It was a rather beautiful day today. Sun was shining, birds were singing, grass was growing, flowers were blooming, not a cloud in the sky.

And yet… as I looked ahead, I couldn't help but feel like I was going to have a bad time.

For you see, I had just so happened to come across a squad of - you guessed it - Daein soldiers.

God, sometimes I really hated Murphy's Law.

From what I could see from behind my cover, said cover being a random thicket seemingly placed haphazardly in the middle of an open field, there weren't really that many. I only spied around 10, which was pretty small compared to the number of soldiers who faced off against Ike and company during their visit to Melior. However, it was still at least ten times my fighting strength, so I determined that staying hidden took priority.

Unfortunately, I had another problem.

The squad didn't seem like it had intentions to move any time soon. They were also constantly on watch for possible assaults.

And considering the large bush I was using as a hiding spot was the only obscuring piece of terrain for at least fifty meters…

Well, suffice to say that I wouldn't be getting out of there without them spotting me.

I thought of waiting until nightfall, but Anna shot that down with the increasingly-common excuse of 'you gotta keep moving full speed ahead, or you won't catch your goal in time.' I had to admit, I was starting to get a little bit tired of that. I may have possessed limitless stamina and no need for basic necessities like food or sleep, but hiking in a single direction while having nothing to do but talk to your Navi-expy for days on end tends to start driving you up the wall after the first week or so.

For some reason I felt as if I could liken it to a sort of reverse cabin fever.

Bringing up the main menu revealed that the Conditions option had reappeared, signifying that I had been forced into another chapter in my story. "Immigrant's Song" was its name. As you may have expected, I immediately drew parallels to the Led Zeppelin track of the same name. While I wasn't Norwegian in any sense of the word, as I considered myself a Yankee through and through, my situation was strikingly similar to the story the song told.

The victory conditions, surprisingly enough, were 'Survive for 5 turns'. I had never considered that one of the official titles would have a defense-type chapter so early in the game, but I had a few theories on why.

The one that stuck out to me the most was that plot-wise, I wasn't supposed to win this fight. Sure, I could give the soldiers - and maybe the boss if I got lucky - a thrashing they'd never forget, but once those 5 turns were over, they'd get right back up and overpower me. There were 10 of them, and only 1 of me, so it definitely wasn't far-fetched in the least.

I found myself wondering exactly how long a turn lasted, and like any smart person would do, asked Anna about it.

-{Anna}-

How much time a turn takes varies from chapter to chapter.

For some, it can be as short as a single minute, or even less in certain circumstances, while in others, they can drag on and on for hours.

A general rule of thumb is that turn time depends on how many units both armies have on the field, and how large the battleground is.

If both are large, turns are slow.

If they're small, turns are fast.

I supposed it made sense. Enemy phases in Maniac Mode during the later chapters (particularly 'Clash!') could last upwards of 10 minutes, though that was mainly due to all the swole cannon fodder thrown at you and the fact that map animations couldn't be skipped and were kinda slow.

Returning my attention to my opponents, I looked a little closer. Bringing up their info pages, I ended up counting 4 soldiers, 2 fighters, 2 myrmidons, 1 archer, and the boss, who was also a soldier. Weapon triangle was definitely not in my favor here, and that archer was going to be a real pain to deal with, if I even got that far. Even worse, not one of the soldiers had Bronze weapons - every one of them was packing Iron-level gear. If all four of the soldiers attacked me at once, I was pretty much guaranteed to die. That also went for the fighters, too - while I did have an advantage over them due to my weapon choice, their superior strength still meant that they would kill me just as quickly. The only ones I really had a chance against were the myrmidons, who had around half the damage output of the other two classes.

One bright side to this whole debacle was that one of the myrmidons would drop his Iron Sword for me to take if I managed to beat him. Another was that because of weapon weight penalties, every single enemy would be susceptible to double-attacks, which somewhat fixed my damage output problems. Running my calculations, I determined that I could kill everyone here besides the boss in 3 hits. The hard part was doing that while making sure to let no more than two enemies attack me at any one time, and keeping myself properly healed. While I did have 50 recoverable HP left, that wouldn't matter one bit if I didn't get the chance to use it.

With my half-plan worked out and my gear triple-checked, I stood up and started walking away from the soldiers. Them being Daein, I wasn't surprised in the least when I heard one of them call out to me not 10 seconds later. Even less shocking was that he was the boss - Lantz, if his info page was correct.

"Hey! You there! Where do you think you're going?"

I knew that every action I could possibly think of taking at that moment would lead to men being sent after me, so I decided to shoot the breeze with the guy as long as I could.

"Oh, nowhere in particular. Only away from you. No offense, really, but the black armor and the vibe you give off practically screams 'trouble', and you see, I'm not exactly fond of trouble. So if you would kindly let me be on my way…"

I didn't much care for pointless questions, but I bore with them for the sake of keeping up the act. For whatever reason, my conversation partner thought that was funny.

"Hah ha! Hey, everyone, look! This one thinks he can just walk away from Daein's might, no questions asked! What say we let our duelist show him how wrong he is?"

At his words, one of the myrmidons stepped forward. Coincidentally, or maybe intentionally on the game's part, he was the one who would leave me his sword if he met his end early. He stopped about four meters away from my position.

Before the inevitable battle broke out, I gave some closing thoughts.

"See? Trouble. But, well, if it's a fight you want, then I suppose it's only right that I oblige you. Come on, then!"

Thus, I drew my sword, letting my artificial instincts guide me into a proper battle stance.

Being the defensive person I am, I let my enemy have the first move.

His first diagonal downward slash was dodged, and he got a wound on his shoulder in return. His attempted sweep attack also missed its mark, leading to him gaining a cut on his front.

+9 EXP

His third strike, however, was the one that hit its mark on my left arm. In retaliation, he received a stab through the chest.

+29 EXP

Grabbing my dying opponent's sword hand with my left, I wrenched the sword away from his slackening fingers and then kicked him off mine. He fell to the ground in a heap of cold flesh. With the threat gone for now, I took his sheath and strapped it to my own back, replacing my new Iron Sword inside.

If Lantz felt anything whatsoever, he didn't show it, callously disregarding the fact that one of his compatriots was just murdered.

"Well, well! Seems we've a fighter in our midst! But I wonder… can you take more than that? I should hope so!"

This time, a soldier and a fighter took center stage. Since the damage I had taken earlier didn't leave me in danger of being killed if two of their attacks hit, I refrained from healing and resumed my earlier posture.

As expected of his class, the fighter charged forward first, yelling out a battle cry.

The crushing two-handed blow he intended to deliver could be seen from miles away, and was avoided with only the slightest amount of effort, leaving him open for two slashes on his side.

+9 EXP

But while I was preoccupied, the soldier took the opportunity and grazed me with his Iron Lance, his poor accuracy and the weapon's heft making themselves known. Taking advantage of the joint pads my outfit had, I elbowed the lancer in the center of his helmet, forcing him to stagger backward and leaving him practically defenseless. I capitalized on his helplessness and left him with two bleeding gashes on the areas his armor didn't cover.

+9 EXP

Satisfied with the damage dealt, I returned my attention to the fighter, and attempted to dodge out of the way of a diagonal chop. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough, and the bladed weapon left a jagged line of red on my torso. Recovering as best I could, I surprised my enemy by shoulder-charging him, then swinging my sword and opening up a crimson trench stretching from his shoulder to his hip. Losing strength, he stumbled backward and fell to the floor.

+29 EXP

LEVEL UP!

Number rolled: 51

+4 stat points

That's… better than the last one, but still not very good. What to ping…

Well, right now my biggest concern is survivability.

Level: 4^ +1

HP: 21^ +1

STR: 8^ +1

MAG: 5

SKL: 6

SPD: 8^ +1

LCK: 6

DEF: 7^ +1

RES: 3

Okay, so… that should let me survive four hits without dying, if I heal back to full.

When time kicked back into gear, I whipped my head around to check for the soldier, and discovered he was trying a last-ditch charge. Quickly stepping to the side, my non-dominant hand shot out and grabbed the shaft of his lance in an attempt to stop his forward momentum. While the maneuver wasn't perfect, it worked well enough to grant me the chance to slit his throat.

+29 EXP

As soon as the experience notification confirmed the kill, I took out my two-use Vulnerary and chugged as fast as I could. My brain also registered Lantz talking while I was doing so.

"Very impressive! If I didn't know better, I'd say you were a professional soldier! In fact… how about both of us go head-to-head? We've only a short time left until the rest of the men arrive, so I might as well squeeze every drop of enjoyment possible from these last moments of freedom!"

His words confirmed my theory - with more soldiers on the way and only one Vulnerary left, there was no possible way I could win without breaking the story.

Though I knew that the game wouldn't end this early, I continued to play ignorant. Throwing the empty container to the ground, I responded.

"All right, sure. If what you say is true, then I'm not long for this world anyway. Might as well go out in a spectacular duel to the death."

Lantz laughed again. I was starting to get the feeling he did that a lot.

"Ha! I wouldn't be giving up the ghost just yet. Tell you what - if you manage to beat me, I'll tell the reinforcements to spare your life. Of course, I'd think they'll end up imprisoning you, but hey, it's better than dying, right?"

There it is. That's my way out.

"True. Shall we, then?"

I accentuated the challenge by sheathing my Bronze Sword and pulling out my shiny new Iron Sword.

A notification popped up in response to this new development.

VICTORY CONDITIONS HAVE CHANGED

Defeat Lantz

It disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

With nothing more to be said, we slowly advanced towards each other.

I had already run the numbers, and determined the following - assuming that we landed all our attacks, both of us would kill the other in around 3 rounds of combat. While his strength was a fair bit higher than the average soldier, it still wasn't enough to completely negate the weapon weight penalty of the Iron Lance, and his speed was therefore cut low enough to allow me to double-attack him. That same strength, however, combined with the weapon triangle advantage he had over me, would prove lethal if I got careless enough. His somewhat high defense would also let him take a bit more punishment than the average soldier before falling.

My analysis complete, I gave the soon-to-be engagement my full attention.

My refusal to take the initiative eventually spurred Lantz to do it himself.

Surprisingly enough, his first thrust wasn't as telegraphed as I had expected it to be, and nicked me in the side when I made to avoid the stab. Cold revenge was swiftly served up in the form of two quick cuts on the parts of his arms that weren't covered by his obsidian-hued armor.

+10 EXP

Recovering impressively fast, he made to thrust again, but a quick application of metal to the shaft sent it veering off-target. This time I countered with two rapier-like stabs of my own, snaking my blade into his guard just like a certain Hero-King would.

+10 EXP

By now Lantz seemed to have figured out that thrusting again wouldn't cut it, so he tried a different approach. Namely, twisting his Iron Lance around and bashing me in the armpit with the wooden shaft.

"Geuh-!"

For all of the three-odd seconds that it lasted, the pain was near unbearable for someone like me. His higher-than-average strength made itself known and sent me staggering off to the side. With how wide open I was in that moment, I knew that Lantz would have to be a complete and utter idiot if he didn't press his advantage - and like any true survivor, he didn't waste any time, charging towards my unbalanced self while preparing what looked like a baseball swing with an oversized bat.

Miraculously enough, I managed to recover in time, and pulled off a move that should not have been possible according to the laws of earth physics.

Said move being the Echoes Myrmidon's dodge-attack - I leapt off the ground and completely cleared the spear, performed a mid-air somersault, and then brought down my blade right on top of Lantz.

While the majority of my brain's parts were screaming in hype, disbelief, and other such emotions at this seemingly-implausible feat, one dark corner registered that I must have triggered a Critical Hit. Which made sense, considering that the Iron Sword didn't have the critical restriction that the Bronze Sword carried.

Being the genre-savvy nerd I was, the lack of cutting power my sword displayed - merely blowing Lantz off his feet and not actually separating the left side of his body from his right - didn't set off any alarm bells at all. My mind had already given up trying to apply logic to my situation after I had broken one of nature's most essential laws, anyway.

The squad leader hit the ground flat on his back at the same time the experience notification appeared, cementing my victory. The force of the impact knocked the Iron Lance out of his hand, leaving it to clatter to the ground.

+60 EXP

LEVEL UP!

Number rolled: 26

+3 stat points

I'm starting to get the feeling that RNJesus doesn't like me very much. Which makes no sense considering recent events, but whatever.

Might as well go for a dump-stat level. Not doing so could end up coming back to bite me later.

Level: 5^ +1

HP: 21

STR: 8

MAG: 5

SKL: 7^ +1

SPD: 8

LCK: 7^+1

DEF: 7

RES: 4^ +1

[Sword] Weapon rank increased to D.

Huh. Was wondering when that would go up. Nice.

Once my perception of the world was back to normal, my eyes locked back on to Lantz, who slowly got up from his defeat at my hands… and started laughing. Again.

"Heh… heh hah ha… well, I'll be. You actually pulled it off. Looked pretty damn flashy while doing it, too."

I just gave a helpless shrug at the praise.

"To be honest, I have no idea how I did that. I only won because of a fluke. If we recovered and tried that again, I'd probably end up losing."

He waved that off.

"That doesn't matter now. What does matter is that you beat me - history doesn't care how or why. And even if I don't particularly like that, I still have to respect it, and I do. Congratulations, stranger, you just won your life back. A life in a prison cell, but a life nonetheless."

A thought occurred to me in that moment.

"Say… we don't know each other's names, do we? Care to fix that? We might never see each other again, but I'd at least like to know the name of the soldier I beat in a duel to save myself from the executioner's axe."

If nothing else, his reaction was positive.

"That's fine. Might as well have a little pride and dignity if you're to spend the rest of your days behind bars. I'm Lantz - captain of the Sixth Platoon of Daein's 23rd Infantry Division. And for the record, it was fun while it lasted."

By that point, I was beginning to see the reinforcements he had been talking about earlier.

"I'm Andrew. Just a wandering mercenary with a blade and a conscience. For what it's worth, I wish you luck in your future endeavors."

While I was being put through the ropes of being captured - literally - I couldn't shake off the nagging feeling that I would see him again, some time in the future. My mind, being what it was, immediately took notice of that feeling, and came to a conclusion.

Well, well… seems I've found me my own rival. Until we meet again, Lantz. I look forward to our next bout.

-{Anna}-

Wow. All that talk of stating that I shouldn't read the script, and then you just turn around and do it yourself?

I took you for a lot of things, but a hypocrite wasn't one of them.

Oh, shut up, Anna.

A/N: Here comes Andrew's Black Knight (read: bootleg Berkut) counterpart. Meet Lantz, the ruthless small-time commander with a heaping helping of ambition and the willingness to act on it, along with a weird sense of twisted honor. He'll be popping up in the story whenever it would reasonably make sense for him to be there, accompanied by a few of his subordinates. When you'll actually see him again is determined by where he's assigned - for all I know, the next time he'll make an appearance could be during the first endgame chapter. Probably not, though. We'll likely see him again pretty soon. Or we might not.

Anyway, this chapter showcases Andrew's first battle against actual soldiers. Apparently, either someone clearly trained them improperly (or just conscripted them, put a weapon in their hands and taught them how to march semi-competently), or our player character's more skilled than he believes himself to be. Which is it, I wonder? We'll find out eventually.

Gear up - the next chapter's a long one.

[TRANSMISSION ENDED]