The Dustbin
Day 13: Field Day Part 2
1st of Harpstring Moon, Early Afternoon
"Denied," Archbishop Rhea stated towards Karna.
"WHY!?" cried back Karna.
"I still cannot trust you and your class to go outside without something drastic happening," Rhea pointed out, "may I remind you that in your first week, you and your class have been caught up in a conspiracy, fell into the Abyss by sheer happenstance, said Abyss was a major confidential breach, run into bandits and a Demonic Beast, which by the way, all of the aforementioned taking place all in the same night?" the Archbishop listed Karna's previous escapade taking place last week, "... as you can see, even I have such reservations of your... integrity revolving around your methods and happenstance."
"So what's your proposal to an alternative?" Karna replied, "are you simply saying that they simply stick to basic lectures and do what the other students do?"
"I don't see an issue," Rhea stated, "it shouldn't be that hard."
"If it wasn't an issue to begin with, then they wouldn't be in the Dustbin to begin with, now wouldn't it!?" Karna rebuffed the Archbishop's statement, "conventional methods don't work on them! Most of them are illiterate to the Fodlan language, some flat-out hate living on this continent, and that's not getting into the racial and political tensions that arise when said conventions are forced upon them," the cloaked professor pointed out, "I cannot afford to be by the book when I want them to succeed."
"We of the Garreg Mach Monastery serves to adhere to the words of the Goddess, and the Officer's Academy exists to bring up students into upstanding members of Fodlan society for the sake of a brighter future," Rhea stated, "and just because your students are the worst doesn't I'll exempt them from the standards we uphold by."
"So are you saying that Duscur, Brigid, and Almyra don't have a future because they aren't blessed by the goddess?" Karna pointed out, "is all your religion good for wiping out other cultures to complete obscurity because you believe that your beliefs are the only true ones that deserve to be praised to the high heavens?"
"... What are you implying, professor?" the Archbishop asked Karna in a low, menacing tone.
"... There are other places that even the goddess cannot reach or condemn anyone towards," Karna answered as sweat dripped down his face, "the world is just more than Fodlan, you know, but you and your so-called children had to go and drive them to extinction," he went on, further pressing his ground, "the Duscur Tragedy? A one-sided massacre sparked by false pretense of an assassination. The war between Adrestrian Empire and the Brigid-Dagda alliance? The former's reliving of their old imperialist ways. The Fodlan's Throat disputes? A damned propaganda printing machine that paints Almyrans as bloodthirsty savages and nothing else! All of those wasted lives and breaths, AND FOR WHAT!? ALL IN THE NAME OF THE GODDESS!?" the professor barked out, "the Dustbin students are the direct results of Fodlan's consequences of its own myopic actions! I swear to the goddess, that if you think that the only for them to fit in Fodlan is to abandon who they were because the only way you see them is to discard their own selves, then you can take that little scripture of yours and shove up your-"
Karna Being Thrown out of the Room through the Door
"... Ow," the professor grunted out as the doors slammed shut behind him, "... I swear, that woman can kill a Duscur Bear with her bare hands if she wanted to."
As he got back up to his feet, Karna then walked down the halls still reeling and grumbling at the lost prospects of his class unable to get their own Field Day.
"... Might've come a little too strong onto her when making my statement," Karna muttered to himself as he continued walking, "... there's got to be a better way other fighting stubbornness with stubbornness, because from the way I conducted myself back there, I'm no different from my own subjects of criticism."
He then looks towards the entrance from the corner of his left eye, and found a place to calm down at.
"... I need someone to talk to," Karna remarked to himself as he walked towards that direction.
"Don't need to ask," Manuela's voice remarked from inside, "my office door's always open, as if I have one."
Karna then lays down at one of the cots as Manuela remained in her stool next to her desk.
"... How much did you hear?" asked Karna.
"Everything," Manuela replied, "for someone who's considered the Adrestian Empire's biggest Black Cat, you have a really loud bark unbefitting of the former."
"What can I say? I'm only human. Not even I can hold myself to the standards of Fodlan like my own students, and I only initially took this job just to calm my crazy life down for about a year or so," said Karna as he turned his back towards Manuela, "I can scream and claw my way through this unforgiving world of bias and bigotry, but no matter how strong or wise I may be, I'm just one man facing against a thousand."
"Why assume such thing?" Manuela asked, "I mean, sure, you're a massive curmudgeon and for someone with a pretty face, I wouldn't exactly proposition with you, but surely, if you think the whole world is literally against you, then you wouldn't be here talking to me, now wouldn't you?"
"Heh, funny thing about that, Manuela?" Karna remarked, "they tried. They really did."
"Ah right, the attempted execution about 3 years back," Manuela pointed out, remembering the massive crowd gathered to witness the "blight of a man" be "wiped off from the face of this world", only for the whole thing to go completely wrong, and Karna himself walking free with all of his crimes pardoned at the cost of his own research license at the Adrestian Empire being revoked indefinitely, "... I don't how the executioner even broke his own axe to begin with after slipping on a puddle, let alone said axe to end up in his own throat of all places."
"Crazier things happened, and still happens to me to this day," said Karna before he let out a sigh, "... why did I take this job when I know that my own karma would drag the others down with me?" he asked, "am I so blind to my own faults that I instinctively sought to separate myself from other people so they can have the opportunity to live a normal and quiet life as I endure rain and storms every day?"
"... Honestly, I think you're doing just fine," Manuela remarked, "mere men would've ended it themselves should they walked a mile in your boots," she pointed out as she pointed her riding crop towards Karna, "but you, you're different. You have something burning in your very soul that pushes you forth. Something... incomprehensible," the head nurse stated to herself before asking Karna the following, "what is that thing that motivates you to keep living on in that manure fire of a life that you call yours, Karna Yuga?"
"... I guess, I just like seeing people live," Karna answered, "from childhood I was kidnapped because I manifested a Crest before I ran away, then I was suddenly spirited away to Almyra as a slave for five years, then I returned to Fodlan and applied myself into Faerghus's Magic Academy as an honor's graduate before heading to the Adrestian Empire to publish my first thesis on magical research and practical applications, then nobles came to assassinate me, only to fail, then a failed execution before my eventual expulsion, and in the next two years, I visited Brigid and Dagda followed up by Duscur and meeting its remnants, and then, here," the cloaked professor remarked, "all of those times, when I was whisked away into different places, and all of the things that I've learned and the people I've bore witness to, you know what I've learned?"
"What is it?" asked Manuela before she saw Karna's arm shot up towards the ceiling.
"... Fodlan is too small not only for me, but also for the Dustbin," Karna answered, "these kids are suffocated and smothered by the fundamentals and the status quo, and no matter what changes take place here, it'll only feel smaller for us," the cloaked Professor declared, "imagine what they can learn and how much will they prosper if they had the right to see the world around them as they interpret it. Freely explore beyond the borders without a map, and learn that there's no need to find a place that'll accept them when the only ones who need to accept them are themselves."
"... So the reason why you're standing up for the Dustbin to go out more is that they'll learn more meaningful subjects beyond what's already said and done?" Manuela stated.
"The Archbishop expects that her current structure can accept all who come towards her, completely disregarding that not everyone are willing to be sheep," Karna pointed out, "wolves need sheep to live, sheep need wolves to fear, and sheepdogs need both have a purpose. Rhea as a shepherd is driving one of the three to extinction for the sake of the sheep, but eventually, the sheep will overpopulate, the pen called 'Fodlan' will be beyond capacity, and the sheepdogs will either be worked to death to maintain the growing disorder among the overpopulation of the sheep, or simply become the new wolves upon recognizing their power and weakness both tied to their sole purpose."
"... Are you saying that you can be a better shepherd than Archbishop Rhea?" Manuela asked.
"Hell no, I can barely keep my life together," Karna remarked, "but around six or seven? Whom I can teach them how to choose rather than what to choose? I can live with that."
Manuela then lets out a snort before Karna tugs on the hem of her dress.
"Pardon, but what's so humorous?" asked Karna.
"When you put it like that, you sound no different from the Archbishop," the head nurse pointed out, "people begin disagreeing when either one of them begins pushing their ideals against another's face without consent, regardless of how well-intentioned it may be," Manuela stated, "point is, you're not exactly that all different from the Archbishop herself. You're like a... mini-Rhea."
"Lady, that woman can possibly kill a bear with a single punch to its head," Karna remarked.
"Says the man who got punched by said strongwoman?" Manuela wittily remarked.
Karna lets out a snort before the two in the nurse's office let out a small chuckle for a few seconds.
"... Haah, guess I am blessed in my own regard," Karna remarked.
"Us professors are blessed to have unique students to teach," Manuela remarked, "the Golden Deer are a diverse bunch."
"Are you kidding me?" Karna replied, "my class has two Brigidians, two Almyrans from distinct ethnicities, one Faerghusian with a brain the size of a planet, and one anonymous student with bandages all over his body," the professor pointed out, "then again, not normal doesn't necessary make it bad. Personally, if raised right, I think they'll have a chance to become someone who're larger than life."
"They do say that kids are the future," Manuela agreed as her riding crop tapped onto her palm, "but it's our job as adults to not be like snarling mongrels just to get our way. At least be more composed to set a good example, don't you agree?"
"Hm, fair enough," Karna replied before he got off of the cot and headed back outside, "thanks for lending me an ear, for now, I know what I'm supposed to, but I'll need to grab a few things."
"Paper, quills, and ink are all at the library," Manuela pointed out, "Tomas will be more than happy to help."
"Great, thanks," said Karna as he left the nurse's office, "talk to you later when I get everything sorted out!"
"I'll be at the pub at a nearby town if you're looking for me!" Manuela cried back as the two went their separate ways for now.
"Alright..." Karna remarked as he cracked his neck and fingers, "... let's see if I can salvage my current situation."
2nd of Harpstring Moon, Night
"Been thinking lately..." Byron remarked as he and the others looked at their professor frantically scratching the blackboard with a stick of chalk, "... is it just me, or does the professor look a bit more, preoccupied than usual?"
"Dunno," Sorcha pointed out, "but I mean, people like him are always busy, right?"
"And I suggest keeping yourselves busy while I give out today's lessons," Karna interjected as he then flipped the blackboard around towards the students, "so tell me, what could you all make of the Mock Battle that took place two days prior? Anyone?"
Cyrus raises his hand, to which Karna points at.
"I think... that each house had their own ways of fighting," Cyrus remarked, "to summarize... the Golden Deer seem to focus on passivity and long-reach approach to combat, such as two out of five of their forces being comprised of bow users, the vanguard was a lance user, and their teacher is a healer with some knowledge of offensive magic," he pointed out, "the Goneril girl might be an exception, but that's only them needing a close-range combatant to cover the long-range fighters-"
"No, that's not it," Selene interjected, "I've seen how the girl with the pink hair held her axe," she pointed out as she showed a drawing of an axe's shaft with the hands grasped predominantly at the bottom of the shaft rather than the usual upper-middle, "she's also a long-range fighter like the lancer. This kind of wielding is used to execute overhead blows that seemingly aim to end the fights in one blow, rather than the typical heavy two-handed stance designed for slower and prolonged engagements that the other two axe users used."
"Wait, there are different ways to use axes as legitimate weapons?" Cyrus pointed out.
"Actually, yes," Karna replied as he flipped the board around and begin scribbling madly on it, drawing three pictures that show the following three kinds of people; a Fortress Knight, a Warrior, and a Wyvern Rider, "axes in general, are weapons basic in concept, but complex in its practice," he stated before he pointed to the rotund Fortress Knight with his chalk, "take instance, the 'guardian'. The slowest of the three, but the most defensive, focusing on using the axe's default strength to hold ground and pin down chokepoints as an offensive and defensive wall," the professor went on explaining, "for instance, who do you think in the Mock Battle fit that criteria?"
"... The Blue... Lion," Vidar grumbled out in his throaty voice, "... he was big... and when he stood... he was... guarding."
"Dedue, the so-called 'lapdog' of the Prince," Byron remarked with a hint of disdain, "... he's one notoriously tough nut to crack, both physically and mentally. The man is literal fanatic on paper, but mostly subdued."
"... That sounds like Vidar," Topaz pointed out the similarities as she looked at the drooling bandaged youth, "... I wonder what happens if the two fought to the death with one another."
"Save that for later," Karna chided before he then drew a circle around the horn-helmed Warrior, "the next axe user is what I refer as the 'powerhouse', the ones that utilize outputting the maximum amount of force when swinging their weapons, either as a way to overwhelm their opposition through a combination of breaking their guards and usually aiming to end the fight with a single blow."
"So like me?" asked Sorcha as she pointed to her [Claymore] with an extremely long strand of bandage tied to the pommel, the latter being tied around the blade to conceal the blade for non-engagement uses as a sheathe.
"... In a way, yes, you fight like a 'powerhouse', but with an oversized sword," Karna remarked, "different weapon, but similar enough philosophy."
"So I take that the Goneril girl is like the one mounted on the winged monstrosity that the Almyran royalty boasts?" Topaz pointed out.
"Actually, Hilda is muddled between 'powerhouse' and the 'longarm'," Karna explained, "on one hands, she shows exceptional muscle strength and her blows were strong for someone of her stature, as testified by Mr. Iskandar," he explained, "on the other hand, her tendency to play keep-away with her opponent implies a semi-evasive fighting style akin to the general Golden Deer fighting style, also making her an ideal 'longarm'."
"It's true," Cyrus remarked, "there must something in the Goneril waters that I have to try just to see if I can be as strong as them. Makes me wonder why does the latter in the first place."
"For simplicity's sake, let's just use Hilda as an example of a 'powerhouse'," Karna remarked as he then labeled the "guardian" and the "powerhouse" with Dedue and Hilda's cartoony faces next to them, "now, the 'longarm'," the professor stated as he tapped his chalk to the Wyvern Rider, "this particular axe user focuses on the axe's reach, utilizing some of the 'powerhouse' aspects but maintaining a long reach akin to how a Cavalier would use a lance to confront his opponent, using both reach and momentum to create force behind its attacks."
"So if Dedue is the 'guardian', Hilda is the 'powerhouse'..." Selene listed down the three houses' axe users, "... I'm assuming that the Black Eagle's leader is an example of a 'longarm'?"
"A faint example, yes," Karna remarked as he drew Edelgard's cartoon face next to the Wyvern Rider, "she poses a more flexible fighting style compared to the other two, balancing both offense and defense while adapting different fighting style on the fly," the professor pointed out before letting out a sigh, "... we have a lot of catching up to do in terms of skill. Just being able to kill people and having a taste for it won't be enough to get by in life after this academy, folks."
"So murdering her in her sleep isn't an option?" Topaz pointed out.
"Temper your bloodlust, killing the wrong kinds of people will be enough set this whole continent ablaze in war," Karna remarked, "before we end, I'd like to make an... urgent announcement."
Karna then erases the both sides of the blackboard before slamming both of his hands onto the front desk.
"... After the Mock Battle two days prior, I've came towards the Archbishop herself to let us put our notes to practice on field," Karna explained, "however, after hitting a disagreement that literally led to me getting thrown out of the door, I now have to make an appeal to let you guys have a field day, because as students, you have the right to learn as the others regardless of your infamy, and I'll be damned if all of you are forced to quit and rot in squalor because of my impulsivity."
"Don't have to worry about me," Byron remarked, "I basically passed all my written exams sans the promotional ones because I got bored," he pointed out, "point being, you don't have to do this alone, professor."
"Eh, speak what ye want to those fops," said Sorcha as she shrugged, "Fodlan never welcomed us, so say what for."
"I remember a certain saying from my mother," Cyrus recalled, "in a world where you are born, will you carve yourself to fit the world, or carve the world to fit you?"
"... I want..." Vidar croaked out with his throaty voice, "... I want... to follow... friends."
"We're no strangers to hardship," Selene pointed out, "whatever comes next, we'll do it as long as you're with us."
"I can only bloom as a flower of carnage in the chaos of combat," Topaz stated, "... I suppose being a seedling for a little longer wouldn't hurt me much."
"... Thank you for understanding," said Karna, "we'll pick up the remaining lesson where we left off tonight. Dismissed."
As the class itself went back to the stables while Karna headed back to his inn, he then found a certain nurse passed out on the streets, black-out drunk.
"... Manuela?" Karna spoke to the downed woman before said woman grabbed him around his ankles.
"... Oh," she groaned out as Manuela looked at Karna with a dazed and stupor expression, "... it's you."
"I have a room at the inn," Karna remarked, "don't worry about any illicit things happening, for I don't plan to sleep for tonight," he stated as Karna picked her up by his shoulder and took her to his room before plopping her onto his bed.
"... Why do men run away from me?" Manuela bawled out half-lazily as she rolled around the inn's cot while Karna began writing furiously at the paper before him with his quill.
"Probably the same reason as me," Karna off-handedly remarked as he kept his eyes and hands on the paper and quill, "we make others look bad at our utter worst."
The two then kept quiet for the rest of the night, with one working tirelessly surrounded by a single candlelight, while the other tried to sleep off her drunken headache and once vomiting over the windowsill.
3rd of Harpstring Moon, Afternoon
"... You are kidding me," Seteth groaned out as Karna stood before him in his study, "I just got back from lunch and the first thing I see is one of the last men I'd want to see in my life at a time like this. What do you want?"
Without a word, Karna then drops his backpack and lifts out a thick stack of paper that was then dumped onto the adherent's desk.
"This, right here, is roughly a 127-page proposition on why you should let my class take field studies like the rest of the classes," Karna remarked, "point being, I'm willing to renegotiate my terms after my admittedly-disgraceful conduct before the Archbishop."
"You know such heresy would have your head placed on a chopping block, but given your little reputation as a Black Cat, the fact that we didn't slain you in your sleep should be telling enough," Seteth groaned out.
"How unfortunate," Karna replied, "I wasn't sleeping at all last night. By the way, did Manuela make it back to the monastery safe and sound this morning?"
"Yes, she's fine," Seteth answered as he began looking through the papers, the first being a written apology taking up about 10 pages of the pile, "... that saves me the trouble of telling you to do such a thing, well played, you snake."
"I've dealt with my own share of PR disasters," Karna remarked, "I've gotten good at it."
Seteth then reads through the student profiles, starting with Byron and Vidar's.
"The former would be an ideal student, weren't for the fact that he blew off every single professor and aced all of his contemporary exams without studying," the adherent pointed out, "and you're saying that letting him go outside would allow him to at least keep him and his rampant intellectual delinquency in line?"
"The conventional methods have exhausted him and according to him, finds them no longer engaging," Karna stated, "that said, he does seem to hold an innate desire to learn new things and be challenged both physically and mentally."
"Okay, then what of him?" Seteth asked as he showed Karna a paper about Vidar, "may I remind you that this student nearly killed someone during sparring?"
"He's just more than some violent thug, I assure you," Karna interjected, "Vidar himself seems to be a visual learner. He's able to learn things at a faster rate just through observation and reenactment."
"Then where he learn to bite off a student's ear?" Seteth asked.
"Allegedly from a cat killing a bird," Karna answered, "that said, he's able to pick up sketching extremely quickly just by watching his peers. He's gifted, I can easily teach him how to use his talents for good."
"Ugh, those ex-Blue Lions are impossible to read..." Seteth groaned out, "... evidently, you show some competence of getting through them, so I'll give you a pass on them for starters."
"Thank you," Karna replied as Seteth then began reading the papers about the McCarthy twins.
"And for these two," Seteth remarked as he placed the two papers before Karna, "those two were apparently the targets of last week's conspiracy. While the issue has been mostly resolved, and that the perpetrators of the Toteskampf and Macbeth Households have all been apprehended, there's still rampant bad press against the twins and it's likely that their constant attempts on their lives will spark another conspiracy with you as the powder keg," the adherent pointed out, "look, I'm not out here to get you people in trouble, so give me a reason why I should let those two out."
"Sorcha herself, temper aside, is relatively functional, if a little insecure of the racism that she and her sister are subjected to," Karna remarked, "as for Selene, most of her problems had to do with her farsightedness that made her meek around her surroundings, most of which have been resolved thanks to her eyeglasses prescription," he reported, "still, you are valid in your concerns about them being high-priority targets, but I have a solution for that."
Before Seteth can answer, the adherent then remembers Karna's negative karma being a metaphorical force of nature on its own.
"... You're going to come between the twins and their would be assassins?" pointed out Seteth.
"Only as a deterrent, I assure you," Karna answered, "and if they don't get the message, we can easily write it off as self-defense. And if the noblemen keep sending their own men after us three and keep dying and/or failing, then it'll just make them look idiotic, something that even they would avoid doing so out of pride and reputation."
"... Your plan sounds borderline asinine," Seteth remarked in a cringed tone, "... but knowing you, it just might work."
"I don't run afoul of bandits," Karna boasted, "they run afoul of me."
"Fair enough, those two, I leave them under your watch, for what good may come to it," Seteth sighed out as he then read through Cyrus and Topaz's statements, "for these two, they weren't even part of the Golden Deer to begin with."
"... Pardon?" Karna remarked, "I thought that they joined after they were caught."
"The two were affiliated with a border region next to the Leicester Alliance," Seteth pointed out, "Cyrus was a product of grossly mishandled bureaucracy during PoW scuffle which resulted him ending up here of all places, and we found assassination tools on the girl who broken in here, but we couldn't identify her, and I'm pretty sure that 'Topaz' is just her cover name!" the adherent explained, "my point being, these two out of the six, we honestly don't know who really they are aside from their names. Them refusing to cooperate with the Church isn't exactly helping us either!"
"I got to know them a little bit," Karna remarked, "evidently, their issues are tied to their cultures of which they're raised by."
"Enlighten me," Seteth replied.
"Cyrus himself... isn't exactly Almyran," Karna stated, "he's actually half-Almyran, half-Battu," he pointed out, "father was an Almyran merchant before he was kidnapped by his Battu tribeswoman mother, out of her two other husbands."
"Oh, so the giant student is apparently a product of nonconsensual relationship," Seteth commented.
"To be fair, I was kidnapped by them and was a slave for five years, but otherwise, they're relatively decent people. Treated me well all things considered," Karna remarked, "they have a very strong sense of filial loyalty and they are accepting of people from other countries, usually seeing crossbreeding as a good way to spread their legacy and breed stronger warriors."
"That explains why he's constantly trying to run away from Garreg Mach constantly," Seteth remarked, "to fulfill his filial obligations, I presume?"
"Not entirely," Karna pointed out, "since he's been practically born and raised on a saddle, he's utterly baffled at the ideas of building and currency. He sees no point in them when, in his words, state that they'll 'eventually be destroyed'," he remarked, "now, I don't interpret this as a threat, but rather, I think he's genuinely confused on all aspects of non-nomadic life, and the fact that he's been captured in battle means that he's not really willing to cooperate to begin with, and I think some fresh air would do him some good."
"... Okay, I suppose I can arrange that," Seteth remarked before he pointed to the paper talking about Topaz, "what of her?"
"She's an Almyran, for certain," Karna remarked, "but judging by her veil and stature, she might be that of the Hassan people, an ethnic minority known for their distinct culture of worshipping the idea of death itself, and not much else is known aside from the fact that sometime, Almyran noblemen hire them as assassins or sellswords."
"So in essence," Seteth remarked, "a murderer."
"On paper, yes, but I've met a few who didn't try and kill me," Karna testified, "they just don't view life as similar to others. For them, life is simply the beginning of a journey towards death, and death is simply the end of their journey to make way for the others. They're not homicidal suicidal sociopaths, although they might come as such, but they're the kind of people who don't consider death as a cruel thing."
"... Karna," Seteth remarked as he clutched his head with his hands in exhaustion, "... do you realize that you're not helping her case?"
"I'm trying my best here, but even the Almyrans don't even know much of the Hassan people," Karna pointed out, "their society is so secretive that even I couldn't figure them out fully, but the point being, I'll make sure that she doesn't kill unnecessarily."
"... Somehow, that doesn't sound any more reassuring," Seteth remarked.
"Then give us time," Karna requested, "give us a time to prove ourselves that we're just more than a bunch of broken failures," he begged as he then groveled before Seteth's study desk, "and before you say anything, just locking them up in a basement for goddess-knows how long isn't giving them time. It's a penal sentence!"
Seteth then lets out a sigh before writing a paper with his signature.
"Alright," Seteth remarked, "one chance," he pointed out, "head to Zanado, the Red Canyon to scout the bandits that attacked the village last month are hiding out there," the adherent ordered, "we just need to figure out how many are there, so whatever happens, do not engage."
"I get the feeling that you're only entrusting us with this to waste our time," Karna pointed out.
"Take it or leave it, Professor Karna Yuga," Seteth smugly remarked.
"Alright, but I want a humble fund to repair a few things at the forge. Can't exactly go behind enemy lines without preparing for a skirmish," Karna stated, "got any iron ores that you can spare?"
"I'll put in an order," Seteth remarked as he inked another form, "first one's on me. After that, you're on your own."
"I'll leave you to it," Karna remarked after he stamps a wad of wax on the slip allowing the Dustbin to take their first mission outside, "and um... thanks. You trusting me and my students?" he remarked bashfully, "it means a lot."
"Don't make me regret it," Seteth remarked as Karna left his study.
4th of Harpstring Moon, Morning
"So class," Karna remarked as the Dustbin walked towards the off-path towards Zanado, the Red Canyon on their scouting mission, "how would you surmise the Blue Lions and the Black Eagles in terms of fighting styles?"
"I suppose the Blue Lions are more leaned towards defensive and drawn-out conflicts," Byron remarked as he and the others were tiptoeing across a narrow mountain path leading towards the top, "... but can we please save the lesson after we're not on the verge of falling to our deaths!?"
"Fair enough," Karna remarked, "don't look down."
"I think I can see a few skellys lyin' down ere'," Selene remarked as she looked down without fear.
"Eeagggh, don't say such things!" Sorcha winced out as she tried not to look down.
"Amateurs," Topaz sighed out as she then breaks from the group's hand link before scaling up the cliffside on her own like a wildcat scaling a tree, her nimble and petite frame lending her to her mobility in a vertical plane, allowing her to reach the top before anyone else can.
"... That's just not fair," Cyrus groaned out.
"... Shut up..." Vidar grunted out, "keep... climbing..."
Heeding to Vidar's simple words, the rest of the Dustbin keep making their way up to the top of Zanado, trying not to look down for the rest of the way. Eventually, making it to the top, with everyone sans Vidar and Karna to a lesser extent, all exhausted from the dizzying heights that they were forced to climb up in order to reach the top.
"... Huff... huff... that... was terrifying," Byron heaved out with a small smile on his face mixed with his exhaustion, "... I think something awakened in me."
"... I don't," Sorcha gasped out, "... I already hate this bloody place. Almost dropped me Claymore to the ravine."
"Says you!" Cyrus wheezed out, "Darius can't even come up here with me!"
"Shh!" Topaz hushed the Dustbin as she ducked down and pointed to the group of ruffians beyond the borders, "hide!"
The rest of the Dustbin then all sneak up behind the boulder and peek over it to see how many of the bandits were there.
"... How many?" Karna asked Selene as she took off her glasses, activating her hyperopia.
"... They ain't staying still," Selene remarked as she rubbed her eyes, "the slight fog ain't helping either."
"What do we do?" asked Byron.
"For now, hide," Karna ordered as the rest of the Dustbin hid and continued surveying the area of bandits.
At the epicenter, they all spot the leader of the bandits going off on an enraged tangent to a tall, dark-cloaked figure with a red and white-colored masked helmet with a thin, red crest running down the back, and sporting a row of blood-red feathers around its collar section of his armor.
"What is this nonsense!?" Kostas barked out at the enigmatic figure, "all I was told was to kill as many noble pipsqueaks as possible!"
"Noble pipsqueaks", he must be referring to the attack at the village last month, Karna thought as he jotted down the conversation taking place as they continued to eavesdrop.
"No one said anything about the Knights of damned Seiros being on our trail!" Kostas accosted the figure before him.
"You have proven yourself worthless," the enigmatic figure bluntly stated, "distracted by something so trivial."
"To be fair, bossman," an accented voice remarked, "noblemen fetch a lot of gold when held hostage, so of course the Knights of bloody Seiros would be hounding us."
What do you know, Karna thought as he spotted a familiar, dog-like face next to Kostas, "Bloodhound" Doug. Wasn't expecting him to show up so soon after he and I got blasted off of a cliff... guess misery loves company.
"I had hoped the two of you would've achieved your goals despite the setback, but now a child of the knights' former captain is in play," the armored stranger remarked to himself, "how interesting."
"Hey!" Kostas barked at the masked man, "this isn't what I agreed to!"
"Hiring a mercenary as a professor..." the enigmatic figure thought out loud, "what was that woman thinking..."
Huh, thought Karna as he sketched the masked figure's appearance, someone who actually agrees with me. Shame we're on opposite sides, though.
"Boss, I think he ain't listening to us," Doug remarked.
"Are you listening to me!?" Kostas ranted out, "how do we finish this!?"
"You die."
"... That's too blunt, even for me," Byron whispered out.
"Underestimating the knights was an amateur mistake, a one you will pay for," the masked knight pointed out, "the road to eternal torment awaits you all."
Wow, when he puts it like that, he sounds like a certain Archbishop that threw me out of the door twice, deadpanned Karna.
"Now," the cloaked knight remarked as he turned his back towards Kostas, "I must locate your replacements..."
"Hold on a minute, mister tin man," Doug remarked at the knight.
"Waste naught your breath," the masked knight replied firmly with his back still turned, "I am a busy man-"
"What if I told ye that they're already here?" Doug pointed out, catching both Kostas and the enigmatic figure's attention.
"WHAT!?" Kostas cried out as he lifted his underling up by his collar, "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US SOONER!?"
"Eh, need me pleasure during business," Doug replied casually as one of his eyes turned towards the rock that Karna and the others were hiding at, "all work no play makes Douggy a dull boyo, ain't?"
Dammit, they're onto us, Karna thought as Kostas barked at his bandits to converge unto where Doug has spotted them, "all of you, let's go!"
The Dustbin then tries to make a stealthy retreat out of the perimeters, using the local rocks as cover from the bandits's lines of sight.
"They ain't here!" a bandit Fighter cried out as he and the others looked behind the rock.
"Bloodhound, your nose has dulled," the masked man remarked.
"And this is why I hate Brigidians," Kostas sighed out in frustration of Doug's instincts being proven wrong, "they can't take even the slightest of garbage seriously!"
"Nah," Doug remarked as he sniffed the air, picking up a faint, yet familiar scent of polish and leather, "... he's here, and brought company-"
*SNAP*
The enigmatic figure, the bandit leader Kostas, and his number two-for hire Doug the "Bloodhound", all three turned their heads towards a cloaked man with his right foot stepped onto a broken branch. Behind him were an assortment of six other youths who looked extremely out of place with one another, yet all of them bearing the similar faces of utter dread upon being discovered mid-escape.
"... Tch, dammit all," Karna sighs out in annoyance as he looks down and finds a broken branch beneath his boot, "... of all things that blows our cover, it has to be this kind of cliche."
"Get them," the masked knight ordered the bandits before his hands dug into his cloak to retrieve a small sack. But before he could open it, an arrow shoots it out of his hands and pins it to a nearby tree growing out towards the ravine behind him.
And due to the masked man's added weight of his bulk, trying to grab onto the sack that's now pinned to a dead tree perched over a precariously-placed drop, the risk literally outweighed the rewards, forcing him to stay where he was at.
"Looked important," Selene remarked as she nocked another arrow onto her [Iron Bow]'s bowstring, "now he ain't goin' anywhere."
"And neither are we," Byron deadpanned as he readied his [Frost] spell in his hands.
"Finally, some good ol' slugfest!" Sorcha cheered as she unfurled her [Claymore] of its bandages wrapped around its blade.
"Before we begin," Karna remarked as he brandished his [Crescent Sickle] towards the surrounding bandits, "may I ask two questions?"
"Only if you're ready to die," the masked man remarked.
"Okay, first," Karna remarked as he pointed towards Doug, now brandishing his [Iron Sword], "how the hell did you survive the fall?"
"Funny you should mention that," Doug remarked, "thought you bit it too, but like me, you didn't."
"Fair enough," Karna remarked before he turned his attention towards the masked knight, now with a giant shield held in his left hand, "and you there, fine masked person. What are you about? And what's your name? The Prince of Darkness?"
"I am the Flame Emperor," the enigmatic figure declared, "and if you value your life, you will learn to not make light of my presence."
"Yeah, no," Karna deadpanned as he tapped his weapon's shaft against his shoulder, "I cannot take you seriously with mask that looks like as if a child scribbled onto a marble statue's face with paint that he found at a shed," he pointed out, causing a few bandits and Dustbin students to stifle their chuckles at the professor's comment, "... you with that Death Knight schmuck that I ran into last week? Are you two friends at a local bad-guy theater troupe that the Mittlefrank Opera Company had rejected in their auditions?"
Everyone not named the Flame Emperor, Kostas, Vidar, or Karna all burst into laughter at the professor's roast.
"... Then you know too much, I'm afraid," the Flame Emperor replied menacingly, clearly unamused at Karna's jests at his expense, "change of plans, kill those infidels, and I'll double your pays and help you all escape to Dagda."
"Works for me!" Kostas barked out in affirmation as he drew out his [Iron Axe], "it's do or die time boys!"
"What he said," Cyrus gulped as he drew out his [Javelin].
"The only ones dying today are you poor souls," Topaz remarked as she drew her [Bolo] in a reverse grip.
Vidar then lets out an angry snarl as he banged his [Iron Gauntlets] together.
"You will all rue the day that you dared to cross me," the Flame Emperor declared as he pulled out a [Steel Axe] behind his bulwark, "no survivors!"
The bandits then all charged towards the Dustbin with the hopes of earning their right to live.
"Professor?" asked Byron as he froze his [Hand Axe]'s blades, "ready?"
Karna then takes a deep breath before answering.
"Begin."
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes: Second chapter of my summer bi-weekly schedule, and I think I'm hitting my stride.
So my process here was to build up to another "mission gone wrong"-scenario, and while it may be predictable to some, I'm just establishing Karna's status quo. But then again, in what Fire Emblem game, the characters can easily coast on by other than Sacred Stones?
Also, in this iteration, the Flame Emperor shows up before Kostas at the 4th rather then the 1st, I will not disclose because MAJOR SPOILERS (and no, I'm not cheap enough to invoke the whole "It was his Sled"-trope), and I will disclose no further due to logical and chronological logistics.
Now, if you excuse me, I have a MG Ginn to build.
References:
- Karna's line "a brain the size of a planet" is a twofold reference; Fire Emblem Awakening's Summer Scramble DLC dialogue between Maribelle and Miriel, the former declaring the aforementioned quote to the latter; and Marvin's line from A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
- Karna's boast towards Seteth about his bad luck is a reference to Camilla and Keaton's A-support conversation, where the former states "I don't run afoul of bandits, dear. They run afoul of me".
- "Bloodhound" Doug's line to Kostas's tirade after Flame Emperor's ultimatum is a reference to Stephen King's novel, The Shining, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy".
- Flame Emperor's last line spoken at the end of the chapter is a paraphrased version of Madarame's line from Persona 5.
- Karna's endline is a shoutout to Issac's line from Castlevania Season Four, when he was about to raid Styria with his Night Creatures.