The Professor
Edelgard dropped a couple silver coins in the informant’s hands.
“I appreciate the information. It couldn’t have been easy to get.”
He shrugged. “I just got lucky. Though, finding the Professor isn’t the difficult part. Fighting them will be. It’s on paper, but they used to be a combat professor- at the Officer’s Academy, no less.”
“Officer’s Academy? I spent a semester there.” Edelgard regarded the folded sheet in her hand. “Is there anything on here about why they got fired?”
The informant shook his head. “Let’s hope it was a lack of skill.”
“If that’s all?” he asked.
Edelgard nodded, and in her peripheral the informant slunk back into the shadows. She tucked the information away carefully under her belt. The sun was dipping below the horizon line, and already taverns were waking up. She didn’t yet return to the guildhall she and Hubert stayed in. Indulging in the conversations she overheard, breathing in the city’s smells of spices and sea water, she walked along the small canals’ edges.
She came to a small alley bathed in shadows where the sun couldn’t reach. A promising and demure tavern sat nestled deep inside. Usually, she wouldn’t bother with taverns or alcohol, but this one she saw seemed more than that.
Nodescriptly looking through the window, It was quiet, with only a few seats. There was a bartender dressed nicely, and velvety curtains drawn across the windows.
If not for the deep pockets of her current employer, she wouldn’t have deluded herself into thinking she could afford it. She approached the tavern’s door, and gently creaked it open.
“Welcome there, young lady,” The Bartedner greeted. Edelgard piqued her head in rsponse, peeking around the space.
It was small. The bar itself was the only place with seats, and one of the four available were already taken by a woman. Edelgard doubled back on her decision- she decided the bar wasn’t a place one just walked into because they had a nice payday coming up.
That was when that lone woman, wearing a black coat that dripped over her frame, looked back at Edelgard. Her chin was in her hand, and her lips curled. The low light of the bar reflected in her cat-like eyes. Her cheeks scrunched up with a smile, and she patted the stool next to her.
Edelgard swallowed, and something came over her, as if magical ropes had puppeteered her. Before she knew it, she had her feet dangling from the stool, and hands in her lap, concerns forgotten in her presence. She kept her eyes trained on the varnishing on the bar. She was afraid of making eye-contact with the woman. She suddenly felt much too vulnerable.
“When is your company arriving?” the woman asked, sloshing the liquid in her glass with a loose wrist.
Edelgard was relieved her voice wasn’t too sultry or raspy. That was a good sign she wasn’t any sort of demon.
“I don’t have any company,” Edelgard replied. Self-conscious of her attire, and the cadences of her own voice, she plucked herself up. “I mean- this place just looked interesting. I suppose.”
The woman hummed. Leaning her chin in her palm, her eyes flitted through thick eyelashes and openly observed Edelgard. “I’d say the people here are just as interesting.”
Edelgard 's flushed. “We’ve hardly spoken.”
“Still,” the woman said. She slid her gaze to the glass in her hand and twirled the liquid all around again. “I’ve got a feeling.” She said it in such a way. Lacking any ominosity, bereft of rhetoric, it was a window to her mind.
“Intuition, then?” Edelgard hurried to peek in that window. “In my line of work, some people stake their lives and riches on that.”
“Hm. I suppose, these days, I’ve been forced to rely on feeling and intuition quite a bit. It’s not so bad, I don’t think.”
Edelgard was quiet, because she didn’t know where to safely carry the conversation. So they were both quiet, and so the sound of breaths and muffled city night life outside took the stage. Edelgard felt the expectation to leave, either from herself or the woman. However, she wanted to try something she couldn’t afford.
Ederlgard tapped the bar, and the woman perked up. “Can I get a drink? Any one will do. Actually- something on the simpler side.”
A lopsided grin sprawled on the woman’s face. “Can’t afford anything else?”
Edelgard glowered. “Your own drink looks pretty simple, too.”
The woman laughed and her back arched. “It is! This guy here is so tired of me.”
The bartender handed Edelgard her drink, and rolled his eyes at the woman’s speech.
“So you frequent this bar?” She took a sip of her drink. It burned down her throat, and she controlled her wince at the flavor.
“Only as of recently, and from the looks of it, you don’t frequent anything with even a hint of alcohol.”
Edelgard stared hard at the woman, and since the woman stared just as hard back, Edelard needed to gulp half the glass down. Her eyes teared up from the effort of keeping her face stoic. It tasted like antiseptic.
A canine winked at her as the woman smiled.
Edelagrd braved another small sip so that a passerby might assume her flush was from the liquor.
“What’s your name?” The woman asked.
Edelgard considered giving a fake name like she usually did with strangers. Then she imagined the woman doing the same to her, and so she decided to participate in the Golden Rule for once. “I’m Edelgard.”
“No last name?”
Edelgard shrugged dismissively. “And yours?”
The woman took just a moment too long to respond, and Edelgard’s gaze whisked to her eyes. Was she deciding on a fake name then? Or whether to reveal the real one?
“I’m Byleth.”
“Byleth…what? No last name?”
Edelgard meant it as a joke. But then Byleth sighed, and her jovial fever waned a bit. She slumped greatly down over the bar and her hair flowered out in all directions.
“What’s the matter?” Edelgard asked. She must’ve been a lightweight, because the alcohol was already starting to disturb her natural filtration when it came to interacting with women she’d just met.
“In my line of work…my previous line of work-” Byleth took a hearty swig then rapped the table for more. “People always just called me ‘Professor’ because I never told them my last name. I thought it was quite funny.”
“Oh,” Edelgard said. “I remember some old classmates complaining about something like that. A Professor who never shared any personal details.”
“Hm?” Byleth glanced over. “You have an education?”
Edelagrd nodded. “Despite my line of work.” There was a period, during that very dark time of her life, that he had insisted on having her educated. Something about maintaining nobility and manners, or maybe a sick sense of guilt. In any case, she didn’t stay for long. Edelgard suspected that he realized letting her leave the house was too much of a risk, and quickly pulled her out of school.
“Where?”
“Well. It wasn’t a college, per se. It was the Officer’s Academy.”
There was a memorable stretch of sans conversion, where the only sound was the glugging alcohol being refilled to Byleth’s glass from the bartender. If he hadn’t been a witness, perhaps that silence would have gone on, lied about or forgotten about.
Then, “The one just a few paces from here?” Byleth asked.
“The very one,” Edelgard said.
“Hm,” Byleth finished the rest of her drink, and the bartender scowled at her as she tapped the glass for more. “Was it any good? The Academy?”
“I didn’t stay for long.”
Byleth traced the rim of her glass. She opened her mouth, then closed it, instead of saying whatever was on her mind. Edelgard would usually have hastily picked up the conversation like it was a fire she was afraid would die, but the alcohol smoothed her ruffles down, and she indulged in the anticipation of waiting for Byleth’s words.
“I’m sorry about that.”
“It couldn’t have been your fault.”
The only thing Byleth said was, “thank you,” to the bartender that refilled her drink again.
When it appeared they wouldn’t speak any more, Edelgard hurried to fill the silence, with anything to keep them there.
But Byleth’s shaky voice got there first. “I’m leaving town tomorrow.” She swept up from her stool. “I should probably go before I drink anymore.”
Without another glance, Byleth turned her back, and walked for the door.
“Wait!” Edelgard called out. “I need your help- briefly. It shouldn't’ take long.” Edelgard stepped from her own seat, and dug in her belt for the paper. “Can you take a look at this? See if it matches any of your ex-colleagues?”
Byleth seemed reluctant, and so Edelgard practically forced the paper in her hand.
“Please?” She added, and was herself extremely pleased when Byleth bowed to it. The woman took the note and looked it up and down. “I’m looking for a professor, you see. An ex-professor, I suppose.”
As soon as Edelgard said the words aloud she had a realization.
Byleth had read the paper fully. And now a very nervous smile was creeping on her face, and the gentle flush of drunkenness had been doused with the sobriety of consequences. “Say. You don’t happen to be a bounty hunter, do you?”
Byleth was still holding the paper. Edelgard slowly nodded. “I am.”
“Ah I see.”
Edelgard plucked the paper from Byleth’s shaking hand, and read the description for herself with a sinking feeling. She compared it to the woman before her, her glance switching from the paper to the person.
-Green (blue?) hair
-Young woman
-a professor
-athletic
-recently fired
There was one more item on the list, and it was the most peculiar. But when Edelgard looked back up to confirm it, she found it wasn’t there, or anywhere around Byleth’s person. And so she relaxed, and let herself believe it was all a coincidence, that Byleth should so very nearly match her bounty.
“Does that sound familiar to you?” she asked, reading off the list.
Byleth looked confused. “I mean…you have eyes, right?”
Edelgard felt her eye twitch. “It can’t be you,” she insisted delusionally. She tapped on the last item on the list. “You don’t have any young girl hanging around you-”
The door burst open, and a young girl wearing ancient garb with wild forests of twin tails shouted, “Professor! They’re onto us!”
Byleth and Edelgard made eye contact.
“Sorry,” Byleth said, and dashed to the door, knocking over her stool. Edelgard was dumbfounded, until she remembered herself, and gave chase.
Byleth and the girl wound through the streets, pushing aside people and casting anxious glances to Edelgard, hot on their tail.
“First you get me fired, and now you won’t even let me enjoy a night alone! I should have you in the ground!” Byleth yelled at the girl.
“I’ll be! You ought to be grateful you were selected for this task! I wouldn’t choose just any mortal!”
Byleth’s only response was a loud expletive.
Edelgard found herself tiring. She was drunk, and stumbling. She wasn’t wearing the proper attire for a chase, and she knew that even if she caught up, she wouldn’t be able to do anything. Still, she was close enough that when Byleth looked back and they made eye contact, Edelgard saw the pity and regret in her face .
When Edelgard returned to their room at the guildhall, Hubert was there.
“My Lady,” he said. He still called her that, even though she had insisted otherwise. “You’re much later than anticipated.”
Edelgard clutched her fist. “Hubert. It’s personal now.”
“Uh, what is,my Lady?”
“The bounty. The Professor. That bastard stuck me with her bill.”
There was a sigh that had failed to be kept back. “I’m afraid I’m going to need more context.”
And so Edelgard told him the night’s events. She was tempted to include descriptions of how long Byleth’s eyelashes were, or how direct eye contact with her cat-like eyes would make your heart writhe. In the interest of keeping those things clandestine, she didn’t. When she finished, Hubert was caught on one particular detail.
“A child, you say?”
Edelgard nodded. “Not a normal one, though. She wore strange garb, with the most green hair you’ve ever seen. It couldn’t have been natural.”
Hubert rubbed his chin. “We shouldn’t ignore this, my Lady. Do you think the Professor is up to something undesirable?”
Edelgard scoffed. “If she were, he wouldn’t be paying us to catch her, I’m sure.”
Hubert discomfited. “I didn’t mean to bring back bad memories, my Lady.”
“It’s no concern. However,” Edlegard swept her weight off the bed and waltzed to look out the window. She touched the pads of her fingers on the prickling cold from outside. “I think we’ll be seeing him again soon.”
“Why is that?”
“I have a plan. But we’ll have to act quickly. The child mentioned that they were heading to the docks.”
“Ah- intercept them there. However, with our current resources…”
Edelgard sighed. She combed her hand through her gray hair, frowning. “I’ll ask the employer for an advance- something so we can pay off some ship captains tomorrow to reveal their passenger lists, and a little to recruit some help from the local guild.”
Edelgard could feel Hubert’s gaze. She didn’t have to look to know he was frowning,or his eyebrows were knotted in pity. She let go of her hair, tossing it behind her again. “Sleep. Sleep is best.”
Hubert took a moment to respond, until, “right, my Lady.”
The servants of the Count Hresvelg Manse all recognized the woman with alabaster hair, and as soon as they heard her assured footsteps, their eyes went to the floor, and they hurried away with grave shadows across their faces. Edelgard didn’t pay them mind. She knew the way to the Count’s office with or without a guide.
The Count Hresvelg himself went missing a couple years ago, and so his good friend, the Baron Myson, ran his residence until he could return- that was the official story.
The people who knew the truth were few and dwindling. Edelgard herself only knew half of the truth- that her father, the Count Hresvelg, tortured her to some occult end, and when she fought back, he fled in immense fear. Out of guilt (because surely anyone with a brain would have known what was going on in that manse) the Baron Myson didn’t say anything to anyone when Edelgard renounced the Hresvelg name, and adopted a different life than any would see fit for a Count’s daughter. He was even kind enough to gift her the opportunity to try her hand at this high profile assignment.
Walking through the halls was a good reminder. Of why she bothered to stay in the city, and of why she worked in the streets where those who tortured her along with her father might come again.
To her pride, the only time she found herself anxious was a mere moment on her trek to see the Baron. When going through one of the gaudy hallways, over the velvet carpet and draping curtains from vaulted ceilings, there was a metal door.
Metal doors are good, because human nails can’t make scratch marks in them like wooden ones. Nor does blood stain them. They’re also adept at soundproofing the chamber they protect.
Edgelgard kept walking.
When she arrived at the study, the door was waiting for her. She peeked around for servants, but all were absent. Edelgard scoffed, and knocked three times.
“Enter,” said a slobbering voice.
Edelgard tucked her head down. She emerged into the dim room, standing center on an intricate carpet.
“Ah, Edlegard,” the Baron Myson greeted, already unimpressed. “Having trouble? I had heard good things about your skills, however I don’t expect that much from you, so don’t be afraid to be candid with me.”
Edelgard clenched her fists. Spit launched with every consonant he pronounced. His jowls dangled down like depressed monkeys from his cheeks, and fat and greasy sacks with eyebrows on them hung over his eyes so that just a speck of the listless blue iris could peek through. She remembered days of being outside that metal door, and utter dismay befalling her as the Baron chose not to comment on her changing hair color or the bruises peeking from her high collars and sleeves.
“I’m doing well, Baron. In fact, I know where the Professor will be.”
“You do?” He sounded most surprised.
“I do,” Edelgard bit out. “I only require a further investment from you, in order to secure the trap.”
Edelgard didn’t know what she expected. A pushback? Further inquirment? Some kind of on high judgment? Any one of those normal responses from an employer.
He scribbled something on a piece of paper. “Take this to the bank.” he handed it to her without looking up from whatever he was looking at.
“That’s it? You’re not curious why?”
“I have money,” he pointed out, gesturing all around. “My time is much more valuable than whatever half-baked explanation you want to give me for more money.”
She scowled. “It’s not for me-”
He bellowed. Something loud that seemed to stretch and expand in your ears until it felt like your skin and soul would tear. It filled the room, and Edlegard stepped back.
“Take it,” he demanded.
Edelgard swiped it quickly. She tucked it away. And, before she left, she heard him mutter, “what a good friend I am, watching over his messes.”
Edelgard slammed the door behind her. She bit her cheek, drawing red and sour blood. She marched out of there, and didn’t stop until she was at the bank, and being handed far more money than she needed.
After bribing all the captains sailing ships leaving the country to one) not allow the boarding of any ed-professors and two) to report anything to Edelgard, they had split into two teams- Edelgard, and everyone else. Everyone else in this case being Hubert, Linhardt, and Dorothea. Linhardt and Dorothea were trustworthy guild members who had come to be regulars whenever Edelgard had a challenging job.
Despite the challenging job being to capture a combat professor skilled enough to teach the future officers of the country, Edelgard insisted on going alone much to everyone’s confusion. She wanted to see Byleth alone.
One hour in, and Edelgard still hadn’t seen her, and none of the bribed captains had given her notice of a woman with teal hair, or a strange child. Edelgard considered the world where the Professor slipped past, and where she had to tell the Baron she needed more time. Where the Baron laughed, and gave more money to the ‘mess’ to go and play bounty hunter.
Then, a voice cut above all that.
She saw two cloaked figures, one short and one tall. The shorter one had tendrils of wild green hair sprouting from her hood, and so Edelgard approached, and shot a look at the Captain, who stepped away.
Edelgard had parted the crowds behind the women so silently. She had suppressed any bloodlust when she drew her axe. Yet somehow the Professor noticed her approach, and grabbed the girl and lept a few paces back before Edelgard could get a blade around one of their throats.
“Nice to see you again, Edelgard.”
People relinquished them a wide berth and a mis-timed playful wind knocked their hoods down and hair about. The young girl looked between Byleth and Edlegard with a frown. “You better make this quick, human. I-”
“Will you be quiet and stay out of my way?” the Professor admonished. Before the child could say anything, Edlegard had charged up a low level fire spell and shot it high in the air.
The Professor’s face fell as she saw it fly high for all the docks to see. “A flare, then.”
Edelgard smiled. “It’s a matter of time until you’re surrounded, Professor.”
Her face went still, like a lake with no wind. Edelgard suspected she was either panicking, or she was planning. The young girl at Byleth’s side glared, speaking while the Professor thought.
“You have no idea what you’re doing,” she warned.
Edelgard noticed the girl’s peculiar eyes. A strange shade of green, like a green sea but much, much brighter. And looking closer at the strange dress she wore, which was more of a tunic, and her headpiece, Edelgard was overwhelmed with a wheedling deja vu. Just where had she seen that style before?
“Sothis,” The Professor said with determination. She stepped in front of the girl. “You need to hide. You’ve learned enough about society in this age to do so.”
Sothis balked. “You can still run, why are you giving up now?!”
Byleth stalked further in front of Sothis, facing squarely against her bounty hunter. Her gaze came upon Edelgard like a hawk leveling its own against prey. “I predict,” she began, and there was a chink chink chink as she drew her ribbed sword. “That this hunter and her employer will be trouble. Better to deal with it now.”
Edelgard scoffed. “‘Deal with it’? I’ll warn you, my crew is capable, yet inapt at painless capture.” Still, The Professor’s sword was clearly a relic. Red burned from it in shimmering particles, like swirling smokes of ember drifting above a fire. Her grip wasn’t tight on the hilt, either. It was loose, ready to parry and change angles however Edelgard attacked. The Professor wouldn’t prove easy.
The child looked between Edelgard and The Professor. Byleth smiled coyly and turned her face to Sothis. “You know this is the safest option for such an important operation.”
Sothis’ stubborn expression relented to a sad one. “You better not go back on your deal, human. Things will end poorly for you if you do.”
Edelgard was stunned by the Professor’s fond smile that flickered across her face as the girl ran off, parting the throngs of people. She was so stunned, she barely dodged in time when the Professor’s blade parted and uncoiled, turning into a whip.
There was a loud clang as a few sharp ribs streaked across Edelgard’s axe. She had to tighten her grip to keep the axe from being stolen away.
“I’ve never seen a sword like that,” Edelgard spat.
The Professor smiled as she flicked her wrist, and the whip reverted back into a blade seamlessly. “I don’t suppose many people have.” The Professor didn’t entertain any more talk. She lunged forward and readied her arm behind for a huge swing. Edelgard brought her axe up to block, and the recoil made her teeth chatter.
The Professor leapt back gracefully, and immediately her stance changed from a massive lioness to a lithe panther as her sword became a whip again. Before Edelgard could try and close the distance, the Professor had flung her arm with all of her weight, and the force travelled down the end of the whip slamming against Engelgard. As more flurries came Edelgard managed to block with her axe. But her white-knuckle grip was slipping, she had no time to rest or readjust. Every crack of the whip was calculated, so Edelgard couldn't escape its range, nor could she ready an attack of her own.
Sweat rolled down her forehead, and finally she noticed that the whip was getting less aggressive. Through the constant strike she caught glimpses of the Professor putting less into each attack, and her face was just as exhausted, if not more, than Edelgard’s.
She saw her chance, and right before the whip sliced through the air, she sidestepped, and put her all into closing the distance before the whip could turn into a sword again.
However, the Professor wore a curious smile as Edelgard charged at her. And that was when Edelgard saw the Professor only had one hand around the hilt of the whip. The professor hadn’t tired, she simply freed up the other hand. That’s why the attacks got weaker. And that other hand was now brimming with a magical energy.
Edelgard skidded to a stop in her tracks. Her eyes were pinned on the Professor’s gloved hand, the one that held sparks of lightning leaping out of it.
The Professor’s eyes glinted. “For some extra credit: can you tell me what this is?” Byleth gestured to her hand.
Edelgard scoffed. “A lightning spell, by the looks of it.”
“A very fast and nasty one.”
“So then, what will you do?” For whatever reason, Edelgard wasn’t anxious. Even though the smart thing for the Professor would have been to fire that ‘nasty’ spell, and run. She couldn’t keep her eyes on the source of danger: Byleth’s hand. Her gaze nestled into the Professor’s own, because for the life of her, she couldn’t decipher what emotion lay behind them this time.
“My Lady!” Someone shouted.
Pushing through the crowd, Hubert barreled to a stop. The Professor exclaimed in surprise as from the other end of the clearing came Dorothea and Linhardt.
“I guess you weren’t lying about the backup…” The Professor muttered.
Edelgard glanced down to the lightning still in the Professor’s hands, and the others realized the situation.
“If you fire that, the pain you experience will be like no other” Hubert hissed. “Your screams will be heard from miles abound, years on end.”
Byleth didn’t flinch at his threat. In fact, glancing at all of Edelgard’s allies, something soft roamed across her features, whisking away any hostility or anxiety.
“So, Professor. How would you like to play this?” Edelgrad asked.
The Professor, still with that curious expression, clearly considered firing. She looked at her hand, and then to the spot at Edelgard’s chest where it would strike. Her expression was perennially gentle.
If it were Edelgard in the Professor’s shoes, she would fire. Take out the leader of the pack, and tae that moment to run away in the confusion. Edelgard even closed her eyes. She could take simple pain. She was very good at it.
Then, there was the sound of metal slithering back together. Edelgard opened her eyes. Byleth sheathed her sword, and said, “if any single one of you touches my sword, then you’ll really have something to be sorry for.”
Finally, she lowered her hand holding the lightning spell.
Before she was inevitably and swiftly apprehended by HUbert, Edelgard finally settled and named the emotion on the Professor’s face.
It was the most peculiar thing. Edelgard named it guilt.