Five years later…
"Hey, time to wake up." Jeralt's voice pulled Byleth out of his slumber, his eyes snapping open to take in the humble wooden walls of the inn. Byleth appreciated them all the same. As mercenaries, they had often stayed in worse places.
"I'm up." He replied, rising to prepare for the day. It didn't take him long. Jeralt had raised him on the road, and so he didn't have much attachment to material things beyond the functional. His sword, his armor, a basic pack of supplies, and some books for study. He led a simple life, but far from a bad one.
Jeralt stood in the doorway by the time he finished, waiting for him. "Were you having that dream again?"
Byleth hesitated. His dreams had always seemed…real. Far too real for the kind of things he often heard others speak of. As a child he had learned to keep them to himself, but Jeralt was the one he'd always trusted them with. Well…everything but the girl he often dreamt of napping on a throne. He'd never told anyone about her.
"I was dreaming about a war…"
"Massive armies clashing on a vast field right?" Jeralt repeated what he'd told him once before. His father frowned. "There hasn't been a battle like that in over three centuries…In any case, just put that out of your mind for now. We need to get moving."
Byleth simply nodded. His father was right of course, because their next job was still a few days away. If they didn't work they would eventually run out of money, and subsequently, food.
"C'mon! Everyone is already waiting for us outside." Jeralt called as he turned to leave. Byleth snorted. It was just like his father to let him sleep in, then scold him for keeping everyone waiting.
"Jeralt, sir!" One of the mercenaries stumbled through the front door. "Sorry to barge in, but your presence is needed."
"What's happened?" Jeralt demanded, doubling his pace as he and Byleth both followed the soldier out the door.
"Bandits, sir!" The man replied. "They were pursuing some kids in the woods."
"Bandits! Here?" Jeralt was surprised. Byleth quirked an eyebrow. They'd only come to Fodlan a month earlier, and yet Jeralt seemed to know the territory surprisingly well. His father didn't volunteer much of his own history, but seemed to find the concept of bandits in the Adrestian Empire surprising. He must have been to the area before.
"Where are the kids now?" Byleth asked. Most likely the poor kids would have more information to share.
"Right this way." The soldier indicated as he led them to the village entrance. The rest of the mercenaries in their band had already gathered together. They had arranged themselves into a defensive posture, and several of them were in the process of storing the wagons, which had been prepped for travel, to one side.
But stood just within the gate were three figures Byleth could obviously tell didn't belong. Two young men and a young woman.
The first thing Byleth noticed about them, was that they were wearing matching uniforms. The second, was that they weren't actually children. They were closer to his age, if he had to guess. Probably around eighteen years old. That was still young to men like his father, but hardly the age of a child. They were calmly chatting amongst themselves, which served to demonstrate that whatever their age was, they were certainly more mature than the average person. Most people who had narrowly escaped a pack of bandits would suffer something of a nervous breakdown.
"This is them?" Jeralt queried the soldier, who nodded. The three youths perked up and ended their discussion. Byleth idly wondered where their uniforms came from, as the tall blond one stepped forward into a light bow.
"Please forgive our intrusion. We wouldn't bother you were the situation not dire."
Byleth frowned at him.
"Are you apologizing for being pursued by bandits?"
The young man blushed, and his friend stepped forward, clasping him on the shoulder.
"He's got you there, Dimitri." The dark skinned teen had brunette hair, and an easy smile. "We would really appreciate your help, since you look like the sort of people who can handle yourselves in a fight."
"Of course we'll help." Jeralt replied. "We can hardly abandon the village now. Where exactly did you run into these bandits?"
"They attacked us while we were at rest in our camp to the northwest." The girl, who was wearing a red cape with long white hair, answered.
"That's a start, at least." Jeralt looked the three of them over. "Those uniforms…"
"Bandits!" The panicked cry cut through the air. Jeralt cursed, and everyone turned in the direction of the alarm. With the way the hill rose up beyond the town it was easy to spot the group of armed men making their way down it, even in the dim lighting of the early morning.
Byleth would have liked some time to put something of a plan together, but at least the watch had spotted them. Jeralt's mercenaries were an experienced group. They would adapt.
"Keep them safe." Jeralt ordered him, gesturing at the three youths. Then he grabbed the nearest horse and rode over to the gate where several other mercenaries had already mounted their horses. One of them tossed him a spear and the troupe rode out.
The remainder of the men were loading up with arrows and taking up defensive positions along the village's meager walls. Byleth ran to the nearest wagon to set his pack down. He'd been ready to travel, not a fight.
"What can we do?" The blonde youth requested urgently. Byleth looked him over. The three of them had followed him over, clearly eager to stay involved. He got the feeling, 'run and hide' wouldn't go over well.
"Can you fight?" He asked them. The blonde and the girl nodded solemnly, and the other one smirked at him.
"Have you got a bow in that cart?" The smirker replied in answer. Byleth fished one out and tossed it to him along with a quiver of arrows, then gestured for the other two to grab their own weapons from the cart as he worked to strap on his armor, light as it was.
"If I'm giving you weapons, I'll need to at least know your names." He told them. "I'm Byleth."
"Claude." The smirker replied. Then pointed at the other two. "Edelgard. Dimitri."
"Right." Byleth muttered. "Claude, Edelgard, and Dimitri. Now, listen up." The other two had pulled out an axe and a spear respectively from the cart, and seemed to be at least somewhat familiar with their chosen weapons, which would have to be enough.
"If we're going to get involved at all, we're going to be smart about it." He made eye contact with each of them. "Stick together. Keep calm, and above all: follow my orders."
"And why should we do that?" Edelgard challenged with a raised eyebrow. Byleth favored her with a flat look.
"Because we don't have time to introduce you to the men." And he gestured at the various mercenaries lining up against the walls.
"I know how these men fight, so if I call the retreat and you don't, then you may find yourself in the middle of a hail of arrows. Understand?"
That seemed to impress them. Edelgard was nodding slowly, and Byleth could see in the corner of his eye that Claude was giving him a considering look.
"We'll follow your orders." Dimitri said firmly. The other two agreed.
"Great." Byleth replied. "This way."
And then he proceeded to walk away from the village gate.
-Flower Red-
His three new recruits took a few minutes to catch up with him. Byleth figured they hadn't wanted to follow him away from the fight, which was part of why he'd done that. If they couldn't obey such a simple order, it was better to find out then and there.
When they did catch up with him, half way to the west gate, they looked confused.
"So, uh…Byleth." Claude stumbled over the unfamiliar name. "Why are we going this way? Are you planning some kind of flanking maneuver?"
"Not a chance." Byleth replied. "What's my mission objective?"
"Uh…kill the bandits?" Claude replied. Edelgard rolled her eyes at him.
"No, his leader told him to keep us safe." She made eye contact with Byleth. "We're students at the officers academy, sir. We can fight. You might even say it was our duty."
"Be that as it may," Byleth mentally filed 'the officers academy' away for further investigation when he had a moment. "My job right now is to keep the three of you safe, and that means we're going to stay as far out of the fighting as possible."
"As possible?" Dimitri repeated.
"We also need to protect the village." Byleth craned his neck to look over at the hilltop. The bandits appeared to have spotted Jeralt's troupe riding their way and looked to be preparing to meet them in battle. That was weird. Most bandits ran away at the first sign of real opposition.
"You wouldn't happen to know if anyone wants the three of you dead, would you?" Byleth idly questioned. The three of them froze in place. Byleth slowed to a stop, before turning to face them.
"Ah, well. You know how it is." Claude replied with a weak smile. Dimitri had a shadow on his face, and Edelgard appeared troubled. Claude was still talking though, so Byleth ignored them.
"You beat one man at a game of cards and he'll never let you live it down."
The four of them stood there for a second in an awkward silence. Clearly, the three of them knew something but didn't want to communicate it to Byleth. Whatever that something was, all three of them knew it. He itched to figure it out, but restrained himself. There was no time to get it out of them at the moment.
"Must have been an expensive game." He replied, before turning on his heel and continuing towards the village's west gate. The three of them followed shortly, relief apparent on their features.
From the hilltop he could hear the sounds of battle, so hopefully it wouldn't be long before Jeralt came back and took these three off his hands. He had every confidence the mercenaries would make short work of the bandits, whatever their numbers. Then, whatever secrets they held would not be his problem.
They arrived at the west gate which was lightly defended by a pair of villagers, and Byleth's heart sank as he spotted another group of bandits making their way down the other hillside unopposed. Worse, the gate was too wide to defend with just the four of them, and the only mercenaries in sight were a pair of archers manning the wall.
"I count nine men." Edelgard noted. "We can probably take them if we hit them in the woods."
Byleth thought these three had been running from the bandits. They seemed awfully eager to throw themselves back into the fray. Unfortunately, it looked like he had no choice at the moment. He sighed.
"That is our best option, yes." He replied. He glanced from one to the other, making sure he had their attention. "Thugs like these are not trained fighters. If you stick together, and do as I say, we will send them running for the hills."
"We will not be defeated by these ruffians." Dimitri agreed. Claude's grip tightened on his bow, and Edelgard met his gaze evenly. They were as ready as they'd ever be.
"Let's go." He told them. And they ran for the woods at the base of the hill.
The villagers had long since cleared open ground to protect the village against a wildfire, so they had more of a distance to run than Byleth liked. He had to hope the bandits wouldn't spot them—
A cry went up on the hilltop. It was too distant to make out the words, but Byleth felt a grim certainty he could guess what they were anyway. They ducked into the woods immediately after that.
"Alright, they know we're here, so we've lost the advantage of surprise." Byleth told them. "We'll need to rely on defensive tactics to make up for it. Form up like this: Dimitri and I will take point, left and right respectively. Claude, you take the middle, and Edelgard the rear. We'll move as a group and take them out as they filter through the trees."
The three of them clearly did have some military experience, because they all responded quickly and formed up just as ordered. They were tense enough that Byleth thought they must not have a great deal of experience, but the training was there to see, thankfully.
They worked their way through the trees at an angle, headed northwest, because that put Byleth on the north side of the formation which was where the bandits had been coming from the last they'd seen. He was hoping he would manage to take the enemy out one at a time, and the three eager recruits behind his back would mostly just serve to keep him from getting swarmed.
Of course, no plan ever survived contact with the enemy.
The first bandit popped out from behind a tree right in from of Dimitri. Byleth moved to assist, but before he got two steps closer Dimitri had already put the man down with a vicious strike from his spear. Unfortunately, that put Byleth out of position when the next bandit popped into view right back where he'd just been. Byleth had a split second to worry that he wouldn't make it back in time when the shaft of an arrow sprouted from between the man's eyes, and he went down. He glanced back just in time to see Edelgard cut yet another bandit down just behind Claude.
The four of them stood there for a moment, as Byleth took a second to process that yes that really had happened. His estimation of their fighting ability climbed rapidly.
"Good work." He told them, careful to do so quietly. "Let's keep moving."
-Flower Red-
They worked their way through the woods like that for another half hour, encountering five more bandits. Dimitri suffered a small cut, but they otherwise remained uninjured. It was when they ran into another three bandits at once that Byleth realized he had miscalculated.
The enemy had received reinforcements.
The advantage of fighting in the forest was that it tended to favor the smaller, more organized group. It was why Byleth had chosen to take the fight to the bandits rather than wait at the gate. But it also came with the major disadvantage of cutting off their ability to see developments in the larger battle. The mercenaries had been fighting a much larger group of bandits on the other hill, but that didn't mean none of them would slip by. And Byleth didn't know how many bandits there were to start with.
They could easily end up surrounded out there, with no one to come to their aid.
"Back to the village." He ordered them. To their credit, none of his new recruits complained. Not even when he switched the formation so that he and Edelgard were leading from the front left and front right respectively, with Dimitri in the rear.
Unfortunately, they didn't get far before Byleth's fears were proven right. They entered a small clearing just as a large group of bandits also entered it on the opposite side.
"There they are!" The large brute at the front yelled, waving his axe at them. "Get 'em!"
Byleth swiftly calculated the odds. He had been in worse fights, but not often, and never without Jeralt there to back him up. He could guarantee none of his recruits had either. He spent a split second contemplating ordering them all to run and fighting by himself when another voice bellowed into the clearing.
"How dare you attack our students!" The boisterous voice called. "The Knights of Seiros will bring you to justice!"
The bandits were already running across the clearing, so Byleth didn't have more than a moment to glance in the direction of the voice and take note of the newcomers' heavy armor and numerical advantage before the three groups were mixed into a general melee. Even so he felt a flash of relief at the sight.
The bandits were mostly wielding crude axes, which meant they had to swing wide to land any blows, and needed plenty of elbow room. Thankfully, this prevented them from coming at Byleth's little formation with more than three or four men at a time, although some of them were looking to surround them on either side. Those men got a rude awakening by their rescuers, so Byleth ignored them.
Edelgard somehow managed to take on two of the bandits at once, amazingly, despite also using an axe, so Byleth just found himself facing two bandits.
Simple enough.
The two men were dispatched in short order, and so was the man who replaced them, when Byleth heard an angry roar just to his right. He turned to spot the large brutish one from before swinging his axe down at Edelgard, who appeared to have traded her own axe for a dagger at some point. She wasn't moving fast enough, he was going to hit her and-
Byleth leapt-
The axe descended-
The world froze in grey. Byleth felt something, a pull within his chest, and then suddenly everything shifted.
-Flower Red-
Byleth found himself standing half crouched in an empty darkness that seemed to extend on all sides. Disoriented, he tried to get his bearings. Was this what it felt like to die?
"Honestly, what are you accomplishing with that little stunt? It's like you're trying to get me killed you fool!"
Suddenly there was a light, emanating from a large stone throne on a raised dais. Byleth turned to face it, and found himself eye to eye with a…young girl?
"Ah, well. It's fine." The girl sighed. "After all, if you don't know the value of your own life, you're not going to protect it very well, are you?" She chuckled to herself. "Course not."
There was a feeling of…overwhelming familiarity about her. She was wearing ornate robes. Ornate enough to be impractical for common usage, and her massively long hair was bright green. But although Byleth knew he'd never met anyone like her before he couldn't shake the bone deep feeling of recognition.
She seemed to take his silence as assent, and stood up to clap her hands together.
"Well then I guess it's up to me to guide you from now on, right? You can call me Sothis, but I'm also known as: 'The Beginning.'"
Suddenly, it clicked.
"…you!" Byleth pointed at her. "You're the one."
"What?" She seemed confused.
"You're the one who's been haunting my dreams." Byleth clarified. "I dream of war and blood and then you show up sitting on that damned throne and whine that I'm interrupting your nap."
"I do not whine." Sothis snapped. "And besides which, I have no idea what you're talking about. I—" A troubled look crossed her face. "I don't remember who I am."
"You—" Byleth paused. "…What?"
"Sothis…that is my name, yes." She nodded, seemingly to herself. "But who was it that called me, 'The Beginning'?" She shook her head. "I was not able to recall my name…until just now. And just like that, it came to me. How odd."
Byleth frowned and Sothis glared at him.
"That look upon your face…you think I'm some mere child don't you!" It was hard to deny given that he had indeed just been thinking it. "Phooey! That 'child' just saved your life!"
And suddenly Byleth remembered where he had just been. He whirled about, searching the darkness. The bandits, and the knights, and their students. Dimitri, Claude…Edelgard had been…he remembered pushing her out of the way but nothing more.
"What happened?" He whirled back to Sothis urgently. She didn't seem much impressed.
"You threw yourself before an axe to save just one girl." She turned her nose up at him. "Yet all is well, as I have stalled the flow of time for now."
Byleth wanted to doubt her words, felt like he should, and yet there was something that stopped him. He knew, deep down, that she was telling the truth. This girl before him, Sothis, had somehow stopped time in order to prevent his death.
He should probably say something to that.
"Thank you." He offered her a half bow. It was the polite thing to do.
It seemed to satisfy Sothis, who returned to her throne. "There now. Is gratitude so much to ask? I did deem you worth saving, after all." She grimaced. "Though it is only momentary. When time begins again, the axe will tear into your flesh, and you will surely meet your end."
Yes…now that he could think back, Byleth could see his mistake quite clearly. He had seen the bandit bearing down on Edelgard from her blind spot and had thought to push her out of the way.
Unfortunately, he'd misjudged the timing and didn't have the room to turn about and engage the man himself. If he'd left Edelgard standing, he likely could have interposed himself between the two of them just fine.
"It's quite rude of you to drag me into this, you know." Sothis remarked. Byleth gave her a confused look.
"And how have I done that?" He asked.
"By risking your life!" She crossed her arms in a pout. "That's really not like you. Why did you do it this time?"
"I risk my life all the time." Byleth disagreed. He'd seen plenty of fighting before this. Of course, he'd never come quite so close to dying before. It was frightening actually. He could still feel his blood singing from the fear.
But he'd never felt that kind of fear before. What was so different this time?
Logically, the only difference this time was who he had been protecting, but that didn't make any sense. Edelgard was a stranger to him, as were Dimitri and Claude.
No…Byleth shook his head, discarding the issue. He'd…merely made a mistake. A simple mistake, yes, but such was the lot of a mercenary. They lived or died by their blades, and even one mistake would bring their end.
"Now…what to do?" Sothis mused. "I can't just let time go on, you'll be dead in an instant."
"There's no way to send me back a little earlier?" Byleth asked. "With just a second or two I can guarantee I would survive."
"Of course! I must turn back the hands of time!" Sothis exclaimed.
"The hands…of time…" Byleth sighed. "What is this, a clock?"
"You really are quite troublesome." Sothis replied with a shake of her head, then proceeded to ignore him completely as she stood. A diagram of golden light sprung up before her, rotating slowly in the air.
"Yes, I do believe it can be done." She murmured, examining the diagram. "I cannot wind time back too far, but all is well. You are aware of what's to come, which means you can protect yourself this time."
"I certainly won't jump in front of another axe if I can help it." Byleth remarked dryly.
"That will do." Sothis replied and the world began to swirl about once again, as it had before he'd come to…wherever they currently were. Sothis voice continued to ring out as if from a distance. "Now go, you who bears the flames within."
-Flower Red-
Byleth heard an angry roar just to his right. He turned to spot the large brutish one swinging his axe down at Edelgard, who appeared to have traded her own axe for a dagger at some point.
She wasn't moving fast enough, he was going to hit her and-
Instead of jumping, Byleth readied his sword, sidestepping into position with both hands on the grip. The bandit had too much momentum to ignore, so he lashed out with an upward swing at the haft and the bandit's axe was flung backwards through the air.
The man stared blankly at his empty hands, before scrambling away as fast as he could.
"Retreat!" Someone cried, and suddenly all of the bandits were running away, scattering in all directions.
Well that just added insult to injury. To think that but for Sothis he might have died one second before the battle was won!
"They're running away?" That familiar boisterous voice called out, clearly offended. "After them!"
The newcomers in heavy armor followed after the bandits, and they were alone in short order so Byleth felt like it was probably safe to take stock of his companion's injuries. Fearing the worst, he turned about to locate them.
Claude was bandaging up what looked like some kind of cut on his arm, and Dimitri leaned panting against a tree, but Edelgard was standing not far behind him. She held her dagger loosely, with sweat beading down her forehead and not a scratch on her, giving him a searching look.
"Is something wrong?" He asked her.
She did not reply immediately, but she did look troubled.
"No," She answered at last. "please forgive me, it has been a trying day." She hesitated. "Thank you for saving my life."
"It was a battle." Byleth pointed out. "You probably saved mine twice over by covering my flank."
"If you say so." She allowed with a faint smile. She put away her dagger and bent to pick up the axe she'd been wielding from the ground where it had fallen. "I don't suppose you'd be interested in a job?"
"That would depend on the job." Byleth shrugged. "But while I am a mercenary, my father's the one who leads our company. You'd need to consult him."
"I think you would manage well enough alone actually." She replied. "But that is a matter for another time."
"Indeed, Edelgard." Dimitri spoke up, apparently having caught his breath. "I'd like to extend my own offer as well."
Byleth really wasn't interested in any of this, but the banter was probably helping them relax, which he'd learned was important from his father's men. They had just been thrown into the deep end, after all.
"Wow, the two of you sure move fast." Claude complained with a sigh. "Personally I'd planned to establish a deep and lasting friendship before begging for favors. But it seems there's no time for niceties in this world." He turned to Byleth. "Tell me, have you ever been to the Leicester Alliance?"
"As a matter of fact, I—"
"Students!" Byleth was cut off by a sudden booming voice, who he turned to face. "Thank goodness we've found you! And who's this?"
The man standing behind him was dressed in heavy armor, splashed with blood from the fight and covered in sweat. His voice was recognizable as the one who had been calling the orders when they came to their rescue so Byleth offered him a bow. In the process he spotted the crest of the Knights of Seiros emblazoned upon the armor.
Byleth had heard a great deal about the knights over the past month, but he'd never truly thought to meet them. Mercenaries usually filled in where the armed forces of the land were not present. Well, the ones on the right side of the law did, at least.
"This is Byleth, Sir." Dimitri replied. "He's one of the mercenaries who protected us from these bandits."
"Speaking of which," Byleth was reminded. "We should really see about getting back to Jeralt. He'll be—"
"Did you say Jeralt?" The knight cut in, suddenly eager. "Surely not Jeralt the Blade Breaker?" He seemed shocked, but almost hopeful, as if he had yearned to meet Byleth's father in person since he was but a youth.
"I have heard him called that on occasion." Byleth admitted cautiously. It was an appellation his father frequently dismissed as pointless fantasy, but Byleth often thought it had brought them work more than once. The knight lit up like a ball of fire.
"Oh wonderful!" He turned and all but ran back through the clearing. "Quickly, we must find him!"
"I suppose that works." Byleth allowed with a sigh as the knight slipped from view. He turned to the three of them.
"C'mon, we should head back. The bandits seem to have fled in full, but we can't be too careful." The three students, and if they were students of the Knights of Seiros that would explain a great deal, fell in line with him as he set off back towards the village. Edelgard slid up beside him.
"Your father is the Blade Breaker?" She sounded incredulous. "Former captain of the Knights of Seiros. Oft praised as the strongest man to ever live. Have I missed anything?" Byleth looked at her in surprise.
"I didn't know he was a captain." He replied uneasily. And didn't that just explain so much? His father's familiarity with the region, the knight's eagerness and reaction to his name. Unfortunately it raised just as many questions, such as: why had he left? Why stay away from Fodlan for all these years?
"How curious." Edelgard noted, her thoughts apparently matching his. "I'd wager the explanation for that is fascinating indeed."
She seemed to sense his discomfort though, because she left it at that, much to his gratitude.
-Flower Red-
They made it back to the village just in time to see their rescuer pull Byleth's father into a bear hug.
"Captain Jeralt! It is you!" The knight exclaimed. "Goodness, it's been ages."
Jeralt just sighed and pushed the knight off him.
"Don't you recognize me? It's Alois! Your old right-hand man!" Alois looked sheepish. "Well, that's how I always thought of myself anyway."
"You haven't changed a bit, Alois." Jeralt replied dourly. "Just as loud as ever. And drop that 'captain' nonsense. I'm not your captain anymore. These days I'm just a wandering mercenary."
Whatever the knight had expected out of this reunion, it didn't look like he was going to get it.
By that time Byleth and the students had arrived at the gate, and Jeralt gave Byleth a relieved look over Alois shoulder. "And one who has work to do. Good-bye old friend." Then he turned back towards the village.
"Right… Good-bye, Captain." Alois seemed almost morose, but then he smacked himself in the face and grabbed Jeralt's arm. "Wait! That isn't how this ends. I insist that you return to the monastery with me!"
Monastery?
"You are coming with us to the monastery right?" Claude bumped Byleth with his shoulder. "I'd love to bend your ear as we travel."
"Garreg Mach Monastery…" Jeralt looked resigned, then glanced towards Byleth's company. "And that would make you three students at the officers academy. I suppose this was inevitable."
"We were doing some training exercises when those bandits attacked." Claude explained. "I definitely got the worst of it."
"That would be because you ran off." Edelgard scoffed. But Claude didn't seem offended.
"Too true!" He replied cheerfully. "I was the first to make a strategic retreat." He turned to Byleth. "Everything would have worked out if these two hadn't followed me and ruined everything. Because of them, every single one of those bandits chased after us. Utterly ridiculous."
"Ah, so that's what you were thinking." Dimitri seemed appalled. "And here I thought you were acting as a decoy for the sake of us all."
"His intentions were as clear as day." Edelgard sniffed. "You will prove a lacking ruler if you cannot see the truth behind a person's words."
"Hmph." For whatever reason, the criticism seemed to bite deeply. "You will prove a lacking ruler if you look for deceit behind every word and fail to trust those whom you rely on."
When they offered him a job, Byleth had begun to suspect his new friends were rather highly born, likely as members of Fodlan's nobility. Now he started to wonder just how highly born they were.
"Oh joy. A debate between Their Highnesses." Claude monotoned. "I wonder how being completely predictable affects one's ability to wield power." His face lit up in a smirk. "Personally, as the embodiment of distrust, I'd say your little exchange smacks of naivete."
"Me? Naive?" Edelgard looked horribly offended. "Tell me, are you actually incapable of keeping quiet, or is your lack of self-awareness a condition of some sort?"
"In any case, forgive our digression." Dimitri intervened with a pointed glance at Alois. He and Jeralt were watching the whole exchange with rather clear amusement, and Edelgard and Claude immediately settled down.
Their discipline likewise pointed to noble birth, and Byleth was beginning to have some thoughts about why the bandits had been chasing them in the first place. Not that it was really his business, but it was nice to have some kind of an answer. Byleth hated unresolved mysteries.
"Well, it seem's you've all met already." Alois turned to Byleth. "And how about you kid? Are you the captain's child?"
"I'm a bandit." Byleth replied dryly. Alois chuckled.
"Great sense of humor this one. Clearly cut from the same cloth as you Captain." He remarked to Jeralt, who frowned at Byleth for encouraging the man. "I'd love for you to see the monastery too. You will join me, right?"
There was a moment of awkward silence as the students looked to Byleth and Byleth looked to his father. Jeralt just sighed.
"What's troubling you, Captain?" Alois asked. "You aren't about to run off again, are you?"
"Even I wouldn't dare run from the Knight's of Seiros." Jeralt replied. "Just let me sort things out with the men."
Alois nodded. "I'll need to organize the Knights as well." And the both of them walked off to ready their respective men for the trip.
The Knights of Seiros… They do seem rather skilled.
Byleth paled at the familiar girl's voice, then glanced around. Oh dear. Sothis?
What? You didn't think I was going to just disappear again did you?
Byleth tried, very hard, not to think about how that was exactly what he'd assumed would happen. From the sound of her indignant splutter, he didn't succeed.
"Hey, are you alright?" Claude asked him, a curious look on his face.
"Just fine." Byleth somehow managed to reply with a straight face. "I fight off a group of bandits every morning before breakfast."
"Yes, the way you held your own against the bandit's leader was captivating!" Dimitri sounded admiring. "You never lost control of the situation. It showed me I still have much to learn."
"I appreciate your help back there." Edelgard acknowledged. "Your skill is beyond question."
It was a shame Byleth couldn't tell them about Sothis. He did have some skill, but it struck him as ironic that they were so highly impressed by the one thing he hadn't managed to handle correctly on his own.
Don't I deserve the credit?
Oh because that would go over so well. Byleth couldn't wait to tell everyone about the voice in his head that let him see the future.
Well when you put it that way. Sothis grumbled.
The silence might have stretched on a moment too long, but thankfully Alois returned with Byleth's father just then. "Alright, that's enough with the small talk." Alois rubbed his hands together in excitement. "It's time to head back to the monastery."
