As the days go by, Artoria and the others get more accustomed to their Teacher. Following a mock battle, they are given their first mission.
After being called to stay with him, I was very nervous as to what he might say, but to my surprise it wasn't anything bad. He actually wanted to help me.
He told me that he thinks I have potential based on our fight, but I don't use it at its fullest, so he proposed for us to train together. While I was still a bit down over how he managed to effortlesly beat me, I took his offer, as I need all the strength I can get.
However, our trainins couldn't start as a mock battle between all 3 houses were approaching and we had to prepare for it, but even with that, I didn't felt that it was all too hard to beat them. The mock battle was ceirtantly easy and the Black Eagles took a rather simple victory.
When the battle was over, I came searching for the professor next day so our training could begin, yet I couldn't find him anywhere. After asking Hubert, I found out he and Edelgard were called to Setheth's office for something, so I decided to go there and see what was going on.
"Your mission for this month will be subdue bandits that have taken control of an area close to the Monastery. While our students have combat trainings, this would be their first real battle, so this is the perfect chance for them to gain practical experience. The knights will acompany your class in case something goes wrong. Any... Oh, good morning miss Artoria" - Seteth said after he looked at me.
"Oh, hello! Sorry, didn't ment to interrupt, I just.." -
"It's fine, I was alredy done with the professor and Edelgard. Did you need anything?" -
"No, I was actually looking for the professor. He and I were supposed to start training together" -
"Right. Edelgard, Seteth, if you forgive me, I have to take care of this business" -
Professor Byleth took me by the shoulder and took me to the training grounds of the Academy. Fortunatly for us, today they were empty.
"First of all, we're going to start with 3 fights, 1 on 1, you against me. Whoever can throw down their opponent first wins" -
So it's just that? That's easy, it shouldn't be any problem.
"Alright, let's start, I'm ready!" -
"Come at me Artoria" -
Holding a wood sword, I launched a strike against his legs, but he quickly dodged and hit me so hard with his own sword I nearly lost balance.
A second strike was once again blocked but this time he didn't attacked me, he took two steps back and took a deffensive stance.
"What is he...? No, stay focused Artoria, all you need is one good hit and he goes down" - I said to myself before preparing to launch another attack.
A strike coming from above that he managed to perfectly block before kicking me to the ground.
"Round 1 goes to me, are you ready for the second one?" -
"Just start it alredy" -
I started faking a strike from the front but quickly moving to the back to catch him by surprise, but he caught onto this with no problem and protected himself.
"You're infuriating to fight professor" - I said as I took a few steps back, tried to think of any way I could gain the upper hand during the fight.
He didn't answered. Instead, he simply striked 3 times in quick succesion, with the first strike making me lose balance, the second drop my sword and the third fall to the ground.
"Don't talk during a fight, you'll lose focus and won't be able to concentrate" -
Before we could start the third round, one of the Knights of Seiros showed up, asking to speak to the professor.
"A training battle in the forest againt you? Very good, I'll search the rest of the Black Eagles" - I managed to listen a bit of the conversation.
"We're going to fight against the Knights of Seiros?" -
"A training battle before we go to fight the bandits. Join me, we're going to gather the rest of the Eagles" -
Together with the professor, we rounded up the rest of my class before heading to a forest near to do a little training battle. I was a bit annoyed that we couldn't finish our third round of battles, but this is ceirtantly way better.
As the Knights started to surround us, I felt something strage as I saw my classmates and teacher at my side, for a moment I wasn't able to see them. Instead, I saw a group of people wearing shining white armors, almost like... Knights surrounding me.
"Arty, is something wrong? You look like you saw a ghost" -
"Edel! No, sorry, I was just thinking about something" -
"Try to focus on the battle, you can think about other things when we're done" -
She's right, I can't be daydreaming in the middle of a battlefield, no matter how confusing and... Nice the visions were.
The Knights started to approach us while we took cover in the forest. Me and Edel shared looks before we started to climb on the trees to plan a surprise attack. At the end, it payed off.
We dropped over them while Hubert and another student with long brown hair and a fancy hat attacked them with magic. Our abilities combined managed to make it a rather quick fight, but they weren't the only ones.
Beyond the forest, there was a whole another group of them, led by a more experienced member of the group.
"We're not going to be able to get the drop on them this time, we'll have to fight face to face. Are you ready Arty?" -
"Always am Edel" -