Sunday Night 27th Great Tree Moon

Claude led the Golden Deer House along the bank of the moonlit pond. It shimmered a bright white that illuminated the surrounding area.

They walked slowly, their full bellies not allowing them to move any quicker. On any other night, one may have only guessed what the topic of their conversation was. That evening, however, everyone at the Officers Academy was discussing the same thing.

'So it is all true then. We do have the new professor to worry about, huh?' Hilda said.

'Seems so,' Ignatz said.

'The only people who should be worried are the Black Eagles who have to have him as their professor,' Lorenz said. 'They will be significantly weaker in the mock battle without Seteth. The only consolation for them is at least Byleth will be found out and they will finally be rid of him.'

'Yeah, and the whole "he had an illness when fighting Caspar" thing sounded exaggerated to me,' Lysithea said.

'But the Black Eagles were the ones who asked for him back,' Ignatz said.

'I don't understand why,' Lysithea said. 'None of them looked happy about it when Seteth announced it to everyone in the dining hall.'

'Was it the whole class that wanted him back or was it just Edelgard? She seems kind of bossy to me,' Hilda said.

'You think she forced the other students into accepting Byleth back?' Ignatz asked.

'Maybe.'

'Good point,' Lorenz said. 'If that is the case then it highlights further division amongst their ranks. All the better for us in the mock battle.'

'But why would Edelgard want Byleth back?'

Hilda shrugged. 'He's kind of cute.'

Lysithea crinkled her nose. 'Ew!'

'We can't be sure of anything though,' Ignatz said. 'We can't jump to conclusions.'

'It is safe to assume either way that the Blue Lions shall pose the biggest threat to our victory in the mock battle,' Lorenz said. 'They've been preparing extensively for it with Professor Haneman.'

They neared the pier at the pond and Claude turned left along it. The others stopped.

'Hey, Claude! We're up early tomorrow. We don't wanna wait on you!' Hilda said, frowning. The man wandered to the edge of the pier and crossed his arms.

'I'm actually jealous of the Black Eagles,' he said.

Lorenz snorted. 'And why is that?'

Claude turned. 'Because they now have an amazing warrior as their teacher. Don't let what happened in the training ground fool you. It only gives Byleth the advantage of being the underdog. I've watched him in a real battle, he's no joke.'

'You cannot be serious.'

'I am. It's why Edelgard wanted him back. We're just lucky that we'll get to attend some of his classes down the line, even though he isn't our main teacher.'

'How can you be so confident in his abilities after one battle?' Lysithea asked.

Claude winked at her. 'You'll see, but tomorrow we'll need to discuss how we're going to deal with him in the mock battle with Professor Manuela.'

'Just set Caspar on him again,' Hilda giggled. Lorenz glared at Claude.

'You are impossibly'-

Claude rejoined the group and they continued walking to their rooms. Raphael, Marianne and Leonie walked at the back of the group. Raphael was still licking his lips and thinking about how he'd never had a steak as succulent as the one he'd just eaten whilst Marianne was thinking about her daily prayer to the goddess, hoping it would come true soon.

Leonie was thinking about Byleth.

In her eyes, the man had shown himself to be a disgrace to Captain Jeralt in her conversation with him in the training ground and in his performance against Caspar. In her eyes, he didn't deserve Jeralt as his father, he'd let him down. She'd been angry and upset after Caspar had bested him… and then she'd heard Seteth's announcement in the dining hall.

He wasn't ill. He lied to Seteth to get his job back, that horrible piece of-

She shook her head and told herself that his return was a good thing. It meant that she'd be able to face him in the mock battle.

'You better watch out, Byleth,' she muttered under her breath. 'I'm going to show you who the true successor to Capain Jeralt is.'