Time passed and my students slowly filtered in. However… was it because of the atmosphere I gave off, or because of recent events? Either way, they were surprisingly quiet as they walked in.

Caspar didn't shout, Dorothea didn't flirt with me, Ferdinand didn't declare his presence… the most I got out of everyone was a simple 'good morning' or 'hello'. Even Stella, my dear sister, dutifully sat down at her desk without a sarcastic quip.

I lowered my notes and raised an eyebrow, looking at my students.

Like always, Delly… no, Edelgard. Had to remember to keep that straight now that lessons were properly starting.

Edelgard sat in the front row of the desks to my right. However, with addition of Stella, the students had shuffled a bit in their seating arrangements.

Stella sat directly to Edelgard's right, propping up a journal and some pencils to write with. They were a matching set to the Adrestrian Princess's own writing supplies, making me wonder if Stella didn't bug my lovely fiancée to spare her some… or maybe they went on a shopping trip yesterday.

I wouldn't know, since I was buried under lesson preparations.

Hubert was on Edelgard's left, sitting with a palm-sized notebook. His probably blood-stained fountain pen was placed on the table with an inkwell off to the side.

In the row behind those three were Dorothea, Ferdinand, and Bernie… Bernadetta, in that order.

Dorothea looked tired, idly doodling in her notebook.

Ferdinand seemed happy to sit beside Dorothea, but he also seemed focused. His notebook was already open, and from what I could see, filled with summaries of the last lesson.

Bernadetta… well, like Dorothea, she was drawing. Unlike Dorothea though, Bernadetta's artistic skills were fairly developed. Developed, and being used to draw what looked like a dramatization of… me saving Edelgard?

I shook my head and then glanced over at my last students.

In the third row of desks, behind Dorothea, Ferdinand, and Bernadetta, were Linhardt, Caspar, and Petra.

Linhardt was completely laid out, seated at the furthest seat to my right. His notebook and pencils were on the table, but since he'd fallen asleep, they were being used as makeshift pillows… and not very good ones from the red marks forming on the guy's face.

Caspar was sitting in the middle, bobbing his knee up and down. He had his notebook on the table as well, and was spinning a pencil around in his right hand, weaving it in and out of his fingers.

I… wasn't quite sure if that was a nervous habit of his, or if he was taking even the downtime now to practice the principle of weaving around attacks that I mentioned to him. Knowing the guy, it could be either one.

As for Petra, she was flipping through her notes, carefully reading and rereading. Probably to make sure she didn't record something down incorrectly.

Despite everything though, they still didn't talk.

Confused, I raised an eyebrow and said, "What's got all of you so quiet today? Did someone die?"

I waited… but nobody responded.

I started to get worried and opened my mouth to talk, but then Edelgard spoke up.

"That's not it, my teacher. It is just… classes will properly begin today."

Dorothea sighed. "Don't remind me, Edie. No more free time… Ugh. And I never got to take Professor out to tea…"

Petra shook her head and said, "We are only having one year to reach an advanced class, Dorothea. There is not being time to waste."

"I know, Petra. I know." Dorothea sighed again.

Caspar groaned and then leaned back in his chair. "Man. I stayed up all night to finish that paper and now there are even more lectures…" He looked at me and said, "You won't give us too much work, right, Prof?"

"…No promises."

While I'd love to do that… I felt like Seteth would hold that over me if I did. And I didn't want to have anything happen until Rhea got back, since she could have the final say and back me up.

…Unless she was mad at me. Which seemed likely from what Seteth told me…

Damn.

Ferdinand leaned on the table and said, "Despite the time table, a bit of structure in life helps, does it not? Moreover, lectures and lessons will help distract from matters. Am I right, Professor?"

Bernadetta sighed. "If by distract you mean not having any free time. I had just gotten the inspiration to paint again too, and now I have to settle with drawing… Argh." She leaned her head on the table and muttered, "Why does this always happen to me?"

Ferdinand patted Bernadetta's back. "There, there, Bernadetta. I am sure that there will be some time for you to further your artistic expressions."

"…Thanks, Ferdie."

Ferdinand sighed. He looked like he wanted to correct her, but then shook his head and let it go. "You are welcome, Bernadetta."

Stella leaned her head on her right hand. She waved her left hand around and said, "Just get on with it already, dear brother of mine."

After seeing everyone's reaction, I blinked.

I… guess school was just universally despised. And apparently even worse than everything else going on.

"Well," I said. "Since you all seem so eager to get started…"

Groans echoed in the classroom.

"…Pass up your assignments and we'll begin with questions that you have about your training." I glanced outside to judge the time and said, "We'll take… about an hour. During that time, feel free to come up and ask questions or talk things over with your classmates. When that is finished, we will go straight into lecture."

While everyone dug out their assignments, I decided to flip through the roster.

It was surprisingly thorough. Dates of birth, key events in each student's lives, age, relatives… and from the handwriting, it seemed to have been compiled by Seteth. There was even a small blurb about each student's general personality.

Seteth seemed to have a knack for the written word… all those years of doing paperwork for Rhea must have paid off.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of papers shuffling and footsteps. I looked up to see Edelgard walk over with a stack of papers… wait. That wasn't a stack. It was a book- no, a giant tome of papers!

I flinched, getting a sense of foreboding about the future.

Edelgard hid her smile and placed the small mountain on my desk. "Here you are, my teacher."

I shifted them over and cautiously flipped through it. A casual glance told me there were at least a hundred pages… and that was the loose leaf papers. There were a few bound notebooks as well… and a fully fleshed out leather tome. From Hubert, it seemed.

I carefully set the pile to the side so I didn't have to look at them and then glared at my students. "I said I wanted a thoughtful response, not a thesis."

Hubert smiled and flipped through a page in his book. "You should get used to it, Professor. I twill be a long year otherwise."

That bastard. He was the one making up a bulk of things.

I sighed. "It's a good thing I read fast…"

If I didn't… no, even though I did, this would still take hours to read, let alone grade… Maybe I should look into finding out how to stop time? No, knowing my luck, it'd come back to bite me in the butt sometime in the near future.

I sighed again and said, "Well, if any of you have questions… come up whenever. I'll just… be here. Reading through… these." I gestured towards the pile of papers.

After a moment of blank stares, I shook my head and flipped through the papers. I heard some chatter as I did, idle topics about what was going to be for lunch and the like, but considering my immediately shortened free time, I decided it was best to get ahead on my work while I could.

"Let's see…" I muttered.

I glanced at the top of the stack. The first paper there was from Caspar. It was… surprisingly thorough. Instead of writing though, he sketched out how to attack. He also pointed out ways to avoid them, drawing curves and dashes to show attack patterns.

For a paper, it was awful. The handwriting that was there was a mess and it was hard to figure out the flow of how to read it. However, in terms of comprehension, he seemed to have a good handle on things.

It was also less reading… so he got a pass.

Next up…

Footsteps, and someone approaching my desk again.

I glanced up to see Edelgard standing there.

"My teacher."

I nodded. "De- Edelgard. Did you have a question?"

She shook her head. "Not quite. I wanted to ask if you have prepared enough."

I sighed. "As best as I could. That's what I spent all of yesterday doing, so I hope it pays off… Ah. And sorry I couldn't check up on you. Thanks for keeping an eye on Stella for me though."

Edelgard smiled. "It was my pleasure to do so, my teacher. My- your sister was a great help in answering my questions?"

I blinked. "Questions? Her? …About what?"

Stella… Sothis was knowledgeable, but I didn't think she knew very much about my lecture material. Well, she could look it up, but it was one think to know about and another to actually comprehend the information.

"About you, of course."

I froze and then glanced at Stella.

Was she waiting for me to do so? My sister met my gaze and then grinned.

I sighed. "Right. Should have expected that."

It was a girl's slumber party. Of course they would have talked about boys… or in their case, me. Hopefully it was nothing too embarrassing… but I was too afraid to find out.

Maybe I should just let that slide…

Edelgard seemed to have sensed my displeasure since she giggled.

A bright and cheerful sound. Hearing that made me feel a little better, at least.

"On a more serious note," Edelgard said. "I did have a proper question, my teacher."

I nodded and said, "I'm all ears."

Edelgard paused to think and then said, "When one professor lectures many students, some will inevitably have trouble keeping up while others will get too far ahead in their studies." She stared at me and said, "I was wondering if you might know how this problem could be solved."

"Hm?"

That was an odd question. Was Edelgard concerned about some of the other students? I guess she really was student council president material… But people lagging behind and others going ahead, huh?

I frowned and held my chin with my right hand. "Well… everyone learns at their own pace, don't they? Still… hm. It's not good to go too slow since the ones who understand quick will get annoyed but it's not good to go too fast either since some might not get anything. But lectures need to be done either way…"

It was a problem that happened back on Earth as well, from what I remembered. There really wasn't a good solution to it in terms of the actual schooling, but the internet made it easy for people to find supplementary material for those who needed it or wanted to learn more.

Unfortunately, that wasn't present here since the internet wasn't a thing and the Church of Seiros was restricting information.

"…I suppose I could make some extra material? Maybe in-depth and practical applications for those who want it and alternative explanations for those who need more time. Giving some extra credit to those who help the ones lagging behind might work too…"

That was one incentive I remembered from taking classes. A person could volunteer to be designated note taker or help out and be offered extra credit as a reward.

Edelgard blinked and said, "Extra credit?"

I nodded. "Yeah. It would be like a bit of buffer room to skip some lectures or some-"

Linhardt immediately sat up and said, "I volunteer!"

"…thing."

I shook my head.

Edelgard laughed and said, "Well then. I suppose we can count on Linhardt to deal with that problem."

"I suppose." I shook my head and then said, "Does that answer your question?"

Edelgard nodded. "It did. And it's impressive that you could think of a solution so quickly… though whether it will work…"

"Hey." I frowned. "You asked for a solution, not the solution."

Edelgard smiled and said, "Whatever you say, my teacher."

…Thankfully there were other things I had to do, otherwise I would have been dazzled by her smile.

Edelgard headed back to her seat.

I waited for a bit to see if anybody else wanted to ask a question, but nobody was walking forward.

Maybe they were being considerate?

I shrugged and went back to reading the papers.

Caspar… passed. I wouldn't say with flying colors, but it was clear he thought about it and applied it as well.

Next was… Linhardt's. A brief paragraph succinctly summarizing everything I said… and then another making the counterpoint of magic invalidating most of it.

Hm. That was true… I learned that from personal experience after all. I guess that passed.

After that… well, Hubert's was going to be an all-nighter, so I skipped that.

Petra's-

The sound of footsteps and chatter echoed from outside the room.

I blinked and looked up.

When I did, I saw a crowd of students filtering in from outside. Students that I had never seen before… no, there were a few that I'd seen walking around but never did anything more than exchange greetings with. A casual hello.

What were they doing here?

A sigh echoed in my mind.

Honestly… Have you forgotten? While you primarily teach the Black Eagles and its core students, there are more as well that will attend your lectures.

…Right. Seteth did mention something about there being part-time students… but this many?

The other side of the room that had been completely empty was now filled to the brim, all staring at me with eager eyes.

Blame your appearance.

My appearance…?

Glancing at the crowd of extra students, I noticed that a good portion were female… about three quarters from what I could see. The remaining were male and seemed more interested in Edelgard- no, in Stella than me. Though I noticed that a few of those were staring at me as well…

I bit back my sigh and did a head count.

One, two… ten… twenty students. In addition to the eight Black Eagles… and probably Lysithea later, that meant I had almost thirty students. Probably more if anybody else transferred over.

That… I didn't have to grade all of their assignments, right?

That depends. What would Seteth want you to do?

…He would want me to grade everything as well as give proper assignments.

Damn.

While the extra students were settling in, I took the time to shuffle my papers and carefully review my notes.

It was one thing to teach a small class of eight where I could easily correct any slip ups, but a full class of thirty…

Was that why Delly asked the question? Did she know this situation was coming up?

No, I could think about that later. For now, I had to make sure that I got all of my key points down… as well as the syllabus and plan for the year.

Eventually, while I was frantically memorizing everything, the Goddess Tower bell chimed. Nine tolls, meaning it was 9AM. Time for lectures to begin.

I set my notes down and looked up.

At that time, Edelgard stood and said, "Everyone rise to greet the Professor!"

The sounds of chairs screeching and people standing up echoed.

Edelgard glanced around and then said, "On three! One, two, three… Good morning, Professor!"

"GOOD MORNING PROFESSOR!"

A loud chorus of voices echoed Edelgard, and then everyone bowed.

I blinked and had to physically resist the urge to step back.

There was a weird pressure coming from the sight of thirty people bowing in respect towards me. A sort of trepidation, hesitation, and doubt.

Those people… they were trusting me to teach them well enough to graduate and move to a brighter future. Some might be lacking, others might be brilliant, but all of them were counting on me.

That pressure… it was different from leading a battalion of mercenaries. It was different from facing death and pain as well.

In those regards, I was confident in my abilities. Let alone the Divine Pulse if all else failed, I could probably pull something out to make things work. Might die in the process, but I had a few ideas if all else failed.

But this… in battles, I didn't have to live with my mistakes. People died, or I died. If I messed up there, it was over.

Yet in teaching… if I messed up, I would have to live with the fact that their lives were ruined because of me. That I didn't adequately prepare them.

Did Edelgard sense my tension? She raised her body and looked at me, giving a reassuring and warm smile.

Seeing that, the tension faded. Only a little, but enough to be manageable.

Edelgard nodded and then said, "Everyone, sit down."

The students followed Edelgard's words and then took their seats, eagerly awaiting my words.

Edelgard looked at me and then said, "You can begin, Professor." After that, she took her seat as well.

Almost thirty people stared at me, waiting for me to start speaking. But not just any random people, my students. People… mostly kids who were relying on me to guide them for the year. To teach them enough to not die in battle, enough to cut out a path for themselves, enough to head towards a brighter tomorrow.

…Maybe I had been taking the role of a professor too lightly. Before, with the main Black Eagle students, I was just being a tutor. This, though…

I'd done speeches in front of bigger crowds in the past, but those were one and done. I'd never have to meet anyone in that group again. Not only that, but it was just to impart information. Whether they digested it or not didn't matter.

This, though…

And there was that pressure again.

Time ticked by, seemingly stretching forever.

And then I remembered my Dad's words.

Idle thoughts had no place on a battlefield… and this was no different. No… it was. Rather than the present, this was a battle for the distant future.

I calmed down and nodded. "If everyone's settled then, I'll start today's lecture with the general lesson plans for the year…"

Author's Notes:

Between IRL things and writing, my fingers and wrists started to hurt, so I took a break for a bit to make sure I didn't start developing carpal tunnel or anything. In the meantime, I did some drawing and drew Delly. Since FFN doesn't allow links or images, you'll need to remove the spaces in the following link and put a dot after imgur, but it should work.

imgur com/ JOoxfRI

Also, it seems that being in a place where everyone's sick means that you're likely to get sick too. My throat's been kind of sore. I managed to get this done, but if there isn't another update for another few days, know that I'm probably laid out in bed with a fever or something.

Not much else to say, I think.

Byleth is realizing the pressure of actually being in charge of students, as well as learning that he is lecturing more than just Edelgard and the others. He could be a douchy professor and not care, but he's too nice for that it seems... the problems of being responsible.

We might skip to the mock battle next chapter. I'll see how it goes when I get into writing it.

Hope the chapter was enjoyable!

Thanks for reading and leaving your input... and stay healthy. Being sick sucks.