Decision Making

The next day came with ease, Byleth awakening from his sleep with a heavy feeling of contentment in his spirit and soul, and he set about the morning ritual with a spring in his step. The Goddess in his mind was mostly silent, but there was a light lilting breathing that could be heard, which he hoped was indicative of a peaceful and pleasant sleep.

He headed to the mess hall, which was thankfully close by to the room where he had taken up residence, and had a large and filling breakfast of blood sausage, bacon, eggs and mushrooms. The hall was surprisingly empty today, the amount of people present incredibly sparse, just a few guards and priests from the monastery proper, and the serving staff of the hall itself. None of them held his attention at all, for all were male.

It was surprising to him how vigorous he was feeling today despite how late into the night he had gone fucking the ghost of his resident goddess. He had always been something of a beast of a man when it came to the women he entertained himself with, but that was simply normal, the recovery the next day had always been consumed with repeating the events of the previous night in a more hasty fashion.

Perhaps that was it? With the goddess vanished for the moment, he had had no one to distract him from simply getting on with his day. Whatever the case might be, the facts of it were that he was awake and raring to go, well before most others were awakened. Deneb wouldn't be up for another hour or two knowing her, depending on whether she woke to train with her axe or took the extra time to sleep in.

He took with him a simple bread roll and left the mess hall, lazily biting mouthfuls out of the roll while he returned to the process of the earlier day with exploring the monastery. There were a few attractive women about, mostly the serving staff whose job was to handle things before the nobles and others awoke, and be away soon after. He assessed each one he came across.

Then something caught his eye. There was a man carrying a small lockbox across the courtyard, darting into the monastery main entrance and then turning to head down towards what was probably the crypts. He turned off part way, darting into a passage way that was so dark it was almost indistinguishable from the walls in the darkness of the stairway into the earth, but following after he found the passage led to a large door with 4 guards within it. The four were clearly better armed and armoured than those that had been visible around the rest of the monastery, and they held themselves with a degree more professionalism to them as well. To Byleth's trained eye these four were clearly properly trained knightly types, not merely guardsmen or men at arms.

The four thoroughly inspected the man carrying the strongbox, and after a moment they finally nodded and allowed him through the large door. It croaked loudly as it was opened, a clear sign of it being very sturdy. He doubted this door would be easy to open for any lone person. It took all four of the knights just do budge it. Deneb could probably throw her strongest spells at this door nonstop and then add her own considerable upper body strength to it, and still not managed to break through.

Byleth was struck by the idea that he probably shouldn't be allowed here if there was such security in place, but as he emerged into the small chamber and stepped forwards toward the opening door, none of those present tried to stop him at all.

He took that as permission, and as the other man entered the revealed room, he followed after him.

What appeared before him was a room of treasures.

There were several chests of gold coins and jewels and gemstones. Tables that held equipment of such quality that it had to someone's masterpiece. There were a few desks that held contraptions that were even stranger too, things that Byleth simply couldn't figure out the function of. A large bookshelf completely covered one wall, and the entire thing was stocked with large tomes that looked incredibly important. Some were clearly old, while others were much newer, the layering of dust across the collection uneven showing how it had grown over time.

One huge book was set on a plinth beside the door and Byleth stooped to look at it, since the pages were set open. It appeared to be an inventory of the room's contents, and as the other man set down the lockbox down and opened it, revealing yet another chest bursting with golden coins, he was **** to step aside as the man came to write an additional entry into the inventory.

They kept their accounts well. That was good. There was little use in a treasury if you didn't even know what it held. Your coffers could be overflowing or drained dry and you could be unaware without proper accountancy.

Still, this was a huge thing to just stumble upon.

After a moment he made the decision to leave for the moment. He wasn't about to just steal from his new employers before he had actually done a days work for them, and it wasn't like the treasury would move. If Jeralt was right and trouble brewed, it was good to know where the loot could be found, but until that point he would content himself with letting things be.

The Knights resealed the room as he left, and he soon emerged into the staircase. For a moment he felt a pull to go down further, to properly enter the crypts below the monastery and explore there. He didn't know why he felt that way. There was sure to be no one down there, and only a hall of tombs could await him within a crypt. But he felt some surety that he should descend.

It was that very surety that ultimately sealed the decision for him. It was an unnatural impulse to go into the crypts, some strange compulsion that arose from within him. If something was telling him to go there, and trying to pretend it was his own thoughts, then he would refuse it. The only ones who could get him to do anything against his own will were Jeralt and Deneb, and even with his sister it was never a sure thing.

On the subject of his sister, when he finally returned to the courtyard above, she was just heading towards him from the direction of the mess hall. She was just talking to a pink haired girl who he recognised from the previous day as having had quite the delightful bust, and belonging to the Golden Deer house if he so recalled. They split up just before they reached him, and Deneb waved her away before sprinting the last stretch towards him.

"Morning By." She said cheekily. Her smile was wide and grinning, but there was something off about her eyes.

"Good morning Deborah." He replied smoothly. She seized him by the arm and basically dragged his arm into her cleavage as she leaned against him, staring up at his eyes.

"So. Sounded like you had a wonderful night with a very lucky lady. So who did you bless with one of your deep deluxe dickings?"

"I still don't know where you got that epithet from."

"Ah ah ah!" She said, wagging her finger at him. "That is dodging the question."

"I do not feel as if I owe you that information." He replied simply, not looking down at her as he turned and walked in the door of the monastery, Deneb ending up dragged along behind him. She could have easily held him in place if she wanted. She had the greater physical strength.

"Oh come on~" She whined. "I had to listen to you two go all night long, the least you can do is give me a name and a face to go with the squeals of pleasure I was listening to." He looked down at her. Hmm. That would explain it. She was feeling tired after having stayed up listening to him and his conquest. Though there was something else there still, some hidden desire he still couldn't identify.

"I refuse. And more pressing is the fact that we have something to do." They entered into the main hall of the cathedral. Rhea was stood at the far end, alongside Seteth and opposite one other. "We need to inform Rhea of which houses we shall be tutoring."

"Oh fine." She said, releasing him and pushing him away, making him lightly stumble to the side before regaining his posture. "But don't think you can keep it hidden forever. I'll just need to find the woman around here looking at you with heart eyes."

"Good Morning Professors." Rhea greeted them both as they drew near. "I hope you have found the halls brimming with the vitality of well motivated souls." Deneb's eyes darted over to him and her lips twitched.

Seteth spoke next though, interjecting before anything else could be said. "I see it is the time for us to hand over control of two of our great houses to you pair." His eyes turned between Rhea and the two of them over and over. Finally he sighed and stooped his head a little. "I would like it on record that I am against entrusting such a task onto a pair with so little trackable history as yourselves. But the Archbishop has made her decision."

"The Black Eagles, Blue Lions and Golden Deer. I thought I might let the both of you get your choices first, since you are new after all." The woman stood next to them spoke up. Byleth turned towards her, and looked down at her breasts, which her outfit was making no effort to hide from view from anyone. "Manuela" She introduced herself, offering her hand to him.

Without a word he accepted the hand and used it to pull her close, pressing her chest to his, and one of his hands snuck down to grope and grasp at her breast, easily slipping inside of her outfit to do so. They were quite wonderful. Not spectacular, but age had definitely leant a certain maturity and quality to this woman that had been lacking from so many of the others he had sampled in the last day.

"Byleth." He said as he stepped away. "And this is Deborah, though please call her Deneb if you prefer."

"Deneb? 'The Bright but Distant Star.' Hmm, however did she gain such a nickname?"

Deborah immediately began to sulk, and Byleth's visage twisted in front of everyone present, for the first time ever becoming something actually resembling amusement instead of its normal neutral façade. "All I shall say, is that it is rather less flattering to her than you might think."

"Ah yes. Wonderful." Seteth said saccharinely. "But do you think we can get on with the matter at hand? While you are here choosing, the students are all awaiting their teachers." Byleth nodded to the man in acquiescence.

"So. Have you come to a decision?"

"Golden Deer for me!" Deneb spoke up immediately, jumping on the chance to make her pick of the available options. It was the expected result. She had gotten on with Claude far too well for anything else, and that had only been solidified by the time she had spent with the other deer students at the monastery.

Byleth made a show of thinking hard about the choice. He didn't want anyone to think he was slighting the Blue Lions by quickly dismissing them, but his mind was very firmly made up. "The Black Eagles." He said at last.

"Very well." Rhea said. "Then it is decided. Your hearts have made their decisions, and all I can now ask of you is that you both guide these open minds with virtue, care and sincerity."

"And now." Seteth began. "Before you go to your classes, there is something we must discuss."