8/3 Verdant rain Moon
The morning came, the first rays of sun piercing through the darkness of the infirmary. Byleth was feeling better after a night of rest. He was getting up when the door suddenly opened.
"You should stay in bed Byleth! As the responsible of this infirmary is my duty to take care of you, so make it easier for me"
"Good morning Manuela, I´ve done nothing. Don´t worry"
"Even though you were so weak yesterday you seem alright. What gave you Jeralt as a child?" she laughed. "Drink this" she said, offering to him a potion.
"Thank you"
"By the way, Seteth will be coming here soon"
"Seteth?"
"Yes, I was surprised about that too, but it seems he wants to discuss a private matter with you. He will come soon. Drink it all. I´m sure you will receive visits today so you need to be strong" she said winking at him.
Seteth arrived 5 minutes after Manuela had already left his usual serious expression on his face.
"Good morning Professor. I heard that yesterday you lost consciousness in the sauna. I hope that you will soon recover and retake your duties."
"I´ll do it as soon as possible"
"I wanted to discuss another matter with you. We have developed a box capable of sealing the power of the sword. The archbishop insists that you use the sword in battle, but it would be unnecessary to carry it within the grounds of the monastery. I planned to inform you about it yesterday, but you were already in the infirmary. Can I ask where do you have the Sword of the Creator?"
"It is under the mattress"
"The Sword of the Creator under a mattress?" asked a genuinely shocked Seteth.
"I think it is a wonderful idea brother. I do the same to hide my favorite sweets" said Flayn, who was standing beside the door.
"Flayn you shouldn´t listen to private conversations. Comparing a mythical sword with sweets is just weird"
"Why brother? Both are valuable and a lot of people would like to take them. Besides, the fact that you are shocked means it was good place to hide it, right?"
"If you say it like that… Anyway Professor, to guarantee the security of the sword I need you to touch this orb with your bare hand" said Seteth offering him the mysterious object, his hand gloved. The seal will only be deactivated when you touch it. That way we can assure that no one apart from you can have a reliable access to the sword."
"Understood" he said while he touched the orb, that glowed bright blue the moment he touched it.
"Thank you for your cooperation. I will place the sword in the box in your room. Come with me Flayn, we don´t want to disturb the Professor."
"Yes brother" said Flayn, but before leaving she handed him a bunch of sweets she was keeping in a pocket of her dress. "Keep it a secret between us Professor Byleth. I wouldn´t like my brother to find out" said Flayn while smiling.
"Of course" Byleth reassured her
After a while he heard a knock on the door.
"Come in"
Edelgard entered the room wearing her usual school uniform.
"Do you feel better my Teacher?"
"Yes, thank you"
"I´ve just informed everyone about your incident. I´m sure that everyone will come to visit you. They seemed very worried about your wellbeing"
Hearing the worries of his students made his heart move a bit.
"I´m sorry that I can´t teach you for now"
"What are you saying? You shouldn´t put your own health at risk for the sake of your students. I am the first person to enjoy your classes, but that doesn´t mean that I want you to lose your health"
"Thank you for worrying about me. I really appreciate it"
"If my presence doesn´t bother you I brought this with me" she said showing him a board game.
"I haven´t played one of these"
"You don´t have to worry I can teach you. I used to play this kind of game when I was younger, although nowadays I barely use it. I would be happy if I were able to use it with you"
"I would like to, but is it ok for you to skip class?"
"You don´t have to worry about that Professor." smiled Edelgard. "Professor Manuela and Hanneman have decided to give us a free day so we can visit you at the infirmary."
"Then I have no problem playing with you"
Edelgard placed the board game on a desk next to his bed. She explained him the rules and they started playing. Byleth quickly realized that it wasn´t a simple game, but a military strategy one.
"I guess these are the kind of games the noblemen play. They are preparing for war, even if it is a mere game" Byleth commented.
"You are right Professor" said Edelgard while she moved a unit. "That is its main purpose, but it can be entertaining by itself"
Their game was interrupted, when the door opened again, his students appearing one after another.
"Morning Professor, are you ok?"
"If he were ok he would be giving us class Caspar" sighed Linhardt. "Edelgard told us about yesterday´s events. You shouldn´t push yourself too hard"
"That´s right Professor, we don´t want you to fall ill" said Dorothea
"I prepared some sweets, I hope you get better" said Bernadetta, avoiding his gaze.
"I will gladly take it. I´m happy to see all of you here"
"Even I?" asked Hubert who was standing next to the door, a sinister smile on his face.
"Even you Hubert. To me you are not different to the other students"
"Bernadetta isn´t the only one who brought a present for you Professor" said Ferdinand, offering him a pair of leather gloves. "Made by the best artisans of the Adrestian Empire. They were sent for me, but I think you will give them a better use"
"I wanted to give you a pair of magic ear plugs" said Linhardt. "They will help you sleep even if a storm is outside"
"This is for you Professor" said Dorothea giving him a golden bracelet. "You are handsome, but you should treat better your own looks."
"I didn´t bring anything" admitted Caspar "But I promise I won´t be shouting when I attack as you said."
"I will consider it as a present too Caspar"
"This is a pendant to avoid bad luck. In Brigid we use it to expel the evil spirits from our life"
"I guess that I´m the only one left. This is the same kind of fountain pen that I use. I´m sure you will find it useful"
"Thank you, all of you. I really appreciate it"
"Oh my! You are smiling! That´s enough repayment for me" smiled Dorothea.
"I didn´t expect seeing something like that" chuckled Hubert.
"When you laugh it´s scary, please stop" cried Bernadetta
"Here we go again" sighted Dorothea
They spent some time chatting until one by one they returned to their duties.
"Shall we continue Professor?"
"Of course Edelgard"
Students from other houses started to come too. Claude was one of the first to arrive, accompanied by Lysithea, who was holding handmade sweets.
"Morning Teach" greeted him Claude. "You should check outside. Professor Manuela has started to make a queue to avoid pressuring you. I´m sure she is jealous about the attention you are gathering."
"It´s only natural, since he is helping students outside his own class" said Lysithea. "I brought these sweets for you. I made them myself. You can try them too"
"Be careful Teach, they may be too sweet for your liking."
"I think that regarding sweets the sweeter the better, don´t you agree Edelgard?"
"I share the same opinion as you Lysithea" smiled Edelgard.
Byleth took one of the sweets and ate it. It was too sweet, but it was tolerable.
"Thank you Lysithea, I really appreciate it"
"I´m glad to hear that" Lysithea sincerely smiled.
Lysithea and Edelgard were talking while eating sweets. Meanwhile Claude was looking through the window, a gentle breeze coming from the exterior.
The door opened again and Manuela appeared. "I´m sorry to interrupt, but there are too many students and it wouldn´t be fair to make them wait any longer."
"I told you Teach. You have built quite an army of admirers"
"Can I stay here Professor Manuela? I´ve nothing else to do and as the leader of my house I think it would be more appropriate if I stay here"
"I don´t see a problem with it. Do you mind it Byleth?"
"Not at all"
"See you soon then Teach"
"You must eat all the sweets. I´m sure you will end enjoying it too"
"I will give my best"
Student after student they came to visit him. He was surprised with such reactions from them. The sweet Annette and Mercedes, the solemn Dimitri and quiet Dedue, the shy Ignatz and the happy Raphael. Everyone had come to visit no matter the House they came from.
"I didn´t expect so much people to come. I must admit that I´m a bit envious of your popularity my Teacher" Edelgard commented when Sylvain and Felix left.
"I´m surprised too" Byleth admitted, but he was feeling happiness deep inside him.
Their conversation was interrupted when the door violently opened.
"Byleth!"
Alois came running to him, hugging him with such force he couldn´t breathe.
"I swore to protect you, yet I wasn´t able to do anything. I´m so sorry! I promise to protect you better from now on!"
"I can´t…"
"What?"
"I can´t…breathe"
"Oh sorry Byleth"
"Alois, you should control yourself" sighed Shamir, who was standing next to the door. "Alois wanted to come as soon as he heard what happened to you, but I told him that he shouldn´t skip his guards. I´m glad to see you better Byleth"
After promising him again that he will do anything to protect him, Alois left with a smile on his face, closely followed by a Shamir who was silently laughing.
"The sun is starting to set. I should take my leave. It´s a pity that we couldn´t continue our game, since we were interrupted so many times"
"It doesn´t matter. I will leave it as it is; you are free to come to continue"
"I will come then. Don´t dare to cheat in the game. I will notice" she smiled to him
"I promise I won´t"
"Good night Byleth"
Hearing his name from her lips was a strange sight, although he felt a strange feeling of happiness when he heard it, a bit different to the happiness he was feeling this day.
"Good night Edelgard, sleep well"
After Edelgard left Sothis voice came to his mind.
"You are quite popular Byleth"
"I don´t know exactly why"
"I guess that your willingness to help everyone no matter their backgrounds has a lot to do with it. Your interactions with your students are changing you…for the better."
"Maybe this isn´t a bad place to stay after all"
"The fact that a former mercenary like you can feel comfortable in a place like this speak volumes"
Their conversation was interrupted when Manuela returned. She was accompanied by two members of the church carrying a small bathtub.
"I bet that you are exhausted after such attention from the students. If I found so much devotion in my dates…" she sighed. "We have brought you a bathtub to keep your hygiene in order. I wouldn´t want to see such a cute face getting dirty. Also take this; it will help with your sleep. You are getting better faster than I expected so I´m sure that in a few days you will be back at job"
"Thank you Manuela"
"You aren´t the only one who lately has exceeded its limits. Instructor Jeritza also came to this place seeking medicine for his injuries. Both of you train too hard."
"You may be right"
"I´m sure I am. For now rest Byleth. And don´t worry, Hanneman and I will take good care of your students for the time being" she reassured him.
After she left, Byleth took off his clothes and entered the bathtub. He touched the scar he had in his chest. He had no memories about the origins of it, but he had seen it since he was a young boy. After cleaning his body he changed his clothes and drank the potion she had just given to him. He looked to the sky while he ate a pair of sweets from Bernadetta and Lysithea. The combination of flavors was surprisingly good.
Noting the effects of the potion he returned to his bed.
"It wouldn´t be too bad if days like this were more frequent" he thought as a feeling of dizziness took hold of his body.
8/9 Verdant rain Moon
The next days were followed by heavy rain, but Byleth didn´t mind. He had recovered his forces and he was ready to retake his position as a Professor. Besides, he was accompanied by her. Edelgard has kept her promise and had visited him every day. He was thankful that she was able to give him some time despite her busy schedule. In fact, he was thankful that everyone was so nice to him, now it was his time to reciprocate.
"Good morning Byleth" smiled to him Manuela. "I see that you are already ready for retaking your responsibilities. You are free to come again every time you fall ill" she winked to him.
"Thank you Manuela, I really appreciate your help"
"As time passes you are getting more talkative Byleth. I´m happy to see that. Take care!"
Byleth left behind him the infirmary and headed to the stairs, where he found her.
"Good morning, my Teacher. Seeing you completely recovered makes me happy. Shall we return to the classroom? I´m sure that everyone is already waiting for you."
"Of course, I´m looking forward to teaching all of you again"
"Me too" she smiled to him.
They arrived to his class and everyone grew silent when they saw him.
"You have finally arrived Professor!" shouted Caspar.
"I thought you promise to be quieter from now on Caspar" said Linhardt.
"In battle, this isn´t a battle, it's a celebration!"
"It has only been a week, but it feels like a long time Professor" said Ferdinand.
"Professor Hanneman and Manuela had been nice to us, but I guess that you are the best to us" smiled Dorothea.
"Professor is strong. I´m happy to see you well. I can´t wait for our next hunt!"
"Petra, hunting is a bit more different, but I know that you are also happy to see the Professor"
"I feel less stressed with you Professor so I´m happy to see your return" confessed Bernadetta.
"Everyone seems quite moved by your return Professor" laughed Hubert.
"Don´t laugh like that, I told you its scary!"
"Pardon me"
"Even if I´m not from the same class, I must admit that this is a heartwarming experience" smiled Sylvain. "Don´t you think Felix?"
"Are you practicing a new line for your hook ups? I came here to train, not for idle chatting"
"I thank you all of you. However, we need to train as much as possible from now on. Stay focus. We will be spending the day fighting outside"
"A week without suffering, time passes fast, but I guess that I don´t mind it this time" commented Linhardt.
"Are you ok Linhardt. Are you sick?" asked a surprised Caspar.
"Even I can do some effort from time to time"
…..
Despite the rain they trained outside with renewed forces. All of them were focused on the task at hand and they gave their best shot. Byleth was greatly surprised by them.
"All of you did very well. We will keep this pace from now on. Tomorrow you will rest and the day after tomorrow we will continue and so on. I have to check the date we are leaving the monastery. All of you are free to go now"
Everyone returned to the monastery covered in mud, but there were smiles on their faces.
"They are exhausted, yet they are happy" observed Sothis. "I guess that they really appreciate your guiding"
"They are progressing and that makes me feel happy"
"I guess so, thanks to your students you develop your emotions and thanks to you they progress in their dreams. When people help each other without holding back they can achieve great results"
"Professor Byleth!"
"Oh, hello Lysithea, Can I help you?"
"I would like to resume our training. Would you like to?"
"Of course, I have no problem with that"
"Did you like the sweets I give you?"
"Yes, they were really sweet but I could eat them"
"There is nothing like a sweet that is too sweet, but I´m glad that you ate it. At least you eat them, I offered some of them to Felix, but I´m sure he just dropped them"
Felix eating sweets was something difficult to imagine.
"I guess it is a matter of taste"
"By the way, you promised to have tea with me. Do you think that because I´m the youngest student I have forgotten about it?"
"The youngest?"
"You don´t know? I´m the youngest student at this academy"
"Does it make a difference?"
Lysithea was surprised by Byleth´s question.
"It doesn´t, but most people think that because I´m the youngest they can treat me as a child, but they are wrong. I thought you were just pretending to be nice, but now I know that you were genuine. Sorry for making wrong assumptions" said a slightly embarrassed Lysithea.
"No worries. When do you want to have a cup of tea with me?"
"I have some projects to prepare so is the 15th a good date for you?"
"I have no problem with that. See you then"
After leaving her, Byleth returned to his room. The magic box that Seteth had explained him about was in a corner of his room. Byleth touched the orb that glowed blue before activating a hidden mechanism that opened the box.
The Sword of the Creator was there, waiting inoffensively.
"Are you sure you should touch it?" asked Sothis
"I will eventually have to use it, so there is no point to avoid. Don´t worry I won´t be sleeping next to it"
"Understood. Anyway be careful"
Byleth touched the Sword with his bare hand. The moment he touched it the Sword of the Creator emitted a faint glow, but he didn´t sense something strange about it.
"I feel nothing in particular strange with the sword right now."
"It may be because you have recovered your health. You had those visions with an environment that had you in a weakened state, for example while sleeping or in a sauna. There is no denying that you have a connection with the sword, but I wouldn´t trust an object capable of doing such things if I were you"
"I know. You and Hanneman are right. I should use it at least as possible until he discovers something new."
"If you were clever you would have done that from the beginning, but at least you know now"
Byleth placed the Sword of the Creator in the box again. The moment he closed it the orb glowed again and the hidden mechanism activated, sealing the Sword within it.
"I wonder what kind of magic is necessary to create one of these" asked himself, when he saw a mountain of paperwork on his desk. There were mostly from Seteth.
"I kind of understand why my father doesn´t like this kind of work", thought to himself, sitting on his chair and starting to write reports.
…..
8/15 Verdant rain Moon
Days were passing really fast as Byleth and his students trained. Byleth had been informed about the date they were leaving the monastery. They will leave the 22th of the month. The thieves had been spotted in the lands of Galatea and they had taken the Conand Tower as their base of operations. They will be accompanied by Gilbert, one of the knights of Seiros, which had an extremely serious expression on his face, yet his physical attributes remembered him somewhat of Annette, the blue lion's student.
Byleth was studying a map of Fódlan´s northern region. According to their route plan, they would leave behind the monastery and they would cross the lands of Charon and Galatea before arriving to the Conand Tower. Byleth feared that most of the roads would have turned to mud when they leave the monastery, but it was the best option since deviating to the Leicester Alliance would cost time and they weren´t sure that the thieves were to stay permanently there. The journey to their objective was hard, but he was confident that his students would achieve great results.
"Now I have to prepare some sweets and tea for Lysithea." Byleth thought. He knew that Lysithea liked extremely sweet things so he chose the Southern Fruit Blend. He then decided to go to the kitchen to prepare some sweets. He knew that compared to her, his skills were lacking, but he thought he would prefer that to nothing.
…
"Enough for today Hubert. Thank you for your report"
"It´s always a pleasure serving you"
After Hubert left, Edelgard thought about the upcoming events. "In less than two weeks we will be heading to the north." The weather was already bad at the monastery she didn't want to imagine how it would be in the Holy Kingdom. The good news was that with this weather communications with his uncle were slower. In the last letter she had received at the beginning of the month his uncle had demanded her to lend him the Death Knight. She had no reason to refuse so she accepted his request. Jeritza was loyal to him, but she knew that at times he was difficult to control as he showed in the events of the holy Tomb. "At least my Teacher was able to defeat him" she thought.
She started to walk aimlessly until she arrived to the main hall. Due to the bad weather some of the students were sitting at the tables and chatting between each other. Her eyes instinctively searched for teal hair. She found him sitting a few tables ahead her. She was approaching him when she realized he was having teatime with Lysithea. She wasn´t sure if she should disturb them when Lysithea noticed her.
"Edelgard, come here!"
Relieved, she approached them and sat next to Lysithea, in front of her Professor.
"Hello Lysithea, Professor. I didn´t expect both of you here"
"I promised Lysithea to have teatime with her, since she was the one that helped me when I invited you" Byleth expression was neutral but it appeared more relaxed.
"There is no need to thank me. You have improved quite a lot. Give it a try Edelgard"
Edelgard picked one of the cookies that Lysithea was offering her and ate it. The flavor was a bit too sweet for her taste, but she knew that her Teacher had chosen it based on Lysithea´s preferences.
"It´s great" she smiled to both of them.
"I´m glad to hear that" said Byleth with a light smile on his face. She had grown fond of these little manifestations of humanity from her Professor. It made her feel a comfortable sensation inside her.
They spent their time chatting about lots of unimportant things, yet she couldn´t deny that it was an enjoyable experience.
"Thank you for inviting me Professor" said Lysithea.
"I enjoyed it too, and you Edelgard?"
"Me too, resting from time to time doesn´t sound that bad"
"You sound like Linhardt"
"My Teacher if you want to make a joke you should change your expression a bit more"
"I will be heading to the library" said Lysithea while she prepared her things.
"Lysithea, you can take the remaining sweets if you want to" offered him Byleth.
Lysithea accepting his offer, took a bunch of them and then looked to Edelgard
"If you want, you can take the rest Edelgard"
"I will accept it, thank you"
After Lysithea left, silent fell between both of them for a while, but it wasn´t an uncomfortable one. Byleth then placed the table game she had been using with him on the table.
"The last time we fought you defeated me with ease. Would you allow me to have a rematch?"
"It will be my pleasure" she said as response.
Playing a board game while the rain was falling brought her tender memories of her past, a past that it was sweet, yet painful to remember.
"Are you ok?"
"It´s nothing, I was just a bit nostalgic"
They played three games. The first one was won by her, but Byleth won the second and the third one ended in draw.
"I must admit that you have improved in no time my Teacher"
"I guess that I have a great Professor" he said looking directly at her.
"Thank you for your compliment. It´s getting late I should be returning to my room"
"If you want I can accompany you"
"I will gladly take your offer"
They walked together to the students dormitories.
"Rest well Edelgard"
"You too Professor"
She closed the door behind her and sat in front of her desk. A new letter was waiting to be opened. She broke the seal and read its content. She didn´t like a bit the plans his uncle was preparing for the next month. "I wonder what he intends with this plan" she thought as she destroyed the letter, setting it afire with a candle next to her.