Author's Notes:
Hello again. I'm not sure if anyone noticed, but a few weeks ago, I had changed the rating of this story from 'T' to 'M'. This was because I was not expecting to write anything that would require an M rating. However, as I'm planning out the rest of my story, I've concluded that there are some themes or scenes where a T rating is not sufficient. And so, the rating has been changed to M just to be safe.
That being said, there are portions in this chapter where I believe contain themes that justify an M rating. If you are extremely sensitive, I advise that you skip as many parts as needed.
With that, here's chapter 34:
Verdant Forest…
Robin was currently alone with the unconscious form of Virion in the medical tent. Cherche had gotten the message to Flavia, and their soldiers instantly rushed over to the shepherd's location. As per Robin's instructions, they set up a medical tent first so that Virion's healing process can begin while everyone else is finishing setting up camp.
There were very few problems so far, save for Brady's complaints about being left behind with Flavia and Say'ri. Maribelle had found out that he only could wield a healing staff, and had made the decision to not allow Brady to join them in the fight with the brigandes, much to Brady's chagrin. Although on the outside she seems to think her son is a hopeless cause, from her actions, Robin could tell that she does in fact care about his well being.
Robin sighed and refocused to the task at hand. Virion's life may not be in critical danger, but it would soon be if nothing was done about his arrow wound. He had harvested a decent amount of energy from the brigandes, and Robin honestly hoped that it would be enough. With a little luck, he may not even need to deplete his own life energy this time. The last time he tried something like that, he fell unconscious. Sure, he had saved Cordelia's life in the process, but if possible, Robin would prefer to not experience a repeat of that ordeal.
Robin thought about what he needed to do. Unfortunately, there was no right way to get a barbed poison arrow out of Virion's side without further injuring him. He just needed to be fast and instantly begin to heal the unconscious Sniper as soon as he pulled the arrow out.
Robin took a deep breath and removed the arrow from Virion's side as gently as he possibly could have. He began to channel, and immediately, he began the quintessence based healing process.
In the middle of his work, the medical tent flap flew open and in walked a noticeably anxious Cherche.
"I thought I told Chrom not to let anyone bother me when I was working?" Robin half joked, not bothering to look up from his work.
"I know." Cherche sighed. "But I was just so worried about him. Both me AND Minerva. I hadn't had the chance to see him since I left to go find Flavia. Chrom told me he understands how I feel. He figured it wouldn't be that big of a deal if I were the only one. It's not like there would be a crowd of people in the tent."
"Yeah, that's definitely true." Robin agreed as he put the finishing touches on mending the wound. He turned to face Cherche for the first time since she came into the tent. Robin could tell there were some tear stains on her face. "Although… I honestly didn't expect to see you here."
"And what is THAT supposed to mean?" Cherche frowned.
"I mean no offense." Robin hastily apologized. "But among everyone, I've always had the impression that you were the… coldest towards Virion. It almost seems like you're just tolerating him."
"Yeah, I don't blame you for thinking that." Cherche sighed and looked at the ground. She spoke again after a brief moment of silence. "Hey Robin?"
"Yes?" he immediately replied.
"Can you keep a secret?" Cherche asked quietly.
"Of course." Robin nodded.
"Well, here's the thing…" Cherche began. "Back before Virion fled to Ylisse due to Walhart's conquest, I was a maid serving under him. And after some time, I began to feel something towards him. He was a fair and a just ruler, and he actually is extremely productive when he puts his mind to it, which made him attractive in the eyes of many. But he would always display affection and utilize, as he calls it, flowery language on the female maids serving him. And because he gives out compliments so frequently, it's hard to guess what he's truly feeling. Believe it or not, he's proposed marriage to me in the past before."
"You're kidding." Robin stated, genuinely surprised by this revelation.
"Of course not!" Cherche smiled nervously. "But I always turned him down in the past, because I could never trust that he was seriously into me. I always tell myself that it's something that will pass in a week or two, and that I shouldn't get my hopes up. But after he spent some time with you and the shepherds, it's like he changed."
"Changed?" Robin asked. "He seems like the same guy we met two years ago if you ask me."
"No." Cherche shook her head. "None of you could possibly know Virion as well as I do. The changes may be subtle, but they were definitely there. When he asked me this time, I felt like I could actually believe his words. It wasn't just something he was saying just to flirt with me; Virion spoke from the heart that time."
"And so you agreed because you can trust him this time." Robin nodded. "I can completely understand that then. So I guess the attitude is just a facade to hide YOUR true feelings from him then?"
"Um… yes." Cherche replied. Robin could see her cheeks turning pink, which was a sight he had never actually seen before. "But if you tell anyone, I'll deny ever saying a word to you! In fact, I'll have Minerva hunt you down and tell the others it was an 'accident'."
Robin laughed at Cherche's rather weak threat. "Don't worry, it won't ever come to that. And besides… I'm not like Nowi. I don't really enjoy gossiping or spreading rumors around. You can trust me to keep a secret."
Around fifty meters away, a certain Manakete let out a sneeze, despite the temperature being rather high. This certainly confused Nowi, but she didn't let it bother her as she continued to play hide and seek.
Cherche let out a sigh. "All right, I'll take your word for it then. And since I'm here, could you tell me how Virion is doing?"
"He'll be fine." Robin smiled as he patted the unconscious Sniper on the shoulder. "I was able to remove the poison from his body, so all that's left is the actual wound made by the arrow. It's larger than normal due to the barbs on the tip of the arrow, but it's still well within the effective range of Maribelle and Lissa's healing capabilities. Speaking of which, could you go fetch one of them please? It's impractical for me to finish the healing process with quintessence if they could just do it with a mend staff."
"Yes, of course." Cherche immediately replied as she lifted the tent flap and prepared to go out. "Thank you, Robin."
Shortly after, Lissa came into the tent and relieved Robin of duty.
"Go on, Robin!" Lissa had told him. "Go have dinner! It's really good tonight!"
"You already ate?" Robin asked her in surprise. "That sure was fast. I'd think there was barely enough time to cook since we set up camp."
"No." Lissa giggled. "But it sure smells good. And Stahl is cooking, so it can't be very bad. He told me he'd save some for me once I finish up with Virion."
"Oh, all right then." Robin nodded. "I'm off. I'll leave Virion in your capable hands then."
"Don't worry about a thing!" Lissa assured the tactician as he left the medical tent.
As soon as Robin stepped outside, he could tell it was significantly darker than a couple hours ago. The air was beginning to cool for the evening, which he had to admit made it a pleasure to walk around outside. He slowly made his way towards the mess tent.
The mess tent, as usual, was extremely busy. After all, everyone would be feeling tired and hungry after marching an entire day. Robin chuckled to himself. This was just the mess tent for the shepherds. He could only imagine how packed it would be if they only had one mess tent for everyone, including all of Regna Ferox's soldiers as well. It would have to be a castle sized tent.
Thankfully, there wasn't a line anymore, as everyone was already in the middle of their first portions. Robin didn't have to wait for a single extra minute and walked directly up to the service window.
Stahl gave him a grin and served him a bowl of food. Robin smiled in return and left to go find somewhere to sit.
He saw Lucina sitting at a table with Brady and Cynthia. It made sense. They were close friends in their own timeline, and it was natural for them to want to catch up with one another after being separated for so long. Seeing as they were in the middle of a conversation, Robin decided to try and find somewhere else to sit.
When he saw his good friend indecisively look around the entire tent, Chrom decided to wave Robin over. Robin smiled at him in thanks, and walked over to sit down across from Chrom and Sumia, and next to Lon'qu.
"How's Virion?" Chrom asked as soon as Robin sat down.
"It's looking like he'll be fine." Robin told them, which caused the three others sitting at his table to sigh in relief. "Once Lissa's finished checking up on him, he'll be perfectly fine after a good rest."
"That's good to hear." Chrom nodded.
"Mmh." Lon'qu gave a rare smile as he also nodded in agreement.
"So…. Chrom." Robin gave his friend a mischievous grin as he began to dig into his food. "How are you feeling? I couldn't imagine what it would feel like to have a second child come back from the future to see you."
"Don't even get me started." Chrom groaned, as Sumia giggled to his side.
Suddenly, Chrom shivered in his seat.
"What's wrong?" Robin asked, noticing it.
"Nothing… I think." Chrom chuckled. "Someone must be saying things about me behind my back or something."
"I'm sure it's nothing." Robin grinned as he reassured his friend.
"I think that while Lucina definitely is more similar to her father, Cynthia definitely takes after me." Sumia said, returning back to their conversation.
"Yeah?" Robin chuckled.
"Makes sense." Lon'qu added. "Lucina fights with Chrom's weapon, while Cynthia became a Pegasus Knight."
"Actually, that reminds me." Sumia interjected. "Seeing her is kind of bittersweet, actually. More specifically, seeing her pegasus. It's… it's Nutmeg. She's older… much older, but I know it's definitely her."
"Really…" Robin genuinely said in surprise between a bite of his food.
"I talked with Cynthia earlier…" Sumia continued. "Just for a short while. Apparently, I had switched from a pegasus to a falicorn once I decided to pick up magic. Naturally, Nutmeg's species would get startled by magic, so I stopped using her as a mount in battle. When she decided to become a Pegasus Knight, Cynthia had insisted I let her claim Nutmeg, and so I did."
"So I guess Nutmeg… well… Nutmeg survived the future then?" Robin cautiously said.
"Yeah…" Sumia sighed. "Makes you wonder if I did something wrong to cause her to die in this timeline." she let out a nervous chuckle. "It's funny. In this timeline, Nutmeg was the one to die, and in the other one, I was the one to die. I wonder how Nutmeg feels through all of this."
"Yeah… that is definitely something worth thinking about…" Robin trailed off as he saw Lucina sneaking a look at him from her table behind Chrom and Sumia. This was not the first time he had noticed it tonight either. It was something she had been doing ever since he walked into the tent. At first, he paid it no mind, and chalked it off as a coincidence, but now he's beginning to think that it was anything but. At first, the glances seemed to project longingness, however, now it seemed like she was more embarrassed than anything else. Maybe she felt that way because she saw that he had noticed her. That must have been the reason.
Lon'qu noticed what Robin had been looking at and let out a chuckle.
"What's so funny?" Chrom asked. "It's rare for you to suddenly find something humorous."
"It's your daughter." Lon'qu said bluntly. "She keeps staring at him."
"Robin?" Chrom asked. "Which daughter?"
"Both of them." Lon'qu replied, causing the other three at the table to suddenly give him all their attention. This was news even to Robin, as he had only noticed Lucina. And this was definitely news to Chrom and Sumia, as they had their backs to their children.
"The eldest one seems to sneak a look twice as often." Lon'qu continued. "But make no mistake. The young one is also guilty. I'd bet good coin that they're talking about Robin as we speak."
"Chrom…" Sumia tugged at her husband's arm. "You don't think that they're BOTH into Robin, do you?"
Chrom's eyes widened at the thought. He gave his friend a glare. "No funny ideas, Robin…" he warned.
"No." Robin gave a nervous chuckle. "None at all."
With Lucina…
"Wow! That's so awesome!" Cynthia looked up at her elder sister with stars in her eyes. Like with Brady, she had just finished explaining what had happened in the war against Valm.
"So you saw it with your own eyes?" Cynthia pressed, placing her hands on the table and leaning close to Lucina.
"Mmhm…" Lucina nodded. "I swear, everything I told you is true! I participated in it after all!"
"Wow! It looks like everything you guys told me was true after all. It's so awesome!" Cynthia closed her eyes and swung her arms around excitedly, just like a child in a candy shop. She was the youngest of all the future children, and was just five years old when her father, as well as most of the other shepherds, died in that tragic battle. As a result, pretty much everything she knew about the shepherds were passed down to her in the form of stories by the other children.
"Calm down, Cynthia!" Brady scolded. "Yer gonna hit someone walkin' past ya!"
"S-sorry." Cynthia apologized sheepishly. "All this talk of heroics is making me too excited! And to think… if only I had found mom and dad instead of that creepy guy… I could have been a part of it too!"
"Well that's your own fault!" Lucina reprimanded. "How could you even believe for a second that someone else is father? You would think the Exalt of Ylisse cannot be confused for anyone else."
"Hey, give me a break!" Cynthia retorted. "Unlike you, I was only five when he died! I barely even remember what he looked like! And that guy DID look kind of like him…"
"Really?" Lucina frowned. "Come to think of it, I never got to see the person that tried to impersonate father."
"Yeah, they did look alike! I swear!" Cynthia exclaimed. "And to be honest, I really WANTED to believe I had found the right people. I was so fed up with wandering, that I convinced myself they really were the shepherds. In hindsight, it was really pretty obvious that they were a pack of brigandes and not Ylissean royalty." she scratched her head and grinned sheepishly.
"Did they at least treat you fairly?" Lucina asked. "They didn't force you to do anything… obscene?" Lucina was truly worried about her sister. Who knows what a pack of brigandes would do to a young girl such as Cynthia. These type of people weren't exactly known for their morals.
"Don't worry about it!" Cynthia reassured her. "If anyone tried it, I would have run my lance right through them!"
"But what if they jumped you while you were asleep?" Lucina asked. She was not surprised her sister knew what she was trying to get at. Even though Cynthia was really young and certainly acted her age, her mind had gone through so much stress in their timeline that it had caused her to mature extremely early… at least mentally. In fact, this could be said about most of the future children. "I couldn't even begin to imagine them doing something like that if it were me… It scares me."
"Ha!" Cynthia managed to let out a laugh. "You know my sleeping habits! I'd wake up if anyone tried to get within fifty feet of the tent!"
"So they DID try to sneak up on you!?" Lucina panicked. Cynthia seemed a little TOO carefree about all of this.
"Don't worry!" Cynthia told her again. "I tented with another woman, and 'Chrom' made sure the other men didn't bother us. She was supposed to be aunt Lissa, but I could tell she was always unhappy when I called her that. I guess that was another telltale sign…"
"If only you weren't so clueless…" Lucina deadpanned.
"That's not my fault!" Cynthia retorted. "YOU try remembering the faces of everyone from when you were five years old!"
"Cynthia 'as a point." Brady nodded begrudgingly. "I was seven, an' I still can't recognize many o' th' shepherds. Th' only ones I know for fact are m' Ma an' ol' Pops… an' I guess uncle Robin."
Just as Brady finished his sentence, Robin lifted the flap to the mess tent and walked in.
"Psst!" Cynthia leaned across the table to Lucina and Brady. "Who's that guy?"
"Who?" Lucina asked, turning around.
"That one!" Cynthia whispered, discreetly gesturing towards Robin. "The really cute guy with white hair that just walked in! He doesn't match the description of any of the others' parents!"
At this, Lucina felt her cheeks heat up. But because the attention at her table was not on her at the moment, no one noticed the pink on her face.
Brady turned around. "Aww, speak o' th' devil! We were just talkin' about him! That's uncle Robin!"
"THAT'S uncle Robin!?" Cynthia leaned towards Lucina in disbelief. "Wow… I guess I'm sorry for making fun of you in the past! The fact that you were so into him must mean you have really good taste!"
Lucina squirmed in her seat uncomfortably. Of course she had to bring it up. There was a moment of awkward silence between the three friends.
"So?" Cynthia grinned mischievously. "Are you gonna try and rope him in? Because if you're not going to try, then that means it's fine for me to make a pass right?"
"Cynthia!" Lucina protested, her face now a deep crimson color. "Stop it!"
"Well… to think the both of ya gots the hots for uncle Robin…" Brady shook his head. "Must run in th' family. If uncle Robin were an aunt, then maybe ol' Chrom would make an attempt as well!"
Cynthia laughed at Brady's joke, but Lucina was too embarrassed to feel humor at the moment. "Well? I was joking Lucy." Cynthia winked at her sister. "… sorta. But I know what you feel! You have to at least try and win him over!"
"She already 'as!" Brady grinned, finally letting Cynthia in on it. "They've been t'gether for a few days now!"
"Really!?" Cynthia exclaimed before leaning in to whisper to her friends. "Did you… have you two… kissed yet?"
Lucina looked down at her lap, unable to make eye contact or give a reply, giving the other two the answer they were looking for.
"Well congratulations sis!" Cynthia winked. "I really mean it this time! And I'll stop teasing you… for now."
Lucina grumbled something inaudible as she finished the rest of her dinner in relative silence.
Later that night…
It was already well into the night, and Robin had just been woken up by the same nightmare he'd had in the past. The dream felt so realistic, and Robin actually thought he killed Chrom before he woke up.
"Was it really me then?" Robin thought to himself. "Was I the one to betray Chrom in Lucina's timeline? I guess it's not impossible… but why would I do such a thing?"
He shook his head in order to attempt to clear it. "There's no need to jump to conclusions. Even if it did happen, it doesn't mean it will happen again. And there's always a chance that I'm wrong about this whole thing… But I shouldn't rely on that theory either. I need to make sure that I don't make that mistake again… assuming it was me in the first place. And just in case, I shouldn't tell anyone else about it either."
He sighed. Out of boredom, he took out his Hekseer to check it. Robin frowned at what he saw. Besides the shepherds, who were all clumped together, there were two icons that he could not account for. Both of them were a good distance away.
"Who could they be? Probably not our soldiers, that's for sure." Robin murmured to himself. "Better check it out, I guess."
With that, Robin put on his cloak and stealthily left his tent. He decided to do the reasonable thing and investigate the closer of the two people. In case it was an enemy, he made sure to take a roundabout path and to mask his movements as much as he possibly could. His efforts bore fruit, and he found himself approaching his target from behind.
The result was extremely unexpected. A man, one that Robin did not recognize, was sleeping. Robin took a good look. The man was wearing clothes that indicate he must have been from Plegia.
"Why is this guy here of all places?" Robin murmured to himself. "I thought Plegia didn't have people to spare… Should I kill him? Wake him up? No… there's a possibility that he's an ally… and there's also the possibility that he's a spy or something… if only there were some way of knowing what he is up to without alerting him to my presence…"
'There is…' a voice in his head seemed to whisper to him. It was kind of creepy and sounded like metal scraping against metal. The sound of the voice chilled Robin to the bone. 'There is…'
"Who-" Robin looked around, feeling quite startled. Suddenly, he felt an energy surging through his right arm and into his palm. A dark purple aura seemed to emanate from his hand.
'Touch him…' The voice urged him. 'Touch him…'
Robin, for the first time in a while, began to feel scared. But, he could not deny that he was also curious. He slowly reached forward with his right hand and placed it on the sleeping Plegian's forehead.
Immediately, Robin felt overwhelmed by a surge of information. The man's memories… he realized after a few moments. However, Robin was extremely inexperienced in whatever he was doing, and the overwhelming amount of information he was receiving began to cause him to have a migraine. He removed his hand and the other man's memories instantly disappeared.
'Focus…' the voice told him. 'Focus…'
"What?" Robin whispered aloud. "What does that mean?"
'What do you want? What do you want?'
"What do I want?" Robin whispered. "To… know what this guy is up to…"
A sudden realization hit him. He reached out once again and touched the man's forehead. The information began to seep over to Robin once again, but he only thought about what he desired to know from this man. Lo and behold, only the memories pertaining to what Robin was after materialized in front of his eyes.
Apparently, Validar, king of Plegia, had ordered this man to secretly tail the shepherds ever since they were at Carrion Isle. He had snuck onto one of the soldiers' ships and sailed over to Valm with the rest of them. His goal was to keep an eye on the Fire Emblem and the gemstones, because Validar had plans to steal it.
Once he was finished, Robin retracted his hand. The memories stopped flowing over.
"It's good that I found out." Robin mused to himself. "The question now is what do I do with him?"
The obvious answer, kill him, was rather tempting, but that would also inform Validar that his spy had been found out. No, the smart thing would be to pretend he never even noticed the spy. Perhaps he could even use it to his advantage.
Armed with this information, Robin left the spy alone and began to make his way over to the second icon. Realizing what the first person was caused him to be extra cautious. When he reached his target, he found a lone figure lying face down on the ground.
The figure stirred, and immediately reached for a hand axe that was strapped to his side. Robin simultaneously reached for his scythe, but before his weapon fully materialized, Robin stopped and recognized who it was.
The figure lying down also seemed to realize who had found him, and sighed in relief.
"Hey." Robin smiled. "I knew you couldn't have died that easily."
The man only grunted in reply.
"Honestly, I don't know how you did it." Robin admitted. "It's a miracle you were able to crawl your way this far. And I'm glad that you at least remembered what we had agreed upon too."
The man grunted again.
"Let me take a good look at those wounds." Robin squatted down next to him. "I may not be able to fully heal everything, but I think at this point, anything helps. Now listen to me while I heal you. Since you're supposed to be dead, I think there's a way to make the most of the situation. But it would require that everyone still believe you are in fact dead. Listen closely to everything I'm about to say…"
Robin began to whisper to the man his exact plans as he healed him. The man weakly nodded in response.
"There's not really a way for us to take you back without anyone else finding out. So here's what we'll do instead." Robin reached into his cloak and took out a bag of coins and placed it into the man's hand. "Try and purchase a ticket on a passenger vessel back to Ylisse. I'll add you on my Hekseer, so as long as I have it open, I would be able to talk to you discreetly, assuming you're within range. Until further notice, you'll have to stay in a remote Ylissean city, so that your identity is not revealed. I think the best option is Zhanbridge. I'll talk to Chrom, and we'll make sure to get you money and provisions while you hide. The war with Valm may be over, but now there's trouble brewing in Plegia. You may be a vital part in our success in the future."
The man grunted in thanks and to show that he understood.
"Good." Robin got up. "We'll keep in touch. I have to head back now."
With that, Robin made his way back to camp as discreetly as he possibly could.
He was surprised to see a lit campfire within the shepherds' camp when he returned. Upon getting closer, he realized it was Cynthia sitting by herself. With nothing better to do, he went and sat across from her.
"Oh hey, it's uncle Robin!" Cynthia greeted him. "I don't think I've introduced myself to you yet. I'm Cynthia, Lucina's sister."
"Yeah, that's what I heard." Robin chuckled. "What are you doing up this early?"
"Oh, me?" Cynthia giggled. "I'm a light sleeper. And my dad's snores really loudly."
"I didn't know that." Robin shrugged. "My condolences I guess."
"What about you?" Cynthia asked. "Why are you up so early?"
"I don't need as much sleep as everyone else." Robin explained. "And since I'm done sleeping, I have more time in the mornings to get other things done. I decided to take a walk in the immediate area."
"Wow, I didn't know that." Cynthia admitted. "They never said anything like that about you in the future. They told me a lot about you… they being my friends, of course. Especially Lucina. Everyone adored you, but Lucy adored you most of all."
"Really." Robin shook his head. "No matter how many times I hear it, I'm surprised every time."
"And it was SO clear she had a crush on you!" Cynthia laughed at the memories. "She'd try to hide it, but she's really bad at it. And every time we accused her, she would deny it profusely, but she was not fooling anyone. Her face was always red as a tomato! Yarne tells me that every single time you were brought up, her heart rate doubled."
"Yarne?" Robin asked.
"Oh, you must have not met him yet." Cynthia realized. "Yarne is Panne's son. He's a taguel."
"That makes sense then." Robin nodded. "Taguels have great senses."
"And Brady says you two are together now." Cynthia continued. "He usually is not the type to lie about these things, but I'd still like to hear it from you. Is that true?"
"Yeah." Robin admitted. "Yeah, it is."
"Wow, that's great!" Cynthia giggled in excitement. "That must make Lucy sooooo happy! But… there's something I have to tell you."
"And what is that?" Robin inquired.
"Do you actually like her?" Cynthia asked. "Like, you want to be in the relationship? Not just so that you don't hurt her feelings, or make father angry at you or something?"
"Yeah, of course I do." Robin replied instantly. "Why suddenly this?"
"Tell me, does Lucy seem… anxious or nervous around you at all?" Cynthia asked, her voice getting uncharacteristically quiet.
Robin thought for a moment. "Now that you mention it, yeah, I think she is."
"I thought that might be the case." Cynthia sighed. "That's probably because she's really really worried. She's worried that you'll lose interest in her or find someone better. And she probably also doesn't want to do anything that would make you mad or think less of her, even on accident. In short, she's most likely really happy to be with you, but is paranoid about you leaving her."
"Why?" Robin scoffed.
"You may not know." Cynthia continued. "But what everyone tells me is that in the future, you were a hero among heroes. People say that it was impossible for Ylisse to lose a war because the sharpness of father's sword combined with the sharpness of your mind was absolutely unbeatable. And there were women flocking towards you all the time. The workers in the castle, the noblewomen of the city, even the royals of other nations… they all have attempted to win your hand in marriage. But you always turned them all down. And THAT'S why Lucy is worried. At least, that's what I think. The noblewoman of Ylisse gave you the nickname 'Grandmaster of Ice'. She probably thinks that it can't be THAT easy to really hold onto you."
"I guess that would make sense." Robin sighed. "My actions in the future, at least. With a reputation like that, I don't think anyone would have been offering because they truly loved me. They probably just loved my reputation."
"Yeah, but you know Lucy will probably not see it that way. I think that she thinks you just have impossibly high standards." Cynthia said. "So I have a favor to ask of you. Could you make sure to stay with her? If you ever decided to leave, it would actually break her heart."
"Yeah. I don't intend to leave." Robin cupped his forehead with one hand and stopped to think for a moment. "You're awfully mature for a… what are you? Fifteen? Fourteen?"
"Thirteen, actually." Cynthia corrected. "And maybe that's the case, but I've also been fighting for my life since I was around ten years old. If that ever happens, I'm basically forced to grow up even if I don't want to. The alternative is just to die."
"Yes, I keep forgetting." Robin tilted his head. "Your future was a brutal place to live in."
"But we got through it." Cynthia smiled. "And so the hard part is over, right? We just need to stop it from happening again! It'll be easy since all of you shepherds are still alive! We can accomplish just about anything!"
"I'm glad you're so optimistic." Robin chuckled.
"And actually, I have to also give you my thanks." Cynthia smiled. "My mother used to tell me the reason she trained me to be a Pegasus Knight was because of your suggestion. And I LOVE being a Pegasus Knight! She says I probably would have ended up learning to fight with a sword or something, but you convinced her to let me learn how to fly a pegasus. So thank you thank you thank you!"
"Uh…" Robin replied sheepishly. "Technically I wasn't the person to do that, so there's really no need for thanks."
"Yes, but I can't thank the Robin from my timeline, so you'll have to do." Cynthia grinned.
"I guess I'll accept the thanks in his stead then." Robin chuckled.
"Well," Cynthia said as she got up. "Although I don't really feel that I need it anymore, I should really go back and try to sleep a little bit more. Otherwise I'll be really tired tomorrow. Is it all right if I don't put out the fire?"
"Yeah, I'll watch it for you." Robin told her.
"Great!" Cynthia waved goodbye to him as she walked back towards her parents' tent. Robin watched her leave until she disappeared back into the tent.
"All of this is so crazy…" Robin chuckled to himself as he pulled out a book from the astral plane and began to read.
The Next Day…
Robin managed to isolate Chrom during breakfast and inform him of what he had discovered the previous night. Chrom was initially shocked, but calmed down when Robin told him he had a plan. The two of them agreed that it was something that could potentially turn the tables in the upcoming conflict with Plegia… assuming Robin's visions meant anything. And if they were wrong, then they weren't really losing all that much either.
After everyone had eaten and packed up, the shepherds hit the road once again. They laid some blankets down in the back of a carriage and gently placed Virion on his back over them. He was still in the process of recovery, and so there was no need to try and make him walk the entire day. The man was barely conscious after all. His body was in the middle of fighting off a poison wound, along with the fevers and other nastiness that it brought with it.
Robin, as per the new norm, held onto Lucina's hand as they marched, joking and laughing with the rest of the shepherds as they did so.
"Assuming nothing else goes wrong, we should be able to reach Virion's place by nightfall." Robin said during the conversation.
"You weren't supposed to say that." Libra chuckled. "Now something is bound to happen."
"Wow, I never realized priests were allowed to be superstitious." Anna giggled. It still hurt for her to see Lucina being so close to Robin, but by now she was able to hide it relatively well. The other shepherds, besides Lucina and Say'ri, hadn't suspected a thing.
"Of course he's a bad priest!" Nowi exclaimed. "He's going to marry THARJA of all people."
"What's THAT supposed to mean?" Tharja fumed. She usually thought it was pointless to participate in these conversations, but Nowi had forced her hand. "Now listen here, you little troglodyte. Say one more bad thing about Libra, and I'll turn you into a newt."
"Uh oh!" Nowi mocked. "Tharja's been taking lessons in language from Maribelle recently!"
"Who knew? Tharja actually has a heart!" Anna laughed. While she was doing so, she didn't realize that everyone had stopped marching and walked right into the back of Robin.
"Hey!" the redhead exclaimed.
"Oh, sorry Anna." Robin turned around and apologized immediately.
"Oh, no, no!" Anna shook her hands frantically. "It was an accident! And if anything, I'm sorry for not looking at where I was going!" she stepped to the side to look in front of Robin and the others. "So why have we stopped?"
"Something is up." Robin replied. "Chrom is making his way over to discuss something with us, I think."
"Robin, bad news." As if on cue, Chrom approached them, or rather Robin specifically. "Frederick has reported that he saw some slavers up ahead. Of course, we may be able to help the victims, but we'll have to hurry."
At this revelation, Anna paled in the face slightly. "R-robin… we're going to help them… right?"
Although Anna hated to do anything unless she was getting paid, her last encounter with slavers have gotten her thinking that maybe there were things she SHOULD do, even if there was no coin involved. Once in a while, she'd wake up from a nightmare about what would have happened to her had the shepherds not saved her, and it was something she'd not wish upon any girl.
"Of course." Robin said with determination. "If there's someone in trouble, we help them. That's something I've learned from my good buddy Chrom over here." He gave the Exalt a nod of acknowledgement. "But Chrom is also right. We'll have to hurry."
"Or…" Tharja purred. "We could just stay here and let me work on it. A curse to wither them away perhaps? A slow death over a year? Oh fie, let's make it two."
"I think the captives would probably prefer something a little more immediate." Chrom told her cautiously.
"Yeah, yeah," Tharja grumbled. "This is what I get for attempting to make a joke. Whatever."
"Maybe your humor still needs just a bit more work, love." Libra chuckled.
"Shepherds! We have to save the captives!" Chrom informed everyone else in a loud voice. "Let's move out!"
The shepherds began to head in the direction of some nearby warehouses, where Frederick had spotted the slavers going towards.
A Short Distance Away…
Ezra was a wanted man. He and his followers were engaged in the illegal act of sex trafficking within the region. Simply put, he and his men would find young, vulnerable, and preferably beautiful girls, kidnap them, and hand them over to the black market auctioneers. They are paid a small amount for each girl they bring in that is deemed to have some sale value, as well as a small portion of the final bid for each girl.
Although extremely illegal, it certainly paid well. The rich noblemen that buy the slaves off the black market obviously wouldn't sell out the people supplying them with their endless supply of human toys to play with. And with how deep their pockets were, it was no surprise that human trafficking was a ludicrously well paying job… so long as you don't get caught. But with the recent defeat of the Valmese Empire, there weren't exactly many law enforcing entities patrolling the continent anymore, allowing such heinous activities to prosper. Still, it's much safer to go after young women with few or no connections in order to create as small of a disturbance as possible. A homeless girl or a new widow made prime targets, while wealthy noblewomen with large families are much riskier. Ezra would have to get paid an extremely large bounty to go after those targets.
With these concepts in mind, it was easy to see why he and his men were currently tailing a meek young girl with short blonde hair. A couple of his men overheard her asking around a tavern in town and sneakily followed her while sending a runner back to alert Ezra of a prime new target. They stalked the girl for about an hour after she left town in order to make sure no one was around to witness them. In that hour, Ezra had plenty of time to observe their prey. He had to admit, she was a pretty good catch. The amount they'll get paid from her sale price would probably be a significant portion higher than usual. He'd have to remember to give the ones who found her a bonus after the mission.
"Roman!" Ezra whispered.
"Yes, boss!" A large, muscular man with a scar across his left eye instantly rushed to Ezra's side.
"I think we're in the clear now." Ezra nodded. "Let's rake in our prize."
"Yessir!" Roman laughed as he motioned for two of his underlings to follow him. The four men rushed forward from their hiding place and surrounded the young girl.
"All alone, are you lamb?" Ezra cackled. "Off searching for dear old mum? How sweet. But the world's a dangerous place, my dear. Full of dangerous wolves ready to snatch you up."
"U-um…" The young girl began to stammer. "Th-thank you for the warning, sir… b-but…"
"That was no warning, lamb." Ezra smirked. "I'm a wolf, and you've been snatched! Now come quietly. Scars tend to lower the sale price. Roman!"
The large man led the other two in subduing the young girl. They clamped a damp towel over her mouth to muffle her cries for help, and after a brief struggle, Roman hit the girl over the head, knocking her out.
"Good work, boys." Ezra sighed in satisfaction. "Let's take her to the warehouses. Put her with the others. I have some other business to attend to before the next meeting with the clients. As usual, check the surroundings to make sure we weren't spotted. I'll head off first."
"You got it boss!" Roman grunted as he threw the knocked out girl over his shoulder like a sack of flour.
"Shall we make a round, Roman?" One of his henchmen asked.
"Ezra is just being too cautious." Roman replied. "Don't worry about it. There's no one out here. Let's just head back to base."
"Sounds good." His men nodded and followed him.
Roman and his men headed off feeling quite confident that they had not been spotted by anyone. Unfortunately, their confidence was slightly misplaced.
With Noire… (Warning)
Noire was having a bad day. She had wandered into town earlier today and asked around at the tavern for any news of her parents. Like usual, she didn't gain anything from it. What's more, she only attracted some unwanted attention. After being jumped far away from town, her memory went hazy.
In fact, she had been knocked unconscious by her attackers. She didn't wake up until she was thrown onto the cold, hard floor of one of the slave warehouses.
"Oof!" she grunted. Due to not being awake, she hadn't attempted to use her arms or legs to catch herself, and had landed extremely hard on her side. Not that it would have helped, because her wrists were currently bound together behind her back. When her vision returned, Noire found herself looking at dozens of minimally clothed young women, all chained together as they huddled on the warehouse floor. Upon closer inspection, Noire found that many of them had bruises on their faces and legs. They all looked at the guards with absolute fear in their eyes. Not a good sign.
"Fine catch ya got there, Roman!" A guard called. "I knew there's a reason you're our second in command!"
"Of course, Damien." The large muscular man boasted. "But you can tell me exactly how great I am later. Right now, Ezra is meeting with a couple of clients in warehouse one. The clients want to 'sample the wares'. Take two o' the better ones and hand them over to him. Don't mess this one up. It could influence how much we get paid this time."
"Yessir!" Damien immediately turned to some of his own underlings. "Hey you chumps! Unchain numbers fourteen and twenty three and bring 'em to me! The boss needs their help in negotiations! Also, chain the new girl to the line as well. She's number forty nine."
There were a couple of calls of affirmation as a few other men hurried over. Noire was dragged to her feet and shoved towards the other hostages. The shackles binding her wrists behind her back were locked into a larger chain that was attached to the floor, as well as the other hostages. The man kicked Noire in the stomach after he had secured her bindings, then kicked the girls locked up right next to her for good measure. The force behind the kick would have caused Noire to vomit up her lunch, but she was saved by the fact that she hadn't had anything to eat in the past few days. The victims let out a quiet whimper of pain, but did not otherwise complain.
She saw the other men drag away two protesting women. The lucky one was being pulled along by a chain attached to the collar around her neck, while the second woman was just being dragged by her hair. She was crying from the pain, but the guards didn't seem to care at all.
"Where are they...?" Noire quietly whispered to herself, voicing an extremely obvious question out loud.
"They're being taken away to do unspeakable things." A brunette near Noire whispered to her, answering her question. She seemed like she was much older than most of the other girls, but was still an attractive looking woman. "They usually never return. If the slavers' clients like what they see, they're instantly taken away to be sold. Otherwise, they don't have much value and are killed on the spot."
"K-killed!?" Noire whimpered.
"Yeah…" The brunette sighed. "It'll happen to all of us eventually. We've lost hope of ever being rescued a long time ago. These guys are too good at what they do. The best you can probably hope for is to die from sickness or disease before they come for you at this point."
As shocking as it sounded, it also kind of made sense to Noire. And this woman was clearly a leader of sorts among the captured women. She at least retained some shred of confidence in the way she talked.
"I think I understand now." Noire sighed. "Thanks… er…"
"Kayla." The brunette let out a pained smile. "Although… don't bother. I haven't been called that in months… maybe even a year or two by now. I'm just known as 'number four' now. That's all these monsters ever call me."
'She's been here that long?' Noire thought to herself. 'What am I going to do?'
"Hey!" A nearby guard yelled. "Shut it, you wench!" he walked over and gave Kayla a hard smack across the cheek, leaving a stinging handprint across her cheek.
Kayla immediately lowered her head. "I-i'm sorry. It won't happen again."
"Naw, that ain't gonna cut it!" Another voice, one that Noire heard earlier exclaimed. Another guard, Damien, began to saunter over.
Upon seeing this guard head towards her, Kayla's eyes widened in panic. Even though her hands were bound behind her back, she attempted to prostrate herself. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please!" she began to frantically beg. "I promise it won't happen again! Please, forgive me!"
"Naw, I have to make sure you bitches learn a lesson." Damien laughed as he pulled Kayla up onto her knees by her hair. "How're they supposed to learn a lesson if you don't administer the appropriate punishment? They ain't gonna learn a thing if ya hit them with an open hand."
Damien proceeded to slam his fist into the side of Kaya's face. He punched her a couple more times as she pleaded for mercy, then kicked her in the stomach and legs a couple of times for good measure.
"Watch and learn, boys." Damien told the other guards in the warehouse. He then sauntered back over to his post, leaving Kayla a crying, whimpering mess on the floor.
Noire felt her mind go numb at the sight. 'Naga… please help me…' she silently begged.
With The Shepherds…
The shepherds had followed Frederick's lead and eventually were led to a couple of abandoned looking warehouses.
"What's the situation like, Robin?" Chrom asked.
"There are many hostiles we'll need to take out." Robin replied after a check on his Hekseer. "It looks like there are a bunch of hostages being held in that building over there." he pointed to a building towards their right.
"So we'll need to take out all the slavers and save the hostages at the same time." Chrom surmised.
"Correct." Robin nodded. "So once again, we'll split up. I'll take a team and head towards the hostages, while you take another and aim to eliminate the slavers on our left hand side."
"Always giving me the easier job, aren't you?" Chrom half joked.
"It might be more straightforward, but it's equally as important." Robin smirked.
"Yeah, I know." Chrom chuckled. "Just hurry up and divide the teams."
A few of the nearby shepherds rolled their eyes. A couple of years ago, Chrom would be racking his brains, trying to think of a good way to get the job done. Now with the addition of Robin, he seems more carefree than ever. He asked Robin about dividing the shepherds up in the same way he'd ask a third party to divide the teams for a friendly football game.
Moments later, after Robin had assigned the appropriate personnel to each group, the shepherds hastily began their rescue operation.
Chrom led his group in his attack on the slavers to the leftmost warehouse. As Robin had told them, these slavers were mostly on horseback. Stahl and Sully led the charge, and rushed into the slavers' ranks to cause some chaos. Frederick and Chrom followed their lead.
"Protect Ezra and the clients!" Chrom heard one of the enemy Paladins call. "This is not a drill! This is not a drill!"
"Shut it!" Gaius yelled as he leapt up and stabbed the man with his knife right in the jugular. The Paladin fell off his horse, very much dead. "And I thought I had an unsavory profession."
Nearby, Kellam slammed his shield into a Bow Knight, snapping the bow he was about to fire with, and knocking the man off his horse. This gave Say'ri an easy target to kill, and she slashed the man to death before he got the chance to get back up.
"Oi, Gregor remember you!" Gregor exclaimed as he locked weapons with a Paladin. "Gregor work with you before! For questionable employer, yes? Yes, Gregor remembering now! Shame you chose wrong path, Gregor now help you set things right!"
With that, Gregor reached up and grabbed the collar of the man with his free hand. He dragged the man off his horse and brought his steel axe down on the man's chest, killing him instantly.
Lucina darted around the field with Anna, killing one enemy after another. She felt utterly disgusted by the men they were fighting, and it certainly showed. On top of that, she had been separated from Robin in this operation, which put her in even more of a foul mood, much to the chagrin of her opponents.
Anna followed her around, being one of the few shepherds that could actually keep up with the future princess. She mostly helped kill off any targets that Lucina wasn't able to defeat instantly, and watched Lucina's back against ranged opponents. Even though they had previously been rivals in terms of winning over Robin's affections, she had to admit that they worked together well enough.
Nearby, Panne and Donnel worked as a team to lay out the bodies of as many opponents as they possibly could. Panne went around kicking the opponent's horses, making rider after rider fall from their mounts. Donnel was on cleanup duty, and killed all the slavers while they were still down.
"Yeehaw!" The farm boy exclaimed. "Just like harvestin' time back on th' farm!"
"Don't get too ahead of yourself!" Libra called as he stayed behind most of the others. He was the only healer in this group, so he couldn't afford to take any unnecessary risks.
Soon, all of the slavers guarding the entrance of the warehouse were wiped out.
"Come on, there might still be more of them inside!" Chrom exclaimed as he led his group into the warehouse.
Inside, they found Ezra, the remains of his forces, as well as two shady looking men. Ezra's men looked like they weren't about to throw down their weapons without a fight. There was also the bodies of two naked women lying lifeless on the floor.
"Give up now." Chrom told Ezra bluntly. "If you value your lives at all."
"Give up? Give up!?" Ezra cackled. "Oh you are sorely mistaken! There's no way I, Ezra the great mastermind, would just give myself up in order to rot away in a jail cell for the rest of my life. In fact, I actually see this as a fantastic opportunity." The man had the audacity to lick his chops.
"You have a few fine women among your lineup." Ezra smirked as he gave Anna, Lucina and Say'ri a once over. "Perhaps I'll claim them as well after I roll your sorry heads onto the floor."
The women in question clenched their teeth in rage and disgust, but Chrom spoke up for them.
"In your dreams, villain!" The exalt drew Falchion. "The only heads that will be rolling across the floor will belong to you and your men! Face reality, there's no way the rest of your men can take us on."
"You might be right about that one." Ezra cackled. "But you are also a little too arrogant. Did you think these were all the people I have left? No, these are only half my men. I sent a messenger as soon as the fight started. He should already be on his way back with reinforcements by now. And in case you haven't noticed, you're in a prime position to be trapped between us and our reinforcements. Give it up, for you can't outclass the mastermind. So I'll give you another offer. Lay down your weapons, offer up your women, and we'll let the rest of you off easy. How's that for an offer?"
"Why you-" Anna looked like she was about to step up and strike the man with her Levin Sword, but Chrom put up a hand and stopped her.
"That's right, now that brain of yours is finally beginning to turn." Ezra cackled. "I knew you could listen to reason!"
Chrom, in response, began to laugh. "Gaius, you can come out now!"
"Yessir!" Gaius dropped down from one of the wooden beams stretching overhead. "One head, as ordered." He was holding the head of someone by the hair in his hand. He let it drop to the floor.
"I believe you said something about heads rolling?" Chrom made eye contact with Ezra. "By chance, could this have been the messenger you were talking about?"
The panic setting into Ezra's eyes told Chrom and the shepherds everything.
"You are equally, if not more arrogant than I, it would seem." Chrom continued. "Because these are also not all of my allies. And you aren't fit to be called a mastermind. The only person I know that can be given that title happens to be leading the rest of our forces against your 'reinforcements' as we speak."
"Why you-" Ezra shrieked, his voice audibly higher than usual. "Kill them! Kill them all!"
"Shepherds! Don't leave a single aggressor alive!" Chrom ordered as he pointed Falchion forward. The remaining forces of Ezra began to clash with Chrom and his group inside the warehouse.
With Noire…
Noire had been stuck on the warehouse floor for several hours now. Eventually, the guards brought over some food for the slaves. They put a feeding trough out in front of the slaves and dumped some slop into it.
Some of the women refused to eat, which was understandable. The food they had been given was the same as what a farmer would feed their pigs. However, Noire was feeling so hungry at the moment that she couldn't help herself. She dragged herself over, reached her head over and began to eat. She was not alone, either. A few of the others also did the same, albeit reluctantly.
Noire began to choke down bite after bite of the food, despite how disgusted she was by it. However, after not having anything for such a long time, this could still be considered better than nothing.
After she had ate enough to not be starving anymore, Noire did the reasonable thing and refused to eat anymore of the disgusting slop. She turned around and saw that most of the other girls had chosen not to eat anything.
"They're not gonna…" Noire began.
"They're either not hungry enough, or trying to starve themselves to death." Kayla explained. "It's a shame you can't do that. I've tried it before myself. But you get to a point where you're so hungry that even this stuff looks good. And if you do get to the point where you almost die, they force feed it to you. That's an even worse experience. Let's just say that there's no good reason to starve yourself, even if the food is disgusting. For your sake, you should eat whenever you're hungry."
Noire was only kind of listening. She was more focused on the guards, who had begun to mobilize. They looked as if they were almost panicking.
"What's happening?" Noire asked.
"I… I don't know." Kayla admitted. "I've never seen them like this before."
"I hear some commotion outside." One of the younger girls next to them said. "Are we… do you think we're being rescued?"
"Maybe…" Kayla tried to listen closely herself. "Something is definitely happening. But I wouldn't get your hopes up just yet. It'll just hurt even more when we realize that's not what is happening."
The guard known as Damien was ordering some of the others around. "Get your weapons ready! I need everyone outside RIGHT NOW!"
He was interrupted by the large man, Roman, who grabbed Damien by the collar. "This is bad. Dispose of all of them. Then we can escape with the boys that are still alive."
"All of them!?" Damien asked in surprise.
"Did I stutter?" Roman frowned.
"N-no, sir. It's just… that's so much money we're wasting…" Damien replied sullenly.
"Aye, I hear ya." Roman nodded. "But we can always kidnap more of them. It's a risk to all of us if any of them are saved. They might leak some of our sensitive information. We'll hold them off for as long as we can, but I need you to go around and silence all of them."
"All right, all right, I'll listen to ya." Damien sighed. "What a shame."
Roman then let Damien go. He picked up his killer axe and turned around to fight off their new enemies.
"Well then." Damien turned around and pulled out a dagger from his belt. He had an evil smirk on his face. "It seems I've got some trash to take care of. It's been so long since this assassin's blade has seen blood. I'm going to thoroughly enjoy this."
Most of the slaves turned pale in the face as he slowly made his way over. He started from one side of the room, and began to slash them to death one by one.
"Why does this happen to me!?" Noire whimpered. She was on the far side of the room, but that doesn't mean that Damien will not make his way over in time. "Please, Naga… what did I do to deserve this?"
With Robin…
"We have to hurry!" Robin urged the rest of his group. "We don't have as many people who can take a hit, so everyone also needs to be extra careful. The opponents are all fliers, so mages get your wind tomes ready."
Sure enough, as they approached the warehouse that stored all of the slaves, they saw some Griffon Riders and Dark Fliers sitting around the entrance.
"Nowi, Lady Tiki, whenever you're ready." Robin whispered.
The two manaketes made eye contact with one another and shapeshifted. They each sent a blast of their fiery breath at their opponents, startling them all and causing them to try and get airborne.
That was a severe mistake. As soon as they all took flight, Robin gave another signal and the mages all sent a wave of wind magic at their opponents simultaneously. Rexcalibur from Ricken, Miriel and Maribelle, while Robin, Sumia, Tharja and Henry threw out Arcwind. The blades of wind rushed forward, and shredded the wings of most of the fliers, sending the majority of the slavers careening towards the ground.
After their initial attack, Cherche, Cordelia and Cynthia rushed forward and began to engage in some of the surviving fliers. Sumia put away her tome and took out her silver lance and joined the fray.
Through all the distraction her allies were able to create, Olivia managed to sneak in closer. She hid in the tall grass, which was not too difficult for the petite pinkette to do. She took airm with her bow at any flier close enough, and began to shoot them down. She tried to focus on enemies that were focused on her own allies, but not the ones too close to her friends in order to avoid friendly fire. As a result, Olivia managed to hit and shoot down some of the more fragile Dark Fliers.
A Griffon Rider seemed to take notice of Olivia and changed direction. He began to dive towards the assassin with his axe raised. At first, Olivia pretended to not notice, but as the Griffon Rider drew close, she instantly ducked and tumbled out of the way. The Griffon Rider didn't manage to hit anything, but while he was near the ground, Lon'qu jumped out and slashed him right off his mount.
"Thanks!" Olivia called out as she removed two more arrows from her quiver. She bit down on the shaft of one of the arrows in order to free both her hands to fire the other. As soon as she fired, Olivia took the arrow from her mouth in order to shoot a second arrow extremely fast. She then repeated the process. Any flier that tried to attack Olivia was killed by Lon'qu, who was always lurking near her.
As their opponents fell one by one, Robin's group began to inch forward. Soon they killed all of the fliers, and their group gathered in front of the warehouse.
"My, my." A large, muscular Berserker said as he stepped out. "You all sure move fast. What a shame, I was hoping I could save a few more of my brothers. Guess I underestimated you lot."
"Who are you?" Robin asked.
"I'm Roman, and I'm the second in command here." the Berserker introduced himself. "And you're not getting an inch further."
"Don't be ridiculous." Robin scoffed. "You can't stop all of us."
"Try me." Roman lifted his axe. "Even if I go down, I'm taking a couple of you with me."
"Lon'qu." Robin called. The swordmaster instantly was at his side. "Take him on. Keep him busy while our mages wittle him down from a distance. That man is dangerous."
"What? You scared?" Roman taunted. "Can't fight me in an even fight with that little toy sword of yours?"
"There's simply no need for us to take any risks." Robin chuckled. "We hold all the chips in this situation, there's no reason for us to do anything dangerous for the sake of pride."
With that, Lon'qu stepped forward and brandished his sword. Much to Robin's word, Lon'qu simply darted around, dodging all of Roman's swings. In the meantime, Miriel, Tharja and Henry threw spell after spell at the enemy Berserker whenever there was some space between him and Lon'qu.
This gave Robin some time to check the Hekseer. The fact that Roman would so diligently guard the entrance was triggering some alarms in his head.
The results almost made him throw up.
"What's wrong?" Lissa asked in worry as she saw Robin's reaction. Usually, Robin wasn't so easily revolted.
"They're being slaughtered." Robin said plainly. "Probably to prevent them from telling us anything of value."
"WHAT!?" Lissa exclaimed. "That's… that's inhumane!"
Robin wordlessly pulled out his scythe. His eyes were glowing once again. It was a look Lissa had not seen in a while, but certainly remembered.
"Finish things out here." Robin commanded. "I'll go on ahead."
Robin began to run past Roman, but the Berserker was intent on stopping him.
"Not so fast!" Roman exclaimed as he swung at Robin horizontally. There was no way for Robin to move towards the warehouse and dodge the swipe at the same time. Or at least, with the way he swung, there should've been no way. But, to the surprise of everyone, Robin didn't even attempt to dodge the swing. He simply blinked out of existence for a split second, and reappeared a few meters in the direction he was running in.
"What the-?" Roman asked in confusion. His eyes couldn't comprehend what had happened.
Unfortunately for the shepherds, they didn't expect it either. As such, they lost a valuable opportunity to kill Roman while he was distracted. Lon'qu was the first to recollect himself, and slashed his killing edge across Roman's arm.
"He's not your opponent." Lon'qu stated.
Roman gritted his teeth, but he didn't have the luxury of going after Robin at the time. He reluctantly re-engaged Lon'qu and the other shepherds.
Robin, in the meantime, didn't have anything on his mind other than killing the Assassin inside the warehouse. Damien realized something was wrong, and turned around to see an absolutely furious Robin barreling towards him.
"Stop right there!" Damien snarled as he hid behind his next victim. He pressed his blade against the whimpering girl's neck. "Not one step closer or the girl gets it!"
Damien was hoping that it would cause Robin to stop. Then he could attempt to coerce Robin into dropping his weapon, only to kill him from a distance with his throwing knife. However, Robin didn't even care. The last thing Damien saw was Robin running towards him, before he suddenly blinked out of existence.
Robin had seemingly teleported a short distance and placed himself right behind Damien.
"People like you do not deserve to live." Robin told him coldly. He grasped the back of Damien's head with his left hand and immediately began to channel energy into his palm. The blast of energy that ensued blew through Damien's skull, spewing blood, pieces of his skull, and his brain several meters away. The rest of Damien's body fell limp to the ground when Robin let go of him.
The remaining slaves that were still alive were somewhat relieved that their assailant had been killed, but they also couldn't shake the uncertainty in their hearts. After all, if this new person was a part of another slaving organization, then they might find themselves in even worse shape. They trembled in fear at Robin, especially since he had a menacing expression and glowing eyes.
Robin seemed to understand this, though. He quickly tried to calm them down. "Don't worry, we'll get you out of here safely. I just need everyone to cooperate with me."
The slaves nodded numbly. At around this time, the rest of the shepherds walked through the entrance of the warehouse.
"That man was a tough one." Lissa reported. "He just didn't want to stay down. But we made sure to deal with him as quickly as possible."
"Good." Robin smiled. "Olivia, would you be so kind? These ladies would surely appreciate it if you could unchain them. And after that, their bruises look like they could use some attention. We have plenty of time, so healers please focus on treating all of them."
"Yeah, no problem!" The pinkette immediately pulled out the set of lockpicks Gaius had gifted her, and began to work on their prisoner's bindings.
"OMIGOSH, Noire, is that YOU!?" Cynthia exclaimed when she saw her friend.
"C-cynthia?" Noire asked meekly. "Is that really you?"
"Yes!" Cynthia immediately went over to her friend. "Brady! Get over here! I found Noire!"
"What th-!" Brady hobbled his way over. "Noire!? What 'n tarnation are ya doin' here?"
"I… I was captured, earlier today." Noire explained as Brady got to work healing his friend. "And if you guys hadn't gotten here in time… I… I might have…"
At this point, Noire had begun to break down.
"There, there." Brady tried to comfort his crying friend. "The point is that we're here now. Y'all can rest easy."
"Th-thanks…" Noire sobbed.
"Don't worry about a thing." Cynthia agreed. "Now that we're reunited, you're staying with us!"
"Yeah…" Noire sniffled. "I'd like that."
"So, what's the plan now?" Cordelia asked. She didn't have anything she could really help with at the moment, so she was kind of standing awkwardly to the side.
"Well, it seems that Chrom and the others were successful as well." Robin informed her. "Apparently they've killed the slavers' leader, and captured two other people of interest. They're bringing them over here as we speak. Unfortunately..."
"Unfortunately?" Cordelia wondered curiously.
"They've also found the bodies of two women in that warehouse." Robin sighed. "According to Sully, they were apparently raped to death."
Cordelia clenched her fists. "Damn…"
"And what's worse, many of the hostages here were killed as well." Robin lamented.
"Yes, but we still saved many of them." Cordelia reminded him. "That's SOMETHING, isn't it?"
"Actually, I was wondering…" Nowi came over. "We all saw you blink right by that big muscular guy, Robin. How did you do that?"
"I… actually, I don't know either." Robin admitted. "I was just acting without thinking. In the moment, all I was thinking about was saving as many of the hostages as possible."
"I think I may have an answer to that question." Tiki finally spoke.
"You do!?" Nowi asked. "What is it?"
"Robin's true power is beginning to awaken little by little." Tiki explained. "Much like how Chrom has the blood of the Exalt in him, Robin also comes from a special line."
"Oh… yeah I guess he is both Plegian and Valmese nobility, isn't he?" Nowi seemed deep in thought. "Yeah, that makes sense I guess."
Tiki looked like she wanted to say something else, but Robin spoke first.
"Looks like Chrom and the others are here." The tactician said as he began to move towards the entrance of the warehouse. "I'm going to meet with him to discuss what's next."
With that, Robin left the rest of his group to take care of the recently freed hostages and began to walk towards Chrom and the others. Not only was his mind racing with possibilities of what was next, it was also pondering what Tiki had mentioned to him.
Noire: HP: 60% Str: 55% Mag: 45% Skl: 75% Spd: 65% Lck: 25% Def: 30% Res: 50%
Age: 15
Class: Archer