Title: Herd

Summary: Random bits about Hertrude taking an interest in Leon.

Title: Her Rude and Rowdy Hero

Summary: In which Vandel didn't have his way.

"Rude, when will Mom and Dad get home?" Rauda asked me with a whiny tinge.

I witheld frowning. They were supposed to be back by now. Did they get into some trouble why checking the border?

I shook those thoughts away. Vandel was with them. There was no need to worry. My focus should be on my sister.

"I think they needed to delay their return. It is rather late. I'm sure they'll be back in the morning," I said placatingly.

"Muh," Rauda pouted.

"Come now. How about I read you a story?"

Rauda brightened up before rushing to go find a book.

I woke up to my father quickly picking me up.

"Dad?"

He took a moment, before giving me a smile.

"Sorry for waking you, Rauda."

"What's happening?" I mumbled.

"Nothing, Sweetie. Feel free to go back to sleep."

Rather than argue, going back to sleep sounded so nice.

"Okay."

When I next woke, I found myself in Mom's hold with my sister. How odd. Hadn't she said we needed to sleep in different beds since we were getting to old?

Whatever. This was nice. I snuggled back into my dreams.

"Vandel is gone," I numbly restated.

Looking at my sister, I saw she wasn't concerned. She hadn't liked Vandel much. He was much to scary for her.

I, on the other hand, felt like I had lost someone important. He was like a favorite uncle. He wasn't really scary. He just had a hard time showing he cared.

I wanted to ask how, but looking at my parents, I felt like they didn't want to talk about it.

But why?

I stared at the shoddy manor. Had Mom and Dad taken us to the border? Was this to be a teaching moment, or were we supposed to meet someone important? It would make sense.

They must have been impressed by the family they visited and wanted us to get along with them.

While I was open to the idea of getting started on my duties, Rauda was clinging to my back. She wasn't sure how to talk to others.

"Come on, Rauda. You're going to need to get used to meeting new people," I scolded.

Mom chuckled and said, "Come, Rauda. This is a good opportunity for you. I'm told this household had a few kids your age. Perhaps you'll make a friend."

"Muu," Rauda said grumpily.

Perhaps we were spoiling her too much.

Whatever.

"Who are we meeting?" I asked Dad.

"Baron Balcus... Bartfort."

Odd. No status indicator?

"Dad, why are we in Holfort?!" I asked frantically.

I had sat with Mom and Dad to get to know the lord better while Rauda had decided to play with a boy named... Lion? Leon?

In any case, something was terribly wrong. Vandel was gone, and we were in Holfort.

Mom and Dad looked at each other. There couldn't be a good reason. This had to be a nightmare. Rauda's worries must have gotten to me. Soon I would wake ip back in the palace, and Vandel and my parents will scold me for sleeping in.

"... Rude... Vandel tried to start a coup," Dad said hesitantly.

I froze.

"What? That can't be. He's the Hero of the Principality. He wouldn't ever do that."

"Vandel... he..." Mom cautiously said.

Dad interjected and said, "He wanted to start another war. We didn't want to keep shedding blood pointlessly."

"If the Black Knight thought we should go to war with Holfort, why shouldn't we? Holfort is the enemy!"

"... There is much you don't know," Dad said with a hard expression.

"So what? It doesn't change the fact that Holfort is our enemy! We've always been enemies!"

"But that doesn't have to be the case. War is not the only option."

"Isn't it? Even when we do nothing, the Kingdom attacks us! Why shouldn't we fight?"

"Talk about propaganda," a boy said from elsewhere.

Looking towards the source, we all saw a boy covering Rauda's ears. She didn't look too put out though.

"Ah, Leon. How much did you hear?" Mom asked.

"Quite a bit. Rauda was worried when she heard shouting," Leon said before promptly uncovering Rauda's ears. Clearly, he was tabling our discussion.

Rather than ask us what was causing our argument, Rauda turned to Leon.

"Ah, don't worry. Your sister was just upset she wasn't going to get a bed as nice as the ones you guys have back home. I do apologize," Leon said in a rather convincing tone.

"Rude, don't be rude."

"Wha... your just taking his word?"

"Leon's nice."

I growled at the boy. Who did he think he was stealing my sister?!

Title: Reconnaissance

Summary: When a different noble catches her eye.

I sat in the colosseum to personally witness the upcoming duels. It was an opportune moment to take note of the enemy's prowess. I mean, how often was it that the five heirs would demonstrate their armor piloting in a combat setting?

Though, I questioned how much information I could glean from this affair. After all, it was five on one. Even if the challenger was skilled enough to put up a fight, I'd expect this baron to fall somewhere between the second and third fight. The betting pools certainly did him no favors.

I wanted to scoff over how imbalanced the duel was.

Well, here's to this Bartfort fellow. Kindly fight as hard as you can. Fanoss will appreciate the information you expose to us.

I stood up in shock. Leon had just disarmed the Fields heir after the braggart had launched a surprise attack before the start of the duel. Despite how large the baron's armor was, it had moved with such agility.

It had to be a Lost Item. I had thought otherwise since my spies had informed me that Leon was from a rural barony. With his primary weapon being a shovel, I had initially dismissed it as an armor repurposed for agriculture.

With the small demonstration I saw, I already knew Holfort had a new formidable weapon at its disposal. While it would be a shame that little information on the heirs would be gathered, the information on Leon's capabilities were more than a fair exchange.

This was absurd! The heirs were simply too damn weak compared to Leon! Each fight (if we were being gracious) almost ended immediately.

The Fields heir, even if he was supposed to be more magically inclined than martially, was the heir apparent for a border territory. He should have been able to put up a fair fight due to substantial training in fighting other armors. His opening salvo had been read and dodged perfectly, and he went down in a single strike.

The Seberg heir's assault had barely lasted longer. It was like watching a child play with a pet cat. Leon's armor simply parried every single strike without ever moving from his spot before he got bored enough to push the red frame and tear it limb from limb.

The Arclight heir wasn't even given the decency of a confrontation. A few drones had pinned him down for the vast majority before he launched a desperate final strike that ended in failure.

The only viable information I was able to glean from any of these fights was that Leon's armor was capable of long range combat with the drones, it had far more agility than some of the most advanced armors in Holfort, and had enough power output to disable armors in a single strike.

Leon, or at least his armor, was far too much of a threat to the Principality to be left alone.

... But did he need to be? Judging from his attitude, he held no love for this poor excuse of a Kingdom. With his vocal distaste and rather brutish display, he no doubt had a plan to do a runner in case the Redgrave's couldn't bail him out.

It also wouldn't be hard to force the situation. Lord Frampton was notably hostile towards the Redgraves, and with the Redgrave's support at an all time low, how unbelievable would it be for them to be unable to lend appropriate support.

The question was how Angelica would factor in all of this. Leon did volunteer on her behalf, though he may have simply been taking advantage of the situation. She unlikely meant anything to him at this point and would probably mean even less to him once the Redgraves leave him out to hang.

Whatever. If he were to try to bargain for her safety, I'd allow it. It might make things easier in the end when he would inevitably need to be disposed of. Angelica would surely do a fine job of that, and she would be easier to deal with compared to the boy.

Looking over at Angelica, I saw she was with a rather mundane girl. Judging from the unknown girl's looks of worry, she looked involved with the upstart. I'll just need to ensure her safety in addition to the Bartfort family. With those individuals, Leon was sure to join us.

And with both Leon and Vandel, Holfort would fall.

AN

1) Really short chapter this time around. Honestly, I think I'm starting to run dry on ideas. It'll likely be a while until my next update.

2) Her Rude and Rowdy Hero is a play on the princesses' names. Her-t-Rude and Her-t-Rauda (Rowdy).

3) Leon in Her Rude and Rowdy Hero is based on the idea of Leon returning from the Fanoss spinoff. Balcus received Brave's loyalty due to Leon's insistence.

4) For Reconnaissance, while it is a bit of a stretch for the princess to go to the event incognito, I felt it works for at least to get the ball rolling. If this were to be picked up, I fully expect it to be changed so that a Fanoss spy is using projection magic of some sort.

Review Response

HalfMoonSilver80: I'm just a guy writing the first thing that pops in my head. Plus, this fic is meant to inspire or get people thinking of ideas to write.

Rodrigua: There are a few people who controls Shadows in canon. Additionally, while I mentioned Shadows, that was more to follow Persona terminology. He really plays by SMT rules in which he has Chaos/Neutral/Law aligned demons as party members.

DoctorChoiceTheunchainedX: Lots of good ways to write this. Hope someone picks this up.

Kokuyoseki no ketsueki: It's no bother. Getting people to write possible ways to continue the snippet is always interesting. Hope someone will make this their own story.

Shadow: Yes.

windfox9: I mean, I wouldn't necessarily say he understands the three steps. It's a good guess and could functionally be close enough to the process that it doesn't matter. To be honest, my second stage technically aligns with what a Shadow would be while the chained version is what Persona is defined as. In Jungian psychology, the Persona is the mask we show consciously. Shadows are the inner person we do not wish others to see. Thus, the restrained Persona is effectively closer to being a Persona than the unchained form, which is what the five hide from the world out of shame/propriety.

swordmaster888: I don't have an account, but do read from time to time. The last time I looked was roughly around when the Pokémon snippet and Harry Potter theory crafting was put up. Honestly, those discussions actually lead me to doing those crossovers as an attempt to do more world building exercises since I wasn't feeling them, likely a byproduct of me being a writer and having my own ideas of what a fic should focus on. As for the Persona discussion, honestly a coincidence. I just got into a crossover mood due to writing the Harry Potter and Pokémon crossovers. Btw, I also read your Persona snippet you just posted. It was interesting, but I guess it kinda felt directionless mainly because it felt like you were trying to cram P3, P4, and P5 mechanics and themes into a relatively short one shot. Made it hard for me to imagine how the plot is supposed to progress.