Chapter 29: The Ride home

He remained silent as he walked alongside cart, occasionally glancing towards it before returning his eyes to the road. The horse drawn wagon carrying back the injured knights who would require greater effort to heal than simple spells and vulunerary's.

Lysithea and Ashe were amongst them as well, but that was due to them being exhausted, his healing of the pair had used up much of the energy within their bodies to speed up their recovery rate. Lysithea was in worse shape because of the stab wound, but she would make a full recovery.

That…

Goetia frowned as his mind drifted back to his student. That was something he wasn't entirely certain how he should feel about. She would survive and he felt, perhaps, relief at her continued existence. Although he found it increasingly difficult to discern whether it was relief that she was safe, or relief that his time in teaching her would not go to waste. Either way, it was relief he felt.

And he wasn't sure which of the two reasons was the main one for this emotion. That had been another thing, the feeling of anger.

He had felt anger of course, it was not as if it was a completely new experience for him. But it had always been anger born on pity, that was his base nature so that was what defined all other emotions he had felt. This anger had been different, almost base in nature. A primal urge to lash out at everything that he held negative feelings towards and simply tear it to pieces.

He had done so with Lonato, going so far as to beat the man to death in response to this new feeling.

What perhaps puzzled him was the sheer ease at which he succumbed to it. Logically, it would have made more sense to simply kill Lonato with a simple spell and be done with this entire sordid affair. That was not what he had done, Goetia felt as though simply killing the man as simply as that was almost unacceptable. That he would not have allowed anything less than brutalising him.

A desire to commit to the act of retribution with his bare hand.

It was...not too dissimilar to how he felt when he was confronted with Solomon. That primal rage born of his hatred for the Kings indolence and the desire to put an end to him with his own two hands.

Was this hatred what all humans had the capacity to feel? The simple ease of brutality. He had witnessed it many times in history but actually experiencing it was another matter entirely.

It was almost...intoxicating.

He became aware of a presence stalking up behind him, this was a new one. It was not Von Riegan's half hearted measures at stealth nor was it Byleth's causal approach. This was practised and quite skilled for an ordinary human, he dared say it was almost on par with a low ranked presence concealment skill. Although whoever it was, they were still human and hiding their presence from him without the mystical nature attached to the Assassin class made it near impossible to catch him by surprise.

"Can I help you?" He called out, turning his head slightly to look over his shoulder at the one approaching him. He recognised her, but only because he had spotted her from a distance. Occasionally she had interacted with Seteth, the woman with indigo hair.

She raised an eyebrow at him, eyes shining with intrigue "You heard me?"

"I felt you." He replied back "I do not know you either, we have never met."

"No, we haven't." She responded in a curt tone "Shamir."

"Goetia."

"I've heard."

"I'm sure." He replied in a disinterested tone of voice as he looked back to the front "You have business with me?"

"A question." Shamir remarked, smoothly falling into step next to him but not turning to look at him as they walked. "I saw what you did to the rebel army as you made your way to the front lines."

He didn't respond beyond a grunt of acknowledgement.

"I noticed you weren't part of Catherine's group to attack." She went on "She said you teleported in."

"I did."

"Any reason why?"

"Why did I suddenly arrive, or why was a I not present for the entirety of the battle?"

"Both."

He scoffed "My student was in danger, so I intervened." he replied with, managing not to sound defensive or even ashamed at the admission Shamir raised an eyebrow in questioning, still awaiting for the second part of the answer "As for your latter point, I simply felt no need nor desire to intervene."

She had to blink at that, this time turning her head to stare at him with narrowed eye "A lot of knights are dead."

"They are, I believe Seteth estimates it to be around the three hundred mark." He paused for a few moments "However those are simply causalities, I believe perhaps a third will recover with healing."

"They're wouldn't be that many dead if you had been here from the start."

"Aside from the fact that I am an assistant librarian and not a warrior." He began with in an almost tired tone of voice, as if he were annoyed at having to explain himself "I had no interest in becoming involved. Even if I had offered my help, do you truly believe the Church Knights would have accepted the aid of a 'Pagan Sorcerer'"

Shamir would have liked to say 'yes' because accepting the help of someone as obviously powerful as Goetia would have been the smart thing to do. Although knowing how overly zealous some of the Church knights were in their treatment of non-believers and foreigners, especially her apprentice, she couldn't say for certain. It was possible that Seteth would have fully accepted Goetia's help, but Seteth was only one man and he seemed reasonable. She wasn't sure Catherine would have, she didn't personally have a problem with the Knight, but she knew how stubborn Catherine could be.

"And yet you're here." She pointed out instead, Goetia stared at her silently for a few moments before he nodded his head.

"Indeed I am." He replied "However, I did not intervene until I had reason, the Church means nothing to me nor do the issues that the people of Fodlan have with them. Lonato's personal grievances with the Church and their resolution, were not mine to solve." red eyes soon narrowed and looked away from her and to the cart of the injured "However, I had a vested interest of sorts...when it became threatened I became involved to protect it."

She couldn't argue with that reason, not getting involved in something you had no part in was an entirely fair position to take.

"This an isolated incident?" She eventually asked, noticing how Goetia tensed for a few moments before he fell into a thoughtful silence. His eyebrows knitted slightly as he appeared to turn contemplative before he eventually responded.

"Possibly." Although he didn't sound all that convinced by his own answer. She wouldn't fault him either way, he wasn't paid enough to do this sort of work to begin with and he held no fanatical loyalty to the Church.

She supposed he was a bit like her in that regard. Only a bit, however.

Shamir had parted from his side around the halfway mark on their return journey, he hadn't expected anyone else to accost him on his way back. The last person he had expected was for Dimitri himself to appear next to him, although given what the boy had witnessed he supposed some there would be some questions and offers of-

"How...do you hide it so well?" Was the first question of of Dimitri's mouth, his voice slightly hushed so as to not disturb the other knights as they walked past them. Goetia frowned in response to the question.

"...Hide what?"

"When you arrived." Dimitri's expression tightened slightly "You were furious, I daresay I have rarely seen a display like it. Although I do notice it was not until Lysithea and the Professor were injured that you appeared." he went on before shaking his head, dismissing the thoughts "Forgive me, I have pried. But...I must ask are you always so...physical with your anger?"

Was he?

That was an odd question. He thought back to all the times he had felt anger in any true capacity, his times when he grew angry out of pity. There were times he hadn't been able to do anything with his anger but stew in it, that feeling of burning disappointment.

However, when there had been times when he could actually do something. His thoughts drifted to his final confrontation with Chaldea at the Temple.

To Fujimaru Ritsuka.

The boy who he couldn't kill...despite how much he wanted to at the time. He would have ripped the child apart with his bare hands, he had tried to.

Was he always so physical with his anger?

"Perhaps." He admitted after a few moments "However...that display was new to me." he went on, his lips curling into a small frown "It was...easier than I thought."

"Yes...it is." Dimitri replied in a somewhat distant tone "I do not know how well it has been hidden before Goetia...but if I might impart some advice." the Prince paused, looking for any evidence that his conversation partner would deny his request. When he received none, he went on "I will not beget you your anger...however I only ask how it might make you appear to others."

Goetia's eyes slowly drifted to the Prince "Felix refers to you as a boar." Dimitri flinched slightly, soon nodding his head "I see."

"I only ask that you show restraint." Dimitri requested, with a non-judgemental smile "If not for yourself, then for those whose opinions matter to you." a flash of guilt entered his eyes "It can be hard to alter the images that some craft of you in their minds."

'How dare you.' Was the singular thought that went through Goetia's mind in that one instant 'How dare. You think me affected by the opinions of humans? Who but hours ago were fully willing to butcher each other for a difference in theological perspective?'

His thoughts were vicious and well concealed, so much so that his blank face seemed to be an answer for Dimitri. Who nodded and stepped away from him "I only ask that you think on it, Goetia."

He turned and left as the man snapped his attention back to the front, his lips pursuing. The opinions of humans? What a laughable notion. And the opinion of these in particular was not something he wished himself to be in the good graces of. He didn't want to be of a negative opinion of them either but that was purely so he could avoid unnecessary trouble.

Provided they did nothing to him he couldn't care less what they thought of him.

Even Lysithea's opinion did not…

…

…What of Lysithea's opinion? What of Byleth's? The woman had flinched when she saw him after his killing of Lonato but it was simply an act of caution rather than being genuinely afraid of him.

However, what reason would she have to be cautious? They had already been confirmed as allies of a sort, so why would she flinch as his arrival and subsequent quelling of the rebels?

And why did her reaction irritate him?

Yes, it was somewhat annoying that she had reacted in such a way to his appearance, it would have been more logical for her to simply greet him and ask to be healed. There was no need for such a fearful reaction from her.

It was, in some small part, her own fault for his irritation towards her…

So why was he irritated with himself as well?

What an odd feeling?

And what an ugly one as well.

His lip curled into a subtle scowl, he hated this uncertainty within himself. This directionless feeling, it was so simple when he was greater than this. His anger could be justified in every possible way, all his choices and actions had their meaning behind them.

What possible meaning was there in his actions here?

Byleth remained silent as she watched Dimitri part from Goetia's side and make his way back towards his classmates, the Blue Lions taking up the front end of the student column with her as its leader. She and Dimitri locked eyes for a few moments, the boy gave her a quick nod of the head and flashed one of his smiles before ducking away and falling into step with Claude and Edelgard.

Her eyes drifted away from them and back to Goetia, an odd emotion welling up inside her person. She was a mercenary, she had seen some things that might have been considered odd, although with a ghost living inside her head her own perception of odd had been radically altered.

However, seeing the rather sudden and brutal display of Goetia had been a memorable thing for her. She'd always known in some capacity that he was a talented mage but she didn't quite know to what extent. What had caught her by surprise was his manner of speech and his entire way of being during the 'fight'. Goetia was normally reserved when it came to his emotions, rarely displaying anything more than a slight twitch of his lips at any situation.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. He had gotten angry with Sothis when the two had fallen into another of their bickering matches. But he hadn't gotten physical or even raised his voice, there had been a quiet anger about him but it had faded just as quickly as it had come about. She hadn't seem him get angry at anything like that before, and didn't think she would again.

Until now. It was...frightening. It wasn't the display of power or even his words which were disturbing to her. No, it was simply how easy he had arrived and done everything. How easy he had controlled his expression and gone from killing with a rabid smile, to healing with a blank face to just going back to killing with a sense of casual indifference.

It made her wonder if this was how people sometimes saw her, an expression of total apathy as they cut down hundreds with all the effort of going for a morning stroll.

"Because he isn't human." She jolted at Sothis voice, darting her eyes upwards to see the girl floating beside her head, her eyes fixed on Goetia's back and narrowed with intensity "I was not sure until just now, his aura had been different but he let slip what he was for a few moments." Sothis turned and stared down at Byleth with an intensity that she hadn't seen from the girl before "He isn't human, he wears the form of one easily enough, but he isn't one."

"That sounded like an insult." Byleth replied in her head, her own frown growing in size at Sothis's words. She had always been called a demon as a moniker but it didn't make her one, it just made her a little different.

"I didn't mean it that way, dunce." Sothis snapped at her before quickly clenching her jaw and sighing heavily "...I meant it in a literal way. I am not sure what he is, but he is not human or at the very least not completely human...how strange." she frowned "I feel as though that should come as a greater surprise to me."

It came as a surprise to her...then she stopped and thought about it.

"Have you noticed Goetia always says 'you humans'?" She asked the girl inside her head, Sothis paused for a few moments before her eyes slowly widened in realisation and then trailed away from hers to lock onto the back of Goetia.

"Yes...Now that you mention it…" Sothis muttered out under her breath "He does always say something like that...doesn't he?" brows furrowing together, Sothis brought her left hand under her chin and cupped it, giving a thoughtful hum as she did so "However, this brings us to another question. If Goetia is not human...then what is he?"

Byleth blinked, looking away from Sothis and to Goetia. That was certainly a good question for her. If Goetia was not human, or at least not completely human then what exactly was he?

The return to the Monastery was an unusually dour affair, despite having claimed victory the Church losses had been considerable and the realisation that the rebels had been little more than drugged up crazies had left a bad taste in everyone's mouths.

Goetia had kept his silence as he passed through the front gate of the Church, however he soon paused as he felt a pair of eyes on him. His vision climbed up the front of the battlements so find that Rhea was staring down at him, the phantasmals eyes were narrowed at him in a curious manner before he released a small huff and continued on his way.

He didn't exactly want to speak with anyone at the moment, so he settled with following Manuela to the makeshift camp for the wounded.

"Mercedes." The girl jolted at being called out, turning to see Goetia staring at her "If you would come with me." with that said, he walked off in the direction of the wounded. Mercedes blinked in surprise for a few moments before she followed after him.

"Yes, Goetia?" She hesitantly asked as she closed the distance between the two of them "Was there something you needed?"

"The aftermath of the insurrection has provided us with an opportunity." He replied in his usual blank tone, her eyebrows furrowed and she felt a small frown come to her face as the clinical tone he used to describe the situation "I will be applying minor forms of healing magecraft on the wounded to stabilise their condition and mend their broken bones." he saw her eyes widen in realisation before she slowly nodded.

"You want me to watch?" She tilted her head in a questioning manner, he nodded once.

"Ashe, as you are aware, has lost several teeth." He paused when she saw her minor flinch "As such the spell I will use will facilitate the growth of new ones."

She almost gaped at him "You're...going to grow him teeth?"

"It will not be instantaneous." He corrected her "And it is simply tricking his body into believing that what he has lost were his first set rather than his second. However, the process will be faster than usual. He will have grown a new set within two weeks." another pause "Perhaps two and a half."

"Ah...I see." She gave a smile in his direction "That's very kind of you."

The look she got in response indicated that he didn't quite believe, or understand, her reasoning behind the sentence before shaking his head "Lysithea has been stabilised as best she can, I will need to better understand the extent of her bodies damage…" he trailed off before looking to Mercedes "How competent are you with your structural grasping?"

"I...can understand the wooden cube but a person…" She trailed off with a mild look of embarrassment "I'm not sure...I don't want to mess it up."

"It will not be detrimental to her health." He dismissed "I will be there to double check whatever issues her body is experiencing. Any oversights you make will be discovered by me."

"Thank you." She gave a light bow of her head "I'm sorry for being a little useless."

"Your own weakness is nothing to apologise over." Goetia replied with a frown "I would only find it offensive if you were aware of it and did nothing to correct it." he turned away from her and continued on his way through the monastery "That you at least attempt such things is...commendable in its own right."

Mercedes giggled softly before giving him an almost chiding look "You aren't all that used to giving out compliments, are you?"

"I give praise when it is deserved." He responded sharply "It is simply a matter of finding few things worthy of my compliments."

She raised an eyebrow and gave a small hum reminiscent of how a parent would give a hum in reply to the rantings of a child. Goetia found he very much disliked that attitude, his lip curling slightly but he made no reply. There was minor irritation there at best and nothing truly worth getting angry over.

Try as she might to correct herself, the girl would always be ignorant as to the extent to what his perfection had been. To receive any form of blessing from him while he had been a true Beast was a testament to the individual in question.

It was hardly his fault that there were so few of them.

"We must speak." Were the first words out of Seteth's mouth the moment he entered the inner sanctum of the meeting room, Rhea looked to him with a slightly raised eyebrow before seeing the intensity, as well as anxiety, in his eyes before she steeled her expression.

"Leave us." She said to the guards, the armoured individuals wasted little time in nodding their heads and quickly departing the room. Leaving Seteth and Rhea alone. "You seem troubled by something, although I trust you were successful in-"

"Goetia arrived, I'm sure you are aware." He cut her off, she blinked in surprise at his tone before slowly nodding her head.

"I was present when he departed." She replied, seeing a flash of surprise in his eyes "He was releasing quite the potent beacon of magical energy for some time before his departure, he made a small mess in the library as well. Upon my entering he disappeared in a teleportation spell."

"That matches with what the students told me." Seteth grimaced "...Lord Lonato is dead, Goetia killed him along with a good portion of the army."

"...Alone?"

"In truth, the moment the fog lifted we were already on our way to claim victory, Goetia's actions merely secured it." He paused for a few moments "However, that is not what worries me."

"Oh?" She knit her brows together and her mouth curled into an inquisitive frown "What else is there to speak of?"

"There was another person of interest present at the battle, they too were capable of teleportation." He paused when he saw Rhea raise an eyebrow in surprise. Teleportation spells were nothing too rare, but it still took a mage of high competence to use one on another person let along on themselves "They appeared to have some minor form of control over the rebels even in their…" he grimaced at the word "...Present condition."

"...You believe they are the person behind this?"

"Individual." Seteth corrected "As a person...no, I do not believe they were completely human. They were far too strong and...their eyes were different."

"Different?"

"Red, with black cross shaped pupils." He shook his head at her question "No, that was all I saw of them. They wore a cloak which hid away much of their features."

"I see." Rhea nodded, a troubled look on her face "I understand how this concerns you, if this is an individual capable of instigating a conflict of this scale, then they represent a clear and present danger to the Church. I will see to it that our knights are made aware of-"

"There was one other thing." Seteth cut her off again, looking about the room suspiciously before slowly closing the distance and their voice dropping into a whisper "They referred to me as a Phantasmal."

Rhea slowly raised an eyebrow at him in questioning "I...That word is not familiar to me."

"No. Nor was it to me until recently." He clenched his jaw "...Goetia told me it was a method of identification for the strongest of the Demonic Beasts."

Rhea's expression blanked immediately before her eyes widened "They knew-"

"I believe so." Seteth nodded gravely "And I have heard none besides Goetia refer to the Demonic Beasts with such a word. However….it might have a broader definition to simply the Demonic Beasts."

"This individual...you believe they come from the same place as Goetia?"

"It is a strong possibility." Seteth nodded his head "The sudden appearance of Goetia coincides with the sudden disappearance of the individual. Whether or not the pair know each other is not something I can fully account for-"

"But there is a connection." Rhea surmised, her expression quickly falling into a scowl as she paced away from Seteth and towards the window "...It brings about the question as to whether they were aware of what you were prior to the first meeting or if they could see through your form."

"...They wanted Jeralt." Rhea stiffened slightly "Rhea...They claimed Jeralt had something of importance to them, something that he has in common with myself."

"...For now it does not matter." Rhea curtly replied, turning around "Goetia has yet to display any signs of aggression towards the Church in any way we can exploit, and we have no evidence that he was affiliated with this new force aside from a single word." she bit her lip in thought for a few moments "However...his close relation with our newest professor…" she murmured under her breath "Keep a closer eye on Goetia. Ensure that he is watched at all times and discover what else can fall under the definition of 'Phantasmal' without drawing attention to yourself."

"You are asking me to spy on him?" Seteth replied with a mild frown.

"Did you not also do the same with our professor even after I asked that you place your trust in me?" She replied with an empty smile, Seteth flinched at the look, Rhea locked eyes with him for a few moments before some life returned to her smile and she let out a light sigh "I am not angry Seteth. You were simply looking out for the safety of Flayn, although your lack of faith in me was hurtful. I am not calling for an inquisition into his behaviour...simply using this as an opportunity to learn more about him so that we may understand if his place is truly within the Monastery."

"...Very well." Seteth eventually replied "If that is what you believe is best. However, I do not believe he means as much harm as you might believe."

"Oh?" Rhea tilted her head to the side in intrigue "In what way?"

"From what the students told me, although I have yet to gather all the testimony, was that Goetia did not appear until after Lysithea von Ordelia and Ashe Ubert were injured."

"So...that is what he meant." Rhea let out a soft chuckle "Yes, I believe that he in some way cares for his young students, that much I am sure of."

"There was one other matter, Lord Lonato's personal messages were recovered as well, we hoped they might shed some light on who this mysterious benefactor was." He bowed his head "I am having them sent to my office, should I discover anything at all-"

"I trust you implicitly, Seteth." Rhea assured him with a raised hand "If anything should arise, I am sure you shall deal with it in a timely manner and keep me informed."

"Of course, Archbishop." He bowed once again before opening the door to the chambers and departing.

"So who are you...Goetia?" Rhea murmured to herself as she paced about the room "To get so close to the Goddess vessel." her eyes narrowed "And what do you intend?"

"Unless you can regrow teeth, stand aside." Goetia growled at the nearby Cleric.

"This boy is currently injured and we are doing our best to heal him." The obstinate man replied with a dismissive scowl "You are given free reign in the Monastery Archive by the grace of the Archbishop, but I will not stand by and let you cast your heathen magic on this young man."

Mercedes eyes darted between the two as Goetia took a single step closer, she found her breath hitching as the possibility of a confrontation grew.

"My 'heathen magics'-" Goetia spat out the phrase with no small amount of disdain "-are the only reason the boy is not yet dead, and I was not asking for permission to heal him. I was telling you."

"Try it foreigner." The Cleric hissed at him "If his condition was as easily healed by one such as yourself then it must not have been as bad as you claim."

Dead silence followed in the wake of the statement. A cold dread soon started to spread which affected all but the man who had instigated Goetia's sudden personality change. The argument now drawing a small crowd to them, all of whom kept their distance from the pair and watched with an increasing sense of nervousness.

"...What?"

"I said-"

"Hey, hey!" Catherine's voice broke through the rapidly tensing crowd as she came to the front "What's all this…" she trailed off as she caught sight of Goetia and the Blue Lions girl in a stand-off with one of the Clerics, the man standing in front of Ashe's prone body and blocking the path to it "What's going on here?" she demanded, noticing the aura of hostility that Goetia radiated, matched by the dismissive sneer on the Cleric.

"Knightess Catherine." The man's tone did a complete one eighty and became more respectful "I was simply explaining to...Archivist Goetia." he sent a small glare towards the tanned man "That his place is better suited in fulfilling his duties and leaving the act of healing the wounded to those with the skills to do so."

She stared at the man with raised eyebrows, he clearly wasn't aware of all the stories circulating about Goetia at the moment. Not that she didn't blame him, she probably wouldn't have believed them either if she hadn't seen it herself.

Her expression flattened out before turning to Goetia "And you?"

Sending one final glare towards the man, Goetia turned to her with a casual look about him "I was explaining to this oaf-" the man bristled at the comment and looked close to going red in the face "-that Ashe's condition, and the loss of his teeth, can be better healed by myself than the current medical staff."

Catherine frowned, slowly turning her head down to look at Ashe, the boy's face had been healed by Goetia earlier however there was still heavy bruising along his cheeks and nose and she knew for a face the boy had lost several teeth. She bit her lip before slowly looking back to Goetia "...You can heal his teeth?"

"Knightess Cather-"

"Shut up." She snapped at him, then turned to Goetia "His teeth. Yes or no."

"Yes."

"Get on it then." She gestured to Ashe, Goetia grunted once then pushed past the Cleric, the man looked just about ready to explode even as Mercedes offered him a small apology for Goetia's behaviour and crouched alongside him.

"Knightess Catherine." The man grit his teeth "I must protest, our staff are more than capable of handling-"

"You have any idea how close you just came to dying?" She growled at him in a low breath, when the man gave no answer she went on "Because I watched him cut down a fifty men with fancy spells in around a minute and that was after he threw a man in full plate armour around like a sack of potatoes." the man's complexion slowly paled "You want to insult him to his face like that? Fine. But not now and certainly not when your stupidity can get everyone around you killed."

"I-" He sputtered then shakily nodded his head, slinking off towards one of the wounded soldiers, coincidentally located at the opposite end of the wounded camp.

Catherine watched him depart with a frown before slowly turning her head towards Goetia and the poofy haired girl as they crouched by Ashe's side, the man explaining something to her while gesturing to the boy.

If it were any other time, she probably would have agreed that having a mage from Goddess knows where performing mysterious magic on one of the Churches own was not something to be encouraged.

Her eyes trailed down to Ashe as she grimaced slightly before shaking her head, moving off through the camp.

This wasn't one of those times.

"The origin of the spell is European, specifically Britain" Goetia explained "Many early magi believed that the usage of teeth would work as warding to prevent the Fae from entering their homes and making off with children." he shrugged "It was a useful, if mostly useless art now. With the Fae gone, the spell warding is pointless and the spell is useful for little more than growing teeth." he looked up at Mercedes surprised expression "Teeth would only act as a barrier for so long and if you had done something foolish enough to earn the ire of the Fae then it was best you had a steady supply of teeth available to you."

Mercedes furrowed her brows, then chuckled "You keep speaking as if the Fae like fairies."

"You have them here as well?" He blinked then clicked his tongue in realisation "Ah, yes. You also use the phrase 'fairy tales' therefore it is correct to assume that you have such things as well."

The girl's expression remained strained "You speak as if they exist."

"The do." He answered her immediately, her eyes went wide and her shoulders slumped "Some are more benign than others, some were brutal enough that it warranted the creation of spells such as these." he went on "Usually they resides within the forests but there were different sects and clans of Fae, their inner politics aren't relevant to the spells but it is best if some minor form of the history is understood."

"Fairy's...are real?"

"Fae." Goetia corrected "Calling them fairy's would be a grand insult to them...and would likely lead to a painful death in some cases." he grimaced slightly. The Fang clans in particular were some of the more brutal of the faeries, although their philosophy was a simple one and they rarely interacted with humans, if at all.

"I have gotten off topic." The man went on, ignoring Mercedes shocked silence at the revelation that faeries were a real thing "It is a spell based in old Gaelic, meant to revitalise the body and instigate the growth of new teeth." his hand went over to Ashe's face "Fiaclan. Rugadh. A-rithist." he intoned, Mercedes watched as a brief flash of light erupted from his hand over Ashe's face before nothing further happened.

She stared at him for a few seconds before looking up "Was...was that it?"

"Were you expecting something grander?" Goetia raised an eyebrow "Regardless, this was the Scottish Gaelic abbreviation of the worlds. Fiaclan meaning 'Teeth.' Rugadh meaning 'Born' and A-rithist meaning 'Again'." he looked to her "A simple spell when done correctly but with the disappearance of most of the Fae from those who knew of it, the spell fell out of practice and was forgotten. The last family to still practice the spell died out over a century ago."

"That's a shame." Mercedes lamented "It seems to me like being able to regrow teeth would have been useful."

"Its uses were limited and overlooked." Goetia dismissed, moving his hand towards Ashe's chest "He has several cracked ribs." he quickly stated "However there is no damage to his internal organs, he will recover swiftly." he muttered a brief incantation under his breath before standing up "Come, we will move onto Lysithea and you will practice your examination."

"Right." Mercedes nodded "I won't let you down!"

The pair swiftly moved through the red of the camp, the mop of white hair of Lysithea was easy enough to spot and soon they managed to shoo away the cleric tending to her, the woman having seen Goetia's argument with the man from earlier and none too eager to try and start another one.

"Remember." Goetia spoke as he crouched down, Mercedes getting onto her knee's and looming over Lysithea, pressing her palm against the girls forehead and closing her eyes "Examination, you are to analyse the body structure and locate any major sources of damage. I will investigate after you."

Mercedes nodded her head, a glowing light hummed from her palm and flowed into Lysithea. Mercedes remained silent for a few moments before her expression became strained and she began to exert more effort.

Goetia watched the development with a small frown as Mercedes seemingly struggled before removing her hand.

The girl eventually took her hand off Lysithea and frowned "Sorry...Its weird. Maybe its because I've never done this before I don't know what I'm looking at."

Goetia stared at her for a few moments then pressed his own hand over to same section, activating the spell and taking read of her body.

Mercedes watched as Goetia's expression slowly blanked out, the man removed his hand from Lysithea and slowly returned to his feet. "The stab wound has been fully healed and she has no other discernable injuries. It is likely that this is because you have never attempted the spell on another human before that you were left confused." he explained to her "It will be corrected in time." he gestured away from the girl "It would be best that we move onto other patients, you will show me what you have learned of the graphs I procured for you."

Mercedes nodded, gracefully rising to her feet and moving away.

In doing so, she completely missed Goetia's hand falling limply to his side before it clenched into a fist. His red eyes darted back to Lysithea and his expression contorted into a scowl before he looked away.

Why did he always find them? Those humans with lives like this? Mash Kyrielight, life designed by man and destined to end be used by them until it expired.

And Lysithea…

Whose additional Crest was so unnatural and forced that it was killing her. It was no surprise Mercedes had no knowledge of what she was looking at, Lysithea's entire body was in open revolt against her current second Crest.

He knew she had two Crests, alongside Edelgard but he had assumed that their loss of hair pigment was because their bodies were simply channelling more magical energy than they could handle. There was nothing ostensibly fatal about such things it was simply nothing more than a physical side effect.

This was not that, Lysithea's existence was similar to Mash in that the second Crest had been forcibly implanted in her. She was 'gifted' two crests at the cost of a majority of her lifespan. She would last a little longer than ten more years, perhaps less, before she would eventually perish.

Again, he was reminded of the futility of it all.

He had saved her life today.

Just so she could die in pain and weakness in the future.

A bitter smirk worked its way onto his face.

It really was so very pointless in the end...wasn't it?

AN: Goetia had known she had two Crests but until now he wasn't sure of the damage.

Now he knows. Mash Kyrielight 2: Electric Boogaloo...now with extra feels.

Anyway, Sothis now suspects Goetia isn't entirely human and Rhea is onto him. Goetia and the start of the not good very bad week.

Omake: Coward in Ylisse

"Thank you again." The man continued on with his lavish praises of them with a wide smile, Chrom looked somewhat uncomfortable after the first few times he had thanked them, Robin smirked at his look of discomfort before she managed to take a step in front of him.

"We're happy to help." She smoothly replied, his grateful expression turned to her "Although I'm sorry that some of them got away."

"Hm?" The man blinked at her in confusion before he snapped his fingers "Ah, no, no." he dismissed with a shake of his head "They were taken care of, you were all so quick to deal with the bandit camp that I never got the chance to tell you that we had another guest here."

Frederick raised an eyebrow "Another guest?"

"Quite so, quite so." The man nodded "He has been ever so helpful these last few days, healing where he could and all such. He didn't ask for nothing in return be we couldn't let him go without offering some small form of compensation." the smile turned more relieved "Best choice we ever made, but he seemed fairly content to accept the room we put up for him for the night."

"You had a healer?" Chrom looked surprised, then confused "Wait...you said he took care of the bandits?"

"They were on their way back here after you probably attacked their camp." The village elder explained "He just stepped up and helped deal with them, never seen nothing like it. Wouldn't even accept any gold."

"How generous." Fredrick dryly put, Robin however looked more than ecstatic at the story being told her, leaning forwards at the Elder.

"Can we meet them?"

"Hm?" The Elder blinked before he chuckled "Ah yes, I'm sure you'll want to meet him. Come along, he's in the town hall. We were using it as a shelter for our wounded."

The group advanced through the village as the elder led them towards the town hall, the Shepherds getting smiles and waves from all the residents as they walked. The Elder slowly opened the doors before ushering the Shepherds inside.

They could see a man hunched over someone, a soft glowing light emerged from them before the person they were leaning over let out a relieved groan.

"Tomeless magic?" Robin muttered out in surprise, an expression of glee soon making its way onto her face.

The man turned around, noticing the group before freezing on the spot like a deer in the sights of a hunter. Eyes wide and looking more than a little embarrassed. "H-hello?" he coughed into his hand, patting down his simple brown robe before looking more composed "Sorry, you caught me by surprise there." he turned to the Elder "Are these the mysterious Shepherds."

"They're not that mysterious." The Elder retorted dryly "You're just a hermit."

The mage recoiled as if struck, a hurt looking flashing across his face before he slumped.

"...The Teach thinks this is pretty sad to look at." Vakie's unhelpful statement only caused the man to fall into an even greater slump. The axe wielding man getting a slap on the back of the head from Robin before she advanced, preparing her inner charm so she could win this guy onto their team.

Even if he did look sort of dorky.

"Hello there, fellow mage!" The man snorted immediately, looking away and covering his mouth with his hand, Robin froze before she heard snickering behind her. She snapped around to see the entire Shepherds go stone faced.

Glaring at them suspiciously, she turned back to the object of interest "As I was saying, hello there, fellow mage! I am Robin, most illustrious and cute tactician of the Shepherds-" more snickering and an incredulous grunt – 'thanks Frederick' – came from behind her, which only caused the man to look inbetween them in amusement "-and I have recently heard great deeds of valour from you! Will you please relinquish your name to me, good sir?"

"Robin…" Chrom's struggling voice came from behind her again "It sounds like you're politely trying to arrest him."

"You mean you aren't?" The man asked in surprise before relief spread across his features "That's good, normally when a bunch of armed people break into a town call I get a little...worried."

"I'm sorry to have caused you trouble." Chrom broke out from behind the others and approached the man, offering him a handshake "I'm Chrom...I'm supposed to be the Leader of the Shepherds but in truth we make her do all the work." he gestured his head to Robin next to him, the girl gave a smug look of victory as if she were proud of that particular fact.

"...Right." The man raised an eyebrow "Shepherds? I think I've heard about you guys, you go around and help people right?"

"Well, we try our best." Chrom replied with a charming smile "Especially in these difficult times."

"I know how that feels." The man clasped Chrom's hand and allowed for the handshake to occur "I should probably introduce myself as well, shouldn't I? I'm Romani Archaman."