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Chapter Text

This story takes part three years after the empire of Adrestia collapsed against the kingdom’s forces, Edelgard and her most loyal soldiers were killed during the final battle, and most of its territory now belongs to Faerghus, its territory only got bigger after annexing the Leicester territory, now with the western part of the Empire being part of Faerghus most of its nobles declared fealty to king Dimitri, who successfully won the hearts of every citizen of Fódlan after the war ended taking on missions on every corner of the new Fódlan, but, he was not alone, he had his friends and family to support him, beginning with his wife queen Marianne a noble form the former Alliance territory, who aided Dimitri in restoring peace to the capital after the end of the conflict, performing different roles to create new laws, and decrets to keep the new country afloat.
His friends from the Academy and his professor Byleth, who is now the new head of the Church of Seiros, Lord Byleth and his wife Shamir aided the king and queen to build new relationships within and outside the country, Dagda was the most favorable country due to the dagdan leader from the church, as well as Almyra which was ruled by Claude and his wife who was a former student form Fódlan, Duscur and even the land of Sreng, from which the new Margrave Gautier Sylvain was the one who started to bring peace to its lands, thanks to his complex friendship with the new leader of the people of Sreng, who was a prisoner in his lands when both were kids, he married the daughter of Galatea, Ingrid, an old friend of his during his childhood days, Dedue who used to be a retainer of Dimitri, now lived in Duscur with his wife Mercedes, and decided to be the example that Faerghus and Duscur can be friends to stop their conflicts since the Tragedy which took place in its lands, in the lands where the Silver Maiden is a new Duke was chosen to take over the duties of its territories, the new duke, appointed the retired knight Ashe the castle of Gaspar, to help him in the rebuilding of the lands, he accepted and kept receiving aid from the capital since he had a good friendship with Dimitri, finally but not least was the Shield of Faerghus, Felix, who was appointed as the new Grand Duke of Fraldarius after his uncle gave him the title, when the war ended, he was the only lord in Faerghus who married a noblewoman from Adrestia; Bernadetta von Varley, who goes now by the name of Bernadetta Fraldarius. After three years disturbing news come from the territories of Adrestia which neglected their annexation to Faerghus after the end of the war, believing they wanted to restore their empire and overthrow the lords and ladies, but it got worse after hearing that the mysterious group of mages, which Kronya and Solon were former members. Have been seen within these territories, King Dimitri and his soldiers march to secure the safety of the lands surrounding the Adrestian border. Fraldarius has always been a cold place, in the past Faerghus always struggled for food, and has always been dependant on his western part and neighbours, however since the end of the war of Unification eith the western part of Adrestia Empire and Leicester the Kingdom was more stable and merchants could do business without the borders payment to cross, before the annexation of this territories Fraldarius was the most important house in the kingdom only behind the royal family, now that place is competed with some houses from Leicester and western Adrestia, with the restoration of House Nuvelle and the always competitive House Gloucester each one of them are now called the three jewels of the Kingdom Gloucester have a lot of products and merchants since the new House leader Lorenz with the support of his wife Leonie, made a pact with the rest of the houses of Leicester and now is the most important house in the land only behind Goneril who obtained the old territory of Reigan, whose main army is the strongest in the area, House Nuvelle restored thanks to king Dimitri who gave Constance von Nuvelle her old territory back as well as some lands whose old lords were killed during the war defending against kingdom forces or bandit attacks, Constance gave the western part of the kingdom mages, she became a powerful mage who started her own academy of mages to compete against the school of sorcery in the Kingdom, she got engaged recently recently. And Finally Fraldarius, the most loyal house to the Kingdom of Faerghus and most powerful in the area, the army of Fraldarius was weakend after the war, but thanks to the new duke Fraldarius Felix, the army regain its strength and fastly became the strongest army in the northern part, if a soldier ever gants to serve one of the three jewels lords or the Royal Family they must train them here, thanks to the aid of Gautier and Galatea Fraldarius training is exceptionally positive for soldiers, Pegasus knights and the main cavalry as well as archers who were added to the lists thanks to the duchess lady Bernadetta, before she became the duchess people were confused, before they thought that she was a prisoner since Varley was one of the few houses who refused the annexation, it took time but after two years the new duchess quickly became very dear to the people of the dukedom, also thanks to her new reformations, the people of the dukedom have new places where they could grow crops, Bernadetta took inspiration of the greenhouse at the Garreg Mach Monastery, now Fraldarius have to worry no more for growing crops, and new laws for the people to start building a new greenhouse in their communities. Growing bonds between the people and improving the mood of the people, while she takes care of the dukedom, Felix on the other hand has to accompany king Dimitri to keep pacifying the new lands, and keeping everyone happy, their journeys take more than three months so he’s out most time of the moon, however the training of the new soldiers of the kingdom is observed by their retainers keeping the kingdom safe, and his family.

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Felix was on patrol, he had to keep an eye on everything since they started this operation to quell the possible rebellion in former Empire’s territory and to investigate the rumours from the Adrestian part who refused the annexation, he never had a problem with him keeping an eye for Dimitri, but he became a father three months ago, missed his child birth and only had a few weeks to spend with his family, he could say the same, but him and Bernadetta had no child, however he wanted to spend more time with her, since both of them never had time to be together since their marriage, he even missed his Academy days, when he could even visit her since she never abandoned her room but for training, cooking, eating and taking care of the garden of the monastery, he always had at least four months to spend with her, but after his arrival he was called to come again and protect the king one week later, he was frustrated, but he had a job, if something were to happen to Dimitri, the kingdom might have to deal with another war, for the throne, but now he didn’t wanted to let the newborn prince fatherless, he was lost I thought until he heard Sylvain calling out for him.
Sylvain: “Heya Felix what are you doing at this hour?” said Sylvain while waving his hand at Felix.
What are you doing here? You know its my turn to keep an eye on the village. Said Felix
That’s not true, it’s my turn to watch over here, I’m actually late, I thought I woke up earlier when I saw you here first. Sylvain explained to his friend.
Felix only covered his face with his hand, he looked up watching the stars at the sky in silence. “You worry too much Felix, we are going to be ok, so as her, she can handle it.”
“It’s not Bernadetta, she’s ok, I know about that is that idiot who I worry for” said Felix annoyed.
“Dimitri? Why would he- oh is about that isn’t it?” Sylvain understood that Felix was talking about the Tragedy of Duscur, they know that, and everything now is going exactly as it happened back all those years ago when the former king was murderer as well as his best soldiers and Felix’s brother Glenn. “Marianne gave birth not too long ago, and now this happens, the king comes to a region where not everyone likes him, he comes with his best soldiers and now those rumours about the strange mages. And you? What are Ingrid’s thoughts about this?
“Heh, you both said the same thing, yes she expressed her worries with and said “don’t you dare die there Sylvain”, but, don’t worry Felix, we are prepared for them I sent a messenger to Galatea to provide us with Pegasus knights to keep the skies clear, they should arrive the moment we meet the leaders of Adrestia, eh I hope you don’t mind me telling you but, you know who are they don’t you?” Said Sylvain a little worried about the reaction of Felix.
“Yes, we will meet Bergliez, Aegir, and Varley, the Bergliez leader is Caspar’s older brother Ferdinand, who somehow survived at our battle at the Great Bridge, and finally Bernadetta’s father or mother if the man still lives,” said Felix.
“Huh, so you are well informed”, said Sylvain, “of course after spending three years with Dimitri you learn a lot about the people who survived this thing, and of course these adrestians are more loyal to their costumes that the idea to be annexed and not annexing lands were mad. But I thought that Count Galatea didn’t liked you.” Said Felix “Many people don’t like me, hell he even tested me during my wedding, if it weren’t for Ingrid I might have been a mess during the ceremony.” “That’s what you get for trying to seduce Ingrid’s granny” said Felix while he left to sleep with a grin on his face. “Hey, you know that was an accident! Hey, you even weren’t there! How did you know! Shouted Sylvain while Felix was entering his tent, Sylvain’s shout probably waked up some of the soldiers who thought that they were under attack, so he won’t be disturbing Felix while he tries to sleep, of course he knew about the granny’s incident thanks to Bernadetta she and Ingrid are friends since the academy days, one day when Sylvain and Ingrid visited Fraldarius she told her about Sylvain’s mistakes with this behaviour of his when he was at the monastery, that’s how Felix knew about the incident and many others when he wasn’t around. Now Felix wonders what she is doing now.

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Fraldarius territory
Bernadetta has finished working on the new petition of her people to build a new greenhouse in the community near Galatea’s border, this could improve relationships between the two houses, she knows that she doesn’t need to win the confidence to her new neighbours, since the house leaders are her friends, and in case of Galatea it is the brother of Ingrid, she told her once that he wanted her thanks to Ingrid’s stories while they were at war, on the other hand she has to deal with new attention form many people since her stories were “revealed” to public eye, she knows she have to thanks Sylvain for publishing some of her books when she was a student at the monastery, without her knowledge and more and more merchants wants to publish the book in Leicester, western Faerghus and even the Adrestian people.
“Oh, not again said Bernadetta frustrated Why would they want me to keep making new books? I made them while I was a student yeah, I could finish them when we were at war, but now I don’t have the motivation to continue them, ugh I hate you Sylvain.” She stood up from her desk to leave the documents near the messenger’s table ready to deliver the messenger to Galatea, but before she leaves the documents she started wondering – “Hey should I leave them in person with count Galatea? Ingrid told me that he wanted to meet me and give his thanks for everything I made. But it’s so cold out there! No Bernie I must go if it isn’t today then when? Oh, but what if I get lost? I don’t even know Felix’s hometown well, and the day of our wedding I got lost, that was so embarrassing, I wonder if Christa would like to come with me. Bernadetta took her cup of tea and before she started to drink Christa entered her study startling her and dropping the cup of tea to the floor.
“Oh no, pardon me lady Fraldarius let me clean that” said Christa while she started to clean Bernadetta’s clothes and floor.
“Christa how many times should I tell you to knock before entering to any room, look what you made” said one of the maidens of the manor, her name was Bertha she is the oldest maiden of the manor, she has served the family since Felix’s grandfather was the duke, so she remembers everyone and was the first one to win the confidence of Bernadetta, just like Byleth or Alois, who were people who she always find it comfortable to be around, oh and of course Felix.
“Good morning duchess Fraldarius, let me make another cup of tea, you should come Christa as well” said Bertha said to the young maiden who have just finished to clean.
“Oh, actually Bertha I would like to talk to both of you” said Bernadetta surprising both women.
“My my, this is new milady, but of course what is that you want from us? Said bertha gently.
“Well, you see I have finished to make the new regulation for Hohenberg” “Hohenberg? Oh, the town near Galatea’s border, isn’t it?” answered Christa
“Yes! I was wondering if you would want to come with me to that place, I want to give this papers myself rather than the messenger, going out again this month” said Bernadetta leaving both women speechless, wondering if what they just heard were part of their imagination.
“Uhm, is something wrong? you are staring at me”. Said Bernadetta nervously.
“Forgive me duchess is just that, this is the first time that you want to go out of the manor, you have only gone out when the duke comes back, so it was weird hearing this from you”. Explained Bertha
“Are you feeling well lady Fraldarius? Have you gotten sick? Are you feeling homesick? Or are you missing lord Felix? Or perhaps you are pregnant? Or- Christa was stopped by Bertha.
“WHAT? No, I’m not, yes, I’m feeling well, I’m not sick or homesick and yes, I miss Felix… Oh, I hope that he would have informed me why would Dimitri call him again, he usually calls him five months after they finish scouting one area.” Said Bernadetta now feeling sad for Felix. Bertha knows this, the dukes have always been called for this kind of missions leaving their wives behind managing the dukedom, she knows Bernadetta is different from the last two duchess, so she got an idea.
“Duchess? Come with me I think I know how to improve your mood” said Bertha taking Bernadetta’s hand leading her downstairs while Bertha was following.
“Where are we going Bertha?” asked Bernadetta.
“We will go for a walk my duchess, but first we will get you your clothes and a big coat for you, its warmer today, but compared to Adrestia you must feel really cold now.” Saying this Bernadetta got a little nervous, but she wanted to go to Horenberg, so she wanted to do this.”
While she changed her clothes and put on a big coat on her, she doesn’t wear her usual clothes when she came back to Garreg Mach, she keeps her purple clothes form seven years ago, now she wears a dark blue dress and a light blue cloak, at the back of it was the symbol of Fraldarius. She liked it, it look well on her and her gloves were purple, it was her favourite colour after all, and Bertha knows it.
“Wow, Bertha this looks nice, and it fits me well, did you make it? Asked Bernadetta still amazed for the garment while she looked herself at the mirror. She feels different, while her old clothes were purple with a bit of yellow, this makes her feel like a princess like the ones she used to write in her stories. But before she got lost in thoughts, she noticed that Bertha and Christa were staring at her…again.
“Sorry did you said something? Said Bernadetta turning around, while both maids just laughed and said don’t to worry for them, but before they could say something Anton the family’s butler entered the room “Bertha are you here? Oh, lady Fraldarius forgive my intrudeness just let me- don’t worry Anton, it’s ok,” said Bernadetta.
“Forgive me duchess, I came here because you weren’t in your study, I have already asked everyone else where were you” said Anton worried.
“Oh no, said Christa, we need to tell them that the duchess is with us, oh, but what hour is it? My training is in three minutes, excuse me Bertha, Anton, duchess, I must take my leave” said Christa who just stormed out the room and Anton following behind, not before he says his goodbyes to both Bernadetta and Bertha.
“You are still training tough, aren’t you? Said Bernadetta to Bertha.
“Yes milady, here in Fraldarius people respect someone strong, so we train ourselves often to gain strength to protect our country and to keep us warm, I don’t train a lot like before, but I still manage to do it two or three times a week to keep me in good condition for my work” explained Bertha to Bernadetta.
“So that’s why Felix likes to keep training, it is your culture after all,” said Bernadetta.
“Yes, it is, but let’s get out duchess” said Bertha guiding Bernadetta to the exit.
Bernadetta has only seen the town of Fraldarius from her windows, but never got out like this before she always got anxious for meeting her people, Ingrid, Sylvain, and even Marianne have gone out of their houses to meet their people, Marianne became one her deepest friends since both of them have always been people who never knew how to speak to people, and writes often the two of them, even more than Ingrid, even though she is closer to her than the castle of Blaiddyd. She speaks in her letters how anxious she gets when she must go out form the castle and must meet the people of the kingdom, many people met her during the times when Dimitri is out keeping the kingdom at peace, but she hasn’t answered why she Dimitri called Felix to another mission again this soon.
But before Bernadetta could think of anything else she got greeted by the people of the dukedom, hearing “Hey” said one villager to his companion by kicking his shoulder “who’s that?” “That’s the Fraldarius crest symbol, on her cloak, isn’t it?” said his companion, another woman joined in the conversation when she spotted Bernadetta “My those clothes are pretty, hang on I think I have seen that girl before”, Bernadetta was starting to feel weird about the attention she was getting, not even on the battlefields she got this attention from the people, being an archer helped her getting unnoticed during battles, but this one was different, she got nowhere to go, no bow, not a place to hide, there were people everywhere and all of them have already spotted her, she started to believe they will confuse her with another person until she heard someone call her name.
“Hey, isn’t that the duchess Bernadetta?” said one woman who run a stall of food, “Is that the duchess? Asked another villager, “By the goddess she’s actually pretty” said a young girl “Where are her guards?” said another villager, by this point Bernadetta could feel her face turning red by the people speaking about her. “Duchess” said Bertha, “You should speak with some of them, you might not know this, but the people of Fraldarius love you, even if they haven’t seen you since you came here, the things you have done for them, the security both you and lord Felix achieved, after lord Rodrigue’s time, and of course your stories”, when Bertha said this Bernadetta felt calm but, now she hoped that the villagers haven’t actually read her book, but after she said this a villager came near her carrying his two daughters, “Excuse me, eh duchess?” Bernadetta got startled by the villager, who apologized for scaring her, “I’m sorry lady Bernadetta, but my daughters wanted to speak with you”, “Me?” asked Bernadetta.
“Hi duchess said one of the little girls, my sister and I wanted to ask you if you plan to write another story soon.” “Me too” said her sister, “your stories are good,” said the little girl and she showed Bernadetta the book cover, she never put a title for her book but she saw her name as the author of the book, after this many people started to gather around Bernadetta asking things about her stories, and about her personally, all she could do was to answer some of the questions until she got too anxious to keep answering, Bertha manage to dispel the horde of curious villagers by answering the questions, and promising that the duchess would answer the others at some time in the future however while she was occupied trying to keep the attention of the people away Bernadetta, some merchants went with her trying to sell their wells to her.
“Mornin’ duchess you look quite pretty in that dress, but you know? Some jewels might be a good match for those clothes, you have”, Bernadetta was offered many kinds of jewelry, gems, rubys, emeralds, pearls, collars, earrings and many kind of pretty rocks she didn’t know what to buy, although her attention went when one oof the merchants whose face she couldn’t see showed her a beautiful collar with a finger size purple hexagonal shape, which had another six little rocks inlaid the rock, the colours of the rocks were red, blue, black, orange, light blue and gray in that same order. “Ah, so you are interested in this collar young duchess?” said the mysterious man whose cloak covered all his face, his voice sounded like the same of an old man. “Uhm yeah its pretty” Bernadetta have never used jewelry before, not even when she was in Adrestia, beside her earring and hairclip when she came back to the monastery five years after the war began and stopped wearing them shortly after she got married with Felix, and she never considered those as expensive jewelry, but this one clearly got her attention. “Uhm, yeah how much will be?” asked Bernadetta curious about the little rock.
“This rocks were found in some place near old Ordelia territory, it is said that it was s gift for the wife of one of the villager’s wife but never got the chance to give it, the six little stones here are said to be forged by a powerful mage form Nuvelle before getting destroyed, it is supposed to show different emotions for the one who wears it, I’m giving it to you for free” said the old man, confusing Bernadetta “Are you sure, it sounds like it’s the only one in existence and you just want to give it to me?” said Bernadetta “Yes, dear duchess, take it as a gift from our part” said the merchant referring to the people of Fraldarius. Bernadetta took the collar and stared at it her eyes lit every time when she saw the collar on her hands, but before she could put it one Bertha came for her iinterrupting Bernadetta and the rest of the merchants. “Sorry guys, but we are in a hurry, you can always come back and speak to the duchess back at the manor”.
After some minutes and somehow managed to evade more merchants and villagers, both women finally found a place to be alone, “Well that was interesting” said Bernadetta while she started playing with her fingers keeping her anxious and cold away, Bernadetta looked up seeing her new home, the manor of Fraldarius, now that she looks at it well it looks more like a castle, or a big fortress, it didn’t looked like that from the inside, but she couldn’t tell if that was the case since she never explored her new home since she became the duchess.
“The manor looks like a castle because it was made over an old castle that Nemesis and his army built when the war of the heroes was about to end, lucky for us that Seiros army never battled here since Nemesis died at Tailteann Plains, since it became Fraldarius land they started to add new buildings around the old castle, making it look like a castle, and making almost impenetrable, it might not be as popular as The Silver Maiden or that old fortress at Adrestia” said Bertha “Fort Merceus” replied Bernadetta “Sorry duchess, did you said something?” asked Bertha, “That was the name of the fortress at Hresvelg territory, Fort Merceus, it was supposed to be impenetrable, like Arianrhod, but at the end we won, although we lost some troops there” said Bernadetta remembering the battle at Fort Merceus, when the Kingdom army entered the fort, she commanded a group of archers aiding Mercedes and Annete’s group supporting the left rear to control the ballista but some knights targeted her and her squadron instead the ones of Ingrid or Sylvain’s, her troops were almost wiped out if it weren’t for Felix who scolded his friends for allowing them to attack Bernadetta, both of them became a pair not long before the start of the battle, he asked if she got hurt, and she answered that she was ok, but her soldiers took the worst part, only a pair of soldiers survived the attack, but what really hurt her was the reason why those soldiers attacked her, “Traitor!” they said, she looked at their bodies, and saw the crest of Saint Indech on them, House Varley’s symbol, she thought that her parents took the decision to hunt her down for preferring the enemy rather than her own country, this was a huge blow to her, but thanks to her friends, Felix and Professor Byleth, she never knew if they wanted her death but she decided to forget about them and accept her being with Felix and the dukedom of Fraldarius, and since then she became Bernadetta Fraldarius, she now see that she made the right decision, but she started to feel weird and dizzy. “Milady! Are you feeling well?” asked a worried Bertha who grabbed Bernadetta’s arm preventing her to fall. “Ugh yeah I’m ok it was only a dizziness but I’m ok now, thanks Bertha” said Bernadetta recovering her posture. But when she was about to say something to Betha, someone came from behind scaring both women. “Aw c’mon Bernadetta you are still a scare kitty?” said the stranger “Yuri!?”.

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Chapter 3 The New Prince

Fhirdiad castle was so different than her old house in Edmund territory, Marianne was used to see the sea when she got out when she spent her time with the animals, but in the capital of the kingdom there were not too much animals to spend the time, Fhirdiad castle was so different than her old house in Edmund territory, Marianne was used to see the sea when she got out when she spent her time with the animals, but in the capital of the kingdom there were not too much animals to spend the time, except for good old Dorthe who became one of the royal horses after the war concluded, today she came to see her friend now with her child in hands, Aidan is a curious child he was born one year ago, every noble and commoner congratulate her for becoming a mother, specially Hilda one of her closest friends, she visits the castle at least twice a month and sometimes brings her family with her, she and Caspar have three kids already they are a bit older than Aidan, but she hopes that they become great friends in the future, as for the nobles of Faerghus outside the former Alliance territories the families of Fraldarius, Galatea and Gautier have also came to congratulate her and Dimitri, even though she feels like a stranger to them since she is from Edmund they have integrated her  to their friendship but also keep the formalities during the royal meetings, she became good friends with Bernadetta, she has only come once since she didn't like to move around during cold times, which stays the same during most time of the year, but it was enough for them to become friends, specially since she has the same condition like her, or even worse since her family is part of the Adrestian rebels, or that's how the soldiers call the independant part of Fódlan, she hoped that they could live in peace, but three days ago she and Dimitri received ill news from that area, the report said that the "mages" they fought during the war, Dimitri departure with their elite soldiers worried Marianne, but Dimitri didn't allowed her to come with him, she replied that it could be a trap and that it could be an opportunity for their enemies to perform a second "Tragedy of Duscur", hearing her queen Dimitri called for reinforcements from Galatea, Fraldarius and Gautier, with them came the leaders of the three houses, Felix, Sylvain and ingrid's younger brother.

"I just hope that nothing happens to them Aidan," said Marianne while she cuddled her son who was touching Dorthe's head trying to pet him, "Ingrid and Bernadetta must be worried too, especially Bernie she doesn't have any child and if something happens to Felix I don't know how she would feel administrating House Fraldarius. What are her family planning, if they are looking for an alliance with those mages?".

After saying her goodbyes to Dorthe she came back to her bedroom, she put Aidan in his little bed smiling at him, when she looked up she saw her Heroes Relic sword the Blutgang, it became another family treasure in Fhirdiad, her son had her crest, he will be the first king of Faerghus without the crest or the lance of the royal family, but since both Dimitri and she allowed that scholar to publish his studies about the forgotten hero Macuil people now feel the new prince is special for having the crest of a Forgotten hero from the original 10 Elites and Nemesis.

Marianne called for a messenger to send a letter she wrote for Gloucester territory to keep their borders open if Dimitri's party needed to make quickly withdraw from their expedition, it might be unnecessary, but Marianne didn't want to take risks.

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“So, Felix,” said Sylvain “Are you ready to be introduced to your wife’s parents finally?” Sylvain was trying to annoy him. Of course, Felix only groaned after hearing his friend’s teasing, he was not in the mood for his parents-in-law. “C’mon Felix, you two were together even before the war ended, you could at least ask how her life before the academy was.” Sylvain tried to light the mood, but he didn’t look back at him, so this was serious, Felix knew the stories about his parent-in-law.
Fraldarius Manor 2 years ago
Felix was in the training grounds as always; he usually lost track of time while training by himself or with the recruits, however, today was different, for the first time in years he didn’t want to train the last report of thieves attacks were five moons ago, if he wanted to take care of them he would have to travel to Arundel territory, leaving his home again, and of course his wife.
Bernadetta was in the kitchen, Bertha arrived with the things she asked for she will make Sautéed Jerky one of Felix’s favorites, she didn’t like the flavor, so she was preparing another thing for her, what she didn’t expect was for Felix to arrive early to the kitchen.
- Felix? what happened did some of the recruits make you mad? – Felix left his practice sword in its place and talked to Bertha -Could you leave us alone? - Bertha was confused but accepted saying her goodbyes to Bernadetta.
- What happened Felix? – asked Bernadetta- I've been putting in countless hours at the training grounds, and I've been hanging out with Dimitri more than I probably should. ed about the odd behavior of her husband. Felix only got some plates and silverware.
- I’ve spent too much time in the training grounds, and with Dimitri too much than I would like to, come on let’s eat together.
Bernadetta was confused, did someone cast a spell on him? She only stared at him while he got the table prepared and got closer to her.
- What’s wrong? – he said, - What’s wrong? - replied Bernadetta, “You are the one who acts weird, what happened? It’s not normal at all that you only… decide to stop training, you love training”.
- Is it weird that I want to spend time with you? – answered Felix, Bernadetta only felt how her face started to turn red, now she suspects something was wrong.
- I knew it! You and Sylvain were in the training grounds, did he give those tips to flirt again?
- What? No! he isn’t even here – said Felix while he turns his eyes to the pot, Bernadetta suddenly remembered that she was cooking, and she managed to save the food before it got burned.
- Well, I hope you still like it even if it’s a little burned – said Bernadetta while she started to serve the food.
“So, what do you want to speak about Felix?” she asked as she started to eat her food.
“I’ve been curious, how was your life with your parents?” – asked Felix, this surprised Bernadetta, she didn’t expect Felix to ask about her life before the Academy.
“Um, well it was not as good as possible, I mean aside from my father’s expectations I used to spend much time with a friend there” – before she could continue Felix interrupted her – “You mean Yuri, the leader of the Wolves house?”.
“Yes, he was a good friend, until my father got him beat up and tossed on an abandoned valley, he told me that he was working for someone to kill me, but he couldn’t do it, well I think you know how it was with my father, he… he- Bernadetta started to play with her fingers showing that she started to feel anxiety even if he wasn’t even close, Bernadetta remembered everything he did to her. “It’s ok Bernadetta you don’t have to tell me about him, what about your mother, you never speak about her”.
“Oh, my mother? Well, she was always nice to me every time I did everything she wanted me to do, she taught me everything I knew before coming to the Academy,: like cooking, and sewing, she even inspired me to start writing my novels – Bernadetta said while she smiled remembering everything she learned from her mother, but her smile slowly disappeared after she remembers the time during the war.
- But she changed after Edelgard invaded Garreg Mach, when I came back to Varley my father was under house arrest, I was happy, I’m not going to lie it was… calmer during the days, but my mother started to be more possessive, she ordered the maids and butlers to keep an eye on me, even the gardener had to keep an eye on me! – said Bernadetta shouting showing how ridiculous it the situation was.
- I remember your mother became the one who managed House Varley, am I correct? – Felix said paying attention to her.
- Yes, she was, now she was never at home, she became one of the nobles who supported Edelgard the most, she said that we should also claim lands from Gloucester or Hrym, I think if Adrestia won another war would have broken. – said Bernadetta whose face showed disappointment about her nation.
- Do you think she hates me, Felix? – asked Bernadetta who kept her head down it looked as if she wanted to cry, Felix stood up and hugged her, and she hugged him back and said – Do you think they want to start another war? Because of me leaving her behind at Varley?
- Don’t think about that Bernadetta, as you told us back at the Monastery, you weren’t happy there and you decided to come here to Fraldarius, despite being cold. - said Felix trying to make his wife feel a little better.
- Heh – Bernadetta started to laugh at Felix, which confused him.
- What? – Sorry it’s just that it’s not normal hearing you trying to make jokes Felix – Bernadetta kept laughing and Felix lowered his face trying to cover his face which started to turn red, Bernadetta kissed him on his cheek.
- But thanks for trying to cheer me up, and spending time with me, I know you have your obligations as the Shield of Faerghus, keep writing back when you are with Dimitri, ok?
Felix nodded kissing her on her nose and hugging her lighting the mood he could have sworn he saw Bertha spying through the door.
Back in Varley territory present day
- Looks like you two are doing great, but what about you have some kids? – asked Sylvain, which surprised Felix who was still thinking about Bernadetta.
- Don’t force them, Sylvain, not everyone is like you and my sister – said Count Galatea, Ingrid’s older brother. Sylvain wasn’t expecting him to be near them and almost fell from his horse from the surprise.
- Whoa! Hey, make a noise before, won’t you? – “Whatever and where are they? – asked Ingrid’s brother to both men.
- You mean Ingrid and Bernadetta? Well, we were supposed to meet with the leader of Sreng, but she can take care of it, we’ve been working with them for two years now.
Felix wasn’t paying attention to both of them, instead, he kept an eye on Dimitri’s convoy, trying to find if someone acted suspicious, he made a promise to come back, he didn’t like this place, there were no guards, and almost not a single person in the town, it looks like everyone was inside their houses he could see the manor, it was big, but not as defensible as his he saw someone looking through one of the windows.
From inside the manor Lord Varley saw how the “enemy” army was entering his lands, or that’s how he saw them, he wanted them to leave, alone from the wages of war, he knew he didn’t have to let his wife or the former Prime Minister to lead them in this matter of politics, but he had no power, his wife since the war of Unification, didn’t wanted them join the Kingdom, since their daughter is still a captive, or so she says, both of them weren’t so close even when Bernadetta was born or during her time in the manor, Count Gregoire Varley wanted to keep her inside and sent to the school at Enbarr, but his wife made the decision to send her to the Academy at Garreg Mach, at night with some loyal people that only obeyed her, this became a big turmoil inside the Varley lands, the marriage was not happy, the people knew about this from the personnel who worked with the Counts, Count Gregoire was not a popular man within the people, but he made good things for them even before he became a count, but his wife, Count Valerie was a popular woman she was a beautiful woman, but people often talked about her odd likes with animals, exotic ones like the ones who were form Almyra or form the islands of Brigid, it was when the war started that Count Valerie made a strike against her husband, with the aid of Emperor Edelgard and forced him to stay at his manor, and all his power stripped form him, then when Bernadetta left the manor with no one noticing since she was more alike with her father rather than her mother the guards were not watching her, since Count Valerie guards increased and more to keep Count Gregoire inside his room. When they found out about Bernadetta, Count Valerie lost her mind she was so sure that kingdom or Alliance forces took her as a hostage to force them to let the enemy troops pass through her lands, she took it bad, but hoped that the enemy sent a messenger to pay for her rescue, but no one came, day after day month after month, and even a moon passed by, and no message for rescue came, it was until the fort of Merceus fall when she knew that some of the soldiers of Varley who survived the battle reported her that they saw her daughter fighting for the enemy, she didn’t believed them at first, but after the soldiers keep saying that she was a traitor and even attempted to kill her, it was when she lost her mind and the soldiers were executed by her personal guard, she thought that Faerghus stole her and labelled her head to attack her land, her country, so when Hubert asked her to deliver reinforcements for the battle at the capital of the Empire she didn’t even hesitate to send her most loyal and strongest soldiers to aid the empire’s army, but with a special mission to recapture her daughter and send her to her. But they never came back, the war ended and she found out later that they had lost the war, the empire was done for, her little scheme for power doomed, and her forces almost wiped out by the kingdom’s army, she even attempted for her life until some strange mages promised her that she will recover her daughter and everything she was fighting for, more lands, more gains, more power, only that Varley stayed inside the territory of Adrestia with Bergliez and House Aegir with Ferdinand as the leader, she accepted of course.
She only wanted her daughter back, she always claimed that Faerghus was conspirating against her for keeping her daughter away from her, and home, when she found out that she was living in Fraldarius she started to shout that the Kingdom was a bunch of bastards who didn’t knew that Bernadetta hated cold, since she always lived in Varley, how she played with her brother and with that kid who used to play with her. She longed for those days and now had another opportunity to “rescue” her daughter, or that’s what she hoped.

-Oh by the way Felix - said Sylvain pulling him out of his thoughts - Have Bernadetta shown you the secret ingredient she used to put in the food back in the monaster? I've always been curious.
- Oh you mean that? Yes she did I peek over when she cooked and even one fo our maids mentioned it. - Sylvain put a big smile on his face. "So? what is it, c'mon I've always wanted to know I want to try it myself" but Felix decided to get off the horse and went with Dimitri, leaving Sylvain behind who tried to make Felix tell him that secret ingredient.

Chapter Text

Grégoire was looking through his room’s window and saw how the troops of the kingdom were coming to HIS manor, he had a dreadful feeling how did Ferdinand let them come here, how could Ferdinand propose HIS house to be the one to get the dispute over the independent houses in Adrestia, this wasn’t his idea, he only agreed to remain independent since he thought that Faerghus could punish his territory by giving it to Garreg Mach or Gloucester or perhaps the minor lords of Leicester, this was the only way to keep his lands safe. His wife entered his room.

- Well, Grégoire, I hope you are ready, the kingdom’s party is finally here. – “More like the main army- answered Grégoire visibly nervous.

- Oh, stop being a crybaby, perhaps that’s why Bernadetta left us – answered Valerie while she drank a cup of tea. - My fault?!, you were the one who sent her to Garreg Mach, your decision to dismiss the guards the night she fled it’s all your fault and now we don’t know where she is! – shouted Grégoire, Count Valerie remained silent until she finished her cup of tea, and answered him firmly

– She is in Fraldarius, one of the guards of King Dimitri is the Duke of those lands, if I can have a little talk with him I’m sure I can get back MY daughter, made her the new Count Varley and keep our lands safe and leave this stupid coalition! – both counts started to argue about the new possible borders, Grégoire didn’t want his lands stolen by other houses, or worse against the minor lords of Leicester, while Valerie wanted to see her daughter. - If you don’t care about Varley, why don’t you leave for Fraldarius too?! – shouted Grégoire.

- Oh, now it’s my fault? You only care about her crest, that horrible crest, and your ambitions to marry her to the son of the Prime Minister. - I did it because we made a deal after that. - Shut up I want to listen to no more of your nonsense.

Before Grégoire could answer back a butler came into their room “Pardon my intrusion Counts, but everyone is already at the main hall”, “Thank you Ludge, we’ll be down in a minute. Lugh left the room and Grégoire followed him down the stairs to the main hall, while Valerie left because she saw a portrait of Bernadetta as a child. “Hold on my dear, I’ll free you from these cold blood monsters. “I hope this does not you from our real objectives,” said a mysterious figure “Don’t worry your little secret is safe with me, even though my objective is different from yours we need each other to see it come to fruition.” Said Countess Valerie.

Meanwhile, in the main hall, Dimitri entered the room with Felix, Sylvain, and three more men following them, these three men were the responsible ones to witness from the kingdom’s part to check the treaty. Sylvain was amazed by the manor, he started to look around. “Huh, those are a lot of art pieces, hey Felix, do you think Bernadetta made them? I remember Linhardt saying something like that. – Sylvain was excited by everything he saw, but Felix’s expression had not changed since he entered the place, he only hoped that one of the guys who came with them sat next to him and not a member of the Adresitan nobility, all his soldiers were left outside, keeping everyone outside, he saw the nobles of Adrestia reunited; there was the Bergliez, Fenja, the leader of Hresvelg territory and Ferdinand, for a moment he thought Varley wouldn’t come down, but his hopes died when he heard a soldier saying the names of Count Grégoire and Count Valerie, at least he now knows whom to avoid. - Well Felix, ready for this? – said Sylvain, his friend had eyes on the Count and did not answer him.

- Do you believe they know? - I think so, the wife of the Shield of Faerghus is something all the continent knows, or at least our part of Fódlan.

- I welcome you, lords of Faerghus, I am pleased to be your hostess for this day. – said Valerie, while the other lords also introduced themselves, Sylvain, Dimitri, and Felix noticed that Ferdinand remained silent, “I am Ferdinand von Aegir” but no words came out of his mouth.

- Something's odd – said Sylvain, - Yeah, you said that he was dead when we attacked the Bridge of Myrddin. – said Felix

- It’s not that, well it is but, it’s just that he's different. The meeting started with the nobles of Adrestia questioning Dimitri if he wanted to expand his lands and take them by force if needed, he answered that was not the case, he only put soldiers at the frontiers due to some reports indicating a big mobilization of soldiers within their lands, and asked that they didn’t need to worry about a war between them because he wasn’t interested in another conflict.

While the politicians were doing their jobs Felix felt like someone was looking at him, he wondered who was and if they had ill intentions against them, it would not be a surprise since they killed a lot of soldiers of Varley during the siege of Hresvelg, it didn’t take much time when he spotted her, a middle age woman, who had a dreadful look in her eyes, as if she knew who he was, and hated him for no reason, this started to feel uncomfortable for him, he told Sylvain to keep an eye around if there were assassins hidden around the room, and told him if something was out of place.

Sylvain nodded and kept listening while keeping an eye to every corner in the manor, if someone was hiding ready to strike.

Countess Valerie’s POV

He’s finally here, the man who keeps my daughter at Fraldarius, in that cold place, my Bernie would never leave for a cold place like that, not even with a man that looks like that. Countess Valerie thought while she kept staring at Felix, that the Fraldarius symbol on his cape was like a mark of evil for her, she started thinking of what her daughter could have gone through in a cold house in northern Faerghus, Fraldarius is indeed a cold place even in summer since she never visited her daughter or was allowed to leave the territory of Varley, she could only imagine feeding her anxiety, and hearing the complaints of her husband and the plans of the nobles and the scars of war, she saw how many people started leaving the Varley territory to Gloucester or the resurrected House Nuvelle, due to the prices on the market, she even tried to contact some merchants to improve the economic situation of the new adrestian territory or rather the reduced territory of Adrestia.

After Edelgard’s death alongside the Marquis Vestra and Count Bergliez, a few nobles despised the idea of being annexed to Leicester or Faerghus, they even tried to become independent states and become the new leaders of Adrestia, like Varley or the son of Bergliez, however, all of them failed and couldn’t last for a few months, they were about to accept the annexation of the Kingdom of Faerghus, they were surprised when they received the letter of Ferdinand von Aegir, they thought that he died during the assault of the Bridge of Myrddin, but turned out to be alive, it was thanks to him and some strange people that this newly named “Adrestian Coalition” with the promise to remain as the true heirs of Adrestia.

Valerie knew that without an heir the future of House Varley would be lost, that was another reason to rescue her daughter, it was even a petition from Ferdinand leader of the coalition, they must get her back or her lands would be part of Aegir lands and both she and Grégoire sent to jail in Enbarr. Everyone took their seats around the table, Dimitri had Ferdinand in front of him, he had both Felix and Sylvain at his side, Ingrid’s brother was next to Sylvain, and a few soldiers of Ferghus to keep the Faerghus nobles safe.

Ferdinand was preparing some documents and told his men to hand them over to Dimitri and his people. “These are some of our petitions regarding the current situation,” Ferdinand said to the kingdom nobles. They began to read it.

The document reads as follows

• Due to the current crisis on our borders, thieves' attacks from the Faerghus lands from Ordelia territory and the former lands of Arundel, we ask King Dimitri and his forces to keep their borders in check.
• The second petition is to create a demilitarized zone in the Great Bridge of Myrddin in the next 10 days when King Dimitri reads this document.
• Finally, we also ask the return of the people of the Adrestian territory who fled due to the war, commoners and former nobles alike, in addition to this petition we ask the return of the rightful heir of House Varley, lady Bernadetta, who went missing during the war to her parents in Varley, she must be given back through the Great Bridge of Myrddin in Gloucester territory.

Dimitri read every condition the adrestian wanted carefully, he saw Felix’s face grow red in rage, and Sylvain’s face showed distrust, especially towards Ferdinand.

Shouldn’t we accept these conditions, Your Majesty? – said Count Galatea No – said Felix and continued, - I’m not going to give those two, especially that man Bernadetta, she doesn’t want to see him again, he even sent some assassin to kill her during the assault in the capital!

I’m afraid I can’t accept all your conditions Regent Aegir – said Dimitri.

Oh? And what are those you can’t accept? – asked Ferdinand First, there is an issue in Ordelia's territory that must be attended by the leaders of House Gloucester and Ordelia since the heir of the house decided to decline and abolish her noble title, Count Gloucester is still taking control over the lands, but I assure you that these attacks will cease once he has total control over Ordelia, and… for your last request about Varley that is impossible for us to do. You can’t keep my- our daughter away from us! – shouted Countess Varley.

I won’t give away one of our citizens – said Dimitri firmly. Your citizen?! You only have her in an old cabin in your frigid lands! – Lady Varley was losing it, even the new Count Bergliez showed fear hearing Lady Valerie like this.

Hang on – said Sylvain – The reason she can't leave is not that. - said Sylvain but Lady Valeries shouted at him -  Know what exactly?! - shouted Count Varley

Well, Bernadetta is the Duchess of Fraldarius if memory doesn’t fail me, she married three years ago when the war ended. – explained Dimitri.

The court of Adrestian nobles was surprised by the news that the former heir of Varley wed into the second most important and powerful house in Faerghus for three years, that explained why the spies of Lady Valerie couldn’t find her during this time, Bernadetta’s reclusion for once proved to be an asset for her preventing her parents to find her, one cannot get into the Fraldarius manor without being noticed since the guards were always patrolling the surroundings. Lady Valerie was mad, really mad, but Grégoire didn’t show any sign of being angry or disturbed, otherwise, he was surprised that his daughter married someone as important as the Shield of Faerghus, he started to think about how this could benefit him and his lands.

I see – said Ferdinand – well if she can’t come back at least we hope you can return the refugees to their respective homes and families. I must repeat myself, Regent, I cannot kick out my people, even now we don’t know how many people have fled your territory, we are still dealing with transition issues since the end of the war. King Dimitri, I believe you don’t understand the situation, we must have them, the thieves and rogues attacks coming from your territory are a clear sign of threat to us, and if we want to defend ourselves we will do it. -said Ferdinand, suddenly the atmosphere got tense, but before anyone could say anything Sylvain talked.

I propose that we make the civilians decide their fate. – proposed Sylvain. Sorry? – asked Ferdinand Yeah, we sign that we demilitarize the Great Bridge of Myrddin and let the people come from our territory and see their families left in Adrestia, and if they want they can go back to Adrestia or could go back to Faerghus, we could also put some merchants to keep the economy stable between our territories, we don’t need another war Ferdinand specially Adrestia, you guys should also be struggling like us and we still need time to repair for everything that happened during these hard times.

That is an interesting offer – said Count Bergliez – I heard that my brother formed a family with a girl in Goneril, I would like to see him again, and what about you Lady Valerie? Me? I don’t want to leave Varley – said Valerie still in shock – About your daughter, perhaps she can’t come back but at least she could go to Myrddin to say hi. – said Caspar’s brother to her and looking at Felix said – Is that possible Duke Fraldarius? Felix didn’t answer back he was surprised that Caspar’s brother took the initiative, but before he could answer back Sylvain vouched for him.

Yes, that would be a great idea, so what do you think your Majesty? Well, I believe we can agree with those terms, what about you Ferdinand? Can we agree on this one and put aside everything? Ferdinand looked at his people around and everyone, even Count Grégoire shook their heads agreeing with Sylvain, everyone but Valerie who had a blank stare at the table not paying attention to the deal, only nodded with her head, when her husband asked her to say something. Well, I believe we can agree on this – said Ferdinand who stood up and Dimitri came closer and shook their hands.

–A word of caution if I may your Majesty, I suggest you go back to Faerghus through Bergliez lands, the thieves might not dare to attack you there. Thank you Ferdinand I will take care and thank you for doing this – said Dimitri.

And with that, both parties bid farewell and left to their homes. However, after the Kingdom’s forces left Lady Valerie went with Ferdinand who was talking to the Fenja and Menja Viscounts Ferdinand.

I want to speak with you! – shouted Bernadetta’s mother to the regent of Adrestia. Ferdinand ordered the other nobles and asked the guards to leave them alone. There – said Ferdinand – with them gone we can speak freely without anyone noticing Notice what? That you are not Ferdinand but one of those weird people who can shape- she couldn’t finish her line – Don’t shout that here! Then tell me why your people didn’t tell me that my daughter is married to that man! you knew that your promise was the only thing I supported. Your daughter is a recluse, isn’t she? The Fraldarius manor is a castle and only people from there can work for the dukes, there was no one available to infiltrate. However – he continued – there is still a way for her to come to Varley again, well two. And those are? – asked Valerie – Well, first she would have to divorce the duke, even if he died, she would still be the only one capable of leading the Fraldarius territory, and at this point, I believe the people have grown fond of her. And the other one is if the Kingdom and Fraldarius cease to exist.

– Cease to exist? – asked Valerie and continued- but for that to happen there would have to be a war, but we are no capable of defeating the kingdom, maybe Gloucester or Nuvelle, but those Houses are part of the three jewels, if we attack one the other one will start to attack us, even if we defeat one the rest of the kingdom will destroy us. And that’s where my people get in, we are going to help you, but we will need more time for our plan to finally be put in action. – said Ferdinand. And how much? – asked Valerie I don’t know I still have to get the letter from my people, but don’t worry Lady Varley we are not going to fail you.

I hope so, "Regent Ferdinand" and with that Countess Valerie said her goodbyes to "Ferdinand", going back to her room with some of her servants who tried to calm down her.

Chapter Text

Fhirdiad Castle one year ago

Dimitri and Marianne are talking about their newborn child

“And how should we name him?”

“I don’t know I haven’t had the time to think of a name, how about you Marianne?”

Marianne was thinking of a name, while looking at her baby, as well as Dimitri, the castle maids who assisted in the childbirth was happy for the royal couple, finally after so many hardships during the years peace was finally at reach. There was still a lot to do, the new territories must be attended, the resurrection of a House the negotiations with Brigid and Almyra, the ceremony of the anniversary of the end of the war of Unification, and of course to keep an eye for bandits. The Adrestian League of nobles rejected Dimitri’s petition to unify the continent, but he wasn’t thinking about them, at least for now they could wait, he wanted to be with his family in this special moment.

“How about Aidan?” said Marianne

Aidan? I like it, Marianne. Said Dimitri hugging both and looking at his newborn son sleeping in his mother’s arms.

Excuse me, your Majesty? Asked one of the castle guards.

What is it now? Asked Dimitri

Sorry to interrupt; there is someone here who wants to speak about the prince's results.

Is this about if he is a Crest user? Asked Marianne, the soldier nodded, Dimitri told him to let in the doctor.

It doesn’t matter if he has a crest or not, he’s still my son, so don’t worry Marianne.

The doctor came in and got closer to the newborn prince, “excuse me, your Highness” said the doctor to both Dimitri and Marianne, he took some blood from the left arm of the baby who started crying due to the pain, Marianne tried to console him while Dimitri spoke to the medic.

“And what are the results?” he asked, “don’t worry Your Majesty it will only take some seconds to reveal if the prince has a crest, you’ll be the first one to know.”

Dimitri only nodded at the doctor and went back to Marianne and his son, the rest of the castle staff decided to leave the room to get back to regular work, there were only four guards inside the royal bedroom, keeping an eye on any possible threat.

Tell me something Dimitri – said Marianne

What is it, my love? – answered Dimitri

Would you stay with us longer than before? I know that you still look for those mages. – Dimitri wasn’t expecting that she would know about them, were all the allies of Edelgard taken down, or were they sent to the Adrestian League of nobles, he didn’t answer her.

I know it is your responsibility to keep your people safe, promise me that you will be careful, not just for us, but for the people. – said Marianne smiling at him, Dimitri only nodded at her, and they were interrupted by the doctor saying their child's results.

Congratulations my liege, your son has a crest…

Present day

Dimitri? hey Your Majesty! – shouted Sylvain

Huh? Oh, Sylvain sorry I was thinking about something.

Thinking about your family, eh?, I know that look, Ingrid makes fun of me when she sees me with that. I want to see my kids back home too, so don’t worry everyone here does it, even Felix. – said Sylvain with that big smile he always had.

They arrived at Bergliez territory, if they wanted to reach Gloucester, they would have to go through Gronder Valley, they weren’t kind of the idea of going back to the place where many lives were lost during their battle against the Alliance and Empire troops both, Sylvain and Felix both recommended Dimitri to stay there at least for the night. Traveling through the night might be too dangerous and confuse an Adrestian soldier with a simple thief, who might want to target their convoy and steal something from it.

I don’t know what they would aim for, we only have weapons, vulnerary, some torches and concoctions. – said, Felix.

Anything we have is worth stealing Felix, I know that we could simply give it to them, but would you want to give away your shield and sword? – asked Dimitri his friend.

Well of course not, these are family heirlooms, and I won’t give those thieves a Heroes Relic, who knows where it might end, and I don’t think Bernadetta might like that. – said Felix, Dimitri laughed at the idea of Bernadetta yelling at Felix for losing his shield to a simple thief, this, of course, annoyed Felix.

Meanwhile

Are you sure about this Anaximandros? They have more soldiers than us and…

Shut up, just follow the plan and everything will be fine, we only need the blood of those three over there.

I know but, what will we do if they spot us? They mustn’t see us, that’s why she is here – said Anaximandros pointing to one of their allies.

Don’t worry dear, I’ll cast a special fog, it won’t affect us, you must thank Bias for this new cast Anaximandros.

Whatever, we will attack once the fog covers all this field, on your call woman.

Tch, you could be more gentle, but whatever I’ll do it now.

The kingdom’s camp

Felix and Sylvain were taking the first watch with other soldiers. They were talking about their recent meeting with the nobles of Adrestia, what could be their next plan, and finally, about their lives. They took the chance to eat something. They took food from the convoy, meat, and a recently captured fish from their march. Felix took out a satchel that had some spice inside. Sylvain noticed that it was Bernadetta’s satchel.

Hey Felix, isn’t that one Bernadetta’s satchel? – he asked.

Yes, it is. – Felix said taking out two forks and hanging one to his friend.

So here were you two! What are you doing here Dimitri? You should be in your tent with the guards. – said Felix

I’ve been there for too long, I needed some time to relax, isn’t that what you always tell me to do?

Um, I guess we do, but I think now is not a great moment to do it, your Majesty, we are still in unfriendly territory. – said a worried Sylvain. – You don’t even carry your lance!

As you do Sylvain – said Dimitri pointing out at the fork Felix gave him. – I know we are trained for battle, but I don’t think a fork will save you from a thief.

Ugh, I put it there – said Sylvain pointing at his Hero’s Relic resting at the top of a box. – But ignore that, we were about to have some food, wanna join us?

Of course, it’s been a long time since we three ate together.

Dimitri joined his friends at the campfire the army settled, soldiers were guarding, others were eating with them, and the rest were trying to sleep, some recruits were talking to Sylvain who was telling stories about the war days, how they were on the brink of defeat and of course exaggerating in some matters like the way professor Byleth used to defeat a lot of imperial soldiers, the new ones were easily impressed by his tales. Meanwhile, Felix and Dimitri were alone relaxing, eating, and talking about their situation, until Dimitri wanted to speak about another thing.

And how is Bernadetta, Felix?

She’s fine, still trying to adapt to the cold of Fraldarius.

Heh, Marianne also had that problem when she moved to the castle, of course, Fraldarius is colder than Blayddyd territory.

I’ve heard Margrave Edmund sometimes visits her at the castle, right?

Yes, he usually comes to deliver reports about his discoveries on the islands in the north. Oh, and we recently found a lost saint’s weapon.

This piqued Felix’s curiosity. What kind of weapon? An old sword crafted by Saint Macuil, and someone with the crest of Riegan can release the full potential of the sword.

And are you going to send it to Claude? – Said Sylvain

I don’t think so, he gave us his Hero’s Relic so I don’t think a sword will be of any use for him.

Meanwhile

Anaximandros are you sure we can get this through? It’ll not be easy especially here. We only have to take out some guards, once the fog starts we can start our attack.

And what should I do?

You, Dolofonos will help us reach them, take some soldiers, and cause a big commotion we need to separate them if we want to succeed, and you Odesse will summon a beast if you must, we need the blood of those three.

The Agarthans were moving through both death and living trees, which were destroyed during the big battle that took place three years ago, the kingdom’s army hadn’t noticed the shadows moving through the woods, and the night guards were not ready for a surprise attack from the Agarthans.

Hey, Dimitri and how is your son? – asked Sylvain.

He is fine, thank you, and your kids, Sylvain? Last I heard Ingrid gave birth to twins.

Yeah, look an artist painted us in this little picture. – said Sylvain showing the people near the campfire the picture of his family, he was carrying his older son, while Ingrid was carrying the twins, both showing a big smile.

And what are they? – asked Ingrid’s brother

Their both girls, and Ingrid was delighted when she found out.

That’s pretty I only have a toy my child gave me – said a soldier

Suddenly everyone was talking about the family waiting for them to return home.

Somehow Felix felt awkward he had someone who was expecting him, yes, but hearing about their families especially Sylvain who was talking proudly about his children made him happy.

And what is doing your father now Sylvain? – asked Duke Galatea. My old man spends most of his days training, but there are times he visits the grave of my mother and the Gautier soldiers who died defending the Kingdom during the war, before I came, I overheard him talking to Ingrid about the people of Sreng and that he is looking forward for us to achieve peace finally.

I´m glad he found something to do after he gave up his title – said Dimitri.

He even takes care of our children, even if they have no crests, he is a bit disappointed for that, but you know he is.

Suddenly their happy time was interrupted by a soldier's shout.

We are under attack!

A soldier shouted before one of the Agarthans killed him, Dimitri and the rest got up fast and took their weapons, suddenly a fog covered the battlefield, and once again the fields of Bergliez saw a fight, in the middle of the night the kingdom soldiers were trying to defend themselves.

Follow me, soldiers of Faerghus, stay close, and watch everybody’s backs! – Dimitri shouted being followed by his battalion, while Felix and Sylvain went to take their respective weapons who also took command of some soldiers, until they heard a howl and another, before the fog covered their vision Felix saw five wolves going to their convoy.

Sylvain go with Dimitri and take your men with you, the rest of you follow me! Don’t let the wolves come near the convoy, we can’t lose our convoy!

In just a few minutes the fog covered the entire battlefield, the torches aided the soldiers' vision and prevented them from attacking an ally soldier, also their commander Heroes’ Relics shinned with that characteristic red light.

Your Majesty! A mage should be the one causing this fog I’m going to find him.

Understood just keep an eye on the shadows and take some men to cover you.

Duke Galatea left with some soldiers, Dimitri’s soldiers' battalion was nervous, they could hear that some of their allies were being attacked, the clash of swords, lances, and arrows flying through the battlefield, Dimitri saw a black light clashing a kingdom soldier, one was coming to him and before it could strike him, he blocked the attack with his lance.

Meanwhile

Sylvain was having a bad time, the soldiers who had the torches were killed and the flames turned out by their mysterious enemy, his soldiers tried to stay near him the light of the Lance of Ruin was the only thing that calmed them, knowing that their commander was with them he could hear the howls of the wolves far away he knew that Felix was ok, but couldn’t see Dimitri or the light of his lance, the shadows of their enemies had them cornered, suddenly a enemy soldier came out of the fog to attack one of Sylvain’s soldiers he managed to take him out, and when he saw his body he knew that they weren’t thieves.

It's them – he said, after that, he shouted to his men to get out there and search for the rest of their allies.

On the other side of the battlefield, Felix was fighting with the pack of wolves who tried to attack the convoy, who had to take down some soldiers who attacked him, he didn’t pay attention if the enemies were thieves or something worse, his objective was to keep the convoy safe.

Watch out for surprise attacks from the fog and keep an eye on the rocks the wolves might throw at us! – Felix shouted at his soldiers, he put the Aigis shield on his back to protect it from surprise attacks and use both of his arms with his sword he could hear the wolves growling at them, he was paying attention to all the noises, he could hear some footsteps around them he was ready to fight back against anyone, he tightened his grip on the sword and remembered the previous talk of his friends about their families who were waiting for them. I have someone waiting for me back home, I won’t fall here.

Chapter Text

Fraldarius Manor one month ago

Felix woke, he knew he had to go back again to the capital of Faerghus to accompany Dimitri and the rest of the soldiers to keep him safe, the next mission was to visit the Adrestian territory with the League of Nobles who started to make a revolt against the borders of the new Kingdom, he wished he hadn’t had to go, but if something happened to Dimitri and ended up dying there would be another revolt and it would be worse without a leader, and since Byleth the head of the church of Seiros went to Brigid and Dagda with some church soldiers, to achieve peace especially with Dagda and prevent another invasion.

He wanted to reach for his wife, but she wasn’t there, she usually was the one who got up late especially on winter days. He could hear voices coming from downstairs and could smell something good, this motivated him, and stood up to get dressed and join her for breakfast, once he got downstairs, he noticed that the only one there was Bernadetta, not even the personnel were up, he realized that it was just dawn.

Oh, did I wake you up? Asked Bernadetta with a big smile

Your absence was the thing that woke me up, it is odd for you to get up this early in the morning.

True, but I wanted to prepare something for you before you go with Dimitri and the rest, I’ve heard Sylvain is also going with you. – said Bernadetta while she was still cooking, Felix noticed that she also had some ingredients on the table, and her old satchel, he took it remembering their first interaction.

Heh, I see you still have your old satchel

How could I let it go? – she said, she then took it and started remembering their fist interaction.

It was the reason we started talking, you were trying to give it back to me.

And you were always running away from me – said Felix letting out a big smile and continued – and then you used that weird technique to disarm me.

You know that wasn’t a technique it was a defense system for me and you were scary back then Felix!

Perhaps, but after the war began, I even forgot that I had your satchel, I even brought back with me after Garreg Mach fell. – said Felix noticing the name of his wife in the top right corner, suddenly felt a kiss from her on his cheek. What was that for?

It is cute that you cared about my satchel back then. – she smiled, giggling and putting a plate on the table. – Anyways, I prepared your favorite Felix come and join me.

He noticed something weird about her, she was more active than ever, happier as if her natural nervousness suddenly disappeared. She noticed him staring.

Is something wrong Felix?

You’re happier than ever Bernadetta, what’s the occasion? - as he said that she approached him with.

Well, as I said I wanted to help you prepare for your travel to Fhirdiad, and maybe because last night was something nice, wasn’t it? – she said smiling at him, he only smiled back at her and hugged her, she hugged back until they heard Bertha who entered the room surprising both. She said hello and leave them alone to enjoy their meal while she started working upstairs, after both finished their meal Felix prepared his stuff for the long journey to the castle, he asked the manor staff to prepare a horse while he grabbed his Heroes’ Relic shield. Bernadetta joined him with his sword of Moralta and that satchel.

Hey Felix, here is your sword. Take this as well. - she said as she gave the old satchel to Felix.

Why are you giving me your satchel? Didn’t you say that it was special to you?

Yeah, but I noticed that you only take your shield and sword, and this time you're going into Adrestia because the nobles there are making uhm something bad? I think. – she said letting her gaze at the white floor and continued.

And it might be dangerous for you, that’s why I grabbed some vulnerary, concoctions, and even some antitoxin because I know from Ingrid that Sylvain once poisoned an ally by accident since you two were having an archery contest.

We were bored, and he cured after that – said Felix, Bernadetta only looked at him with a disapproval look. Anyways, I even put inside some forks and items for you to eat when you had the chance, now it’s yours I even labelled your name here I doubt any soldier would dare to get something from you. – she said while giving him her old satchel, Felix grabbed them and put it around his body. And please – she continued – try not to get into a fight if someone wants to spar with you, especially Dimitri, I just finished fixing your cape two days ago. – she said while letting go a big sigh.

Don’t worry about that, I think we won’t have enough time to think about sparring especially since we will be in enemy territory. – Felix said, he didn't noticed it but Bernadetta had a worried look after he said that.

Just promise me that you will come back safe. – she said in a serious tone.

Don’t worry Bernadetta the others will be there, and well – he said while letting out a slight laugh and continued – looks like I must get this old satchel back to you.

Bernadetta only laughed and hugged him, Felix was a bit uncomfortable due to the staff members who were present but, decided to ignore them, he suddenly felt that he wouldn’t care if they saw them and kissed her on her lips and told her.

I won’t leave you alone, that’s a promise I made to you, and don’t worry I will try not to punch your father. – he said while she only laughed at the idea.

Just promise me that you won’t lose that satchel it’s now a treasure for both of us. – she said, and Felix put it around him. Got up on his horse and departed to Fhirdiad with some soldiers to reinforce the army, while Bernadetta and Bertha who joined her said goodbye to him.

Present day

Felix was having trouble dealing with the wolves, thanks to the shadows attacking him and his men preventing him from reaching the convoy, he could hear the convoy guards shooting some arrows to the wolves preventing them from attacking it, they tossed some torches at Felix and he quickly gave them to some of his men to help them see more than some shadows, he finally could see the enemies approaching them.

Finally! Now keep them away from the convoy and don’t try to make a useless sacrifice, I’m going to help the convoy guards. – Felix shouted to his soldiers.

Yes, milord! – shouted the battalion leader making an opening for Felix to go and help the convoy.

Meanwhile

My liege! – shouted a panicked soldier – The enemy has surrounded us and some of our torches have already been consumed! 

Dammit! – shouted Sylvain, he searched for an opening or the lights of nearby allies or the relics lights of Dimitri and Felix, but he couldn’t spot them, he saw the forest nearby, so he ordered his soldiers to retreat to the few trees that were untouched by the battles.

He knew it could be a bad decision, but by doing this he and his soldiers could have a slight chance to defeat the soldiers who were attacking them, by separating from the main army he wanted to draw the enemy since fighting a small army and the possibility of taking out one of the kingdom generals could be a great price for them, it was the same tactics his father used once against the Sreng people, little he knew this was the thing their enemies wanted.

Come on soldiers, head to the forest we will draw some of the enemy soldiers within. – commanded Sylvain while he let his men flee inside the forest. Anaximandros who was an spectator of the battle saw Sylvain separating from everyone into the forest.

Heh looks like we managed to corner one of them – he said to Anaximandros.

Good, now do the same to the other one fighting the wolves, I’m going to take care of this one.

Got it – said the agarthan soldier, leaving with some soldiers.

Listen well, you idiots! – shouted Anaximandros – we need this guy alive, eliminate the others if you want, or make them flee I don’t care, leave the one with the relic to me, now hurry! If they kill our mage we will need to leave!

Sylvain and the others were expecting the enemy to attack them; however, they could only hear the shouting of their allies, the wolf's howls, and the shouts of Dimitri, Sylvain wanted to help, but he needed to defeat his enemies and fast. However, they didn’t come, the soldiers holding the last three torches were nervous, they could hear the enemy’s footsteps and how they stepped on the leaves in the ground, Sylvain prepared for them to attack.

C’mon you weird people, come and attack I know you want it! – said Sylvain to himself, he started to pay close attention to the shadows moving until he saw a purple ball heading toward him, he managed to evade it, and then more dark magic attacked them, making his soldiers start running, suddenly, a banshee attack hit Sylvain throwing him to the ground, some of his soldiers noticed this and wanted to aid the margrave, however, Anaxinamdros’ soldiers started attacking them forcing them to retreat. Sylvain started to worry, but those soldiers ignored him and continued to attack his battalion soldiers, he could see what appeared to be the enemy general heading towards him, so he quickly grabbed his Lance of Ruin and started to fight him, however thanks to the dark magic effect of banshee he became slower, making it easy for Anaximandros to evade the attacks, before the effect ended he grabbed his sword and made a parry against the attack of Sylvain which disarmed him, suddenly three agarthan soldiers came out of nowhere and immobilized him, Anaximandros grabbed the Lance of Ruin and throw it away in case Sylvain managed to free himself, he then grabbed a weird artifact that Bias gave him.

This thing is not the same Solon used to get the blood of that child beast, so I can’t assure you it won’t come with some side effects. – he told him as he introduced it to his chest.

The artifact was strong enough to get through Sylvain’s armor and started to collect its blood, he could feel how it left his body, while the weird artifact, which used to be grey started to become red, he wanted to get free, but the three enemy soldiers held him tightly, he suddenly started feeling weak and stopped fighting.

It’s done, if he's lucky enough he will survive this. – said Anaximandros while he gave the artifact to one of the three soldiers.

Hey – said one of them – how about we kill him here, no one will notice it. – as soon as he said that the Agarthan soldiers who kept the kingdom’s soldiers away managed to break through.

Now it’s not the time, you, here take this back to Shambala and deliver it to Bias, the rest of you follow me, time is against us we need to get the other two before our mages are taken out. As he said that they left Sylvain on the floor and fled.

On the other side of the battlefield

Two of the wolves were already taken down, Felix was wounded since he couldn’t see well where his enemies were attacking.

Something’s wrong, these creatures attacked as if they were tacking commands by someone, it isn’t the first time someone has used these solves as a weapon, but this is different. – Felix thought before dealing the final blow on his enemy, the last wolf fell, securing the convoy.

Thank you, Duke Fraldarius, we thought we were going to die there! – said one of the guards.

Don’t mention it, here take some vulneraries it might be useful. – Felix throws two of them to the guards.

Thanks, milord, here! – said one of them giving Felix two torches – it might be more useful for you than us. Felix thanked them and went to help his men.

The soldiers who came with him managed to make the enemy soldiers flee, without taking any mortal casualties, Felix ordered that the wounded should leave for the convoy and wait for the time being.

The rest come with me, we still need to help Dimitri! – shouted Felix, the soldiers shouted: For Faerghus! As they followed Felix, with the lights of the torches they could see better and aided some of the soldiers who were struggling against the enemies, forcing them to retreat, he could see the light from Areadbar, Dimitri’s lance, but he didn’t see Sylvain, but he couldn’t focus on him now, he needed to save Dimitri who was fighting against some soldiers. Suddenly, before they could reach him, two beasts appeared before them, two giant crawlers that created a barrier preventing the kingdom’s army from reaching Dimitri, they started to throw rocks at them, Felix tried to attack them, but as soon as he reached them, they hide inside the earth, and attacking from another direction, some soldiers were affected by the attacks of their enemies, Felix ordered them to shoot arrows.

Meanwhile

Curses! – said Dimitri – these guys just don’t give up, and now there are some giant crawlers attacking someone. Dimitri kept the enemies at bay, he could still see the shadows moving, they wanted to attack from his blind point, but thanks to his battalion who defended him and kept a stout wall preventing the enemies from attacking them. However.

Your Majesty, we need to fall back our weapons won’t last long, and they won’t stop coming – said a soldier to Dimitri, he realized that they have been defending themselves for a long time.

Curses! Where is that mage? Count Galatea should have found him already. – said Dimitri he was starting to lose his patience, he remembered the Tragedy of Duscur, and decided to fall back to a better position, if they could find the rest of his generals they could fight back and force the enemy to flee.

Back with Felix

Felix saw Dimitri running away, he cursed his situation and wanted to get him, but he didn’t want to leave his soldiers alone with those beasts, he tried to take down at least, one is better than two he thought. However. Watch out, my lord! – shouted a soldier from Felix’s battalion.

What the?! – Felix barely managed to block the enemy attack. Not bad Grand Duke of Fraldarius – Dolofonos said and continued to attack Felix, the crawlers emerged again and started fighting Felix’s battalion, keeping Felix and Dolofonos alone to fight.

So, you are the one leading this group – said Felix preparing to fight him.

Perhaps, but I don’t have much time so let’s get over it You won’t come out alive from here – as soon as Felix said that, he started attacking his rival.

I thought you gave up when the emperor died, you seem to have low numbers if you must attack us with such tricks.

I don’t need any tricks to take you down lowly beast – said Dolofonos who was trying to hit Felix’s legs.

He evaded all the attacks, but he could feel that his rival was faster than him. Damn – said Felix angry – am I getting slow? – he couldn’t only block the attacks and wait for an opening. Dolofonos could keep up with Felix’s attacks, even though he had the crest of Fraldarius he could keep up with him. He was faster than Felix, and this annoyed him who wanted to end this, but he managed to calm down and keep up with the duel.

However, his rival is a worthy opponent he could hear his shield sometimes, proof that Dolofonos was about to hit him if not for the Heroes’ Relic that blocked the attacks, Felix didn’t lose his patience and started to analyze his enemy until he found an overture in his defenses and with a perfect blow, he managed to disarm his enemy and taking advantage of the moment, he threw him to the ground. At the same time, they could hear someone shouting.

The mage is down! – that one was Count Galatea; he finally managed to find and kill the mage.3

Looks like your allies are about to lose, perhaps Dimitri would like to speak with you – Felix said as he started to come closer to Dolofonos and readied his sword – but I won’t, a mere soldier will have to fill that role. But, before he could deal the final blow an archer shot a poisonous arrow to Felix at his right leg, he let out a big shout that Dimitri could hear, and he tried to find his friend dealing with some beasts and enemy soldiers alike. Then some soldiers emerged from the fog and immobilized Felix just as they did with Sylvain.

You could have appeared sooner – said Dolofonos who stood up and took the weird artifact.

And this? – said Dolofonos as he took Felix’s satchel Hey, give that back! – shouted Felix wanting to get out of the grip. Dolofonos didn’t hear and he tore the satchel apart letting the items that were inside fall. You! I’m going to- Felix couldn’t finish his line when he felt something piercing through his chest.

Yeah, whatever – said Dolofonos as he started to collect Felix’s blood. Felix wanted to fight back but he started to feel weak, seeing his blood being drained started to make him fear for his life, he saw the satchel his wife gave him, torn apart by the weird sword his opponent had, but, before he falls unconscious an agarthan soldier shouted.

Watch out! – shouted one of the soldiers who kept Felix immobilized before the Lance Areadhbar pierced him through, letting Felix punch Dolofonos with his right arm, breaking through from his attackers and starting to fight them with his shield. He started with Dolofonos and could land two hits on his face, his rival only screamed in pain while the other two attacked him from behind, one of them managed to hit Felix on his right leg, but he didn’t care and hit him in the head in retribution. Felix was furious and even attacked with his free hand when he had the opportunity, Dolofonos couldn’t aid his companion and took the artifact with the blood he could get and got teleported away.

The fog started to dissipate Anaximandros in a last effort to gain Dimitri's blood took a chance to introduce it into his neck, even though he succeeded, Dimitri quickly punched him in the face, breaking his nose.

It’s over, retreat! – he ordered Oddese who took the artifact with almost nothing from Dimitri’s blood and teleported away from the battlefield, but not before leaving more wolves, crawlers, and even some hawks to deal with the kingdom’s army.

Everyone, prepare yourself. We still haven’t finished yet, so let them come and be careful! – shouted Dimitri. But before they could prepare to engage their foes, they started to attack someone else, an unknown army appeared from behind the beasts and started to defeat all of them, and as soon as they were finally taken down Dimitri asked his soldiers to identify the unknown army.

I think I recognize that banner – said one of the soldiers.

That’s the banner of a mercenary unit! – Shouted Count Galatea, the other army approached them and laid down their arms.

Halt everyone! -said a woman who oversaw these mercenaries, as she came to the front Dimitri could identify her. Leonie?

Heya your Majesty, it looks like we were just in time.

You know this woman your Majesty? – asked Count Galatea She is Leonie, a former classmate back in Garreg Mach and a great ally during the war, she is the wife of Count Gloucester.

Yep, that’s me, but let’s leave formalities for later your Majesty, we need to take care of your wounded.

Ah, yes… wait, Felix! – shouted Dimitri as he went back to where Felix was. Felix was trying to stand up, but he couldn’t. He grumbled as he put his hand on his chest.

Felix, are you okay? – asked Dimitri who aided him to stand up.

No, I don’t know, that thing they put inside me hurts, it feels like it’s burning inside. – he said as he laid down again trying to feel less pain. He reached for the satchel and the antitoxin and drank it; he gave one to Dimitri. You should take a sip, just in case that thing was poisoned.

Don’t worry Felix I’m sure that- Dimitri couldn’t finish as he started to cough.

You, okay?

Yes, there’s nothing to worry about, I’m just tired.

Your Majesty! – a soldiers shouted. Calm down soldier, what happened?

It’s the margrave! He is not responding! Dimitri said nothing as he started running following the soldier to Sylvain’s position, leaving Felix behind, and collecting the pieces of what was left from the satchel.

If I see that guy again, I’m going to finish him! – he thought, he was not only angry but disappointed in himself for letting a simple arrow defeat him, the satchel was torn apart, but he think it might be repaired, at least he doesn't need to show Bernadetta what happened.

Meanwhile

Dimitri finally reached where Sylvain was, Leonie was already there checking up on Sylvain with Count Galatea.

Don’t worry Dimitri – said Leonie – he is alive, but…

He is weak, look at him he's pale – said Ingrid’s brother who was curing his allies with white magic.

We must take them to Gloucester and quickly! Leonie, could you guide us? – asked a worried Dimitri.

That’s why I’m here for Your Majesty, you can put your wounded in the convoys we brought. The group of Leonie helped Dimitri’s group carry the wounded soldiers and carry the ones who died. This is horrible – said Count Galatea after aiding Felix to get up in their convoy.

What? – he asked

We haven’t suffered this many casualties after the attack of the Dukedom against the borders at Fraldarius, ah, sorry. – he said after remembering that it was Felix he was talking to.

Don’t worry I thought that we were going to be defeated at the time, but at least we prevented a war here.

Prevented? – said the count angry.

The League attacked us!

Those guys weren’t part of the League – said Felix.

Huh? Then who were they, Duke?

When we first fought them during our academy days, we only called them “weird” mages, since they could change their original forms to the ones of a human. – he explained

What? They can do that, and you think the Adrestian League are all these “wierd mages”?

No, most of them are humans, all but Ferdinand – he said, and he felt a pain in his chest.

Rest now Duke, it’s a long way until we reach Gloucester lands.

Meanwhile

Say, your Majesty – asked Leonie Please, Leonie, you can call me by my name – said Dimitri to her.

I could but Lorenz asked me to refer to you as your title, you know how he is.

Dimitri only laughed followed by Leonie.

Oh, Lorenz, even after getting married he is still the same.

Yeah, but he’s less of… well, himself.

But, how did you know where we were Leonie?

Oh right – she said as she took a letter from one of her bags and gave it to Dimitri.

Marianne asked us to send a party to Adrestia and look after you, she said there that something wrong could happen to you. And since we are a mercenary unit in disguise, those Adrestian nobles can’t say anything to us.

Wow, she looks worried – said Dimitri as he read his wife's letter.

It’s cute that she is worried about all of you, she became the queen of all Faerghus, and she even mentions Felix and Sylvain, I expected Felix but Sylvain, wow. Sylvain once tried to hit on her and was attacked by Ingrid… again.

Hah, I don’t know how Ingrid can stand that, I always thought that she did that because she was jealous that he was hitting on everyone, did you know that he even tried to seduce Yuri?

Yuri? The leader of the people beneath Garreg Mach? – he said in disbelief of what he was hearing. Leonie affirmed with her head because she was laughing remembering that.

Well, I don't think it's the first time for him to be confused with a woman. – said Dimitri who looked back at the convoy and saw his friend still sleeping. How is he? – he asked the healer inside.

Looks like he is stable your Majesty, I think he will survive this. - said the healer while she kept an eye on Sylvain and using her magic to heal Sylvain's wounds.

Dimitri, where’s Felix?

He might be in another convoy, why?

I just wanted to know how Bernadetta is, I remember that she disliked the cold, or at least that’s what Mercedes told me.

She’s doing great, the people of Fraldarius have accepted her as their leader, it wasn’t easy for her the cold of Faerghus was a real problem since she was used to Varley’s climate, and she was the first noblewoman from the former empire to marry someone from our kingdom. Felix always comes with us when I go out to keep the kingdom in check.

That’s why I wanted to speak with him Dimitri – said Leonie with a serious face.

What’s that? - he asked with a confused look.

You have seen how Marianne was so scared of losing you that she sent us here to help, you have a son too you know? I mean, I also explore the lands searching for thieves, but always make time to spend with Lorenz and my son, but you are always outside the castle and Felix comes to help you since he doesn’t want to lose another friend. – she paused to look at Dimitri who was looking at the other side and continued.

I know that the League started to make weird things at our borders, but we could have done this diplomatic mission in your stead Dimitri, you know that Lorenz wasn’t happy that you didn’t ask for his aid and said that you must have stayed at the castle resting.

C’mon Leonie you know I can’t do that.

I think that too! – she said almost shouting. – Sorry Dimitri, but what would have happened if all of you died there? Sylvain has his children, and you have a son who will become king someday, but what about Bernadetta, she has no children, and her family is part of the Adrestian League. What would have happened if they ask you to give her back? – as she said that Dimitri only thought of the idea of giving one of his people to another country, specially someone with an important role inside the kingdom.- I know that you consider all of us as your people since you are a king and all of that, but.

Dimitri kept quiet and started to think about the situation, he looked back at his unconscious friend and Felix, who was also weak. Dimitri exhaled - You're right Leonie, I’m sorry, I didn’t want them to look like we were ready to invade them, I don’t want another war, it has been just two years since the other one ended.

I know that you don’t want more kids to grow up without their parents, but remember that everyone will help you, and perhaps a war with them and their "friends" is inevitable, Lysithea talkd with us but...

Lysithea? I thought she was dealing with the process of giving the territory of Ordelia to you. - said Dimitri.

Yes, she was but- Leonie couldn't finish Dimitri saw a sad expression on her face - Leonie? - asked Dimitri worried - what happened to Lysithea, is she okay?

No Dimitri, she just passed away.

What? - said a surprised Dimitri. - but she gave me a report about her territory two moons ago before my departure!, what happened?!

Lorenz can tell you about that, he was the last person she speak to, I'm sorry.

Dimitri was surprised to hear about Lysithea's death he knew that she was with Cyril and was receiving aid from Linhardt about her condition that's what her report said, now that he can think about that he hasn't received a word from neither of them.

And what about Cyril and Linhardt? 

Cyril was asked to go to Almyra by petition of Lysithea, he didn't wanted to go but since she was so insistant he ended up going there, and Linhardt... well he went to investigate something in Ordelia's territory, however that was like a moon ago and we haven't received nothing from him. I started to think that he went to Goneril to get aid from Caspar.

Well, I must speak with Lorenz if I want the full report about Lysithea.

Yeah, sorry your Majesty, I wish I knew more about what happened.

Don't worry Leonie, but, please we are friends you can call me by my name. Except when we are with Lorenz.

Ha! Yeah, he will be so mad if I call you by your name in his presence. Oh and, why don't you go to sleep I'll wake you up when we reach Gloucester. 

I will, thanks Leonie.

Dimitri went to the back of the convoy, and said goodnight to the healer who was still checking Sylvain, he was worried about his friend, he was still in the same condition when they found him, but above else he started to feel strange, he felt weaker, but he thinks its due to the battle he fought just some hours ago, so he just closed his eye and went ti sleep.

Chapter Text

Gautier territory one month ago

Sylvain and Ingrid were getting ready to go to their respective missions.

So, you have everything? 

Yes! I think everything’s ready for me to go now.

I’m glad, Ingrid. Remember that he likes to fight, so you might want to take your Heroes’ Relic.

Ok, but, what about you Sylvain?

You don´t have to worry about me I’m going to take a few soldiers since we are taking most of the soldiers from the capital.

And what about Felix, is he coming too?

Yep, he won’t leave Dimitri behind especially now that we are entering for the first time in two years in Adrestia again.

Ok, just be careful Sylvain, and promise me that you will keep Felix safe, you know he never says no to a fight.

You can count on me dear; he won’t get into trouble.

I hope so, and you as well, remember that your son’s birthday is in two months.

Of course, and after we come back we will have achieved perpetual peace… at least with Sreng.

They kept talking to each other regarding their missions and Sylvain suggested to make a party for his sons inviting their friends to celebrate to lease the tensions regarding the adrestians.

Are you both ready now? -said an old man with red hair

Hi father, yes we are, how are our kids?

They are still sleeping, those four surely like to sleep.

Sylvain and Ingrid smiled at that, while the old Margrave only hummed with a stern face looking at them.

Come on, Father. Put a smile from time to time it won't hurt you. After all, you don’t have the opportunity to achieve peace with everyone in just one month.

Whatever kid, get ready already, I must speak with your wife.

Me? – said a surprised Ingrid

Don’t worry Ingrid, ok ild man I’m going ahead now.

Suit yourself.

Sylvain left the room and closed the door, but he put his ear at the door to hear what his father wanted to tell Ingrid.

Listen, Ingrid, I know that you two don’t mind that your kids don’t have crests, so I hope that you can achieve peace with the people of Sreng.

Don’t worry, sir. I also want to establish a friendly accord between our nations. Even King Dimitri has given his approval on this matter.

I know, and I hope that you both can do what I couldn’t do in my time.

Thanks margrave-um- Ingrid was nervous, Sylvain’s father was an imposing figure, yet so calm. But his non-changing expression could intimidate anyone, Ingrid couldn't tell what he was thinking.

Please, call me by my name Ingrid – he said trying to calm her down.

Yes, sorry um sir Mathias – she said recovering her posture.

Besides you two have already made something that I couldn’t.

And what could that possibly be um, Mathias?

Having a lovely family, you see I couldn’t have that with Miklan and Sylvain, those two never got along well, and at the end Miklan was killed by his own people – he said with a crisp of sadness in his voice.

I understand, but don’t worry you can win your grandsons while both of us are away.

Heh, you have done something great with those kids, especially since you had triplets.

Oh, please don´t remind me that, it was quite difficult during the labour day. - Ingrid said as she touched her belly rememebering the labour day.

Well, I won’t take more time from you and Sylvain. - he made a pause looked at the door and saw a shadow below raising his voice knowing who was behind the door.  Who is at the door hearing and not doing his job! – he said increasing his voice volume scaring both Ingrid and Sylvain, who ran away preparing his horse and men to go to Firdhiad.

That boy - said Mathias looked back at Ingrid and with a look of pity said. - Hope they are not the same as him.

Modern Day

The kingdom army had finally reached the Great Bridge of Myrddin in Gloucester territory, as usual since the end of the war, there were a different type of merchants who put their stores on the bridge, and many people from the former Alliance and the kingdom came here to buy various stuff, of course, the military presence in the zone was formidable, patrols, some towers were built to keep an eye on the market with archers there to protect and prevent any thief from escaping, and of course, since the bridge was part of the frontier with the Adrestian League there were soldiers to keep an eye on the former empire territory.

Now that he had rested, he noticed that inside the convoy was a lot of stuff a merchant used to carry, like some boxes with supplies, weapons, materials for forging, and even some concoctions, he got curious and looked inside a box, but he found out it was empty.

Are you hungry your Majesty? – asked the healer inside the convoy.

Ah! I'm sorry. I thought you were asleep, said Dimitri, closing the box, putting it back in its place, and continuing, "Why? Do you have these boxes empty?"

Well, Lady Leonie didn’t want to tell the guards at Myrddin that we would look for you, so we dressed up as merchants and the mercenaries as guards. Mercenaries are not considered soldiers, and if some Adrestian asked, we could always say that they were our guards. – said the healer as Dimitri noticed that all the boxes were empty.

Looks like Leonie is not the only one who I must thank for this – thought Dimitri

We are about to reach Gloucester, your Majesty! – shouted Leonie from the outside, Dimitri poked his head out looking at the gates separating Adrestia and Gloucester, Leonie asked him to get inside again until they got inside.

Dimitri did as she asked. He heard the guards talking to Leonie while she did this. He looked back at his friend, who was still sleeping. He looked calmer now, considering how he was when they found him. He wondered if Felix was in the same condition.

Meanwhile

Felix woke up again, it was the fifth time he woke up during the night and he could see that they had reached their destination since the convoy stopped moving and could hear Leonie talking to someone, he watched the injured soldiers who tried to sleep, at least they only had normal injuries and not being pierced through their chest with a weird artifact, he thought about the ones who got killed during the ambush, he was mad that more people had to die due to the adrestian allies.

“Heh, yes, allies”, said Felix about the irony of the same guys who brought the decline of the adrestian empire, the same ones who kidnapped Flayn and that horrible experiment in Remire.

Felix? – asked a female voice from the outside, she lifted the cloth letting the sunlight illuminate it inside, they could hear the soldiers growing due to the light.

Leonie? – he asked while he lifted his hand to block the light from the sun.

Yes, it’s how are you?

It still hurts, but it’s not that serious.

Are you sure? When I found you, you barely could walk.

Yes, I know – He said as he groaned again due to the pain he felt again.

Yeah sure, I’ll get a healer from the infirmary, just wait here and please don’t get out.

Wait! – He wanted to know why he couldn’t leave the convoy, but Leonie already left.

Don’t worry milord, at least we arrived here alive! – said one of the injured soldiers.

Yeah, once we recover, I will train to give those guys a proper payback back in Adrestia. – said another soldier.

Once they let the convoys in, Leonie and her soldiers went straight to the infirmary. Dimitri could see through a hole how the Bridge of Myrddin had changed since his last visit. There were a lot of merchants and people buying and selling different kinds of items, from tea leaves to different kinds of jewelry, food, clothes, and even artists painting portraits.

When they reached the building, Leonie tried to get inside the injured soldiers without the people noticing them, while they were getting the soldiers inside, they also got down the empty boxes, until they managed to get everyone inside, Dimitri was a big problem due to his height and clothes everyone could recognize him, he had to leave his armor leaving only his clothes.

I hope that Lorenz has a good reason for all of this. – said, Felix.

Sorry, Felix just believes in him once we reach the manor you will get your answers.

Gloucester manor

Inside the manor, Lorenz was looking through the window. From his manor, he could see the Bridge of Myrddin. He wondered if Leonie and her group had managed to recover Dimitri and the rest of his soldiers. He heard one of his servants coming from behind.

Count Gloucester? – said one of the maids – is something the matter? You haven’t touched your tea.

It’s ok, just thinking about Leonie that’s all. – he answered without looking away from the bridge.

She will be fine, her mercenary soldiers used to be members of Jeralt’s mercenaries, didn’t they?

I’m worried about her, yes, alas I am more concerned about His Majesty and the rest of his men, if something like Duscur occurs now our future might not be as bright as I thought it would be.

He heard a cry coming from the maid who was carrying his son.

Please little one, your mother is fine – said the maid trying to comfort the infant, Lorenz turned back and went to take his son from the maid’s hands.

I want to save our people from any harm, I did not foresee that a thief could steal his body and position and threaten the peace of Fódlan again… that’s not what a noble does. – he said as he again stared at the image of Myrddin.

Lysithea – Lorenz said the maid could hear a crack in his voice – I just hope that you were right, and I hope that Cyril can convince him to aid us soon.

Lorenz kept a keen eye for any movement in the plains that surrounded the manor, he also saw the outpost that kept Gloucester and Myrddin apart, but, with the new lands gained after Acheron’s death they needed more soldiers and resources to keep the land safe, now with the new lands from Ordelia after all its members were death, he was thinking a way to keep them at bay and building a new fortress? Perhaps, but that could trigger the Adrestians to attack them or to take this as a provocation, this “new” Ferdinand is someone he doesn’t know, and the constant disappearances of his people and from the lands of Goneril have caused commotion.

“Milord?" said the maid, trying to get Lorenz's attention. He was still thinking of possible solutions for this mess. She touched his arm, trying to distract him; this seemed to work.

Ah, sorry Emma, what is it?

Lady Leonie is coming, look. – said Emma pointing her finger to a solitary convoy coming to the manor, he saw Leonie getting off from it, as well as Dimitri and Felix.

Lorenz expected to see Sylvain, but as he noticed that he wasn’t with them he thought the worst.

“Curses!" said Lorenz. Here, Emma, he is sleeping now. I’m going to meet our visitors and see what happened at Adrestia.

Outside the manor

Good day, Lady Leonie, said one of the guards at the manor. As soon as he noticed Dimitri and Felix with her, he and the rest rushed to greet the king. "Your Majesty! Welcome to the Gloucester manor."

Thanks, soldier, where is your lord? – he asked.

Right here your Majesty, said Lorenz getting out of the manor he got near Leonie.

“Looks like you managed to get them in time” – said Lorenz kissing her.

No biggie, there were some troubles there and almost everyone here.

We suffered some casualties, however. – said Dimitri with grief in his voice.

I see Sylvain is not with you, is he dead? – said Lorenz with a serious tone.

No, he is alive, but greatly wounded. – said Felix

Lorenz let go a big sigh of comfort knowing they didn’t lose a general during their combat back at the Adrestian-controlled territory.

I’m glad to hear some good news, now, please come in we have some matters to discuss I hope. – said Lorenz inviting his guests to come inside the manor.

The people working inside the manor have never been so efficient before, having two of the most important people like the king of Faerghus and Duke Fraldarius meant that some important things had transpired. Lorenz let everyone inside his studio and only let Dimitri, Felix, and Leonie, asking his staff not to interrupt until they got out.

Good, looks like we are finally alone – said Lorenz paying attention to any noise coming outside the room.

What’s going on? – asked Felix – since we arrived both of you haven’t told us why all this secrecy.

That’s because of me, Duke Fraldarius. I asked Leonie not to disclose any information regarding Lysithea and her last words.

So, it is true then. -said Dimitri and proceeded – how did she die Lorenz? Did someone kill her?

No – she passed away here with us at the manor. – said Lorenz

Her last words were more of a warning rather than some parting words. – said Leonie.

Yes, said Lorenz, keeping his serious tone. "Look, I don’t know if this also happened in Fraldarius or any house in Faerghus territories before the war. But I received a letter from Constance stating that some of her people in Nuvelle had disappeared."

Felix and Dimitri looked at each other, and they knew that this wasn’t the first time they had heard something like that.

You mean like what happened to Monica, right? – said Felix

Correct, and I think you know what is happening here at Gloucester. I believe that some of their people are among my staff, Leonie tried to search for any clue, but it was fruitless.

After saying this the room was silent, Felix tried to remember if something like this was already happening in Fraldarius or any other territory in Faerghus.

Has any other house reported something like this, Lorenz? – asked Dimitri.

Only one – said Leonie looking at her husband, he affirmed with his head and spoke.

Ordelia, it was Ordelia.

How many people are we speaking of Lorenz?

According to Constance, only five people have been reported missing. At Gloucester, some merchants told Leonie that some of their members were acting weird and different as if they had changed their personalities from one day to another.

What do you think they are trying to do Dimitri? – asked Felix.

Probably to find a way to weak our most important houses, Gloucester is the biggest and has almost all control of the merchants, Nuvelle has become a place where great magicians are born… and you Felix, your house is the one to produce our strongest warriors, if Adrestia would want to attack us they would be forced to attack Gloucester or Nuvelle.

Or if they are mad enough going for Garreg Mach through Varley. – said Leonie.

Speaking of Varley – said Lorenz – your wife is originally from that house isn’t her Felix?

Yes, and I can see why Bernadetta was afraid of the idea of going back after the war. – said Felix remembering the meeting with them.

About that, your Majesty, what happened there, what deal have you both agreed to? – asked Lorenz curious about what happened at Varley.

They have promised to keep their soldiers at bay if we do the same at Myrddin, and, they have asked to hold a meeting there and bring all the adrestian who have fled since the end of the war.

What? They expect us to find everyone? – asked Leonie surprised at the absurd request.

We would have to search through the whole continent and what about those who crossed to Almyra or other places, we can’t ask their governments to bring them back.

I believe there’s an ulterior motive for this, isn’t it Felix? – said Lorenz.

Felix groaned; he knew what Lorenz meant by that. “Yes, Berni­—, Bernadetta’s parents want to get her back. It looks like they think that we lured her to our side and that she was being held captive in Fraldarius.” Felix said, explaining the situation to the others, However, Leonie and Lorenz smiled at each other when Felix corrected himself before he said his wife's nickname, which almost everyone used back then.

“They must know that their house is on the verge of collapse; without an heir, other nobles will likely claim that territory for them. I believe that there’s a possible heir in Fenja,” said Lorenz, trying to remember if there was an actual heir to Varley if something happened to Bernadetta.

“Wait, I think you are confusing names again, Lorenz. It’s Menja, not Fenja,” said Leonie.

“Not this time, my beautiful wife.” He said with his “noble” tone. “Menja and Fenja indeed used to be the same territory, but it was separated due to an internal fight between the families”. Said Lorenz, and Leonie put her hand on her face, annoyed about the hard history of the former Empire nobility.

“Ugh, I’ll never understand your noble way of thinking, Lorenz. I’m married to you, but I still can’t understand your urge to have a little more power.”

“Hold it right there,” interrupted Felix. “Then the only reason they want Bernadetta back is because a noble from a minor house can become its heir?”

“More likely, Duke Fraldarius, unlike you and the rest of us, we have good relations with those other possible heirs to our house, aside from that one from our friend Balthus, however Varley and both Menja and Fenja are not in good relations, I believe that they aren’t happy for not being included in the new form of government.” Lorenz made a pause and proceeded.

“Also they are minor nobles, and Varley was part of the bigger families in Adrestia. Being knocked out from a minor house such as them it must be quite humiliating for them.”

“And after you telling them that her daughter is married to you, it means that the Kingdom can put pressure on them by not letting any heir you two produce,” said Leonie, Felix looked annoyed, this talk remembered back when his father talked about political marriages, however this time was different, it was about his wife, someone he swore to protect.

“And how do you think they can force Bernadetta back to Varley?” asked Dimitri, who was quiet until now.

“They might want to weaken Fraldarius. You should be careful from now on, Felix,” said Lorenz with a worried look on his face. Felix asked why he should be, and Leonie said that they might want to send assassins to kill you.

“But even if they succeed,” said Dimitri. “Bernadetta can decide to stay in Fraldarius as their Duchess; she is respected by her people and the rest of the kingdom, but we should start talking about what we are going to do with the bridge,” said Dimitri, ending the discussion about the situation of the Varleys.

Chapter Text

Shambhala

“Heh,” chuckled a woman in front of some injured soldiers.

What are you laughing at, Agatha? – replied one of the flustered soldiers.

Oh, nothing. You were so self-confident that you would come back and defeat the king of Faerghus and his generals. Not only did you fail to defeat one of them, but you almost got killed by a mere soldier. – said Agatha, who was treating the rest of the soldiers.

Too much talk for someone who can’t cast something more than mere fireballs – said a now-enraged Dolofonos.

Agatha chuckles at his response.

And the only one who has the patience to treat your wounds, so be a good boy and let me cure you grunt! – she said to him.

"You may be under the orders of Anaximandros, but remember that I have a higher rank than you."

“If you two have finished your meaningless talk, then you could continue with your actual job, Agatha, or I’ll have you train with the Titanus, " said an annoyed Anaximandros.

Agatha stopped her teasing with Dolofonos and continued with her work, tending to the injured soldiers. They focused on a door open where Bias and Odesse came through.

“Well, I see that we suffered a blow within our ranks. I knew that going after the king was extremely dangerous. Alas, I hope you managed to get at least the blood of one, Anaximandros.” Said Bias expecting to receive something.

Anaximandros threw at her a weird artifact with the blood of Sylvain, followed by Dolofonos and another agarthan who gave her the others with the blood of Felix and Dimitri.

“We couldn’t complete the other two with their blood; they took out our triumph card before we could,” Said Anaximandros. Bias was examining the quantity inside the artifacts.

"Well, I guess this little blood is from the king, from whom you got the most?"

The red-haired guy,” Said Dolofonos, “he wasn’t that hard to defeat, but the Fraldarius guy, he was fast. If it wasn’t for the king’s intervention, we could have achieved our mission.”

“Odesse, take these three to my lab, and please be careful. I want to use it with our test subjects.” She said with a smile on her face.

“Do you still have some of them?” asked Anaximandros

“Of course, I knew that we didn’t need to kill all of them, plus one of them has a crest, heh, and he is from the former empire.

“Now that we have all that you needed, Bias,” asked Agatha, “What is the next part of our plan? I know that you have received the news that our little camp in Leicester was a failure, and I think that our little outpost in Faerghus is going to suffer the same fate.”

“Why do we have some people at Faerghus? Which part? Demanded Anaximandros.

“Well, while you were doing your field activity at Gronder, we sent a little group to Fraldarius.” Bias said, the group that survived the battle against the kingdom forces was surprised, especially Anaximandros.

“Fraldarius!?” shouted Anaximandros, getting up and approaching Bias, who was prepared to defend herself, casting dark magic with her left hand. “Hold back, it wasn’t me who gave the order,” she told him.

“Then who was it?!” Shouted Anaximandros at Bias. Who was ready to answer, but a voice came from outside the door. “Because it wasn’t her decision, it was mine,” said Ferdinand, or at least the agarthan impersonating him.

Gloucester manor

“It’s clear that our enemy is a step ahead of us,” said Lorenz.

“And the worst is that we can’t do anything now, that is annoying,” said Leonie with a concerned face looking at the floor.

The room felt silent. No one wanted to speak, and they could only look at the floor or stare at nothing, thinking about what to do now. Dimitri stood up and said to Lorenz.

“You will need to strengthen your borders, Lorenz. prepare for anything when they want to attack at the bridge; we can afford to lose it.” Lorenz was concerned that he could easily give away the bridge against their enemy.

“Your Majesty, you know I won’t say no, but I must ask, the reasoning behind this?”

“I know how it sounds, however,” answered Dimitri, and continued, “You will receive reinforcements from House Goneril and the territory of Riegan. We don’t have to worry about being attacked from three fronts now. I’ll go to seek aid from Seteth and the Knights of Seiros to help us protect your northern borders and strengthen their presence in Ordelia.”

“Having the front of Gloucester well protected will force them to try to attack from the north, Dimitri,” Felix said

“Besides if we do it now, we will have a better way to keep the peace between us, even if the nobles of Adrestia want to attack, not all of them have the approval of their people, especially Varley and the Fenja and Menja regions, the houses of Bergliez and Aegir are the ones who can have a competent army, I know this because the people who have left the Adrestian League of Nobles territory come from those.”

The men were talking about how to keep peace with the Adrestian League, Leonie couldn’t shake the irony of how the new government of Adrestia works exactly as the old Alliance used to, always having problems between all of them because of the interests of others, with the only difference that all of them have the same objective, to restore the might of their nation after the dead of the emperor.

Meanwhile

Are you sure we can afford to do this, Lady Varley? Asked a young man. He looked like Caspar, but he was even shorter than him, and of course, he didn’t look as strong as his younger brother nor his late father.

“You know Bergliez men want to take revenge after the death of their general, my father who fell during the defense of the imperial capital”.

“I know that your father died, young Bergliez, and that your family suffered greatly during this war,” said Valerie, watching from the top of the old Mitellfrank Opera House building, which suffered low damage from the assault of the Kingdom army led by Dimitri. The top of Mittelfrank had a big portrait of Dorothea, the songstress who helped to evacuate children and other divas from the Opera House and died fighting against the invading army, or at least that's what the League of Nobles said after the people found her body near the entrance of the opera house.

“Many Bergliez fought at the front lines. An uncle I had with his sister were among the first ones to die fighting that monster. My brother betrayed us one night and fled to Garreg Mach. My father was mad, of course. A Bergliez fleeing from fighting their enemy and hunting thieves was something he hated the most.” Said the young man. His hand turned into a fist, and he punched the fence below him.

“I know your feelings, young one. That thing happened to me, too. My dear daughter left one night only to be seen assaulting your fields at Gronder.” Lady Varley, sighing slightly, remembered how she found out after returning from the capital one day, only to be informed that her daughter was gone. Caspar’s brother interrupted her memories and brought her back.

“But didn’t you say you wanted to return her with you? asked him

This led the countess to frustration, punching the fence too.

“Of course, I want her back. I can’t stand the people of Faerghus; I still don’t know why she left for that place!” shouted Lady Valerie. She cried so hard that the people below heard her.

“Better not shout too loud, Countess Varley. We should go inside if you want to let out your frustration without people seeing you lose control,” said Count Bergliez, but Valerie shook her hand at him while the other covered her face.

“No, it’s ok, it’s just that… ugh!” she whined while she let her body rest on the fence below her. Caspar’s brother only stood beside her, waiting for her to recover her composure.

“Sorry, you probably don’t know, but my daughter’s life was in danger once, it was a long time ago, you see she made friends with a boy we hired to clean the garden, I knew that Gregoire didn’t like her daughter to have commoner friends, but I just ignored that because she looked so happy playing around with him. But one day, I found out that he got killed by our guards because Gregoire found out that he was an assassin to kill Bernadeta. Why did he want to do that? I don’t know and I don’t like not knowing things, so I investigated who was this kid and he was from the Kingdom, and since then Gregoire became more strict with her and I couldn’t do anything to save her from him, that’s why I sent her to Garreg Mach, arranged everything and wished that she met a good man there, perhaps the Vestra, Aegir or even the Hevring boy to protect her from her father, but no, she ended up marrying a noble from Faerghus, the same guy who came and destroyed our Empire killed our emperor and taking away my daughter to that frigid place in northern Fraldarius, I-I don’t even know if the sun comes out there!”.

“Sorry to hear that, Lady Valerie, but don’t worry. After Ferdinand arranges the meeting with the Kingdom, you’ll be able to see her again and possibly agree, maybe even schedule visits.” Said laughing. Valerie only thought about the meeting. Will she come? Or perhaps the Fraldarius family will fill her little head that the meeting will be dangerous and tell her lies about her mother. She could only hope now that she will come, but she would probably come with her husband, something that she will have to prepare herself.

Back at Gloucester Manor

“So, everything’s settled then? “asked Leonie to the group of men

“Yes,” said Felix. “Dimitri will write to Ferdinand and agree to the meeting at the bridge, while I… I will try to convince Bernadetta to come, which will be the hard part, I fear.”

“Tell her not to worry, Duke Fraldarius,” said Lorenz while he grabbed a bag filled with tea leaves. “Here, these are tea leaves that will calm her emotions, personally raised and selected by me!” said Lorenz, giving the bag of leaves to Felix and letting out her distinguished laugh.

“Um, thank you,” said Felix, who tried to put the bag of leaves into the satchel, which he now remembered was torn up by his enemies.

“Oh, right! Leonie, could you help me by repairing my satchel?

Leonie grabbed the torn-up satchel and inspected it. “Why don’t you tell Bernadetta to fix it? She is better at this than me, and besides, it looks special,” she said, finding out their names were labelled in the satchel. Luckily, they weren’t damaged after the attack.

“No, she can’t find out; she would be so mad if she found out I didn’t take care of it. She will be mad and perhaps won’t talk to me,” said a worried Felix, almost begging Leonie to repair it.

“The shield of Faerghus, the second most powerful man in all of Fódlan,worried about his wife? That is something I didn’t expect to happen, especially from you, Felix. I don’t picture the Duchess scaring you,” said Lorenz, almost laughing at the idea of Felix fearing Bernadetta.

“Oh, this isn’t the first time you know” continued Dimitri, “The last Duke Fraldarius also struggled with his wife, I remember seeing his worried face when he heard she was coming to the castle back at the time when he took care of me” when he said that even Leonie laughed.

“So you could say it’s a family tradition,” said Leonie. Felix turned red as he was mocked by his friends.

“Ok, that’s it, you three if you don’t want to help, then I’ll do it myself!” said Felix, shouting at them.

“Sorry, Felix, but you can come with me. I’ll teach you how to knit; you’ll probably be a better student than Dimitri.” Said Leonie, and now it was Dimitri who turned red. “Mercedes told you about that?” said Dimitri with a worried expression.

“Sorry, Dimitri, but all of us know how you destroyed all of Mercedes’ scissors; even Marianne knows about it,” said Leonie as she left the room with Felix, who launched a big grin at him.

“Leonie, that is not how you talk in front of His Majesty!” shouted Lorenz. “Oh, don’t let me get started with you, Lorenz, or I’ll tell them about your “failed competition with Sylvain,” said Leonie, and Lorenz could only let go a simple “wha-“

Back at Shambhala

“I still think it’s too early for us to do this; we have lost two posts already; having one in Fraldarius is too risky,” said Anaximandros, analyzing the plan of the fake Ferdinand.

“We also lost some weapons we’ve been gathering to them, but we can build new ones with the materials,” said Chilon, an agarthan with the class of fortress knight.

“Still, it will take time to get ready,” said Pittacus. “I could prepare some viskam in the villages you want to capture.

“Perfect, we have almost everything. We only need time to get all things ready, especially for them,” said Ferdinand, looking at the images of what looked like a tomb of someone and some chains holding it.

“Yes, once he is awake, I can prepare the blood infusion for the respective generals and have more chances to defeat them,” said Bias.

All the Agarthans then stood up and started to depart to somewhere else.

“Excuse me, Theophrastus,” said Dolofonos “What is it, Dolofonos? You should be resting from your recent battle instead of talking to me.”

“I just want to ask for something,” he said, bowing to him. “Speak,” he ordered

“When the time comes, I want to be assigned to the group to attack the eastern part of the kingdom, the one who will head to Fraldarius specifically.”

“You have a personal motive I see, well then I will speak to Anaximandros and if he accepts it then you will lead the attack,” said the agarthan who looked like Ferdinand and left, Dolofonos let a big smile after he heard Theophratus.

“Just you wait damned Fraldarius beast!, I’m going to take revenge upon you”, he said as he grabbed a part of the satchel he took after ripping it apart, “Bernadetta huh?, I don’t care if she is important to our dear allies, she will die and we can just say that she got an accidental death” he said as he looked at the part of the satchel he had, which had the name of Bernadetta labeled on it.

Gloucester manor

“This is more difficult than it looks, gah!” said Felix as he poked another finger with the needle.

“Relax, Felix! You’re only going to injure your entire hands!” said Leonie as she saw how Felix was struggling with the sewing.

“Ugh, it’s just that I don’t see the part with Bernadetta’s name, I thought I grabbed every piece from the battlefield,” said Felix trying to get the parts together, as he almost pinched another finger, Leonie decided to stop him.

“Look I know this is special for you, however, I don’t think she will be more worried if she saw you with your bandaged hands,” said Leonie trying to look Felix in the eyes, he didn’t look her back as he preferred to keep his gaze at the floor in frustration. He wouldn’t be here if he had evaded that arrow from the hidden archer.

“We’re almost done, Felix. Just calm down, and after you finish with that one, I will sew both parts together before you cut the entire hand off.”

Felix calmed down, and both resumed their sewing as Lorenz entered the room where they were. With three cups of tea.

“I see you are struggling too in the matter of sewing, dear Duke Fraldarius,” said Lorenz as he put down the platter with the cups, offering one to Leonie. She grabbed it and thanked him for bringing it.

“King Dimitri has already departed to Garreg Mach to ask for help from the knights,” he said as he offered Felix the cup of tea.

“Thanks,” he said, grabbing it and putting it away before resuming his work.

“Must be a special object if you were so desperate for Leonie to teach you sewing; it is a relaxing hobby,” he said as he started to drink from his cup. Felix stopped what he was doing as he lifted his gaze to look at the Count with a disbelief look

“You… know how to do this? He asked.

“I’ll have you know that I have created extraordinary objects, and I made them myself, of course, I also suffered from the incidents in my fingers; even Leonie suffered from it one day.” He said as Leonie sighed remembering how he accidentally stabbed her hand one time while Lorenz was “confectioning” a blanket for her since in Gloucester, the winter is harsh, not as bad and snowy as Fraldarius though.

“Oh, and before you go, Felix,” said Leonie, who had finished repairing her part of the satchel, stood up, and headed to a little room, grabbing a bow and giving it to Felix.

“Wait, is this” said Felix as he seemed to recognize the weapon Leonie gave him

“Yep, it’s the Inexhaustible,” said Leonie.

I remember that you got it on an expedition you and the others went with the professor, but why are you giving it to me? I’m not an archer.

“It’s a gift for Bernadetta, you dummy. I wanted to give it to you on your wedding day, but I forgot it in my old house when I presented Lorenz to my family. if you look closely here you’ll see the Crest of Indech, the same one Bernadetta has”.

Felix inspected the bow, as usual, a sacred weapon and was amongst the most powerful in Fódlan; even he, who favored swords above any other weapon, knew how strong these weapons were. Leonie also gave him a quiver full of new arrows.

“I got a new load of arrows from Seteth, after I mentioned that I was giving away to someone with the crest of Indech, I know that I don’t have a crest, so Bernadetta should be able to get the full potential from this, and with that, now you two will have weapons made by the saints, or whoever made those things.” She said as she took the other part of the satchel Felix had.

“Tell me when you’re ready to go, Duke Fraldarius,” said Lorenz, leaving the room.

“How are you going to return to your home, Felix?” asked Leonie. Felix thought for the shortest route from their position as he lowered the bow Leonie had given to him.

“Perhaps if I go to the north, passing through the mountains, I might reach an outpost of wyvern riders. They could get me through Galatea and reach the borders, from there I think the nearest city is Horenberg”. Said Felix

“Horenberg?, I never heard it before; is it a new village?” asked a surprised Leonie.

“No, it’s a little town bordering Galatea and Fraldarius, it was built to have a closer relationship between our lands, my grandfather was the one who ordered to build it if you want you could go there someday, I think they are celebrating a festival right now, it lasts an entire moon.” As Felix said that, Leonie expressed a surprised face.

“A festival for an entire moon?!, But what do you celebrate during it?” asked Leonie for details.

“They celebrate different tourneys, from swords to knuckles and magic users to become the regional champion. It is very popular among amateurs. my brother and I won the category of pairings and, of course, he won the individual sword tournament. I lost to him in the semi-final,” said Felix as he smiled, remembering the time when he and his brother participated in the tourney.

“Oh, too bad it sounds exciting, but I’m not an amateur,” said Leonie, a bit disappointed.

“You can also participate in the expert category; it takes place during the last week, though," said Felix as he started to explain the rules and how he and his brother used to go every year to watch the new and veteran soldiers participate in it.

“Hey, Bernadetta should enter one of those tourneys. She won two back at the academy, remember?” said Leonie as they both remembered how Bernadetta won the first one during the academy days and the other during the war. She was better during the second one, of course.

“I don’t believe she will go; she dislikes cold, and even though Horenberg is warmer, the route from Fraldarius to there is cold.” He spoke

“Aw, too bad. I think your people would feel blessed if they saw the new duchess showing off her skills to everyone.”

“Perhaps, but I should go now. I think she will like the bow. Are you sure you want to give it away?” asked Felix as he grabbed everything.

“Don’t worry. Look, I got a new one. I got it from a merchant. He said this was called Parthia, a legendary bow from the War of Heroes,” said Leonie as she showed him the bow. It was, of course, different from the Inexhaustible, but it also looked like it could land a critical blow to the objectives.

With that said Felix left the room not before saying goodbye to Leonie, and as he got out from the manor of Gloucester he spotted Lorenz in the field with a wyvern beside him, he said he got it from a retired soldier who accepted to take Felix back to Fraldarius before he departed Lorenz told him that Sylvain had already woke up and that he seems to be fine, but he will stay in Gloucester for some time, he will send a letter to Ingrid and tell her that everything was fine.

With that done, Felix finally departed for Fraldarius. He checked the items he had with him, the bow and the satchel. He promised himself that he would take his training more seriously, like in wartime, not only to become a better warrior but also to protect his family and people, he still feel itchy in his wound, but he thought that it was normal it wasn’t the first time he got injured in a battlefield.

At the same time, everyone was getting ready for a possible conflict in the future: Dimitri headed to Garreg Mach and got help from the knights, the Agarthans made the last details for their final plan, and Felix went back home to a distant land south of Fódland.

“With that, we have finally finished our job here, dear. The king of Dagda seems to agree with our terms and promises never to attack Fódland again.” Said a man dressed in white robes holding a book. At his side, there was a woman with dark blue hair, taking care of a little kid.

“Good, now for the last parts. We only need to attend the parting ceremony. I can’t believe it took us almost a whole year to finish our negotiations.” Answered the woman, getting ready to get inside bed alongside the man while she made a slight sigh of relief.

“And another six moons to reach Fódland again. I hope nothing bad happened there while we were here.” Said the man with a hair of light green. As he lowered a sword he had and put it away, he and the woman gave each other a goodnight kiss and then went to sleep.

Chapter Text

Somewhere near the border between Fraldarius and Galatea

Here we are, milord; the city of Horenberg is just ahead of us” said the wyvern rider to Felix.

“Thank you. Here, take this,” he said as he threw a little bag with golden coins at the man.

“Thank you, sir. However, I want to ask you something about this tourney you told me earlier.” The man was so insistent on knowing details after Felix mentioned the tourney while he was talking to him.

“No, at this time of the moon, the last tourneys are being held, and those are for magic users. If you want to show off your skills come next year,” he answered before the wyvern rider could even ask. He was surprised but also disappointed to have lost the chance to show off.

"Well, that means I have a whole year to train ha-ha, until next year Duke Fraldarius!” said the man as he took off to Gloucester territory.

“Ugh, even his men are as weird as their lord,” said Felix taking everything and resuming his way back to his house.

He didn’t want to go right to the manor with the wyvern rider, he lost his horse during the attack, and it wasn’t a bad idea to pay a visit to the villagers of Horenberg, watching the last matches of a tourney might get his mood back to normal and ease his worries, plus it had become a tradition to him to go back to the manor by horse or by feet, to meet his wife, he was eager to do it that he smiled while thinking about it, it also distracted him that a certain man could surprise him.

“Looks like even from afar you still think about her, huh?” said a man standing next to him.

“What the-! Yuri?!” said a surprised Felix, who blushed after he got caught lost in thought

“Well, you two really are for each other, you never stop thinking about the other one,” he said as he put a big smile on his face.

“What do you mean by… bah, never mind, just what are you doing here? Is Constance doing some weird experiments again? Asked Felix trying to change the subject.

“Oh you know, just looking for information you know, my sort of thing” he answered him without giving a proper answer.

“But what about you, oh, great Duke Fraldarius? I thought you were going through Nuvelle territory to go back to your castle at home.” Asked a curious Yuri, Felix knew that Yuri was like this, Bernadetta told him how he was, and this was not the first time he had encountered him alone; they had had conversations like this in the past, but never in Fraldarius lands.

“Nothing, just that your old boss was a little too harsh with us back at Adrestia.” He answered, giving a hint to Yuri of who these people were.

“You mean the Varleys? Heh, well, they can be a… bit violent with their methods.” Yuri said with a sarcastic tone about them.

“Now that we talk about them, won’t you agree how different their daughter is from them?” asked Yuri, for Felix Yuri, was someone odd, he always had something to hide, the people he used to lead at the Abyss were still out there, still following his orders, he also spent a lot of time outside Nuvelle, Constance has said that she doesn’t mind at all because Yuri will always come back, besides she also mentioned that he likes to visit his friends so probably most of the time he is at Garreg Mach or Fraldarius.

 “What do you want Yuri?, you know Bernadetta is in the manor, and you know that, unless-,” Felix said as he stopped walking, as well as Yuri. “Did you participate in the tourney of Horenberg?” he asked with concern. Yuri only laughed at the idea of participating in it.

“That’s lovely Felix, but no, I don’t want to steal away the prize someone has trained so much during a year and win the chance to be under your training camps Duke Fraldarius, besides you know that I'm far more superior than any man in those tourneys." answered Yuri with that big smile of his, Felix felt that he was hiding something regarding to his presence here.

“Ok, I give up, what are you hiding?”

“Hmm?”

“I know you, Yuri, Bernadetta has told me everything about you, she mentioned that when you have that smile you are hiding something, plus that you only show it at someone specifically.” When he said that Yuri only sighed and answered.

“You’re not fun, but I guess that we can talk while we walk back to the inn in that village, Bernie is already waiting for us.” Yuri said and heard Felix’s laugh.

“Now that is a good joke, we know that, she can’t stand the cold of the outside,” Felix said, but he only saw the same smile on Yuri’s face again.

“No way, that’s not possible,” Felix said, shocked that she had not only left the manor but also come to Horenberg. Had someone from the manor told her about the tournaments? But she hadn’t trained properly since the end of the war. Just as he thought about the reasons for her coming here, he only heard Yuri telling him to follow him to the inn.

“C’mon Duke, that’s not the only surprise she has for you, and congratulations in advance,” Yuri said but kept his voice down for the last part.

“What was that?” he demanded.

“Nothing, c’mon, we don’t have all day.” Felix followed Yuri back to the city. He saw the decorations and noticed how the purple color had been more present this year than others. this must be Bernadetta’s work, but has she been here for the whole moon?

When they entered the town square, he saw the people talking and taking walks around the square. Many of them were carrying wood weapons, lances, swords, even bows, and training gauntlets. he spotted the inn where Bernadetta was supposed to be.

As they started to get closer to the inn, Yuri noticed that Felix started to scratch his chest, as if it was a grain, but he didn’t ask about it.

The moment Felix saw the building, he wanted to get in to see if she was there, but as he opened the door the few people inside were only local villagers, and perhaps some people from other parts of Faerghus.

“Oh, it’s the Duke”! said a villager, This was a catalyst for the others to start gathering around him.

“Look ma! The duke is here too,” shouted the daughter of the inn owner as he came out to greet Felix.

“Duke Fraldarius! What a pleasant surprise to have you here! We weren’t expecting you, but neither was your wife. It’s a true honor to have the leaders of Fraldarius at my inn!” With that said, Felix didn’t have any doubts that Bernadetta was there.

“What are you waiting for?” asked Yuri. “She won’t go anywhere else now, she’s on the third floor.

Meanwhile, Yuri kept everyone at the reception, Felix went upstairs he could hear voices coming from the room.

“You know, Bertha, I don’t mind spending some time here, but it would have been great if you told me there was a festival here”. Felix could recognize that the voice came from Bernadetta.

“Forgive me your Grace but, if I did, you would have started to doubt coming here, you were so excited and had already your mind in that I couldn't besides; you would start to say that too many people were something you couldn’t bear or something like that.” Said Bertha as she laughed a bit.

Bernadetta laughed at her suspicion about her. In just two years, she knew her well enough.

“Oh, well, you really know me well, don’t you, Bertha?, I mean, it’s just that I wasn’t expecting to spend these last days here watching the people in different categories of tourneys. it feels like when I saw the tournaments held in Garreg Mach seven years ago.”

“I guess tourneys back then were more serious, but if I may your Grace-“ bertha said but Bernadetta stopped her and said.

“Please, Bertha, you may call me by my name. Having everyone but Felix call me by my title rather than my name is weird. I know that everyone at Fraldarius respects the ruling family, and I'm still trying to adapt to you, but I would really appreciate if at least you do this.”

He couldn’t see her face, but Felix felt Bernadetta was starting to feel anxious. He wanted to go in, but the door was locked. “Of course,” he thought as he was about to knock, but heard Bertha saying something.

“I know how you feel, milady. Changing your way of life is difficult, especially for someone from Adrestia. I still remember how nervous you were when you came into the manor the first time, You were so nervous that you couldn’t speak to all of us without that shake in your voice. Hohohoho,” she laughed, making Bernadetta laugh too, remembering the past.

“Well,” Bernadetta interrupted, “I'm the first Duchess who comes from outside the Kingdom borders” she said.

"But now that I rememeber, what did you wanted to ask me, Bertha?"

 “Oh yeah, I wanted to know if you and lord Felix used to participate in any kind of tourney back at the monastery?” she asked, but when Bernadetta wanted to answer, they heard someone knocking the door. Felix heard Bernadetta’s nervous voice

“Come in!” said Bertha from the other side, unlocking the door.

“Well, Bernadetta won some of them back then, if that’s what you wanted to know, Bertha”, said Felix. Both women were surprised to see him.

“Felix?!” said a surprised Bernadetta, who was in bed sewing a new scarf, and went to hug him. Bertha, on the other side, was also surprised to see the Duke; she wasn’t expecting him in town.

“What are you doing here?” Bernadetta asked, still hugging him and with a big smile.

“What am I doing here? I believe the real question is, what are you both doing here?

“Huh? Oh right, well the thing is…” Bernadetta started to tell Felix the reason she and Bertha came to Horenburgh, and all the things they did before getting back to the room at the inn.

“The archery one?” asked Felix

“Yeah, but it has been almost a year since I trained seriously with a bow; it's worse if we add a horse.” As she said this, Bertha burst out laughing, recalling something.

“Don’t worry, Duke. She won it after all, but she also worried the people here when the horse almost sent her into a fence.

“You hit a fence!?” replied Felix, worried about her.

“Bertha! Well, it’s true, more or less, but… uhm… let’s just say that riding a horse in the snow is not the same as doing it in a field or city. I tried to do the same techniques I used during the war days, but I must admit I forced my mount a little bit, and perhaps the horse got mad and sent me flying over the fence,” explained Bernadetta.

“You had to see the organiser of the tourneys, Your Grace. Heh heh”. Bertha said, but laughed when she remembered the face the man put on looking at Bernadetta, and sending some healers to her. 

Bernadetta's face started to turn red and asked Felix something to turn the conversation at another direction.

“And what about you? How did you end up here?

“Well,” said Felix, thinking about whether to tell her everything, but Felix is not someone to lie, especially to her.

“We went to the manor where the meeting was held in Varley.” After he said that, Bernadetta’s face turned grim, and she started to play with her fingers.

“Oh, so you met them. Do they know about… us?” asked Bernadetta, nervous from his response. She remembered that she had never talked to them since she thought that they would never want to talk to her, especially for abandoning the empire in its hour of need.

“Nothing worth saying, Bernie, well. Your mother thinks I have you in captivity and that you are suffering from the cold.”

“Well, that last one is true, though, but being held as a war prisoner, why would she think that?”

“Apparently, they put the idea in everyone’s head that we have you as a prisoner of war.”

“What?! I thought they never wanted to see me again. Why does my mother want me back?” Felix made a pause since he knew that Bernadetta would start to think of different scenarios in her head.

“Oh no. They didn’t insult you, didn’t they?, maybe they called you a dog! Or-or something worse! And—“

"Bernie, stop, you’re doing it again.”

“Huh? Oh no, I’m sorry, Felix. It’s just that, my parents are not friendly people. I remember hearing my mother and father often arguing with the servants, or the gardener, especially with him. But I still don’t know why they want me back.”

“Because Varley doesn’t have a direct heir anymore, that’s why they want to get you back.” “Mm, maybe they just found another person for me to marry.” Bernadetta then remembered how her father treated her when she was a kid, but her mother never intervened when she needed her.

“That’s not fair. I chose you, and I know it's cold here but at least I am happy, I have you, Bertha, and our… um.” She stopped right there and put her hands on her mouth as if she was about to say something she didn’t want to.

“What’s wrong, Bernadetta?” Felix asked intrigued. Bernadetta stopped covering her face. Bertha, who was hearing the conversation, started to walk to the door.

“If I may, your Graces, I will look for something downstairs,” she said in a lower voice, getting near Bernadetta’s ear. You can do this, Lady Bernadetta.” She left both of them alone.

“What was that?” asked Felix.

“Nothing! Well, and um, is Sylvain with you? I bet he must be very hungry since you had to walk from Gloucester and went through Galatea, and…”

“A wyvern rider brought me here.”

“So, you just left your soldiers there?”

“They are being treated in Gloucester, and Leonie says they can cure them; they are safe, Bernie, so don’t worry about them,” Felix said and put his hand on his chest scratching it even harder than last time, since Bernadetta was close to him she noticed how hard he was doing it.

“Felix? Are you feeling well?” asked Bernadetta, worried when she saw him scratching his chest. “Are you injured?” Felix saw her worried expression; he wanted to lie, but if he did, he would only worry her more.

“Yes, but nothing too serious. it's just an injury from battle, nothing serious so don't worry, ok?”

“Ok, but are you sure you aren’t badly injured, Felix?”

"Don’t worry. I had already checked. Besides,” Felix said, remembering Bertha’s words before leaving the room.

“What is the thing Bertha wanted you to say to me?” 

“Uhm, what thing? I didn’t heard anything,” Bernadetta asked with a fake smile. She looked at another place, not at Felix in the eyes.

“Bernadetta,” said Felix, with his serious tone and face. When Bernadetta looked at him, she knew she couldn’t escape this one.

“W-w-well, um, they went to heal me. Of course, I didn’t suffer any great damage. D-did you know that snow is soft? Hehehe,” she said with a nervous laugh, trying to cover up something. Felix only paid attention to her story without changing his serious expression.

“Well, the thing is that, uh, you —I mean I—I uh…” Bernadetta was playing with her fingers. She still needed help with her anxiety, and she looked like she wanted to run away.

“Bernadetta,” he said, placing his hand on her shoulder. She looked him in the eyes; she had that look of fear and probably wanted to cry about something. She probably felt bad for worrying the entire village about her accident with the horse back at the archery tournament.

“Remember to calm down. Don’t think about the accident, it was not your fault.” Before he could continue, Bernadetta said, “It’s not about that; it’s just- “she answered back, looking now at the floor. “Yeah, you’re right, uhm, well, Felix I— um— I am expecting.”

The room went silent. She was waiting for Felix’s answer.

Meanwhile

Yuri was examining Felix's items when he heard some people talking in the background.

“Why do you think the duchess hasn’t come out of her room yet?” asked one man to his friend.

“Probably was ‘bout the incident with the horse. I don’t know. I only saw that the organiser sent the entire town's healers to look after her.” Answered the other man and started to drink.

On the other hand, a group of women was talking about Felix and Bernadetta and the tournament results.

“It’s been ages since the Fraldarius family visited and spent some time here.” Said one of the women.

“Oh, I know.” Said her companion. “The last time Lord Felix was here was when he was a child, back when young Glenn was still around.” Said another woman with long hair.

“Yes, it should have been hard for them to lose a son and a brother, and then Duke Rodrigue died in the war against the Empire.” Said the older woman in the group.

“Poor Lady Amelia, she should have taken the worst. I heard Duke Felix didn’t had a good relationship with his father after what happened to Lord Glenn.”

“I heard about that, too. The last time I heard about the Lady Amelia was that she went on a trip through Leicester after giving up her title as the Duchess.”

“I hope that the new Dukes can keep their family together.”

“Speaking of, have you heard that the duchess is pregnant?”.

After hearing that, Yuri smiled while putting the items inside the bag again. “Heh, I never expected Bernadetta to have a family with someone like him, in a few years that old castle will surely be noisy.” After traveling from the manor to the village and being forced by Bernadetta to participate in one of the tourneys, he relaxed for a bit. Still, without a single trace of Balthus or Hapi, he wondered if they had left the continent.

“So, they are here?”

“It seems so, the locals are saying that the Duke came in a few hours ago.”

“We could take them out this night, if this territory goes wild, we can get as many people as we want”.

“Lower your voice; someone might be hearing you, idiot!”

“I’m just saying that Bias’s plan is stupid. If we wait, the total number of people we could gather would be minimal. There’s almost no one here unarmed.”

“Not just Bias. Theophrastus also sent us here to keep an eye on them and inform all we can, not just the people, for those weird experiments.”

“We should go now; there’s nothing for us here.” Both men stood up and left the inn, Yuri who overheard the conversation decided to follow the strangers.

As Yuri left the building, the room where Bernadetta was staying began celebrating. She, Felix, and Bertha were happy about the child.

Garreg Mach

“Seteth! It’s so nice to see you in good form”.

“Ah, King Dimitri, the knights informed me about your arrival moments ago.”

“I would like to say that I come with good news, but- “

“Yes, we already know about your 'encounter' at Gronder Field, Your Majesty.” “Then we can skip the details and go straight to the point.”

Chapter Text

As dawn approached, the villagers of Horenberg were ready to call it a night. At this time of year, the nights are cold. Before going to sleep, some people light some torches, just in case someone makes it to the town, to guide the night guards who were formed during the war of Unification. Bandits were a common sight in Fraldarius, or in case the Dukedom soldiers infiltrated Fraldarius.

Meanwhile, in the inn

Bernadetta and Felix haven’t said a thing since she told him about her pregnancy, and this caused her anxiety levels to rise.

“C’mon, Felix, say something!” she asked as tears started forming in her eyes.

“Sorry, I thought something bad happened to you. I was about to fight the bastard.” Felix said with a flustered tone.

“What? N-no! I just, um-” Bernadetta couldn’t find the right words; she was scared and angry for some reason.

“Hold on. Bertha said that you just found out as well, " Felix asked, confused.

“Oh no, I knew way long before Bertha found out; it’s just that…” Bernadetta tried to explain, but tears started to form in her steel eyes. She let out a big sigh, sat in bed, and said.

“I was hoping that you were the first one to know, but you ended up being the last one and all the people here know that I’m pregnant, many people have come to see me, asked me weird questions, even a merchant came here not too long ago and offered me some weird herbs or something to have a healthy child,” Bernadetta said as she explained so fast and moving her hands while explaining.

“But the worst part” she continued, “the worst part was that the inn’s owner started asking if the child is going to have your crest or mine and asked if he or she got my crest then my father can come to get the child from us” Bernadetta finished as she was horrified from the idea of her father taking her child from her if it got the crest of Indech, she asked Felix if that was possible.

“Of course not!” he scoffed at the idea of that man coming to his house and taking his child away. His tone revealed that he was angry; his hands had clenched into fists, and he wanted to leave and confront the inn’s owner, but Bernadetta needed him there now, so he had to hold back for now and comfort his wife.

“Perhaps that used to happen in the former Empire but in Faerghus the families don’t take away the baby from the parents, even if they don’t produce an heir for them, in some cases they end up unifying, but even if we shared those traditions, you know that I don’t like to follow them, plus I’m sure that if we ask Dimitri he could forbid him from entering Faerghus lands.” As Felix was explaining it, Bernadetta's face lit up.

“Are you sure?” She said, standing up. “You wouldn’t say that if you weren’t completely sure, right, Felix? You know that I don’t like it when you lie! She said with a big smile on her face, waiting for his response.

Felix laughed at the last statement. “Lie? Since when have I lied to you? And that time you got lost in the manor doesn’t count, I told you not to go alone to prepare some food. You still didn’t know the Fraldarius manor back then.” Felix explained, remembering the time Bernadetta went to the kitchen to get some of the cake left from their wedding, but got confused and lost her way back to the room.

“H-Hey! Th-that was an accident, ok?! All the walls looked the same back then; that’s why I put some decorations so as not to get lost… again.” Bernadetta said as she laughed, remembering what had happened that night. Felix was only hearing her explanation; he already knew this, but every time she explained it, he couldn’t help but smile at her. She started to touch everything, and when she tried to go back to their room, she accidentally confused an armor with an assassin and screamed.

“And let’s not forget how you took down my grandfather’s old armor, confusing it with an assassin.” Said Felix, interrupting her.

“Wha—! Hey!, I already said that I’m sorry, ok! Why do you, Fraldarius, like to have weapons or war-thing stuff everywhere!, Even here, at the inn, I saw like six swords decorating the walls. What do you have with training?” Bernadetta thought that Felix was the only one with an addiction to training, but she ended up knowing that it was the entire Dukedom that saw it as a sport, one she had already been part of.

Bernadetta knows that Felix can act cold and mean to everyone, but he is always nice to her. He then proceeded to hug her and said.

“It doesn’t matter, let’s just get out of here before they—gah!” Felix groaned as he collapsed on the floor.

Felix! What is going on?!” Bernadetta said as she held him to keep him from falling to the ground. she then saw that he was bleeding from his chest, and she had a dread feeling that he might die there. Bernadetta shouted for help as loudly as her lungs would allow her.

Bernadetta then tried to see the injury, she took off his upper clothes, only to reveal that he was bleeding from a small injury on his chest. She also found the satchel she had given him before he departed for Fhirdiad covered in blood. Felix tried to take it from her.

“No, don’t look at it, now.” Felix said, but he then put his hand again in his chest, “Dammit, they told me I was cured.”

“Cured?!” Bernadetta asked as she tried to prevent him from losing more blood. She was starting to feel more anxious as no one came to her aid. “Felix, you’re losing too much blood! What happened there!” She shouted at him, but before Felix could say something, Bertha and some people entered the room after hearing Bernadetta’s screams. When they saw the horrible scene, they called for the healers, and Bertha took Bernadetta outside the room, who still had the satchel in her hands. She wanted to go back inside to help Felix, but Bertha managed to keep her away from him.

“Please, Your Grace, you need to calm down, for your baby, they are going to save Duke Felix, so please try to stay calm, I’ll be here with you,” said Bertha hugging Bernadetta and trying to comfort her, for what was happening, but she was also nervous from the Duke’s condition, but she could do nothing but to try to comfort the Duchess, as she saw the satchel, covered in blood and started to hug it and asking the goddess to save Felix.

In the streets of Horenberg, Yuri was following the strange men who were going deep into the alleys where no one crossed.

It is night already, and Yuri was having a hard time following both men. The torches, lighted up by the townsfolk, helped him on his mission, but they could also see him if they looked back. When there were no more torches, they used magic to summon a little ball of fire to see through the darkness. Now it was easier for him to follow them.

After some minutes, they reached some abandoned buildings, which were attacked by some bandits and rogues some years ago, a grim reminder of the war.

“How come they always find these places? Not even I have this luck.” Yuri thought as he waited for them to enter the house. He then looked for some way to look inside, spotted a window on the second floor, and started to climb the building.

As he was climbing to the second floor, he heard other people entering the building from another place.

“Damn, this is an unwelcomed surprise, but it doesn’t matter, it’s not the first time I am outnumbered,” he thought as he tried not to make a sound to reveal his position to them.

“If those two are here, I'd better try not to make any sound, I could put them in danger if they are here imprisoned.” He thought as he reached the window at the top.

Five men were talking around a table. Yuri could see many weird artifacts on the table in front of the men: a sword, a lance or what looked like a lance, and a tome which had a crest stone on it. This caught Yuri’s attention. How and where did they find that? He asked in his mind.. Suddenly, all five of them changed shape just like Kronya did when she was Monica.

“Finally back to our normal forms,” said one of them, annoyed at having the form of a human.

“Spare us your complaints. What do you have?” Another man said

“Nothing- said another, annoyed at returning empty-handed. “Everyone is gathered in a tourney or at the inn; there’s nothing we can do here.”

“Bias has always been useless at planning. Why did we follow her instructions?” said the fourth man, hitting the table. The last man tried to grab a weird, circular object. It was black, and Yuri could see that it emitted some strange light.

“Careful! This is one of the last objects left by Lord Epimenides, and it could be unstable.” Said the man holding the object in his hands. This object caught the interest of Yuri, besides the tome.

“Whatever, why don’t we try it at the inn?” Proposed the man who hit the table earlier, “The leaders of this Dukedom are here; we could wipe them out, and the invasion would be easier for us.”

Everyone looked confident and was thinking about the possibility of using it against them, but one of them was against the idea.

“We can’t do it, there’s a girl here that our 'allies' want to get back,” he said. Yuri started to wonder if they were referring to Bernadetta.

“I think she is the duchess of this place, tch! What a letdown”. After that, everyone started talking about technical things Yuri didn’t know, so he wasn’t really paying attention. He wanted to see if there were other things, but it was almost an empty room besides the men, the table, and the artifacts on it.

Suddenly, one of them took out a key and guided the group to a door at the back of the room. He opened it and struggled to keep it open.

“Remember to put that rock there! Last time I got trapped here inside for three hours.” As he said that, the rest of the group laughed at him and put a rock to block the door as they headed downstairs.

“Heh, jackpot,” Yuri said as he waited for the group to go deeper into the room and then opened the window to start searching for something related to his missing friends.

“I hope they are here, but if they aren’t I guess that I can afford those two the problem with these people,” Yuri said to himself as he took the rock preventing the door from closing and went in, he heard the door close behind him and took out his sword and Heroes’ relic and put it into his finger to have some advantage against his enemies.

Back at the inn

Bernadetta was nervous, more than normal. Bertha was trying to calm her down without success, so one of the employees at the inn offered her tea to calm her nerves. It worked; she stopped shaking and looked more relaxed, but then all of that went to waste when the door finally opened.

“Your Grace, may I have a moment with you?” asked the healer, and Bernadetta followed him.

“Please tell me he’s alive,” she pleaded.

“Don’t worry, he’s alive, he didn’t lose too much blood, so you don’t need to worry for his safety, though he is asleep now, probably in two or three days he’ll be ready to move again.” He informed the healer that Bernadetta felt better just knowing that Felix was alive, but something else was bothering her. How did he get that wound, and what happened at Adrestia?

Thanks! Really!” She thanked the healer as she entered the room and saw Felix on the bed, sleeping. Bertha followed her inside as the rest of the medic team left and said their farewells to the duchess and her maid.

Suddenly, they heard a horrible roar from afar. Bernadetta was starteld by the sound and asked what that was.

“I’m not really sure, Lady Bernadetta, probably a contestant trying to use some magic and failed miserably.”

“It’s impossible!” shouted one of the mages after they proved the cylinder-shaped weapon. Below the building, there was a big underground training camp with some dummies. The attack was so powerful that it also went through the building next to theirs.

“Hahaha! Lord Epimenides would be proud that we managed to replicate his strongest weapon; he managed to contain those beasts, even the “so-called” Saint Seiros. Laughed another mage who was eager to try the weapon against another dummy.

“Too bad we have to take it back to Shambhala and wait; we could have taken out the leaders of this stupid frozen place,” said a third mage, disappointed.

“Yeah, but that’s the reason why we have that teleport here, from it we can send as many reinforcements as we can.”

“Hey, where is the other one?” asked the first mage to use the new weapon before giving it to the third one.”

“He might be in his 'thinking spot', hurry up, I want to try it too”. The mages were so focused on trying their new weapon that they didn’t care if their ally came back.

In a separate room, Yuri had just killed the fifth member of the group. He was thinking about what to do, and he looked through a window at the rest of the group.

As he inspected the room, he concluded that his friends were not there. “Bad luck”, he thought before he came across some of the weapons he had seen before. His attention shifted to the book of magic, which held the crest stone; however, another strike from the odd weapon drew his attention back to the group.

But that thing surely catches my attention, I must take them out before they teleport away or call some reinforcements.” Yuri thought as he left the room and hid in a pile of bags, which contained abandoned materials, probably failed prototypes. “Ugh, it stinks,” he said, exhaled. “The things I do for my friends”.

As Yuri tried not to throw up the delicious food the lady at the inn had given him, he started to feel impatient because the mages were still fascinated by their new item, and no one had come to check on their missing friend.

“You know what? I don’t care. I’ll take them out now that they are distracted.” Yuri said as he took out his Wo Dao blade. From a distance, with his left hand, he pointed at the mage with the new weapon and shot a Cutting Gale from them, hitting its target and killing him on the spot.

“What the?!, an intruder get him!” shouted one of the mages who started to conjure dark magic like Miasma, Luna, and Banshee to get Yuri. He, however, managed to evade all of them as he prepared his sword as he approached one of the mages. Yuri attacked him, but his rival managed to evade his attack.

“Who are you, and how did you find us?!” demanded Yuri’s rival.

“Don’t ask stupid questions” said Yuri, pushing him aside, blocking with his sword another miasma ball, before one of them attacked with a Luna attack. He prevented it by shooting a wind spell and blocking a strike from the mage with the sword. “If it weren’t for your friends, you would be dead now.” He said.

Before the mages could attack again, Yuri quickly sent another wind attack to one of the mages taking him by surprise, though he got hit by the magic attack Yuri went for the one casting the Luna attack and taking him out, he then cast a sagittae spell against one of them but managed to block it with a magic shield, however Yuri run towards him and destroyed the magic shield with his Wo Dao blade killing him with another strike.

“It’s impossible!” shouted the mage, who, in desperation, took the cylinder weapon and started to charge it. Yuri conjured the Excalibur attack to prevent him from attacking… but failed.

“Wait, what!?” exclaimed a surprised Yuri. Not even a scratch; how did his attack do nothing?

“This is your end, beast!” shouted the mage, and before the artifact shot, he exclaimed. “For Agartha, we will recover this world from you!”.

Yuri wanted to get closer before the weapon was fully charged, but then some lightning attacks came from the artifacts attacking Yuri. He wasn’t expecting this and received great damage from them. Then, he saw a huge beam heading toward him. By pure instinct, he decided to block it with his sword and got hit by the attack.

Back at the inn

“It’s coming from the abandoned district!”

“Quickly, get the guards, the bandits are here!”

Bernadetta and Bertha were looking through one of the windows.

“Now a bandit attack? Bernadetta sighed, “I only need my father here now, and have every bad thing in one place?”

“Don’t worry, milady, I’m sure the night guard and the people can deal with this. As Bertha said it, Bernadetta looked back at Felix, who was sleeping on the bed. If she were in his position, he would have gone with the rest of the people. But now she couldn't go now, everyone inside the inn went outside, one woman came inside the room and told them to stay inside until the guards deal with the bandits.

After the attack, the agarthans saw the damage the last attack had left. “I didn’t know the weapon could do that. I guess that’s how Lord Epimenides managed to hold the Saints and that false prophet,” he said, as his companion tossed the weapon and collapsed on the floor.

"What is wrong with you now?" he asked.

"Ugh, it looks like the user needs a lot of resistance to use the weapon properly, no wonder how Lord Epimenides managed to defeat the Empure in the past.

The other approached the debris where Yuri had been buried and saw his hand among the rubble. He then laughed, believing that Yuri was defeated by the attack, “Hah, now who is the one who got distracted, huh?” As he approached Yuri’s hand, he saw something on it.

“Hang on, he has something in his hand.” As he grabbed his hand to examine it, Yuri grabbed his neck and pierced his chest with his sword.

“What!, But how!?” shouted the other agarthan in fear as his last companion died.

Yuri was hurt, yes, his clothes were damaged and burned from the recent attack, he tossed away the other mage when he confirmed he passed away, it was in that moment he showed the mage his left hand where the Fetters of Dromi hero relic was.

“That stone!” exhaled the mage, not believing what he was looking at, “It’s impossible, you beasts don’t have the technology to make those weapons, who made those, tell me you inferior being!” demanded the mage, but Yuri was so angry he didn't cared to answer back and charged at him, with a deadly look in his eyes, the agarthan now in panic started to shoot magic attacks but Yuri evaded them with ease or simply blocking them with his sword.

The agarthan could barely stood on foot, but somehow he managed to reach the stairs and start to climb them. Yuri, knowing that he had removed the stone, started to walk towards him.

When the agarthian reached the door he had a dread look on his eyes when he saw the door locked.

“Agh, no! Who locked this door!?, I said not to close it, damn it!” cried the agarthan, desperate to open the door. When he started to hear Yuri’s footsteps, he started to charge another magic attack, but then felt something going through his chest. Yuri’s sword went through his chest. The mage touched it, trying to take it out, and threw himself to the ground. He didn’t see Yuri because he had thrown it to him; the last thing he saw was Yuri coming to him with his fingers pointing at him and then… nothing.

Yuri took his sword out of him and cleaned it with the robes of the fallen mage. As he went downstairs, he started to falter. He inspected his wounded arm, the skin was almost pitch black and it hurt when he touched it. Not only that, but the magic spells that came out from the weapon before the beam hit his entire body. “I never believed that I would say this, but Constance was right that I took the Hero Relic with me. If it wasn’t for it, I would be a goner in this horrible place,” he said.

“Ugh!” Yuri groaned, “Damn this thing! It doesn’t look like it, but it is a powerful weapon; this thing could wipe out an entire battalion. I should destroy it before they could use it against us”. Yuri thought as he lifted the weapon that he would go to the room where he had killed the first Agarthan and was prepared to do it, but then another thought crossed his mind.

“Hmm, or perhaps we could use it against them,” he thought. “It might not be a good idea, but I’m sure Constance could figure out how this thing works. If anyone could make this thing work, it’s her.” He said as he took the weapon and looked at the other weird weapons displayed in the room.

“Heh, looks like Lady Luck has smiled on me again, perhaps I could give this to them, I’m sure that Felix would love to practice with this thing”, he said to himself as he took a weird looking lance, black and yellow colours which give it a distinctive look, he looked at the papers displayed at the table and read.

“Arrow of Indra, hmm, well, whatever, a weapon is a weapon, and we must know our enemy, now more than ever”, he said as he took the weird artifact alongside some of the weapons inside the room, leaving from one of the holes the mages made before fighting him. “Hmm, poor Bernadetta, she will have to look after this, or perhaps they won’t notice it and build in another place”.

Yuri then started to wonder who this Epimenides guy was, as he started to read some documents searching for a name that looked like it, but all he could find were some kind of diaries of the enemies he had recently defeated. Something caught his attention, though it wasn’t related to the man his enemies were talking about; it was the plans of attack. It looked like these guys wanted to attack the village to turn it into a spot where an army could invade Fraldarius.

“Heh, looks like I foiled their plans of invasion.” Yuri then took the documents too, with the intention of giving them to Felix and Bernadetta so they could inform Dimitri about this. As he was about to leave, he overlooked the tome with the crest stone.

“Now, which crest do you have, little friend?” As he inspected the stone, he found out it was Timotheos' crest, the crest Hapi has.

“Well, well, well, I didn’t know this existed. Someone from the village Hapi told me once should have made this, but how did these people get their hands on it, and what was it doing in Fraldarius...”

Yuri was lost in thought and was interrupted by the shouting of the villagers and night guards attracted by the beam attacks of the weapon of his enemies. As he headed out, he was surrounded by the people of Fraldarius who was mistook him for a mere bandit. Yuri tried to explain himself before they turned against him.

Lucky for him, some people recognised him as a friend of the duchess, and with that, the villagers helped him to go back to the inn.