Collins frowned at her question. There was an innate distaste brought on by the topic, but also a thoughtful look to him. Like the answer was one hard to convey.

He shook his head. "I don't mess with magic. But as far as I've seen, and I've seen a lot, it's an unnatural, unholy power begot from alien entities. Cultists worship these Old Ones as gods and gain these unnatural abilities from them. I've heard of tomes and items that grant unfathomable knowledge and seen rituals that summon awful beasts. There's always a price. It can be little as yer own misfortune or as heavy as tha sacrifice of life. And every caster I have ever met has suffered fer their spells ta be cast. Just recitin' tha language of these ancient entities can make a man go mad, never mind what happens once tha spell is cast or some foul beast is summoned into tha world."

He never joined a cult himself, but he certainly had worked for a cultist or two in his day. Sometimes unknowingly, other times realizing it and not caring enough to do anything about it. It was those kinds of people, after all, that had no qualms in hiring sorts like him.