Chapter 13: A Battle of Words and Wills

Rhinese watched Crimson closely, he was trying so very hard to hide his emotions, but the little tells he had were constantly making it clear what he was thinking. It was actually a relief to her to see that he didn't have enough guile to hide his thoughts - having someone like that around was nice.

Inspecting, she could tell that he was more than a bit shocked; he seemed to be trying to figure out a response. From what she could already tell of him, he knew what he wanted to say, but doing so while maintaining formality seemed to be what was holding him back.

After a long moment, he spoke with a hard expression, "Your Highness, I believe there are far more capable individuals out there than I, I also lack the knowledge needed to do such a thing, so I am unable to fulfill your request."

Rhinese could see he was about to continue and outright refuse, but Damus spoke before he could, "That is right Your Highness, if you would like your mana awoken I would be all too happy to assist you in the process or, if you'd rather, I can request the Temple's [High Priestess] to do so, she would be most happy and willing to help you in this matter. We would be all to happy to assist. A-"

Damus was cut off before he could continue by the hand that Rhinese held up. She wasn't interested in having this old imp touch her mana, and he was far inferior in appearance, motive, and character to Crimson. It had also become apparent that Damus hadn't done anything to teach him, they didn't have any form of Master-Student relationship.

Rhinese coldly decided to crush any opposition he might have by having them both answer a question - considering the pride of this slime he wouldn’t be able to take the loss well, it would be a good chance to alienate him.

"Very well [Priest] Damus, if you believe you have the best qualification for this matter, then we shall put that confidence to the test."

The [Priest] gave an almost imperceptible flinch, challenging someone on their boasting was both an insult and a challenge. If Damus failed then he had just made a fool of himself, if he succeeded then he would just reinforce his previous statement. Either way, it would be a plus for her, he'd feel far more reluctant to push her toward a [Priestess] [Class]. He was far too arrogant to allow someone who directly challenged him remain near him without a good reason, this minor slight would become something to haunt him, and give Rhinese a slightly greater measure of freedom in the future. Something she’d never been in a good position for in the past. Crimson’s relationship with him would be an unfortunate casualty if everything went according to plan, but she would do everything she could to pay him back for it.

Carefully keeping her face neutral, pretending as if she didn't know what she had done, she spoke, "The test is simple, I will ask you both a question, but while you answer we shall have Crimson step out of the room so that he can't hear your answer. You may listen to his answer so that you may see what I see. Is this acceptable?"

Damus clenched his jaw slightly, almost imperceptibly to anyone who wasn't looking for it, then responded, "If you believe that this will best help...then I shall submit to your test...Your Highness."

Rhinese felt a little smug at his response, he had slighted her by waiting so long to add the "Your Highness," something he would never do unless he felt truly insulted. Truly a politician.

Smiling at her new hope she said, "Please step right outside the door Crimson, we will have Sariya retrieve you in a moment."

He bowed to her, then stepped out, his steps were a little quiet for how the room amplified sound, but Rhinese dismissed the detail.

Once the door closed she turned to Damus, "What is magic, and where does it come from?"

He frowned, "This is common knowledge, Your Highness."

She gave him a tight lipped smile, "Please answer regardless, I want you to pay close attention to how your answer and his differ."

He rubbed his hands together for a moment, then slowly spoke, "Magic, is a gift from the Gods given to us to face against the threat of monsters. It allows us to manipulate the forces of nature and carry out the Gods' will within in their domain. Magic users devote their whole lives to comprehending its secrets, but there is still much that remains beyond the sight of mortals.”

Behind her, Richard grunted in approval at the answer and she could see Sariya nod in agreement.

Rhinese allowed the room to remain silent for a total of five minutes while the discomforting pressure in the room built, then nodded, "Yes, a perfect answer. Now let us hear what your...pupil has to say." she looked behind her, "Sariya, please call for Crimson."

She bowed deeply, "Yes, Your Highness."

Opening the door revealed Crimson on the other side leaning against a wall with his eyes closed and his arms folded. His eyes opened and he looked over at them with his silver eyes scattering the light a little.

Rhinese beckoned him into the room and he once more returned to his seat after she pointed to it.

"Now, I shall ask you the same question that I asked [Priest] Damus." Rhinese thought furiously as she spoke out the pre-planned phrase, how could she lure him into saying what he knew? Someone who was able to learn so much magic with out a [Blessing] certainly had a far greater understanding of it than "common knowledge," she'd need to lure that out of him. She'd already laid the foundation for the first part of her bait, but she needed something else she could add.

"Please, speak freely, [Priest] Damus was able to give me quite an in-depth answer, it took quite a while to answer fully, so do your best to respond fully if you want to make your master proud."

Rhinese could see his mind moving furiously as he thought, trying to figure out what was going on, which was a good thing because he didn't notice the dubious looks she was receiving from the other people in the room in response to her lie. She'd need to apologize afterward, but she needed Damus out of here before she has a real conversation with Crimson, making him mad would make him leave, and there was a good chance he’d abandon Crimson here, she’d apologize to him then - she wanted to keep him as a friend after all.

"My first question is this, what is magic?"

He frowned at her for a moment, then responded, "I believe that is a matter of common knowledge, magic is the ability to use and manipulate mana to influence the natural world. Pure mana is unable to affect anything but itself, so it requires one of the affinities to be tied into the structure before it can interact with the physical world. The mana needs to be formed into a proper shape then the element needs to be placed inside, once it's inside the spell is complete and casted. So magic is simply the ability for humans to move beyond the limitations of their flesh."

Rhinese nodded while carefully hiding her excitement as she processed the new information, "Yes, keep going. [Priest] Damus was able to tell me that much and far more, what else?"

Rhinese felt a little bad about what she was doing. While he certainly was perceptive, he didn't have enough practice seeing through lies to tell what she was doing, it was a testament to his suspicion that he seemed to be sticking to what he thought was "common" knowledge, despite the fact that what he said certainly wasn't common, but a matter of scholars - if even they knew all that. The fact that he was also giving a “real” answer and not regurgitated nonsense won her approval, and the contents of his answer lined up perfectly with a lot of rules of magic - even if Rhinese wasn’t aware that magic had something like a “structure.”

Rhinese watched as the suspicion in him won out and he responded, "I am quite sorry, but a high ranking [Priest]'s wisdom far surpasses mine, Your Highness."

Well well, Crimson was far better at deception than she had given him credit for. He was trying to misdirect her by convincing her that the [Priest] knew more, but that wasn't actually what he said. After all, it's true, a [Priest]'s [Wisdom] would be a lot higher than his, the [Class] gave stats to [WIS] which meant that someone like Damus who was over Lv. 50 would have a [WIS] far, far above his -who lacked even a [Blessing]- but it wasn't directly answering the question she asked.

No matter, she wouldn't push the issue and move on to the next question - if she tried to force it out of him he'd just feel that his suspicions were confirmed. She also had a idea to bait out a real answer this time, it just relied on an assumption, but at this point he'd already proven himself to know more than Damus which meant he won, but she was actually interested in the answer to her second question, so she'd ask anyway.

She also happily noted the veins on the [Priest]'s forehead showed the depths of his anger. Having a child demonstrate a greater knowledge than him would be a difficult thing to swallow - he'd probably need to chew for a while to get it down.

"Very well, for my second question: Where does Magic come from?"

She could see that, unlike Damus, this question caught him off guard. He started to respond slowly, "What...do you mean when you ask that question?"

Rhinese raised an eyebrow, "I am leaving the question vague on purpose, do your best to answer it according to your understanding."

He cocked his head and was so wrapped up in his thoughts that she could figuratively see him forgetting to hide his thoughts and emotions: which ran freely across his face, most particularly in his eyes, which just seemed like open windows into his racing mind.

"Well," he responded slowly, "magic comes from within us. Mana is already housed in our bodies even before receiving a [Blessing], so at least the essence of it doesn't come from the [Blessing]. If I had to guess, one of three events happened in the past."

Rhinese's assumption had been correct, she noted happily, he was the same type as her. There are two types of people who love reading: those who share and those who keep. The second group keep what they've read to themselves, the first group has to share what they've learned for one reason or another.

As a member of the first group, Rhinese just had to share the things she learned, she just wanted so badly for someone else to know what she knew and wanted to talk to them about it. Kaine had pretty much been the only one strong enough to listen to her ramble on and on. To explain her behavior: she was just trying to help him see how amazing what she'd learned was, but with him being busy preparing for his role as Regent Prince, Sariya had been her victim as of late, but the fox-kin had developed a habit of falling asleep in the middle of her excited storytelling.

Fortunately for her, it appeared that Crimson also fell into the first group with her, it would be great to actually have someone to talk to about things, not as a lecture, but as a discussion. Well, that assumption was counting her share before she beat the boss, but she could still hope for the future.

Crimson continued, "The first two possible events I think stared everything magic related are pretty similar, but it becomes a matter of the order of events. The first one is that humans knew magic before the gods started giving their [Blessing] to us, which allowed us to become stronger and stronger, surpassing our limits.

"The second one, and the one I think is more likely between the first two, is that we always possessed mana, but we couldn't use it until we received the [Blessing] from our gods, once we had that [Blessing] we realized it was possible to use magic without it so we pushed for that."

Rhinese found herself drawn in, "Why do you think the second one is more likely?"

"Well, our method of casting magic without a [Blessing] is really sloppy, it's all built on using imagery and emotions to cast the spells which are inconsistent at best - practically crippling at worse.

"This stands as a contrast for what I've heard and read it's like with the system provided by the [Blessing], which is a simple input-output system. You pay your mana, you cast the spell. It's very precise and usable which just highlights the useless nature of magic without a [Blessing]."

Crimson distractedly ran his hand through his black hair and mused, "I've even been told that spells can appear as a [Skill] in the [Blessing] which just seems to indicate to me that spells are fake versions of [Skills]. As an example” I know [Magic Light] as a [Spell], but it also exists as a [Skill].“

Rhinese leaned forward and excitedly interrupted, "That doesn't make sense, to me it just seems like there are just spells special enough to appear as [Skills]."

Crimson nodded, “Yes, I was about to explain that, but there are a few other pieces of information that make me think that a [Spell] is a fake [Skill]. A spell has a dead end once you finish the last chapter of the book, but if you receive the spell as a [Skill] it can continue to grow. Not only that, but the really damming piece of evidence comes from a question I asked a lot of the [Priests] and [Priestesses] at the Temple: How did you get your [Class]?"

Rhinese cocked her head while hiding the fascination that wanted to appear on her face, "Why would you ask that?"

He waved a hand to dismiss her question, "Simple curiosity, I'd heard that there were a few different ways to complete the requirements for the same [Class], and the Temple seemed like the best way to test that since the vast majority of its members have the same [Class].

"Anyway, what I learned was that a lot of its members gained the [Class] because the Temple gave them a copy of [Treatment: Holy] after they got their [Blessing], but there was one [Priestess] who took the [Class] simply because it showed up in her options due to her high affinity with [Holy]. When I heard that I asked her a question: how did you learn healing spells if you didn't start with one?

"She told me that when she first got to choose her [Class Skills], [Lesser Healing] was an option, so she took it. I found that so interesting I went and asked the others who I'd previously asked if they'd been given the option to learn [Lesser Healing] when they were choosing their [Class] [Skills]. Everyone answered "yes," but the vast majority didn't take it because the Temple already has copies of the spell to give to its [Priests], so they didn't want to waste a [Class Skill] slot by taking it.

"The interesting thing about that was that every one of the -admittedly few- [Priests] who took [Lesser Healing] were considered more talented in the art of healing, and they didn't have to deal with the constant deterioration caused by learning a spell with a spell book. Even with the [Blessing], keeping the imagery provided by a spell book straight is difficult at best, which means you need to go back and re-study the spell frequently to make sure you can still cast it at an appropriate level.”

“I made a fascinating realization as I considered this point, and this realization came from the question: If the [Blessing] makes magic far more simple, why do you need to keep studying the [Spell] even after gaining the [Blessing’s] support? I only have a few guesses, but they are certainly worth testing when I get my own [Blessing]. One idea is that the Gods designed them that way to push people toward [Skills]…but I digress.”

Rhinese felt deeply troubled as she stared at him, if what he said was true than it would deeply affect not just her, but everyone. Glancing behind her, she could see the intense focus both of her friends were giving him, despite the fact that neither of them were usually interested in lectures like this. Even Damus was no longer angry, but had pulled out a pad of paper and was taking meticulous notes with a fervor she'd never seen from the man before.

It was only fortunate that Crimson didn't notice that, he might realize that he was saying stuff he didn't want to say.

Rhinese kept her focus closely on him as he continued, "All these factors plus the fact that only fairly basic level spell books can be seen under normal circumstances leads me to a conclusion: magic as we know it came from another source. Continuing off the second series of events I proposed, what if we all had mana to cast spells, but couldn't use it until we got the Gods gave the first [Blessing]? Those individuals who gained the ability to move their mana were suddenly able to take magic [Classes], and gained [Skills] to cast spells, but the unfortunate fact of the matter was that most wouldn't be able to get a specific magic [Class] -let's take [Pyromancer] as an example- since they wouldn't have a high enough affinity for [Fire]. Well, that would limit quite abruptly the amount of people that could use truly powerful fire magic, so it's possible that the gods created [Spell Books] as a way for people with lower affinities to still gain that same strength, but they were only meant to be used as a starting point to allow these people to gain the real [Skills], not meant to be used as a replacement like I saw at the temple.

"From there, it's possible that someone discovered that even those without a [Blessing] could learn the spells in these [Spell Books] which resulted in our current status. All this does raise some interesting questions about the nature of true [Spell Books] versus a lot of the spell books you see today, along with questions about the limitations of [Spell Books], but it doesn't really have anything to do with your question."

His eyes which had become unfocused due to deep thought suddenly cut into hers and she jolted a little at the force of will behind them.

"Does this answer your question Your Highness?"

Rhinese took a second to gather her thoughts then responded, "Yes, it does. [Priest] Damus, do you still feel that Adventurer Crimson is unsuited to be the one to awaken my mana?”

——

Crimson froze, he had gotten so caught up in her question that he forgot to hold back. All the assumptions he'd made, the dots he'd connected, what he'd learned - it was all out in the open without much thought of the consequences.

Well, it all depended on what he wanted, but even he wasn't sure of that. He was keeping his capabilities hidden mostly because it was his first reaction, not really because he'd weighed both sides. Mainly, what he wanted at the moment was to get away from the Princess who held his fate in his hands. By that measure he had certainly failed.

However, from the other side it was probably better to see what the Princess wanted, if she hadn't outed him there had to be a reason, a reason he needed to find out so that he could maintain the status quo and be left to his training.

Crimson quickly placed his priorities in order: 1: Training, 2: Personal Freedom, 3: Avoiding annoying things that interfered with the first two, 4: Make money so he could get a semi-decent weapon, 5: Find Party Members.

That fifth one would be bumped up the priority list as he got closer to his birthday.

Well, by his priority list his interaction with Rhinese would only benefit point 4, he could charge an insane amount to awaken her mana and that could possibly get her to back off or pay up - if she didn't decide to blackmail him - but, unfortunately, his time with her infringed on the first three points. He was at a complete loss here - completely in the red.

Crimson glanced to the side to see Damus looking at him with piercing eyes, his truth reading [Skill] was in high gear and had been from the second they'd entered the room. Considering how much the man used it, maybe it had a second effect?

He set the thought aside to think about later as Damus finally broke the eye contact and responded to Princess Rhinese's question, though he appeared to have a hard time choking out his response.

"I do not feel he is unqualified as a scholar, but I have a hard time saying he is qualified by blood or station to awaken the mana of such an important person as yourself. He has only demonstrated an above average knowledge of magic, not that he is worthy to awaken the mana of Your Highness."

Crimson could read Princess Rhinese's expression very easily this time, it could be summarized in a single word: checkmate.

"So you acknowledge his knowledge, but did you also forget his display of his magic? That was a [Magic Light] that used the [Metal] attribute and had been modified in three different ways, do you think any of your apprentices under Lv. 20 or even Lv. 30 could achieve the same thing?"

Damus blustered a little, "Possibly one or two could…but it doesn’t change his station-“

Princess Rhinese cut in, ”Yes, but none of them could do it under Lv. 10. Crimson has displayed a remarkable amount of talent surpassing that of even the most notable of geniuses without even possessing a [Blessing], to undervalue his achievements based solely on his social status spits directly in the face of the equality taught by the Gods and their [Priests]. If anything, I'm abusing my position to gain access to such a fabled talent."

Damus was silenced, unable to respond to the comment. Even Crimson -with his lack of political acumen- could see what she just did there. IF Damus continued to argue he would essentially be denying his faith, something that would ruin him just as much as if Crimson shared the existence of his [Hypnosis] [Skill].

"I...will rescind my previous arguments Your Highness, if you have chosen this boy to awaken your mana, then I have nothing to say to it."

Damus stood brusquely, "Unfortunately, I am currently short on time, so I will leave the boy in your care. Begging your pardon Your Highness, but we shall meet again next week.”

Maintaining a serious expression that -to Crimson’s eyes- mocked Damus, Rhinese spoke, “Richard, please escort [Priest] Damus out.”

The man in question shared a meaningful look with Sariya before rushing after the [Priest] who turned and walked out without being excused. After he had left the room, the Princess broke the icy atmosphere by laughing, not the giggles of earlier, but an actual happy laugh.

Even Crimson was amused to see how much the man had broken down in front of Princess Rhinese, even if he felt more than a little troubled by the fact that he'd been left almost entirely to her mercy.

He turned his attention to her and shifted his position on the padded chair that no longer felt comfortable.

After her laughter had slowly faded she turned to him with a genuine smile.

"I have to thank you for that, I really do hate that man, he isn't very good at hiding his lust or the fact that he's conniving - having the opportunity to strike at him with relative impunity was an amazing experience, I do apologize for any inconvenience it might have cause you.

"I would also like to apologize for lying to you, but I think you would have hid a lot more if I hadn't, and I couldn't have that."

Crimson inspected her closely, then flicked his eyes to the maid behind her before returning them to her.

After a moment of quiet, Crimson spoke, since he was no good at games, he'd be blunt, "What are you doing?"

She tilted her head, "What do you mean?"

Crimson didn't hide the frustration he was feeling, "What you're doing doesn't make sense, you found me in the castle two weeks ago in a library that was locked from the outside. I attacked your maid and ran, I'm clearly a danger! But you haven't done anything. I don't think someone with your clout would have a difficult time finding me, so why haven't you done anything?"

Rhinese folded her hands in her lap, then responded with a sad expression, "Before I answer that, I want to ask you a question. What were you doing in the Astral Library?"

"Reading."

"Why?"

He just gave her a pointed look.

She chuckled weakly, "You have a point, why does anyone read? To gain knowledge. Alright, I'll change my question: what were you going to do with all that knowledge?"

"I want to grow strong, beyond what is possible."

"Did you or do you have any ill intentions against myself or the other members of the royal family?"

"No."

Rhinese nodded, "In answer to your question, I want a friend, someone I can talk to without dealing with formalities or political interest. When I saw you, I saw someone who was like me, who loved reading and I thought that it might be fun to talk to you about books, but then you proved yourself to not just be a book lover like myself, but to be a powerful individual.

"I did a bit investigating into you, did you know that? No, you didn't, that's the "clout" you were referring to, but what I found was absolutely fascinating: in our age bracket there is no one who can rival you.

"You've practiced with a sword beyond a normal degree, you've demonstrated a skill with magic that surpasses reason, and you've shown yourself to be dedicated and a hard worker. All these things together mean that you stand head and shoulders above anyone else our age. That gap will only continue to grow once you've gained your [Blessing]."

"Get to the point."

"My point is that you are a very desirable as an ally, both on a personal and professional level for me. So, I ask knowing nothing in this world is free, what would it take for me to buy your friendship?"

Crimson looked at her coldly, his intent to show her how serious he was as he made eye contact, "I don't sell friendship, I can't pretend to be something I'm not."

Rhinese set her jaw and firmly stared right back into his eyes without flinching, "Then sell me some of your time, I don't need much. I just want someone to talk to, once a week at the very least. I'll keep my mouth shut and allow you free access to the Astral Library and will even allow you to borrow books from it. If you want Royals you can have them, if you want special weapons or magical artifacts you can have them, all I want is a friend, and a teacher. My father won’t know, Richard won’t know, nobody but Sariya.”

Crimson narrowed his eyes, ”I take it the second thing is what you actually want?"

"Yes and no, I certainly want you to be my teacher since what I told Damus about you is completely true - something I believe with all my heart, but my intent from the first step was to try and become friends with you."

She took a deep breath, "If you won't sell me your friendship, then sell me the time I need to you to show that I'm serious." she lowered her head to him, "Please."

Crimson sat back quietly and slowly traced the ribbons in her hair with his eyes while he thought. He...couldn't say no. Yes, all the rewards she was offering were nice, but he didn't plan on accepting any of them but the one in regards to the Astral Library.

The real reason he couldn't say no, was because he could see himself in her. While her body was whole -unlike his had been- she was just as trapped as he had been, maybe even more so. He at least could do and say what he wanted with the only limitation being his body, she was limited physically to this castle, verbally by courtesy and formalities, socially by her status, and even in desires by responsibility. She was trapped and just wanted a bit of freedom...he couldn't say no to that, but she'd have to earn friendship, he would start small.

"If you think I am good enough, I am willing to be your teacher, being your "friend" is something we'll discuss later, but I'll remind you that I don't know if I have the requirements to fulfill your request."

She gave him such a brilliant smile it made him immediately regret his decision, beautiful women are always trouble.

"I have the utmost confidence in you! Now, about the matter of awakening my mana, do you think we could start now?"

He shrugged, "Sure, do you mind if I touch your shoulder?"

"Huh?" she turned as red as his name. "Ah, um...yes, please go ahead."

While Crimson didn't know the normal process of awakening someone's mana, he had a method he thought would work for him, if he failed he could just tell the truth and explain that he only had an idea of how to do it, but if she wanted him to do it then he'd need an explanation.

Crimson stood and approached Princess Rhinese as she also stood and looked very nervous. He couldn't fathom why she would be, he was just doing what she'd requested, she knew what it entailed, right? As he arrived next to her Sariya arrived next to him and started to breathe down his neck with murderous eyes as he carefully placed his hand on top of Rhinese's shoulder.

Because of where the mana pool was in a person's body the best place to touch closest to it would be the chest, but since Rhinese was a woman that was a definite no - even for a guy he'd still say no. The second best place would be the back, but the thought made Crimson extremely uncomfortable, so he chose the shoulder, the most benign place that was close enough for what he wanted to do.

With his hand there he closed his eyes and focused on his mana, his idea was essentially to use his mana to stimulate hers and move it, which would fulfill the basic requirement needed to cast magic.

He gently slid his mana into her body and was surprised at the extreme amount of resistance he felt for a moment, then it suddenly became easier as the mana entered some kind of pathway. His eyebrows shot up as he realized that he had the exact same "mana veins" as her, he just hadn't really thought about it before - hadn't taken notice.

Setting aside the thought for further inspection later, he gently slid his mana until it touched the edge of hers, a simple brush along the edge was enough to make the mana spill out of the pool. Getting an idea, he grabbed the mana with his and entwined them like the ribbons in Rhinese's hair, and gently guided it down her right arm to the tips of her fingers. He slid the tips of his fingers down the path it took as it reached her palm, and he placed her hand under his.

With a gentle pressure, he pushed the mana outside her body, and used his mana to entwine it into the shape of [Magic Light], not sure which affinity she would be most adaptive to, and [Elemental Affinities] being easier to use than [Dynamic Affinities], he chose one that seemed to fit: [Wind]. There was a bit of resistance, but after a moment a pale green [Magic Light] appeared above her palm and she gasped in shock.

Opening his eyes, Crimson saw the pale face of Rhinese, there was sweat beading up on her forehead, and she was trembling.

Nervous that he might have done something wrong, Crimson took his hand away from hers and took a few steps back. She continued to maintain the [Magic Light] and stared at it in fascination.

After a moment, she flexed her fingers and made it disappear, then she stared at her hands in intense concentration for a moment, before expelling a breath.

She then looked at him, "Could you help me create a [Holy] one? I don't think I have any affinity for [Wind]."

He extended his hand once more, and she placed hers on top of it. He reached out with his mana once more and found that she had some mana sitting in her veins, slowly leaking out from her failed attempt.

Grabbing it with his mana, he gently slid it back above her palm and formed the requested [Magic Light] for her. It was surprisingly quite a bit easier than the first one he'd made with [Wind] - her [Affinity] for [Holy] was high enough to override the increased difficulty of the [Dynamic] nature of the [Affinity].

After the [Holy] [Magic Light] appeared the most beautiful woman he'd ever met, a high ranking Princess of unrivaled grace and elegance started crying with a bright smile on her face as she cupped the little [Magic Light] in both of her hands.

Crimson scratched the back of his head, there were two things he definitely couldn't handle: beautiful women, and crying women. The combination was killing him.