Foddlan year: 1180

Great Tree Moon

It was not exactly what one would call a common occurrence for Link to stumble onto a populated area. Even rarer did the Hylian actually decide to spend some time in one should he find it by accident, these days at least. Today, however, his mood just so happened to be favorable to the idea of social interaction.

When he approached the first visible buildings of the village, the dashing blonde took a short break and tossed his little travel bag to the side as he caught the sight of a small sign near the entrance. The Hylian's eyes narrowed as he focused his attention on the inscriptions which were painted on the thing. Despite having spent a few months honing his Foddlanese skills, he still needed to take his time to read properly, although speaking it had become easy.

After a few seconds, he sighed in relief as he could finally decipher the cryptic message on the sign. It consisted of a singular word: 'Remire'. Either this was a word of which he had yet to learn the definition, or this was actually the name of the town.

Before entering, he took some time to check out his clothing. It was rather dirtied up, not speaking of the multiple stitches that would need to be made in the future to render these clothes presentable. Fortunately, Link had already cleaned himself up a day or two ago, and as such he would only need to change what he was wearing.

For this end, he reached to his waist, where his trusted Sheika Plate was always attached, before he proceeded to turn its power on – for the first time in a few weeks – and began to tap on its screen through the different menus. In an instant, his entire body shined with a bright blue color. Once it died out, it was hard to recognize him as the same wilderness-wandering lunatic that he had been for a long time by now, for he had taken back his good old and blue Champion tunic. Although it had not been damaged by the years, it did feel a lot less comfy than it used to since his final and sudden growth burst back in Hyrule. Still, it was not nearly tight enough to become uncomfortable or something of the sort. Not every suit of his could claim the same.

After this quick wardrobe change, Link noticed that a few curious people in the village were now staring in his general direction, with some of them looking quite shocked. At this moment, the Hylian remembered that he should reserve this kind of 'Sheika magic' demonstration to moments where he wasn't in plain view of common folk.

Still, he made his way into the town with a slow and relaxed pace. He took the opportunity that his walk gave to observe his surroundings a little and to evaluate the small village he had just entered. By current day Hyrule's standards, it would have truly been an impressive city – but really, over there around fifty souls would be considered impressive – with numerous residences and even a few shops visible further down the street. As for the inhabitants, they seemed for the most part to be what Foddlan qualified as the 'commonfolk'.

Speaking of the folk, though, the blonde Hylian could not help but notice the numerous glares he would receive from them, varying from mere curiosity to open hostility, with a small group of men near the local tavern having even gathered together to seemingly keep an eye on him. While he was not really in the mood for a sudden brawl, he did admit to himself that he would find it somewhat entertaining if they were to go through with attacking him.

This attitude of the people of Foddlan is something that Link had dealt with before, among the Zoras, for example. Furthermore, he had also realized that the people of Foddlan were treating like this anyone that they considered an 'outsider'. Be it those native from Brigid and Dagda from the West, Duscur and Sreng from the North or Almyra from the East, none of them were spared from the bad eye they got over here.

As for Link? Well, let's just say that his unusual style of clothing and his pointy ears normally gave away his non-Foddlan origins. It did not affect him that much, though, since for most of his time he would be wandering around in the wilds, minding his own business unless he happened to find a populated area, just like Remire.

As he was ruminating these thoughts, Link finally arrived at the marketplace, a location which was generally free from the pointless political or social drama that he had been able to distinguish on this continent. The fact that a good portion of the merchants were outsiders probably helped with that. Thus, as usual, he looked around in order to find something worthwhile to buy. Most of the time, it would be a few arrows, or a new kind of weapon he had not seen before.

While he found nothing of the sort, however, Link managed to find the local blacksmith's shop. As he had worn out a lot of his weapons' durability – because of course he did – he decided that a good fix wouldn't do wrong for once, instead of replacing every single one he broke.

The place was as dark as you would expect a blacksmith's to be. When he arrived, the Hylian was greeted by a rather round, middle-aged woman who proceeded to call out to the smith himself. The latter sported a completely bald head which, coupled with his wrinkles, showed just how old – or worn out – he was. Despite his lack of hair, he did have an impressive beard or a mixture of ginger and silver flowing through. He was actually far skinnier than the Hylian would have expected, but while his arms were not particularly muscled, even compared to Link's slender physique, they were so hard that they seemed as if they were sculpted out of granite. This must have been natural for someone of his career, Link thought.

The woman then asked for him to hand over a few ores of various material to repair the bows, swords, lances and axes he had brought. Feigning to search for them in his bag, Link actually materialized them out of his Plate before handing them to the presumed couple. The woman then invited Link to some sort of waiting room as her husband did his magic. Devoid of any other form of distraction for the rest of the afternoon, Link obliged and sat down on an old wooden chair in an otherwise empty room. The latter was only surrounded by three walls, with the fourth side offering a nice view of the main road.

Just as the wanderer Hylian made himself comfortable, his temporary host went at a few feet in front of him, smiling gently. He offered a slight smile in return along with a greeting nod, which she seemed to interpret as an invitation to begin talking.

"So, mister, do excuse me if I'm mistaken, but are you the professor who was to come today?"

Caught off-guard by the question, Link focused his attention on the lady while giving her a confused look, prompting her to elaborate.

"Oh, so you are not, then… It is because there were a few members of Garreg Mach who were supposed to come by shortly. With your clothes and your weapons, I thought that you would be part of them."

Satisfied by the explication, the Hylian nodded weakly before redirecting his gaze to the road in plain view. Then, he was once again dragged out of his reverie when she decided to re-engage the one-sided discussion.

"If you're not a combat teacher, then what are you? There aren't a lot of strangers who just come by without warning…"

"I'm a traveler." Came Link's quick response.

"An outsider, I presume. I've never seen someone like you before…" Contrary to a lot of her peers, the woman seemed to not be bothered at all by Link's non-native origin, which was rather convenient for the Hylian. After all, a normal discussion was far better than a shouting match, or an unwanted brawl.

"Yep. Foddlan isn't the first land I've come across so far."

"And how do you find it here, so far?" At this, Link shrugged his shoulders as he continued to observe the people come and go on the street.

"Compared to my homeland, or the lands around it, it's rather tame, if I'm being honest…" At this, the lady raised an eyebrow in incredulity. After all, Foddlan had a political and societal history that was rather unique to it, even without talking about the Hero's Relics or the Crests… "But there are some fun monsters to hunt. And the drama all around is… entertaining."

"It certainly would be, for an outsider, I suppose…"

As the conversation died down, Link let out a pretty loud sigh as he stretched a bit. Then, as the waiting was beginning to bore him, he turned around to the woman.

"Excuse me, I'll go on my way now. Can I come back later for my stuff?"

After a surprised nod from her, Link stood up slowly before taking in a deep, solemn breath. Promising to come back by the next day, he then went in search for a suitable place to sleep at for the night. He could simply camp outside, of course, but he figured that a regular bed would be a nice change for once.

As he was going to ask a few bystanders for the location of some hotel, or whatever equivalent could there be in this relatively remote city, however, Link's usually dulled attention was attracted by some odd movement back on the marketplace. A group of bizarrely dressed people had apparently entered the place while he had been on his trip at the blacksmith. Intrigued, Link decided to approach them in order to observe them reliably.

Most of them seemed to be quite young, or at least not above their mid-twenties, if Link had to guess. They were wearing some sort of dark outfit with somber yellow outlines, which was likely some sort of uniform. None of the young members of the group really stood out from each other, except for the three that were in the front, who were accompanying the leader and who had a cape on top of their companions' shared clothing…

The first one was a blonde boy. In fact, he looked quite a fair bit like Link himself in his earlier days, albeit with much sharper facial features. His tall stature and straight posture gave him the air of a by-the-book soldier, only further emphasized by his blue cape. Out of the three outstanding youths, he had placed himself the furthest forward and led the rest into the road.

The second one, a girl, had a red cape as an accessory. She had a quite beautiful mane of white hair which, coupled with her pale mauve eyes, gave her an almost mystical look. While not nearly as tall as either of her fellows, she sported an air of both grace and rigidity which compensated well enough for her literal shortcoming. Contrary to the blonde, who was busy discussing with the group's leader, she was constantly turning her head around, observing her surroundings with a seemingly uninterested expression, the exact same as Link himself used when exploring a new area.

The third one was a bit more interesting to Link, however. His brown flocks of hair flowed in the slight wind of the evening as the yellow caped boy contented himself with following his two companions in a nonchalant fashion. He also gave a few amused glances around the town while the group marched further towards Link's position.

The leader itself was quite bland to the eye, to be completely honest. He seemed quite nervous and looked to be led by the young blue-caped blonde rather than the other way around. Link guessed that he was the famous teacher that the woman had previously told him about, and that the group following him must then be some kind of class.

As the numerous students went down the road, the Hylian took a few steps aside in order to let the rather large group pass. He observed the teenagers with amusement as he noticed various expressions on their faces, such as worry, excitement or, in some cases, bland seriousness, just like their soldier-like blonde fellow.

When they reached the marketplace, they all stopped in their tracks and went to the various weapons and other valuable resources which were on display and Link subsequently lost all interest in watching their whereabouts for any more time. After asking to a passerby for the motel, he slowly walked up to the place.

The building itself hadn't many interesting features to talk about, except maybe for the fact that it was gifted with a second floor, unlike most houses around here. The wooden stairs leading to the entrance door creaked under Link's weight before he could finally try to reserve a room. Once inside, he needed a few seconds for his eyes to accommodate to the sudden darkness that he was in. Even at the blacksmith's, there was at least some natural light coming inside…

The blonde Hylian ended up paying what most others would consider an egregiously high price for what was just a room with a few commodities for one night. However, being neither short of money from selling the stuff he would find everywhere in the wild nor aware of the actual value of Foddlan's currency, he didn't exactly care and simply climbed to the second floor and let out a long sigh of relief.

He then looked around the little room to evaluate the comfort that he had bought himself. There was a small bed, which had a blanket but did not seem particularly aggregable to lean on, a small desk with a single drawer, which wouldn't really be of much use for him anyways, a bucket in the corner that patiently awaited to fulfill its function along with being fulfilled itself – good Lord… – and, finally, a mirror placed on the wall with another bucket full of water near it. There was also a small window which gave a view on the main street, on which the youngsters were still busy shopping.

Once his examination was complete, the Hylian decided to drop his old travelling bag on the bed as he sat on its edge before rummaging through it. He had put in there some things that he didn't feel like storing away in his Sheika Plate, on the chance that he would need it quickly, such as a dagger, a boomerang, and a toothbrush.

After he was done with his lightweight pack, he stood up and made his way to the window, before he supported himself with a hand on the wall and let go of some of his tension along with another hearty sigh. He then observed the road down below and felt… and felt…

Nothing.

No joy, no real relief. Just emptiness.

After being stuck in a passive trance for a minute or two, Link finally made some semblance of movement toward his bed, before detaching his most prized possession from his belt.

The Sheika Plate.

Link had told himself that he should get rid of that thing before going on a journey. After all, it offered a temptation to instantly return home and it made his daily life way too easy. However, he had kept it for two main reasons.

Firstly, it offered some comfort for him to know that so many – if painfully bittersweet – memories were just at hand if he needed them.

Secondly, he was out of teleportation range as soon as he stepped out of Hyrule anyways.

He turned the device on, and blue light immediately radiated from the screen, overflowing him with nostalgia. When the menu popped up, his first instinct was to rummage through the various photographs he had taken with it.

There was a bit of everything, from beautiful scenery to friends, to the various creatures inhabiting his homeland. There was even one with him posing in front of a recently defeated Lynel, and not any one either. It was a Golden one!

The Hyrulian Hero continued to stare blankly at this device as he revaluated his choices for yet another time before calmly leaning back on the uncomfortable mattress and waiting for the night to come by. He was, however, not actually tired at the moment, and he ended up staring pathetically at the peeling paint on the wall next to him for a few hours before he could close his eyes for certain.

It was barely half an hour after sunset that Link had quitted his crappy room at the motel, though not necessarily for long.

After a time sleeping, he had been woken up by his body's natural urge to let go of its waste, and it was out of the question to execute the required task in the given bucket in his room. As a result, he had taken his material – as if he was going to let the chance to anyone to steal it, yeah right – and went deep into the woods, where he could do the deed without interruption nor observers.

After he was done with his task, Link made his way back to the village with a much more content demeanor than he had when he departed from it earlier. However, when he was just outside the entrance, something odd happened.

A duo of cavaliers, a bulky brunette man and a slender and oddly clothed blue-haired woman, almost ran into him by accident, with the guy reaching what Link assumed to be his weapon when he took notice of the Hylian's presence. However, he must have changed his mind quickly, as he calmed down and gestured to his companion to follow him, saying something along the lines of "No, he's not one of them."

After the two went on their way, Link was now intrigued and decided to sacrifice another few minutes of sleep for an entertaining event.

However, his amusement found itself very short-lived as he was met with the sight of a few people running out of the dark forest, with some seemingly having a limp and needing their comrades' support. Upon closer inspection, Link concluded that those were the very same teenagers that he had seen this afternoon at Remire. Tension and adrenaline making a long-awaited comeback into his person, the Hylian Hero began to sprint in the direction that the two cavaliers had taken.

When he finally caught up with them, passing by a few other injured youngsters in the process, he saw the duo fighting off a few bandits, forming a defensive line between the rogues and the three peculiar students he had noticed earlier. The yellow-caped one seemed in a better shape than his two fellows and assisted the duo with his bow.

At this sight, Link immediately went to his Sheika Plate and withdrew his trusty Master Sword. Its glow was faint, announcing a near shutdown, but a few bandits would certainly not be too much for it to handle.

Now, normally the prospect of a battle would have excited Link. After all, the last few weeks had been rather bland, with only a few birds that had been able to somewhat cause him trouble. In these times, he would drag out the fight as long as possible and try out ludicrous methods of killing, such as a time stop-powered tree toward a beast.

With other people's lives at stake like right now, though? He could not tolerate it. In these times, if you believed in some sort of entity, then you would better start praying to it for mercy, because this goofball of a Hylian certainly won't give you any.

Thus, as the two mercenaries known as the Blade Breaker and the Ashen Demon were dismantling the thugs that had been threatening the lives of Edelgard, Didmitri and Claude, they saw a blue blur pass right between them and slash open the guts of an incoming brawler. Turning around briefly, Jeralt recognized the odd man he and Byleth had just passed by. At first, he had thought that the attack had been a Wind-type spell, but he narrowed his eyes in confusion as the blonde wielded his glowing blue sword and approached them.

Because of the numerous bandits, however, the time was not for small talk, and the blue-clothed guy had already seemingly proved his position in the situation for the moment, thus Jeralt resumed fighting after giving an approving nod to the newcomer.

Then, after his daughter had taken care of the last few members of the current bandit vague, she and the blonde ran forward to directly confront the next dozens of them. The three students who had stayed behind went right after them, seemingly willing to assist in battle despite their own injuries.

With this sight of four young warriors uniting forces with an unexpected ally, the Blade Breaker decided to stay behind for some time in order to give them their chance to shine.

Now, Byleth had formed a front line with Dimitri and Edelgard, with her at the middle. They disposed of the thugs who were unfortunate – or foolish – enough to come in the range of their respective weapons. Claude, during this time, occupied a much safer spot behind his temporary brother and sisters-in-arms, but not any less vital, dispatching as many upcoming enemies at a safe distance as he could.

During this time, Link had rushed on another side of their foes' offensive. His opponents barely had the time to blink before the Master Sword had slain them, and the Hylian wielding it certainly showed no sign of slowing down. He was moving with a vivacity that he hadn't experienced since a few months, and it certainly did not displease him.

With the combined might at play, the band of thugs had been dealt with quite a bit of ease, with only their leader, Kostas, remaining with a few of his best troops. The guy was clearly more muscular than his many men, and his thick brown beard gave him a way more intimidating appearing than what he actually deserved it to be.

Currently in a blade lock with Byleth, he could only cringe and glance aside to see his allies being executed one by one by either the trio of students of the madman who had just joined them and turned the battle around. With a slight grin, the mercenary then used a bit more of her strength to push him back a few feet, forcing his steel axe out of his hand. This caused the bandit leader, in a fit of desperation, to gather the short axe attached to his belt and began yelling.

"YOU'LL DIE!"

At these words, he proceeded to rush directly toward the young red clothed Edelguard, who was mortified to say the least.

Link, however, wasn't having any of this. Thus, he raised his Master Sword, ready to throw a finishing blade beam… only for nothing to come out of it. As he quickly looked at his blade, the Hylian realized with horror that he had actually worn out his weapon, and thus could not rely on it. He could only watch as he was going to witness the young woman getting her skull split in two…

Fortunately, the blue-haired mercenary had stepped up just in time, pushing Edelgard aside and then slashing the brigand bad enough to make him squirt over.

"Urgh… DAMMIT!"

As the defeated thug continued to yelling profanities in the early nights, galloping noises could be heard approaching and, while the combined group of mercenaries, students and wanderer turned their head to see what was causing it, the remaining bandits took the opportunity to run away as fast as they could – a wise choice, truly.

With the adrenaline of the battle lowering quickly, Link let out a satisfied laughter while he stored his sword away and went to check on his new acquaintances.

The first he went to, the red-caped woman, was sitting with her back on the nearest tree, panting heavily. The poor girl had sustained a lot of injuries during the fight, mainly in her abdomen. Link had noticed that she lacked a lot of technique in her fighting style, and her axe swings ended up missing their target more times than not. However, it was not fear that transpired the most out of her sweating visage.

No, it was rage.

Pure, overflowing, face reddening rage. The girl was frowning intensely. That was until Link came into her field of vision, however, at which point she made the effort to calm down and nodded respectfully at him as he approached.

"Sir, thank you for your intervention… Are the others alright?"

Her question actually surprised Link a little, given the state she was in. It meant something good about her person, he guessed. He took the time to look around and, seeing the yellow and blue clothed young men shaking hands, he figured they were relatively fine.

"They'll be alright. Do you need medicine?"

After an affirmative nod from her, Link smiled and raised a finger to tell her to wait a little. He then kneeled down to her side and booted on his Plate, navigating through the menu until he found the right items he needed: an anti-infection lotion and a pain-negating one, prepared from medicinal plants from all the way to Hyrule. They had been stored in there for a long time since Link didn't really need them for most of the time.

As he made the two items materialize into his hands, the girl stared with stupefaction at his device, puzzlement completely replacing her anger from earlier.

"Now, I'll make your pain more tolerable, and then I'll prevent it from infecting. However, it'll still hurt a bit when I apply the second lotion, is it alright?"

The young woman nodded slowly and, surely enough, she didn't move an inch when Link put on his medicine. He was actually impressed by her pain resistance.

"This thing, sir… what is it?"

Link looked over at his Plate with a slight disinterest. He didn't really like when he had to show people that he had such an amazing piece of technology on him, but he did not regret using it when there was a sufficient need, like right now. As such, he didn't see a problem with obliging to her questions.

"It's some sort of magic plate from my homeland."

"Really? I've never seen such a thing before… where is your homeland, if you may?"

Link looked up to the girl, intrigued by her curiosity, and he was met with a look that transpired of doubts.

"It's called Hyrule. You know how there are Islands at the west of Foddlan, called Brigid? Well, there's a bigger land further west called Dagda, and if you sail a week, once again at west, you get to it. I doubt you've heard of it."

After a dismissive 'hmph' from the white-haired girl, Link finished attending to her wounds before rejoining the four others. At the same time, the unknown cavaliers had finally arrived, with their leader announcing his presence quite effectively.

"Oh, no! The bandits have escaped! Men, go after them!" His subordinates then demounted and rushed towards the direction that Kostas had taken to escape before the leader came to meet the fighters who had been there for quite some time now.

The guy seemed, to Link's not-so-expert eye, to be quite a joyous man. He had a pleasant smile plastered on his face as he advanced toward the older, bearded mercenary. He had finely combed dark brown hair and a finely trimmed mustache. He also wore a quite large silver armor, betraying quite a large gut, but just by seeing him, Link knew that it was likely more an announcement of stout strength than of being out of shape.

"Oh, no… not him…"

The Blade Breaker, however, did not seem to be in a great mood. It was weird for Link, since the guy hadn't had any wound for the entirety of the fight and every student was alive – at least, as far as Link knew. The silver knight, though, looked as if he had just seen a ghost, right before the widest smile Link had ever seen plastered itself on the man's face as his eyes widened.

"Captain… Captain Jeralt? Is that you?"

The mercenary, for his part, wasn't provided the time to respond before he was pulled in an embrace by the knight. From where he stood, Link only had a good view of Jeralt's face, but from the other man's bombastic laughter, it was obvious that at least he enjoyed this reunion. The mercenary, however, looked less than amused, with a cringe forming on his face as the knight tapped him a few times on the back as a part of this very masculine hug.

As the larger man finally let go of Jeralt, Link glanced in the blue-haired woman's direction and noticed that she seemed way more confused than himself was. The two older men then engaged in conversation, mostly by the knight's initiative.

"Ah, it's so good to see you again. How are you alive?"

"It's… it's a long story, really. Good to see you too, Alois."

"Oh, we'll have time to… hey, is that your kid?"

At this, the larger knight designated Jeralt's female companion with a movement of his chin, who was now sheathing her sword back after having cleaned it.

"Oh, yes, this is Byleth, my daughter. She was born after… you know."

Darn, Link thought. He would have liked to know as well. It seemed to be common for people to just not mention interesting details in his presence. Byleth, for her part, bowed respectfully to Alois after her father had introduced her. The two older men then resumed their conversation as Link and Byleth went to see the other two injured students who had fought at their side.

The blonde and the brunette were in a much better condition than their female comrade, for various reasons. The blue-caped youngster had a much better handling of his spear than she had with her axe, and as such he had not missed any of his own attacks. Besides, for what little time Link could see him fight, he was no slouch in the strength department, further facilitating things for him. As for the tanned boy, he had positioned himself safely behind Byleth and the other two students, with obvious results regarding his health.

"No, look, Dimitri, you don't get it. I was not fleeing, I was merely trusting you and Edelgard's abilities, so I decided to give you the spotlight, for once." The yellow-caped archer was currently jokingly explaining to his friend his 'tactics' for the fight.

"Oh, me who thought that you were attracting the bandits to you to get them off of us, you disappoint me, Claude…" The young blonde, with no shortage of snark, responded to the other boy's blabber.

The two stopped their arguing, however, when they noticed Link's presence. The tanned one then marched towards the blonde Hylian with his hand extended, nodding his head appreciatively while examining the wanderer. In return, the Hero of Hyrule shook hands with him with a relaxed expression.

"Hey, thanks for the support, by the way. I think we had it in the bag back there, but you certainly made things easier for us."

"If I may, Claude…" Said the blue-caped boy, glancing expectantly at his friend before slightly bowing to Link. "Your skills have been of a great help. Could you tell us your name?"

Just before he could answer the question, Link noticed that the white-haired girl had gotten up and followed him to the side of the other two teens, and she was now looking at him, expecting to learn this particular information herself.

"The name's Link. Glad to meet you."

After this unceremonious introduction, the Hylian was met with varied looks from the three youngsters, from intrigued in Claude's case to confused for the Dimitri's, to downright suspicious for the girl's.

"'Link'? What kind of name is this? Is it from Sreng?" Asked the blue caped boy.

"He said he's from somewhere called 'Hyrule', apparently." Answered the young woman, who despite her remarkable pain resilience, still kind of stumbled around due to her injuries.

"Huh. Would explain the pointy ears, I guess. In any case, the name's Claude, from the Leicester Alliance. The two royalties over there are Dimitri and Edelgard."

At this, the aforementioned Dimitri let out a weak sigh after hearing the half-assed introduction that his fellow had just done and he then proceeded to walk forward and place his hand on his chest in order to designate himself.

"Excuse me, but I do not think that my companion has presented us properly. My name is Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, heir of the throne of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus."

As a response, Link could only offer a nod to confirm that he had in fact listened, and then he turned to the girl, the latter which took a dignified stance despite her deplorable state.

"And I am Edelgard von Hresvelg, future Empress of the Adestrian Empire."

'So much for me having a weird name. How do you even spell theirs?' Thought the Hylian before reflecting on their affirmations. He had learned, in fact, that the Kingdom was currently without an actual king and that the Emperor was losing his health by the second. Thus, it meant that he was in the presence of two heirs of the most powerful political entities of Foddlan. This would have been a big deal for most people, but for Link, it was far less of an unique situation.

It also meant that both of them could very well have been killed this very instant. That possibility would have brought absolute chaos on the land. As interesting as the results could have been, Link wasn't the type to revel in such things.

As he was thinking, he waved goodbye to the three teenagers, who went to meet the blue-haired woman who had aided them as well and Link himself was approached by the Knight known as Alois.

"So, time for us to properly introduce ourselves, then!" Exclaimed the large middle-aged man, announcing his presence with an unexpected and powerful pat to the back, which surprisingly made the Hero flinch forward. "The Captain said that you weren't part of his group, so will you tell me your name, my good sir?"

After going through the same process once again, the knight's eyebrows lifted a bit when learning of Link's origins. However, he didn't seem to dislike it. He then introduced himself as Alois of the Knights of Seiros.

"Hey, I have to ask you, do you have a destination in mind, at the moment?"

"Not really, I just go wherever is in the direction I take. Why?"

"Then, why don't you come to the Monastery of Garreg Mach as thanks for your help tonight? Even if you don't stay long, we can offer you food and shelter for some time. What do you say?"

"If the rooms there are better than Remire's, then it's a deal."

After answering, Link glanced in the direction of the knight, whose eyes seemed to have widened significantly for some reason. He then looked to Link in return and cleared his throat.

"Of course, since you are a stranger and all that, you'll have to be monitored a little… I'll keep an eye on you, boy…"

He then proceeded to shut his left eye off while he stared at the Hylian with the other. The blonde couldn't do anything except for standing still, cringing awkwardly. Alois then seemingly reached an epiphany of some sort and returned to a more natural stance.

"Sorry, even for my standards, that was bad. Guess I'll have to check out for the next times, heh?... Alright."

Now, in the face of such overwhelming evidence, Link understood the feelings of Jeralt when the knight arrived. It promised to be a quite long journey.

"Let's rejoin the others and assemble the other students. We have a long march ahead of us if we want to arrive on time for the beginning of the school year!"

At this, the Knight of Seiros and the Hero of Hyrule walked together towards the three students and the young woman named Byleth, which was in the middle of being bargained with to rejoin the three youngsters' respective factions.

The next day, after reuniting the panicked students and trying in vain to search for their professor, the group had begun its journey back to the Monastery of Garreg Mach. Alois and Jeralt were at the front, accompanied by their respective men and discussing about their many adventures in the last years or Hylia knows what, while Byleth, Claude, Edelgard and Dimitri were keeping pace at a fair distance behind, with Link just in front of them. Sometimes, one of the two young men would accelerate a little to talk a bit with him. As for the girl, either the lotion had been particularly effective for her, or she didn't let her pain show, but either way she didn't bother to try and strike a conversation with him.

Apparently, the Monastery was not only the center of the Church of these lands and the home of the Archbishop, but it also served as an academy for the elite of the three political factions of Foddlan. The three teens who had stayed to fight the bandits were the designated House Leaders, which meant that they were more or less the unofficial… well, leaders, of their class. Each House had eight students that were decided to follow an extensive program which included missions on the field as a form of internship, which Link definitively thought of as an interesting concept. The thought of the youth of the different races of his homeland studying together in a classroom was certainly most entertaining.

Since the day before, Link had noticed that Edelgard's interest in him had extended to Byleth as well, for some reason. Maybe her saving the white-haired heir from a literally head-splitting headache had something to do with it. Meanwhile, the looks she gave to Link were of a mix of uneasiness and… what seemed like very heavy suspicion. The Hylian didn't really understand why she seemed so uncomfortable with him, but at the same time, folks from Foddlan seemed pretty xenophobic in general, and maybe his Plate had scared her a bit. These were just suppositions, though.

After a few hours of walking in silence, the young Claude rejoined Link's position in the line and cleared his throat before engaging conversation.

"So, you said that you were from a place called Hyrule, right?"

"Yep." Came Link's short response, prompting the tanned boy to keep on his questions.

"Mind talking a bit about it?"

"Why do you want to know about it?" Link's tone was genuinely curious, although his words could have been seen as rude by some.

"Oh, nothing in particular, I was just intrigued by it. I like learning more from outsiders."

"I see. All you need to know is that it's been destroyed and is getting better."

While this answer brought much fuel to the boy's curiousness, his subsequent attempts at getting more information about his homeland were ineffective on Link. After a few failed attempts, he returned to his other companions.

Then, as the group began to walk out of the forest they were in, the leaves cleared out and let a few sun rays hit the travelers' face. After their eyes got accustomed to the strong sunlight, it came into view.

Garreg Mach.

Built on a nearby mountain, the monastery dominated its surroundings by its sheer massiveness, which was only enhanced by the multiple protective walls which had been erected around it. Its main buildings looked to be pretty high from Link's perspective, in fact just as much as the Castle of Hyrule. Or rather, this must be what the Temple of Time and its citadel must have looked like in their prime, he thought.

The Hylian couldn't help himself but to whistle, visibly impressed, while he subconsciously slowed down his pace so he could observe it a bit more thoroughly until the students and Byleth caught up to him.

The group then made their way through one of the villages that had been settled at the feet of the monastery. Link took this opportunity to observe it in detail. Remire was a fine place, but this town clearly benefitted from the sheer flow of activity coming to and going from it, be it merchants, new villagers or the military. His analysis could not really go further, however, since he and his companions were beginning their ascension towards the academy's fortifications. After another quarter of an hour of walk, they finally arrived at the entrance. At this point, the students which had participated to the excursion had largely disbanded, as they likely already knew where to head to. Link, for his part, contented himself with following the trio of Jeralt, Byleth and Alois, who were continuing straight to the biggest building of the place.

Upon further inspection, Link noticed that the young woman's attention had been attracted by something above them, which incited the Hylian to glance upwards as well with an air of semi-interest on his face, then he saw her.

A pretty young-looking woman, but nonetheless radiating an aura of wisdom and divinity, was staring down right at Jeralt and Byleth from a balcony. She had long, pale green hair which contrasted very little with her similarly colored eyes – which, to be fair, seemed to be a contant in this continent for some reason. From the white and refined dress she wore as well as her… crown-looking gold thingy, Link deduced that she must be someone pretty important in this place.

Upon entering the building itself, they immediately found themselves into a massive hall, with long tables place on both the side and the left. From the smell in the place, Link deduced that a kitchen was in operation at some distance, and thus some may come here to eat from times to times. The four of them then continued through the room until they reached a small hallway, in which there were stairs leading to the second floor. As they climbed up, Link continued to observe the architecture of the place, which shared multiple similarities with what he had seen in the Hyrule Castle. However, one big difference he found was that there was a lot of stained glass used as decoration in the windows, while there weren't nearly as much in Hyrule.

When they arrived on the second floor, Jeralt and Byleth continued further into another rather large room, which was closed off immediately after they entered it, while Alois gestured to Link to stop and to wait.

"Just be a bit patient. After the Captain is done, they'll want to talk to you. I'll go make that they know why you're here first, though."

"Yeah, you do that…" The Hylian responded while nodding slowly. "Hey, just before you go, I saw a green-haired woman when coming through here, she seemed high-ranked enough. Who is she?"

"Oh!" The knight's expression lightened a bit at Link's description. "This is Lady Rhea, the Archbishop. She is the one who will talk with you."

'Well, she certainly is important, after all.' Link thought.

"Do you guys really just accept foreigners into your establishment like that?" The blonde Hero apprehended, rubbing his bearded chin for a moment.

"It would not be the first time. I know how Foddlan is, but this place is a bit different. We already have other outsiders in here, there is even one who works as a sniper. Really, you don't have to worry about that…" Said the larger man with a reassuring smile and his hands on his hips. Link simply nodded in acquiesced in response, although he didn't really have a reason to be worried per say. If it didn't work out, he just went back to the wilds with his stuff and… and he just realized that he had forgotten almost all of his Foddlan weaponry back at the blacksmith. Ah well.

After merely a minute, Jeralt went out of the room in a hurried and seemingly annoyed pace, stopping a few meters away from the door to cover is face with his palm, seemingly reflecting on and regretting a few choices. Link knew how this felt.

"So, how did it go?" Asked Alois, apparently oblivious to his old friend's discomfort. The old mercenary's expression changed slightly upon hearing the knight's voice and he adopted a more neutral expression.

"Oh, I've been asked to reintegrate the Knights of Seiros…"

"That's great news! Will you?"

"… It isn't as if I have a choice…"

Link assumed at first that Alois was just a very dense individual by the sound of the conversation alone, but glancing in the larger man's direction, he could distinguish the knight's worry and anguish on his visage. Maybe he did realize that Jeralt would have rather not been involved in that bandit attack after all…

"Anyways…" Continued the orange-clothed man. "Byleth is almost done, you'll be able to introduce our friend after that."

"And what are they possibly talking about?" Inquired Alois.

"They are talking about making her a teacher here, no less… I'll admit that I didn't see it coming either." Indeed, the knight's face was completely dumbstruck by the surprise. Even Link, despite his general indifference, lifted his eyebrows and even engaged in the conversation.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't your daughter a mercenary? Don't mistake me, I know she's skilled, but a teaching job? That doesn't seem to be in her field of expertise."

"Don't worry, kiddo, I don't take offense. Actually, I have the exact same concerns."

Link flinched a little upon being called a 'kiddo' by Jeralt. He wasn't exactly a youngster anymore, and while he certainly did keep an air of youth in his facial features, he was still well into his mid-twenties. Actually, to think of it, it would actually still make him quite young, by most standards.

"Well, I do not know for both of you, but I do trust Lady Rhea's judgement. If she believes that your daughter is fit to teach those kids, then I'm sure that she can as well!" Added the large knight, prompting an irritated grunt from Jeralt, which made Link suspect that the latter may know just a tiny bit more than what he told them.

While the three's banter was dying down, however, the door to Rhea's sort of conference room was opened and Byleth came out rather calmly, unlike her father had done a few minutes earlier. She didn't stop to talk with the three men, but she did nod in their direction to acknowledge their presence.

"Well, looks like it's our turn. We will be seeing each other later, Captain!" Exclaimed Alois, nodding his head in the direction of the entrance of the room. Link acquiesced back and the two men entered.

The sight that the Hylian was welcomed with was quite the spectacle, to be honest. The violet and blue colors of the walls and floor transpired a sense of solemnity into the place, which added to the effect of the beautiful mosaic in the immense window at the back of the place, which seemed to represent some sort of divine entity.

Other than that, there were already two other people inside. The first one, who was apparently Rhea, stood in front of his with a calm, yet intrigued look as she held her hands together on her stomach. The second, unlike the Archbishop, seemed quite agitated. He had hair and eyes of green color as well, but his were noticeably darker than Rhea's. His facial features were sharp and his expression harsh, and he wore a distinguished, blue uniform, indicating a role of importance for him as well. Under their gaze, Alois nervously cleared his throat and began to announce Link properly, while the announced merely stood nonchalantly at his side, observing the room.

"Pardon me for the disturbance, Lady Rhea, but as you know, the group of students sent to Remire has been attacked last night. Fortunately, we could acquire the help of the Captain's group by chance. The young man I have brought here has also given us much needed assistance, and this despite coming across by pure randomness. Since he is without a home, I proposed to him a shelter here, but of course it is for you to decide…"

"Suffice, Alois, you have done well. I will talk with him in private from now on, if you will."

While the knight's speech had been hurried and spoken quite quickly due to his nervousness, Rhea's response had been almost amused, as if she was in a great mood already. It would only make things easier, Link thought.

After Alois had let the room, the Hylian finally stopped looking around with an uninterested look, and instead directed it on the grumpy-looking man on Rhea's side. His stern expression hadn't mellowed down one bit yet, and he seemed to be, unlike her, in a pretty bad mood.

"I will say, young man, I cannot thank you enough for helping to save our children, despite having no stake in it. For this, you have our gratitude." Rhea spoke with a dignified and kind tone which, to be honest, seemed a bit too nice to Link to be completely genuine.

"However, we cannot allow you to stay here at the monastery, unless we can make sure that you are indeed trustworthy." Said the older-looking man. "First of all, we'll make introductions."

"Indeed, it would be most appropriate. As you have probably heard by now, I am Rhea, the Archbishop. He, at my side, is Seteth. He is my most trusted assistant. And who would you be?"

A mystery.

A complete and utter mystery. That's the only way Seteth could qualify this day.

First, it turns out that a member of the knights believed to be dead comes back after twenty years out of the blue, along with a daughter born after his disappearance. Then, Rhea actually enrolls the daughter, who is merely a mercenary, as a teacher to replace the one who fled during the incident with the bandits. And now, she was willing to host a complete stranger on top of an outsider! While Seteth was what he would refer to as a reformist in the Church of Seiros, nothing indicated that the young man was not a spy or an otherwise malevolent person.

And now, here he was in the library, searching through a record of Brigid's history trying to find some evidence to confirm at least some of his claims.

At least, as it turns out, the lands of Hyrule, which Link claimed were his place of birth, did actually exist. It had kept economic ties with Brigid for a good time, trading unspecified goods for decades. However, at a certain point, the land completely shut down from the rest of the world. According to a few returning merchants, an evil force had attacked the kingdom and destroyed it. Reading about these legends made the green-haired man recall some uneasy memories.

From the dates of the publishing of the book, Seteth concluded that the 'Calamity', as it was called, had happened roughly a century ago. Thus, according to the man, he would be the descendant of survivors of Hyrule's destruction. This part, at least, was true.

But a few things did not exactly add up for him. If Link was truly the son of rebuilding survivors, then why would he qualify himself as 'bored' back home? Why would he abandon everything to put himself into danger for mere excitement? Add to this his rather inexplicable talent with a weapon according to Jeralt and Byleth, and you get quite the confusing puzzle.

According to the testimony of the young Edelgard, he was also equipped with a piece of magic or technology unheard of in Foddlan. For now, all of the evidence pointed towards the young blonde being a well-informed, but ill-intentioned spy.

Seteth let out a heavy sigh as he sat down at one of the tables of the monastery's library and deposited the history records on it. Rhea had promised to find Link a duty which would fit his abilities and quirks. All he had asked for was to 'fight strong enemies' and to be allowed to roam free for a certain time of each week or month. A few red flags had been raised already, but Rhea still seemed to trust this man. As such, all Seteth could do was to have him monitored so he couldn't pull anything.

Fortunately, his skills inspired Rhea to task him with assisting the weapon handling instructor Jeritza, so the two could share the twenty-four students who would have monitory classes with them as well as the other ones who would desire supplementary sessions. Thus, Seteth had already someone to look over the newcomer when he's in the academy's grounds. Since Rhea seemingly accepted to send him on field missions, the bureaucrat decided that he would always be sent with someone competent, be it Alois or another of the elite Knights of Seiros.

For the first time in hours, a slight sensation of relief made its way through Seteth. At least, if Link was malicious, then they wouldn't be completely blindsighted.

Not far from the monastery of Garrech Mach, another group had just finished getting themselves installed. In an ancient fissure in the ground, known as the Red Canyon, Kostas and his surviving men had settled, waiting for their employer to check in on their failure. The scarred bandit leader looked around him to count the number of those who managed to get out of the last day's mess alive, since the chaos caused by the mercenaries, knights and other interveners had prevented them from executing a proper evacuation. To his exasperation, it was disappointingly low, not more than fifteen units came along.

Sitting near a woodfire, Kostas placed him face into his palm out of exhaustion, while his subordinates were finishing establishing the camp for the night. They had been told to move over here, in this goddess-forsaken fissure, once they were finished with killing the students. They had not succeeded in any way, but the bandits' leader knew that his 'contractor' would be able to retrace them and punish them accordingly. At least, if they showed obedience, they could hope to ask for a compensation of some sort.

The bearded thief's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of his men who were beginning to bicker over their next course of action. Some of them wanted to stay and stick with him, while the rest wished to get away and run, like a few had already done. Kostas understood their worries, and he himself would have gladly ditched the prick who threw him in this situation, had he not witnessed the latter's abilities firsthand. However, he was not going to tolerate talk of rebellion among his troops. Thus, he got up and readied himself to bash some skulls in…

Right before a violet pillar of light crashed right in the middle of the settlement. All those of were present, including Kostas himself, knew exactly who was going to appear in front of them.

The Flame Emperor.

Right before Kostas stood his employer. They wore a fully covering red cape, which failed to show any hint of their actual body shape. They also wore a dark war helmet, which was coupled with a white mask with some red stripes to completely conceal their identity. Counting the tip of the helm, the Flame Emperor stood roughly as tall as Kostas, who was admittedly of fairly average height.

Following the red figure's flamboyant entry were a few moments of silence from the bandits, ranging from stupefied to hostile, before the newcomer turned to face their leader and began to talk.

"You have failed at your task, thief. What do you have to say?"

The Emperor's voice was deep, but given the intense echo that their headwear provided, Kostas had previously guessed that their actual vocalizations would be far higher than the demon-like tone they took when addressing him. However, his thoughts weren't currently focused on this particular topic.

"Hey, this isn't what we'd agreed on! You never told us that the Knights of Seiros would be there, or these blasted mercenaries, or even that madman! You told us that there would be no problem!"

"You underestimated the protection that the students would benefit from, and you have paid the price, although the appearance of the mercenaries and the outsider have proven to be interesting. At least, far more promising than you"

"And what about our accord? We agreed on a fair trade." The bandit leader was fuming with rage, barely containing himself from jumping at his interlocutor.

"I have no obligation to honor a failed accord."

"Well, how is this going to end, then?"

"With your death."

After these last words, Kostas could barely think straight enough to not succumb to panic, which would have probably resulted in a bloodbath. He had seen what they were capable of, and if they wanted him dead, then nothing could stop them.

"Wha…"

Without warning, however, the Flame Emperor warped away in the same manner as they had arrived. Once the thugs were over their shocked trance, they began to look around and glance at their companions, anxious about their next course of action.

"What… what do we now, boss?" Nervously asked the youngest man of the group, wiping his cold sweat off his forehead.

"…" Kostas, however, could not answer right away. They were already wanted by the Knights of Seiros for attacking their 'children', and this psycho Emperor apparently wasn't going to spare them either.

"We are going to gather supplies. If they all want us dead, then we'll make damn sure that they will regret messing with us. We'll invade the nearby towns and take every weapon we can, then we'll fight them here. We'll see how we can set up a trap for them…" The leader's frown lowered and hardened as he muttered a few last words.

"Damn you!"

Notes:

I hope you liked Alois' absolutely terrible jokes, I have spent almost 12 seconds thinking on them...

In all seriousness, of course Link hasn't been doing nothing at all in the six years since he left Hyrule. He just hasn't met the people with whom it is relevant yet.

Just like for the first chapter, if you've gotten any feedback for me, don't hesitate one second! Have a nice day, and special thanks to LostCipher999 for being my beta reader for both my first chapters!