Fire Emblem: Crimson Flower

chapter 7) Preparations

ART BY: evs-eme

Much to their dismay, Beleth was unfortunately unable to reserve the training grounds of the academy for her class. There was a reason for this, of which Beleth was not completely at fault. When first arriving at the location on the expected time, the class had suddenly noticed they were one student short for their training. Foolishly, the group left the grounds unattended and quickly made their way to Caspar to wake him up from his sleep. After that was done, they had all returned to a large room brimming with students battling it out in hopes of becoming stronger.

As they had failed to get their sufficient area to train, Beleth had optimistically led them to the front of their classes, where a fairly open space of grass rested itself. Thankfully, with everyone so busy preparing elsewhere for the Mock Battle, Beleth had found there to be enough space for them all to test themselves.

"Alright, we finally found it." Beleth sat on the grass in fatigue. "Sorry it took a while. By now we should have finished the introductions for everyone."

"But of course, it surely does not reside blame in you." Hubert glared at Caspar, who still was having trouble waking up completely. "Even if it was your responsibility to assemble... the best of us."

On noticing the group staring at him, Caspar snapped back to his original cheery demeanour. "Hey, when you're with Linhardt all day, this stuff happens to you. We can still win the Mock Battle tomorrow!"

"You have disrupted Lady Edelgard's own training. If I find this to hinder her, Caspar, know that I will have your head!" Caspar flinched at this comment.

"Let's not start an early bloodbath, please?" Edelgard sighed. "It's a little early for you to be targeting foes on my behalf right now. The important thing is that we managed to get through the obstacles presented to us. All that's left is to actually train now. We can't waste what little opportunity we've been given."

At this point, curiosity grew from Dorothea. "That does remind me. Does anyone know what everyone else is doing?"

"I checked that on my original trip to the Training Grounds, actually." Beleth stood back up. "I wanted to get a look around, so I explored a bit. Last I saw of them, Linhardt and Bernadetta were in the library, whilst Petra had requested to hunt out in the forest nearby the towns outside the academy."

"That makes sense. With so many people gone to do their training, I suppose Bernadetta has more breathing room. As for Linhardt and Petra, those are their usual hobbies, though, I doubt Linhardt will be making anything useful of his spare time." Dorothea sighed. "Actually, isn't the 'noble and courageous' Ferdinand meant to be here?"

"I've sent him to hunt with Petra. He should return in a few hours to train with us, but with so many people here, I figured it would be better to examine him once I got to see your skills."

"We shouldn't concern ourselves with them for now." Edelgard took out a wooden training axe. "What matters is that we win, by any means necessary!"

"You're right about that." In seeing Edelgard preparing herself, Beleth also brought her own training sword into view. "Seeing as you're so eager for training, would you like to go first, Edelgard?"

"Gladly!"

"Oh, seeing as I should include more people. Caspar, would you come as well?"

On hearing this request, Capar brought out his own wooden axe as requested, but he was layered with confusion. For Beleth to take on two students at once seemed to be quite a task to uphold. Noticing that their new professor might be underestimating them, he began to grow motivated.

"I can come along too, but are you sure it won't be too easy for us?"

Beleth smirked "Don't worry, I'm sure I can drop my performance down to your level to just the point where you might be able to beat me!" Before they began, Beleth gave one last command to Dorothea and Hubert. "I'm sure you two must be magic users, right? How about you try and remember the correct gestures for your spells and see if you can form it at a quick rate?"