The Dustbin
Day 12: Field Day Part 1
30th of Great Tree Moon, Morning
"Observation #1, Golden Deer," Karna remarked as he took his own notes of the field while jotting down their position on a blank grid acting as the map of the mock battle, drawing five dots indicating their positions, "two acting as vanguard out in the open, a lance wielder backed up by a bow wielder, two rearguards in a forest barricade, manned by another bow user and an axe wielder, and their professor, the head nurse, Manuela, who appears to be a sword-wielder, but keeps the aforementioned weaponry as her secondary, indicating that she's a [Faith] specialist, so she'll use [Nosferatu] to keep herself whole while using [Heal] to aid others." He then turned towards his students to ask them a question as each of them took their own notes as he presented the labeled map towards them, "now class, what are your impressions of the Golden Deer's lineup?"
"On paper, their formation is solid, a melee with a ranged rearguard," Byron remarked, "but what really bothers me is why doesn't the bow-wielder go into the forest? Doesn't he have a better chance of lasting longer in cover?"
"Glad you pointed that out," Karna remarked, "on one hand, the forest itself is an applicable terrain for finding cover and raising your evasiveness," he explained, "but on the other hand, there are two flaws," the professor pointed out, "communication range, which requires a moderation of distance to maintain effective reach between friend and foe, and there's the more obvious fact that their opponents can exploit the same strategy against them."
Vidar then shows his drawings that are divided into two panels, one depicting the foppish lance wielder being struck down from an enemy ambush from the forest, while the other shows him being overwhelmed by three other students while the bow wielder was too far away to reach him in time to help his fellow classmate.
"Yes," Karna remarked, "... gratuitous gore aside."
"The kid's got talent, I guess," Catherine remarked in slight disbelief at the fact of someone who bit off another student's ear during sparring gone wrong had this kind of talent, "... weirdos, all of you."
"Asides from that," Topaz remarked while raising her hand and ignoring Catherine's insensitive remark, "I have another question," she stated before asking, "the two in the forest barricade, the Riegan scion and the Goneril girl, are those two sufficient in their duties as rearguard?"
"Yeah..." Cyrus remarked sheepishly, "... the latter I knew for a good half a decade, and I once tried to strangle her in her sleep, she ended up breaking my arms instead, but the next day, she acts more worried that she's gonna chip her nail..." he rambled on with Karna giving him a stern look, signaling him to get back on track, "... my point being, wouldn't she flounder?"
"Personal issues are personal for a reason, Mr. Iskandar," Karna rebuked, "if they can't shake them off during the heat of battle, then they don't belong there, and we're only allowed to make that judgement call after the battle is over. Complaints?"
Cyrus reluctantly shakes his head.
"Good," Karna remarked, "now, onto the Observation #2, the Blue Lions." The professor then observed their formation onto the map, labeling the following; a lone bow user as their vanguard, and a four-man rearguard, consisting of a lance and axe wielders at the front, while another bow user and Professor Hanneman, a [Reason] magic specialist at the rearmost, the latter holing himself at the ruins as improvised cover.
"I already see a problem," Selene remarked as she took off her glasses, letting her hyperopia be utilized to see Ashe at the front adjacent to Lorenz, the lance-wielding Golden Deer student, "you don't send bowmen to the front without backup."
"True, bowmen aren't suitable for direct engagements," Karna remarked before he pointed to his labeled map, "but notice how where he's standing?"
"There's a forest right near em," Sorcha pointed out at the place where Ashe was standing at, Ashe's label being a few paces away from the cover of the trees, "but as soon as he enters, he's gonna get jumped from all directions since's he's gonna become the bigger threat long-term."
"... That's surprisingly eloquent coming from you of all people," Byron pointed out, seemingly impressed.
"I said I like bloodying people who give me shite," Sorcha replied, "but I ain't a idjit about it."
"Fair enough," Karna remarked, "but now, here's a little quiz," he stated, pointing to the Golden Deer lance wielder and the Blue Lion bow wielder, "of the following two, which will mostly likely draw first blood?"
"The lancer," Topaz remarked, "he has no reason to stay back and no reason to hesitate in active engagements."
"The bowman," Cyrus answered, "he has a longer reach, and steadily advancing won't mean much of a deterrent for him."
"Cyrus got it in one," Karna replied, "contrary to popular belief, bow wielders don't just finish off weakened enemies," he explained, "after all, why take out enfeebled foe when said bowman can start the process him or herself?"
"... It's starting," Vidar grunted out hoarsely, below the hill, the field now sprawling with movement.
As the mock battle begins to take place, both Vidar and Selene start taking detailed sketches of the movements of the three houses.
For the Black Eagles, their group consisted of the following, noted by Karna himself as his "Observation #3, Black Eagles".
Byleth Eisner, sword user, commander.
Edelgard von Hresvelg, axe user, leader of the Black Eagles house.
Hubert von Vestra, [Reason] magic user, Edelgard's rear support.
Casper von Bergliez, gauntlet user, vanguard.
Linhardt von Hevring, [Faith] magic user, main support.
"Overall, a balanced team that covers all aspects of speed, strength, offense, and defense," Karna remarked, "basic, but functional."
He then spots the first blood, and like Cyrus predicted, Ashe, the bow user of the Blue Lions lands the first blow unto Casper over the forest.
"He actually made the shot from that distance?" Byron remarked as he looked closer towards the field of engagement, "... over the trees no less."
"It's his hands," Selene remarked as she stared towards the bow user while her hands moved on their own, sketching down the boy's fingers in perfect detail, "normally, bowmen have strong grips to let them hold back the string while they aim in order to ascertain their target's spot," she explained, "but his hands are the opposite. From the moment he pulls back, he's already letting it go the next second," the Brigidian girl pointed out, "those fingers, ain't an archer's. They're like a cutpurse's for how nimble they are."
"... And how do you know what cutpurses look like?" Byron pointed out while he took notes of Casper's straightforward brawling style, "I mean, a few try to rob me blind, I blinded them in return before turning them into the authorities for some spare change with their eyes cut out."
"After being pickpocketed at Embarr?" Sorcha remarked, "well, I was her eyes on the back of her head. Guess I make a good teacher."
"So Ashe is the 'quickdraw' bow user, then?" pointed out Karna as he looked over the engagement from atop the hill while noting the eventing taking place, seeing Lorenz and Ignatz, the lance and bow of the Golden Deer advance from the side where Ashe shot his arrow. He then spotted Ignatz looking around the field before readying his bow, using Lorenz as cover, "ah. A 'marksman' type. Someone that aims before even drawing the bow..." he remarked as he observed the Golden Deer's behavior on the battlefield, akin to that of a scout or an artist painting a landscape mural, "... he's quite gifted in his eyes, rivaling Selene-"
Then one scene completely kills the observant mood, as Byleth nonchalantly steps between Caspar and Lorenz, and kicks the latter between the legs before pointing her training sword at the downed Golden Deer.
"... Surrender?" asked Byleth.
"... I surrender," Lorenz groaned out as he walked out of the battlefield as Caspar rushes towards Ignatz and delivers a swift jab to the boy's stomach, also taking him out of the fight as well, leaving the Golden Deer short of two members.
"Professor," Caspar remarked in an upset tone, "the heck was that for!?"
"You were taking too long," Byleth replied bluntly, "drawn-out fights only increase your chances of getting yourself killed on the field," she pointed out at Caspar's reckless behavior.
"Professor!" Edelgard called out as Byleth saw Ashe be carried away from the field, indicating that the Blue Lions are now down a number, "we took care of the archer, as you ordered."
"Good," Byleth replied, "Edelgard and Casper, fall back and let Linhardt heal your bruises. Hubert, back me up," she ordered, "we're advancing."
The raven-haired student looked towards Edelgard, to which the latter nods.
"Very well," Hubert replied as he walked towards Byleth's direction, "but I am not responsible for your performance."
"Right back at ya," Byleth replied as the two steadily advanced as the new vanguard.
From above, Karna and the Dustbin students look upon them as the next wave of action began taking place.
"She switched formation post battle," Byron commented as he continued taking his notes while watching the whole scene unfold, "she's prudent, as expected of a mercenary."
"Prudent," Karna interjected, "albeit, a little crude, but who am I to judge?" he remarked before Jeralt shot him a glare, "oh try kicking me in the loins, old goat! I don't have any!"
"Peh, could've fooled me," Jeralt grumbled to himself.
"So guess that just leaves three on Golden Deer and Four for the Blue Lions..." Cyrus pointed out as he continued his observations, "... but Black Eagles have yet to lose a member."
"If anything, I assume this whole match is rigged," Topaz remarked, "either that, or the professor herself is that formidable."
"Oi," Sorcha remarked, "if the professor down there and the one with us right now were able to fight each other, who'd win?"
No one, not even Jeralt nor Karna himself, were able to give a concise answer to that question.
"... Please save all irrelevant questions after class, Miss McCarthy," Karna requested, desperately trying to defuse the potentially awkward conversation. Sorcha pouts before going back to her notes, now noting down the next encounter as the rest of the Black Eagles go after the Blue Lions.
"Professor," asked Selene as she put her glasses back on, "why are the Black Eagles going after the Blue Lions when the Golden Deer are more weakened?"
"Excellent observation," Karna remarked before he answered, "while going after the Golden Deer may seem like a better idea on paper, in practice, that just leaves their backs open to the attacks to the numerically superior Blue Lions," he explained as the Black Eagles on the field advanced towards where the Blue Lions were at, "better to deal with the greater threat now than later. Either way, this mock battle isn't about who wins or loses, rather, this is meant to gauge how quickly can each class adapt to the changing tides of the battle."
"The eagle has landed on the lion's back," Cyrus remarked as he saw Edelgard confront Dedue, the latter fighting defensively as Dimitri comes in charging, the two Blue Lion students getting into an offensive-defensive mix-up tactic.
Vidar watches the two attentively, mimicking Dedue and Dimitri's movements to his own, blending two styles seamlessly into a unique, but experimental fighting style.
"... What is he doing?" asked Catherine.
"Learning how to fight by watching them," Byron answered as he watched Hubert and Byleth flank around the two Blue Lions as Caspar flings himself back to the front to provide cover for the former two to reach Professor Hanneman in this little war game.
"So what," the Knight of Seiros remarked, "did he learn how to bite off a student's ear from watching an animal fight?"
"If he did, he would've bitten the poor sap in the throat rather than the ear," Byron retorted, "in hindsight, if the guy wasn't flailing back at the Training Grounds before he was forcibly removed, he would've actually died from blood loss."
"... Just what kind of animal did he watch to learn how to fight like that?" asked Catherine.
"A cat," Byron replied as he noted of Dedue's fighting style being overwhelmed by Edelgard and Caspar, with Linhardt coming in the latter's aid by using [Nosferatu] to weaken the wall of muscle as the former confronts Dimitri, "according to what he told me, he saw a cat catch a bird out of the sky before it bit it on its neck as the killing blow."
"Then what's stopping me from putting him down?" asked Catherine as she reached for her [Thunderbrand].
"Because while you have something worth fighting for, Vidar is someone who has nothing to lose but everything to gain," Byron answered as he continued taking his notes while completely ignoring Catherine's radiating bloodlust behind him, "he'll die, but before taking you or your future job prospects down with him."
"Now now," Jeralt intervened to diffuse the situation, "we're here to keep the peace, not start another bloodbath," the Blade Breaker pointed out, trying to separate Catherine and Vidar before adopting a stern tone blunt enough to cow any brave knight that would've heard of it, "put, the arms, down."
Both relent before they walk away from each other.
"... What's up her arse?" Sorcha asked.
"She's a decent person," a Knight of Seiros infantryman remarked, "but her loyalty is just borderline terrifying."
"I heard that she'll kill women and children if they defy the decree of the goddess..." said another.
"She once took on a whole Western Branch church house full of armed men and killed them all by herself," another recalled.
"Peh, I could do better," Topaz commented as she dropped her notes as the mock battle below continued in the Black Eagles's favor.
"Yeah?" the infantryman rebuffed, "what can you do, short stack?"
"I can easily poison a river or a well with pig feces and have them get sick before they all start dropping like flies one at a time," the little girl replied bluntly, "a village lives and dies by water, regardless of its scarcity."
"That's not doing better, that's indiscriminate slaughter!" a Knight of Seiros pointed out, "I mean, Lady Catherine's an army of her own merit, but even she wouldn't go that far!"
"Okay, you two, break it up," Karna interjected, "and Topaz, like I said prior, save your non-assignment-related remarks after class, understood?"
With a grumble, Topaz takes her notes that she'd dropped prior off the ground and got back to her assignment, the battle below now with most of the Blue Lions being routed, as seen by Mercedes and Dedue being escorted out of the field while Dimitri was being double-teamed by both Byleth and Edelgard.
"He's done," Sorcha commented.
"No," Byron retorted, "he's holding back on purpose."
"Eh? Why?" asked the Brigidian girl, "it's mock battle, sure, but does he actually like losing?"
"Nothing of sort," Byron remarked as he looked at Dimitri's body language and the way he handles his training weapon, both indicating unnecessary amounts of restraint, "... it's like if he's afraid of his own strength."
"What, he like Vidar or somethin'?" asked Sorcha.
"... Heard tales..." Vidar remarked with his throaty voice as his sketches become that of Dimitri's expression of confidence hiding a veneer of doubt and fear, "... the 'Boar Prince'... called a monster by many... he and me... alike... but different..."
"Vidar, you're crying blood!" Byron remarked as Vidar's facial bandages were being stained with blood below his eyes, to which the latter rubs his eyes desperately to try and wipe away the bloodstains, "... dammit, we'll get you new bandages later, okay?"
Vidar nods before going back to his observations, now Hanneman being bested by Caspar with the help of Hubert.
"Hell yeah!" Caspar cheered as he stood atop where Professor Hanneman was stationed at as the latter was escorted out of the field, "Blue Lions down!"
"Don't celebrate just yet," Hubert warned, "the Golden Deer are lesser in number, but their Riegan leader is just as cunning as yours truly."
"Alright!" Caspar remarked as he pounded his training gauntlets together, "you do the thinking part, I'll just punch whatever gets in my way!"
"Wait," Linhardt spoke out before he lets out a yawn, "... heal up first before you go," he remarked as he smacked his lips, "sooner I deal with this nonsense, the earlier I can sleep the day off... *yawn* ... why me?"
"Because we need a healer, and you're the only one who knows [Faith] magic," Byleth pointed out, "I can only carry so many Vulneraries on me, let alone, buy one each for all of you with my starting salary."
Isn't it because you spend your first money on the first day on new [Iron Swords] that you can't afford to buy extra Vulernaries? Sothis mentally chided Byleth, you are so irresponsible with your gains!
They sure as hell last longer than vulneraries though, Byleth replied mentally to her spiritual guest, the latter can prevent death, but I'd prefer something that can save me from certain death.
Bah, you do you, Sothis sighed out, just don't expect me to coddle you every time you mess up, big or small.
"Professor?" Edelgard's voice called out towards the ex-sellsword, "professor, are you alright? You seemed to have zoned out a little."
"Oh, uh, right," she remarked as Byleth regained her focus and saw Casper and Hubert beginning their engagement with the remaining Golden Deer group, "... make sure that they don't overextend. I think the Golden Deer leader is trying to bait Casper into the woods to potshot him. Have Hubert poke him from a distance and you face Hilda in his place."
"Got it," Edelgard replied as she rushed back to the field, blocking Hilda's attack before Hubert followed up by a parry from her own. "Hubert!" the Adrestian scion cried out as she pushed back against Hilda's counterattack, "aid Casper before he runs into the woods on his own!"
"At once," Hubert replied as Edelgard and Hilda are now left together on their own.
"The Princess herself?" Hilda heaved out as she raised her training axe, "now I gotta try harder... what a pain..."
"Come," Edelgard replied as she raised her own, "give your all so we may both learn."
"You know," Sorcha remarked as she saw the Adrestian Princess and the Golden Deer girl with the pink pigtails face each other, "I've never seen people duel with axes before. How do they go?"
"They don't," Byron answered, "usually, when axes are involved in a fight, said fight becomes one-sided, either in the user's or the enemy's favor."
"Why's that?" asked Cyrus.
"Axes in nature are meant as weapons that weren't meant for drawn-out confrontations," Byron remarked as he watched the two girls spar with their wooden axes, "their default structure of a squat heavy blade at the end of a long handle makes it unbalanced and ill-suited for executing consecutive swings. So instead, axes are meant to be a single-strike weapon, aimed usually for the head behind a shield or a lower limb to at least permanently incapacitate the opponent, because once you swing and miss the mark..."
He and the rest of the Dustbin spot Edelgard miss her swing, causing her training axe to be planted deep into the group for a few seconds as Hilda raises her own.
"... The swinger is left wide open to an attack."
But before Edelgard can be struck by Hilda, Byleth comes rushing into Edelgard's intervention, thrusting the tip of her training sword into Hilda's chest, sending her flying off of her feet, her back striking against a tree trunk as she dropped her own training axe.
"*cough* stop," Hilda coughed out, "... I yield," wheezed out as she feebly got up like a newborn fawn before limping out of the field to where the bench was, "... I yield."
"Sup," Byleth greeted Edelgard as she laid her wooden sword across her shoulder, "watch where your swing is going, kay?"
"... Yes," Edelgard stammered as she picked her training axe back up, "yes professor-where's Linhardt?"
The professor points towards the tree where she stood before, with Linhardt napping under the shade.
"And before you ask, yes, he used the last [Heal] on me," Byleth pointed out, "maybe next time, I'll have to watch my own finances so I don't overwork him unnecessarily."
"*yawn* ... you're welcome, by the way..." Linhardt yawned out before he went back to sleep.
As the rest of the Dustbin watched the debacle unfold before them, all whom were present, even the normally unflappable Knights of Seiros, were at a complete loss for words.
"... Should someone go get him?" asked Catherine, "I mean, that's gonna be a single point of deduction for the Black Eagles-"
"Don't bother pandering to my bias just because he's my daughter's student," Jeralt remarked, "take him off the field."
"Kids," Karna referred to his students, "don't sleep on the battlefield," he pointed out without a hint of irony or mirth in his voice, "... for obvious reasons."
The Dustbin nods in agreement as they all saw Linhardt being carried away on a stretcher while asleep.
"Now then," Karna remarked as he then began noting the Golden Deer leader's performance on the field, "let's see what the two tricksters have up their sleeves in the forest of darkness."
In the trees surrounding by wooden fencing acting as a makeshift barricade, Claude shifts his head around the trees, training bow with dulled arrows in hand, all five of his senses on high alert, now that he's effectively on his own.
Welp, no such thing as an easy day, thought Claude as he tried to assess the situation at hand, days here are helluva lot better than back home... cretins, all of them.
He then pulls out a pair of wooden stakes tied together with a spare harp string.
A little cruder than my usual gimmicks, but time was of the essence, Claude thought as he set up his tripwire, normally, I'd add a pitfall beforehand, but guess I'll have to make do for now.
As he got back up running, he then pocketed a handful of dirt before resuming his scouting around the forest. Claude continues to look around, the blunted arrow ever-nocked across his bowstring, and looking for his next target.
He then spots a tuft of sky-blue hair just up ahead, revealing himself to be Caspar, always eager for a fight.
"Hm, tempting," Claude quietly remarked to himself as he pulled back his bowstring as he aimed towards Caspar, "... but no."
He then suddenly turns his aim behind himself, shooting the wooden arrow at Hubert's hand who was standing right behind him with a spell ready before it dissipated upon being struck.
"Sorry," Claude remarked, "I'm used to people targeting my back."
"What a coincidence," Hubert remarked as his hand relit with his magic, "I'm proficient at targeting people from behind."
Caspar then tries to jump Claude from behind, only for his foot to snag against a tripwire, causing him to stumble and for his face to directly land into Claude's left elbow accidentally.
... All of which recorded by Selene, using her hyperopia to completely pick out the details obscured by the forest, her hands moving sporadically to sketch the general details depicting the aforementioned events taking place. Behind her, the entirety of the Dustbin were watching the sketch being drawn to life from beginning to its end.
"Ha ha," Sorcha pointed and laughed at the image of Caspar knocking himself out, "the bloody idjit walked to his own death."
"The tripwire was put in the most obvious place possible," Byron pointed out, "how blind is he to miss such an obvious trap?"
"Can someone go please retrieve the guy with the short-shaven hair in the woods?" Cyrus called out to the Knights of Seiros, "he took an elbow to the nose accidentally."
"No need," Selene remarked as she then sketched the picture of Byleth and Edelgard entering into the woods and surrounding Claude from three directions, "the Golden Deer are too weakened to fight any longer," she said as the next sketch she drew depicted Manuela being outnumbered and seemingly coerced into conceding the mock battle, "the Black Eagles win two only two 'casualties'."
"Not bad for a first going," Karna remarked, "then again, leading a battle without any casualties would be the most ideal, but to be fair, one was out of habit and the other was sheer accident."
"Guess she's not the only one who's dealing with her own quirky bunch," Jeralt remarked as he hopped onto his steed, "I'll call the match and escort the other students out. Catherine, mind taking the Dustbin back to the monastery yourself?"
"Just don't try and kill us out of rage, for it would make your dedicated mistress look bad, dead bodies or not," Karna pointed out much to Catherine's chagrin.
"... Fine," Catherine relented, "but I better not see any reason to break that taboo."
"Right back at you, thunderbird."
The Mock Battle comes to an end with the Black Eagles victorious.
"So professor," asked Byron, "we put down as much notes as we can, so now what do we do with them?"
"Only one thing," Karna remarked with a slight grin, "put them to practice on the 4th of Harpstring Moon."
"Please, no more giant animals and we're good," Sorcha begged, "we've already dealt with one, please, not another."
"Knowing him?" Cyrus remarked with an expression of resignation, "... we're gonna have to."
Sorcha groans at their future prospects of being filled with Fodlan's giant beasts coming from them every week.
"Realistically, there's no such day as an easy day," Karna remarked, "especially when it's Field Day."
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes: Canon Mock Battle down, Dustbin's own Field Day coming up next chapter.
So this is my attempt at trying out a bi-weekly writing and posting schedule and I even deleted Fire Emblem Heroes from my phone just to cut down on my time wasters (that and well, Arknights is a notorious data hog in its updates after I got a bank account and put it on my phone as an app, and I wasn't going anywhere with my FE:H account so there's that), so this is my way of being productive.
Now, if you excuse me, I need to record my Support Conversations for my Dustbin just so I don't get lost in the cacophony.
References:
- Ashe's [Locktouch] and Ignatz's [Watchful Eye] in-game personal skills are referenced on how they each fire their bows as "quickdraw" and "marksman" respectively.
- "The eagle has landed on the lion's back" quote from Cyrus is a shout-out to a Killer 7 line upon Coyote Smith's action of jumping up towards a high place.
- Catherine's rumored feat of taking on a whole church house of armed people is a reference to Kingsman: Secret Service's church fight scene.
