Blood, Oil, and Steel

by Acardia

You never know what might happen on a Monday. Sometimes every single minor inconvenience occurs within a couple of minutes of you waking up. Other times...well, I certainly wasn't to be sent here of all places. With the Ylissean sun above my head, what will happen to me? Currently rated at T, it might change in the future.

8. Chapter 6: Working Toilets!

Chapter 6

Civilization and Working Toilets!

If I asked you how long it would take to get from Southtown to Ylisstol and the only information you had to answer that question was the game, you would probably say half a day or so. You probably understand that just moving the stick upwards to the next chapter is simplifying the process by a lot, and Ylisse isn't that small. You would also assume that since the plot of the game moves relatively quickly the distances in Archanea are small.

I assumed so. I was expecting maybe a 3 day trip.

Oh boy was I wrong.

Fifteen days. Fifteen. It took us fifteen days to get from Southtown to Ylisstol. Granted, the first two days were more for resting our battle-tired and thoroughly sleep-deprived bodies, but the other thirteen were relatively tiring marching days. Thankfully, it wasn't all too bad, physically speaking. Terentius is used to long marches from both his adventuring days and his time in the Roman legions. Furthermore, I had this habit of just wandering around the city I used to call home for hours at a time to cool down my thoughts and think about…well, random stuff, really. That also helped alleviate the boredom.

No, what really drove me over the edge was the sanitation conditions. Forget sand, dirt will also get just about everywhere! Thank the gods I enchanted all my clothing to be resistant to dust and grime, as well as being able to clean myself off with magic! The amount of sweat I can't wash off in a bath is insane!

I really hope Ylisstol has a public bath or at least the room I'll be staying in will have a bathtub, or even a rather large bowl, because I need to soak off my skin. It's barely bearable at this point.

Thankfully for my sanity, around day eleven, we arrived at our first village. Apparently, Chrom had been avoiding settlements, the bastard. Something something people will be too generous, something something slowing us down. Really, I think he just likes this kind of suffering.

The reason for finally interacting with non-shepherds again? Chrom needed to send a messenger out to Emmeryn to tell her of our imminent arrival.

Of course, Robin has no idea what that means or implies, and just nods along. How she still hasn't realised that Chrom is royalty is beyond me.

Then again, male Robin is only behind Chrom in density, so female Robin being similar isn't…too weird, I suppose. To whoever Marc's father is, good luck. You're going to need it.

For that night, we were able to sleep on mattresses in a relatively good inn. For people like Virion, Robin, and Lissa who had been complaining about sleeping conditions for the entire trip, this was practically heaven. Unfortunately for me, there was only a dinky little shower with no hot water. Well, I say shower, but even then I had to make one. There was an area in the bathroom of the inn room I was staying in that was waterproof, so I had Chrom buy me a bucket and I then proceeded to poke small holes in the bottom of it with a magical dagger. I then filled the bucket with water from my decanter of endless water and then hung it up so the water slowly drizzled down onto me.

Sure, not the best thing in the world, but it had been two whole weeks without any form of bodily cleaning. To me, it felt like the best thing since sliced bread. Which…hasn't been invented yet. Can…Can I even say that? Does that make sense? What would the Ylissean equivalent be? Best thing since stirrups?

Anyhow, that one day with a cold but clean water shower was the best day of the entire trip, discounting the end, that is.

On the morning of the fifteenth day, at Chrom's urging, we got up early. When I saw that beautiful stone wall surrounding the city I nearly wept with joy. And then I had a proper look at the place and…was incredibly confused. Was…was this a castle or a capital?

Ok I think that needs a bit more elaboration. See, a city and a castle are very different. A city houses people, while a castle holds an army. That isn't to say that a castle can't turn into a city, but their design structure is different from each other. A city's wall is to protect its citizens, while a castle's wall is to defend against a besieging army as long as it can.

Unless a city is close to overgrowning its walls, the walls should be relatively far away from any building. This is to protect the residence in case of a siege. There's also usually only one set of walls. Why build more when the entire point is to protect the citizens from the random roaming bands of bandits and the occasional enemy army? If they've gotten this far, well, something has already gone wrong.

A castle, on the other hand, is meant to delay the enemy by setting up a strong point that they can't ignore and holding on to that point for as long as possible. Usually, there are multiple concentric rings of walls that surround a central keep, the last line of defence.

This isn't to say that fortresses and castles can't be placed around a city, but they're usually helping defend the city, rather than the other way around.

Furthermore, castles aren't palaces. A king isn't going to be in a castle. They're going to be in a palace. That palace might be in a city or next to a castle, but the actual part of the building that does the fighting isn't the palace part.

So, what's so weird about Ylisstol?

Well, there are two concentric walls, and the smaller one surrounds a…palace? Castle? Not quite sure what exactly it is. It says in the game that it's a castle, but it certainly doesn't look like one. It's…more like a palace that has a castle halloween costume on.

Anyway, the city itself is nearing overgrowing the outer walls, yet there's practically nothing within the second set of walls other than the palace-castle thing.

Really, it feels like a city crammed into a castle… There can't be more than a couple ten thousand people in here…right? Unless I am severely underestimating the size of those walls…I don't have a rangefinder, so I really don't know.

"Woah…" Robin gasps as the forest parts enough to see the walls of the city. "That's Ylisstol? It's massive!"

"I know, right! It's the largest city on the continent!" Lissa grins. That…well, I was sort of expecting that, but it really does inform one just how low the population of Ylisse is…

Or rather, how completely and utterly terrible the internal integration is.

The city of Rome had a population of more than a million, and the empire it controlled had such good infrastructure that a soldier in Britannia could order spices from Syria and expect it to arrive in a month or so. I'm guessing that such a thing is practically impossible in Ylisse, due to either political or societal constraints. Or maybe the Exalts don't actually care about their citizens, but considering Emmyern's philosophy, I doubt that.

"Indeed! The Flower of Archanea, the Queen of Cities herself!" Virion nods. "A magnificent sight!"

"Just…out of curiosity, how many people live in Ylisstol?" I give Chrom a questioning look.

"Hmmm? How many people?" Chrom thinks for a while before answering. "I…don't remember the exact census numbers, but…I believe around ninety-four thousand? That was before the Plegian War, though, so the exact numbers are probably lower now…"

Alright, so my estimates were a bit on the lower side, but not by much. Still, for a mediaeval city, Ylisstol is quite large. This is getting to the size of cities like Florence, Milan, and other relatively populated areas. Not quite as large as Constantinople or Rome during their heyday, but it's rather hard to achieve that.

"Alright," I nod my head. "That's a big city…please tell me there are baths…"

I mutter that last phrase quietly, but not quietly enough, since Chrom chuckles and slaps me on the back quite hard.

"No worries! The palace has some of the best baths!" He grins.

"Wow. Already let me stay in the palace, huh?" I grin back. "Aren't you just a little bit wary of me?"

"Look, I trust you. You don't look like the sort of person who would do anything questionable," Chrom shakes his head. "Plus, you wouldn't have pointed it out to me if you were trying to do something mischievous."

"I could be trying to get you to lower your guard,"

"Or," Chrom gives me a amused look. "You're someone who actively wants to help me, and you're pointing this out to me to try and get me to be more careful. Which one is more likely huh? If I suspected every single person who told me that half my family and all of my friends would be suspects."

Damn, Chrom's a lot smarter than I give him credit for.

"Well, you could be right on the last one," I chuckle. "So…how's Ylisstol like? Unless I do something incredibly stupid I believe that I'm going to be staying there for the foreseeable future."

"Well…I'm not sure how to describe it," Chrom sighs. "It's…honestly the only place that I've ever truly known. I haven't been to very many other cities, and certainly not to any outside of Ylisse. I…don't have anything to compare it to. Plus, I'm rather well off. I don't know how the common people live. What about you?"

"Well, I was a patrician of Rome…but my family wasn't all too well off. Certainly nowhere to the extent that the Julii and the Antonii Gens are. We lived a…modest life, I suppose," I shrug, letting Terentius take over. I'd rather not talk about my own past, all things considered. The simple word 'skyscraper' might cause Chrom's head to explode. "Before I was found by Konstantine, I was elected a Senator, riding off Imperator Scipio's achievements. Only the lowest rank, of course, but still, a Senator. I thought I would be going forward with that life…but…well, everything happened."

Chrom gives me a calm and knowing look.

"Nothing truly ever happens as we expect them to, huh?" Chrom chuckles.

"No, they do not," I agree. "What happened to you?"

"Well, I wasn't ever expecting to wield this," Chrom gestures to Falchion. "Usually, it's the Exalt who—I mean, it's usually the oldest child who gets to use this weapon. But…my sister refused to use it. I'm…still not sure if it is because she isn't able to or doesn't want to, but I had trained all my life expecting to use a simple steel sword, and based my form on that. Using Fa—I mean this weapon, it's making me rather uncomfortable since it has a rather awkward balance."

Oof, didn't quite catch yourself there, Chrom. Just realised that I didn't know who you were, huh?

"Huh…that's rather different from what I had in mind…" I shrug, pressing his mistake. I'd rather him admit it now than later, since I'm terrible at faking expressions. "Thought you were some lesser noble, but eh, I suppose Lissa's attitude isn't too different from a rebellious princess."

"Well, she does act like that…some…times…" Chrom nods in agreement, but then slowly turns his head towards me with a face of sheer shock and surprise on his face. "Wait…Wait a moment—When? How?"

"You did mention the exalt was the leader of Ylisse a couple of days back," I shrug. "With that in mind, the fact you corrected yourself to 'eldest child' after saying exalt suggests at least familiarity. Also, I was right? That was just a wild guess with a lot of assumptions," I try to give my best surprised face, which really isn't much, but thankfully, Chrom falls for it.

"R—Right…" Chrom sighs. "Could…Could you keep it a secret for now? And please, don't treat either me or Lissa as a royal. The courtesans and attendants in the castle do that too much already…"

"No problem," I give Chrom a thumbs up, to which he smiles. "Come on, let's get moving. I want to see Robin's face when she finds out what exactly a city is."

Chrom grins back. I see that mischievousness runs in the family. Oh man, I'm starting to hope that Marc's father isn't Chrom; that combination would be fatal.

---

"There…are…so…many…people," I'm pretty sure that Robin's jaw must have gained an unnatural affection for the ground, because humans are not supposed to have their mouth that open. "T—This is more people than I have ever seen in my life!"

"Well, this is the largest city…" I mutter, but I'm drowned out by the sound of the crowds.

Ylisstol…isn't anything out of the ordinary, city wise. Sure, for me, a person who's used to living in the twenty-first century, it's rather confusing and alien, but for Terentius, a person who is used to living in mid-classical Rome, it's a rather pleasant place to be.

The streets are cobbled rather than paved, and while I would normally be stepping in all of the holes between the rocks, Terentius navigates it rather well. I do, of course, still step in smaller holes that I think can be stepped over. Robin is having a harder time with the cobbled street, but even then it's not that bad.

The buildings themselves are as you'd expect: built two to three stories tall with a post Fall of Rome styled mediaeval italian architecture that you can still see in the historical quarters of places like Venice and Milan. The streets…oh gods, thank whoever built a working sewer system, since they're cleaner than some American cities. There is no poop on the floor. John Snow (of Medical Society of London fame) would be proud.

That being said, the place we've entered is quite obviously a merchant's quarter, since the number of stalls and small shops being set up on the edge of the rather large street is staggering. The amount and variety of different wares that can be purchased too, is impressive. Not Constantinople during the reign of Justinian impressive, mind you, but impressive nonetheless.

And yes, they do sell Honey Fritters. Yes, I do want some. No, I don't think they accept whatever currency Konstantine gave me or the couple thousand soul coins that I have. At least I turned some coins into gold bars with the Alchemical Compendium (that Konstantine customly made for me so that I, a non-wizard, could use it) in my bag.

We move along, going past the wonderful stall that sells Honey Fritters that make a rather heavenly aroma. I am so very tempted to go and buy some, but I resist the urge.

Just in time, too, since I believe that blonde-haired lass poking her head over the crowd is the Exalt herself, Emmeryn Lowell.

"Look! The exalt has come to see us!" And there's the line. As much as things change, some things will always stay the same. This is just one of those things, I guess.

Emmeryn is doing Emmeryn things, you know, being a caring monarch and all-around good and decent human being. Honestly, I can get why Robin's so concerned; anyone can just go up and stab her, and there's really nothing stopping them other than a rather flimsy robe.

"Hmmm…Isn't the exalt your ruler?" Robin frowns as she looks over at the current reigning monarch.

"That is correct," Frederick nods his head. "Her name is Lady Emmeryn."

"Hold on, is it…safe for her to walk like that? Without any guards?" Robin's frown deepens as she has to stand on the tips of her foot in order to see the exalt.

"The exalt is a symbol of peace—Ylisse's most prized quality. Long ago, at the dawn of our age, the fell dragon tried to destroy the world. But the first exalt joined forces with the divine dragon and laid the beast low. Exalt Emmeryn reminds us all of the peace we fought for then," Frederick explains in a rather large lore drop. "Nobody within Ylisse has even an inkling of a thought to harm her."

Well, that's probably an exaggeration. I'm sure a lot of low-lifes would love nothing more than to take a crack at her.

"With Plegia poking at our borders, the people need her. She's a calming presence, when some might otherwise call for war," Chrom continues on, right as the script demands. I'm…not quite sure when exactly he's allowed to deviate from the script, or these are just coincidences that stack up.

As for the actual content of what he's saying, well, Terentius has something to say about it. I…honestly don't. Unlike Terentius, I hate war. But, since he's a Roman, Terentius feels that wars are necessary and when fought for the correct reasons, is a good thing.

I suppress the urge to argue with Chrom. The script is moving along, and I really, really want to see Robin's face when Lissa's line comes up.

"Then the Ylissean people are indeed lucky to have her," Robin nods her head.

"And! She's also the best big sister anyone could ask for!" Lissa grins a bright, sunny smile and waves at Emmeryn. Unfortunately for the young princess, the exalt does not catch the quick show of familiarity and her greeting goes unnoticed and unrequited.

"Hmmm…" Robin nods to herself. "I would think so. If she's this nice to her subjects, then she would be an excellent…sister…wait a moment…"

Oh man! That face! I wish I could describe it, but I can't! All I can say is that it's completely and utterly hilarious! I now know why Lissa loves to play pranks on Robin! It's absolutely hysterical! Her face! Her face!

Oh man, I'm barely holding my laughter. I can hear Sully trying her best behind me as well, while Lissa isn't doing so well. Chrom and Virion and handling it much better, but I can see cracks forming in Chrom's defence. Frederick is a brick wall. Enough said.

"Wait wait…but that would make…so you two are…" Robin starts to panic a little. "Oh Naga! I'm so sorry! I didn't know that you two were royalty! Uh, do I have to kneel or something? Oh, what have you gotten yourself into now, Robin!"

Her wailing finally breaks both me and Lissa, Sully having fallen quite a long time ago.

Oh man, I haven't laughed this hard for a while.

"You said you were shepherds!" Robin cries out.

"We—pfft—are! We just have…uh…a lot of sheep," Chrom nods his head.

"Augh! Chrom—ack! Apologies, Prince Chrom! I was not aware of your royal lineage! Please, forgive my transgressions!" Robin goes to prostrate on the ground, but is stopped by a laughing Chrom.

"Please, just Chrom is fine. I…don't really care about formalities," Chrom chuckles.

"R—Right…" Robin calms down slightly, only for her face to contort into a mask of realisation and horror. "H—Hold on a minute…did all of you know? Even you, Terence?"

This…this makes everyone break into laughter again. Everyone except for Frederick, that is.

"Well…it was quite obvious…" I say between spouts of laughter. "I mean seriously, who herds sheep in heavy armour?"

"That's—"

"Alright, alright," Frederick sighs, breaking up the conversation. "Lady Emmeryn is heading inside the castle now. We'd best be leaving as well."

"Oh, she's going back to the palace? Would everyone like to meet her?" Chrom grins at us after a moment of pause in order to let the laughter pass.

The two votes of affirmative from me and Robin allow us entry into the castle ground. Honestly, that was a lot easier than I expected.

---

"Chrom, Lissa, welcome home," Emmeryn's voice is soothing and calm, a rather mature contrast to the raging hormonal barely-adult that Chrom is and the just-beginning-to-be-a-teenager that Lissa is. She's decked out in full royal regalia, which means that weird headpiece that looks suspiciously like a Orthodox saint's halo circles her head. "Oh, and good day to you as well, Frederick. How fair you all?"

"Well," Chrom grins. "We won't be having bandit problems for a while now."

"That is wonderful. What of the people?" Emmeryn nods her head slightly.

"Safe as they can be, Emm. But we still need to watch the borders. The brigands crossed over from Plegia," Chrom sighs.

"Forgive me, milord. My pegasus knights should have intercepted them," Philia shakes her head and bows from behind Emmeryn, reminding me that she exists. Man, she really got thrown in the trash relevance-wise, huh?

"No, Phila. Your duty was here, with the exalt," Chrom shakes his head. "If we lose Emm, we lose everything."

"And plus, it's not like we didn't have any help!" Lissa grins brightly, gesturing towards Robin and me.

"Ah, you speak of your new companions?" Emmeryn gives the two of us a slight smile.

"Yes. This is Robin…er, we're not quite sure what her last name is, or even if she has one," Chrom scratches the back of his head and shoots the white-haired tactician a questioning glance, to which Robin shakes her head. "We found her on the outskirts of Southtown."

"M—M'lady," Robin does her best curtsy, but it comes off incredibly awkward really.

"And this is…er…" Chrom seems to be struggling with my name, so I fill in for him.

"Septimus Terentius, Lucii Filius, Publii Nepos, Aqulius Aurelius," I introduce myself with a proper bow, which just seems to amuse Emmeryn. "A pleasure to meet you, Exalt."

"That…was a different name than you said to us…" Robin frowns.

"It's my full name, filiation and all," I shrug. "Literally speaking, it means 'Seventh child of Gens Terentii, the Golden Eagle, of Lucius the son, of Publius the Grandson'. Though, I'd prefer it if you called me Terence."

Terentius goes on autopilot explaining the intricacies of the Roman name, which I just let happen. It'll give more credence to my story that I'm not from this country.

"Well, Terence, it is a pleasure to meet you as well. I take it that their help allowed you to swiftly solve the issues plaguing the countryside?" Emmeryn smiles.

"Er—yes," Chrom nods. "They fought bravely against the bandits. I've decided to make them both Shepherds."

"It appears that Ylisse owes both of you a great debt of gratitude," Emmeryn's gaze shifts from me to Robin, and back again. If I didn't know better, I'd think that she's silently judging us.

"Really, there's no need for you to feel indebted to us," I shake my head.

"Y—Yeah! We did what was right," Robin nods in agreement. "Anyone would have done the same if you put them in our position.

"Forgive me, Your Grace, but I must speak. Robin claims to have lost her memory, but it is only that: a claim. We cannot rule out the possibility that he is a brigand herself or even a Plegian spy," Frederick pipes up. "Furthermore, Terence claims to be able to see the future, and while he has been proven correct on two separate occasions, I would like to point out that there is a possibility that he orchestrated everything."

Emmeryn blinks at that sudden accusation, and tilts her head at us.

"Frederick!" Chrom hisses. "Not now!"

"Yet…" Emmeryn continues. "You let him into the palace, Chrom. Do they have your trust?"

"Without a doubt," Chrom nods. "Robin saved my life, and Terence is the only reason we even knew of the dangers to come."

"Well then, you two," Emmeryn gives us the biggest smile that I've ever seen her give, yet there are no teeth showing. Does she just…not open her mouth very much when she smiles? "You have earned Chrom's trust, and thus you have earned mine."

"Milady, I must protest," Frederick insists. "There are some misgivings that—"

"Frederick!" Chrom snaps at his knights. "Not now! We can discuss any concerns you have later."

"Milord," Frederick bows slightly.

"But thank you, Frederick," Emmeryn smiles again. I've realised that she does that a lot. "As always, for your prudence, as always. Chrom and Lissa are blessed to have such a tireless guardian. I do hope they remember to mention that from time to time…"

"They…express something approximating gratitude…occasionally," Frederick sighs. "On a more sombre note, Your Grace. Phila, I assume you've heard about the deathly creatures we encountered, yes?"

"Indeed, M'lord," Phila nods her head. "They've been sighted all over Ylisse."

"No…" Chrom mutters. "They can't have…you know anything about this, Terence?"

Wait, hold on, what? Me?

"Wuh?" I make a confused sound as I'm snapped from my thoughts. "Come again?"

"Well, since you said you've fought something similar to these beasts before," Chrom explains. "I was hoping you'd know more about them?"

At this, both Phila and Emmeryn turn to look at me. Emmeryn is giving me a rather warm glance that makes me comfortable, but that comfort is quickly broken by Phila's cold and judging stare.

Brrr…If I didn't know better, I'd think that Phila is trying to cast a silent spell at me.

"Well…" I scratch my chin. How much should I tell them?

No, but seriously, how much of the truth should I reveal? Too much, and I'll sound suspicious as fuck. Too little, and I'll sound cryptic and suspicious as fuck. I need to strike a balance between the two.

Or…I can add some details about the Risen themselves, and fill in the rest from the undead I've actually encountered, and fib my way out of this. There's isn't enough worldbuilding in Awakening to truly get a grasp of what the fuck Risen and the Deadlord are anyhow.

Yeah, that's probably a good idea. I'm guessing that the Risen are reasonably similar to traditional undead, and I can probably fill in some details from bonewalkers, even if they're from another game.

"I've never encountered these specific forms of undead, but they're similar enough to 'The Risen' that I've fought before," I start my explanation. "I believe that they're caused by an excess of Necromantic Magic, or the leftover souls tainting the world of the living. Now, I'm not sure if there's a prominent necromancer who recently passed away or if your God of the Dead is having a fit, but that's usually how large numbers of undead are summoned without a specific necromancer."

"However—" I continue— "Considering that they came out of portals rather than rising from the ground, I have a different theory."

At this point, I look around the room. Most of the people here have already stopped paying attention, with the rather important exceptions of Robin, Frederick, and Phila. Maybe Emmeryn. Can't tell, her expression doesn't change too much.

"Do go on," Phila urges me to continue.

"Right. Considering the portals and everything, I have a rather large hunch that they're actually not occurring naturally and that there's someone out there sending large swarms of them through to your world," I propose. "Honestly, considering 'Marth' and their role in everything, it seems rather likely. I would watch out for any signs of these portals, and if at all possible, try to close them back up again."

I let this information sink in for a while. It takes some time, but two questions are raised in quick succession.

"Marth? As in the Hero-King?"

"Why 'The Risen'?"

I start with the second question, because that one doesn't really matter too much.

"Because they're made from existing corpses rather than being conjured by magic," I inform them. "They're harder to deal with since they can usually take corpses they created by you know, killing people, and replenish their ranks that way."

Emmeryn, Frederick, and Phila grimace. I think I know what they all thought about.

"Will you all be safe?" Emmeryn asks. "These…Risen sound incredibly dangerous."

"Thankfully, Risen are usually incredibly stupid. The souls have long evacuated the body, so the mind has nothing to work off of except for direct orders from the summoner, and if there is none, then the animal's base instincts," I shake my head. "So fighting isn't a problem so long as we don't get swarmed."

"M'lady," Philia suddenly speaks up. "There is a council meeting occurring in a few minutes. While it is important that we get as much information as possible, it would not be due to be late for the meeting."

"That is right…" Emmeryn sighs. "We shall have to speak some other time. Chrom, I will need you during this meeting."

"Whu? I mean, of course," Chrom blinks in surprise as he's shaking out of his thoughts.

"Oh! Since you two are both becoming shepherds, there's a place I have to show you guys!" Lissa practically squeals.

Oh boy, it's time to meet the rest of the shepherds. And hopefully get a warm bath, because man am I filthy. I cannot believe I just stood in front of a monarch without at least bathing first.

---

I didn't realise how large the castle really is. Because it took us a long while to get from wherever the audience chamber or whatever the hell we were just in, to the barracks, and that was with Lissa's constant urging for all due haste. I seriously do not want to get lost here. I could be walking in circles for weeks without even realising, and this is coming from the person who figured the way out of a shifting labyrinth!

The castle itself is rather…well, lame isn't quite the right word, but it's rather plain. There isn't much decoration, and certainly much different from the palaces of the Demon Princes. Well, I guess that's to be expected, really. Unlike Asmodeus, Ylisse doesn't have a near-infinite workforce of damned souls to work the plains of the 7th circle.

That's not to say there aren't any decorations. There's the usual stuff, banners, rugs, rather large windows, the normal stuff that you'd expect in a castle. What I am saying is there aren't any 3-story tall fountains of pure, edible, gold spewing pure wine every other corner. Man, Beelzebub's castle was one hell of a trip. If not for the fact that everyone saw it and I even managed to get some film, I'd think that I had accidentally ingested some sort of hallucinogen.

Anyhow, I'm getting rather off topic. I didn't count, but it honestly felt like it took a couple of hours to navigate through the castle in order to get to the shepherd's barracks. It was a lot quicker when Chrom led me through the caste! Or maybe that was Frederick, I'm not sure.

We finally arrive at a large oak door after way too long of a time walking, during which Lissa tried to make conversation with Robin that made little to no sense to me. Something about hair care products? What…kinds of hair products does Ylisse even have? Have they invented synthetic chemicals yet? I really hope they have, honestly, since some WD-40 is going to help immensely with anything I try to make. As they say, if it doesn't move and it's supposed to, add more WD-40 until it does. And if that doesn't work, just use a hammer.

But I digress. Lissa takes no time at all to open the door with enough force that I can feel the agony-filled howls of the pins holding the doors on their hinges as they struggle under the vibrational and kinetic strain. I have a sudden compulsion to fix said hinges, but it passes as soon as it appears, leaving me more than a little perplexed.

"Here we are!" Lissa grins at us as Robin and I are allowed to see into the Shepherd's Barracks after the violent removal of the doors. "The Shepherd's Garrison! Make yourselves at home!"

As this happens, three pairs of eyes turn towards us. They belonged to Vaike, Maribelle, and Sumia. It's honestly quite amusing seeing the differing reactions that each of them have towards us: Vaike first has a rather surprised look on his face, but it quickly turns into a great big grin when he sees Lissa, Sumia is looking around behind us, obviously checking for and failing to find any sign of Chrom, and Maribelle, which more contained than the other two, has a noticeable shift in her facial features when she sees Lissa.

"Lissa, my treasure!" Maribelle runs at a speed that I would not expect a woman of her usual stature to run at. Look, riding a horse is tiring, but it uses completely different muscles from sprinting, alright? "Are you alright? I've been on pins and needles!"

Maribelle ends her 5 metre dash by slamming into Lissa and engulfing her in a massive hug, using the leftover momentum to spin the small princess around like a small top. It's rather amusing to watch, but really it's just a swirl of blonde hair going all over the place. Amusing, yes, but not a spectacle. If you wanted to see something of that sort, you should have seen Antonii trying and failing to shove thirty eggs into his mouth without breaking any.

It takes a moment, but the hurricane of hair subsides and Lissa has a rather large smile on her face.

"Oh! Hey, Maribelle!"

"Oh hey yourself!" The troubadour pouts. "I've sprouted fourteen grey hairs worrying about you!"

Lissa finally frees herself from the tight hug, and giggles at Maribelle's worried face.

"Aw, you worry too much!" She smiles. "I can handle a battle or two…though I could really do without the bugs…and the bear barbecue…"

I shake my head slightly at this statement. The bear was delicious. I really don't understand what's so wrong with it. Might just be the Garūm speaking, though.

"Hey, squirt!" Vaike suddenly cuts in. "Where's Chrom? I bet he had a rough time out there without ol' Teach and his trusty axe!"

At this, Lissa suppresses a slight laugh. I have to admit, so do I, but for a different reason. Lissa's probably laughing at Vaike's…well, Vaikeness, while I'm trying not to laugh at the situation. Vaike…isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, and he really doesn't realise the absolute shitstorm that he managed to miss. I doubt he would have had the best of times with the Risen, especially with his 'smash first, ask questions later' mentality.

"Oh, so you're "Teach" now, Vaike, is that it?" Lissa giggles. " And here I thought people were just born lacking wits. It can be taught?"

"Ha! Of course! Never doubt the Vaike!" The man in question gives Lissa a shit-eating grin, before it morphs into a face of confusion. "…Hold on a moment, was that an insult?"

That last statement causes Lissa to burst into a new fit of laughter, which only seems to infuriate Vaike more.

"I've never actually heard someone refer to themselves in the third person…" I mutter to myself as I witness the absolute verbal beatdown that Lissa is currently delivering to Vaike, a man half a decade older than her.

Sure, we've gone a bit off script, but damn is it funny.

"Neither have I…" Robin agrees, causing me to blink a bit in confusion as I was not expecting someone to hear my mutterings.

"Not to be insulting or anything, but I completely agree with Lissa on this one," I chuckle. "When you refer to yourself in the third person, it really doesn't do the perception of your intelligence any favours."

Robin giggles a little bit and smiles slightly, before she returns to a tight-lipped stare.

Now, that's weird.

"What's wrong?"

"Wha—What do you mean?"

"Well," I take a deep breath. "You're usually more…happy than this? Definitely less focused on whatever's ahead of you. Your expression is concerningly similar to the one you had when I asked you to come up with a plan in Southtown."

"It is?" Robin blinks in surprise and turns to face me.

"It is," I nod my head. "Something on your mind?"

"I…" She bites the bottom of her lip. "I mean, it's not like you're not going to know anyway…Chrom…decided to choose me as the Shepherd's tactician."

"That's great, isn't it? You've found a place to stay, despite losing your memories,"

"Y—Yeah, I have," Robin agrees. "But…on the other hand, I feel this…intense pressure on me, you know? Like, everyone in front of me, they're depending on me when we're on the battlefield…and if I fail, then…"

There's no need to finish that sentence; we both know what Robin means by it.

"That's a fear we all have, unfortunately," I chuckle sadly. It's…wasn't meant to have much meaning behind it, but some memories of Terentius's start floating up to the surface, and it rather unnerves me.

"Did you…lead the shepherds once?" Robin tilts her head.

"Something like that," I reply. "I once had the honour of being the chief 'planmaker', as Jugen called it, of a small band of journeymen and adventurers. Not too different, really, from the shepherds, except our expedition was bankrolled by an Eladrin with more time, money, and free time than sense."

"Oh…well, shouldn't you be…leading again? You certainly have the experience,"

Ah, crap. I should not have mentioned that. Uh—random excuse number I-have-no-idea, go?

"Really? Why the hell would I be here if that had worked out," I guess random excuse number I-have-no-idea is just letting Terentius take the wheel. "Plus, I'm just a tired man who's just trying to find a way through a rather large and honestly completely confusing world."

"Come on. You're only twenty-four,"

"Twenty-six. And even then, that's only how long the body has been around," I shake my head. "The mind…it's seen a lot more. Don't worry too much, Robin. You can't fail more than I did. If I see you making any mistakes I did, I'll correct you. Other than that, I trust that you'll do a wonderful job."

This silences Robin for a moment before she nods her head.

You know…I'm starting to think that just letting Terentius take the reins once in a while is not too big of a problem, if at all. He seems smarter than I am, and is probably a better speaker anyhow. Oh, who am I kidding? He literally is! I rolled way too good on my starting dice rolls for that to not be the case.

A few more moments of Vaike harassment later, the doors once again are opened, this time by a rather confused looking Chrom.

"Hello, everyone. I see that you two were able to make it to the barracks," He smiles at us.

Aww, we're already at this point? I wanted to see Vaike belch!

"Ah, Captain!" Sumia suddenly turns towards the blue-haired prince. "You've returned! I was—er, I mean—we were so—"

Standing up quickly from the chair she was sitting on, Sumia suddenly sways hard to one side as she tries and fails to correct her balance. Instead, she decides to try and salvage the situation by walking forward, which just makes the pitching worse.

With a rather loud crash, she slips on something on the floor and tumbles onto the ground in a pile of limbs and hair, causing everyone to wince.

"You alright?" I offer as she tries to stand back up, hissing at the pain and rubbing her elbows.

"Sumia…those new boots?" Chrom adds with a shake of his head.

"Y—Yeah…No—I mean yes! Yes to both questions!" Sumia nods her head rapidly in panic.

"Milord," Maribelle bows slightly. "It brings me great joy to see you well after your trip. Also, may I ask who the newcomers are? They have been standing in the back of the room, talking amongst themselves."

Chrom blinks a couple of times, before sighing.

"Yeah, me too, Maribelle. Lissa, did you not introduce Robin and Terence?"

The blonde-haired princess perks up at this.

"Hmmm? Oh! Sorry, I completely forgot!" She giggles and prances back to the front of the room with a 'teehee' expression on her face. "I was too busy complementing 'teach' on how he teaches his class of witlessness."

Vaike's reaction to the rather obvious insult is slower than one would expect.

"Is that what he's calling himself now…?" Chrom raises an eyebrow.

"So, Captain, who are the new recruits?"

"Well, I wouldn't say recruits," Chrom scratches the back of his head. "Everyone, please welcome Robin and Terence—"

He gestures towards us as he calls our names.

"Robin is a brilliant tactician, and I've decided to make her our new tactician. Naga knows we need one with all of the antics we get up to," Chrom continues with his introduction with a rather big grin. "Terence here is an experienced fighter and an even more experienced builder. Expect a lot more crazy coming out of Miriel's room from now on."

"Ho…? A tactician?" Maribelle walks up to Robin and smiles slightly. "Goodness, what did you do to the poor girl to get her to join us?"

"Nothing! I swear!"

"Ah…Chrom found me sleeping in a field, and I've lost my memories," Robin smiles meekly and tries to take a step back from Maribelle's intense stare, but the blonde Duchal Heiress takes a step forward with a frown. "That's why I decided to join the shepherds…"

"Huu…and I thought he had managed to find someone educated…" Maribelle huffs and turns back around. "And you?"

It takes me a few moments before I realise that she's talking about me, and when she does, I blink rapidly in surprise. Was not expecting…well, much attention, really.

"Me?" I take a moment to answer. "Well, I attended military and medical university. Is that educated enough?"

Maribelle sniffs and walks away to…somewhere deeper in the barracks.

After the blonde hair of the duchess is no longer visible, Robin takes a slight breath and sighs.

"Don't take it to heart, Robin. Maribelle warms to people slowly," Sumia offers.

"Or burns too quickly! But yeah, just give her time," Lissa agrees. "And you, big brother, is there any news from the council meeting that I couldn't attend?"

"Oh, the council hasn't finished yet," Chrom blinks. "I'm only here to pick up Terence and Robin to bring them to testify in front of the council."

This causes the rest of the room to stare at him in silence.

"I…should probably get on that…" Chrom nods, grabbing me and Robin's shoulders and walking us out of the door.

---

"So, how do you two think about everything?" Chrom smiles as we make our way towards the conference rooms.

"Chrom…I…do want to ask…" Robin sighs. "Do you really think I'm the best pick for a tactician?"

"Why not?" Chrom frowns. "It was your orders that kept us alive. And you have a lot of tricks up those massive sleeves of yours."

"Well…I…don't think I have any experience…" Robin explains. "I don't remember ever leading anyone…everything I know is only in theory…"

"Well, that's the thing, isn't it?" Chrom sighs. "Nobody in the shepherds has learned the theory, much less practised it. You're the best we've got, and I personally think you'll do fine."

"Not…everyone," Robin shakes her head. I instantly know what she's going to say, and prepare a response. "Terence has led people before."

"I have done so, but I was never taught how to," I shake my head. "I know how to lead a group of adventures to not die a horrible death, not how to run a military organisation. I might have been the Master of the Artillery, but that just meant I was in charge of all of the siege equipment and cannons."

"See?" Chrom smiles. "You're still the best choice. I believe in you."

"So do I," I add in with a nod. "You're going to do better than I ever will."

Robin still doesn't look too convinced, but she nods her head slightly.

"And also, how much experience do you have?" Chrom frowns at me.

"Fighting or leading?" I ask for more information. It's mostly Terentius talking at this point, and he's not sure what exactly that Chrom is asking for.

"Well, both," Chrom scratches the back of his neck. "The shepherds are seriously hurting for experienced soldiers and commanders. I talk a big game about us, but most of us with the exception of Frederick and myself haven't fought anything more than the common bandit. If the situation devolves into something worse…well, it certainly wouldn't help to have a battle-hardened veteran and a knowledgeable tactician."

Ah. I'm…not sure Chrom should be sharing this with me, a stranger, but I'm not going to complain. At the very least, Chrom sees that the shepherds won't be able to hold up to the Plegian army, especially without an army of their own to hold the line. I think he's making sure that I'm someone that they can rely on, a veteran to anchor everyone else to.

Considering Terentius's actions during the Risen attack, I can sort of see where that comes from. I don't know why I would be chosen for that role when Frederick exists, but I suppose it makes sense. I'm the only person who has faced these kinds of creatures before, nevermind that it's only Terentius that did so, and that not too long ago, Valm had to deal with Bonewalkers, and having a person like that to help develop your national defence policy on would be rather invaluable.

There's a couple of issues I see with that plan.

The first is that I don't know or am able to do anything, really. Though I'm in his body, Terentius and I are separate entities, no matter how weird that is. It's…kind of hard to explain without you being in this kind of situation, but imagine yourself doing things that you have no idea why or how you're doing, while at the same time, doing it as if you have every idea in the world what you're doing. It's almost as if there are…two consciousnesses in my body that can feel the emotions and thoughts of the other, and operate in sync. I'm not sure how much of this body is controlled by him, and if somehow he loses control in the middle of a fight, I'm sure that I won't be able to fight back. I've…kinda just been letting Terentius free reign in the two situations that called for his abilities, and politely asking for control back when they were finished. If somehow he decides to leave me up to dry during any kind of physical encounter, I'm more than useless. Not that I think he will; he's rather nice and caring. But it is something to keep in mind moving forward.

The second issue is the lack of experience passed on to the shepherds. I…don't want to win without their help. I don't think I can, not unless I spend a lot of time making some extremely busted magical items, or popping a use of the Wish Spell Ring that Amette managed to sneak off of a Greater Demon, which is something I want to avoid using at all costs. If all they're doing is following my directions, then they won't be able to work out how to fight the Risen by themselves, and then lose out on a lot of experience for the upcoming battle against Grima. Instead, if I let Robin work it out without much help from me, then she'll be able to construct a much better battleplan than I can in the future against the final enemy. But, on the other hand, Robin is inexperienced, and while I don't have nearly as much experience as she does, Terentius assures me that not only is he raring to go, but he's got it relatively handled. He has faced very similar things in the past, and as the Master of Artillery was never too far away from the command tent during meetings.

However, I don't trust Terentius's judgement on this. Robin knows this world much better than either of us, and even he has to concede that point. It would be better to do damage control while Robin gains the experience necessary to become the Grandmaster Tactician that she will eventually be in the future. That way, my beginner-friendly, if you will, experience with the undead will help develop much more late-game focused Robin. That's the strategy that Terentius and I agreed on, in the end. Neither of us are happy with where we ended up, but both of us agree on its effectiveness.

The third and most pressing issue with my inclusion within the Shepherds is my lack of understanding with Ylisse, and the Fire Emblem world in general. Look, paradigm shifts are hard to manage in the best of times, and will lead to depression and suicide in the worst of times. I'm being dropped from a high-tech non magical world into a low-tech, extremely magical world, while Terentius is being ripped from an extremely high-magic world into a (relatively) low magic world. Neither of us understand how this world works, and neither of us understand the implicit rules either. I have no idea how magic would change the inner workings of a world that had enough time for such things to permeate throughout its society. Terentius has no idea how the inner workings of a world that doesn't have an insane amount of magical items that basically turns a mediaeval setting into a space opera. Seriously, have you seen some of the stuff that he can make?

The point is, having someone who completely doesn't understand what is 'normal' and what is 'crazy' is a rather poor idea. Even if Robin lost her memory, she still understands the paradigm in which she exists. I do not. I have to completely re-learn, and Terentius isn't too behind on that either.

Anyhow, all of that is a rather long winded way of saying I really, really don't want to become the strategist for the Shepherds, and Terentius is with me on that.

"I do have some experience leading," I finally answer Chrom after a rather long time of collecting my thoughts. "But I'd rather not, especially not the shepherds."

Before Chrom can ask any questions, I continue with the explanation, with Terentius filling in the details.

"That's not an insult to the Shepherds or anything," I shake my head. "If anything, this decision is made primarily due to my poor commanding abilities. I would much rather have someone who is more talented and has a much brighter military future than I ever could have had."

Chrom sighs and nods his head.

"But for my combat experience…" I shrug. "I'm certainly experienced in how to fight. You can trust me on that front."

"Well, let it be known that I tried," Chrom chuckles, throwing his arms into the air.

"Tried?"

"Yeah. Phila was pushing for me to assign you as the Tactician of the Shepherds," Chrom grins.

"Even if you did, I wouldn't accept," I chuckle back. "I'm too old and tired for that. Let me work on my machines in peace."

"What does the council want from the two of us, anyway?" Robin suddenly speaks up. She's been relatively quiet throughout this entire exchange. Considering her earlier statements, she's probably thinking of a way to have me accept the leadership role. I mean, it does look like I'm forcing it on her, huh?

"Oh, not much, really," Chrom shrugs. "They want to ask you two a bunch of questions, and Emm—er, the exalt, Emmeryn, wanted to truly meet the two of you."

"An interview," I snort. "A pleasure, Milord. If you had warned me earlier, I could have changed into something much more appropriate."

"No, I don't think there's a need for that," Chrom smiles. "It's a rather informal meeting, with only the Exalt's closest advisors in attendance. It'll feel weird if you showed up with a suit."

A suit, huh…that's what Chrom immediately thought of when I said 'appropriate.' That's good to know…I still want to wear a toga…half because of Terentius's habits and half because damn togas look good.

And speaking of the Exalt's 'closest advisors', I wonder if the Hierophant is included within that number. Depending on how close that man is to Emmeryn, his future betrayal will have to be dealt with in other ways…

…if I even want to deal with it at all. I'm pretty sure it's Emmeryn's death that causes the first war with Plegia to be won so quickly. If I get rid of that, I have no idea how long it will take to actually win that first war, which might mean the Valmese invasion might have a rather unwanted effect on the continent while we're still trying to put out the fires that Gangrel the Mad set.

Argh, so much to do and think about, and not enough time! I'll deal with that later, I still have to get through the Feroxi championships, Emmeryn's assassination, and a myriad of different paralogues first! One step at a time, Terence, or else you'll drown yourself in your plans!

"Well, that's good. I haven't had the time to clean…well, any part of myself," I grumble.

"Neither have I," Robin adds. "There is a bathhouse here, correct?"

"Yes, there is," Chrom nods. "I'll show you two where it is after the meeting; I'm sure you two both want to unpack and destress from the trip. Ah, speak of Grima and you shall see six eyes, we're here!"

Is that really an expression in Ylisse? Well, every single European language has a similar expression to 'speak of the devil', so I guess it makes some sense? Some? Oh well, it is what it is.

Chrom shows us to a rather inconspicuous door in the side of a hall. He wasn't kidding when he said that this was just Emmeryn's closest advisors, since when the door opens, there is a grand total of six people in the rather small room.

Of the faces I recognize, there are the Exalt, Emmeryn, with her retainers, Phila and Frederick. The latter two are standing behind the Exalt, who is sitting in the most predominant position, at the centre of the table facing the door. Which means, the moment that we enter the small room, she's able to set eyes on us, while the other three, which I assume are her advisors, have to turn their heads in order to look at us.

One is a rather young-looking man with blonde hair cut in a short, military-style fashion. I'm guessing some kind of military advisor? Especially with what looks to be a rather fancy late 16th century military outfit. This makes…less sense than I would want it too, since Emmeryn hates the military. So, it's rather disconcerting to someone who basically embodies the stereotypical late-mediaeval-slash-early-renaissance military body of a state so well. Oh well, I'd rather make a thousand and one assumptions before I get any real evidence other than circumstantial coincidences.

The other man looks like a rather old and tired administrator. A long white beard that seems to be well kept until it got too big and then was just given up on sits with little contrast to a head of balding silver hair. I would not be surprised if this man has served as an advisor to two previous exalts, and just really wants to retire. He certainly has that look on his face.

The last person is a woman with red hair with a stern look that just looks like she'll open up a can of whoop-ass on you the moment you step out of line. Honestly, she looks like Cordelia's mom, if she was a bit older. No, maybe not mother. A young aunt? An older cousin? You get the idea.

"Hello, Emm! I'm back. Sorry it took so long, I got a bit distracted," Chrom smiles. "Oh, right, I haven't introduced anyone yet."

"Everyone, this is Terence and Robin, the newest recruits to the Shepherds. Terence, Robin, you've already met my sister, Frederick, and Phila and these three are my sister's closest advisors." Chrom continues by pointing at the three as he calls their name. "Duke Marland d'Themis, Duke of Themis. He is also the father of Maribelle d'Themis, who you have already met. This is Josef Immaticus, the Royal Architect. His job is to make sure the city runs smoothly. The last but certainly not least is Marie of Frigia, Marchioness of the March of Frigia."

I bow slightly when my name is called, while Robin fumbles slightly with her reaction. Well, it seems that I'll be starting my diving into politics a lot earlier than I expect, and Terentius a lot later than he expected.

I just hope it goes well.

---

(Chrom)

During the first council meeting, I had expected it to go like all of the others had: short and to the point. While technically the Exalt could not do anything without the permission of the council, many previous Exalts had eaten away at the council's power until it was a body without any real power, the only reason for its existence to rubber stamp the Exalt's decisions.

So, when the council devolved into an extremely heated debate over what exactly to do with the twin threats of the Risen and the Plegian marauders, it surprised me.

I believe it surprised a good number of those in that room too. We certainly did not expect Hierophant Pius to push so hard against a retaliation against Plegia. I suppose the Risen do represent a massive threat to the Halidom, and focusing on it would do us much better in the short term.

Whatever the case is, the council meeting dragged on a lot longer than anyone expected to, and in the end Emm adjourned it for the day to meet with the much smaller six that truly made the decisions in the Halidom, which included me.

All that being said, that meeting had also gone rather sideways. Oh, we all agreed on many things: Plegia and the Risen both had to be dealt with, that the shepherds will have to take an extremely active role, and both Robin and Terence would be very useful assets to help with both of the above.

However, what exactly they would do was completely up in the air.

Phila had always wanted more militarily experienced men within the shepherds, and Terence fit that bill perfectly. His ramrod posture, his sharp eyes, and his diligent gaze all were signs of previous military service. She is the biggest proponent of Terence's addition to the Shepherds, and for him to take a leading role.

Marie has a similar view. A veteran career pegasus knight that finished her service some years ago, she had never been onboard with the complete demilitarisation of Ylisse from the beginning, and had seen the Shepherds as a way to at least have a competent force of armed personnel in case of armed conflict starting with any of our neighbours. On the other hand, however, being from the March of Frigia, the northernmost and most heavily fortified province of Ylisse, she has always viewed foreigners with suspicion.

Honestly, it's hard to tell where Josef stands. The old man was entering his 80's, and rarely spoke in council meetings nowadays. He was instrumental in ensuring that Ylisse survived economically during the aftermath of Father's death and the subsequent recovery from the last war. Without him, it's likely that Emmeryn wouldn't be on the throne right now. Even with all of that power, he has kept his hand away from what he knows: the economy and the administration of the nation. While usually the easiest to predict, he's the wildest card in play here. Nobody knows what exactly he thinks of the situation due to his characteristic silence.

Marland has always been a strong ally of Emm's. He looks a lot younger than what his age would imply; he served in the previous war with Plegia as a general yet looks the same age as I do. It was through his influence that the army was disbanded, and he practically managed the foreign policy department all by himself, meeting with diplomats from other countries, trying to save the floundering name of Ylisse in the courts of other nations. He already needed a lot of convincing to even accept the shepherds as a new organisation when we were first created, and no doubt will try and avoid any more militaristic influence on it.

"So these are the new Shepherds, huh, Chrom?" Marie is the first to speak up, breaking her stare on a thoroughly still Robin. "Not what I expected when you said you sound an experienced soldier and a brilliant tactician."

That last comment makes me chafe a little. Robin is a brilliant tactician, you just haven't seen her in action yet!

"They are who I said they would be. Don't be so quick to judge," I shoot back.

"Alright, alright," Marie chuckles. "I was merely jesting, My Lord. A simple joke to lighten the mood a little."

The Frigian gives Robin a toothy grin, which makes my tactician shrink back a little.

"Please, introduce yourselves a little," My sister smiles. "I do believe that our introductions were cut a bit short. I would love to know more about the two of you."

"O—Of course, M—Milady," Robin gulps a little. I frown as Robin begins her statement, her voice racked with stutters. "My name is Robin…I think…and er—Chrom found me lying in a field. I…don't remember much. Lissa says I have amnesia…"

"Amnesia?" Marland tilts his head. "I've heard of it, but I've never actually seen a case of it. Do tell me, what do you remember?"

Robin blinks in surprise for a moment before replying. I'm guessing she wasn't expecting a medical questionnaire as a response.

"Well, nothing concrete…" She finally answers. "I can't remember anything at all."

"Fascinating…you don't remember doing or learning anything but you still know how to do things…I've heard that you know how to use magic, how does it feel?"

"Um…I'm not sure how to answer the question?"

"For most of us, we remember being taught how to use magic. When you use magic, what do you feel?"

"I'm sorry, but—"

"Speaking of which, how is it that you remember how to speak? Wouldn't the total loss of your memories cause that to disappear as well?"

"I don't—"

"Does your amnesia affect your ability to learn new things? Or is it just the loss of memories before you woke up? Are you feeling any different? Do you think you're learning slower?—"

"Alright, alright," It's Terentius who steps in as Marland shoots around a dozen different questions at an increasingly overwhelmed Robin. "Can we leave the medical examination for after the interview? It's making Robin really uncomfortable. Also, the answer to most of your questions is that it really depends on what kind of amnesia Robin has."

"Amnesia has many different types—" The blonde man continues on, much to everyone's surprise. "—and many more causes. Quickly summarising, amnesia is simply the loss of the ability to remember, whether it is old information or newly acquired memories does not matter. The type of memory also matters. For long-term memories, there are two types: Explicit and Implicit. The names should be self-explanatory enough. The most likely kind of memory loss that Robin has is Retrograde dissociative source amnesia. There—"

Terence takes a moment to look around the room and blinks. Everyone…basically stopped paying attention to him, with the exceptions of Marland and Robin. Even Emm, who usually is able to stand a boring lesson, has her eyes glassed over, though I believe I'm the only one who notices it.

"—well, I would explain more, but it appears that I've cultivated some rather dead fish eyes," Terence chuckles with a smile.

"Well, that was certainly a way to introduce yourself," Marie smirks. "Terence, right?"

"That is correct. I apologise for speaking out of line and taking up so much of your time on rather meaningless prattle, but my name is Septimus Terentius Aquilius Aurelius. But, please call me Terence. Terence Aurelian if you feel the need to include two names," The blonde man nods with a smile. "I am just a tired man with a bit too much free time and nowhere really to be. Oh, and I like to make and learn things."

"Well, a rather uninteresting introduction," Marland comments with a slight sigh. "We were told that you were a soldier."

"I was," Terence responds. "But I'm retired now. Served till the end of the war with Carthage. Retired from the military afterwards, and decided to become a senator before fate had other plans for me."

His expression shifts. His eyebrows get closer together, his eyes sharpen ever-so-slightly, and his previously relaxed shoulders tense up. His left arm slowly moves behind his back to grab at something that's not there, which doesn't seem to surprise the man all too much.

"Would you like to share anything about your time as a soldier, then?" Marland continues to ask. "I'm sure we'd all like to hear some stories. Some past glories, maybe?"

"I…have nothing but pain and sorrow to share, unfortunately," Terence shakes his head with a small sad smile. "The only story of that time is of how a young boy was forcibly turned into a man through the butchering of his new-found family for a struggling, desperate, hungry nation. Not something I want to relive."

"I see…" Marland sighs and leans back on his chair. "Understandable, at the very least. How old were you when you joined the army, anyway?"

"Fifteen. Rome needed the men. We had lost too many legions to Hannibal, and with his army still in Italy and Scipio's expedition seen as a suicide mission, many of those who were seen as 'unfit to serve' were selected for his mission instead," Terence elaborates calmly, though his face twitches with an emotion that I'm not quite able to pin down. It's somewhere between sorrow, guilt, and confusion.

"I see…" Marie nods her head. "But you said making things? I've heard that you make…strange tools of magic? Is that correct?"

"Well, tools is certainly one way to describe them," Terence deadpans and reaches for something in his backpack. "If you would allow me…?"

He shoots that last question to Frederick, who moved in front of Emmeryn the moment Terence started to reach for his back.

"Do not—"

"Come on, Frederick. It will be fine," Emmeryn smiles at her knight, and the brown-haired man winces slightly, and steps back. Slightly. He does not look happy doing so.

"Ok…" Terence fiddles around a bit after grabbing a bag from his extremely large backpack and starts to rummage through his bag. "What has an understandable effect but won't cause too much mental or physical damage…?"

For a brief moment, everything seems normal. Terence extracts handfuls of rings and other small trinkets from the bag. Honestly, that in it of itself should have sent red flags as some of the rings should have been impossible to make. Seriously, what the hell was that glass ring with a cork stopper as a signet?

But that would be overshadowed by what happened next.

"Oh hey, a Cleaning Cube. Didn't know I still had one of these. Not the most showy, but hey it'll be cool to—nope nope nope…why the fuck do I still have that? I swore I told Amette to get rid of it," Terence mutters to himself as he first pulls out a small bluish-purple cube around five centimetres in size, but then somehow manages to manifest a large shovel from the bag.

Mind you, the bag is only the size of a fist, and he managed to get a shovel nearly three-quarters my height out of it!

This, obviously, stuns everyone, Robin included.

"Terence? Terence, how?" Robin is the first to respond, putting a hand on the blonde man's shoulder to get his attention when calling his name didn't get his attention. "How did you manage to shove something that big into something that small? And what…are any of the things you just pulled out?"

"Hmmm? Oh, right. The bag is a magic item called a [Bag of Holding]. It's um…" Terence frowns and bites his lips. "I'm not quite sure how it works; Magister Gnaeus never actually taught it how it works, only how to make it. It basically can store anything you put into it as long as you don't exceed a weight or size limit. As for the shovel I just pulled out…I think it's easier to just show you."

Terence sets the shovel on the ground and closes the bag with a small clasp located at its rim. The cube goes into his pocket, and is quickly forgotten about as he unhitches a rather small liquid container made from metal inscribed with some letters that I don't understand, capped by an ivory lid with a strange black material surrounding it.

"Now! That right there is a 'Shovel of the Sea', or as we liked to call it, an 'Anti-Shovel'," Terence gives us a pained grin as he turns the small container over and pops open the lid…but nothing comes out. "Wait, hold on…I've never actually used the smaller settings on this damn thing…flumen, I think?"

The moment Terence says the word, a sudden gush of water is dumped onto the wooden floor, causing everyone, including myself, to jump a little.

It runs out of water rather quickly, but the floor is still completely soaked in water.

"Why did you do that? Do you know how long it takes to—" At this point, Josef speaks up, the old man voicing his disdain of intentional damage to the castle.

"I understand, but there's nothing to worry about. The only thing the damnable shovel is good for is cleaning up water. At the very least it's half decent at it…" Terence grumbles, cutting the old man off. He tucks his small little water canister back into his backpack and picks up the shovel.

Terence then starts using it like a shovel, only it never touches the ground.

Amazingly, water suddenly leaps from the floor into the head of the shovel, which then absorbs it into itself, leaving no trace of the clear liquid behind. Within a couple of, well, shovels, all the water that was on the ground before is completely gone.

Needless to say, everyone's jaws were firmly on the floor. I know mine was.

That was magic of the form that we simply could not comprehend. Robin took it the best, simply looking impressed, but the other people in the room had different expressions of disbelief on their faces.

"This…is that…" Someone in the room speaks the thought that is swarming through everyone's head at this point.

"I know, completely and utterly useless," Terence sighs bitterly. "A simple Shape Water spell could have done a better job without needing to carry a massive shovel, and there are also a myriad of other ways to remove a couple litres of water that don't involve lugging a massive shovel. Don't know why I still have this piece of junk…"

"No…no…" Marland bites his lips. "Are…are your other…what did you call it, magical item? Do they do more impressive things?"

"Of course!" Terence grins. "If…I can find any of the items that actually have those positive useful effects. I'm starting to think Amette didn't dispose of any of the things that I wanted her to dispose of. Would explain why I had to make extra bags of holding…"

"And how much…other stuff, do you have?"

"Enough to fill this room, I think," Terence frowns. "I have…enough magical junk to fill two [Bags of Holding], which is around…four hundred or so kilograms? Probably less since I don't know how full the two bags are…and I'll have to go and sort them…"

"Y—Yes…you do…can I keep the shovel?"

"The shovel? It's honestly a piece of junk. But if you want it so bad…" Terence hands the shovel to Marland, who gingerly accepts. "I don't care what you do with it, just don't actually put it underwater. Then it'll explode, ok?"

The blonde haired duke nods his head vigorously.

"Also, if it starts acting weird or starts talking about random stuff or—you know what? If it does anything that it shouldn't do, just come get me. I have no idea if it's cursed or not,"

"Cursed?"

"Yeah. We found that in a demon's toolbox. I haven't bothered actually checking it since I thought Amette threw it into the Phlegon," Terence shrugs. "Use at your own risk, I guess."

That…did not cause a pleasant reaction in Marland.

---

(Terentius)

"This is my room?" I'm standing in a large suite within the castle.

"Indeed, Master Terence," The maid who was tasked with showing me to my dwellings for the foreseeable future responds with a slight nod to her head. The honorific that she uses with me causes me to cringe slightly. Look, it just makes me feel weird, alright? "Is it not to your liking?"

"No no!" I hurriedly refute her question. "If anything, it's way better than what I was expecting! Um…can I have a moment? If I have this much space, I might as well start unpacking."

"As you wish," The maid quickly yet quietly steps away and closes the door, letting me bask in the glory that is…a large bedroom.

Look, I'm a city man, I'm not used to such luxuries, alright?

The room is rectangular in shape, with one of the long edges curved and holding six large glass windows that provide a massive amount of light, though will probably be annoying to have to close every night. The door is in the bottom left of the room, and the bed is in the middle right, facing the left wall. Said bed is absolutely massive, probably in the King size range if I had to guess.

The only other piece of furniture in the room is a small wooden table with a pair of chairs sitting on a rug in the centre of the room. Other than that, there isn't any other furniture in the room, causing the massive chamber to feel incredibly open, but empty. Honestly, though, that's probably a good thing. I'm probably going to add a lot of furniture to this room, and having this much space to work with is a godsend.

Similarly to the furniture, there aren't very many decorations within the room. Only a small bronze grandfather clock sits on the wall that the door is on, ticking away merrily without a care in the world. Even the walls are painted a bare if soothing bone-vanilla colour.

The best way to describe this room is stock. Everything here feels like it was put in here so this wouldn't be an empty room, and then just left here because nobody needed the room nor the items in it. There are no paintings or portraits hanging off the wall to give it a warm and homely feel. There are no signs of the room being lived in, and the air here is soft and cold, not a sign of life or previous owner.

"Well," I mumble to myself as I set my incredibly oversized backpack onto the stained and polished sycamore hardwood floor. "I better get started on unpacking. The gods know I have way too much junk just crammed up in there."

The first thing I do is take out Dawnbringer from her magical box and set her hilt down on the table before tapping on her pommel to wake her up.

"Rise and shine, Dawn. We've arrived at the place we're going to be staying for the foreseeable future. Well, other than a tent, because I have no doubt that Chrom is going to have us march to Ferox in a bit," I call out quietly as the sentient sword yawns, her golden-yellow blade springing into existence, bright as the morning sun.

[Hmmm? What's a Ferox? Also, this is a really nice room!]

"I know, right?" I grin as I start to grab all six of my [Bags of Holding] out of my backpack and place them on the ground. They're also quite heavy—each [Bag of Holding] is fifteen pounds, no matter what. Together, that's ninety pounds! Er—40.8 kilo for my friends who don't use hamburgers and eagles as units. How the hell am I carrying that much? Easy: Terentius's strength score is 16. That means he can carry 240 pounds—108 kilos—of stuff without breaking a sweat. D&D encumbrance rules, everyone. Terentius with 16 strength can bench press 480 pounds—216 kilos—with little problems.

"It's so nice to have a nice room instead of just a tent, no matter how good that tent is," I nod my head. "And Ferox is a country north of here. Prepare for freezing temperatures."

[Great. You'd better warm my hilt up so I don't accidentally freeze to anything and ruin my varnish.]

"Aren't you practically indestructible?"

[Do you like getting mud on your skin?]

"Alright, that's fair," I nod, conceding the point. "I'm going to start sorting through everything we have, want to help?"

[Thou art doing the impossible.]

"Didn't need to say it in Tudor English, but I know you're right. I'm probably going to end up throwing away or giving away half the stuff we have anyway," I chuckle slightly. I look over to the six small, unassuming bags and the treacherous amount of stuff that they hold. They stare back with more intensity than I could have ever imagined. It's…unsettling.

[I don't understand why you didn't do so earlier.]

"I did! Well, I didn't, I told Amette to do it. I should have figured that girl was a hoarder," I sigh a little. A couple of unpleasant memories come rushing into my mind, but I firmly ignore them and push them out.

[Still your fault.]

"Did the Sun Elves specifically make you to be sarcastic?" I raise an eyebrow as I pick up the bag with the least intimidating label: Pecunia. Money.

[They gave me sentience. Is not enough for one to become sarcastic?]

"Touche…" I groan as I start to retrieve stuff from the bag that I've unclasped. Instead of, well, money and other valuables, I find a ton of bags. Not a literal ton, mind you, but a lot. "How much money did we have?"

[I do believe that Jugen raided an entire room in Mammon's palace.]

Ah. That would explain it. Even a corner of the palace of the Demon Prince of Greed would net you a lot of money, and I have to carry all that money since I have the most space available.

I start to take out more and more bags. Every single bag has a hefty weight to them, and the stuff inside shifts as I take it out. Coin. A bunch of them. Like literally thousands of the damn things. I'm about to open a bag when I remember something incredibly important.

Hell doesn't use gold as a currency. They use soul coins. And a mortal being handling soul coins is…incredibly dangerous. Terentius might have a 20 in Constitution, but that still means he can only hold 5 coins at a time. If this bag has soul coins, Terentius's soil might just explode from handling that many.

Of course, it's fine when we were down in the depths of hell itself, but now? Big problem.

And we had a lot of Soul Coins.

"H—Hey Dawn? Do you remember which bags had Soul Coins and which had normal gold coins?"

[No? But I can probably tell if you let me poke at the bag.]

"With or without your blade?"

[Whichever one you'd like. I get a visceral reaction when I feel trapped souls.]

Ah, forgot about that. I mean, Dawnbringer was made to defeat demons and the undead, so I guess it makes sense.

I finish pulling out the rest of the bags of coins and lay them all on the floor. I count…exactly five dozen bags. That is to say, eighty fucking bags of coins. All things considered, I think I have some…seven thousand coins in here? That's just the gold ones, I think. I have no idea how the fuck you even weigh Soul Coins. How much does a fucking soul weight? It's not like I can just walk up to the nearest Amestrian Alchemist and ask!

"Alright, let's do this thing!" I pump myself up and grab Dawnbringer, who makes a rather girly panicked noise. I think I caught her off guard. "You ready, dawn?"

[Y—Yes? Please tell me when you're going to pick me up…you scared me.]

"Will do. Now, do I just jab you into the bags?"

[That is the jist, yes. Please do so gently, my reaction to Soul Coins is quite…visceral.]

"Will do," I shrug and lightly brush Dawnbringer's hilt up against a random bag—

[AAAAAAAAAAAAAA—]

Ok, when she said visceral she meant visceral. I jerk my hand back as Dawnbringer's hilt heats up to an nearly uncomfortable level of warmth. Her heavy breathing fills my mind as our mental link is filled up by the sound of her panting from exhaustion.

"Y—You ok, Dawn?"

[I—I don't…I don't know? The screaming, the pain, the…oh, mine own lady, wherefore dost thou give thy strongest warriors thy worst battles?]

"You're slipping into Shakespeare again, Dawn. I hated that class, don't want to be translating Elisabethen back to modern English anymore," I sigh. "You could hear the Souls?"

[Er—apologies, I did not mean to do that to you, Master. And yes, I could hear them. All one hundred sixty-four of them.]

"Well, at the very least I know how many coins are in the bag…" I mutter. "But what do we do with the coins? I'm thinking we shove them in a barrel, seal it with concrete, and throw it in the nearest large body of water."

[I…I don't know. They were so loud, I don't think they had a plan either…]

"Great. I'm…going to shove them back into the the bag once we're done,"

[Once—Once we're done? Aren't we done already?]

"Seriously? Jugen raided Mammon's treasury. You think we only have a hundred or so Soul Coins? I'd honestly be surprised if there's less than a thousand!"

I'm tempted to laugh at Dawn's groans of approaching doom, but honestly, my mind is probably going to die by the end of this anyway…

Gods, why am I a hoarder? Damn the 'I might need it later' mentality, this is what it leads to!

Anyhow, it took quite a while to get everything sorted, mainly because after we found the fourth bag Dawnbringer started to shake and heat up to an incredibly uncomfortable temperature, so we took a break and I polished her with some olive oil and a rust-knocking alchemical salve. Not that she needs it, mind you, the sun elves who made her did an incredible job, but it feels nice. Again, it's like cleaning off mud from your skin. Is your skin damaged? No. But does it feel fucking good? Of course.

All in all, we found just shy of eleven hundred Soul Coins, and over five thousand normal gold coins, and a couple hundred platinum coins.

I am a wealthy man. Apparently. If these coins can even be used in Ylisse.

Oh, and the next bag is labelled Pretiosa—valuables.

One forgets how wealthy one is when the weapons that you're getting stabbed with are made from pure gold. Yeah, we found that out when I needed an conductor for wires and realise that the best material to make them out of was the fucking pitchforks that the demons poked us with. Hell is a wild place, man. Not as wild as the feywild, but that place is literally a LSD trip turned into a realm, so it doesn't count.

I let Dawnbringer soak in a tub of olive oil after the last bag is checked and I count and label the bags with the exact amount of coins that are in them. She's deserved her rest, and I need to figure out what the hell to do with the other five bags.

I decide to slowly push the valuables bag away from me. I don't think I should be allowed to breathe in the vicinity of so much money, never mind being allowed to own it. Out of sight, out of mind. I don't want to deal with that. Nope.

Instead, I take a look at the two bags labelled Libri instead. Books. I…can handle books. Yeah, I love books. I look through books instead of seeing how many gold bars I've accumulated over the years of being in hell. Y—Yeah, let's do that instead. Sounds like a plan to me!

[What…are you doing?]

I hear Dawnbringer question my choices as I start to open up the bags of books.

"Sorting out my books? What else does it look like I'm doing?"

[Well, aren't you going to deal with your money first? You still have a bag filled to the brim with jewels, pieces of fine art, and other valuable trinkets.]

"Hell to the fuck no! I don't want to even think about that right now! Who do you think I am, Jugen?" I yell back as I place the eighth book onto the floor. "I didn't want to raid Mammon's pantry, for the record. If I wanted to sort this kind of wealth, I would have done so right after we got out of Mammon's palance instead of chucking it all into a bag and running!"

[You could have stopped him…you know?]

"And let Rufus deal with a rampaging Antonii? Especially since I didn't know who the fuck Antonii was back then? Tough sell, Dawn," I roll my eyes in frustration as another book gets stuck on gods know what and refuses to come out.

Frowning, I remember that turning the bag inside out ejects everything that's inside. Considering I'm going to have to sort literally everything in this bag, I might as well do so. I move to a relatively open space within the room, which isn't too hard to find, and unfurl the bag.

The first thing that comes out isn't a book. Instead, it's a large blanket of dust.

And then the books come out.

And don't stop coming out.

Oh boy, this might have been a mistake.

---

(Robin)

"Out and about already, Robin?" Sumia smiles as I turn the corner back into the main lounge room of the Shepherd's barracks. "I'm guessing you didn't have too much stuff, right?"

I nod my head as I enter.

Sumia's currently sitting down at the table, enjoying a nice cup of…coffee, I think. Hard to tell at this distance. Next to her enjoying a third helping of lunch is Stahl, a member of the shepherds who wasn't here earlier. He's…nice, but I wasn't able to talk too much with him before a maid showed me off to my room, and for the past…gods know how long he's been stuffing himself with food. How is he so slim if he eats like that?

Speaking of the room, it's huge! I barely had any stuff, basically just what was on my person, so it felt really imposing and oppressing, which is why I left. The lounge is more comfortable and homely.

"Oh, hi Robin!" Stahl looks up from his plate of muffins that had reduced in size by half in the time I was here. "Did see you there. Still wearing that coat? There should be a coat rack in your room, right?"

"There was," I nod my head. "But I still want to wear it. It…makes me feel safe. I think."

Stahl makes an 'ah' face and returns to devouring his lunch.

At this moment Lissa walks in from the main entrance holding a plate of food with a rather large frown on her face. Stahl perks up at the smell of the food but then slumps back down disappointed when he realises that it probably already has an owner.

"Oh…not here either…" Lissa frowns.

"Oh, hello Lissa. What are you looking for?" Sumia tilts her head at the princess's disheartened face.

"Well, it's been nearly an hour and a half since lunch service ended and I haven't even seen a hair on Terence's head!" The princess huffs. "He promised me that he'd share some stories over lunch and now he's just…disappeared."

"Hmmm…now that you mention it, I haven't seen him either," Sumia notes.

"Who's Terence?" Stahl blinks as he looks up from his muffins again.

"The other person that was with me. We went to find our rooms together," I fill in for the green-haired cavalier. "Wait a moment…has he seriously not come out of his room yet?"

"He does have a very big backpack…" Sumia points out. "If he's unpacking everything in there, it will take him a while."

"Well, the least we can do is check up on him…" I nod my head. "See if he needs help."

"That's a great idea!" Sumia smiles. "Are you going to come with us, Lissa?"

"No, I want to eat! I'm starving! If he is still in his room, tell him to come down here and tell that story that he's been keeping away from me for the past week!" Lissa huffs and storms away into the cafeteria room.

"Well, that was certainly something," Stahl notes. "Oh, tell him I said hi."

With that, we make our way up into the dormitories of the barracks. Every single room is as large as mine, I realise with a start, and everyone has their own room!

It doesn't take long to find his room. Rather, his room was so obviously out of place that the only explanation for it was that it was Terence's room, because let's be honest here, he's the only person with the necessary amount of craziness for this kind of stuff to occur.

For starters, the door had completely fallen off of its hinges and was lying haphazardly on the floor. On top of the door is a cube of gelatine-like translucent blue material that slowly moved around aimlessly, as if it was confused. The entire area around the door is coated in a thick layer of dust that the gelatine cube is slowly sucking up.

More concerningly, however, is the leather-bounded item, or rather items, currently lodged in the wall directly opposite the broken door.

"Naga, is that—are those books?" Sumia blinks as she examines the object that has embedded itself into the wall.

"Whu? Huh? Is someone there?" Terence's voice calls out from within the room as we hear heavy footsteps approach the doorframe. "Does Chrom need me? Tell him I'll be there in a moment, as soon as I—"

"No, it's just us," I shake my head as a giant pile of books shows itself in the doorway, Terence's legs poke out from underneath it. "And uh—what's…going on?"

"Oh, hi Robin…and I'm guessing Sumia?" Terence sets the books down right next to the broken door with a grunt of slight exertion and shoots the two of us a bright grin. "Yup, I guessed correctly. What brings you two to my humble—ish abode. Seriously, they gave me such a massive room! What am I going to do with all of this space?"

"Um…what happened?" Sumia gestures to…well, to everything.

"Ah, [Bag of Holding] mishap," Terence chuckles before groaning. "Seriously? How did you get outside? Get back in…"

He reaches out and grabs the small translucent blue cube and tosses it unceremoniously into the room. The cube then starts to move at a much faster pace, cleaning up the coat of dust that has gathered on the floor.

"A…what mishap?"

"You know those bags I was carrying in my backpack? Yeah, they're enchanted in order to allow me to carry much more than the space should allow," He explains while gesturing towards the mess. "It's just that…I completely forgot how much stuff I put in that one bag, and it kind of exploded out when I flipped it inside out…"

I peek inside the room, where the damage is…relatively tame. Everything is a little messed up, dust everywhere, crooked frames, that kind of stuff, but it's nothing too bad.

"I had to climb out of a broken window to grab a book that had been blasted outside," He groans. "And then I had to fix said window…it's been a stressful couple of hours…"

Ok, I'll take that back. The inside was probably a lot worse; he just cleaned it back up.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Sumia offers. "Oh, and Lissa is still waiting for you to tell that story over lunch."

"Oh, wait—lunch?" Terence raises an eyebrow in confusion. "It's barely ten…right?"

"It's almost two in the afternoon," I fill in. "We haven't seen you since the meeting finished."

"Oh, Mars…I didn't mean to—" Terence groans. "Yeah, that help will be incredibly appreciated."

"Ok! What can we do?"

"Well for starters, could you please get the three books currently embedded in some rocks?" Terence points at the three leather-bound books currently making themselves at home in the walls of the palace.

Sumia and I nod before starting to pull at the books lodged in the wall.

I get mine out quite easily. It's surprising how well the book held up despite being slammed face-first into a stone wall. The cover is still intact, and the pages don't look too damaged.

"Tactica Romanorum…" I frown as I read off of the name of the book. It…tickles something in the back of my mind, and I have an urge to open the book up and read from it.

Setting it off to the side, I get working on the other book. It's lodged further into the wall than the Tactica, and takes much more convincing to get it to let go. But, eventually, the scale-backed book is freed too. Remarkably, it's in better shape than the Tactica is, without any damage whatsoever to the cover or the pages.

"Hey Robin? A little help here?" Sumia notices me going back for the Tactica and calls me over to help her with an even more stuck book.

Blinking at just how lodged it is into the wall, I rush over to help. Together, we manage to pry the damn thing out of the wall. This time, however, the pages are practically papier-mâché, and the cover isn't in much better condition either.

"Wow…that was really lodged in there…" Sumia sighs. "Terence, we're done out here!"

"Right! Give me a moment—fuck!" Terence's reply is quickly followed up by a loud crashing noise and an even louder groan of frustration. "Gods damn it!"

Sumia and I rush into the room, kicking up large clouds of grey and black dust that permeates the room, making me cover my mouth with my hand and reducing visibility to practically nothing.

"Terence? Are you ok?" I try to say, but it comes out as muffled grunts.

"I think? Nothing feels broken and I can still feel all of my limbs, even if they're only sending painful signals," Is the tired reply.

Slowly, as the dust finally settles back onto the ground, we're able to see exactly what had happened.

Off in a corner of the room, Terence has somehow buried himself up to his knees with a pile of books, immobilising him. Oh, he's also completely upside down, his shins and feet the only thing able to be seen above the mountain of texts and manuscripts.

The cube of translucent gelatinous material is still moving around slowly, consuming all of the dust, leaving trails of shiny floor behind, but even still, the room is incredibly dusty.

"Oh dear. Do you need help, Terence?" Sumia asks as she approaches the pile.

"Help would be incredibly appreciated," Terence nods solemnly. "I'm…stuck. My left arm is jammed under something incredibly heavy, and I can't see."

"Well, you are stuck in a pile of books," I point out.

"Am I now…" Terence sighs. "Great. Just… Great…Well, at the very least that explains why I can't see anything."

"How long have you been sorting these books?" I ask as Sumia and I go up and start pulling books out from the pile, careful not to start a rapid cascade of bound pages that might catch us and entrap us too.

"I…have no idea…" Terence's reply is laced with exhaustion. "I doubt I've actually done all too much book sorting. I've just been trying to fix the windows, the walls, the paint, the clock, and bed…I did not realise that books could do much damage…"

"Well, do you need help with sorting the books?"

"I would love your help," Terence grunts as he helps us lift the books currently trapping his right arm. "But…I doubt you can read what's written on them."

"We can, though?"

"Really?" Terence coughs as we finally get him out of the mountain of leather and paper. "Damn—this dust is really something…but I could have sworn most of these books are written in Latin, not Ylissean…"

I pull out the Tactica and start to read off the title. The front cover held up impressively well to being bashed against a stone wall, and the gold-etched title can still be visibly seen on the stained leather cover of the book.

"Tactica Romanorum, written and collected by Imperator Herculian, adapted for a modern audience by Marcus Vintori," I read aloud, each word making Terence's face look more and more surprised.

"H—Hold on…Sumia, can you read it too?"

"Yes? It's all in standard Ylissean, even if some of the words are a bit strange. What does Romanorum mean?" Sumia blinks in confusion to Terence's question.

"What…? I—can I see it really quickly?" Terence seems genuinely confused, and is scratching the back of his head with a lot of vigour as I hand him the rather thick book. "Dii mei, what kind of—translation spell…what?"

Terence looks incredibly confused as he stares at the book with a look that starts off as incredibly confused, then morphing into shock, then understanding, then back to confusion in a honestly quite obvious manner.

"You know what, I'm going to stop thinking about that," Terence mutters and hands the book back to me. "Since it appears that books written in common somehow…magically…is able to be read across language barriers…can't even go ask that asshat Hekaton how the fuck that works…"

His mutters make no sense to me, and Sumia seems to be in a similar situation to me, staying quiet as Terence paces around, moving books into random small little piles.

"…You two can actually help me with the books!" He suddenly grins at the two of us, gesturing to the four rough piles of books that he's made. "The ones about natural sciences go in the first pile, medical sciences the next pile, mechanical treatises and manuals go in the next, and everything else goes into the last pile—"

Terence gestures to each pile as he instructs us which one he wants us to put specific books into.

"—I'm going to be cleaning up the room and trying to fix that door, so if you'll excuse me—" Terence grabs something that was leaning on the wall and rushes over to the door.

Sumia and I look at each other and then towards the veritable mountain of books and sigh.

This is going to take a while. Well, only ourselves to blame…

---

Three hours. It took us three hours to finish sorting everything. It took two people three hours—no, Terence joined us in sorting his books at around the one hour twenty minute mark, so make that three people—to sort everything. Oh, and we barely managed to sort it. They're currently in those four piles, with one rather large pile that had 'everything else' in it that looks quite precarious and oversized.

How many freaking books do you have, Terentius?

"Man…that's not even all of the books I have…" He groans as we sit on the floor, admiring and cursing our handiwork. "That was just the nonfiction books; I have the same amount of, if not more, fiction books and other assorted pieces of literature in the other bag…"

"You have more!" I nearly scream. I can already feel my arms becoming sore! "How many books do you have?"

"I have no idea!" Terence makes a weird strangled sound. "I would tell you, but I really don't! I'll figure out my book situation later…"

"Umm…" A fourth, masculine, voice calls out to us from behind the doorway. "Hey Terence, are you alright?"

"Huh? Who was that?"

"Kellam?"

Sumia and I have similar reactions to the new voice that just entered the room, but Terence just groans.

"I'm feeling absolutely terrible, Kellam," Terence sighs as he slumps onto the floor and covers his face. "I realise that I probably have more stuff to sort through. I've spent practically an entire work day on two bags."

"Wait, who is Kellam?" I ask, scanning the room but finding nobody to whom the voice could belong to. "I don't know a Kellam."

"Kellam is one of the Shepherds. I don't think we've introduced you yet…or to Miriel either…." Sumia frowns. "Kellam, when did you get here?"

"Kellam's been here for a while?" Terence interjects. "He was helping out with the books. You really didn't see him?"

He points towards a part of the room that seems suspiciously empty. After squinting for a little while, I can barely make out the shape of a very large man sitting down with a rather exhausted looking face.

"Gah! When did you get here?" I cry out, perhaps a little lamely.

"Again, he's been here for the better part of two hours," Terence sighs.

"Did you really not see me?" Kellam asks. "I almost broke down the door."

Terence winces at that.

"All my fault, Kellam…didn't mend the hinges right…" Terence shakes his head and sits back up. "Forgot that metal takes longer than wood to mend…urgh, I've been fighting for too long, I need to relearn so many artificer skills…"

"Is everyone feeling alright?" Sumia asks while standing up. "Because I'm rather hungry, and I'm going to bake something to eat."

"Would love to join, but I still have too much stuff to sort…if there's any leftovers bring me up some…" Terence groans as he reaches for another one of his magic bags. "Kellam, do you mind helping me some more or do you have other things to do?"

"No, I'm free this afternoon," The sudden voice directly to my left makes me jump a little. Then I realise that it's Kellam who moved over to help Terence sort whatever it is that he needed to sort. How that man moves without making a sound confuses and somewhat scares me. "What do you need help with now?"

"My damn tools. Oh—careful. Treat every one of them as if they were alive and trying to eat you, because there is a non-zero chance that they are," Terence warns Kellam before reaching an arm into the bag and wincing. "Oh, damn, it's got me. Fan-flipping-tastic…"

"Hey, Sumia?" I ask as the blonde haired girl gets up. "May I have some on whatever you're baking? I'm quite famished myself."

"Of course!" Sumia smiles brightly.

"Oh, before I forget," Terence hums a little and pulls out two little cloth pouches and tosses one to each of us. I try to catch mine but completely misjudge the weight and yelp as it slams into the floor. Sumia has more luck with her bag, but even she winces at its weight.

Look, it's really damn heavy, alright?

Gingerly opening up the bag, I'm greeted by—

"Terence? How much gold is this?" Sumia blinks.

"Uh…fifteen aurei maximi, why?"

"If it's only fifteen coins, why is it so heavy?"

"Probably because they're gold coins?" Terence raises an eyebrow. "Gold is ridiculously dense as a metal. Not as dense as lead or tungsten, mind you, but still incredibly dense."

"Yes, but I've used gold coinage before. Fifteen coins aren't this heavy!"

"Right…a aurei maximi is around a hundred and fifteen grams of gold, with a gold content of around ninety-eight point four seven. The rest of the weight is made up of silver," Terence blinks. "How many grams are in a Ylissean golden coin?"

"Ten!"

Terence blinks rapidly before making a soft 'oh' sound and looking away.

"You just gave the two of us more than a hundred and fifty gold coins!" Sumia shakes her head. "What are you trying to do, bribe us?"

"…I didn't know how much money fifteen aurei maximi was worth…" Terence explains quietly. "I haven't touched a golden coin for nearly ten years now…soul coins are strange…"

"Uh…how much is a hundred and fifty gold coins…like worth?" I ask, holding the small bag of coins with a little bit of reverence now. I had a couple of bronze and silver coins in my coat, but I doubt they're worth much.

"The average man is lucky if he makes more than five gold coins a year," Sumia explains with some exasperation in her voice.

I hear Terence curse under his breath.

"Um…so Terence just gave us thirty years worth of wages?"

"Yes," Sumia sighs. "How much money do you have, Terence? A normal person isn't usually able to scrounge up ten gold coins, never mind a hundred fifty."

"I…don't know? I have somewhere in the ballpark of a couple thousand aurei maximi and even a couple hundred platinum coins that I can alchemy into another couple thousand aurei maximi…and that's not even counting the other assets I have…" Terence admits. "I'm not trying to do shady business, I just wanted to give some money to say thanks… I kinda just joined the shepherds and then practically used your kindness to help me deal with my own problems…"

Sumia sighs and then hands her portion to me. Wait, Sumia why?

"Well, if you're going to do that, give it to the person who doesn't have enough money for food in two weeks," Sumia shakes her head. "While I understand your plight, you do see how it could be misinterpreted, yes?"

Terence nods.

"By the way, Kellam, do you want your share? I was going to give you thirty for—"

"Please don't…" The invisible man cries out.

"Alright then…" Terence scratches the back of his head. "Um, Sumia, would you happen to know a place where I could do some currency exchange? I don't think I can buy a basket of apples with more than two year's worth of wages…"

"Yes, you can…I'll go ask the Captain to let you go see the mint…" Sumia nods thoughtfully before smiling. "And yeah, I don't think that would go down with anyone."

"Many thanks, Sumia. And Robin, keep the cash. Do whatever you want with it," Terence grins at me.

Oh man. What am I supposed to do with this much money?

---

(Terence)

You know, let's just take a quick step back and examine what I've learned today, shall we?

First, I am stupidly wealthy. I mean, I sort of figured that already, considering most adventurers are as successful as we usually are, but I was certainly not prepared for just how wealthy I am. Turns out looting dragons' hordes and the like makes one rather rich.

Secondly, Ylissean currency is a lot like gold-based currencies of old. Not too surprising, honestly, and not sure why I didn't figure that out already, but Ylisse uses a set of six different coins made from different metals. However, the main thing to note in comparison is that Ylissean coins are relatively light when compared to mine. My lightest coin weighs around about 50 grams, while the heaviest Ylissean coin weighs around 10. Yeah. That's a rather large difference. Completely understandable, really. They didn't have the technological prowess to process such a large amount of gold, not without strong acids like nitric acid, anyway. Any coins they make would be relatively impure—96 percent instead of 99.996 percent—and would have to be incredibly light, at least compared with more modern currencies.

Thirdly, and perhaps more importantly, I have no clue how Ylissean cultural norms work. Let's just quickly list off the things I've learned today: you're supposed to take off your shoes in specific rooms, but not in others (still haven't figured out the rule for that yet); the youngest person at the table eats first, and in a formal setting, this is strictly enforced (this is how Lissa managed to find out my birthday, and it's rather concerning to know that it's coming up relatively soon), the kitchen is a women's domain, and it's not a suggestion when they say for men keep out of it (I found the hard way while trying to find some snacks for an afternoon eating rampage after missing lunch and was promptly chased out of the kitchen by some extremely muscled ladies with steaming-hot laidles), and giving out tips, especially large ones, even to friends and co-workers, is considered an attempt to bribe them, and in the case of the opposite gender, a way to ask for…more debauched services. Not making that mistake ever again…at the very least good on Ylisse for having such strong anti-corruption systems that it even descends down into the culture.

I recline a little bit in my current sitting position, letting the submerged rock slide past my bare bottom as I sink deeper into the warm bath…ah, I missed this feeling.

Oh right, I should probably explain where I am, though it's probably quite apparent. The baths! Oh man, I love these baths. Hot, steamy, clean, inviting, and just all-in-all relaxing. While Ylisstol has an absolutely massive public bath, there is a private one within the castle that is even nicer than the one for the regular citizens, and those baths are already quite good! Bathing! Cleasiness! By the gods I cannot express how much I love it.

I decide to simply soak in the water and enjoy the calmness of the water. Relaxation!

Unfortunately, that means all the thoughts that I've kept bottled up the back of my mind are allowed to come to the forefront, and that quickly makes my relaxation halt, dead in its tracks.

I sigh deeply. Just thinking about my situation makes me tired. The amount of stuff awaiting me in my room is…incredible. I just…man, I can't even form words anymore. I'm that tired.

I sink deeper into the bath and blow out bubbles. They look nice in the firelight. Oh gods, I've reverted to a child's mindset, haven't I now? Ugh. Look, I'm really tired.

Today has been thoroughly exhausting, and honestly, my mind is overheating thinking about everything that has happened recently. Being dropped into a world where all my previous knowledge didn't apply…being in a body that certainly didn't belong to you…hell, if I didn't know any better, I'd say I get what transgender people feel now…not just that, I guess, feeling everything pile up…

I sigh again. What the hell am I supposed to do now? So many questions, not enough time or energy to think of the answers. Do I continue to aid the Shepherds like this, or do I get more explicit? The next major plot point is going to be Emmeryn…oh gods, how the hell do I deal with that? Do—Do I try to save her? Do I warn her? But if I do…then how will the Plegian War unfold? How will Emmeryn's survival impact everything else?

Oh gods, Chrom and Lissa. I keep thinking of theoreticals, but there are actual people here who will be impacted significantly by my choices. Fuck me, I was not ready to deal with this kind of responsibility! Which god decided that giving a useless college kid the fate of the world in his hands was a good idea!

And after that…what the hell do I do during the timeskip period? Walhart's going to be on our ass, but…

Argh! Too many questions. Too many choices! It's not even getting to the whole thing with Robin and Grima already being—

FUCK! I completely forgot, Grima's already here, isn't he? Shit, how do I tell Lucina? Do I tell Lucina? If I don't, will she think I was keeping it a secret from her? If I do…then how do I comfort her! How do I make sure that she doesn't do something stupid like tracking Grima down? And on that train of thought, will that even work?

Agh! Too many thoughts! Too many decisions! Too many—

"H—Hey, Terence? Are you ok?" A deeper masculine voice brings me out of thoughts. I turn around and spot Kellam also in the baths…oh right, I can see Kellam, but the man's stealthy as fuck. He's also apparently packing some heat under the armour…makes sense, the damn suit probably weighs more than a car. "You're hyperventilating!"

I frown. I'm not—

"Gack!" I try to reply, but whatever words were coming out of my larynx are sucked right back in.

Ah, shit. I hope I haven't gotten any bathwater down in my mouth.

I take a moment to calm down my lungs and reassure my diaphragm. It takes longer than I would like and more effect than I expected. Dangerous…

"Gods! I didn't realise…thanks, by the way, Kellam," I cough a couple more times. I can't believe I didn't notice my breath becoming so quick that I couldn't speak.

"No, it's alright," He chuckles. "Feeling alright? Don't tell me you're afraid of water…"

"My god is the god of the sea, if I was afraid of the water I would have chosen a different god," I snort and sigh. "No, I was thinking of…something else. Of the future."

"Don't tell me you're at that age…uh, what did Lissa call it…Midlife crisis?" Kellam scratches his chin.

"Pfft, I'm not that old. And even if that was the case, I wouldn't be worrying about it too much. No, it's…oher stuff," I sigh.

"What kind of other stuff?"

"Well…insecurity, perhaps…"

"Midlife Crisis—"

"I'm a foreign man in a foreign land, Kellam! I'm trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing in the future!" I roll my eyes in annoyance.

"Pfft, you're worrying about that?" Kellam chuckles. "You know, if Stahl didn't tell me, I would have never known that you weren't from Ylisse."

"Me being chased from the kitchen by the cooking ladies with ladles screaming 'three holy smacks' wasn't enough of a tip-off?"

"Are you serious? Stahl gets smacked away about once a week. The only way into the pantry is through the kitchen, after all," Kellam laughs.

"You know what, that makes a lot of sense…" I sigh.

"So, what the hell are you worried about?"

"…what I'm going to do next, I suppose…" I relent after a moment of silence and share just enough that Kellam won't be suspicious of me. "Back home…I had a plan, a plan of what I was going to do…after everything. And well, there isn't a Senate here in Ylisse, so there goes the entire plan."

I take a deep breath. Eh, fuck it. If I'm going to be talking with Kellam about my pain, I might as well give all I can.

All I can without disrupting anything, of course. Don't want to lock away my options here.

"Hmmm…I would love to say that I haven't the faintest clue what you're talking about, but I guess I can relate somewhat, huh," Kellam chuckles.

"Oh? Do go on,"

"If you promise to explain to me how I'm always invisible,"

"Come off of it, Kellam! I already told you, I have no idea!"

"Really? You threw out a couple of really interesting theories earlier. Miriel jotted them down and was mumbling about how she'll want to test them later,"

"Who in Jupiter's name is Miriel!" A lie, of course, I know who Miriel is. I haven't been officially introduced to her, so I'm playing it safe.

"Oh, right, you haven't met her yet. I think you'll like her; you're like two peas in a pod, really," Kellam laughs.

"Oh? In what way?"

"You'll know when you meet her. She's already got an entire notebook's worth of questions to ask you,"

You know, that sounds dangerous. I'll probably get sidetracked.

"You still haven't gone on yet, Kellam,"

"Do we have a deal?"

"I…didn't know you were like this, Kellam,"

"You don't know a lot about me," Kellam grins. "Now, do we have a deal?"

"Yes…"

"Alright! Finally, I can be left alone for once! Gods, I can't believe I have to throw a more interesting person at her to get her to stop bothering me,"

You know what would be really funny? If Laurent's dad is Kellam. That would be insanely hilarious.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing," Kellam lied as naturally as he breathed. "Right, now that we have a deal, I can start with my story."

"I was not aware you were a storyteller,"

"You're not aware of a lot of things about me," Kellam sighs. "Honestly though, you're probably the person who knows the most about me, though,"

"Itrum repetere, huh?"

"What's that?"

"Nothing. Hey, do people know that you have a wart on your neck?"

"I…actually haven't asked," Kellam blinks. "Is it something to worry about?"

"Nah. Looks fine. Start the story,"

"Right. See, I'm from the sticks,"

"This matters…why?"

"I was, uh, delicately forced by my family to move here to Ylisstol," Kellam explains. "I'm from Yagensveele, by the way, a city that's really far away from here. I had no friends, no connections, and barely any money. I was stuck."

"How'd you manage to get into the shepherds, then?"

"Oh, I met Frederick at a bar,"

"Bullshit,"

"No, that's actually how. He needed more people for the shepherds, and I had been trained to be a soldier but really don't have anywhere to go after they scrapped the army,"

"I refuse to believe that you managed to gain Frederick's trust after a round of beers,"

"Oh, it took much longer than that," Kellam chuckles. "And he put me through his exercise regime too. But at the end of the day, I'm here. I've found my people, and I'm certainly more comfortable than when I was back home. Even if people keep thinking I'm invisible for some reason."

"So you're telling me to get wasted at a bar?"

"Well, maybe not wasted, just a couple—"

"I'm not allowed to do that, I made an oath. But…" I sigh. Kellam has a point though… "I suppose a visit to a sit-in restaurant won't be the worst of ideas."

"That's the spirit!" Kellam laughs. "Now, you've gotta share those theories of why I keep disappearing! It's annoying as hell!"

"I've already told you! I really have no idea!"

---

"Hey, Terence! Are you the one who baked those pastries that Sumia gave out earlier?"

I'm greeted by a whirlwind of blonde hair as I leave my room. It takes me a second to realise that one, it's Lissa who's talking to me, and two, she's asked a question.

"…what?" I reply dumbly.

"Oh, you weren't there…hmmm, then who—"

"Wait wait, what are you talking about?"

"Sumia handed out these perfectly square pastries that were really good but we can't find the person who made them!" Lissa grins.

Wait a minute…

"Did these pastries happen to have the word ROMA stamped on them?"

"Huh? Yeah, they did? What does that have to do with anything?"

Ah fuck. Sumia found my stash. Ah…I should probably explain. See, I have a pouch with pastries that I made…let's see…a month or so back? Thankfully, the flour is some kind of magical demon flour that literally isn't able to go bad so I had been using it as emergency rations because my actual emergency rations are just sliced pork fat and sour wine.

"H—How many?"

"Uh, there were around six or seven dozen. So you did bake them?"

FUCK! THAT'S ALL OF THEM!

"Yes, I did," I groan. "How…exactly did Sumia find them? And uh, did you eat any?"

"She wouldn't tell, and yes! They were very good! You should be proud!"

"Yeah. How long has it been?"

"Huh? A couple hours. Why?"

"Good. You won't throw up. There is a significant chance you have just ingested snails from hell,"

It's honestly kinda funny seeing Lissa's face go from one of satisfaction and anticipation to one of abject horror.

"What do you mean I've eaten snails from hell! What are snails from hell? Why did you have snails from hell? Why did you put them into a pastry?"

You know, I should have expected that as a response. I did just dump something rather disturbing on her.

"Alright, one question at a time. I made savoury and sweet pastries, and we were running out of conventional meat, so Antonii just grabbed a bunch of snails and had Rufus purify them before putting them in butter. As for what they are…we were in hell and grabbed the snails from a lake in hell. Ergo, snails from hell. They looked like normal snails though. We had snails from hell because we were in hell. Again, we ran out of conventional meat and Signus had a craving for savoury pastries," I answer Lissa's questions without taking a single breath. Another good thing about having high constitution—you have really damn long breaths.

"Wuh—are they safe to eat?"

"I've already eaten half of the savoury ones, and I'm still here," I shrug.

"Wait, really? So that's why there were so few savoury ones…"

"Yeah…didn't really like the taste of the brown sugar that Mammon gave us, so I only ate the savoury ones,"

"Wait, I'm getting confused. Who's Mammon? Who's…anybody you were talking about?"

"Ah. Guess you had to be there," I shrug. "You need me for anything else, Lissa? I was thinking about going out to get some food—"

"Oh right! Come with me!"

"Wha—"

I'm being dragged by a girl who is around my shoulder in heigh. This…this is embarrassing. I could probably stop her, but I…can't bring myself to do so. Argh, what has been wrong with me recently! I've been acting completely unlike how I would usually act!

Well, then again, I used to act like an asshole towards people who weren't my friends, so I suppose that's an improvement? I think that's an improvement? Eh, I'm still a bit dizzy from the bath, I'm not going to bother to think about it too hard.

Lissa drags me to the kitchen. And then through the kitchen doors. My animalistic instincts start to scream at me as I remember the chase through the castle that followed my last foray into the kitchen.

When we do get inside, however, the wonderful ladies with ladles are not there to enact religious vengeance upon a male trespassing on their sacred grounds, but rather all of the female shepherds, with the exclusion of Sully.

Wait a moment—

"Hey, everyone!" Lissa calls out to the gathered women, and suddenly three pairs of incredibly hyper focused gazes are on me. Oh, and Robin's here too. She seems to have been roped up in this too, and looks incredibly confused and nervous. "Terence admitted to making the pastries!"

"Excellent. The confectionery that you have procured exceeds expectations placed even upon feminine culinarians," No points to anyone who guessed who that was. The other members of this…club all nod their heads in agreement.

"Uh…what's going on here?" I reply lamely, scratching the back of my head as Lissa finally lets go of my shirt and runs up to the countertop where everyone else is standing.

"Oh, Lissa, did you not explain?"

"Huh? I explained though?"

"Lissa, you dragged me here from my room after asking about snails from hell. If that counts as explaining then every single person can be a teacher," I deadpan. I hear someone mumble 'what are snails from hell' but it's too quiet so I can't tell who exactly it is that mumbled it.

"Oh…right,"

"We are currently gathered in the kitchen in order to prepare a most substantial repast for the meal at twilight," Miriel pushes up her glasses as she explains.

"But why…together?"

"So we can coordinate what we made, obviously," Maribelle sighs. "It wouldn't do to have six entrees, four appetisers, and no desserts. We are still cooking for the Exalted family, after all."

"And we could also coordinate on the supplies we buy as well," I nod my head. Kinda a stupid question from me earlier, I must admit. "Cut down on food waste as well as monetary waste."

"Seriously?" Robin looks up with an annoyed face. "You, saving money?"

"Look, I became rich partly because I am an extremely frugal man," I cross my arms.

This…is true. Part of the reason I chose artificer is so I could make all the stuff my party needed instead of buying it off of merchants. I'm pretty sure literally everything we own that wasn't looted from the corpses of our enemies or their pantries has my crest stamped on it. Case in point, the current tunic that I'm wearing has a rather poorly-embroidered crest stuck on the left side, where a shirt pocket would usually go.

"Alright, if you say so," Robin shrugs.

"Still, why are we cooking at all?" I tilt my head. "There are a lot of cooks in the castle, no? A couple of them even showed me the business end of a hot ladle."

"Ah! That was you?" Lissa giggles loudly. "Be proud, Terence, you were the hardest interloper they had to face since the days of the First Exalt!"

"That still doesn't explain why they had to attack me with a hot cooking utensil…"

"How do you not know—oh right, you're not from Ylisse," Lissa answers her own question. "See, there's a story about how this tradition started that comes right from the Age of Heroes itself! It is said that Hero-Queen Caeda once woke up late, so her husband, the illustrious Hero-King Marth, decided to cook her breakfast. Unfortunately, he doesn't know how to cook, and the meal that he made was so atrocious that Hero-Queen Caeda banned him from the kitchen entirely!"

"That seems…a little exaggerated,"

"Incorrect," I'm immediately corrected by Miriel. "There are substantial historical records to support this sequence of events."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Y—yeah," Sumia nods furiously. "I remember reading in one of Magnus's histories about a similar incident!"

"Indeed. The manuscripts authored by the exquisite historian Magnus of Thebes corroborate this interpretation of events. He is, however, the foremost exception of Queen Caeda's restrictions on the male gender."

"Alright! That's enough chatting! Let's get to cooking!" Maribelle claps her hands. "Lissa, you're on appetisers!"

"Of course!"

"Miriel, you're on soups!"

"Most agreeable,"

"Terence, can you handle the meats?"

"I'll see what I can cook up," I give a noncommittal shrug.

"Alright, that's good enough. Sumia, as always, pastries,"

"Will do!"

"And uh—Robin…hmmm…" Maribelle stumbles. "Well, all of the main course items will have been taken care of…can you handle desserts?"

"I'll…see what I can do?" Robin shudders nervously for a moment.

"Well, since that's decided, let's get going!" Maribelle smiles. "To the marketplace!"

Oh boy. Cooking.

---

"Hmmm…lovage, caraway seeds, asafoetida powder…I have garum in a different pouch…" I mumble to myself. I'm preparing to make a couple Parthian Chickens. Odd, I know, for a Roman to be making something named after the most hated of Roman rivals, with the sole exception of perhaps the Ottomans, but hey this is from Apicius, so this was literally cooked for Emperors. If it was fit for Claudius, it's fit for me.

"I'm going to need a lot of chicken…" I sigh, looking around the shops. Thankfully, I managed to exchange some gold bars for Ylissean coins from an extremely confused Chrom earlier, which means I have money that won't get me weird looks if I try to buy chicken. Then again, chicken is bought with brass coins, not gold ones…

Argh! How many chickens can I buy with just a single golden coin?

The answer? More chickens than the poultry shop in question had. So, I bought all of their chickens, some pheasants, and a couple quail eggs that I intend to boil. What? Quail eggs are delicious! You guys should really try some sometime. Get out of eating like a Pict and actually try some food you've never had before. I certainly wouldn't have known how duck tongue tasted if I didn't try it. Granted, I still don't like it, but hey, at least I know what it tastes like now!

That left me with thirty-odd whole chickens, ten whole pheasants, and two dozen quail eggs. I quietly put the quail eggs in my [bag of holding]. I will not be sharing those with the class, thank you very much.

Now I have to figure out what the hell I'm going to do with thirty chickens. I…don't need thirty chickens, I think…

Well, let's see, since I'm on meats, let's say I make around half of the food that everyone's going to eat. There are…thirteen people, and these chickens are kinda small so maybe a chicken each…? If that's the case…hmmm.

What that means is that I have to start cooking immediately, and even then I'll probably be the last to finish. What this honestly really depends on is how many indirect heat ovens there are in the kitchen.

I begin making my way back to the castle. I'm the first one back, obviously. Unlike everyone else, I literally only need one ingredient. The others, like Olive Oil, I have large quantities of already or have magic items like alchemy jugs that can produce them. Some, like asafoetida, don't exist in Ylisse, at least to my current knowledge. The only ingredient that I didn't have too much of was chicken. I do have a harpy corpse…for some reason, but a harpy isn't a chicken.

Actually, why the hell do I have a harpy corpse? Honestly, I have no idea. Worse, it's a female in the 5th edition style. Why the hell are their skin so slimy? You'd think a flying creature would be like scaly or skin-covered, but no, harpies are fucking slimy. Don't ask. You do not want to know how I found that out. No, it was by complete accident, get your mind out of the fucking gutter! Creep.

I finally reached the castle's kitchen after a while of walking, during which I was humming some song that I didn't recognize. I'm guessing it's either some roman song that Terentius knows or something that weird bard Gabriel sang.

Placing fifteen chickens on the countertop, I'm amazed and relieved to find seventeen indirect heat ovens. I can cook all the chickens all at once! Sure, I'll probably have to stagger their entrance times so I can go to each one and baste them without them being too overcooked by the time I get to them. But still, it'll save me so much time.

Doing some quick maths in my head, and knowing what times dinner service is usual when the shepherds aren't cooking together, I've got about an hour and a half to prepare and season fifteen chickens. Let's do this thing!

Though, as I turn around to start preparing the chickens, I realise that I've completely missed something. Or rather, someone…

"Robin? What are you doing here?" I blink as I spot the white-haired tactician sitting alone with jittery hands. "Shouldn't you be out buying supplies? If you don't have the money just ask Maribelle. We aren't supposed to be paying with our own wallets; I just feel bad if I used the shepherd's funds while I'm this wealthy."

"Ah! T—Terence…you're back this ear—early?"

"Well, yeah? I just needed these chickens," I gesture towards the pink form of over a dozen dead poultry lying on the countertop.

"What about…um…other stuff?"

"Right here," I place a [Decanter of Endless Water], a [Alchemy Jug], and a [Heward's Handy Spice Pouch] from my [Bag of Holding] onto the table. I frown. I'm going to be making a lot of food. I put another [Heward's Handy Spice Pouch] onto the counter.

"Those are…?"

"Wondrous items that'll help me with the rest of the ingredients. Speaking of which, why are you still here?"

"I…since I'm on dessert…um…I can wait a while before cooking," Robin nervously responds, pushing her thumbs together.

That simply makes me frown harder.

"Are you sure, Robin? I'm going to be hogging most of the indirect ovens for a while, and I doubt no one else is going to be using them," I give Robin a worried glance, but I don't think she notices. "What are you making?"

"I…uh…pan…cakes…yeah, pancakes…"

Suspicious.

"Robin, could it be that you haven't actually thought of what you wanted to make yet?" I blink as I get out an incredibly light knife from a different [Bag of Holding].

"Um…"

"Robin, could it be that…you can't or don't remember how to cook?"

The white-haired girl's silence is all the confirmation I need to groan incredibly loudly.

"Really, Robin? You agreed to do this without remembering how to cook?" I sigh miserably.

"H—Hey, I'm sure I knew how to cook before I lost my memories…I just seemed to have…forgotten, is all…" Robin huffs.

"Do you even know what you want to cook?"

"Mmmm…no, not really…" Robin frowns. "I mean, some sort of dessert, obviously, but what kind…I'm not sure…"

"How about this: You think of what you want to make while I prepare these chicken for the oven, and once they're in the ovens I'll help you with whatever you need to make." I grunt as I grab a rather large and surprisingly heavy chopping board from a cabinet and lay all of the chickens on it.

"A—Alright…" Robin nods. "I'll…try to think of something…"

I sigh and turn back to my heap of chickens. Fortunately for me, all of the chickens have come pre-plucked, so no having to tediously pluck them, though I probably have a magical item that would do that for me. Somewhere in the bag. Probably buried next to the trash-talking aarakocra dildo and the Ring of Possible Rapid Unexpected Disassembly. No, the trash-talking aarakocra dildo has never been used since Jugen snatched it from Asmodius's treasury. Unless Amette got her hands on it for a night or six.

I cut off the necks and head and toss them in a pile. I have no use of these, since the head doesn't have any good meat, and the neck isn't fat enough to use. I'll probably turn them into paste to compress into an alchemical oil later.

After accruing the neck and heads of fifteen chickens, I begin preparing the chickens themselves. Getting out what look like lasagna pans but probably are just large bread pans, I start splaying the chickens into the metal pans, cutting at the joints in order to make them fit into the pan better and heat up more evenly.

I'm not a bad chef. Me, the person from Earth (Terra), not Terentius, is not a bad chef. I dislike buying fast food from stores, and if I'm not in the mood to go out, I'll cook something myself. I've gotten enough experience that I can manage by myself.

Terentius, on the other hand, is a chef. I picked up that trait at the 5th level ASI since we were just getting hammered by everything constantly and needed the passive healing.

So, unlike fighting and casting spells, I actually knew what the hell I was doing! Instead of relying purely on instinct, it was more like I suddenly had a lot more experience in making food. My cuts were cleaner and more efficient, I got done in 5 minutes what would have taken 10 minutes before, and I managed to get all the chickens looking, well, still like a chicken, which is something that I would have never been able to do before!

It's honestly a strange feeling, but a welcome one nonetheless.

Preparing chickens would have normally taken me an hour, but I got it done in just under twenty-five minutes. A great improvement!

Unfortunately, Robin was still sitting there with a frown on her face and a furrowed brow.

"Have you thought of something, Robin?" I sigh as I bring out a rather large mortar and pestle to grind all the herbs for the sauce. "Something you'd like to cook?"

"Well, I did…but I'm not sure how to make it…" Robin presses the tips of her fingers together.

"I can help with that," I take out a bunch of spices from the magical pouch and toss them haphazardly into the mortar the size of a large bowl. "While I probably don't know the exact details of what you're trying to cook, I've made enough desserts to know the bare minimum."

"I was thinking…maybe some honey candies…?" I blink at Robin's suggestion as I start to grind up the multitude of herbs and spices into a paste.

"Robin, that's literally just caramelising honey and then chilling it," I sigh. "Sure, it's a dessert, but it's more of a sweet. It's candy…" I sigh as I rhythmically pound the greens and whites under the pestle. Oh, how I miss my food processor.

"W…well, what do you think I should make?"

"What do you want to make?"

"I don't know?"

"Have you tried…looking at a cookbook?" I blink and look down as I realise that I've almost reduced what was supposed to be a thick paste into a powder…oops? "The library's open right now, and I'm certain that they have at least a single cookbook with desserts in them."

"R—Right. Y—You know, I'm wondering why I didn't think of that earlier…" Robin sighs and gets up. "I'll…see you in a bit, I guess?"

"Yeah. I just need to stuff the asses of these chickens—fuck!" I curse.

"W—what?"

"I forgot to remove the entrails…" I groan.

"No…the asses part…?

"Do you know what stuffing means?" I blink. "I know that this is supposed to be applied on the outside, but I find stuffing it inside makes the inside meat taste a lot better."

"Wait, so you…oh…" Robin's face blanches a little. "I…I should get going…"

I sigh. She knows that I have to take out everything, right?

---

"Bring in the meats!" Ah, that's my cue from Maribelle that I should start bringing in the fifteen Parthians Chickens.

"Right away, madam!" I holler back. "Fifteen chickens, coming up!"

How the hell can I carry fifteen plates of chicken? Well, that's where Randy comes in! I've rigged up a rather complex system of struts and balances to let a rather medium sized thing carry thirteen whole chickens. It's…rather jury-rigged, sure, as it looks like something straight out of a steampunk world.

Randy…is upset, sure, but I think he feels more than happy doing the job that a cart could have probably done better. The main reason, of course, is that I promised to fix his autoloader tomorrow if he became a walking, armoured, and potentially explosive food carrier. Apparently, having his autoloader broken feels like having a hand constantly tied behind your back.

How do I know this despite Randy being silent? Intuition, I guess. I honestly don't know.

I reenter the rather rowdy mess hall with a steaming heap of chicken.

"Here you all are," I grunt as I place the admittedly quite heavy plates of chicken in front of Chrom and Lissa, before gesturing towards Randy to bring the rest. "Parthian Chicken."

"Ooh! It looks really nice! Can I start eating?" Lissa looks at me expectantly.

"Of course, dig in," I sigh with a smile as I place more chicken in front of other people.

"Ya know, I never woulda thought that you were a chef, Terence," Vaike comments as he takes another sip of the soup.

"I am a man of many talents, though I've never really developed those talents," I reply with a chuckle. "How is it, Lissa?"

"It's…so…good!" Lissa grins brightly with a mouth full of glistening white chicken. Looks like I basted it well, then. That's good, I've never been particularly good with basting.

"I'm glad you liked it, Lissa," I smile as I finish handing out the chicken and snap Randy back into motes of azure light. "Keep your stomachs open, guys, you don't want to miss Robin's dessert."

I laugh hard as the tactician in question shoots me a glare. Part of me feels bad for doing it, but she fucked up really badly.

I mean, how the fuck do you burn pudding?

---

AN: Hello there! Acardia here!

Baldur's Gate 3 is out, I am sorry for not writing much, but holy shit I wanna play...Sorry...

Right, let's get this done quickly so I can go back to smashing goblins into gory bits with a mace.

Freekillm249: (Yes, first try) Dawnbringer is a good sword and a good person. She's supposed to be a more militant version of an all-loving, all-caring sun goddess after all. Lucina here might feel older than she does in the game only because she's still in her Marth persona, and she hasn't opened up at all yet. As for when she finally does...Lucina will be both more and less mature than her in-game counterpart. On the one hand, this Lucina has a father figure that didn't die while she was still a child, but on the other, she's a year and a half younger. It's going to be a careful balancing act for me, and hopefully, I can pull it off. Terence is currently an Artillerist Alchemist in D&D terms and a ballistician in Fire Emblem terms.

Lonosic: New chapter again. A shit ton of fluff. Enjoy.

Guest: Thank you! Please continue to support me!

Scoolio: Augh! Glass fragments! Careful where you're throwing that! I have your next chapter here!

That's all for this week, folks. Chapter 7 is the last pre-written chapter, so after next week if I don't have chapter 8 done by then, we'll be going to a 'It'll be done when it's done' release schedule. 23.8k words is a lot to write, and I can't write that in a week even if I eschewed eating and drinking.

Valete, Omnis!

Acardia out!