[ The immediate response is encouraging, enough so that Claude wonders if the short laugh answers his question asked indirectly there. Turns out it somewhat does, since the words said combined with the wry smile tell a story in and of themselves. Not the complete one, he's sure, but he'll start with raising an eyebrow in response. ]

A temple, huh. And here I thought the monastery was an - [ a beat - ] interesting place to be.

[ There's more questions Claude wants to ask, curiosity somehow even greater now, but. He's no stranger to pasts being a difficult topic, so on that he'll let the other lead even if it leads to nothing further past what was said. Maybe a topic for another conversation another time, if that's the case. ]

I was a soldier of sorts. And I say of sorts since I ended up leading an army when war came around in the middle of that academy year, though before that we were... well, the Church's soldiers, in a way. [ A mild grimace goes with that, though it's difficult to say if it's more from more church distaste or amusement from a baby dragon attempting to rummage around yet again in his nearby satchel as he leans over to retrieve it. ] Did you stay with the temple you were raised in?