It was a tall, balding, unsmiling man in armoured robes who stood before Arthur. The man was about the same age as he was, appeared well-built, with an intimidating presence. Certainly not what he expected when he was told he was to meet with an important Alliance noble.

"You are Arthur Morgan, correct?" The nobleman said, his piercing grey eyes examining every aspect of him. He did not look impressed... but perhaps that was how he always looked?

"Yeah," Arthur remembered to bow. Best to get it over with. "I guess I am... my lord."

"And I'm Shez," Beside Arthur, the young, purple-haired brat who practically wormed his way into sharing their current contract, spoke up. "If anyone cares."

Arthur side-eyed him. Their noble contact, thankfully, ignored Shez entirely. His gaze was on Arthur alone.

"I am Margrave Stanislaus von Edmund," The man introduced himself with a close-eyed nod. "I asked your captain to send me the best trackers in his company. I expected him to send at least six men with double the amount of hounds. Instead, he sent me one man... and a child."

Shez flinched. "Whoa, o-kay."

Arthur glared at the child in question. "I ain't my own first choice, believe me," He said, looking back to the margrave. "But Jeralt thinks I'm the only one you'll need. As for the kid, just pretend he ain't here."

"Hey!" Arthur nudged Shez with his elbow to stop him from saying more.

Margrave von Edmund huffed. "I have never known Captain Jeralt to send me half-measures. He has given me no reason to doubt his competence as captain before, and if he believes you are all I require, then you will have to do... but for your sake, I hope his trust in you was not misplaced."

He turned around and took what looked like a framed painting on his desk, before presenting it to Arthur. "This is a painting of my daughter."

Arthur took the painting and examined it. It was that of a little girl, who couldn't be any more than ten years of age. She had a gentle smile on her young face, and her hair was an unusual, pale shade of blue, which was arranged in a crown braid. Arthur could not see the resemblance between this delicate, soft-looking girl and the cold-eyed, intimidating margrave, but it wasn't his business to ask.

"She has gone missing," Margrave von Edmund continued in the same, severe tone of voice. "And it appears I am the one at fault. I've recently given her permission to ride a horse further from the capital. She departed a week ago, and has not returned."

Arthur looked at the man dubiously as he set down the painting. "You let a child ride a horse, out on her own?"

"I advise you not to take that tone with me, Mr. Morgan," Von Edmund said, his voice a threatening growl. "Know that my daughter is no child, but a woman grown; she is seven and ten years of age. Furthermore, she was not alone — she knew that she cannot leave the castle without a knight escort."

Arthur looked at the painting again, before sighing. "Couldn't you've at least shown me a more recent photo— uh, painting? It'd help me find her if I knew what she looked like nowadays."

"Forgive me, but that is the only painting I have of her. She is not one for sitting still and smiling for portraits... not anymore." The margrave said, briefly breaking eye contact to stare at the wall, a sombre look on his face. He returned to his usual stern self within seconds.

"However, I can tell you that she looks older now, with pale skin and brown eyes. She is about the same height as that child there," He gestured at Shez, "And wears her hair the same manner that she did in the painting you have in your hands. You may take it with you, if you wish."

Arthur nodded, stashing it away in his satchel. "Sure, it'll have to make do. I'll try to find her, Margrave Edmund."

"Make sure that you do." The margrave said, turning around to return to his desk. "Good luck, and a good day to you, Mr. Morgan."

Moments later, Arthur and Shez left Margrave von Edmund's castle and re-entered the streets of the coastal city of Grainne, which was the regional capital. Arthur planned on getting started on their contract immediately, but Shez was adamant they should pay a visit to the markets first.

"Now hold on there, kid, didn't we agree this is my show?" He said. "My contract, my rules."

"Come on, Morgan, I'm hungry." Shez pleaded. "You promised you'll buy me food if I beat you in a spar. Remember yesterday's bout? I beat you that time!"

"Yeah... that time." Arthur folded his arms. Ever since the kid signed up for Jeralt's company, he never missed the chance to challenge Arthur to a mock duel whenever possible. While Arthur often won their bouts due to Shez's inability to take a good hit and keep going, Arthur had to hand it to the boy — he was quick and skilled with his blades. If he let Shez take the initiative, Arthur often found himself hard-pressed to regain the upper hand.

That was, if he let him. "For once, you got your win. I guess we can spend a minute shedding some coin."

Shez smirked. "You're the one shedding coin, old man. I'm not paying for something I won, fair and square."

"Jesus, kid. You're becomin' a real goddamn pain, you know that?" Arthur said, to Shez's visible amusement. "Makes me wish I just shot you back then."

"You'd need to shoot me to beat me, that's for sure." Shez said. "Come on, I'm starving! I got my nose on that pheasant roast we passed by on our way here."

The two of them spent part of the afternoon in the markets. Arthur let Shez buy whatever he wanted from the food stalls while he restocked their provisions and consulted the local smithy for oils for his guns, as well as a different kind of oil for his armour. It had been a little more than six months since he received his own suit of lightweight armour, which consisted of a plate cuirass with a bevor, plate demigauntlets over his usual pair of cavalryman's gloves, a pair of segmented plate pauldrons on both shoulders, and fitted sheets of plate fastened against the front of his thighs.

While uncomfortable at times, the armour was probably the best investment Arthur had made in Fódlan. In addition to making him look more like a local mercenary, it saved him from many, many injuries and unecessary visits to the medical tent... not that Tekla ever minded him paying her a visit every now and again.

Some time and a significantly lighter wallet later, Arthur and Shez departed Grainne for the wilderness surrounding Edmund. It took Arthur a solid hour of roaming the woods to find a trail, but when he did, it was painfully obvious. Hoof-tracks indicating three riders heading further into the thicket and away from the main trail could discerned in the earth, if one knew where to look.

"Wait, where are we going?" Shez called out to Arthur when he quickly mounted his horse and suddenly trotted off the main trail. "Morgan! Are you going senile? You're heading the wrong way!"

"Says the boy who ended up in Fhirdiad for a contract in Hevring!" Arthur shouted back. "Just shut the hell up and follow me!"

"Ugh, when are you gonna let that one go?" Shez reluctantly had his horse fall in behind Arthur's. "And when will you stop calling me a kid? I'm nineteen years old!"

"You are a kid. Byleth's almost twenty, and she ain't ever complained as much as you!" Arthur grumbled. "Startin' to wish I took her with me instead. We haven't even started, and I'm already feeling a damn headache comin' on."

Shez laughed. "Ha, that's not gonna help with getting rid of the rumours about the two of you, you know. I mean, the amount of time you spend together... people talk!"

Arthur made a face of revulsion. When he first heard of the rumours, it was easy to ignore them. He couldn't stop people from talking about their wild fantasies no matter how hard he tried, after all. He imagined they'd disappear with time, after he stopped taking Byleth into the wilds to practice with guns, and instead conducted his exercises just outside the camp walls, in full view of anyone who wished to watch them train.

Unfortunately, as Arthur continued his employment under Jeralt, the rumours continued to circulate. It didn't help that Byleth hadn't stopped seeking him out in her free time, and when he suggested that they stop being around one another for a while to quell the worst of the rumours surrounding their relationship, what she said made him regret even bringing it up.

"You may be the only true friend I have, Arthur," She said to him, as he remembered. "Let them think what they wish. What little time I have to myself is better spent with you, than spent on my own."

Goddammit, Jeralt, the outlaw grimaced at the memory. Why did you have to raise your daughter to be so strange?

"Hey, old man! You got a bit quiet there." Shez nudged Arthur's stirruped boot with his own, shaking him out of his thoughts and back to the present. "Wow, Arthur, that's a really disgusted face you got there. Do you think she's ugly, or something?"

Arthur glared at him. "For chrissakes, it ain't about that, kid. Jeralt's gotta stop hiring all these goddamn perverts who spend all damn day standing around camp, running their filthy mouths off."

Shez shrugged. "So what is it about? Is it because you're an old man? I mean, I've seen weirder—"

"That don't make it right!" Arthur exclaimed. He coughed. "Enough about this. All this yammering's gonna make me lose the damn the trail!"

"Alright, alright, I'm just trying to lighten the mood, you know." Shez held up his hands. When Arthur's frowning, narrow-eyed expression remained, he slowly deflated with a sigh. "Oookay, okay. I'm sorry, I get a little, uh, heated sometimes. I guess I'm still sore about... about you beating me while I was working for Berling."

Arthur shook his head, momentarily taking his eyes off the trail to look at Shez. "I don't like losing as much as the next feller, but that happened ages ago. Besides, you beat me enough times in the practice yard."

"That's just it, the only way I'm beating you is if the stakes aren't life or death," Shez said. "When we fought for real, you were sick as a dog, and even then, I couldn't win. Since then, I've been training hard... but so have you, and you've got Byleth to help you get even stronger. What hope could I have now, when you're in better health and stronger than before?"

"Ignorin' how you sound like you still want to kill me," Arthur began, "You know you can ask Byleth to train with you, right? You both use swords — I reckon you can get more outta her swordfighting lessons than I do, and she'd appreciate your company once you get to know her."

"Wait, I could?" For some reason, Shez seemed surprised that he, in fact, could. "I mean, you wouldn't mind?"

Arthur let out a harsh sigh, his eyes practically at the back of his head, the way he rolled it. "Why the hell would I? Don't tell me you believe a word out of those damn rumours. Go ask her the next time we come to camp, or talk to Jeralt if you wanna be all formal about it. Don't forget to bring her flowers, or something, I dunno."

Shez chuckled nervously. "Um, okay, but I'm not interested in her in that way. I mean, she's really pretty and all, but I've seen her fight, and she can absolutely kill me if she wanted to..."

It was Arthur's turn to laugh. "You wanna get on with that sentence, kid?"

"Uh... well, um, no. No, thank you, Mr. Morgan. Shutting up now."

"About damn time."

...

...

Arthur and Shez spent the entire afternoon following the tracks Arthur picked up. Arthur didn't know what to expect when he finally found evidence as to what could have happened to Margrave von Edmund's daughter. What he and his companion came across, somewhat hidden in the woodland terrain, made him shake his head at the thought of a happy ending for this contract.

Not that he also expected one. Over the past months, Arthur learned that missing persons contracts rarely ended well.

"That guy is seriously messed up." Shez commented from atop his horse as Arthur rolled a prone figure onto its back. It was a dead Alliance knight, wearing light armour. He was killed with multiple stabs of a thrusting weapon. "Are those flies? Looks like he's starting to rot, too. Eugh."

"He hasn't rotted as much as I was expecting," Arthur said, dusting his gauntleted hands. "I'd say he's been dead only a couple of days. Didn't ol' Stanislaus say his daughter went missing a week ago?"

Shez leaned on his saddle. "Yeah, why? What're you thinking there, Morgan?"

Arthur stood up and mounted up again. "I'm gettin' a bad feeling here, kid. Stay close, there's still a trail to follow."

They continued following the tracks until, again, they found another body. It was another knight with puncture wounds, pieces of her armour rent and looking as though they were forced apart. With the tracks becoming fresher and fresher, Arthur could tell they were getting close to the end of the trail.

"We should go on foot from here," He looked up to Shez as he drew his warbow. "I need you to hang back and watch me from a distance. I'm gonna try and expose myself, then you back me up if trouble comes."

"You want to act as bait?" Shez dismounted and unsheathed his twin swords. "Your funeral, I guess. Be careful."

"Stay out of sight." Arthur nocked an arrow. "Here I go."

With slow, deliberate steps, Arthur advanced into the woods, his eyes constantly darting around for threats even as he kept sight of the trail he was following. He already knew he was being watched — all that matters to him was reacting quickly enough to not be caught unprepared, for whatever that may happen.

It wasn't long before Arthur reached a spot in the woods where the trees weren't so close together. The trail he was following ended here, and yet, there was no sign of their missing person. Still, Arthur did not let his guard down as he investigated the small clearing. He could feel something was amiss as he looked around, bowstring drawn tight in his hands with an arrow ready to be loosed.

"Help... me..."

Arthur instinctively snapped his bow to the faint moaning sound, expecting to find an attacker. Instead, it was a hollow-eyed, emaciated girl restrained by chains made from an unknown metal. Her clothes were covered in dirt and spatters of blood, and she had blue hair arranged in a messy crown braid.

Uttering a curse, Arthur suppressed his urge to help the girl and immediately turned around, finding a nimble dark shape rapidly approaching him. He loosed an arrow at it, only for the arrow to be batted aside in a flash of black and orange. He cast aside his bow and drew his axe just in time to block a thrusting lunge as the dark figure came at him.

Arthur clenched his teeth as he felt the force of the attack running down his arms, making him inch back a little. Up close, with his weapon pressed against hers, his attacker could be clearly seen.

"Found you!" Arthur was bemused to find a short, orange-haired young woman looking back at him. Strikingly, her skin was incredibly pale, her eyes were a disturbing shade of red, and she was wearing a very revealing outfit with three, seemingly-autonomous stinger-like projections sticking out the back. "What took you so long?"

"You know who I am?" Arthur pushed her back and tried to swing at her as she stumbled, but one of the stingers hovering behind her blocked his blow before another one darted forward and pierced his arm, drawing blood.

"Of course I do!" As Arthur grunted in pain, the woman cackled as she doubled back, putting some distance between her and her target. "You're the reason why I'm even here, dog! Do me a favour and make this a little fun for me, okay?"

The outlaw stared down the pale woman. Scowling, he pulled out his knife and wielded it in his free hand. "You was looking for me. You kidnapped the girl, knowing that I'll come looking for her!"

"That I did! Brilliant, aren't I?" She brandished her long dagger. "That's what you do, right? Over the past moons, that's what your kennelmasters made you do — find animals who were stupid enough to lose their way, knowing that most of them were already being feasted upon by worms! Such a good bloodhound you are! Bravo!"

The woman tittered. "Perhaps you should thank me for keeping this one alive... Corpsefinder Morgan!"

Arthur was startled at the pale woman's use of the nickname others in the company had given them, the one he so detested. It was clear whoever she worked for, they knew a disturbing lot about him.

He steadied himself and prepared for another bout. "If you don't put down that knife, the next corpse I'll be finding will be yours."

"As if a lowly beast can defeat the likes of me!" She grinned. "Thales says we should "keep our distance", and "monitor him from the shadows", but that's so boring!"

In an instant, Arthur found the woman already upon him, her long dagger angled for his heart. He deflected the attack and made to reposition, only to again find her already within striking distance. He barely managed to avoid getting impaled by her stingers as he intercepted them one by one and attempted to retaliate against the woman behind them.

His eyes went wide when the woman parried his swing with a stinger while lunging at him at the same time. Caught with his guard down, Arthur grunted as his adversary's blade sunk into his shoulder, where a gap existed between his plates.

"Haha!" The pale woman's bloodthirsty grin was ear-to-ear. "Better to just kill you right where you stand."

Arthur smiled back despite the pain. At such a close distance between the two of them, the pale woman had no room to maneuver as he thrust with the knife in his hand, plunging it in her side. She yelped, clearly not expecting to be hurt. Arthur then reared his head back before smashing it into his foe's, knocking her down.

"Did this Thales feller also tell you to shut up," Arthur knew better than to attack her while her stingers are up. "Or do I have to teach you this lesson myself?"

The pale woman groaned in pain, but her groan quickly turned into a snarl of anger as she jumped up to her feet, bleeding from her punctured side. "I'll end you, insolent pest!"

Arthur met the woman's charge as she lunged at him again. While it was clear that his strength vastly outmatched hers, Arthur's foe was quicker and extremely skilled with the use of her dagger... to say nothing of the darting stingers coming out from the back of her attire. Many times did he try to land one solid hit, but his opponent deflected or dodged his attacks every time while she harried him with cuts to his hands, arms, and his shins — anywhere that wasn't covered by his armour. Eventually, after she bypassed his bevor and landed a stinging slice across his cheek, Arthur decided he had to end the fight before he was overwhelmed.

"Just lie down and accept your demise, worm!" The pale woman attempted to circumvent Arthur's guard while one of her stingers surged forth to impale him.

The outlaw kept his focus on his opponent as he batted aside the incoming stinger. He waited until she lunged at him, thinking he was distracted like before. She gasped when he suddenly whipped aside and deflected her attack with his own knife before he darted into her guard and struck her in the face with his elbow before kicking her away. With the pale woman scrambling backwards as she tried to regain her balance, Arthur let loose a howl of rage as he then levelled a heavy overhead swing at his foe in an attempt to end the fight in one decisive swing. The pale woman intercepted the strike again with a stinger, but such was the shield-splitting strength that Arthur put behind his axe, that his blow shattered the stinger like glass, sending pieces of it flying all around.

"What? Impossible!" The pale woman screeched as she darted backwards and away from Arthur's reach. "You... you... you insignificant, worthless, hairy brute! Why are you making this so difficult? Just stop fighting and let me kill you like the stupid beast you are!"

Arthur breathed hard as he stared at his foe. He was not expecting an outburst like that. "What, not fun enough for you?"

She snarled at him, her face twisted in petulant rage. "Shut up! Be quiet, beast! Don't think for a moment this is over!"

"Reckon it is, my lady!" Arthur put away his knife and unholstered his Schofield. He could feel his injuries stinging at him. While he came out of their bout intact and after dealing a few good hits of his own, he knew better than to let someone like her fight him up close again. "How 'bout you let me take the von Edmund girl, and we can both walk out of here alive... that sound fair to you?"

The pale woman lost it completely. "I SAID BE QUIET!"

Arthur put up his revolver and opened fire as she charged at him. He fanned the hammer as he fired shot after shot at his target. The woman's stingers swiftly intercepted the shots, but after taking repeated heavy blows several times beforehand, they too shattered in the face of Arthur's firepower.

"Agh!" The woman yelped as one of Arthur's shots blew off the dagger in her hand, sending it flying away and out of sight. "What the— hey!"

The outlaw made to fire his gun again, but it clicked empty. Sighing, he put away the gun. "Gonna need more bullets soon..." He held up the axe in his hand and pointed it at his foe. "I ain't here to kill you — like I said, I'm here for the girl. You let me take her, and I promise I won't shoot you in the back. You ain't worth the ammo, trust me."

"I'd be a fool to trust vermin like you!" The pale woman said, stamping her heeled foot into the ground. "Your kind revels in bloodshed, yet you like to pretend that you don't! Just kill me and get it over with!"

Arthur shook his head in disbelief. Fódlan was full of lunatics. "Look, lady, you can believe whatever you want, but I'm done wasting my time with you. It's been fun, but I'm taking the girl. You run along now..." He scowled as he walked past her. "And put on some damn clothes! You look indecent."

Disarmed as she was, the pale woman could do nothing but glare and seethe as Arthur made his way next to the von Edmund girl. He gazed at her sorry state in concern, fearing the worst, but it appeared she was not physically harmed, only starving and dehydrated. He turned to look at the pale woman behind his shoulder, a harsh rebuke at the tip of his tongue, only to find her gone, seeming to have disappeared into thin air.

"Goddammit..." He turned back to the girl and started looking for a way to break the chains.

"I... I need..." Stanislaus' daughter rasped, her dull brown eyes staring at him as he worked. "Please..."

Arthur felt his heart lurch at her state, remembering that the pale woman did this to her to get to him. He stopped working on the chains and hurriedly fished out a canteen full of water from his satchel. Gingerly, he uncapped the container and held it over the girl's mouth.

"Slowly, easy now..." He muttered as he watched her drink and drink, until his canteen was halfway empty. "Don't drink too much, miss, it'll do you more harm than good. I'm sorry, but you gotta take things slow."

"No, please, it's okay..." She said, her strained voice sounding a little closer to how she normally sounded. "The chains... there is a lock..."

Arthur fumbled around for the lock, and sure enough, he found a strange, keyless thing made out of glass and an unknown metal holding the chains together.

"How do I..." Arthur tried to think of a way to disengage this strange lock, but his mind only came up with one viable method. "Alright, this is gonna be loud." He drew his revolver and quickly reloaded it. "You ready, girl?"

She merely closed her eyes and nodded. With that, Arthur pressed the gun against the lock and pulled the trigger, blowing it off.

"Morgan!"

The outlaw immediately aimed his Schofield to where he heard the voice. Shez froze and visibly paled upon seeing Arthur cocking his revolver with him downrange. "Shit, I nearly blew your damn head off, kid! Where the hell have you been?"

Shez took a deep breath. "Oh, nothing. I was having a nice walk in the woods, seeing the sights... getting almost killed when three pasty, hooded freaks jumped me from out of nowhere!" He flicked his blades, which were visibly slick with stains of blood. "What have you been doing?"

"I got jumped too, but that ain't important right now." Arthur said as he cast aside the chains around the von Edmund girl. He then tried to help her up to stand, but she quickly collapsed, forcing Arthur to hold the girl as he led her back down gently. "Damn it. What the hell have they done to you?"

"I... I'm not feeling well... I'm sorry." She said, looking down. "This... was my fault. Please, just leave me here... my adopted father... will not be pleased to see me..."

"Hey..." Stamping down the creeping guilt he was feeling, Arthur reached out and held her head with his hand, with his other hand steadying her by the shoulder. "Hey. Come on, don't say things like that. It ain't your fault this happened to you. Your father's the reason we're here — he's counting on us to bring you back alive, and I'll be damned if we lose you on our watch."

"I don't deserve this..." She leaned into his hand.

Arthur shook his head as sat down and pulled her to him, cradling her body against his. "No more of that, miss. Just... just rest now. Don't worry, I'll keep you safe."

"Uh, need a hand or something...?" Shez hovered behind them, a concerned, yet uncertain look on his face.

"Go get the horses, Shez." Arthur said to him. The boy left without commenting for once.

As Shez disappeared from view, Arthur eventually tried to help the girl up to stand again, but with no success. He could not help but feel awful at the pitiful sounds she made as she tried to move her body, to no avail.

"I'm sorry... for being weak..." She said, sounding close to tears.

The feeling of guilt was almost crippling. In a way, Arthur felt it was he who did this to her.

"You don't have anything to apologise for." Arthur replied, letting her lean into his body as they sat on the ground. "It won't be tonight, or maybe not a day or two after that... but you'll get out of this place and come back home, you hear? I'll make sure of it."

As soon as Shez returned with the horses, Arthur told him to fetch his bedroll from the saddle. With a little less grumbling than usual, the boy did as he was told, after which Arthur carried the girl and put her to lie down on the bedroll, before taking off his scout's jacket and draping it over her like a blanket. Fortunately, the jacket was big enough to cover the girl from her knees up.

"Listen, kid, we're settin' up camp here." The outlaw said to his partner as he stood up. "The Lady von Edmund's too weak to stand, let alone ride. I reckon we gotta let her eat, drink, and rest before we can move an inch from this place."

"You sure about that, Arthur?" Shez looked around the clearing. "What if more of those freaks come back?"

"Then we kill them." Arthur grunted. At Shez's hesitant expression, he sighed. "Look at it this way — the margrave said he'll pay us double the rate if we bring his kid back alive."

"I know, I know." Shez frowned, affecting an offended look. "I mean, the money's nice, but I'd like to bring her back safe and sound just as much as you, old man... extra pay or not. She looks like she's been through a lot."

Arthur smiled. Maybe he could get along with this kid, after all. "It's the right thing to do."

As Shez worked on setting up the tents, Arthur removed his armour and tended to his relatively light wounds with vulneraries before he hitched the horses somewhere near and within sight. He then retrieved a bundle of their provisions and immediately went to work on the campfire. All the while, he dug into his memories for what Hosea taught him about caring for someone who was deprived of food and water.

Just before sundown, Arthur and Shez finished making camp. Following what Arthur taught him, Shez began setting up tripwires around the perimeter and in between trees while the outlaw fixed up a meal consisting of chopped-up potatoes and fruits, which should be easy enough to digest, according to Hosea. He also filled a cup with water from his canteen half-way through.

"Hey," Plate and cup in hand, Arthur sat next to the von Edmund girl again and roused her from her rest with a gentle nudge. "Sorry to bother you, miss, but it won't do you any good if you go to bed without anything to eat and drink."

The girl let him help her sit up on his bedroll. "Do you... can I have some more water?" She asked, her voice a little hoarse.

"I got it here," Arthur reached out to her with the cup and helped her to drink. With that done, he picked up the plate of mashed food he made for her. "Now, I know it ain't much, and it don't look appetising in the least, but I can't let you have a lot to eat or anything fancier than crushed fruit and potatoes after you've been starved — the body won't be too happy about that, I'm told."

"It's okay... thank you."

Arthur spent the next hour helping the girl to eat. She ate and drank slow, but he expected as much. He encouraged her to finish what he brought, and she obediently did as she was told. He smiled in satisfied relief to see a bit of colour returning to her face.

"Excuse me," The girl coughed. "May I know your name?"

Arthur set the empty plate down on the grass. "Arthur Morgan. Can't say I'm pleased to meet you, given the circumstances, but... I'm glad we found you in time."

She was silent for a while. "If you're glad, then I suppose I can be glad..." She breathed in and out. "My name is Marianne. I'm in your debt, Mr. Morgan..."

"You owe me nothing, miss. I'm just doing my job." Arthur was quick to say. He reached out and helped her lie back down on the bedroll before tucking her in with his jacket. "I've kept you awake long enough. For now, I should leave you to get some sleep. Rest well, my lady."

"Wait, please," Marianne called out before he could stand up. "Can you, um, stay here... with me? I'm sorry, but sometimes I have trouble sleeping..."

Slowly, Arthur sat back down on the grass. He ignored the biting chill of the night as he took out his journal and set down his revolver on his lap. "Hope you don't mind me scribblin' away, then."

"I don't mind at all..." She snuggled into his jacket. "Thank you."

Arthur nodded and went to work on his journal. He heard no more words from Marianne, but as the hours passed, he noticed her watching him write every now and then.

...

...

The night passed without incident. Shez and Marianne both rested as Arthur kept watch over them, then Shez awoke to assume his watch and relieve him for the next few hours. After a bit of sleep, when Arthur next woke, it was early in the morning, and he was only a little disappointed to see Shez sitting next to their campfire, eating some of their provisions instead of keeping watch on the perimeter.

"What? I was hungry." The young man said, wiping his mouth. "Why did you have to make those lamb briskets from yesterday so delicious? I can't help myself."

"And I thought you was worried about getting jumped in the night," Arthur yawned into his palm. "How's Marianne?"

"Marianne?" Shez's visible eye narrowed in thought. "What, the von Edmund girl? Yeah, she slept the whole night. I hope she's feeling better today."

"Guess we'll see." Arthur knelt down, poured some water into their kettle and put it over their campfire. "I'll have to fix her up with that mushed-up stuff my old man taught me to make... but first, let's have some coffee."

By dawn, Arthur woke Marianne for another plate of mashed potatoes and fruit, as well as a full canteen of water. This time, she was strong enough to use a spoon and fork, and lift a cup on her own. The sunken eyes had disappeared, and while still rather pale, she seemed to be well on her way to getting her old complexion back.

Marianne was recovering quicker than Arthur expected. He figured she would regain enough strength to ride a horse back to Grainne by the following day, if things continue to go well.

Still, it would be best to let Margrave von Edmund know his daughter had been found.

"Hey, kid," Arthur beckoned Shez over. "It should be safer to travel with the sun up. You wanna ride back into town and let ol' Stanislaus know we found his daughter? Figured we can save him from losing any more hair."

Shez nodded. "I was just thinking about that. Sure, I'll head back and let him know. You think you'll be safe out here?"

Arthur gave him a nonchalant wave. "We'll be fine. Worst comes to pass, I'll keep the girl safe."

"Then who's gonna keep you safe, old man?"

"Worry more about yourself, boy. I can see and hear if someone's coming, and you know as well as I do how quick I am with a gun."

Shez smirked as he turned aside. "It's a mouthful, but I think we can fit that in your gravestone."

Arthur gave a lighthearted scoff as he shooed Shez away. The outlaw sipped at his coffee as he watched the young man mount up and ride into the woods, disappearing soon after.

"Margrave Stanislaus is not my father..."

Arthur looked down to Marianne, whom had pulled herself to sit up on the bedroll, his jacket wrapped around her shoulders like a shawl.

"Yeah, I figured as much." He said, shrugging. "Didn't see much of a resemblance."

The girl let out a breath. "By blood, I mean. He is, um, a distant relative of mine. When... when my parents both vanished when I was fourteen, he was made my guardian. I... I feel I must be such a burden to him, especially now..."

Arthur sat down next to her. "What makes you say that?"

Marianne looked at him with sad eyes. "I'm not... I haven't been a good daughter. He was trying to teach me how to be an effective politician like him so I could be a capable wife to another noble, but I can't find myself getting involved in Alliance politics. The counts, dukes, and margraves always argue and look for ways to take advantage of one another, sometimes with violence. I just... I just want to live a quiet life, away from all of it."

As someone who detested politics, Arthur couldn't help but sympathise. "Did you tell him, about how you feel?"

She looked down. "No... I feel there's no point, Mr. Morgan. He is so cold and unfeeling... I think he wouldn't care."

The outlaw shook his head. "Give it a try, at least. I haven't known your adopted father for long, but I like to think that I'm good at reading people, and I when I talked to him, I got the feeling that he cares for you more than you might think. He sent for me to come get you, didn't he?"

"You think so?"

"Won't know until you talk to him."

As a smile broke on Marianne's face, Arthur felt happy to see her gloominess disappear, however brief. "Okay, I will. Thank you, Arthur."

"Ain't nothing I did." He waved her off and finished his coffee. "I just think it would be a damn shame if the world loses a sweet girl like you to... ugh, politics."

"Oh, umm..." Marianne seemed a lot less pale for a moment as she tugged Arthur's jacket up to cover her mouth. "Yes... that would be a shame, indeed..."

Arthur sat up straight and looked around when he heard one of the tripwires being triggered. Fortunately, it was only a stag grazing about.

"So, what did you wanna do instead?" Arthur asked her as he relaxed. "Back where I come from, rich girls went to doctor school, or studied architecture. Some wrote books, or started bakeries."

Marianne was looking at the stag when she realised Arthur was talking to her. Sheepishly, she tugged his jacket down from her mouth, revealing the slight redness to her cheeks. "Um, well... I'm not... good with people, but I feel more at ease when interacting with animals. I have many dogs in the castle, kept birds and fish, and riding horses comes naturally to me."

Arthur chuckled. "I ain't much of a people-person, either."

"Where do you come from, Arthur?" She then asked. "You don't, um, I'm sorry, I mean... you sound a little... different. Not that it's unpleasant, not at all."

"Noticed that, didn't you?" He said, smiling. "Yeah, I ain't from Fódlan. I'm from a place called America, and it's... well, you won't find it in any ordinary map, I guess. To tell you the truth, I don't know how I ended up here."

The girl didn't appear to doubt his story. She merely looked concerned for Arthur. "Did you have any family left behind?"

"Not really. I mean, I do, but they're better off on their own. I know they're doing better than I am, sure enough." He looked up, to the sky.

"Do you miss them?" Marianne asked.

"Every day." He said, looking back down.

The girl inched closer to him on her bedroll. "Can you tell me about them? But please, only if you don't mind..."

Arthur's first instinct was to say no, until he realised it was an old reflex from his past as an outlaw. He shook his head; it would be good to talk about the others to someone else, if only to keep their memory alive.

"Don't mind at all. Well, let me see... there was this old man, named Hosea. Hosea Matthews. See, Hosea ain't my father, but he may as well be, since he raised me from when I was a teenager, and taught me many things. If I didn't know half of what he taught me, I'd probably be long dead by now. Hosea was..."

Arthur passed the time with Marianne by telling her about his gang. He told her about Hosea, Susan, Lenny, Mary-Beth, John, Tilly, and all the others, even Kieran, Molly, and Charles. He also mentioned Dutch, Bill, and Javier, though he neglected to mention what became of them, in the end.

As for Micah, best he remained unremembered.

By the time they finished, Arthur checked his watch and realised it was almost midday. He excused himself to prepare another of Hosea's recipes for Marianne, when she stopped him with a tug on his arm.

"Um, Arthur... do you have concoctions with you? I think they can help me recover sooner..."

Arthur froze. Ever since his tuberculosis disappeared, he had forgotten Tekla had practically forced him to carry concoction bottles in his saddlebags, in case it ever returned.

"Matter of fact, I do." He said, feeling rather embarrassed. "Sorry. Like I said, I'm not used to this magic stuff."

"It's alright, no harm done." Marianne nodded.

Arthur made another plate, mixing the mashed potatoes and fruit with some greens this time. He also heated up what's left of the lamb briskets he and Shez had the morning before on the fire and put it on his own plate, along with a serving of mashed potatoes. Finally, he took out a conconction bottle from his saddlebags for Marianne.

"You know..." Marianne took her plate from Arthur as he handed it over. "I think Uncle reminds me of a friend I have. She likes to avoid work, but she's actually really capable if she wants to be."

"Sounds like Uncle," Arthur sat down and started eating. "If your friend's a perverted old man with a drinking habit and a made-up disease he uses to dodge responsibilities... and baths."

She chuckled, amused by the image in her head. Arthur was quietly pleased to see her smiling — her adoptive father did say she didn't smile very often, perhaps because of her rather unfortunate life thus far, as he learned.

"I could really, really use a bath, though..." Marianne said. "I've been wearing this dress for a week, and it's covered in blood and it stinks. I'm sorry if I'm not exactly... presentable."

"Nobody's gonna fault you for that, considering what happened to you. I know I don't." Arthur said. "Come on, miss, finish your plate. Least you ain't prone to staring at your food, like someone else I know."

The two of them chatted amiably about other mundane subjects as they ate. Afterwards, Arthur handed Marianne her concoction as he cleaned up their plates before he surveyed the area with a short patrol. When he returned half an hour later, he found her sound asleep, curled up on the bedroll under the sunlight. The girl seemed to like his jacket, the way she held on to it.

Arthur sat down next to her and took out his journal. He couldn't really blame Marianne — he had it made by a Saint Denis trapper using the hide of an ox and the biggest coyote he ever hunted down. Of course it would be very comfortable.

As the afternoon passed and gave way to the evening, Arthur passed the time by detailing what he had been doing recently, the people he had met, and the strange encounter he had with the pale woman. He then proceeded to fill a couple of pages sketching what he had in mind, such as Fódlanese plants and animals, Aegir barded destriers, a long-hafted axe he was tempted to purchase in a weapons shop in Riegan, and a detailed drawing of a wyvern, which he had encountered as a corpse while in between contracts. He hoped never to encounter a live one... it reminded him of alligators, but with functional wings.

Turning several pages, Arthur stopped after reaching the section he dedicated to his impressions of the people he encountered in Fódlan. In there, sketches of Jeralt, Byleth, Tekla, Ferdinand, Shez, and many others existed. This time, Arthur spent the next couple of hours drawing Margrave von Edmund standing next to his desk, the pale woman throwing a tantrum, and Marianne sleeping peacefully.

So engrossed was Arthur in his drawings, he almost didn't hear the thudding sounds of hooved feet from the woods beyond their camp. He put away his journal to wake Marianne, only to find her already awake, looking back at him.

"Had a good sleep, miss?" He asked.

"For once... I didn't have any nightmares." She said. "Yes, I think I slept well."

Arthur didn't respond immediately, as he was trying to see who the incoming riders were. "Then I hope you're feeling better. There's a bunch of horses comin' our way."

Marianne's eyes widened as she hugged his jacket close to her body. "Oh... I see. It's not... it's not who I think it is, is it?"

"I don't think it's the bunch of freaks who kidnapped you," Arthur said. When he saw the glint of purple by the light of the moon, he slowly relaxed. "Well, well, I didn't think the kid would bring help with him."

Within moments, Shez trotted into the camp, trampling over a tripwire on his way into the perimeter. Arthur walked over to greet the boy, but was stopped in his tracks as more riders galloped into camp, bearing the colours and livery of House Edmund. Another moment later, Arthur saw Margrave von Edmund himself riding into view, signalling for his knights to set up a perimeter.

"My lord," Arthur bowed at the margrave after he dismounted and made his way to the outlaw. "I was half-expecting the kid to get lost on his way back to you and end up in Faerghus."

"The child found his way to my castle in a timely enough manner, not to worry." Margrave von Edmund said. "He then told me you found my daughter... and that you found her alive."

"We got lucky, I guess." Arthur said.

"There is a fine line between humility and active self-deprecation, Mr. Morgan. I don't believe luck has anything to do with your success, now that I have been made aware of your... reputation."

Arthur suppressed the urge to flinch.

"Worry not, sir. I care not for malicious slandering of subpar trackers jealous of your skill. My knights and their hounds couldn't find any trace of Marianne, and yet you did so in the space of a single afternoon." The other man put up a strained, though genuinely impressed smile. "I was wrong to have doubted you. Please, accept my apologies — you are an excellent tracker indeed."

"Well, I... um, thanks." Arthur coughed, caught off-guard by the effusive praise from the usually severe margrave. "You, uh, probably want to see your daughter, then."

Margrave von Edmund nodded, not bothering to hide the relief in his voice. "If you'd please, Mr. Morgan."

"Hang on, lemme go get her." He held up a hand, signalling for the noble to wait a moment before left their hitchpost and went over to Marianne near the campfire, who was sitting on his bedroll, staring wide-eyed at the knights beginning to surround the area.

"Listen, Marianne, your adopted father's here," He told her, much to her shock. "Are you okay to stand and walk? I mean, it's alright if—"

"No, I'm fine... at least, I think so." Marianne shook her head, having had visibly steeled herself. She draped Arthur's jacket over her shoulders before she looked to him with pleading eyes. "Please, may you help me up?"

"Didn't have to ask." Arthur bent down and wrapped an arm under her shoulder and over her back. She was so light, it was almost effortless to lift her up, and this time, her legs didn't buckle. "You alright?"

Marianne took a few tentative steps forward. "Yes, all thanks to you. Thank you, Arthur."

"I didn't do nothing," Arthur automatically replied, happy to see her recovering so quickly. "Ready to face Stanislaus?"

The girl paled a little. "Um, well..."

"Bet you're ready to go home and have a bath and a change of clothes, though, right?"

"Oh! Yes, very much so."

"Then what're we waiting for?"

Margrave von Edmund was waiting patiently for the two of them when they reached him back at the hitchpost. "Marianne. There you are, my child."

"Margrave Stanislaus." She bowed, only wobbling a little. "Thank you for sending Arthur to find me. He fought off my kidnappers and helped me recover from having had nothing to eat or drink for several days."

"Kidnapping?" The margrave seemed surprised at this. "I knew you did not go missing because of an accident. Who was it that was foolish enough to not only keep you captive, but leave a noble daughter of House Edmund to waste away?"

Arthur kept silent.

"I, um... I don't know." Marianne looked down. "All I know was that it was a young woman with pale skin, orange hair, and red eyes. She didn't seem to want money, or noble favours... she just told me to be quiet or she'll kill Sir Berthold and Lady Cressilda."

The margrave sighed loudly. "Marianne... Sir Berthold and Lady Cressilda are dead. We found their bodies earlier today, and it seems they have been dead for a while, the way they were rotting."

"Wh-what?" Marianne choked back a sob as she covered her mouth. She almost collapsed then and there if it weren't for Arthur steadying her. "Th-they... they're both dead... a-and it's all b-because of me..."

The margrave closed his eyes and looked down for a moment. "No, child... they died while performing their duties. No knight can ask for a more honourable end." When he looked up, his eyes were hard, and his mouth was set in its usual frown. "Come now, let us return home. I never should have let you ride past Grainne's outskirts to begin with. From now on, you must stay within the castle grounds until I find you a suitable husband... for your own sake."

Arthur couldn't stay silent anymore. "Margrave, I... Marianne was kidnapped," He let out a frustrated breath through his nose. "She was kidnapped because of me."

The margrave narrowed his eyes at Arthur as his adoptive daughter looked up at him with teary eyes.

"Explain." The other man demanded.

"The pale woman your daughter was talking about, the one who kidnapped her... yeah, she said some things to me, when we was trying to kill each other," Arthur began, aware of how clumsily he spoke. Scowling, he took a deep breath and gathered himself. "She said she knew I was gonna come look for Marianne. I don't know how, but she knew. She kidnapped your daughter to get to me."

"This is madness..." Margrave von Edmund said, teeth grit in cold anger. "And where is this pale woman now?"

"Gone. She gave me the slip." Arthur said, which was technically true. He looked to Shez, who was lurking in the back and quietly listening. "Hey, kid! Didn't you say you were jumped by a bunch of pale freaks, too? Where did you say you killed them?"

"Umm..." Shez gulped, clearly not expecting to be singled out. "I, uh, checked the area where I was attacked after you told me to ride back to town, and... well, the bodies weren't there anymore. Poof, like they just vanished. Even the bloodstains were gone."

Arthur shook his head and exhaled sharply. "Goddammit."

The margrave took a moment to calm himself. "Very well, then. Mr. Morgan, once again, I thank you for your exemplary performance in finding my daughter... though you will excuse me if I request Captain Jeralt to never send you to me again."

Arthur nodded, "That I can live with, but it ain't Marianne's fault she was kidnapped. You're just gonna lock her away until you find her a husband because a bunch of bloodless fools wanted a crack at me — a dumb, foreign mercenary from God knows where? That makes no damn sense, and it ain't fair to her."

Marianne clutched the hem of Arthur's jacket tightly, her mouth hanging ajar at what she was witnessing.

"I will forgive you this insolence but once, Mr. Morgan." The man intoned, voice dripping with venom. "What is fair or unfair to my daughter is not your business. Your involvement in House Edmund affairs has come to a permanent end, and believe me, I regret that it has come to this, truly. But what's done is done."

Arthur clenched his teeth to bite back a sharp retort. He knew when he was defeated, and saying anything more would only make things worse. He only hoped Marianne wouldn't suffer too much.

"Come along now, child. I've a horse saddled and prepared for you." Margrave von Edmund beckoned for his daughter, but she remained next to Arthur, tears flowing down her face. He ran a hand through his balding head and sighed. "I'll give you a moment."

As the margrave turned around and walked away, Arthur held Marianne as she came to him, wrapping her arms around his waist as she sobbed into his chest. "I'm sorry, girl. Really, I am."

He held her and let her cry out her anguish, her grief, and whatever else she may feel.

"Marianne," He patted her on the back, after some time had passed. "They're waiting for you, miss. Come on, you have to go. I'll walk you to your horse."

The girl said nothing as she wiped her eyes and let Arthur lead her to the palfrey they saddled for her.

"Maybe I could have done things differently," He said to her as he helped her climb up the saddle. "Wish I could've... no. No, let's leave things at that."

"Arthur, um," Just as Arthur made to leave, Marianne called out to him. He stopped and looked up to her. "Your jacket..."

Despite himself, he smiled. "It's cold out tonight. Wouldn't do a lady to only have her dress to keep her warm."

She smiled back, trying and failing to keep her tears from flowing anew. "Goodbye, Arthur."

...

...

Shez stared into the fire.

"At least we got paid." He said.

"Guess so." Arthur sipped his coffee.

"I think I missed a few things," The young man continued. "Why did you get involved with the girl and her dad?"

"Cause I feel responsible for that kid," Arthur replied, dumping his cup into the grass. For once, it tasted too bitter for him. "She was kidnapped, starved, had her friends killed, and lost her right to leave her adopted father's castle because a bunch of lunatics out there had it in for me."

"Ah, now I get it." Shez lied down on the grass. "I know how much you hate standing around in camp. You can't stand the idea of others losing their freedom."

"Got no idea what you're talking about, boy." Arthur said nonchalantly. He pulled out his journal and pen and started writing. "You should try and get some sleep. I'll take first watch."

Shez huffed, blowing his hair out of his eye. "And let you wallow in misery like a sad, leathery bag of old and forgotten bones? Nah, Morgan, I think you should go first."

Arthur chuckled. "What makes you think I haven't already forgotten about what happened tonight? No use thinking about things you can't change."

"Yeah, you should think about food instead. But seriously, you should go."

"Not a chance, kid. I know what you're trying to do — you ain't peeking in my journal."

"Hey, I promise I'll only look at the entries you've written about me. I saw you drawing my portrait... I know I'm in there somewhere!"

Both of them had little sleep that night.

...

...

A/N: time for another chapter, and here we are with another student. The next chapter will have another one, and I'm planning it to be huge — like 15k words or so huge. It goes without saying it'll take a while to push it out. That aside, the next chapter will be the last one to have Arthur as a mercenary, and the end of the pre-monastery arc. I'm very eager to start writing about what happens in this story's White Clouds.

Many thanks for the reviews, by the way! The story is growing in viewership, and I'm always pleased to see people pitching in and letting me know what they think about how I'm writing. That said about a few reviews...

TheSplendid

I really enjoyed writing Ferdinand. The last chapter came out quickly because of that, haha.

x-x-TheBurnedMan-x-x

I've played Darkest Dungeon, and I've seen how HWM is played. But why would I limit Arthur to using a small gun and a knife? Arthur has to reload in this story, and an empty revolver is almost useless in melee.

Faightan Gaims

The Agarthans are going to play a bigger role in this story than they had in the game. I'm not a fan of how the writers made all of them irredeemably evil to make the lords have an enemy nobody would have any issues wiping out. And thanks to Hopes, it's been made clear that they're not as united as they appear in Houses, with Thales' subordinates openly questioning his leadership.

Dalbion

Arthur and Byleth? I was writing them to have a father-daughter/uncle-niece relationship. Sorry about that.

Also, don't count on Arthur being paired up any time soon. I'm not writing that kind of story. I know pairings are pretty much a given in a Fire Emblem story, but it won't happen for a long time, at least for Arthur. The rest of the cast are fair game, I guess.

Spartan-666

This is a good idea. Thanks!

YermakGundyr

I'm very glad to see a Ferdinand von Aegir enjoyer in the wild.

Unfortunately, I have quite a bit planned for Arthur in Garreg Mach. I do remember how he prefers to wander, though, so he won't hang around there like the knights or faculty staff.

Terumi Gremory and Rook435

A whole heap of thanks for the kind words! Definitely more to come.

MudSoldier

Who let the simpleton out of the asylum?

Kidding, kidding.

But, what are you trying to say?