[ At some point later, Matt would notice that an awful lot of the people here came from a place called Fodlan. For now, he hadn't met enough of them to piece it together, so he just listened curiously to Byleth outline the limitations of magic where he came from. ]

That's so interesting, [ Matt said. People almost never uttered that phrase without some level of disingenuousness, but Matt's expression had the kind of furrowed look that conveyed deep and sincere thought. ] Is it because there's just been more focus on war, so there isn't the same knowledge base for other things, or is there something about the way magical forces flow?

[ The question seemed half rhetorical--at least, Matt didn't necessarily expect Byleth to know the answer. Because he added, brighter: ] For the record, I find your mercenary skills incredibly impressive. I wouldn't know where to start where combat's concerned.

Maybe there's some rhyme or reason to why we're the ones who got brought here ... we were all meant to balance each other out.