DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts nor Fire Emblem Three Houses characters, Square Enix, Nintendo, and Disney are the owners.
Antex-The Legendary Zoroak: Hahaha, I took the Thunderbolt name from the Japanese version on purpose. Also, I'm considering to do the Ashen Wolves arc some time.
RedRat8: Yep, that would make Sora and everyone oppose Rhea even more.
CHAPTER 16 – Research.
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Saturday – 7/5 Blue Sea Moon – Reception Hall
Byleth, Sora and the students including Ashe, who had recently transferred to the Black Eagles, gathered inside the hall to have an important talk about their next mission during this month.
"Okay guys, our mission this month is to patrol and set up defenses to stop the assassination plot." Edelgard stated.
"An Assassination plot?" Sora asked.
"Indeed, Sora. These people is plotting a kind of assassination here in this place." The white-haired girl clarified on what the mission was about.
"I wonder if an assassination attempt is truly the goal of our enemy…" Hubert was wondering if this was truly that the enemy wanted.
"I'd not be so sure, guys, what if it is a distraction?" Byleth was so sharp to realize of their enemies' scheming.
"Yes, I think so too." Edelgard agreed with her opinion. "A barely concealed secret message, trying to distract us from whatever's really going on. Sloppy, to say at least. And while everyone is out searching for a phantom assassin, they'll be free to accomplish their true goal with ease."
"The monastery houses many valuable weapons. Perhaps that is their aim?" Ferdinand started to understand what was going on.
"I never knew that this place had the most valuable stuff in here." Sora's face was written in curiosity.
"You never knew? Well, I hear that this place do hold the weapons, and a treasure vault." Dorothea mentioned him about the monastery's most sacred stuff. "Seems like the sort of place a foe would like some alone time in."
"I never thought that somebody would be so crazy as to break in and steal." Ashe understood her point.
"Garreg Mach is immense, and not just above ground but below as well. Perhaps their aim lies beneath the monastery…" Linhardt illustrated his classmates.
"It seems to me that we should search the monastery for a clue as to what the enemy might be after." Hubert suggested them to investigate the whole place to find something that the enemy was looking for. "Of course, we must never underestimate the need for preparedness, in case a battle should ensue."
Out of nowhere, a tall woman with indigo hair appeared alongside a brown-skinned boy with black hair.
"Well, well, what do we have here, professor?" said the woman having a look at the students but particularly at Sora. "Having a secret reunion with your students?"
"Yeah, sort of." Byleth replied with blank tone.
"Oh, we haven't introduced. I am Shamir."
"Shamir is one of the knights of Seiros. And this young man is-"
"I'm Cyril, Lady Rhea's servant and Shamir apprentice." The boy introduced himself.
"Shamir's apprentice?" Sora asked him looking curious.
"Yes, she's teaching me about the bow and the sword and all kinds of stuff." Said Cyril showing enthusiastic on his occupation. "I want to protect Lady Rhea too… so I became Shamir's apprentice."
"Cyril adores Rhea. That aside, if you need anything, just ask." Shamir stated about that boy's loyalty to the archbishop.
"Well, you see, we have to search in the monastery because some enemies are after the most valuable thing that this place is hiding." Sora explained the situation to get the two to assist them.
"So you want to investigate the place…" Shamir express her will to help, while getting closer to the keyblade wielder aside of giving him a seductive and flirting look. "I have heard a lot of good things about you, tiger boy."
"Come on, it's not a big deal, I just help anyone who needs us." Sora tried to hide his blushing due to the woman's glare.
"I can see that, tiger boy." Shamir countered jokingly but in the same tone. "Your actions killed those bandits who were threatening the three future rulers, isn't that right?"
Caspar and Ferdinand were trying to contain their laughs watching him become awkward in front of her.
"You want to help us or not?" Byleth looked slightly jealous and stopped the woman in her tracks making a request. "It's important."
"Alright, alright…" Shamir accepted the request but not without giving Sora seductive glare before leaving the place. "It's nice to meet you, tiger boy."
The toughest challenges awaited the keyblade wielder and besides he had to deal and be careful with his popularity among the girls, even if it wasn't his fault he became the women's spotlight.
If Kairi knew that, she would indeed beat him for jealousy, not really though.
/
The whole class went on to make a research in the monastery about the hero's relics to prevent the enemy from taking it away.
Sora was joined by Dorothea while investigating the weapon's whereabouts around the academy.
"Don't you think it must be very mysterious thing they hide?" the girl asked thoughtfully.
"Or, I'd rather call it intriguing." assumed Sora showing the same concern. "What is it they are looking for? Do you think this monastery is hiding something that valuable, Dorothea?"
"Excellent question, Sora." Dorothea coincided with his opinion, they didn't know what kind of a sacred weapon was, but they knew that they had to protect this thing before it was too late. "I assume that it must be a valuable relic for the enemy to take it away without us realizing it."
"Hey Sora, Dorothea!" Ingrid approached them while saying hello. "What are you guys doing?"
"Well, we're investigating the monastery, somebody want to play dirty." Sora replied smiling at her.
"Why? What's going on?" Ingrid asked.
"Someone apparently wants to distract us so whoever it is would steal a relic weapon from a secret chamber here in the monastery." Dorothea replied her mentioning the problems they attempting to solve.
"I think I heard about it, but I have never thought how important it is." Ingrid argued looking intrigued towards the subject.
"I didn't think about it until now either, but something tells me that if that people takes it away, everything is gonna turn bad." Sora expressed his concerns thinking about the consequences.
"Then we have to figure this place out and prevent those people from stealing that weapon." Ingrid suggested them to look around and subsequently joined the two.
/
Elsewhere, Byleth and Edelgard were investigating the other half of the monastery asking everyone about the hero's relic, but most of them seemed to know nothing about it.
"Which one will be our enemy's main objective?" the girl inquired looking intrigued.
"That's a good question, I don't doubt that the monastery is keeping something secret." The teacher spoke expressing some suspicion.
"Me neither, the monastery is been built for a millennium from now." Edelgard agreed with her. "I don't rule out the possibility that the secret is being kept hidden as you say."
"Let's go ask some people if they can tell is something." Indicated Byleth to set up searching that relic.
/
Meanwhile, Sora and the girls headed to the cafeteria to speak with people who barely knew about anything until they ran into Byleth's father.
"Mister Jeralt!" Sora greeted him cheerfully.
"What's the matter, guys? You're running all over creation…" Byleth's father replied nicely.
"Well, we are investigating the monastery, we have suspicions that somebody is trying to steal… a relic." Dorothea explained the motives of their actions.
"Oh, I see, you guys don't believe Lady Rhea is the real target, do you?" Jeralt made a question regarding the archbishop's actions. "Even so, the knights have their orders, we can't abandon our duty to guard Rhea."
While it is true that Sora had to obey the Knights of Seiros's principles, just as Byleth had said earlier, it was better to do the job while faking fealty to the archbishop until reaching the point to stop this acting, even if it involved serious consequences that he should face when ready.
"The goddess's rite of Rebirth is an important event for the Church of Seiros." Jeralt mentioned something that got Sora's attention.
"Rite of Rebirth?" the boy lifted an eyebrow in curiosity.
"They say it's the day when the goddess will return to walk among us." Jeralt explained to them. "Not too likely, if you ask me, Sora. Uh… Best if you keep that to yourselves, guys."
"Thank you sir, we will take into account." Ingrid thanked Jeralt besides promising to keep the secret from everyone.
Wandering around the monastery, Sora and the others couldn't help but wonder what this day of the rite was about.
"Do you guys think there is some kind of reason to threat the archbishop?" Sora faked the worrisome towards Rhea's wellbeing, with the brown-haired girl being the only one that knew the charade.
"I dunno, but something tells me there's a high possibility." Dorothea responded the same way.
"We can't let anybody lay a finger on the archbishop." Ingrid showed determination to defend Rhea.
"Let's see what happens…" Sora indicated as they were investigating the place.
/
Elsewhere, Byleth and Edelgard kept investigating few clues to find the secret chamber speaking with different people from the monastery until they reached an immense building's entrance, which was guarded by a priest.
"Excuse me, sir, we are looking for a secret chamber that holds a mysterious object inside there." Byleth argued their mission to the man.
"An object?" Well, do you guys know what room is this?" the priest started to let out few some important clues. "It is the church's treasure vault."
"A treasure?" Edelgard let out a curious glare.
"I say treasure, but I do not mean silver and gold and jewels. It mostly contains weapons, artifacts, and the like." He mentioned the women some stuff that were being hold inside that place.
"Do you have anything that is very valuable to cause too big stir if it is stolen by the chance, like some kind of a relic?" Byleth asked him about that said object.
"Anything that would cause too great a stir should it be stolen? No." the priest replier her saying that he didn't have anything too compromising inside that place. "The church knows better than to store anything too valuable in such accessible location."
"Alright, sir, if you excuse us… We're taking our leaving." Byleth looked frustrated along with her student and decided to go investigate somewhere else.
/
CATHEDRAL
Meanwhile, Sora, Dorothea and Ingrid had entered in the cathedral trying to gain some more information about the situation and stop the heist.
There they spotted Flayn, who looked surprised to meet with the keyblade wielder.
"So-Sora! Girls! I didn't know you guys would come here!" she muttered in that state looking at the boy, having her face mildly blushed.
"We neither, Flayn." Sora replied her expressing the same manner. "How are you?"
"I'm fine, Sora… I am afraid I have acted a bit childishly toward my brother recently…" Flayn replied him nicely, only tilt her head confessing her bad behavior. "Given the circumstances, I requested that he provide me some candies…"
"Candies?" Ingrid looked curious as she lifted an eyebrow.
"Yeah, it was silly of me, timing was improper, and I regret it very much now." Flayn admitted being reckless with a sad face.
"It's alright, we all make mistakes sometimes." Sora comforted her while caressing her head like she was his little sister. Something that it was melting her.
"Anyway, this place is off-limits, guys." Flayn got her mood up to notice them this thing. "It is only open to the public on the day of the Goddess's Rite of Rebirth."
"So that means that… everyone but us is barred from going there, right?" Sora asked her to confirm this.
"That's right, nobody else has permission to enter the area, you guys can go in but you have to be accompanied by your professor and have the said permission." Flayn told them the gold rule from all the monastery, only authorized people were allowed to enter that place.
"Okay, Flayn, we'll keep investigating, glad to see you." Ingrid said good bye to the girl and went off to keep researching among the others.
Soon, they noticed a female Knight of Seiros standing in front of the doors, when they talked to her, she revealed some more important information:
On the day of the rite, the monastery would be open to the public, including the secret place: the Holy Mausoleum, which is where the tomb of the divine Seiros lies and slumbers, eternally.
That's where Byleth and her students would go there.
"That's…pretty much all that's in there. Just an ancient coffin." The female knight explained the students what the mausoleum was about. "It's sealed with a powerful magic, to protect against would-be grave robbers."
"I see, thank you for telling us." Sora thanked her before leaving the place with the girls.
/
AROUND THE MONASTERY CAMPUS
After making the research for almost two hours, Sora and the others met with Byleth in the campus to review their mission.
"Did you guys figure something out?" their teacher asked them if they gathered some information.
"Yes, they told us that the mausoleum will be open during the rite, maybe we can get in there to discover the relic." Sora mentioned the words that the female knight said earlier, aside of suggesting to do these actions.
"We can't tell certainly, but we cannot rule out that the mausoleum might be the enemy's target." Edelgard came up with a suspicious theory against the thieves.
"Ok, guys, let's just wait for the ceremony to begin, and then, we will head to the mausoleum to see what those thieves want." Byleth gave her students the instructions to do in their upcoming mission.
"Won't that get all of you in trouble?" Ingrid gave them a suspicious glare upon hearing these words, given on how restricted that area was.
"Don't worry, whatever we do is not only my responsibility, but ours as well." Byleth justified her words due to the big responsibility she was carrying on.
"We can't let those crazy guys take that relic away." Sora agreed with her teacher's words showing his traits as an adventurer. "You never know, Ingrid, trust me."
"I see… Sometimes we have to take risk." The blonde girl nodded her head seeing it from the other perspective. "I can help you guys if you want."
"You will?" Ashe's eyes shined in enthusiasm, he didn't expect her to state her willingness to join the team, at least for a while of course.
"I am… I felt like wanting to join you guys because… I wanted to try something different." Ingrid explained her reasons to do so, while looking at Sora and Edelgard.
"Like what?" the keyblade wielder's face was written in curiosity.
"Well, I could say that I wanted to know how being a Black Eagle feels like." The blonde girl answered his question drawing a smile.
"Thank you, Ingrid." Sora expressed enthusiasm as well for her initiative.
And then they waited for at least three days until the doors to the mausoleum opened.
END OF THE CHAPTER 16
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AUTHOR'S NOTES:
So, Ashe has been transferred to the Black Eagles due to obvious reasons in regards to his father and brother, which means that he's no longer a Blue Lion member as he changed sides.
So Byleth's team goes like this as of now:
Professor: Byleth.
-Sora Nomura
-Edelgard von Hresvelg
-Dorothea Arnault
-Ferdinand von Aegir
-Hubert von Vestra
-Bernadetta von Varley
-Petra Macneary
-Ashe Duran (Newest member)
-Ingrid Brandl Galatea (Guest member only during the mausoleum battle)
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed people, peace out.