Byleth headed to the common room that he had with the other professors. When he opened the door his eyes met those of a middle aged woman wearing a revealing outfit.
"Oh my, what do we have here? Are you lost sweetheart? Are you seeking for my therapy?" said while teasingly blinking an eye.
"I am Byleth, the new professor" answered unaffected by the woman´s charms.
"Are you serious? How can it be? You are too young!"
"Apologies Professor Byleth, Manuela didn't pay attention to Seteth´s inform about you" said a gray haired man wearing a monocle. "Please allow me to present myself. I am professor Hanneman, a scholar of Crests, I wonder if you have…"
"I did pay attention, but he never told us that he would be so young!" responded Manuela. "Allow me to present myself properly too". I am Professor Manuela, ex songstress and currently working as a therapist here. You can come anytime to my place if you feel ill" said with a beautiful voice while winking.
Hanneman sighted. "You are going to make our new arrival feel uncomfortable. By the way, do you have a Crest? Crests are my field of study and I am always curious about the possibilities of discovering new ones".
"Crests?" said Byleth not understanding the meaning of that word.
"Do you really don´t know?!" exclaimed Hanneman. "Even a commoner would know about the system of crests! Where have you been all your life?"
"Your father wasn´t really focused on your education eh?" Sothis was laughing inside his head; it was evident that he had a lot to learn. "How can a teacher without knowledge guide a group of students?"
"Anyway,"Haneman continued. "Come to my office and I will tell if you really have a crest or not. And in case that you do not have you don´t need to worry. Crests are a rare sight these days".
"Professor Byleth, you should also get in contact with the students. Everyone wants to know who is the new teacher" added Manuela.
Byleth decided to go first to Professor Hanneman´s office.
"Extend your hand like this; it should take only a few moments".
A strange device was activated and in front of him appeared a strange symbol.
"So you really have a Crest, and one I´ve never seen! This is so fascinating!" Professor Hanneman´s voice sounded indeed excited. "If you don't mind can you take your clothes off? For scientific purposes of course"
Interpreting Byleth´s blank expression as a negative he quickly dismissed the idea. "Oh forgive me, that was excessive. I thank you dearly. I now have something to investigate. I will tell you as soon as I have discovered more about it".
Leaving the excited Professor, Byleth headed toward the main hall of the building. There he found the student he saved a few days ago, Edelgard. Noticing his presence she welcomed him with a gentle smile, her violet eyes searching his.
"I have heard that you are the new Professor. I congratulate you on behalf of the black eagles students although it is a pity that you won´t work for the empire".
"How many groups of students are in the monastery?" asked Byleth.
"There are three groups of students: the black eagles whose leader it´s myself, the blue lions whose leader is Dimitri and the golden deer whose leader is Claude".
"Eagles, lions, deers? Are you sure we are in a monastery? We only need dragons and we are set"
Ignoring Sothis´s voice he continued. "It seems that I can only choose a group of students, can you explain me more about your group?"
Seemingly pleased with the interest of the new professor Edelgard explained him the particularities of the members of the black eagles. "By the way Professor, even if I am the future empress of the Adestrian Empire you can treat me as any other student".
"Shall I call you by your name then?" he asked.
"Yes of course" she answered with a light smile on her face. I shouldn´t steal more of your time. I am sure you want to meet the other students, although I hope you shall choose me in the end".
"Choose me eh? This one is strong. I like it, humans are interesting creatures" Said Sothis.
"Thank you for your time, see you later Edelgard".
"The pleasure was mine professor".
….
The next student he found was the blue lion´s leader Dimitri.
"I am glad to see you well Professor. It would be a pleasure if you were our Professor this year. The students of our class come from the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. I am sure they will give their best under your command".
"In a matter of days you have built an army of admirers" Sothis continued teasing.
Trying his best to ignore her, he listened to Dimitri´s explanation about the members of his class.
….
"Ey Teach, long time no see you"
Claude was waiting for him at the courtyard
"I bet you had enough fancy talk from fancy folks. I´m sure you will like the Golden Deer. We don´t care so much about nobility unlike others, well if you ignore Lorenz, and we are the most easy going here. Dimitri´s and Edelgard´s solemnity may be a burden to you. If you want I can introduce them directly!"
Claude´s smile was warm but his eyes told otherwise.
"This one wants you but is not completely sincere about his reasons. Although you could say the same about the others" Sothis commented.
"Thanks but I have enough information for today, I have only met the leaders and it would be unfair in that case".
"Oh I see, no problem Teach, I´m sure we will have plenty of time to get along. See you!"
…
Byleth returned to Rhea´s place.
"Was the meeting with the students productive?" She inquired.
"Yes" he nodded.
"It delights me to hear that. You shall now choose one house. You will turn into their mentor for a year. Of course that doesn´t mean that you won´t teach the other students, it only means that you will share more time with the students that you choose now".
"Before I decide I have a question".
"Yes?"
"Every class group is small, but I have seen students wearing the same uniform around the monastery."
"It seems that I forgot to tell you an important detail. The position that you have as a professor is the highest within our ranks and you are responsible of guiding the most important students, which are the future of Fórdland. The rest of the students have their own professors and are members of their respective house, but you won´t be teaching them directly".
"Understood" ("It seems that the monastery had the same inequalities of the outside world but I guess that that was inevitable" he thought).
"Can you tell us which is the group you want to teach?"
Byleth took a while to answer. Edelgard, Dimitri and Claude. "Which one should he choose?"
"Are you asking me? Everyone wants you to be their Professor, but their motives are still hidden. Which is the person who intrigues you the most?" Sothis said.
Listening to her words Edlgard´s face came to his mind. She was the least communicative of the three and he thought that her eyes were filled with a strong resolution yet she was at a world of distance from the rest. Furthermore, he found a strange connection with her, he wouldn´t have risked his life otherwise.
"So you have chosen the little rose. A rose covered in ice I might say. Although I can´t say that you are the apex of expressiveness. Go ahead, then".
Silently nodding Byleth answered.
"I choose Edel…the black eagles".
"Oh my, Lady Edelgard must have left quite an impression on you if you chose her before her own group" said a teasing Manuela.
"Forgive her Professor Byleth. Manuela just seems to fantasize too much, although if we take into account her list of failu…"
"Don't entertain Professor Byleth with such stories Hanneman. Do you want to choose your class now?"
"My bad, as an apology, I give you the right to decide first".
" Very well then. I choose the Golden Deer".
"Then I shall teach the Blue Lions".
"I am glad that everyone is happy with their decision" Rhea smiled. "I shall now explain to you the assignment of this month. You will have a mock battle with the other two houses. You only have a few days left but I am sure that you will get the best of your students" Her eyes fixed on him.
"This ends the meetings for today. Everyone, you shall now go to meet your students" Seteth said fixing his eyes on him, his gaze completely different to Rhea´s.
…
Byleth opened the door of the Black eagle's classroom. When he entered the class fell completely silent.
"So you have chosen me", Edelgard´s satisfaction was evident.
"I don´t think you are the main reason for that Edelgard. As the son of the Prime Minister of the…"
"Enough of your talk Ferdinand, I am sure that the Professor is not interested in the nobility quarrels of the Empire" Said a tall sinister man beside Edelgard.
"You were the one that repelled the bandits! I can´t wait to fight with you" said a high spirited man.
"Fighting first is not good Caspar. To hunt you need to watch first" said a purple haired girl with a small mark under her eye.
"Petra, I am sure that hunting is not the thing we are going to learn here. By the way my name is Dorothea, nice to meet you". Said a green eyed woman with a nice cap on her head.
"My bad Professor, as a noble I should have presented myself properly, I am Ferdinand von…"
"That will suffice Ferdinand, my name is Hubert and I am Edelgard´s personal aide".
"My name is Caspar and as I said before I cannot wait to fight with you!"
"Could you be quieter? I can't take a nap. My name is Linhardt. Now if you can excuse me I will return to sleep" Said a green haired man that looked exhausted.
Behind him was a little girl who panicked when he looked at her.
"Don't look at me like that! I have done nothing wrong, please don't kill me!"
"Bernadetta you don't have to worry. I´m sure that this handsome man won't try to hurt you" Dorothea reassured her.
"Professor I can assure you that they are normally quieter. My complete name is Edelgard von Hresvelg. As I told you before you can address me as any other student".
"I am glad to meet all of you. My name is Byleth Eisner. I will be your teacher during this year. I hope we can get along".
"By the way Professor, you look like you are about our age. If you don't mind can we address you as we address the rest of the students?" inquired Ferdinand.
"No problem" he answered.
"Fantastic! Would you like to have a pair of cups of tea with me?"
"Ferdie, even if you can address him as an equal that is too much" Dorothea said.
Byleth cleared his throat, and the class got immediately silent.
"Our first assignment is going to be a mock battle with the other two houses. We don't have much time left, so I thought that our first lesson will start tomorrow morning at 8 am. Get some sleep; tomorrow it's going to be a rough day. We will meet at the training room"
"The Professor is right; we must prepare ourselves for the coming mock battle. Allow me to assist you in every way possible"
"Thank you Edelgard. Enough for today. See you tomorrow".
Byleth headed towards his new room. It consisted of a simple yet comfortable bed and a desk. He was located next to the bedrooms of the commoners but according to Seteth there were no differences between the rooms of the commoners and the nobles.
Byleth recapitulated about the events of the week. A week ago he was a mercenary working alongside his father and now he was not only a professor but one of the highest ranked officials at the academy.
"What is the first impression of your students?" Asked Sothis
"It looks like they have completely different backgrounds. I wonder if they can work as a team" he thought. "I will have to personally test them"
"Very good then, you should go to sleep soon, I´m already tired, see you later Byleth"
"Good night Sothis"
The sleep came to him, still thinking about the best way to train their students.
Author notes: I´m learning to use this site so I´m glad I have discovered how to write Author notes. I played the game in Japanese (both audio and writing) and it was a blast. The tittle of the game is completely different in the japanese version. It is called 風花雪月(wind, flower, snow and moon) and I think it holds a deeper meaning than the western version as it correlates to the routes. In my opinion CF represents the new and is related to the spring, yet the flower is red as if it were covered in blood, VW is the liberty and the summer but you don't know where it will bring you, AM would be the autumn seeking for truth yet implacable and SN would be winter beginning and end in an endless cycle.