Following the arrival of the new teacher for the Black Eagles, Artoria tries to get along with him, but problems quickly become apparent between the teacher and the student.

Our first class with the new teacher started.

Byleth Eisner... He looks a bit strange to me, like he doesn't know what he's doing or why he's supposed to be here. Oh well, I guess this is his first time teaching, he's going to get used to it.

Wondering more about him, I lean close to Edel so I can ask her - "Hey, Edel" -

"Arty?" -

"What do you know about him? Is he a good teacher?" -

"He's a mercenary, so he knows about strategies and he can help us use our weapons better, so I think he'll be a great help" -

So he's not a teacher... Well, it's too early to judge, I'll see how he fairs and then make up a judgment, but it's strange... Edelgard seems to be weirdly captivated by him. I need to find out what happened during that trip, because this isn't normal.

As the classes passed, I found out that while he's most ceirtantly not a teacher, he has a fairly good ammount of knowledge. He taught us different strategies on the battlefield and after that he took us to the training area of the Officers Academy.

"For our first day, I want to test the skills of you in battle, so I will be selecting students to have 1 on 1 fights against me, any volunteers?" -

"Me!" - I yelled almost immediatly, grabbing the teacher's attention.

"Artoria Pendragon was it? Very well, come over here" -

I grabbed an iron sword and he pulled his from his back.

I started, quickly trying to get the upper hand with a powerful slash ment to make his sword fall from his hands, but he blocked it with no problem and pushed me back. I guess you learn a thing or two being a mercenary.

"Reckless, I'll have a lot to teach you" - he said with his serious voice before attacking.

I'm embarrased to say this, but I wasn't able to proprerly react and it knocked me off balance, his speed was impressive and I barely managed to block a sword strike.

I got back up on my feet and tried to hit him on the knee to make him fall, but he dodged my hit like it was nothing before countering with a strike that nearly made my sword fall off my hand.

After I recovered my weapon, I tried to attack once more, this time planning to do a sneak attack. Pretending to hit from the front, but at the last moment quickly go behind him and strike there, perfect.

I got into position, ready and...

"Too slow!" -

SLASH!

He just... Stopped me.

I wasn't able to even move behind him, he simply hit me and my sword wnt flying as I fell to the ground.

"Your attempt was good, but you still lack the right techniques when it comes to fighting. Come see me later after classes are over Artoria" - he said as he helped me get up. I didn't said anything, not even looked him.

I just went to pick my sword and returned with the rest of my class.

In combats with other nobles, I nearly always came out on top in swordplay, only Edelgard had been capable of defeating me, and him... Did it with little to no effort...

I understimated him a lot, but it won't happen again.

"Next one, Edelgard von Hresvelg, please come forward" -

Edel's turn, let's see if she manages to beat him.

She picked up a sword and they both lunged at the same time, clashing their swords while trying to overpower the other.

Teacher launched a powerful strike, yet Edel dodged it and managed to make him lose balance with a well placed attack. She's impressive.

Byleth had to take a step back after that hit before continuing to fight Edelgard, who seemed to be capable of nearly perfectly matching his speed. Even I'm having problems keeping track of them...

Something's off...

I fought Edel several times, but she never showed this level of strength or speed before. Was she holding back all this time..? No, this is something else, but what...?

I continued to watch both of them fight, equal in speed and strength as their swords clashed, still wondering what happened to Edel for her to improve so much.

Come to think of it, we never fought after she returned from her time far away...

"You're pretty impressive Edelgard, it seems that you take your training very seriously" - Byleth said while putting his sword down.

"If I'm going to be the heir to the Adrestrian Empire, I need to know how to fight, don't you think professor?" - she answered.

"Well said Edelgard, I expect great thinks of you this year" -

"Same thing for you professor" -

They both shook hands and Edelgard walked closer to us, proud for being able to stand her ground against our teacher in a direct 1 on 1.

More of my classmate followed, though some refused to fight, like Hubert or a girl with purple hair who decided to simply stay watching.

However, nearly all who decided to fight were defeated by our teacher with his experience as a mercenary outclassing our own. Only a few were capable of standing against him, like a boy named Ferdinand. I think I've heard of him, he's the son of Duke Aegir.

Another one was a girl with pink hair and skin darker than ours who didn't kept up via strength, but rather agility and tricks, is she a commoner? Weird, I thought commoners were rare on the Black Eagles, I'll talk to her later.

After the training matches were over, we all returned to the classroom and continued with the normal lessons, with the teacher calling all of us one by one to ask us two subjects for us to train during the year. I myself decided to pick Swords and Reason.

I was having a good time during classes, but when they were over and I was getting ready to leave to my room, I heard the teacher calling me.

"Artoria, sit down with me for a second" -