Right, here we are with Chapter 7 folks!

If anyone is wondering, the start of this chapter occurs the night after the Black Eagles and White Dragon houses return to Garreg Mach.

It always seemed as if the monastery was home to various lost items. At least, this was what ran through Byleth's mind as he went through his nightly patrols of the monastery grounds, not as a student but as a member of the church. Spying a small shiny trinket from the corner of his eyes caused Byleth to amble over slowly, enjoying the crisp night breeze. Crouching down and picking it up revealed it to be a glass bottle of sorts filled with a liquid, giving it an experimental sniff Byleth almost recoiled from the strong scent wafting from the now open spout.

Hilda.

Satisfied he'd at identified the owner of the lost property he placed it in the bag at his side, full of other assortments of lost items ranging from a large wooden button, a white glove and even a handkerchief that smelled and felt suspiciously of a paralytic agent amongst many other miscellaneous items.

Byleth was glad he'd been crouched when he'd taken a whiff of the handkerchief. Had he been standing the resulting fall would have left him waking the next day sprawled on the grounds of the monastery. Not the most pleasant of place to be sleeping, there being better places after all than to be sleeping on the ground.

Standing back up he resumed his moonlit patrol, eventually coming to a halt before the doors of the cathedral, one of which was cracked open slightly.

Byleth stopped in his patrol before the door.

While nighttime prayers within the cathedral weren't unallowed, it was most certainly uncommon to find someone praying so late at night most members of the church or officer's academy being asleep at this time late at night. Slipping through the gap between the door and closing it behind him, he entered the cathedral in full.

Surveying the large marble cathedral allowed his eyes to fall on the culprits, three of them to be exact, and all of them, students. They knelt side-by-side praying before the statue of the goddess, heads down and hands clasped in prayer. One was female with a head of orange that was tied into two simple loops near the nape of her neck and was diminutive in stature, garbed in the normal clothes of the academy.

Her name was Annette Fantine Dominic.

The second student was also female with flowing hair of honey-blonde and was the tallest of the three, garbed in the same uniform bout donned a shawl of cream around her shoulders.

Her name was Mercedes von Martritz.

The final student was a male, also short in stature but taller than the orangette, also garbed in the officers' uniform but had an addition of a dark blue hoodie beneath his uniform and a head of silver-blue with freckles dotting his face.

His name was Ashe Ubert.

All three were students he recognized as members of the Blue Lion house.

Byleth already knew that they bore no ill intentions with the cathedral and as such took a seat on one of the many pews, content with keeping vigil over the cathedral as they prayed. While most would have left the three to their prayers and allowed them to their privacy, one of the few rules of the cathedral was that there must always be a member of the church to look after those that prayed. This being a precautionary measure in the case that an unruly student or someone else entirely wished to deface the statues or run amok within. Since Byleth was the only official of the church still around, the duty fell to him.

Placing the bag full of miscellaneous items beside him, he began to settle in. He knew that those that prayed so late at night tended to pray or reflect for a long time, Marianne of the Golden Deer being one such example. She tended to pray for an hour before she would leave, thankfully though she'd gotten used to his presence whenever he'd keep vigil during her late-night prayers, the two coming to a quiet co-existence should they encounter each other late at night.

Shaking his head from his wandering thoughts he looked back at the three to find them still hard at prayer. Giving a short impassive sigh Byleth settled in for what may be a long night.

He was proven right when they'd finally finished their prayers some time well into the night, the chirping of crickets silent and the moon hung high in the starry sky. Slowly, Mercedes stood up first with Annette following suite, Ashe hesitating before standing up. As he stood up, the three stood next to each other comfortingly.

"Oh! I didn't realize that anyone was still awake so late at night," Mercedes murmured quietly as she caught sight of a cap resting upon a familiar head of blue. Ashe and Annette both stopped, Ashe frozen while Annette looked like a deer with eyes widening like a doe. "I hope we haven't broken any rules?" Mercedes asked to which Byleth shook his head softly.

"No such thing, it's merely a duty of the church to keep vigil during late-night prayers," he explained gaining a small smile from Mercedes. "If I may ask, is there any reason why you three have decided to pray so late? It is uncommon for any student aside from Marianne to be here late at night."

At his words, both Annette and Mercedes gave a shared glance to Ashe then a hesitant glance to each other. When they both looked at him, an unsaid message shared between the two it was Annette that spoke first. "We… killed. During our first mission," Annette wrung her hands while Mercedes gripped her shoulder supportively, "I suppose we needed to get it out, to… get closure."

Byleth nodded understandingly. It seemed that the Black Eagle house weren't the only ones to have those that were uncomfortable with ending lives of others. He'd have to ask Claude sometime later to check on his Deers later. Turning his attention back to the three he asked, "Would any of you like to talk about what troubles you? I'm more than willing to lend an ear should you need it."

To his surprise, it was the so-far silent Ashe that responded. "I-I think we'll be alright. At least, for me. I've got what I've needed off my chest," Ashe gave a shaky smile, filled with hesitation but his eyes showed something different as they beheld soft steel in them.

Looking at the others, Byleth found that Mercedes and Annette both shared Ashe's decision. He didn't say anything but there was an inkling of relief that they'd at least found comfort from their actions pervaded him. "Very well, but if you ever need an ear, I'd be willing to hold a confessionary if necessary," Byleth finally replied. "Now I believe it'd be best if you three rest."

"Of course!" Mercedes chirped with a smile. "Please don't stay up too late either Byleth, you do have duties to attend to in the morning as well so sufficient rest is important," she fretted, back to her usual motherly-self gathering brighter less hesitant smiles from her housemates.

Byleth half-heartedly waved her off. "Yes, worry not. I shall rest once my patrol is finished. Now off you three go, you'd best head to bed."

The three nodded and trotted off to their dorms.

"Annette."

The orange-haired girl stopped in her tracks and sent Byleth a questioning glance at his sudden shout to which he held up a small book that he retrieved from his satchel. "I do believe this belongs to you," he responded as he held out a book about the school of sorcery.

Annette's face broke into a grin as she retrieved the book. "Thank you Byleth, I'd thought I'd lost this days ago!" she thanked before running back once more to catch up with her friends.

Byleth watched the three go as he stayed in the cathedral for a couple more minutes, sitting back down next to his bag on the pews.

"I was not aware that you held confessions," an interested monotonous voice spoke up suddenly from behind him, deep and masculine but memorable.

"It is not a service that I perform often, but it is one I am permitted by the church to perform as a student right now," Byleth responded quietly, the silence in the cathedral noticeable without the livelier nature of the Blue Lion students. "Do you wish for me to hold a confessionary for you?"

There was a moment of consideration before the voice answered. "Not tonight… but… perhaps one day."

"I see…"

"I shall take my leave now," the voice spoke as the figure behind Byleth stood up, when he had even sat down Byleth did not know.

"I hope whatever troubles you Professor can be resolved," Byleth spoke, his voice resounding in the cathedral.

"I hope so… but I know it never shall. Goodnight and goodbye."

Footsteps disappeared into the distance as the door to the chapel swung closed. Byleth stood up and left soon after, the cathedral now empty and cold.

He did wonder why the Golden Deer professor hadn't joined them earlier, a smaller part of him curious as to why he hadn't said anything to the three while he'd been in the cathedral with them.

The next morning saw the lively return of the Officers' Academy and students returning to their normal classes. It also saw to the return of the usual shenanigans of the Golden Deer's' house leader and his right-hand girl.

"Turn it off! Turn it off!"

"PUT IT OUT!"

*Fwoosh!*

"NOT WITH WATER!"

Byleth watched passively from his seat, eating breakfast as Claude and Hilda set the kitchen aflame. The Head Chef watched from the other side of the counter in abject terror as gouts of flames splattered against the walls and floors as Hilda threw a bucket of water onto an oil fire.

Needless to say, everything went horribly.

Byleth was gladdened that he'd managed to get a large heaping plate-full of links of sausages and around ten eggs before the two had tried their hands at a culinary disaster. Taking a bite of sausage, he watched as the oil fire spread even more as Claude tried to throw a towel over the fire to smother it which would have worked had he smothered the whole fire rather than a portion of it. Unfortunately for him, the cotton towel caught on fire and joined the flames as fuel.

"By the goddess, Claude what are you doing?!" a boy with purple hair in an angled bowl-cut shouted aghast as he watched Claude and Hilda struggle to contain the flame. Beside him, a girl with sky blue hair watched in shock with a wide exhausted gaze and dark eyebags as the fire slowly consumed the kitchen.

Hilda, noticing the girl, grinned. "Marianne, could you be a dear and help us? Please?"

"Help us? Don't you mean help me? You're just standing there," Claude grumbled loudly as he gallantly fought against the flames, still thankfully contained behind the counter.

"Soooo… why aren't we helping them Bylie?" a womanly voice questioned from the other side of the table.

Looking back at his dining companions showed Dorothea and Bernadetta, the former joining Byleth and the latter as he'd brought her to the dining hall before classes to ensure she'd at least eat before classes started. There was also the added benefit in allowing Byleth to observe how well she seemed to be after their mission in Zanado. Surprisingly, she wasn't as affected by killing as he'd thought she'd be, she was certainly a resilient person.

"W-wagh?! W-we're going to h-help them? I don't want to help them! That's way too much attention on me!" Bernadetta shrieked quietly, doing so loudly would have garnered her more looks than she was already getting for actually being out of her room.

Byleth stared at Dorothea long enough to make her uncomfortable for causing this little bundle of anxiety to erupt before addressing said bundle of anxiety. "We are not going to help them because this is Claude's problem. Besides, we all have our food so I don't see why we need assist them."

Dorothea arched a fine brow an gave him an inquisitive look. "And what will happen to us for lunch if the kitchens burn down, hmm?" Byleth shrugged while silently urging Bernadetta to eat with a plate of fruits, bread, meat and eggs to little success, the tiny lavenderette still seemingly stuck in her own head, anxious fears of having to interact with others moreso than she already was playing out over and over.

"This is not the first time the kitchens have burnt down Dorothea, and I do not believe it shall be the last. The academy will merely provide food cooked over a fire as they have done before," Byleth replied after taking a couple of bites of his food. "Besides it seems Marianne was fast enough to freeze the kitchen before any more damage could be done," Byleth pointed out at the four deers and the now frozen kitchen area, visible charring and damge evident beneath the magical ice.

Hilda held Marianne off the ground with a tight hug causing said girl to blush violently while Lorenz scolded Claude for not acting as a noble should have. Claude being Claude shrugged off Lorenz' words much to his dismay and tried to salvage his culinary creation. 'Tried' being the keyword as whatever he'd tried to cook was now a cold charred heap of inedible waste which Claude then decided to pocket, once again causing Lorenz to sprout off into another rant about the proper etiquette of nobility which was once again duly ignored.

Byleth's hand shot out and snagged the back of Bernadetta's hoodie, said girl shrieking in surprise as her half-baked plan to slink away in the ensuing chaos whilst every other student's attention focused on the four failed.

"We have not yet finished breakfast and classes do not begin for another half hour, please finish eating. You will need the energy for the day ahead and I do not wish to be accosted by Hubert nor Edelgard," he said dully as he dumped her beside him this time (unable to dump her on the other side of the table without drawing too much attention) to cut off any escape routes and dragged her plate in front of her.

"Why can't you just let her go? I'll make sure she gets to class," Dorothea assured with a habitual wink, taking pity on her frumpy-haired friend.

Byleth shook his head. "I am being paid to bring her to class by Edelgard. I shall fulfill her request until it is no longer required.

"I-I'll go to class! Promise!" Bernadetta pleaded, "S-so can I please just go now?"

"No. Eat."

Dorothea was taken aback and blinked at his stone-cold refusal along with Bernie's now sullen state as she poked at her food like a chastised child. Then her mind caught up with what he said, "Wait what? You're getting paid? For bringing Bernie to class?"

"I am indeed."

Dorothea had to admit, her interest was certainly piqued. "How much do you get paid for taking care of Bernie?"

"A shipments worth of coffee beans for every two months I continue my task."

She stopped for a moment before asking hesitantly, just to make sure she'd heard him correctly. "Coffee… beans?" she asked. Yes, an entire shipment was a sizeable amount, but coffee beans?

"Yes. Specifically, Enbarrian Roasted coffee beans," Byleth confirmed.

Dorothea was confused. "Why coffee beans though?"

"Because I already have four imperial shipments of Bergamot tea from Edelgard. It didn't seem like I needed more for now, as such some coffee for Hubert seemed like a nice change of pace," Byleth replied casually.

Dorothea coughed and hacked as she choked on her morning oats.

Now, Dorothea was admittedly not the most well-versed in tea like some certain tea aficionados around the monastery (a subtle eye drifted in the direction of the golden deer's, specifically a purple-haired noble with a strange bowl-cut) but even she knew how expensive Bergamot tea leaves were from her time around Edelgard. They were 1,000 Gold per sachet and Byleth was implying he had four shipments worth.

The average shipment size would be enough to hold well over 2,000 sachets and that wasn't counting an imperial shipment which could hold 5,000 sachets. Dorothea did some quick maths and she had to stop eating so she wouldn't choke while she processed it.

Byleth had twenty million golds worth of tea. With what little Dorothea remembered from her time on the streets of Enbarr, she knew that Bergamot tea was an increasingly scarce luxury amongst the commonfolk and minor nobles. And Byleth had twenty-million gold worth of tea sitting around somewhere. He'd just casually admitted that he had a goldmine on him just laying around.

"Are you okay Dorothea?" Byleth looked at her curiously, admittedly worried as she'd choked on her oats before she'd stopped eating entirely and placed her head in the palm of her hands. "You seem quite troubled," Byleth pointed out unnecessarily.

"Bylie… what do you do with the tea leaves exactly?" Dorothea looked up at him, her head hurting at the almost astronomically absurd numbers going through it.

"I tend to use it during teatime with people."

Dorothea's head was really starting to hurt now. He used bergamot tea during teatimes with people. He used bergamot tea with her whenever they had-

Wait.

He didn't use bergamot tea whenever they had tea. He used either an Albinean Berry blend or Sweet Apple blend of tea.

What.

"Bylie… what teas do you have exactly and how much of them do you have?" Dorothea asked, putting aside her mask of a diva for a moment and getting straight to the point. With what she was hearing, Byleth was implying he more, a lot more than he seemed to let on.

Byleth gave her a quizzical glance but nonetheless acquiesced and answered. "I believe I currently hold four Imperial shipments of Bergamot, two Imperial shipments of both Rose Petal and Four-Spice blend, two large shipments of Chamomile, Lavender, and Honey-Fruit blend teas. There're also five medium shipments of sweet-apple, Albinean berry, almond, lavender, and southern-fruit blends. Seven normal shipments of Ginger, Angelica, and Crescent Moon tea. An Alliance shipment of Almyran Pine Needles, and Mint Leaves. I also have a small package of Seiros tea and Leicester Cortania tea, and I Believe some Hresvelg, Dagda Fruit, and Cinnamon blends for Petra, Claude, and Edelgard on special occasions."

Dorothea's brain stalled.

The man across from her had more tea sachets than even the imperial or kingdom households. He held within his grasp Fodlan's tea trade if he so wished it. "Are you okay, Dorothea? You don't seem so well," Byleth inquired as he observed her face go slack and her jaw hang, her skin tone flushing an interesting shade of red-pink.

"W-why do you have s-so much?" Dorothea stammered out, barely gaining the mental faculties to talk again.

Byleth shrugged but didn't answer.

The act of collecting tea was in actuality a tradition of each Archbishop, Rhea having informed him that he had an obligation to start his own tea collection as was his duty as her successor. Rhea herself held a collection significantly vaster than Byleth's own, a very tiny sliver of which she sold to various nobles across Fódlan and used to fund the activities of both the Church and the Academy, an act which would one day fall to him.

While he could answer her truthfully, the truth would cause unnecessary questions and complications. It would seem quite shady if the truth behind the Church of Seiros' immense monetary funds was not due to the backing of nobles but because the church held the current black market amongst nobles for tea across the entirety of Fódlan. There was a certain sense of irony that the primary religious superpower of the continent also held a black market.

As such he stayed silent as she seemed to freeze in her seat, mouth agape as she stared off into space to his mild confusion. It did worry him though as Dorothea sat there frozen as her oats got soggy, however, thankfully Bernadetta had at least finished most of her breakfast.

On the topic of breakfast, Claude approached the trio after slipping away from the head chef and saddled next to Byleth's other side with a plate and fork in hand, proceeding to steal from Byleth's mountainous pile of breakfast goodies. "Yoink!" Claude grinned as he speared half of Byleth's sausages along with four of his eggs which he then continued to split with Hilda, "Thanks bud!"

"Thanks so much for the food, Byleth!" Hilda piped up on the other side of the table beside Dorothea before digging in, uncaring of the way she and Claude smelt of smoke.

Marianne joined the five, more out of the fact the Hilda had bodily dragged her along with one hand displaying her immense strength and plopped the exhausted-looking blue-haired girl beside her. Lorenz, on the other hand, left in disgust at his house leader's actions and attitude. He did give Byleth a nod of silent acknowledgment to which Byleth returned.

"Next time, please do not attempt to cook when you know full well neither of you have the capabilities nor faculties to succeed," Byleth uttered blankly as he continued eating, uncaring of how Claude had stolen from his plate. He'd known it was merely a matter of not if but when Claude and Hilda would destroy the kitchens and thus planned accordingly. Of course, had things gone well he still would have been able to finish consuming his meal.

He would have stopped them but he'd other duties to attend to; namely making sure that Bernadetta consumed her meal and escorting her to class.

He silently took note that said girl seemed to be doing her level-best to seemingly merge with his ribs, the feeling of skull grinding against ribcage quite uncomfortable as she hid beneath both cloak and arm. Claude ribbed Byleth's unoccupied side with a wink and a nod at the small black eagle member to which Byleth ignored his friends insinuating nods and wise-cracking.

"So, what's gotten her all frozen up?" Hilda idly pointed a fork at a still frozen Dorothea.

"I'm not quite sure, however, I'll ask Edelgard to bring her to Professor Manuela for a check-up between classes. I don't believe it would be good for her health," Byleth answered as he finished off his portion before Claude could commit a second bout of food theft. "Hilda, do please mind your manners. We're in the dining hall," Byleth chided the pink-haired girl who pouted and groaned at his words before sullenly returning her fork to her plate.

"You're going all parent-mode on us and classes haven't even started yet," Claude joked at his friends' expense.

Byleth gave him a blank stare. "Claude, dealing with you is akin to parenting full-time. Having a second one of you is unneeded and unwanted."

Both Claude and Hilda grunted exasperatedly at his words simultaneously. "Oof."

…

"Please, never do that again. That is quite disconcerting," Byleth asked.

"What? This?" Claude and Hilda asked with twin grins as they gave each other a mischievous glance before staring at the cyan-eyed boy.

Byleth stared at them for a good ten seconds. Suddenly he stood up. "Bernadetta, let's get you to class, shall we? I'm afraid Claude seems to be infectious. I'd rather not see a third of him if possible."

*zoom*

It seemed that Byleth couldn't have said that sooner as Bernadetta vanished faster than he'd ever seen the petite girl move (not that he'd been given more than a few rare occasions to actually see her run) and the three watched as she seemingly disappeared and reappeared outside the doors of the dining hall anxiously waiting for Byleth to follow.

"…I suppose I must leave then," Byleth muttered aloud as he packed up both his and Bernadetta's dishes. "Claude?" he addressed his friend.

"What's up?" the green-eyed boy looked up at his cyan-haired friend with a sausage link dangling from his lips.

"Please. Do not infect anyone else with your 'Claudeness', I do not believe the world will be able to live with three of you."

If Claude were a dumber man, he would've thought Byleth of all people was pleading but that couldn't possibly be right. Byleth could barely emote enough to figure out if what he said he'd actually meant, so pleading was definitely out of the question.

"Gotcha! Spread it around we will!" Hilda beamed with a smug grin.

Byleth looked at her for a good moment before allowing a suffering sigh to escape his lips. He was about to leave them to their own devices before he remembered something. Taking the time to dig into the pack by his side, he withdrew a glass bottle filled with a pinkish liquid which he left in front of Hilda.

"Hey, this is my perfume! I'd thought I'd lost this!" Hilda exclaimed as she realized what exactly Byleth had placed on the table.

"I found it last night during my patrol, please keeping a better eye on your belongings," Byleth spoke with a very minute nod before turning and leaving, dropping off his dishes at the kitchen counter and joining with Bernadetta who once more fused to his side beneath his cloak.

…

"So, what do we do with her?" Hilda asked her dear old Claude, pocketing her perfume at the same time as she pointed her fork at Dorothea who was still frozen.

"Eh, she'll come back sooner or later."

*Ding-Dong Ding-Dong*

The bells of the church chimed signaling the beginning of classes.

"Darn it! We're gonna be late!" Claude cursed as they both shoveled down their food, almost choking as they did so and rushed to class.

"Professor Jeritza's gonna kill us!" Hilda whined as she ran.

Marianne quietly followed the two, taking a short moment to politely tap Dorothea on the shoulder, bringing her back to the world of the living. With that self-given duty done she departed the dining hall in the direction of her homeroom, watching as Claude and Hilda ran on ahead.

So… I'm not even sure what I'd planned for this chapter like… what even is this garbage?

More serious note, you can pry the headcannon that Claude and Hilda do their level best to make Byleth's life interesting in any way shape or form from my cold dead hands and that both of them are terrible at cooking.

Also, tea black market. It's the main reason how the church of Seiros get their funds cause no corrupt noble (looking at you Adrestia) in Fódlan in their right mind would actually fund a political superpower because of faith. Rhea has a grasp of the tea economy and can absolutely ruin it at any given moment should she choose to do so.

And yes, this is absolutely a meme because during my second playthrough I did buy literally billions worth of tea by grinding maps on casual before spending it on the merchants. I also always failed teatime with anyone but Edelgard, Claude, and Bernie.

Question: Should I add memes for lols or nah? (Claude will be the memester while everyone looks at him like he's crazy)