Author's Note: AshenDemon!Byleth, like the author, listens to the Jocko Willink podcast. Mostly ironically.

I considered naming the chapters with cheeky plays on podcast titles of his like "PINNED DOWN, AXED IN THE HEAD BUT STILL #WINNING" (chapter 14) or "FORT MERCEUS: YOU HAD TO HAVE CRESTS TO SURVIVE" (chapter 304) at one stage in the very early draft of this fic, when it was just ~500 word entries for each day.

If the demand is there, I'll add the alternative titles back in, perhaps as parentheticals at the start of each chapter.

Anyway, big ups to Winter, GreatLight, PRT Numerical Reply King, Kamil and John for their continued input. I appreciate ya.

It's taken us roughly 80k words to clear the first ten days in-game. I plan on filling most of them pre-timeskip. The "Ground-Up" bit was not an overstatement of intent. Strap in for a long ride.


Today is Ferdinand's birthday.

The messenger owl gifted me this information in an envelope this morning. It also gifted me another turd on the floor. After scrubbing it out, I make my way to the Knights Hall' where the students will be assembling before traveling to the mock battlefield.

Thinking that I would be arriving relatively early, I was surprised to see Edelgard already waiting.

As I approached, I noticed the bags under her eyes were gone. She must have retired at a decent hour, which comes as a small relief upon consideration. Occasionally, she will follow my instructions after all. That said, I should mention that I'm only guessing at that. Following our nap, we had left the field together at around six in the evening, but Edelgard insisted on parting ways at the front gate. According to her, she needed to consult the carpenter before he closed up shop.

Given the wooden labrys resting against her shoulder, I can immediately see what her consultation with the carpenter was for.

"It's finally time for the mock battle, my teacher."

I nod.

"It seems that this is my first real chance to measure your worth as an instructor. Are you ready?"

It's not hard to get the impression that she might be trying to psyche me up a bit. I guess that's natural, because it's a way for her to gauge what her own responsibilities will be today.

That said, she does realize that I spent the last five years professionally killing people, doesn't she? A playfight with wooden weapons isn't exactly a challenge.

"Leave it to me." I say at last.

A smirk makes its way around her lips.

"You're so confident even under such adverse circumstances? This will be interesting."

I grab the wooden labrys from her hands, taking her by surprise in doing so.

"Was this a custom order…?" I ask, examining the tool. Given the relatively short amount of time for fabrication, it's quite well-cut. It does seem logical that a place like Garegg Mach would attract expert craftsmen, though.

"Yes. I thought it was only right to make preparations. The rest of the Black Eagles should be ready for anything that comes their way, as well. I met with them last night, individually."

I nod, but catch myself with what a brusque one it is. Of course, as House Leader, she's well within her rights to talk to other students about the mock battle. But I wonder if that responsibility should have been mine? It strikes me that I haven't really considered what specifically I should even delegate to her regarding such matters. I can't be everywhere at once. And as much as I know she wants to pretend that she can… she can't be, either.

Edelgard seems as if she's tossing something around her mind. She finally says it:

"...Our difficult starting position today means there's no need to hold back, my teacher. Show us what you're capable of."

If I didn't hold back, there would be a dozen dead heirs and heiresses of Fodlan's great houses on the mock battlefield along with a dead professor or two. We may need to have a discussion about the utility of appropriate force someday.

It occurs to me that the previous thought of mine is a rather strange thing to think about when I was strangling the life out of a former comrade exactly ten days ago. Is this what being a teacher is really about? That maxim of do what I say, not what I do?

"Did you sleep?" I ask.

"I went to bed right after meeting with the Eagles, yes."

Fair enough.

"Today is Ferdinand's birthday." I say, quoting the owl's message verbatim.

"I… suppose it is, isn't it?" Edelgard seems less than thrilled to receive this information.

As I suspected from our initial class meeting on the twenty-fifth, the bad blood between those two is more or less mutual. I suspect that having them in the same vicinity on the mock battlefield might be an additional headache for me.

But, that's not exactly an issue.

I may have the germ of an idea.

Before it can germinate, however, I hear the clacking of Claude's boot–steps.

"Hey there! Is this the strategy meeting or just a student and her teacher stealing away for a tender moment?"

I trade glances with Edelgard. She can't be foolish enough to take that bait, can she? As she opens her mouth, she seems to recognize the admonishment in my eyes.

"Hmph. It's the strategy meeting, of course. Simply tell me your weaknesses, and you're welcome to stay. But… I wonder if there's enough time to cover them all?"

A bit verbose for my taste, but it's better than just yelling his name in gaslit frustration like she was a week ago. His Deceitfulness seems relatively impressed with her verbal riposte as well.

"That so? So what you're saying is that you can't win unless you know my weakness? Damn, Princess! Low self-esteem's not your speed. You really should believe in yourself more!"

Without missing a beat, Edelgard says:

"I spare no effort when pursuing victory. As a master of schemes, I should think you would understand."

Claude seems genuinely surprised that she's keeping up with the banter now. Frankly, so am I.

"You're one to talk about schemes after stealing Teach over here. I plan on fighting fair and square, same as always!"

Finally, Dimitri pokes his head into the game. Luckily, he still possesses a head to do so. He shakes it vigorously while wearing a bitter smile.

"Hearing the words fair and square from Claude can only be a bad omen."

His reply still strikes me as a touch too phlegmatic for a mock battle. Claude strikes an animated pose after Dimitri sticks that figurative knife in his back.

"Your Highnesses haven't known me for very long, but you already have me figured out, don't you?"

"Enough, Claude. I will fight with honor. And Professor… I will fight to win."

Edelgard straightens up when Dimitri addresses me directly. Taking a few animated, loud steps to remind me that she's present (I did not need this reminder), she attempts to stare down Dimitri with a possessive glare at a significant disadvantage in height (it does not work).

"Yes, and the same is true of us."

She turns to me.

"Right, my teacher?"

As much as I think the "teacher-ly" thing to do is to cool down these hot-heads, I find myself losing a bit of my own inhibition in the warm glow of their intensity.

"I don't intend to lose."

Edelgard's eyes go alight with passion at these words. Dimitri, in turn, seems to steel himself in resolve.

"If that is how you feel, then I will not hold back." he mutters.

Is that what I feel? Or just what I know?

Before I can really consider those words, Manuela and Hanneman arrive.

"Awwww, how precious. Looks like you and the students have become fast friends." the songstress says, particularly looking at myself and Edelgard.

Hanneman addresses the situation a bit more calmly:

"While I am pleased that you are taking the initiative to acquaint yourself with the students, I'm afraid it's about time for the faculty strategy meeting."

Claude throws up his hands.

"Ah, how time flies! In that case, see you on the field, Teach."

"Professor. Be careful out there." Dimitri says, placing a hand on my shoulder and then withdrawing it with haste after catching Edelgard's frown at the brotherly gesture.

"I'll gather the rest of the Black Eagles on the field." Edelgard says with a nod.

I follow my colleagues upstairs. Within an hour of setting the ground rules and demarcating the deployment zones, the Houses depart to the mock battleground.


Upon arriving at the mock battlefield, I realize that sitting dead-center in the Eagles' deployment zone is the picnic basket that Edelgard and I dined with the previous day. We must have forgotten to bring it back with us. Now that I think of it, Edelgard also seems to have forgotten to return my cloak. Again. Perhaps we're forgetful people, her and I.

For her part, the Adrestian has gathered her compatriots in a semi-circle, and appears to be in the midst of delivering some lecture to them. I think of joining them, but I first want to clear that obstruction – especially given how it's our fault for leaving it there. Stepping out into the knoll, I take stock of the other two Houses, which are in the midst of deploying. Because the Eagles are working from the worst ground, we are at least offered the luxury of the final deployment.

Hanneman's disposition of forces are easy enough to take stock of. He's clearly seconded quite a bit of the responsibility to Dimitri, who's currently riding around on his rental horse, dispatching orders to his comrades. But the deployment – well, it's something you just know after being on both sides of it so frequently.

It's Loog's "V" formation, deployed in traditional arrangement around the motte. The same one from that battle on the Talitean Plains that all armchair strategists and tacticians are so eager to offer their thoughts and minor innovations upon. When my father and I were taking citadels with Holst's band along the Throat, I often listened in silence as the nobles waxed philosophical on his "perfect defense". To me, it just sounded like an awful lot of bullshit.

In my experience, no plan really survives first contact with an enemy. You can make a plan, and have that be a guide – but expecting your enemy to fall into every cleverly-laid trap or conceit along the way is foolish. Battle is a dance of variables. A great deal of my own rather modest success in combat can just be attributed to a consciousness of those variables, I suspect.

Regardless, the deployment's easy enough to describe. From left to right, Ashe and Sylvain are deployed at the bottom of the "V" closest to the Eagle's own deployment area. It ends up being about twenty or so yards past the forest that separates the edge of ours and the edge of theirs. Little red and blue flags demarcate those edges, as I was informed by Hanneman.

Going North along the "V" are Duedue and Felix, respectively. Felix appears to be seething at Dimitri, even from this distance, as the fellow he calls the "Boar" hands him a note from Hanneman. The indigo-haired swordsman takes a few steps backward, and then points at his professor who is glowering at him in the fortlet. Words are exchanged, but I can't make them out. Given Felix, they are probably acerbic. Dimitri then rides towards the front steps of the fort, and takes up a rather imposing position, facing towards me. It's impossible to see past his bangs at this distance, but I have no doubt that those blue orbs behind them are analyzing me.

Further up the "V" are Mercedes and Ingrid, the former armed with a bow. Finally, covering the back step of the motte is Anette, who I suppose must be a mage. From what little I can see, she's sitting on those back steps immersed in what looks like a spellbook. She must be quite nervous, as even from this distance, she appears to be shaking. Hanneman, who occupies the central point in the motte, walks over to her and grabs the book from her. The decisive moment is near at hand, I suppose.

Glancing over at the Deer's deployment, there is a suspicious lack of His Deceitfulness and his pink-haired sidekick. A fleet of owls are relaying orders to the various Deer that I can make out. The first person that comes into my vision is Lysithea – far in the back at the edge of the no-man's land in the far North, guarding what appears to be a very lonely flank against the Lions. From the rumors I've heard about her magic skills, she could probably drop Silence on the entire House if they approached at such a range. Their paucity of bows and mages would probably make that situation all the more dire for them.

As my gaze grows closer to the backwards-"L"-shaped hedgerow, I can make out some figures that are probably meant to be hidden. A flash of red hair is poking out of a bush – no doubt Leonie. I think I can make out a lance as well. Just in front of her is a mammoth of a man flexing his gigantic muscles. He makes no attempt to conceal himself in spite of a hand with nails painted black tugging at his shirt.

Just in front of them, seemingly guarding the "point" of the position, is a fellow I deeply respect, Sir Lorenz, and a green-haired archer wearing reading glasses who covers his left. Just to their left is a massive wooden barricade thrown up in front of the part of the hedgerow facing the woods that make up the extreme western edge of the Eagles' deployment zone. At the edge of this hedgerow is that open spit of land occupying the far West of the battlefield.

The only person guarding that rather significant stretch of open land happens to be Marianne.

Marianne looks like she'd rather be anywhere else than the mock battlefield.

That germ of an idea that I mentioned? It's sprouting now.

I look down at the picnic basket, and flip open the lid. Inside is that untouched battle of Arz Lubaniyya gifted by the Dagdan waitress, and the kitten that Edelgard had been fawning over. The kitten is fast asleep. It wakes up and complains bitterly as I eject it from its previous home. Looking up at me with narrowed eyes, I point northwestward. It hisses at me, but compiles, making its way toward its intended target.

Perhaps firing the first shot like this is a bit untoward, but the Eagles don't have a lot of options here. Plus, Claude literally erected a barricade overnight. No one told me that was allowed. So, I suppose it's only fair to be crafty myself. The alternative, after all, is the "Edelgard Approach" of getting clapped on the hillock by the eagerly awaiting palms of the Lion and Deer.

I lift the bottle of Arz Lubaniyya in my hand.

"Attempting to fortify your courage, Professor?" a familiar voice inquires from behind me.

I turn to meet Hubert. He alone has approached me, as Edelgard still seems to be in the midst of her pep talk with the remainder of the Eagles. It's curious that he's not hanging onto his Lady's every word.

I shake my head.

A mildly disturbing smirk creeps across his face.

"I suspect that you have just done something rather intriguing. A pity that you won't inform me."

Out of all of the males in the Black Eagles, Hubert is probably the smartest of the bunch. He also clearly believes that to be the case. So, naturally, I float a question that's been washing around in my mind for a while:

"Hubert, how familiar are you with Emperor Mauricius?"

This question seems to completely disarm him for a moment, but he catches himself quite quickly.

"The first or the second, Professor?"

"The second."

He considers his next words.

"Vaguely. That Emperor's writings have passed on to posterity, which is far more than I can say for any military or political achievements of his."

"You haven't read his Tacticon?"

"I have not. It is usually considered a text of trifling importance in the Imperial canon. From what I do know, the book concerns itself with military logistics, counter-marching and signaling."

"For the most part, yes."

Hubert now seems particularly intrigued.

"So… you've read it yourself, I take it?"

"Recently."

"How surprising. Although I suppose it is the sort of text that one ought to read at a military college."

I tease out my next query carefully.

"...But the text isn't read by most males your age, correct?"

Hubert raises an eyebrow.

"There is only a year's difference between us, Professor."

One learns something new every day. Given our similarity in height, I should've guessed as much. I bring a hand to my hair.

"I'm trying to gauge our opponents' familiarity with the text. Particularly Claude and Dimitri."

Hubert takes extreme offense at this reply.

"Your… comparison of me to those halfwits has been duly noted."

I scratch my hair.

"No offense intended."

He shakes his head with his bitter smirk returning.

"Need I remind you what an imprecise measuring stick you're using?"

This prompts a shrug.

"You fight with the weapons you've got, Hubert." I reply.

His chin rises when I say these words. He exhales a laugh. It's the most measured, controlled laugh I've ever heard. As if its beginning and end was a predetermination of his before even finding the quip humorous.

"...I can't disagree with that. You're likely correct in extrapolating that if I haven't come across the work as the heir of an Imperial House, it'd be unlikely to expect a scion of the Alliance or Faerghus to have encountered the manuscript. Particularly due to that Emperor's popular reputation as a failure."

I nod.

"...Are you familiar with his nickname, Professor?"

I shake my head.

"The Fool of Hope. I wonder what the Ashen Demon would find so interesting about a fellow with that title…?"

My guess is that he meant such a question rhetorically. I choose to respond to it as such – with silence. We both stew in it for a time.

"I suspect you're planning on stealing some gambit of his, aren't you?" Hubert asks at last.

"I've already begun to." I reply matter-of-factly.

This sets Hubert's yellow eye alight.

"Ha…! Well, Professor. If that's the case, I shall not obstruct you further. Lady Edelgard should be wrapping up her pre-battle oration shortly. Shall we join her?"

Hubert's sudden camaraderie is a bit strange, but not entirely unwelcome. Without protest, I walk with him.


I arrive at the semi-circle with a confident gait. I wonder if I'm courting fate with such surety?

"I've just finished with my address, my teacher. Would you care to share the final plan of attack with us?" Edelgard inquires.

Petra, Ferdinand, and Caspar all look at me with fire in their eyes. Bernadetta, Lindhardt, and Dorothea give me the impression that they'd rather be back in bed.

Edelgard and Hubert flank me on each shoulder. They look at me with quiet expectation.

I nod and clear my throat. I bring a finger to the hillock

"The obvious route of attack for us is the hillock."

Everyone's eyes fall on that terrain feature.

"But if we contest that position, we will be flanked by both opposing houses."

"Don't forget about the net traps too, Professor!" Caspar shouted.

"Caspar, don't interrupt!" Edelgard commanded, extremely annoyed.

Both my eyebrows raise. I crane my neck and squint at the underbrush. After a moment of searching, I realize that Caspar is indeed correct. There are several net traps hidden in the rough ground.

"You've got a good eye, Caspar."

Caspar lets out a genuine belly laugh.

"Haha, yeah! Guess I surpassed our Professor already, huh?"

I nod at his jab.

"All the more reason why we won't be contesting it, then." I say.

This shocks Edelgard, who immediately pivots to me with her lavender orbs alight.

"What is the plan, then, my teacher?"

My eyes fall on her directly. I suspect my plan will need to pass muster with her in order to properly convince the rest of the Black Eagles.

"The indirect approach. Convince our enemies that we want the hillock, then strike the weak flank of the Golden Deer with our main force."

A smirk contorted enough to terrify children creeps across Hubert's lip.

"A feint, Professor?" He asks.

"Correct." I reply.

Ferdinand is the next to step forward, and rather surprisingly preempts the argument I was expecting from Edelgard.

"Professor, I must protest against the idea of dividing our forces. The Black Eagle house is stronger together, not apart!"

Edelgard in particular seems extremely surprised at his insubordination. Perhaps moreso than she would be normally, as I expect she actually agrees with his estimate.

Then her eyes narrow, perhaps realizing he's given her zero consideration as house leader.

"Ferdinand… if there are any objections with my teacher's plan, you must–"

"-Today's your birthday, Ferdinand." I say to the ginger gentleman.

Ferdinand seems appreciative of this acknowledgment.

"Ah, quite right you are, Professor! I did not expect you to be so knowledgeable about your students this soon!"

"Happy birthday. If we win today, we will celebrate our victory and your birthday at Celica's. Lend me your strength until then."

Most of the class is taken by surprise, sans Ferdinand. Instead, he begins to get downright emotional. He bows and says:

"Professor… I am… overcome by your thoughtfulness! Please excuse my interruption."

Petra is next to chime in. Her critique, while pre-empting me again, is worthwhile.

"If we are to be indirecting the enemy Professor, where might we be doing the striking…?"

I bring their attention with my thumb to the far Western edge of the battlefield. In the open ground, Marianne, all alone on Claude's left wing, happens to be rocking a kitten to sleep in her arms.

"We'll be meeting Marianne."

"Ooooh she looks so angelic... is that your…friend, Professor?" Dorothea chimes in. "Or your–"

"D-Dorothea…!" Edelgard seems to melt whenever she teases either of us like this. I clear my throat.

"The Deer have offered their entire force to trap us on the hill. We must refuse it, defeat them in detail, and then attack the Lions on even terms."

Sensing competition with the Deer's Leader brewing, and perhaps a way to avoid getting mocked by him later, I suddenly have Edelgard fully behind the plan.

"We'll cut through." she says.

I nod. I bring the Eagles closer and map out our attack plan on a blank page in the back of my diary. Most of the Eagles nod sagely when I've finished laying it out.

That's a good start, I suppose. No one's intentionally disobeying at the moment.

Looking out at the field, I notice that my father has ridden out into the center. Today, he's officiating the match. Looking at me, he waves a green flag.

Time to deploy. Turning back to the Eagles, I say:

"Let the lesson begin."


"Today, I shall claim that hill. Why, you ask? Because my name is Ferdinand von Aegir!"

With Ferdinand's hammed-up statement and charge, the mock battle begins. He is "leader" of the diversionary force – and runs straight for his Deer counterpart Lorenz, who seems to buckle slightly under his resolve.

"...Well then, I suppose the duty of drawing in the enemy shall fall to me!" he shouts as he parries the first thrust from Ferdinand.

"Lorenz, I'll back you up!" The bespectacled archer Ignatz shouts from some distance.

Hubert is the next to start chewing the scenery.

"Hmph. You've made a mess of the Professor's plan already. I suppose I have no choice but to support you!" he yells from some distance behind.

He fires off a silence spell to stop Ignatz in his tracks.

Naturally, my plan is going perfectly.

My other two drama students, Caspar and Dorothea, are making demonstrations towards Ashe, who seems to be ready to piss himself over the prospect of getting double-teamed. This draws in Sylvain. Again, ideal. The longer we can misdirect both houses about our actual attack line, the better.

I've given them all explicit orders to withdraw back into that thicket and then work their way back towards me should either enemy strike in force. Their goal is not to directly contest the hillock – their goal is to merely draw the Deer and Lion's attention squarely to them.

Meanwhile, I've taken the rest of my class on a run through the Western woods. Petra, Bernadetta, Edelgard, and Lindhardt accompany me on our attempt to turn's Claude's flank. Because we have the healer in the current group, along with myself, Petra, and Edelgard – I think it would be safe to refer to this group as my "strike team".

As we emerge towards the end of the woodland, we pause to inspect the situation directly in front of us. Claude and Hilda are quite visible now from this distance. And to their credit, both are incredibly well-entrenched. A barricade separates a trench line that they've settled themselves into. They're also spectating the duel between Lorenz and Ferdinand, unaware of our presence.

Their position is essentially unassailable from the front. Between the wooden barricade and the trench dug into the hedgerow, there's maybe ten or twelve Faerghan feet of no man's land where Hilda can toss an axe towards us, or Claude can nock a shot towards an attacker.

It's a good thing I have no desire to contest that position, either.

Reaching into the pouch at my side, I pull out the bottle of Almyran liquor.

"Might your throat be of thirst, Professor?" No, Petra.

"Now is not the time, my teacher!" Yes it is, Edelgard.

"Professor, I wanna go home!" No, Bernadetta.

"I've heard that alcohol is a sleep aid…" Yes it is, Lindhardt.

I bite the cork off the bottle and spit it towards my side.

"Does anyone have a neckerchief?" I ask without turning. I receive no reply.

Turning around, I look at my students. All of them look confused.

Edelgard is staring at me wide-eyed. She's got the red-cape of the House-Leaders attached to her collar, so no. Bernadetta has a hoodie on under hers. Lindhardt has his collar fully buttoned. Petra very clearly has a neckerchief on, but looks totally stumped. It occurs to me that she may not be familiar with the vocabulary word.

In retrospect, it's good that I brought her along on my side of the attack.

"Petra, ceangal amhach?"

"Ah, yes Professor!" She quickly tears it off and hands it to me.

I stuff it about halfway in the bottle.

I then snap my fingers and cast a fire spell on the neckerchief. Again, stunned faces. It occurs to me that as their teacher, it is incumbent on me to explain what I'm about to do.

Unfortunately, this time-sensitive explosive in my hand is going to have to make it a short explanation.

"First lesson: Improvise."

I then turn and hurl the bottle at the barricade. It catches one of the wooden stakes, shatters and explodes, causing most of the wooden structure to immediately go up in flames. From behind the combusting obstacle, I hear Hilda shout in surprise

"C-Claude, F-fire!"

If Holst ever figured out I hurled that invention of his at his sister, I suspect he'd laugh. And then try to wring my neck.

"On it! Hildie, get Leonie and Raphael over here, now!"

Claude seems rather quick on the rebound, and summons his ambush team to play firehouse with him.

I turn back to my students.

"Second lesson: Distract."


Bernadetta successfully poached Leonie and Raphael as they dumped buckets of water fetched from the fountain in Manuela's infirmary. Shortly after sending Claude's barricade up in flames, I was able to rouse my shocked students back into participation. I opted to post Bernadetta at the forest's edge in order to keep Claude and Hilda engaged while the rest of my band made its way across the open field.

Luckily the smoke emanating from the smoldering barricade helped us move across the open field without getting noticed.

As we crossed, I could see the dud arrows whizzing around. Bernadetta and Claude were having quite the match.

Bernie, dare I say, was even starting to get into it.

"Go away…!" I heard her yell after sniping Leonie in particular.

For Edelgard, Petra, Lindhardt, and I – our next obstacle lay right in front of us.

Marianne, although armed with a wooden sword, had it attached to her belt and sheathed. Her hands were full attempting to calm the cat who was extremely activated over the burning barricade nearby. She was so deeply involved in this endeavor that she apparently didn't even hear our approach.

"Marianne, is he alright?" I ask.

She jumps at her name.

"P-professor…?"

Edelgard and Petra both bear their arms. I beckon them to lower their weapons.

Approaching with my sword sheathed, I point at the kitten. The kitten seems to more or less acknowledge my presence.

"I met him on the field yesterday." I explain.

"O-Oh, I see…" she replies, clearly looking at her opponents behind me.

"He likes skewers. He ate Edelgard's yesterday."

Edelgard blushed a bit at this revelation, perhaps reminiscing about the picnic.

Marianne cracked a smile in kind. Her eyes return to me, a bit more relaxed now. It's as if we were just sharing a conversation at the dorms with Lysithea again.

"H-He's very fidgety, professor. I think he might still be hungry…" she says at last.

"Do you want to go back to the infirmary and feed him?" I inquire.

"Y-yes, Professor. I'd rather not fight…"

"Ah! A woman after my own heart." Lindhardt mused from the background.

I close the distance between us. Much to my surprise, Marianne doesn't step away, and merely looks up at me with her tired eyes.

I pet the kitten, and those eyes relax just a bit.

"It was a bad plan. You shouldn't be out here alone." I say at last.

"I asked to be Professor…" she replies, sadness dripping off each word.

I tap her side with the pommel of my sword. She giggles involuntarily.

"A-ah, I-I'm–"

"-Ticklish?"

"...Yes…"

"I'll tell Manuela you gave us a good fight."

Her eyes light up ever so slightly.

"...Thank you, Professor."

I pivot back to Petra, Edelgard and Lindhardt.

"Third Lesson: Isolate."


Turning Claude's flank was the easy part. Actually fighting Claude, Hilda, Lysithea and Manuela would undoubtedly prove much harder. Standing just behind the edge of the hedgerow with my three remaining members of the strike team, I peered back towards our deployment zone. Bernadetta was taking cover behind a tree now, having exhausted all her ammunition. I wasn't about to try and get her into a melee at this stage.

In the eastern woods, I could definitely make out the figures of Dorothea and Hubert. Their more physical escorts were nowhere to be seen. I had asked Hubert to rein them in if necessary, given his relative parity in age to me and generally malevolent demeanor. Do I also have a generally malevolent demeanor, I wonder? Perhaps such a thing doesn't work with Ferdinand and Caspar though, given their attitudes and station.

Still they held the woods, which was enough. Their elimination would be troublesome at this stage, as they needed to keep the Lions engaged in at least a limited manner.

I extend my head around the hedgerow to check on Claude's position.

I nearly catch a wooden handaxe to the head while doing so. Thankfully, I'm able to focus in on Hilda's freshly serviced black nails and effectively gauge my own dodging distance based on a quick equation of finger scale that my father taught me ages ago.

I'm able to return my head to our side of the hedgerow just as the wooden projectile whizzes by my head.

Edelgard seems flabbergasted at this.

"M-my teacher, how precisely did you dodge that…?"

I suppose it was my responsibility to explain this in more detail.

"Hilda's manicure. It's quite stunning, so I gauged the distance based on the scale of her hands just before she threw it..."

Edelgard frowned incredibly deeply at this reply.

"That description implies that you were gawking..."

I shrug.

"She takes care of herself."

Now the Adrestian starts to boil under the collar. She leans forward, putting her weight on the pole of her wooden labrys.

"Oh, she does and I don't? Is that what you're attempting to say, my teacher…?"

I shake my head. I wasn't aware this was some sort of competition about who looked best on the battlefield. Instead, I turn to Lindhardt, who appears to be nodding off while standing up.

"Lindhardt, prepare to cast a shielding spell."

"It won't block Edelgard's attitude, Professor..."

She turns to him with a look of unrestrained aggression.

"That's not what it's for, Linhardt." I reply.

He seems to take this in slowly.

"Ugh, fine."

Putting a hand to my chin, I say:

"I'm going round the corner. Claude and Hilda know I'm there, but not the rest of you all. I'll attract their attention, Petra and Edelgard, focus on neutralizing Hilda. I believe Lysithea may engage us as well, their mage – so stay alert. Leave Claude to me and Lindhardt."

All three regain their composure and nod. Well, I guess Petra never lost her composure. It looks like most of the discussion went completely past her, in fact.

Before turning, I say:

"Fourth lesson: Reconnoiter."


"Ummm, that was, like, totally unfair, Professor!" Hilda accuses me of this while standing on the tips of her toes and driving her full bosom into my breastplate with appreciable force.

She is currently talking about the improvised explosive device from before, which apparently gave her quite a fright. We've just tagged Hilda and Claude out, as it happens. The plan that I suggested behind the hedgerow happened to go off without a hitch. Such plans would usually devolve into disorganized messes with Holst and my father at the helm on the Throat, so that must mean that Claude and Hilda are so unpredictable that they're predictable.

That said, this plan also worked out particularly well given the fact that Claude had expended his ammunition at roughly the same time Bernadetta did. Unlike Bernadetta, he did bring extra arrows, but those were lost in the great barricade fire of ten minutes ago.

As far as Hilda's query is considered, all I can offer is a shrug.

"...And like, you watched my hands? What's that supposed to mean? Does that mean you like them...?"

The younger Goneril seems to seek confirmation of this by folding her freshly manicured fingers into her palms and shoving them into her face. I try to bring my glance sideways, and it falls upon Edelgard and His Deceitfulness. The latter seems deeply bemused. The former is silently seething, glaring at me with furious purple orbs.

"We were totally outmatched, Teach. Who would've figured that me introducing you to Arz Lubaniyya would come back to bite me like that?" Claude says with a bitter smirk.

Then, he shakes his head.

"...Still, I hate losing. I'm hoping the Prince over there really stomps you guys down hard."

Aren't there still two members of his house that are still technically in combat? Maneuvering around Hilda's animated stance, I'm able to bring a hand to my hair.

"The bottle trick was actually one I learned on the Throat. We called it the Goneril Cocktail." I informed Claude.

At the mention of Holst, Hilda got even more activated.

"...No way Professor, my brother really taught you that?!"

She's totally in my face now.

From my periphery, I can see His Deceitfulness elbow Edelgard on the shoulder.

"Awfully voyeuristic, aren't we Princess?" He asks her.

The Adrestian folds like a wet paper bag.

"W-we must move on quickly, my teacher!" She yells, way too loudly given the relatively short distance between us. While experiencing this sort of reaction has become second-nature to me, it upsets Hilda, who also seems to have similar issues with not being the center of attention at any given moment.

She turns and faces down the heir to an Empire.

"Hey, Princess, there's no need to yell." Hilda reprimands.

Thank you, Hilda.


I've sent Petra to escort Lindhardt over to the burning barricade. Taking a page from Mauricius, I've opted for smoke signals as our primary means of communication with the diversionary team. In our planning session, I noted that we would cast smoke from a fire in the direction of their position once Claude was overcome. I never specifically said that smoke would be emanating from the remains of the Deer's premier defensive emplacement, but what's done is done.

With Lindhardt's ability to cast a wind spell, getting the smoke over should be a breeze.

Meanwhile, Edelgard and I make our way across the open field to the Infirmary. The only Deer that remain as combatants appear to be Manuela and Lysithea, although both myself and Edelgard did just observe Lysithea abandon her post on the Deer's flank with the Lions. She appears to have wandered into the infirmary.

I wonder if she's hurt? She did mention having a delicate constitution that night we shoveled cake into our faces.

We arrive at the border of white flags.

I turn to Edelgard.

"I'll take point. If I'm ambushed, I trust you to lead them to victory."

Her face melts into something bordering on sentimental at this moment. She shakes her head.

"I'll be by your side, my teacher. I will not let that come to pass."

I turn and draw my sword. I'm about to pass the white flag boundary when I suddenly feel myself freeze.

A silence spell. And a powerful one at that.

I've been subjected to a great deal of magecraft attacks on the Throat, given the Almyran's familiarity with dark magic. The men in our company used to particularly fear the mages who rode wyverns, as they invariably tended to herald the arrival of the elite corps of the Royal Army.

In short, I've been struck by silence spells before.

But few have had such complete control over my person as this one.

This must be the final trap that the Deer have laid.

"Huh? Puh-fe-uh?"

Emerging from the large infirmary tent is Lysithea. Her cheeks are completely swollen. It only takes me a moment to guess what they're swollen with, given how she's holding a box of bon-bons in her hands.

She strolls over and takes a long moment to eye down myself and Edelgard, who from my periphery is about ready to charge at her with the labrys.

She finally swallows and says:

"Professor Manuela said that there are to be no weapons allowed in the infirmary, Professor. Everyone inside the white flags has already surrendered or been eliminated. So I had to silence you."

I stare at her. Although my extremities are frozen, I quickly realize that my face is not.

"You've already surrendered, Lysithea?" I ask.

I suppose if she has, Manuela has as well.

"I don't have any time to waste fighting you. Especially if Claude and the other Deer have already been beaten. I asked if I could get some white magic tutoring instead from Professor Manuela. It seemed like a better use of my talents than this pointless mock battle."

I'm actually impressed with that perspective.

"You seem determined." I offer.

Lysithea's pink orbs light up at this comment.

"Do you really think so?"

I can sense my neck muscles start to gain their elasticity again, so I offer an overly firm nod. Most silence spells decline in effectiveness in time until they're rendered useless.

"I do. Even when you were struggling to carry those baskets that night, you wanted to push yourself further." I note

"Ah, yes! And that was such an enjoyable evening, Professor! When I told all of the other Deer, they were quite jealous. You said I was mature, remember?"

From the corner of my eye, I take note of Edelgard leering at me. I really don't know what's so wrong about being cordial to someone like Lysithea. Given what she has told me about her condition, she strikes me as a person who has struggled for everything she has. Those people deserve respect. More generally, I find them much more tolerable than spoiled nobles.

Lysithea is also a noble, though. Maybe my ability to analogize has been impacted by the spell. I push the thought to the back of my mind.

"I did. I could sense your drive." I reply.

Lysithea seems full of resolve now.

"Hmph… Obviously! Even in this field, there's so much I have to achieve, Professor. To me, it's pointless to fight a battle that's already lost. So… I learned how to cast a heal spell just now. To me, that's more important than playing out Claude's defeat. I'd rather prepare for the next battle and try to win that with the new skills that I've learned."

I noticed Edelgard shake her head in my periphery.

"That's an interesting perspective you have there."

Lysithea seems to finally take notice of my student.

"Huh, you're Princess Edelgard, right?"

Edelgard nods.

"Yes, and you must be Lysithea von Ordelia."

I get the feeling the two are assessing each other quite intensely. That's no small relief, given how I'm usually the one being assessed intensely in the presence of either of the two white-haired maidens in question.

"I'm really quite jealous of you." Lysithea says bluntly. "Your Professor is very understanding."

This takes Edelgard aback, but not as much as what the scion of House Ordelia does next. I notice Lysithea approach and pull out a bon-bon.

"Professor, do you want one?"

I raise an eyebrow.

"Oh, are you still silenced? I can feed it to you!"

This prompts me to part my lips a bit in surprise. Lysithea takes this as the go-ahead to stand on her tip-toes and push a bon-bon through with her long, delicate fingers. Since I have nothing else to do until I recover the use of my extremities, I don't really protest.

As I bite down on it, I'm nearly overwhelmed by the sudden flow of caramel from the center of the bon-bon.

"Aren't they good?" She asks with a self-satisfied smile.

Because my mouth is currently full, I simply nod. It's a very stiff nod, still.

This prompts an unrestrained laugh from the girl. She then turns to Edelgard, who has since gone beet red.

"He likes sweets!" It seems as if Lysithea is describing me as some sort of pet.

This information incenses the Adrestian.

"I am well aware! My teacher likes Saghert and Cream, especially. It also happens to be my favorite."

Lysithea then pivots her head to me with widened eyes revealing the entirety of her large pink irises.

"Yuck! Do you really, Professor?! I don't like the fruit in Saghert and Cream. It is far too tart!"

"You simply don't have a mature enough taste to appreciate such complex and refined flavors." Edelgard prodded.

As the two argue about my preferences, I'm able to finally shake myself free of the silence spell.

Finally, I'm able to turn my body fully.

As I do so, I notice Hubert, Dorothea, Caspar, Bernadetta, Lindhardt, and Petra all standing in an irregular semi-circle around the white flags of the infirmary.

Hubert steps forward.

"If you're quite done, Professor – the rest of us would like to finish our match against the Lions."


Realizing a short time later that the rendezvous at the infirmary is short one certain birthday-boy, I inquire about his whereabouts. Caspar leads me to the edge of the Deer's deployment zone in order to get a view of the hillock. After a moment of squinting, I realize that Ferdinand is caught in a net-trap in one of the trees, unconscious.

This must be Claude's last laugh, I suppose.

"How did that happen?" I ask accusatively.

Contesting the hillock was not part of the plan.

"Heya, Professor – it wasn't me! When we saw the signal, Ferd said he was gonna secure the hill for us."

I shake my head. Perhaps I was a bit too hasty in expecting complete compliance from Ferdinand at this stage.

"Is he eliminated?" I ask.

"Effectively, if not technically." Hubert, who also accompanied us, informed me.

"Did the Blue Lions take any losses?" I ask.

Hubert shakes his head.

"I cannot say with surety. My focus at that stage was squarely on the two Deer. Caspar…?"

The two deer must mean Lorenz and the bespectacled archer. I witnessed the two arguing with each other in the infirmary shortly after encountering Lysithea.

"We almost got their sniper, Professor – but then the red-haired lancer showed up. If I threw up these bad boys any slower, I'd be out too!"

He indicates the boxing gloves on his hands that are technically designated "training gauntlets".

The red-haired lancer must be Sylvain. I gave them specific instructions to fall back if reinforcements arrived, so that must mean Dorothea and Caspar followed them. Again, surprising. I had expected Caspar to go running off into the fray, but it was Ferdinand instead.

I beckon the two to return with me to the infirmary. They both follow.


Bernadetta approaches me in a huff, after running around the perimeter of the white flags. She hunches over slightly, as if she failed at something and was asking for preemptive forgiveness. I wonder why?

"Waaahhh…. Professor… Ignatz said he'd only sell the rest of his arrows for 800Gs."

Edelgard, at my side, frowns.

"That is an exorbitant price for ten training arrows." She informs me.

I shrug. Reaching into my breastplate, I pull out the envelope with my salary inside. I hand her a 1000G note. Bernadetta looks at me with a curious expression.

"...Professor, are you sure?"

I nod.

"Financial literacy is not your strong suit, I take it." Hubert notes.

"The tolls of victory." I say with a shrug.

Edelgard blushes realizing that I'm paraphrasing her gloomy proposition from yesterday.

"Professor, remind me to have you treat me to dinner in town sometime!" Dorothea chuckles.

"We're all going tonight, if we win." I reply.

"Professor, would you mind if I just went home early instead?" Lindhardt inquired.

I turn to him.

"I would."

He shakes his head bitterly.

"Well, perhaps I could attend just this once..."

As Bernadetta returns, partially re-armed, I gather the flock. We all look out into the open field. Dimitri and Hanneman appear quite busy redeploying the Loogian "V" in order to face our coming strike across the North-Central No Man's Land.

"What's the strat, Professor?" Caspar asks, chomping at the bit.

I eye each of the Eagles. They're all looking at me with such anticipation. I wonder if they'll like what I have to say next?

"Don't bunch up. Stay focused on the targets I assign you. That's what it will boil down to."

They all look at me in surprise now.

"Dimitri will strike first anyway, I think."

I point out to the reformed "V".

"He's taking point now with Duedue and Felix on his flanks. Mercedes and Ashe are right behind him to provide cover. You don't deploy like that unless you're attacking."

"How do you know that, my teacher?" Edelgard asked inquisitively.

I turn to her.

"Do you recall his initial deployment?" I ask.

"Oh… that girl archer… She was positioned on the left wing, right?" she replies.

I nod. It's not a typically rare use of the Loogian V. I know that Holst would always deploy his ranged units on the flanks, particularly because they increased the relative distance between those forces and wyvern riders. Wyverns tend to be able to go over and above the tip of the "V" quite easily, so positioning archers at the "tip of the spear" as it were ends up being a rather costly gambit with little for the defender to gain.

Any extension in range is quickly neutralized by how quickly the archers tend to be chewed up. Almyran tacticians usually go straight for the archers, for good reason. Since Loog's own strategic thinking assigns lancers to screen them, those troops end up falling quickly as well.

"Correct. Loog prioritizes flanking fire in the defense. In the attack, they support the breakthrough."

"Ah, yes. I believe I've encountered that stratagem myself in my own studies. I believe the intent is to throw the maximum weight behind the first strike, and collapse the enemy's center." Hubert says, nodding.

I bring a hand to my chin.

"Edelgard, Dimitri will probably charge for you first."

She nods.

"Hubert, back up Edelgard. Use a silence spell on his horse."

Hubert raises an eyebrow, and then comes to the realization.

"I see… you wish me to toss him from his mount?"

I nod.

"A fine gambit, Professor. Once he is thrown, Lady Edelgard can move in for the kill."

There won't be any killing today, I hope. I turn to the Brigidian princess.

"Petra, distract the giant from Duscur. Your speed should allow you to keep him at bay."

"I am understanding, Professor!"

"Bernadetta, you're on counter-battery. Fire a few shots at the archers to draw their attention, then take cover–."

I point to a rocky outcropping near the extreme northern edge of the battleground.

"-Over there."

Bernadetta, taking solace in the thickness of the rock, nods.

"As long as we can get this over with..."

Next is Caspar.

"Caspar – Ingrid. Don't lunge until you see the whites of her eyes."

"Aww, hell yeah! I've never grappled a girl before!"

Upon hearing this utterance, Dorothea yanks his ear.

"You sound way too excited about that, Caspar!"

"Dorothea, cover Caspar and keep an eye out for Anette. I think she's their healer."

Dorothea turns back to me and curtseys.

"I'm your gal, Professor."

My final orders go to Lindhart.

"Lin, I need you to get another shield ready. Stay back and support Bernadetta if she takes fire."

"Staying back sounds like a fine plan to me, Professor." Lindhard says contentedly.

I nod. Edelgard then walks up right beside me.

"You're taking on the right alone?" she says with a look of concern.

I nod.

"Leave Felix and Sylvain to me."

Her eyes fall from mine, but do not protest. They return a moment later.

"I'll support you once I've dealt with Prince Dimitri, my teacher."

She seems to have found her resolve again.

Turning my eyes back to No Man's land, I notice that the Crown Prince of Faerghus has already begun his advance. The Lions move in perfect, nearly synchronous order towards my disorganized gaggle. Hanneman stares us down from his motte, cool in command.

An expression of awe washes over me at that moment. Dimitri, to his credit, leads that house like a King, trotting on his mount at the head of his platoon. That King also rides with a great deal of anger in his eyes, squarely directed towards the my House Leader. I can see past those bangs of his now. I now wish I hadn't.

The Deer's defense collapsed as soon as we overcame Claude's schemes with a few gambits of our own. This wasn't meant to knock Claude, either. It was simply a question of initiative. Attackers always held that precious advantage, even in the face of a prepared defense. Now the Eagles are on the back foot, about to attempt to withstand a charge from melee fighters on open ground. There is no doubt in my mind: the Lions will prove a much harder opponent.

People might get hurt.

Edelgard might get hurt.

I turn back to her.

"Be mindful."


Felix, Sylvain and I have our eyes squarely fixed on Dimitri and Edelgard trading blows.

Well, Felix has one eye focused, at least. The other is swelling shut from a shiner.

That shiner was inflicted by his ally Sylvain.

As expected, Dimitri galloped right past me on his way to challenge my House Leader. Also as expected, Felix immediately charged at me, thrusting his rapier in rapid succession at every weak point I feigned at offering. On the attack, the heir to House Fraldarius was relentless. But each blow was delivered with such intensity, I could clearly see that he was exhausting himself in each successive attempt to pierce through my blocks. For myself, the affair was almost relaxing. Felix's wild red eyes telegraphed where each following thrust would land well before he even withdrew his rapier for the next strike.

Felix is a warrior who fights without deception.

I know nothing but kinship with that part of him, but I also did not have the habit of letting enemies read my attack plans from a simple look at my face. We were not the same. Something was fueling that, and I suspected that it was anger.

Anger is not something that I feel. This is perhaps a cocksure statement because I don't know what I feel at all, really, but it has never struck me as anger, at least.

I found myself wanting Felix as a student. But I had made the wrong choice. I had chosen the Eagles, not the Lions.

I wonder what the cost of this choice would mean, in the end?

As I contemplated that question, Sylvain finished his long run around the hillock and attempted to drive his lance directly at the back of my head.

Unfortunately for Sylvain, he was a bit too cocky in doing so.

He prefaced his strike towards the back of my cranium with an apology:

"Sorry Professor, this one might hurt!"

Instead, he should have been apologizing to Felix. Tilting my head to the left, his lance ended up right in Felix's eye. Sidestepping the two, I didn't need to wait for very long before Felix dropped his rapier and tackled Sylvain to the ground, beating him senselessly and cursing him out. I tapped the two with the pommel of my training sword shortly thereafter. Experiencing second-hand frustration at his idiocy, I let Felix get a few more blows into Sylvain's jaw before finally separating the two.

"The Boar has been grunting more lately..." Felix quipped. "At least since you got in his way that day."

My eyes aren't back on Dimitri and Edelgard's duel just yet. I'm noticing that Caspar finally grappled his first girl and knocked Ingrid out. Good for him. Petra and Dorothea seem a bit overwhelmed with Duedue, however. Luckily Caspar seems to get the message and immediately runs to assist them.

Bernadetta's also sniped Ashe, prompting Mercedes and Anette to withdraw to the Motte. That's three "kills" for her today. She might be our most valuable player this afternoon.

In practical effect, Dimitri's attack is beginning to fizzle out. I suspect Hanneman's accepted as such and is preparing for a last stand around the Motte. Him and Duedue have yet to receive the massage, though.

Hubert, for his part, is occupied with holding the Silence spell on Dimtiri's mount. It is struggling at the moment to reunite with its owner.

"Woah." Sylvain uttered.

My eyes fell back to Edelgard and Dimitri. It's a good thing too, because I was able to catch the tail end of Edelgard making a very dumb mistake.

As Dimitri withdrew his lance in preparation for an upward thrust, my student took the opportunity to swing her labrys in a rather wild motion which left her quite exposed to a followup strike. Edelgard rather luckily noticed this in the midst of the swing, I suspect, as she immediately endeavored to bring the labrys's pole to bear in an effort to absorb the next strike from Dimitri.

But Dimitri's not holding back this time.

Instead, he yells:

"El…no… Edelgard… this time, I won't be deterred!"

His lance hits the pressure point on her pole, shattering it. But the reserve of his strength does not stop there. Instead, he lifts off his feet just a touch more, and propels his blow straight towards her throat.

"Sothis."

The elfen-eared girl appears by my side when summoned, yawning tiredly in between me and the Lion's own ginger lancer. I turn back to the field.

The tip of Dimitri's spear hovers, frozen in time, right before Edelgard's windpipe.

"You may not want to stand that close to Sylvain." I offer.

She notices immediately that she's standing next to the academy's premier poon-hound and immediately jogs forward, turning to me.

"Phooey. I was napping. What is it?"

I direct her attention with a crane of my neck.

"Again?!" she exclaims.

I shrug.

"Fine. Although I cannot keep those two from killing each other forever!"

I shake my head. Something deep in the recesses of mind tells me that she's right.

"How far back can we go?"


Sothis gets me far back enough to absorb Dimitri's thrust with the fuller of my training blade. Driving his energy up and to the left, the spear harmlessly strikes at the air instead of Edelgard's neck. Dimitri notices this, and instead of resisting the kinetic energy, slides along with it to get a bead on my side. I wheel towards him with a blank expression.

"Professor… I would ask you politely… to step aside."

Why, so he can kill a disarmed Edelgard? No.

"Get a hold of yourself." I command.

His chest starts heaving in what must be a silent laughter. It's indescribable. If I could be terrified, it might even terrify me.

"…Is that what you think, Professor? Then I'll endeavor to show you that I'm always in control!"

Just before he makes his next charge, I catch Hubert in my periphery. He looks rather exhausted from his endeavor to keep the horse in place. I now see that it's been knocked on its side by a wind spell from Lindhardt.

"...Professor… allow me to assist you in squashing this bug for Lady Edelgard…"

He raises his arm in a silence spell before freezing in place.

"...Ugh… must be… Hanneman…" he mutters.

I glance over to my colleague. In the process, I notice he's silenced everyone in both classes, including the two students that flank him and his House Leader.

He must be quite the studied mage in order to do such a thing.

"My apologies Professor, but it seems like this mock battle is devolving into something dishonorable. Such a place is not a ground to settle grudges, but merely to assess skills."

I nod in affirmation. He then meets eyes with his house leader.

"If you wish to challenge Professor Eisner, I will facilitate that. And only that."

He then turns to me.

"Professor Eisner, if Dimitri loses, I would ask you to accept the capitulation of the Lions. This match has gone on for long enough. And my legs are too old to escape if you try burning down the motte with another one of those bottle-bombs of yours."

If I could smirk, I'd smirk.

"I accept."

Looking back to his student, he says:

"Wait for Professor Eisner's permission, Prince Blayddid."

Dimitri acknowledges with a scowl. What's gotten into him lately? That scowl falls back to me.

"Professor."

I stare at him blankly.

"Attack when ready."


Betrayed by his bangs, Dimitri is slumped in defeat. Although I suppose it wasn't a fair fight to begin with. I detected that he had lost a step from the silence spell his own Professor had inflicted upon him.

A simple dodge and strike at a blind spot obscured by his own hair was enough to resolve the mock battle in favor of the Black Eagles.

My father rode out on his steed with the banner of the Black Eagles in hand to declare what was already known. A short while after, we're able to detach Ferdinand from his nap in the net trap and rouse him awake with a bucket of water from the infirmary fountain.

"Ah, Professor.. It seems that my noble spirit got the better of me…" says the birthday-boy.

I nod.

Edelgard is the next to approach me. Buzzed from the victory, her face is as relaxed as yesterday afternoon, just before she fell asleep.

"We fought well, my teacher... Though our triumph should come as no surprise."

I could help but bring a hand to my chin. I suppose it's not surprising because Edelgard had no idea just how close she came to death today. Again.

"You think so?" I ask.

My question does nothing to dampen her resolve.

"Yes, it was. Further proof that you're well qualified to guide the Black Eagles."

Petra is the next one to step forward. Again, she punches my breastplate.

"That was impressing, Professor! I mean...impressive. We gained a victory because of your great leadership."

Dorothea slides in next to her.

"We certainly did. We all tried our best, of course, but we couldn't have won without you."

Ferdinand sits up in his infirmary cot, seemingly back to normal.

"I was curious what it would look like if you did not hold back. And you did not disappoint!"

Hubert shakes his head.

"Hmph. Regardless of the Professor's ingenuity today, I daresay we owe our victory to Lady Edelgard. Without her, the Lions charge would have broken us."

I don't even bother looking at him. I get why he's trying to do it. She is the House Leader, after all. And their leader in the future. What will become of them when they leave me, I wonder?

It's best not to think of it, I suppose.

Lindhardt cuts in after a yawn.

"How so? For that battle, she was only a soldier following our professor's command. Sure, she was an incredibly powerful soldier…"

Caspar puts a gauntleted hand on Lin's shoulder that nearly sends the sleepy sage to the ground.

"Don't worry about it too much, Linhardt. All that matters is that we won!"

Bernadetta tugs my arm.

"I'm all done with being on the battlefield, OK? I'd rather stay back than pursue victory out there."

"You sniped nearly half of the Golden Deer by yourself." I reply.

This prompted a laugh from the rest of the Eagles. Edelgard then joined me at my side to address her classmates.

"You are all as ridiculous as always. We only managed to win because we worked together."

They all go deathly silent. She trades glances with me.

"...Was it something I said?"

I shrug. A look of consternation grows on her face.

"Is it so odd, me talking about togetherness? If so, that perception must change. In fact, I'm canceling the festivities so we can discuss this topic further."

"That won't be happening." I reply.

She straightens up and turns back to me. Her purple orbs start pleading for approval again.

"I-I'm kidding, my teacher!"

Turning back to her classmates, she says:

"Come on, everyone! We've earned this celebration. On to Celica's!"