Valmese Coastal Village, Day 14, Midday


For the most part, Lon'qu didn't mind the new arrivals.

Eccentric, sure. Strange, perhaps. But mainly this was due to the fact that they hardly bothered him. They were getting awfully chummy with each other, so that sense of distance was sure to go away as more time passed. Perhaps Lon'qu would be singing a different tune by then.

All this time, Lon'qu had thought that Nohr and Hoshido were but fairy tails to occupy the pages of children's book. Of course, being a rat on the street, he hadn't much opportunity to read many children's books. He did read a lot of market stands though, and Ke'ri-

Ke'ri...

He didn't read many children's books in Chon'sin. And Basilio would look at him like an idiot if he ever tried to do the same in Ferox. Even Olivia would laugh at him, and that was saying something.

Of course, stepping foot on their continent and staring down Nohrian and Hoshidan blades had awoken the swordsman to the possibility that, just maybe, his new-found allies weren't just words on a page. Sure, said words were dramatic and vivid in their visualization of both kingdoms, but the men and women that came across that portal to join the Shepherds lived and breathed. Worse, they were living and breathing.

Master of the sword as he was, Lon'qu had to admit that they matched their martial descriptions to the letter. Both Nohrian and Hoshidans were skilled. Talented, dare he say, better.

There would be much to learn. Much more to prove. He was better than a fairy tale. He was the product of hard work and self-growth. He had conquered his own demons and...

No he hadn't.

Hoshidan and Nohrian women alike hadn't seen much of Lon'qu, despite their equal skill. To them, Lon'qu might as well have been a fairy tale himself.

Robin and the new Commander Corrin (who was a peerless swordsman in her own right), the progeny of tactical advice and unorthodox stratagem, decided that the Valmese were a prominent threat to even the highly-skilled among their number. That was the reasoning behind recruiting these extra hands after all. But no one could afford to be sloppy out there. Sure, some of them had cut their teeth on Plegian conscripts.

The Valmese were a little better than that.

Nohrian and Hoshidan women better still.

Lon'qu winced. So many females in close proximity to him put his nerves on edge. So many times did he pass a feminine stranger that was his ally who gave him a friendly greeting, only for the flustered swordsman to glare away or make himself scarce disappear, usually in a rude way. His go-to options showcased little to no variance.

He had better things to do then worry about females though, like slaughtering the bandits attacking this village. Thank Robin and Corrin for keeping him busy on sortie.

And curse the two of them for pairing him with a woman.

The soldier by his side was some cavalier woman from Nohr, bearing strange blue hair with pink tips along with possibly the scariest set of eyes that he had ever seen. When the other one wasn't being covered by hair, they were covered with blood and glazed over with euphoria at the carnage. It wasn't that she viewed battle as glorious like other Nohrians.

No, this one was a cut above the usual sadist. Like, way above. Multiple cuts, Lon'qu decided.

Perhaps a few Astra-technique swings above the usual.

There we go.

Speak of the devil, there she was, the battlefield just behind her a flowing river of red and groans. She turned to Lon'qu (the last conscious slab of meat on the field of slaughter) and grinned.

"Mister Lon'qu! There's blood on your arm!" She called out, her lance bouncing haphazardly along her shoulder as she ran at him. The swordsman backed off, though not really because she was a woman.

She was insane.

This is ridiculous. No one can be this... bloodthirsty. Right?

With a deep breath, the swordsman decided to calm down. Peri wasn't going to kill him.

He hoped.

"That's a lot of blood! It's so red!"

"That's what happens when you kill people," Lon'qu stammered, sheathing his blade. Peri made sure that there were to be no more bandits, but the real threat was still walking towards him. He nervously picked up the pace with his backpedaling but soon enough the cavalier caught up to him and grabbed his arm roughly.

"P-peri, it's fine-"

"Let me clean that off for you!" Without warning, the Nohrian woman smeared the bloodstain off Lonqu's arm and licked it off her fingers, sighing in relaxation as her eyes rolled back accompanying her blood-stained grin.

Lon'qu, both horrified that she ate blood off his arm, and that a woman touched him, decided now was a very good time to run.

"Mister Lon'qu! Where are you going! I still need to finish cleaning you!"

"I think I'll die instead."


"Did Lon'qu fall in battle?" Robin wondered, taking accountability of the last sortie party. He really hoped they wouldn't run into casualties this early. Owain and Lissa were going to be devastated. How would he break the news to them of Lon'qu's death?

With a regrettable sigh, he prepared to scratch the letters 'KIA' next to Lon'qu's name, but Corrin's hand in the way told him not to.

"We've made a terrible mistake," Corrin sighed, pointing to the distance where the swordsman was running full sprint away from Xander's retainer, nothing but fear engraved on his face.

"Ah, he survived. That's a relief- Why is Peri running at us?"

Lon'qu finally made it to Robin, but neither man could hold back the blood-soaked Peri, who tossed aside the Commander like he was a pebble on the side of the road.

Flying a good ten feet over Corrin, the tactician was helpless to cushion his fall and winced when his back hit a hard rock. Groaning the pain away, he rose to his knees, shaking his head at Corrin in bewilderment.

"What the hell is wrong with this army?