Seriocity

The dawn bell tolled and Elgar rolled over, looking at Hubert. He was still asleep. Elgar sighed and shook him away. “Hubert, time to get up.” Hubert groaned and shook his head. “Sorry, my lord… I was having a pleasant dream.” “What about?” “A world where I was never taken from you and where we were married… We had two children and you were pregnant.” Elgar blanched. “That doesn’t sound pleasant to me.” Being pregnant was his worst nightmare. He had tried masturbating once and found thatbeyonduncomfortable. He had been reeling fordaysfrom the feeling of disconnect with his mind and his body. Something about sex just didn’t make him feel comfortable whatsoever. Heneverwanted to have sex with a born man and be pregnant. He could definitely stillgetpregnant if he wanted to, but he reallydid notwant to. He would legitimately take an arranged marriage over a marriage with a born man, unlike a changed man like him. He really just couldn’t handle the idea of having to have his own children in such a way. Really, he had no idea what his advisors would have in mind when it came to marriage for him… He hoped he’d find somebody here in the Officer’s Academy, but that wasn’t a guarantee… He was so closed off and unwilling to trust others. Despite everything, Lucina and Morgan treated him well… “Sorry, my lord… I’m just…not awake yet.” Hubert shook his head. “We ought to get ready for the day.” Elgar nodded. “Yeah.” Both of them got out of bed and changed for the day, then started walking the grounds a bit. It was still early yet, so they had a bit before breakfast. On their wanderings, they saw Morgan and Lucina going at it again. The sheerstrengthbehind their blows reverberated through the air. He could see some teachers standing off to the side, none too happy about them using live steel, but he sincerely doubted someone like Morgan would allow himself to be pushed around by someone like a teacher. From the looks of it, even people that been in the Brigid war wouldn’t be able to hold a candle to Morgan and his sister. It was crazy just how much strength each of them had… Then again, he knew what it was like to have an excess of strength… The Crest of Flames had given him an incredible amount of strength and he used it to its full advantage… He overwhelmed his enemies withcrushingblows that kept them on their back foot no matterhowgood they were. They watched the bout for a short time until Morgan slapped Lucina’s sword from her hand and had her down on her knee. He hit her hand with the pommel of his sword and pointed the tip at her. “You’re dead.” His tone was grave along with her expression, but Lucina cracked a smile a moment later and a ghost of one crossed Morgan’s lips. He sheathed his sword, then helped his sister up. She grabbed her sword and sheathed it as well, stretching a bit. Elgar walked up and looked at them, his purple eyes sweeping between the pair. “I was wondering if either of you would be willing to give me a fair bout,” he asked. He had seen the strength in their blows and wanted to test his mettle. Their experience was no doubt well beyond his own, but he wanted to see what they could teach him. Their swordplay style was incredibly unique, unlike anything else he’d seen before. It really did prove they were from far afield. Granted, it wasn’t like he had seen swordplay from Alymra, Dagda, Brigid, or anywhere else before… He hadn’t exactly had a lot of time to train with Petra as he’d only gotten here a few days ago, but it was still telling just howdifferenttheir swordplay style was. Hereallywondered if they would be willing to teach him a little bit. “You know we’re gonna hand your ass to you on a silver platter, right?” Morgan asked with a grunt. “You shouldn’t speak to His—” Hubert started, but Elgar raised a hand. Hubert quieted immediately. “I’m quite aware that you’re far more skilled and seasoned than I am. The way you move and use your steel speaks to that. But even so, I would like to try. I could learn a lot from both of you.” He dipped his head respectfully. He knew such a display wasn’t expected of the future Emperor but he really did want to show that hedidunderstand that they would beat him. He just wanted tolearn.He needed more experience in everything in general to get better. He still wasn’t pleased with Hubert telling Ferdinand he was behind on his academic knowledge, but he really did need the help… Ugh. It was tough. Morgan rolled his shoulders and his neck. “Yeah, we could definitely take you on, but we’ll need to use practice weapons. That Rhea lady called us into her office yesterday over using live steel, but when she saw how experienced we were, she allowed itonlybetween us, though.” Elgar nodded. “All right. I’m used to practice weapons anyway. I haven’t even used blunted steel before, but I know I’ll have to learn in due time.” There would be the Mock Battle at the end of the month, but they’d at least still be using practice weapons, then… But by time the Battle of the Eagle and Lion rolled around, they’d be using blunted steel. He was definitely nervous for that jump…but he knew that the steel would also hold up better to his strength rather than wooden practice weapons that often broke. They walked over to where wooden weapons were stored and Morgan had to dig through quite a few to find the weighting of one he liked. “The weighting here is different than it is in Ylisse. Swords just feeldifferentcompared to the ones from Ylisse and Ferox.” Morgan’s tone was matter of fact. Elgar was a little surprised he’d surrender information, but then again…with as many swords as he was looking for…maybe that was it. But Morgan seemed to be pretty much unreadable, so there was no real way to know what was going through his head at this moment. “I see… I guess it does make sense there would be at leastsomedifferences in craftsmanship between worlds,” Elgar said. He really didn’t know how to handle people in general, but it did make sense. He wastryingto meet people where he could, but it was hard when he’d not had any real relationships with anybody since the Insurrection. There was Dimitri, apparently, but he couldn’t remember anything about the other man. They were strangers as far as Elgar was concerned even if Dimitri remembered their time in the Kingdom fondly. They walked back out to the practice ring where Lucina dragged a whetstone across her sword’s blade. She smiled at Elgar a bit and gave a small wave before going back to her task. Morgan and Elgar tapped their practice blades together and the bout started. They tested each other’s strength and techniques right at first, blades clacking gently and silently. However, Elgar noticed one difference in themimmediately.Morgan barely moved and was economical ineverystep he took. He didn’t take any unnecessary movement. Elgar’s movement was above his par for what he was doing, but Morgan was deadly grace comparatively. His experience and time on the battlefieldreallyshowed. Elgar had seen it in the bouts with Lucina, but it was another thingentirelyto be on the receiving end of it. After the initial test of strength, Morgan launched into an assault of unknown origin. His ferocity shocked Elgar and forced him onto his back foot. Morgan wascompletelyrelentless, each strike sending shocks up Elgar’s arms. Elgar’s combat instructors had told him that he was doing incredibly well for his age and experience, but Morgan showed him just howfarbehind he was. Morgan didn’t give himanyspace to even make a defensive move. All he could do was fend off Morgan’s blows as best he could. Until he got pushed out of the ring. Elgar let out a heavy sigh, staring at the sword in his hand. He could see just how much he was lacking now… That defeat wascrushingto his pride. He saw Lucina approaching and she handed her sword over to Morgan. She took the practice sword from him and approached Elgar. “Sorry about my brother; he was probably just testing you to see where you stood. He wanted to push you to your limits and see where they were. He’s normally notthatbrutal and aggressive against human opponents. If you’d like to have someone more balanced, we can have a go at it.” Her tone was warm and she smiled at him. For some reason, that blush made heat creep into his cheeks. But he nodded. “I would like to see more of your style,” he said. “Let’s go then.” They walked back to the center of the ring and repeated the process of testing and probing each other. Thankfully, Lucina’s touch wasmuchlighter than her brother’s. He could see she was holding back quite a bit with how she dodged and let himalmostget a blow in every now and then. But it was giving him a clearer picture of their style. He could also tell she hada lotof strength behind her, but she held it back. With a smirk, he started letting his own strength out which caught her off guard. For a little bit, it put her on the back foot but she soon put more of her own strength into her strikes. Her strikes weren’t as rattling as Morgan’s were, but he couldtellshe wasn’t using her whole strength despite how much his arms shook and rattled with each strike. Each of them put more and more strength into their blows until they knew the practice weapons were almost at their limits of how much they could handle. Eventually, though, Lucina pulled adirtymove by sweeping his feet out from under him which sent him toppling to the ground and he landedhardon his stomach. His sword went spilling from his hand, flying across the practice ring. She put the tip of her sword into his back. He sighed. He knew he had been outmatched from the beginning and that she was beingnice,but it didn’t make his pride sting any less. When he rolled over, he saw her hand as she crouched beneath him. He took it and she helped him up. “All things considered, you’re not too bad, Elgar,” she said. “Though your strengthdidtake me off guard, admittedly. Most people aren’t able to keep up with the strength of mine and my brother’s blows like that. Though I think I’m still stronger than you are. It’s a little hard to tell with how much these pieces of wood limit us.” She shook her head. “We’ve been using blunted steel since we wereverylittle since it’s the only thing that could hold up to us.” He nodded. “That does make sense. I had to stick with wooden practice weapons because it’s all my teachers would allow.” He went over and retrieved his practice sword, then returned to Lucina. “Do you think you’d be willing to teach me some of your swordplay?” He wasn’t against learning from anybody. Really, he understood howlimitedFódlan was due to its relative isolation. It seemed like these two had been exposed to more than just their home nation which was good in his mind. If anything, they might be able to teach all of the students at Garreg Mach something… But he also knew just how closed minded most in Fódlan were. He was surprised Rhea had even let them and the Hoshidans in… It was weird to think about. “I couldn’t teach you the Exalted style, but I could teach you Ylissean and Feroxi styles.” Lucina’s tone was warm and he felt heat prickling the back of his neck. “The former is a highly guarded secret, only for those in my family. But the other two? I can teach you thosenoproblem.” She hesitated. “In return, could you help us with knowledge on Fódlan?” That definitely took him a bit off guard. “Petra, Ferdinand, and I are having a study group after classes are over, so if you wanted to join us there, you could. You’d all be welcome there, everyone from the Iris Warblers.” He wasn’t against Cami and the rest of them joining the little study group. If they needed help, it’d be a good use of their time. He wasn’t sure how the Hoshidans would handle things… He was vaguely aware of Falos far across the sea, but that was as far as it went. He didn’t know anything about it. He didn’t even know anything about Brigid which was a vassal state to Adrestia… It was hard when he’d been focused on so much else after being released from the experimentation. Lucina nodded and smiled. “All right, that sounds great. We’ll see if Cami-san and the others want to come.” She clapped her hands together. Cami-san…? What was that weird bit at the end? He didn’t have time to delve into any further or ask about it as the warning bell for classes rang. He sighed and went over to his bag, picking it up. Well, might as well head go to class… He waved to Hubert and Lucina, both of who returned it. Morgan just gave Elgar a stern look that he couldn’t puzzle the meaning of. Ignoring it, he opted to head for class.

⌠

During one of the magic classes, the teacher had them partner up so that way they could get a little bit of practical experience. Elgar wasfarabove the level of what they were doing in class at this point, but he would be a good tutor for anybody that might need it. He got paired with Dorothea whom he hadn’t really spoken to since the introductory night when he’d met all the Black Eagles. It would be a good chance to learn a bit more about each other as well as see how Bernadetta was doing. She approached him, hips swaying. He glanced down at her…very low-cut shirt and swallowed hard, then his eyes whipped back up to her face. Damn it all. He wasn’t trying to be indecent. He honestly hated the thought of sex after he’d experimented with masturbation a few times…but it didn’t mean that he was immune to a woman’s charms. And Dorothea was obviouslytryingto command attention from the way she moved and the fact that her shirt was cutsolow by the Academy’s standards. He hadn’t seenanyother girl with her shirt so far down she was practically flashing everyone. And he wasveryapparent of the ample size of her bust as well… Damn it all. He locked his eyes on hers and she smiled and winked. “Like what you see, Your Highness?” she asked, a lilt to her voice. “I— Ah. What were the drills the instructor wanted us to do again?” He looked down at the book in his hands. He wasn’t stupid; he was just trying to get the awkwardness out of the way. Hedid notwant her to think lesser of him. Hewas notthe type to just oggle women like that. But she made it very,veryhard to ignore her body. The uniforms were cut in a way that they did accentuate a woman’s body, but he was pretty sure Dorothea had tailored herseven moreto her body to make her hips more apparent as well as show her curves off further. Plus her skirt wasbarelythe minimum standard length for the girls’ uniform. It barely came down to her mid-thighs and— Damn it all. She looked down at the book, her height towering over hisveryshort one. “Some basic fire, lightning, and ice casting… Honestly, that’s pretty easy.” He looked up at her and met her green eyes which were…very gorgeous. A very striking shade of green that he had never quite seen before. They looked very nice with her hair and— Focus, Elgar,he told himself. This was class time and hewas nothere seeking someone to bed. Granted, he wasn’t sure if Dorothea would bed him or not…not that he wanted that. The thought of sex made himsouncomfortable. “Yeah… I’m quite the accomplished mage myself. Basic elemental casting isn’t hard…” Considering everything, this was really quite easy for him. He’d started off with basic elemental casting to learn how magic flowed and that had only taken him a month or so to get down. The Officer’s Academy did want everyone to be rounded, so they had a lot of different combat classes like for bows, swords, lances, and more… This was a school about military combat above all else, though it was also for nobles to make connections. That was honestly theprimaryreason for the Officer’s Academy atthis point,he was pretty sure. Alliances could be forged and friends made. One scratched back here, one scratched back there… It was nasty, but it was how court played. “Oh, so you’re a mage too? I didn’t quite take you as one based off our axe classes… You’re quite talented with them, you know?” She moved closer to him, into his bubble which made heat prickle at the back of his neck. Damn it, shewastrying to get his attention. He really didn’t want to get too close to her… He did need to find an Empress, but he would rather have an arranged marriage rather than someone who loved him. At least then he could get away with just using magic for procreation rather than needing to have sexual intercourse… Damn it, shereallywas begging for his attention. Why? “I have my reasons for studying it. I haven’t used basic elemental casting in quite a few years, but it’s still not hard to do.” He held his hand out, focused, and pushed out all three elements at the same time. He looked up at Dorothea and saw her eyebrows lifted. She clapped at him. “That’s…acutally quite impressive. Doing one element at a time isn’t too hard once you get it down, but multiple? EvenIstruggle with it. You’re quite impressive, Your Highness.” She smiled at him, those green eyes warm. Damn it, she was turning his normally composed nature into a stuttering, bleating mess. It was hard when she wassocharming and hadobviouslydone her best to alter her uniform within allowable specifications to attract attention. He was pretty sure she would get in trouble with some professors, but as long as she was within the student handbook, there wasn’t much anybody could do about it. She held her hand out and the three elements flowed one after another. “What got you interested in magic and to perform it at such a high level?” Damn it, he hadn’t been expecting that. But he was good at thinking on his feet. “I knew I’d be coming to Garreg Mach and didn’t want to just rely on brute strength and power. I do mostly wield axes, yes, but having backup skills is important. I’m also good with sword and I have some rudimentary training with the bow.” He wanted to be rounded, which was true, though it wasn’t therealreason he wanted to know magic. But no, he couldneverreveal that toanybody. It was one thing when it was the archbishop or people that had known him pre-change. It was another when it was acompletestranger that didn’t know him at all. He woulddefinitelynever tell Morgan or Lucina… Theydid notneed to know his secret. “That…is entirely fair. I saved up enough to come here thanks to my time at the opera.” He blinked. “The opera?” She nodded. “I worked for the Mittelfrank Opera Company until coming here. I was a diva and so they paid me well.” She smiled at him. “I take it you’re not a fan of opera if you’ve never heard of me? I wouldn’t have expected that from the heir apparent… I thought he’d be a bit more cultured.” He looked away a bit. “I’m the only one left of all of me and my ten siblings. I had to focus my efforts elsewhere. Being cultured wasn’t part of what I had to study in order to take over the Empire.” That wasn’t a lie; he justcould notfocus on stuff like the opera and the more cultured parts of Enbarr’s culture that a lot of nobles liked to partake in. Had things been different, he possibly could’ve. But no, he had to focus on learning the court and becoming as cutthroat as any of the nobles there. He’d spent a year or so focusing on magic and his change to pretty much the exclusion of everything else. But after that… Well. He’d turned to the court and combat because he didn’t have much other choice. If he was unprepared for court, then he would be a repeat of his father which hedid notwant to happen. Hewouldclean up the court and get it back into working order. “Oh… I’m so sorry.” Dorothea’s voice was quiet and he saw her shift a bit. He looked back up into her eyes which were brimming with sorrow and pain. “Would you like a hug?” He shook his head. “No. It’s in the past now.” He wished that were true, but it wasn’t. The loss of especially Tobias weighed on him. He had never gotten to say goodbye to any of his siblings. He was just…pushed into his room and left there once the experiments were done. He still suffered nightmares… It was allsomuch… He could still hear their screams. He shook his head rapidly, trying to push the thoughts away. She frowned. “Did I say something wrong?” “No, you didn’t; I’m just too good at getting lost in old memories.” He hated how easily people could push him to think about the memories he tried to suppress so much. It wasn’t their fault; he’d just been through so,somuch. “How’s Bernadetta doing?” At that, Dorothea sighed. “Not great. She’s terrified and I haven’t managed to get her out of her room yet. I think it’s going to require more than just me to get her out of her room.” Elgar frowned. He felt bad for putting her in such a rough position, but there wasn’t a lot he could do to help. Softness, which Bernadetta obviously needed, wasnothis strong suit. He had grown hard and pushed his heart to be as dead as possible. He still felt, damn it all, but he tried to bury his feelings as much as he possibly could. He didn’t like having to feelanything.And he certainly wouldn’t be able to handle dealing with Bernadetta. He snapped his fingers as he thought. Hubert. Hubert seemed to be a lot softer and able to handle things than him. “I might know the person that would be able to help, but he doesn’t like being too far from me.” Being a servant had no doubt shaped him into someone that was very good at listening and helping others. If anything, he would probably be theperfectperson to help Dorothea with Bernadetta. He had almost no doubt about it. Dorothea looked around. “Well, I don’tseeanyone near you now…” Elgar sighed. “He’s not in this class despite his age. There were…exentuating circumstances.” That was all he was willing to say on the matter, at least at the moment. Hecould notreveal the truth of what he’d been through to anybody. He was pretty sure Rhea would have his head should he reveal the fact the Nabateans existed to anybody. And what they were. Hecould notrisk the Hresvelg line ending with him because of some stupid mistake. He had to beextremelycareful and vigilant until he left the Officer’s Academy. “Oh, is it that guy I see sitting with you at lunch? With the black hair?” He nodded. “Yes, that’s Hubert. He’s my retainer.” Not that the relationship had been there for long…but he still appreciated the fact that he had Hubert regardless. He didn’t want to be apart from Hubert too much. But there really was no way around where Rhea had placed him. Really, Elgar shouldn’t evenbein the fourth year either… His combat skills were more than up to snuff, but his knowledge was shaky at best. He was glad for the study group and for Ferdinand’s help even if Hubert had gone against his wishes. He really did need the help. Dorothea went to speak again, but the teacher waved them over. The drills were done, apparently, so Elgar closed his book and followed Dorothea back over to the teacher.