Chapter-41

Tristan

Find the relic of Choice. Tristan thought as he stood in front of a window overlooking Beacon's courtyard. The night was filled with the sounds of Atlesian airships moving around in the sky.

Before leaving, Sigurd had given him an important assignment that would allow them to see what these 'relics' were capable of.

"According to Odysseus, the Atlas Vault was heavily guarded and he could not risk himself or other servants to break in without raising suspicion towards themselves." Sigurd spoke.

"And I suppose we need to learn where Beacon's vault is located." Tristan replied.

"Of course. Unless we see what the Relics are capable of, I'm afraid we won't be able to gauge how our enemies could get to them. Besides, I think we really don't want to keep ourselves in the dark anymore. I can't wait for Ozpin to reveal this information, even when he's revealed he was highly unlikely to."

"But this, as you know, is the operation to bring down Prometheus. So, you wouldn't have the time to look into the vault."

"Which is why you must do so, Tristan. If not bring out the Relic of Choice, you can at least find Beacon's vault. Talk to Ozpin or his circle members. I believe they should be having a clue as to where the vault is located."

Tristan sighed. He had to commend Ozpin. The Vaults themselves already had powerful seals that blocked out magecraft and was confirmed to be capable of even withstanding noble phantasms, but Beacon's Vault didn't even have a proper entrance to the space where the Relic of Choice was kept.

Or more like, the Vault of Beacon isn't actually what I believe it to be. Tristan thought.

"Fancy seeing you here." Another voice spoke as Tristan could make out the voice of one of the servants of Atlas, Achilles, come up beside him.

"I was…thinking." Tristan admitted as Achilles chuckled.

"Eh, I get it. We all have lived our lives. I probably would be thinking about some things too if I had the chance."

"And not your unresolved duel with Cú Chulainn?"

Achilles grunted. "They call him the Celtic counterpart of Heracles. And honestly, I could see from that brief duel in the courtyard. Not to mention what he did to Férdiad makes me concerned."

Tristan remembered that from Cú Chulainn's legend. His friend, Férdiad, was said to have had impenetrable skin just like Achilles, and no matter how many strikes Cú sent at him, Férdiad's body would deflect all of them. In the end, it was by sending Gáe Bolg through Ferdiad's anus that he managed to put him down.

So, I wouldn't be surprised if he could bring down Achilles in a similar manner. Tristan thought.

"But anyways, I actually noticed something interesting." Achilles spoke as Tristan raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I noticed some…suspicious things." Achilles spoke, although Tristan could hear nothing but a playfulness in his voice.

Considering how care-free he is like Cú, I can only imagine these 'suspicious things' are really nothing serious. He thought.

"And these 'suspicious things' are?"

"Why, two warrior lovers sparring with weapons similar to our respective homelands!" Achilles spoke as Tristan's eyebrows furrowed.

That description…It reminds me of…

"Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc?" Tristan spoke. Unlike most of the other huntsmen and huntresses, Jaune's weapon was a simple arming sword. And despite the fact that the Arming sword had come into use in Europe after Tristan's time, he still considered it to be a spiritual successor to the blades of his time.

And similarly, Pyrrha Nikos was by all means a Spartan Hoplite. Achilles had pointed out every single piece of armor and gear that Pyrrha had with a lot of accuracy.

"Pyrrha's gear reminds me of some of the soldiers in Menelaus' army. With her atheltic figure, I think she'd feel right at home among Spartan women." He'd said.

"And you are saying they are sparring, after curfew?" Tristan spoke. In all honesty, Tristan was aware of activities happening after curfew, but he was not really a member of the staff. It wasn't really his business to look into what the students are doing.

"Exactly. So, how about we go take a look at exactly what they're doing and coach them a little? Heard Nikos is a prodigy, but a little advice from experts wouldn't hurt." He spoke as Tristan shrugged and walked behind him.

They came onto the terrace to notice Pyrrha instructing Jaune. Both of them faced each other armed with their respective swords and shields, although Pyrrha was playing a bit more defensive to obviously encourage Jaune to practice his counter-offensive, from what Tristan could make out from the sound of their blades and shields clashing.

The two teenagers hadn't noticed him and Achilles and continued to spar, and Tristan had to admit - Pyrrha was a good instructor. From what Sigurd had told him, Jaune had near nil battle instinct, always misjudging the times to attack and getting punished for it. He also was very shy and tended to put his entire body weight into his strikes, making it childishly easy for opponents to disbalance him with a well-timed parry.

Sadly, he makes those mistakes even now. Tristan thought as he heard Pyrrha's blade crash against Jaune's shield in a block, and could easily tell that Jaune would counter by swinging his blade from the other side. A decent strategy, but anyone with skill and instinct would be able to anticipate something and block.

…And Pyrrha did exactly that, calmly moving her shield to block Jaune's strike and bat away his sword, judging from Jaune's surprised squawk. Jaune, who'd still put in a considerable amount of weight, staggered for a moment. That was all that Pyrrha needed to move forward and bash her shield against Jaune's chest, sending him sprawling to the ground before extending her sword into a spear at Jaune's neck.

"Good job with the block, Jaune, but you must…"

"Not put more body weight into a counter strike, especially when Pyrrha knows what you are about to do." Tristan spoke up as the teenagers noticed his and Achilles' presence.

"Oh! Um…Mr. Tristan!" Pyrrha spoke as Jaune stared at Tristan.

"Oh, looks like you've got a fan." Achilles spoke as Jaune looked away while Tristan smiled.

Oh how sad that this boy finds a sort of idol worship in someone like me. He probably thinks I'm a great knight. If only he knew… Tristan thought.

"And…" Pyrrha stared at Achilles gear, which was strikingly similar to hers.

"Achilles. I believe we haven't been formally introduced, Ms. Nikos?" Achilles spoke as Pyrrha came out of her stupor and greeted him politely.

"You were watching us?" Jaune spoke as Achilles snickered.

"Well, I was. Mr. Blind Knight over here, however…" He spoke as Tristan scowled at him.

"I'm not blind."

"...Wait, I thought you were blind." Jaune spoke, followed by what Tristan could hear of Pyrrha slapping his arm.

"Oh! I'm so…"

"It's alright, Mr. Arc." Tristan spoke. "My eyes have seen a lot of cruelty and despair already. I simply refuse to see this cruel world any longer." He spoke, shaking his head.

"And you rely on your hearing?"

"Of course. I would be at a terrible disadvantage otherwise. Anyways, how long have these…practice sessions been going?"

"Oh, uh…I think they started when Professor Saber left for my dad's village." Jaune spoke.

"I'm sure Professor Saber has told you about Jaune's problem. So, I regularly spar with him to improve his skill."

"And I have to admit, you're pretty good at it." Achilles spoke.

"T-Thank you." Pyrrha spoke in a sheepish voice.

"But I must ask: From what I was hearing from your clash, it seemed like you were encouraging Jaune to be aggressive, no?"

"Yes…although he does have the problem of being able to keep up with the momentum."

"Let me guess…his chain of attacks are clumsy and he's often unable to react quick enough? And that he's somehow more comfortable at blocking strikes head-on than you are?" Achilles replied as Pyrrha nodded.

"Ah…I believe that it is a simple problem of difference in styles." Tristan spoke as Pyrrha blinked.

"Difference in…styles?"

Achilles looked at Tristan. "May I?"

Tristan nodded.

Achilles cleared his throat. "So, I'll talk about agility first. Ms. Nikos, you are less armored than Jaune over here, plus you are much more used to fighting in whatever armor you have. So, of course, you'd be more agile than him and trying to show him what you know might not be a good idea."

True. Tristan thought. From what he knew, while enhancement from aura usually negated the challenge of weight posed by wearing heavier armor, Jaune wasn't particularly experience in fighting with aura. He could take hits, but he'd be terribly slow if he tried what Pyrrha showed him.

"And the next problem is your equipment." Tristan spoke up. While Jaune's shield, sword and armor were all gear that were more similar to that of knights who lived 900 years after his time, the knowledge provided by the Grail and his own gear being simply a primitive version, he could teach it just fine.

"Jaune uses what we term a 'Heater Shield', which is usually made of wood, but Jaune's metal component eliminates the advantage of it being lightweight. And the heater shield is best for standing ground against an onslaught rather than pushing forward with your own. Not to mention it is accompanied by the Arming sword whose range is for warding away enemies, which makes it useful for an armored knight…" Tristan spoke.

"While Pyrrha uses a Dipylon shield, which also loses its light weight because of the shield being made of pure metal. It has less surface area and hence is better for maintaining a certain amount of defense while pushing forward with aggression, suitable for the more lightly armored and agile hoplite…" Achilles spoke.

"...So in conclusion, while you have been a good instructor Pyrrha, perhaps Jaune should also start practicing with someone who is more familiar with his style." Tristan spoke.

"Besides, I need to test you too, 'Invincible Girl'." Achilles spoke with a smile. "You know, my allies also considered me to be 'Invincible'."

"Oh…" Tristan spoke as Pyrrha stared at him curiously.

"So, you are asking for a spar?"

"Why, of course, Ms. Nikos! Two 'Invincible Warriors' go head-to-head, even though I'm going to win!"

Tristan then noticed a competitive look in Pyrrha's eyes. "Surely the outcome is not that certain."

Achilles' smile widened. "It's so certain I'm going to coach you while I fight you, kiddo…"

"So, in essence, you want to coach Pyrrha while I do the same with Jaune." Tristan spoke as Achilles nodded.

"Um, but won't the teachers…"

"Ah, don't worry. I'll speak up for you if your teacher comes." Achilles spoke waving Jaune off.

"Besides, it's not like Ozpin doesn't know already." Tristan spoke as Jaune slumped.

Achilles and Pyrrha put some distance between themselves and faced each other, Achilles keeping his spear in a lazy stance and spear while Pyrrha kept her sword and shield.

"Alright, Pyrrha Nikos. Let me show you how a real 'invincible fighter' does it."

"Is he…?" Jaune asked as Tristan nodded.

"He's quite right. Achilles is practically invincible."

"Oh, so I guess he's got a reputation like Pyrrha too?"

"...You could say that. Although, I highly doubt a polite, soft-spoken girl like Pyrrha would be compared to…"

"I heard that!"

"Just don't make too much noise!" Jaune spoke as Achilles smiled.

"Don't worry, I'll make this quick." He replied. "That is, unless the kid here has some hidden skills to impress me. Then I might be actually impressed."

Tristan didn't need eyes to see that Achilles was stoking Pyrrha's competitive spirit.

"And…here we go" Achilles spoke, sprinting towards Pyrrha who charged as well.

Pyrrha immediately brought up her shield to block a number of thrusts before changing her sword to a spear and jabbing at Achilles, who sidestepped the thrusts and flicked his spear to suddenly move it straight at Pyrrha's face with its bladed crossguard coming towards her cheek. Pyrrha leaned back as Achilles' spear scraped her aura and crouched down to bring up her spear in an upward slash.

Only for Achilles to flick his spear again and catch Pyrrha's spear and force it down. Pyrrha reacted accordingly and attempted to bash Achilles with her shield. Achilles brought up one hand and stopped Pyrrha's shield, pushing it to the side before swinging it back to backhand Pyrrha and send her sprawling.

Achilles did not give her time as he quickly stabbed down at her. Pyrrha rolled to the side and flipped back up, anticipating Achilles' next attack, only to see him draw his spear back.

"You're a lot stronger, Mr. Achilles, to stop my shield and push me back." Pyrrha spoke as Achilles shrugged.

"First mistake. You tried to do a really long flashy move." He spoke.

"It looks cool, but it's just way too easy for me to stop your momentum halfway and catch you in an uncomfortable position." He spoke before dashing at Pyrrha, feinting another stab to her legs before he suddenly changed it to a slash with a flick.

Pyrrha blocked the slash before Achilles again forced the blade to the side to jab at her again. Pyrrha blocked the jabs with her shield, but the sheer force behind Achilles' strikes sent her skidding backward. Pyrrha then charged at Achilles, slashing with her sword as Achilles twirled his spear to block Pyrrha's strikes on both ends while moving to dodge her shield bashes.

Pyrrha found another swing blocked by the spear and immediately spun around for a counter, only to grunt as something tore into her aura on the back and sent her stumbling forward. She looked back to see Achilles shaking his head.

"Second mistake. Never ever take your eyes off the opponent unless they've lost focus." He spoke as Pyrrha grit her teeth and charged back.

Pyrrha changed her sword to a spear as she spun it around in an arc, forcing Achilles to jump back before Pyrrha suddenly lunged at him, giving Achilles little time to react.

"Wow! Good job, but not enough to get me!" Achilles spoke before his knee came up and sent Pyrrha's spear up. Pyrrha did not let up and went for a spinning kick that Achilles blocked with his forearm before grabbing Pyrrha's leg and twisting it. Pyrrha, instead of falling down, simply brought up her other leg as Achilles ducked under the kick and let go, before nailing Pyrrha in the stomach with a side kick. Pyrrha tumbled for a bit before she caught herself on her spear.

Pyrrha gasped as Achilles was on her again, this time spinning around to bring his spear up in a blur for a powerful slash.

Pyrrha blocked the slash, but Achilles immediately attacked from another direction, forcing Pyrrha to raise her shield as Achilles' spear. However, Achilles simply put in more force with a grunt and Pyrrha was lifted off her feet. Pyrrha yelped in surprise as Achilles threw her to the ground again.

Pyrrha got to her knees and whirled around, throwing her shield at Achilles…who caught it with his left hand.

Pyrrha's and Jaune's widened in surprise as Achilles looked at Pyrrha's shield with a disappointed expression.

"...Really? You did not just throw your shield at me." He spoke shaking his head and tossed it aside before rushing at Pyrrha. Pyrrha brought up her own spear as the two engaged in a dance of sorts, both Achilles' and Pyrrha's spears clashing against each other, although Achilles had the upper hand with his superior strength. Pyrrha took a glance at her spear, receiving a bash to the nose for it, and fired up her semblance to call it back to her.

"...!" Achilles brought his spear back and deflected Pyrrha's shield. Pyrrha seized that moment and went for a slash for Achilles' thigh…

…Only for her blade to bounce off as Achilles' spear swept Pyrrha's legs from under her. Pyrrha fell to the floor as Achilles put a boot on her stomach and pointed his spear at her throat.

"Well, I guess this ends in another win for me. But have to admit, you're not too bad, kid. You're definitely a cut above the regular soldiers I knew." Achilles spoke as Pyrrha stared at him in shock.

"...Oh, you're probably wondering how I beat you? As I said, I'm Invincible."

Pyrrha stared at him before she broke into a bright grin. "Thank you for the fight, Mr. Achilles. It was an honour."

"Same here." Achilles spoke before helping Pyrrha up.

"Alright, now let the two knights come in!" Achilles spoke as Tristan and Jaune went up.

"So…you'll be using your bow?" Jaune asked as Tristan shook his head before bringing out his sword.

"Failnaught was merely a useful tool acquired later on in my life. I was raised training with a sword, however." Tristan spoke before taking off his cloak and assuming his stance.

"Do not think of holding back because I can't see, Jaune." Tristan spoke. "I'm still a capable swordsman even in lack of vision."

"O-Ok."

"Now…Let me get a little feel of what exactly is the problem." Tristan spoke before dashing towards Jaune, aiming for his right side where his shield gave him relatively less protection.

His sword hit something, which Tristan could tell was Jaune's shield. Tristan shook his head and quickly swung his sword from the other side to hit Jaune's neck.

"Do not rely on your shield when I am going for the opposite side of the shield arm. Turning your body to bring your shield into position is both slow and exposes your back. In such cases, your sword is the better option." Tristan spoke before running at Jaune again, again aiming for the same spot.

This time, Tristan nodded as his blade clashed against Jaune's own. Tristan tried to continue with a downward slash, but Jaune was able to block it with his shield and stepped in with a swing.

Tristan brought his sword up to block Jaune's swing, and hopped back as Jaune attempted to bash his shield at Tristan.

"Yes, good. Your sword allowed your body more comfort in blocking my next strike with your shield. And bonus for capitalising on the block to step past my sword's range to strike me." Tristan spoke.

"But, I need you to attack me." Tristan spoke as Jaune rushed at him with a flurry of strikes, Tristan blocking each one of them before Jaune extended too much and Tristan sidestepped his thrust, sweeping out Jaune's legs with his sword.

"Your armor makes it a bad idea to be extremely aggressive. Remember that you do not have Pyrrha's agility and trying to use her style might disbalance you at some point." Tristan spoke.

Jaune got up and this time approached him more cautiously. Jaune came in with another flurry of strikes, before stepping back as Tristan came back. Jaune parried Tristan's blade rather clumsily and Tristan could hear his shield coming to bash him.

Tristan hopped to the side as Jaune's shield went past him and slashed Jaune two times before stepping back.

"While you realised the limits to which you could extend your attacks, do remember the risks of giving your opponent time to breathe. In a battle, you won't expect your opponent to give you a chance to attack." Tristan spoke before sheathing his sword.

"I believe I've got a good idea of what I can do for you, Jaune." He spoke. "Considering I'm not really a member of the Beacon staff, I suppose being your personal tutor could work."

"So, I guess me for Pyrrha and you for Jaune?" Achilles spoke as Tristan nodded.

"Anyways, how was the session?"

"Well, it was really good. I think I felt a lot more comfortable doing what you were telling me to do than earlier. No offense to Pyrrha…" Jaune added as Pyrrha smiled at him.

"Sometimes training with someone who is familiar with your style can provide good progress on your own skills. Besides, we knights are meant to be guardians of the defenseless. Hence, our equipment leans towards standing tall and blocking attacks head-on rather than adopting more agile approaches."

Although that becomes irrelevant when it comes to servants. Tristan thought. Even in life, he could think of Mordred as an example of someone who did not follow the philosophy of knighthood more than others. Her mixed heritage of fairy and dragon, combined with her physical body having the high energy output due to her being a homunculus, the weight of armor was a trivial matter to her even then.

"But anyways, same time, same day?" Achilles spoke as the two students nodded.

Tristan and Achilles then walked off the terrace, both having found two youngsters who they could mentor.


The next day, Tristan found himself walking alongside Ozpin in Beacon.

"The pilot reports some archer forced the other servants to jump off the bullhead while he returned to Beacon."

"I see. And we have no confirmation of their status?"

"Actually, we have received a communication from Odysseus. He says that the group is fine, and they've also found a camp of refugees escaping from the village of Oakshire who were protected by a large number of huntsmen led by two more servants."

"And the servants are?"

Ozpin smiled. "From your homeland, actually. Robin Hood and Richard the Lionheart."

At the mention of Richard, Tristan couldn't help but feel he'd actually met the man somewhere.

"Ah, Richard. From what I know, he quite idolizes my king Arthur Pendragon, to the point that his main noble phantasm is almost an inferior copy of His Majesty's noble phantasm. And Robin Hood…I believe he is an incarnation of The Green Man, the guardian of the forests in Europe."

"At any rate, they are going to head for taking back Oakshire today, after which they'll decide when the Atlesian army can move out."

"Good, good." Tristan spoke. Now that he was there with Ozpin, he needed to think of any way to start a conversation about the Relic of Choice.

"I…actually wanted to ask you about something." Tristan spoke as Ozpin took a sip of his coffee.

"Oh? Do tell. We have some time before the matches for the Vytal tournament begin."

"Well, I am quite curious about this Relic of Choice. From what I heard, it is the source of the legend of the 'Crown of Selection'?"

"That it is. Perhaps I could take you to the spot to give you a better explanation of the tale." Ozpin spoke.

The two soon found themselves going through Emerald Forest, Tristan shooting down any grimm that came close while Ozpin used his magic.

"The Emerald Forest?" Tristan asked.

"Back then, the Old Kings of Vale hired silver-eyed warriors…"

"?"

"Ruby's kind. Warriors capable of destroying grimm by unleashing the light through their eyes."

"Wait…you didn't mention this?"

"I didn't? Oh well, consider silver-eyed warriors to be the natural predators of the grimmm, or a sort of anti-grimm. They were superhuman, even compared to aura users, and made for excellent hunters to cull the population of the grimm in earlier times. Of course, many of them have perished and my old friend Maria and Ruby are the last of their kind."

"..."

The two then reached the same shrine which housed the chess pieces for initiation earlier.

"I'm sure you can tell what the Crown Of Selection actually does?"

"I presume it's like the Sword in the Stone in Britain, where whoever would pull out the sword would become the future king of Britain?"

"Quite. In this case…" Ozpin walked to the center. "...This is the spot where the Relic of Choice would be placed on a new King's head. The process began weeks in advance with silver-eyed hunters clearing out the forests of grimm to prevent any interruptions. On the day, the king who is to be coronated heads to this sacred shrine…"

"How is it sacred?"

Ozpin's smile turned into a slight frown. "Well…what you see are all that remain of the Astral Tower, from where I ruled over mankind as its God-King. The old ley lines that had been put up below the tower created the emerald forest to hide its ruins."

"Besides, the Vault that held the Relic of Choice also propagated its power throughout the area, leading to the belief that the Emerald Forest was a shrine that revealed to one their destiny and the choices they could make to achieve it. Of course, I've placed a lot of seals to muffle that power after the Relics were taken into the vaults. But still, in those times, people believed the Emerald Forest was where Vale's future was decided."

"And so the king came here to see what his reign would be like?" Tristan asked.

"The Relic of Choice has the power to show one the end of one's path and the pivotal choices one would make to achieve that future. Of course, it shows both the brightest and the darkest of futures, so once its user saw the 'bad future', it would eat away at them for the rest of their lives. They'd become more conscious about the consequences of their actions, and this paranoia would spiral into downright insanity."

"Oh…" Tristan spoke.

"If you want to know more, simply look at the legend of 'The Lone King'. Nothing short of a tragedy because of the Relic of Choice."

Well, these Relics are a lot worse than I thought. Tristan thought with a shudder.

"It's why I've made the Relic of Choice so difficult to find. Not only because of its clairvoyant abilities, but to protect others from seeing its horrors."

Ozpin smiled looking at the shrine. "But, I always find it nice that this spot has been chosen."

Tristan looked at him.

"Beacon Academy was built upon the old headquarters of the Perkwunos Knights, my most loyal warriors back when I was the God-King of Mankind."

A knightly order? I do want to know. Tristan thought.

"Could you tell me more about these knights."

"Ah…where to begin? The Perkwunos knights originated from the humans I taught to use aura. To humanity, who at that time was under the terrifying grip of the grimm, the superhuman abilities shown by these aura users eventually led to them founding the Perkwunos knights with my ascension."

"They were deeply devoted to protecting mankind, to the point that it was a common practice for them to use the corpses of their comrades to create a human wall."

"...! Excuse me?" Tristan asked.

"The knights themselves always made an oath in their dying breath that their comrades still use their bodies to protect their fellow humans in the form of a human wall. As I said, they were almost fanatic in their devotion to humanity."

W-Well, I certainly wasn't expecting this. Tristan thought. He highly doubted even the Round Table Knights showed such loyalty that the Perkwunos knights did, encouraging their bodies to be used for protection even after death. Scratch that, what was displayed was comparable to the likes of Lancelot and Galahad.

"I was so proud of them. After Dhghemon fell and my first incarnation died, the Perkwunos knights scattered, training many aura users who remained scattered for centuries until Thane came along and brought them under a single unified organisation of the Huntsman's Association."

"So, in a way…"

"No, no. The first huntsmen I still credit to the Silver-Eyed Warriors. They were known as the Silubr back then and were worshipped as minor gods who people prayed would protect their lands from the Grimm. The Silubr rarely interacted with the rest of mankind, and continued to do so, establishing Sylfirheim in the coldest regions of Solitas where they could live in peace. In fact, what we teach to Huntsmen nowadays comes from the old hunting techniques of the Silver-eyed warriors who hunted grimm hordes regularly."

"Any other questions?"

"No, no. It was certainly a good little history lesson." Tristan spoke as Ozpin chuckled.

"Ah, the Relic of Choice always had a good connection to Vale's Royalty. Most of the symbols related to royalty often featured the Relic of Choice. Just go to the Royal Palace of Vale. It's now practically a tourist attraction with only a few spots restricted from the general public."

"I understand, Thank you, Headmaster."

"No worries."

As they began to walk back, Tristan furrowed his eyebrows. If Ozpin says that the Relic of Choice has significance amongst Valeian royalty, Then there should be information on it in the Royal Palace of Vale.

And with Ozpin having been there as King Osmond…Yes, I think Ozpin's given me a lead on the Relic. Tristan thought as he began planning for paying a visit to the Royal Palace.


A/N: With all the stuff I've been doing with RWBY and the servants, JNPR's been left out a lot. Not that I'm really that concerned. I personally think RWBY should have gotten a lot more attention (seeing as they're the protagonist team) while JNPR could be given the deuteragonist treatment. So, I'll just be really focussing onf JNPR in later volumes.

Plus, I didn't realize it at first, but Pyrrha and Achilles meeting is a great seed for a mentor-student relationship, and the same comes with Jaune and Tristan. I've decided Tristan's going to be the sidekick of the servant main character, which is Sigurd, in this story, so it would be great exploring his personality through his relationship with Jaune.

And a little sprinkling of Remnant history into the story! Always fun making up my own bullshit and weaving in mythical elements to some spots. But my favourite part was writing about the Perkwunos Knights. I thought 'How do I make them badass?', before the whole idea of 'They using their comrades' corpses as shields' came as an idea. On all accounts, these sort of segments are great.

And considering how there's so little information on the Relic of Choice, and I didn't want to make the Relic's negative side-effect a typical 'You can use this only once in a 100 years', I simply played upon it showing you both a good future and a bad future, since I've read enough stories of people getting consumed by paranoia after seeing a really bad thing happen in their future.

Hope you guys enjoyed and constructive criticism is appreciated!


Foot Notes:

Heater Shield: Used in the 15th century as a replacement for the Kite shield. Great at defending your face, not so great at defending your legs.

Arming sword: A blade of 70-80 centimetres, developed from old Ulfberht Viking swords except the arming sword featured the useful cross guard. Good for use with a shield, although its range is not much compared to a longsword.

Dipylon: Basically, a shield used by hoplites that is similar to the well-known aspis, except for the side indentations that give it its name.

Silubr: Gothic for 'Silver'


Reponse to Reviews:

Zoukuyuujinchou: Wonders of school no longer weighing down on my back. And even then, doing household work managed to make it difficult to get this chapter out.

Guest: Glad to see you're excited.