The squeaks of chalk echoed through the classroom as Byleth drew on his chalkboard. Dozens of lines, circles, and X's littered its space. To the untrained eye, it might just look like a bunch of squiggly lines and some gibberish here and there, but in reality, it was a diagram of one of the King of Lions' great strategies.

"And so, King Loog took a battalion of his most trusted knights and sent them through the-"

Ding, dong. Ding, dong.

The ringing of the monastery's bell cut him off, signaling the end of classes for the day.

He glanced back at his class of students, most of whom were now watching him with expectant gazes. At least they had the common courtesy to not start packing their things until after he dismissed him this time…

Byleth's eyes narrowed slightly at the slumbering Linhardt in the back of the class.

"We'll continue this tomorrow."

He flicked his chalk across the room, pelting Linhardt in the forehead.

The green haired boy yelped and shot up in his seat.

"Huh?! Wha?!"

The chorus of poorly masked snickers and chuckles seemed to have clued him in on the situation.

"Thank you for joining us, Mister Hevring," Byleth said, giving him a blank stare. "Please try to stay awake during my lectures from now on. You wouldn't want to make me sad now, would you?"

One of the few perks of never showing emotion; students could never tell if you were angry or amused. He found that to be rather beneficial during the start of his teaching career.

"As I was saying, we'll pick this back up tomorrow."

The Black Eagle class nodded collectively, then began to gather their belongings to leave for the next class.

"Ah, ah, ah," he cut them off. "Let me finish."

They shared a few glances before sitting back in their seats- except for Edelgard who had never gotten up to begin with, and Hubert, who simply stood there with crossed arms and an annoyed look on his face.

"As all of you know, we have been tasked with putting down a rebellion in the Kingdom this month. Lord Lonato's uprising, albeit a small one, is a serious threat. My homework for you this week is to get in as much practice and sparring as you can, so you'll be ready come the end of the month. I'll be happy to train with you all if you want, but if you decline that offer, I want at least three hours a day until our time comes."

The group remained silent, allowing their teacher to finish.

"I have eyes and ears everywhere, so I will know if you've been slacking," he warned in his usual monotone voice.

Petra raised her hand.

"Yes, Petra?"

"Professor, how can you have eyes and ears everywhere if they're on your head?"

"It's a common saying here," Edelgard cut in before he could answer. "He just means that he'll be monitoring us to make sure we complete his task."

"Oh, of course!" Petra nodded. "You need not worry, Professor. I will complete your assignment in earnest!"

"Yeah, same here!" Caspar laughed, flexing a bicep. "I'll take sparring over some boring essay any day. Right, Linhardt?"

Caspar slapped his friend on the back, nearly knocking him out of his chair.

"Oh, yes. I simply cannot wait," Linhardt groaned, rubbing the new bruise on his back.

As he thought, most of the class seemed pretty receptive of this news. Of the group, only Bernadetta, Dorothea, and Linhardt didn't look all that excited. Hubert didn't either, but to be fair, not much Byleth said or did seemed to excite the man.

He'd touch base with Bernadetta and Linhardt later, but he was fairly confident Dorothea would be fine without him checking in on her. She was more of a lover than a fighter, but she was still a good student. He was confident she'd complete the assignment.

"Alright, that will be all. You're dismissed."

To his surprise, none of the class moved from their seats. Linhardt attempted to make a break for it, but Caspar reeled him back in before he could make it very far. And Bernadetta… well, she simply looked too frightened to move.

Byleth raised an eyebrow. So, when he didn't dismiss them, they were quick to leave. But, when he did, they stayed put? Could he just not win? Was there some secret technique to teaching that he hadn't picked up on?

"Yes?"

"You did say you would train with us, did you not, Professor?" Edelgard asked.

Byleth blinked.

"…I did."

"Well, many of us have been wanting to… test your abilities for a while now, so to speak," their leader grinned, her eyes lit with the fires of competition. "It is not often we would get to spar against the son of the Blade Breaker."

Ah, yes, that's right… She could be quite competitive when she wanted to be.

"U-umm…"

Bernadetta rose a shaky hand.

"I-I think I could do without…"

"Same here," Linhardt was quick to voice his agreement.

"No, you'll be coming along, too," Edelgard said in a firm, final tone. Both dissenters sunk into their chairs, one tiredly relenting, and the other shaking in her seat.

I suppose they'd rather fight me than defy Edelgard. Interesting.

The professor hummed and pinched his chin. Truth be told, he had planned on fishing today…

"So be it. Get what you need and meet me at the training grounds in half an hour."

With that, the Black Eagles scurried out of his classroom, Bernadetta and Linhardt dragging along behind the others.


Twenty minutes later, the class reunited with their teacher at the agreed upon location. Byleth stood alone in the center of the arena, feet dug into the dirt floor, wooden sword in hand. Across from him stood his class, all of them carrying some manner of training weapon.

"How will we go about doing this, Professor?" Edelgard asked, her hands firmly gripped around the hilt of her wooden axe. Given the tapping of her foot, she was already raring to go.

"Split yourselves up into groups of two, then you can come at me one by one," he replied, popping his neck.

"Two versus one, eh?" Caspar grinned, cracking his knuckles. "You must be pretty full of yourself, Teacher!"

"Or, perhaps you are simply underestimating him, Caspar," Hubert sighed, shooting his classmate a glare. "But, sadly, I must agree. I hardly see the educational benefit to this."

"Because, when the time comes to fight Lonato and his men, we'll be using the buddy system," Byleth shrugged. "This will be your first battle against an organized group; this won't be some ragtag bunch of bandits. I'll have you all prepared by then, but I'd feel better if you had someone watching your back and vice versa. Some of you might not like that, but deal with it. I'll be taking zero chances with your lives."

Byleth raised his blade and rested it on his shoulders.

"Now, who's first?"

After a few moments of conversing (mostly bickering), Ferdinand and Bernadetta stepped forward. An odd pair, but they could prove to be quite efficient. Combining range with a frontal assault was always a solid strategy. Byleth was impressed.

"Come, Bernadetta!" Ferdinand grinned, lifting his lance high above his head. "Let us show our professor what we are made of!"

"Errrrhh…"

Bernadetta groaned, her arms hugging her bow to her chest.

"I-I'll try…"

"Prepare yourself, Professor!" Ferdinand pointed his lance at Byleth, ignoring his timid partner. "I'll show you that Edelgard pales in comparison to Ferdinand von Aegir!"

Byleth quirked an eyebrow, glancing over at the heir.

"Are you actually going to attack him, or are you just going to stand there and shout?" Edelgard growled, her cheeks reddening slightly.

"Oh, right. Huzzah!"

Ferdinand rushed forward, both hands gripping the hilt of his lance.

"Oh, geez! I-I'm sorry in advance, Professor!"

Bernadetta rose her bow and nocked an arrow, its head pointed directly at Byleth's chest. Granted, her aim would probably benefit if her eyes weren't squeezed shut, but at least it would be shot in the near vicinity of the man.

Bernie's shot would arrive well before Ferdinand, so if he simply dodged the arrow…

Taking a deep breath, Byleth tensed the muscles in his legs.

Twang!

The string of the bow snapped as the arrow was let loose.

Twisting his body to the side, Bernadetta's attack flew straight by, embedding itself in the head of the wooden dummy behind him.

Ferdinand was on him soon after, the point of his spear hovering only a few inches from the ground.

Too low.

Byleth lunged forward, dropping his foot on the shaft of the lance, pinning it to the ground and cracking its wood in the process.

"Huh?"

Ferdinand looked absolutely dumbfounded by the turn of events.

Lifting his sword, Byleth lightly poked him in the chest.

"Boop."

The goofy word sounded plain wrong coming from their straight-faced professor, but he considered it a little more lighthearted than saying "you're dead."

Stepping off the half-broken lance, he strolled over to Bernadetta, who was still trembling in place.

"D-did I get him? D-d-did I get him?" she mumbled to herself, eyes still shut. "Oh, Bernie, you really did it now… Killing your own professor! Th-they're going to kick you out! Gah! Or even worse, the archbishop will excute-"

Byleth chopped her on the head, causing her to shriek like a frightened rabbit.

"Thwack."

He turned his chop into an impromptu tousle of her hair.

"But it was a good shot, Bernadetta. Had you kept your eyes open the entire time, you might have had me."

The recluse squeaked, covering her beet red face with her hands.

"And Ferdinand, while your headlong charge at a more experienced opponent took courage, you carried your lance too low. If this were a field of battle, there's no doubt it'd catch on something- be it a piece of wood or a fallen body. When you're charging, it'd be more effective to carry it a little higher off the ground."

Ferdinand sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, but at least he seemed to take his words to heart.

Byleth sighed, rubbing his brow. That first showing had been… less than impressive. Had they regressed since their first battle with the bandits? Or were the bandits simply that much of a pushover? He hadn't thought they made such egregious mistakes the last time, but this was simply too much. Did this group really beat out the Deer and Lions in their mock battle? How poorly trained were the other two houses if this type of effort won them the match?

No, that can't be… The Lions especially are well trained. One just doesn't best Dimitri or Felix with pure luck. There's something I'm missing.

The teacher hummed to himself. Maybe his presence on the battlefield was the deciding factor. But, wouldn't that mean they relied on him too much?

"Teacher."

Byleth's field of vision was obscured by a blob of black, red, and white.

"Are you prepared for the next round?" Edelgard asked, hefting her axe.

He tilted his head to the side. She was alone.

Curious.

"And where's your partner?"

"Her Highness decided it more beneficial to her education were she to face you solo," Hubert said, stepping forward. "I don't object."

Byleth looked back and forth between the two, then shrugged. Resting the blade of his sword on his shoulder, he beckoned her forward.

"So be it. Any time you're ready, Edelgard."

Edelgard nodded, her grip tightening around the hilt of her axe.

Of the group, Byleth expected the most from Edelgard. While they all possessed some talent for fighting (the first bout aside), Edelgard was assuredly the most well-trained of the bunch. She was very skilled with an axe, and no pushover with a sword. If any of them were to land a hit on him, it'd be her. To say she was his star pupil wouldn't be much of an understatement.

And yet, she chose to fight alone…

Curious.

The grounds grew deathly silent. The rest of the class watched on in anticipation, waiting eagerly for their house leader to make her move. No one dared to move an inch out of fear of breaking the fragile stalemate.

Just when Byleth began to wonder if she'd ever make her move, her back foot kicked off the ground, sending her forward.

"…!"

She closed the distance between the two in an instant, her axe slamming hard into his sword. Had he moved it a second later, his right shoulder would have a hefty bruise, armor be damned.

Detaching her weapon from his, she lifted it over her head, swinging at his left.

Byleth jumped back, narrowly dodging her axe. Distance was created between the two, but not enough.

Edelgard chased after him, her weapon poised high above her head in a one-handed grip with her offhand.

Byleth rose his sword in preparation, his eyes widening at the sudden foot in his peripheral vision.

A feint!

The teacher barely had the time to block her kick with his forearm. Such an awkward body movement to feint a strike with her axe only to lift her back leg for a kick, but somehow, she pulled it off effortlessly.

And she didn't stop there. Edelgard rained hit after hit on Byleth's defenses, all of them different than the first. A swing to the right. A slash to the left. A punch to his front. Edelgard didn't let up, giving her professor little opportunity to go on the offense. Despite the strength she put in each and every blow, her speed didn't let up for a second.

If the tide didn't change soon, Byleth wouldn't be able to-

Then he saw it.

An opening.

Overcommitting to a horizontal swing.

Byleth dropped to the dirt floor, stopping his fall with a hand.

Putting all of his weight into the hand that propped him up, he spun his lower half around, kicking at Edelgard's legs.

Edelgard cried out in surprise as she lost her balance. She fell to the dirt floor with a thud, her axe falling from her grip.

Byleth jumped to his feet, pressing the point of his training sword to her neck, lightly tapping her pale skin with its point.

"Poke."

The princess gasped for air, her cheeks flushed with a mixture of exertion, frustration, and embarrassment.

Byleth offered her a hand. He tried his best to smile, but he was certain his lips didn't mirror that.

"But that was a good effort. You almost had me."

Edelgard frowned, biting her bottom lip hard enough to draw blood. She let out growl, slamming her fist into the dirt once for good measure before accepting his hand.

Pulling herself to her feet, she dusted herself off and turned to him.

"Don't think that move will work more than once. I will get you next time, Professor."

With that look in her eyes, he didn't doubt it.

"I'll make sure to keep you on your toes," Byleth nodded, then turned to the rest of the class. "Alright, who's next?"


Two hours and several bumps and bruises later, Byleth decided to call it quits for the day. Each group of two got in a handful of goes at him, but much like the first two bouts, none seemed to force him into a loss. True to her word though, Edelgard (with the help of Hubert this time) was able to land a few clean strikes on the former mercenary- granted, none of them were lethal hits. All of them landed on his left or right arm, narrowly missing something vital. While debilitating were it a serious battle with actual weapons, in a simple spar, they didn't amount to much.

And with the look on her face, she realized it too.

Byleth wiped the sweat from his brow, closely watching Edelgard as she got a few more good thumps in on one of the wooden training dummies. Either out of frustration, or simply pure determination, she hit the targets with all her strength.

"You sure have a lot of stamina, Edelgard," Byleth called out as he approached.

"What good is stamina if you don't have the strength to back it up!"

She punctuated her statement with a smack of her axe on her poor victim.

The wooden weapon shattered on the dummy, sending dozens of little splinters every which way.

Edelgard clicked her tongue, tossing the remnants of her training axe aside.

"The monastery really should invest in better training equipment," she huffed, shooting a glare at her professor. "Make a note of that."

Byleth simply hummed to himself.

Edelgard rolled her eyes, grabbing a new training axe.

"You clearly have something you want to say, so get on with it," she grumbled, then promptly went back to smacking the dummy around.

How should I put this tactfully…?

As his father put it, Byleth was never one that was known for a thoughtful manner of speaking. Despite what might show on his face, he was prone to speaking without much thought. Needless to say, it landed him in some hot water numerous times.

"I knew you were a competitive one, but I didn't know you were this competitive."

"I am not-!"

Byleth gave her a flat look.

Edelgard sighed, her shoulders drooping.

"Fine, I admit that I do like winning, but who doesn't?"

"Fair point," Byleth shrugged. "But I have to ask, if you like winning so much, why elect to fight solo in our first bout?"

That decision was still nagging at him. She was the leader of the Eagles, and soon-to-be Emperor of Adrestia. If she thought the key to strength or leadership was simply what you can accomplish on your own, then he sorely misjudged her. Even the strongest king knew when to ask for help.

"If you had Hubert providing ranged assistance while you led a frontal assault, you surely would have had me."

"I am aware of that," she grunted, striking the dummy's ribcage.

Byleth tilted his head to the side, confused.

"Then why…?"

"I know I am weaker alone. I am no fool, Teacher."

Edelgard's arm fell to her side, her gaze dropping to the floor.

"But if my strength alone cannot rival yours, then all of this is for naught…"

He furrowed his brow. All for naught?

What did she mean by-

"Forgive me, Teacher, it seems that my mouth is moving on its own." Edelgard turned to him and smiled. "All I mean is that as the future emperor of Adrestia, I wish to one day be able to surpass you. If a student cannot surpass their teacher, then they really haven't grown at all, have they?"

"…I suppose not," he agreed, albeit hesitantly. There was just something about her smile… It reminded him of someone, but he just couldn't pinpoint who.

"Well, I suppose I should call it a day for now," Edelgard said with a sigh, placing her training axe back on the weapons' stand. "Hubert will be displeased with me if I skip another meal. Farewell, Teacher."

"See you tomorrow," Byleth nodded his own farewell. He watched her make it halfway to the exit before opening his mouth once again. "Edelgard, one more thing."

"Yes?" She turned her head to him.

"I do not know what kind of scenario you are preparing for, but don't be so quick to assume you and I would cross swords in it."

Edelgard stopped dead in her tracks, her body stiffening. The color drained from her face, nearly matching her snow white hair.

Ah, so that was what she was thinking.

"That will be all, Miss Hresvelg. I'll see you in class."

After a few seconds of a fragile silence, she smiled at him once more. Credit where credit was due, she was very skilled at regaining her composure.

Had he been a little more dense, he might have missed it.

"See you in class, Professor Eisner."

And with that, the Eagle leader turned and strode out of the training grounds, leaving Byleth all alone with his thoughts.

That smile…

It only took a second showing of it to jog his memory.

Claude.

It reminded him of Claude.

A smile that never reached the eyes.


Thanks for reading!

Quick note, in my last chapter I realized I had been spelling Adrestia and Adrestian as Andrestia and Andrestian. Whoops. Hopefully I don't make any other goofy errors, but if I do, be patient with me! It's taking a bit of time to memorize all these new names...

Anyhow, hope you all liked this chapter! Thank you all so much for all of the follows, favorites, and reviews on the first one. It really motivated me to get this one out there.

Also, another little note, in case you haven't noticed, I'm taking sooome liberties with Byleth. While keeping true to his calm emotionless nature in the first 6 chapters of this game, I'm adding little bits and pieces to his character that I imagined whenever I think of him talking to his students. Hopefully you all enjoy it!

So long! Until next time!

Edit: Thank you guest reviewer for the save! I swear to god I looked up everyone of these names as I wrote this story. Curse you flaky memory...