The church bells soon chimed in the distance, signalling the time for lunch. Byleth followed Edelgard and the others to the dining hall.

They entered the building. The hall was crammed. Edelgard, who'd still been talking, found her voice drowned out by sharp sounds of scraping cutlery and the echoes of shouts and laughter. A warm doughy smell wafted through the air. Byleth looked around. The day prior the hall had been empty but now he saw very few empty chairs. He spotted Alois at one table laughing with a group of knights, Hanneman sat with Seteth at another, and Manuela ate with the Golden Deer class. The room was loud, but he could still make out Lorenz Hellman Gloucester's voice.

'I think sitting together may prove challenging your Highness,' Hubert murmured.

They joined the long queue of people waiting to get their food at the counter. Fish, meat, fruit, vegetables, bread, soup and other kinds of dishes Byleth had never seen before were spread out on large platters. Caspar stood ahead of him whilst Hubert stood behind, neither spoke. Up ahead he saw the small girl, Lysithea, jumping on the balls of her feet. She clapped her hands together when the chef informed her that there was indeed sugar in the sweet buns.

As he waited in the line, he felt students stare at him from different directions. When he looked at them, they turned away.

He eventually reached the counter, grabbed a bowl of soup and then exited the queue. Groups of people waded back in forth and for a moment he couldn't see any of the Black Eagles.

For a moment, he was on his own. He turned and looked at the exit. He looked back once, twice and then moved to the door.

'Byleth.'

He turned. Edelgard waved at him.

'Come sit with us.'

He trudged to her and the others, who as it turned out, stood nearby. Dorothea eventually spotted an opening of four at a table on the other side of the room. Caspar and Ferdinand launched themselves at two of the chairs.

'I do apologise for my haste but I am famished,' Ferdinand said. 'I do hope that you will forgive me.' Caspar's head was already down and his cheeks bulged.

Edelgard sighed. 'Perhaps we can all sit together another time. (She sat beside Caspar and pulled out the final chair.) Professor, would you like to'-

Hubert lowered himself down onto the final chair and pulled it in. Edelgard glared at him but he either didn't notice or pretended not to. Byleth didn't mind.

'I will find another seat,' he said. He turned and once again headed in the direction of the exit.

'Hey, wait, Professor, we can still find somewhere else to sit together!' Dorothea called. Byleth stopped. The girl walked past him, tracing a finger along his shoulder.

'Thinking you'd lose us that quick, eh? I don't think so! Come on, let's find another place to sit.'

Byleth did get closer to his intended exit, but only to be pulled down to a table where a group of students had just left. Dorothea sat beside him whilst, Linhardt, Petra and Bernadetta sat opposite. Bernadetta, of course, sat furthest away from him.

They stared at him, making him shift in his seat.

'So our mysterious professor, where're you from? Can I guess?' Dorothea asked.

He blinked. 'I don't know where I'm from.'

'No? You travelled all the time? Even when you were young?'

'Yes.'

'Did you stay in any place more than others?'

'No.'

'Where were you born?' Petra asked.

'I don't know.'

'How old are you?'

'I don't know.'

'Really?'

'Really.'

'Would you sleep under the stars or would you stay indoors when travelling?' Dorothea asked.

'Both.'

'Do you have a favourite place?'

'Quiet places.'

'Do you have a crest, Professor? Linhardt asked.

'I don't know.'

'Could you find out?'

'No.'

'Have you ever been travelling to Brigid?' Petra asked.

'No.'

'What was it like being a mercenary?' Dorothea asked.

'Hard.'

'You must have met a lot of cool people.'

'I suppose.'

'Anyone in particular?'

'No.'

'Did you go to a school?'

'No.'

'What are your hobbies?' Linhardt asked.

'I don't have any.'

'Then I would recommend taking up crest research, more specifically finding out if you have one.'

'What is it being like having Jeralt the "Blade Breaker" as your father?' Petra asked.

'Okay.'

'What'-

'H-How about all of you?' Byleth asked, wiping sweat from his forehead. 'Tell me about yourselves.'

'If you insist,' Dorothea said, winking. She repeated her story, going into more detail about her life this time: Having lost her mother at a young age, she'd been a street urchin in Enbarr of Adrestia as a child, before becoming a songstress in the "Mittelfrank Opera Company". She asked him if he'd heard of it before.

He shook his head immediately.

Linhardt said he enjoyed long naps, reading and had an interest in crests… and then he continued eating his soup without saying more. Petra was more forthcoming, albeit harder to understand. She was a Brigid princess who grew up in the Brigid archipelago "very much enjoying" hunting, swimming and exploring. Linhardt asked her about the dark marking under her eye and she said it represented a prayer to be protected by the "forest spirits".

'Anything you want to share with the group, Bern?' Dorothea then asked.

Bernadetta, who'd been playing with her food looked up. 'I…'-

She met Byleth's gaze and started trembling again.

'I..I like being inside and… and…'-

She stood up walked away.

Dorothea sighed. 'Poor Bern, she's having a hard time settling in. She gets really anxious.'

'Why?' Petra asked.

'I don't know. She just seems to be frightened of everything, and it's getting worse.'

'She stays in her room a lot, doesn't she?' Linhardt asked. He sighed. 'I don't see why she's allowed to do that, at least I sleep in the classroom.'

Byleth watched Bernadetta exit the building. He then looked down and saw his reflection in his spoon.

He lowered it to the table beside his bowl of steaming soup and didn't touch it again.

After what felt like an eternity, long enough for the steam to stop rising from his bowl of soup at least, he was allowed to leave the table. The other students went their separate ways. Petra went off to do sword practice, Dorothea had a "date", and Linhardt went to the library. Byleth rose and shuffled to the exit.

'Byleth!'

He cursed under his breath. The loud and proud voice hollered over the noise of the room, and he recognised it immediately. He forced a deep breath in and turned. Alois sat on the far side of the room, gesturing for him to come over. He did, ignoring the many eyes in the room that followed his movements as he did so. The knight was sat with men and women who were obviously also knights of Serios from the identical white armour they wore.

'Everyone,' Alois said. 'This is Byleth, Jeralt's son. He helped save the Imperial princess, the Faerghus prince and the heir to House Riegan! He's just like his old man.'

'He's better looking than Jeralt!' one knight said eventually said, a smile breaking onto his face.

'That's not much of an accomplishment,' another said.

They laughed and then took it in turns to shake his hand. The final two were women called Catherine and Shamir. At first glance, Catherine she looked pretty enough to be a queen, with her smooth face, blue eyes and blonde hair. The cuts and bruises on her neck and face, however, told a different story, as did the gruff way she said 'nice to meet ya,' with her mouth full. Shamir, a woman from Dagda, had short, dark purple hair that matched the colour of her eyes. She said nothing, but he didn't need to hear her voice to sense that she was one of the deadliest women in the room.

'Just like Jeralt huh?' Catherine said. 'He's supposedly the strongest knight to ever live. You really as good as him?'

Byleth shrugged. Alois laughed and called him modest. Catherine just stared at him.

'There's something about you anyway, dunno what it is but I suppose we'll find out!'

'Your father should be here soon if you want to stick around and'-

Byleth shook his head before Alois finished his sentence. He said he had errands to run and moved once again to the exit.

But as he neared the door, a tall man with a powerful frame marched in, blocking his escape.

He dug his fingernails into his palms.

The man stopped and stared down at him for a painfully long time. He had long, parted hair that matched Edelgard's in length. His grey eyes peered out of a peculiar mask that covered his eyes and forehead.

'You are?' the man finally asked. His voice was smooth yet monotone and low enough that it had a strange vibration to it.

'Byleth.'

'Jertiza,' the man replied.

Byleth nodded and looked at the man whose name he'd heard multiple times in the past few days. He was the combat instructor, the one Edelgard, Hubert and Caspar had all wanted as their professor.

'If you care for a duel, fight me in the training ground,' the man said. And with that, he marched into the dining hall.