"The villagers are killing each other!"

The slaughter happening in front of them was difficult to believe. Most of the villagers were in frenzy like state attacking others villagers with hoes, axes, rusted swords or even their bare hands. Not only men and women were trying to kill each other, even children were taking part in the slaughter.

"Kill, kill!" shouted one of the villagers as he started to butcher an old man, incapable of moving anymore.

"What deplorable circumstances" Edelgard said next to him, her eyes full of anger. "We have to stop this before the village turns into a living hell"

"The responsible of this slaughter will pay with their blood" Dimitri said, the expression of his face extremely angered.

"Some of them appear to be unaffected. Our priority will be to take care of them. Protect them from the frenzied villagers. If necessary neutralize them" he said unsheathing his sword, an intense anger flowing through his veins.

"The fires will make difficult for us to use our winged mounts and horses inside the village. We could use the Pegasus to bring the sane villagers to a safe place, before the situation turns worse" Jeralt said, observing the situation of the village.

"There is no time to waste. We have to save them!" he said as he entered the village accompanied by his father, Shamir and the rest of the students.

One of the villagers was about to be gutted by one of the frenzied villagers, but he arrive in time to stop the attack. Disarming him he pushed him to the wall of one of the houses of the village.

"Blood, blood, I need to kill!" shouted the villager as he tried to bite him. His eyes were completely white, but a black substance was pouring from them. The veins around the face were contracted as if there was something acting inside the body of the villager.

"Come to your sense!" he said as he tried to apply healing magic to try counteracting the blight affecting the villager, but it was unsuccessful.

"There are coming more! They are going to surround us!" alerted him the sane villager.

With no other option he killed the frenzied villager with a sword attack to his heart and prepared to face the group of villagers that were charging at him. Just before they were at him Dimitri and Dedue arrived to assist him.

"This is not a battle, this is a slaughter" Dimitri murmured as he killed one village after another with his lance.

"There is no other way. I tried to heal them, but they are beyond salvation now. We have to protect the ones that aren´t affected by it" he said, his ire growing stronger with each villager he killed.

…..

"The situation is worse than I expected" Edelgard thought as she defeated another frenzied villager. They were slowly advancing to the center of the village, but the amount of destruction was increasing the hatred she felt against their kind.

"It is clear that they want to catch our attention since they are committing such atrocity in the surroundings of the monastery, but why?" There was no particular reason unless they wanted to make them fall into a trap. "I must stay by his side."

Their kind had been strangely interested in the skills of her Teacher and his connection with the Sword of the Creator. Seeing him battle after battle she had the hope to convince him to join her cause, even if that was a dangerous bet. "With him by my side we could defeat them when the time comes, but for now I have to get through this" she said to herself as she arrived to the middle of the village. When her eyes noticed the presence of Tomas and their kind observing the tragedy unfolding around them the hatred she felt extended through her body like a flame.

…

"My Teacher! There are some people witnessing the slaughter at the bottom of the village. They must be the responsible of this tragedy. One of them appears to be Tomas!" Edelgard shouted as she approached his position.

She was right. Among the burning houses a group of people were silently staring at the slaughter unfolding around them. One of them appeared to be Tomas, the librarian of easy smile. He was smiling, but the look of his face was sadistic. The moment their eyes met his smile grew wider.

"He is behind all of this" he thought, the fury he was feeling already difficult to control. He was about to charge at him when he heard the cry of one of his students.

"Annette!" he shouted as she saw the Blue Lions student cornered by a group of three frenzied children.

"Please stop! I don´t want to harm any of you!" she said crying, but her pleads were ineffective against them. One of the children was charging at her, a knife in her hand.

Stopping the attack he immobilized the children to the ground, but they were resisting, a black substance pouring from their mouths.

"I will try to heal them" Mercedes said approaching them and casting her most potent healing magic, but nothing happened.

"Please close your eyes, Annette, Mercedes" he said as he prepared his sword. He didn´t want them to see what he had to do. Aiming to the heart they instantly stopped moving, although the sobbing of Annette was piercing his mind.

"My Teacher, Jeralt has prepared an evacuation area. They are carrying the injured and survivors to…" she stopped what she was saying the moment she realized what had just happened.

"They will pay for this" she said her eyes filled with an intense determination. "I won´t forgive such atrocity"

"Everyone, join the forces of my father we have to settle a perimeter for the survivors!"

Most of the students were at the center of the village, accompanied by his father, Shamir and some soldiers of the Church, but by the look of their faces and the corpses around them they were suffering the same than his group.

"This is a nightmare, right?" Dorothea asked; her face paler than usual.

"If it is I want to wake up already" Linhardt said.

"Even children…" Caspar murmured, his usual combative personality toned down by the tragedy unfolding around them.

"Byleth, I will keep the position here to make sure that the evacuation isn´t interrupted. Kill those bastards" Jeralt said, furiously looking at Tomas and his soldiers.

"Understood"

"I will accompany you too" Edelgard said.

"Me too. I will kill them with my own hands. Those bastards don´t deserve to live any longer"

"I will cover your back with my bow, Teach"

"With me!"

Accompanied by the three house leaders they started to approach Tomas´s position.

"Look what we have here. The situation of the village is disheartening but I´m glad to meet you again, Byleth"

"Enough of this madness! Why are you doing this?"

"Sometimes for progress you have to make some sacrifices. It didn´t matter the place, but the results and I am really satisfied with them. With these results a brilliant future awaits us. Your kind reproduces like rabbits. The deaths of these villagers are bearable"

"You won´t have any future. I will kill you here and now!"

"Menacing me? How interesting. At least now I´m free of the chains of this pitiful appearance" Tomas said as a dark mist covered him, revealing his true form. What appeared in front of them was an old man with a head of an unnatural size and eyes that weren´t human.

"This is my real form. You can call me Solon. I will bring an era of prosperity to my kind and in order to achieve it I´m afraid I will have to get rid of you. Kill them" he ordered. As he said those words purple clouds started to appear around them, black clothed soldiers appearing around them.

"We can´t afford to let him escape!" Edelgard shouted as she killed one of the first attackers with her axe.

"Coward! Come here to fight us!" Dimitri said as he fought against a group of armored soldiers.

"If we want to know the truth we have to catch him" Claude said shouting arrows.

Byleth was killing one enemy after another with brutal strength, the powers of his crest completely activated. He was slowly approaching Solon´s position when a scythe appeared from the shadows, aiming to his heart. Stopping it with all his strength he looked to the face of his new attacker.

"What are you doing here?" the Death Knight asked, looking at him and Edelgard.

"You should be the one answering that question. Stay out of our way!" Edelgard said

"Why are you helping them?" Byleth asked as he counterattacked with his sword, but the Death Knight was a formidable adversary.

"Words are not needed to fight. Kill or be killed, that´s the only thing that matters in this world"

"In that case allow me to end your life here, Jeritza"

Releasing all his power he used his sword to break through his defense. Blow after blow Jeritza stopped the incoming attacks, but he couldn't counterattack due to the speed and fury of his attacks. One fortress knight tried to attack him from behind, but the moment he noticed him he used his sword to cut through metal, flesh and bone, cutting him in half in a savage hit, but his sword broke due to the force of the impact. Taking advantage of that situation Jeritza tried to kill him with his scythe, but he avoided the attack jumping to a side.

Using the wall of one of the destroyed houses he jumped behind him and released a fire spell at point blank range, the explosion sending both of them to the ground, the scythe landing between both of them. Rushing to it he took it and approached him, Jeritza was trying to use his second weapon, a silver lance, but he couldn´t completely deflect his attack, that pierced through his stomach.

"This pain…is nothing"

"You try to hide behind that helmet, but I know who you really are. Why are you doing this Emile?" Mercedes asked running to them, a sad expression on her face.

"Mercedes…stay away from me"

"Don´t approach him, he is too dangerous. He is a menace to us all" Byleth said, preparing to give the final blow.

"I can´t avoid it, he is my brother" Mercedes said her voice starting to crumble.

"Brother?" he thought a second of doubt slowing his weapon.

Taking advantage of that moment Jeritza disappeared in a purple mist.

"There is no time to lose my Teacher" Edelgard said approaching them, her armor covered in blood. "We have to catch Solon before he escapes"

"You are right. Mercedes stay with the rest of the group and take care of the injured"

"Understood Professor" she said, although the sadness in her face was evident.

The fires were ravaging the buildings of the village, but most of Solon forces and the frenzied villagers were already dead. Approaching the hill at the bottom of the village he prepared the Death Knight´s scythe to attack.

"You are but a savage, an insignificant beast, yet you think you can kill me?" Solon said smiling to him as he looked to the weapon he was wielding. "How ironic seeing the Fell Star using our own weapons. I will take this occasion to measure your power" he said as he released a beam full of dark energy.

Casting a protective barrier Byleth stopped the attack and slowly advanced against him. The remaining forces of Solon were trying to attack him, but Edelgard stopped their attacks with their axe.

"Tomas! No… Solon. I will stop you"

"What?! If you insist on turning your blade against me, then expect no mercy"

Byleth was a few meters from him. Channeling all his power into his hands and legs he jumped on him with the scythe. Noticing that, Solon erected a magic barrier.

Black fire was emanating from the area were the scythe was impacting against the magic barrier.

"You have failed. No matter what you do we have succeeded with our experiment."

"It won´t be in vain if I kill you!" he said pressing harder against the magic barrier, the first fissures starting to appear on it.

"I´m afraid that I cannot allow you to kill me" Solon said as he released a dark magic spell the very moment that the barrier was finally destroyed.

The spell impacted in parts of his body and the scythe that broke, but using the destroyed weapon he was able to pierce Solon´s stomach.

"If you can bleed that means that you can die." He said as he approached him.

"I have no time to die in a place like this"

"He is about to escape" Sothis shouted inside him.

Jumping on him he was able to grab one of his arms as he was engulfed by the dark mist he was used to see. The moment they teleported the world around them turned black, places where he had never been appearing and disappearing.

"Let me go! Warping isn´t supposed to work like this, you are going to kill both of us!" Solon shouted trying to release himself from his grip.

"You will pay for what you have done! The only one who will die this day is you, Solon"

The world around them was continuously changing as if they were in the middle of a tornado. Trying to reach for his neck Byleth charged his remaining energy into his hands as Solon did the same, a magic explosion sending them in opposite directions. The moment he lost grip of him he fell to the ground, although luckily the autumn leaves lessened his fall.

"I´ve fallen in a forest" he thought, unsure where he exactly was.

"You must have fallen nearby. I can see smoke coming from the distance" Sothis said inside his head.

"I wonder where he has run away." He knew that Solon was heavily injured, but he was certain he would heal himself with the use of magic. "If I had pierced his heart and not his stomach…"

It took him a few moments to arrive to the hill where he had battled against him. His father was on his war horse, checking his surroundings with a worried expression on his face. The moment he saw him, he rushed to his position.

"Where the hell had you been? I´ve heard that you jumped on that bastard and then you disappeared"

"I tried to kill him to make him pay for his crimes, but he was able to escape. I appeared in the middle of the forest, but I´m not sure where he is right now"

"I guess we will have to take care of him soon." He then looked to his surroundings with a sad expression on his face. "The village is no more. We saved everyone we could, but even in that case I can´t avoid feeling guilty about what had happened here. Innocent civilians killed next to the domains of the monastery. What kind of knight I am if I´m not able to save them. This is infuriating" he said as he kicked a stone.

"The only thing we can do now is to take care of the injured and give them a place to rest"

"We will take them back to the monastery. I´m sure that Rhea won´t mind having them with us, until they have a safer place to stay. I will make sure that the others villages don´t find the same fate"

"So you were here" a metallic voice said.

The voice came from behind them, the moment he turned around he saw the mysterious Flame Emperor a few meters away from them.

"The Flame Emperor?!" Jeralt asked, surprised by his sudden appearance.

"I see that you have met my subordinate, the Death Knight"

"Met your subordinate? What the hell are you saying? Because of you innocent villagers have been killed. Have you come to finish the job that your Death Knight and Solon started?" Jeralt asked as he prepared his lance.

"Don´t misunderstand!"

"What?"

"It is true that I have worked with Solon, but that doesn´t mean that our objectives are the same. If I had known that they were up to something like this I would have acted in retaliation. You have my word"

"The word of a person that hides behind a mask means nothing. If you really mean your words you will accompany us to the monastery"

"I cannot abide that. However, if you wish to join forces, I will hear your plea. If left on their own they will certainly cause more harm. However, if we join forces we will be able to stop them, before they cause any more harm" the Fire Emperor said as he looked at him. "Don´t you wish to stop them? With you by my side I am sure we will get rid of them. With the Sword of the Creator on our side Solon and their kind will be destroyed" the Flame Emperor said extending his hand to him. Even if the Flame Emperor´s voice was distorted he could feel a strange combination of feelings within it like longing and desperation.

Looking at him he realized that the Flame Emperor didn´t have any weapons with him. He then approached him.

"Byleth, don´t go near him. It must be a trap!"

"He has no weapons with him" he said, stopping just in front of the Flame Emperor. He could hear the Flame Emperor´s breathing, which was unusually quickly for a being with such an ominous presence.

"I don´t trust you, but you have come to us wielding no weapons so hear my words. If you really mean what you say you will show it with actions and results. I won´t ally with someone that hides behind a mask and has the Death Knight as a subordinate"

"A logical response I guess, but a pity nevertheless. I hope you won´t have to regret that decision." The voice was distorted, but he sensed sadness in it. "Why is he trying to make us join us to his cause?" he asked to himself.

"Don´t try to menace my son. Enough of this fancy talk. You´ve heard Byleth. Proof to us what you mean or we will hunt you down like the monsters that have committed this tragedy"

"Professor! Lady Edelgard is missing!"Hubert said rushing to their position.

"What?!" Jeralt said in a surprise tone. Byleth was also surprised by it, since he had never seen Hubert in such an altered state.

When he looked to the Flame Emperor again he was nowhere to be seen.

"He ran away, the bastard" Jeralt cursed.

"Hubert, let´s divide to search her. She must be close to our position. See you later father"

"Understood Professor"

"See you later son. I will check this area just to make sure that the Flame Emperor isn´t around"

He ran through the burned houses and destroyed fences but there was no sign of her. The last time he had seen her she was next to him, but with the combat with Solon he had lost sight of her. Feeling an increasing anguish he continued his search.

After running through one of the burnt houses she found her next to a group of bushes.

"My Teacher I was…oh" her words interrupted as he embraced her.

"I thought you were kidnapped by them. I was so worried about you" he whispered to her ear.

"I´m sorry for making you worry about me" her hands, which had been immobile until now slowly started to climb his back. "I´m here I won´t go to any other place"

"Teach, your father had told us that the little Princess was missing have you…" Claude stopped walking the moment he saw them. "I guess that you have found her" he laughed.

"Byleth was just making sure that I was alright" Edelgard said slowly taking her arms off him.

"Don´t need to rush in case that you need more "checking", but the rest are waiting at the entrance of the village. We should be going" Claude said with a teasing smile, leaving them alone.

"Were you able to get rid of Solon, my Teacher?"

"Regrettably not. If I had aimed to the heart he would have died and one of our problems would be already solved. When I returned to the village the Flame Emperor made his appearance. The Flame Emperor affirmed that he wasn´t related to the incidents of the villages and asked for our cooperation"

"The Flame Emperor also appeared during the events of Flayn´s kidnapping" Edelgard said with a pensive glare. "Do you believe his words?" she asked looking directly at him.

He stood silent for a moment. He was tempted to think that it was just a decoy, but that reasoning didn´t make any sense. "He appeared in front of us with no weapons and tried to deny his connection to their group, risking being killed by my father and me in the process. That means that they aren´t the same group even if they have connections between each other" he thought.

"I believe his words, but that doesn´t mean that I can trust him"

"Really?" Edelgard was shocked by his response. "He is an unknown entity with unknown intentions. Perhaps one day he will appear once more in front of you, without a mask covering his real self. We should go with the others. They may be worried about us"

Most of his students were in a depressed state, mourning the deaths of the innocent villagers.

"This was a slaughter of innocents" Dorothea said. "What the hell is happening around us? Why do the weakest have to suffer like this? It´s not fair"

"That such events had taken place is regrettable. We couldn´t save everyone, but I´m glad you are safe Dorothea"

"Ferdie, thanks for your kind words. I really appreciate them"

"I´m sure that they will turn into good spirits and they will help all of us in times of need. In Brigid we believe that even when we die a part of us remains here and fuses with the nature" Petra said.

"I hope that they aren´t suffering anymore. I wasn´t able to help them and the Death Knight… No, now it´s not time for that" Mercedes said, adopting a praying gesture.

"Merciful Goddess, please take care of the innocent" Marianne said next to her.

The soldiers of the Church were carrying the bodies of the dead to a pyre they were preparing, since burying the bodies would take excessive time and they had a lot of survivors to take care of. His father was among them. He was about to join them when Shamir approached him.

"Byleth, Manuela has found something strange in the bodies of the dead. She wishes to show you what she had discovered"

"I will go"

"Take care. I know that your father and you were on good terms with them" she said patting his back before heading to the place where his father and the Church soldiers were placing the bodies.

He found Manuela examining one of the dead bodies of the villagers. Fortunately, it wasn´t the body of one of the children.

"Hello Byleth. Examining their bodies has confirmed my fears. This is a clear case of dark magic. Their blood has turned black and the inner organs of most of them had been completely destroyed as if they were devoured from the inside."

"How could such incident happen?"

"Dark magic isn´t necessary by itself an evil branch of magic, but the misuse of it for centuries had labeled it with such a name. A particular branch of it is focused on the effects of magic in the human body, but with the purpose of enhancing it. This appears to be the case with these bodies. However, the deplorable state of their insides makes me think that there is another element that has taken part in the process. Something that must have multiplied the effects of such effects on their bodies"

"Could something like this happen again?"

"I would like to deny that possibility, but I can´t assure you something like that. The only thing we can do is to remain vigilant to avoid that another tragedy like this takes place. I have collected some samples. I promise you that I will investigate about this matter"

"I´m counting on you"

"You saved me the other day. Some students told me that the Death Knight appeared again. You should have caught him. I wanted to ask Jeritza why he tried to attack me. Perhaps was I too attractive?"

"I´m glad that you are safe"

"I appreciate your kind words Byleth, but I´m sure that some students may require your support more than ever before. You are free to go with them, but first could you carry this body?"

"Understood"

Carrying the body of one of the fallen villagers he approached the pyre where most of the other bodies were already placed.

"They didn´t deserve what happened to them" his father said looking to the bodies of the victims. "Even children. They will pay with their life. How could something like this happen?"

"We will avenge them, but first we have to take care of the living"

"You are right. The students must be having a hard time. Even if we arrive in the middle of the night we should leave this place soon. Keeping their minds busy will help them deal with the effects of the tragedy better"

"You are right about that" he said as he watched the soldiers of the Church preparing the oil for the cremation.

"Professor, if you don´t mind I wish to hold a small ceremony for them to assure that they leave this world under the protection of the Goddess" Mercedes said approaching them accompanied by Marianne and Flayn.

"I wish to lend a hand too"

"Even if we weren´t able to save them all we must take care of both of them. The ones who survived and the ones who didn´t. I will join them too, Professor. It is my duty as a member of the Church" Flayn said.

"You are free to do the rites. I´m sure that they would thank you if they knew" Jeralt said patting their backs.

"Byleth, if you could light a fire, it would be of great help" Shamir said.

Approaching the pyre he touched two of the tree trunks at the base of the pyramid. Using his remaining forces he casted a fire spell and in a short while the entire pyre was engulfed by flames. The sound of the flames was accompanied by the songs of Mercedes, Marianne and Flayn, which were quickly accompanied by most of the students. The pain he could hear in their voices hitting him the hardest.

"A sad end for them, but I assure you that their deaths won´t be in vain" Edelgard said, next to him. "We will find them and destroy them."

"And we will live for them. For the lives that were cruelly destroyed during these events" he said as one of his arms embraced her from behind.

"You are right. We will live for them too" she said looking to the flames, doing the same to him.

…

Their return to the monastery was done in complete silence. Most students weren´t feeling like talking after the events that had just happened and his father and Shamir were respecting their silence. A cold wind was blowing as if nature itself was sharing the same sadness they had.

As they approached the grounds of the monastery he thought about the events that had just happened. The deaths of the villagers, the real identity of Tomas, the apparition of the Flame Emperor. There were many things they didn´t understand yet, but he knew that they were lurking in the shadows, waiting for a chance to strike again.

"We don´t know their plans, but one thing I am certain of. We will stop them" Sothis said inside his head.

"No matter what it takes I will stop them. Their deaths won´t be in vain. I promise"

"I guess that this is the price of the recovering of your emotions. When you feel pain it will hurt more than ever before, but it is a pain worth the price for all I´ve seen happening to you."

They remained the rest of their return silent, each one of them lost in their own thoughts. It was already past the midnight when they arrived to the entrance of the monastery, the soldiers of the Church opening the gates to allow them enter the inner grounds of the monastery.

"Good job everyone. Feel free to rest until new command. It´s natural to mourn those who are not with us anymore, but don´t forget the ones we were able to safe. If they are with us it is because you were there this day."

"Thank you for your words, Professor. I think I will take a few days off." Dorothea said as she headed to her dormitory, her usual smile nowhere to be seen.

"You could say that it could have been worse, but even in that case it leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth." Claude sighed.

"Innocents were killed this day. We will avenge them. When the day comes count with me, Professor" Dimitri promised him, although his eyes were still clouded.

"That time will come, but first we will have to be prepared for it and we have to take care of the villagers too" Edelgard said.

"We will be informing Rhea about what had just happened. You are free to go to the dormitories" he said as he followed Jeralt and Shamir to the audience room.

Rhea and Seteth appeared to have been informed in advance of their arrival since they were waiting for them despite the time of their return.

"It´s a tragedy what had just happened. I am certain that the Goddess shares in our grief at this meaningless tragedy. More importantly I was shocked to hear that Tomas, our own Tomas was actually a Dark mage" Rhea said, her hands adopting the position of a prayer.

"First instructor Jeritza and now Tomas. This monastery is full of intruders and traitors. What kind of security measures do they have here? It´s infuriating and pathetic the lack of sight of the members of the Church" Sothis said.

"Who was Tomas?"

"He was the head of the main library of this monastery for 40 years. He came as a recommendation from House Ordelia, a noble house from the Leicester Alliance. A few years ago he returned to the Leicester Alliance, since he said he was already too old to fulfill his duty. Despite that, he returned last year adducing that he wanted to spend the rest of his days surrounded by the books he had grown used to love as his own children. We didn´t see anything strange with him so we accepted his return. Jeritza came to work here as a recommendation from the imperial nobility. The fact that Instructor Jeritza and Tomas were working for the enemy means that we have to be more vigilant from now on. More than ever before. Our enemy must have links with the Leicester Alliance and the Empire if they were able to infiltrate in such a way" Seteth said.

"I suspect that they are part of a greater menace for the safety of all of Fódlan. I will send the knights to investigate about this matter as soon as possible, but first we have to take care of the injured and the innocents affected by this tragedy. The Church must aid them in times of need"

"We have to stop them all, don´t you think Byleth?" Sothis asked him.

"I will stop them with everything I have"

"I appreciate your attitude but don´t try to find them alone. You will have the support of the Church on this matter" Rhea said smiling to him. "I am sure that most of the students must be depressed by the events they have had to endure, but I hope they return to their former selves with enough time. For the time being classes will be suspended. I will inform you when classes will restart again" she then looked to his father. "Jeralt, if you don´t mind could you return to Remire tomorrow I want you to accompany you to the place where these events took place"

"No problem at all"

"In that case I will go too" Seteth said. "The security of the archbishop is of great importance. I will tell Alois about our current plans. Feel free to rest Professor. You have done a great job. That´s all for today" he said as he left, accompanied by his father and Shamir. He was about to leave too when he heard Rhea´s voice.

"Professor, please wait"

"Yes Rhea?"

"I know that there is much that you still do not understand. However, one thing is clear. You possess a great power within you. I expect great things from you. May the Goddess Sothis protect you"

The moment he heard her words he froze.

"Sothis?"

"Has something happened?"

"No. I´m just tired"

"Oh, I see. I hope that you have a good rest. You have endured too much already. See you soon Byleth"

"The Goddess Sothis? What does she mean by that? What am I? My head hurts. For now, just leave this place. I need time to think about it"

After leaving the audience room he was heading to his room when he saw light in his father´s room. Knocking the door his father appeared shortly after.

"Hello Byleth. Has something happened?"

"I´ve just wanted to see how you were"

"I was about to have a drink. Feel free to accompany your old man with it" he said, opening the door to let him pass.

He took a seat in front of him as his father poured some liquor on his cup.

"This surely has been a long day" he sighed. "There are so many things we don´t really understand that I feel like I´m banging my head against a wall"

"The students are depressed about it too"

"I think so. They are a bunch of kids sent to a world filled with cruelty. I would be the same if I were them" he sighed again before looking at him. "Talking about the students, since the time you started teaching here you have changed a lot. You look so happy when you are surrounded by them, but not only that. Seeing your face during these events made me realize that you appear to be more expressive. I´m not saying that you were emotionless before, but you used to be colder, at least that was how I felt when we were travelling around Fódlan as mercenaries. You have even been able to fall for someone even if you told me you weren´t going to confess your feelings"

"The students have helped me to change"

"They have, and for the better. Looking at you, I can´t avoid smiling. I have the feeling she is smiling too" he said as he looked through the window. "I miss her. I really miss her, but having you is the greatest blessing I´ve ever had. You really remember me of her. At first she barely talked, but as we grew closer she opened her heart to me and that was the moment I realized I was madly in love with her"

Hearing his words he felt an intense happiness inside him.

"Having you as my father is the greatest thing I´ve ever had. I wouldn´t change the time I´ve spent with you for anything"

"Maybe there was never any reason to leave the monastery in the first place…"

"Wasn´t I born after you left the monastery?"

"I´ve put my foot into my mouth, haven´t I? I will tell you some other day when we have time to spare"

"Don´t worry I can wait for it. You are my father after all"

"We have turned into a pair of sentimental men" Jeralt laughed. "We are lucky that the company is not around here to listen to this conversation. Don´t worry I feel that we will have plenty of time to share sentimental stories from now on" he said, rubbing his hair. "The days are getting darker and in no time the first snows will fall here, but before all that happens you should take a rest. I´m sure that the students would be extremely worried if their favorite Professor was too tired to lead them. At least I´m sure that Alois would be extremely worried about your wellbeing. I still wonder how he is one of the high ranked officials of the Church"

"It must be because he learnt from you. I was appointed as Professor of this monastery the moment I arrived. Good night father"

"Rhea really has a strange way to choose her personal. Good night son"

Closing the door behind him he headed to his own room. The moment he arrived he sat on his bed recalling everything that had happened. Solon or Flame Emperor, it didn´t matter if someone was trying to attack his students he will make sure that they would pay with their life.

"I will protect them as my father protects me" he thought. Slowly, tiredness took hold of his body, leading him to the world of realms.

Since the beginning of next month I will be busier preparing my exams, so I won´t be able to post the amount of chapters I´ve been posting. However, I will continue posting every week at least once. Don´t worry I´m not tired. In fact, I´m really enjoying writing something like this.

A huge hug to everyone reading this story. I really appreciate it. See you next week!