My Little Girl

Don't Underestimate My Kid

Great Tree Moon: Month of The Mock Battle

Byleth had ended up choosing the Blue Lion House to teach as it's main professor. It was no surprise to him after seeing the way Byleth had been so interested in the blonde boy. Upon arriving Jeralt's intuition about the boy was correct. This Dimitri was in fact Prince Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd. The orphaned prince of of Faerghus. 

Byleth had introduced him to each of her little lion cubs: Dimitri, Lady Annette,  Lord Felix, Dedue, Lord Sylvian---he made a mental note to keep a sharp eye on that redhead, Mercedes, and the adopted son of Lord Lanado, Ashe. Dimitri as expected was a young man with a kind heart but often his crest gave him trouble with more delicate work. Annette was a skilled and bubbly mage with a good work ethic. Felix was a bit more on the crude and sharp-tongued and was eager to look for sparring partners but could never best Byleth at the sword. Dedue, a Duscur survivor was a rather quiet and reserved young man with a talent for gardening and cooking and was clearly very loyal to Dimitri. Ashe and Mercedes were both very sweet teenagers with good hearts, both clearly caring a lot for his daughter Byleth. Sylvain while he was reliable Jeralt had to admit had come close a few times to dragging that boy away for trying to court his daughter...especially after hearing the countless rumors about Sylvain involving girls.

Byleth though he had noticed had expertly dealt with Sylvain so he left it be. As the weeks passed closer to the mock battle he noticed Byleth showed a fondness for her students, going beyond that of a teacher and her class. Jeralt could see how easily they all got along with his daughter. Surprised at just how fast she was settling into the role of professor and her new life here. However the one student she was with and talked to the most was Dimitri.

Then came the day of the mock battle and with Byleth not just being skilled as a warrior was a masterful tactician the end result was not a surprise to Jeralt. His daughter's students, which she had take these weeks to whip into shape it had swept the rival classes with masterful ease. He had been watching the entire fight as the judge and saw how Dimitri and Byleth fought side by side, almost in sync with each other. It had amazed him beyond comprehension as he announced the Blue Lion House the winners. At seeing the flabbergasted expression on Seteth's face as the advisor gawked he could only laugh and smirk.

"What's the matter Seteth? Surprised by my kid's skill?"he laughed.

"What...what...HOW!?"Seteth had still not recovered from the shock.

Rhea had an overjoyed smile as she brought her hand to her mouth as she giggled. "I believe you made a wager with our dear captain did you not, Seteth about our new professor's success?"

"Yeah, pay up brother you were beaten fare and square Captain Eisner."chuckled Flayn.

With a grumble Seteth handed over a small bag of coins to the aging dusty blonde captain that was overjoyed at his daughter and her students' victory. "Let that be a lesson not to judge by a person's age. Kid's been learning everything from me the instant she was old enough to pick up a sword."Jeralt said with a quip and smirk.

Seteth visibly paled at this information the good captain had given them just now. That would put Miss Byleth Eisner at an S Rank swordswoman and a master tactician at that! Not only that from what he had been keeping attack Byleth was a skilled attack mage and good with horses and even pegasi. The Ashen Demon they called her...what a frightening woman Jeralt's daughter was. Several times during that fight they had seen the distinct flashes from her hand as an unknown crest activated and only made her more formidable. Praise Sothis this girl was not their enemy.

"I have a suspicion that our dear professor might harbor a hidden talent for healing."mused Rhea as they watched the students leave the training field. 

"Do you now, Lady Rhea?"Jeralt raised his brow at her sincerely curious despite his suspicion and distrust of the green haired priestess.

"Yes, I'd like to speak with her later actually."Rhea turned her gaze to Seteth. "Seteth would be so kind as to inform Miss Eisner to come see me on her next day off? I'd like to take the chance to see if I'm right about her having an innate talent."

Jeralt wasn't sure how he felt but he knew already that Byleth had a talent for using and controlling mana. Why there had been an incident when she was a toddler and by mistake discovered she could create fire. Resulting in one very crispy chicken coop and some upset folks. Of course at the time his daughter hadn't known any better nor knew how to handle mana properly. "No, I'll tell her myself. She's not too comfortable with Seteth yet from what I can tell."dismissed Jeralt as he stashed his prize money away.

"What? Why?"

Rhea and Flayn both stared at Seteth as Flayn had an angry pout on her adorable face. 

"Brother! She's uncomfortable with you because you were bombarding her with so many questions in your office!! I asked her about at it at breakfast this morning in  the dining hall with Dimitri and Ingrid. She's not used to all this, remember!?"snapped Flayn.

"Seteth...I thought I told you Miss Eisner could be trusted and that she's to be made welcomed here. Not corner her and make our new professor feel so unwelcomed."scolded Rhea.

"Eh, drop it. Let this be a lesson for you to never underestimate my kid."laughed Jeralt before he left back for the monastery. He honestly felt on cloud nine after watching that fight and seeing Seteth's reactions through out had been priceless. If only Sitri had been able to witness today, she would have surely been cheering and later tackling their poor kid to the ground out of joy. As he arrived he could hear laughter and excited chatter coming from the dining hall as he entered. There at one of the tables sat the Blue Lions with Byleth at the heart of it. Though she didn't show it Jeralt had seen the shy and delighted gleam in her eyes as she happily took a bite out of a sweet bun that Dimitri and the rest of the class offered. 

Byleth's eyes practically sparkled with delight as she ate the sweets with gusto. So he decided to walk on over. "Well I see you've discovered one of the few things kid's got a weakness for."

"Oh Captain Eisner."

"Hey captain."

"Oh my, hello there Captain Jeralt."

Each of the students smiled as they greeted their professor's father. Sylvain visibly flinched and inched away as far as he could as Jeralt decided to sit down and join them. Taking the empty seat on the other side of his daughter while opposite side of her sat Dimitri. "You brats fought well out there."

"It was easy, but still valued experience. Everyone works really well together."Byleth eagerly snatched the sweet bun that Dimitri offered her. Happily munching away. If she had a tail like the shapeshifter races it'd probably be wagging right now. 

"I never thought I'd know somebody that like sweets as much as Dimitri and Annette."giggled Mercedes.

"Mercedes, please!"yelped Dimitri in embarressment. 

"Oh come now, I remember when we were ten you ate like two baskets full of sweet buns and suffered a stomach for it. Then there was the time when we were fourteen you would sneak into the kitchen and snatch some pastries when yuo thought the cooks weren't looking."grinned Ingrid.

"No, he actually did that?"Byleth actually had a new emotion none of them had ever seen on her face as she stared one bashful, flustered prince.

Surprise.

Jeralt couldn't believe his eyes and apparently neither could the class. The look of surprise on her face was so foriegn to her father. Her students, no, her friends were amazed by her emotions she was so slowly discovering since they had arrived here. Laughter as the classmates chatted and celebrated with their teacher. For the first time in a long time Jeralt felt content and happy for his daughter. "Maybe coming here won't be all bad if it's making our lil' girl open up like this. Don't you agree Sitri, from wherever you're watching up there?"he thought with a smile. Yes just maybe coming here and having Byleth around others her own age was a blessing in disguise. If that was the case, like a good father he'd encourage and help her like he always had.

To Be Continued...