Chapter 8 - The Wannabe Knight

7th of the Wyvern Moon, 1179

Clear Skies

It's been six months since I found myself in Fodlan. If someone is reading this journal, you have probably realized that this is the first time I've written using the local calendar on my first attempt. I'm going native.

While Bládthanna was a debacle, its secretive nature stopped our names from being dragged through the mud. So with the Blade Breaker mercenaries reputation intact, the jobs were flowing in. Jeralt marched us north, tackling various minor jobs, waiting for the next big catch. And now we have it.

A request had been sent from Lord Lonato of the Gaspard territory. Members of the Church of Seiros have gone missing all over his lands, and he wants to know why. The pay was excellent, but that may have been due to the Church. I've learned that whenever the church is involved, even nobility acts quickly and spends liberally. I don't know if that's because of genuine faith or fear of the consequences. None of our members were active churchgoers, but I do hear an occasional prayer or even swearing by a Goddess. Jeralt even seems to avoid them, especially those belonging to the Central Church. He did mention he served the Church once, perhaps he left on bad terms?

I still have dreams of that night in Bládthanna. Everyone was affected by that job, even their more seasoned members. I want to be able to find those missing people. If only to ease my conscience. I know that we saved lives, and had we not been there, none of its residents would have survived. But I still feel guilt, however irrational.

Lucas's writing was interrupted when a knock came to his door. The small inn they stayed at only had a few rooms, one of which was his. It made the more senior mercs grumble, but none dared said anything to his face. He rose from the desk and opened the door. Flora stood there with a mischievous smile. "Already gotten a room eh? The student has surpassed the master." Flora had become something of a friend to Lucas. She was not their greatest fighter and probably never would be, but she was utterly competent when it came to managing the camp. Their previous quartermaster had been wounded on their last job trying to clear out some monsters. His leg had to be amputated after a crippling from a Giant Bird. Lucas had handled himself against his first Giant Bird with the grace and elegance he had become known for in the company.

"Why is thing so fucking big!?" Lucas had made the mistake of climbing onto the Bird's back when it had been grounded by one of Jeralt's javelins. Unfortunately it had not stayed grounded for long and was trying to shake Lucas off. When Jeralt had told them they were hunting Giant Birds, he was thinking they would be as tall as a person. He was wrong, it was three times that. Lucas gripped its feathers, trying to hold on. The Bird took offense to that and rapidly changed altitude in an attempt to rid itself of the tagalong.

Byleth was on the ground, aiming a Javelin at the creature. "Lucas, keep it still!" she cried. It was hard to hit a Bird's wings when it was flying erratically. Lucas bit back a retort and thought of a plan. He got up on a knee, and slashed at its wing. Blood and thin bones crunched. The bird squawked in pain and began to descend towards the ground. Byleth took the opportunity and hurled her javelin into its wounded wing, disabling it. The birds kept gliding, albeit clumsily, trying to cushion its fall.

I've had worse ideas. Lucas climbed across its back towards its head. The bird tried to jerk and stop his advance, but Lucas kept his footing. He drove his steel sword into its neck, causing a gurgled squawk. He drew the sword out, and looked to the ground. It was about to crash. Before it did, Lucas threw himself off the bird, transitioning to a sideways roll.

After his admittingly impressive display, he rose to his feet covered in grass stains. He saw that Byleth was looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "Show off"

Lucas decided he really did not like birds after that. The voice he heard when he called upon that power had been silent ever since Bládthanna. He had shared what had happened with Byleth and Jeralt a few days after they left. According to Jeralt, teleportation was possible in Fodlan, just not to that extent. Warp and Rescue were difficult spells that only a few could learn. They also took time to channel and figure out where you were going, not to mention that the spell was inaccurate. Lucas had teleported twice in rapid succession, and with pin-point accuracy. The best theory they had was that it activated when he was in danger or thought he was. A fight or flight response. So Byleth, being herself, suggested they send him against a flock of giant birds. She swore it was a joke, but her eyes told a different story.

Breaking from his reverie, Lucas went to meet Jeralt. They had arrived at Castle Gaspard the previous night. The company had chosen to rest for the night, as Lord Lonato had been meeting with dignitaries from Count Rowe. Jeralt had been dressed in his usual armor, with an easy going expression. "Morning kid. Sleep alright?" Lucas shrugged. Byleth was also in the room, her arms crossed. She looked nervous, which put Lucas on edge. "Today I'm taking you and Byleth with me to meet Lord Lonato. I know you're used to me handling the nobility, but today that job is gonna be yours." Lucas was shocked. The last noble he had interacted with had nearly ended with him sicking his hounds on him. The only reason the noble didn't was the lack of hounds.

"You do remember how this turned out last time, right?" The man had been a minor noble from the Alliance. He had hired them to escort him northwards from their base in Remire to Magdred. He had only recently been elevated to nobility due to his success as a tradesman, and had boasted about his ascension incessantly. Even the even tempered Byleth had grown weary of it. Especially when he began to flirt with her, offering a large sum to become his mistress. Lucas had been nearby and chose to intervene, calling the noble a fat pig. Which he did resemble. He demanded Lucas be flogged for his words and took the matter to Jeralt. When he had been told what the noble asked of Byleth, it took Lucas, Goetz, and Bartrand to stop Jeralt from wringing the man's neck. The job had ended successfully, but they doubted he would be a repeat client.

"I do. Just keep your head cool and don't let their 'holier than thou' crap get to you. They're just raised that way. Get the details and get out. That being said, Lord Lonato has a good reputation with the commoners, he even adopted a commoner and his siblings a couple years back. So he should be pretty tame." That was a surprise to Lucas. Fodlan was a rigid hierarchy, with those with Crests being the heirs rather than the first born like most feudalistic societies. To adopt and elevate a commoner, even as a minor noble was a big deal in the Kingdom.

The trio made their way to the castle Lord Lonato lived in. It was a modest castle, as contradictory as that sounds. The people were dressed in heavy linen and wool, as the temperature had begun to fall. It was autumn, and the leaves had turned to a golden amber. The servants were few, only a single butler and a few maids. They were led to a living room, where their employer sat, playing with two small children. He was dressed in a blue tunic, with a crest of the Kingdom emblazoned on his chest. He had a mustache and snow white hair, and with his smile he fit the image of a kind grandfather. A young man was in the room as well, looking to be in his mid teens with freckles. He had a book in his lap, titled 'Loog and the Maiden of Wind'. The old lord rose to greet them.

"Jeralt Reus Eisner. Now there's an old and familiar face." Lonato spoke kindly to Jeralt, with respect even. Did they know each other? Jeralt seemed to grimace, sensing his past was about to be dragged up. Lucas had learned to steer clear of Jeralts history, but it was clear he used to be a big deal. "I figured you were a mercenary just using an old legends name to get attention. Good to see I was wrong." The Lord turned to Byleth and Lucas with an eye raised.

Byleth took the initiative. "Good morning, my Lord.'' Though it was in her usual monotone, she conveyed the proper amount of respect one gave nobility. "My name is Byleth Eisner, and this is my colleague Lucas Raith." She gave a bow from the waist, and Lucas repeated the motion. Lonato's eyes widened in surprise. He then gave a smile to the two and chuckled.

"So this is why no-one has seen heads or tails of you for years. You started a family." Lonato spoke to Jeralt. Lucas decided that he liked this old lord, he spoke to them as people, not subjects. "I suppose by the fact you brought them, you are showing them the ropes of dealing with fops like me?" He joked.

Jeralt had relaxed, even looked amused. "We're getting old, my Lord. There will come a day where I won't be in her life anymore. Least I can do is make sure she can run things without me." Lonato nodded.

"I agree wholeheartedly. May I introduce you to my son, Ashe." The young man rose from his chair, placing the book under his arm. He gave a shy nod, flustered at the attention. Lonato heartily slapped his hand on his shoulder, making him stumble. "It is only right that I bring my own youngster to our meeting." His expression turned grave, and the kindly grandfather was replaced by the Lord. The children sensed this change and made themselves scarce, fleeing into a nearby room. He motioned to a nearby table where they all sat.

Lonato motioned for Ashe to begin. He looked nervous, yet began their mission briefing "Over the past few weeks various Churches around our territory have been raided. Or… at least we think they have. Each one has all of its valuables intact. The only missing are the holy hooks, idols, and the members of the clergy" Lucas raised an eyebrow. Kidnapped priests and nuns? That was a new one.

Lucas cut in "How do you mean? Was there reason to think they weren't raided?"

Lontato chimed in. "The doors were intact, nothing appeared out of place. It was as if the residents walked out one night and never came back, with their holy symbols of course." He pulled out a map of his territory, with the now abandoned churches marked with an X. There were three marked with circles. "As you can see, it is not an isolated incident. In fact, it appears that they are moving westwards, to Rowe territory."

"So one of these three would be targeted next. We could send a small group to guard each church through the night." They would have to stay hidden, if the missing members of the clergy were still alive, stealth was the key.

"I've tried stationing guards outside the churchs before. They have also gone missing. And before you raise the possibility of them abandoning their posts, their families remain in town. They would not abandon them, or at least not all of them." Lonato seemed to have much of this figured out. It appeared that they were here for their expertise and muscle.

Byleth nodded her head. "Not even the people we're protecting can know about us, could give us away." Lonato made a grunt. Honor and chivalry was an important thing among the people of the Kingdom. There was a certain thing to go about fighting in the kingdom, and most of it included meeting the enemy on the field of battle.

"I understand you may have reservations my lord, but this may be the only way. Whoever is responsible clearly wants to use your sense of honor against you." Lucas appeased the older man. He turned to Lucas, and gave a slight nod. The younger man was more offended by Lucas's words than Lonato.

"Honor is important! Without it, we are no different from those who do wrong by our people" Ashe exclaimed in defense of chivalry. Lucas raised his hands, trying to calm the young man.

"Peace Ashe. The young man did not intend to offend me, and no offense was taken." Ashe gave him a confused look. "Do you recall when Christophe and I taught you to hunt? We told you that sometimes you must think like your prey, so that you might catch it." Ashe looked down in shame, or was that sadness? "Evil men are kidnapping innocents. In order to catch them, we must think like them. If we do not, then more will be taken. What is the honorable thing to do?" Lonato spoke gently to his son, like a teacher imparting a lesson. Byleth never cared for such rigid definitions of honor, especially on the battlefield. Ashe eventually nodded wordlessly at Lonato, absorbing the lesson he had been given.

Jeralt coughed and their business resumed. "In that case, I'll send a party of three each to survey the locations. We need to keep our parties small in order to avoid detection. Byleth, Lucas, and Goetz will go and watch the furthest church. I'll figure out the other groups later. You see anything, send a member back to report. Do not engage unless necessary." Lonato rose from his seat. He seemed to like the plan.

"A sound plan. But there is one thing I'd like to request." He motioned to Ashe. "Please take my son with you. I have trained him as best I can, but I feel that watching a professional fight would do him some good."

Lucas looked at the boy. He was lanky but had some muscle from training. He doubted he had his first kill yet, which could be a problem. But he didn't want to say that to the old Lord in fear of offending him. So he tried another line of reasoning. "With all due respect my lord, we need someone who has experience with stealth. While I have no doubt you trained him to hunt well, I don't think that…" Lonato cut him off with a boisterous laugh.

"Then he is the right choice. After all, I adopted him after he snuck into my own home to rob me!" What? Ashe looked down in shame. A thief adopted by a lord? Even Jeralt seemed taken aback by his statement. "Find them with your skills my boy. And then we shall act as true knights of Faerghus!" Ashe looked up, and gave his adopted father a smile.

"I won't let you down Lord Lonato!" Ashe exclaimed.

Contrary to what television had taught him, observing a single target for hours on end was utterly boring. Even Ashe's enthusiasm had faded when the first hour passed. They had things on a triple rotation, where one person would rest, one would watch the church, and one would keep guard. Right now, Lucas was resting, Ashe was watching the church, and Byleth was standing guard. He sat up, his steel sword pressed against his body. The stars had been beautiful tonight, though Lucas tore his gaze from the heavens. It reminded him too much of Nerys. He closed his eyes, as a tear began to form.

Stop it. He told himself. That life is over. She's gone.

Lucas had episodes like this once in a while. It wasn't just about Nerys though. His parents, his sisters, even his cousin Joshua. In the dark of the forest, he thought back to the day he first met her.

October 12th, 2016

He had just broken up with his high school sweetheart Sarah. They had been dating for two years, and now they were nearly done with their first year of college. It had started out with vows and promises of being together even in the new chapter of their lives. It wasn't a single event that caused their relationship to sour. It was the reality of growing up. He wanted to study medicine in Connecticut, she wanted to go home to North Carolina and become a lawyer. He wanted blue bath towels while she wanted red. Little things that made them realize they didn't even feel like friends anymore, let boyfriend and girlfriend. Despite their mutual breakup, he was bummed out. Lucas's friends dragged him out to a popular club, Studio 22.

The music was loud and the reverbs so strong ripples formed on his drink. He sat at the bar alone, letting his friends have fun. What started as an attempt to cheer him up had just turned into another night of partying hard. He liked seeing his friends having a good time, it made him feel a bit better. But he was a wet blanket tonight and knew it. He turned back to the bartender, a girl in her mid twenties wearing a tight V-neck which exposed a good amount of cleavage. He stole a glance at the full tip jar nearby and cocked an eyebrow. Clever. His action did not go unnoticed, as the woman gave him a flirty grin.

"Hey, can't blame me for wanting to pay the bills." She joked. Her expression softened "I've been doing this job for five years. I can spot a broken heart a mile away. So pick your poison darlin." Bartenders and therapists were more alike than people thought. They could diagnose what was wrong with you and could load you up. Lucas got vodka on the rocks, and noticed the girl didn't ask for his ID. Luck was on his side tonight.

Lucas looked at the different people at the bar. One couple were casually groping each other red faced and hammered. An older man drank a bear, with spots of gray in his dark hair. To the end of the bar however was an interesting scene. A blonde woman wearing a simple white button-up with black slacks sat, her drink untouched. Her hair was in a loose ponytail, and was immaculately brushed. Her beautiful face held an ugly glare due to the man seated next to her, his arm around her shoulder. It was clear he was doing all of the talking, and whatever his pick up tactics were, they needed work.

But while the woman was glaring at him, she didn't notice that the arm around her shoulders had discreetly dropped a tablet into her yellow drink. Alarm bells raised, he motioned to the bartender. "I think he just slipped something in her drink." The bartender's eyes narrowed. He could see the rage burning within, but it turned into a smile. She put her hand underneath the bar, likely for a button to call one of the bouncers. She turned back to Lucas.

"Think you can keep him in place till my boys get here?" Lucas supposed he could. He knew to avoid throwing the first punch, doing so would only get him getting kicked out too. He gave the bartender a nod and made his way to them. The blonde woman's emerald eyes met his in confusion, and he gave her a winning smile. He turned to address the man who still had his arm around her, though now it was on her back as opposed to her shoulder.

"Can I help you?" His cologne was strong, likely to hide how slimy he was. "We were about to head out."

"Can I help you? No, I don't think I can. But I speak for everyone when I say that you need to take a hint." The other bar patrons had turned to watch the proceedings, even that hammered couple had pulled their faces apart to watch. They all saw how annoyed the emerald eyed woman looked at the man's embrace.

"Oh no, I was just about to score with…" The man began only to be interrupted.

"Score is it?" The woman finally spoke up. Her voice was melodious, but her inflection was anything but. "I was under the impression that you wanted to get to know me? Oh, and you almost had me too" The woman mocked. The wannabe playboy looked offended and finally took his arm off of the woman. He gave a charming smile to recover from his blunder, and put his hand on her cheek in what was supposed to be a romantic gesture. The woman countered by grabbing his hand and giving it a tight squeeze. She must have been stronger than she looked, because the playboy's smile turned to a grimace. She squeezed even harder and Lucas swore he heard bones crack.

"There a problem here?" The bouncer had finally arrived. He was everything a bouncer should be. Tight black shirt, visible muscles, tribal tattoo on his right arm. His focus lasered on the scene before him. The emerald-eyed woman released the man's hand, who began to rub it to soothe the pain. "Thought I kicked you out last week and told you to never come back?" It appears that the playboy had gotten into trouble once before. And made the very foolish choice by coming back.

"Bruno, buddy I told you that was a misunderstanding. Besides, this crazy bitch nearly broke my hand" He made a pitiful attempt to deflect blame but Bruno clearly hadn't bought it. He grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out of the club. A few patrons laughed, others clapped. The woman's scowl had vanished and she sent a mischievous smile to Lucas.

"I take it that this is where I swoon and hang onto your every word? Being my great savior and all." The woman japed, eyes filled with mirth. Lucas laughed as he took a seat next to her, but made a point to give her some space.

"I think you've had enough of dogs humping your leg for one night. I'll settle for a good conversation if that's all right." The woman let out a laugh. The bartender came over and gave them a round on the house, removing the tainted drink. "So what brings you here tonight?"

"I just moved into town. Being a country girl, I decided to try clubbing the first chance I got. I'm not too impressed. What about you? You were looking awfully miserable earlier." If she had noticed from the other side of the bar, he must have been worse than he thought

"Clubbing is more fun with friends. As for my dourness, I broke up with my longtime girl a couple of days ago. My buddies decided to drag me out." Her expression softened and went to apologize but Lucas waved her concern off. "It's alright, we grew apart. As cliche as it sounds it was mutual."

"Well, seeing as you are alone and single, why don't we chat for the night?" The woman flirted. Lucas gave her a deadpan look, not buying it. "Allright, I'm new to town and I'd like to start making friends. I suppose you'll do." Lucas figured she had an agenda, not that it bothered him.

"Lucas Raithe, aspiring med student." He offered a hand to shake.

"Nerys Etifedd, a pleasure." She took it.

They sat at that bar, all the way to closing time. His friends had all left him. When they saw him with the blonde beauty, they had been satisfied leaving him with her. Lucas was utterly captivated by the woman, and he hoped the feeling was mutual. When he finally gained the courage to ask for her phone number, she looked embarrassed and said she didn't have one. Instead, she asked where he lived. He thought it was a polite way to turn down his advances and he accepted that this might be the last time he saw her.

The knock at his door with an embarrassed Nerys the next day told him he was wrong. And he was glad for it.

"I see someone!" Lucas's eyes shot open. He took a moment to reorient himself. Back to work. Lucas crouched low, and moved to Ashe. Byleth did the same. They looked out at the church. He was expecting bandits or mercenaries to be leading the captives. He wasn't expecting other priests. But unlike their captives, they wore darker clothes. "Those are the colors of the Western church!" Ashe clarified. The captives were bound and followed in a line with armed guards to the side. They watched as the priests at the head of the line of prisoners knocked on the church's door. A nun answered without hesitation, and greeted what she thought was a fellow follower of the Goddess. One of the guards motioned to a prisoner and held a knife to his throat. The nun opened the door soon after, surrendering. After 20 minutes, the members of that church were standing outside, joining their brothers in bondage. A wagon was in the back, loaded with holy books and symbols..

A twig snapped behind them, and the trio spun. Ashe aimed his bow, while Lucas and Byleth prepared to draw their swords. It was Bartrand, Goetz, and two of their newer members. Lucas and company relaxed. "They've hit the other churches as well. Already sent word to the Captain." That was good. It saved one of them a trip. "We need to keep following them." Byleth nodded in agreement. Things were getting interesting.

Author's Notes - It's been a few months and I wanted to show that Lucas and Co have been through some shit. He's gotten comfortable with the Mercs and his combat prowess continues to grow.

As for the flashback scene, there will be more, for reasons that will become clear as time goes on. I've currently got up to chapter 11 written, the rest needs editing. I'm trying to write these arcs before releasing them, that way I can rewrite or delete chapters if they don't fit the overall plot. Chapter 11 will be the start of canon.