There was something off about Reinhardt the more Clive watched the mage train. He had always seen the mage use his tome on the inanimate humans since no one could take his magic one on one but today was different. He was punching them of all things, which was odd despite Reinhardt often proclaiming that "magic is everything." The mage's swings were somewhat messy and rage filled, like he hadn't done this sort of thing and this was a first attempt. The blond desperately wanted to ask, but he didn't want a body full of thunder and being sent to the med unit, but something had to be done. If Reinhardt thought it would be a good idea to take up hand to hand combat, he'd be in a world full of trouble and possibly even killed.

"Reinhardt, would it be ok for me to ask you something?" The blond asked.

"Yeah, go ahead." The mage turned around, leading to another discovery. The mage's face and eyes were as red as the blond's strategist's hair.

"Why are you practicing hand to hand on a bunch of dummies?"

"Why not?" Something told Clive that something was off. Probably the fact that the mage looked like had been crying.

"Oh. Is there something troubling you?"

"No... Maybe. Could I get changed into something a little less sweaty and we talk in the gardens?"

"Alright."

Reinhardt had kept his word and about 10 minutes later was in the gardens with Clive. It was relatively quiet and the dusk light was calming.

"Shade just puts so much faith into me and I don't feel like I'm good enough..." The mage sighed

"Why is that?"

"Things back home... I nearly got killed by my lady's abusive boyfriend, this jealous assoholic prick who believes he's my rival used my sister as a hostage, called her a damn traitor, sent his own men on a suicide mission and abandoned his men, got me out of my position, later getting me killed by Leif's army and it lead me into making so many bad choices in a row... My question is how such a gutter rat like him got into such a high position... And how Shade keeps encouraging me and telling me that I'm a legend and a hero..."

"The guy you mentioned, he reminds me a lot of this guy named Fernand..." Clive said

"I know who your talking about. Berkut mentions him a lot."

"Though I might not know the circumstances of how this happened, I truly am sorry for you."

"Same here, though I did kind of get revenge."

"How?"

"I spread a rumor that he gave a blowjob to my lady's mom. Everyone believed me since I was such a high ranking officer. The looks on their faces was priceless."

"That shouldn't get a positive reaction out of me but good job."

"If you'll excuse me, I've got to break the truth to Lukas about how I truly feel." The mage quickly left after that.

"He already knows Rein... He already knows..."