There was no doubt about it. Allen the Skullcrusher was the best cook among the recruits.

I made sure to stay close to him so I could enjoy his cooking.

In the previous month, there had been heavy competition among us recruits over who'd get to team up with him.

I looked up into the sky, remembering the previous training we had gone through. Even though there had been a lot of inexperienced recruits we hadn't suffered any casualty. Why did we have to fail now?

I couldn't help feeling a down. That guy didn't deserve to die like that. He had lost his helmet during the fight and the force field failed to intercept the rock. It had been bad luck.

But I thought that despite all the surprise attacks and unrelenting adversities he was putting us through, the archmage would always step in to prevent the worst outcome. I was mistaken.

Vallachio had been harsh, but deep down I knew he was right. We had to learn to cover for each other, we couldn't expect an archmage to come to our aid every time we found ourselves in a pinch.

I felt like I had failed my comrade. Just like I failed my friends.

Nightmarish memories filled my mind. We took what had seemed like an easy job. But we had severely overestimated our strength. I only survived because I hid like a coward. I listened to the dying screams of my friends. My heart pounding hard, so filled with fear I couldn't even move.

I had waited for countless Respites after our attackers had left, before mustering the courage to look at the carnage.

The scene still haunted my dreams and the shame my mind.

I had been the only one of the party to remain alive. All my companions of countless adventures had been wiped out just like that.

I didn't even have the courage to help in their direst moment. Too weak and cowardly.

That's not who I wanted to be. I wanted to make it up to my dead friends. I had to.

For that reason, I decided to join the military. I heard about the demon attack and knew that it was my chance for redemption. My chance to do better.

I turned my head glancing at Allen. As usual, he was keeping to himself, keeping an impassive stone-face. He looked lonely.

Last time I had blundered opening a fresh wound. I hadn't been told that the Skullcrusher had lost some of his friends during the village attack in which Violet and Vallachio had turned the tides against the enemy.

I understood why he didn't want to talk about it. Memories can hurt.

I stood up and walked closer.

"Say, Allen..." I broke the silence.

"Yes, Ferdinand?" He said glancing at me. I chocked half mad.

"You know my damn name!" I retorted in exasperation.

I saw the edge of his mouth curling up just a little. He was doing it on purpose!

I wanted to apologize for the blunder but now I no longer felt in the mood, so I picked another topic.

"I wanted to ask, what is with those weird words you shout during battle? Is that like a war cry? A mantra or a prayer?" I asked. Allen was a foreigner with an accent I couldn't quite place.

He raised one brow and spoke. "Huh, it's a..." he seemed to freeze for a second, "...kind of all of them, I guess." He shrugged.

A war cry mantra prayer? Well, I had suspected something along those lines as I had heard him also intoning those words into melodic chants outside battle.

That had surprised me because the first time I heard him scream during a battle I thought he was just swearing incoherently.

"Oh, I thought it sounded like some kind of battle chant." I nodded glad of having had my suspicions confirmed.

Clearly, there were hidden depths to the Skullcrusher.

Allen continued. "The people in my profession are used to mutter such words while performing strenuous mental tasks. I myself wouldn't have been able to do my work without sw- chanting these litanies." He said with a faraway look.

"I see, your people must have a very spiritual culture." I ventured, sitting down next to Allen.

He seemed to freeze again for a few seconds.

"Definitely!" He said with a smile.

I moved my eyes toward his pouch. "So, what is that silver box you always fiddle with during your free time?" I had been curious about it for a long time, but I had never managed to find him in a talkative mood. Was it some kind of magical tool?

"It's a silver cube I bought to experiment with magic," he took it out and rolled it in his hands. "I can store a good amount of magic stuff in it." He said, explaining basically nothing.

"Ohh, so you have attack spells and other cool stuff?" I asked trying to broach the subject.

Allen took a deep breath.

"No, it's an experiment with spell triggers to make myself see certain things according to certain conditions." He said. That didn't sound like the whole story.

Man, getting Allen to explain things was a strenuous task!

"Doesn't sound very useful said like that. I too have learned spell triggers. The more complex is their condition the greater the consumption and magic potential they take. It's impossible to make elaborate enchantments in such small sizes." I said, showing off my knowledge.

While I wasn't an enchanter, I had still learned to appraise magical items and I knew full well about the strengths and weaknesses of these spells.

Allen smiled smugly. "Yes, I know that. But with some knowledge in Information Technology you can make more efficient systems and compress the data." He crossed his arms.

Information Technology? I had never heard those words. What did they mean?

"What?! Is that some kind of magic school? I've never heard of such terminology." I asked him with a questioning look.

Allen shook his head.

"No, it has nothing to do with magic, but apparently it can be applied to it." He shrugged without expanding further. I had still no idea what he could do with it. So I asked him.

"Whatever, what can you do with it?" I could see a glint in his eyes as he heard my question.

"Ah, pretty much anything I want it to do. Store books and visualize information for starters. I'm still quite limited, but eventually..." Allen paused and scratched his chin.

Store books? That seemed absurd.

You can't put a book inside a small silver box, that's just impossible!

"Store books? What do you mean? Like moving the books through a displacement gate? That cube wouldn't be enough to store a whole memory of a book's content." I pointed out with furrowed brows. It was just common sense.

"No. As I said... compress the data... and all that stuff." He made a dismissive gesture. As if that explained everything.

I made a face. Was he pulling my leg?

"I think you're making things up..." I expressed my doubts with narrowed eyes.

"I'm not... but it's not a simple thing to explain and I don't have much to show off. I'm just a beginner magician after all!" He turned his palms up.

I couldn't say if he was being serious as he immediately restored his *stone-face* and looked away in the distance. My chances of getting more out of him for today had come and passed.

I feel like I can trust him in combat, he fights like he knows no fears. But outside of it, he's always grumpy or unhelpful.

I sighed.

The Skullcrusher was a mysterious man.

I turnd my head to Vallachio, who was standing further ahead, gazing at the sky deep in thought.

If I only had half his strength. I thought, lowering my eyes to the ground.