Rita had a point. While Claude wasn't so sure they would let him retain enough power to heal an entire broken hand, he had mended a broken finger before. At the very least, he could speed the healing process along a little faster. Even with the institute's accelerated healing, two or three days seemed like an eternity. Waiting that long to properly use his sword again sounded a bit risky. So much could easily change within a single night as it was.

Besides, it was probably better to practice on injuries he got through fighting rather than self-inflected flesh wounds -- or worse, using someone else as a guinea pig.

If Rita had done research on healing magic, though, maybe he hadn't been wrong to approach her about his issue. She sounded like she would be the most knowledgeable out of everyone in Landel's about what he ought to do. Better yet, she was willing to continue discussing the situation with him. Maybe the fact it related to her field of study had piqued her interest.

"That's right," Claude said with a nod. "They...tattooed it onto my body." The practice was common among some groups of heraldic sorcerers, but it was still strange to admit out loud to someone he didn't know very well. The whole procedure had been horribly invasive, and Claude preferred to think of it as little as possible.

"I'm not sure about all of its properties," he quietly added, "but it's definitely a crest."