And here it is, my attempt at another multi-chapters story... hopefully it won't end up like my other multi-chapters stories.

This story might or might not tied closely to How They See It, sort of companion story, is that what they called it? Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy it and do tell me how I do it, because your review is my motivation... that sounds cheesy.

Beta Reader: DarkAngelDan98 (Thanks for the support bro).

Byleth took a deep breath as she unsheathed her sword to inspect its condition. Her body tensed up in anticipation of the upcoming battle. It was still very early in the morning, the sun hadn't even risen at this point but she was already preparing herself for yet another battle. Truthfully, this wasn't exactly how she wanted her day to start but she has long since accepted that the life of a mercenary always involved a constant string of battles that could happen at any time whether she was ready for it or not.

She glanced at the three 'students' behind her from over her shoulder, noting that each of them at least looked to be ready for combat; she hoped they actually knew how to use those weapons effectively since her father had tasked her with guarding them. The boy with dark hair looked calm or at least tried to portray an air of composure as she could see the uneasiness in his eyes. The boy with blonde hair also tried to look calm, though Byleth noticed that there was something in his eyes that she couldn't fully comprehend yet…like anger or something similar. The last student, the girl with rather familiar-looking white hair actually looked calm, calmer than the two boys, as if she believed herself to be capable of handling the situation. At the very least, she had confidence in her skills, hopefully not so much that it made her became careless.

Byleth shifted her attention away from the three students when her father, Jeralt Eisner, stood next to her with his mighty steed beside him.

The two of them along with the rest of the men that made up Jeralt's band of mercenaries should have already been on their way to the Kingdom of Faerghus' territory where they had been planning to carry out their next job but the unexpected appearance of these three students who had asked for their help as they were being pursued by bandits made them stay longer in this village than what they had originally intended. Both she and her father agreed that they couldn't let the village that has treated them generously be raided by bandits.

And here they are…

"Has he returned?" Byleth asked as she glanced at her father. He should already know whom she was referring to just by mentioning 'he'.

"No; the man that I sent to get him also hasn't returned yet." Jeralt replied with an annoyed expression.

Byleth simply nodded in response, part of her, just like her father, also felt annoyed that he would disappear at time like this. Not that anyone could really blame him though since no one could have predicted that they would get involved in a battle this early in the morning and he left a while before these three students had even arrived in the first place. At least he'd left a note that included a map, albeit a very poorly drawn one, that told them the spot that he would be fishing at.

"Let's keep this simple. We'll split into three groups, one main group and two smaller groups. I'll lead the main group to serve as a vanguard to take out the front; that should take the wind out of their sails. The two smaller groups will wait for my signal before they go for a pincher tactic, keeping them trapped in the middle. If the information those brats gave us is to be believed then we have the advantage when it comes to numbers." Jeralt explained their formation loudly, speaking not only to her but to their whole group who stood behind them. Byleth nodded her head after hearing her father's plan, a doable plan that made full use of the likely chance that their forces outnumbered those of the bandits.

After confirming that there were no objections the other mercenaries, Jeralt divided their band into the three aforementioned groups and, unsurprisingly, Byleth ended up leading one of the smaller teams with the three students being counted among those that she been tasked with leading through this battle.

"Thank you for your aid, we're in your debt. It won't do for us to fall in a place like this." the blonde boy, Dimitri she believed, said with an appreciative smile.

Byleth and the group that she led were now walking toward their position, hidden behind the natural cover provided by the nearby trees and bushes. They would hide there until Jeralt gave his signal which was when they would join the action.

"No kidding, it thanks to you guys that three of us aren't dead right now. The gods of fortunate must be smiling on us." the dark-haired boy, Claude if she recalled, added with a grin that she guessed was meant to be charming. It didn't appear that way at all in her opinion.

The white-haired girl, Edelgard if Byleth wasn't wrong, decided to say nothing which Byleth appreciated in this situation though she couldn't help but felt like the girl was silently judging her for some reason.

Byleth simply nodded her head, wanting to keep most of her focus on the task at hand. Once they were in position, Byleth raised her arm before crouching down, an action that everyone in her group quickly followed. Now, all they needed to do was to wait for their turn…

Soon enough, a group of bandits finally was within their field of vision and her father wasted no time in letting out a war cry before he led his men charging toward the surprised group of bandits, most of them most likely didn't expect that there would be a group of mercenaries waiting for them.

When the two groups finally clashed, it quickly became apparent which of them had the advantage. Byleth silently watched how her father sent a man flying away with a single upward swipe of his spear before he quickly thrust the polearm through another bandit's head with ease. Afterward, Jeralt quickly pulled back the reins of his horse to make it stand on its hind legs before the horse kicked two bandits in their chests with its forelegs.

Even if she didn't express it outwardly all the time, Byleth always found it impressive how strong her father was though admittedly watching it almost every day has made the feat seem rather normal to her.

Being in constant company of a warrior as skilled and experienced as her father meant that it usually took quite a lot for Byleth to be genuinely surprised at someone's capabilities in battle.

As the fight dragged on, the bandits began to take advantage of their currently superior numbers to try and trap the group of mercenaries in the center by having some of them move toward the back of the mercenary group in attempt to form a circle around the smaller group. Jeralt, who just beheaded a man with a single swing of his spear, briefly observed his surroundings to determine their situation and once he realized what the bandits were attempting to do, he raised his spear high and shouted as loud as he could.

"Now!"

"Move out!" Byleth commanded as she quickly ran forward while unsheathing her sword. The students as well as the mercenaries behind her immediately followed her command, preparing their own weapons as they ran after her.

It didn't take long for the bandits to notice their presence. However, the first bandit who noticed her immediately got his heart pierced through by her sword. Seeing an incoming bandit to her left, Byleth immediately kicked the death bandit in front of her to free her sword before she quickly parries the axe user that threaten to bring down his weapon to cleave her in two.

Not wanting to give the chance for the man to recover, Byleth immediately moved to attack again and managed to leave vertical gash on the man's torso before she kicked him away. Sensing an incoming presence, Byleth glanced behind her and quickly stepped aside in time to avoid being pierced by a spear. In retaliation, Byleth grabbed the spear before she slams the pommel of her sword on the man's nose, breaking it in the process, and quickly slashes her sword upward, leaving a deep cut in the flesh of his torso, and brings down her sword to leave another laceration.

Byleth then took a moment to observe the battlefield to assess their current situation. When she noticed an archer starting to take aim, Byleth wasted no time in twirling the spear she grabbed from the death man, took up a throwing position, and threw the spear toward the archer. The man never had any chance to even loose his shot that he had nocked in his bow before the spear that Byleth threw pierced his back.

Byleth then quickly turned around when she heard a roar to see a man wielding a mace coming towards her. When the man swung his mace horizontally, Byleth quickly crouched down to avoid having her head smashed open before she smashes the pommel of her sword into the man's crotch, forcing the man to drop his weapon in favor of cradling his 'family jewels' as he made the most painful expression that a man was capable of. Byleth immediately seized this opportunity by grabbing the fallen mace, standing up, and smashing the man's head with enough force to make him fly several feet away.

Taking a moment to catch her breath, Byleth once again observed the battlefield to see how the others were doing, especially the three students. To her relief, their younger allies seemed to be able to handle their own without much issue. Dimitri was currently fighting two spearmen on his own and managed to stagger them with a single swing of his spear. Then, without hesitation, the blonde haired boy immediately stabbed one of the spearman through his abdomen.

However, Dimitri wasn't fast enough to finish off the other spearman who managed to recover first and dodge the boy's strike by leaping backward. But the man never got the chance to counterattack as before he could do anything, Claude's arrow had already pierced the man's neck. Dimitri and Claude exchanged a quick nod to each other before Claude nocked another arrow into his bow while Dimitri twirled his spear and prepared himself to fight another bandit.

While Dimitri and Claude worked together, Edelgard was fighting another axe user on her own. She was nimble, easily dodging all the attacks that her opponent threw at her while waiting for a chance to counterattack. Once a chance appeared, Edelgard immediately parried an attack by swinging her own axe upward to stagger her foe before she quickly finished her fight by spinning around to gain some momentum and deliver a vertical slash to the man's stomach, practically opening it up.

Trusting that none of the students would require any aid for now, Byleth turned her attention back to her own surrounding in time to notice another bandit already running towards her.

"You with the blank stare! Outta my way!" the bandit shouted as he dashed toward her. Byleth could feel that there was something different about this one bandit, like an air of authority around him…most likely because this one was likely the leader of this group.

In response, Byleth simply took a deep breath as she prepared herself, one hand wielding a sword while the other wielding a mace. Once the bandit was within her range, Byleth immediately threw the mace toward the man and dashed forward after shifting the grip on her sword so she wielded it in a reverse grip.

To her surprise, the man managed to parry the incoming mace easily though that was still within her predictions. The man then raised his axe and slammed it downwards at her with Byleth barely managing to dodge it by leaping to the left a little. Knowing that she needed to be quick in order to take advantage of the small opening that appeared, Byleth instantly leapt toward the man and elbowed his face with her left elbow to stagger him before she smashes the pommel of her sword to his face to force him to take a few steps back.

Again, to her surprise, the man managed to recover faster than what she predicted considering she had hit him smack in the face with the base of a sword as well as a metal elbow guard. After swiftly regaining his bearing he wasted no time in launching strikes of his own, forcing Byleth to either dodge or parry his attacks. Eventually, Byleth managed to find the opening that she had been waiting for and swung her sword upward while gripping the blade with both hands. The forced behind her swing was enough to force the man to stagger backward again before she quickly followed up her attack with a kick to the chest that sent the man reeling backwards.

But before Byleth could follow the man to finish the job, another bandit immediately attacked her and forced to shift her attention away from her previous target. Byleth managed to defeat her new adversary rather easily just by parrying his spear to the left before she bisected the man by cutting off his arm and then quickly finishing him off by raising her sword with both hands and quickly bringing it down onto the defenseless man.

Byleth swung her sword once to clean off the excessive blood on the blade before she surveyed the battlefield once again. It didn't take long for Byleth to notice that the bandit leader she was unable to finish off earlier was now running toward Edelgard with a pair of axes. Byleth immediately took off running toward the white-haired girl especially after seeing how the bandit managed to disarm Edelgard by throwing one of the axes in his hands.

Despite being disarmed, Edelgard decided to stand her ground and pulled out a dagger, a decision that made Byleth run even faster. There was no way she could defeat a large man with an axe with nothing but a small dagger. Byleth knew that she wouldn't be fast enough to reach the girl in time to intercept the blow with her sword…but there was something else she could do. It was partially her fault as she was unable to defeat the man earlier which gave him the chance to attack the white-haired girl, a person she was supposed to be protecting.

Just before the bandit managed to reach Edelgard, Byleth managed to put herself in front of the girl and pushed her to the side slightly, surprising the younger girl, as Byleth intended to block the incoming attack with her own body. She closed her eyes and braced for the impact…yet it never came…

Instead she heard a painful grunt…and a familiar crackling noise.

Byleth opened her eyes and turned around in time to see something, or rather someone, landed directly in front of her. Relief could be seen in her eyes as the figure, who wore a very familiar coat, straighten his posture and turned slightly to look at her from his shoulder.

"Thank you Robin." Byleth said softly to the white haired man who seemed to be inspecting her for any wound. When he found none, Robin smiled at her and gave her a nod before he raises his eyebrow when he finally noticed Edelgard's presence behind her.

However, before Robin could say anything, the other mercenaries finally took notice of the new arrival…and none of them could hold back their relief.

"It's Robin!"

"Finally! About time you show up!"

"You bandits are so screwed now!"

"What happened?" Claude asked once he and Dimitri joined Edelgard and Byleth as Robin turned his attention back to the bandits that he just knocked down with a lightning spell.

"You'll see." Byleth replied simply as she watched Robin looked over the battlefield.

"You dastard! I don't care who you are, you'll pay for zapping me like that!" the bandit shouted once he managed to return back to his feet before he charges toward the shorter man. In response to the bandit's proclamation, Robin simply raised his hand as he prepared to cast a spell that would hopefully end this battle.

"Arcwind!"

A small typhoon instantly manifested in front of Robin, engulfing the bandit that was about to attack him as well as sucking in any of his nearby underlings. The typhoon sent the bandits flying and spinning in the air, the sharp wind cutting their skin in the process, for a few minutes before it finally disappeared, causing all the bandits to fall all around the area.

Robin lowered his hand as he observed the battlefield to see the effect of his spell. Since the mercenaries were familiar with his way of fighting by now, all of them were fast enough to prepare themselves for his spell while the bandits weren't. The single distraction provided by Robin proved to be enough to quickly give the mercenaries more than enough of a chance to finish off the remaining bandits.

All within his calculations of course…

"Who is that man?" Byleth glanced at Edelgard and noticed that the girl was staring at the late arrival rather intensely. Byleth raised her eyebrow at this but decided that the reason behind her behavior wasn't important for now.

"That man is my father's second-in-command and the strongest one in our group." Byleth said smiling for the first time since encountering the students as she looked at the one who had saved her in her moment of need.

"And his name is Robin Daraen."

What, Robin already there? How? Why? When? Well, some 3H stories that featured Robin always started with Robin first meets Byleth around this time so I decided to... Try to be different? How they meet will still be addressed as well as maybe a couple flashback scenes but in this story, Robin and Byleth already knew each other for a while since I want to focus on their interaction with the Monastery residents as much as their interaction with each other.