"Your class is weird," Cyril commented to Lysithea as they made their way towards where Shamir would be waiting for them.
"You're only realizing that now?" Lysithea asked.
It would only be a day before the two of them were paired up for the mission to help the Archbishop execute the leader of the Western Church. Because of that both Shamir and Catherine thought it would be a good idea to pair the two of them up for training before the mission.
"I knew you guys were weird… but it's definitely a lot different actually sitting in that classroom with them. Especially Claude… I can never get a read on that guy."
"No one can. Honestly its best if you never let your guard down around him. You never know what he's scheming."
"… You know I'm kind of worried about this mission."
"Because of the Archbishop?"
"Exactly. Lady Rhea shouldn't be in the middle of a battlefield like this. It's too dangerous."
"Then we'll all have to do our part to protect her," Lysithea replied carefully. "You, me, Catherine, and the rest of the class."
Cyril had an obsession with Rhea that tended to border on the insane. It was unhealthy, even Seteth himself had admitted to that at one point, but it was also understandable considering the Church was likely all he ever knew. Still when broaching the topic of Rhea, it was best to speak cautiously. Else she would likely incur his wrath.
"Yea you're right… we'll have to do our best so that she doesn't have to fight."
They finally made it to Shamir who had already set up a medley of training dummies for their arrival.
"First question have you two ever fought together before?" Shamir asked as soon as she saw them.
"Nope. This would be our first time on our mission," Cyril replied.
"Take turns on these dummies then. Show each other what you're capable of,"
"You can go first," Cyril told Lysithea.
"Gladly." Lysithea took a step forward, and with a single outstretched hand, blasted the dummy to bits with a simple Miasma spell. She then cupped her hands together, channeled her magic into them, and released Dark Spikes on the next set.
"I have a variety of destructive spells along with supportive magic like heal or warp," Lysithea further explained as she walked close to another dummy. She took out her sword, pumped her magic into it, and used Soulbade break off a chunk of the dummy with a single swing. "I also have some sword training."
Cyril looked impressed. "I didn't think you could swing so hard. You used you have a lot of trouble carrying around an axe."
"Well I've gotten stronger… though most of the damage comes from a technique called Soulblade. It uses my magic to greatly strengthen a strike but," Lysithea lifted up her sword and showed the crack on the iron, "it quickly breaks apart my weapon when I use it. I'll have to carry multiple swords and pick up whatever blades I can from the enemy if I'm going to be using this technique consistently."
"So, you're a pretty much a mage that can fight up close and from afar."
"In essence, yes."
"She's still vulnerable to attack though," Shamir began explaining. "She'll also have issues with anything with significant resistances or mobility such as Pegasus Knights which is what I expect you to deal with."
"Understood," Cyril promptly responded before taking a bow and aiming at a nearby target. Though he wasn't nearly as flashy as Claude his aim was true and he ended up landing a bullseye from where they were standing.
"Good shot," Lysithea commented.
"Its fine," Shamir commented. "It's just a direct shot."
"What's the issue with that?" Lysithea asked.
"If you can hit your enemy with a straight shot, you're too close."
"I do straight shots all the time with magic," Lysithea argued.
"That's because you're a mage. You have to do that out of necessity. Many of your spells don't have the same range and curve like an arrow can. This is what sets archer's apart, and because of that they need to position differently than mages."
Cyril nodded. "Archers need to know how far the enemy is and keep a minimum safe distance. It's best to be in a range where I have to curve my shots to hit them."
"You remembered what I told you," Shamir said to him. "That's good."
"Well you did say I have the right attitude."
"That I did." Shamir turned back toward Lysithea. "Mages can hit hard but they struggle with controlling the battlefield due to their fragility and low mobility."
"So, you want Cyril to cover my weaknesses with his speed and range," Lysithea realized.
"Exactly. If you work together properly you two should be able to dispatch of most enemies before they have a chance of threatening you. He's also strong and good with an axe so he'll be able to back you up if you're forced into close quarters."
"A lot like Claude then. He also uses a bow and an axe."
"You should observe him sometime," Shamir told Cyril. "He uses a different style from me, so you might learn a few things from him that I couldn't teach you."
"How so?" Cyril asked.
"I'm a sniper. I find a secluded location on the battlefield and pick my enemies off one by one before they realize I'm there. Claude on the other hand is more like a hunter. He likes to lure the enemy toward him and set up traps. We have fundamentally different styles and one might suit you more than the other."
That was a good observation and it was mostly true now that Lysithea thought about it. Claude was a schemer, he liked to lure his enemy into a bad position and make it so that he was the one with the advantage. Though there were times though where Claude would actually sacrifice a good position in order to cover the Professor's blind spots as he carved through the enemy with his sword. It was the reason why they made such a fearsome duo.
"I think I'll stick with you for the time being. There's still a lot for me to learn from you," Cyril replied.
"That's fine for now. For this mission though you'll have to focus on protecting Lysithea from the enemies that'll threaten her the most. In return she'll back you up by providing the firepower to take out the enemies that you can't."
"What do you think about this mission?" Lysithea decided to ask.
"It's a job like any other," Shamir replied.
"Lady Rhea is coming though," Cyril argued.
"Then it's an escort mission. If you get nervous because she's the Archbishop then you risk failing because of that."
"That's actually a good mindset to have," Lysithea admitted. "The stakes might be higher, but it doesn't change how we should be fighting."
"Exactly. You'd still protect the person you're supposed to escort even if they weren't the Archbishop."
"I just don't want to see her get hurt," Cyril replied.
"Hmph." A strange look on Shamir's face. "You haven't seen her in battle then. Trust me she'll be perfectly fine by herself."
"Really?"
"She isn't just a bishop, she's nasty with a sword and I've seen her throw grown men around like they were sacks of flour."
It was really hard to imagine Rhea of all people tossing people around with her bare hands, but it had to be true if it came from Shamir. Cyril didn't seem all that convinced though.
"Are you sure we're talking about the same person here?" he asked.
"You'll see soon enough. Also," Shamir reached to her side and pulled out a metallic thermos. She opened it up to reveal a familiar looking green substance from within. "Seteth wanted me to give this to you," she said as she handed it toward Cyril.
Before he could grab it though, Lysithea had already stopped his outstretched arm with her arm.
"You don't want to drink that," Lysithea warned him.
"Why? What is it?" Cyril asked.
"The Seteth Special."
"The Seteth what now?"
"An unholy amalgamation of kale, spinach, celery, beet greens, lima beans, Dagdar watercress, and Brigid brown beans all roasted and blended together into the vilest concoction that you'll ever see," Lysithea explained.
"That doesn't sound so bad," Cyril replied before reaching over, grabbing the thermos, and gulping its contents down.
Lysithea gasped as she was helpless to stop him. She stood closely and prepared a Heal for his inevitable collapse.
It never happened though. In fact he remained standing even as he emptied half of the container. Even Shamir's eyes went wide once he finished the entirety of it and set the thermos aside with a sigh.
"Eh not bad," Cyril replied casually.
"How? Why- It's not-" Lysithea was simply at a loss for words.
"How did you do that?" Shamir asked.
"It tasted like something I had to drink a lot back in Almyra," Cyril explained. "A lot like it actually. Maybe Seteth got the recipe from there."
"Is it only people from Fodlan that can't drink it then?" Lysithea pondered to herself. It was surprising to find that there was an entire race of people that could actually drink these things casually.
"No, I'm from Dadgar and I fainted the first time I drank it," Shamir argued, though she did seem interested by her line of thinking.
"Dagdar is very different from Almyra though…" Lysithea replied. "If we had another Almyran then we could do this experiment."
"What about someone from Brigid?" Shamir suggested. "We could get Petra to try this."
Though they were completely separate countries with their own culture, they at least shared more similarities with each other than they did with Fodlan. Petra would hardly be the worst subject to test her hypothesis on.
"Yea let's do that later," Lysithea eventually agreed.
"Um…" Cyril raised his hand, "Shouldn't we get back to training?"
"Would you like to have tea with me?"
Lysithea suppressed a sigh. Another day, another invitation for tea from another student whose face she couldn't recognize that would then likely lead to a proposal or something. Though the invitations weren't as frequent as they were before they were still very annoying, mostly because she knew they were just trying to take advantage of her two Crests.
Instead of deigning her would be suitor with an answer, she simply walked away in silence. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to discourage him and he only continued to follow her.
"It would only take a few minutes."
Time that she didn't have to spare. "I refuse," she finally turned around. "I hope would that you were smart enough to learn from the countless other people that tried."
"Are you certain? I heard that House Ordelia is falling into ruin. Perhaps we could discuss ways in which my House could aid yours?"
Lysithea began to finger the hilt of her sword as she continued walking. What was the penalty for assaulting another student again?
"Unless you actually hate your house then we can discuss ways for you alone to join us. It would be a shame if a prodigy like you was wasted their time in a dying House led by incompetent leaders."
"What did you just say about my parents?"
Lysithea had begun to pull her blade out when she was suddenly grabbed behind and lifted into the air. She attempted to stab at whoever grabbed her, but her sword arm had already been pinned to the side.
"Woah their Sis. The Professor needs us."
"Raphael?" Lysithea stopped casting the Miasma she was going to use on him, damage to herself be damned. "What happened? Why does the Professor need us? Is something wrong?"
"I'll tell you later. Sorry about interrupting this chat," Raphael replied as he carried her away from the dumbfounded noble.
"I'm serious Raphael tell me what happened," Lysithea demanded once they had walked a fair distance away.
"Actually, that was a lie."
"What!?"
"I didn't want you to stab him. You looked pretty mad back there."
"I…" well he wasn't wrong. She had actually been prepared to stab him. Just in the leg or something, not anywhere fatal. "Alright thank you for that, you can put me down now."
"First I want to apologize for confronting you about your secret back then."
Lysithea paused as he continued to carry her through the halls. "That was a long time ago," or at least it felt like it to her.
"I know, but I still feel bad about it. We shouldn't have asked so many questions."
Raphael for all his quirks was straightforward and simple. What had happened between them the other had clearly been bothering him so he took action in order to address it. Perhaps she could learn a bit from him.
"No, I should thank you for getting me help. I understand that you and Lorenz were just worried." Lysithea waited for Rapheal to finally set her down, only for him to continue carrying her through the hallways. "Uh… could you please put me down?" she asked again.
"I do have something that I want to show you."
"Then put me down so I can walk with you!"
"My room is pretty far though. I don't want you to get hurt."
She was dying, not crippled. "I can assure you that my body can handle the short walk to your room."
"Bu-"
"Put me down or I swear I'll go grab Claude's laxative and put them in your food."
Raphael promptly set her down and they made the rest of his trip to his room.
"Now what exactly did you need to show me?" she asked as he dug through a shelf of his surprisingly neat room.
Raphael apparently found what he was looking for and held it displayed it to her on his hands. "Here."
"Is that a bracelet?" It was pretty, almost delicate looking, with a variety of crystal baubles alongside flowers preserved in some sort of resin. It looked like the sort of thing that Hilda would show off in class.
"Hilda helped me make it."
"You actually got Hilda to work?" Lysithea thought the only person capable of doing that was Marianne.
"Well I was making charms for my sister and Hilda decided to help because apparently bones and teeth wouldn't make a good charm for her. Anyway, I figured I might as well make one for you too"
"I'm… quite grateful that you took the time to make this for me…"
"The flowers here," he pointed to one of them, "are chrysanthemums they stand for-"
"Long life…" Lysithea nearly choked on her breath.
"Do you like it?" Raphael looked worried by her reaction. "I tried to get you something that suits you, but if they bother you."
"No Raphael I love it." She carefully took the charm out of his hands and cradled it gently in hers. "It's a wonderful gift."
"I'm a little worried it might not fit."
Lysithea slid it onto her left wrist. "It fits perfectly. Thank you."
Raphael blushed and began to scratch at his head. "I don't much about Crests and why they're hurting you, but the Professor and Linhart are smart. I'm sure they'll find a way to help, all we have to do is… have hope and I'll try to help too."
Hope… it wasn't something that she considered until recently, but now…
"Thank you for being there for me," Lysithea replied. "Even when I didn't want it."
"It was no problem ya know… just let me know if you never need help with something. I might not be the brightest person but I can get a job done and keep a secret at least."
Lysithea smiled.
"I will. Thank you."