Chapter 62: What was I even doing?

He wasn't entirely sure quite how long he had been here, he hadn't bothered to look up at the sky to compare the position of the sun from when he had arrived to where it was currently located. There just didn't seem to be much point in doing so.

His requisition for the blacksmith when they had still been at the monastery seemed to be of little concern to the greater problems at hand but he was more curious as to whether the man was still alive. Presumably the Knights had been able to evacuate the market before it had been obliterated but there wasn't really a way of knowing until he moved further into the town.

If he attracted any odd looks, he didn't so much as acknowledge them. The truth was that he did attract a series of bizarre looks as well as several voices who called out to him. Not a single one registered in his mind as he continued his walk, then again a man wearing only underwear and draped in a blanket walking barefoot through the streets would have been regarded as unusual in every situation.

Finding the blacksmith themselves was a task of little complexity, a majority of the individuals from the Church had moved back into the town and positioned themselves near the market square, the unfortunate situation was overcrowding. At least, for everyone else anyway.

"Watch it!" A man shouted out in annoyance as Goetia barged through him without even registering his voice, his posture not even shifting as he rolled over anyone else who happened to be standing in his path as well. Those who turned around to pay attention to the occasional commotion had the sense to step out of his way when he walked towards them. However, they made no effort to hide their irritation with him for doing so.

The effects of the glares were slightly dampened by the simple fact that Goetia didn't so much as spare them a single glance. All the while his red eyes shifted from side to side as he attempted to locate the blacksmith. His eyelids slowly closed themselves and he heightened his other senses to accommodate.

Improvements to his hearing turned the busy market into a roaring jungle, he refined them further, blocking out dialogue and shifting between directions with the occasional tilt of the head. His nose twitched as it was assaulted by hundreds of scents, either from the wares of the stalls in terms of food or other fragrant goods or the people themselves who were perspiring to differing degrees.

A clang filtered into his ear, a hammer striking metal and soon being followed by another strike. The scent of hot coal drifted through his nose accompanied by the smell of molten steel. His eyes opened up and his head snapped in the direction of the noise. He gazed towards the sound of hammering steel before he resumed his walk.

"What the-" A man called out in surprise as he pushed past them, ignoring the shocked sputters as he continued his semi-naked walk through the town streets.

"Look, I can't work the steel any faster." The man explained as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, lowering his arm to his hip and staring at the woman in front of him with a trace amount of exasperation. He preferred dealing with the other one who at least listened to what he said but all too often Knights would just ask for a set number of spears or swords and then expect him to materialise them on the spot.

"I'm not asking you to cut corners here." Catherine sighed as she shook her head, crossing her arms and giving the man a hefty frown "I'm saying that the armoury of the Monastery was depleted considerably and we just don't have enough steel to arm the men right now. I'm asking you to just…" she paused for a moment before she continued further "Put your other work on hold."

The man gave her a flat look "What am I supposed to tell my other customers who come asking for their commissions? The Church muscled me into dropping their work so they'll have to wait Goddess knows how many weeks until I can get around to working on it?"

Catherine gave him a marginally annoyed expression "I'm sure they'll understand that the Knights of Seiros are in a rather difficult position and that everyone needs to make some sacrifices right now." she looked past him at what he was working on and gestured towards it "Like that? What even is that thing?"

The man turned around and looked down at the brass three legged design before he turned back around "I got that before the whole attack." he grunted, nodding towards the Monastery as he spoke, then looked over her shoulder and sighed. Reaching down, he moved his hand under his stall and pulled forth a small leather parcel before dumping it on the desk.

Before Catherine had a chance to ask, she felt a familiar presence approach from behind her. Or rather, she could sense a complete lack of a presence. Catherine turned around, finding Shamir approaching the blacksmith with a usual dull expression on her face, sparing the knightness a glance as she returned her attention to the blacksmith and stared down at the leather parcel.

"All of them?" Shamir inquired in her usual monotone voice, resting her hands on the stall and staring at it before she looked back up at the man.

"Twelve three inch blades." The man nodded his head, reaching down and flipping the top of the satchel and unveiling the small daggers to the world. The thin leaf shaped pieces of metal with a thin handle and very clearly forward heavy.

Shamir hummed to herself, reaching for her coin purse and placing down the specified amount while also taking the blades into her hands and giving them a quick once over. "Took faster this time."

"Trying a new method." The man explained, nodding at the daggers "Before you ask, it's a lot easier to do with those than it is to do with swords." He spoke for Catherine's benefit before she could try to make an argument.

Catherine stared at the man for a few moments before she shook her head and attempted a different approach "Look, I'm not trying to be unreasonable but-"

"Anything that someone says before the word 'but' is worth nothing." The man gruffly cut her off "There are at least three other smiths in this town you can ask."

"I have asked them." Catherine replied through gritted teeth "And they are already hard at work meeting our request."

"So why do you need me then?"

"So that it goes faster."

"I'm used to making perhaps a dozen swords for the monastery in maybe a couple weeks." The man explained "What you're asking me for is not just unreasonable, it's also impossible." he tapped his finger on his stall to punctuate his sentence "I can't make a hundred swords that quickly and I doubt you can find a smith who can." he waved his hand at her "Just buy the damn things."

Catherine made a face "The merchants aren't expecting a fresh restock for a couple weeks and the knights can't afford to be so understaffed." she thinned her lips "What about making spears? That's faster right? Just a sharp bit of metal on the end of a stick?"

The man reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose "Yeah…if you wanted me to just stick a piece of shit on a branch and hand you that." he lowered the hand "I know that you're knights have a better preference for those all steel spears and they take even longer to make. You can't be swinging a wooden pike around like a longsword, it'll snap and you'll be left in the shit." he pointed at himself "Then I'm the one who gets blamed for a shit product. I'll not be sleeping soundly if I hand off subpar weapons to young lads who get killed because of it."

Catherine exhaled loudly as she reached up and grabbed her face with both hands.

Shamir tilted her head, looking between the two of them for a few seconds "Are supplies really that bad?" she asked, from the time she had examined them there still seemed to be enough to arm the standing guard.

"They have enough for one weapon per knight." Catherine explained as she lowered her hands back to her side, turning to face the mercenary "But we're short on spares, as in 'if you break that spear in your hands you're gonna be fighting unarmed.' sort of short."

Shamir made a noise of understanding as she pocketed the knives "Makes sense." she grunted as she turned back to face the man "Take it you can't make them that fast."

"No." The blacksmith tiredly sighed out as he turned to face her "As I was telling your fri…" he trailed off, his eyes still fixed on her but soon drifting slightly to the left of her and hovering on a particular spot just past her shoulder. Shamir inclined her head before her eyes narrowed, the smith's mouth was slightly agape and his brows furrowed in clear confusion.

"...Enjoying the morning air, my friend?" When the smith spoke again, his voice contained a clear hint of bafflement and very much unsure of how he was to respond to whatever he was seeing. Especially if the way his eyes were trailing down and then back up again was any indication.

Shamir's faint curiosity won out, the woman shifted her head and looked over her shoulders directly to what the man was looking at. She blinked once, then twice. "I see you've recovered." The mercenary spoke in a somewhat dull tone of voice in an effort to hide her surprise at the state of the man before her.

"Who's recovered-what the shit?"

Then there was Catherine with all the subtlety of a runaway demonic beast, the tanned woman squinting her eyebrows at the individual who was the cause of this unusual scene, her lips drawn into a confused frown and her eyes looking them up and down.

Despite the brash comment, the man in question never once gave any indication he registered it, instead his eyes were affixed on the blacksmith in front of him. Shamir slowly turned away from Goetia - wearing a blanket and underwear and nothing else - and returned her attention to the smith.

The man looked about as put off by the display as one would have expected them to be, especially by the fact that Goetia seemed to be looking dead into the smith's eyes with no discernible expression on his face.

The smith leaned back slightly as Goetia took a single step forwards, passing right by Shamir without even acknowledging her existence in the least. The woman was unsure whether that was a good or bad thing, to be greeted by someone dressed, or rather undressed, in such a state would likely have killed any mood for further interaction with them. As it was, Goetia's lack of speaking was probably the best thing he could actually do in this situation.

Catherine didn't seem to see it that way though "Hey!" she called out, leaning past Shamir and resting her hands on the wooden stall while looking directly at Goetia "What the-what are you doing walking around dressed like that!? You take a blow to the head or something?"

There was no response.

"Can you even hear me?"

Goetia still wasn't even looking at her, instead his gaze that could only have found a suitable comparison with a dead fish was firmly placed upon the blacksmith. The man stared at Goetia for a few more seconds before he snapped his fingers, a flicker of understanding flashing across his face.

"Ah, right. You were the one who wanted that thing with three legs?" He paused and looked behind him once again "And the weird cylinder?"

Goetia didn't speak to him, but the angle of his head did descend about an inch before it rose once again.

"Okay…" The man stepped away from him and turned around, reaching towards the three legged contraption that had been noticed earlier and picking it up. It's general appearance didn't make much sense, three legs that seemed to be made from wooden poles with a triangular shaped brass cap linking all three together with a hinge that would allow them to swing open and shut, the base of the wooden poles were also covered in brass, likely to try and protect it from being chipped or scuffed but that was about all that Shamir could tell from it.

Then there was the brass cylinder that didn't seem to have any features to it, it was segmented with the cylinder sections getting smaller the further along they went. It looked more like a club than anything else.

Goetia wordlessly took the contraption in his single hand while the cylinder floated up and then hovered by his shoulder, still ignoring Catherine trying to get his attention.

Eventually annoyed at being continually ignored, Catherine moved towards Goetia and slapped her hand on his shoulder. The man paused as he turned to leave, then slowly craned his eyes towards the limb before he shifted his posture and turned around to stare at the woman. His eyes shifted and Shamir recognised the look as someone who just realised he wasn't alone anymore.

"Oh." Goetia quietly spoke as his arm lowered to his side with the creation still in his grasp "I take it this means the other knights returned as well."

Catherine gave him a look, then turned to Shamir with a face that screamed 'Is he serious?'

Shamir shrugged her shoulders and looked away, returning her attention to the blacksmith and leaning forwards. She could at least try and make some additional money from the situation by working out some sort of deal with the man.

"I've been calling out to you for the last two minutes, did you just not hear me or something?" Catherine asked as she let go of him and then frowned as she looked him up and down "For that matter, what in the heck are you doing?"

Goetia stared at her before he raised his left hand and the tripod in his grasp "Collecting my commission for a project." he dryly responded as he lowered his arm once again.

Catherine frowned "Are you trying to be funny?" she pointed at him "We all hear about how you're being personally healed by the Archbishop and then without any warning beforehand now you're just walking around the town market virtually buck naked?" she stabbed a finger towards his briefs for a moment. "I don't care about whatever you had built, I want to know what the heck you're doing?" she paused before she leaned forwards and sniffed slightly.

For the first time in the conversation, Goetia's expression shifted as he leaned away from her "What are you doing?"

"Checking if you're drunk." Catherine responded as she thinned her lips and shook her head "Well, I don't smell anything which means you haven't been drinking." the frown returned "Which means you're either in your perfect state of mind…" she trailed off, pointedly looking him up and down "Or you've been hit in the head one too many times and haven't recovered yet."

She paused and tilted her head "Does Lady Rhea know you're here?"

Goetia's only response was an unblinking stare before he turned away and resumed his walk further into the town. Only to pause when a hand grabbed his shoulder once again.

"Hold it right there." Catherine's voice shifted into something more accusatory. "Did you leave without permission from Lady Rhea?"

Goetia remained silent for a moment before he was flipped around to face Catherine "Where do you think you're goi-"

Goetia vanished.

Catherine blinked, looking around in surprise before she curled her lip into a frown and crossed her arms in a huff. Damn mages and their vanishing acts, she hadn't expected him to just cast a teleportation spell to get away from answering her but it confirmed in her mind that he had left without being dismissed by the Archbishop.

She would have given chase but she didn't know the first place she could look and she still had that blacksmith to worry about. Giving a sigh of exhaustion, she turned around and paused when she noticed Shamir walking towards her with a faint smile on her face.

"What?"

"The Church is going to owe me extra this month."

Catherine did a double take "E-excuse me?"

In response, Shamir nodded over her shoulder towards the smith "He's going to make you spare weapons."

"Wha-" Catherine blinked once, then twice, then allowed her jaw to drop "How-what-"

"Axes." Shamir responded with a shrug, "Much easier to make than swords, at least for now." the woman crossed her arms and leaned back before raising an eyebrow and looking past Catherine "Where did the naked man go?"

The knightness shook her head and pulled her lips into an annoyed frown, briefly putting to one side what Shamir had said just before the question "Teleported away." she explained with irritation clear in her voice, throwing up her right arm "He just snuck away from Lady Rhea after she put all that personal effort into healing him, can you imagine? He doesn't even thank her!"

That just sounded like someone who felt that they had better things to do than lie in bed. Shamir thought to herself and while she wouldn't exactly walk around with nothing but a blanket and her sleepwear on, she understood the need to keep busy.

Maybe it was a cultural thing she was missing, the man was a foreigner to Fodlan - like herself - and that didn't mean that he would do things the exact same way as her.

Shrugging her shoulders, she internally dismissed it.

It wasn't her problem until someone else made it her problem or paid her to deal with it.

Claude waved to his fellow Deers as he approached the small gathering, it was approaching midday and that, of course, meant that it was time for lunch. It would also be a cold day in the Valley of Torment if they ever caught Raphael skipping on lunch, Claude could already see the big lad with a rather oversized lump of meat on a plate accompanied by a fresh helping of mashed potatoes.

Say what you would about Raphael's simple diet, it couldn't be denied that it was working out well for him.

"Hello everyone!" Claude greeted with an overly cheery smile as he slumped himself down on the bench next to them, resting his own plate of rather humble meats and vegetables in front of him. "So, how has your day been?"

"Absolutely revolting." Lorenz was the first to speak and naturally the first words out of his mouth were a complaint. Nothing new there and judging by the uncaring faces of his peers, they had all been expecting it as well. "To think I would have to muck around in the filth." he shivered "Such acts are obviously beneath my station."

Ignatz furrowed his brows as he looked down the length of the table "Don't we normally tend to horses and clean weapons back at the Monastery?"

Lorenz made a sputtering noise "On occasion!" he hastily argued "And we most certainly do not do so for an entire day, perhaps an afternoon." the purple haired boy looked down at his meal and frowned "And commoners consume this?"

"What?" Raphael looked across at the plate and blinked at it "Looks like chicken and carrot soup to me." he paused and then squinted his eyes as he pointed a meaty finger at it "Is that some onion as well?"

Lorenz reached up and rubbed the bridge of his nose "If it could be called as such. The chicken must be days old and these carrots…they still taste rather raw and to say nothing of the broth." he curled his lips "It ghastly."

Leonie looked across at him before her eyes fell on his bowl. "I mean, if you don't want it I'll eat it." she said as she reached across towards it, before she could get far Lorenz placed his forearm inbetween the girl and his food. His expression shifted between embarrassment and resignation.

"That is not to say I shall turn my nose up at sustenance." He spoke slowly, watching Leonie's arm and waiting for her to retract it "Besides, this shall only be a short time. I can stomach such conditions, they build character and make me appreciate the finer points of noble life." he gestured to himself "If I can understand the manner in which commoners live, then I can better protect them as a true noble."

Lysithea hummed in response as she stirred her own stew with the end of a wooden spoon. "How inspiring." her voice was dry, almost a desert like barrenness clinging to it before she eventually looked up at the others on the table. "Is this really what we shall be doing until the academy has been repaired?"

Claude drummed his fingers on the table and shrugged "Either this or we get sent back to our territories and all our education gets put on hold." he paused for a moment before a cheeky smile came to his face "Then again, I saw that Abyss has some classrooms-"

"I draw the line at consorting with vagrants, exiles and criminals." Lorenz brusquely responded with an edge in his tone as he narrowed his eyes at Claude "As should you, those people sought Abyss as sanctuary for very good reasons. They are no longer accepted above ground." he punctuated the sentence by tapping his finger on the desk.

"Yeah but some of those reasons are pretty petty-"

"Whether you believe that or not, the point is that others very clearly do." Lorenz countered once again "Especially those who will become your peers." pointing a finger at Claude, he continued on "You forget your position and it falls to me to remind you, you will be leader of the Alliance - somehow - and you cannot be seen to consort on the regular with pickpockets, disgraced nobles and heretics." he leaned back "You will sully the Alliance reputation for generations to come should you do so."

Claude blew out air between his teeth and rolled his eyes "Yes, yes. Thank the Goddess I have you by my side to remind me who I should and should not grace with my presence." he looked back at Lorenz and crossed his arms "The point is that even a Cardinal of the Church thought helping those people was the right thing to do."

"And was he not revealed to be some sort of shape shifting monster." Lorenz dropped his voice into a hushed whisper and leaned across the desk to look Claude dead in the eye "If anything, that nullifies your argument further."

"Abyss was founded before then and you know it."

"Do we?" Lorenz raised an eyebrow "What we know is that a Cardinal of the Church transformed into a monster and abducted a member of staff before escaping from the depths of Abyss and going on a massacre." the boy pursed his lips "As it stands, we are fortunate that the continent will believe it to be the work of a gang of Demonic Beasts, how would they ever recover from this fiasco short of burning Abyss to the ground and killing all who dwell there to be sure there are no further shape shifters."

Claude gave an annoyed grunt and raised his hands "Alright, alright…I hate it when you make good points."

"Then perhaps you should try to think and I would not have to remind you of common sense so often." Lorenz responded with a smug smile on his face as he leaned back across.

Seeking to quickly change the topic, Claude looked back across the table towards Ignatz "So, how did it go with the Merchants?" he asked as he shovelled a spoonful of his lunch into his mouth.

Ignatz looked surprised at being put on the spot for a moment before he quickly composed himself, putting on a relieved expression "It went quite well. As long as we can guarantee that the Merchants will be well protected on the voyages to and from the Monastery, then they can offer some discounts on necessary supplies like food."

Claude nodded his head "That sounds good enough."

"Well…almost all of them." Ignatz admitted with a wry smile as he rubbed the back of his neck "Some were…yeah."

Claude raised an eyebrow, putting on a thoughtful face before a certain individual with red hair and a rather sharp smile popped into his head. He chuckled to himself and gave Ignatz a knowing look "Anna?"

Ignatz nodded his head.

"Sounds about right." Claude replied as he went back to his food "Leave it to her not to let a tragedy get in the way of making money, right?"

"It is a way of living and I can't exactly force her to lower prices." Ignatz pointed out with a slight hint of nervousness to his voice.

"I'm not blaming you." Claude quickly waved his hand to dismiss the young boy's worries "I'm just saying it's hardly surprising. I doubt even Mercedes' legendary kindness could melt the icy wall that is around Anna's profit box." he paused for a moment "Still, isn't she worried about getting undercut?"

Ignatz paused at that before he coughed to himself and looked to the house leader "I did raise that point and well…she said 'I would rather not have my customers think I'm cheating them. High price, high quality.' or something like that." he shrugged "I did my best."

"I'm sure you did." The tanned boy shifted through his meal "No sense in worrying about it now though. Besides, it's probably going to be a temporary thing anyway. I don't see it lasting more than a week at best and Anna doesn't really sell food provisions, does she?"

That got thoughtful expressions across the table, accompanied by several hums in between chewing.

"I think she sometimes sells some herbal tea?" Hilda guessed with a strained look on her face as she tapped the bottom of her chin "I think? I can't remember."

"So actually, she might not even be one of the Merchants we need to talk with in the first place?" Claude looked around "That's what I'm getting…unless anyone here has a fascination with rare and exotic tea's?"

Lorenz crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow "And what is the harm in wishing for the taste of such a refined drink?"

"Typical." Leonie muttered under her breath as she tore into her own slice of meat, chewing loudly before she swallowed and waved a hand at Lorenz "Never tried the stuff. Smelt like grass."

"Wha-grass?!" Lorenz sounded positively horrified "You would compare the rich and delicate flavours of tea with common grass? Have you no sense of taste?"

Leonia just squined at him "They're weeds boiled in hot water."

"Oh boy." Claude placed his head into his hands and sighed into his palms, he knew just how much Lorenz cared for his tea and there was no way he wasn't going to let that comment go. He split his fingers slightly to allow his eye to peek through the gap, sure enough Lorenz looked fit to burst with what almost appeared to be a vein bulging on the side of his head.

It would have been amusing if Claude didn't know that they were likely going to attract the attention of everyone else who was coming here to eat. That was the one issue of having the eating space shared with an entire battalion of Knights, there was very little in the way of privacy.

He could only hope that it wouldn't get quite so vocal. Despite that, he couldn't help but allow a faint smile to grace his lips as he removed his hands from his face and resumed eating. It just wasn't a day with the Golden Deers if there wasn't some sort of chaos involved with them.

Claude did pause as he took notice of something from the corner of his eye, the swift arrival of the Blue Lions and Black Eagles from across the camp. The two groups making their way towards the eating camp in a varying order of some being closer than others. There were still one or two missing from Claude's count but it was entirely possible that her highness had just lost track of time or was coming from an entirely different place.

As Dimitri similarly caught sight of him, Claude raised his hand in greeting.

Unfortunately, that was the moment Lorenz chose to explode.

"I understand that your background might not be the same as mine, but have you even the slightest hint of taste within that crude mouth of yours!?" He shouted, slamming his hand on the desk and rattling the table "Weeds in hot water!? I have never in my life been so-so-so angered by such a description! Apologise! Apologise this very second to the commoners who harvest those tea leaves and treat them with the care they deserve!"

Dimitri just stared at Claude with his hand at half mast, caught between looking surprised and looking puzzled as his eyes danced over the table.

"What's the big deal?" Leonie snapped back, waving an arm around "It's all just hot leaf juice!"

"Wha-hot leaf juice!? You uncultured-" Lorenz looked close to snarling at her but swiftly closed his eyes and exhaled "I see where the problem is. Given your background of being a commoner before your arrival here, you have clearly never been introduced to the fineries of true refreshment." He snapped his fingers and allowed a look of understanding to cross his features "You poor soul, as a noble I shall take it upon myself to educate my peer."

Leonie made a face at him "I don't need you-"

"Nonsense." Lorenz shook his head at her, dismissing her words as though she was little more than a child "It is clear that you have been robbed of a vital experience and it falls to me to be the one to lift you into the light." he gave her a beatific smile "Your first experience will be one that you shall never forget."

Lysithea choked on her stew, thumping her chest while Claude raised his brows and stared down at the table with pursed lips.

"H-hello Claude." The boy in question looked to the side and saw Dimitri standing not far from him, the blonde young man holding a look of second hand embarrassment "I was going to ask if you wished for our two classes to eat together but…" he trailed off as he looked to the display in front of him "Perhaps this is a bad time?"

Claude stared at him in silence, then looked at Lorenz who was doing his best impression of a Saint, to Lysithea who looked as though she was on the verge of death, Hilda who looked about five seconds away from bursting into laughter, Ignatz who was blushing up a storm, Raphael who just held this look of innocent confusion and then finally there was Leonie.

Who was bright red, either from embarrassment at the innuendo or rage.

From the innuendo.

Claude nodded his head several times, then turned back to the prince and gave him a welcoming smile "I'd say you came at the perfect time! Have everyone pull up a seat." he paused "Maybe drag an empty table over as well." another pause "Better make that two."

Dimitri snapped off a small portion of chicken and dropped it into his mouth, pausing to chew for a few moments before he swallowed and turned back to the group "The good news is that the clearing of debris in the Monastery is going swiftly." he explained as he set down his fork "With luck they should have the worst of it gone by the end of the week. The repairs though?"

"That's gonna take a little longer?" Claude guessed, then got a grim nod of the head in response "Should have figured, the main hall looked like it got totaled so that was to be expected."

"So what does this mean for our education?" Ferdinand asked from his own seated position further up the table "Were the classes damaged during the battle?"

"No." Dimitri responded with a half smile "Although I am afraid that is very much a glass half empty situation, while the classes of our three houses were untouched for the most part the dormitory section was…damaged rather considerably in the battle. I am afraid that between that, the mess hall and the main hall, it will take the longest time to repair."

"My sanctuary." Bernadetta quietly whimpered from her spot, dropping her head into her hands "All my blankets and safety bears…"

Those who actually heard her quiet whispers gave her a side-eyed glance before they looked away.

"So for the time being, we're staying down here?" Claude asked as he pointed to the table, then gestured around their surroundings "In the town?"

"So it would seem." Dimitri admitted "And with the mess hall also damaged, we will likely have to come here as well unless they work up an alternative solution but I very much doubt they will be able to, especially not with a great deal of food related businesses already nestled within Hillfar to begin with."

"Paying for food." Lorenz sighed "Outstanding."

"You should not be so quick to turn your lip." Ferdinand spoke up, facing his fellow noble with a stern expression "We already receive an allowance from our respective families and I suspect the Monastery will provide us with a budget to spend upon basic necessities for survival." he paused "Not that I am saying they must, with the Monastery as damaged as it is I would understand if they placed a higher priority upon that."

"Forking over a pittance for soup will hardly damage our purses." Felix grunted from further up, soon taking a sip of his soup as if to punctuate his sentence "You worry about the wrong things. As long as they can still teach us here, most of the damage can be ignored."

"There is still the White Heron Cup to consider." A voice called out from further down the line, surprisingly enough it was Linhardt who had made the comment and was currently in the midst of buttering some crusty bread "Whether the Church will still hold that…well…" he shrugged.

"That is still months away." Mercedes replied with a tone of surprise "I believe the Monastery will at least be presentable by then, and wouldn't it do everyone some good to have a ball to raise their spirits?"

"As long as I am not the one dancing." Dimitri muttered under his breath as he broke off another section of chicken and stuffed it in his mouth. "I can think of no greater punishment for someone to sit through."

"Nor can I." Felix commented "Imagine having to watch an animal dance like a man?"

"Must you do that here?" Ingrid snapped at him with an annoyed tone of voice as she thumped her hand on the table, narrowing her eyes at the blue haired boy "Are we not able to endure a simple meal without you attempting to disrespect his highness?"

"Disrespect?" Felix scoffed "I hardly need to put much effort into that." he waved a dismissive hand at Dimitri "He can do that easily enough without my aid."

Ingrid bristled at him and looked ready to throw another insult before another voice spoke up.

"Must you be so crude?" Lysithea called down in an irritated tone of voice, her eyes falling upon the young man with a certain edge to them "Nearly every time I have heard you speak, it has degraded into some childish insult towards Prince Dimitri. It is blatantly obvious you have some issues with him but you do not need to vocalise them at every opportunity like a child throwing a tantrum. It comes off as petulant and immature and for one who seeks to one day hold a position of power in Fodlan, it is beyond embarrassing for you to debase yourself like this frequently in front of one who will become your King."

She finished her rant, lip curled down and eyes still narrowed.

The eyes of the entire table were more or less upon her, Felix was staring at her with a hint of surprise before his expression mellowed out and he allowed a slight smirk to come upon his lips "And here I thought Deers were supposed to be grass munchers. I didn't know they could also grow fangs."

Dimitri was still staring at her with wide eyes, his jaw opening and closing as he struggled to manifest a sentence.

Lysithea turned her attention back to her food in a huff, ignoring the still shocked stares she was receiving before Claude whistled. "I didn't know Sparkles was all healed up." he chuckled, Lysithea sent him an irritated glare which showed she didn't appreciate the comment, not that Claude seemed to care in the least as he smiled at her and shook his head.

He then paused as he realised something, turning back to Dimitri "By the way, did you ever find out about Teach and Sparkles?"

That got Lysithea to perk up ever so slightly, turning her attention towards Dimitri with a certain intrigue about her.

Dimitri thinned his lips, his expression turning more sombre "I am afraid it is nothing we are not already aware of." he sighed, reaching up and rubbing his forehead "The Professor's condition is still being kept very much secretive and as for Goetia…it still remains in a 'he is recovering' explanation." Dimitri looked about the table with a regretful expression as he dropped his hand down "I apologise, I wish I came with better news."

Claude waved his hand in response "Don't worry too much about it. I'd be lying if I said I was expecting something to come about from it." he leaned back and drummed his hands on the desk as he looked around "So…Foogeemaroo?" he paused and cringed "Is that how it's said?"

"Yes, I believe so." Dimitri nodded his head and turned to Claude before levelling him with a dull stare "Are you truly going to bring this up now?"

Claude shrugged "I'm not exactly prying into his life though. Nor am I rushing up that hill to assault his likely unconscious body with questions." he raised his hands and gave a cheeky smile "Innocent speculation."

Dimitri regarded him with a flat stare before shaking his head and looking back down at his food.

"Foogeemaroo?" Lysithea repeated the name, utterly butchering the pronunciation as she looked to Claude "That sounds vaguely familiar."

"Sparkles brought up the name." He paused and cupped his chin "Foogeemaroo Ritsooca?" he drummed his hands on the desk "Both Sparkles and he who we aren't allowed to talk about brought him up before they fought." he made a face "Aren't you curious who he is? And with such a weird name."

"You mean a name that sounds like a sneeze?" Leonie joked with a half smile before shaking her head "Way I heard it, whoever this guy was they both knew him." she shrugged "Maybe he was a big deal back where Goetia came from. Might have been another King or something."

Claude made a face "Huh…might have been." cupped his chin "But I'm not so sure…They were talking about people they were stronger than, right?" he looked around for confirmation although not everyone had actually been paying attention to the dialogue at the time "Our track record of facing opponents we outmatch."

Dimitri frowned "You suggest that this Foogeemaroo was weaker than Goetia and was still able to best both him and this strange demon creature?"

Claude shrugged "Maybe." he winced "Probably have to ask Sparkles but I doubt he's going to really want to talk about it any time soon."

"Then perhaps we might do well to forget about such things." Dimitri warned him as he returned to his meal "I believe you have already learned what happens when you push too heavily on someone who does not wish to be pushed."

Claude slowly nodded his head, he didn't really need a reminder about that. Goetia was rather intimidating when he was looming over you with red eyes and that had been before that whole battle in the Monastery.

Either way, he probably wouldn't be trying to push Goetia's buttons any time soon.

Goetia returned to the 'comfort' of his own room. Or at least what remained of it, even the warding he had put around it had offered little in the way of protection when he had come crashing through the ceiling.

Not that he paid much attention to the rubble that cluttered around his feet, kicking them aside and ignoring the brief flashes of pain that rushed through his feet.

Was this what humans called 'stubbing their toe'?

His mind internally noted the experience for later reference, it was not one that he would ordinarily wish to repeat. Allowing harm to come to his body was illogical, despite that he couldn't find it in himself to care at this moment.

Twisting the tripod in his arm and setting it down leaning up against the wall, the brass body of the telescope remained floating behind him as he moved over to his chest of drawers and threw the piece of scaffolding from the top of it with a backhand. The wood released a hefty clunk as it struck the ground and kicked up a small cloud of dust. Reaching for the drawer, Goetia grasped his single hand around the top drawer and slowly pulled it open.

Pausing for a moment as the drawer became stuck, with another yank the wooden chest came out with a sickening crack. Wood splintered and Goetia found himself holding the drawer in his single hand, staring down at it before he slowly shifted his attention to the wooden chest and stared at the torn wooden railings that had connected the two.

That was irritating.

That was beyond irritating.

It would be a simple fix but what right did it have to break to begin with?

Why couldn't it just work how it was supposed to and not break the very second he had needed it? He had better things to do with his time than fix a stupid piece of furniture-

He blinked once.

One moment the drawer had been there, in the next it was a pile of rubble and there was a splitting pain in his shin. He looked down to see a faint gash just underneath his knee and understood that he must have kicked the drawer.

That was an odd thing to do.

Dismissing it, he looked down at the drawer and levitated it into the air at his shoulder height before shifting through it. Soon finding the lenses he was searching for, the two glasses frames he had intended to work upon and the wooden frame that would house them and form the main eye of the telescope.

Moving across the room, he stepped across the rough surface of the floor, littered with splitters and smaller lumps of stone and now bits of his furniture that he had smashed on instinct. He moved for the desk on the opposite end of the room, gently lowering the lenses onto the surface of it and staring down at them.

They had been able to avoid suffering any damage to them, that was fortunate enough.

He looked around for the chair that had once rested in front of his desk, he didn't have to search for long. Finding its shattered carcass underneath one of the support beams for the roof, he stared at it for a few moments in silence before he turned back around and gazed down at his desk.

He would have to do this while standing, it seemed, not too great an issue but not something he was pleased with.

With a wave of his hand, he brought the brass telescope shell towards himself while he raised up the lenses. The glass frames started to alter themselves as Goetia chanted under his breath, shifting their very structure and expanding to accommodate the new design he intended for them.

The glass lenses moved into the telescope itself, moulding themselves around the inner frames and holding themselves in place. The brass frame internally shifted, grooves descending to hold the lenses in place with absolute precision to maintain a solid grip on them without running the risk of damaging them.

Goetia lowered the newly completed telescope back onto his desk.

He stared at it in silence, shifting his attention to the tripod and staring at it before he brought it into the air and pulled the metallic railings from the ruined chest of drawers into the air. With a face paced whisper, he changed the shape of the railings and altered their body into screws and an axis to hold the telescope on the stand.

The completed shape slowly took form, Goetia lowering his hand and allowing it to touch the ground with a gentle thud.

He made a telescope.

Now he could stargaze.

…

What was he going to do that for again?

"Because you can." The infernal voice returned, whispering in that empty tone of his from the corner of the room "Because you now have the freedom to do just that."

Goetia blocked the voice out as best he could, doing his level best not to so much as respond to the voice let alone talk to it. It was just an auditory hallucination brought about by his near death experience. His brain might have been deprived of oxygen for some moments which would lead to this eventuality. He would have to run a detailed examination on himself to see if he had completely recovered.

"That does a disservice to both of us." The voice responded to his inner thoughts as though it could hear them. "You were meticulous enough to never allow such damage to occur to you." the voice paused, Goetia felt its eyes part from him and stare at something. "At least…usually."

Goetia couldn't help sneaking a glance from the corner of his eye to the shattered chest of drawers before his eyes flickered back to the telescope.

The voice sighed to themselves "You cannot ignore me forever."

"I am you." Goetia snarked back "Ignoring problems because I just don't like them is in my very nature, isn't it?"

Without waiting for the voice to respond, Goetia closed his eyes and grabbed the Telescope in his hand before he walked back through the ruins of the door and into the shattered corridor.

Solomon remained standing in the room alone for a few seconds, a sigh emerged from his throat with the full knowledge that Goetia could hear him "That just isn't true, is it?"

AN: Yes…Solomon.It isn't the real Solomon, they're just a manifestation of Goetia's inner turmoil's, he channelled them into something he can hate without realising it. They won't be a permanent addition and their scenes will be few and far in-between but you'll get those moments where Goetia will glare at nothing in particular, like he did in the last chapter in the hospital tent.

That was him just glaring at the Solomon hallucination. Anyway, no Omake this time because I'm ill and it was a struggle just to get this chapter out. Oh yeah, something for you readers. The Spacebattles guys are more aware of Sothis power level but I'll just let you know.

Prime Sothis could solo the collective 72 Demon Gods.

She'd run into trouble with Goetia only because of Ars Almadel Salomonis.

Alright, since you're all going to complain about it, I might as well provide an explanation.

"Prime Sothis could Solo 72 Demon Gods." I mean she could defeat the 72 Demon Gods, not that she could permanently destroy them because she can't bust out Ars Nova. I mean in a straight up fight she's better than them.

Ignoring for a moment this is a slight AU, yes. Sothis could do that.

How I hear you ask? She's a Chief God, those guys are absurdly powerful.

Lets look at her cannon feats:

1. Creating an entire race of Dragons. Even if they aren't on par with Fafnir, they're still dragons. Dragons are stupid strong already even if they aren't Fafnir who is already considered an outlier amongst his own kind.

2. Destroying an entire race of super advanced humans and scorching the continent so that nothing could ever live there again.

3. Repairing said destroyed continent to the point where it could sustain life and recreating the humans she had all but wiped out.

4. Time control. You have any idea how much magical energy that uses? It's nuts. It's not "Time control of a certain area either." it's "Time Control that affects the entire planet." Even in her weak form, she can just snap her fingers and reverse time like ten minutes without any rituals or anything. It makes what Medea can do with flickering time look like a circus act.

Now you will also be saying "But Sothis got killed by some guy." Yes. After she expended most of her magical energy repairing the continent and then fell into a coma, then was ambushed by some guy who was also being supported by a race of super advanced humans who had made it their mission to kill the Goddess for the last however many thousand years it had been.

Then you say "But Rhea isn't as strong as Fafnir, she got defeated by missiles. "Yeah...After Years of imprisonment and torture by Those Who slither in the Dark. Who devoted their lives to killing Dragon people and made weapons specifically designed to kill dragon people. Lets look at the Fate side of things though. Are Demon Gods strong? Absolutely. They are pretty damn tough.

Can they get solo'd by Servants? Yeah. Scathach solo's like five Demon Gods in less than ten seconds in the Solomon movie.

Lets talk about Scathach-Skadi. She isn't even the strongest Deity in Norse mythology and she is still absurdly powerful. I have no doubt in my mind she could talk a good chunk of the Demon Gods in a solo run and she isn't even a Chief God.

Now, Sothis might not be a Quetzalcoatl or Sun Deity, but she's still a Chief God and that means something. Now, ranting about how Fire Emblem being weaker than Fate will get people nowhere because yeah. Fire Emblem is weaker than Fate when you really go to the higher points of it but that doesn't instantly mean that everything in Fire Emblem doesn't compare.

Sothis probably could beat the Demon Gods in a straight up fight because they are in entirely different Leagues. She is an actual God and Demon Gods just don't compare to those. Goetia is an entirely different story which is why he would be able to defeat canon Sothis because of his insane generation of Magical Energy and big flaming ring of death in the sky. But this argument is moot because it's a slight AU so it doesn't matter to begin with.

And don't get on that "Everything Sothis does can be done by Medea or another Talented Magus." Okay. Point to me the Magus who can reverse the time of the entire planet just with a snap of their fingers and no prior rituals or preparation, or can create and entire race of dragons.