Context notes: A tribune was a Roman officer rank held by young nobles who were trying to work their way up to the senate (as a political career required military service). They were essentially the most inexperienced personnel in a Roman army legion, only there to gain leadership experience.

Killer Instinct (Part 1)

"Wake up!" I yelled for the whole Blue Lion dorm to hear. "Rise and shine and give the Goddess the glory, children, it's time to train!"

And the early morning chaos began. Cyril started banging a stick on a metal pan, while the knight squires who were chosen to be the Blue Lions cadre swarmed the hall inside and out, bashing open doors, hungry for the delicious opportunity to drag the sleeping cadets out of their beds.

"Hate to interrupt your beauty sleep, ladies, but it's time to get your frilly rumps out bed!"

"You are taking entirely too long, dipshit! You have exactly to to the count of ten to get that fucking uniform on!"

"Holy Mother Goddess, cadet! Did you seriously just try to run out here naked?! Cover up that pimply ass!"

"Cadet! I am a heartbeat away from putting my boot up your ass if you don't get the fuck outside right fucking now!"

I sidestepped a squire who was dragging a crying cadet by her feet to grab Dimitri as he stumbled out of his room.

"Your Highness, make sure the officers take full house accountability," I said.

"Yes, Professor!"

"And move with a purpose!" I shouted as he and Dedue rushed outside.

I had specifically instructed the squires not to drag the Lion officers out of their rooms, I wanted them to be able to get themselves up and rally their own companies. Once all of the Lion soldiers had assembled by company in our small yard, I took accountability from Dimitri.

"House Leader, are all officers accounted for?" I said.

"Yes, Professor!" He replied.

"Are you sure?"

"Y-yes, Professor!"

"Are you very sure?"

"Sylvain and Mercedes are not present, Your Highness," Dedue quietly told Dimitri.

"Thank you for actually doing your job, House Sergeant, though it would have saved your House Leader the embarrassment if you had spoken up just a moment sooner," I said.

"My apologies."

"What are you apologizing to me for? It's His Highness who you failed to assist."

"My apologies, Your Highness."

"The fault is my own, Dedue."

"Forget about who's fault it is," I said. "Rectify the situation by finding Sylvain and Mercedes."

'She's right there,' said Sothis.

The blonde-haired woman ran right up to us at that very moment.

"I-I'm so sorry, Professor!" She huffed. "I don't know why I didn't wake up! Did the rest of my company make it?"

I just stared at her. Dimitri and Dedue also stared at her. In fact, just about everyone who could who see her stared, and she caused quite a stir. Most of the cadets were blushing or laughing, the girls were mostly laughing. Some of the boys made wolf-whistles. The squires just looked at her like she was the biggest idiot on the Goddess's green Earth.

"Um. . . is something wrong, Professor?" She asked, aware of the uncomfortable attention she was receiving.

I suppressed an exasperated sigh as I rubbed my eyes.

"Miss Martritz, did you bother to check yourself before you left your room?" I said as calmly as possible.

"Check myself? What do you mea-" She suddenly realize that she was wearing nothing but her slip and blushed furiously. "Oh no! Professor, I-"

"How did you forget to put on your uniform?"

"I-I don't know, I guess I j-"

"Go back to your room and put on your fucking uniform."

She bolted off and half the formation burst into laughter.

"Shut up!"

They were silent.

"Make sure the companies are briefed for their drills today," I turned to Dimitri and Dedue. "I'm gonna go drag Sylvain out of bed so we don't waste any more time."

I walked off without bothering to listen to their acknowledgement and headed straight for Sylvain's room.

'Already a handful, aren't they?' Sothis chuckled.

'The soldier's term is 'ate up.''

I heard no noise behind Sylvain's door when it reached it, so I kicked it open. And found the redhead lying in bed with a girl, both roused by the sound.

"Wuh-Professor!" Sylvain exclaimed.

I yanked the covers off of them and tossed the girl onto the floor. She yelped like a puppy as she tumbled.

"I'm sorry, I'm so-"

"Get out of my sight."

She instantly made herself scarce and Sylvain sat up.

"Professor, I swear it's not-"

"Mister Gautier, you have exactly to the count of fifty to be in your uniform and outside or I will sick Miss Galatea on you."

He was outside in half that time.

It took much longer than necessary to get the entire house assembled, inspected, and divided amongst the cadre for their drills. It seemed my officers still had not gotten their act together. Not only were Mercedes and Sylvain late, but they also messed up their company roll calls and had to thoroughly inspect every rank. Dimitri also had to physically separate Ingrid form Sylvain when she found out what he had been doing. Once morning assembly was done and the cadets were dispersed, however, I gathered the officers for our own plan of the day.

"Today is gonna be real simple," I said. "Cyril, if you'd please?"

The boy flipped open a chest he had placed on the ground, revealing multiple shirts of mail for all to see.

"We're going straight into combatives, Professor?" asked Dimitri.

"Not yet."

I took one of the large hauberks from the chest and pulled it over my head and arms, letting the parted skirt drop around my thighs.

"Everybody put one on," I said. "We're going for a run."

"Come on! All the way up!" I shouted to the cadets as they ran up the steep incline to the small gate.

We were outside the monastery walls, doing sprints up and down the hill, though after the fifth one it became more like jogging. Dedue, Annette, and Mercedes noticeably had the most trouble sprinting. Dedue naturally had less running endurance because of his lumbering size and the two much smaller girls were easily fatigued by the weight of their hauberks, which was the whole point.

"Keep going, I did not give you permission to stop!"

Dimitri and Felix had the least trouble running in mail, which didn't surprise me, though Ashe was also surprisingly resilient despite being almost as small as Annette. I did every single sprint with them just to prove the point. Despite being an average-sized woman I was so used to combat in mail I could run in it for a long time. The Lions needed to build that same endurance in the armor that they would fight in. After building up a good sweat from the sprints, I took them to the river that fed Garreg Mach's aqueduct.

"Everybody doing alright?" I rhetorically asked.

Most of them answered affirmatively; though Dedue was noticeably winded and Annette and Mercedes were doubled over, struggling to catch their breath.

"Good," I said. "Because it's time to swim."

I will never forget the looks on their faces.

"Up! Down! Up! Down!" I shouted the instructions for lifting and dropping the burlap sacks.

I allowed them to have a short break after the river swim, which only consisted of a single lap to the opposite bank and back but it wasn't easy when to do so with mail on. Then it was straight to the officer training grounds where I led them in calisthenics to build agility in the mail before moving on to strength training. A knight should ideally be able to lift his own body weight so I had large burlap sacks that were filled with rocks set aside, all as proportionate to their sizes as I could make them. I led them in multiple sets of lifting with their legs and arms then transitioned to jogging back and forth across the grounds with the heavy sacks still in their arms, and the hauberks weighing on them, then repeated the cycle several times. They generally fatigued at about the rate I expected them to, except for Dimitri who displayed the same disproportionate strength he had shown when he clobbered Raphael. Mercedes collapsed to her knees and vomited at one point, and I had to help her pick her sack up again. I noticed that Annette seemed to have more arm strength than I expected her to have for being such a small girl. Ashe was also much stronger than he looked but that didn't surprise me given his ability with a bow.

The most important exercise of them all, however, was the wooden horse, a contraption with a saddle that bobbed and shifted with the user's weight to simulate mounting a warhorse.

"All knights need to be able to mount a horse with all of their equipment on," I said to the cadets. "Allow me to demonstrate."

I put a foot in the stirrup, grabbed the bridle with one hand, stepped up in the stirrup while pulling myself towards the bridle, then swung my other leg over the saddle and sat down.

"Cavalrymen or not, as officers you should be able to do this with full armor and weapons. And if shit goes sideways you'll have to be able to jump right off and recover yourself if you can't land straight."

"How can we even do that with this heavy armor on?" Annette muttered.

As soon as I heard that, I leapt off the saddle, somersaulted as I hit the ground, and stood back up.

"Like that," I said.

They just stared at me.

"The weight of mail coats is spread out across your body, same goes for plates. You don't have to be a natural horseman to pull it off, it's all about controlling your balance. You have turn into the fall and use the rolling momentum to somersault to your feet."

After that little demonstration, I made them practice mounting and dismounting drills. Sylvain, Ingrid, and Dimitri were unsurprisingly the most adept. Felix and Ashe were no slouches either. Annette managed to at least get on the saddle her first attempt, but then lost her balance as soon as she tried to place her other foot in the opposite stirrup and fell right over. Mercedes managed to get on the saddle after multiple attempts, but she also fell right on the ground as soon as she tried to jump off when her foot caught in the stirrup. Dedue could not even get on the saddle, he simply fell on his back every time he attempted to step up in the stirrup. He was eventually able to at least mount the saddle after many, many, tries but it was pretty clear that the large Duscurite would not be serving the Kingdom as a cavalry officer.

After making only one successful attempt, could only look at the ground in embarrassment and say, "Forgive me for my ineptitude."

"Practice yields results," I said.

"Maybe, but I should already meet the standard in order to serve His Highness."

Felix scoffed. "Nothing but a damn lapdog."

Ingrid scowled at him. "Felix, every word out of your mouth does not have to be-"

Before she could finish her sentence, I suddenly backhanded Felix across the face with a resounding smack. The other Lions froze as they watched me grab his collar and pulled him almost nose-to-nose.

"Mister Fraldarius, I am already quite sick of your attitude. Frankly, I don't know how your classmates tolerate it, or anyone else for that matter, but I won't and it's gonna stop. Today. I better not hear one more insult out of you, do you understand?"

He directed his glare away from me. ". . . yes, Professor."

"Look me in the eye when I'm fucking talking to you!"

"Yes, Professor."

"Good. That is your only warning."

My reprimand abruptly ended as Jeralt walked into the training grounds and called to me.

"Byleth! There's a situation, the Seneschal needs to speak with you and the other professors right now."

'That's strange.' "Everybody do five more cycles," I said as I let go of Felix. "I'll meet you in the courtyard by the next bell."

"Understood," said Dimitri.

And with that I took off my hauberk and left the Lions to finish their morning training as I left with Jeralt.

I heard Sylvain say, "You had that one coming, Fe."

"What was going there?" Jeralt asked, amused.

"Just giving a brat an attitude adjustment," I replied. "What's happened?"

"Don't actually know. But whatever it is, it's urgent enough to warrant the attention of you professors and myself."

'I hope it doesn't involve a dead cadet, I have enough to deal with from my own students as it is.'

'Don't be surprised if it does,' said Sothis.

'I'm talking to a snarky, magical elf-girl who lives inside my head. I don't think anything can reasonably surprise me anymore.'

"They what?!"

'What was that you said about no surprises?' Sothis smirked.

'Shut your mouth.'

"Yes, we were just as surprised as you are," said Sir Gilbert. "We have no idea how they managed to disappear so quickly, either. We deliberately kept the news silent to prevent a panic precisely because of how sudden it was."

"Oh, dear," said Manuela.

"This is most disturbing," Hanneman stroked his bearded chin in thought.

I stood in the cadre conference room next to Jeralt, Hanneman, and Manuela, digesting the information that Seteth and Gilbert were giving us. The news indeed came as a shock to all of us.

"Do you suspect they had help from the inside?" Asked Jeralt.

"We have been conducting an internal investigation ever since but have found no evidence thus far," said Seteth. "There were no was also no evidence of robbery in the town itself, suggesting that they were trying to flee from Garreg Mach as swiftly as possible. Given the intelligence we've just received, it is highly likely that they are hiding among the Nabatean ruins."

"And we had no trail to follow until we received the dispatch from Epsilon just this morning," Gilbert added. "To make matters worse, we've noticed an unforeseen increase in bandit activity in this region over the past week. Reports of village pillaging, abandoned campsites that were poorly concealed, and most disturbingly, multiple weapons caravans being robbed of their equipment. All the the signs point to a buildup the likes of which we haven't seen for a long time. We have no understanding as to a cause, but it a clear threat that must be suppressed."

"So now that we have a scent, you want my brigade to hunt them down?" Asked Jeralt.

"Yes, but you won't go alone. I will be placing both a cavalry reconnaissance squadron and a pegasus troop under your command."

"But that's not why you called on Hanneman, Manuela and I, isn't it?" I asked.

"I'm afraid not," Seteth replied.

"You're not about to suggest what I think you are, are you, Seteth?" Manuela looked worried.

"You are already aware of the policy, Manuela," he crossed his arms. "The cadet officers require service time as tribunes and this mission the least risk."

'Hunting down bandits who suddenly vanished is the least risky option?' I didn't sarcastically remark out loud. I knew the Seneschal was aware of the risk involved, but it was the least risky opportunity that was immediately open. Such is the absurdity of war.

"Young Mister Bergliez will be eager, at least," Hanneman muttered.

"Better inform then all, then," I said.

The Black Eagle classroom buzzed with excitement as we gathered all twenty-four cadet officers, they could all sense a big announcement coming. Even the normally stoic boys Dedue, Hubert, and Felix seemed more alert. The only cadet who seemed to completely ignore what was going on around him was Linhardt, who simply rested his head on his propped-up palm with eyes closed. Marianne looked like she would rather be anywhere else, as per usual, and the Black Eagle's resident recluse Bernadetta looked like she just wanted to hide under a desk.

"Alright, settle down, everybody," Manuela addressed everyone in Adrestian. "We have a very important announcement to make, so listen closely."

"Do we get to go on a mission?!" Caspar asked way too excitedly.

"That'd be awesome!" Raphael gave a toothy grin, though it looked more like a grimace thanks to the broken nose Dimitri gave him yesterday.

"Sit down, Caspar," Edelgard said to the blue-haired boy like an exhausted mother, eliciting a round of laughs.

"You too, Raph," Claude chuckled.

"Actually, he's not wrong," said Hanneman, immediately getting everyone's attention. "I'm sure you have all been anticipating your future assignments as tribunes. Well, you will not have to wait much longer, we have just been informed that the band of thieves whom the Knights incarcerated have recently escaped and have fled north to Zanado. These are the very same bandits who attacked during our field exercise, as such, under Church law, the Knights are preparing a mission to deal with them permanently."

"We're gonna fight!" Caspar pumped his fist.

Edelgard rubbed her eyes.

"Not exactly," I interjected.

"Awww. . ."

That was the first clear indication that most of these cadets had never been to war. "Don't forget the purpose of your participation in this mission is to learn as tribunes. You will be shadowing the ranking officers, you will be fully present for all planning and rehearsals, and each class will conduct a battle review when we return to the monastery. There is always the possibility that you will directly fight if things go pear-shaped, as they often do, but you are not officers yet. You won't be leading any charges."

"I do not have understanding," a visibly confused Petra said in her stilted Adrestian. "What are pears having to do with it?"

"It's just a figure of speech, Petra," Dorothea chuckled.

"Oh. . . please be accepting my apologies."

Her words prompted a round of chuckles and she slightly flushed.

"I'm afraid Professor Eisner is correct, however," Hanneman brought the discussion back to the point. "Your tribune missions are meant to be learning experiences. Direct combat is not your priority. But as I said, you will by no means be left out of the planning process, and we will go over the tentative first phase."

He stepped over to the chalk board where the phase's timeline and diagram were drawn out.

"As I mentioned, we believe the bandits to be hiding in of Zanado canyon, our area of operation. Intelligence suggests the enemy is increasing in number. The mission is to conduct a brigade-sized patrol in vicinity of Fort Oghma-Eplison at the canyon's edge to ascertain the size and capability of the bandit band, trap them in the canyon, and neutralize them. The directive from Seneschal Seteth himself is to prosecute the Law of Macuil against the bandits with extreme prejudice.

"Today and tomorrow will be fully devoted to preparing for the expedition, you need not be concerned about anything else other than gathering the necessary equipment for each of your classes. We will all have a equipment layout tomorrow at evening bell to ensure that each of you are prepared for the entire mission. We will pass down packing lists to your house leaders by the end of the day. The mission force will assemble before dawn on Saturday and conduct a full inspection before we depart.

He then traced a finger up the sketched map, over the contour lines that represented the Zanado canyon. "It should take approximately five days to reach Fort Oghma-Epsilon. From there, we will receive intelligence from the fort garrison as to the whereabouts of the bandits and create the second-phase plan to search and destroy them. Sir Jeralt will give a more thorough briefing to the force itself tomorrow evening, for now this is just the basic outline for the mission's first phase. Are there any questions at this time?"

"So our rules of engagement for the mission are entirely hinged on the Law of Macuil?" Asked Linhardt, actually showing interest in the meeting for the first time.

"Exactly," I said.

"So then, once we're done beating them, how are we going to bring the prisoners back?" said Hilda.

There was a pregnant pause in the room as half the cadets stared at Hilda for her profound ignorance.

"We're not brining back any prisoners," I replied.

"So. . . we're just gonna leave them at the fort?"

I just barely resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"No, it means that when we find the bandits, we're going to kill every last one."

"That's a bit. . . excessive, don't you think?" Asked Hilda.

I blinked. "Hilda. . . have you not read the Law of Macuil?"

"I. . . um, skimmed it for the entrance exams?"

Claude buried his face in his palm. It shouldn't have come as a surprise that the number one shirker in the whole Academy did not know the Church's law of warfare, but it seriously made me question how she ever passed the entrance exams.

"Those bandits are criminals who blew their chance to rehabilitate. As per the Law of Macuil, the only other option is death. Any further questions?"

"Uh. . . no, Professor."

"Glad you understand. Next time actually read the doctrine."

"I-I'll remember that," she was now furiously blushing from embarrassment, though Claude looked even more embarrassed.

"Very well, then," Hanneman interjected. "If there are no further questions, you are all free to go. Any further comments from the two of you, Professors?"

"Just one," I said. "Blue Lions, meet me in our classroom right after this."

"What is it you wish to discuss with us, Professor?" Dimitri asked when we had all informally gathered in our classroom.

I sat on my desk and crossed my arms, sweeping my gaze over each of them.

"I wanted to get a sense of all of your feeling on the mission," I said. "Especially given that it will be the first that many of you have ever experienced."

They all shared glances for a moment.

"I'm. . . really nervous to be honest," Annette looked at the ground as though she had just admitted a shameful secret.

"I am apprehensive as well," said Mercedes. "Annie and I have never experienced real combat before."

"Neither have I," Ingrid added. "Even though I've been learning how to fight since I was a girl."

"I've had to defend myself a lot before, but never in an actual battle," said Ashe.

Given what I knew about Ashe's background, that didn't surprise me.

"I must confess as well that even though I have experienced combat. . . I'm not quite used to it yet," said Dimitri, Felix shot a blank glance at him.

"If I may say so, Professor, it won't be the first time for His Highness, Dedue, Felix, or myself," said Sylvain. "We saw war in the Western Rebellion,"

"I am aware of that, but I read the after action reports in your files. You all reacted relatively well in that situation, but it was a fluke that that single platoon of mounted knights managed to penetrate the Royal lines all the way to the command company. It wasn't so much a brilliant assault on the part of the enemy as much as it was a failure of multiple Royal officers to properly do their jobs. And from what I read, His Highness was the only one to actually kill a man, correct?

"That is correct, Professor," Dimitri solemnly replied.

"You were not cadets or even actual tribunes then either, everything was left up to your fathers. No offense, Your Highness."

"None taken, Professor," he said, though I could still see a twinge of pain in his eyes.

I once again found myself internally lamenting my lack of ability to articulate my message. Talking to these students was not the same as talking to seasoned soldiers.

"Regardless of how you feel, what I really want all of you to understand is this; what happens on the battlefield is not a game," I stood up from the desk. "I've seen so many young soldiers eager to charge into a blaze of glory like they were the sons of Saint Cichol himself, only to take an arrow in the thigh and bleed out in moments."

At this point I was pacing in front of the group, looking each one in the eye as I spoke. "I'm telling you right now, don't be naive about the reality of combat like Caspar, Raphael, and Hilda. I've seen the strongest, bravest, men writhing in pain without their limbs in the aid stations, crying for their damn mothers, as the mages and surgeons desperately tried to save their lives, but there was no magic spell or elixir that could just heal them. You can't just stand back up from an arrow in the leg, or a spear in the abdomen, and no amount of white magic can save a man whose brains are oozing out from an open skull wound, because I can't tell you how many times I've seen crap like that. You each need to make peace with the very real possibility that you won't come back to Garreg Mach alive.

"And I promise you, order will always break down in battle, it's only a matter of when, which is why preparation and discipline are the keys to survival. And that discipline is having the decisiveness and mettle to control yourself even when everything is falling apart. Everyone needs to take bold, decisive action when things inevitably go to hell, but trust me when I say that there is a very fine line between bold action and stupidity and that is what gets good men killed, and if you're not careful it will kill you too."

Only when I stopped to take a breath did I realize that my voice had been steadily rising and my students were all looking at me with various levels of discomfort. Ashe and Annette almost looked scared now. Ingrid and Sylvain looked more concerned. Felix and Dedue mostly retained their stoic demeanors, but I could see the apprehension behind their stone-cold eyes. Mercedes, surprisingly, had the look of a sad mother as though she had witnessed exactly what I had described. I couldn't tell what Dimitri was thinking. I knew there was a warrior behind those young, blue eyes but even he knew that he was not untouchable.

"With you on our side, Professor. . . I do not fear death," he said.

Those words reverberated through my head for hours. It was the most absurd thing Dimitri had said to be at that point. What was so special about me that my mere presence negated the fear of death? I could not comprehend the level of trust that the Prince of Faerghus had confided me despite having only met me just over two weeks earlier. I knew that Dimitri was not a naive young man because of what he had lived through and yet his esteem for me was baffling. I may have been a leader of soldiers and I may have saved Edelgard's life, but such was the expectation of anyone else in my position. I also certainly would have died in the process if Sothis had not literally turned back time, something that still gave me a headache just thinking about it. Trusting me as his professor was one thing, but the idea that a future king already trusted a common-born mercenary with his life stirred up strange emotions in me that I didn't know how to process.

I did my best to free my mind of such thoughts as I assigned preparation tasks to each of the Lions, before adjourning our little meeting. As the House Leader, Dimitri was naturally in charge of maintaining accountability of all tasks and keeping everyone on schedule. I made Felix and Sylvain the operations officers to force Felix to work with the two classmates he disdained the most on writing up the class's integrated operation plan within the parameters of the tentative orders that were passed down from Gilbert. I wanted to supervise the three of them on that task, mostly in case Felix needed another attitude adjustment, but Sothis advised that it would be counterproductive for their teamwork development if I hovered over them like a mother wyvern so I decided to leave them to it. I instead trusted Ingrid to keep them well-behaved as the acting executive officer. I had also assigned Ashe and Dedue as the class quartermasters, so I ended up accompanying Ashe to the town market for that task.

". . . and Annette needs a brigandine buckle replaced, that should it be," Ashe rolled up his list.

"Why don't we split up to save time?" I said. "I'll check the military merchants on the west side, you take the other side. Meet back at the drawbridge no later than the next bell."

"Sure thing, Professor, I'll see you soon."

He smiled and we went our separate ways. No sooner had I wandered into the stands before I was greeted by a redheaded woman at a weapon's cart.

"Hey there, young lady!" She said. "Are you looking to buy, or would you rather cry? Just so you know, there's no beating my prices!"

I blinked.

"That almost sounded like a challenge."

"Ha! Trust me, friend, you don't want to waste your life haggling with me," she gave me a sly grin.

"Right. . . well, I'm guessing you have vulneraries?"

She pulled open a drawer on her cart to show me its contents. "Are these the ones?"

"Full-nutrient?"

"And top quality! Purchased them from the Fhirdiad quartermaster stores too."

"Alright, I'll take five."

"Thanks a bunch!"

Gold and goods changed hands, but as I packed my class's new supplies in my rucksack the merchant looked at me with renewed interest.

"Say, are you the Ashen Demon Byleth?"

"Word travels fast around here."

"I've got lots of friends here," she chuckled and reached out her hand. "Name's Anna, pleasure to meet the legend herself."

"'Legend' is stretching it," I said as I shook her hand.

"But you're still Sir Jeralt's daughter, right? I heard your the new professor at the Officer's Academy too."

"Sure am, not that I really asked for it."

"From what my fiancé's heard about you, I'm sure your cadets are performing great under your guidance!"

'You wouldn't think so if you saw how badly they got their asses kicked yesterday.' "Thanks. You have a fiancé in the Central Army?"

"Sure do! His name's Jake, he's a longbowman in Sir Sigurd's division. Keep him out of trouble if you deploy with him," she winked.

"I'll keep an eye out, have a nice day," I replied as I walked away.

"Come back soon!"

I was barely five steps away before I heard this exchange:

"Hey there, young lady! Are you looking to buy, or would you rather cry? Just so you know, there's no beating my prices!"

Petra's voice replied in Adrestian, "Cry. . . beating. . . are you wanting to battle me?"

"As in a battle of wills? Trust me kid, you don't want to waste your life trying to beat me at- huh?!"

'Oh, shit.'

Fortunately Ashe reappeared just as Petra drew her dagger and calmed the situation.

There were already plenty of Adrestian senators in the Imperial Parliament who disapproved of the Bridigine princess's presence in Garreg Mach, attacking an innocent merchant would've certainly gave them cause to demand her expulsion. Petra's conundrum with language barrier didn't help her case either. As it was, she had enough trouble speaking any tongue of Fódlan at all mainly due to the fact that the Brigidine language uses a verb-subject-object sentence structure, the opposite of the subject-verb-object order of most Fódlander languages. She spoke noble Adrestian well enough to get by, but most of Garreg Mach spoke Faerghian, which was much harder for her to speak because of it's mood-based conjugations and heavy use of idioms. Thus, when a Faerghian-speaking Anna told Petra that there was no 'beating' her prices, what she actually said was, "There is no way to defeat my prices." Unfortunately, the Faerghian word that means 'to defeat' literally translates as a physical beating in Adrestian and the nuance went right over Petra's head. She ended up quite embarrassed by the little episode for making a fool of herself, and unintentionally endangering the political position of her kingdom, but she made a new friend in Ashe at least.

The two of them hit it off remarkably well. Fortunately, Ashe fluently spoke Adrestian as a result of having grown up in the Gaspard border region and explained the concept haggling to Petra, even managing to talk down Anna's prices so she could purchase vulneraries for her class's supplies as she had been chosen as the mission's logistics officer for the Black Eagles.

"Fine, twenty percent, but you better be grateful!" Anna gave an exasperated sigh as she waved us all away.

Petra had somehow never heard of haggling before and absorbed it like a divine revelation as she walked and talked with Ashe.

"Give I my gratitude to you-letse. . . " she cursed in Brigidine for unintentionally lapsing into it's grammar. "I give you my gratitude, Ashe," she smiled after correcting herself.

"Not a problem," he said. "I'm used to this sort of thing."

"Ugh, I have already been discovering that to barter for prices here is. . . complex? Complicated. I have gratitude for this bargain, now the extra gold can be saved by my class for future missions. I have gratitude also for teaching the customs of Fódlanders to me."

"Eh, I wouldn't call it s custom, exactly. It's just a trick we commoners use to save money."

"Efficiency with money is a wonderful culture!"

"I promise you, it's really nothing special," Ashe smiled.

"But it is! As a mattering of fact, could you be sparing the time to assist me in procuring other supplies for my class? I would be having immense gratitude."

"Oh, um. . . would that be okay, Professor?" Ashe asked me.

"It's fine," I said. "I'll handle the rest."

Petra's face lit up. "I give my gratitude also to you, Professor Eisner!"

She then very excitedly grabbed Ashe's hand and rushed off with him. I noticed Ashe was blushing at the gesture but didn't object and the two of them quickly disappeared into the market crowd.

'Well now, encouraging affection between rival houses, are we?' Sothis grinned. 'And with a foreign princess no less. How touching.'

I snorted at that. 'Rival houses or not, in a few days time they'll all be sleeping in the same bivouac and standing in their first shield-wall together.'

Following Sothis' advice, I passively coached the cadets on their preparation tasks for the rest of the day and they actually surprised me by how much they were able to accomplish with minimal guidance. Felix still disdained Dimitri and Sylvain as expected, but didn't start any quarrels, either motivated to get their work done as smoothly as possible or to avoid pissing me off any further. Thanks to everyone's efficiency the class jumped ahead on our timeline and I allowed them to fully rest and recuperate for the evening after dinner. I couldn't quite tell if their new found efficiency was simply born out of a desire to redeem themselves in my eyes after the complete debacle that was the mock battle, for which they would still have to make up for, but it was a step in the right direction at least.

The sky was still bright and clear when dinner was finished so I decided to take a stroll to the fishing lake. It was called a "lake" but it was really just a dug-in reservoir, connected to the monastery aqueduct, that was also a fish farm. Fishing there was a popular pastime in the monastery, making for a nice quiet spot to collect my thoughts. As I walked to the edge of the small dock, I came upon none other than the academy's chief weapons instructor; Sir Jeritza von Hrym, a towering, blonde-haired man who wore an opera mask that covered his upper face, ostensibly to conceal scars.

"What?" He said in his deep Adrestian accent as I approached his side. "I desired fresh air."

"By all means, don't let me stop you," I dryly remarked.

"Indeed," he passively looked over the small lake. "It is plain that there is something on your mind, however."

"That obvious, huh? Well, if you care to hear, I do have some. . . concerns about my cadets."

"I suppose your concerns are regarding the tribune mission."

"If only that. I know this semester began literally yesterday, but I'm already questioning their ability to be soldiers, much less officers."

"Understandable. The mock battle was a pathetic display."

"But that's just it, there is something there. They do have individual talents, in spite of their horrendous weaknesses. I just wish I could understand the root cause that's holding them back."

"It's simple, they have no effective killer instinct. Especially Martritz, she's never so much as hurt a fly in her life," he said very matter-of-factly.

"Killer instinct?" I cocked my eyebrow. "But I've seen the Prince kill a man."

"His discipline is lacking. When faced with a difficult tactical situation, he made a reckless decision. The results speak for themselves. It rendered his instinct ineffective."

"That much I know, but how am I supposed to instill that in him? Or all of them for that matter."

"It cannot be taught. It can only be learned." He turned to me. "They can only learn it from combat. And killing."

He then walked away, leaving me with that thought.

'He does make a good point, cheerful as he may be,' Sothis said only half sarcastically.

'Am I looking at this the wrong way?' I thought half to myself. 'I can teach them to fight all day, but am I already having too much of a protective attitude that won't be conducive to acquiring killer instinct?'

'You can't really determine that yet, the mission hasn't even happened. But whether or not you will hinder them is entirely up to you.'

I was certainly going to hate what happened at Zanado.

During the War of Heroes, Saint Seiros proclaimed the Oghma mountains to be Fódlan's center of gravity; the source of power that provides moral or physical strength, freedom of action, or will to act. That was why Garreg Mach was built, to be the bastion of whoever wished to control the continent. The Oghmas thus remained the most coveted and valuable region for all of Fódlan's history. When the Imperial-Church army of Seiros and Wilhelm built their camp on the saddle that would become the monastery, they held the perfect ground to defend themselves and used the mountains to screen their movements. Nemesis and the Ten Elites never expected any army to come out of those seemingly impassible mountains, so when Seiros and Wilhelm did just that they achieved total surprise when they fell on the enemy in the Tailtean Plains and turned the tide of the war by killing Nemesis. When the War of the Eagle and Lion raged over 650 years later, the Imperial Army tried to use the same operational strategy against the rebelling Faerghians. Loog the Great anticipate their action, however, and drew them into a crushing trap in the very same plains, securing the independence of Faerghus. And when the Crescent Moon War tore the Holy Kingdom apart 130 years later, the Leicester Alliance secured the mountain range on their border and defeated the rival kingdoms through war of attrition.

Even in Imperial Year 1180, the Oghmas were the still strongest natural barrier between all three realms. That was why the Central Church Army held them as their command location, and the reason why they had a network of forts spread out across the mountains. But even the twenty-four forts couldn't exhaustively monitor the entire mountain range. A band of thieves could evade detection for a long time if they knew what they were doing, as such our task force maintained high alert posture the entire four-day journey to Fort Oghma-Epsilon.

Jeralt's Brigade, as it was now officially designated in Church records, was the primary unit of the mission, though it was not a full brigade yet. Thanks to the boon of Jeralt's reputation, his brigade had so far recruited enough men to form a full-strength battalion of four heavy infantry companies, one light infantry company, one archer company, and a mage platoon. The infantry companies were about a hundred men each and the archer company had eighty. The single cavalry troop was also recruited to full-strength as well, giving Jeralt over 600 soldiers, a hundred troopers, and thirty mages, over four times the men we had in Remire. Supporting Jeralt's Brigade on the mission was a cavalry reconnaissance squadron of 400 troopers under "Lady Death" Shamir Nevrand and 120-strong pegasus troop under Lady Caeda von Talys.

Jeralt's Brigade formed the main body of the force formation, marching in a tactical column with two platoons abreast. The battalion's mage sections marched at three points near the front, center, and rear of the column. The cadets marched in their own informal platoon at the center, where our three supply wagons were located. Two heavy companies each marched at the front and rear of the center while Jeralt personally led 'Omega Troop' in front of our infantry column, behind Shamir's cavalrymen. Shamir's squadron in turn screened the brigade's movement in diamond formation by troop. Shamir herself led Alpha Troop half-a-mile in front, Beta and Gamma Troops covered the flanks, and Delta Troop brought up the rear. Caeda's pegasus attachment, Rho Troop, provided aerial overwatch. Fortunately, there was no shortage of cloud cover in these mountains and Rho Troop used it to conceal their movements using the movement technique called 'cloud bounding' where one element would hover above a formation and the other element flew ahead to the nearest formation ,and so on. In all honesty, it all really was a textbook example of professional soldiering.

Of course, the cadets were too busy bitching to care.

"Ugh, I'm all sweaty," said Hilda. "Are we taking a break any time soon?"

"Come now, dear Hilda, nobles must display as much fortitude as the common men we lead into battle," Lorenz proudly said. "Although I certainly wouldn't say no to relieving some of our load to the supply train."

"I've got to admit, my feet are starting to hurt," said Ignatz.

"We're not reducing our load unless it's a health emergency, cadets," Manuela said somewhat sternly, though it sounded pretty half-assed to me.

"Let me take that, Lysithea, you look like you're dying," Raphael said as he snatched Lysithea's rucksack off her back.

"H-hey! Give it back, I carry it!" She desperately trying to pull it off of Raphael's shoulder.

"You almost tripped over a rock, take a break."

"No! I'm not a child!"

"Lysithea, please do everyone a favor and put a cork in it," Claude flatly said.

"You ever try not being a little brat, Lysithea?" said Leonie.

"Shut up!" she screeched.

"Please stop, you're giving me a damn headache, " Linhardt muttered.

"Cadets, remember we are on a mission, remain professional," said Manuela.

"I don't care if they're stealing, can we just stay home and. . . not fight?" Bernadetta whined.

'How did she ever get into the academy?' said Sothis.

"You're sweating profusely, Your Highness, are you sure you don't want me to carry your rucksack?" asked Hubert.

"I can handle it, Hubert," Edelgard grunted.

"Why, Your Highness, surely you can't be experiencing fatigue already, we still have four more days," Ferdinand smirked.

"You would be wise to stop talking, Ferdinand," Hubert glared daggers at him.

"Save it for the bandits you two," Edelgard said in an exasperated and near-breathless tone.

"Saving? What are we needing to save?" said Petra.

"It's a figure of speech."

"My shoulders are already killing me. . . " Annette moaned.

"Not so. . . sure about this," Mercedes huffed a breath in through the thin air.

"For crying out loud, it's not even midday," said Felix.

"Lay off of them, Felix," Ingrid scolded.

"Quit your damn bitching," I finally said. "We've got five days to reach the fort and you're not going to embarrass the Academy by constantly prattling like a bunch of spoiled brats."

"She's right, students, you must behave like future officers," said Hanneman.

An awkward silence fell over the cadet platoon.

'Heavenly Mother, I beseech a blessing of your tender patience to stop me from strangling these children. I mean it.'

'You really hate this job, don't you?' said Sothis.

I didn't know it yet, but I was certainly going to hate what was about to happen in Zanado.