Chapter 106: Nest of Eagles

He would compete alongside the Black Eagles, that was the decision he had arrived with.

It suited his interests to do just that, but the manner in which he would go about it was something that he had yet to fully decide upon. By any other notion, he would have merely arrived on the day and obeyed the commands presented to him by Edelgard if he was even inclined towards that particular notion.

A moment or two passed through his mind, then he dismissed that entire scenario entirely.

He would have arrived and actively ignored her commands before proceeding to do the bare minimum required of him to keep Byleth contained while allowing the students to do as they pleased in contention with one another. That would have undoubtedly been his original intention when he decided to aid the Black Eagles.

Assistance in name, but not in spirit.

Yet…

It provided him with something more…personal.

A chance to walk in the footsteps of Fujimaru Ritsuka, they had defeated him through forging bonds with their Servants, through the simple fact that they understood who they were fighting with all those times.

Fujimaru did not treat their Servants as tools, but as people.

At the time, he dismissed it as little more than a weakness.

But now…He recalled his disgust and annoyance at the Heroic Spirits intruding upon his Temple, his anguish at the madness that must have plagued each and every one of them to stand against him when but a single glance would have revealed the wisdom of his actions.

Yet they had followed their link with Fujimaru all the way to the temple.

There was no summoning circle created, they merely manifested in the temple under their own powers.

It was not something he expected the Black Eagles to do, but it was rather worth studying.

If forging bonds and spending time amongst one's peers was indeed the route to victory, or if it was nothing more than a distraction. He could understand the wisdom towards the action of knowing the emotions of an individual giving you a greater understanding of how they would react, save for the flaw that the concept was mired with failure.

He understood how humans reacted, but they had never truly responded in way that he could accurately predict.

Hmph.

It did not matter now, though.

He had the chance to understand it.

Approaching the classroom of the Black Eagles, his mind focused upon the individuals who had filtered into the room and currently remained there. Quickly detecting the presence of Edelgard and focusing on that alone, no there was another individual stood beside her.

Dorothea.

…Hmmm.

No matter.

Stepping around the corner, he moved into the room and put his sights upon the white haired Heiress of the Empire. Not that she immediately took notice of him, but Dorothea did as she was granted an active view of the entrance.

Her features brightened, turning her focus away from Edelgard long enough to bring up her hand and wave to him in greeting. Naturally, it drew the attention of the other person they were speaking with. Who turned around and faced him with a flicker of surprise before her expression shifted into veiled interest, one hand on her hip while the other rested upon her side.

He advanced on the pair, inclining his head in a polite greeting.

"Edelgard, Dorothea." Greeting the pair he came to a halt before them, shifting his focus to Edelgard. "I have something that I wish to inform you, or rather, it is necessary to inform you of."

The heiress remained silent, then gave a short nod of her head, granting him ascent to continue.

Not that he needed her ascent, but if that made her more comfortable than it was fine.

"Given the upcoming battle of the Eagle and Lion, combined with the skill and power shown by Byleth and her class, it has been decided that the other classes will be granted additional assistance as a means of balancing the classes to avoid a one sided domination by the Blue Lions."

Edelgard made a small face at his words, clearly dissatisfied with the way he had all but dismissed her peers' prospect of victory. Despite that clear negative, he noted that she was not entirely surprised by his words. Annoyed, yes, but not surprised. As expected, she likely took notice of the Blue Lions capabilities and was wary towards the upcoming battle.

To say nothing of the class, the main problem was Byleth as a fighter was outright superior to their own Professor.

Dorothea chuckled wryly. "I'm happy to see that we shall have your support in cheering us on, Gotie."

Swivelling a single eye onto Dorothea, he kept himself silent for a moment before he commented. "I have decided to do much more than cheer you on, as you would so delicately put it. Namely, I have opted to assist the Black Eagles in the upcoming battle and have come here to inform you of this decision. Thus, in the interests of…Team cohesion, I shall be remaining with this class for the next month in my interim hours."

The immediate reactions from his words were rather telling.

The mirth vanished from the face of Dorothea and was replaced by utter shock, the teenager took a step backwards and widened her jaw just a little before quickly recovering herself, a wide smile spilled over her lips as she glanced at the back of Edelgards head, clearly awaiting the reaction from them.

Edelgard watched him with a sense of restrained caution. "...While I would hardly wish to turn down such a boon, I find myself curious as to why it was the Black Eagles and not the Golden Deer to receive this offer of aid, given your known standing with members of their class."

That was a fair question.

"Lysithea is indeed one of my best pupils." He ignored the pout that Dorothea sent his way. "But that is partially the reason. My assistance to their class would only serve to hamper my examination of her progress. It is partially a desire to see how far she has developed and the most logical method of doing that-"

"Would be to combat her yourself and see how much of your teaching has influenced her." Edelgard surmised with an understanding nod of the head, the girl cupped her chin and squinted at him for a brief moment. "Yes, I can see that now…I had partially assumed that it would almost be because you could throw spells in the direction of Claude without the fear of repercussions from the faculty."

Goetia kept quiet.

Did she really assume him to be so petty as to do that?

…

"...Von Riegan is the leader of the Golden Deer and has shown a talent for improvisational strategies which could prove problematic." He simply replied after a few seconds of deliberation. Meeting the gaze of Edelgard without blinking. "If he were to cross my line of sight, it would only be expected that I would utilise every spell available in my arsenal to remove him from the fight."

Edelgard slowly raised a brow while saying nothing, Dorothea just sent him a knowing smirk as if she had determined the true reason behind what he was saying.

No matter.

Clearing her throat, Edelgard carried on. "Regarding the topic of your spells, I find it unlikely that Seteth would allow for the use of your foreign magics within the mock battle. Should I assume that there is some manner of stipulation to be had?"

Sharp.

"Yes, I am utilising the spells known by Fodlan mages and those alone for the course of the battle. Not that I have truly limited myself in any meaningful capacity. I have said before, while the complexity of Fodlan's magic is lacking, it serves its suited purposes well."

A hum escaped the white haired teen, she glanced away from him and nodded her head once more. Lowering her arm back to her side and remaining silent for several moments, when she turned back to him, she gave him a rather measuring look. "You said that you would be with the Black Eagles until the day of the mock battle, am I to understand that you shall act as though you were a student?"

As though he was a student?

He frowned. "If you mean to ask if I would take orders from you during the course of the battle, then I am willing to forgo some measure of my autonomy for the sake of education. Though if you wish for me to impart advice upon you, I can offer some small tokens. It is, after all, an exercise for you to demonstrate your learning."

Pointing to himself, he tapped his finger twice against his chest. "It does not exist so that I may prove my own abilities beyond a shadow of a doubt. That would make the entire exercise pointless."

"That was not what I was implying, but that does answer some of my other queries regarding your participation." She replied, folding her arms behind her back. "I meant to ask whether you would participate in training with us, the practising of strategies or if you would merely linger around us before arriving on the day."

Ah, so that was what she meant.

Still, for her to ask him to clarify something so obvious, did she truly have such pitiful expectations for how far he was willing to go for this endeavour?

"Aside from the fact that pursuit of that course of action would be utterly foolish, I believe I made it clear from the beginning that I would work with the Black Eagles from the moment I started this conversation…Unless you merely wished me to state aloud to avoid any confusion with those who might otherwise fail to comprehend such a simple phrase."

The boisterous blue haired boy sprung to mind, he slowly aimed his eyes in the vague direction of where they were standing for half a second before he glanced back to Edelgard, if she noticed his pointed gaze, she did not comment upon it.

"It was mostly for my own benefit." Edelgard replied slowly, giving away very little with her expression. "While I could certainly interpret what you meant, I still prefer to be told directly that you would work with us, and to how much you would be willing to assist us in regards to aid provided."

He straightened just a little, raising a brow at the heiress for a few moments before he replied. "If you were to refer to whether or not I would make an effort to influence your tactics, then I would provide suggestions though the choice remains ultimately within your own power. I make no claim to be a strategist…Though I have some experience in the art. But as I said, this is your exercise."

She watched him for a couple more moments, then nodded her head once. "In that case, I welcome you to the Black Eagles for the time being."

That went as well as he could have expected.

"Is it just your assistance we shall receive, or are we due for the aid of others?"

"Are you implying that I am not sufficient?"

Edelgard shook her head. "I am not questioning your abilities, merely the belief that a single figure can so drastically alter the course of battle. An overreliance upon you could dramatically change our capabilities."

"Then it would be best that you did not overly rely on my abilities."

A flat gaze from the heiress, but she did not dispute his words.

He had nothing he could tell her, as far as he knew, it would merely be the addition of another - more experienced - member of staff joining each class in the battle. But given Byleth's capabilities and his own, it would not be too illogical to make a secondary addition.

But that was ultimately up to Seteth.

"For the time being, I am only aware of my own capacity, and that of Catherine's participation. I believe that she will be added to the roster of Golden Deer."

"Someone who wields a Heroes Relic?" Dorothea looked slightly perturbed. "Not that I'm really doubting you, Gotie, but it is hardly as though you could be anywhere at once…"

He nodded his head. "Your concern is understandable, Catherine is of decent skill with a blade-"

"Decent?" Edelgard raised a brow at him. "Far be it from me to express discontent, but I would argue that you sound rather dismissive of her capabilities. Excluding her capacity to wield Thunderbrand, she is still regarded as one of the best swordsmen in Fodlan."

He did not doubt it.

Rather, he was being honest when he said she was of decent skill, taking into account the many Heroic Spirits he had encountered.

"And she remains of decent skill, I have seen swordsmen who are leagues greater than her and those who she would crush without her Heroes Relic. Taking into account my experience with such individuals, it is a testament to her capabilities that I am granting her the praise of being decent."

Dorothea leaned forwards a bit. "What sort of better swordsmen?"

"...If you must know, there was an individual whose skill was great enough to warp space and time so that he could strike in three places at once."

Blank stares.

Dorothea leaned back, then placed her hands on her hips and raised a brow at him. "...If you aren't going to take this seriously-"

"What makes you think I was joking?" He countered rather swiftly. "Though if you do not believe me, I cannot force the matter. The point remains that I do not believe you are expecting any of your class to somehow best Catherine in a frontal assault."

Edelgard shook her head. "No, though since you have brought it to our attention, we can operate under the same plan that we otherwise would have done with the Professor. That being to pin them down with magic and ranged attacks to prevent her getting close enough."

It was common sense, but oftentimes that was the best approach for such situations.

He nodded his head up and down, then gestured to himself. "I assume that now that I am present, I would be the defacto individual for such blatant uses of magic?"

"Since you are offering." Edelgard replied smoothly. "Though it would likely be for the best that we speak with the other Black Eagles first and inform them of what your being here is worth. After that, we shall decide on a course of action."

Naturally.

Though his first thought would have been a brief training battle to assess the skill of the students he would be working with.

Edelgard marched to the head of the class, with him following along behind her until they reached the very front of the room. Soon turning around and sweeping her gaze across the ensemble of students.

It was hardly long before she had their undivided attention.

"For the foreseeable future - in light of the progress of the Blue Lions and the ability of their Professor - it has been decided that Professor Goetia will be lending his assistance to us for the upcoming battle of the Eagle and Lion. He will be staying with our class during the rest of the month and training alongside us."

He looked across the room for a short moment, then glanced towards those he was already familiar with. "In the interest of team cohesion, outside of lesson hours, I would prefer to be treated with the same deference that you would treat any other of your peers. With that said, I shall be in your care."

That was the sort of thing that Ritsuka would have said, was it not?

They were Japanese, after all.

Bringing his head back up from the short bow, he was met with some rather blank looking faces, one or two having a touch of surprise on them.

Then a voice cut through the silence.

"That is wonderous news!" Ferdinand moved around from where he had been seated and broke away from his conversation with Caspar, rapidly approaching him with a wide and welcoming smile on his face. "I look forwards to be working alongside you. I hope that we can both do our best to claim victory in the upcoming battle."

Ferdinand extended a hand towards him, that he deftly took into his own and shook.

"I am sure the coming month will be beneficial for both our sakes." Goetia replied to him, matching his bright smile with a look of complete apathy.

It was not even that he disliked the boy, rather he was somewhat…fond would not have been the best word to describe them. Though between Ferdinand and Dorothea, it would have been difficult to state which would have ranked higher on the company of humans he found to be tolerable.

A conundrum to be sure.

Retracting his hand, Goetia became aware of a faint prickling sensation on the side of his head, glancing towards the direction it originated, he was met with a rather puzzled looking Dorothea who shifted her expression between himself and Ferdinand several times before assuming a thoughtful look.

Ah, yes.

She would likely be puzzled as to why he was on seemingly friendly terms with Ferdinand, given how much she disliked him.

…Well, she was entitled to dislike who she wished, he was hardly going to explain that he had found some common ground with Ferdinand to her, that would be against the wishes of the boy.

Turning his focus towards Edelgard, he stepped towards her and leaned down. "My abilities are only limited on the day of the battle. I have no such restrictions as to what would happen prior to that."

Edelgard caught his meaning instantly. "Some manner of training?"

"Yes."

"...I see." Cupping her chin, the heiress hummed for a short moment before she nodded her head. "Then I have little reason to deny your request. Though it would need to be cleared with Hanneman, but I doubt he will deny the chance either."

Goetia doubted it as well.

Any opportunity to give further training to the class that they had missed out on when compared to the Blue Lions was welcome.

"What manner of training?"

He suppressed the urge to answer immediately, instead he opted for something that was well known throughout all human history.

Vague answers.

"The efficient variety."

Bernadetta didn't like going outside, it was scary and loud and there was always something that was trying to hurt her. Either that something originated from her own home or it came from somewhere else, but that did not change the end result.

She did not even want to be in this academy in the first place, yet the choice had been quite literally taken for her and there was nothing she could do to prevent it now. Thus she had concocted a cunning plan to deal with all of this in the best way that she could.

Hide and wait for all of this to blow over.

…It hadn't gone as well as she hoped.

But some small part of her had still been hopeful that there was something she could do that would have been able to let the years of the academy breeze right past her without ever needing to worry about the sort of things that had haunted her steps for years, the endless responsibilities or the marriage proposals or any of the politics.

Bernadetta just wanted to sit in her room where it was nice, safe and quiet.

That was it.

Unfortunately, life seemed to be doing it's very best to stop her from living that ideal and at the moment, the greatest obstacles in life were all converging into a single being. Someone that was - without a doubt - the most terrifying existence that she had ever managed to come across for entirely different reasons.

True, it had been because of how he silently stalked around at first.

Then it had been because of the way he looked and acted, because glowing red eyes were definitely extremely menacing.

…But no, she could never have guessed the true danger until right this second.

It was the fact he was unmoved by even her greatest efforts.

The mere second she had even brought up the idea of staying behind, he had just looked at her with a soul piercing gaze before she suddenly found herself - along with the rest of her class - in the middle of a training field and with nothing left for her to do except to go along with the training that was apparently in store for them.

Any hope that it would have been nice and easy were quickly dashed within the first few seconds.

…And then it somehow managed to get worse.

"Aaaaaaaa-oof!" She flinched at the cry of pain followed by the meaty thud of a body striking against the side of a tree. Coincidentally, it happened to be the one she was currently cowering behind. Her eyes snapped closed and she flinched, gripping her bow tighter as she heard the rustle of leaves above her head, brought about by the weight of the human being flung into the tree.

"I…ouch…" A pained groan emanate from the other side of the tree, she recognised the strained voice as Caspar's, hearing the rustle of movement and the heavy breathing as he rose back to his feet and then fell against the tree, coughing twice in such a way that hardly sounded all that healthy.

Bernadetta couldn't ignore the implications, namely because Caspar had been one of the most heavily armoured of all of them.

"He wasn't joking, those things hit really hard and-hmm?"

She froze at their tone of voice, then felt the piercing look against the back of her head and understood that she had been spotted. Slowly turning around, she cracked open a single eye and was met with the face of a rather surprised Caspar staring down at her, both his brows raised up.

Her eyes didn't linger on his face for long.

They drifted down to his breastplate.

And the rather obvious dent that was in the front of it from where he had been punched in the chest, not at all made hidden by the fact that his left hand was currently pressed against it, he leaned forwards once again and coughed rather loudly, breaking line of sight with her as he wheezed and sputtered into the air.

Bernadetta remained justifiably horrified at the sight and vowed, then and there, that she would never get punched.

"Have…sorry about that…" Caspar wiped down his face, grimacing once again before shooting a look briefly over his shoulder as if searching for something.

They both flinched when they heard the telltale sound of snapping wood.

And not the sort of snap that one got when they broke an old twig.

This was more like a branch being ripped from a tree.

Caspar made a strangled noise that was somewhat panicked, or it could have been her, or perhaps even the both of them. Whoever was making the noise was proven to be wholly justified in their terror when a large shape came stomping out from between the trees.

With a body made of bundled together rock, a torso like a boulder and huge arms, the rocky monster stomped forwards with a head shaped like some sort of skull. Glowing red eyes locked onto the pair of them, a faint growl rumbled from the stone creature as it moved towards them with vicious intentions.

Bernadette made a whimpering noise as she scrambled to her feet and ducked to the side, it wasn't even that the stone monster was looking at her, its attention was still focused on Caspar, but she wasn't going to take any chances, not when it started to dart towards them almost in a run.

She briefly caught a glimpse of Caspar before her vision was obscured by the bush she had flung herself into, lying there in the greenery for a short moment before she heard a slightly alarmed shout and then a heavy crunching sound, soon followed by the sound of groaning wood and a rather loud crash which shook the earth beneath her.

Throwing her head upwards, she crested out the top of the bush and then shot her brows up as she stared at the fallen tree in front of her, ripped up at the roots. The stone creature stumbled back a short step from where it had clearly run into the tree before it turned once more, drawing her attention to it's target.

Namely Caspar who had ducked to the side and avoided the charge, the bow threw himself forwards and swung for the leg, slamming his axe into the right leg with a scraping sound and a clatter of sparks. She winced at the rather ugly noise as the rock thing stumbled with the blow, then swung across.

Caspar ducked under the blow and rolled backwards, sweeping across to the other leg.

It jumped backwards, which almost caused it to flatten her.

Bernadetta reacted naturally.

That being she screamed very loudly in terror at the thought of almost being squished.

It was enough for the golem to stop and then quickly turn around to face her, glowing eyes immediately locked onto her own and narrowed into slits. Drawing an arm back with clear intentions and preparing to swing down at her.

As gracefully as she could, she fumbled her way out of the bush and hit the grass the second before the fist obliterated her cover. With a body shuddering growl, the golem turned on her once more and coiled its arm back. She rolled across the ground as fast as she could, spinning herself like a log downhill.

On her fourth spin, she heard the shout of Caspar and then the crash of metal against stone once more, though her dizziness didn't help with trying to locate what was happening, her eyes were still spinning as she shook her head and focused on the sight of Caspar slamming his axe into the chin of the rock monster, chipping a large bit away from the head and forcing a retreat.

"I'm not down yet!" Caspar bellowed, then jumped forwards and brought the axe above his head, swinging it down like a hammer and ploughing the head of the steel axe right into the face of the stone monster, shattering the rocky visage.

And just like that, the golem fell away into pieces on the ground as though there was nothing keeping it together.

"H-haha! They weren't so tough!" Caspar's declaration might have been a bit more convincing if he wasn't currently sporting a punch mark in his chest and if she hadn't seen him come flying into her hiding spot.

He quickly turned on her and stepped forwards, victory shifting into confusion and concern. "But is this where you were? I thought you were with Dorothea and…Hey, where is everyone else anyway?"

All she could manage was a faint noise and a shrug of the shoulders.

Namely because she had took off the second those things had sprung out of the ground and hadn't given a second thought to where Dorothea was. She didn't know where anyone else was either.

"Well…Guess we'll have to find them then." Caspar scratched the side of his cheek before making the declaration, already moving towards her with a wide grin and a look that made it clear he had decided that there would be no other answer.

"W-what about waiting for them to come to us?"

"Huh? No way!" Caspar looked at her oddly. "They could probably be fighting those…uhh…rock men right now, which means they can't join up with us. So we're gonna have to find them first," he grinned, then stepped closer and gripped her by the arm. "No time to be sitting down now! We've got a fight to win!"

Fighting?

Noooooo!

She wanted to go back to her bed!

Her bed was safe and she didn't need to worry about rock people.

Dorothea figured that she would really need to have some words with Goetia about what he considered to be training.

She appreciated the thought and the help.

Really, she did.

It was very considerate of him to make sure they wouldn't be completely dominated when facing the Blue Lion Class, but at the same time, she had to question why he considered this to be any sort of acceptable training. Especially given that he didn't explain anything until they were dumped there and he started pulling rock monsters from the ground.

All he said was 'fight to the best of your ability' and that was that.

He didn't tell them to win.

And she really, truly, wished that she had some slightly better assistance than what she had at the moment.

"It really is quite intriguing, with the Golems of Abyss, you could tell there was some form of technology keeping them operating, but with this…I would say it looks rather more primal and yet it feels to be superior in that you can spawn them from the ground at will-"

"Linnie, dear." She ducked behind a tree for a moment to catch her breath, then shot a pointed look at her green haired peer, still standing in the open with his hand clasped over his chin and rubbing it in a thoughtful manner.

He had never looked so awake, the problem was he was spending all that time muttering to himself.

"There's no rush to destroy them." Linhardt argued back rather evenly, not even looking at her as the golem marched closer towards him. "They carry out rather simple commands, but I'm curious…they seem to be designed for battle, but I wonder if they could be changed to carry out other tasks as well."

With a mental roll of the eyes, she stepped out from behind the tree and brought up her right hand, the magical circle flashed into life as the orb of fire sprang forth from her palm, immediately drawing the eyes of the golem as it kicked off the ground and sidestepped the attack.

"And the demonstration of self preservation as well? Fascinating…Or is it merely enacting a command to avoid unnecessary damage to itself? Which implies that the spell would have harmed it in some way. Though I do not believe fire would achieve much, perhaps the force of the explosion would have caused harm, or it disrupts the magical energy keeping it together-"

"Linnie!"

"Yes, yes." With an exasperated sigh, Linhardt stepped forwards and swung his arm about, with a flourish of movement he unleashed a thin blade through the air, the wind blade struck the left leg of the golem and while it did not visibly damage it, she could see it stagger.

Good enough for her.

Another ball of fire sprang from her fingers, striking the golem in the right arm and blowing it clean off the body. Though the stones that comprised the arm were more blackened than actually blown apart, but it seemed Linhardt was right in some aspect at least.

The golem caught itself before it fell over completely, snapping its gaze towards them before darting forwards, with rather impressive speeds it closed in on them.

Though she was already prepared for this.

Stepping forwards, she swung her arms together as golden light danced between her fingers, the larger circle formed in front of her with a copy appearing a dozen or so metres in the air above them. She waited for just the right time before she stepped forwards and swung down in a chopping motion.

A single flash.

Then a beam of thunder dropped from the sky right onto the golem, stopping it in its tracks as the spell tore through their stone armour in a single instant, she stepped back and raised a hand as it quite literally exploded a moment later, showering both herself and Linhardt in small stones for several seconds and leaving a charred crater on the ground.

Dusting down her uniform, she cleared her throat and glanced towards the boy before raising a brow at him, folding her arms as she did so.

Linhardt glanced at her, then shrugged. "I was curious. You cannot expect me to not at least wish to see how such a spell operated before destroying it. That would have been a terrible waste."

She fought back the urge to sigh.

Then paused as she turned her head around to look behind her, she waited a single moment before she spun around and started to back up, putting her side by side with Linhardt as several more of the Golems came marching out of the treeline and towards herself and her classmate.

"Do you perhaps want to watch them in action too?" She couldn't help but tease, feeling her lips pull upwards into a faint smile as she glanced to the rather apprehensive expression on the face of the boy.

"Well…somehow I am left with the idea that their demonstration would be poor for my health." Linhardt had the wisdom to realise as he started to inch back as well. "Perhaps asking Goetia for specifics after we have destroyed them would be a much wiser idea, hmm?"

Well, she was glad he understood that now.

"I do not suppose you have another of those spells, do you?"

"I could probably manage one more thunder, yes." She answered back rather easily, but that would be pushing herself.

Linhardt faintly sighed next to her, then she caught the sight of him preparing himself for combat, the slight narrowing of his eyes.

All of which lasted until the rather blatant form of Caspar came barrelling out of the forest, screaming at the top of his lungs in some manner of way cry, before he slid to a halt in between their two groups and brandished his axe rather menacingly.

Dorothea would admit that she did jolt a little at the sudden appearance of the blue haired boy, but she supposed the same would go for anyone who had just experienced that manner of sudden arrival. A swift glance to Linhardt revealed that he was wearing a look of exasperation as he straightened out.

"I suppose 'surprise attack' does not fit into your vocabulary, does it Caspar?"

"Hey!" Caspar called back, sounding a little indignant and even puffing his cheeks.

It was rather cute, a bit like an angry looking mouse.

"What could be more surprising than a person in heavy armour screaming and waving an axe around?"

Dorothea paused at the words, they did hold some small semblance of sense. However, there was one glaring fault with the reasoning that Caspar had used. With a strained smile, she pointed to the boy and brought his attention to her. "Well, for the first problem…Who wouldn't expect that when on a battlefield, and for the second problem…I don't think that these stone golems can be surprised like that."

Caspar's expression faltered.

He turned around and looked towards the golems.

Their march had only halted for a brief moment before it resumed once more, switching their targets between the three of them.

"Yeeergh." With a rather awkward noise, Caspar stepped backwards and mounted his axe in both hands, tensing his body before pausing, then turning his head towards the direction he had just come from, shouting a couple seconds later. "Hey! Bernadetta! What happened to the count of three? I thought the plan was that we would run out and scream at them!"

Caspar wanted Bernadetta to scream at golems?

She aimed an incredulous look at the back of the boy's head for several moments, then twisted her gaze towards the direction he was staring. Sure enough, a bush of purple hair poked it's way out of a sea of green, a panicked face lying just beneath the bangs of the owner.

"I never agreed to that!" Came the rather hasty reply from the girl. "A-and they don't look like they would be scared of me at all! And I can't shout like that!"

"But you didn't try-woah!"

Caspar's response was cut off when he was forced to jump backwards, the fist of the golem before him crashed into the dirt where he had been standing, burying itself to the elbow before yanking it backwards, ripping out a small chunk of mud as it did so.

The gleaming ruby red eyes of the stone creation remained firmly planted on Caspar as the golem charged forwards, throwing another punch towards the boy, he ducked and pushed across with the handle of his axe, diverting the blow away from himself with a grunt and sending the golem into a stumble.

Linhardt stepped forwards at that moment, sweeping his arm to the front and forming the circle in a split second. With speed that caught even her by surprise, the ball of fire had jumped from his hands and raced through the air, slamming directly into the face of the golem and jerking it backwards with an explosion.

Caspar ducked low and swung at the leg, hammering his axe into the joint behind the knee as the golem fell, tripping it upwards and forcing it flat onto its back, now bereft of the right leg. Though the moment was short lasting as he was then body slammed by another golem and sent spiralling through the air.

Dorothea reacted swiftly, casting her own fireball towards the space at the feet of the golem, between the explosion and the cloud of smoke, she assumed it would be enough to distract the senses of the attacker long enough for Caspar to recover.

Though Linhardt helped, switching spells and casting a physic on Caspar with nary a word from him beyond an irritated click of the tongue and nothing else. He turned and swung his arm like skipping a stone across a pond, the gale swept through the air and struck the golem head on with another stagger.

She saw fragments of stone peel away from the main body, a crack across their forearms where they had raised them to block, clearly sensing the magical energy that had been hurled at them.

A rumbling, the second golem barrelled forwards like a runaway horse, stomping towards them with a rather frightening sprint behind it. Her eyes widened a touch, feet twisting on the ground as she pushed away and side stepped rather handily, Linhardt apparently wanted to show off.

Because he blasted a wind spell at his own feet and imploded the ground while launching himself through the air, throwing out another spell to brace his fall as he did so and turning. Though it wasn't even a second before the second golem turned it's focus to him and continued the sprint.

She paused briefly and narrowed her eyes at that.

It was hard to tell, but she had been closer to it.

Yet they went for Linhardt first…what was the difference?

Was it…

Linhardt used a spell.

In that single second, he had more upfront magical energy than her.

A swift turn, she narrowed her eyes as the golem that stumbled from her fireball locked onto her and moved forwards, charging with heavy steps, growing closer and closer.

She turned at the last moment, the fist whistled past her face - she privately had to wonder why it tried to punch her there first - and ducked around behind it. Bringing her hands up and spinning away, pulling the turn to give her some more distance and practically gliding through the air like a dancer.

The moment she touched the ground, she thrust her hands forwards.

Between her two spells, this was the one she could use at closer range.

The golem was barely halfway to the turn before a singular beam of light pierced right through the side of its body and out the other end, the azure stream of light flashed from her palms for only the briefest of moments but the damage had been done, she felt the drain on her magical energy a bit more and let out a breath as the spell ended.

By the time the spell was over, the golem was little more than rubble, though she did not spend enough time to stare at it before she was already turning towards Linhardt and was greeted by…a rather unusual sight.

That being Caspar having jumped on the back of the golem and mounting its shoulders, repeatedly swinging his axe like a hammer into the side of its head again and again and knocking more and more of it off.

"Get off, Caspar." Linhardt all but commanded and Caspar obeyed, standing up and making a rather loud shout as he made an effort to jump from the golem, though only managed a rather clumsy propulsion flat onto his face.

Though the moment he had jumped, Linhardt unleashed the wind at point blank range, the gust not only shattered the legs of the golem but also dug out the ground directly behind them as well, the stone creature fell forwards and smacked into the ground a moment later, though not quite out of the fight yet as it pushed itself up.

At least until Caspar swung down a final time and shattered the head completely.

Dorothea let out a relieved breath, then called out. "It's safe to come out now, Bernadetta."

She managed to suppress a wince at the shy girl stumbling out of the bushes, still clutching her bow like some sort of life-line.

As expected, the girl looked as though she would have preferred to be anywhere else but right there.

Goetia watched the proceeding fight with…mixed feelings on the matter.

Especially given that he was standing next to Hanneman as well, the pair of them looking through the scrying spell that he had established to track the progress of the students. Though he quickly formed more than he would have hoped to, given what happened.

Hanneman let out a small sigh. "They broke into groups faster than I would have liked."

"They were caught by surprise with unfamiliar tactics." Goetia argued evenly, though he was not making that great of an excuse. It was still a rapid breakdown of the group in general, even with the surprise of the golems, they should have understood that there was strength in numbers. "...Given time, they will adapt."

A hum was the initial response. "...They did well enough to fend them off, I suppose. Their individual groups demonstrated some remarkable cohesion, but I am rather concerned as to how that would translate if they fought as a class. Especially those who did not truly fight at all."

They both knew who he was talking about.

Goetia turned his eyes onto the left most screen, narrowing them slightly as he watched Dorothea provide comfort to Bernadetta.

The fear of the young girl had exceeded his expectations, he assumed that self-preservation would have brought about a flight or fight response from her, but flight was the first thing on her mind. Rather, she had been one of the first to break away and seek comfort in the forest.

Had Caspar's battle not stumbled upon her, she would still be there.

"...Perhaps I should have provided forewarning?"

His suggestion was met with a shake of the head. "No, I believe it was the right decision. We do not always have the chance to pick our battles and even when we do, there is hardly any indication that they will go as we expect. Young Bernadetta - the entire class - needed to learn surprise."

Interesting.

He had expected Hanneman to argue against it, but they were more or less thinking on the same wavelength.

That being said…

"Their tactics, despite proving successful, are problematic. Too much wasted power on single targets."

A nod of the head from Hanneman. "Dorothea's Thoron appeared textbook, as did her thunder, but to be used on one target alone…They would serve much better against stronger foes, or groups."

He shifted his focus towards the others and frowned.

"Hubert and Edelgard functioned well…Though there was a problem with over-extension on part of Hubert."

"He takes his role as retainer seriously."

"He becomes a hindrance with his zealotry." Goetia corrected the man. There was being serious and being a fool. He had seen Dedue during the battles with the Blue Lions, that one at least trusted in the strength of his lord, rather than trying to do everything for them. "How many excursions have they been on that ended in conflict?"

"...Fewer than the other classes." Came the admittance from Hanneman, though it was hardly one that denoted disappointment.

Who would be disappointed at such a thing?

"A change in venues." Hanneman suggested, snapping his fingers. "Moving to a more open space where they cannot so easily run and hide. Force a more direct confrontation and see how well their teamwork can operate."

Goetia nodded his head up and down, that would have been his next idea.

"Further training for the mages as well." He added on. "They utilised excessive amounts of magical energy in their spells, they could have achieved the same result with less…They tire themselves quickly if they continue at their present rate."

"...You could sense that?"

"My senses are finely tuned for such things." He replied with a hum. "...I sense you are also curious about the golems and the scrying capabilities I demonstrated."

That earned him a pleasant chuckle. "What scholar or respectable mage would not be intrigued by such fascinating spells? Long distance viewing that tracks the target or reshaping the earth to fight for you? It is incredible…had I not been here to see it for myself, I would have thought someone drunk."

"The golems were clumsy." Goetia admitted with a shake of the head. "It was not a craft that I held much interest in to begin with…Besides, there are those who could construct greater golems than I with the same materials."

He could feel the stare of Hanneman in the side of his head, perhaps it was the admittance that there was someone better than him.

It would be best if he corrected that.

"I would point out that they were specialists who focused entirely on the art of creating golems, to the point that they were incapable of everything else."

A noise of understanding came next, a quick glance revealed Hanneman nodding his head up and down.

Good, he avoided misunderstandings.

A faint prodding alerted him to a sensation under his right shoulder mantle.

He kept his expression stoic as he reached towards the air and pressed his fingers into space, distorting it for a moment like a set of curtains before pulling back, holding the remains of the caterpillar between his fingers before he moved them under the mantle and towards the presence hiding beneath.

Fortunately, Hanneman was more preoccupied with watching his class than he was with seeing what Goetia was doing.

Good, he was not going to explain it.

His lip twitched slightly as he felt the food pulled from his fingers rather greedily.

…Flauros was indeed a rather hungry chick.

With the rate at which they demanded food from him, he had great expectations for what they would be capable of when fully grown. At the very least, they could do no worse than their namesake.

At least if this one failed him, he could not attribute it to incompetence.