The month passed by—slowly, maybe, but it passed. Byleth noticed a few students who worked less or worked harder after remembering they were close to graduation; two full months and a few weeks left, now.

Byleth herself wasn't quite sure what she would do when the year changed, considering one of the Officers Academy students was one of the reasons she stayed here—she still wanted to know why Edelgard seemed to have a 'power like hers,' as Sothis put it, as well as a feeling that the imperial princess would do something grand and Byleth wanted to be there for it. Considering Rhea still hasn't let her see Jeralt, Byleth hesitated to put a lot of trust in the archbishop; she couldn't see herself staying once Edelgard graduated.

She was in charge of letting the students know when they would leave for the mission. A week was left in the month, and Rhea only now gave the order for the students and about six knights to leave. At this point, Byleth couldn't figure out what would be left of any place near the monsters. Not a lot of people were equipped with the weapons or strength to fight a beast, much less several.

Byleth knew the students still weren't all fond of her—although a few had admitted she unnerved them, which was better than thinking that was the issue and ultimately being wrong—but they still gathered up when she asked them to. Not everyone went, as per the professors and house leaders' discretion, but a good portion followed after them.

The group itself consisted of Seteth, Byleth, five other knights, the professors, and the students. The presence of Rhea's advisor let her know that this was another observation on her part—albeit an incredibly risky one, if so. She still wasn't used to the Sword of the Creator, and she didn't think the students had much experience fighting anything more than mages or thieves.

It took a few days to get there, but once they did they weren't given much time to prepare; monsters didn't particularly care if people coming to fight them were ready or not. Byleth knew Seteth was watching her—whether that helped or hindered her performance, she couldn't say.

Among the monsters were mages; Edelgard was among the first to notice, and let everyone else know. It was the same kind of mages—masked, quiet—that were there when they got the Sword of the Creator and in Remire.

Byleth couldn't tell if Edelgard was closer and more on edge than usual, or if she just had a greater awareness of it. She wondered if Edelgard herself knew, either, considering she seemed to think of leaving to watch someone else and then decide against it.

The beasts were higher priority than the mages, although the mages were easier to take care of—honestly, mages seemed to mostly be killed as collateral damage of sorts. Byleth noticed others fighting the monsters and mages as well—she knew they weren't students, and the rest of the group was small enough that anyone else was easily noticeable.

She used the Sword of the Creator like Rhea wanted; she knew she was being evaluated and chose to accept it. It took a while, but thanks to that outside help, all of the beasts and most of the mages were killed. Edelgard left to check on the other Black Eagles—Byleth watched until someone came up behind her.

She turned and almost took out the sword again before she recognized the face.

"Jeralt." After a second, she awkwardly tried to be less…tense.

Her father just laughed. "At least you haven't gotten dull, living in the monastery for this long," he said. He glanced around, then back at her. "I got tired of waiting for you, so I did some research and figured out where you'd be sent next. I want to try to make this quick in case they try to bring me back."

"Sorry for not contacting you," Byleth replied, nodding a bit at his comment. "I didn't know where you were, and Rhea didn't let me leave."

"Can't say I'm surprised." Jeralt glanced at the Sword of the Creator and frowned. "She must've figured it out at some point."

She cast him a curious look, and he just sighed.

"Have you visited the monastery's graveyard at all?"

"I never had a reason."

"…That can wait for later, then."

Sothis stirred at the vagueness, but Byleth changed the subject before the girl could try to distract her.

"You heard about Remire?" Byleth asked.

Something about how she said it must have surprised him—the lingering anger from the events, especially remembering the villagers who were still at the monastery. After another minute, Jeralt nodded.

"We were there when things started getting complicated," Jeralt explained. "We got a nice job offer, but left for nothing—wasn't anything at the job, and nothing back in Remire by the time we got back either aside from rumors about you."

"Rhea had the students fight the mad villagers; I was there to help. Weren't you going to send someone to get me and the others?"

"I did, right before we left Remire. Must not have made it to the monastery—there were some…interesting figures outside the village."

"Mages?"

"Like the ones that were here, yeah. I should've sent more than one, but I figured you could handle things on your own if you had to."

Another pause, then Jeralt sighed and…almost smiled a little.

"I was worried for a little while," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "But I should've figured you could take care of yourself. No point in dragging you across the countryside when you're actually smiling."

"Am I?" Sothis laughed at the comment, as did Jeralt.

"Sure are, kid. You looked pretty happy fighting next to that one girl, too."

She hadn't even noticed that fighting next to Edelgard was different from anyone else until he mentioned it.

Jeralt maintained something akin to a teasing expression, her own expression apparently showing just enough for him to laugh at. For once, it actually embarrassed her a bit.

He lowered his hand again, still smiling. "I'll leave you be, so the knights here don't get any ideas. Stay safe, kid—keep an eye on Rhea, don't do anything too reckless." His smile fell for a moment. "If you ever feelor think that something's wrong, I won't be mad if you have to run away from the knights like I did. We'll be in the Alliance for the next month or two, around the Gloucester area."

"I'll try to meet up with you before the year changes," Byleth promised.

Jeralt nodded, then called out to the other mercenaries and left with them. The knights and students were heading back to the monastery as soon as the casualties were assessed and noted.