Chapter VII: Threats From All Sides

Despite Ragna's exhaustion of dancing with almost every lady at the banquet last night (some he'd wondered if they were even the dancing type), he was wide awake as he laid in his bed. The Reaper couldn't explain it, he was sore from dancing the entire night and his feet hurt from being stepped on so many times (some of the nobles or the daughters of nobility hadn't been proficient dancers at all), but for some reason, the fates that had screwed his life over more times than he could count weren't even allowing him the reprieve of a well-earned rest.

'God, sleep just isn't an option for me tonight; even when I'm TRYING to listen to Chrom,' Ragna thought to himself. 'Maybe I could try reading some of those books on strategy.' Ragna made his way over to his nightstand. 'Let's see, I've already read these, completed notes on these, and read the entirety of these but was only given repeated information.' Ragna sighed his as he realized he had no reading material for that night. 'This is what I get for reading all of my books in one setting. Wait…' He looked one the bottom of the bag and saw the white tome that Emmeryn had given him before he left on the journey. 'I haven't looked into this yet, but I probably shouldn't read about something as deadly as magic when it's this late at night… maybe I can get rid of some of this energy at the training grounds? Pass out the same way Chrom did?'

Ragna got out of bed, got his coat on, grabbed his sword, and proceeded to make his way towards the training grounds. The hallway was dark, only slightly lit by the torches that remained to light the way. Only very few people were up at this area, Ragna noticed that there were still a few nobles still in the dining hall where the ball had taken place, talking amongst themselves and gambling with cards. 'Don't notice me, don't notice me, PLEASE don't notice me!' Ragna thought as he made a quick dash across the door opening.

"Was that Ylisse's tactician?" one of the nobles asked from inside the dining hall. "You," he snapped to his servant. "Stop him for me, tell him I'd like a word with him."

"Yes milord," the servant said as he hastily made his way towards the hallway. By the time he got there, he noticed saw that Ragna was nowhere to be found. "Milord, he's not here. There's no sign of him."

"Very well," the Noble said. "Never mind them, come back in here and fetch me another glass of wine."

The servant nodded as he made his way back inside the ball room and went to answer his master's wishes. Once he was gone, Ragna dropped down from the ceiling and landed on his feet with ease. He wasted no time in sprinting away. 'That was too close, but at least I didn't have to endure the babbling of another of those arrogant pricks. The only contact I can stand with them is punching them in the face.'

After that, Ragna made his way through the hallways towards the training grounds. While he made his way down one particular hallway it seemed that he caught the attention of someone.

"Ah, Sir Ragna," a feminine voice called. "I'm quite surprised to see you so late at this hour."

Ragna couldn't help but groan as he slowed himself to a stop. He recognized that voice as Eliza, one of the nobles he'd danced with earlier that night. To describe her, she had bright blonde hair that fell past her shoulders, piercing blue eyes, and was wearing a rather extravagant dress. He could admit that she had a cute face, but she'd implied certain activities for them to do with each other too many times for comfort. Ragna had been a gentleman (odd, I know) and had refused as politely as was possible for him, but it seemed that this woman wasn't about to take no for an answer.

"Yeah, well I couldn't sleep," Ragna said bluntly, hoping to get this conversation over with as soon as he could. "I was going to the training field to work some of this energy off."

"Oh?" Eliza said giving him a rather sultry gaze. "Well perhaps I could help you with an alternate strategy to cure your insomnia. I know a few… methods that could help."

"Not interested," Ragna refused, his eyes narrow in glare. While there wasn't much about him that seemed to change from a glance, in reality his aura had taken another level of intimidation.

"In that case I wish you luck with your training. Perhaps I'll be out there as well to what your performance and see if you wish to reconsider my offer. Until then, Ragna the Bloodedge."

With that, Eliza made her way to her bedroom. Ragna involuntarily shivered and it wasn't from Regna Ferox's cold climate.

A Lesson of Swords and Life

Focusing his encounter with Eliza out of his mind, Ragna was able to make his way outside to the training grounds without encounter. The snow was falling at a steady rate, the air was crisp, and he could see his breath in the vapor. 'Not the harshest conditions I've trained in,' Ragna thought, referring to his early days of training with Jubei. The Reaper then noticed that he wasn't the only on out here. 'One of the Shepherds? No, I saw everyone leave to hit the hay while I was in the middle of all that dancing.'

When he got closer to the figure he recognized them as Olivia, the woman he'd saved earlier from that noble. She had a wooden longsword in her hands and was attempting to swing it with minimum success. It honestly looked to Ragna like this was her first time wielding a weapon and it was honestly a little painful to watch. "Kind of late to sneak in some training, wouldn't you say?"

Olivia gave a small shrike as she turned towards Ragna, dropping the practice sword she'd been holding. "R-Ragna! What are you doing out here this late? Don't you know what time it is?"

Ragna gave a small chuckle. "I could ask you same thing. As for me, couldn't sleep so I thought I'd try to work some of this leftover energy off. I tell you though, some of those nobles have no idea how to dance. Might've thrown me so off balance that I need to practice now just to get my alignment back… even though you looked like you needed more help than I did."

"Oh, you uh saw that?" Olivia asked, her face tinged with crimson. "I'm uh, not used to using swords."

"No offense but it was kind of obvious," the Reaper said as he made his way to the training field supplies and grabbed a practice sword off the rack. "Any reasons you're starting now?"

"N-no reason…" Olivia said. Ragna wasn't the best at reading people, but he could tell that she was hiding something.

"C'mon, you can tell me. I won't tell a soul I promise." He was honestly just saying this as an offer; he didn't necessarily expect a response.

Olivia hesitated before resolving to answer. "I'm tired of always having to be rescued. I really appreciate you helping to save me from that noble in the court room, but that wasn't the first time that it's happened. I try to stick to the shadows and to not get noticed, but they always come after me, and I end up having to be saved by Basilio and Lon'qu. Maybe it's my own meekness that makes them try so often? Is this… my fault?"

Ragna shook his head. "Olivia, it's those bastards' fault for thinking that they could take advantage of you. They were the ones in the wrong, not you, never forget that."

"It's not just that," Olivia said. "Some of those Nobles are really fierce warriors underneath everything else. There have been times where Lon'qu or even Basilio were badly injured trying to defend me from them. And when I saw you having to fight one of the strongest nobles unarmed, it felt like I was responsible for sending you off to your grave." Olivia looked directly into Ragna's eyes and spoke with more confidence. "I'm tired of seeing other people being hurt because of me and always being helpless, I was hoping that I could protect myself better by learning swords work, but… maybe I'm not cut out for it."

"It'd probably help if you knew the basics," Ragna told her. Olivia only gave a small, sad nod. Ragna gave his own sword a few brutal practice swings, parting the snow with the shockwave it made. "Welcome to Swordsmanship 101, I'll be you instructor Ragna the Bloodedge. Class is now in session," he said with a smirk on his face.

"R-Ragna?" Olivia asked completely surprised.

"You know, all you had to do was ask," Ragna said as he brought his sword into a ready position. "All right, start off by attacking me. Let's start with seeing what you're having trouble with and we'll work from there."

"Are you sure?" Olivia asked. "I thought you were sore from dancing earlier."

"Yeah, but you're a better dancer than those nobles," Ragna said, not dropping his grin. "I'll take you as a dance partner over them any day."

"Alright then," Olivia said, trying to build her self-confidence as she approached Ragna and swung her sword. Ragna blocked the attack with ease and Olivia stumbled from the backlash.

"First off, your attack's too rigid and you're relying on you blade hitting your opponent too much. Try swinging slightly slower, but keep it more controlled. The more control you have the easier it is to chain into your next attack or shift to your defense." Olivia did as Ragna asked her. He blocked the attack easily, but the contact was much more solid. "There now if you try swinging at full speed…" Olivia took the invitation and heard the dull crack of the swords. "Now you're getting it. From here let's work on your grip."

"My grip?" Olivia asked, before Ragna gently grabbed her hand. "What are you-?!" she demanded, her face crimson.

"The way you hold your weapon can make or break you," Ragna explained to her as he shifted her fingers around a bit. "There we go, does that feel a bit better?" Ragna asked.

Olivia (after getting over the sudden surprise) nodded as she took a few swings with the blade. Memorizing the feeling with her blade and the way her fingers were positioned. "Yeah, I guess it does feel a little easier to use."

"Great, now keep attacking me like that until it starts to feel natural." Olivia took another swing at Ragna and the attack hit his sword with almost perfect contact.

They stuck with doing that for a time, until Olivia eventually got it down. After that Ragna taught her some of the basic sword moves by mirror teaching the moves to Olivia. After she started getting that down, the two practiced sparring with each other, Ragna was holding back sure, but Olivia was learning pretty quickly and getting the moves down pretty quickly. After sparring he taught Olivia some more advanced sword moves and even sparred a few more rounds against her until she truly got it down.

"You're getting the hang of this pretty quickly," Ragna commended as he set his training sword back on the rack and grabbed his coat and personal blade. "Pretty soon you'll be putting the castle guards out of a job."

"I just hope that I'll be ready when those nobles try something," Olivia said. "You've really helped me with this Ragna, so thank you, but standing up to the nobles is only something I can do."

"Hey, I got faith in you, that's something," Ragna said with an earnest smile. "You'll do fine Olivia, separate yourself from doubt and no one can stop you."

"You really think so?" Olivia asked.

"I know so, trust me, you've got this."

"If you say so, I'll have faith in myself," Olivia said.

"Good, well we better turn in, I can't even tell how late it is."

"Yes, I suppose. Goodnight Ragna, and thank you."

"You're welcome," Ragna told her. "See you in the morning."

After Olivia ran off toward her room, Ragna was about to make his way back to his room, until he looked up and saw that he'd been observed from a top the upper balcony. Eliza had been watching the two for some time now. She gave a glare to Ragna, before huffing and turning to leave.

"…Now she's pissed and wants nothing to do with me." He couldn't fight off a harsh smirk. "Looks like I owe Olivia one now."

Time Skip- The Next Morning

Ragna made his way into the dining hall the next morning. Despite how late he'd stayed out last night he'd managed to awaken at a decent time and felt decently rested. On the way to the hall, he'd encountered Eliza, and true to his observation she wasn't paying attention to him and refused to even return his 'good morning'. Personally, the Reaper was loving every second of it.

As he stepped into the hall, he noticed that Olivia was there as well about to grab her food. Unfortunately, it seemed that one of the nobles from last night hadn't gotten the message and approached her. Ragna stood at the ready in case anything happened, but minded his distance for now.

"Not hiding in the shadows?" the noble asked Olivia with a greasy voice. "Perhaps you enjoy bringing attention to yourself now? Maybe I could get you more attention and even-" As he moved his hand to grope the young dancer, Olivia's hand shot out and stopped the noble in his tracks.

"Don't touch me," she practically hissed at the man. The look of confusion was apparent on the noble's face and he might've been about to threaten her… had they not noticed Ragna going for his own sword. Sweat dripping from his brow… he chose the saner option.

The noble audibly gulped and proceeded to leave Olivia with his tail between his legs. The dancer turned her head and saw Basilio staring at her like he'd just seen a ghost and Lon'qu had an eyebrow raised in disbelief. She turned her head slightly more and saw Ragna giving a small smirk as he passed by. She gave a silent smile to him, thankful for what done in just one day of knowing her.

Support Rank C obtained with Olivia

Ragna grabbed his own food and took a seat next to Chrom. The prince looked at him with slight disbelief for what he'd just witnessed. "Did something happened between you two?"

"Well, I did save her at the banquet last night. I thought you saw that," Ragna answered coyly as he bit into his bread. Chrom shook his head in disbelief, and eventually Ragna decided to elaborate. "I couldn't sleep last night so I decided to hit the training grounds. Olivia was there trying to pick up some swordsmanship and I helped her out."

"And that?" Chrom asked, pointing his finger to some of the nobles who had decided to keep their distance from the dancer as they whispered amongst each other.

"Just some words of encouragement," Ragna said with a smug grin. "I'd say it worked."

"Whatever gave you that impression?" Chrom asked sarcastically. "Anyways, Flavia wanted to talk with us after breakfast."

"How did she let you know?" Ragna asked.

"Uh, she used a messenger. Why?"

"Because of how many drinks she was having last night," Ragna said, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "I'm going to hate seeing her with the hangover she got last night."

"Please, she wouldn't have done anything too excessive." Chrom then turned to a rather distracting sound. "Why is Basilio snickering?"

"Two words," Ragna said counting each one on his fingers as he said them. "We're. Screwed."

Flavia's office

"Told you," Ragna said as they stepped into Flavia's office. The current Kahn was slumped over her desk, laying on it as Raimi tried to awaken her, with little success. "Any ideas?" Ragna asked Raimi. The knight thought to herself for a moment before coming up with an idea.

"Kahn Flavia," she whispered into the Kahn's ear, Flavia didn't react. "Ragna the Bloodedge is here." Still nothing. "And he currently wants to duel you."

'Really? That's her solution for getting her up; throwing me into the fire? At least it doesn't appear to have wor-'

An instant later, Ragna had his sword out blocking Flavia's sudden attack at his head with her silver sword. The Kahn's hangover seemed to be completely gone at this point as she looked at Ragna with duel-eager adrenalin.

"Good reflexes!" she said at Ragna as she brought the blade back for another attack which Ragna barely managed to dodge. "I'd hate to see you fall too quickly!"

"I'm not going to fall!" Ragna yelled, try to get himself out of this predicament. "You'd said you wanted to talk so Chrom and I are here to talk! Lay off the blades dammit!"

Flavia looked somewhat disappointed, but sheathed her sword and Ragna followed suit. The Reaper let out a sigh of relief, he'd gotten out of that one, barely.

"I still want that duel later," Flavia said to him, her eyes narrow and serious. Ragna turned his attention to Raimi and glared at the knight, who was doing her best not to look at him out of guilt of his sacrifice.

"Anyways," Chrom said stepping in. "Perhaps you could tell us what you want to see us for?"

"Oh yes, that," Flavia said as she laid her hand on her forehead and grimaced; apparently her hangover was returning. "The first announcement is good news; I sent a courier to Ylisstol this morning so the Exalt and the rest of your nation will know about the reinforcements and support they'll be receiving."

"Good to know and good to have," Chrom agreed.

"The second part is more troublesome. Some of the nobles still seem unconvinced about aiding Ylisse in the upcoming war. Most of them see Ylisse as a weaker and less important nation while we could've been either aiding Plegia for an easier victory or avoiding involvement altogether. While I'm the Kahn and I have final say, not addressing this now would be a poor decision as we could lose support in the long run."

"Are the nobles that influential?" Ragna decided to ask.

"All that and more I'm afraid," Flavia said darkly before allowing herself a smile. "Of course, you just removed one noble from power last night, one of my largest opponents at that."

"Last night?" Ragna said as he tried to think back to the previous night. The Reaper had barely been forced into talking with the nobles before helping Olivia and beating the crap out of that pervert… "Are you talking about that one noble I kicked to the curb?"

"Exactly," Raimi said. "It was quite a spectacle for everyone to watch him lose so badly to an unarmed man and you wounded him badly enough that people are going to take him much less seriously in court. In that effect you wounded him almost fatally in his political career."

"We can overcome them, but it's going to take an example of Ylisse's might," Flavia explained to them. "One of the nobles recommended having you fight in our place in an upcoming battle. I don't like sending you to do my job any more than you do, but an entire ensemble of nobles agreed that this would be a good tactic to showcase if you're even worth helping… their words, not mine."

"What's the battle going to entail?" Chrom asked.

"One of my best scouts reported back to me about signs of a large group of… Risen? I believe that's what you called them. They seem to be moving towards a large town 10 miles from here. While the town does have a sufficient amount of soldiers, many of them are inexperienced. It would be a massacre it we didn't intervene."

"So our job's to intercept them before they get to the town? This sounds too easy, what's the catch Flavia?" Ragna asked speculatively.

"The catch is you're going to be watched by most of the nobles," Flavia admitted. "They're already leaving to the supposed battle grounds to watch your defense… I don't have any say in this."

"Are you serious? They're going to take a threat that could potentially kill an entire village and use it to judge us!?" Ragna asked more than a little pissed. 'These bastards are just like the NOL, hell they're even worse!' "Who the hell thought of this!?"

"A noble that was at the party last night who talked with the nobles after all of the Shepherds had left. Her name is Eliza of house Chamandure, she's also one of my main opponents in politics."

"Big surprise it's her," Ragna said annoyed. "I wanted nothing to do with her and now she's trying to get back at me like this. It's pretty pathetic." 'Or was she planning this before I slighted her? Either way, it's a stupid move to try.'

"Something I should know about?" Flavia asked. Ragna shook his head to her question. "I won't pry. Regardless we don't have much time now, we need to get to the town before it's too late."

'Damn it, I feel like I'm getting played by Rachel again. I'll give these nobles what's coming to them when I'm done here.'

Time Skip- Outside the Village

Ragna and the rest of the Shepard's arrived with time to spare, so there was no sign of the Risen yet. Ragna had everyone taking up battle ready positions in the fields in front of the city to be ready and keep the fight at a safe distance.

"I don't like this," Ragna said as he looked over the horizon. "Are we sure that these things are going to show up? They could have changed directions and attacked another town on the way."

"Either that or the nobles enjoy making us look like fools," Chrom said with disgust as he looked and saw where the nobles camp was located. They were on the top of the hill overlooking the field and the town, claiming that the area would be perfect for evaluating the shepherds. He and Ragna knew the real reason for their location; when the shit hit the fan, they didn't want to be near the combat. Even with their personal guard they were just going to tuck tail and run if things didn't go well, not giving a damn about the villagers.

Just then Ragna's sixth sense activated indicating that the Risen were close by. What he wasn't expecting was the size of the presence he was receiving, it felt massive.

'This can't be right, the report we got told us that Risen were only showing up in a large group, this feels like it could be a small army or worse.' "Chrom, I'm going to head out and do reconnaissance with Sumia. Something's not right."

"Be careful. I'm just as suspicious of this as you are. And… go easy on Sumia alright? She may be clumsy, but she means well."

"Don't worry, I'm not going to treat her badly just because I'm in a bad mood with the bastards watching." He made his way to the side of the group and grabbed one of the signal torches to call Sumia down. The knight landed close to him with her pegasus.

Flying

"Something wrong Ragna?" she asked him.

"I'm going to need you to help me out here, can you take us over that forest?" he asked, pointing into the distance.

"Sure thing," she said, nodding seriously. "Climb aboard." Ragna wasted no time climbing aboard her pegasus before it took to the skies.

While they were up in the air Ragna knew he needed to keep his mind focused on looking out for the Risen, but he just had to say it. "This is amazing! Flying, I mean!"

"You've never flown before?" Sumia asked him.

"First time," Ragna admitted as the soared over the clouds. "Got to say, I'm liking it so far, but what happens if you fall?"

"Ylisse's pegasi are trained to be able to catch their riders should the worst happen. We have to be careful, but I'm pretty good at flying in even some of the harsher weather conditions."

'Yet you can't even walk a full day without tripping over absolutely nothing," Ragna thought as he shook his head. It was then that he heard the pegasus whine softly and shake his head. "What's his problem?"

"Apparently he smells something he doesn't like," Sumia told him.

"You can tell that?" Ragna asked befuddled.

"Yes, it's sort of a talent I have, I can read animals very well."

"No kidding," Ragna said as the Pegasus dived beneath the clouds. 'I guess everyone in the Shepherds has their own talents, Sumia's no different from anyone else.' He then looked over the side of the pegasus. "That ain't good."

Below Sumia and Ragna was an entire legion of Risen. Close to two hundred of those monsters all in one group. Using his enhanced sight, Ragna was able to notice that these Risen were different; while the others appeared to be dead corpses of different humans, these risen simply appeared to be almost shapeless blobs with razor sharp claws. They traveled much slower than normal risen, but their number could overwhelm almost any force. And for the current Shepherds…

"Sumia, get us back to base. Chrom's going to need to hear about this."

"Right," the pegasus knight said as she skillfully turned her mount mid-air and went sailing back to the town.

Support Rank C Obtained with Sumia

When they landed Chrom rushed over to them. "You came back quickly so I'm assuming the worst."

"Two hundred," Ragna said glumly as he made his way off the pegasus. "Good news is they seem to only dealing in close combat and they don't exactly move fast, especially not in this snow. The problem is that they look strong, they could probably hack through Kellam's amour in only a few swings. Taking on groups of them at a time is going to be a bad idea." Ragna said as Sumia moved her pegasus out of the way. "Our best bet is dividing the force right down the center, attacking from afar, and then using our melee troops to pick up any stragglers, that's the only way I can see this working with the village not at risk."

"It sounds easy, but how the hell to you propose we break the group down the center?" Chrom challenged him. "There's no structures or formations that we can use to do that!"

'…It had to happen sooner or later I guess.' "There's a way, but you'll have to trust me," Ragna told him. "I have a trick hidden up my sleeve for situations like this."

"Don't worry, I've given up arguing with you," Chrom relented. "But you still need a break."

"C'mon, I slept last night!" Ragna defended himself, with the classic excuse.

"I'm scared that you actually think that counts," Chrom said scratching his head. "Also, you need to keep someone on the center with you while you execute the attack, who are you going to bring with you?"

"I dunno, you up for it?"

Chrom sighed. "If I can't even keep up with my own tactician I'm not going to be much of a leader. All right Ragna, you're on!"

'He'll be getting a front row seat… but I guess it's better him than Frederick… who's going to see this anyways.'

Ten Minutes Later

The Shepherds had taken positions half a mile in front of the city. The Risen approached them slowly, groaning and moaning as they did in their tight formation. All of the Shepherds knew the plan, Ragna had told them all the plan. As the Risen came closer they started shuffling faster towards the group of defenders. Just when they were within range, Ragna unleashed his surprise attack. Normally when he tried this attack, he used a specified amount of Seither and used it consistently throughout a fight. In certain instances, he learned that he could increase the size and force of the attack depending on how much energy he put into his arm. This time, he decided to just let it fly.

"DEAD SPIKE!"

The Black Beast head the emerged from the ground was massive, over 20 meters tall and 10 meter wide, just pulsing with dark energy. The energy wave literally roared with power as it slammed into the Risen and exploded, wiping out close to a quarter of the entire force. This did have a major drawback however, he arm was already starting to go numb with the lack of energy, but Ragna would cure that with some of the shambling survivors.

"Come on!" he shouted. Overcoming the shock at what he'd just done, the Shepherd all gave a roaring battle cry as they rushed towards the Risen. Ragna and Chrom were constantly fighting back to back, a tempest of blades if anyone ever saw one. Within just a few minutes, all of the risen were gone with absolutely zero casualties and any injuries were healed immediately by Lissa.

Once the battle was over, Ragna reset his sword. "If this doesn't make those nobles think twice about messing with Ylisse I don't know what will… by the way, that beast head thing I just created was the result of several mages for all intents and purposes, okay?"

"If… If you say so, I'm not going to say otherwise," Chrom promised, obviously wanting to question the Reaper as did the gathering crowd heading over towards the two. Surprising him most of this situation though, the prince actually waved them away. "Let's see what those nobles have to say."

"I'll pass, but you go ahead," Ragna told him.

As Chrom left Ragna looked over his arm, sure enough it gave off a small pulse. It was difficult to put into words, but somehow it felt like his arm had acclimated slightly to that intense output and he could manage that easier from here on out… though hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

'Well at least I got something out of this,' Ragna said as he made his way back to the Shepherds camp. He saw Frederick approaching him with a woman in a strange outfit and red hair. Obviously the Great Knight only had more questions for the Reaper as he proved what he was capable of, but he oddly didn't ask a thing of him just yet. "Something wrong?"

"This woman wanted to join our ranks," Frederick said with his usual stoic expression. "She claims to be a merchant and says she can be a great asset to us."

"Hey, I could've told him that myself," the woman said as she looked at Ragna. "So, you're the head tactician? The name's Anna. Nice to meet you!"

"Same to you, I suppose," Ragna answered, mostly glad that the topic at hand wasn't his arm or abilities. "Right to the point, what were you planning to do in the Shepherds?"

"For starters, I'm decent with a blade, more than able to work my way around almost any lock, and I can even work with some contacts to get you decent deals to get you better inventory."

"Sounds like you have a pretty decent set up with all those talents, so why join us?"

"Simple, unlike those high and mighty nobles up there, you guys are actually doing something about the threats instead of worrying about the titles you can get out of it. Not to mention I get to travel around with some of the best warriors around and I don't even have to pay for protection."

"So that's your angle," Ragna said, allowing himself a small sigh.

"Then what's your verdict?" Frederick decided to ask.

"You're trusting me with this?" Ragna asked, somewhat surprised, especially with what he'd just shown.

"You're our tactician so we leave the strategy to you. That includes what troops are going to join us. This is entirely your call."

Ragna hesitated for a moment. "All right you're in, but the first sign I hear about missing stock or increased prices we have, our talks are not going to be pleasant."

"Please, I have an honor as a saleswoman. I'll do my job to the best of my abilities and knock your socks off so bad, you'll be begging to give me a raise."

"If you can prove that much, you'll fit right in," Ragna affirmed, "Welcome to the Shepherds, Anna."

Funny, Ragna had joined the Shepherds less than a week ago, now it felt like he was part of the family… a chance he may have just thrown to the wind.

Authors Note: I don't own BlazBlue or Fire Emblem.

Not getting much activity on my forum, but whatever. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it's a bit longer than I'm used to writing. Anyways, I'll be sure to answer any review you leave, either the next chapter or before it via PM. See you next time.

Ciao!