As Byleth and the others made their way to the field of battle, students and other onlookers took their places in the spectating area, which consisted of a tall wooden platform. It sat on a ridge that overlooked the field of battle below, a large field filled with clumps of woodland and open grassy plains. From the spectating area, Dudley saw Catherine leading the Blue Lions along the battlefield towards their starting point in the northeast, an area filled with grassy mounds. He saw another knight lead the Golden Deer into a woodland area in the northwest and he saw a third knight lead the Black Eagles to their starting point in the south.

He spotted the new professor and smiled.

Go, Professor!

If the gatekeeper was smiling, then Caspar was doing the opposite. He slumped down onto a seat up with the Black Eagles students who were too young or inexperienced to participate in real assignments and glared down at the field. Just like Dudley, he spotted Byleth and felt his forehead pulse.

'Wait till everyone sees how much of a joker you really are,' he muttered.

It was about a half hour's walk to the starting position for Byleth and the Black Eagles. It wasn't too strenuous, however, as their walk was mostly downhill. Ultimately, it was a bad thing though, because they would need to go back up the hill once the battle started to reach the first strip of woodland. When they finally reached their starting point, the knight who'd led them there turned and faced them.

'Remember not to start moving until you hear the horn. If you are eliminated, then signal to one of the winged horse riders to pick you up and you'll be taken to the observation platform.'

The Black Eagles nodded and the knight marched away.

'It's so big,' Petra said. 'We must be doing lots of walking.'

'I agree, this is just ridiculous,' Linhardt breathed. His eyes had increasingly widened on their walk and now his jaw gaped. 'Are certain that we can't just wait for the others to come to us instead?'

'No Linhardt, we're out in the open here,' Dorothea said. 'We need to get to cover in the woodland area.'

Byleth nodded. As the map had shown, they were surrounded by a mixture of grassy plains and clumps of woodland area. The field was surrounded by rocky cliffs that marked how far they could go in either direction. Where they started meant they couldn't see the other Houses, but to their right Byleth could see the observation point. The thought of people spectating him in a battle was crazy to him, yet he supposed that a lot of crazy things had happened to him recently. At the observation platform he spotted three sets of coloured flags: nine blue, nine yellow, and eight red. He supposed that each flag would be taken down as members were eliminated.

'Ready, Professor?' Edelgard asked. 'We are at your command.'

Byleth took a deep breath in and nodded. He turned and faced the future rulers of the Adrestian Empire.

'Remember the plan, stick together and trust one another.'

'The Houses are in position,' Seteth said.

'Oh, I am ever so excited!' Flayn squealed, jumping up and down beside him on the observatory platform. 'Watching mock battles and the Battle of the Eagle and Lion always bring me great joy!'

'Any guesses on who's going to win?' a knight asked.

'Definitely the Blue Lions,' another said.

'I think the Golden Deer will be too strong for the others!' a third said.

'Blue Lions,' Shamir said.

'Black Eagles!' Alois said.

'No way, they're a man down and they have that girl that's terrified of everything in their team,' the third knight said.

'Blue Lions will win,' Catherine said. 'Best close-combat units and they have great long-range users as well.'

'Feeling confident about your son, Jeralt?' the first knight asked.

Jeralt, who was still smiling proudly, nodded. Nearby, Rhea signalled to a nearby knight who held a horn. They walked to the edge and the crowd fell silent.

The knight raised the horn to their lips.

'That's the horn. I guess we should begin,' Dorothea said, with a feint tremor in her voice.

Byleth thought of his father again and nodded.

'Move forward.'

As planned in the classroom, they advanced towards the large, wooded area close to their position.

Lorenz Hellman Gloucester didn't like his House leader, Claude von Riegan, at all.

And who could blame him, of course? There was far too much mystery behind the man for the position he held as heir to the Alliance itself, and his insufferable lack of etiquette and seemingly indifferent attitude to important topics were also clearly unacceptable. In this particular case, he was annoyed that Claude had managed to convince Professor Manuela to change their strategy for the mock battle. The man's argument had been based on the preposterous idea that Byleth posed more of a threat as Black Eagles Professor than Seteth.

Just another reason why I should not trust him or his competency.

Regardless, what was done was done, and he could at least be happy in the knowledge that Professor Manuela had chosen him over Claude to lead their "special strategy" and to ensure it was implemented with delicate precision.

'Keep up, Raphael!'

'Sorry, Ignatz,' Raphael said. 'I'm not much one for running so quickly. You guys move very fas'-

'Shh!' Lorenz said.

'Sorry.'