Thank you everyone for the support, it really meant a lot to me. I am doing a lot better now that I got school to distract me.
This chapter is all about the battle as I wasn't expecting it to be such a long thing but here we are. I hope you enjoy it.
Harpstring Moon 1180:
Thirty-First of the Harpstring Moon:
If Byleth knew she was going to be sending her students so early into battle than she would have placed a much greater focus on the importance of staying in formation, instead of the crash course she gave them the last two weeks. She was sure that they did truly comprehend the importance of it but remembering that fact in the heat of battle was a different story. That day they were going to learn its importance or die and that did not sit well with her.
"Your students will only have to worry about stragglers," Seteth's words echoed in her mind and she sneered at them. Everything had gone horribly since they arrived at the Red Canyon, Zanado, or whatever the hell it was called. There were far more bandits than the remnants they were promised; and if Byleth had been in a calmer state of mind she would have realized that was the case since the very beginning the bandits had ridiculously large numbers.
It didn't take long for the squadron of knights to be overrun and their commander failed to take proper charger; it was clear to her that they had never thought to take this battle seriously. Thanks to her taking charge and deciding the formations for the knights to take, they were able to rally and properly combat the bandits; but their battle had been too close to her students so she needed to get the Blue Lions out of that mess and quickly. And thanks to the canyon's layout and frustrating small platforms she needed to move her students to the front lines. At least the bandits had focused a vast majority of their forces on the ambush, so the frontlines were decently sparse and seemed to be a proper number for bandits.
After claiming the middle platform, her strategy had been to wait and have the bandits to come to them, but they never did. After a good thirty minutes of nothing happening, she dared to walk to the edge of the platform. She noticed two archers, standing close to each other, pointing their arrows at her and yet they didn't dare fire. She tore her eyes away from them to look at a man in the far back, standing in the remains of some ruins, she wished she could get a good look at him. Giving up on trying to see the man she chose to look around and assess what she had to deal with.
She stepped away from the edge to walk back to her students. They were all watching her carefully, but she didn't acknowledge them. Her gaze drifted all around her, but nothing of importance filled her gaze. She was sure that the bandits were up to something, but she didn't know what.
"What can any of you tell me about this place?" she asked, looking at all of her students. The more on edge of her students jumped at the sudden sound of her voice and she realized that she should do a better job at comforting them.
"It is a sacred site for the church that you need permission to enter," Dimitri spoke up. "I am afraid that I do not know anything else." She glanced at the rest of her students but they all just shook their heads.
She rested her head on her knuckles as she stared at the ground. Why would bandits on the run from the church run to such an isolated, sacred land protected by the church? Sure, the area made it nearly impossible for a large squadron of knights to be used against them but with their large numbers they also suffered the same affect. She frowned when nothing was adding up. It didn't really matter; they were up to something and she needed to act before them.
"Listen up!" she shouted for no real reason as she already commanded all of her students' attention. "We are going to advance!" Her students had already been quiet but now they were deathly silent, no clinking of the little armor they wore or the sounds of their hands sliding over their weapons, she was almost convinced that they were not even breathing. She didn't want to send them into battle, but she had little choice. They couldn't wait for the knights, less the bandits act first.
"Dimitri and Dedue, you two will be the front guards of your sections." She pointed towards the larger bridge that they would advance on and they nodded. She wondered if she really should be sending the crown prince to the very front of battle, but he was the only one besides Felix, that had any battle experience.
"Ingrid you will be Dimitri's support and Ashe you will be Dedue's." Ingrid accepted her roll quickly, while Ashe hesitated, and Byleth was afraid that he wasn't mentally harden enough for battle. "Mercedes you will provide them all with support but make sure to stay out of enemy fire." The young woman accepted quickly but the professor could tell that she was the same as Ashe. Unfortunately, Byleth didn't have the time to worry about that.
"Felix, you will take the lead to circle around the enemies on their left flank." He said nothing but nodded. "Sylvain and Annette, you two will join him." They both agreed but with no where near the same amount of confidence that Felix exuded.
"What about you?" Felix asked.
"Because I have the greatest mobility and range, I will be acting as a free unit. So, I will be running between you two." Felix clearly had his doubts, but she was grateful that he never voiced them. She couldn't blame him, even she felt the same. Even without the large drops, she was still expecting herself to cover a great distance without a mount.
Everyone got into their positions and they looked at her waiting for their next order. She pressed her lips together as none of them looked ready for battle. She looked passed them to look at the knight's battling, on the platform they had escaped from not to long ago, everything hinged on those knights holding back the bandits because they wouldn't be able to handle a rear assault. Keeping her expression neutral, she explained the layout to everyone based on her little survey she had done.
"You will all move on my mark!" They all nodded and braced themselves as she turned away to walk back towards the edge.
The archers once again pointed their arrows at her but did nothing else. She knew the archers would be the biggest threat as she knew her students didn't know how to defend against them; she was going to have to add that to her lesson plans once that nonsense was taking care of. She glanced towards the bride that Dimitri's group would have to take, there was one lone archer hidden away in a small nook. She could get rid of him but then she would be abandoning Felix's group and she couldn't do that. She prayed that Dimitri's group would be able to take him out before he could do any major damage. She wasn't really happy with relying on luck.
"My power is yours," Sothis said and Byleth whispered her thanks. "We must not let any of those children die."
Byleth took a deep breath before she allowed her magic to flow through her. Because she always favored speed, she never properly channeled a spell and accepted a weak spell in order for her to shift into attacking with her sword quickly. But at that moment she needed power and range and so she channeled the proper energy that allowed for the magic sigil to appear before her. The archers screamed out and let loose their arrows, but it was too late as she slammed her hand against the sigil and released the full fury of a Bolanone spell upon them.
The arrows flew past her, but she didn't care as her students rushed forward. She remained perched in her area as she watched her two fronts battle. She told them that she would help out both but now that it was happening, she knew she would be unable to do that; she would have to commit to one. She made a mental note to invest in a bow and some arrows for herself as that would increase her range.
She began to channel energy into her fingers ready to release a proper Thunder spell to take out a bandit that was rushing towards Dimitri's group when Felix's screamed out. She instantly dropped her spell as she rushed towards the smaller group. At the edge of the left side she could see that Felix was on the ground clutching his side while Sylvain was doing a terrible job at blocking the bandit and his stance made it impossible for Annette to assist. She had completely underestimated how much Sylvain's neglect affected him.
Another archer stepped towards the group and Byleth swore for missing him in her earlier observation. Sothis' calming words did not reach Byleth, as she realized that if she used the bridge, she wouldn't reach them in time, nor would she have time to properly channel a spell that could reach them. It was a potentially a suicidal thought, but it was the only thing her panic mind could think of. Taking several steps back before she rushed forward and right when she kicked off the ledge, she created a small blast of fire at her feet to help propel her forward.
She was barely able to land on the ledge below and her land was far from graceful. She knew it was only because of how much lower that the new platform, she found herself, on was and by the blessing of the goddess that she was able to pull off the most idiotic stunt she had ever done. Though she botched the landing she at least had managed to pull everyone's attention onto her.
"Are you mad?!" Sothis screeched into Byleth's mind but she had no time to pay attention to it as Byleth swiftly slashed against the back of the bandit that Sylvain had been defending against. Sylvain had barely finished off his opponent before she had rushed towards the archer to run her blade through him.
With the archer dead, a small lull settled over them. That little numbness was immediately lost as she turned to face them, and Felix also commented on her idiocy, but she ignored him. Sylvain was the firs to move by taking a step forward, but his legs had been too shaky to take another step.
"By I-" he stared but she quickly silenced him by speaking over him.
"You!" She quickly stopped. He needed to be reprimanded because of his slacking off could have cost them dearly but in the middle of a battle wasn't the time for that. Besides she was partially to blame, she should have addressed the issue sooner, though she also didn't expect to send everyone into battle so soon. She sighed before properly looking at him, the look in his eyes at least gave her the hope that he understood his mistake. "Are you hurt?"
"No." His voice was weak, but she didn't comment on it. She did give him a quick look over and it appeared that he wasn't lying at least.
"I'm glad." He just gave her a silent nod. She turned her sights onto Annette, who was staring at her horrified.
"Professor, you are bleeding!" Annette finally cried.
Byleth looked down at herself. Her adrenaline was still coursing through her veins, numbing her to any injuries she might have acquired; and thanks to the blood from the two bandits she couldn't tell which was hers. She did notice that the bottom of her pants and boots were damaged, but that was probably due to her spell. Following Annette's gaze, she discovered a deep gash in her left hand that she was sure was because of a rock dug into her hand upon her landing. Now that she was aware of the injury her hand throbbed and she wished she didn't know about it as she was sure it would affect her grip on her sword.
"Annette, are you alright?"
"Yes." Her voice was shaky but still strong. Byleth was impressed that Annette was taking all the blood and violence well. "But professor-"
"I'm fine." Annette didn't seem too please with that answer, but she didn't say anything else.
The professor then turned her sights onto Felix and didn't bother asking the obvious question. She crouched down and he glared at her. Ignoring the glare, she reached out to heal him only to have him smack her hand away.
"Heal yourself first!" He ordered and she sighed. Why did he have to still be difficult?
"I am not wasting a Vulnerary on a minor injury." She tried to heal him again and again he stopped her.
"You have bandages do you not?"
"My hand is a minor injury compared to the hole in your abdomen." He glared at her for her challenging tone. "The longer you prevent me from healing you the longer my injury goes ignored." It was clear he had a response to that, but it died as soon as a comfort washed over him.
"You will treat your injury when we are done." She said nothing but nodded.
His injury had luckily been a relatively minor one, so it didn't take her long to heal it. Now that Felix's group had been dealt with, she needed to quickly go and check on Dimitri's. She had attempted to stand up, only for him to grab her wrist and pull her back down. He matched her glare with his own. "Your turn!"
She scowled at him as she tried to pull her hand back, but he refused to let go. She didn't have time for this! Every attempt she did to free herself, failed thanks to his frustrating strong grip. She was about to shout at him when Sothis spoke up.
"Relax," Sothis said, and Byleth wished she could. "The little prince led group is fine, no one is dead." Relief washed over the professor before a moment of confusion settled in. "I can sense them though I do not know how." Another strange anomality to add to Sothis' abilities, not that either of them was complaining. "You should take this opportunity to treat your hand. That will also comfort this group some."
Sighing she pulled out some bandages and a small, vial of pure alcohol. He wasted no time in pouring the alcohol into her wound and when she hissed, he gave her a little smirk, she was sure that was his way of paying her back for fighting him. With a surprisingly delicate touch he skillfully went about dressing her wound.
"What?" he weakly growled out after her careful staring.
"I'm just surprised. You are quite skilled at this."
"I used to help Glenn," he mumbled. A light shade of pink dusted his cheeks and he looked away. She smiled as he finished, she could easily imagine a young Felix helping to bandage his reckless, older brother.
With the injuries finally taken care of both Byleth and Felix got onto their feet. She surveyed her little group they looked well enough, though Sylvain still looked a little trouble. Without saying anything she began to lead them back onto the battlefield.
Once they rounded the corner, they discovered that Dimitri's group had descended down their bridge and had attracted the remaining bandits in the area, leaving the leader all alone. From her area she could not tell if everyone in his group was okay. She wanted to quickly run to them and check on them but knew that was extremely dangerous; she still didn't know what the bandits had planned.
"Relax, they are still all alive," Sothis said and Byleth felt a lot of tension leave her. "You should use this opportunity to kill the bandit leader before they could put their plan into action."
With a firm nod, Byleth turned to her little group. "You three will assist Dimitri's group," she ordered.
"And you?" Felix asked with a challenging look to his eyes; and she just couldn't understand why he couldn't be cooperative in battle.
"I will take out the bandit leader."
"Alone?!" Sylvain shouted. "That is too dangerous!"
"I will be fine." The look in his eyes were more than enough to covey his doubts. "This is not the first bandit leader I have taken care by myself." The look in his eyes didn't change but he didn't say anything. "I will be fine, I promise."
One final look was exchanged by the professor and her students before everyone parted. Her students released battle cries as they rushed to join the others. It was crazy tactic that she wanted to stop but it did manage to pull away some bandits and alleviate some of the stress on Dimitri's group, so maybe it was a good move after all.
Satisfied that her students would be okay, Byleth rushed towards the bandit leader. He was yelling and thrashing about and she was beginning to have her doubts that he actually had a plan she needed to worry about. She stepped into the ruins and he finally turned to her with a fierce glare.
"You're the Ashen Demon!" He screamed. "You working for the damned church now?"
"That I am," she said as she stepped forward, but he didn't step back, surprising her a bit not that he ever knew with her constant blank expression.
"Damnit all! The pay was never worth this bullshit!" She arched an eyebrow. His words helped to jog her memory and now she realized she could finally ask him about it.
With a deranged shout he slammed his axe down with a very telegraphed swing that she easily countered with her own upward swing. She could not tell if it was his anger that made him a poor fighter or if he was just never skilled to begin with. His swings were wild as it did nothing more than create some distance between him and her; if nothing else he was an annoying opponent to deal with.
Outside of their little ruin space, his swings had become more wider and sloppier. During a backward swing she stopped it with the side of her sword and arm, to provide support. His eyes widen and he tried to pull back his axe, but she slid her sword along the axe to jab her blade into his fingers. It wasn't nearly enough force to cut them off but, in his surprise, he did drop his weapon.
Never taking her eyes off her opponent, she kicked his axe into the ravine. His fierce glare wavered once a sword was pointed at him. She took a step forward and he took a step back. They continued their little dance, until he had enough.
"Quit toying with me!"
"Answer my question." He glared but said nothing. "Who paid you?"
"Why do ya want to know?"
Sothis had yet to inform her of any serious changes to her students so Byleth decided to press forward with her interrogation. "I want to know who is dumb enough to take a job to kill the three most important children in all of Fodlan." His eyes widen.
"They weren't some brats…?" She could tell that his question wasn't meant for her, but she decided to answer it anyway.
She lowered her sword as she stepped closer so that her words could have an even greater impact. "Those brats were the crown princess of the Empire, crown prince to the Kingdom, and the future Duke Sovereign to the Alliance." With each reveal the bandit's leader's eyes widen and he stumbled back at the end of it. "Even if you had managed to have succeeded there would be no place in Fodlan that you would ever be safe in." His mouth was agape but no sound left him.
"It seems your employer played you like a fool." She stepped forward keeping their distance almost nonexistent. "So, tell me, who hired you?"
With a seemingly sudden boost in his anger he roared out and she took a step back so that she could better strike him, if needed. "So, what if he played me?! I ain't gonna tell no church lacky shit!" The punch, he threw, never reached her as her blade pierced his chest. He gave her one final glare before the light left his eyes.
She stared at the corpse before her. She still didn't get the desired answer to her question but at least she had confirmation that the bandits' employer wanted the future leaders dead. But why? To throw Fodlan into complete chaos? What good would that do? A sigh escaped her as she felt a headache coming. She didn't know the employer but whoever it was, was planning to kill her beloved friends and she wouldn't hesitate to run her blade through him or her.
This was important information that she needed to share with the three future leaders and the archbishop as soon as she could. She wasn't sure how she felt about telling Dimitri as she was sure it would have a negative impact on him. As for the archbishop, Byleth also wasn't that comfortable with sharing with the church leader as well but that was entirely based on selfish and foolish reasons that she would ignore.
"By!" Dimitri's voice ran out to her and she looked up at him as he jogged towards her. Small cuts darted his face and small tears in his clothes and the blood that surrounded the tears told her that he had been injured at some point, but she couldn't tell if he had any untreated injuries at that moment. Mercedes was a better healer than she gave the woman credit for as there were hardly any marks on his skin that told of injuries.
"Are you alright" The question broke her out of her observation.
"I'm fine," she answered but his gaze lingered on her bandaged hand. "It's a minor wound. No need to worry." His frowned remained and she choose to ignore it. "What about the others?"
"They are fine." He stepped to the side so that she may have a better view of the rest of the class that was walking towards her. With the exception of Mercedes, who looked exhausted, everyone seemed to be fine. For the sake of the healer, Byleth was going to make sure her class worked on blocking and dodging so they wouldn't drain the poor healer.
She smiled as they all came closer. Maybe she had been worrying about nothing. Still it was far too early for a major battle for any of them. They got lucky that the few bandits they fought were not ready for them. But she couldn't help but wonder if the bandits' plan had been simply been to overwhelm the knights with their sheer numbers or possibly something else. After dealing with the leader she was having more and more doubts about the bandits actually having any sort of a plan to begin with.
"Is everyone alright?"
Everyone mumbled several different kinds of fines, and physically she couldn't tell if anything was wrong with them, but mentally was very different story. Besides Dimitri and Felix, everyone looked uncomfortable, to put it mildly. She stared at her students unsure of what to say or do as comforting someone was far out of her expertise.
Ashe was the first to give in and rushed toward the ravine to empty his stomach. Ashe helped to break the pressure over everyone as everyone else gave into their own feelings. Annette began to cry, and Mercedes comforted her, while Ingrid and Sylvain comforted each other with light touches. Dimitri, Felix, and Dedue stood off to the side unsure of what to do.
Byleth walked over to Ashe, who was still hunched over. She rubbed his back and he tried to respond but almost immediately heaved when he turned slightly towards her. She quickly summarized that her being covered in blood probably made her not the best one to comfort him.
A roar echoed loudly in the canyon. Her students began to panic with their eyes darting everywhere, desperate to find the source. Another roar of a different beast joined in and Annette screamed.
The scent of blood must have attracted the beasts and she needed to get everyone far away. Was this the bandits possible plan? Have the scent of battle attract monsters? But monsters didn't discriminate, everyone would have been fair game, making it an idiotic plan. But still to have monster show up in a sacred area seemed suspicious.
Byleth quickly shoved those thoughts to the side, they were not important as she need to get her students to safety first. With a loud shout she was able to calm down everyone. Soon she had her students rushing towards the bridges and she hoped that the knights had not only finished their battle but were victorious as well.
They got up to the upper platform with no problem and they could tell that the knights' battle was over. She could feel the relief was over her students until a Giant Bird descended upon them, right over their exit. The students froze but Byleth didn't, she ripped the bow out of Ashe's hands along with two arrows out of his quiver as she rushed towards the front.
Ignoring the bird's cry, she fired two arrows into its left wing and then immediately casted a Thunder spell at it. The arrows didn't ignite like she had hoped but the bird did at least drift away from the bridge. She did not wait to see if the monster would recover before she ordered everyone to cross the bridge.
She stepped aside to allow her students to pass and watched the bird. When Ashe passed, she handed him back his bow as her fingers cracked with magic ready to be released. Dimitri, Felix, and Dedue were the last of the group and stopped when she wasn't following.
"Go now!" she ordered, but she never took her eyes off the monster.
"Are you not coming with us?" Dimitri asked.
"I will once I know that the Giant Bird will not give chase." As if to mock her another Giant Bird flew in, but it at least did not block their path. She released the stored Thunder spell at the bird when it dared to approach them, it cried out and flew a very small distance back. She drew her sword even though she knew it would be pointless against two flying monstrosities. She glanced over her shoulder to see that the three boys had drew their own weapons as well. "I said go!"
"But-"
"No buts! Retreat now! That is an order!"
"You really think we are going to let you fight two monsters on your own!" Felix asked.
"You will follow my orders or else!"
"Like hell!" the swordsman yelled as he rushed forward. He froze when the bird approached him much faster than he was clearly expecting. The bird struck before he could react. The bird's talons never dug into him as Byleth had managed to shove him out of the way in time, but she didn't have the time to properly defend herself and the talons slashed across her chest.
With a wide swing she managed to scare the monster back, but she didn't injury it. A new roar was added to the mix and on the lower platform below she could see that a Giant wolf had appeared but for the time being it seemed interested on the dead bodies in that area. Swearing loudly, she grabbed Felix's arm and shoved him towards Dimitri.
"Leave now!"
"But-" Dimitri tried to protest again.
"You will only get in my way! Leave now!" She didn't bother looking at him as she shouted. The boys were silent as they ran towards the exit. A sigh of relief escaped her as she knew that they would be much safer in the company of the knights. Now all that was left was for her to prove to be too annoying of a prey for the monsters to entertain the thought of eating her for very long.
Fighting two Giant Birds at the same time was too great of a challenge for Byleth, even if she hadn't fought in a battle right before. When she was nearing her limits some knights finally joined and they were able to chase the birds away. Though they were unable to catch their breath before another Giant Wolf joined and they ran before they could be noticed.
On the outskirts of the canyon the knights had set up camp for the night. All of her students hovered around the entrance, waiting for her. Relief washed over them as soon as they laid eyes on her, but it didn't last long as they saw the state, she was in. Across her chest was a large gash from when she saved Felix and her left arm dangled, limply at her side with its own wound.
Mercedes rushed to the professor's side and immediately began to try and heal the arm before Byleth could say anything. When it was clear that her magic was having no affect, Mercedes began to panic. None of Byleth's words were reaching the poor woman, so Byleth grabbed Mercedes' hands.
"Breath," the professor ordered, and now somewhat calm Mercedes did so. "There is nothing wrong with your magic. I am the problem." The healer's eyes widen.
Gesturing for Dimitri to step forward, Byleth removed her necklace. She smiled when she noticed his eyes widen upon seeing the piece of jewelry. Holding it out for him she patiently waited for him to understand her desire for him to hold it. Once it was in his hands his eyes were alight with all the obvious questions that she was sure were swirling within his mind.
"That necklace has a powerful ward on it," Byleth explained at first to Dimitri before turning towards Mercedes. "It protects me from magical attacks, but it also prevents me from being healed. So, now that I'm no longer wearing it you should have no problems with healing me."
Tentatively, Mercedes went back to trying to heal and a smile appeared on her face when it started working. The combination of the soothing warmth and the dulling of the pain in her arm, had much of the tension leaving Byleth's muscles. She nearly allowed herself to fall into a lull state of mind, until she felt Mercedes' hand rest upon the wound on her chest. The professor gave Mercedes a small, apologetic smile when she suddenly grabbed the healer's hand.
"You don't need to worry about that one." Her student was about to protest but Byleth never allowed it by continuing to speak. "You are tired. It will be dangerous for you to continue to spend all your magic." Mercedes' pressed her lips together and said nothing.
"Then, we'll have our cleric take care of your wounds," one of the knights said.
"There is no need. Your cleric must be tired as well." The knight had no response to that. "I will be fine with a few bandages."
"Then allow me-" Mercedes started but Byleth interrupted.
"Mercedes, you need to rest." The healer didn't look pleased. "I just want you to focus on yourself for now." Byleth looked towards Ingrid, who had been silently watching the whole time. "I'm sure Ingrid will be willing to help."
"Wha? Oh, I do not mind but…," Ingrid started to say and fidgeted a little but Byleth didn't wait for Ingrid to finish before she started walking away towards a tent that was available. Dedue had explained what tent was for her as soon as she passed him.
Inside her tent Byleth relaxed greatly as she sat on the floor, fetching the necessary supplies. When she got everything, she began to remove her tunic. She frowned when she discovered that her breast band had been greatly torn and would be unusable. They were only half a day away from Garreg Mach and she hoped she wouldn't have to deal with any battles before they got there, or she was going to have an uncomfortable time.
Ingrid stood at the entrance fidgeting. It was only by Byleth's constant gesturing that she finally stepped forward. The blonde hovered over the injured woman but said nothing. With a little sigh, Byleth handed Ingrid the small vial of pure alcohol she possessed.
Reluctantly, Ingrid too the bottle but continued to stare at Byleth. "Mercedes would be much better at this than me," Ingrid said.
"That may be true, but I trust you more." Ingrid griped the bottle and looked away. "Daisy, I believe you will do just fine."
"You should still have a healer look at it."
"Then they will see my crest."
"But… Are you not worried about a scar?"
"I already have a lot of scars. One more isn't going to change anything. Besides the skin where a crest is, is unusually tough so I doubt I'll get much of a scar." Ingrid still didn't look at her and was squeezing the bottle so tightly that Byleth feared that it would shatter.
Sighing through her nose, Byleth lightly gripped one of Ingrid's wrists. The professor's touch relaxed Ingrid some. Holding up a rag Byleth gave the younger woman a small smile, who did not return it.
"First thing first, we apply alcohol to a towel so that we can disinfect while we clean." The student silently nodded and soaked the rag. Struggling to keep her hiss quiet, Byleth cleaned her wound and was pleased to discover that it wasn't that bad.
"Next we apply an onement or a Vulnerary, depending on how severe the wound is." Ingrid was silent but nodded as she watched as Byleth smeared on an onement. "And for the final step," the former mercenary paused to hand Ingrid some bandages, "you then apply badges. Make sure that the bandages are tight but not too tight where it makes it difficult to move or hurt the person, okay?"
It took a bit of coercing from the older woman to get her friend to begin. Ingrid was silent as she went about applying the bandages. Every time her hand brushed over one of Byleth's breast, she would overreact, and the professor patiently calmed her down. After a few minutes the role of bandages was used up and Ingrid was finished. The bandages were loose and sloppy.
"Daisy, this is terrible," Byleth laughed.
"I am so sorry! I knew someone else should have helped!"
"Daisy." The stern call of her nickname had the girl silenced. "This is your first try, correct?" She nodded. "Then it is to be expected." She frowned but remained quiet. "Thanks. Now I know that I should add first aid to my lessons." Ingrid didn't smile but Byleth wasn't really expecting one. Building confidence was going to be much harder than Byleth was expecting.
After a quick redressing, Byleth was ready to check on the rest of her students. With the exception of Dimitri and Felix, everyone was in a state of anguish. She didn't know how she was going to fix it, but she at least knew they were going to need some time to process everything before they would be ready to talk.
Dimitri and Felix had been sitting away from everyone and that had been the closest she had seen the two since she started teaching, though Felix did maintain a small distance. She approached them, Felix scoffed at her, while Dimitri didn't acknowledge her. Being ignored annoyed her more than Felix's reaction but she chose to keep her expression blank.
"Dimitri, may I speak to you?" she asked and was still ignored. "I have something important to tell you." He still continued to ignore her. "Please?" He turned away from her and she finally had enough. "Fine. Go ahead and act like a brat." She stopped away and he never once called out to her.
She settled down on the outskirts of the camp and looked at the canyon below. More monsters had joined in the feast, but their attention remained completely on the bodies left behind. For such a sacred place, under the protection of the church, it was sure riddled with monsters. Why? That didn't seem right to her. That place should be a peaceful one.
Her lips flatten into a thin line. She had never even heard of that place before and yet she could remember it being a peaceful place. She could feel Sothis stir in the back of her mind.
"Do you know this place?" Byleth asked as her eyes followed one lone Giant Wolf.
"I cannot say that I do but I also cannot shake this strange familiarity I have of it," Sothis said and Byleth could sense the strange girl's frown. "I feel such a great depth of emotions tied to that familiarity. Like joy and sorrow. Pain and love. And all things in between…" While Byleth felt the same familiarity, she did not feel such a strong attachment as Sothis did.
Byleth could feel Sothis drifting about relentlessly in her mind. "If I was somehow here before, I wonder what took place…" Sothis frustration seeped into Byleth. "Why can I not remember? Why must this be all so frustrating?"
The call for dinner rang out. With one final glance, Byleth got up to leave, only for Sothis to stop her. For the sake of Sothis, Byleth properly stared at the lands below, engraving a peaceful imagine into her mind. But the place, now in ruins, didn't seem to sit well with her. Even though Sothis never said anything about it, Byleth got the feeling that she was the most uncomfortable to see that place in such a state.
"It seems I owe you my gratitude," Sothis said after a few minutes of silence. "The bandits will no longer terrorize this place."
"I do not believe I have done something deserving such gratefulness." After all, she hadn't done it out of her own kindness.
"Still, I am grateful all the same." Well if Sothis was happy about it than Byleth wasn't going to say anything.
Nothing else was said between the two as Byleth turned her back on the canyon. When she turned around, she discovered that Dimitri was waiting for her a bit a way back, and she gave him a smile. He said nothing and turned away from her to head back on his own. Her smile turned into a frown as she watched him go.
"I did not think it was possible for that boy to be mad at you," Sothis said with a little giggle. Byleth just wished she knew what she did to earn his ire. "Young love is so hard."
"Sothis please," Byleth whispered with cheeks ablaze as she walked toward the camp.
Morning came relatively quickly for Byleth but judging the bags that was under many of her students' eyes, she was sure it was a long night for them. She wished she could help them but understood it would take some time before they were ready to open up. She felt terrible but that was something she had to wait for it to happen.
By the afternoon they had arrived at Garreg Mach and Byleth was quickly summoned by the archbishop for her report. All her students silently when their separate ways, and Dimitri still refused to look at her. With a heavy sigh, she made her way over to the archbishop.
Not having Seteth or anyone there with her when she was speaking with the archbishop was incredibly uncomfortable. The gentle smile that the powerful woman wore only deepen Byleth's discomfort more. The unnecessary praise was annoying, and she wished that the archbishop would just hurry up.
"I apologize for putting your students in such grave danger," the archbishop said and Byleth struggled to bite back a sharp response to that. "But they have performed splendidly." Again, she had to bite back a response. "You, so more than anyone else. I am grateful that you were able to take command and salvage the situation. Because of you we did not lose a single, precious soul." She had to pinch her thigh to keep herself from rolling her eyes. "But I expect nothing less from you."
Why? You don't even know me. Byleth let her thoughts go unheard.
"But why did the bandits target the students to begin with?" The professor wasn't aware of when the topic had change but her face never showed it. She was curious as to why it was only now that the archbishop was asking such a question. Byleth had secretly hoped that the church had been looking into the matter, but now she knew better to have such expectations.
"I can provide a bit of insight." The archbishop's eyes light up, with such a pleased look that Byleth almost didn't want to say anymore. "They were paid by someone to kill them." The archbishop had taken on a dark expression and Byleth relaxed a little as she was now no longer the powerful woman's sole focus. "I do not know who, but I do know that the bandits were completely unaware of the fact that they were attacking Fodlan's most important children."
"I see." The dark shadows covered the older woman's face for a moment before her smile returned. "I shall have the church look into it. But until we know more, I ask that you support the students and relieve them of any unnecessary worry."
"Of course." The former mercenary had no problem with agree to such a task.
"Excellent. I have high expectations of you." Byleth said nothing and bit her lip. She quietly listened to the archbishop speak about Zanado and other things that Byleth wasn't really interested in. She could tell that the archbishop really wanted Byleth to know the history of that place, but she couldn't fathom why.
So, I'm still not sure how future battles will play out, at least not in the academy phase, but it's probably safe to say that they will be getting their own chapters. Sorry, if those chapters will come off a little boring with such narrowed focus.
I hope this chapter didn't bore any of you too much since I didn't really go into too much fighting detail. During the earlier battles of the academy phase, I think I'll have Byleth be more a spectator in the battles but if you find this chapter boring let me know and I'll give her a greater role.
Head cannon notes:
Throughout the story Byleth actually has rarely properly casted a spell before this chapter. She prefers to challenge enough energy into a spell that will allow her to cast it without backfiring, but it lacks a lot of the power and range that the spells normally have. She does this mainly for speed as she never uses the spell to kill but more to temporarily distract her opponent so that she could rush them. It's actually a very dangerous way to cast spells as it is very close to having the spell backfiring, but she had done it so much that she is now an expert on it. That being said any proper mage would be horrified to see her perform.
Sothis is able to sense the presence of the people that Byleth has bonded with. She can't sense them over great distance nor can she sense whither or not they are heavily wounded but she can at least provide a peace of mind to Byleth during battles.
Monsters are attracted to blood so after great battles, monsters are sure to appear. It is rare to get such a large number of them in one area as monsters can be very territorial but Zanado was a dangerous exception.