Great Tree Moon
Foddlan year 1180
'Getting to know the students'.
That was the instruction that Byleth had received as the new professor of the Officer's Academy. She had to go see the house leaders and meet some other of their classmates before the role of each teacher was decided. Honestly, she had already interacted with them a little before, so she didn't think it to be important.
Apparently, there were only two other main teachers at the school, a Crest specialist named Hanneman and an… 'available' songstress nurse named Manuela. There was originally another, but he fled when those thugs attacked him and the students. Each of them would have to take care of the students of one of three factions of Fodlan. The three classes' names were the Black Eagles, of the Adestrian Empire, the Blue Lions of the Kingdom of Faerghus and, last but not least, the Golden Deers of the Leicester Alliance.
Since the other two professors had been working there for a few years already, they had the priority as for the choice of who they would teach, which left Byleth with the 'leftover' group, in a sense. It didn't matter to her, as she was determined to make the aspiring knights under her tutelage the darn best warriors of the entire continent. She always fulfilled her duty, and this one would not be an exception.
Right now, however, she was waiting for the students to be done getting installed in the monastery proper as well as for her planned meeting with her fellow teachers, reading a book of the rules of the monastery in the meantime. She quickly got bored of it, however, so she closed it in order to reflect on the events that had been happening since the last day…
…
"Hey, wake up!"
Byleth, as if following the command of the mysterious childish voice, slowly opened her eyelids, although it didn't allow more light to enter her eyes than when they were closed. Sitting up, the young woman gave a few glances at her surroundings. After a few seconds, she finally found an illuminated feature in the weird place she was stuck in: a couple stair carved out of stone, which bathed in an emerald colored light.
Rising her gaze upwards, Byleth perceived some sort of throne at the top, but it wasn't the most interesting detail. Indeed, there was a young girl sitting on it, and she observed the mercenary with utter disdain. She was clothed in some sort of dark blue light robe, with a lot of assorted jewelry. Despite her face transpiring traits of an adult, with her harsh stare, her body didn't look older than twelve years old, with her short stature and lack of… 'female endowments'. Her hair was extremely long and spread behind her head, and it was of a pale green color.
"Hmm… what is even going on…" After this rhetorical question, the little girl let out a lousy yawn before focusing her attention on Byleth once again. "And what are you?"
Now, Byleth had often been asked about her identity in the past – few actually expected a rather pretty woman such as herself to be the fearsome mercenary who was supposed to get rid of a bunch of thiefs – but she had to admit that no one had ever asked her what she was. Honestly, it felt like quite a silly question, and as such the young woman decided to respond in kind.
"… I am a demon."
"Lying will get you nowhere. Answer truthfully." The girl's tone remained calm, but her slight frown indicated that she wasn't particularly amused by her interlocutor's humor. The mercenary, in response, brought up her hand and began to shake her fingers while a slight grin uncontrollably formed on her lips.
"…
…
I am a ghooost…"
Now, if the girl had been unamused before, now she was straight up annoyed. She began tapping her fingers furiously on her throne's handles as Byleth kept up her serious expression before the latter finally submitted and announced while rolling her eyes:
"I am just a poor mortal soul."
"Now, that's better. And what is your name?"
"Byleth."
"Huh… I'll never get used to the sound of human names… Now, let's continue our-"
"Hey, you alright, kid?"
For the second time this evening, the blue-haired mercenary was woken up by an exterior voice calling out to her. However, this time, she knew who the voice belonged to. The gruffness brought by decades of intense drinking was rather distinctive: Jeralt, her father.
"Yeah, I'm okay…" Came Byleth's tired response. Looking outside, she could see that it was still pretty early in the night. For a second, she wondered why he was waking her up like this all of a sudden.
"Were you still having that weird dream? You seemed pretty agitated."
At this, the young woman took a moment to recall what she was just dreaming about, which turned out to be quite difficult due to her nearly asleep state. However, she was still able to confirm that she had, indeed, been dreaming about that strange girl again.
"I see… you're having it way more often, these days… But that's not why I woke you up. You know Remire, right?"
"Yes, it's not far from here, why?"
"Well, there are a bunch of kids which apparently require protection, and bandit activity has been observed nearby, so we're tasked to assist in the case something goes wrong. Basic escort mission."
Byleth nodded slowly as she was progressively regaining her full cognitive functions. During this process, the weird dream and the girl that inhabited it faded away in her subconscious, yet again.
As it turned out, the worries of the Knights of Seiros were justified. Indeed, a bandit group had attacked the student body while the Knights had been distracted. There had only been her, her father, and a couple of the students to try and fight back against the thugs.
Surprisingly, though, it was actually going pretty well. Thanks to her tactical genius and raw skills, she had managed to keep the three youngsters behind her relatively safe, and the foes' numbers were diminishing. The fact that a complete stranger had turned up to lend a helping hand had only increased their advantage.
Now, there were only a few of them left, with their leader getting more and more panicked as Byleth continuously countered his attacks and her allies kept on killing off his troops. After one last swipe, he had apparently hit the last straw, and his face had turned completely neurotic as he screamed towards her.
"YOU'LL DIE!"
However, to her horror, he began to rush not at her, but at Edelgard, who was already quite wounded from the battle. Without thinking, Byleth threw herself in the way of his axe, pushing the young heiress out of the way, and she braced herself for the incoming excruciating pain from a weapon piercing her body, and for a fraction of a second, it came. She could feel the blade cut through her skin, before the weight of the weapon fractured her vertebrae and separated her spine in two. Then…
Everything stopped.
Byleth could not move anymore, but she knew that she was still benched over, with an axe in her back. She could feel the intruding object in her flesh and bones, but for some reason it did not hurt anymore.
Was this what it was like to die? Did everyone experience their time stopping like this?
No, it wasn't possible. The wound she had just received was nothing to scoff around, sure. Hell, it would probably cripple her for life, even with Faith users at hand, and she never could fight again, or maybe not even walk at all! However, it could not have killed her on the spot so quickly. She hadn't been harmed yet in the fight, and she had endured pretty serious injuries before without dying instantly.
The very fact that she could think this clearly given the circumstances disturbed her slightly, which was not easy to do. After some time in this state of stasis, however, a very familiar and feminine voice echoed though her mind.
"No, really. Are you serious? You couldn't have done a better job if you had tried to get us killed!"
Ah, great, she was now hallucinating.
When she thought this, however, the words resonated through the dark place she was in in the same that the green-haired girl's did.
"Oh, so you think I'm not real now? How ungrateful for someone who just saved your life!"
Still somewhat suspicious, Byleth made an effort to open her eyes. While she succeeded, she could feel that her actual, physical eyes were still closed. What she had just controlled was like a second state, a body inside of her head.
And now, she found herself in the same weird throne room that she had dreamed of. This time, however, it was not in the nebulous context of a dream. This time, Byleth could feel distinctively the rocky ground under her shoes, as well as a slight breeze of cold hair flowing through the place.
"So, will you say anything, Byleth?"
"I'm… I'm thankful… thanks…" The mercenary responded half-consciously, still observing her surroundings for another time. The girl, to get her attention, snapped her fingers.
"Listen to me when I speak. Somehow, I have stopped time to save us both from death. What do you plan on doing now, tactical genius?"
"Hey, stop trying to boss me around like that! Last time I checked, I am the one in control here, alright? What is even your name?" Snapped Byleth, getting tired of the girl's attitude throughout her numerous dreams of her and now, apparently, her dying hallucination.
Or was it?
"… If you truly want to know, then my name is Sothis. Now, hurry up and think of a solution to clean up your mess."
Byleth, now buying more and more into the possibility of being saved, began reflecting on her situation. So, she was dying, and some weird girl in her head had stopped time to give her time to think, right?
"Do you think that you can reverse time as well? I mean, you can already stop it…"
Now, Sothis' eyebrows went up as a surprised expression appeared on her visage. She then let out a sigh of exasperation, as if wondering how she could have not have thought of it herself, then she nodded slowly.
"I can probably do it, yes. However, try not to screw up again. I know that I won't be able to do it twice, for now. Think fast, and don't get me killed. Got it?"
And on these words, the throne room completely disappeared and Byleth found herself back into her actual body, eyes closed and axe in her back. However, as Sothis began to do her magic, her eyes were forcibly opened as they had been before being struck, she was sent backwards and away from Edelgard and the bandit leader, who were also moving in reverse time. After a few more seconds, she found herself standing in front of Kostas, sword in hand, as time began to flow normally once again, and the thief began his tantrum. Then, it hit her.
It wasn't a hallucination.
She wasn't dead.
She really had an imaginary friend who could rewind time somehow, and now she could – and probably should – defeat the thug before it was too late again.
With her mind still being full of unanswered questions, Byleth took a stance and got ready for Kostas' mad run for the kill, and when he did…
Edelgard still got pushed in a similar way as before, but this time there was no one wounded by axe. No, instead, what everyone could hear were the screams of pain of the bandit, who fled shortly after, when Alois and his men came back.
Ding
And now, the new teacher's thoughts were interrupted by the melody of the bells which announced the return to class after lunch. The dining hall she was in began to be emptied of its students, and as such it was time for Byleth to go meet the two other professors of the academy.
All three of them were supposed to go to Seteth's office. It wasn't really hard to find it, as it was fairly close to the room where Byleth had discussed with him and Rhea, but she did feel some sort of disappointment when she found out that the bureaucrat had not arrived yet. Byleth guessed that he had been busy with some paperwork problem or something similar, so she decided that she would look around the place before he arrived.
Seteth's office was situated in a rather narrow corridor which led to many rooms, but only two of them had anybody in them at the moment. In the first one she checked in, Byleth found a comfortable-looking bed, with dark green sheets placed upon it. Resting on the bed was a pale-faced teenager, who had his arm put in a cast, probably as a result of the bandits' attack, Byleth thought.
Not far from the unfortunate youngster, a blonde and well – ahem – 'equipped' woman was standing, currently busy checking through the numerous bottles of medicine present. After a moment, the lady noticed Byleth's presence and smiled softly while abandoning her current task.
As she began to walk sensually towards her, the former mercenary noticed that she was wearing orange lipstick which, by some act of sorcery, she managed to make look quite good. Her green robe presented a decent cleavage as the white robe attached to it flowed behind the woman's back as she moved. She then brought her hand to her chin in a very smooth movement while she started talking.
"My, my. You must be the new professor at the Academy, am I right?"
"Yes. I am Byleth." Responded the new teacher, performing the usual greeting bow.
"So I've heard… I am Manuela Casagranda, but you may know me under my stage name, the 'Divine Songstress'!"
After this introduction came an uncomfortable silence which went on for a few seconds before Byleth cleared her throat.
"No, no I have not. I take it you're a singer, then?"
"I… Yes, I am." Responded Manuela in her bafflement. "I suppose you and your father did not care much for the world of arts. In any case, I also am the nurse of service, as you may have noticed, as well as your new colleague!"
Realizing that she had not checked the sign at the room's doorframe yet, Byleth took a step backwards and read 'Infirmary', which confirmed the much older woman's claims.
"Alright, I still have to look after this boy here, so could you be a darling and tell me when Seteth finally decides to show up?"
Frowning in irritation from the inappropriately affectionate appellation, the former mercenary nodded nonchalantly nonetheless and exited the room before continuing her little tour. Just next to the songstress' infirmary was another office and from its doorframe Byleth could see a rather large bookshelf. This time, she took the time to look at the room's designation, which read 'Department of Crest research'. From what she had been told earlier, this must be the office of the other professor, Hanneman.
Sure enough, when she poked her head through the doorframe, a quite mature man immediately came into her view. His hair was greying from his advanced age, but his well-trimmed mustache and the monocle he wore over his right eye more than made up for it in matters of good looks.
Like his female colleague had done earlier, he eventually realized that someone was observing him and he awkwardly nodded in Byleth's direction before going back to the papers he was working on.
As she was going to explore the floor further, however, she caught sight of Seteth at the infirmary's doorframe, announcing to Manuela that the meeting between the four of them had to begin. As such, in short order, the bureaucrat and the three teachers went straight into the former's office. Seteth sat behind his desk while Manuela took a chair of the room at her leisure. Hanneman, for his part, offered the second one to Byleth while he went to retrieve something to sit on from his own office.
The meeting debuted simply enough, with the green-haired assistant formally introducing the newest addition to the teaching staff to the two others, causing Hanneman to frown slightly when he learned of the younger woman's background. Byleth couldn't exactly blame him, as she did not understand either why she had been asked to replace the former cowardly professor so quickly.
Desperate times called for desperate measures, she guessed.
"Good, now we can get to the actual meaning of this reunion today…" Said Seteth with a deep sigh, as it became clear that he was eager to end the day. "… The choice of the House that you shall be assigned to for the year."
Before continuing, the bureaucrat turned to look at Byleth in the eye.
"Here, at the Officer's Academy, the priority of choice goes according to whoever has had the longest tenure to date. As such, the first to decide shall be Hanneman, followed by Manuela, which means that-"
"That I'll take the leftovers. I knew." Finished the former mercenary, cutting the speech short. Dumbfounded, Seteth cleared his throat and gathered a few sheets of papers which, as Byleth noticed, had lists of names written on them.
"Alright, then… we will be looking through the students who have enrolled this year…"
In the classroom of the Black Eagles, the ambiance, as it had been since they came in a week ago, was solemn. Edelgard was offering a lecture on dark magic since the decision as to who would actually teach them hadn't yet been made. As such, she was demonstrating the knowledge that she already possessed by performing a basic spell for her classmates to see and try to replicate later. So far, the wounds that she had sustained had healed well enough, thanks in no small parts to Manuela's treatments.
In the desk row just in front of her were seated Ferdinand von Aegir and Dorothea Arnault, who were paying close attention to the lesson. Dorothea, the only commoner of the group, already had a preference for magic, and thus she appreciated Edelgard's efforts to share what she knew. She was observing the symbols forming out of thin air above her leader's hands and removed a few locks of her long brown hair dangling in front of her face while trying to memorize them.
Ferdinand, for his part, had very little experience in anything regarding magical spells, but he listened closely nevertheless, for very different reasons from his desk neighbor.
"Wait, Edelgard, you said that dark magic would be the best option against most opponents, but doesn't Nosferatu allow you to heal yourself, while attacking?"
A shared groan between Dorothea and the Black Eagles' leader could be heard, before the soon-to-be Empress glanced in his direction with visible annoyance and answered his question.
"I have told you all only a few minutes before, Nosferatu takes time to cast and it will make you slower in battle overall. Only use it if you think that you can finish off your opponent in one hit."
"Yes, but what if we use it when defending, we could-"
"Aegir, if you keep interrupting Lady Edelgard in her lesson, then I will have to get you out of this class, forcefully, so think wisely before you utter another word."
The rebuttal to the well-trimmed orange-haired noble's argument had not been said by Edelgard, nor had it been by Dorothea. Instead, the one who spoke up against the young man was none other than Hubert von Vestra, who was sitting next to one of the side walls of the class. The tall and skinny dark-haired boy was also known among his classmates under the various aliases of 'Hubie', 'the Creep' and 'Edelgard's pocket dog'. His intense stare, coupled with his sickly pale green irises had a knack for making most people uncomfortable, but Ferdinand was not impressed.
"I am sorry, Hubert, but when I have a relevant question, I believe that I should ask it." Despite his constant opposition to the only current figure of authority – sort of – present in the group, the young man kept a polite and respectful demeanor.
"Well, you will just have to ask our professor, if you want your answer to a question that I've already answered." Replied Edelgard, with a no less calm and polite demeanor.
"Very well, I will, but know that I will inform the rest of the group – including you – of the answer I'm given. If I'm wrong, then it would be good for the rest to avoid having doubts…"
"If you are wrong, then no one will be surprised, Ferdie." Now, it had been Dorothea's turn to speak up, now nearly exasperated by Ferdinand's constant interruptions. The young man, for his part, could only look at her with a confused expression, before going back to merely paying attention to his leader's teachings.
Meanwhile, in the back of the class were most of the rest of the students, those who did not bother to pay attention or simply didn't have talent in dark magic. Caspar von Bergliez was one of them, resting his chin on his palm while sighing every couple minute in exasperation. The short blue-haired boy then leaned back in his chair and began to observe the ceiling out of sheer boredom.
"Man… Why can't she just do that at the training grounds? At least, I could build some more muscle while they go on about their stupid magic stuff… Right, Lindhart?" He whispered, turning to his friend.
The friend in question, Linhardt von Hevring, was currently too busy sleeping away the class on his desk to bother listening to Caspar plea for agreement. A quick jab to his ribcage by his small classmate quickly resolved this issue.
"Wha-what?"
"I said that we could do this on the training grounds. Am I right or am I right?"
"I don't know, I just want to sleep…"
And just like that, the dark green-haired young man spontaneously fell asleep once again, much to the frustration of Caspar, who began tapping his fingers on the desk in wait of the end of this class.
Meanwhile, not far from the bored or sleepy men, there was a third student seated at the same desk row, Petra Mcneary. At first, she seemed like a sore thumb out of the group of mostly nobles from the empire. With her tanned skin and violet marks complementing her braided violet hair, she did not pass unremarked among her classmates. Although the lesson didn't bore her nor did she find anyone in particular in the group annoying, but she simply lacked the affinity in magic that would have been required to find this lecture useful.
"Hey, by the way, has someone seen Bernadetta?" Asked Caspar, who was now looking for the missing eighth member of their group, turning his head around in vain.
"Mmhph… I think I saw her under the desks…" Mumbled Lindhart, still half-asleep but still conscious enough to listen and respond to his friend's question.
Seeking to verify the sleeping man's words, the blue-haired boy then bent over to check under the numerous rows that were present in the room. Due to their small number and the size of their classroom, there were a lot of potential places to see through, but eventually, at one of the corners, he finally found the small, frail and mauve-haired girl known as Bernadetta von Varley, quietly sitting under her wooden cover as she was busy reading a book of some sort. Lifting her eyes from her reading material, she quickly looked around and saw Caspar staring right back at her, smiling and waving. The girl's response was to audibly shriek and bringing her open book over her head, as if trying to protect it from attack or something.
Slightly put off by her behavior, the diminutive brawler went back to his initial position, sighing loudly as he realized that Edelgard's lecture was still going on. After a few more minutes of waiting, he decided to imitate his friend Lindhart and take a short nap before their training session. After all, it would be better to be relaxed and alert rather than frustrated from boredom.
It was going to be quite the year, that was sure for him.
While nearly half of the Black Eagles were struggling against the boredom of a lecture, the atmosphere was way different over at the Blue Lions' group. Instead of the closed space that was their classroom, they had collectively decided to have some physical exercise at the training grounds, so they could vent out the inactivity that they had been mostly forced into since a few days. The only one who had something interesting happen to him lately was Dimitri, and said thing was to be nearly killed, so it wasn't really a fun experience either.
A few of the eight members of the Blue Lions were currently practicing their archery skills. Standing shortly with light and grey hair, with a young-looking face full of freckles, Ashe Ubert was doing his best to control his breathing pace and focus on the target that he had placed several dozen meters away from him. However, his tranquil training was currently being disturbed by the banter of two other nearby students, causing the young Ashe to frown in annoyance.
To be fair, one of the two was just as much a victim of her fellow than Ashe, if not more so. Ingrid Brandl Galatea was trying to practice her skills with the bow and arrow as well, while her childhood friend, Sylvain Jose Gautier, rather preferred to try to tease her.
"Come on, Ingrid, trust me, I just want to show you the right position for your elbow, or else you'll just send your arrows in random directions!" The intensely red-haired Casanova wannabe explained, as his blonde friend's frustrated expression grew more and more, until it culminated to an attempted back punch, which was fortunately – depending of the perspective, of course – dodged.
"If you really want to help, then just tell me what to do or go fight with the real men over there, instead of bothering me." The prideful heir of House Galatea retorted before going back to her practice.
"Wow, that was cold. That'll teach me to try and help you."
"That'll teach you to touch her and get on the nerves of everyone, you mean…" Replied Ashe in Ingrid's place, who was beginning to grow tired of Sylvain's flirting. "You aren't the only person in the arena, so get your lance and stop disturbing us, okay?"
"Okay, I got it. I'll get it in a minute…" Said Sylvain, finally surrendering. "Could you explain her, though? Her elbow really is in a bad position…"
After the redhead was finally gone, Ashe stopped his training for a second to observe Ingrid's stature, as Sylvain had suggested, and he groaned a bit before calling out to her.
"Uh, Ingrid? Sylvain was right, actually. You do have a bad pose. Watch me, I'll show you how to change it."
While the blonde sighed and let Ashe do a demonstration to her, the rest of the boys of the class were getting ready for a rather different activity. The first one of them, Dimitri, had placed himself in the middle of his two classmates, lance in hand, and ready to spar. At his left, the brown hulking form of Dedue Molinaro stood his ground, with a wooden training axe in his right hand, his white hair and his usual emotionless expression. At his right, his former best friend Felix Hugo Fraldarius who was wielding a sword of similar purposes. The dark blue-haired boy, while technically he was the ally of Dedue for the duration of the bout, did not spare either of the other participants of the spar from the disdain in his eyes.
Without warning, the larger Dedue began to rush towards his House's leader and took a swing of his unsharpened axe at the royal heir. However, the hit was easily countered with a quick movement of Dimitri's lance which knocked the weapon right out of his vassal's hand. Taking advantage of his distraction, Felix sprung forward himself and prepared to land a blow on the lancer's side. While the latter was not able to outright counter, he did manage to block the attack which, while not lethal due to the nature of their equipment, would still have left a nasty bruise on him.
The two fighters then entered a brief blade lock, with Felix visibly needing to put in way more effort than his leader, if his furious frowning was of any indication. However, in the excitement of the moment, the young prince had completely forgotten about the huge Duscurian who wrapped his arms right around his liege's torso to obstruct his movements and allow Felix to exploit his forcefully downed guard. Right as the wooden sword was about to make contact with the prince's cheek, however, it stopped moving mid-swing, its wielder sporting a frustrated frown before he began to chew his ally out.
"Why did you restrain him? I could have beaten him on my own!" Complained the swordsman, pointing his blade in Dedue's direction as the Duscurian merely looked at him with a semi-confused expression.
"My role was to assist you in the bout, and that is what I did. If I hadn't intervened, then His Majesty would have defeated you effortlessly." After explaining himself, he then turned to Dimitri, bowing down. "I wish to offer my apologies for my dishonorable tactics, my liege."
"Oh, no, do not, please." Dimitri tried to reassure his friend. "If I want to really be successful on the battlefield, I need to be ready to face such strategies in the future. And besides, you did good. In a real fight, I would have been beaten."
While the prince and his servant discussed and their asocial sparring partner went on his own to practice his sword techniques, the other two girls of the group were calmly observing the various scenes occurring, not being much for physical training themselves.
The first one, Mercedes von Martritz, was smiling gently, amused by the banter that was going on around the place. Her long, extremely pale blond braided hair hanged on the side of her head before landing on her left shoulder. The second one, the short-haired redhead Annette Fantine Dominic, had more of an interested look than her companion, and she stretched a little before swinging her body around due to her immobility.
"Ooh… I think I should get moving a little, don't you think?" Asked Annette, while Mercedes glanced in her direction with a questioning look.
"Yes, it would certainly be good for you. You could maybe take a bow, like Ashe and Ingrid?" Mercedes asked back with that soft and motherly voice of hers, while Annette found herself a little flustered.
"Oh, oh no! If I did, I would end up hitting someone instead of the target… I would rather throw magic spells around. I'm far better at it!"
"If you say so, then you can simply go and train! I'll be cheering you on!" Encouraged the blonde, prompting Annette to go vent off her pent-up agitation as her elder student encouraged her, although she did so from a safe enough distance.
In the class of the Golden Deer, the ambiance of the group had more or less been self-defined as 'do whatever you feel like doing, because there is not yet a teacher to say otherwise'. As such, the eight students went at different occupations that befitted them best.
In the middle of the classroom, a few of them had assembled to take part of an activity proposed by Claude. It was a tabletop game that was proposing various hypothetical military scenarios, to which the participants would have to find sensible solutions given what the game left at their disposition, all with a large and high-quality map of Fodlan for the sake of the settings. So far, only Claude himself and two other students were actually playing his game, although the debates were already heated as it was.
The one who was the most invested was a young noble of the name of Lorenz Hellman Gloucester. The skinny boy sported what could very well be called the absolutely worst haircut of recent history, and he seemed to always search for a flaw in Claude's judgements and seek conflict with the House leader.
The second one who bothered to participate was Hilda Valentine Goneril, although she mainly watched the two boys clash and contented herself with stating obvious parts of the problems proposed and mostly looked over the debates of Claude and Lorenz with a discouraged look. She guessed that it was the kind of disagreement that caused decisions in times of need to be so long to make. Ah well, if she didn't need to make any mental effort toward their game because they were so busy arguing, it was her win.
"Claude, I cannot believe that you would even consider a group of archers to be a good idea. The enemy is supposed to be skilled in horse mounting, and your soldiers will get slaughtered in a turn or two!" Complained the violet-haired noble to his game partner.
"Yes, this would be a fair point anywhere else, but as you can remark, the battle is going to place in the north of the Kingdom, in the mountains. There, their most prized skill will be a hindrance, and all we need to assure our troops' safety would be a few foot soldiers to keep the cavaliers at bay." Explained Claude, calmly exposing his reasoning. However, Lorenz was not going to capitulate and admit that his rival was right all along.
"This may be true, but you fail to take their weapon handling skills into consideration. They can easily dismount, and with their numbers, your foot soldiers will not stand a chance."
"Oh, yes, I know. If only there were hundreds of units ready to provide instantaneous support for the outnumbered troops…" Ignoring Claude's mockery, Lorenz frowned further and pointed on a few pieces that represented the enemy, which were marked with a '?'.
"You also need to take into account the fact that there are a few enemy units whose nature are unknown to us. What if they were flying?"
"In this case, this means that they are too far for us to identify them. By the time they arrive, we will be ready to confront them. It is a valid concern, though, because flying troops could provide support to the terrestrial troops before we can finish them off."
While the two continued arguing, the rest of the students preferred to entertain themselves with other matters. The youngest of the group, Lysethea von Ordelia, was busy reading one of her numerous manuals treating about magic usage. While she had already a good grasp on the matter, she knew that she needed to study it again and again for it to stay permanently ingrained in her mind. Besides her was Ignatz Victor, the meek bookworm of the group, even sporting glasses that made his face look even more dorky that he would otherwise. However, he had dropped his history book in favor of listening to Claude and Lorenz' banter, whose matter had somehow switched to the subject of axes whether being supposedly inferior to swords or not.
Meanwhile, further in the back of the room, was seated an absolute beast of a man, whose shirt struggled to contain his sheer muscle mass without losing a wooden button or two in the process. He also did not wear the standard dark blue overshirt that most had, although seeing what state his undershirt was in, it could be assumed that it was a lost cause. However, if his body implied a rough and tough individual, Raphael Kirsten's innocent and somewhat dim face would assure most of the contrary. He was currently busy eating some freshly cooked meatballs out from a small wooden spike while most of the rest of the class' attention was attracted to things that, while different in nature, were still relevant to their studies as a whole. To his credit, he had tried to get into Claude and Lorenz' game, but there was way too much talk of strategy and very few moments of actual battle in gameplay. After two hours, they were only at their third round.
After savoring yet another of his balls of cooked meat, Raphael bothered to look around him for a minute and he spotted a blue-haired girl hanging out by her lonesome in the back of the classroom. Marianne von Edmund, as usual, was lost in her own thoughts and, to Raphael, she seemed to be quite tired. Thus, he got up and went to her desk, accidently startling her in the process.
"Hey, Marianne! How's it doing, today?" Asked the gigantic man, smiling as wide as he could. The young woman, in response, flinched a bit at the unexpected appearance and bowed slightly to return his greetings. "So, uh, I noticed that you seemed to be quite sleepy lately. Here, take the rest of my meat, it will help you a little!" He exclaimed, smiling, before he turned back and tried once again to comprehend the complexities of the leader and his rival's strategies, which now apparently included teleporting wizards and a couple dozens of dancers.
As everyone else was either busy or simply observing others being busy, there was this one girl in the group who seemed to be about to start jumping around hysterically because of how excited she was. Indeed, Leonie Pinelli had heard of the arrival of Jeralt and his daughter Byleth, as well as their role in saving the lives of so many students.
Oh, there was also another shmuck who had helped out, but really, who cares? They probably didn't really need him.
Now, here she was, having finally managed to enroll in the school after three years of trying, only to have them arrive at the same time! Now, she wasn't mad anymore to have had to wait for this long to get in…
As the redhead woman continued to wander in her thoughts of her childhood heroes, Claude and Lorenz had nearly reached a compromise on how to operate their upcoming battle. However, the tanned leader noticed, from the corner of his eye, Lysethia who had closed her book and had begun stretching. Being the eternal schemer that he is, he deduced that she was currently being more aware of her surroundings, which would be the best opportunity to…
"But, there is one more thing we need to take into account, Lorenz."
"And what is it?" Responded the heir of the Gloucester, visibly eager to get the debate over with.
"The ghosts…"
At this, while Lorenz' reaction was a simple 'what', Lysethia's eyes had widened as her head jerked around to look at Claude. Perfect, he thought.
"You know, the ones that come to harass the wizards during the night? You need a sock to be hanged over your bed for them to leave you alone, especially when they are young children and-"
Having glanced aside to see if his improvised teasing had succeeded, Claude found out to his horror that it had – a bit too well – and that the white-haired magic prodigy was staring at him with absolute fury, right into his soul.
Before Lorenz or Hilda could react to the ridiculous notions he had mentioned, Claude bolted out of the classroom, chased by Lysethia, while pleading for her to calm down.
"So, now that you have a good idea of the lovely youth who has come here this time, so I shall leave the choice to you. Hanneman?" Seteth finished speaking while looking over the Crest specialist with a curious, but tired expression.
The old teacher, in response, adopted a pensive look and hummed to himself while reflecting on his options. After a moment, Manuela became progressively impatient while Byleth merely contented herself with observing the bureau, stoic as ever. Finally, after a while, the grey-haired scientist seemed to have made his decision.
"I believe that I will teach the Blue Lions, this year." He said simply, prompting Manuela to reply with an unimpressed expression.
"Yes, of course. You couldn't let this occasion of studying the Crest of Blaiddyd slip, now could you?"
"Oh, please, stop acting as if Crests dictated every part of my life, I have other hobbies, I'll let you know!" Exclaimed the older man with an undignified tone. When his female colleague stared back with a smirk, he cleared his throat.
"Fine, I will admit, I do wish to get a close study of the Crest of Blaiddyd, but all my decisions are not made in relation to them."
"Ha! I am ready to bet that you have already 'burrowed' a strand of hair from our new colleague here already for your machine." Manuela snarked in victory, pointing to Byleth, who was currently particularly unimpressed by her fellow teachers' attitude. Seteth, for his part, was clearly losing his patience with these two by the second, at least if his reddening face was of any indication.
"Manuela! I would never do this kind of things without her consent and you know it!" Rebuffed an offended Hanneman, right before he turned to the aforementioned Byleth and seemed to get ready to ask her for something when came Seteth's strained voice.
"Manuela. May you make your choice, please?"
"Oh, yes, right… I have decided that I will be teaching the Black Eagles. After all, the famous 'Mystical Songstress' is part of them and I would not miss this for anything!"
"Very well, then you are dismissed, both of you. Get your childish banter out of my office." Ordered the bureaucrat, letting out a heavy sigh of relief even if the two's arguing could still be heard in the corridor. He then turned to Byleth, who had been sitting quietly and with no movement for the entire time.
"Finally… As for you, Miss, it seems that you will be assigned to the Golden Deer for this year. Will you need help to find their classroom?"
After a reassuring nod from Byleth, the green-haired man briefly closed his eyes while placing his face in his palm, while the young woman got up from her chair and began to leave in order to meet her future students.
While she got out of the room, she almost bumped into a young girl who was trying to move in.
"Oh, I am very sorry. Is my brother's meeting over yet?"
At this, Byleth couldn't help but blink twice in incredulity. Seteth's sister? She looked well young enough to be his daughter! Ah well, she wasn't here to judge the time at which people had babies, but to go and try to make a bunch of kids the best warriors that Foddlan has ever seen.
Swing
Swing
"So, this is what the kids train with, right?"
Link held in his hands one of the wooden swords that were usually stored in the training grounds and he was performing a few practice attacks with it in the air to test their viability. With the Blue Lions having been called over to their classroom to meet their new teacher, the Hylian figured that it would be the perfect opportunity to get to understand how things worked in this place. Not far from him was the instructor Jeritza who, despite having no particular intention to have the Hero's company, did so nonetheless since he never went that far from the arena anyway.
"Usually, yes. They are made to be non-lethal, so we do not lose anyone by accident." Replied the masked man, sitting on the sand while resting his back on a pillar. "Killing is for the field, apparently."
"Alright, I get it… although, I think one could easily kill people if they swung it hard enough, couldn't they? I mean, I've used even worse things than that. Like a mop!" Slowly losing interest in the useless moves he performed in the air, Link turned to the weapon instructor and nodded in his direction, as if gesturing that he was indeed talking to him. "Have you been teaching for long here?"
"No, I have not. I have been assigned this role at the end of last year." Came the slow and deep voice of Jeritza, prompting the Hylian to push a bit more with his questions. It was a rare occasion these days that he had any meaningful social interaction, and he was currently hanging out with a fellow fighter, so it was even better!
"You must be quite skilled, then, right? Why didn't they make you the new teacher instead of this mercenary girl?"
"I do not know, and I do not care to know. I am already an instructor for all three Houses, and maybe they simply do not see me fit as a general teacher."
"Yes, yes… I guess it is true…" Looking around him, Link observed the arena and discovered that they were the only two people occupying it at the moment. At this realization, his eyes widened slightly as his face adopted a mischievous smile.
"So, if you are indeed this good, then why don't we have a spar right here, right now?" As if illustrating his words, Link pointed the training sword in Jeritza's direction, probably trying to incite him further with the gesture.
"… I have no time for those who overestimate their abilities."
That was it. The very rarely active competitive streak inside Link's head had just been triggered. Hard.
"Oh, so you think I'm all bark and no bite? That I am a renown hero back home for just showing up and the bad guy dying? Well, I think that you would keep your tongue in if you had seen just what kind of abominations I faced, or the things I can pull off." Link began to ramble, while walking over to the stash of wooden weapons to grab a second of the swords there.
"You mean, the magical sword that the mercenaries have seen you use? Impressive for you to possess, but not if you need it to be relevant in battle…" Jeritza's tone was just like it had been since the beginning of their conversation, but a quick look under his white mask would reveal that he had a little grin that had begun to form.
"So, the Master Sword is what scares you? Don't worry, I'm willing to use the shitty ones if that's what it takes. Come on, grab your weapon and fight me. I've not fought someone with actual talent in months."
The blonde Hylian then proceeded to throw the second sword he had retrieved to his soon-to-be opponent, who caught it without any issue. Supposedly accepting Link's request, the masked instructor stood up and went into a casual fighting pose before his foe could do the same.
"So, what are your rules, outsider?"
"To the first weapon hit, or until the weapon of one of us snaps."
"Does the second rule really need to be applied?" Asked Jeritza, one of his hidden eyebrows lifting.
"If you do not think you could break them, then you stand no chance. Now, En Garde!"
"En Garde."
After this quick exchange, the two swordsmen stood still for a few seconds, trying to spot an opening for them to exploit. However, none of them was willing to move an inch.
Jeritza may love fighting, but he was not a fool. Even with all of his skills and strength, a talented opponent could take advantage of a reckless move from him and despite his previous bravado, he had heard of the outsider's exploits while helping the mercenaries, and as such he was very wary of making a rushed attack.
There was, however, one thing that worked against him in this scenario. Indeed, his body was tensing up with every second passing, his being craving more and more for the eventual clash of his and Link's blade. Jeritza knew that this state he was in was going to weaken his defensive game, thus he decided that he needed to make the first move. Retracting the sword behind him, he suddenly jumped in the Hylian's direction in order to attempt a strike at the side of his foe's abdomen.
The latter, however, had been preparing for Jeritza to make his move and responded by moving his body slightly to the side so he could deflect the blow with relative ease. See, redirecting kinetic energy was way less difficult than outright blocking it if you know what you are doing. When Jeritza arrived at his foe's position, he was suddenly tossed to the side as Link's weapon pushed against his own.
At this moment, the masked instructor's mind rapidly processed the situation. Even though his opponent had been in a favorable position to redirect his blow, the force that he had felt being pushed against him was quite excessive, seeing as how he was literally thrown to the ground. Rolling around in order to regain his footing as quickly as possible, Jeritza erected right back up in order to face the Hylian once again.
When he locked into eye contact with Link again, he could distinguish the sparkle in his eyes, so characteristic of those who truly loved combat. If one wasn't as keen-eyed as Jeritza for this sort of thing, however, Link's wide grin would indicate his enjoyment just as well.
Yet, looking at the outsider's posture and demeanor would tell a completely different story. He stood still with little to no movements, with his blade being kept perfectly steady in the air, ready to parry anything that may come in his way, while his eyes expertly scrutinized every move on the weapon instructor's part in order to adapt to them.
In other words, he was a defensive fighter, and a pretty good one, at that. However, if the power he had used in his parry was any indication, he didn't possess a great control over his own strength and as such he would waste his energy if forced into movement too often.
As such, he decided that he was going to tire out the Hylian and attempted another attack. Aiming for the side of Link's thorax, he put in a high, but controlled amount of force in order to make sure of just how strong his opponent really was.
However, when his training sword was about to make contact with the outsider's body, the latter's own weapon swiped in and blocked the attack so quickly that even Jeritza had had trouble fully registering it. This fact alone unnerved the masked instructor enough, but he could clearly see that his foe was putting barely any effort into blocking.
Lifting an unimpressed eyebrow, Link effortlessly pushed Jeritza away before letting out a slight sigh.
"Come on, I can tell you're still holding back. Give it your all or let's end it right now."
And that was the moment when the fragile composure of the instructor shattered.
It was not from fear, humiliation or simple nervousness, though. It was the pure excitement that was flowing through him that completely changed Jeritza's demeanor. A wide grin formed on his face as he strengthened his grip on his wooden blade, getting ready to resume the battle.
If this man wanted a legitimate challenge, then he was going to be given one.
Thus, once again the masked swordsman rushed toward his Hylian opponent, but this time he had been too quick to effectively parry, and Link was legitimately forced on the defensive. After a first strike, he refused to give his foe any time to organize a counter-attack and continued his successive attempts at finally landing a definitive hit. No matter how strong or fast he was, however, his blade always ended up getting moved out of its intended path.
After a few parried attacks, Jeritza realized that his current tactic was not working as well as he had hoped it would, and as such he recoiled his arm a bit further in order to put all of his power into a final blow that would certainly end the match. When his arm moved forward, he awaited to find out if Link could actually parry him at full strength…
Except that the Hylian hadn't bothered to. Instead, in the supplementary fraction of a second it had taken for Jeritza to perform his stronger move, he decided that he would dodge the attack entirely by using all the strength of his legs to jump into the air, performing an elegant backflip in the process.
Then, what proceeded to happen was so quick that Jeritza hadn't been able to process it before he was on the ground, with his abdomen feeling as if it had been bashed in under the sheer force of the attack he had just received.
Once he was properly able to realize his situation, he saw Link with his foot in the air, as if he had just kicked him.
But… it wasn't possible! One second, Link was one meter and a half up in the air, and then the next, Jeritza was struck down. Had his opponent moved so quickly that he hadn't seen it at all?
He was not about to give up, however. The weapon instructor promptly got up as quickly as possible, slightly calming down from his previous reckless state. He was not given any chance to plan another offensive, though, when Link himself jumped at him, about to perform a reverse swing directly at Jeritza. In the heat of the moment, the instructor imitated the Hero's movements, despite being in a clear disadvantage in a fair clash.
When their swords connected, however, Jeritza wasn't projected backwards as he had predicted, from where he could have evaded Link's next attack. No, instead, when he briefly looked at his right hand, he found out to his annoyance that the wooden material had failed to remain whole after the force of the clash.
However, as he was ready to admit defeat, he noticed that Link had an expression of resigned discouragement on his face. It took the instructor a few seconds before he realized that the Hylian had snapped his sword as well, effectively ending the match on a draw.
As Jeritza was slowly regaining his composure, he turned around to Link in order to felicitate him on a well fought duel, until he received a wooden object flung in his face, making him close his eyes in reflex. When he opened them, he was met with the sight of the outsider in the after-pose of throwing his severed pommel at him, with the goofiest grin that he had ever seen on the Hylian's face. In response to this childish provocation, Jeritza could only utter a deep sigh.
"I shall retract what I claimed earlier, outsider. Your sills are definitively worthy of praise in their own right." Said Jeritza, tossing his own handle on the ground.
"Selling it a bit short, now are we? I can't really blame you, though. It's obvious that you're very talented, so being grounded so easily can be a little shocking." Responded Link, sighing in satisfaction.
"Our match has ended on a draw, so do not act as though you actually won."
"Alright, I get it. I'll just look forward seeing the kind of lectures you give. By the way, I could see that you were enjoying yourself as well. You had the same crazy eyes I have when I fight for real."
At this, however, Jeritza frowned slightly. To know that his other side had surfaced for a moment was problematic to him. He would have to see that it never happened again.
"Well, I think I made the right choice to stick around. I certainly look forward to working with you, Jeritza."
After saying this, the Hylian promptly went to exit the training grounds, leaving Jeritza alone in the training arena. Profiting of this short time alone, he made sure to take a few mental notes on the outsider.
He was skilled, extremely so, and he fought in a mostly defensive manner.
He was strong, so much in fact that he barely had to put in effort to parry Jeritza's own blows.
He was quick, to the point that he could evade a hit and retaliate before his foe could comprehend what happened.
Oh boy, they were not going to love having to deal with this guy, Jeritza was sure of it.
Arriving in front of the classroom of the Golden Deers, Byleth was welcomed with the utter cacophony that the group had developed while they were unsupervised. When listening closely, she could vaguely distinguish Claude's voice, but that was as far as she could go. From the volume and tonality of the voices, she could also tell that there was a heated debate going on.
Then, once the new professor made herself visible to her new students, they all suddenly stopped, with all of them turning to observe the figure that had appeared in their room's doorframe.
With a solemn walk, Byleth approached the small group, immediately recognizing Claude's tanned visage while examining the rest. Most of them did not remind her of anyone, except for Leonie, who triggered a feeling of Déjà vu for her. The first to utter a word after this instant was Lorenz, with a quite incredulous expression.
"Claude, from her appearance, I suppose that she is the woman who helped you fight these bandits, am I right?"
"Yep. It is definitively her. I'm glad that you came, miss!"
"But… didn't they say that we would be meeting our House teacher, today… which means that… Continued the heir of the Gloucester with a slight gasp.
"That you are our new professor?" Finished Hilda, with just as much of a dumbstruck expression as her noble classmate. After an approving nod from the former mercenary, the reaction of the group in general was pretty much the same as their violet and pink-haired fellows.
"Wait, so they asked for a mercenary to take the role of a teacher at the Officer's Academy?" Asked Ignatz.
"Who cares if she's a mercenary? Hasn't she saved Claude already?" Angrily asked Leonie, causing the smaller boy to squirm.
"N-no! I was just… wondering… about her abi – I mean her experience in the matter, that's all!"
"In any case…" Interrupted Raphael, separating the two a little to avoid any escalation in their argument. "I find it quite nice to have someone of around our age to teach us. We'll be like a big family!" He then looked around him to see his classmates' reactions, with Claude nodding with a wide smile.
"Doesn't a family normally have at least one parent, someone older?" Asked Lysethia in return, completely innocently. However, to her surprise, she was met with a very uncomfortable expression on Ignatz' face. "What?"
"Anyway, professor, I sincerely hope that you will not have too much trouble with us. As you've seen, our clique's a bit of a weird bunch. You have three nobles, a merchant, a child prodigy, a knight to be, one farmer girl – sorry, 'mercenary in training' – and a handsome young man."
"I've seen worse bunches in my life. I'll manage." Responded Byleth with her usual emotionless expression. Then, she caught the sight of Marianne, who had still not uttered a single word. She figured that she would open up a bit more in the future. "In any case, for today, I'll be meeting each one of you privately to get to know what you're good at. I suppose you've heard of the mock battle?"
As soon as she mentioned what was pretty much going to be a practice match, the faces of her new students changed, with their new looks varying from excitement to apprehension, with Ignatz even displaying outright fear.
"I can only bring four of you, and we will not be able to discuss for long about our strategy, so those who want to take part will. The rest, you will be able to train at a later date, so you will not be missing out."
"Wow, going straight to business, I like it. We've already made acquaintances, so I'll be leaving the rest of our time today to our friends. Lorenz, will you continue our game with me for now?"
"Sadly, no, Claude. As the most proper representative of our House, I intend to get a good judgement on our professor before anything else." And thus, with a shrug from Claude, the young noble walk forward to his new teacher.
Moving to the back of the class with Lorenz, Byleth took a look at the rest of her eccentric class, who were returning to the occupations they were attending to before her arrival, with the only difference being Claude discarding the board game he had been playing with Lorenz until now.
Oh boy, she was in for quite a trip, wasn't she?
After his short, but fun spar with Jeritza, Link had decided to begin to explore the monastery's grounds while the teachers and the students were making acquaintances. He was supposed to go see Rhea again, later that evening, so she could propose an adequate role for him in the academy. Until then, the Hylian figured that it would not hurt to get a good view on his potential place of residence for an unspecified period of time.
Usually, merely walking around didn't suffice to get a good idea of what an area looks like, at least in Link's opinion. For that, he needed to climb up to an elevated position so he could get a sweet aerial view of his surroundings. In his usual wandering days, he would simply have to go up a hill or climb a tree. Here, though, the only very tall things around were the several buildings of the Academy.
For anyone else, it would have been a bummer. For Link, it was a minor inconvenience.
Getting out from the training grounds, he eyed up the first building that came into his field of vision, in which were situated the main classrooms of the three Houses. Pretty tall, but not outrageously so, and the brick-made walls made for excellent supports. Thus, Link approached its walls and began his ascension.
A few seconds after the beginning of his climb, he briefly wondered if the staff would see an issue with what he was doing, but since next to nobody was out of the buildings, he figured that nobody would actually be fussed by such a thing. Instead of worrying, Link instead took a deep breath and continued going upward.
Link liked climbing. In fact, he adored it. Maybe it was because it allowed him to reach so many interesting areas to explore, because he escaped so many hordes of monsters this way back when he was still recovering his strength, or because it simply offered such a magnificent view most of the time back in Hyrule, but one thing was sure: climbing always filled Link with a sense of tranquility. Not enough to quench these nasty feelings that had been creeping on him lately, but still enough to calm him down a bit.
Once he reached the rooftop, the Hero of Hyrule examined his new surroundings for a moment. He was not yet on the highest roof of the area, but it still gave him a nice view on the grounds below. He could even see the greenhouse and the dorms. However, after a quick search, he found a point that was even higher: a tower which held the bell that probably announced the end of day and the lunch time, and if he guessed the locations correctly, it seemed to erect from over the room he had met Seteth and Rhea in.
Thus, with a new objective in mind, the Hylian resumed his ascension toward the highest place possible, grasping on the walls of the tower. Admittedly, the bricks had been carved carefully and were almost flawlessly polished, which made his climb a bit more tedious than he would have wished it to be. Finally, though, after a few minutes he reached the top. It was quite standard, with a pyramid-esque shape and covered in roof tiles. As he steadied his stance, he gave a look to the new scenery that offered itself to him…
And it was gorgeous.
As he had predicted, the height of the mountain that the mountain was built on as well as the height of the building itself permitted him to see kilometers upon kilometers away in all directions, from the verdant fields of Gronder to the volcanic region known as the Valley of Torment, and even further mountain chains, at the north. The fact that he could not see the ocean in neither direction reminded him of just how vast Fodlan was when compared to his homeland.
In the years he had spent exploring Hyrule, he had managed to find a few spots where he could see most of the kingdom, and even one near the Gerudo desert from where he could see it in its entirety. Yes, this vantage point back then was higher than how he was right now, but it was nonetheless quite indicative of the size difference of the two regions.
After eyeing the landscape for some time, he decided to make himself more comfortable and sat on the edge of the small rooftop he was standing on, and then he looked up and uttered a deep, liberating sigh, and then he reflected on the recent events.
So, he was possibly going to be hired as some sort of fighter for this Church of Seiros. While they had promised to look for an occupation that would fit him, Link nevertheless wondered if it would end up like with Zelda back in the day…
Continuing to ruminate those thoughts for a certain time, he took the occasion to perform a little nap in his current position which, all things considered, made for quite a silent spot. Sadly, as all good things must come to an end, he eventually saw that the sun had begun lowering quite a lot and, as a result, he decided to get down to ground level before the end of the classes.
After standing up and evaluating the height he was currently at, he reached for his Sheika Plate and popped out of it the most prized item he had ever kept inside of it.
The Kite.
This little beauty, constructed with the best Rito craftmanship, had stayed at his side for the entire duration of his travels up to date. It had allowed him to effectuate delicate descents, to effectively use a certain special technique, or just to save his life in case of a fall. It looked like it was going to serve the latter purpose for today.
Taking a little momentum prior, Link threw himself off the roof as fast as he could, his attention fully focused on the ground below him. As he fell at an increasingly high speed, he did his best to evaluate the moment that he would splash on the ground.
Then, at the very last moment, he deployed his kite in order to slow himself down. While the weight he had gained in his early adulthood years lessened its effect a little, it nonetheless reduced his speed enough so that he could land unharmed. Satisfied with his stunt, Link stored his precious kite back into his plate before he went to his planned meeting.
As he commenced his small walk, the bell he had just been over began ringing loudly, with its appeasing melody traversing the whole monastery. This, however, prompted the way less peaceful sound of dozens of people who were getting out of their respective classes in order to do whatever they had planned for the evening.
Entering the main hall of the monastery, the Hylian noticed that there were actually a few soldiers who weren't assigned to whatever task at the moment. He had just been lucky enough to have jumped back down in a relatively desert area of the Academy so he didn't attract unnecessary trouble. Among the warriors were Alois and Jeralt, who were supposedly talking of the latter's future endeavors at the Church's service and both of them greeted Link as he passed past them with a nod.
Pass another uneventful minute, and the Hero of Hyrule found himself in front of the room where he would have to discuss his potential arrangement with the Church.
Sighing in apprehension, he walked inside. At the sidelines had been positioned several guards, who would have looked like lifeless statues if one hadn't twitched by sheer boredom as the blonde Hylian observed them. In truth, they had been there earlier as well, but Link had not bothered to examine this room this thoroughly before. In the middle of the place was Rhea, with her calm gaze meeting his own, and the two stood in front of each other for a few seconds before the Archbishop took parole.
"So, Link, have you come to share your decision with us?"
At this moment, the brief trance that Link had been plunged into abruptly stopped and he cleared his throat before answering.
"Well, it'll all depend on what we agree on. I have already told you some specifics, so…"
He stopped right in his track before he could finish his phrase, however. He couldn't place his finger on it, but there was something about Rhea that he didn't feel was right. Maybe it was her seemingly exaggerated serenity, or rather her way to stare deeply into her interlocutors' eyes? Either way, this woman didn't make him comfortable at all.
"Yes, and quite clearly in fact. 'To be able to fight monsters and bad people and to be given as much freedom as possible', those were your words. I could assign you to a particular mission every month, but I do not feel like this would be a good agreement for you." As she spoke, her deep and sooth voice seemed to have a calming event on Link, which ironically only increased his feelings of unease around her.
"From what you have told me and Seteth earlier today, you used to roam freely in your homeland, performing acts that I presume were of similar nature to when you saved our children last night. Is this right?" After a nod from her Hylian interlocutor, she continued. "However, you have quitted your kingdom after many years of traveling in it, traversing Dagda and Brigid before arriving here, in Foddlan."
'Where is she going to with this?' Thought Link for a split second as she spoke. Weren't they supposed to agree on a deal of some sort?
"I believe, Link, that you did not actually depart from your homeland from boredom or simple taste of adventure. A man cannot simply experience every single thing to live in an entire kingdom in his lifetime. You came all the way from Hyrule to here in Foddlan, because you could not find fulfillment. Do you agree?"
Hearing this, Link's heart twisted slightly in his torso as his brow furrowed. He had never talked to anyone, except for Sidon and Zelda, of this kind of thing. Oh, yes, he had also talked about it to some people in Brigid… and this noble in the Adestrian Empire…
But this was irrelevant, as the point was that all he had told this lady and her bureaucrat sidekick was that he had left Hyrule a few years ago and that was it. End of story.
"Why are we talking about this, exactly?" Asked the blonde Hylian with discernable annoyance in his voice.
"So we can make an agreement that is fitting of you. As your demands stand, I cannot make you an honorary Knight of Seiros, since this function would ask of you an exemplary devotion to our cause." Now, Rhea was looking down, with a faintly sadder expression on her visage. "However, I cannot let a soul devoid of meaning to simply continue on their path of spiraling loneliness. Thus, I have decided on something to propose you."
"… Go on…" Cautiously prompted Link.
"If you wish so, there could always be a place for you at the Monastery of Garrech Mach, as well as the possibility to take part in any mission that you could want. Furthermore, you would be notified of bandit and monster positions regularly. What would you think of this?"
"…" At this, Link could only stand silently, waiting for further conditions to be mentioned. When those failed to come, however, his expression changed from irritation to confused surprise. "Is… is this all? What do you have to gain from this?"
"The Church of Seiros itself will not gain much, at least for now. However, the lands of Fodlan would benefit greatly if a free and generous soul such as you was allowed to flourish and act on their own volition. Do you not agree?"
Link had to admit, Rhea was smart. She had accurately pinpointed the exact things she needed to manipulate him into becoming a part of her group. Right now, she said he could roam free, but what would come later? She will probably try to make him an actual member of her military force given enough time.
Nonetheless, her proposal was extremely tempting. In only the last day, his usually bland and lonely life had been filled with pleasant discussions – or at least for someone who hadn't talked to a human being for weeks prior –, nice acquaintances, and even a pretty fun fight. In only the last day, he had enjoyed himself more than in the last months. He had just been offered the chance to pass some time among those people who, by the looks of it, appreciated fighting as well, and even the students with whom he could potentially teach his skills to somebody. On the other hand, he could return to the wilderness, and continue to search for caverns for the rainy nights, and to only be entertained by monster wolves from time to time…
Nope. He was not doing that again.
"I agree, and I accept. Gladly."
*Chapter notes*
So, now we have the class which Byleth will spend the year with, but do not think that this means that the other Houses won't get love as well.
Also, this chapter marks the first actual 'battle' to be described, being Link vs Jeritza. Did it do well enough for a fight scene? How could I remedy to it? Don't hesitate to leave feedback!