice.
Mister Zah stopped, and his lips bent down in a scowl.
Linze grit her teeth. Be paid well to be a teacher and healer. Stop being an adventurer. Every day at walking distance to Miss Charlotte. Then… what about her and Linze? They were unnecessary. Yae too, she would leave, there was nothing interesting in magic and books for her.
He turned towards Sue and smiled sadly. "Sorry. We are adventurers after all."
Linze's heart sang. Yes. That was all they needed to be! Free and proud!
"But… but what about mother, then?" Sue asked plaintively. "It's very… harsh, not being able to see anything but patches of light. It's painful!" Like when she was going around with her eyes closed, it felt like light itself was pressing down on her eyeballs, the little girl explained. It would have been better if she was not partially healed at all.
Mister Zah and Miss Monika stared at each other. Only Miss Monika could see straight through that mask into his eyes. Moments passed but it was like they had a long conversation. Yes, that was a relationship that should not be set aside so easily.
Don't cheat, Mister Zah! Don't give in to temptation!
"I have an idea," said Mister Zah.
Miss Monika put her hand to her mouth and giggled. /"Do tell."/
"No one else can use my spells so simply because I've managed to make them all executables that require their own program layer. Fine. But there's this one amazing gal who can Decompile spells, and who can Apply the effects of spells onto others."
/"You can't give Duchess Ellen virtual eyesight, Player. We still haven't figured out which nerves or neurons are responsible for her blindness."/
"No. But you and I are masters of air and vibration. We could make her A Woman Without Fear."
A what?
Miss Monika stood up straight, suddenly completely serious. /"That… that could work. I know how it works. That's my radar sense. That's your active air pulse. If we combine that…"/
Mister Zah raised his right hand, opened his white gloved fingers out wide… and then clenched it.
And once more Linze was reminded why only Mister Zah and Miss Monika could ever really fit each other. Power. Vast, uncompromising power rolled off them and touched everyone in the room in shimmering waves of force. They called it visualization, but to Linze, it was like they could just force the universe to bend to their will. Mister Zah refused to be contained. Miss Monika refused to be limited.
She was beginning to see why Yae behaved so meekly towards Monika.
"Come Forth, Wind," Zah Playa whispered, his voice oddly carried by the rapidly pulsating air. "Currents of knowing, [Air Sense]."
/"Sue, close your eyes,"/ Miss Monika commanded. The little girl obeyed, and so did Linze. And so Miss Monika declared, /"Borrow an aspect of Total Mastery over the Element of Wind! [Amplify: Proprioception], [Amplify: Somansensory Reception], [Stack: Haptic Feedback], [Stack: Air Sense], [Application: BLINDSIGHT!]/
And then Linze's world exploded into a riot of colors. Because Monika had noticed, and to help her learn applied [Blind Sight] to her too. Colors intensified until it was painful, and then seemingly leeched away leaving muted pastel shades.
It was like a world washed out, but with deeper shadows. Shadows that seemed to come out in outlines from behind people and objects. It was if there was light, but it was centered on herself.
A world of sight, by sound. A world of color, by heat.
She could see Sue looking around, a look of awe on her face. Her blonde hair was dark almost purple hue, and her face was a fascinating pink.
Linze still didn't understand how this could make a woman without fear, unless it had something to do with how this sense could make someone 'see' equally well in broad daylight and in the moonless deep of night. There was nothing to fear in the dark, because there was no such thing anymore. Only a distant softness.
A woman without fear…
Was that a hint? Yes, Miss Monika. I will do better.
And then after a while, Monika said /"[Cancel]"./
Linze blinked repeatedly as her vision returned. The world through her natural eyes seemed darker, blurrier, less intense. Less… sublime.
Miss Charlotte gasped for breath, and put her hands over her heaving chest. She looked at Mister Zah and Miss Monika with fascination and hunger just as before, and now a little bit of terror.
"Does this… does this happen often?" she asked.
"What?" Mister Zah asked.
"Do you often just up-end everything about what is possible? [Blind] [Sight], a contradiction in terms. And yet… it's not even in the Ancient language. So quickly, so effortlessly…!"
Linze laughed. Openly, and her now lukewarm tea spilled over her skirt. Because the answer was YES. Very obviously, YES.
Then she stopped. Only she realized the penalty required for this spell. Miss Monika would have to sacrifice one of her immeasurably precious spell slots just to allow one blind person to have this strange form of sight. Mister Zah would not correct their unfairly blessed ignorance, he was too kind like that.
At least a week until Mister Zah could return for his tutoring promise for Sue. A lot of things could happen in a week.
"That is very, very, VERY dangerous…" the Duke murmured.
Linze agreed silently.
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Interlude 8 – With her out in the training yard
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Meanwhile, Elze was led out to the back of the mansion, past the sculpted garden, and into a barracks area with a sandy drill yard. The soldiers they passed by only looked quizically at the white-haired girl walking behind their chief of the house guards, until the recognized who that might be. They bowed in respect as they passed.
"Here we are," said Captain Hanse. "Now, Miss Elze, if I understand correctly, you are largely self-trained in pugilism? There are some little tricks you may have missed, and a little sparring will help with that."
"That's it? You're not going to give me any hassle about being girl that beat what your guys had trouble with? I was really expecting someone to do that, I wouldn't have believed it either."
The old guardsman scoffed, "What do we look like, some petty little noble's show guards? We're the Ortlinde Ducal Guards! What, are we supposed to think our Young Lady would be lying about the people who saved her life? Maldon wouldn't be lying about the death of his own younger brother either."
"Oh. Well… sorry about that. I don't mean to sound arrogant and all."
Captain Hanse nodded. "That you're a girl doesn't matter. But you are still a kid, so I'll forgive that too."
"Oy, oy, oy… you're crossing a line there old man!" Elze replied with a reckless grin.
The chief of the guards tugged at his own large well-groomed mustache and grinned back. "Then what are you going to do about it?"
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"Before we begin, show me what you can do. Go run around this field as fast as you can until I say 'Stop'." The captain pointed to the four corners of the training yard.
"Sure, sure!" Elze saluted and went to it.
The first lap kicked up too much dust and sand. Elze began to figure how how fast she could move without her feet digging too deep into the loose soil. She ran perfectly following the lines and sharply turning at the corners, obviously using her power and with [Boost] active her head would start hurting before her body started to feel tired.
After several minutes, she heard the Captain order "Stop."
She walked over to meet him at the center of the yard, not even breathing heavily.
"You used your power."
"You didn't say not to..."
Captain Hanse smirked. "Now why would I do a silly little thing like stop you from using your most effective weapon? If you have to fight, fight with all you have."
Elze beamed. Yup. This old dude was cool.
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"Now, what I heard is that you have something called [Boost] that makes you move faster, hit harder. I actually have something similar, it's called [Imperturbable]. So don't hesitate, hit me as hard and as fast as you can."
Elze stared up at the beefy mountain of a house guard. She had on her gauntlets and greaves. Similarly, the Captain had decided to shuck off his chest plate, leaving him only with the padded jack underneath and his arms and leg armor.
He looked like a bruiser, devastating and slow.
Elze dug the tip of her boot into the ground and kicked up, flinging sand up towards the Captain's eyes ahead of her kick which was actually aimed towards the midsection.
The Captain merely leaned aside and intercepted her kick with the back of a steel-clad fist. "Good! That's the way to do it!"
"So it's okay to cheat?" Elze asked impishly as she stepped back. "What about giving someone a fair fight?"
"That is correct. Young, old, man, woman, it doesn't matter. In a fight, use what weapons you have available!" said the Captain.
"That's really weird to hear from noble guards."
"We're not knights. We don't need that chivalry nonsense, we're not examples to anybody. We're guards – so the important thing, the only thing, is for the people we protect to survive. Cheat! Lie! Kill! Do whatever it takes, only fools and dead men try to fight fair when your enemy won't give you any of that anyway!"
Elze nodded. Very good words to live by. Then she kicked off the ground and attacked again.
She slid forward, then suddenly juked to the side to deliver a punch to the ribs. The Captain met it with his elbow. A loud brassy sound rang through the field.
Elze barely had time to reach to an overhead knife palm blow to her neck. She blocked it with her own [Boosted] forearm, and another brassy sound rang.
Elze sniffed and skipped back. "I see. Imperturbable."
The Captain of the Ortlinde Guards could make his limbs imperturbable, surpassing human limits. Not to the multiples that her [Boost] could provide, but being immune to damage was just as perfectly good. It meant he couldn't tear his muscles no matter how hard he forced that limb.
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They traded blows for a while, and seeing a slim young teen apparently able to meet their powerful Captain strength for strength was enough to draw everyone that was off duty for the day.
"You like going for the legs. Why is that? Most people I know would be jumping to add more force to their blows by now."
"Footing is everything!" Elze replied. "Also, fight a master of wind magic in mid-air? That's dumber than bricks!"
Hanse laughed. "Good enough! I may be no master of wind magic, but if you had tried that, I'd have picked you up and thrown you. Never give up leverage, girl."
As Elze darted around, avoiding Captain Hanse's return blows, she asked "What else am I going to use leverage for? It's not like I can throw you. And why throw when you can punch? Throwing the enemy away means I'd have to chase after them again."
"Ah, but sometimes there will be enemies that you can't punch to death. And so being able to take them out of the fight for a while is just as good."
The guard captain stopped and held up his arm, palm out.
"You know what your problem is, right?"
"Range?"
"No. Reach. As long as you are fighting in melee, there are also a lot of things that could be used to disrupt your ability to punch. You are a striker, and you've neglected the other part of bare-hand combat entirely. Grappling is your weakness. You just don't have the weight or reach for that.
"But unfortunately you're too little for me to demonstrate grappling throws and falls. Edgar, come here."
"Hey!" Elze protested vainly as a tall young guardman stepped up to the sands and saluted.
Captain Hanse kicked the young man's feet together, and as he topped, tossed him over his shoulder. The young soldier hung limp and spread out his arms to land flat on his back, spreading out the force of impact.
Elze pursed her lips. "These… look familiar somehow. I think… ah! I've seen Yae throw people like this before! She's from Eashen, this is Eashen martial arts! Did you learn this from Yae's father… Mister Kokonoe?"
"That's right. Twenty years ago, I was actually a sparring partner for the now Viscount Sordrick."
And so Captain Hanse began to demonstrate on the hapless guardsman, tossing him to the ground again and again.
"It's not enough to disrupt your enemy's center of balance. It doesn't matter how bigger than you or how heavier than you – if just use his center of gravity against him then you can throw down anyone. Someone flat on the ground is much easier to deal with, if not by you then any of your companion's weapons or magics."
Hip throws, back throws, knee throws, reaps, wheels, and sacrifice throws, Edgar suffered them all silently.
"Now, you try," the captain said to Elze.
"May I ask for mercy?" Edgar whimpered. "Please, be gentle."
Elze just grinned up at him.
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Klong. Klong. Klong.
Klong.
Elze could put all force and speed into her blows, blows that could kill anyone, but against the Captain's [Imperturbable] limbs it wouldn't even make him budge. But since his arms and legs didn't get any heavier, he could still counter-attack just as fast and Elze had to learn how to stop over-committing to a strike.
"There is like a law," said Captain Hanse, "that as hard as you hit something, you also feel that force going back up your arm. That's why you can see many people who augment their strength attack from above or make jumping strikes. Lets your weight pull you down to the ground overcoming that force."
"Every action carries a complete and opposite reaction… I heard about this too." That was how Playa managed to fly over when his air jets shouldn't be able to push off the ground anymore.
"So, you hit, bounce back, hit again. If you are hit, you use that force given to you by your enemy not only to move your own limbs but to deflect where their limbs will be."
Captain Hanse relaxed his [Imperturbable] to demonstrate. He blocked another kick by Elze, and pushed down to shift her center of balance. Elze used that to whip around using her hip as the fulcrum to kick again with her other leg towards his face. The Captain blocked with his other forearm, then drove forward with two outstretched fingers towards Elze's exposed torso.
"Ugh!" Elze crossed her arms over her ribs to receive the blow.
But the Captain changed his hand to an open palm and grabbed Elze's bracer. He moved one step forward and then drove her down to the ground, slamming her back onto the sand and driving all breath from her.
Because for those brief moments, Elze forgot that she was not in contact with the ground. Mid-air was the most dangerous place to be.
"Don't try to be too clever, trying to force openings to appear. What you could have done is to kick down towards the knee as soon as the high kick failed, then if the knee hit is avoided, flick your body forward with the spent force to punch. Recoil back, and then kick. Hit, and recoil with the opposite arm. Remember, your whole body is a lever moving around your center of gravity."
Elze got up, dusted herself off and nodded. Kick, punch, block. Kick, punch, block. As often as possible, as fast as possible, use the energy bled off from each to fuel the next one.
So next time Elze caught a straight punch on her bracers that would have usually driven her back several paces she didn't hold her arm as stiff as before, but let it absorb the blow. As soon as her fist touched her chest, she pushed down on herself to angle her body to the side and her elbow back towards the enemy's open chest.
She circled about, now inside the enemy's guard, slapping the arm down with her defending arm jack-knifing out and the other arm in a blade hand position towards the enemy's throat. The captain grabbed her outstretched hand to defend.
But now both his hands were similarly engaged, so Elze pulled on her captured limb to bring her closer to the enemy and kicked him in the balls.
[Klongg]
Imperturbable.
"Better!" said the Captain. "But now I can do this."
And so he trapped her in a bear hug.
The watching guardsmen hollered about 'how unfair' and 'that's too much taking advantage!' and 'I should have thought to do that earlier too, dammit!' until the Captain arched his spin backwards and drove Elze's head into the ground in a suplex.
But gently, because she was so much smaller that the Captain's head actually touched the ground first.
"Ugh, grappling," Elze complained, spitting sand. "How annoying. Is this why people started to like using swords instead?"
"Hahahaha. No."
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Elze sparred with every soldier there, so that everyone could get used to burst combat. It was very clear that the guards were more used to weapons, and when the sparring shifted to using their weapons they were just as lost dealing with someone who could snap their spears like twigs and push their swords back to stab themselves.
It was fun.
Very little of what she was learning was applicable to the goal of beating Playa's face in, because he was a cheating cheater who cheats who CAN FRIGGING FLY, but it was useful to shore up her own deficiencies in defense.
As the Captain explained, while [Boost] and [Imperturbable] could strengthen limbs, it did very little to protect their own midsections. It boosted muscle strength where available, so if Elze wanted to protect her very vulnerable organs she had better learn how to get some very impressive abs.
Elze blanched.
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"I still need to do something about range..." Elze mused as they all took a break to cool down after sparring.
"You could just throw things," one of the young guards said the obvious.
Elze shook her head. Playa's [Spinning Air Shield] worked against that. Linze had [Ice Wall]. Reach was a very serious problem. She could maybe get something heavier and sharper… maybe a throwing axe?
She picked up a loose stone and flicked it, applying [Boost] to her fingers. The stone shot forth and cracked open the sand-filled head of a target dummy. It was a [Stone Bullet], but really nothing special enough to called a technique. [Air Shield] worked really well against that.
The young soldier gulped, and reconsidered how he planned to chat her up.
Elze frowned and practiced the flicking motion with her gauntleted hand. There were few weapons she could think of that wouldn't be made just redundant with how her arm armor was its own weapon.
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When she asked the Captain about it later, he remarked "So your young man is abusing the advantage of range, you say? With his sword-spear, and his flight, and his bombardment options… I can see how that would be very annoying."
"I can still beat him when I can punch through his [Air Shield]. But… more and more he's getting faster and can fly higher, so at some point that's not going to work anymore."
"Have you considered bigger rocks?"
"It's not like I can just carry around bigger rocks!" Elze objected with a pout. "I've done trees. But I'm going to run out of trees if I keep doing that."
The Captain chortled. "What a frightening young lady you are. Way I see it, you have two options. The first is to get a weapon that feels right to you, one that improves your reach. The other is for you to simply be able to [Jump Higher]."
"But the more I ramp [Boost] the quicker I'll get tired."
"Which leads back to the weapon for attack and defense while conserving energy. That is indeed the reason why they remain the most significant force in the army even through centuries of magic. Hmm." Captain Hanse rubbed at his long pointed chin hair for some time. "Have you considered that ancient reliable tool of persuasion, the sling?"
Slings, little more than a pouch between two lengths of rope, spun to throw a blunt projectile like a smoothened rock (the root of the word 'bullet', 'small ball') had long been made obsolete in war by the bow and metal armor. They were still used by shepherds to drive off wild animals though, a weapon any peasant was allowed to because they were so little a threat to noble power.
Elze looked at her metal-clad fingers. Well at least carrying a sling around wouldn't be a bother. She could just wrap it around her wrist like a bracelet.
"But it's still less than useful against armor. Even padded mail."
"Heavy lead bullets."
Huh. Well. That would work.
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It was lunchtime when the party could get all back together again.
"Oh, hey everyone! Did you have fun?" she asked her sister and her friends. She had fun. Sweaty, hot, but fun.
They looked far too somber. There was a cold, ambivalent feeling in the air. Zah Playa looked skittish and Linze refused to look at him.
It was also the first time Elze was introduced to the court magician, Charlotte, and she also had to acknowledge how the woman looked exactly like Playa's type. Since unlike Linze, Playa and her were actually very comfortable just chatting with each other (either alone or while sparring) she actually had a good idea of what he was looking for a woman – intelligent, decisive, and a little older and more worldly. Monika fit all of those perfectly – if only she had a body.
The court magician was also bashfully not looking at Playa and Monika.
Well. It looks like Playa must have done something to offend Linze somehow. Elze smirked, cracked her knuckles, and made a mental note to harass him about this later.
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(AN:)
The difference between Elze and Linze is thus:
- Linze: Someday I will be able to stand by with him as an equal.
- Elze: Now how do I keep on being able to beat his face in?
Also:
- Playa: Magicmagicmagic!
- Elze: Heavier rock.
- Klongg!
Elze and Playa are Super Best Friends. He expects her to hassle him about little shit but will have his back when it really counts.
It's kinda like how Kazuma and Darkness are such terrible people that deserve each other but Megumin and Kazuma look just so comfy together. (ref: Konosuba, a much much better Isekai than even the source material for this fic)