Chapter Text
“Byleth! Byleth, you heard me? Roll out!” a loud voice ordered from the kitchen. A young woman, whose name was Byleth, was sleeping in a small bed, with an unfinished bottle of whiskey on the floor.
“Ugh, shit. Daaad, can I lay here a bit more? I think I drank too much yesterday - I need some rest” she mumbled. But her father was having none of it.
“Do you want me to wake you up my way, kiddo? Get up in 3 or you know what will come to you! 1... 2…”
Byleth knew – her dad is not a type to joke with something like this. She, cursing out everything and yawning, got out of the bed.
Lazily, she put on her clothes, brushed her teeth, forgot to brush her hair again, and went to the kitchen.
“Look how fast we are. See? You can magically get out as soon as you don’t want water on your head,” her dad Jeralt said, and put a bowl of porridge in front of her.
“Shut up,” she rolled her eyes and ate the whole bowl on the one go.
“Have you cleaned your room at least now? Remember, you promised,” Jeralt looked at Byleth closely, but she didn’t respond.
“Dad. You already know the answer to this question. Forget the room – when will we be moving? I’m bored as hell here”.
“You will be the death of me, kid. Okay, clean it later, whatever. And I already said – a week later. Hope the client will still be alive before we get to him”.
“Okay dad, I’m going to train now. Hand me your dish, I wash it on my way out”.
“You got it. I’ll join you soon, I want to check how fast of a learner you are”.
“Yeah-yeah. Also – taking some silver with me. You prob forgot to pay in Rob’s tavern again,” Byleth laughed, grabbed some coins and slammed the door.
She walked all her way to the Cayenne Village - a near village, that was so small, that it didn't even earn its own place on the map. Despite their house not being directly located in it, Byleth considered this one village to be her childhood home.
A regular small village, it was exactly how regular people imagined such places. Just a couple of houses scattered here and there, big deck, and the only tavern in town, that was also the biggest building in the village. Almost nothing stood out from Byleth's home in the eyes of normal person, and she knew that.
Some people waved when she passed, some crazy mommies grabbed their kids and quickly moved out of Byleth's way, but most simply ignored her. Byleth didn’t even notice – who would care much about a pair of mercenaries living somewhere in the woods?
Byleth finally reached the tavern and loudly knocked on the door.
“Hey Rob. It’s me, ya open?”
“Byleth? Tell your father he can fuck right off until he pays the bar tabs for yesterday. And don’t forget the bottle he took! He better be with you right now” Rob, the owner of the tavern opened, and Byleth saw his annoyed face that was red from beer.
“I don’t have dad with me, but I have your money. Which one do you want?”
“For Goodness's sake, I just want my money for my drinks. Your dad is quite an asshole, you’know?”.
“We are going to visit this evening. Don’t worry – I will pay before taking even a drip of beer,” Byleth said with sarcasm. Rob simply waved his hand on her.
“Like father, like daughter. Drunk asses”.
“Those drunk asses bring you cash though,” Byleth said and left.
That was her ordinary life every day – go here, go there, make breakfast/lunch/dinner and then go to Rob’s and get drunk.
No changes in her life at all, except the times when Jeralt and Byleth had to travel somewhere to do their job.
As soon as she was far enough from the village, Byleth took out her sword and started her training.
She was swinging her blade loudly and intensely, imagining like all the trees around her are her future enemies. "Head, neck, shoulder," she was commenting while touching certain places on the trees, which had already many signs of Byleth's hard training.
Byleth stopped for a moment, and breathed in.
Soon, they will be leaving, and Byleth needs to be armed the best – she can only count on herself on those missions. Yes, her father exists but he wouldn’t be her shield the whole fight.
Byleth continued to train for half an hour, when suddenly, Jeralt showed out of the trees. He waved and leaned on his lance.
“Haven’t got tired yet?”
“Feel even fresher. Let me show you what I’ve got” Byleth said and began showing off everything she had practiced.
Jeralt chuckled on this, but still was left impressed.
“Okay kiddo, enough. Want to see what your dad got?” Jeralt took out his spear and Byleth’s eyes brightened.
“Oh, I'll show you! Today is the day I will finally beat your old man ass” Byleth drew out her sword and Jeralt burst out laughing.
“Hm, don’t get cocky too soon my girl. Or do you wish to clean the whole house again?”
“Shut up and fight me!”
Jeralt didn't needed to be told twice. He immediately took a defence stance, waiting for his daughter to make her move. She fell for it and ran at Jeralt, drawing out her blade. Jeralt easily blocked her sword attack with his lance.
Byleth grit her teeth, and made three more lunges on her father. The last one even managed to slice his cheek, and Jeralt took a couple of steps away.
"The kid certainly grew in levels of combat," he remarked, and then started to execute his signature Blade Breaker lance combo. Byleth already knew what would happen, so she jumped away. Jeralt already started to spin his lance - the beginning of the combo, but Byleth managed to avoid this.
"Take that dad," she thought. Byleth even began to think that she will win this round - she made another attack attempt, and it seemingly deserted her father's combo starter. But suddenly, felt like her legs left the ground she was standing on. Byleth flew in the air for a second, and then smashed into the ground like a bag of potatoes.
What? Again?!
She missed this one hit once again. Jeralt liked to catch her on this surprise attack, and somehow, Byleth almost always fell for it, and ended with her nose in the dirt.
“Ugh, ugh. Screw you dad… Okay, I give up now,” Byleth picked up her sword and glared at her father. He seemed so old, yet still - his moves and reflexes were miles better than hers.
"So? Cleaning the house tomorrow morning you are. Well?" Jeralt gave Byleth a joke high five.
"Got it. In the morning tho. I still want to go to Rob's today".
Jeralt laughed and stroked his daughter by her shoulder. With the words "just like me", he searched his bag and gave Byleth some dried meat from it. Her eyes glowed and she immediately started chewing on it.
"Thanks dad! Tasty as heck. Here, have some of my bun, forgot to eat that," Byleth handed her father the bun, but Jeralt refused.
"Leave this as a beer snack. Rob's is best to drink while also eating something".
"What could I do without you here," Byleth laughed, but still hid the bun where it was.
Jeralt leaned onto the tree and looked at Byleth.
"Well? Excited for the upcoming order and trip?"
"Not much honestly, dad. Although anything to get out of this hole in the goddess knows where, this would be just another order. Nothing to get excited about" Byleth said and got back to her meat.
*sign "Got it".
"So dad? One more round and then a mug of beer for each?," Byleth laughed and soaked her father on the shoulder.
"You don't have to tell me twice," Jeralt said.
The father and daughter spend the whole evening drinking and laughing, and the whole tavern surrounded them to hear about their work missions or just listen to Jeralt stories. Byleth drank so much that she couldn't stand on her feet and Jeralt was forced to drag his unconscious daughter to their house.
He put Byleth in her bed, cleaned a bit in her room and went out, leaving Byleth with her drunk sleep.
Ugh. You should know that I hate how much you put that into yourself. It’s annoying and I feel dizzy all day after you drink that.
You know, maybe trying to stop for once and let me sleep in peace?
Byleth heard the same voice again.
This voice has been with her since she turned 15. Just randomly popped out in her head and then refused to leave. Of course, she never told anyone about it, or everyone would think she was crazy.
Sometimes, Byleth swore that she saw who was talking to her - it was a small girl with long green hair, but she must’ve invented this when she was drunk.
Byleth thought this was the same thing, so she just ignored the annoying, high pitched voice and tried to sleep again.
*Somewhere at the middle of the night
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU YOU BRATS?! I WILL-" Byleth began to hear her fathers angry, screaming voice. She barely managed to get out of bed - everything was in circles for her and she still hasn't recovered after her bar shots.
But, she still dragged herself out of her room, and suddenly... Noticed their door laying on the floor.
"What the f..." was her first reaction. She noticed that her dad was still angry at someone, only now stopped screaming at least.
"Dad. Why is our door on the floor?" Byleth asked, yawning. Jeralt noticed her and turned his head away.
"Uhm... My apologies for this," Byleth suddenly heard a sheepish voice she never heard before. She looked over her father's shoulder, and noticed who Jeralt was yelling at this whole time.
In front of her doorstep, there were standing three young people - two boys and one extremely short girl with long white hair, who was even a bit shorter than Byleth herself - couldn’t be more that 160cm.
They all were wearing bright capes with colours red, blue and yellow, armour (at least one of them) and were loaded with gold, silver and copper accessories.
"Holy shit, your shirt costs more than my house," Byleth said looking at the short girl who was standing in the middle. She gasped and looked with round eyes at Byleth, but kept silent for some reason.
"Look what those little brats did to our house!" Jeralt pointed at the door laying and the completely destroyed door hinges. This is where Byleth fully woke up.
"YOU? H-How the hell did you managed to do this..." Byleth was stoked, and suddenly, the tall blonde boy who was standing on the right, finally raised his head and spoke up.
"I am incredibly sorry for the damage I caused. I promise I will compensate for everything," he said with a shy and polite tone, although for some reason he talked a bit weirdly. Byleth raised her eyebrow.
"You were the one who broke my door? How. Just how".
"Uhm-" the boy prepared to say something, but Jeralt cut him off.
"I don't care what you are about to say. Is that you method of saying "please help", you little shits?"
"With all due respect, Jeralt the Blade Breaker, you told us to get out as soon as we knocked on your door. And since we needed your help, I asked my colleague here to attract your attention with something," the short girl said.
"And trust me - we are kinda stuck right now. We have gold to pay you, isn't it right?" another guy in yellow, with much darker skin said, as Byleth noticed, with a small, sort of sarcastic smile.
"No. Get out," Jeralt took his door and with Byleth's help, leaned it where it was, right in front of those kids' noses.
“Hey dad. What happened with those teens? Why do they want you to help them so much?”
“Ugh. Forget they are even standing there,” Jeralt said, but it was quite impossible. One of them kept knocking on the door, and Byleth was quite afraid for its fate.
“Dad,” Byleth persisted and looked straight into Jeralt’s eyes. He rolled his eyes and finally caved.
“Those brats are from… One pretty bad place. That small girl told me they were being chased by a huge group of bandits, need my help and pay me whatever they have on them right now”.
“You think they do have the money?” Byleth’s eyes glowed.
“I’m certain they do. But I think it’s best that we wouldn't drag ourselves into this. Go to sleep kid, you’ll need it,” Jeralt said, and prepared to walk away.
But Byleth looked through the gap in the door, and noticed the kids were actually scared. Especially the boy in the blue.
He clearly regretted his decision to knock out Byleth’s door. His equally blue eyes were lowered and sad, and he clinged onto a lance - an only weapon he had on himself.
Those kids were only lightly equipped - no way they’ll manage to throw off a big group of bandits on their own.
“Uhm hey… Puppy eyes boy. My father said that you are kinda stuck, and also can pay us. Is it true?” Byleth asked, having no idea what she was doing.
Jeralt turned, and his eyes wided.
“Byleth?! What the hell are you-”
“Yeah. We are now being chased down by some bandit gang. And yes, we have gold to pay you,” The boy in blue said.
Immediately after hearing this, Byleth threw some water on her face and grabbed her sword. She gave Jeralt a look and he knew what it meant right away.
“I suppose it’s pointless to argue with you”.
“Come on dad. Pretty easy money for our duo - we encountered even harder problems,” Byleth said and quickly wore her mercenary outfit.
Jeralt also followed his daughter’s example, but had a look of doubt on his face.
“We will finish the job, take the gold and run the hell away as soon as we can. Get it, kiddo?” Jeralt whispered. He sounded really serious about this, and Byleth was already creeped out, but wasn’t planning to retreat.
They finally showed up, and all three kids let out a sign of relief.
“Woah, your Princeness. Have no idea what you did, but it clearly worked,” the guy in yellow joked and winked at Byleth. She just rolled her eyes.
“Well? Where are your bandits?” Jeralt asked, but quickly realized that he wouldn’t have to wait.
A huge group actually showed up, with some wild looking guy seemingly leading them.
“Ooops. Looks like you are just on time,” the guy in yellow said and got out his bow.
Suddenly, the blonde guy in blue just ran towards one of the bandits. It was so sudden that Byleth or Jeralt didn’t even get time to prepare.
“What the... That little brat,” Jeralt said angrily.
“Dimitri! Get back here!” the short girl ordered, but he didn’t care.
“Oh well, the prince at his finest. Hemar, I just wanted to invent a plan for y'all. Well, pretty late for this one”.
“Okay dad, you stay with those two, I’m going with the puppy eyes. Good?” Byleth asked, and as soon as Jeralt nodded, she ran after him.
“Hey you, puppy eyes! Let me join!” Byleth screamed and he stopped. Despite Byleth clearly hearing that his name was Dimitri or something, she immediately forgot it.
“Thank you for coming to help us. Please, lend me your strength,” he asked, in a perfectly calm manner, as if he didn’t just try to run into a pile of enemies like a wild animal.
“On it. Sorry you caught up in this mess. I really want to help you with this one. And get my gold of course,” Byleth said and drew out her sword.
Her hungover quickly disappeared, being replaced by boiling adrenaline. She stood behind Dimitri, who also drew out his lance. The bandits began to attack.
“Oh guys, I pity you. You can never win against me,” Byleth thought. Those bandits had no chance since the beginning - they didn’t know her small secret after all.
As soon as she was close to getting even remotely harmed, Byleth rewinded time for a couple of seconds . This made her almost unbeatable in hand to hand combat.
For now, she was in a tough spot with so many enemies around her, but Dimitri turned out to be a surprisingly good battle companion. When a banding ran to Byleth, Dimitri pushed him away, and the hit was so strong, that it send the bandit flying. Byleth was weirded out for a split of second, but immediately snapped out of it, ran and slashed the bandit open.
Dimitri looked over, but Byleth just pointed at another upcoming group. He understood right away what was needed, and nodded.
He cleared out most of their enemies, with ease, but clearly had pretty low experience, so Byleth abused both her rewind power and her sword technique.
That’s how he and Byleth worked - their teamwork was so weirdly smooth, like they were teammates for a pretty long time.
“Behind!” Byleth screamed, and blocked a bandit, who was ready to slay Dimitri. He was completely floored by Byleth’s techniques.
It was like she was more dancing than fighting. Byleth was slaying the bandits one by one, and looked literally unbeatable.
“The skills of that mercenary are on par with instructor Jeritza’s… By the goddess, she is astounding!,” Dimitri thought, and even got distracted from the fight for a moment, which never happened before.
Taking out the whole gang of bandits was extremely tough and took a lot of energy from everyone, but they managed to do that.
Both Byleth and Dimitri were exhausted from the battle. Byleth leaned onto the tree, heavily breathing and looked at her accidental companion.
“Wow, you fought great, puppy eyes”.
“Thank you. My apologies for making you run after me. This was irresponsible on my part,” He said with a bit of restrained shyness, while cleaning his lance.
“Well, we both gave our best. Glad you are unharmed, though. Don’t want your people to come at me for allowing you to die, huh,” Byleth laughed and Dimitri was taken aback by these words.
Then, Byleth heard other voices from behind and picked up her sword.
“Kid? Kid, you alright?” Jeralt ran to Byleth who was still standing near Dimitri.
“Yeah dad. I’m okay. Those idiots left?”
“They did, but their leader got away,” Jeralt said with annoyance. Suddenly, the remaining two teens approached.
“My thank you to you both. Your help was deeply appreciated and you are getting thanks from the all of Officers Academy,” the short girl said and handed Jeralt a heavy bag.
“Accept the payment for your services please”.
Dimitri stood in line with them and bowed. Jeralt immediately grabbed Byleth’s hand and prepared to drag her away.
“Okay, our job here is done. Let’s go and quickly,” Jeralt whispered. Byleth got confused and had to idea how to act right now.
Suddenly, everyone heard multiple horses' noises behind them. The guy in yellow crossed his arms and chuckled.
“Hm, hey your Highnesses look at this. Looks like our guards finally bothered to show up,” he said with a sarcastic smile.
“Princess Edelgard! Your Highness! Lord Claude! Are you alright?!” Byleth saw a middle aged man on a horse, wearing shiny white armor. She looked at Jeralt, and noticed her dad made a face like he saw a ghost.
“CAPTAIN JERALT?! Captain, it’s me - Alois! Your right hand man!” The middle aged guy greeted Jeralt with excitement, and stopped his horse.
“Oh dear goddess. Anyone but you,” Jeralt grabbed himself by the face. Everyone else except those two had no idea what was going on.
“Hm, has Jeralt the Blade Breaker allied with the Church of Seiros? Alois and him seem to have quite a history together,” the guy in yellow, whose name turned out to be Claude, said.
Byleth was standing and blinking. Church of what? And who was that weird load mustache guy?
“Dad?” Byleth asked, and Alois looked at her with surprise.
“Huh? “Dad”? Captain - is that your child?”
“Yes I’m his child. And who are you?” Byleth said with a really brash tone. Alois looked at Jeralt with surprise.
“Oh my congratulations to you! I thought I would never see you again after the day you left”.
“I also thought I would never see your church again,” Jeralt muttered. Byleth was so confused, that her head was going crazy.
“Dad, at least you tell me - who are those guys in white, and why don’t you want to associate with some… Church?” Byleth asked, but Jeralt turned his head away.
“Kid, just don’t ask,” said Jeralt. “Thanks Alois, but we are leaving”.
“Wait, captain Jeralt-” Alois wanted to say more, but Jeralt took Byleth by her arm and yanked her away from the three teens.
They walked in complete silence, and Jeralt purposely used the most complicated roads to get to their home.
Byleth understands that she has to shut up for now, and then bombard her father with questions as soon as they get to their destination.
Finally, they reached their house. Jeralt still didn’t say anything other than grumped about the door.
He sat at the table and leaned onto the back of the chair, still completely silent.
“Hey Byleth, put the gold in our chest and try to look for a bottle. Impossible that I will fall asleep right now”.
“Oh no dad, ya will not start this crap with me right now. Who are those guys in white and why did you call that church a bad place?”
“Kid…”
“No dad, you will not dodge this question again. I don’t remember how much I asked you about your past life and why your alcoholic ass is so well known around here. You never answered”.
Jeralt got up and himself went through the drawers. He got out a bottle of beer and poured two mugs for himself and Byleth.
“Listen kid. I just wanted to protect you from my past,” Jeralt said, but Byleth wasn’t convinced.
“Well, you did that badly. Now I want to know more,” Byleth pressed and Jeralt fully gave up. He took a big sip.
“Okay. I was in service for the Church of Seiros. You may remember, I talked about them briefly”.
“Really? Those ones? Were you singing in a church choir and praising the goddess?” Byleth laughed, but saw that Jeralt was serious.
“I was a knight, and working under a woman named Rhea. An archbishop that rules this Church and influences the whole Fódlan. I was also quite in favor of her because of my skills”.
Byleth raised her eyebrow.
“Then why did you leave? If you were treated that well, and clearly had friends there?”
“Because I realized Rhea was a shady harpy. She was making me do really weird things and was covering it up,” said Jeralt.
“Woah dad. So that’s why you ran away and we are now stuck here in the forest?” Byleth asked with shock.
Jeralt chuckled and nodded, then drank the rest.
“Yeah. That’s why we are in this village and this house in the first place. And I would prefer we keep our life like that”.
Byleth signed and also drank from her mug. Her father clearly didn’t tell her everything, but at least she got some parts of it.
Well, at least she now has more chances to dig out information from him, just have to wait for tomorrow.
Byleth was already prepared to go to sleep and forget about the three teens as they never existed. Suddenly, a BAM!!! noise made the house shake.
“Ouch Captain… I swear it’s not me who did it! You door just…”
Jeralt looked, and his face became fully sour. His door was laying on the ground again, with embarrassed Alois standing in front of it.
“You again? How the hell did you even find me or my house?” Jeralt grit through his teeth.
“Oh, that one was pretty hard for me, so don’t worry!” Alois laughed loudly. “Captain, I wanted to ask you to return to Garreg Mach with me”.
Both Jeralt and Byleth’s eyes wided.
“What? Alois, sorry, but no. I don’t want to be mixed with Lady Rhea’s bullshit anymore. And also - what about my daughter?” Jeralt didn’t even look at Alois, and prepared to pick up the door.
“Yeah, what dad said. I maybe can pull off all our orders, but it would be pretty hard for me to work without dad here, only so he can go to your church or what it is,” Byleth said and stood beside Jeralt.
Alois looked like he expected that.
“His Highness said a lot of fantastic words about your daughter, so I think she can also fit as one of our knights,” he said, and it made Byleth feel weird. What is this mustache guy hinting towards?
Leave the village? And… Join that cult? Or church, whatever it was.
“Dad?” Byleth looked at Jeralt, and he signed.
There was a whole battalion of Knights of Seiros around their house. It was pointless to try to run now - even if they pull it off, where can they go? Since all money will be left in this house…
And Jeralt also knew one simple thing. As soon as they reach the Monastery, Alois or anyone else will immediately tell Rhea about him. Run away from Rhea, who will know that both he and his kid are alive now… Nothing is more impossible in the world than this.
Jeralt felt trapped. And worse, he saw fire in Byleth’s eyes. Girl really wants to leave.
“Ugh, go rot you all. I’m in. But, I demand my kid will go with me,” said Jeralt.
Byleth almost wanted to jump from excitement. Really?! Finally leaving this trash hole and trying something different?!
“Ohoho, Captain, of course! I’m just so happy you decided to go with us! I’m sure your daughter would like to be a knight. Taking all those things His Highness said about her,” Alois laughed.
“Are we supposed to go this instant?” Jeralt asked, and put the door away.
“Well, kinda yeah. We planned to return until tomorrow day, although Lady Rhea wants us in the morning. Hope you understand, Captain”.
“Of course I do. Byleth,” said Jeralt and turned to her. “Go gather your things. Take basically everything with you, I'm gonna pick up the money and also you-know-what”.
Byleth nodded. She didn’t have many things on her, so packing wasn't a hassle for her at all. Packing took a full 15 minutes, and she was ready. Byleth went out, and noticed the three teens from before, standing there and glaring at her.
She especially highlighted Dimitri, who took a direction towards Byleth, as soon as he saw her.
"Please, allow me to take your bag. I'm eternally grateful that you are going to take the position in the Church," he asked. Byleth nodded, and he immediately took her bag, and weirdly carried it to the cart, like it weighed nothing.
Byleth and Jeralt stood in front of their home and silently said goodbye.
"Is this Church big?" Byleth asked. "Yeah, very. We are going to the Central Church, the one Rhea herself is leading".
"That shady harpy?" As soon as Byleth said that, Jeralt gave her a look.
"Ugh, I shouldn't have said that. Listen carefully, never address Rhea like this. She has extremely dedicated fanatics serving her, and they’ll tear you apart if you do that".
Byleth swallowed.
“O…Okay dad. I got it”.
Jeralt took Byleth by the shoulder and led her to the cart. The three teens were already preparing to get in and noticed her.
“Oh, welcome lady,” the guy in yellow waved, and the short girl rolled her eyes.
“Sorry about our Claude here. He can be a bit of an annoyance. That was also quite impolite on your part”.
“Me, annoyance? Your Highness, you are crazy with compliments today”.
“What? When I said I was complimenting you? I know you just want to get a reaction out of me - allow me to say that, you are not going to get it”.
Byleth looked at this teen bickering and was restraining herself to not laugh. Dimitri kept out of this, and generally felt more distant. Or he was just shy, Byleth didn't know.
Then, the two stopped exchanging unpleasant things about themselves, and the girl coughed.
“Sorry you had to witness it,” she said, and suddenly became way more serious.
“By the way. Because of the previous circumstances, I haven’t got the time to properly introduce myself. I’m Edelgard von Hresvelg, the princess of the Adrestian Empire and the heir to its throne”.
Byleth was blinking for a second, and then burst out laughing.
“Ahahah, Imperial princess! Never heard something as funny as that!” she was laughing, and Edelgard started to look embarrassed and angry.
“Haha, if you are a princess, who is he then? A King?” Byleth pointed at Dimitri, still laughing.
“Uhm… You are… Sort of right. My name is Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd. Of course I’m not a King since I wasn't crowned, but I’m the only prince of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. And expected to succeed the throne in the near future,” Dimitri said, and his face started to become red.
Byleth looked at him, and prepared to laugh again. But the jokester guy, whose name was Claude, shook his head.
“Wish I could tell you they are kidding. But they aren’t, and neither am I. Claude von Riegan, the future duke of the Leicester Alliance”.
Byleth couldn’t believe it.
“What the hell. How did you three end up in one place? What kind of school are you going to again?” she asked, and again looked over the teens.
“We are students and the house leaders of the Officers Academy. A highly prestigious institution, where all kinds of future leaders across the whole Fódlan, and some highly set commoners study,” Edelgard explained, and wiped away the anger from her face.
“This year is already looking interesting. An Imperial princess, the future king and future Alliance leader all in one school year. You just made it here to witness the show,” Claude said with a smile.
“Claude, I’m asking you to stop,” Dimitri quietly said. To his credit, Claude stopped, and hopped in the cart.
“What the fuck did I got myself into,” Byleth was asking herself when the cart took off.
Well, now it was no turning back. Although all this was weird to Byleth, this only caused her to become more excited for the future.
“I always wanted to try and be a knight. At least something new. I love this world!!!” Byleth thought, and watched the sun slightly rising out of the mountains that circled that area.
“My new life, here I come”.
The road took them more than Byleth expected. To not waste time, she wanted to know and understand her situation better.
Dimitri showed her a map of Fódlan, and she was now studying its land, with previously unknown details.
“You are from Faerghus you say? I remember being there with my dad,” Byleth said and leaned on the backseat. “It’s pretty cold there, you know? And you believe it - when we stopped for a drink, I swear - it was the worst beer I ever tasted”.
Claude laughed. “At least someone here brings up a mood. I quite liked your stories”.
Dimitri swallowed some forming words, and fixed his face. He understood that Byleth might have a hard time getting used to their noble world, and know that what she said was a bit rude.
“I sadly can’t either complain or agree, since I never tasted it,” Dimitri said and tried to laugh. It kind of failed, but Byleth laughed along with him.
She looked over the map, and was studying what was on it. She already knew where the Alliance, the Kingdom and where the Empire was.
“Uuugh, it’s all so annoying. So many names on this” she put the map on her face and Dimitri swallowed a chuckle.
“I agree, it might seem hard when you first try to study it. But, try me - studying history will fully pay off in the near future”.
“Hope yeah. Also, the hell are with your surnames here? Those can’t be pronounced by a normal human”.
Dimitri leaned towards Edelgard and whispered.
“I’m truly fascinated by this lady. Never met anyone who was so loud and weird in conversation”.
“Well, now you have met her,” Edelgard replied with a cut and dry tone. Claude laughed.
“Jealous much, Princess? That the new person only talks to princey here, huh?” he said sarcastically. On this, Edelgard waved her hair right in his face and turned away.
Suddenly, they all heard someone announcing:
“Almost arrived!!!”
Byleth immediately began to twist her head around, but saw nothing. Then, the cart passed the forest, and she saw an enormous building. Her eyes rolled out - that’s how big the building was.
“Here it is - Garreg Mach Monastery,” said Dimitri and gently pointed at the building.
“I would definitely need another map to not get lost there,” Byleth mumbled.
“I would be happy to show you around if you want. It would be my pleasure. Oh, only if you want it of course,” Dimitri continued, and Claude rolled his eyes with a smile.
“Relax puppy eyes, I'm not going to kill you. Thanks for the offer, I’m sure I'll take it”.
The Monastery turned out to be even more huge when they arrived. Byleth held herself to not jump out and run away.
She never saw anything like this before, and it was scaring her. When she finally got out and quickly went towards her father, he didn't say anything.
“Well… Here we are. And, I’m back again, after promising to never return,” Jeralt signed.
“Promise you’ll tell me every detail of your past life here, but not now,” Byleth was visibly trembling. “Dad, I feel like shitting my pants. I didn’t know buildings could be that huge”.
Jeralt put his hand on Byleth’s shoulder. “Relax kid. You're gonna need that”.
After this, Jeralt raised his head and then Byleth noticed some strange woman, who was standing on the balcony far away.
“Is this… That Rhea person?” Byleth asked. She didn’t know why, just felt like it. Jeralt nodded.
“Yes. This is Archbishop Rhea. And this Monastery? This is our new home from now on”.